Well ciowdy!!!!
Well, I feel like it's a tradition that my new cities welcome me with torrential rain, and Siena has been no exception! It started raining on Friday and hasn't really stopped since!
A few notes scribbled in my planner: mom, nana, someone - can you send me that recipe for haupia? I think I pretty much know it, but it'd be nice to be able to check. Also, if there's room in that package, mom, could you throw in some hawaiian punch drink mixes? I really like the orange ocean flavor. I like drinking juice and stuff, but not when I have to carry 5 liters of liquid a quarter mile from the grocery store to our house...
It's gotten REALLY cold here lately. Some big cold front just blew/is still blowing through and so we've gotten down into the single digit celcious degrees - it was 5°C on Sunday! Good thing the Capeces like us because they have a car and picked us up on their way to church so that we didn't have to make the half hour walk down there. I've had to bust out my coats! And boy am I glad that I splurged on that 15 euro rain jacket in Milano last transfer! It has definitely served me!
Last week we went to go visit the RS president. She lives within the city walls! She lives in the Oca contrada, which is the Goose neighborhood. She told us that we'll have to come by another time so that she can show us the contrada museum!!! She takes care of her invalid mother, who is like 90-something, and after our little lesson, she let us say hi to her mom in the other room. She was in her bed and pretty much just trembling. Another woman was in the room with her and they were watching tv. Old Italians have a really hard time understanding us when we speak because of our accents, and to add on to that, she couldn't hear very well, so basically Slla N and I just stood there smiling at her (the mom). Then Slla N gets this genius inspiration and says "should we sing her a hymn?" and I was like..."yeah! Except the only one I really know is 'nearer my god to thee'". So we asked the RS president if we could sing and she said "yeah! I'll go get my hymn book". So the three of us - me, slla N and the RS pres - all sang "Nearer my God, to thee" for her mother. It was a really sweet moment. I sang soprano with them on the first verse and then the last two I sang alto. I would've sang tenor on the third verse (I know the tenor part because we sing that song all. the. time.) but I thought it would been too low for me considering that we started out a little bit low. Anyway, that was cool. And then on Sunday President Capece asks us to give talks because he doesn't really know anyone else yet. So it was Slla N and me on the program. We both had like 20 minutes! All in Italian! I talked about the Spirit and recognizing the Spirit and Slla N talked about remembering and forgetting. I received another cool analogy revelation for my talk, and compared the Spirit to a phone. Being able to feel the Spirit is like having a landline phone - you can only hear it ring if you're in a certain location. The gift of the Holy Ghost is like a cell phone that you have with you at all times and you can hear it ring anywhere that you go. But, you have to be worthy to feel the Spirit, so if you have your cell phone and go somewhere that doesn't get reception, you can't hear it ring even if you have your phone on you. So, moral of the story, don't go where your Spiritual cell phone doesn't get service!!!
We had to go to Verona on Monday night because Slla Nilson had to go and pick up her permesso di soggiorno aka a little ID card that says she's allowed to live in Italy as a missionary. She served 8 months in Verona! Anyway, we took the train Monday afternoon and got to Verona like 4 hours later. A member family fed us dinner and drove us to the sisters' apartment there where we stayed with Slla Oakes (who was companions with Slla N in the MTC) and her trainee, Slla Hanson, who is from Windemere, FL! Anyway, it was fun to chat with them and also really really cool to see the changes in Slla Oakes. My one-year in Italy mark is coming up on Friday. Can you believe I've lived in Italy for a whole year? Crazy. Anyway, Tuesday morning we went to the place to get Slla Nilson's Italian ID and then had some time before we got back on the train and went back to Siena. It took us about 6 hours to get home because we missed a few trains and things, but now we're back and we don't have to make any other trips for the rest of the transfer!! (Except when we go to district meeting in Firenze, but the Capeces drive us to that. Woo! They are awesome!)
I have a bunch of pictures to send, but we are using computers at the library and therefore can't upload ANYTHING. Slla N has her camera cord, but it does us no good because the uploading feature is blocked. Dangit.
We were walking past a book binding shop last week and I stopped to look in for a second and the guy who owns the shop saw me and called us in as we were walking away. So we went back and talked to him. It's kindof a long story that isn't really worth spending email time on, but the point is that I'm thinking that I might buy myself a new set of scriptures (in English) and have this guy bind them in a handmade leather cover. We'll see. I haven't decided yet, but it's brewing in my thoughts.
Speaking of brewing, Happy Halloween, everyone! Italians don't really celebrate Halloween, although they do acknowledge its existence. Mostly the celebrate tomorrow, All Saints Day, where they go to the cemetery and honor their dead loved ones. (Guess we'll be talking about the Plan of Salvation while we contact tomorrow!). They make a special kind of bread for this holiday - pane dei santi / bread of the saints - and the RS pres gave us a loaf of it on Sunday! I think the branch really likes us. We already love them a ton, so it's all good. I have a really good feeling that all of our 100% genuine love for these people is really going to help the work here and in turn help these people. I love it! It's so great!
Well, outta time! I love you all so much! Pray for the missionaries in your ward - by name!!! Put some real intent behind those times when you've prayed for "missionary opportunities" and then haven't done anything to look for said opportunities.
LOOOOOOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorella Soh
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