Two posts in one!

Sorry, faithful readers of Katie's blog, I dropped the ball last week and didn't get her letter posted here. So you get a double today!

Tearin' it up in Torino Nov 23, 2011

CIAO CARISSIMI!!!

I think I'm going to stop saying what week I'm on because I've already lost track. Maybe it's my 3rd or 4th week? No idea. Anywayzzz...

Wow! I'm in Italy! Still! Missionary life is finally starting to settle in with me, and I feel like I'm kinda getting the hang of things. I'm still not ready to stand on my own feet yet, but that's okay because Sorella Walton is stuck with me until January! (You might want to pray REALLY hard for her...poor thing). But my district is awesome! There is a set of Anziani in our ward - Anz McMahon and Anz Nielsen. They are also our zone leaders and they are really great. And then the only other missionaries in our district are the Anz from a little city called Collegno - Anz Herrington and Anz Higgs, the latter being our district leader. They really are all FANTASTIC missionaries. It's pretty humbling to be with all of them because they are all so great and I am still just kinda an okay missionary so I get to learn from them, which is really really great. (My pool of adjectives has apparently evaporated since being in Italy because everything is either "cool", "great", "fantastic" or "awesome". I'll work on that.)

So cool event of the week is that we had a multi-zone training in Milano last Friday! We somehow got left out of the loop and didn't find out about it until Wednesday, so that added to the fun. It was really great to get together with a bunch of missionaries from the mission, especially since I didn't know anyone! I finally had the chance to get to talk to some of them. I was really excited especially because I got to see Sor Nilson (blog: ktinitaly.blogspot.com)!!!! We were at the MTC together for three weeks (she's one transfer ahead of me) and we get along really well. She's in Genova, so we're in the same zone, so we might get to do exchanges with each other! Or, at least with each others' companion. But still! It was so great to get to talk to her about her experience so far and was just really comforting for both of us to have the chance to chat about things! Love her!

Since I was the only new missionary at that training (as in Anz Moh and Hatch weren't there), I was the only lucky one who got to do a mini teaching drill in front of EVERYONE. So every day we are assigned a topic from Preach My Gospel that we study and then do a "2 minute drill", which means in 2 min or less, we try to teach that PMG principle with a brief statement of truth, a scripture, and a question - all in Italian. The goal is to do four 2 min drills a day. And yeah. I got to do it in front of all 50 or so missionaries. I was so nervous! The topic that day was "pray to know the truth of the gospel" which I think is the last point in lesson 1, chapter 3. Anyway, I got up there and did that two minute drill and tried my best to make my trainer proud! It was pretty good, but I am still working on being better - as always!

As part of our training, President Wolfgramm had us all watch that new movie "17 Miracles". I saw posters for it in Utah, but didn't really know anything about it. Well, we watched it! It's about a handcart company and the miracles that they saw. It was really cool. It made me really grateful for all of the hard times I've had on my mission so far because they are nowhere near as hard as all the crazy things the pioneers had to do. Way cool.

Also way cool was what our investigator, Rosa, told me the other day. She is one of the Italian women getting baptized on Sunday!!!!! Anyway, her Italian is EXCELLENT. I mean, she obviously speaks Italian, but even in English there are people that speak with better grammar than others. She has excellent Italian grammar. Anyway, we were talking the other day about speaking and she told us about how she's noticed that I don't talk much, but that "I'm always listening and thinking" which is funny that she noticed because it's true. Anyway, then she said, about me speaking Italian, "ma tu hai un accento quasi perfetto" which translates to "but you have an almost perfect accent"!!!!!!!!!!! I was so impressed! Everyone I talk to always says "tu parli bene l'italiano / you speak Italian well", but I think it's just because my Italian accent is pretty good. I've been working on it! Those two years weren't for nothing! In any case, it was just very comforting to know that even though the language is still getting stuck in my brain, people can understand me and they think I have a really good, clear, Italian accent! That's a huge accomplishment for me! WOO!

Wow, I am way out of time. We went to the Mole today (google it) and went to the little cinema museum inside. And then Sor W got her hair cut and now we're behind on our schedule. BUT! You are all fantastic. A HUGE shout-out to Aubry who sent me a letter this week. You are DA BOMB.

Well, gotta run, but I love you all! Your support and prayers and felt and appreciated! God speed the right!

TANTO AMORE,

Sorella Soh

The Last Day in November?!?! November 30, 2011

Ciao famiglia, amici e stranieri!!!

I can't believe another week has already gone by! Mamma mia. Our Thanksgiving was pretty low key (seeing as how people here pretty much have no idea what Thanksgiving is besides what they have seen in movies and stuff), but we did have turkey! Granted, it was turkey lunch meat, but it was turkey nonetheless. Woo! And today is Sorella Walton's birthday! The big 2-3! We're celebrating by going out to get pizza for lunch and then making a cookie/ice cream thing later on tonight. Party!

So what happened this last week... oh, we had a ward party last Friday night - an international dinner! We have several Peruvians in our ward, so basically we had Peruvian and really REALLY good Italian food at this party. And of course being Americans, we had to bring something American! SO! We made brownies (from scratch!) and they were pretty good. Not quite the same as in the states, but still good. The funny thing is that Italians LOVE brownies. THEY LOVE BROWNIES. I can't even tell you how much they love brownies. It's just so funny! We had a ton of ward members ask us before the party if we were going to bring brownies. They said "Sorelle...brownies???" and had this kind of desperate longing in their eyes. Haha. They love them! AND, we brought a special treat. A special American treat. A special Mormon treat. A special Mormon delicacy. Can you guess what we brought? .... GREEN JELLO!!!! Ha ha! There's an American woman in our ward who happened to have a box of green jello that her parents had brought from Texas when the came to visit her last and she gave it to us to bring to the ward party. It was SO funny to see the Italians look at it jiggle and then see the look of utter disgust on their faces. Some of them refused to eat it, most of them, actually. Haha. But the people who did try it liked it! They WHACKED that jello! There was none left! So funny.

Italians are such interesting people. On the one hand, they are so private. We are always smiling at people and saying "buon giorno" to them. Most of them don't even look up at us when we do. And then there are some who look at us and give us a funny look and ask if we know each other. When we say no, they say "oh" and then walk away. They are so not into talking to strangers (which makes contacting work a little bit tricky). But then on the other hand they are SO OPEN. Once you can get someone to talk to you, they will basically tell you their life story. When you ask someone "how are you", they don't always say "good" like we do in the states. They'll tell you exactly what's going on in their life, the good, the bad and the ugly! It's amazing what some people have told us even after just barely meeting them. You gotta love them for it. It's also interesting because the people here really struggle. They really just have no hope, and it's so sad. We were teaching a woman in her home the other day and she told us that she has no hope and doesn't believe there is any happiness in her life. It was so sad! And then we talked to a kid at the bus stop the other day and we asked him what he wanted to do with his life and he said "uhhh, go to work and hang out with my friends" and that was it! He didn't have any dreams or goals or anything! I just want all these people to hear about the gospel and know that there IS hope and happiness and joy in this life! Adam fell that men might be and that men are that they might have JOY!!!!! For such a passionate people, the Italians are really depressed. All they do is work and work and work and don't have (make) time for anything else. I'm excited for the Christmas season so that we can get people thinking more about hope and joy and just rock their socks with the gospel and Christ's love for us!!! That's what keeps us going every day - we've got to cheer these people up! Remind them of the happiness that is in this life - happiness that lasts and is real! We're still working on it :)

A cool thing happened the other day. We were teaching this woman, Anastasia, on the street. She is from Romania (I think) but speaks Russian. (I'm glad I learned all those Russian words at the MTC!) Anyway, she read the Restoration pamplet and really liked it, so we wanted to give her a copy of the Book of Mormon. We gave her a copy in Romanian because we didn't know she spoke Russian (she still understands Romanian and we'll give her a Russian copy the next time we see her). Anyway, we were flipping through the pages are talking to her a bit about what the BoM is and all that. Well then the book was just open to a random page and then she decided to read, out loud, in Romanian, the first verse on the page. So she read it and then said "I really like that!" and then pulled out a little pencil from her purse and circled the verse number. Sor W and I were a little bit concerned because we had no idea what verse she had read and didn't know if she just liked the verse because it sounded cool or because she actually liked the message. So I nervously pulled out an Italian copy of the BoM and read the verse she had just read - Alma 37:35: (O remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.) I think my mouth actually opened in surprise. That is a FANTASTIC verse! I really couldn't believe it! I mean, I have that verse highlighted in my English scriptures even! It was so so cool. We're hoping to be able to meet with her again on Friday, but she works random hours doing whatever job she can find, so it's been hard to meet with her. But she is so great and I'm confident that she will love the Book of Mormon.

Oh, Mom, you'll appreciate this - I had to go to this place called the Questura yesterday to apply for the little card that says I'm allowed to live in Italy legally (after my visa expires). Yep, more red tape. BUT! It went off without a hitch! I had to get fingerprinted and stuff, but we didn't have to wait that long and no one even yelled at me. I was actually really surprised, and the fact that everything went so well does concern me a bit. But it was great and I should have my "permesso di soggiorno" in a few weeks. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Pretty miraculous, if I do say so myself! Very cool.

Quick shout-out to Auntie Bethy who sent me a letter! It took a while to get to me because I had to get it from the office in Milan, but I finally got it! You are great!

I'm attaching some pictures - the first one is from our awesome baptism on Sunday! Rosa and Isabella finally had the chance to get baptised and it was so cool. It's pretty rare that Italians get baptized here, if you can believe it. But they were so happy and excited and Rosa bore her testimony after her baptism and cried and said that she never felt at home in the other churches she went to, but that when she came to church with us she finally felt at home. It was so cool. And Isabella was a practicing Catholic before, which is surprising because 1) there are hardly any practicing Catholics in Italy (people always say "sono cattolico, ma non practicante" / "I'm catholic, but I don't practice it" and 2) she got baptized and she's so happy! Sor W always tells me aobut how much happier and friendly she's gotten in these past few weeks. Anway, the first picture is from the baptism: Sor W, Isabella, F.llo Mazzolari (who baptized them), Rosa and me.

The next picture is of the sunrise from the balcony of our apartment at about 7 am this morning and the last picture is of Corso Agnelli, right outside our apartment. Tons of trees! You can see our bikes in the foreground :)

Well, that's all I've got time for this week! I love you all so much! The prayers and love are felt and mutual!!!

VI VOGLIO TANTISSIMO BENE!!!

Love,

Sorella Soh

Week 2 in Italy!

Ciao cara familgia!

Wow. Okay! I've made it through two weeks in Italy! The biggest blessing this week is that it hasn't rained! Huzzah! It's been cold - around 10°C lately (whatever that means in American) but just at the beginning of this week it's been around 2°C. BUT! It's okay because biking keeps us warm! I'm starting to find my way around Torino. I still just follow Sor. Walton around on the bike, but I have a better idea of where she's taking us now! I'll figure it all out eventually I guess.

Well, people are probably wondering how I'm liking being a missionary, so I'll answer - it's hard work! I feel pretty cliché, actually. We really do ride around on bikes with helmets in skirts and talk to strangers and we really do go door to door asking people if we can talk to them about Jesus and the Church and people really do close the door in our faces and sometimes get mad at us and think we're dumb. I don't know if I was really expecting that, but that's really what we do! I'm starting to get the hang of it. It's really hard for me to just talk to strangers, especially in Italian, but Sor Walton is a CHAMP. She's so good at it and so I just try and follow her lead. I'm glad she's my trainer! I really want to just do the work the Lord's way, and so I just pray for the courage to be able to do what I know the Lord wants me to do, even if I don't like it! (like talking to strangers in Italian!) But that's exactly what I want to do. There's no way you can grow if you don't put yourself outside your comfort zone. I've always known that, and now it's time for me to practice what I preach (and I mean that literally and figuratively)!!!

We finally had the chance to go over to some of the members' houses, and let me just say I LOVE THEM!!! Members are so great because 1) they already like us 2) they don't stand us up on appointments and 3) they feed us and give us treats! I love members!!! There is a family in our ward that just got baptized a few weeks before I got to Torino. We usually go over on Monday nights and have FHE with them. And they feed us. It's funny because sometimes they also speak to us in English and I can hardly understand them. But they are great and want to do what's right. The dad's name is Giuseppe (maybe I talked about them last week?) and Dad, I think you'd really like him. He's just a funny guy and luckily I've been able to sneak in a few jokes with my limited conversational skills. Anyway, they feed us dinner before FHE and it's so good. I've been eating a TON. I just want to eat and eat all the time - I feel like a teenager! But I'm hoping it's because we're biking all the time and that eventually by body will get used to all the changes I've made - I can't afford to eat this much all the time, and I mean that very literally!

So a funny story, the other day we met a man and his two sons in the stairwell of his apartment complex. The sons were aged 11 and 5 and were getting super bored waiting for their dad to finish talking to Sor Walton. To give my companion some more time talking with this man, I pulled out a pass-along card and made a paper airplane out of it and started playing with the boys a bit. Then the younger boy came up to me and wanted me to make a plane for him, so I did. The first thing he said to me was, in italian, "What language is she speaking??" referring to Sor Walton. Haha. So I told him "Italian. But she has an english accent, no?" It was just funny because he really couldn't understand what she was saying. I told Sor Walton about it after and she just laughed. I don't talk much in lessons, which is partially due to the fact that I'm just trying to keep up in terms of conversation, but whenever I do talk to someone, they always say "you speak Italian really well!" It helps SO much to have taken Italian before, and I feel like my Italian accent is pretty good, so that's nice. I feel like people can pretty much understand most, if not all, of what I'm saying. Poor Sor Walton, haha.

We spend a lot of time trying to find people to teach. All of the people we've talked to lately don't want to hear what we have to say. We've been working on trying to come up with new approaches and ways to start up conversations with people, so if any of you returned missionaries out there have any good ideas, hook me up! You can write me a snail mail at the address:

Sorella Katie Soh

Corso Agnelli, 87

10134 Torino

Italia

[Note from Katie's mom: this address is ONLY for letters, packages must go via the mission home, the address is on the sidebar.]

...and if you want to write me just to write me I'm okay with that, too :)

Oh, so I saw the mountains for the first time the other day. We can't see them from our house, but we were down a little bit out of the main part of the city and I could see them. It was pretty cool. It felt kinda like Utah.

Anyway, I hope this email is sufficiently long enough for you this week! I love you all and can TESTIFY that your prayers are keeping me going. Thank you so much!

LOVE LOVE LOVE,

Sorella Soh

I'm attaching some pictures from my camera!

me and Sor Teichert

me and Sor Miles

me and Sor Ivory

Anz Moh and Anz Hatch on the phones at the airport talking to their families

me in front of the first door I rang and talked to someone!

all soggy after a day of biking around Torino in the rain

my nametag all soggy when I got home

SONO QUI!!!

CIAO A TUTTI!!!!!

This is Sorella Soh, live from.... TORINO!!!! Yep, Torino (Turin) is my first city! And before you even ask, yes, they had the winter olympics here a few years ago and the stadium is by our apartment and YES I saw the box containing the infamous "shroud of turin" today!!!! It's great!

It's been two weeks since my last p-day and I can't even begin to tell you all what has happened in the meantime. The MTC is fine, great, blah blah blah but now I'M IN ITALY! As we were flying from Frankfurt to Milan, we flew over the Alps and I couldn't help but think of how crazy it is that I'm here and that I even made it to this point. I mean, I'm really in Italy again! It's strange, but it's amazing. I've been waiting a long time for this day and now it's finally here!

I was happy to hear that Sorella Teichert had sent you a little note. How sneaky! She didn't even tell me! Of course, she did sneak a bunch of pictures she had taken of us on her camera into my suitcase with little notes written on the back. I love that girl!!!

Anz Hatch, Anz Moh and I all made it to Milan on time and the mission president, his wife, and the assistants to the president came and picked us up. We went straight to the mission office where we were debriefed on things we need to do to be legal in the country and how to take care of bikes and cell phones and stuff. During this time we were all interviewed by the president. President Wolfgramm is great! He and his wife are so nice, and just awesome in general. Then after that we went out with the other missionaries to the Duomo in Milan where we did street contacting. Basically that consists of striking up a conversation with a stranger. Really. It's that terrifying! But I talked to a couple of people and even gave away a Book of Mormon. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to stopping people on the street to talk to them about Jesus, but I suppose it'll come. Anyway, we got some food and a gelato before heading back to the mission home to have dinner. I was SO tired! We hadn't slept much on the plane, and we landed in Italy in the morning so we had to stay up the whole day. I almost fell asleep at the dinner table, but luckily I held it together. The new missionaries stayed the night at a hotel by the mission home that first night, so I was by myself. It was okay though because I basically just slept! Then the next morning we went to the church in Milan and had some meetings and then I met my trainer - Sorella Walton! She's from Boise and has been in Italy for about 7 months. She's great! She's been really patient with me and has been showing me the ropes. Anyway, after we had lunch that day Sor Walton took me back to Torino and showed me our apartment and took me grocery shopping. I'm her first trainee! I'm trying my hardest to remember everything she does and says - we'll be together for 12 weeks while she trains me and then she'll likely get transferred somewhere else and then I'll be in charge! We're the only sister missionaries in all of Torino! So I have 12 weeks to figure this city and this missionary thing out. The goal of my training is to prepare me enough that I could be a trainer at the end of the 12 weeks, and knowing me and knowing President Wolfgramm, I wouldn't put it past him to make me a trainer in 12 weeks. He'd be crazy, but we'll see how prepared I am at the end of all of this.

So! The work is going great here! Just a few weeks ago they baptized a whole family! Giuseppe is his name, and his wife, son (19) and daughter (12) were all baptized. They are great! We had FHE with them on monday night and ate dinner with them - Giuseppe made pizza! I feel like I have big shoes to fill because the sorella that was here before me, sorella alexander, was just great. She actually just went home so I'm really taking her place! They also had two baptisms lined up for last Sunday for two Italian women - Rosa and Isabella. They are best friends and have a small ironing business that they just opened together just down the street from our house. Unfortunately they had to cancel the baptism because there has been some MAJOR rainfall here lately and they were afraid that the streets would be unsafe to get to the other chapel across town that has a baptismal font. So they won't be baptised until at least the 16th (maybe the 27th), but they are so great and we met with them yesterday and they are both really confident in getting baptized and wanting to follow Jesus Christ. SO COOL! Whoever said the work wasn't going forward in Italy is a big fat liar and you can tell them I said that! So great.

Torino is a biking city for the sisters. Yep. I have a bike. Unfortunately, it has rained EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. That I've been here so far except today. So you know what that means! Sorella Soh gets to ride her bike in a foreign city in a skirt in the rain in the cold at night. CALLED TO SERVE, baby!!!! It seems so cliche to be "that" missionary, but here I am! I can't help but laugh as I think about how bizzare I must look and how, mom, if you knew what I was doing you would just make that face and say "you're nuts". I know! I am! But there's no other place I could possibly be than drenched in Sunday clothes on a bike in Torino! Luckily it's been kinda chilly out so when I ride my bike I don't get too sweaty. We went to a market today where I bought some cheapy (probably fake) leather gloves that will hopefully keep my hands protected while I ride.

To add to the cliche missionary picture, I've been doing what we call "casa in casa" which just means that we go door to door trying to find people to talk to us about the church. Mostly people don't open the door, or pretend like they're not home. Most doors have peepholes, but on the inside they have little covers for the peepholes and we can hear and sometimes see when the covers get scooted aside as people look through to see who we are. Sor Walton took a picture of me by the first door I "knocked" (in reality we just ring the bell) where I actually talked to someone. They weren't interested and didn't open the door. Yeah! And I wouldn't necessarily say we've had the door "slammed" in our faces, but we've had a few closed pretty firmly as we've stood there. We did have a peephole cover slammed on us, if you can imagine that, though. Fun times! Everyone lives in apartment, so basically we go to the little telephone thing by the door and buzz different people until someone lets us in. Then we take the elevator to the top floor and ring every door before we go down to the next level and do the same thing until we get to the bottom floor. We haven't found anyone yet who wants us to come back and give them a lesson, but like Opa always tells me "everyone's got to have the chance to hear our message, whether or not they want to hear it". But, we're praying for people to teach and even fasted last Sunday to find people. I had the thought in the MTC last week that even though building a temple in Rome is totally awesome, we shouldn't be content to only have ONE temple in all of Italy! Are you kidding me?! We need to create a demand! I'm trying hard not to be scared talking to people, even though it's hard for me a lot of the time to understand what people are saying. It'll just take time I guess!

Well, I guess I better go. I love you all! The church is true! God speed the right!

Love,

Sorella Soh

Call from the Mission President

Why oh why must people ALWAYS call during the 30 minutes every afternoon that I pick Katie's brother up from work??

This time it was the Mission President, calling to let us know that Katie arrived safely in Milan. Her first city will be Torino, her companion is Sorella Walton, and her p-day will still be Wednesday. Which hopefully means I'll have a report in her own words to post here in just a few more days.

Phone call home!

Hi blog friends, this is Sorella Soh's mom. I got to talk to her on the phone yesterday for a bit from the SLC airport. She had told me earlier she wasn't going to call, because she is trying so hard to keep the mission rules, but her branch president told her that not only is it okay, it's encouraged for them to call. So yay!

It was funny, though, because we've communicated so well via email and snail mail that there wasn't a whole lot to say. You'd think after nine weeks we'd run out of time, but we actually ran out of stuff to talk about. Still, it was great to hear her voice and the enthusiasm she has for her mission.

She said she left Provo at like 6 am and would arrive in Milan Wednesday morning about 10 - that's a LONG flight! She's traveling with two of the elders from the MTC. From what she's been told they'll pick them up at the airport and then take them into Milan for some sightseeing and to start talking to real Italians! I hope to get an email or something from the Mission President letting me know she's arrived safely and if/when I do I'll post it here.

But - she's in Italy!! Thanks to everyone for the prayers!