First Days in Italy!

This has been the craziest, but best week of my life. First I got to the Mission home, which is gorgeous, by the way. Apparently it was built by order of Mussolini for one of his daughters, so it is seriously kind of palace like. Originally, I was assigned to be one of the first sisters in a city called Messina, located in Sicily, but our apartment did not come through.

We stayed with the sisters in Catania and served there until we heard that we were going to be moved. It was fun to serve in Catania, but it was hard because we knew we were going to be moved to Messina. Messina still was not up and running, so we got a call saying that we were going to re-open a city for sisters called Cosenza. Two days later, here we are, in Cosenza, the first sisters here in a long time, with a new, working, clean apartment. Phew. I am glad we get to re-open, because we get a fresh start with members and investigators. We get to start the Area Book!

My Dad was right, in a way. He guessed I would serve in Sicily and did serve in Sicily for a week, but now I am back on the mainland in the toe area.

My trainer is named Sorella Greco , and she is great. She is from Missouri, and she has been serving in Italy for about 8 months. And no, she is not native Italian. Maybe someday.

The way to get from Sicily to the mainland is kind of crazy. From Rome to Catania was about a ten hour train ride. Then, you might be asking, how does the train get to Sicily with the ocean in between? The train disconnects itself, and they put the pieces of the train on a ferry. Then the ferry arrives. So really, you never get off the train. If you do get off the train, then you are on a boat. It is kind of a crazy thing, and I got to do it twice this week. It was interesting.

I had some really cool experiences while in Sicily. My first day, Sorella Greco and I went finding, so we rang different cittofoni for apartments. After about the third one, this girl named Loria wanted to know more, so she rang us up. We talked to her, and she is one of those investigators that God definitely prepared for us to find. Then, once we found her, our mission in Catania was done. I was able to go back on exchanges to introduce her to her new missionaries, and say goodbye. I was also able to invite her to baptism, and she is praying about a date. It was such a cool experience.

I kind of stick out here in Southern Italy. I am two things that most people are not...tall, and blonde. A lot of people like to come up to us and ask where I am from. One woman said that I was biondissimo (very blonde).

The first thing I thought when I was Catania was how much it reminded me of how I pictured the Dominican Republic, where my Dad served his mission. It was kind of a city, but not really in the American sense. I am pretty sure that Catania was one of the last places dinosaurs lived. The plants were realllly big and random. It was kind of a combination between a jungle and a residential area. It was cool.

Cosenza is a lot more city-ish. Or at least we live in a part where there are stores and businesses everywhere.

In Catania, there were enough members for there to be a ward. When we went to church on Sunday, the whole ward wanted to talk to us, and it is true in Italy, the kiss on each cheek greeting is very common. So I pretty much got that greeting from every female in the ward. It was cool. In Catania, they also have an American Naval Base, and we were able to go to that. It was refreshing to have people speaking English.

Speaking of which, my Italian is coming along. I understand a lot of Italian, but my speaking is not that great yet. It depends I guess. It will come though! Basically, Italy is great. I love it! Everyday something crazy happens, and I just sort of laugh to myself and say, "gotta love it".

Also, the food...In Sicily, they have this food called Arancini. It is like a ball of rice with cheese and other things in the middle, and then it has a breading type thing on the outside. Now that I am not in Sicily anymore, I can't find them. Darn.

Okay, so the biggest difference between Catania/Messina, and qui in Cosenza was that Catania had more of an island feel, and I could see the ocean from my apartment. Cosenza is a lot more what I am used to, because it is kind of a valley like area with mountains around. Both are beautiful. I just love it here in Italy, and I especially love the people.

*Names have been changed for safety reasons.