Christmas, Eating with Members, 2 Phone Numbers

Buongiorno Principessa!
So I hope every body's Christmas was fabulous. It was weird having my first Christmas away from home. ha ha I learned early into the day that I shouldn't compare the two. I only have two Christmas' here in Italy so they're just going to be different--but obviously rad. So we got to sleep in on Christmas day! Yup...all the way until 7:00a.m. Then my companion and I opened presents. I got this one present from a member of the ward here. She doesn't even know me but I thought it was so sweet. Then later we went to the Church and made a "Mexican lunch". ha ha The other missionaries here said it'd been too long since they'd had Mexican food so we made tacos. Ah, who knew something like tacos would be something happy on Christmas day? Then we just wrote letters and we got to watch a couple of movies---goods like Hercules and Finding Nemo. Well today is P-day and I'm crazy excited because we're going to go to some touristy stuff. Last P-day was Christmas Eve or something so we couldn't go see anything. But on the agenda for today is: The Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain. I'm so excited! We've had some cool lessons so far. We have about three progressing investigators--Erica, Diana, and Susi. They're all way sweet. We just have to work on getting them to church. It's crazy to me that that's such a consistently hard thing with people that I've met here. We're working on it though and trying to help them see that it's important. I can't always understand all of the lessons but I at least know what's going on and what we're talking about. It's different, too, depending on their accents. Susi is a little harder for me to understand because her native language is Portuguese. Nothing against Portuguese but it's just harder with the different accent to understand her Italian. We've gone over like 3 times though and it's getting a little better. Other then that, the language is okay. ha ha I have a lot to learn but it's cool. I'm already understanding basic conversation goods better, but it's hard because we get to a point in the conversation where I just don't understand anymore. Good thing I get a hour a day to study eh? It's fun though. I can already tell I've made some progress which is nice. Oh man, can we just talk about the woes of eating with members. ha ha Oh my goodness I don't know how these other missionaries do it! It's good stuff but just let me explain. For instance, we were at this families house--the Aquilinos--and they were feeding us lunch. So she brought us each out this massive plate of ...crepes with spinach inside. It was a lot--just trust me. When Sorella Aquilino walked out of the room I looked at my companion and was like, "Wow, that's a lot of food. But I'll try to finish." Then she started laughing at me and reminded me that that was only the first course!! Oh my stars it was a doozy. After that she brought out a massive plate of mashed potatoes and meat. I seriously tried so hard to finish but I felt sick so I put my fork down and Sorella Aquilino (she was just sitting in the room watching us eat because she'd already eaten) kept saying, "Sorella, mangi! mangi!" (aka eat! eat!) Then it was followed by salad and a desert. Don't get me wrong, the food is hard to hate, but they feed their guests a lot of it! haha It's pretty ridiculous. I'm working on a game plan so I don't feel sick for the rest of the day. ha ha Gotta love those Italians! Well we had a few hours at the end of one of our days left so I asked my companion if we could go ride the metro to a certain stop and then come back---doing it repeatedly--and just see if we could get some numbers. We set a goal of getting 2 numbers. So we'd split up on the metro and just talk to whoever we sat by and then we'd get off on the same stop and talk about it and regroup. ha ha I realize that this might sound silly but it was cool. So we talked to some really awesome people and we didn't get any numbers. It was time for us to go home and I felt a little discouraged because our goal was 2 numbers. Well then we were walking home and I told a guy walking by "Buona Serra" (just like good evening) and he stopped and talked to us for a bit. Well...we got a number!! Unfortunately he wasn't interested in the gospel. He just wanted to go out or something. But still the same, is it bad that I considered that number a slight victory? Lemme know because I did. We asked him if he'd come to church (this was on Saturday night) and he didn't show the next day so...we'll think of something. ha ha Anywho, all is well in Rome! It's crazy cold--seriously I think my fingers, toes, and nose are constantly frozen and yet---good times! I'm still trying to figure this whole missionary thing out. It's fun though when we're working hard. Well I hope you all had a great Christmas and have a happy new year.
Lots of love, Sorella Hansen

First spill, Member meal, Christmas call‏

Well well well...So...I'm in this little place called Italy these days. What in the world is that about?!? Unfortunately/Fortunately it's going to be mighty different then last year when I was here. ha ha jokes jokes!! Well I don't really know where to start. This last week has just been one crazy blur. So I set a goal to try to contact some people in the airport on the way over and it was a bust. Not joking, it is not one of my current skills. ha ha I went with Sorella Millis at the airport in England and we were trying to find people to talk to and she was doing awesome. She gave so many things away. I don't know why I was so nervous. I think it was a combination of culture shock (aka real people, in normal clothes, ...just not the MTC) and still trying to adjust to the fact that I'm a missionary. But I totally got myself all prepped to go talk to this lady in the airport in england and I just walked up and sat by her and asked her a few questions...ha ha oh awkward. She was giving me this blank stare and I had a strange feeling that she didn't speak english. But I tried to tell her I liked her scarf and made a few more pathetic attempts of small talk....ah...come to find out she speaks german and I just looked like a git. Oh well! It was worth an effort. I just muttered Merry Christmas and got on the plane to Italy. Ah...my life.So I was hoping that I could sit by an italian on my way to Italy but ...negative. I was sitting by Anziano Herrick and Sorella Crandall. Love 'em and all but ...come on, I wanna whip out my italian! But in the row in front of us the nicest italian guy was sitting with Sorella Millis and Sorella Hughes. He was seriously the nicest person I've ever seen. The best author in the world couldn't create someone nicer! Everytime they'd start to speak Italian he'd just kinda smile and nod encouragingly...ah I just pulled out my vocab book/eavesdropped from behind.Well when we got on the ground our assistants picked us up and we went and got our first pizza and saw St. Pauls outside the walls. It was pretty rad. There were also two new italian missionaries that we finally got to meet. They seemed shy at first but they're way cool. So after that we went to oh..you know...the Colosseum!! We seriously came off of the metro and Whamy! There it was! It was fantastic! There was some drunk guy dressed up like a gladiator that asked if we wanted a picture with him. Ah..best of times. So we had dinner at the Villa with our mission President and oh mylanta that woman fed us a grundle! We had a tiny interview with the mission president. It was like 3 minutes and then we went to bed.Next day we went to the 'church property'. Technically we can't call it the temple site but it's like 15 acres so uh...yeah. It's way pretty! President Acerson said that it's bigger then temple square. Crazy sauce. Then we went back to the villa and opened a golden envelop that said where our first area was and who are trainer would be. (Well first we had lunch with all the future trainers, but we didn't know who would be training who). Well I opened mine and guess where I am at this very moment?! (Maybe the mission president already e-mailed you...but anywho) Roma 1! There are four areas in Rome and I got numero uno! My companion's name is Sorella Chevalier. She's from Toole and she's been out a year --and six months in Roma 1!So the first night we went to go help with english class and I was wearing my new (and unsurprisingly awkward & bulky) missionary shoes. Well we were almost to the church and I turfed it...bad! ha ha Oh man I just wish I could have seen it. Seriously I don't even remember it happening. All I know is I was face down on the italian sidewalk and was trying to play it cool. ha ha But yeah I totally shredded my nylons on one of my leggs. I felt so silly at english class because my nylons on my right leg were pretty slashed and my knee was all bloody. Ah good times in Rome.Well what else? We did Zone singing yesterday and so all of the missionaries from the zone get together and sing Christmas songs in this adorable italian street and when people stop to listen...we just sneak out of the group and go talk to them. It was cool. I got to see a couple of the older missionaries from the MTC. It was so good to see them again and get some advice.Last night we had dinner with some members called the Gaumba's. I had my worries that I'd be all kinds of awkward with my lack of italian but they were great. I pulled out my pictures and told them about everybody and when I told them that Cody served in Africa...basta! I was in! (They're from Africa) But it was cool. I played some games with their two kids and Stefano (he's like 14) walked us to the gate afterwards. Adorable. But yeah, I think my companion and I are both feeling a little off today--They fed us tons! I just asked my companion if we could walk everywhere today and not take the bus. Oh dear. But it was really cool. I could understand mostly everything that they were talking about after a little while. I think I just had to get used to their accent and stuff. But then again they're not really italian. The italians are a completely different story.Today, I had to go to this building to get my "Permesso"--just permission to live here. And we were sitting in the waiting room and I was trying to talk with a guy in the waiting room. His name was Fabbio and he was way nice but yeah...I can only get so far with conversations right now. It's cool though. I really like talking to people.Well I think I'm outtie for now. Sorry I think this e-mail is ridiculously long. Um...a couple of things 1. with packages (marmsy) make sure you don't declare the contents as being very much. Like put 8 or 10 bucks...don't do a lot! And I guess there are certain things that they charge you more for if you declare--like cosmetics and stuff. So if you send that stuff, just don't declare it. Just but like "missionary things" or something. and 2. I get to call home on Christmas! It's only 45 minutes and I think it'll be like 11...12...1? your time? ha ha Sorry! I think I'll call at like 8 or 9 here. Well sorry this was long. Peace out! Merry Christmas! Buon Natale! Ci Vediamo!
Sorella Hansen

Mallory Moment..

This story was related to me by Kris Pence, a friend and Mallory's boss when she worked at Smith Rexall Drug a couple of summer's ago.

The Washing Machine Story

Mallory and her companion got up early on their P-day to be the first one's to do their laundry. So they ran down there and put in their laundry. Later, Mal took a break from letter writing and went to the laundry room to make the clothing switch. She quickly switched machines and went back to her room. Later still, she goes back to get her clean clothes...they are still wet. What?!? You can all imagine Mallory's puzzled look, so she pops in a few more quarters and as soon as the machine starts going, she realizes that when she switched machines she put her clothes into another WASHING MACHINE. So now her clothes are going through their third wash. To Quote Mallory..."They are triple clean".

Flight Plans, Christmas Devotional

These pictures are compliments of Sister Swenson's blog...Thank You very much for sharing!

-Aubry the blogkeeper

Hey everyone! There is so much to write about this week so I hope that I can fit it all in in time. First of all.....we got our flight plans of Friday!!! Holy smokes it was one of the happiest moments to date! We weren't for sure if they would come on Friday, but they sure did!! I was with my companion and Sorella Crandall and Hughes and we rounded the corner (coming back from lunch) to get to our hallway where our class room is and the anziani yelled at us from down the hall waving these white papers at us and we all just started jumping and hugging. ha ha I realize now how completely ridiculous that must sound but just trust me...it was a very happy moment indeed! So in a week from this very moment I'll be on my way to the wonderful land of Italia! Holy smokes I can't believe this is happening. Sometimes it's still hard for me to grasp that I'm a missionary! Seriously I just never in my life planned on being here and doing this and now it's happening and I dunno...it's just crazy! Here's my schedule just so you know when to be home if you want a call. ha ha I leave Salt Lake at 8:20 a.m and get to Dallas/Ft. Worth at 12:05 and I'll be there until about 5. So I'll have five hours to call home. I don't know if there's time changes or anything but I'll be calling sometimes during that block. Maybe I'll plan on like 2 or 2:30 just in case we get delayed from Salt Lake. Any who, from there we fly to London and will be there for about 3 hours until we catch our flight to Rome, Italy baby!! Woo!So as you probably know, this last Sunday was fast Sunday. And it was our last fast Sunday here in the MTC. I remember one of the first Sundays here was a fast Sunday and also the last Sunday before the older district left. I can't believe that it's our turn now. So our whole district went up and bore our testimonies in Italian. It was really cool. Also earlier that day, I got to see one of my good friends from high school. Her dad has a calling here (now I feel bad that I don't know what it is) but she was here visiting on Sunday and I got to talk to her for a bit. It was really cool. And I got to see another friend the week before...her dad is a branch president here I think. So I got to see her and meet her fiance. It was way cool to see them one last time.Yesterday was our last TRC experience. Sorella Millis and I really planned for it and really wanted it to go well. We had to teach the second lesson in Italian and talk about tithing. It was really cool because we got to talk with our favorite person. We taught him when we were here for about a month and he was just so nice and wonderful to us so it was so relieving to be able to teach him again. In the middle of the lesson he gave us a really sweet compliment about our Italian and I dunno...we were just so excited that we got to teach him our last time and that it went well.We got to watch the Christmas Devotional on Sunday with the first presidency. It was so good! Seriously it was just what we needed and it was amazing. I hope that some of you got to go or watch it because it was soo cool. I loved seeing the conference center all done up and hearing from the First Presidency of the church. It was so cool. And was just a great ending to a great Sunday.So I wanted to talk about something else real quick. This last week was one that was bound to come for a while now. It was really hard. I gained a new understanding of how Satan feels about me being here. It was the craziest thing. I don't really know how else to describe it. I just learned that Satan really really doesn't want us here, and he really doesn't want us on that plane to Italy. But then in class, our teacher, Sorella Birdsall, was talking to us about Charity. We were breaking down the scripture Moroni 7:45. And we each had to take a phrase in that scripture and study it and break it down. Well I was assigned the phrase "rejoiceth in truth" and I found the gold mine of a scripture in 2 Nephi 9:40. It was really cool. I wish I had my scriptures with me to quote it but you'll have to look it up. Anyway the part that I thought was most incredible was when it was talking about how the words of truth come from our Maker. (I hope this explanation doesn't sound has awkward as it's sounding to me ...explaining it) But I thought it was cool that if we can recognize the source of where every thing's coming from, we'll rejoice in truth, we'll love it, and we won't be shaken. SO the moral of the story is...in everything that we're feeling and thinking, we've got to recognize the source. If we're charitable and we recognize a truth, that God is obviously the source of, it will be our pleasure (and we'll rejoice) to be a part of it. So don't read into any of this. I know for sure that I'm supposed to be a missionary and that I'm supposed to go to Italy. But it was just perfect that I got to learn more about charity and recognize that I'm not doing any of this alone.Well holy smokes this work is amazing. Sorella Swenson and I were talking about being missionaries and she was like, "You know what? Being a sister missionary must be the best kept secret in the church. Because there's no way to even describe how amazing it is to be here and be learning all of this." I completely agree. I love being a missionary. I love being Sorella Hansen. I know that Satan doesn't want any of the missionaries here going to their missions because he knows - 1. what this gospel will do for other people throughout the world and 2. what this experience is going to do for us as people. He knows we'll never be the same afterwards and he wants to deprive us of this experience. But to me, that's just a version of testimony. He's really just bearing his own testimony that this church is true. I'm not going anywhere though!...except Italy. I love being a missionary. I love reading the scriptures and studying with my companion. I think the scriptures get cooler and more amazing everyday. I love you guys. Be safe. And I'll see ya latas!

Sorella Hansen

2 Nephi 9:40

O, my beloved brethren, give ear to my words. Remember the greatness of the Holy One of Israel. Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you; for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken.

PiCTuReS!!!

**So, I finally conquered the scanner! So here are all of the pictures that Mal has sent home. Each one comes with an explanation written in true Mallory style. Enjoy! - Aubry**

"Obviously this awkward photo-op had to go down sometime right?"

Me and my comp Sorella Millis

"Yeah, I don't think there's a cool story with this. It was just at the stoplight on the way to the temple."

Sorella Crandall, Sorella Hughes, Sorella Swenson, Sorella Watson, Sorella Millis, Sorella Hansen

"Sister Missionary footwear. We thought we were artsy this day or something."


"Once again we think we are artsy. Here is our fabulous variety of mid-calf kilt material"

"Anziano Baldwin wanted to throw leaves to have them be in our picture and then he was going to duck behind us. Thankfully, this blessed picture was taken before he ducked."

These are the Sorelle in my District/Bedroom

Sorella Crandall, Sorella Swenson, Sorella Millis

Sorella Watson, ME, Sorella Hughes

"Ha, Ha, This is Anziano Graham. He just left this morning for Roma, but as you can see, he's a good time."

"The October 15th Sorelle"

Sorella Hughes, Sorella Crandall, Sorella Watson, Sorella Swenson, Sorella Millis, Sorella Hansen

"The Sorelle in my district."

"ITALIAN STALLION!"

"Sorella Millis frequently loses that little black book of hers & we've had to go find it many times. So I came up with the phrase 'Italian Stallion'. (O.K., we all know I stole it from Rocky) But randomly myself or one of the other Sorelle will yell, 'Italian Stallion!' and me & S.M. have to put our books in the air like this. Alls I'm saying is...she hasn't lost it since...:) "

"These are the two district older than us that left a month ago. They are SO rad!"

"My tag's dirty. I wish I could find tag cleaner."

"Okay, I just re-read that comment & sorry I'm so lame! Tag Cleaner?!?"

"Cool pic though eh?"

Sorella Hughes, Sorella Crandall, Me, Sorella Millis

HALF-WAY PARTY!!!

Sorella Hughes, Sorella Watson, Sorella Millis

"Half way in the MTC, we celebrated with Marinelli's"

Sorella Crandall, Sorella Swenson

Neunenschwander, Sickly, Leaving on a Jet Plane‏

Hey all~

Well things are going splendid here in the MTC. A fairly common American holiday went down this last week so I'll tell you a bit about that. So we didn't have classes on Thursday and so I thought we'd have tons of free time to study and write letters and stuff...silly me. Well so we did have like 2 hours to write letters but other then that they kept us busy with other tasks. Our day consisted of: 3 firesides, a humanitarian project, watching a choir film that was easily filmed in the 70's, had a thanksgiving dinner that just made me miss my mama's, and yup! That's pretty much it. Wow I hope that didn't sound negative because it really was a good time.We were all (and when I say 'we', I mean...the anziani in our district) thinking that for the devotional on Thanksgiving that they'd pull out the big guns and we were all prepped for the Prophet to come. Yup, you'd better believe we took our scriptures and letter writing goods to the building where the fireside would be a good two hours in advance. ha ha Ah we're so lame. Well come to find out when they told us that a general authority was coming to speak to us, in our minds we heard, "Oh, okay, the prophet it is!" but in reality it translated to the wonder that is Elder Neuenschwander. ha ha Okay I hope I don't sound ungrateful on this day of gratitude. Because he gave a great talk. But it was just funny that we were being so silly when obviously the prophet would want to be with his family on thanksgiving. ha ha Ah....my life these days....So for the Humanitarian project we did something crazy cool. So we had a fireside (yup, one of three!) about the humanitarian work that the church does and I think half of us were weeping like willows during that! So after watching that we got really excited to do this humanitarian project. The MTC made 10,000 first aid kits for Haiti and Cuba. It was so cool. Seriously service is a good time! It was way cool.In other news there's been some crazy strong germs flouncing about in here. Our zone has been getting it pretty bad. So my companion and I have been feeling yucky this past week but hopefully it's on the incline. But it's a doozy.OH! So ready to have your mind blown?! So...two weeks from today, nay, this morning at like 3 am.....I'll be on a flight to Italia! What in the world?! Seriously I can't believe it's come so fast. I think we get our flight plans this Friday of where are lay-overs are and stuff. Holy smokes! And I'm allowed to call from the airports so maybe I'll do that. I can't decide because I'll just talk to you like ten days later for Christmas so I dunno. You tell me. The last thing we want is some awkward, "How are the scriptures these days?" questions. ha ha Sorry Adam. :)Um...I'm trying to think of something awesome to tell you because my journal writing this week has been spars so I really have little recollection of what I actually did. I guess I'll tell you about the TRC yesterday. So we had to teach the second lesson in Italian. That one is brutality for me. Don't get me wrong, it's a great lesson and stuff but teaching about things like resurrection, explaining Adam and Eve, Spirit world, and kingdoms of glory---in Italian...is easier said then done! Especially since we're supposed to make sure they understand the concepts that we're teaching them. All things considered it went well. We didn't have time to teach the whole lesson but on the positive side, I know for sure that she understand what we taught her AND she stayed awake and acted like she gave a hoot about what we were saying. Can't complain about that! ha ha There are two anziani in our district who have, to date, had THREE people fall asleep on them in their lessons. ha ha Poor guys.Well there's not a whole lot else that I can think of to tell ya. Sorella Millis and I are stepping up our SYL (speak your language) goals. Because ...yeah, we'll be in another country soon. So we're speaking in Italian to each other a lot more. OH! Fun news! So honestly, I thought that being in the MTC around Christmas time would be a bust, but on the contrary! They decked out this one section of the MTC with so many Christmas lights and a nativity scene. It's a happy sight indeed! I love it! But...as much as I love it...I'm sure Italy in Christmas lights will be SO much better!Well that's all I've got for you for now. Every thing's going well. Sorella Millis and I have a great time and work really hard. I think we're both going to go through with drawls of each other when we get to Italy because we just enjoy being each others companions. How cheesy did that just sound? Seriously, what's happening to me? Anywho...Italian is the most beautiful language and that's just a fact! It's so much fun to speak and I love attempting it even if I'm just muttering poor grammar Italian. :) I love all of the study time that we get here. It's so nice to have so much personal and companion study. It's a lot of fun to talk about different scriptures with Sorella Millis because we both get different things out of them but the other persons perspective is so interesting and makes them better. I love it! Well that's all for now. I hope none of you are getting sick, because that is just hardly ideal. Lots and lots of Italian love,Sorella Hansen

One of 12, Singing Sacrament, Thanksgivin'

hi-dee-ho! Hey all! Everything is going swell in the MTC. I'm way sad that I couldn't have e-mailed you Tuesday night after our ridiculously incredible Fireside. This really awesome man named Elder Jefferey R. Holland came and spoke to us! I'll tell you what, it was debatably the best fireside I've ever been to! Not joking, I've never heard him speak in person but he's quite....stern? I don't know how to properly describe it but honestly, at first it kind of scared me. He would get kind of loud when he was talking about certain things. But after a while I realized that he wasn't mad, but the things that he was talking about were just really important. That sounds incredibly un-profound. But it was amazing! Seriously I felt like the definition 'rebuked' was a little clearer after that talk. ha ha I wish I knew how to explain it because it was seriously incredible! I could tell you some of the things that he talked about, but it probably won't be as cool to you because it's just missionary advice but essentially he was talking about how important it is that we, ourselves, are our first converted. That we know first. And that we know with such surety, that when we come home, we won't walk away from this. It was way cool. He stressed that we need to be doing everything that we want our investigators to be doing. So if we want them to pray more sincerely, then we need to do it first! And if we want them to get into the scriptures, then we need to get into the scriptures. Well...it sounds an awful lot more profound when it's coming from him,but just take my word for it. It was fan-diddly-tastic!In other news we had zone conference on Saturday. Pretty much all of the Italian teachers took like 20 minutes and each talked to us about serving better, studying better, and goods about Italy. It was way cool. Whenever our teachers talk about Italy we get SO excited. Seriously part of me cannot wait to get over there...and a part of me is hyperventalating because I feel like I need to learn so much more in these last 3 weeks. I found a sweet scripture though that expresses exactly how I'll feel when I'm on my flight to Italy. Ready? Romans 1:15. We got some new missionaries in our zone!! Our district of 2 left. They're both going to Catania. It's kinda sad that they're gone but the group before them were harder to say goodbye to. But hey, I'll be joining them in 3 weeks! So we got 14 new anziani and 3 new sorelle. There's 3 anziani going to Roma and everyone else is going to Milano. So the 6 of us sorelle that came in together are the only sorelle going to Roma. It's so cool!So Sorella Swenson told our zone leaders that I wanted to sing in sacrament meeting. Ah...yup, I actually did not volunteer nor tell her anything of the sort. But you'd better believe that I sucked her into singing with me. So my companion Sorella Millis played the piano. We convinced one of our teachers to smuggle some music in for us so we could sing something pretty. So we sang a really pretty arrangement of "For the Beauty of the Earth". It was really fun actually. A bit nerve wracking but fun.Well I can't think of anything else spectacular at the moment...loving life and am happy to be here. My companion is wonderful. Seriously we work hard together but we're laughing all the time. It's gonna be really sad to not be companions with her anymore after the MTC because we have a consistent good time. The Italian language is as beautiful as ever. I love attempting to speak it. Well I love you all. Hope you're healthy,happy, lovin' life, and....thankful...this week especially. :) ha ha So I don't think that we have any classes on Thanksgiving. We'll have a 'Thanksgiving dinner' at like 1 or something and then a general authority will come speak to us I believe. Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and when you go around the table and say what you're thankful for you can insert this thought on my behalf, "The Italians!" ...and you guys too. The church gets more and more true everyday. Seriously everyday I'm amazed at how the gospel helps some of the 'investigators' that I'm teaching, and how many scriptures we can find that will help them. It's so cool.
All my Italian Love, Sorella Hansen

(Romans 1:15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.)

Happy Half-Way to Me!

Hey fam and friends~

So Friday marked our half-way point here in the MTC. It's so crazy how fast this is going. Sorella Crandall's mom sent her a half-way package with Martinelli's and stuff and Sorella Hughes fam sent her brownies too, we all sat in a circle and talked about our favorite memories so far. ha ha When I say favorite memories, mostly we wrote down a lot of the funny quotes that have been said by our teachers and other people in our district. Oh man our group is hilarious. So happy half-way to us! We're getting more anziani and sorelle in this week. 17 in fact! We're getting 3 sorelle, but they're all going to Milano. And of all of the new missionaries, only 3 of the elders are going to Roma. We're so excited to get more missionaries in our district. When our last two districts left we lost so many so we're excited to get more Italians in here at the MTC!! There's a district of two: Anziano Fernandez and Anziano Smith that are the only ones older than us now. They're leaving next...Monday I think. After that, we're officially the old ones and are supposedly supposed to sound like we speak Italian an stuff....uh...we'll see how it goes. We've all learned so much and it's cool to see how much all of our district has grown and changed but I think the idea of us being the oldest ones in here makes us all a bit nervous. But we'll step it up. We've gotta make this place as wonderful as it was made for us. (Is it just me or was that sentence a mess?) For devotional this week, Elder F. Enzio Busche came and spoke to us. Holy smokes! It was so good. If any of you need something awesome to read...pick up the book that he wrote. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it's called, but they undoubtedly sell it at Deseret Book. That man blew my mind. Heand his wife were incredible. He told us about his conversion story and about how we have God's love in us. It was seriously amazing. Um...what else...OH! So this week in the TRC (for those who are still unfamiliar with the 8 million acronyms that the MTC uses, it's where volunteers come in who speak Italian and we talk to them and teach the lessons.) so up to this point we've been talking for like 15 minutes with them in Italian and then we teach a lesson to them in English. Well, this was the first day that we had to talk to them in Italian and then teach the whole first lesson to them in Italian. Holy cow it was a doozey! Well...okay so I think it went pretty well but, it's just nuts that we're supposed to be teaching in all Italian now. So for our 15 minute conversation part with them before the lesson, we were supposed to talk to them about food. So we were supposed to have memorized all of these different food words and when we were with the volunteers we were supposedly in a cafe and had to order food and then share a scripture with them. So we had gym on Monday before the TRC, and Sorelle Watson, Hughes, and I all work out together. So we do tons of abs, arms, legs stuff. Anywho, since we weren't feeling really comfortable with all of our food terms I decided that whenever we were in the middle of our crunches or lunges and we were about to yell in pain, INSTEAD, we had to yell out a food word in Italian. ha ha It was so funny. We'd be counting crunches and this is what someone from outside of our exercise group would have heard, "72, 73, 74, 75, il pomodoro!....100, 101, il cucchiaio! 102, 103". It was a good time. The examples I just gave you were tomato, and spoon. It was so funny. Especially doing that during crunches just hurt our abs even more because we'd burst out laughing when someone yelled in pain something like, "meatloaf!". Good times in the MTC. On Sunday we had a former mission president of the Milano mission talk to us and it was so good. He quoted a scripture that I've rather enjoyed the last few weeks here in the MTC. You should check it out: Hebrews 13:24, and he told us some cool stories. Hearing from people who served over there and love those people so much make me so stoked to get over there. I already feel like I love those Italians. I can't wait to get there...and yet, I know I have tons more studying and learing to do until I mutter my testimony to them in Italian. So one of the funny quotes of the week before I go: We have an Anziano in our district who is an unsuspecting good time. I didn't think he would be as funny as he is. But we were doing this exercise in Preach My Gospel and it was a situation that said something like, "You see a mother and her child playing in a park. What do you think you should go talk to them about?" And Anziano Brooks leans over and says, "Definitely tithing." ha ha Well, that's all for this week. Hope everyone's doing well. Working really hard, learning tons, and loving life. The church gets more wonderful everyday I learn more about it--as does the Italian language. Seriously how I scored the best of both worlds is beyond me. I feel guilty here in the MTC telling people where I'm going because every time they kind of feel bad about their missions afterwards. It really is sweet, not just that I'm going to preach the gospel there, but that Heavenly Father has work for ME to do there. Till next week!

Sorella Hansen

PiCTuReS!!!

Mallory sent us some pictures in her last letter and I have been arguing with the scanner for days now trying to figure out how to get them onto the blog. (I am slightly challenged). Thankfully Sis. Swenson's blog had these two pictures, so I stole them from her and put them on until the scanner and I are on speaking terms. Mike, if you read this, I know you don't want to hear it but...I need some help.

The Sorelle from Mallory's district (L-R)

Sorella Hughes, Sorella Crandall (up), Sorella Watson, Sorella Swenson, Sorella Millis Sorella Hansen

New President, Teaching in Italian, and Jack Bauer...

So this week was a slammin' good time. So I guess we chose a new president? Man we are seriously so sheltered in here. Wednesday morning we went to pick up "sack breakfasts" because we had gym in the morning and there was no announcement or anything of who the new president was. We just had to ask one of the workers here who the president was and they told us. I totally thought they'd announce it or something. Well we have surely missed the missionaries that left to Italy last week. It's pretty pathetic actually how much we miss them. My companion and I constantly find ourselves saying things like, "Hey is that Anziano Carter over there?" or "What's Anziano Herbert doing going out the wrong door?". I guess we're delusional or something because we keep "seeing" them everywhere. It's weird and pathetic. We miss them a lot. Even though they were only here for three weeks they were like family to us. I can only imagine how hard it's going to be when I have to say good by to my district.But out with the old in the with the new. We got 7 new missionaries on Wednesday. Two new sorelle and 5 new anziani. Two of the anziani are from England. We met them on Tuesday before the rest of their district came in and we were worried. ha ha Luckily our first impressions were incorrect and they must have had a lot of jet lag. ha ha And the anziani in our district have certainly warmed them up to the idea of hugging. It's so funny because the first couple of days when all of the anziani would hug at the end of the night...the two anziani from England looked SO uncomfortable. ha ha I think they're more used to it now. One night at dinner we were all laughing about something (I can't even remember what about) and one of the anziani from England leaned over to me and said, "I don't get American humor." ha ha Just like the hugging thing, I'm sure we'll break them in to our humor sooner or later. All of the new missionaries are fun. All 7 of them will be going to Catania but they're a good time.So in our class we all have "investigators" who we teach. For example one of mine is named Isabella and I know her whole life story because some anziani in our district teach her and are progressively working with her. Sorella Millis and I have about 5 investigators (so just 5 different people from our class pretending to be investigators) and we've been progressively working with them, giving them challenges, and trying to teach to their needs. Well starting on this last Friday our teachers told us that we have to start teaching them in Italian. So we're on the second lesson with most of them and teaching about the spirit world and kingdoms of glory in Italian is actually pretty hard! But every time we do anything in Italian I'm always amazed by how much we can explain and get out. It's truly amazing.So on Saturday night the district leaders came and asked me if I'd give the closing prayer in our Italian sacrament meeting on Sunday. I was kinda nervous but excited. So also, I don't remember if I've told you this or not but, we have to write a 5 minute talk every Sunday in Italian. And right after the sacrament, someone from the bishopric stands up and tells us who will be speaking that day. So besides the fact that I was thinking about saying a prayer in sacrament, I had to write a 5 minute talk in Italian about repentance. So before sacrament meeting one of the new anziani was sitting by me and asking me to help him pronounce somethings in Italian. He pretty much went through his whole talk that he'd written (ha ha mostly quotes from Preach My Gospel) and was asking me to help him pronounce things. So guess who the bishopric asked to give one of the talks? yup, yours truly. I assume they saw me talking to one of the anziani and thought I was dinking around or something so they thought they'd put me on the spot. ha ha It was actually pretty cool. So myself and another anziano had to give the talks. I spoke about repentance and how preach my gospel says that when we repent, it changes our perspective of other people, the world, and ourselves. I shared a scripture and bore my testimony. It was pretty cool actually. Italian is sooo beautiful. I'm sure I don't do the language justice when I speak it but I love speaking it none the less!!As a closing story, I wanted to share a tid bit with you about the wonder that is our teacher Fratello Fife. He is cool because he gives the most powerful and amazing lessons, is INCREDIBLE at Italian, AND is just flat out hilarious. So we were learning the verb "Piacere"--which means "to like" or "to be pleased with". So he was giving us a sentence and he said, "Mi Piace Jack Bauer". (For those of you who have never seen 24, you probably won't fully appreciate this) and someone in the class said, "Does that mean you have a man crush on Jack Bauer? That's kinda creepy." ha ha And Fratello Fife, without even thinking said, "Well if you think that it's creepy, then you're probably a terrorist." ha ha! So che la chiesa di Gesu Cristo e vera. So che quando abbiamo bisogni di aiutarci che possiamo pregare e Dio rispondera.

I love you all. Sorella Hansen

Two Important Visitors....

Hey guys~Another great week in the MTC. This week especially went really fast. It's making me nervous that the number of weeks until we go to italy is getting smaller and smaller. 6 weeks!So a week ago today we had a pretty cool speaker for the Tuesday night fireside. Oh ya know, a nice fellow by the name of L. Tom Perry. Good man! I heard him talk at BYU-Idaho too. He's great. He and his wife spoke about our purpose as missionaries and focused on our need to "help" and "invite" people to come to the gospel. It was way good!Then we've also been being prepped because the Ambassador from Uganda was coming to the MTC, to OUR class! We had several people come talk to us beforehand about how important it was for us to behave and be good examples because we could effect whether or not the church can send proselyting missionaries there. So he came on Wednesday last week and it was way cool. I think we were expecting him to sit through our whole class and ask us questions but that didn't really happen. He was in our class for like 10 minutes. But he taught us a little Kiswahili. It was rad. Our teacher did a little demonstration of how we learn Italian and he seemed impressed I think. He brought his wife with him and they were really nice people. Before he left he told us how he thought it was so cool that we were so young and dedicating so much time to the work. And one of the people accompanying him on his "tour" of the MTC mentioned that we're all paying to be here. Before he left he said, "How many of you would like to serve in my country of Uganda?" and obviously we all raised your hands. Come on, who wouldn't?! And he just had a big smile on his face and said "I hope you can all come to Uganda after this and be missionaries." So I think he has a pretty good impression of us. It was way cool to meet him.Hmmmm...what else. Halloween was this last week. We really didn't do anything incredibly awesome. Some of the sorelle from the other district told us to wear all black and gray so....that was us celebrating the holiday! ha ha This morning at 3 a.m. our 2 oldest districts left us! 20 of our anziani and the other 6 sorelle all left! So we're pretty much all alone now. Besides the 8 anziani and 6 of us Sorelle that all came in together, there's only 2 other anziani here! 26 gone, 16 left. Fast Sunday was so good. It was the coolest meeting! Our branch president asked that everyone who wanted to bear their testimonies to do it in English. I wanted to hear their testimonies in Italian, but I'm glad I heard them in English. I think we were all bawling. Seriously they're just like family to us and now we're going to be the older missionaries. It's so weird for us. They've all helped us so much so it's sad to see them go but...we'll see some of them again. The rest are going to Milano.Language is coming along slowly but surely. I dunno I always write letters after the TRC so I'm hardly feeling proud of my language or teaching skills after that but it's good. The TRC is "The humbler". you just don't walk out of their feeling like the Rocky of Italian or the gospel. There has been progress made. It's fun to try and speak it and see that you can figure out how to get around to saying what you want. Did that make sense? It's crazy. The longer I'm here, the more I feel like I've learned a lot and yet I don't know anything. Like the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. It's cool though. I'm really enjoying it. It's how we get better right?!?!My companion is great. We work really hard but we also have a lot of fun together. I'm super lucky because it's very apparent when people don't get along with their companions and it's sad. You just can't hide it. I can't believe I've only known her for 3 weeks. It just seems like we've been through so much together already. It's a crazy roller coaster ride that we're on but we're working hard and enjoying every second.Well I can't think of anything else awesome going down...uh...if you have questions, just ask? Love you all. I hope every one's doing good. I'm sending all kinds of Italian love your way, Sorella Hansen

Mail time is so fun...

Hey Fam~
This week has been way good. It's crazy that we've almost been here for two weeks!! That's nuts to me. I don't remember what I even wrote in last weeks e-mail so if I repeat stuff then I'm sorry. We had the TRC yesterday where Sorella Millis and I had to teach some volunteers that came in to hear the message...and coincidentally also speak italian. So we had to do two door approaches where we tried to get in the door, talk about their family and what they're doing (school, work...) and then the second door was supposed to be a member-referral so we had to ask why they were interested in the church and stuff.

So the first door went okay. We were kinda awkward but we got through it and everything. The next door we went to was Mike Beck and some other girl. So it was crazy because I totally taught him one of the lessons with the mission prep class before I came in here. So in the italian part he said something about how he understood that we believed Joseph Smith is a prophet but didn't understand because anyone can say that they're a prophet. So we just bore our testimonies and tried to explain how we knew Joseph Smith was called of God and that we knew that he knew. I'm sure the grammar might have been awkward but we can somehow come up with what we want to say one way or another. The lesson was way cool too because at first it was choppy but once we got into it a bit it started flowing better and we could think of scriptures to share and stuff. It was way cool. But I always leave experiences like that and have like 372 things that I can improve and work on...but that's good!

So pretty much every day here is exactly the same. Seriously the only way it seems different is they put gym time at a different time of day. It's funny. Friday's is the real treat because gym time is at the end of the day so after gym time we have a little time to shower and it seems like we have more time to get ready for bed and everything. SO we sorelle all go into the showers at the same time afterward (there's curtains and stuff...it's not THAT much like a prison...more like spiritual bootcamp. Jokes!) But we all sing songs together in the shower. Sometimes hymns, but we usually resort to disney songs. Now I know what you're thinking, "That sounds lame." True. We realize that our coolness factor goes down a few points when we do it HOWEVER, with our schedule and lifestyle the way it is....singing together in the shower is somehow just a romping good time!!

Our zone is wonderful. They're all way cool. The group of 27 that was here before us, they're leaving next Tuesday...and Wednesday. We're kinda sad because they're way fun. But the next day we'll get like 7 new missionaries or something that we can break in! We'll have to make the mtc as wonderful as these older missionaries make it for us.

So every sunday since the first one we were in here, we're asked to write a five minute talk in italian and then right after the sacrament the branch president calls two missionaries up to give their talks. So I've prepared one the last two weeks and luckily i haven't had to give it yet. The older missionaries have done it both weeks. They're so good!! I can't believe we'll eventually be that awesome at italian. But someday...someday. Well everything's going way good. We get to go to the temple today and all of us italians go to the same session. it's so rad. The elders take up so much room in the session. it's weird because the other times I've gone (before the mish) it's been the opposite. But it's way cool. Well I've got to go finish doing my laundry and write some more letters. Thanks for the letters by-the-way. Mail time is so fun...especially when you actually get some. ha ha Love you all. La chiesa di Gesu Cristo e vera e so che possiamo essere felice si preggiamo e leggiamo il libero di mormon. Til next week. Adios...I mean ciao!
Sorella Hansen

It's a good time and I'm lovin' it! 10-21-08

Hey fam~
Well the MTC has been so awesome so far! It was so funny actually you know after that cry-fest "Called to Serve" movie and how we went out opposite doors? ha ha Well when I went out that door I guess my eyes were kinda red or something and this new elder came at me with his arms open like he was going to give me a hug and it was like he hit a force field or something like right when he got close to me he backed up and was like, "Oh I guess I can't hug you right now huh?" ha ha He probably thought I had pink eye or something with how awkward I look when I cry. ha ha It was a good time. My companion is way cool. Her name is Jamie Millis. She's from Bountiful and she's so soft-spoken and sweet. She's so quiet so when we're in loud areas it's hard to hear her but she's probably one of the nicest people I've ever met. She's great. There are six of us Italian girls that came in together on Wednesday and there are 8 Italian boys that came in. All six of us girls are going to Rome but only one of the boys are coming to Rome with us. The other 7 are going to Milano. There are twins in our district! One going to Rome and the other going to Milano. They are sooo funny. They truly look like Tanner Thomas to me. Oh man they just keep us laughing all the time. They kind of have lisps and they talk about how their lisps get worse when they talk in public. ha ha Oh yeah and One of them was trying to tell us how to tell them apart and he was like, "Yeah I'm the fatter one. Tanner used to be the fatter one in elementary school and they called him the fat twin, but then he got salmonella and lost a bunch of weight." We were all laughing so hard but he was dead serious. Yeah they're great. So there's the 8 anziani and us 6 sorelle in our district. And our zone has 28 other missionaries going to Italy. They're WAY cool! They're all so loud and enthusiastic. It's so fun. They always shout, "Ciao Sorelle!" at us whenever they see us. And the anziani (elders) in our zone all shout "stand up" (but in Italian) whenever one of us sorella come to sit at the lunch table. Then all of the anziani stand up until we sit down. We sit at two tables in lunch and supposedly they're the tables that the Italian missionaries have been sitting at for 7 years! ha ha Kind of a cool tradition. So yeah they stand when we sit down and take our trays when we're done. It's cool. We all feel kinda awkward about it because....guys just don't do stuff like that normally but it's way cool and we appreciate it. So the goods: Language and gospel. The language is hands down the prettiest and happiest language I've ever heard in my life! It's so much fun to speak. We can do basic conversation, pray, and bear our testimonies in Italian. It's great! And we can sing any hymn! Because they only have one way to say each vowel. So if they want a different sound, they just put a bunch of vowels together because in Italian you pronounce EVERY letter. It's cool. We had the TRC yesterday for the first time. Sorella Millis and I had to contact someone as if we were in a park and just basically ask basic questions about them and then bear our testimonies to them. It was rough because the guy that we had to talk to was brutal. It's like someone forgot to tell him we'd only been there for 5 days. But it was okay. He asked us some hard questions. We only know how to ask things like, "how many people are in your family?" and "Where are you from?" and stuff like that. He asked my companion and I what the differences were between his church and ours...and he said that his church has a bunch of saints and asked if we have things like that. Don't ask me how I understood it but I'll tell you one thing....us responding was the REAL problem. ha ha Oh man so awkward. But good practice. Then we went back in and had to teach him the first discussion in English. We got a swift beating with the humbling stick! Man, he really gave us a hard time. He asked us some pretty hard questions and one time we asked him to read a scripture for us and tell us what he thought it meant and he totally twisted it to mean something WAY wrong. ha ha Oh dear. I guess we're just being kept on our toes. It was a good experience because it's incredible how much we have left to learn. We've learned a lot and it's seriously so fun but we have tons left to learn. Anywho la chiesa e vera et il libro di mormon e scrato scritto dei profeti antichi! I'll write you a letter later I suppose. Hope every thing's going well. Italian is bomb! It's a good time and I'm loving it. Sorella Hansen

Lots of Italian Love!

10/15/08
Ciao!

I seriously don't have long to write so this will be fast. This day has been crazy! very busy, lots of rules, lots of great people.

My companion is Sorella Millis. We're pretty sure we both had French together at BYU-Idaho. She's really cute, kind of quiet and soft spoken but so nice. I love her already.

I've also seen Sister Day twice today. (My roommate from UVSU) She seems to be doing well and it's fun to see her all decked out as a missionary.

Oh! Side note - I've decided that the word "Sorella" is truly one of the prettiest words. I love that it's on my name tag and is my new first name for a bit. So beautiful!

There are 6 girls that came in today, all going to Rome. They're way nice and it's nice having Sorella Swenson here and that we met before.

There are 8 elders in our district, 7 of which are going to Milan, 1 to Rome. The one going to Rome is actually a twin! His twin is in our district going to Milan. They're way blond haired, short guys. Anyway, I thought that was cool.

My zone is INSANE! They introduced us to the people already here after orientation and they all pretty much shout ciao! at us and are the happiest people I've met. I knew from their loud, happy introductions that we'd get along quite nice. Man the little that I know of Italian is so cool! It's the prettiest, happiest language and I'm stoked to learn it.

We're so busy but it's good. The spirit is so strong here it's incredible! And I've only had orientation and been shown where our showers are, so that's saying something! I love it here! I'm happy and have offically fallen in love with the Italian language. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be!

Lots of Italian love,

Sorella Hansen

Letters, Letters, Letters

Hi there Everyone! I just thought I would let you know, I will keep Mallory's current mailing address posted at the top of the side bar so ya'll will always know exactly where to send your letters for our dearest Mallory. There is also a website called Dear Elder, I'm sure most of you have heard of it, but it is FREE! Any letters you write from this website to the Provo MTC are absolutely FREE! The site is really easy to use, you just click on 'Write Letter' fill in the specifics and you're set. No stamps involved and if you get it in before noon (mountain time) then it will be delivered that same day.
So get going! Family, Friends, I'm sure she would love to hear from every one of you!

P.S. If you are looking for a little bit of interesting reading, click on the 'Dear John' section of Dear Elder.

It's Official!!!

The day has finally come! Mallory is officially a Sister Missionary and has entered what her brothers lovingly call the Missionary Torture Chamber. If that doesn't make you excited to go, I don't know what would! She 'checked in' at noon yesterday and despite a few tears after that dang Called to Serve movie, you could tell she was excited to start this new adventure.
Showin' off her newest accessory with the blazing orange 'celestial/dork dot'.


The Traditional Pics by the Flagpole!

The Sibs minus dearest Kimmy.

(Mckenzie, Cody, Mal, Adam)

Mckenzie, Cody, Aubry, Mya, Mal, Dave, Debi & Adam

Momma and Pops

Mallory is proudly sharing her proof of immunity with us!

'No buggies for me!' she declared

Off she goes!

It's going to be a lot quieter around here!

WE LOVE YOU MAL!

A Temple for the Italians!!

Normally my wonderful sister-in-law Aubry posts on here, but I thought I would do one before I leave on Wednesday for the MTC.

Ever since I went through the temple I've thought a lot about the people of Italy--where they go to the temple. what language it's in, how far they have to travel, if they need translators, etc. I read in a recent Ensign article about some youth in Rome. One of them said they try to go to the temple as often as they can but the Bern, Switzerland temple is the closest one---a 9 hour one-way drive! I've therefore felt pretty guilty that I live literally down the street from one.

Bern, Switzerland Temple

Therefore hearing the announcement in Conference of a temple being built in Rome made me so happy! I was reading my mission presidents blog (though lets be serious, his wife is probably the one who does it) and I was reading about how the Italians took the news. They were listening to conference at the stake center and one of the members was translating it for everyone. This is how my mission presidents wife retells the story:

When President Monson said, "Rome, Italy" in English, the person translating it
into Italian paused and said, "What?" and then took a half second to let it sink
in, then said, "Roma, Italia." The congregation leapt to their feet, cheering
and clapping. The women were crying, the men were hugging each other, and
everyone was overwhelmed with surprise and joy.

I'm so excited for the people of Italy to finally get a temple and am glad, even though I just awkwardly read my mission presidents blog, that I was able to know and share their excitement.

Farewell Gathering

Yesterday, Sept. 28, Mallory spoke at her farewell sacrament meeting. She spoke about the first principles of the gospel and about her decision to go on a mission. She did a fantastic job and the spirit was strong! After the meeting she partied with family and friends! Friends from high school, college roomies, and frenchies too! It was awesome to see all the love and support!

Thanks to everyone who attended!

Mal with her cute niece Mya. Mya will almost be 2 when Mal gets home!

Mal's roommate from Provo Katie, and friend Elisa.

Les Amies Francaises! Aubrey, Macrae, Vanessa, Kate, Stephanie, Sam, and Satyra

Roommates from BYU-Idaho Kori and Jaimie

High school buddies!! Cameron, Lindsey, Mal, Stacy, and Stephanie

The french girls! Satyra, Vanessa, Mallory, Stephanie, Kate,

Macrae, and Sam