Positivity, Desert Island, and filling church seats!

Well can I just start off with this quote from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland that completely rocked my world this week. Here goes, "God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities. God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe." I truly loved that quote when I heard it. Isn't life always better when we look at it with an attitude of positivity? It's something that I have really been working on in the mission. I have really been trying to see my life, the mission, myself, my companion, the work, everything in a happy, positive light. Everything goes better when we can see potential and when we can enjoy even the moments that don't work out for us--at least not in the way that we think they're working out. It has been interesting but I have seen many blessings and have enjoyed many moments in the mission when I'm sure I could have otherwise complained or gotten frustrated or sad. I still have a lot of work to do in continually being positive, but I have a testimony of how beautiful life can be when we chose to look at it that way.So...Merry Christmas!! I hope everyone's Christmas was beautiful and happy and full of love! There's a family here (The Mannucci family) that always invites the missionaries over every Christmas Eve and they buy whatever food we want and WE make THEM Christmas Eve dinner--the way it's done in America. I was completely mentally prepared to laugh my face off about it because the Christmas Eve dinner that we do with my family isn't really...one that I would mass produce for people and stamp it as a classic American Christmas Eve meal. Because we just do it very simple--I adore it--but I would hardly claim Cheese enchiladas and oranges as an all-american Christmas eve meal. So we decided as a district to make what Sorella Skabelunds family eats for Christmas Eve. It was practically Thanksgiving. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravey, carrotts, salad, rolls, the works. It was quite exciting actually. They put us in charge of the kitchen and it came at me like a dragonfly into a windshield how much of the kitchen vocab I do NOT know in the italian language. It's all good though. Language study. :) The branch here is great and I was amazed at how much love they showed us missionaries during the Christmas season. It was really touching that they got us presents and invited us into their homes at this time of year.What did the La Spezia missionaries do for the big day of Christmas? What a fantabulous question! We went to the church by 10 (yes, the elders had us all on a schedule) and we pretty much watched movies in the church---all day! Oh my stars! I kind of felt like I was living one of those desert island questions. You know, "if you could only bring 2 books on a desert island, which would they be?" Except our question was, "If you could only watch movies one day a year, what would you watch?" Granted we have some fairly strict rules on what we can watch so that kind of took a toll on our Desert island fun but alas, we ended up with goods like: Ratatouille, Life is Beautiful, The Polar Express, stuff like that. I decided by the end of the day two things: 1. It was kind of nice chillin' and watchin' some flicks. 2. There is not much that's fulfilling about watching films in large quantity. ha ha Seriously it was fun, but I also just wanted to run 5 miles after a day of Christmas laziness....and that feeling actually worked out in my favor because the buses weren't running so we got the priveledge of walking home! :) Merry Christmas to all eh!?I got a phonecall on Saturday night from Fratello Ricciardi letting me know that I would be giving a talk the following day in sacrament meeting...because they forgot to assign speakers. ha ha So I got to throw a talk together and it was actually kind of fun. At the beginning I kind of wanted to judo chop a cork board to let out my stupified..ness of not knowin what to talk about but I ended up talking about the importance of the commandments and that when we obey we're blessed. I got a little crazy with analogies to soccer and castles but I think it went pretty a-okay.BIG NEWS!! Sunday was the first time that the Acevedo family has ALL come to church! Oh Mamma Pajama was it a delight! We had a nice talk with Judy last week about how it she needed to get to church and apparently something worked because she was there with Arianna and Leo. Ah, it was a good feeling. ALSO the inactive member that I talked about last week...you know...she came to church this week!! WITH her 9 year-old-son. I love seeing the chairs of the church filled. It just makes me feel all chipper inside.Well we had a crazy cool day yesterday full of MIRACLES but I'm afraid I don't really have time to write about it. Maybe next week? Some kookster from the bus followed us into the internetpoint and was bugging me so I used up a bit too much of my time. Oh well! Pazienza! P.S. If you have not watched Life is Beautiful recently, put that on your lists because it was a winner! I laughed my face off and nearly cried my eyes out...okay that last part was thankfully false. It was really cool because I watched that movie before my mission but I obviously had to read the subtitles. This time I watched it without english or italian subtitles and it was a Christmas miracle noticing that I actually understood these wonderful italian people. And when I laughed, it was because I understood what they said and not what I read in english. AH, love it! Hope you had a holly jolly Christmas. Lots of La Spezian love, Sorella Hansen

Misunderstanding with Roberto, Applying gospel principles to our lives, SNOW‏

"There are more runs in my nylons then days until Christmas" That was the quote of the day on Saturday when my last pair of nylons went to the wolves! BUT fear not. Thanks to my adorable italian boots and mid-calf skirt, mums the word about my secret count down til Christmas. Ah yes, truly the best of times.What a week! We had many experiences that I would love to tell you but I'll see how many I can do without boring your faces off. So lets start with the slight let down so we can end on a happy note. We have this friend at a Cartoleria (a paper shop) that we've stopped by a few times since we've been here and he's been warming up to us. We try to talk to him about the gosple but we always get to a certain point where he shuts us down. Well he's got an attitude. He's got a little bite to him but sometimes it's funny. So this last week we went to the Cartoleria and he had a friend there and Roberto (that's the mans name who works in the Cartoleria) started asking us lots of questions about us being missionaries. He asked us how much we get paid (yeah, we don't. Actually we pay.) While we're used to people admiring what we do after they learn this, Roberto instead said, "You are stupid. Why would you spend money or have your family spend money on sending you here where no one wants to listen to you." I couldn't believe it. It kind of hurt my feelings and amongst all of the words that I thought of to shoot his way what I decided on was, "Well Roberto, you obviously don't understand what we do or what this message is that we have." He went off again saying some other things that weren't complimentary, let's say and it was a bit of a doozey. I somehow managed to not cry like an infant (which is a big step for me. For some reason this whole mission thing has made me a little cry face, more often then my pride appreciates.) But somehow I walked away from the experience not thinking that he was right. I have no doubt that what I'm doing isn't stupid. It's not a waste of time. And there ARE people who want to listen. It's kind of like a spiritual treasure hunt. We've just got to do the finding. As much as it hurt to have someone that I thought was a friend say those things, it really just reinforced my feelings for the gospel. I have no doubt in my mind that this message changes lives. I have seen it first hand many times in the last year. No one can tell me that it doesn't. I have learned and seen and felt too much to allow anyone to tell me that this gospel is stupid. As hard as it is for me to have these things challenged sometimes I walk away at least feeling grateful for the opportunity to stand with Christ. To learn even the slightest bit of what it's like to stand up for what's right, like He did, even when it's hard. It strengthens my testimony and love for the Savior.So hows about a story of someone who's been receptive eh? I will not be complaining about having those people in my life! Nope nope. So we went over to this less-active members house. She's an amazing person. She's married in the temple, has a beautiful 9 year old son, but...none of them come to church. There were times in the lesson when it seemed that she didn't think that she needed to come to church every Sunday. I got a glimpse, however, of her acknowledgement that she needs to return to church weekly. So I listened to her as she told us of how many times she has made plans to come to church and then the next day: WHAMY something comes up! Like, what the heck is that about right? Like her sister will call and ask her if she can watch the kids, or her son will have a fever, etc. She said that it's not that she doesn't want to come to church, because she makes plans to do it, but then something just comes up.Well as she was saying all of this something came into my mind that I've been thinking a lot about and I felt like I could relate to her completely! I started talking to her about my companion and I. We have a companionship goal that we'll wake up at 5:55 a.m. We have our workout plan all set out and we've got it planned to the T! Whenever something doesn't work out, we readjust or find a way to avoid whatever it is that didn't work out. HOWEVER my companion and I have this little problem: there are always things that "come up" that make it difficult for us to accomplish our goals. Examples: We wake up and it's startlingly cold out of our beds. Why wouldn't we just want to stay all snuggled and warm? Or Dangit! my companion doesn't really feel like working out this morning. Am I going to step up and do it by myself or not? Or Drat! I am just so much more exhausted than I thought. It couldn't hurt to sleep until 6:30.Us not working out doesn't reflect our feelings toward exercising. It really IS something that we want to do. We really DO want to work out. But there's something human about hitting the wall between the things that we WANT to do and DESIRE to do, and then actually getting ourselves to overcome the obstacles to do them. Get over the excuses. Decide in your mind that it's what you really want and don't let anything stand in your way. YOU are the one that decides whether or not you accomplish the things that you want. But you'll never accomplish what you want if you don't get over that hump of complete decision and commitment. I told her that just as my companion and I will never changed if we don't start now, she will never be active in church unless she gets over the hump and starts now. Do it now. Why wait? If it's something that you want, then commit yourself. Do it! She was nodding while I was tellin her this and she understood and agreed. It was a really cool lesson. I think it's cool how much we can relate with the people that we're working with. Sometimes it could be easy to have the mindset of, "Man, what's the deal? Why don't they come to church?" Or "Come on, what's going on, why don't they read their scriptures?" It's been a loving wake up call for me that I have to apply the principles that I'm teaching in many aspects of my life. We all have our own challenges and difficulties but the principles are the same. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father helps me see how to relate to these people, and at the same time helping me see how to improve.Well my time has come to an end. I hope that you have a marvelous Christmas! Isn't Christmas the most beautiful time of year? I really just love it. I love looking at all of the decorations and the SNOW (P.S. it totally snowed this week! LIke a couple of inches. Apparently it hasn't snowed this much in La Spezia for like 17 years. Crazy sauce!)We had a member in the branch call us on Friday night and ask if my companion and I could do a musical number for the Christmas program. I had to whip out my dusty piano skills and play O Holy Night for my companion. It was kind of a crazy arrangement and it was kind of a bust on my part but ALAS, Christmas will still arrive and it is all good in the hood. I mean...La Spezia. Because of all of the snow, not many members showed up to church on Sunday. We had like 4 families. It was definitely the smallest little Christmas program I have ever seen but it meant the most to me than any of them in the past. So many hearts were touched and it was all so sincere. I just felt blessed to be a small part of it.Thanks for all of your love and support. I had presidents interviews yesterday and he came bearing gifts! Aka...mailtime. Thank you so much for your love. I feel very grateful and it really helps an awful lot. I can't even explain it to you. Merry Christmas guys! I hope the holiday is beautiful and happy! I love you as much as I love mistletoes....which I will not be partaking of this Christmas season. However, in e'mail form: Italian kisses! Sorella Hansen

Er...cheese enchilads, Keeping attention, authority‏

Oh how I love my life.We had a slammin week this week. The elders weren't able to help us out with english class last minute so I had to teach advanced. Last time I "sub'd" advanced we played a riveting round of Jeopardy which kind of rocked those little Italians world. Apparently Italians are Jeopardy deprived. They didn't know what it was. So ANYWAY this week I hurried and threw together a lesson but they mostly wanted to talk. So one of the guys in the back of the class raised his hand and said, "What do you guys eat for Christmas?" I kind of stood there for a second because...we don't really have a second Thanksgiving and pull out a turkey or chicken or something. So, therefore, my response of, "Er...we actually have our meal on Christmas eve and in my family we sit on the floor, light candles, and have oranges and cheese enchiladas." After them expecting some fancy feast (coincidental reference to cat food) it was clear that my answer had kind of let them down. BUT whatever. I always went to sleep on the 24th completely pleased.So we went back to the ol' Acevedo home. Our last lesson with them was kind of a mild explosion...meaning...it was bust. We taught the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy and they were all so out of it and not paying attention and...I kind of wanted to teach the principles of the gospel while doing a mildy embarassing tap dance just to get them to focus. Though I somehow refrained. We even asked the elders (who had joined us for this appointment) a couple of questions and had them explain a couple of things and...nada. The family was zoned out. It was bizzare as could be. I selfishly felt a little better that they wouldn't listen to the elders either--that it wasn't just us. Terrible of me? Perhaps. SO Sorella Skabelund and I really prayed about what we needed to teach and somehow during companion study the lesson practically put itself together. We ended up teaching repentance. We used a nice visual which involved the father of the house holding a cup full of water to the ceiling using a broom handle. We had successfully obtained their attention. :) I tried doing some different things during the lesson that we hadn't planned just to see if I could really get their attention and if the message was really sinking in. It was cool. Lots of questions were asked, we said their names a lot, and we tried to help them see how obeying the rules of the gospel makes them feel good. In the end, instead of repentance seeming like a completely painful and rebuking experience, it's more of a way for us to use the atonement, replace our bad habits with ones that bring us joy and peace. Ah, sigh of relief. Also, we reset our baptismal dates with them. We have a good share of work to do with them but it thank goodness we don't do it all on our lonesome. My stars, what would we do without prayer, the scriptures, leaders, and personal revelation? Sad day indeed!We had an investigator show up at the end of church today and wanted to see us. Her name is Sameh. She's from Tunisia. And we haven't seen her in like a month! We really didn't have anything prepared for her in that moment (because we weren't expecting her) but we went into one of the rooms in the church and uh...were really praying in our hearts. First off, this girl is kind of incredible! She's very sensitive to spiritual things. In fact, before I got here, SHE had a really strong feeling inside that she needed to approach the elders and talk with them. Er...seriously? Come on! So I kind of feel a good amount of pressure to not mess this up. (Well, I feel that with everyone, but I recognize that there is something really special about her.) Somehow I just blurted out, "Let's read 3 Nephi 11". So...we started. We got to the part where Jesus gives his authority to the peeps in America. And I stopped and told her that we know that we have this authority. Then, (brace yourselves) she says, "So why is authority important anyway?" I think I almost choked and glanced around the room for hidden cameras! "Well, Sameh, that is a great question!" ha ha It was too perfect. Then my companion gave a really great comparison story that helps explain the importance of authority. It was crazy cool. We invited her to finish the chapter and pray to know if this church really does have the authority from God. My companion and I finished that lesson and looked at eachother and just thouht, "Well holy smokes! We totally got help with that lesson and P.S. she's fabulous!!" So we're more then just slightly excited for our next appointment on Sunday.Did you guys watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional? We went to the church to watch it and we had three of our members there: Fratello Carli, Tina, and Fratello Signorini. Oh man, they're all old and hilarious. I sat by Fratello Carli and one time after the MoTab choir sang he said, "I didn't understand a word, but that was beautiful." ha ha Oh man. Best of times.Have a marvelous week! I hope you're all happy and loving this time of year to be with fam and friends, and reflect on the significance of Christ's birth. Til next week! Behave yourselves!....Sorella Hansen

My apologies

I just want to apologize to you and to Mallory for the lack of pictures. She has sent them dilligently and I have slacked off due to my lack of a scanner and the technical difficulties of the one I ususally use. Forgive me, I am working on getting them up, so you can all share in the fabulousness that is our Sorella Mallory!
~Aubry

Zone Conference, Ramblings of Staying Strong, Christmas Tree Joke‏

BUONGIORNO!! How have y'all been doing this delightful week in December?! P.S. How completely bizarre is it that it's already December?! I am officially weirded out by the idea personally.We had Zone Conference in Florence this week and it went really well. We received some really amazing training and it was fabulous. It's so crazy to me that I was here in Italy for the last Christmas Zone Conference. Yup, coming up on the year mark of me being in Italy. Permission to be nauseous? Yipes! It really makes me think a lot about where I was last year, the kinds of things that I was experiencing, my attitude, and the missionary that I want to be now and in the future. Lots of reflection I suppose. What's that about, right? We have been doing a grundle of inactive work. It is amazing how much I have been learning as we work with these amazing people who for one reason or another are keeping themselves from enjoying the full blessings of the gospel. In so many ways it has reconfirmed my testimony and reminded me of how important it is to be always strengthening my testimony of the gospel. I've seen the choices that some of these people have made and there have been several times that I've thougth to myself, "I could see myself making that decision...like 2 years ago." I don't really know how to express this and I hope it comes out appropriately but I just feel very grateful for this time as a missionary. I'm not the most amazing missionary...negative. But I have seen things, met people, and watched things happen that have forever changed the way that I see the role that the gospel should have in our lives. Did you guys know that this is THE restored gospel of Jesus Christ? Have I told you that lately? It is THE only church that has the fullness of the gospel. It is THE only church that makes it possible for us to live with our families forever. It is THE only church that has the correct ordinances and covenants required to make progress and live again with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We can have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost---here, In this church. Through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we can be made clean every Sunday when worthily partaking of the sacrament. We know how to communicate with God. We have scriptures that teach us Oodles! Man I love reading the scriptures and having that wonderful reassuring feeling that it's all true. THIS church has the authority from God. Living the principles of the gospel in THIS church make us truly happy. THIS is the church of our Savior Jesus Christ. No trial, person, or argument will ever change that. It is the hardest thing to go to peoples homes, amazing people who have for one reason or another decided to do without the gospel, and you can see in their eyes that they miss it. That they long for it. Please always go to church no matter what trial that jerkface satan puts in your path. Please always say your prayers even if satan tries to make you think that you're not worthy to or that God doesn't care. Please live the gospel. You cannot replace the joy that comes from truly living and being obedient to the gospel. Well the guy at the internet point said that I only have a couple of minutes so I gots to go. I'll write more next week. I hope that you're all doing so great. I hope that you're loving the Christmas season. This city is really beautiful at Christmas time. There are christmas light hanging between the cute little Italian streets and they put up a massive christmas tree in front of this big catholic church that kind of looks like a UFO. I'll send pictures. It's a doozey. By-the-by HOW is it possible that Italy, that is known for some killer art, is kind of...creatively challenged? I'll tell you what they have this amazing beautiful tree and the lights look hilariously lame. I kind of want to offer to help but...we kind of have other things to do ya know? I'll try to send pictures some time when it's lit up. It kind of makes me laugh inside everytime. Thank goodness for little moments like that eh? I appreciate them existing in my life. That's for darn skippy! Any whoodle, gots to scadaddle! Happy December 9th.,..slash...the days that follow! So...awkward...ha ha LOVES YA, Sorella Hansen

Primary program drama, Ariel, Best Referral Ever‏

Well what a slammin' week! We had the Primary program on Sunday and we showed up to church with a bit of a surprise...no electricity in the church. And...all of the pianos in the church are plug-in so naturally the Primary presidency was in disarray (spelling? whatevs!). BUT, get ready for our rad member who will not cease to rock your socks. Fratello Mandile, our blind member who plays the piano, oh don't even worry about it. He just went home during Sunday school and came back with some sort of hand-held keyboard that you blow into and play at the same time (some sort of flutey..keyboard) and WHAMY..music! He kind of saved the primary program. I'm telling you, he's a champ. The primary program was much different from the ones I remember at home. There were 5 children. But alas, it was still a romping success.So we had several pleasant surprises with the Acevedo family this week. For one, we were there for an appointment and a guy that sells them food showed up to their house. He came in and kind of made himself comfortable. He was hilarious and me and my missionary mind went crazy with how fabulous of a contribution he'd be to the ward. Young men's counselor? ha ha Is it sublimely awkward that I think this way? Unknown. ANYWHO, we started talking with him about the church and we were able to talk to him about the restoration. It was pretty sweet. He had some very interesting questions and beliefs. He invited us to go out to his house and talk with him. What's possibly more fabulous then that is when Judy woops out her ol' testimony on him. It was crazy! She was telling him that she feels like this is the most sincere church and that he should listen to us. That a girl eh!? So we're planning on just "casually" being there when he goes back to deliver food.Other news on the Acevedo front: We're getting in with their son Ariel. He's 17. Up until this point he's ALWAYS been working and...it didn't help that he didn't live at home. But he was there for our lesson about the restoration and we did all visual so it would keep their attention. And he was totally digging that there's a living prophet. The way that our little presentation went was super effective because he made a priceless reaction when we talked about the restoration and the fact that there's a living prophet today. (All thanks so S.lla Skabelund and teaching the restoration with cups.) :) Then we invited Ariel to come to the YM/YW activity that was last night and he CAME! It was really cool. So I'm excited to keep working with him and hopefully he can be a good example and help his family progress.We tried a little something on Sunday that was cool! I read something about "The Best Referral Ever". It's this idea that if you're gonna get a member referral, get it from the best member--you know, God. So Sunday night my companion and I said a prayer. We were going to do some finding. We wanted to do some house so we prayed to know where to go--where people wouldn't be busy, or where they'd be in a state of mind to listen to us. So we said a prayer and said, "we're going to do house at 7:30" and asked who would be ready at that time, and where. We then got the ol' map of the city out and my companion made a list of ten streets, and then we each made our list of 4 that hit us. So...to be honest we didn't get any in common the first time. My companion said, "Well, maybe I didn't get the right street when I wrote the list of ten. You do it." So I wrote a list of 10 and then we each wrote a list of 4 that hit us. We had two in common. We went out with a new confidence because we knew that there was someone on those streets that was prepared and ready. After all, it was a referral form, I'd say, a pretty reliable source! Well we got 2 pass backs on the first street and we were running out of time but the first building on the second street we met a guy in the stairwell. He talked to us and wanted to hear about the church. We couldn't enter without a woman, so he opened the door to his apartment, and we stood in the entryway and talked for like 15 minutes. It was really cool. His name's Antonio and we'll be going back to see him again later this week.It was a really good experience to remind me that doing the work without the Lords help or without the spirit is like tying your shoe laces with your elbows. We could go out and do house all day every day, but if we didn't ask God where to go or when...then to some extent it's silly. He knows which of His children are looking for the gospel. We just need to ask for the referral. Well...and then go get it, which is the part that makes you test your faith. It was a really cool experience.I got my hair cut last week. How's that for the excitement in my life? It's the first time I've cut it since I've been in Italy. I've been scared!! But we went to one of the elders contacts and he was super cool. My hair looks less dreadlocky, which is pleasing.Well, I will officially wrap up this letter since I have reached an all-time low of telling you about my haircut. I hope you're having a splendid start of DECEMBER! My stars, I can't even believe it's already December. I hope you have a grand week and I'll talk to you shortly. Lots of La Spezian love, Sorella Hansen

sacrament attendance...by force, Something that people don't tell you about missionary work, Our friend the Holy Ghost‏

Oh mamma! We have had a pretty good week this week. Things are going better. Judy and her daughter Arianna were in church on Sunday!! It was so exciting because it was their first time. She has told us many times that she wanted to come but then Sunday arrived and I was sitting there in church, continuously glancing at the door like an anxious school girl waiting for Santa Clause to arrive with a bowl full of jelly...whoa, I mean...a red bag full of toys!. Well, after several weeks of let downs...that was enough. So...er....we just showed up at their doorstep at 8:30 in the morning. ha ha It was funny because they were just going to show up for Sacrament meeting but we got them there in time for Sunday School too. It was pretty spiffy. This branch is pretty fantastic. The branch presidents wife sat by Judy during Sacrament meeting and Arianna ADORED Primary. (Which was a relief, because hopefully she won't be a holdup to come to church because she usually goes to some sort of Catholic school on Sunday mornings.) It was a success. Unfortuantely Leo wasn't there because he had to work. This next Sunday he should be there.We had a great appointment with a little family that has a daughter that needs to get baptized. I don't remember if I mentioned them last week but her mom thinks that she doesn't want to get baptized because she's scared of water. So we did a spiritual thought on the Savior and how he set a perfect example for us. And then we showed a picture of when he was baptized, asked the mom about how she felt when she was baptized, yeah you get the idea. I think it went really well. We watched a short film on the life of Christ and it showed His baptism and little Momy (that's the girl that should be getting baptized) held my hand. She is so adorable. They've had a fair amount of challenges and it was just so cool so see this sweet little girl come out. They're a great little family and I'm excited to keep working with them and helping them.Okay, let me just say something that nobody tells you about being a missionary. (I should start a list of these things, but here's just one little silly one.) So as missionaries, we're kind of supposed to be enjoyable to be around, spiritual, pleasing, happy, fill-in-the-blank with whatever peppy word you'd like. Well let me just tell you that you cannot be a picky eater and be a missionary...especially in Italy. We get fed some crazy awkward stuff but we finish it, and it's the best thing in all the land. ;) One meal that I was fed recently consisted of rice--plain rice--and what was put on top? On don't even worry about it, it was a handful of dried out little flowers! I'm telling you in was crazy sauce! Another appointment we went to they had a stack of pancakes on a plate and she made a face and said, "you haven't seen what's inside yet." A couple moments later my face discovers the wonder that is Pineapple chunks in pancakes! What?! It's usually all good and well except for when they start dealing with quantity. You see, here in Italy...you don't really get to serve yourself how much food you want. It's not the traditional American, pass the different bowls around and put what you want on your plate. Negative. You get served how much you are expected to eat and it's rarely a sparse amount. Our investigator Judy always puts gigantic portions on our plates and we're always like, "Wow, Judy that is definitely plenty. Grazie" Yeah, my companion and I have decided to hit up that family for morning appointments from now on. ha ha Don't get me wrong, we feel overwhelmingly grateful for the thought--truly. But I wish they understood that a more effective way to show the missionaries that they love them would be to read their scriptures every night, say their prayers, come to church, tell their friends about the joy that the gospel has brought them. Things like this would be splendid because I don't have to work off THOSE things with my half hour of exercise time in the morning. :) By-the-by, the food here in Italy is normally abnormally delicious. I have just shared some special, rare occasions.ANYWAY, back to things that actually matter. We had another appointment with this AMAZING family that almost got baptized a couple of months ago and then backed off after tithing. The mother and daughter in this family are crazy cool. I love them so much and I've probably spent a grand total of 2 hours with them in my life. We taught a lesson on the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday. It went really well. By-the-way, have you guys stopped to realize how incredible the Holy Ghost is recently? Oh mylanta, every time I study it my mind is blown! So rad that we get to have protection, guidance, comfort, confirmation of the truth all thanks to this amazing gift. I mean, come on! What is that about? TELL me that Heavenly Father doesn't love us when we have been given this amazing gift to guide us and help us through our decisions and difficulties of life. We shared experiences that we've had with the Holy Ghost. When we've listened to the spirit and when we haven't--unfortunately. It just reminded me of how necessary the guidance of the Holy Ghost is in our lives. I cannot wait for the conference Ensign to get over here so that I can read all of the talks that were about the Holy Ghost. Amazin'. There's still a lot of work to do with that family but I know that they know that it's true. I know that if they feel of our love for them that they'll make changes and they'll feel that we're sincere and want what's truly best for them.Finding work has been going better. Still lots to improve but...improvement IS being made. We've done some bus, house, and surveying. Had some splendid conversations and met some great contacts. I know as we increase our faith and the dedication that we put into the work, that we'll see miracles. End of story. Thanks for all of your love and support. I might, maybe, may appreciate it with all of my heart strings. Read that Book of Mormon, say your prayers, get yo'self to church, and you'll feel great! Living the gospel makes you feel good! If you don't feel good, maybe take a gander at how you can be more obedient to the principles of the gospel, and then...look for the happy things in your life. Works every time! Italian kisses! Sorella Hansen

5 christmas apts, costly Christmas spirit?!, Pumping up the finding‏

Oh mamma there's so much to tell this week!First off, let me tell you about my Sunday. We were crazy stoked because we thought FOR SURE we were going to have 4 investigators in church---the Acevedo family (3), and Mirium. We called them all the night before to remind them and everything was a go. Saturday night we were planning what time we needed to leave to go pick Mirium up. We were going to have to get a bus at 7:30 a.m. to get to her house, and then take a bus together to be on time for church at 9.Never mind the exciting morning where I falsely calculated how early I needed to wake up to get ready. I woke up and showered at 5 and then went and sat on my bed and thought, "Wait, WHY am I up so early?" And then I went back to bed until 6:30. Brilliant!The doozey to this story is that we had one investigator in church. We left our apartment, got a bus to Miriums house, knocked on her door and...niente. We called her cell and her husband came to the door and said that she got called into work at midnight last night. Then Judy and Arianna Acevedo didn't end up showing to church either. It was pretty sad. BUT we have gone back to both of their homes, taught lessons, and they're coming to church this week! After that morning I just thought, "Man, we made so many plans and we really tried to prepare." But alas, there is always more that we can do. When they see how important it is to us that they get to church--when they really see that, they'll come. They'll feel it. They'll feel that we really want them there and that they really need to be there.Oh, we had transfer calls last night. My companion and I will be staying for another transfer together. I feels like the right thing. There's still more for us to do here. AND we'll be here for Christmas! I couldn't be more excited even if Saint Nick took me for a sleigh-ride himself! We've really been working to strengthen the branch here. We have 5 appointments with members from December 24-26. It's really a huge blessing and it has really made us feel loved. Last year, I had just arrived here before Christmas and we had zero appointments. Nowhere to go. It was kinda sad because I LOVE Christmas and it just felt weird spending it alone with a girl that I had only been with for like 10 days. (P.S. I love that companion with all of my heart strings) So contrasting from last year and seeing the love of this tiny little branch, it really makes us excited.We saw the Maiello family again last night. (They're an amazing Italian family that all (okay, except for the sons) had baptismal dates like 4 months ago...and after tithing...they called it off) Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend too much time with them because the mom had to take her daughter somewhere like a half hour after we arrived. BUT she gave us a ride to the station and we were able to talk to her about the situation. We were able to figure out more of what their problem ACTUALLY was. It just never made sense to me reading in the area book that anyone who really knows that the church is true would deny everything over a commandment that they've never tried. If you receive an answer that the church is true, then it is! It doesn't all of a sudden become untrue because we don't drink coffee or because we pay tithing. It's not like answers to prayer expire, or have a short shelf life. Negative. You can be pretty durn sure that if He tells you something's right...He's not playin! Anywhoodle, it was a really good conversation. And she told us that she recognizes that things are different since they decided not to get baptized. She said that things were better with her husband and they were all so much happier when it was something that they were doing as a family. Isn't that so true? I'm just really excited to keep working with them. We kind of know what angle we need to go at and feel like we can help them.ALSO we've really wanted to step up our finding! So we decided to do this survey that we have in Italian. It just asks religious questions and every now that then there's a conveniently worded question like, "If you knew that there was a way that families could be together forever would that interest you?" Eh? Eh?? ;) So yesterday we took a gander through a park and a piazza and talked to some people and had some slammin' conversations! It just helps me remember that there really are people that naturally wonder and have questions about spiritual things. It's so cool that we have the answers to help them out. It was a way cool experience and I'm stoked to keep working on our finding work...as well as other things of course. :)Well, fun fact: A measely ol' strand of christmas lights over here run about €19. Yup, that's like 25 bucks. I love christmas and all but I would rather get white washed then drop that kind of money on Christmas lights that would cost like 2 bucks in the states. (If christmas lights cost more then that...then jokes on me!) ALSO, the lightswitches in our apartment are all on the outside of the room. It throws me off every time. I walk in the room to turn on the light and...I have to walk back out in the hall to do it. Good times Italy!Welp, I gots to be jetting. Have a holly jolly....week. I hope you are all healthy and happy as can be. Say your little english prayers and just know that this missionary loves ya...kind of a lot. Italian Christmasy Love (yup, no Thanksgiving to wait for over here..) Sorella Mallory Hansen

Mirium, Acevedo Fam, Florence‏

On Thursday I got to go back to Roma! I needed to pick up my permesso di soggiorno. Er...don't know what you call it in English. It's just the cool little legit card that makes it legal for me to live here. So...that. It was really cool to be able to go back to Rome and specifically the area where I started the mission. On the way home we were sitting across from a woman on the train that we started talking to and she was a delight. She speaks Italian, English, and French....so...I think we're going to be the best of friends. ha ha She wanted to practice speaking French with me but I assured her Italian is better at this point and I'll fix my French when I get home. haha Anyway I got her number and hopefully when she comes into town this weekend we'll get to meet with her. She's adorable. So hopefully next week I'll have a fantabulous update on Daniella. :)We had another appointment with Mirium. So far she hasn't been able to come to church because she works. But she has this Sunday off so she should be coming. I'm so excited! I love when investigators can make it to church because it's an amazing spirit and it really helps them to start making progress when they come to church and start keeping commitments. ALSO, she showed us how to make filled cabbage. Is that what you call it in english? It was kind of ...not disgusting. I sat there with my paper and quill writing everything because it was a delight.We had a lesson with the Acevedo family last night. We planned this lesson that is...quite different. The last lesson that we were there ended in a bit of contention and the couple kind of started fighting and pointing out each others faults to us. Yeah, it was awkward and sad. So for our lesson we brought a CD player and music and had it playing in the background and we had printed in a huge font the things that we wanted to teach. It was really cool. We had some quotes from prophets on contention and took some quotes from "Beware of Pride" from Ezra Taft Benson. Then after the 15 or so papers that we were flipping for them to read, we gave them their own paper that had more quotes from "Beware of Pride" and also they had their own quote from Elder Holland that talked about being nice to your spouses...but in Elder Hollands way of expressing it. :) The last paper had questions like, "What are some things I could do to help bring more happiness into the home?" and "What are some things that I love about Leo?"--that was on her paper. Anyway at the end we talked for a couple of minutes and bore testimony on the importance of seeing the good in other people and looking inside ourselves to improve. It was cool.Well we're going to Florence today for P-day and then there's a conference for the women. Sister Cook and Sister Thompson from the General Relief Society Presidency are here to talk to the sisters. It should be pretty bizzangin. Welp, have a dandy day and a wonderful week. Lots of Italian love, Sorella Hansen

Me and our investigator Clara. She's a doll!! She asked me if I'd marry her son... er ... "I would love to have you as a mother-in-law!" ha ha

I love her!

After a bit of house, we were walking out and a metal door got my foot. We stopped to snap a quick pic of the glamorous life of a sister missionary.

PS - No, I did not just run through the sprinklers. It's just hot and I sweat, K!? :)

With my loveable Adele. She's so wonderful I can't even handle it.

Patrizia, Me, Adele

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My how things have changed. I've been reflecting a bit on how things are different from last winter time in Italy. In this apartment here in La Spezia there were some umbrellas left over from the previous sisters. One is brown with pink polka dots and the other is pink with brown polka dots. Both have lots of frills and ruffles. I feel pretty silly holding those umbrellas when last year my umbrella (that I dropped a whopping 2 euro on) was spray painted silver and had spray painted silver stars on the inside. It's a bit of a change for me. I'm adjusting. ha ha The other day it was raining and storming like mad! My companion and I were at the bus stop in the middle of this full-on downpour and we were getting drenched, mangled by the wind, and we could NOT stop laughing. There were people stuffed under this area where you can wait for the bus. But there was no room, so we took quite a hit, but they were laughing just like we were. Good times. Even "bad" weather tends to be a solid good time. THEN later that day we were running for another bus and...my shoe broke. I just busted up and apologized to my companion. ha ha Luckily the bus that we missed was right in front of our apartment so we ran in and I changed shoes. ha ha Ah my life.We finally had our Halloween party. We have a member here that helped us oodles to make it successful and he put a lot of work into it. He made a Labyrinth (you know quite well that my spelling is lax.) and word had it that it was the bees knees! I didn't go through it because I was helping in the other room. We made a sweet Twister game. But instead of colors we had ghosts, tombstones, pumpkins, you get the idea. I stole it from when I had to help with the Relief Society Birthday Party back in Rexburg. I made a Twister board with relief society stuff. "Right hand, Emma Smith. Left foot, quilt". Same idea but with Halloween goods. It was a hit! Fratello Ricciardi (the member that made the labyrinth) downloaded a bunch of short film clips to keep the people entertained between games. He brought "Thriller". I uh...did not hate it.There is an investigator family here in La Spezia (They're 100% Italian) that have been investigators for...like 3 years. They're record in the area book is like 8 pages long. They had a baptismal date a couple of transfers ago but then they misunderstood the tithing lesson and the father, especially, has backed off. The mother and daughter know that it's true but the dad and sons aren't really interested anymore. I've been nervous and excited to meet this family. From what I had read in the area book, the sons had been pretty rude to the sisters recently, and the dad won't even stay in the same room when the sisters go over. Well, we decided to just drop by last week and invite them to the Halloween party. Originally just the daughter was home (her name's Teresa). She was really excited to see us and welcomed us in no problem. Little by little the family started arriving. The mother was very nice but whispered really quick "if my husband makes a face when he sees you guys, just don't worry about it okay?". One of the sons came in, shook our hands, and chatted for a second before going to his room with his friend. (success!) The dad came in. He shook our hands and started making dinner but he came over every now and then to talk to us. (Much better then we were expecting). Then, the one that I was most worried about was the oldest son. He was (from what I had read) the most disrespectful and...not in favor of the church. Well, he came in and we got a handshake (score!), thanks to an enthusiastic greeting on our part we got a smile (love it!), and then somehow he ended up sitting at the table with us (this is huge!) and I got him to talk to me for about 20 minutes while my companion talked to the mom. (And...I think my mind just exploded.) It was a miracle! They invited us to stay for dinner but we had to go to a couple other houses. When they said good-bye the mother thanked us for bringing joy into their home. I left that night just feeling so great. It was completely different then we were expecting and it was just really encouraging.Well, I'll end here I suppose. I could tell you a story about last night when I learned for realsies that the gift of tongues is legit. (lets just say we spent about 40 minutes with an old woman who's Brazilian, trying to speak Italian and....trust me, we got lots of help to understand her!) But I will end with a success story from the branch! On Sunday I uh...somehow got an appointment for the day after Christmas! ha ha It's this member who...the first day seemed like she wanted to run away from us. I wonder if she had bad experiences with missionaries in the past. This kind of behavior is just kind of a challenge for me. (I saw the same thing in Cagliari and that member ended up becoming one of my best friends) So I kind of...make her talk to me and eh...try to get her to not hate it, maybe even enjoy it a titch. ha ha We spoke for a little bit after church and then she left to go get in the car with her husband. I was talking to Fratello Carli and our branch pianist who, come to find out it is pretty good for a laugh. In the middle of our conversation this sister ran back up the stairs and asked me to step out into the hall with her. She said, "What are you doing December 26th?" ha ha Come on, that's two months away! Nothing in particular. She said, "Because we wanted to have you over. We can't have you over for Christmas but the 26th, we can." ha ha Isn't that crazy and yet wonderful?! It's not like I even spoke to her about Christmas after church or anything. It just came out of nowhere. So...we have a Christmas appointment. Can't complain about that! Welp, I really gots to be a-jettin' but hope your Halloween was fantabulous and...what are you doing December 26, 2010? If nothing, I'd like to have you over. RSVP

Italian love, Sorella Hansen

Some Pictures from back on the Island

With Little Roberta

Fratello Virdis , Roberta, Me

Check it out - our English class student has like 16 turtles chilling in her back yard!

This is the Espis Family. He is Branch President and AMAZIN!! And I'm with Sorella Bjarnson

Doing some house in Dolianova. It has random parts of town that are hilariously medieval.

Burr burr, Explosion in the bathroom (it's not what it seems), Progress with the Acevedos!‏

BUONGIORNO!! Hello my dears! I hope that you have all had a marvelous and enjoyable week. One of the main changes that I've noticed since being here in La Spezia would be...the weather. In Cagliari I was in short sleeved shirts and it was still pretty warm. Well, ever since I've arrived in La Spezia...are you ready for this?...WINTER COAT! ha ha So there's no snow or anything, but there mornings when it is burrilicious! But, it's okay. Lots of layers never hurt anyone.Another fun fact about life in La Spezia (and especially since my companion and I are new in the city together) is we're not only discovering the city, bus system, members, investigators, etc. but we're also trying to figure out our apartment. Now I know what you're thinking, "what is there to know about an apartment?" And before coming here I would have agreed with you ...but alas, I learned when we did our first load of wash that we might have needed an instruction manual for this glorious little place that I now call home. So to spare you details that don't matter, I was washing my feet in the bidet at night time and there was some hose stuck down the drain. I obviously pulled it out and forgot to put it back because I thought it was random. Well the next morning we went to do a load of wash and at a certain point during our weekly planning...we hear an explosion of spraying water in the bathroom! We ran into the bathroom and the hose where the water drains out of the washer....was the one that I had removed from the bidet. So we got the hose and put it in the bidet. After about 10 minutes it SHOT out again and was spraying all over the bathroom. Once again, though nearly doing the splits while sliding in there from the excitement and slippery floor, we got the hose back into the bidet. Is the story finished? Course not. When the washer finished, we could NOT open the door. There's no handle! It must have been riped off by a dear sister missionary that was a little upset about the hose in the bidet. So we saw a pile of wrenches on top of the washer. Can't be true right? After about 10 minutes we managed to get the wrench situated just right to open the washer. Ah. Just one of the many adventures that we have been enjoying here in our new little home. Good times indeed I say!So on to the important stuff: the work! Our dear Acevedo family are doing really well. We've started teaching them the commandments and so far they have accepted everything without problems. Love it when that happens! Leo, the father, is a rock. He knows that this is the true church and is the strong one about making sure that the family prays and reads the scriptures. We are also wanting to work with their son, Ariel. He hasn't really stayed with us for a lesson because he's either at work or he gets there as we're leaving. We managed to get him to come to the table for the lesson about commandments and it went really well. It's going to take some work but I can already see that we're cracking him and he's opening up. It's kind of sad because he doesn't really feel at home there so you can tell that he's awkward about joining us for lessons. But really all that he needed was an invitation...a loving, enthusiastic invitation, but that's all. His parents weren't going to ask him to come to the table. It's so important for everyone to feel included, invited, and welcome. Just like this young boy needs to feel at home and welcome with his family, I've seen the same principle in our branch here. There are a good amount of in-actives. How great it would be if everyone could look around for someone who's "not at the table" and give them a loving invitation. Everyone should feel welcome, comfortable, and loved. We've met with several inactive members this week and though their struggles are different, it would do nothing but help if we could all (not just the missionaries) do a little bit more to serve someone else and help someone else feel appreciated.We had Zone Conference in Florence yesterday and it was amazing. I'm so grateful for inspired leaders who help us learn how to improve as missionaries and be more effective. It was really cool to be back in Florence. I went about 2 years ago (I can't believe it's been so long!) back when I lived in Paris. We walked through the street market on the way to the train station and it was so fun to see that gorgeous city again. There was something so magical about it. I felt like I was in a movie. (Except instead of being with some dreamy chap, I was with my fellow 22 year-old, female, mid-calf skirted companion. ha ha) It's all good! I still manage to be woo'ed by the city, talk to some sweet street vendors, and enjoy my time gazing at all the marvelous things to be that...I don't need but...come on. I was in Florence. :)I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve. I have so many things that I need to continue learning and improving, but I know that with the lords help that we can do it. We can do what He asks us to do. Satan is a complete idiot. (sorry for my juvenile name calling) but it really got to me this week the idea that Satan doesn't want us to believe in ourselves, in God, or in the fact that we CAN do ANYTHING that God asks us to do. period. Satan wants us to feel inadequate, scared, fill-in-the-blank with whichever miserable descriptive word that you want. I'm so grateful that I know that Heavenly Father wants me here. I know that He didn't tell me to come on a mission but...think that I wasn't ACTUALLY capable of accomplishing anything or doing any good. That's completely bogus and one hundred percent from the one man who has no bright future, hope, or anything worthwhile to offer anybody. Well I do. Not because I'm anything fabulous or remarkable, but because I'm a missionary for Jesus Christ. I have a message that changes lives and makes people feel happy, peace, love, and come to know the Savior. I have been called to this work from Heavenly Father himself. He wanted me here. He knows His children. He loves them so much. And He will help us do what He has asked us to be done. I'm so over any feelings or thoughts that take away from that fact. Heavenly Father will be there for us EVERY time. How wonderful and reliable is our ol' pal Satan? Er...yeah, check the facts. He has never been there for anyone. He's not reliable, he doesn't care about anybody, and doesn't deserve a second of our time. I am grateful for the opportunity to understand this. It's been a week that has really made me learn that I need to choose who to listen to. I'm grateful for the hard times in the mission. Yup, they happen. I'm grateful to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who will always be there, will always love us, and wants so badly for us to see of our divine potential and worth. I love you guys. I pray that you're all doing well and are happy and enjoying each day, each member of the family, and even the little things in life that don't always go our way. See the good. Find joy, be happy. Have a good laugh. The church is true. You have a beautiful life. And you are all very important. Know that I love you and miss you. Sending lots and lots of lovable sista missionary love. Kisses! Sorella Hansen

La Spezia, Cinque Terre, Teachin' a family!‏

(This is the Cinque Terre)

Hey guys~What a crazy week! (I know, I say that every e-mail right?) There was a grundle of traveling to get to this beautiful city of La Spezia. 4 hour train ride to get to the boat, overnight boat ride, one hour train to Rome...wait for my companion to arrive in Rome, and then a four hour train ride to La Spezia. And my word how have I acquired so much stuff?! I had to go to a little Chinese store to buy a little suitcase because there was just magically not the room that I was hoping for. ha ha I don't know if I mentioned last e-mail but I got "Blown In" to this city. That just means that both of the sisters that were here before me...left. So my companion and I are brand new here. We don't know the city, the investigators, the members...you name it. Thank goodness we speak the right language eh? There's only one elder in our district that has been here in the past so we ask him all kinds of questions like, "Hey, how do we get to our apartment?" ha ha When we got off the train, they had to bring us to our apartment because...well...we'd never been there before. It's been kind of stressful, but mostly I think it's a pretty sweet adventure. I like it. It puts more pressure on us to quickly gain good relationships with our investigators and members...everything. I'm really enjoying it so far.We've had two lessons with investigators. One was with a woman named Miriam. She's great. We taught her about baptism and she's a rock. She has a pretty rough family situation but she's keeping everything together and ...yeah...she's a tough woman. I like her a lot.Our other lesson that we had was with a FAMILY...yup!...family. I was so excited that we were teaching a whole fam. They're adorable. They're from the Dominican Republic and yeah...they're great. We also taught them about baptism and...asked them to be baptized. I know, right? Our first time meeting these people and we asked them to be baptized. Welp, the lesson mustn't have gone too bad because they said yes! Seriously, how much do I love blessings? Oh yeah, kind of like a lot! AND...my companion and I forgot to fast on Sunday, so we fasted on Monday instead and had just broken our fast before that appointment with them. It was way cool.Church was a completely different experience then I'm used to. We went to Relief Society and there were 2 members there...besides us and the teacher. Crazy stuff right?! I've never been in a relief society that small. In Rome there were like 25 women in relief society...in Cagliari about 10-15. But what was cool was I met all of the members and could probably tell you all of their names. ha ha That's kind of nice! I think there were people that were missing though so I'll be meeting more of the branch this Sunday. The members here are amazing. They're so strong in the church and I just love them already. There's so much work to do here though. We're trying to keep finding new people to teach and there's plenty of inactive work to do.We went on the most AMAZING hike today. We went to the "Cinque Terre". Oh mylanta it was beautiful! It's like a 5 hour hike that you walk along a mountain...along the coast, and there are five different cities that are just built into the mountain. It was breathtaking. These cute little towns were exactly how I'd always pictured Italy in my head. It was like a movie. Ah. I'll send pictures. :)We have a new contact. My companion and I were on the bus going home and (Well, I try to be really nice and smile and be friendly...because...it's not like we blend in with our attire that we're rockin'.) I smiled at the people on the bus and this one guy made eye contact with me and he got off at the same stop as us. I was kind of worried because I didn't know if I should be worrying about his intentions. I was kind of getting creeper vibes. BUT, he stopped us to talk to us about the gospel. he's talked to an elder in the past and he wants to know what the true church is. His father is Muslim and his mother is Christian. Anyway, he has a lot of questions. We gave his number to the elders and helped them with the first lesson and it was pretty cool. I've never taught someone whose not very familiar with God and has a different religious base. It was a cool experience though.Well I have written too much as usual. I'll tell you a bit about my companion next week. She's great. Sorella Skabelund from Mesa, Arizona. She finishes the mission in February. Love her. She's fabulous. Well I love you guys so much. Please be safe, say your prayers, smile a lot, be happy, and have some ice cream...even though it's not as good as Italian gelato. ha ha Okay sorry, that was mean. Italian Kisses! Sorella Mallory Hansen

General Conference all in Italian, Leaving Cagliari....‏

Hey guys! How's everything going back at home? Hopefully splendid beyond belief. Things are going swell here.This week we went to visit Pino and Clara. Clara texted us about a week ago and said that Pino has a prostate tumor. We've been praying for them and we went by this past week. They were so excited to see us. It amazes me how giving they are. We went, thinking that we were going to be doing a little service for them. Nothing massive, we'd made some cookies during our lunch hour and brought them a card and...yeah...nothing huge. But Clara thought that we were going to come that night--instead of in the morning--and she was making a cake for when we would come that night! Can you believe that? We were going to see them and see how Pino was doing but instead she was making a cake for when we came. Unbelievable. On top of that, she was so excited that we came in the morning that she insisted that we stay for lunch. We ended up having lunch with her, Pino, and their son Marco. I just felt so amazed by them. They're going through a trial right now and yet they are always thinking of others and serving other people. They are amazing people. I love them so very much. They will be amazing members some day. They're pretty much dry members anyway. They're amazing examples to me of people who serve and love--regardless of what they're going through.General Conference was this weekend! Did you all love it?! Oh my dear, I love General Conference. I tried to listen to all of it in Italian. I had two different thoughts come and go in my mind during conference (concerning the language) 1. "Holy smokes. I'm listening to general conference in Italian. I know what they're saying. So cool!!" But other times invisible option 2 came into my mind "What in the world? Are they still speaking Italian? Oh mamma, the translater is speaking fast. Yipes!" So...I think what I learned is that I need to be appreciative for how much I understand and how much I've been blessed to understand and speak the language. The other thing that I learned is that I really need to keep working and improving. There is so much more that I need to be able to understand and communicate. My language skills can still greatly improve. It was cool. By-the-way can we just take a second to talk about the wonder that is President Uchtdorf and his talk about love? I didn't understand every word of the sessions that I saw, but his talk was 230% Wonderful! Also, in the Sunday Afternoon Session I did NOT have sore feelings about listening to President Monsons talk. My word, what an amazing, loving, wonderful, inspired man! When his talk was over I looked over at Adele (Oh, by-the-way, Adele came to conference! Let's take a second to have a "woot" and then I'll get back to my letter....woot woot! Wow, I surprised myself with two...okay I'm stopping. I've been writing in parenthesis for too long) so I looked over at Adele after his talk and she pounded her chest with her fist a couple of times and said how much it touched her. Ah, let's just all love and be grateful for a living prophet and his apostles.We had another lesson with Susan this past week. She wasn't able to come to general conference because her son was sick. (But we did have 3 investigators who were able to make it!--Roberta, Marisa, and Adele. Keeping the parenthesis to a minimal...) But yesterday we were able to finish the second lesson and dare I say that it was a romping success? Allow me to explain. I love going to Susan's house but it also freaks me out a little bit because there are always elements of surprise. Kids running around crazy and throwing things, her husband is in and out of the lesson (yes, we invite him to stay, but he's not quite commited yet), she's trying to cook lunch at the same time (we've asked if we can come at another time but she said that's the best time for her), her baby is crying, etc. I say these things not to complain or make anybody look bad--they're an amazing family. I just frequently have thoughts run through my head like, "Wow, where does preach my gospel say how to handle ...fill in the blank" It's interesting to see how to keep the spirit but take control of situations and see how we can better help the investigator feel of the spirit and understand what we're teaching. Also...Susan is still on track for her baptism which will be this next transfer. I'm really excited for her!Welp, we heard about transfers last night after English class. All of our students stayed afterwards to hear who was staying and who was going. It turns out ...I have officially been voted off the island. I'm going to a city called La Spezia! I've heard so many amazing things about La Spezia! I've heard that it's incredibly beautiful and the ward there is amazing! So...how's a girl to complain? I can't and I won't! And my new companion will be Sorella Skabelund! I'm really excited to serve with her. We served in the same district my first two transfers in the mission. So she slept over once a week so that we could go to our district meeting every Monday morning. She's wonderful and I know it's going to be an amazing transfer. I'm sad to leave, but I really felt like it was time. I've learned so much here, and I will always be in love with this city because I have changed and grown and learned tons within the five months that I've been here. But there's more to learn--as always. I'm seriously so excited to get to La Spezia. BAH! I leave on the train in a couple of hours and then we take a boat all night and will arrive on the mainland Thursday morning. Then I'll go to Rome, get my new companion, and be off to my new city.Sorella Nelson and I have had a great transfer together. We laugh so hard together and have done some good work. She has a great companion that's coming to be with her and I know they'll be able to take over the work and everything will be okay.I love you all. Have a great week. Read your scriptures. Go to church. Love you very much. Italian love, Sorella hansen

Some Google Images results for La Spezia - Not too shabby!

A "Religious discussion", how do you say Napkin?, Miracle named Susan‏

Hi-di-ho~
So, Sunday our wonderful Paolo and Walter received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was so cool. I had to play the piano in sacrament meeting that day and I just felt like it was the most surreal thing, sitting on the piano bench, watching my friends receive the Holy Ghost and continue on this amazing road in the gospel! It was completely surreal but so wonderful!So...a couple of weeks ago we did a morning of nothing but house and it was kinda discouraging...no bites. Well, we met a woman with a little girl in her stroller and talked to her a little about the gospel and exchanged numbers. Her name's Angela and she's a Jehovah's Witness and we decided that we'd talk again. So this last week we had set up a time to meet her in a park to talk more about the gospel. I was so excited to show up to the park and see Angela and her cute little girl in the stroller. Well, we entered the park and were looking for Angela and all of a sudden I hear my companion say, "No way. ...she brought a friend." What? It turns out Angela brought a little friend who is also Jehovah's Witness and I had a feeling that the lesson that we planned for Angela that morning was...going to have to be altered. To start with, they wouldn't let us start with a prayer...uh??? So they started by reading us some scripture and then coming to the conclusion that you can't go to war and be Christian. They wanted us to explain why Mormons go to war ...and how we can still claim to be Christian?! It was way left field and so random. The interesting thing is Angela was really quiet through the whole thing but her "well-versed" friend did most of the talking. Even though they didn't let us pray out loud, there was certainly a lengthy prayer going on in my heart. We taught about the restoration of the church. They would nod when they were in agreement and pull a random scripture out when they felt they hadn't spoken in a bit. When I got to the part about Joseph Smith, Angela's friend said, "We don't need to hear about him. I already know everything about him. He founded your church." I used all of my mental strength to be patient and have a sweet loving voice. I tried to lovingly inform them that he didn't found our church and...explained everything to them anyway. I said the first vision and bore my testimony about how I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and how I've prayed, asked, and I've felt for myself that it's true--he was called as a prophet to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then, coolest thing happened....silence. Ah....it was a good sound. They had no scriptures to pull out, no contrary opinions, just silence. It was beautiful. And I realized the most marvelous thing: You can't fight with a testimony. There's no scripture that says, "No you didn't feel that Joseph Smith was called of God." Nope, doesn't exist. Because I have felt it. End of story. Go right ahead and check your topical guide all you want, but you can't bash my testimony. We finished teaching the lesson. They wouldn't let us read out of the Book of Mormon so...we just bore testimony of it. :) It was a great learning experience for me. I heard stories before my mission of situations like this...who knew that I'd be running into one on a little ol' island off of Italy? Not I, my friend. It was an awkward start, but I walked away without any worries about my testimony.Awkward moment of my life. During our weekly meeting as a district. My companion was trying to talk to the Italy elder in our district and was trying to say the word 'napkin'. The word had slipped my mind. I remember we said the word a lot in the MTC because we all thought that it was a really funny word. I was trying to think so hard about how you say it. I could remember the letters, the sounds involved...but the actual word wasn't quite coming to me. I thought I'd give a stab at it. So I looked at Anziano Polelli and said, "Tivoglio?" He gave me a weird look and then I said it slower..."Ti voglio?" Then my mind registered what I'd just said. Oops!! That is exactly how you do NOT say napkin. What I had actually just said to Anziano Polelli is, "I want you." Er...permission to go all karate kid and try to break a board with my face?!? How embarrassing. ha ha So, in case you want to know--you know, for future info--in Italian the word napkin is "Tovagliolo". I was close.... ha ha We had a miracle happen on Sunday. Let me start this story by backing up to like 2 months ago. Sorella Bjarnason and I had looked through our area book of old investigators and grabbed a couple that we wanted to follow up on. Well, we dropped by a woman named Susan. She has a husband and two children and we went and saw her. She was super nice, but then...didn't answer our calls after that. So...we just kind of let that go. Well, on Sunday she showed up to church with her family! Yup, Husband and two children. She remembered me and said she wanted us to come teach her and that she wants to be baptized. Er...for reals?! So I made sure to talk to her husband on Sunday because according to the record, he wasn't interested before. The missionaries had just taught Susan. Well, I talked to him about how we wanted to come teach them the gospel and got his number and...so now we have a family to teach. Love it! Oh my, when I have weeks like this, it just makes me laugh wondering what might go down in the coming week. Ah yes, missionary life.We have Presidents interviews this week which are always a joy. And then there's like a week and a half left in the transfer. It's gone mighty fast! I hope you guys are getting my mail. I've written everyone back that has written to me. Sometimes I wonder about mail because I think I'm putting on less postage then I should...haha so...I hope you're getting my mail. I love you guys. Have a marvelous week. Read your scriptures, say your prayers, and...hope you know how much I love you guys! Sister missionary love from Sardegna! Sorella Hansen

A Meter?, Walter's BAPTISM, Enrica‏

Well hey hey guys!We had a marvelous Zone Conference on Friday. It's always great to get more trainings and learn new ways to improve and be more effective. President Acerson always gives an amazing training. This time he was trying to demonstrate "vision" and this is how he started his training. He asks about our ability to run. He wanted to ask us different distances and then we had to raise our hand if we felt like we could run it. The point wasn't actually the running, because afterwards he asked us WHY we could run the different distances. The point was to see our vision of ourselves and help us to see that we can go great distances in the mission but it takes work. BUT the blip that I would like to share with you is a "Mallory moment". OH dear. So President started with "Let's start easy, how many of you could run a meter?" Now in my defense, we don't use this measuring system right?! So everyone raises their hands and obviously I know that I can run it but I just wanted to make sure that I knew how far it was. I leaned over to Sorella Millis and said, "That's like a mile right?" She laughed and didn't answer me. So I asked her again, "hey, that's just like a mile right?" ha ha So President looks at me and says, "Sorella Hansen..." (Me obviously being the only one in the room with their hand not raised---but I wanted to make sure I actually knew how far it was!) And then Sorella Acerson is in the row behind me and lovingly says, "That's like 3 feet sister Hansen." ha ha I started laughing. Then from then on whenever he said a distance, Sorella Acerson would say--from behind me-- the corresponding translation ex., "That's about 2/3 of a mile Sister Hansen." ha ha How awkward is my life? I seriously died laughing and the whole zone had a good laugh about it. Ah yes, put the metric system on my list of things to learn! Yipers!Walters baptism was on Sunday and it was such a great day! Walter and his cousin came to church (in ties! Which was marvelous!) and then we had a lunch together in church afterwards. I had to prepare a talk on Baptism and then Anziano Polelli was going to give the other talk on the Holy Ghost. We understood that they were supposed to be brief. So I had been fretting and worrying about what to say in the talk and I seriously finished throwing it all together like a half hour before the baptism and made my poor companion listen to it because I'm still in 5th grade like that. I was so nervous and THEN at 3:50 --yes, this would be 10 minutes before the program is to start-- our ward mission leader informs me and Anziano Polelli that he will not be speaking. So I was now the only speaker and had to somehow eloquently throw the Holy Ghost into my BRIEF talk. They're kind of big deal topics right? Baptism AND then add the holy ghost into a talk in a foreign tongue in 10 minutes---"Oh and also, would you mind playing prelude music, the hymns, and postlude music?" My thoughts were as follows, "excuse me sir, could you pass me a brown paper sack?" Don't worry, it's not like I made a scene or anything. In fact, I'm certain that nobody noticed a bit that I was a bit nervous but alas, I learned that I can work under pressure--but it IS something that I can work on. ha haSo I got to play the hymns, go give my talk, and then watch two bea-utiful baptisms! It was the greatest sight! Paolo hugged Fratello Floris when he came out of the water and I'm pretty sure I almost cried all over myself!...but I didn't. It was just so beautiful I can't even explain it. I just felt like, "yeah, that's why I'm here." It was so cool to see these two wonderful investigators--and friends--make the decision to be baptized. They are so amazing and I am so grateful that I got to be even small part of the experience. It was so cool.The weather has been all kinds of crazy. I love Sardegna with all of my heart. I have looked like a complete sweaty mess for months but I have loved every second because this place, the people, and the work are my favorite! BUT it has completely amazed me the weather has taken a change. Downpoor rain. It's nuts! On Monday we went to our meeting with our district. The weather seemed pleasant. Our meeting got over at 12:30 and we had a half an hour to get to our lunch appointment with the Sanna Family. We took off to the bus stop, the dark clouds rolled in and the trickling went to downpour very quickly. We being the unbelievably awkward sister missionaries that we are, know that we need to keep all of the things in our backpacks protected from the rain. (Preach my Gospel, scriptures, planners, etc) So...we put our backpacks on the ground... underneath our skirts (not joking) and kind of snuggled trying to stand under this sparse tree giving mediocre coverage, waiting for the bus to arrive. We probably waited for the bus for like 10 minutes and every now that then a car would wiz by and splash us. ha ha We were seriously DYING laughing the whole time. I mean, it was really the only solution! We tried to protect our backpacks, and then just laughed because there was really nothing else to do. We got on the bus and the bus driver (and all of the passengers) were laughing and teasing us but I think they like us more now. There's gotta be something endearing about a pathetic wet missionary right? Then we got off the bus and had to walk for about 10 minutes to the members house. We just continued to laugh and tried to make good time. I suggested that we should do some house because maybe people would feel bad for us and listen to our message. We arrived at the appointment, like 5 minutes late but they just laughed at us. Good times! It was really a moment that I'll never forget. Everything that got us more wet, was just more funny. I love moments like that. Sometimes inconveniences are just hilarious to me. I don't know why exactly but when I find myself in misfortune, it's somehow humorous. I can find things hilarious instead of whine about it--and it's SO much more fun that way too. So...win win! As enjoyable as that day was though, no worries, I bring an umbrella with me these days. :)Well remember Enrica? We're officially back together!! ha ha We had another appointment with her this week and it went really really well. We taughter her obedience, pray often, and study the scriptures. She hasn't wanted to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon because she's scared. I tried to lovingly call her on it this appointment and she just went off on how she knows that the Catholic church isn't true. I asked her again and she almost started crying. She knows exactly what we have. She knows exactly how huge it is. Ah, I can't even explain how I feel about it. She's pretty difficult to plan for because we pretty much have to do everything 110% by the spirit, and I'm still trying to figure that out. :) But everything's going well. She's making progress and keeping the commitments that we give her. It won't be easy, but I know that we can help her. She's amazing. Bah, I just love it here! There's so much to do and so many people who need the gospel!Well, I will end this eternal e'mail. I love you guys very much. Thanks for all of your love and support. Sending lots of Italian love your way, (how many meters it takes to get to you?...I'd be the wrong person to ask but...it's goin' in your direction.) Sorella Hansen

Breaking up but still holding hand, 100 pages in the BOM‏

Well, happy 9th of September!! Let me tell you about this week in the mission:On Saturday we did some service and cleaned the church. It looked pretty mangled. I spent several quality hours with the fig tree. Raking fallen leaves and matted smooshed figs, weeding...all good times! In the end, the church looked like paradise--soo beautiful. And the fig tree, thanks to Anziano Smiths pruning skills, actually looked like a tree instead of an overgrown ball of leaves. We left the church a little sunburnt, sweaty, and smelling like latex gloves and rotten figs but wouldn't you know it, it was a good time had by one and all. And hey, if you happen to run into some perfume called "latex gloves and rotten figs" I can advise you by first-hand experience to not invest! :)In other news we had another appointment with Enrica. Ah, I love this girl. We had planned to finish teaching the second lesson with her but right when she came into the church she seemed very agitated and ...not okay. She kind of gave us a "talk". She explained that this is a really hard time in her life right now and she's been trying to believe but she just can't do it at this point in her life. She talked to us about what the problems are and she has some legitimate problems that she's dealing with. I pulled out some scriptures that came into mind that I thought could help her and just bore testimony to her that the gospel could help her and...she didn't respond like it did anything for her. I was actually so sad. In the end, she still wants to see us, and I asked her if we can still read the scriptures with her and stuff and she agreed. So...it was weird. I like to use the comparison: She broke up with us....but we can still hold hands. ha ha I know that's awkward, but in the sense that it's still not over! I know that we have what she needs, and I know that as we carefully plan and follow the spirit, that she'll be able to see and feel of the truth and power of this message.We had Walters baptismal interview on Saturday--it's all a go! I'm glad that everything's official and that it's really happening. After his interview we had investigators, contacts, and new members watch "The Other Side of Heaven" in the church. It was weird how the movie is so different to me now. I watched it before my mission and I liked it alright. But watching it now, as a missionary, with investigators, it's a completely different experience. I dunno. It was weird.ALSO, yesterday we were out doing some finding work and we got a text from Walter. (Just as a little background information, the last thing that I'm aware of, is that he finished 1Nephi 12 like 5 days ago). So his text said that he just read all of 2Nephi and he listed his favorite chapters and verses. I was amazed and at the same time just started laughing. Come on! Who is this guy?! He ACTUALLY just sat down and read 2Nephi like no big deal. THEN, like 3 hours later when we were having lunch, we get another jolly text from Walter that says that he just finished reading Jacob. He again listed his favorite chapters and verses. I just started laughing again and looked up the parts that he liked so much. ha ha I'm so happy that he has a love for and testimony of the Book of Mormon. It's going to help him with his testimony so so much.By-the-way, how wonderful is the Book of Mormon? Throughout my mission I've been coming up with my own coloring coding system and it's quite possibly one of my favorite things. I love looking back through my scriptures and the colors and I know exactly what they mean. Also, if I'm looking for a certain type of scripture then I can just look for a specific color. I am telling you what, it has changed my personal study and I do not hate it. On the contrary, love it! I would seriously recommend it if you're looking for something to spice up your scripture study. It was the best thing that happened to my scripture study: Putting down the red pencil, and picking up a box of colored pencils. Yeah, give it a go. Your mind will expode with how much you'll love the scriptures. At least mine has......ANYWHOThanks for all of your love and support. I love you guys very much and keep you in my prayers. I know that I'm supposed to be here right now to serve God's children in Italy. He loves them so much, and I do too. It is such a blessing to be able to serve. I am learning so much. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father is so patient with me in my attempts to accomplished what He wants me to. I feel very blessed to have the perfect example to look up to--the more I learn about the Savior, the more my love grows for Him, the more I want to be more like Him, and the more that I want the people around me to know how important each one of them are. I love you guys. Be happy. Read your scriptures. Say your prayers. Laugh everyday. And know that Sorella Hansen is sending you Italian amore, Sorella Mally

Bye, bye to my other half, Rockin' tie, Drunkin' Sailor?‏

Buongiorno!! Come state?!? What a crazy sauce week it has been. Going to bed at midnight, waking up at 4:30--let's just say that accompanying my companion to Rome kinda threw off my whole 10:30-6:30 sleeping schedule. ha ha But it was quite the experience and I enjoyed it nonetheless. I love talking with the boat workers. They're always very pleasant. I'm really sad to see my dear Sorella Bjarnason go. Can I just tell you how awkward it is to be separated from someone that you've spent 4 and a half months of your life with? I have spent half of my time in Italy with that girl. It's crazy how different things are with her gone. I feel like someone split me from my Siamese twin. (What's more awkward, the fact that I just made that analogy or the fact that I don't know how to spell Siamese? Lemme know.) It's cool to look back at our time together and remember all of the hard times, but also all of the times that we laughed, and how much we grew together. I think we're both completely different missionaries then we were before. I hope that happens with all of my companions. My new companion is Sorella Nelson. She's is starting her 5th transfer. (Just for reference, I'm in my 7th.) She is from Seattle, Washington and is so excited to be serving here in on the Island. She has like 3 foot long hair. It completely blows my mind. Mine is getting longer but...yeah, hers is forever long. I don't know how she does it. We've set some really good goals together and I'm excited to see all that we're going to learn together and all great moments that we're going to come across. Well as for a little Walter update. Sorella Bjarnason called him last Wednesday to give him a last reading assignment from the scriptures and he told her that he was on his way to his hometown. (It's a long slow train ride to the middle of the island.) It makes me laugh because he's so used to seeing us and so we think that because we left to Rome for like 3 days that he didn't know what to do so he went home. ha ha But the good news is I called him on my way back to see how his family was and everything and he said that everything's going to be okay! I was really worried that they're get really mad at him when he went home but he said that everything was fine and they're okay with him being a member! Woot woot! We had another appointment with Enrica on Saturday. Ah, I just adore that girl! We taught her the first half of the Plan of Salvation. She just completely intrigues me. I just love hearing her thoughts and opinions because she really thinks things out. I know that she'll become a member someday. I just think she's gonna take a little bit of work--which is okay. I adore her and don't mind doing the work that it takes to get her to the gospel where she'll be happy. So my companion and I have discovered a new fun game. She told me that she has a philosophy about people and how they have more than one age. They have the age that they actually are, and then the age that they act. One night after our appointment with Walter (where at the bus stop, he started dancing like Michael Jackson and singing Thriller) she said that she thinks Walter is "32 going on 23". He's actually 32 but acts like a 23 year-old. I can only agree. I've thought the same thing, just not necessarily phrased in that way. I asked my companion what she is. She said that she's "22 going on 60 ...going on 3." Obviously I don't know her very well but I will let you know if that holds true. So then I asked for her evaluation on me. She said that I'm very elegant, sweet, and loving. But she also said that my way of speaking and my dry humor is something else entirely. So her analysis of me is that I'm "22 going on Princess Diana, going on Drunken sailor." ha ha So...make of that what you will! Consider that our first companionship inventory. ha ha We have finished teaching Walter all of the lessons. And we also went through the baptismal questions with him again. He's ready. It's seriously the coolest thing. He really knows that it's true. He really understands the doctrine. It's the coolest thing in the world. ALSO, and sound the alarm because this news is dare I say, massive!....Okay so here it goes: Walter wore a shirt and tie on Sunday!!! I'm not even playing! He kind of whined about it the whole day and how it's uncomfortable but...I think deep down he loved it. :) We have his official baptismal interview this Saturday and then NEXT Saturday is the big day. I am so, so excited. Welp, everything's going well. There is really a lot of work to be done here in Cagliari but it can be done-obviously with the help of the lord. :) We were talking in our weekly meeting about how we've changed since we received our mission call, and since we left the MTC, and to where we are at this point. It's crazy all of the things that have happened since then. I feel like I've lived 5 years in 1. I can't imagine my life without this experience though--without these people. I really do need to be here. I love you guys! (Just in case you didn't know, it's factual!) There is a grundle of delicious, sweaty, lovable, Italian, sista missionary love, bubble wrapped and sealed with a kiss (the appropriate kind obviously....) headed your way. Aka Vi voglio bene! Say your prayers, read your scriptures, and ....I dunno, try to picture me more like Princess Diana then as a drunken sailor. That'd be great. Kisses! Sorella Hansen