Slappy, Ballerina, Cagliari‏

Hey Fam and Friends~Well check it out...I'm off on an island attempting to converse in Italian. Who knew this would be my life?! Not I! Let me give you a little run down of the last week. Welp, on Thursday I went to the train station, met my companion, and we ALMOST missed our train to Civitavecchia. (Not even playin', like we were running with the elders taking my luggage and throwing it on the train). It was a "Home Alone" moment. Then we got off the train and found the big beautiful boat that was going to take me to my new city! It was so rad actually. We got to take some sweet escalators up a couple of floors to check-in (this detail is crucial for later) and after a comical, accidental tour of this massive boat (because we couldn't find our room) we settled into our little pocket-size room and got ready for our voyage! Well...the kicker was when we were getting off of the boat. So, I have two bags of luggage right? My companion had the littler one and I had the one that could fit Andre the Giant inside. Well, we were getting off of the boat and we had to take the escalators down....haha So, my companion went first pulling her luggage right behind her. And then....I stepped on and pulled the barge of luggage behind me. I don't know if I just didn't watch to make sure that it was properly fitting on one stair or what happened but....it fell on me...and then I kinda fell on my companion...and after some fast and incredibly awkward flailings I got back to the upright position and had my bag secured....but not before one of my flailings resulted in...the slapping of my companion. Uh...yeah. ha ha So, we hadn't even been companions for 24 hours and I already slapped my companion in the face. Luckily after I apologized many many times it was fine. And at least the boat staff got a kick out of the situation. Ah yes, Welcome to Cagliari indeed!Cagliari is beautiful! Holy Smokes! It's by the sea and it's adorable. I already don't want to leave. It's way different from Rome though, that's for sure. We went to church on Sunday and they had me play the piano for relief society (just like in the Rome ward.) It's just funny to me that nobody plays the piano here. It's just so, not original, in Utah. An awesome little confidence buster happened during the relief society lesson when the teacher asked the missionaries a question. I didn't understand what she asked me. I tried to clarify what I understood but she just shook her head. Meanwhile my companion was zoned out and I think I started sweating! ha ha I get really nervous when I don't understand. Apparently they wanted to hear a little story of when we've been rejected as missionaries or something. Inspiring!We had English class last night and it was really fun. The class had like 9 people show up which is a pretty big deal because we had about that many people in our intermediate class in ROME...and this is a smaller city. It was way cool though. The students were super nice to us and I had a lot of fun teaching them. We were teaching them about the English infinitive and I had written out a "sentence skeleton" (obviously that's not what it's really called, I just...don't know what it's called) and they had to write the sentence. Well, on one of them I had written "I/ to want / to be/ a ballerina" And then the person had to conjugate it in present, make it into a question, and negate it. Well, I had written many different sentences but the person who got this one was a skinny man who has a pony tail. He raised his hand to have me come correct the sentence that he wrote and I just busted up laughing. He went and wrote it on the board in front of the class and we all just died laughing. Poor guy. When he wrote it in the negative he wrote "I DO NOT want to be a ballerina". It was so funny.Every thing's going well. Cagliari is absolutely beautiful it's out of control. I wouldn't hate living here after my mission that's for sure. I'm still working on figuring a bunch of things out. It's so crazy that my companion and I are companions. We're both so young in the mission but it's cool. We're learning from each other and learning together. There's a lot of work to do and it's gonna be fun to figure it out and enjoy the work. Thanks for all of the prayers and all of your love and support. Love you guys millions and brazillians. Take care. Italian kisses!
Sorella Hansen

Letter and your Comments

It's comment day!!!

I know you are all excited!

You can leave them after this post or after Mal's letter, whichever you prefer.

Thanks all, I know this makes her day.

Investigators at a baptism, Michela, and....transfers....

Hey guys~
You guessed it, this week completely blew my mind with all of the surprises that we had. But before I have a panic attack and tell you about transfers....I'll tell you about earlier in the week first k? So on Friday we do our planning for the whole next week. I had been thinking about Michela. She's the woman that I met on the bus that came over to me because I smiled at her. Well, we taught her a first lesson that she seemed to really enjoy but then kind backed off and we haven't been able to see her since. I called her on Friday and invited her to the baptism (an investigator of the Ladispoli sisters) the next day. She didn't want to give me a yes or no answer.Saturday morning we went out a ways to pick up a boy named Davide. We've been teaching him English and his mom is interested in the church. She has to stay at home all day taking care of an elderly lady so when we went to the house we taught a little English and then the first lesson. They both really liked it and Davide was so excited to have his very own Book of Mormon. (He's like 13?) Anyway it was rad. Well, since Gloria can't leave the house, her sister AND friend wanted to come with us and Davide to watch this baptism. 3 investigators at a baptism? Uh...you'd be stupid to say no! So we were riding the bus to the baptism and the elders kept calling us to see where we were at. (we were a tad bit late) And we discovered that they were calling because Michela had showed up to the baptism and was asking for me!! She came!! So we had four little investigators at Francesca's baptism and it was way cool. I've never had investigators at a baptism before but I'm so glad that they could all come because there's an amazing spirit at baptisms. Davide, Morella (Gloria's sister), and Carolina (the friend) all really enjoyed the baptism. It was a really cool day.To make it even better, guess who showed up to sacrament meeting the next day? Michela herself!! I seriously think my mind almost exploded! I sat by her during the meeting and she kept telling me that she loved what she was hearing and felt really good there. I felt so relieved. It was a great Sunday.
SO......TRANSFERS! Sunday night I really wasn't too worried about transfers because I figured I'd have one more transfer with my Follow-up trainer Sorella Barbiere. (After-all this is only our first transfer together). I just wasn't that worried. BUT, at the same time, there's a part of me that's been feeling like I'm done here in Rome. That there's not more for me to do.Well, we had our normal weekly meeting as a district on Monday morning but we all knew that sometime during the meeting President was going to call. We put all of our phones on the table in the middle of the circle and all nervously glanced at them every now and then, just anticipating his call. Well...it rang. It's tradition that while you're talking to president on the phone that you don't say the name of the city or companion out loud because after every one's talked to president, THEN we tell each other where we're going. My companion got the phone before me. I figured that I could pay attention to the little things that she'd say and be able to judge if we're gonna be together for another one. She was kinda quiet on the phone and then she said, "Okay....perche?" And everyone in the circle made noises because we assumed that means that she's training. One of the elders looked at me and said, "Sorella Hansen, that means you're leaving." I just sat there for a second to let it sink in and just shared my only thoughts at the time, "holy crap...." Well, the phone was passed to me and here's the news: I'm going to the city called Cagliari. It's on the island of Sardegna!!! Can I just echo my words from Monday, "Holy crap!" And my companion's name is Sorella Bjarnson. She's from the district older then me in the MTC. And apparently I'm senior companion. Holy Crap! (P.S. Sorry if I have elderly relatives reading this who are appalled by my word usage.) Yeah, I don't really know how I feel. I'm SUPER excited to go to the island to serve. I've wanted to serve on the island ever since I opened my call and saw the island on the map! I'm really so excited. I can't wait for a new city and new work and just a new start. I really think that it's going to be great. But I'm also stressed because my companion and I are both really young in the mission. But it's okay. Hopefully that just means that we're really excited to work and aren't "too tired" or trunky. I leave tomorrow morning to go to the train station and I'll take an overnight boat to the island followed by another train or two. It's gonna be crazy but I'm excited.

The island of Sardegna
Here's where she's headed.

View of Cagliari City

A port near Cagliari

I love you guys very much. I hope you're all healthy and happy and loving your lives wherever you're at. Remember that the church is, in fact, the truest of the truth. It's amazing. And know that there's a blond missionary that will shortly be tromping around an island in Italia, preaching the word, who loves you all very very much. Italian Kisses! Sorella Hansen

Little Women?, Susi, Little red bugs‏

Me and my companion Sorella Chevalier at the Pantheon.
At the Pantheon. I was trying to get a cool pic of the whole in the top - here you go. :)
I guess I think I'm artsy or something. ha ha

So... this was back at the MTC.

This is a girl from Stake Mission prep - Amy Montano.

Nativity Scene in the Vatican City. It was WAY cool.

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My dear fam and friendlies~

What a week. I know I say that every week and...look forward to another good...I dunno... year of me saying that. ha ha I've felt a few more earthquakes this week but they haven't been too bad. One of the companionships from L'Aquila have come to our district and one of them is a little greenie-four weeks into the mission. Poor lil' guy. He's a rock though. Oh, random moment from this week: So we try to go like once a week to visit Rosita and Nadia. I've talked about them before I'm sure but just as a reminder. Rosita is a recent convert that we're teaching the follow-up lessons to and Nadia is 89, not a member, but Rosita lives with her around the clock and takes care of her. WELL, Nadia is hysterically funny and I actually bust up at random things she says because she so hilarious. When she was younger she toured like...the world singing. (wow that was profound Mal) She sang opera. Well apparently she hasn't sung in a really long time. Rosita asked me and my companion if we played the piano. She has this rickety, but beautiful old piano that they wanted us to play. I had my tiny pocket-sized hymn book but I went and played a little bit. Since Nadia isn't a member of the church she doesn't know our hymns so we had to find some common ground---Christmas Songs! So there we were, gathered around this old and terribly out of tune piano, singing Christmas songs all together. I truly felt like it was a moment out of "Little Women", though thankfully for my concentration Christian Bale wasn't there. ha ha It was good times. Oh! Also here's a little taste of our P-day last Wednesday. ha ha We were going to go see this famous bridge that is in an Italian chick-flick that my companion likes, but we both were kinda tired and wanted to write letters. So since it was such a beautiful day we thought, "you know what, we've got a pretty A-okay balcony, whaddaya say we pull our mattresses out there, get some sun, and just write letters?" Yup, we did indeed. However there are some teeny tiny little red bugs that were on the balcony. In my mind I didn't really care because they were so small so we just did it anyway. Well, my companion freaked out every now and then because these little bugs were getting on her mattress. I didn't really think it was a big deal because I was thinking, "Well come on, they're just gonna get right back off." Well....the next morning both of us woke up with tons of bites all over our legs. so we vacuumed our mattresses and all is well. Our investigator Susi that we haven't seen in FOREVER randomly came to English class with her sister and daughter Livia. I was completely amazed when I saw them. They're so great. Susi is so funny because she always asks me how the language is coming because I've been going to Susi's house from day 1. She's great. And it really is HUGE that we're able to go over to her house again. I don't know if I told you but the roommate that lives with her is Muslim and told Susi that she didn't want us going over there anymore. Well get this: Susi called us the day of General Conference for an appointment and actually CAME and then when we went over to Susi's house later for an appointment, I made a point of talking with the roommate a little bit to hopefully smooth things over and have a good relationship. Well, the roommate told me that she'd seen me around a couple of different places in Rome and one day went home to Susi and said, "Why don't you call those sisters to come over, I've been seeing them around." I was amazed. Coming from the lady who didn't want us there, she saw me around the city and SHE asked Susi when we were coming over again. All's I've got to say is....do miracles still happen? I'm gonna go with a yes! We have transfers on Monday and I'd like to say that I know what's going to happen but...negative. I have no clue what's gonna go down. Part of me sees me staying with my follow-up trainer for another transfer, but at the same time I wonder if I'm going to leave cities. I've never been one that handles surprises very well. Hey, this week I got a letter that had the comments of fam and friends from the blog and I just wanted to say..."GRAZIE MILLE". It was great to hear from you guys. It's ever so nice of you guys to follow these random letters of mine. Well, the church is as true as it gets. Being a missionary is great. I'm really learning so much and appreciating more and more what I have. We really are so lucky to have the church. I'm telling you, it's almost a visible thing-the difference that comes upon people when they're reading the scriptures and praying and coming to church--there's a visible happiness. It's awesome. Read your scriptures and know that there's a blond in Italy and loves you very berry much! Sorella Mallory Hansen

Comments

You know what to do.

Earthquakes, French bust, new Investigator‏

First Day in Italy. President got us all our first pizza.

First night in Italy at the Colosseum.
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Hey there you guys~I wasn't sure if you guys had heard but uh...I've learned a new word: Un terremoto--earthquake. The city of L'Aquila had a 6 Richter scale earthquake Monday morning. That city is like an hour away from me. Anywho, the Ladispoli sisters were sleeping at our apartment that night and about 3:40 a.m. we all got woken up to shaking. It was such a surreal experience. I think it was worse for us because we live on a high floor but it was so crazy. My companion describes it as being in a washing machine. It was so weird. I was too tired to be my regular panicky self. It shook for about a minute. When it woke me up, I was so out of it but asked Sorella Marangoni (who was in the bedroom with me) "Is this an earthquake?" and she was just like, "I dunno, it's probably the second coming." and then she just continued laying in bed. ha ha WHAT?!? I just sat in my bed not really knowing what in the world was going on. Anywho, don't worry. Every thing's fine. I'm so so glad that our missionaries in L'Aquila are safe. Anizano Brock was in L'Aquila (Anziano Herrick's trainer) and he's the best. We didn't know anything until the morning that it happened in L'Aquila. But we said a prayer and just feel like every thing's going to be okay. From what I've heard it did some serious damage to L'Aquila. All of our members are okay, but many have lost their homes. And last I heard over 150 people have died. The next morning as part of my studies I read a talk about the 10 virgins. ha ha So there's the update, any more then that and you guys probably know better then I do. I can't read the newspaper or anything as a missionary so...there's what happened.We found a new investigator this week. His name's Francesco. He's like...I dunno...60 or something. We were going around with our new convert Rosita helping her at the hospital and stuff and I made eye contact with this man and thought that I should talk to him. Well he ended up coming up to us and asked us who we were and stuff. We're teaching him English and the gospel. He's great. But we might have to give him to the elders. I think I must be a selfish person but I have a hard time giving our investigators to the elders. It's hard to "Pass them along" when you had a cool experience finding them. So we'll see what happens. If it's better for the investigator then that's what we'll do.In other news, I now know for sure that my French is a complete joke. The other day a guy started talking to me and he only spoke French. ha ha Oh my stars, I almost wish I could go back and see what I looked like trying to talk to him. It was brutality. BUT, I was able to talk to him a little bit and explain to him who we were and get his phone number....for the elders. :) Although I don't know what they're going to do with him because none of them speak french. We'll see. I bought a picture dictionary that has everything labeled with Italian AND french words. I don't run into French speakers all that often but when I do it's the most awkward slap to the face at how awesome I am NOT at that language. Anywhoodle, everything else is going good. Thankfully there's no down time to think about the whole earthquake thing. We're too busy and my imaginative mind is grateful that I don't have time to think about the earthquake jazz. We were in the metro yesterday night heading home and my companion said she overheard someone say there was another earthquake 5 minutes ago in L'Aquila and she was kinda freakin' out that we were going to feel it while we were in the metro so we just got out and walked home. It is an adventure to say the least!Thanks for your love and concern. I love you guys and pray that you're all happy and safe. Take care of yourselves. Kisses from shaky, quaky, Italy,

Sorella Hansen

Earthquake in L'Aquila

Debi recieved a letter this morning from Mallory's mission president, concerning the Earthquake in Italy. We aren't sure whether Mallory felt the quake or not but I'm sure we will hear all about it on Wed.

Dear Parents,

I apologize. I hadn't thought of contacting each of you about the earthquake until this afternoon. We have talked to the affected missionaries' parents and are trying to keep them up to date with things that are going on, but I am now realizing that each one of you are worried and would like to know how things are.

First of all, you should know that all missionaries and members are safe. Two families from the L'Aquila (pronouned lock-wee-lah, with the emphassis on "lock") branch have lost their homes, but are otherwise unharmed.

We awoke this morning at about 3:30 a.m. and felt our bedroom gently shaking and swaying. One of our daughters later said that it seemed so gentle, she decided it wasn't worth getting out of bed because she was so tired and didn't think anything would fall on her. I mistakenly thought that it was just a mild tremor here in Rome, although it lasted for some time (perhaps up to a minute). Just a few minutes later, the phone rang and President answered saying, "Are you OK?" It was the elders in L'Aquila: Elder Brothers, Elder Brock, Elder Wheeler, and Elder Grigg. They said they had felt the building shaking and ran out in their pajamas. When the got outside, they gathered and said a prayer. They immediately felt calm and at peace and knew they would be all right. They realized later that they were the only ones who were calm and, thus, were able to better help those around them.

When things had calmed down somewhat, they ran back inside for warm clothes. The building did not look damaged at all and they said they did not feel like they were in danger. Later they would dash back for food, money, passports, and clothing. We asked that they try to get everything at once so they would not have to return to the building just in case there were aftershocks. They were also to wait for officials to come and inspect the building and let them know whether it would be safe for occupancy.

We did not know how bad the earthquake was and President Acerson got up and checked the internet. While he waited for the next half hour, nothing appeared, so he called the missionaries asking for updates every hour or so.

At 6:00 a.m., one of the missionaries' parents called and told us that it had been on the news in the U.S. We checked the internet and found quite a bit of information at that point and called all the parents of the missionaries who were affected. (It was a 6.3 earthquake with L'Aquila as its epicenter.)

The roads in the area have been closed so that engineers can inspect the many tunnels and bridges that surround L'Aquila. This has made it impossible for us to get in or the missionaries to get out. However, they have reassured us that they are safe and happy to be of service in so many ways. The members fed them a picnic lunch and they said they have plenty of things to keep warm -- it's an otherwise beautiful day as far as weather is concerned.

They have checked on the church which was in the center of the city and have reported that it is unstable with cracks in the ceiling and walls. They will not enter this building again. They are also being careful to not place themselves in harm's way as they help others.

I was not at home for the most of the day and was shocked when I returned this afternoon and saw the pictures on the internet which showed the devastation that had occurred there. I know you are seeing those pictures and are extremely worried. I asked the elders there to take a picture of their apartment building and send it to their parents so they could reassure them that this is not the case where they live. They have told us that their building is probably one of the safest in the area as it is not close to the city center and is modern and well built.

Some missionaries felt the tremor west of L'Aquila to Rome and east of L'Aquila to Pescara, but all are well.

I will try to keep things posted on our family blog. Go to www.acerson.com and click on Acerson Family Blog for more information and pictures as we receive them. Feel free to email us back and let us know if there are questions that we have left unanswered.

We ask you to pray for the residents of L'Aquila and continue your prayers on the behalf of our missionaries and all those others who faithfully serve around the world.

Con affetto,
(with affection),
Sorella Acerson

English Class, Rubix Cube, Aquilino fam

Trevi Fountain! SO Beautiful!
Trevi again... what more can I say, it's B-E-A-utiful!

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Well hey hey hey kids~I hope that everybody is having a slammin' April-to-the-Fool's Day! I was gonna pull some prank about how President transferred me to a French speaking Island for a transfer because they needed me but...who am I kidding!?! ha ha Every zone conference we talk about new finding techniques and how we can start talking to people. Someone mentioned that they do rubix cubes and immediately everyone starts looking at them and they can ask people if they know how, etc, etc,. So, my companion and I went and dropped 50 cents on a rubix cube and learned from Anziani Herrick and Morris after English class. I'm catching on. I've almost got it but already it's been a success. In fact, an old guy from across the bus yelled (well...not yelled, but you know..) across the bus to talk to me about me doing the rubix cube and how I must be really smart because I can do it. ha ha (Little does he know...I cannot.) It's fun to think of new ways to talk to people and strike up conversation.We had Zone Singing on Sunday where our whole zone gets together and we sing hymns and when people stop to listen, we leave the line-up and go talk to them. It's fun. I really enjoy it actually. Sometimes it's funny when you start talking to people and out of nowhere in the conversation they say something like, "I'm really happy with my religion. You can't convert me." ha ha I just laugh and say 'okay.' and keep talking to them. Ah...I'm still working on the best response for statements like that. It's funny the things people say to us sometimes.We had another meal with the Aquilino family yesterday. ha ha Oh my stars you don't even know how much I wish we could get those meals filmed. They are so nuts and I enjoy every minute of it. Fratello Aquilino is 92 and is always singing the Italian anthem and other songs about Rome...that is...when he's not showing us his morning exercises and telling us what he eats (P.S. in case you wanted to know: squeeze a lemon in your water every morning and every other day eat 4 walnuts at lunch time.) This is the family that feeds us an usual amount of food---really, like no human being should EVER eat that much. My companion brought a sack in her back pack to put some of the food in when they left the room...but they didn't leave the room. ha ha Oh the Aquilino family. Truly the very best of times.English class was great last week! Our beginner class (which is usually like 2 people) had like 20 people in it! My companion and I are in the intermediate class. We have a member that teaches the intermediate class and we just 'help'. Right now he's teaching them "Your Song" by Elton John. He's not going to be here this week, so I'm going to have to come up with something for the class to do. My companion can communicate in English but...I don't know how well she'll be able to teach at this level. It'll be interesting. I'll say that much!We're kind of at a stand still with some of our investigators either because they're not keeping commitments or there are things holding them back. But it probably just means that we should work harder eh? Things are going great. The weather is brutality at it's best. haha Okay I exaggerate. It's just fickle. There we go. One day is cloudy and gloomy, then next moment it's SO hot and sweaty and ten minutes later it's pouring rain. Oh well. Just love it and keep going. I hope you're all doing crazy good! I wuv ya and am constantly shipping my Italian love in your direction. Church is still true...even on April Fool's day. Peace! Sorella Mallory Hansen