I am sitting in my apartment, really getting down with some italian verb congugations when I hear the most passionate, most italian two words shouted from the floor above us.
"MAMMA MIA!"
Sorella Bair (who was in another room) acknowledged that she indeed had heard it too. We both laughed..."Where are we?" The funniest thing is that it was real emotion...this wasnt just silly little Mario from Mario Cart who forgot to climb up a ladder. IT WAS REAL LIFE. I live in MARIO CART.
Another great week. It was SUCH a gift to talk to and see the familys faces! Everyone looks so beautiful.. especially that belly Kenny!! and KATE is all grown up.
Before our skype session, our district was invited to a Christmas feast at the Rochiras. They invited family and several families for the ward. We ate lots of food, listened to American christmas music, watched the children open their presents, watched the children do Wii Dance. Opening presents was the most interesting thing... The presents arent even marked. They are pretty much torn up and up for grabs. Magically, everyone knows whose present goes to who. Christmas miracle.
There is the cutest set of italian twin girls (Daphne and Phoebe). I told one of them that I have a twin sister. She quickly responded, "Ma CHE BELLO!" (BUT HOW BEAUTIFUL!) (I wish so badly that I could recite exactly how she said it. She said it like a typical italian-with so much passion in her voice. (a little 10 yr old girl). Everyone is so intrigued when they find out I have a twin serving RUSSIA. Liv, I found some russian church pamphlets in our apartment the other day. Liv, what even is russian?
There was a baptism this week. A father and son (the elders investigators). It was so HAPPY, except a lot of people did show up. The closing hymn was the Spirit of God. Sorella Bair whispered, "SING LOUD". (so as to seem like there were more people than it seemed). Being sick with a cold, I tried the best I could. We struggled to get through the last verse, with this hymn being the highest and longest in the hymn book. Moral of the story: elders, get more members to come to baptisms:)
We taught a family this week! There is a sweet exchange student in our ward from the US, so we arranged for us to come teach her host family. They invited us for pranzo. It was by far the biggest pranzo of my life. There are some days when I feel like I really wont make it through a meal (if you know what I mean).. .lots of prayers said. This was one of those days. But, we survived, shared a message on the family. They invited us back. They are golden and kind and intellectual!
Transfer calls are this week....stay tuned. Im thinking itll be another in Catania. We will see:)
Sorella Bair and I have been studying more about the Holy Ghost and how key it is to conversion. I found a great scripture:
"That which is of God is light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." D&C 50:24
So eloquent and beautifully said. Study and ponder the scriptures. Feast upon them. They will bless your life so much! I know that the scriptures are the words of God.
BUON CAPODANNO!! Own those new years goals!
love,
Sister Clyde
Monday, December 30, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
Buon Natale!!!!
Catania is beautiful! Italians are the most kind, caring people. I am still working on that book of beautiful italian services.
Another to add to the list: Sorella BAir and I were in a hurry to buy balloons and decorate for our departing sister, Sorella Fuller last week. We ran into the shop below our house in search for balloons and how to say balloon in italian. Once the store owner found them for us, I readied myself to pay. Without hestitating, he responded "La prossima volta!" ("next time" you can pay) and we were off running for the church. What kindness!
Its really funny to see the cultural differences and accent differences among italians. One day Sorella Bair had a conversation with a stranger:
Sorella BAir: "Are you Italian?"
Stranger: "No! Im Sicilian"
Haha he was dead serious. I guess Im not techinically in Italy:)
There was a baptism on Saturday! It wasnt a convert baptism but the missionaries helped out with it. It was really neat to witness a baptism with the perspective of a missionary. Wow, what a beautiful step in life to see someone come into the waters of baptism with someone holding the priesthood authority of God. Baptism truly is part of the plan and it is how we become children of Christ. It is a rebirth through Him. And we have the opportunity to renew this covenant every week as we partake of the Sacrament. Do as Christ would do each day. Its easy for us to remember during this holiday season but it is so important that we always remember Him! He lives. His Atonement is real!
Love you all! Merry Christmas!
See you soon fam!
love,
Sorella Clyde
Another to add to the list: Sorella BAir and I were in a hurry to buy balloons and decorate for our departing sister, Sorella Fuller last week. We ran into the shop below our house in search for balloons and how to say balloon in italian. Once the store owner found them for us, I readied myself to pay. Without hestitating, he responded "La prossima volta!" ("next time" you can pay) and we were off running for the church. What kindness!
Its really funny to see the cultural differences and accent differences among italians. One day Sorella Bair had a conversation with a stranger:
Sorella BAir: "Are you Italian?"
Stranger: "No! Im Sicilian"
Haha he was dead serious. I guess Im not techinically in Italy:)
There was a baptism on Saturday! It wasnt a convert baptism but the missionaries helped out with it. It was really neat to witness a baptism with the perspective of a missionary. Wow, what a beautiful step in life to see someone come into the waters of baptism with someone holding the priesthood authority of God. Baptism truly is part of the plan and it is how we become children of Christ. It is a rebirth through Him. And we have the opportunity to renew this covenant every week as we partake of the Sacrament. Do as Christ would do each day. Its easy for us to remember during this holiday season but it is so important that we always remember Him! He lives. His Atonement is real!
Love you all! Merry Christmas!
See you soon fam!
love,
Sorella Clyde
Monday, December 16, 2013
Mount Etna Still Lives
Italians are such warm wonderful trusting people! I told Sorella Bair that I want to make a book of all the out of the norm things that Italians do compared to Americans. For example, when you buy something at the store and the cashier doesnt have enough change, he will confidentally ask another customer in line for change and they immediately search through their wallets. Another one was when I bought my bandage at the pharmacy and they didnt understand what I was trying to explain, so I suggested that they search for it on the computer. Without question, they made Sorella Bair and me come BEHIND the counter to use their computer. (A PHARMACY COUNTER). Haha I feel like you would get shot or something if that happened in the states.
So many funny things this last week. One story that stands out was on Saturday morning. I did an exchange with a sister living in Siracusa (a beautiful quaint little town about an hour south of Catania). One of our appointments was with a lonely woman ward member. Sorella Baker gave me a debriefing before we went into the house of what might happen. Well it all happened, alright. When she realized that I was a new sorella, she asked for my name. "Sorella Clyde" was my response. She responded however with: "Whats your first name?" "Samantha but I go by Sorella Clyde" And then the woman: "Sorella Samantha. that is much easier to say." Then she proceeded to pray for me as Sorella Samantha in her prayer. Interesting. Sometimes we like to sing hymns during our visits, so when Sorella Baker offered the sing, the woman insisted on singing a solo. The First Noel. I have to say, I have heard anyone put so much passion into The First Noel (Natal Natal) as much as this woman did that morning. In fact, she kept messing up on the melody so she would start from the top. First verse: heard three times. Aw yeah. Also, during her prayer she dedicated the hymn to me "Sorella Samantha". It was an interesting visit. What a kind woman.
We went caroling to a Casa di Cura (nursing home) last week as a district. It was so happy! Oh my goodness, we all felt on top of the world after that visit. The old women were so shocked and touched that a group of us would come sing to them. I dont think caroling is a common occurence outside the states. It was the most touching moment to see these old, lonely women singing along, giving us a standing ovation at the end of each song, and there was even a sweet woman in the back in her bed- singing EVERY word while wiping the tears from her eyes. We gave out pass a long cards with a picture of Jesus on them. One of the women kissed the picture when I gave it to her. The casa di cura worker wants us to come back to read the book of mormon with her. WOW.
We had another golden lesson with Enzo, the bus driver. Wow. He is so great and ready to go. I really felt the Spirit guiding us throughout the lesson and he ending with a golden prayer. Luigi Sinatra is another favorite (and its not just the fact that he is probably a relative of Frank Sinatra). He is really excited to keep learning and when he gave the closing prayer he thanked Heavenly Father that he met us at a bus stop one day. HOW SWEET. Sorella Amato is our member friend connection with him. MEMBER FRIENDS are so key. In fact, our bishop actually told us to stop doing finding and instead to go to member houses to get referrals. (pretty sure the prophets counsel to find is above bishops, but he has made such a great point!) Members are the key to missionary work!
Luigi Sinatra looked at my nametag at one point and said, "Sorella Clyde. Dove Bonnie?" (Wheres Bonnie). My response: "No so ancora" (I dont know yet). Ohhh italians.
We also had a lesson with Agata. She is definitely an interestingly happy woman. At one point Sorella Bair told her that God thinks of her as a principessa (princess) and she was very excited by this: "OH wow! Thats so funny. My father used to call me a princess when I was little!" Haha. Pretty sure if we keep calling her a princess she will get baptized.
Glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth goodwill to men. This is such a beautiful time of the year to give the gift of the gospel. It is the greatest gift that we can give. I know that Jesus Christ lives. He loves us so much that He suffered and died for us. Let us strive to be like our Savior especially during this Christmas season and touch someones life with the gospel, with our love.
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Sister Clyde
So many funny things this last week. One story that stands out was on Saturday morning. I did an exchange with a sister living in Siracusa (a beautiful quaint little town about an hour south of Catania). One of our appointments was with a lonely woman ward member. Sorella Baker gave me a debriefing before we went into the house of what might happen. Well it all happened, alright. When she realized that I was a new sorella, she asked for my name. "Sorella Clyde" was my response. She responded however with: "Whats your first name?" "Samantha but I go by Sorella Clyde" And then the woman: "Sorella Samantha. that is much easier to say." Then she proceeded to pray for me as Sorella Samantha in her prayer. Interesting. Sometimes we like to sing hymns during our visits, so when Sorella Baker offered the sing, the woman insisted on singing a solo. The First Noel. I have to say, I have heard anyone put so much passion into The First Noel (Natal Natal) as much as this woman did that morning. In fact, she kept messing up on the melody so she would start from the top. First verse: heard three times. Aw yeah. Also, during her prayer she dedicated the hymn to me "Sorella Samantha". It was an interesting visit. What a kind woman.
We went caroling to a Casa di Cura (nursing home) last week as a district. It was so happy! Oh my goodness, we all felt on top of the world after that visit. The old women were so shocked and touched that a group of us would come sing to them. I dont think caroling is a common occurence outside the states. It was the most touching moment to see these old, lonely women singing along, giving us a standing ovation at the end of each song, and there was even a sweet woman in the back in her bed- singing EVERY word while wiping the tears from her eyes. We gave out pass a long cards with a picture of Jesus on them. One of the women kissed the picture when I gave it to her. The casa di cura worker wants us to come back to read the book of mormon with her. WOW.
We had another golden lesson with Enzo, the bus driver. Wow. He is so great and ready to go. I really felt the Spirit guiding us throughout the lesson and he ending with a golden prayer. Luigi Sinatra is another favorite (and its not just the fact that he is probably a relative of Frank Sinatra). He is really excited to keep learning and when he gave the closing prayer he thanked Heavenly Father that he met us at a bus stop one day. HOW SWEET. Sorella Amato is our member friend connection with him. MEMBER FRIENDS are so key. In fact, our bishop actually told us to stop doing finding and instead to go to member houses to get referrals. (pretty sure the prophets counsel to find is above bishops, but he has made such a great point!) Members are the key to missionary work!
Luigi Sinatra looked at my nametag at one point and said, "Sorella Clyde. Dove Bonnie?" (Wheres Bonnie). My response: "No so ancora" (I dont know yet). Ohhh italians.
We also had a lesson with Agata. She is definitely an interestingly happy woman. At one point Sorella Bair told her that God thinks of her as a principessa (princess) and she was very excited by this: "OH wow! Thats so funny. My father used to call me a princess when I was little!" Haha. Pretty sure if we keep calling her a princess she will get baptized.
Glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth goodwill to men. This is such a beautiful time of the year to give the gift of the gospel. It is the greatest gift that we can give. I know that Jesus Christ lives. He loves us so much that He suffered and died for us. Let us strive to be like our Savior especially during this Christmas season and touch someones life with the gospel, with our love.
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Sister Clyde
Monday, December 9, 2013
Ohhhh Catania...
Not much time to write!!!
Maria Grazia is the most interesting woman in the world. She will happily agree to come to church with us or an activity and then 20 minutes later we will receive long winded text messages with absolutely no punctuation saying how she loves us a lot but she cannot come to the activity. WELL what do you know... she wanted to come to church last week. I had to sit next to her in sacrament meetting while the whole time she told me that she doesnt want to come back to church anymore. Hmmm.
We had pranzo with Sorella Seminara last week (the four sisters). She fed us a wonderful meal. I guess she noticed that I was sniffling at one point (yes, I have a cold) and then later she saw me yawn (sometimes Im tired:) and she saw the light jacket I had on and offered for me to have one of her coats. She made me put it on and everything. So she pretty much forced this big, heavy winter coat on me (italians are whimps when it comes to the cold) and she got more and more excited about, the longer I let it go on with her adjusting... (folding the sleeves) " Oh look, theeres even a strap!". Sorella Fuller saved me when she pretty much lied to get me out of it. These are such trials for me because I cant understand everything they are saying and I dont want to offend them, so I usually end up eating more food than everyone or accepting huge winter russian coats that I dont want. When Sorella Fuller told her that I acutally have a winter coat of my own at home, I responded " Si si si si!" and Sor Seminara (this talkative loud italian woman) responded "Non e vero" (That is not true!) HAhaha We died laughing. Sorella BAir filmed it and everything.
So many look a likes here. I swear Richard Gear was our bus driver today.
We taught a man named Luigi Sinatra. HOW COOL IS THAT!? He is the sweetest man in the world and we have a follow up lesson with him tomorrow! We are so excited about him. Dont worry, I asked him if he is related to Frank Sintara and hes not:(
We visited Sorella Maiori last night. She played Ricky Martin music on her keyboard piano for us as we departed her house(after a sweet spiritual lesson) hahha. It was the best and really weird.
We went to Sigonella yesterday and there was a sweet itlian family there. GUESS WHAT I translated or attempted to translate for the sweet primary kids. It was so sweet. They would correct me if I said sometthing wrong. We all laughed at my mistakes. IT was really good.
We got a new ward mission leader this week. Fratello Bruno. He is amazing!!! It was so funny because our previous ward mission leader came to Corellation last week. Throughout the whole meeting, all 8 missionraies happen to notice our old mission leader caught sketching flowers and vases on his paper while Fratello Bruno was totally owning the meeting with all his ideas. So ironic. We are really excited about it!!
The work is beautiful and great. I have been thinking about the Christmas season recently and how it interesting it is that the older you get, the less value presents have. I recently came across 1 John 4:7-9 and Moroni 7:48. Christ like love. That is what this time of year is all of about . Put on the character of Christ this Christmas. There is so much that we can do!
Thank you for your letters emails!
And in case I dont see you,
Good afternoon
Good evening
and Goodnight
Love,
Sorella Clyde
Maria Grazia is the most interesting woman in the world. She will happily agree to come to church with us or an activity and then 20 minutes later we will receive long winded text messages with absolutely no punctuation saying how she loves us a lot but she cannot come to the activity. WELL what do you know... she wanted to come to church last week. I had to sit next to her in sacrament meetting while the whole time she told me that she doesnt want to come back to church anymore. Hmmm.
We had pranzo with Sorella Seminara last week (the four sisters). She fed us a wonderful meal. I guess she noticed that I was sniffling at one point (yes, I have a cold) and then later she saw me yawn (sometimes Im tired:) and she saw the light jacket I had on and offered for me to have one of her coats. She made me put it on and everything. So she pretty much forced this big, heavy winter coat on me (italians are whimps when it comes to the cold) and she got more and more excited about, the longer I let it go on with her adjusting... (folding the sleeves) " Oh look, theeres even a strap!". Sorella Fuller saved me when she pretty much lied to get me out of it. These are such trials for me because I cant understand everything they are saying and I dont want to offend them, so I usually end up eating more food than everyone or accepting huge winter russian coats that I dont want. When Sorella Fuller told her that I acutally have a winter coat of my own at home, I responded " Si si si si!" and Sor Seminara (this talkative loud italian woman) responded "Non e vero" (That is not true!) HAhaha We died laughing. Sorella BAir filmed it and everything.
So many look a likes here. I swear Richard Gear was our bus driver today.
We taught a man named Luigi Sinatra. HOW COOL IS THAT!? He is the sweetest man in the world and we have a follow up lesson with him tomorrow! We are so excited about him. Dont worry, I asked him if he is related to Frank Sintara and hes not:(
We visited Sorella Maiori last night. She played Ricky Martin music on her keyboard piano for us as we departed her house(after a sweet spiritual lesson) hahha. It was the best and really weird.
We went to Sigonella yesterday and there was a sweet itlian family there. GUESS WHAT I translated or attempted to translate for the sweet primary kids. It was so sweet. They would correct me if I said sometthing wrong. We all laughed at my mistakes. IT was really good.
We got a new ward mission leader this week. Fratello Bruno. He is amazing!!! It was so funny because our previous ward mission leader came to Corellation last week. Throughout the whole meeting, all 8 missionraies happen to notice our old mission leader caught sketching flowers and vases on his paper while Fratello Bruno was totally owning the meeting with all his ideas. So ironic. We are really excited about it!!
The work is beautiful and great. I have been thinking about the Christmas season recently and how it interesting it is that the older you get, the less value presents have. I recently came across 1 John 4:7-9 and Moroni 7:48. Christ like love. That is what this time of year is all of about . Put on the character of Christ this Christmas. There is so much that we can do!
Thank you for your letters emails!
And in case I dont see you,
Good afternoon
Good evening
and Goodnight
Love,
Sorella Clyde
 |
| Sorella Seminara. Crazy woman. Stylin a true italian Fall coat (yes, they wear this for fall time) |
Monday, December 2, 2013
Nuns are real
We helped out at a homeless shelter last week with a bunch of Americans. It was a shelter run by the catholic church. They fed them a Thanksgiving meal; it was really great to see the reactions of all the kids each open up a christmas gift. They were all so cute. There were also a couple Italian nuns running around. I felt like I was in the Sound of Music. Dont worry, we took pictures with them. Elder Hatch was asked to give the prayer- which was a bit ironic since we were at a catholic function haha. As he gave the prayer, there continued to be camera flashes and one of the nuns continued to have a loud phone call. When the prayer ended, Sorella Bair and I opened our eyes to find everyone standing the room. Interesante...
I conducted the activity at District meeting last week. I talked about how we could be more effective about receiving referrals from the ward members. I totally incorporated the Blodgett-Higgins technique with the paper chain of links and rap idea (although I didnt rap for them, Sorella BAir and I seriously considering making one up. She is a mean beat-boxer).
The idea is that every family is given a chain of links and everytime someone in the family invites someone to an activity and or invites someone to talk to the missionaries, they rip a link off. Once every link is gone, the missionaries give a prize to the family! We even demonstrated it for the district: Sorella Bair and I did short and sweet roleplay of how the chain of links technique worked. She pretended to be the member and me, the missionary.
Me: How are you?
member: Great! I talked my friend about the church today!
Me: Yay (hands the paper chain to her)
Member: rips one link off
Haha everyone loved it. We then roleplayed member referral invites.
Members are so effective in this missionary work! I found an awesome quote in Preach my gospel by President Benson: *Memer-missionary work is one of the great keys to the individual growth of our members. It is my conviction that member missionary work will raise the spirituality in any ward where applied*
What a powerful, true statement! The Short Hills Ward really thrived and grew stronger! Keep inviting:)
The italian men are interesting. The other day, sorella BAir and I were stopped by man with his arms wide open (as if he was giving us a hug) and he said, *Siete bellisime!* (you are beautiful!) A total stranger.
I love teaching english course! Our students love us too! We taught them about restaurant words last week. When we were teaching action words, it was my turn to teach the word *to eat*. The first question that came out was *Giuseppe, do you eat food?* and the funniest thing is that when we speak, we have to speak very slowly. Haha, lets hope he eats food. OH we tried out an awesome teaching technique for english course. We usually will share a spiritual thought at the end of the lesson-just a scripture and sharing of testimony. This time, we handed out pieces of paper and had each of them secretively write a question of their own about the Mormon church or about religion in general. We received some awesome questions! Like: how is mormon church different from the Catholic church? or do you believe in life after death? SUCH GOLDEN QUESTIONS. Each time, we will pick a question to answer!
I love being a missionary. I have been studying the gospel of Jesus Christ lately and came across 3 Nephi 27. The gospel of Jesus Christ is simply to become like Christ. We must put on the character of Christ, by following him and obeying His commandments and then *we will be lifted up on high*. There are such beautiful promises given to those who follow Him.
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Clyde
ps. Mount Etna totally erupted again!! HAHAH. lava spurting out and everything. Where am I?
I conducted the activity at District meeting last week. I talked about how we could be more effective about receiving referrals from the ward members. I totally incorporated the Blodgett-Higgins technique with the paper chain of links and rap idea (although I didnt rap for them, Sorella BAir and I seriously considering making one up. She is a mean beat-boxer).
The idea is that every family is given a chain of links and everytime someone in the family invites someone to an activity and or invites someone to talk to the missionaries, they rip a link off. Once every link is gone, the missionaries give a prize to the family! We even demonstrated it for the district: Sorella Bair and I did short and sweet roleplay of how the chain of links technique worked. She pretended to be the member and me, the missionary.
Me: How are you?
member: Great! I talked my friend about the church today!
Me: Yay (hands the paper chain to her)
Member: rips one link off
Haha everyone loved it. We then roleplayed member referral invites.
Members are so effective in this missionary work! I found an awesome quote in Preach my gospel by President Benson: *Memer-missionary work is one of the great keys to the individual growth of our members. It is my conviction that member missionary work will raise the spirituality in any ward where applied*
What a powerful, true statement! The Short Hills Ward really thrived and grew stronger! Keep inviting:)
The italian men are interesting. The other day, sorella BAir and I were stopped by man with his arms wide open (as if he was giving us a hug) and he said, *Siete bellisime!* (you are beautiful!) A total stranger.
I love teaching english course! Our students love us too! We taught them about restaurant words last week. When we were teaching action words, it was my turn to teach the word *to eat*. The first question that came out was *Giuseppe, do you eat food?* and the funniest thing is that when we speak, we have to speak very slowly. Haha, lets hope he eats food. OH we tried out an awesome teaching technique for english course. We usually will share a spiritual thought at the end of the lesson-just a scripture and sharing of testimony. This time, we handed out pieces of paper and had each of them secretively write a question of their own about the Mormon church or about religion in general. We received some awesome questions! Like: how is mormon church different from the Catholic church? or do you believe in life after death? SUCH GOLDEN QUESTIONS. Each time, we will pick a question to answer!
I love being a missionary. I have been studying the gospel of Jesus Christ lately and came across 3 Nephi 27. The gospel of Jesus Christ is simply to become like Christ. We must put on the character of Christ, by following him and obeying His commandments and then *we will be lifted up on high*. There are such beautiful promises given to those who follow Him.
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Clyde
ps. Mount Etna totally erupted again!! HAHAH. lava spurting out and everything. Where am I?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)