Sorella Nelson: August 2015

I am in Caserta near Napoli with Sorella Hamilton! This is the first time they have had Sorelle in Caserta so we are starting from scratch. Sorella Hamilton is awesome and absolutely everything I could hope for in a trainer! She is from California and a superstar! She is fantastic with the language as well as being very very patient with me as a "greenie"! I ask soooo many questions and how to say soooo many words! Italia is fantastic! Haha I can't understand what they're saying, but I know I've been asked out three times and people love to yell America at us! "baccios" are so real here! Literally get kisses on the cheeks ALL the time!

Here is the run down of the week

Tuesday: we arrived in Rome and went to see the temple! Apparently they think it will take another two years because work has completely stopped because Italians take August off for vacation so there actually aren't tons of potentials right now. Anyway, we went to the villa of the Waddoups! They are so so kind and wonderful! Super silly and easy going as well. We went to the Colosseum and then to get dinner. The lady at the place we got dinner came up to me speaking rapid Italian and gives me the "baccio" the kisses on the cheeks! Haha apparently she mistook me for someone else.

Packing up!

Waiting for the front-runner

Anziano Houseman sound asleep

Ready for the long flight

Arriving missionaries first stop at the Rome Temple

At the Rome Temple

Arriving Sisters at the Rome Temple

With President and Sister Waddoups

Arriving Missionaries at the Villa

Meal at the Villa with the Sorelle

Fast Food in Italy

President with owner

Found a favorite Lemon soda

Off to see the Colosseum

Outdoor meal

The whole group

Stairway photo

And the training begins

Wednesday: woke up and got ready to go to the church for iPad training and interviews. We ate panini and the nasty carbonated water is schifo... That took about the whole day and when we returned to the villa we had a massive dinner with lasagna, salad, and normal water. After dinner we were all given golden envelopes with our first area location and who our trainer is! I was so so so happy when I opened it!!!

Opening the "Golden Envelope"

Thursday: stressful!! Almost missed the train to Napoli and the Anziani in my zone weren't on the train with Anziano Whitaker and I (he is in my zone) but thankfully they were there to help us with luggage and such at the train station! We waited for our trainers and then we split and Sorella Hamilton and I with the other two Anziani came to Caserta! We spent most of the day unpacking and such but the senior couple (the Bryans) did take us to lunch so I've already had my pizza! Benissimo! We have a brand new apartment and brand new everything since we are the first sisters! Also helped teach our English course!

With Trainer Sorella Hamilton
and Anziani at train station

Friday: Lots of errand running again, running to and from the church, meeting the Anziani for supplies and so on!

First pictures of Caserta

Saturday: walked to the outskirts of Caserta for about 2 hours till we decided we were lost. The senior couple came and got us and took us back to our apartment for lunch time. Sad waste of time, but we really need to find this referral! Later we went finding! We are trying to recruit more people for our English course on Tuesday and Thursday so that was fun. We also did casa a casa where we basically ring doorbells outside of apartment complexes. One time we did that and a man let us into the door except we didn't remember which apartment he was in... It's okay though because we found other people that want us to come back! We also got my first gelato on the mish during a break :)

Sunday: Church! We have an interesting set up here... There is a military base close by so the ward is like 1/3 English speakers so the entire meetings are translated! I was asked to bear testimony and it went well so happy bout that... Everyone is soooo excited to finally have sister missionaries in Caserta so I'm hoping that means that they'll give us lots of referrals! After church we had pranzo and then walked two hours to find a home of a referral but couldn't find it so we walked another two hours home. Biggest tender mercy was when we found the public drinking spigot thing! Very sad and very unsuccessful but we are feeling confident about finding all our less actives! Tomorrow we have a dinner appointment with a less active and her family so it'll be great!

Haha there are also cats all over :)

Love Sorella Nelson!!!

I can NOT wait!!!! I leave on Monday for Italy and it feels like this week is taking years! It's been really hard to stay focused, but our whole zone has the goal to push through till the end and that's what we are doing!

Some highlights/funnies from the week-

Fratello Wirtham tried to explain to my district/class the art of rolling the r. Haha he had a lovely diagram and everything on the board to help us. Everyone has got it down except me, apparently I sound like I'm "underwater". Haha It's good, It'll come :)

If you've never listened to the Nashville Tribute Band, listen to them! Awesome songs! So, they are coming to the MTC this next Sunday to basically have a concert for the missionaries! I honestly don't know how we got approval but it's AWESOME! Last Sunday and Tuesday we've been practicing songs that we will sing with them. Super fun!

Sorella Tingey and I had our last lesson with our investigator yesterday. It was molto triste... Rafaela (real investigator from Milan that my teacher was playing) had been living with her boyfriend and daughter and it was just kinda a tough situation. Basically Sorella Tingey and I taught the Law of Chastity and The Family Proclamation and Rafaela decided she wanted to be baptized! Allora, we had to keep preparing her and she wasn't making any improvement until one lesson we just read in Il Libro di Mormon con lei about Lehi having the faith to leave all his precious things and go into the wilderness. Later, our teacher told us that that was her favorite lesson we taught. Apparently she personally had been praying about something in her life and we not only helped Rafaela, but our teacher personally. I love Sorella Russell (the teacher) so so so much! It's going to be super sad to leave her, but man I am so so excited!

These last couple of days in the MTC we have a culture day where all our teachers show us pictures and share stories of their missions (super awesome) and then we have in field orientation and then off to ITALIA andiamo!

High School friend Sister Harper Forsgren

More High School friends, Sister Freeman, Sister Hughes, and Sister Forsgren

MTC Sisters

Bathrooms

At the "Famous" MTC Map Board

Favorite spiritual moment for the week-

This last Sunday's devotional, the speaker had a bunch of missionaries randomly come up and bear their testimonies of the Sabbath Day. This great big Tongan missionary got up and started to really choke up. He talked about how grateful he is for Christ and the opportunity that we have to remember Him and take His name upon us. It was such a powerful testimony and I really needed to hear it. The Sabbath Day really is a day of remembrance. How awesome is it that we have the OPPORTUNITY to take Christ's name upon us? I had never thought of it that way and now I realize how grateful I really am for that.

Amo voi!!!! Ciao!

Sorella Carrie Nelson

Pictures from our last temple walk before we head out