** Email from 5/29/13 **

We had a baptism!

So our zone conference yesterday..they told us not to use names or really tell too many deets in our letters home, therefore, i am going to try to be more confidential..muaha!

So we had a baptism....idk if you heard, WE HAD A BAPTISM!! AHHHH. I couldnt stop smiling! It was BEAUTIFUL! All the talks too. The 4 of us Sorelle sang and we did a dang good job! Then sunday was by far my favorite sunday in the mish. We had 4 investigators in church! Our baptism, her momma, her sister and my first investigator ever, He finally came for the first time! and what a great time to go, when someone gets the gift of the Holy Ghost! yippie! 

It was def a day to write home to mom about, therefore I am haha. So I feel like I will be leaving Bergamo next transfer, I always thought it was cheesy when people said they could feel it, but now I do so I guess we will see! 2 more weeks, this transfer has flown by. 

So I have some photos from the baptism and then some from last pday when we went on a hike in the beautiful hills of Bergamo. The photos really dont do it justice, I feel like the quality of my camera bites haha. Anywho, I love this mission! Brescia and all of us Bergamo peeps were here with Anz and Slla Peterson (the older couple) for root beer floats, they got root beer from the military base. So it was a little party with 16 missionaries haha. Its cool hanging out with Matau tho! And I am always happy to have zone conference to see errybody. 

Oh I had a rad blitz with the traveling sisters, Slla Bush was with me for the day, she said some things that really helped me out. It was awesome. Side note, theres a kid in the mish from vegas! woot woot. 

Well, love you all. Advice for the week is to improve your prayers, they taught that in zone conference and it was dope. 

VI VOGLIO BENE. 

Slla Gillette... come il razoio.

 

 

 

** Email from 5/22/13 **

Well, I just read my mom's email and cried a little bit. What the heck. I haven't really cried on the mish since the MTC, ya'll know I am too tough for that haha. Pero, the other day after a lesson with one of our investigators I cried. I was choking back tears like an idiot. I really just felt the spirit in the lesson and I love him so much! He is a sweet little 40ish year old man who loves his two little boys, I just feel like he is an extra uncle or something. He is so close to accepting things and it's so hard because I know how much this will change his life and his little babies for forever. 

I really just have such a strong love for the people we teach. Speaking of which, Ylenia is getting BAPTIZED this saturday!!! She had her interview last week and we had her try on her dunkin gown. We taught her about temples the other day and she was like, "I want to get married in the temple." and she made a goal to pray more often, her prayers have gotten so amazing. I got teary eyed in her prayer, she just said how she was grateful for us and I could really feel how sincere she was. I love her soo much.

We have already made plans, she is coming to visit me when I am off the mish, she just needs a job to start saving up money haha. I already told her what temples and beaches I can take her to haha.

Everyone is so excited for June 15th! (side note that is ylenia's bday) But I was able to tell my missionary buddies here, even Sorella Bunker and Mcnamara, they yelled on the phone with joy haha. And everyone who has been writing me from home. THE CHURCH IS TRUE DANG NABIT. And I am sooo blessed to see such an amazing miracle in my family so early on in my mission. MY MOMMA IS GETTING DUNKED! I am still in shock. This is all too good to be true!  freak if only ya'll could see how happy i am! 

Shout out to one of my favorite missionaries in Milano, my best friend! Slla Lopez! She did a shout out for this amazing news, and man I just love her. I was actually picturing us serving together in the future today ironically....idk if that would be a good thing or bad thing haha. We might have too much fun but man we would be doin work! 

I am so happy to be here, I cant imagine not being in this mission right now. I kind of have a feeling I will get transfered to a new city next transfer, who knows what will happen. But I am happy the Lord has put me here with these amazing people, in a tough city teaching hard lessons, getting bedoni (stood up) all the time, cause this is where I am growing. 

I am going to have some rad photos next email! We are going on a hike today in the greeny mountains with the other sorelle and our 3rd companion haha. The bishops kid who just got home from his mission always goes with us to lessons so we call him our third comp, we even made him a ghetto fab name tag haha. AND YLENIA'S BAPTISM. We are doing a musical number and I am saying the closing prayer. I am still in shock about this baptism too. 

I know with a surety that this is the only church on the earth that is christ's church. He restored this gospel for us, how lucky are we to be here during this time? CHRIST is real. He knows every single thing we are going through because he went through it before for us. We are never alone, and he works through people. 

My cheesy invite for you all is to look for the small miracles every single day. That will help you realized how blessed you really are. 

LOVE YOU ALLL SOOOO MUCHHHHHH! 

Sorella Gillette

*** Kassi's email 5/15/13 ***

Ciaoooo! I have noticed every missionary starts their letter with Ciao Tutti, so Im going to stop haha.

Aight so, I am super happy to say the baptism for Ylenia is next sat. 2 days ago we taught Ylenia the word of wisdom and chastity, bro it went so well she is a champ! She was like, No tea? Okay Ill just drink juice instead. I was like uhhhhh....YES. haha. AND. One of the first lessons I taught was in English to a lady from Nigeria, who was amazzzzinnggg and tots excepted everything we said, but then dropped us like it was hot. Through getting lost in Torre Boldone a week ago, we ran into her, long story short she was super happy and wanted us to visit her, we had several run ins with her before our lesson, our lesson Yesterday was LEGIT.

We brought Mikail, the vescovo's kid, with us and it went super well. She was saying things that I said in lessons with other people, it went so well I didnt even know what to teach! Not to mention it was in English. But dude I loveee her. She has the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard. The first thing she said in her prayer was that we were thankful for Joseph Smith....COSA! HECKS YES. So keeping my fingers crossed for her. We had a really good lesson last night with our other investigator, he talks alot but it was the most we were able to talk and kept everything on point.

Ive been telling everyone my Amazing news and it has been a great help in lessons, a rad example for people. MY MOM IS GETTING BAPTIZED JUNE 15TH!!!! Frankly, I am still in shock. My mom is the Golden investigator we all wish we had.

So I told our investigator this and he was like wow GIVE ME FIVE! haha i love when italians say that. so I had a thought during our lesson to invite him to baptism on that day. He def thought about it, he didnt accept the date HOWEVER. we finally got to the bottom of what his issue is, during his prayer he said he was thankful for talking with the Jdubs that day and the mormon sisters....Slla Hanson and I popped our eyes open and looked at each other during the prayer. He is studying with Jdubs too!

With Sonia and Ylenia, I told them the same news and they were super happy for me as well. Also, June 15th is Ylenia's bday! I totally forgot that in fatti.

We had another zone training in Verona, I love seeing my besties from the MTC! And I am so glad to hear how everyone else is doing, I think about you all often! And I am so excited to hear about all the wonderful news back home with babies, mission calls, engagements! Ah. SONO FELICE!!

Im starting to get a little cheesy, I felt the spirit pretty solid Yesterday in my two lessons. I am starting to notice what is considered a prompting. The most depressing thing about the mission is when I feel like I am trying my best and they are soooo close but something (cough Satan cough) holds them back!

I am so excited to send you a photo of Ylenia's baptism! A member in my ward said how my mom will be my first baptism on my mission. But really she is my second haha.

EVERYONE SUPPORT THE HECK OUT OF HER. PLEASE. andddddd get dad to go to Church, in a totally not pushy way haha. ya'll thought i was pushy before, the mish is def making it worse lol.

VI VOGLIO TANTO BENE.

SIETE IN LE MIE PREGHERE SEMPRE.

Lasciamo questo messagio con un piccolo testimonianza. Questa chiesa è l'unica chiesa sulla terra con il potere di Dio. Questo è la Sua chiesa. Se noi vogliamo vivere per sempre insieme, noi possiamo solo tramite questo vangelo. Gesù Cristo è il nostro salvatore, Lui ha fatto miracoli per noi. Che grande! Noi dovremmo pensare riguardo l'espiazione ogni giorno. Sono molto grata per voi!

Buona serata!

Kassi's email this week! 5/8/13

So its funny, the first 2 months I just wanted more email time, now, I am so tired of email haha. Dont get me wrong, I absolutely love hearing from all you, BUT. I only get like 7 hrs of free time in a whole week, that includes spessa (grocery shopping) and internet. Not to mention the traveling on the buses to all of these destination. So pretty much my whole pday goes to that haha.

I have heard some AMAZING NEWS from some dear friends. You know who you are, and I wish you could see my excitement over here in the chapel.

My new comp is Slla Hanson, she is tight! The biggest klutz you will ever meet haha. It makes me laugh. We work super well together and she already loves and cares about our investigators. Which is rad, if she didnt love my peeps, there would be a battle royale. scherzo. She is also from Fl. When she tells ppl she is from fl i actually get jealous cause i want to say that instead haha. so ill add my two cents and say well, i was BORN in florida, but i claim vegas.

Within my mission so far, I have had 2 drop lessons. Like us needing to drop them. I actually was the one to drop someone the other day, it wasnt bad at all, and it was easier cause it was in english. You really learn about how important the gospel is and how even if you try your best to bring the spirit, they will still reject the message. Its like that amazing missionary/atonement video, we are getting a very very small example of what it was like for Christ. EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS VIDEO. I need to look it up for yall.

On the flip side....duh duh duhhh. MIRACOLI. Again, too many to mention but the biggies. One of our investigators, Ylenia, who I toats love, who has had the baptism date for the 25th, has been still a little iffy. but last night after english class we went to Mcdonalds together cause we had a half hr wait for the tram, she straight up brought up the convo, asking how long the baptism is and little details, and then she told me the night before she prayed before bed and felt that it was giusto! I guess she thought about it during English class too and she said she wants to do it for sure! AHHHHHHHH. Im like trippin out in the middle of McieDees.

ANDDD. The awesome family that lives above us, the mom and 2 daughters are members. the oldest daughter is meno attivo tho. the dad, who isnt a member, is more active than half the ward. Its like the ward mystery as to why this guy isnt dunked yet! Allora, when Hanson came and I had to fill her in on EVERYONE, she was like well, lets have him be our baptism next week. haha im like, fool you are crazy. Yall remember my ward has been doing a 40 day fast for missionary work and we are supposed to end it with a baptism on the 11th? The anziani and i dont have one for that date, and vescovo was still telling the ward this sunday that its possible...No pressure!

So a few nights ago, we go up there and plan to have a mini spiritual thought with the fam and ask him whats up. Over an hr later, we find out he was the first one to feel the spirit and wanted the missionaries back, before the wife even did. But for some reason he never converted and he doesnt know why. I straight up was like, "you know this church is true, ya?" and he was like "yes." it was so rad! we got to here the conversion story of the fam. We had asked the meno attivo daughter to read a scripture then we asked her how she would feel if her dad got baptized, she got choked up!

It was just like the district when they tell you to be quiet so the spirit can work its magic! BAM!

So long story short-sorry i talk too much- but the mom, daughter and dad fasted yesterday for our 40 day fast and for him to get his answer. and he was going to pray last night again about it. FINGERS CROSSED PEOPLE.

OH ANDDD. Toats used my mom as an example of having a desire to be baptized after years and years of knowing about and being a part of the church. SO THANKS MOM FOR YOUR EXAMPLE. Its helping me on my mission!

The day before we actually fasted for their fast haha. FASTING POWER.

Well this letter is way too long. Mi dispiace. Ma, Vi voglio tanto bene. Grazie mille per le vostre pregheire.

The worth of souls is great in the sight of God.

A Dopo Ciao!

KASSI'S EMAIL OF THE WEEK ** 5/1/13

**Missionary emails seem to start to sound a little strange with the words they use. One of them actually said they are getting the languages jumbled in their brain. Plus their own language..LOL
So I hope everyone can understand Kassi's emails.  :)  



So so much to do today! updates include the fact that we still have 2 baptism dates, they came with us sunday to stake conference in verona! it was super rad cause it was the moms bday too! the next day we had a lesson with them and we made her cookies and i made a ghettofab card for her too. she loved it. her daughter actively goes to english class too. love love love. i had my first lesson where we dropped an investigator. she is such a nice lady and i love her, but she wasnt progressing or being open to anything. it became like a bible bash. i knew in the lesson that i didnt want to come back and it wasnt right, i just didnt know how to do it, luckily slla bunker said something that was perfect and all 3 of us were feeling that way. 

we actually just had another lesson with a cool dude from pakistan for the second time. its roughly similar in regards to a bible bash. the best part is that we answer peoples questions with scriptures, they just dont want to listen and will keep asking the same questions or bringing up the same points, so we run in circles.

oh well, it takes several contacts with the church and active study and prayer to come to know for yourself that this is true. that is why we are here. not to convince anyone or make them accept our message, thats why faith requires ACTION. I have really felt the moments when the spirit is burning in me during a lesson. sometimes my hands shake while i am talking haha. not out of fear, idk its weird lol. i just get so pumped with andrenaline sometimes. we had a lesson with a really sweet lady that we met 3 times in 1 day, idk if i told you about her but i told her it was a sign and we had to meet with her. so we met with her and her hubby, when i was bearing my testimony i felt that same kind of thing. and the husband was like correcting me saying i dont know i just believe. and i was like NO. IO SO. and it was super rad, bunker told me after she thought it was the spirit haha. 

So onto the bittersweet news. BUNKER IS LEAVING ME! since they have 17 new sorelle coming in, theres literally not enough ppl to train them and to finish training my group. us 4 sorelle kept trying to make guesses but man were we so wrong. bunker said prez once said if it doesnt seem logical, thats how you know its the lord. haha

So she and slla mcnamara have been called to be comps together in milano, they are going to be travelling sisters! they are in charge of doing scambi with 3 zones, and then 4 other older, top notch sorelle are also going to be travelling sisters over the other zones. crazy! first time ever. so now we really dont know who is training all the newbs haha. my new comp will be Slla Hanson, ive met her twice and she seems really nice. 

its sad i only had my trainer for one transfer. we really didnt think she was leaving since she opened. but its all gravy. im getting back up trained woot woot. 

We are doing really good at getting more lessons, we have quite a bit of steady investigators, I am excited to see all of these people get dunked! 

Literally I picture them all in different circumstances after accepting the gospel, per esempio, one getting sealed in the temple with their family, another during the baptismal service, another holding a calling, another bearing their testimony fast sunday. 

Its rad once you start thinking of ppl that way.

2nd EMAIL-

so i toats accidently clicked that send button. cavollo. random fact of italian language... their "dang it" is cabbage haha. or "pig misery." hahaha Comunque, vi voglio tanto bene! oh also, we literally hiked down a mountain for an hour from the city of selvino to the center of albino, ya google that business haha. there wasnt a funivia, idk whats its called in english but its like a ski lift car thing that takes you up the mountain, so we ended up hiking down in our skirts haha. so rough. but we visited the sweetest less active member and it was worth it. i always tell bunker that i just want to put them in my pocket, thats me referring to cute old ladies. theres 3 of them now. haha 

love you ciaoooo. we are running to the tram now byeeeee.

yes this is my life.