EMAIL FROM 8/14/13**

TITLED - lumaca nel baccio  --- 
{I looked this up on Google and it said "SNAIL IN THE KISS"  ??}

BUOOOONNNNGIORRRRNNNOOO GENTE! 

I figured a random subject for each letter was a good way to spice it up. Can you believe I have been out for 6 months? Still mind blowing. Comunque, GRAZIE a tutti for the emails I have received, lots of friends wrote me and made me feel loved! Shoutouts and snaps. 

So august is super difficult haha. BUT some super rad miracles ieri. We were headed to an appt in Albino, had to go from Villa d'Alme to Albino, like an hour! bus to centro, tram to the end. I know none of you know what I am talking bout but anywhos, it was with this lady we met like 2 weeks ago and hadnt been able to meet up with. 

We get lost, life's hard without google maps. 

We see old investigator Bac riding his bike right next to us, bam make an appt for sat then he tells us where to go for our appt. THEN we get to our appt, find out her hubby is there and I was a little worried just because I pictured someone not super happy to hear from us, on the contrary! Cute little south american couple, the hubby comes out, we teach both of them, bam 2 new investigators! they both were pretty interested and attentive and so elect! trying to schedule a good time where we can come back. And she has a brother serving his mission right now in Lima. Ya i know right? 

Then leaving we ran into a less active on his bike and he chatted with us to the tram stop. 

Our other solid investigator seems to be having some difficulties, couldnt come to church last week, bout to pop out her 3rd baby. But she is the sweetest and called us today sorry that she didnt get to see us yesterday. 

So we are working with some pretty radly elect ppl right now. 

Friday we have to go to Milano bc Sorella Walch has been having severe hip problems for like a month. too bad I cant say hip in italian haha. 

Not much to say, too lazy to go through my planner to talk about everything haha, today was a lazy pday. literally baked and sewed like old hags haha. Idk if yall know this but i can cook now! all stove and oven baby. Im gonna whip up some bomb meals when I get home, stand back everyone, sorella gillette wont be eating tv dinners on the daily! sike probs will, way easier lol. 

Also they have made some mission rules stricter..yayyy. 

Wells I love you and miss you, Still got a year left to witness miracles. Side note, one of our new converts was totally killin it in gospel principles and explaining some topics to a less active. YEAH BUDDY.

A DOPO. 

Sorella Gillette

EMAIL FROM 8/7/13 *

A raccoon bit my lip     - {I don't know why she picked this title}

CIAOZIES TUTTI!

So numbers wise this week, we havent been super sucessful, Agosto is the month of vacay for everyone..but...DONT CARE! Still seeing hardcore miracles!

1. finally taught an inactive woman who was active my first transfer, told us how she was so confused about religion, had all these questions, she is going through a divorce. She couldnt answer if God was her Father in Heaven. I whipped out so many scriptures about how He is our literal father and how he loves us, why its so important we pray to him with real intent. She doesnt feel worthy to pray. PISH POSH. Dont ever think that people. So long story short I felt like I wasnt saying the right things and my italian wasnt good enough to help her, wasnt sure how the lesson was by the end of it.

THE NEXT DAY. she sends us a text saying how she was so grateful for our visit, she asked if he prayed for her, if so, she could feel it, if not, it mustve been our visit. she was really reflecting on everything we talked about. OF COURSE WE PRAYED. Ahh miracolo! So beautiful that she wrote us that text.

2. Same day, we got 2 cancellations, I was like okay lets go visit one of my fav members, its like a 20 min walk. I call her up and ask if we can stop by, of course shes down. We arent supposed to have dinner appts with members but it was right before dinner time and we wouldnt be eating with her but i was just thinking it was a good idea. So we are chatting it up with her and her son that just got back from a mission. Then we start talking about her sister who is inactive, turns out she was on her way over! So we share the same spritual thought we are sharing with most members right now, the nature of God, importance of prayer and answers through the spirit. We tweak it a bit depending on each lesson.

So we are reading scriptures, asking questions, the RM is throwing out bomb answers. We ask the sister how do we pray, then had her read a scripture and then Walch is like, so how do you feel about that. She ends up bearing a beautiful testimony of prayer and crying! i got teary eyed too.

3. I started talking to a dude at a bus stop, went over to go teach him, his Whole family was there! Mom, sister and Brother, we taught the full restoration for an hr and a half and they understood the book of mormon so well and were so excepting! they are such a beautiful family, we are so excited! They are from Ghana, yay African mission!

4. We got home early from English class, I was like lets go hit up the park, were walking around, getting shut down left and right, it was kind of funny, one guy cut me off, me: possiamo con- him:no no no no, his friend: bahahaha!

lol so were headed back to the house after almost and hr and we Always say buongiorno to errybody, then! african dude on a bike says Good day to us all nice like, i turn around and he looked back at me too so i turned after him and was like "CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION?!"

End up talking to him about the BOM and he just moved here from verona, doesnt know anyone, doesnt speak italian and was just at the park asking God FOR DIRECTION IN HIS LIFE AND FOR A MIRACLE!!!! Ahh he was like I am so happy I met you! Today is going to be a good day!

 

SO ya that was only the last two days! Sunday Osato got the priesthood, Ylenia got a call about a job and said it was a blessing from going to Church, then another quick miracle!

So our investigator with a baptism date who is soooo awesome, her hubby is a member and a famous singer is Nigeria, ya we have his cd. he is a member. they were supposed to come to Church and didnt! so we would have to move her date back. I called them and told them to come to Church in the evening ward and we would go with them. called them 2ce about it. THEY ENDED UP GOING! And wore african attire. YES. It was fast and testimony meeting, Ziggy went up there and bore testimony about how we kept calling him up and he was feeling bad from that morning for not being able to go to Church, said that our calls were a big testimony to him that God lives and loves us.

AHHH I WAS SO HAPPY.

I was thinking we would annoy them, but NO! The gospel is never annoying hahaha.

 

This was so long, but I didnt want to forget these things.

LOVES YOUS.

CIAOZIES.

** Email from 7/31/13 **

Can I have your Hamburger chips?

That question is the latest quote from my companion. Yes they sell hamburger chips out here with a big american flag on em, you can taste the meat, cheese and pickles. italians are cray. 

So I spent some time writing people back today, so my letter will be short. Plus to save errybody the grief of reading an obnoxiously long letter. OUR NEW CONVERT GETS THE PRIESTHOOD SUNDAY. needless to say when I found out I danced a jig in the foyer. He was so excited too. "I will be a priest, I can baptize Destiny (their baby boy.)" That night we stopped by and brought him a tie, he was so giddy and smiley. Him and his wife starting speaking their African language and I cant even try to follow along haha. We are so happy for him. 

Dont remember if I mentioned but now we are apart of the Lecco district, strange changes in the mission. But we got to go thereon Monday for district meeting and my buddy Anz Murphy is in our district, along with Anz Guzzle who is from my MTC group! I cant get over how much I love all the people in this mission. Comunque Lecco is like the prettier version of Bergamo haha its only 45 mins away via train. and they have a gorgeous lake, we ate some nasty kebab on the dock of the lake. 

So our anziani found an ancient area book from like ten years ago in their apartment from the sorelle of ancient times. Since I opened, I have never been able to do area book finding. It was the most frustrating day of my life yesterday going thru that book. It took forever to organize and some missionaries didnt put addresses or phone numbers of people. Impossible. BUT we have a lesson tonight with the last person I called yesterday. after I made the apt I read their sheet and they had baptism dates before. So excited! only a couple other people actually answered their phones and we have an apt sat with one and in a few weeks we will hit up 2 more. 

EVERYONE goes on vacation during August. Kind of a pain.

I was thinking maybe the reason I stayed here is for this area book! 

also because ylenia prayed in our lesson that I wouldnt leave. haha Im going to ball like a baby when that day comes. 

LOVE YOU ALL. Miss your guts. Send packages...hint hint. haha.

Sorella Gillette

** EMAIL FROM 7/24/13 **

First of all, the BAPTISM was amazingly awesome. Anz Axson dunked em both, Colemere confirmed Osato with the Holy Ghost and a member from the ward did it for Favour. We had a little party for them after, we were worried members wouldnt come but the turnout was way better than it seemed like it was going to be. menomale. us 4 girls knelt down in the kitchen for members to show up. miracles! we are going over to their house today to talk about temple marriage! yayyy.

secondo, TRANSFER NEWS. I am staying! so is Gjika! crazy, she will be here for 7 months and I will be here for 6. I am excited, I instantly had new ideas of how to help the ward. We still have some investigators we are working with that have baptism dates for this next transfer, and some that need to reset the dates, but its going to happen! I will finish training Sorella Walch, sucks for her haha. scerzo. But she is my first comp who I will have for more than 1 transfer haha.

Also, Bergamo is now a zone! and theres a copia of sorelle opening up in another ward here, so in total for this transfer thats 14 missionaries in my city! Brescia is also breaking away from the Verona zone to be in the Bergamo zone, along with Lecco who were in the Milano zone. so glad we dont have to travel as much, I am so broke! 20 bucks every trip to Verona. But its sad to not be with everyone like before.

My mission is going by fast, theres only a year left starting like next week!

Today we went to Brescia and checked out the castle with the Brescia Anziani, we didnt know where it was so they had to show us. Theres a Wild Wild West burger joint in the mall, ordering an american burger in italian is super funny. they had little indian stuff and wagons everywhere haha. like a crappier version of texas roadhouse lol. like always, i forget tons of stuff to say.

The work is good, gotta work harder, really want to work with less actives more this transfer. read ezekiel 34:6 and luke 15:4-7. dope. Also, bugs still like me, got a bite the size of a baseball thats hard as a rock. no biggie. all about that sweet blood.

MISS YOU. LOVE YOU. Loveee hearing about the miracles back home.
In the words of most Africans we meet,

We thank Jesus.

Ciaozies! Gilletti.

*** EMAIL FROM 7/17/13 ***

That is a quote from the mish pres on the phone once. haha loved it. So everytime I write I feel like I forget so much to talk about. Just some main points. WE HAVE 2 BAPTISMS THIS SATURDAYYYY!!!! STOKEEEDDDDD. Our Nigerian couple, love them. they are so funny and elect beyond belief. I feel like I am serving my mission in Africa right now. Most of the people we are teaching are african, same with alot of the other missionaries in Bergamo right now. Operation:Africa is in effect. So excited to send pics next week.

Bummer, didnt get to go to Venezia after all, life long dream crushed! ha no biggies, i will serve close to venice at some point hopefully. 

So I think I will get transfered next week, time to start making some guesses! I will let yall know next week, i find out monday or tuesday. Not much else to say, good lessons, gettin them bap dates! Anxious for Saturday and next week to see my fate, pretty sure everyone is getting switched up.

LOVE HEARING THE MIRACOLI BACK HOME! 

VI VOGLIO BENE! 

CIAOZIES. 

Slla Gillette

*** Email from 7/10/13 ***

 

So here is the generale email for this week peeps.

 

I have a hard time even remembering what has happened, I suck at writing in my journal, theres never enough time. Me and the girls have way too much fun together at the house. Quick low down i guess..We got two more baptism dates this week, super cool. both first lessons too. One is from Bolivia the other Ghana. I want to start an African branch in Bergamo. Totes my goal. Going along with that, our two other baptism dates, the cute couple with the adorable baby, are soooo elect its ridiculous. I dont feel like I have anything to do with it and its true. Everyone talks about all these things we should do as missionaries, which is totes right, we should be doing all these things, but ultimately I feel like if we stubble upon the elect it has nothing to do with us cause they are ready. Their baptism is in 10 days! Soo excited! They have the best questions and are so sweet and funny. Im trying to get them to teach me some Benin, their tribal language.

 The husband is always like, "Its too hard, you cant do it." Then he finally taught me Sunday after church and when his wife came out of the bathroom I said it to her and he just busted up giggling. Yesterday the wife was like, so we cant have coffee or tea like this? and she showed us the coffee so Im thinking ahhh crap. But then she was like "ya I stopped drinking it when you told me to." ahhhh. We totally reexplained some things about it, but man it was cool. The husband was like "so after I am baptized I will become a missionary and get all the Africans to come to church." haha and she was later saying "I talked to my Dad in Nigeria and he always said he loves the white man church, so I told him I was going too, he asked which church and I told him the Church of Jesus Christ and he said he goes to the same church in Nigeria." 

SO COOL! 

And I am so glad I will be here for it, errybody thinks me and Gjika are leaving Bergamo, since we have been here for a while. Since we have our new mish pres, who really knows he might reshuffle everyone. I am sad to leave, I love the members soo much. Bergamo is home. I want to take the ward with me everywhere I go. Sunday after church we all had a break the fast picnic at the park. it was sooo much fun! Gjika and I played with all the little kids and we ended up having a water fight with all of them, they are so cute. played uno with one of the little girls, then a bunch of us and the older kids played soccer. pretty hard with a pencil skirt. haha

Then it started pouring rain and all the italians ran for cover under a tree haha. 

Also had my first issue with Anti Mormon stuff, had to drop an investigator. Surprises me how much people hate the church. stupid adversary bro. 

Today we are going to San Pelligrino, the place that makes the famous water. its supposed to be pretty and i guess its in our area..who knew. Friday we get to meet Pres Dibb and have interviews, next pday is VENEZIA. and then we are blitzing vicenza. chicka yeah. 

Moral of the story, life is good. waking up in the morning is still super hard, idk if ill ever be a morning person. Always gotta try to be better everyday to be that sacred missionary.

Vi Voglio Bene come sempre.

a dopo.

Gilletti (my nickname since first transfer)

ps for photos this week: the gross things you find in supermarkets and the rain i just told yall about Sunday. 

CIAOZIES.

** Email from 7/3/13 **

Today is the day you've been waiting your whole life for-

So here I am tearing up at the computer again after reading my parents email. If the only reason for going on a mission was for my parents to enjoy the blessings of the gospel then that is fine by me. I feel such a reassuring spirit everytime I read my moms email that we REALLY have a loving Heavenly Father that will bless us beyond belief. 

Ive been kind of feeling like I am not as successful or the amazing missionary I want to be yet. I thought I would come out here and just dunk the world and have amazingly spiritual lessons all the time and talk to every single person. But its not always that way. But after I was feeling a little disappointed in myself and was called to repentance of how I need to step up my game, we had 2 really good lessons and had several mini miracles. Thats when I feel happy is when i am teaching lessons and making contacts.

So last week I kind of had this bug bite epidemic haha. Ever heard of chiggers? well i have some gnarly photos to send you of what happened to my legs haha. freaked out every anziano it was hilarious. i still have some problems and im going to be covered in scars for a while. 

but hey thats the mission life right haha.

i also have some pictures of us girls goofin around at night and then of me and my comp with ylenia and jasmine. sure do love them. already invited ylenia to come to thanksgiving next year haha. 

i love bergamo sooo much. 2 of our baptism dates are really progressing, this little family from Nigeria. They are super fun. Hard to understand sometimes tho haha. Even though we are all speaking english, sometimes I think it would be easier if we were speaking Italian. 

We started teaching our new converts mom again, I just love the whole family. Its amazing to see her daughter bear testimony to her and explain things to her. She has grown soo much already, and I mentioned that in the lesson. Her understanding and testimony have grown and you can just see how much more happy she is. I know we are going to be friends for forever. 

And I am very excited for the day, whether it be during the mish or after, when I find out my other investigators get baptized. I really do love them and it kills me that they wont progress or fully accept the restoration or how extremely important this is.

EVERYONE should read the talk by Holland, missionary work and the atonement. one of the best talks ever. how can i complain and say missionary work isnt easy..salvation isnt easy. it was never ever easy for him. when we are rejected, we get a small glipse of how he felt. the greatest life this world has ever known.

thats just me peraphrasing but it sure is powerful. thank you all for being so supportive. Please dont lose track of what is really important in life, HF will bless you in time in the best ways possible.

Vi Voglio tanto bene.

con amore,

slla gillette