Analinda Hyatt - Italy Rome Mission, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Pescara, Italy Week 1

This week was a busy week with transfers. I packed in advanced so I would not be stressed with packing.

Finally, Thursday came around and it was time for me to leave. My companion had dropped me off at the metro station Termini and I waited for 3 hours there with some other missionaries until my new companion came in to pick me up. When she arrived we immediately grabbed my heavy bags and started to the metro. After the metro we stopped to grab some lunch and then our adventure continued as we pushed my heavy things.

We then arrived to a bus station where there were charter buses. We waited for an hour for the bus to Pescara! We finally got on and it took about 2 hours to get to Pescara. I slept the whole way there. When we got there it was raining and it was very cold and I was not prepared. I just had a summer dress on and all my things were packed away in the luggage. Nevertheless we made it through.

We live about 5 minutes away from the station so we pushed all my bags in the rain to our apartment.

Our apartment is very cute and nice. We have wooden floors and we have a cute room where each one of us has our own closet and the fridge is big. We have nice comfortable chairs and the bathroom is very clean. It's the first time that I will be living with just my companion. In the past, I have only lived with either 4 or 6 sisters in an apartment. Now it is different but I really like it. I feel more at home and more comfortable. There isn't a lot of noise and the apartment stays clean.

The next day we went out into Pescara and it is sooooo beautiful! The roads are so clean, unlike Rome where there is trash overflowing the bins and just trash everywhere. Here it is well taken care of and I can actually breathe fresh air!

We went downtown in the center of Pescara and it has everything you need. All the shopping malls that you find in Rome are here too in this cute city. There are so many people and they are more open and nice. I have talked to so many people in just these past couple of days who are actually willing to listen to us. We also did some finding right by the beach!! It was so cool to smell the sea while I was doing the Lord's work. Now that conference is over on P-days we are allowed to go to the beach on the sand. I'm very excited.

It is also a lot cooler here. The weather in Rome is always sooooo hot and you just sweat when you step outside. Here it feels like spring. All the Italians are wearing coats but it is really just jacket weather and so nice because we actually have a breeze.

My companion is very sweet. She is from Milan and doesn't speak English. I never knew how much Italian I could actually speak in a day. I speak it everyday from the moment I wake up until I sleep. Just in these past couple of days I can see myself improving. When I spoke with my bishop here the first thing he said was, "Wow, you speak very good Italian". I was overly happy because it is hard to speak Italian in the Visitor's Center especially when most of the people that come in speak English. I still have a lot to learn but I am feeling more confident in the language.

On Fridays the Pescara Ward does family home evening at the church. The missionaries (us) we get the new episode of the Book of Mormon series going and we all watch it together, in Italian, of course. Then at the end we share what we learned from it and how we can apply it in our lives. It is one of my favorite things.

The ward is very open and very welcoming. I am enjoying where I am so far.

Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

Eating grapes