Arrived in ROME!!! Week 1

Okay, so the first day I met Sorella Bressan she is Italian and I knew her from Instagram and she is the other girl sent to the visitors center and they told us that she and I were supposed to be companions but she ended up going to the London MTC for this reason our mission president let us be companions until Thursday. We slept at the mission home for 2 nights and it's like a mansion and so pretty. I did get the phone perfectly on time and I love this phone, it's a good phone. Every week my companion and I switch sim cards because a lot of people call us.

My new companion is soooooo AMAZING! She has been out a year and she has 6 more months left. Her name is Sorella Stepherson. She is from Las Vegas and she speaks Italian amazingly. She has been helping me with my Italian so much. She is a great missionary who follows all the rules. She has a twin sister and they're identical and her twin is serving in Milan. I'm her first sister she got to train and probably her only one. She is so nice and I love her. I'm learning so much from her and she pushes me so hard. 

Since the temple isn't dedicated I'm in a prosylting mission with my companion who is just a prosylting missionary. But our apartment is soooooo nice and it's by the temple but it's not the apartments on the temple. We live with 4 more girls who are just prosylting missionaries but they are soooooo sweet. We all love each other. All the Rome girls come just for the open house to help with videos and tours. And on the last week of the open house is mine and my companions week. I will probably be giving videos and speeches for it. 

Okay, so my area is 30 minutes away and we go to a branch. We are the first sisters ever in this branch and EVERYONE loves us. They are so happy we are here. They do church in a hotel call the Eurohotel and I have pictures of their rooms they use. They are such happy people. I can understand ALL the Italian I just can't speak it super well but I understand a lot which is a blessing. A lady from our branch invited us to her house on Sunday and she helped us with the Italian language, this lady speaks English as well and she really has helped us. Also this Sunday I was called to bear my testimony in Italian and I did. 

On the street I met 3 Brazilians and I was able to give them the temple card with times they can go to the open house and they said they would. Bishop also gave my companion and I a person that is from Brazil and lives next door to him. We have so many people to teach now like investigators. 

Yes, I love prosylting here, it's very fun. Yes, the Brazilians here don't speak Italian so I have to speak Portuguese with them. That's why bishop sent her to me and he said there are more Brazilians but they can never teach them because no one speaks Portuguese. But I can. I'm doing well in Italian also. I'm the one stopping people sometimes and telling them we have a message and who we are and why the temple is important to me.  Also, some of the food isn't good and I've been so hungry because I didn't really have food until today but also the food here is healthier and I haven't had the chance to eat actual food at members houses because we are the first missionaries in this new branch

Also I LOVEEEEE finding people. It is so fun. Yes we do have a car but we get to our area and then we walk and it's so nice. So people have these fancy gates around their house or apartment and they each have an intercom that we can press the button and it connects to their phone and we can talk to people inside their house through there. Or they just open the windows. Some actually opens the door. I have had a lot of Alma and Amulek experiences where people reject us but it's still cool, I dont feel bad when they do. I like to. My companion pushes me so hard for me to talk to them and tell them our purpose. But my favorite is when people are walking on the roads and we stop them and they take the cards. We had this lady who really liked us and she said we remind her of her daughters. So she took us to this super cool Italian bar because she wanted to talk to us more and we told her that we dont drink alcohol or coffee. So she gave us pear juice which was soooooo good and she gave us these really yummy finger foods. It was like a party with her family and she told the bar tender and her husband about the Rome temple that we talked about. And she said she would like to go and she gave us her number and she said when she goes she will contact us so we can meet up with her there.

We also had another woman last night that we met on the street who didn't know that we believe in God so we invited her to come; she gave us her number too so we can meet her at the temple when she comes. Also, we got a man's Facebook. He wanted it to keep in touch with us since he couldn't really answer the door but he would like to hear our message so I'm very excited.

I love it soooooooo much.

Oh yes, people dont believe I'm American here. At church they said my accent is Latin based not American and that I dont look American so they always ask me "what are you really?" I say half Brazilian. And they said no way! They dont like it when I say American because I dont look like it so I always have to say Brazilian, it's so funny. 

I start the visitor center after its dedicated and because of me my companion will be a visitor center one too just because we get to be together for 12 weeks then I guess I can kind of teach her about visitor centers since I had the training, she's so excited. We also heard that MAYBE one day we are out prosylting and the next day visitor center so like every other day. But we aren't quite sure yet. But that would be so cool . I love it here, it's so amazing. 

I love and miss you guys