Today is my birthday in Italy. You know how strange that is? I have lived in Italy for a year now and it feels like I got here a month ago! I have no idea where on earth my mission is disappearing to, but it is kind of freaking me out a little bit. But anyways, I will tell you about my freak out later . . .
Last week after we wrote we stopped at Arancinissimi. Did I ever explain what arancini are? You should look them up online and that will explain everything. But an important thing to know is that they are everywhere here in Sicily and I had never seen them in Rome, or even Bari. They are proprio siciliani. But Arancinissimi is a place that makes just arancini, but all different types you could ever even imagine. The anziani love that place and they go there all the time but it was a first for me and Sorella Giordano. So we walk in an it is this little place but on the hot plates they have these different types with signs sticking out saying what is inside. Per esempio: Mozzarella di Buffala, mushrooms, eggplant, chicken, walnuts and Ricotta, gorgonzola . . . And everyone ordered one except me because let's face it, a fried ball of rice probably is not something I should be putting into my body when I want to come home looking normal. But the man on the other side of the counter looked at me and waited for me to say what type I wanted. When I said I didn't want one he asked why not, and when I told him I was chubby and wanted to lose weight he looked at me like "You have got to be kidding me?!" and then told me I was fine and I had to eat one anyways. That's the thing here in Italy, and especially Sicily. Weight does not matter much, or course if you look like a whale they will tell you, but most people thing it's better if you are a little "cicotella". But I do not plan on marrying an Italian, nor a Sicilian, so I withstood to the shock of the Anziani who cannot turn down an arancine to save their life. I will have to eat one from there at least once before I leave Catania, but I can wait. But due to our stop for arancini they ended up running really late for their appointment for 8.00 so we had to go to the church with them to save them time. We were then there for more than an hour just chillin' out until they finished and then we went home.
For Thursday afternoon we had what was supposed to be an early lunch with Giovanni (our friend from English course) so we thought the Anziani would be coming at 11.45 to come get us. We then took that opportunity to catch up on area book, call ex-investigators, and organize our map and mark where members live. In the end the Anziani did not come until almost 1.00, but at least we got caught up on everything at home. We then ate lunch with Giovanni, his friend Alfredo, Alfredo's girlfriend, Luisa, and Luisa's son, Alessio. Luisa makes me laugh, she started out by telling Sorella Giordano that she wanted to have her eyes. Then she saw my eye makeup and got really close to my face and asked me how I did it. I tried explaining it to her but before I could finish she said I would just have to do it for her. The thing is, I use brushes to apply my eyeshadow and she did not have them. I tried my best, but it was not exactly the same. Then she wanted to do her eyeliner like mine, but she just had a pencil and I use liquid. Oh well, it looked alright. But I ended up missing a story that Giovanni was telling Sorella Giordano and Anziano Andersen. I looked up and they were both crying they were laughing so hard and there faces were really red. I asked what had happened and all Anziano Andersen could tell me was that his jaw hurt. The best part was probably Kumar, who came with us. I don't think he understood what was going on either and he had this look on his face where he really wanted to laugh but coudn't because he hadn't understood the story. I guess Giovanni told some story about his experience with garbanzo beans. Darn it. Maybe I will have have him re-tell the story to me. Then I played with their hamsters until one bit me so I put it back. Anziano Marengo asked me why I did that and when I told him because it bit me he did not believe me and started playing with them. Then it bit him and it made him bleed :) He believes me now. The pasta that Giovanni made was way good, it was tomatoes and clams and I ate a lot of what he gave me but I still ended up giving half of it to Anziano Marengo. He eats like a horse so I knew his portion was not even close to enough. He was pleased to get a second helping. We finished off the meal with canolli di ciocolato and it was great. We even left relatively on time. We, the sorelle, had to be at the station at 4.00 and knowing we would probably not get there on time, we told the Anziani we had to be there at 3.30. Luckily for us it worked out that we left at 3.30 and got to the station with 10 minutes to spare. The Anziani were apologizing to us because we were late and then we told them we actually didn't have to be there until 4.00. They both turned around in the car and said "You two are sneaky. Smart, but sneaky." Yeah, we know, but when the bus we had to take only comes every hour and thirty minutes, we couldn't really risk it. While we were waiting for the bus we with drew some money. I finished first and looked up and saw this woman watching us. She gave me this sly look and motioned behind here were 2 gypsy woman were standing with their two kids. I zipped my purse at that and waited for Sorella Giordano. When she had finished the woman came up to us and told us to be careful of the gypsies. She told us she was also Romanian and that the other two were obviously thieves. After she told us she was from Romania I had no doubts and trusted her completely and kept my distance from the other two. I witnessed too many gypsy pickpockets in Rome to risk my own purse. The woman was really nice and we kept talking with her until her bus came and she left. We gave her a pass along card and she seemed really happy to have it. We didn't have time to get her number, but at least now she has something to remember us. Luckily for us our bus came on time and we got on it with the gypsies. Just like the woman, the bus driver was cautious and told them that they better have tickets or they had to get off. He was a little irritated with them. It's kind of sad in many ways at how they are treated, it's that or get taken advantage of. We then rode the 1.5 hour long bus ride to the navy base and went to the Leaver's house to have a visit with Aubrey and Owen. Aubrey basically loves us now after we heart attacked their house. She told us that she was so grateful and that no one had ever done anything like that before for her. She had taken pictures and made Owen leave it up for several days. Also when she learned that they were the only people we had come to visit that night she was so happy and touched that we came all the way for them. Then she started apologizing that she had not made us dinner because she had assumed that we would be visiting other families. Instead she gave us root-beer, which does not exist in Italy, and drumstick ice cream :) I love that family so much! I am so glad we are friends! Aubrey is even going to be in Salt Lake this summer to visit family so I will just have to have a little visit with her! That night we talked with them about the plan of Salvation. Even though my little designs are all in Italian I used them anyways. I felt like I talked to much and that it was everywhere but all the end Owen told me "thank you. That really cleared up a lot of my questions. Aubrey explained it to me already, but with the little pictures it made a lot more sense." He then told me that the part that always fascinated him about religions was the part of the spirit and body and he likes how the LDS church believes in the end we will be reunited with our bodies forever. We stayed and talked for a little bit after and then we took the bus home.
Friday morning was the Epifania! Or the holiday of the Befana which is the ugly witch that rides a broom to deliver gifts to children in their stalkings. It's more or less an extension of Christmas with an element of Halloween. I personally don't understand it but I kind of like it. Other than the fact that there was not a single soul on the street that day, but what can you do? We ended up taking our lunch first and then during our lunch we called basically every single ex-investigator in our area book and got a few appointments, one even for that night with a man named Giuseppe. We then left to go to an appointment with Eliza Maiori, a less active member that is really good friends with Giovanni, where we were the day before for lunch. This time we walked to his house to meet up with Eliza. We were talking to her for a bit and then we ended up talking to Giovanni for even more time before he gave us a ride to the church for our appointment with Giuseppe, the ex investigator we had called that morning. He had studied with the missionaries 1.5 ago and did not remember why he stopped. He's a little odd, but really nice and talks a ton. The moment he saw me he kept saying "We have met before, you were here a year and a half ago when I came last." I kept telling him, "no, I was not." But he did not believe me. I think he is still positive that I was when I wasn't even a missionary yet, and I was still in the USA. He also told us he had work and could only stay to meet us for 10-15 minutes but he ended up staying for more than an hour. At the end when he tried to leave I asked if we could say a prayer. He said "LeCates, you should have told me that 20 minutes ago." Well I am sorry Giuseppe, you were talking. He also kept asking me if I could understand him when he spoke even though I responded every single time in Italian and he always said "wow, you speak Italian" I thought, yeah, I know. Haha, but it was a fun little chat.
Saturday we passed by another girl that we had called two days earlier from the area book named Francesca. She has a 99 cent store on one of the main streets here in Catania. She was an investigator 2 or 3 years ago and ended up dating a member when she was an investigator. But now she is married to someone else and she does not have much interest. We then left to walk to Sorella Carubba's for lunch. She is such a sweet little thing and told us her conversion story and then we ate lunch with her and her husband. The whole time I was eating and her husband kept telling me to eat. I just thought, I am eating. I ended up eating 3 oranges after a ton of pasta, fried mushrooms, sausage, and salad because he kept giving them to me and telling them they are good for me. I thought I was going to die. Thankfully we did not have dessert, instead we drank a little "espresso" of orzo (barley). We then went home to get our phone that we left. We, of course, had no phone calls, and instead called Giuseppe Milia to see if we could see him that night. He then told us that he could in 15 minutes. So we left the house again to walk to the church. We read Alma 34 with him. He really liked it so we asked him what he remembered and he couldn't tell us. But it is a decently long chapter and it's understandable. We asked him if he could come to church the next day and he said "I don't know because it's at the same time as my church. How can I go to them both at the same time?" And of course he ended up choosing the catholic church the next morning.
The next morning we went to church in the morning and all of the members love us now because we have been to see just about all of them. Also, Ike and Prudence came to church! They are so awesome and Prudence came and sat with us and their little baby, Belinda, during the meeting while Ike sat by Anziano Andersen. Before we went to gospel principles they stopped in the hallway where they have the envelopes and tithing slips. They asked me what it was for and I explained tithing and fast offerings and they already want to pay tithing. Then they asked me when they could be baptized soonest. I told them if they feel ready and God feels they are ready, they can be baptized in 3 weeks. They seemed happy about that. All of the members also thought that they were members and were shocked when I told them otherwise. They are so great! And Sorella Mazarella (the relief society president) asked for their number and everything and they have already been welcomed with open arms to the ward. The American branch went really well too. Carol Mullen came to church and I just freaking love her. It's obvious that she loves the church and she soaks everything in. We set up a lesson for after church with Bobbi and Ramona and it went so well. They all hit it off immediately. Really, it was one of the coolest things ever! I am SO happy! And when I asked Carol how she was feeling about baptism she said "Oh! I have something to tell you!" She then told me that when she was at home for the holidays her mom and sister were asking her a bunch of questions about the church and not only could she answer every question but she felt passionate about it all. She said that that was a confirmation. She still isn't sure when, but she wants to. She asked how it works and when she could be baptized and I told her that she obviously has a testimony, we have taught her everything, and she will continue to come to church. So whenever she wants, she just has to decide and pray about it. She sat and thought about it for a minute and said "Okay, I will call you this week." Ah I am so FREAKING EXCITED! The lesson went a little long, but Bobbi shared so many perfect stories and her testimony was perfect each time and she even cried. Perfect. Loved it. But because it was a bit long we did not have time to go and do much else. So we went home and did phone calls and finished cutting out hearts for heart attacks for the rest of the Sigonella branch.
Monday morning we had to go and accompany Sorella Barresi to the doctor, but we had to be there at 9.00. So we left at 8.30 in the rain and when we got there she told us that her daughter was coming to take her with the car. So she invited us to lunch and then we walked home, finished more of our studies and then went to consiglio di distretto with the Anziani. It was on humility. Yeah, I gotta work on that one. We then went to Sorella Barresi's for lunch. We ate surprisingly a lot, even eggs cooked in the tomato sauce. That was a first. We then stopped by a member that lives below her that we did not even know existed. They are a family from Sri Lanka and the wife answered the door and let us right in. Turns out it was the same woman we had seen the day before when we had tried to visit Sorella Barresi. She and her husband had been outside the door and had not said a word to us. When she opened the door to us this time she looked at us with this smirk and said "Buon giorno Sorelle". We were there only about 10 minutes to get to know her better and then left with a prayer. We did tell her we would be back. Now they are on their guard haha. We then left directly from there to go on a nice little giro to find a bus to take us to the Di Grazia family. We did let them know that it may take us a while because we had only gone with the Anziani in a car. In the end it took us more than two hours to arrive and we had messed up with buses. And then when we left we were so cold that we took a random bus to go back and we ended up being on the bus for a half hour before arriving on the other side of the city, piazza Alcala, from the church when we had an appointment with Angelo at the same time we got there. We had tried calling him but he did not call us until he had arrived at the church. I felt really bad but he understood. He takes the buses and knows they are confusing and don't come as often as they should. We were then waiting in the cold again and I was freezing when the Anziani called us. This goes back to that morning. When we were walking back from Sorella Barresi's before district meeting, we said good morning to this old man that told us that his daughter was a member but died 12 years ago and he loves the sister missionaries and asked us if we knew someone who was looking for housing. Him and his wife are lonely and have two open beds and are looking for people who are looking for some place to stay for very low rent. We immediately thought of Kumar and told the Anziani. So when they called us it was to say that Kumar wanted to go and ask to stay with them. In the end the wife of this old man did not want a man, but two girls, like us. So we felt really bad that we had to tell Kumar that he couldn't live there when he is in real need of a place to live because he hates where he lives now and he may have to leave Italy. Darn it. We just have to hope for the best. That night I always experienced a mental break down as I realized how short of time I have left in the mission because I received a letter from Sorella Ashman and I realized how much I missed and loved her. I then thought of how much I love Bari, then Roma, then the mission and I started to cry and freak out. But no worries. I am fine. The mission ends. What can we do? Luckily I still have a few months left right?
But it all goes well. Love you all! I will right for Tuesday and today next week when I have more time because we gotta high tail it out of here for a maybe lesson with Giovanna!
Love you all tons and hope you all had a great week!
You are in my prayers!
Muah!
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella LeCates
In July 2010 I was called to serve an 18 month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Italy Rome mission. I've always wanted to see Italy and I can't believe I'm lucky enough to spread the gospel there!
