A Week of Surprises

Ok, this was possibly one of the most random weeks of my life, complete with little surprises. I loved it. I wish I could relive it. True story. 

Me and Sorella Russell.

Friday we went out to this little town called Alpignano. Guess what? It was raining . . . a lot. Also, we didn't know where we were going because we were just doing some pass-bys. We also didn't have a map, so that was fun. We just walked around looking for people to ask and finally we found the houses. It took a really long time; we were lost a lot, but we found all three houses. We also saw some truly beautiful things, like a beautiful river we didn't know existed and a tiny open, one-room chapel. It was gorgeous. It was getting late, and we were looking for the last house; no one knew where the street was, so that was disappointing, but finally a lady knew where it was. She even gave us a ride because it was a little far away. We gave her cookies to thank her, and she was so touched. I love little miracles. Best part of the day . . . when we got home, wet and shivering as we were, we found a map for Alpignano next to my desk. Helpful.

Sunday starts off the surprises. We went to church late because there was a Gans [Young Single Adult] activity in the morning, so we had church at 3 p.m. I'm walking towards the church, and I see someone who looks a little like Anziano Scisci . . . because it was Scisci. He had been at the activity and was just leaving. Kind of weird because the last time I saw him he was a missionary . . . but it was wonderful to see him nonetheless.

Awkward moment of the day, a man visiting the Torino ward came up to talk to us. This is kind of how it went. 

"Ciao sorelle."

"Ciao"

"So, where are you sisters from?"

"......"

"......."

"I got confused by the English" - yours truly

"We can speak in Italian if you'd like"

"Si . . . meglio cosi."  [Yes . . . better that way.]

Chris at church. Best surprise ever!

I'm sorry but I probably won't be able to talk to any of you when I come home, unless you've magically learned Italian. English is hard. 

Surprise number two. I walked around the corner after Relief Society [meeting for women] and ran into one of my favorite people in the world. Chris Dean! He came for the activity and stayed for church. It was so weird to see him - weird, but wonderful. That makes the second time I've seen him in Italy. And there was the other time we were on the same train but didn't know. Weird miracles. 

My Sorella Gunnerson. Gotta love her.

Monday we had zone training. Good stuff. I always walk away feeling so inspired and ready to get to work. Sorella Gunnerson and I went to the station for our scambio [change in companions for the day] in Alessandria. We stopped to get lunch and ran into the Vercelli Anziani again . . . with Victor. Suprise number three! It was so good to see him, and we got to talk to the anziani for a while after he left, but then we had to catch our train. 

Our scambio was crazy amazing, we rode all around Alessandria on bikes and only got lost a couple of times. Mostly, I just loved being with Gunnerson again. We're real lucky she didn't go too far away from Torino. 

Yesterday we came home, and we went to visit the Vicedomini's. They had friends coming over for dinner so they just invited us over. I will never turn that down. We ended up getting to teach them a little lesson. It was super fun and we ate delicious food. Also, they think we're fluent in Italian . . . they also started teaching us some dialect . . . I remember nothing. 

I love you all! Until next week,

Sorella Ervin

Best Italian parking job I've ever seen.

Gotta love Italian graffiti.

It was raining so hard the flag just fell over.

Cutest little chapel

The little beauties you stumble upon in Italy.

This is what we do at member's houses. I make Melanzane . . .
what's that called in English? Sorella Russell told me eggplant . . .
what a stupid name.

Sorella Russell just takes pictures of herself. Why is she terrified?

Raimondo!

That's My Life, Folks

Beautiful Eliana and the sweet, perfect Eduardo Lucas.
Isn't he adorable?

So last week we were trying to see the Martoranas, but they were at the doctor's office with their baby. Manuel called me to see what time our train back was, and he said they were on their way but they didn't know if they could make it. We waited for them at the train station, and MIRACLE our train was 15 minutes late. They pulled into the parking lot just as our train was announced to be in arrival. I ran to the car, hugged Eliana and Marcella, saluted Manuel and Salvatore, and then I got to see the most beautiful baby I've ever seen in my entire life. He's a little angel. I only had a few minutes with them before I had to run to get on the train, but it was such a blessing. I love this whole family so much!

Thursday we were waiting at a train station, and a woman named Claudia asked us if we would help her buy a ticket from the machine. Afterwards we talked for about 40 minutes as we continued to wait for the train. We taught her a lesson, set up an appointment to go see her, and said a prayer with her. About 10 minutes before the prayer, I noticed a ragazzo who was watching us. He looked familiar, but I couldn't place it. After we said the prayer, he came up to talk to us. He's a returned missionary in one of the Torino wards, and we go to church in the same building. I love when members happen upon us as we're teaching a lesson. It was such a little miracle. We saw Claudia again yesterday, and at the end of the lesson she told us to come back whenever we want. She's adorable, and we’re really excited to teach her and her family.

So I sprained my ankle, got shut between the bus doors, and was kicked by my companion this week. It was a good week for me, specifically getting stuck in the bus. I wish we had a video of it. That's my life, folks . . .

Vi voglio bene. A presto!

Sorella Ellen Rose Ervin

Best car I've ever seen.

Funny Stories

I'm just going to warn you all right now . . . this email will not be spiritual one ounce. That's what transfer week does to you. There is so much stress! But lots of funny stories; so get ready.

Thursday afternoon we went to visit a family in the ward. We were there awhile, shared a thought, and talked about literally everything. It was so much fun. I love them; they're some of the funniest, loving people I've ever met. But, then we tried to leave. We all get up to go to the door, we say goodbye, and then the mom invites us for dinner. We politely declined, because we had to get going, and then the dad asked if we had another appointment . . . no. So he walked out of the room and shut the door . . . they kidnapped us for dinner. It's okay; it was delicious, and we still love them . . . I think I love them even more now actually. 

So G.E.M. Monday comes around. We were a little stressed about transfer calls. Like usual, every time the phone rang I freaked out a little. We were cleaning the house, and our bathroom sink doesn't drain, so I thought I'd try to clean it. We look down it, but we can't really see anything . . . so we grab a flashlight. It wasn't bright enough. We could tell it was a little clogged, but we still couldn't see. So I found my other flashlight. We look down, and we think it looks like something is stuck down there. Sorella Russell held the flashlight, and I fashioned a fishing pole with a hanger. I finally get this object attached to the hanger, and I slowly pulled it up. All in all it took about 20 minutes. So we think we know what this object is . . . but we're bewildered, so we think we've got to be wrong. But no . . . we were right. IT WAS A FORK! There was a fork stuck in the pipe of our sink . . . our BATHROOM sink. Of course it was covered in hair and other disgusting grossness. I don't know how it got there, I don't know why it was left there, but now it's gone. So that was fun. 

We didn't get a call Monday . . . so we were starting to feel a little less stressed. We knew neither of us were training or doing anything crazy. Peace at last . . . but not really because we still didn't know what was going on. 

Monday night we went over to Alessandro's house to do a family home evening with him, his dad, his brother, and their friend. We were on the way to the house, and then I glanced to my side and caught eyes with this man who looked kind of familiar. I didn't think about it, and we kept walking. Then I glanced behind me, and he was following us. Then I remembered he was a slightly creepy man we met on the bus once. I walk a little faster. We could see Alessandro's house, but it was still kind of far. At one point I looked behind me, and he was reaching out to grab Sorella Russell, but my girl just kept walking. I called Alessandro as we were approaching the door, and he buzzed us in real fast. They were all super worried about us. You know, I was never too worried. You kind of get used to stuff like that on the mission. I'm just glad we got in real fast. 

We played the best game at FHE. You fill a cup with flour and then you turn it over and pull the cup off . . . sandcastles? No. You put a coin on the top and then everyone takes turns drawing a line in the flour. If you make the coin fall, you lose. It’s kind of like Jenga, but not . . . because if you lose you have to stick your face in the flour and grab the coin with your mouth. Best game ever. :D

So we found out about transfers, nothing changed! We get another transfer together, and we're super stoked because we love it here and we love each other. Blessings! We're starting to see some great miracles, and we know we'll see more this transfer.

Oh, I almost forgot. Know where I am? VERCELLI! I had to come pick up my permesso today, so we're here for the day. Super excited to see the Martorana's fra poco [soon]. I love this day.

Vi Voglio Bene!

Sorella Ervin

Always in the Middle

Look how beautiful my little Gjika is!

Okay, first off this morning we realized today is the 18^th . . . which means tomorrow is the 19^th . . . which means my release date is in three months and one day. How weird is that? I started hyperventilating a little when we realized . . . but then I got over it. It was just a weird realization, but it doesn't really matter. There is an amazing talk by President Uchtdorf about always being in the middle of your mission. Sometimes new missionaries think they don't know enough to help. Older missionaries feel like they're too tired to do anything. But if we live everyday like we're in the middle, we can continue to just keep working, no matter what else is going on. It's a talk I adore, and I'm so grateful I found it last year. 

Last Thursday we had zone conference in Alessandria. That means I went to Alessandria three times in a week. Expensive. Anyway, the conference was amazing. I think my favorite part was given by the assistants. They talked about how if we really want to help people we need to be conductors of the spirit . . . which means we need to be absolutely pure. We talked about all the little things we can do to be more obedient or strengthen our testimonies. I'm so grateful such a big part of the mission is about being obedient. It's not easy; we can't be perfect, but we can definitely try. The trying is what really matters in the end. 

Obviously I loved seeing all my favorite missionaries, just like normal. I love hearing about things happening in Vercelli. Y’all want some news? Eliana popped! She had her little boy a month early, but I heard he's doing just fine. Will you all pray for them anyway? Thanks. 

Sunday night we went to see Angely and Gabriele. I love them! I just love to watch their relationship. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a mother and a son who have such a great relationship. Sure they argue; they don't always agree, but every time they talk it's a conversation filled with love. It's so beautiful.

Adventure. We get to the train station after our lesson. We're a good 40 minutes early so we sit down to start nightly planning since we were going to be home late. Thirty minutes later . . . our train is cancelled. It was 8:20 at night and the next train wasn't until 10:30. I texted the bishop to ask who would be good to call for a ride. He told us the Cavalli's lived really close to where we were. MIRACLE! Sorella Cavalli is an angel. She came to pick us up and drove us the 30 minutes to our house. It was a hidden miracle that she had to come, because I've really been wanting to get to know her, but she's been travelling so I haven't been able to. She's without a doubt already one of my favorite people on the planet. Also, we ended up getting home at 9:28 . . . so we didn't even get in late enough to call capi. Miracle #2

Monday we had an absolutely amazing district meeting. We all shared our favorite things we've learned in trainings throughout our missions. It was really great because Anziano Christiansen and Anziano Anderson are going home next week. Weird. So we just had a chance to learn a little bit more from them. I love these two elders. Christiansen has been my zone leader for four transfers now. He is one of the best people I know. I have learned so much from him and he really cares and is aware about every missionary in his zone. Also, this is the second time Anziano Anderson has been my district leader. The first time was way back in my third transfer. I feel so blessed to have served with him twice and to have seen how the mission has changed him. The mission really changes us all so much. Best part of the meeting . . . after the prayer, they both stood up and ripped their shirts off. They were wearing their college t-shirts underneath. Don't worry though; they changed before we left the church. 

Yesterday was super great. We went over to the Vicedomini's house to have lunch with them, and then we helped Alessandro move some more of his stuff to his new house. I love this family. They're loud and crazy (in a good way) just like all families should be. I have already learned so much for them, and I look forward to continue serving with them.

Transfer time is already here next week. How did it go so fast? We're pretty sure Sorella Russell is leaving me, but I guess we just have to wait and see. We just like each other too much to get a second transfer together, ahaha. 

Love you all so much!

Sorella Ervin

My beautiful zone!

My little girl!

Oh my goodness, I love missionaries so much!

I love my wonderful district!