Still so so hot!

[Email from 9/15/11. Photos sent 9/15/11.]





Ciao,

Sorry this is a day late. The one functioning internet point in all of
Ladispoli wasn't functioning yesterday. It definitely made me realize
how important hearing from everyone back home is. I was quite ticked
and angry because we couldn't do internet. But we just decided to come
today during pranzo.

Last p-day was super fun. We went to Rome with some sisters in Ostia
(in our same district). One of them is Sorella Dall actually. ANd we
saw the Spanish steps, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and Parthenon. It
was pretty cool. And we did all of this within 3 hours. I couldn't
believe how close those sights all are. And it's weird because you'll
be walking down a little street with shops and everything normal then
all of a sudden there one of them is. Surrounded by shops and
everything like it isn't a big deal at all. Kind of cool because I
never knew when to expect it. P-days wear me out so bad though.
Sometimes I wish I was serving in a mission where there isn't so much
to do and see so I could just rest. I know I could do that, but if I
did, I'd pretty much be wasting this opportunity. And who knows, this
could be the only transfer I live near Rome. Transfew calls are
Saturday and Transfers are this wednesday. Sorella Foote and I think
we'll stay where we are, but who knows. It makes me nervous thinking
about it.

Rita we haven't been able to get ahold of again. We think she went
into crisis mode again and is avoiding us. We just pray to run into
her again like last time. I'm really worried for her. I hope she's
okay.

So we have an investigator Giusy. She has the 3 year old girl. And she
is so great. She loves how the gospel can bless her family and help
her learn to be a better parent and help her and her husband raise a
good family together. Her husband is very apprehensive that she meets
with us though because he just met us at the train station and now we
come to her house. But she meets with us anyway still. He's never seen
or met us, so that's probably why. I wonder if he knows we are only 21
and 22 year old girls. Ha ha. I think we look pretty harmless. But
Giusy is so good. We taught her a couple days ago, and in like 3 days
she read from the introduction of the Book of mormon to 1 Nephi 14.
Crazy huh!? She reads it on the train on her way to work. She wanted
to go to church this last sunday but couldn't because her husband was
kind of giving her a hard time about it. She said she is going to try
again this week.

Francesca: This poor lady is in a hospice dying of cancer. She is
sometimes mean and bossy but other times really funny. She taught us
how to draw trees and so we each drew our own trees and colored them.
She even made us label them with our names, date, and "Mio Albero". We
also took pictures together. She had to put on her lipstick and put on
a sweater and then wanted to do all these posing/action pictures. LIke
of us singing a hymn together or reading or something funny like that.
She always makes us eat lunch with her too. She's a less-active
member, but good thing she's a member because every day there is at
least one person from the ward who comes and visits her. She's pretty
much never alone. It's pretty amazing to see ward members taking care
of people like her...despite how mean she can be, they keep coming.
Her favorite thing is the sing hymns together though. She smiles huge
for that.

Sunday we did Mostra after church. Which is when we set up huge signs
at a piazza and spread out and just stop everyone that comes by. It is
intimidating I think. We had some ward members there to help us. I
stopped this one old man and he was curious where our church came
from, so i explained the Restoration briefly and gave him the
pamphlet. He left then came back an hour later and said he's read it
and didn't see any originality in it. So I broke things down and he
was in accordance completely (so he said), with like an apostasy and
prophet restoring with the priesthood and the need for the Book of
Mormon, but then still said he didn't see originality. Then he walked
away. Frustrating to me, but oh well.

We had 6 people at church this last sunday too!! that was pretty
awesome. Well short on time, so gotta go, but thanks for everything.
You all are great.

Love you,
Sorella Heiner

P.S. It is still deathly hot here and I feel like I am going to melt.
I'm also getter super sweet tan lines from my watch, shirts, and
skirt. It's real attractive....Not!

Oh and yesterday, for P-day we went to a city nearby to see this
castle thing we had seen from afar once. So we went to check it out.
Went closer and it definitely was just made to look like a castle on
the outside but wasn't anything great. It was right by the Port though
and those cruise ships are MASSIVE. It's kind of freaky. We also went
right by the ocean. But we didn't go swimming, don't worry. THough it
was slightly tempting. We ended up walking through a huge market and
the fish/meat market thing was crazy. Then we ate lunch at a little
restaurant and I got lasagna. It was SOO good! Best thing I have
eating on my mission thus far. Yum!

That night we had dinner with a less active family and she made
Peruvian food. It was yummy. Potatoes with this creamy sauce stuff and
chicken and fried rice. And she surprised us with this stuff called
Inka Cola. Which some elders showed us and I love it. It's yellow with
a blue label. It smells like bubble gum and is yummy. Everyone should
try it. I think you might be able to find it in America. It's from
Peru. Well that's about it. Now I gotta go. Love you!

"Ya! We have a light, we're no longer living in darkness!!" --Patience (from Nigeria)

[Email from 9/7/11]

Ciao!

Okay, first of all...to explain my subject from last week. When we do
house or do finding door to door, so many of the people respond by
saying they can't listen because they are taking a shower. It doesn't
exactly make sense to me because they aren't in the shower and if they
were taking a shower, why would they come to the door. I don'tknow.
I've just found that alot of the people here are too wimpy to flat out
say they aren't interested so they make up all these stories. Pretty
interesting and funny.

Mom, I got the package with the Australian Licorice. Not the other
one. It was good though. Slla. Foote and I already ate them all gone.
Pretty gross of us, but we just snack while we are planning and
studying. Ha I'm probably going to come home fat by the end of my
mission. I'm always hungry, but always eating. But thanks for the
package mom. I'm excitedly awaiting the next one.

I'm jealous you all got to go to the farm. I love the farm. I hope
grandpa is okay. I hope you sent them my love.

Shout out: Happy Birthday Eric Nicholas Anderson!! Don't party too hard!

Has BYU started already? If so, how's it going for my wonderful BYU friends?

Okay so this week...

We went to visit this 12 year old girl Giorgia. Her mom is a
less-active and her dad is Catholic. She isn't a member because her
dad doesn't want her to get baptized. It's sad because she is so ready
for it and wants it. She has a testimony and is working on the
Personal progress program, reads the scriptures and prays and is such
a good girl. But she respects her dad's wishes. Her mom doesn't come
to church becuase the husband intentionally plans family activities on
sundays to make the mom choose between her family or the lord. I've
found that there are alot of not so great men here. They make me
really want to make sure I marry someone who will support me and has
the same desire to follow Christ as me. So depressing.

We also made brownies for Giorgia and she scarfed them! She loves them
so much. But they don't have them here. So pretty much Italians love
the American missionaries because we make them brownies. If you could
maybe send boxes of brownies or a recipe for making them from scratch,
that would be great. Also I would like the recipe for Butterscotch
Bisquits. THanks!

Rita didn't come to church. She said she could only come if her
husband was gone because he wouldn't let her come to church. Another
selfish husband. I don't like that at all. So we assume her husband
didn't leave the house.

Clement: He is a less-active from Nigeria. His wife is also a
less-active, but she doesn't really have a testimony of much. But he
does, and he loves having us over and studying with us. They also have
a 17 year old son who the wife had baptized in the Catholic church
when he was little. So we went to visit Clement and decided to teach
him about the Apostasy. So we had two scriptures from the Bible chosen
and two from the BOM. We start talking to him about it and reading the
scriptures and one of them was 1 Nephi 13:28-29 which talks about the
Bible having some plain and precious truths removed. And Clement asked
us where in the scriptures does it talk about baptism by immersion. So
we showed him the scriptures about that and talk about that. He was
writing down the scriptures and we were a little curious but kept
talking about it. Then he told us that he really wants to sit down
with his son and talk to him about baptism by immersion into our
church. He said he had been wanting to talk to his son about it for
awhile but didn't know where the "evidence" was. So he was so happy
and excited that we could help him with that. He also came to church
on Sunday. Let's pray things go well with him and his son. It's
amazing how much the Lord directs us when we don't even realize it.

Sunday was pretty much a day of miracles for us. We went to church in
the morning and none of our investigators were showing up. At all. And
then this "eternal investigator" came. And then in walks this lady who
I had never seen before. Sorella Foote knew her though but didn't get
a chance to tell me who this lady was. But she came an hour into
church. Sat through Gospel Principles class and then walked out front
of the church. We were worried she would leave, but she was talking to
a ward member. Then he pulls us out of the chapel and explains to us
that this lady, Elisa, wants to get baptized and is curious how she
can go about doing that. So he told her that we were here just for
that. So she came and sat with us during sacrament meeting and right
after we met in a classroom and gave her "lesson 0" which is like a
summary of what we do. And we invited her to be baptized on October
8th and she accepted. She said it wouldn't make sense to not have a
goal for something like this. We then met with her again on Monday and
taught her about the Restoration. She isn't a very open person but you
could tell she felt the spirit. It was a very powerful lesson because
Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon are the reason Elisa knows about
the church.

So background on Elisa. Sorella Foote told me that in like May or so,
her and her companion were visiting a less acitive and in walks Elisa.
And she sits in during the lesson and Slla. Foote said she felt like
something was being held in by these two women. So then the
less-active comes out and tells Elisa that she needs to tell the
missionaries what happened. So Elisa did. Elisa said she had a dream
of a young man named Fratello Joseph. And he kept telling her that she
needed to read this book. And he handed her a black book with gold
writing on the spine. And she she took the book and couldn't open it,
so she gave it to her friend (the less-active) and she could open it
and read it. Elisa didn't know at the time that her friend was a
mormon nor did she know anything about the Mormon church. So after she
told Slla foote and her companion this dream, they showed her a
picture of joseph smith and she said that was him. And they showed her
their triple combination book (which is black with gold writing) and
she said that is the exact book he gave her in the dream. But then
after this lesson, Elisa disappeared and the less-active wouldn't give
the missionaries her phone number or anything. She was gone...until
this last Sunday. And she came to church all by herself because she
woke up and said she felt prompted to come to church. And now she is
on date to be baptized! It's amazing. Seriously, all that the
missionaries did was pray and have faith that the Lord would lead her
back to the missionaries. And that's exactly what happened. The Lord
is so great!

That same Sunday, we got the opportunity to visit a less-active
member. She hasn't let the missionaries visit or talk with her for a
long long while, but for some reason, she let us come that day. We
went over and had a good conversation about anything and everything
and she just really started to love us. She even told us that she
knows how to make burritos and wants to make them for us sometime, We
shared one little verse with her and ended with a prayer and that was
the extent of our "lesson" because we wanted to build the friendship
and trust before preaching to her, especially given the background.
But now she is more open with us and willing to meet with us again.
She's so great and sweet, I have no idea why she would fall from the
church, but who knows. We'll reactivate her. But once again, the Lord
is so great in working on people's hearts to they will come back to
the gospel and as missionaries we get to see all of the first hand and
be involved. It's great priviledge.

Monday we had district meeting and then had lunch alltogether at a
chinese restaurant. It was actually really yummy. Definitely a rare
gem in Italy. But after that, we visited this lady Giusy for the first
time. We found her on the train and she is so great. She is our newest
investigator. She has a 3 year old daughter and just got married in
March because she said she felt wrong having a child and not being
married, so they got married. And now she said she feels like she is
still missing something in her life. She doesn't like to say she is
Catholic because she thinks alot of the things they do are wrong like
praying to the Saints. She also studied with the TJs and liked it but
they were still missing alot of things too. I love when people
recognize things like that. We are meeting with Giusy again tomorrow
and she seems to be one of the Elect. She even said she would like to
come to church this Sunday and she likes that she can bring her
daughter with her to church. Her daughter kept asking if they could go
to church right then. It was cute. Now I hope the husband is as
willing and ready too.

Now yesterday, Tuesday. Well Monday night I wasn't feeling good at
all. I was burning up and pretty week and dizzy. But we had
appoinments so we kept going. I woke up Tuesday morning feeling not
good at all. So I went back to bed. We were supposed to go to Rome to
visit Francesca in the hospital (she has cancer), but I was sick so we
called her and had to cancel. She said that's good because there is a
strike going on and so none of the public transportation things are
going. Apparently it's normal for Italy. So that was a huge blessing
and made me feel better about needing to stay in bed. Then we didn't
have any appointments planned for that afternoon until correlation
with the ward missionaries at 6:30. So there was another blessing.
After sleeping all day I felt better. We went to correlation and it
ended quite late. We were walking to a nearby pizza place for dinner
and ran into an investigator we hadn't seen for awhile. He is super
shy but super kind. He asked to treat us to dinner so we sad down and
ate with him. He said he walked past the church that night and saw it
was open and wnated to see if we were there but was too scared of
interrupting so he just kept walking about. He said seeing us and
eating with us that night really brightened up his whole day. It's so
great having experiences like that.

I'm still pretty tired after sleeping almost 24 hours straight, but I
feel alot better than I did before. At 3 we are going to see the
Trevi fountain and the Spansih steps. Pretty excited!

To explain my subject: Matthew and Patience moved to a new apartment.
Their old one didn't have any light bulbs and we would teach them by
the ligth of their TV. It was funny. So their new place has lightbulbs
and we teach in real light. So we commented on that and the subject is
Patience's response in her thick Nigerian accent and African attitude.
So funny!

It's still hot and I am still being eaten alive by mosquitos.

Love you all and thanks for your love and prayers,
Sorella Heiner

Sorry, I'm taking a shower...

[Email from 8/31/11]

Ciao Tutti,

So another week has passed. It's still pretty hot. We have had a few
days that weren't as hot, but today is pretty hot again. I can't wait
for it to be cooler. My headaches are still here, but Sorella Kelly
was at Ikea and bought me a pillow like the one I have at home. She
said it is my pillow and I should bring it with me wherever I get
transferred. Hopefully that will help. She also gave me some more
medicine, so you don't need to worry about that mom.

We had zone conference on Thursday. It was pretty good. We practiced
this thing called 'lesson 0' and we just meet with people at first and
ask them what they expect of us and then we explain why we are here
and ask them to be baptized and ask for referrals and try to set up a
weekly schedule of when we can meet with them and end with a kneeling
prayer. It's a way to sort out those who are really interested in the
gospel and those who are not. It's actually been pretty good for us,
especially with a new investigator from India, Rimpi. And she was
found doing house. She is so sweet and humble and we came back to
teach her and she couldn't find her book of mormon. She said her
husband was reading it with his friend and they really liked it and
told her she needs to read it. so she called her husband and he said
his friend took it to keep reading it. So we got that man's number and
I am excited the call him and meet with him because he's already
engaged in the book of mormon. Also, we gave Rimpi lesson '0' and when
we brought up baptism and showed a picture she got excited and asked
if she could do that. Pretty exciting for us. So she aleady wants to
be baptized. I can't wait to meet with her again. She talks about all
the trials she has in her life, but she still is so sweet and loving.
I know that trials are given to us so we can be humble and that is
when the Lord works with us to help us grow and become better than we
could ever imagine. We then ended with a kneeling prayer all
together...the dad too. He got a cloth and covered his head with it
and took of his shoes. SUper respectful. SHe said she wants to make us
some Curry some time too. :)

So on Friday we were doing some house and had no luck. But then we
were waiting by the train station for a member to go teach with us and
we ran into one of our investigators (Rita) who we haven't heard from
in almost two weeks. She started telling us of all these family trials
she is having and that she doesn't want to meet with us anymore
because she doesn't feel like praying or reading scriptures or seeing
anyone. We told her that this is the time she needs those things the
most. So we told her that no matter what happens, she needs to meet
with us at least one more time so she said okay and agreed for
Saturday at 6. Then we met with her Saturday and read the talk from
Elder Cook, Hope you know, we had a Hard Time. She really liked it and
agreed with it. We also gave her a stack of 7 envelopes, each labled
for each day for the next week. And inside each envelope we wrote a
scripture, testimony for that topic and gave her a commitment such as
something specific to read and then pray for. The final one is for
this Saturday to get her to come to church. She texted us the next day
and said she feels so much happier and can't wait to meet with us
again. The Lord just put her in our path so he wouldn't lose one of
his daughters. It was a miracle we encountered her and were able to
help her.

We also taught a lesson with this 84 year old lady (Andreina) who is
an artist. Really good actually. I may ask to buy one of her pictures.
But she has so many questions because she studied with the TJ's. She
reads everything and loves to learn. But she never would say a prayer
out loud with us. That morning, we were practicing teaching someone to
pray (not knowing we'd use it that same day) but when Andreina didn't
want to pray, I knew exactly what to say. So in my broken Italian, I
did it, and she agreed. She prayed out loud and it was a huge step for
her. Next step...church!

We were walking to go to house somewhere and this group of teenagers
was along out path. And one of the girls jumped up and started running
towards us. Kind of freaky. She asked if we were famous....WEIRD! We
said no, and she asked if we were sure. We said we were normal
americans here to teach people about Jesus. And she was kind of
disappointed and said she wanted to get out autographs. Haha. Another
girl was this 12 year old (Martina), she asked if we could come to her
house and teach her family. And the others kept asking us questions
and Martina was getting impatient. So we finally went to her house and
her mom was not happy with her. We figured that would happen so we
left and Martina still wanted us to teach her. So we did and she was
just crazy and funny. She kept talking about how WW3 has started and
ended and will start again. Not sure where that came from but it was
funny. She was cute. And asked for one of each of our pamphlets so she
could read them.

Matthew and Patience, from Nigeria, moved to a new appartment. We've
been praying with them to find a new one for awhile. They found one
earlier, but the day they were supposed to move in, the owner turned
them away because they were black. So sad, but they found another
place and we will teach them there tonight.

Last that I have time for is a less-active from Argentina, Ruth. She
has lived in Ladispoli for 4 years and has a 3 year old son and she
has muscular dystrophy. She has to use a walked to get around in the
house and an electric scooter chair when outside. Her family back in
Argentina is really solid in the church, like stake president and
stuff. She was baptized when she was 8 and grew up in the church but
married a catholic man and hasn't been able to get in church because
she can't go up stairs. And no one had her records. We couldn't find
them so no one knew she existed but slla. foote and her old companion
found Ruth at a local pizza place. So this visit we got Ruth's
information so we can find her church records and get her visiting and
home teachers. We also told our ward mission leader that we need to
make a ramp for her to get to church and she needs help getting there.
But she said the opening prayer and it was so sweet and heartfelt, she
just said amen in tears and said she hasn't prayed like that in a
really long time and forgot how good it feels. It was incredible to
hear her talking about growing up in the church. She loved it and
still does, but doesn't know how to share the gospel with her husband.
So we are going to practice with her on that but for now she needs to
be praying and reading every day. Even if it is on her own. It's
amazing how someone can be so lost. It reminds me of the hymn, Dear To
The Heart of the Shepherd. THat hymn is the reason I am out on this
mission. Because the Lord has sheep, lost out there, lonely and
helpless and He needs us to find them--whether they are already
members or know nothing of christ. He wants them all back to him. It
was a really great experience to witness someone talking with her
father in heaven again and immediately feeling his love. I love it!

Dad, why were you in so much pain? That does not sound fun! Please
take care of yourself. ANd we shouldn't bribe people with
materialistic things to read the BOM, only blessings.

Mom, I can't believe Scot and Kevin are dating within the ward and so
quickly. Ha that is funny. Is Schiefer home yet?? Give him a hug for
me. And Chad Foulger should be coming home in September some time I
think. Watch for him and tell him hi for me.

Well that is it for now I think. Oh ya, I got my first letter in the
mail from grandma and grandpa heiner. Tell them thanks and send them
my love. As soon as I find time to buy stamps, I will write them back.
Everyone else, get to writing me! Ha

Okay. Love you all so much. Thanks for the love and the prayers.

Love always,
Sorella Heiner

P.S. Mom, can you send me the recipe for Sister Saunders' salsa? We
made tacos and want to make more mexican food because slla foote's mom
sent her taco mix. Tacos aren't the same without salsa and it doesn't
really exist here. It's more tomato paste.

Honey, Where's my picture book?!

[Sorry I've been slacking.. Here's Chelsea's email from 9/24/11]

Hey everyone,

So last week we went to the Sistine chapel for p-day. It was really
cool, well fascinating, but really hot. The last two week since I've
been here have been terrible. We a dripping in sweat every day.
Hopefully it starts cooling down soon, because it makes me really not
want to be here. TOday for p-day we decided to stay in Ladispoli where
we have the cool ocean breeze and can avoid public transportation
because I get super motion sick on the buses and the trains. No bueno
because we use them alot. So we went shopping for some sandels for me
this morning. I haven't found any yet, but I found a cute light-weight
skirt and some really cute heels for only 10 €, so I got them. I'm
either going to send them home or leave them in the mission home until
the end of my mission. Haven't decided yet. Right now all the shops
are closed because of Pranzo, so we will get me some sandals after
this.

Okay, to answer questions. The headaches aren't as bad, but I have
basically just started ignoring them. Mom, remember when I got
headaches really bad frequently my freshman year of college? It's like
that all over again. I don't remember what we did to get them to go
away, but it's happening again. And the mosquitos...we still get
attacked. My legs now are covered in huge bumps or scabs. Gross!! I
seriously don't look attractive at all. I look diseased or something.
Some days they are worse than others. We have this plug in thing that
is supposed to keep them away at night, but during the day and
evenings when we are out, I get eaten alive. And it's like only my
legs. Maybe a couple on my arms, but my legs for sure.

So this week: We have a baptisimal date! It's for October 1st. This 15
year old girl Eleonora. We invited her to be baptized and she was a
little timid about it, but her older sister who is not a very good
influence usually was there and told her that if she feels like it is
true then she doesn't need to wait. She should do it. So she agreed.
We told her she needs to ask her parents though. So in walks her mom
and she asks her right there. Her mom wasn't very fond of the idea.
She told her that if she gets baptized, then she won't be catholic
anymore and Eleonora responded, PUNTO! It was funny. But it was cool
because Eleonora shared a really powerful testimony to her mom right
there about how she feels so much happier in our church and it has a
different spirit and when we ask her to do something, we explain the
reasoning and the blessings and let her choose whereas in the catholic
church they just make her do things and she doesn't like it. But mom
and dad aren't happy about the baptism but we are invited to continue
teaching her and doing everything we have been, but baptism is a no.
The date is still on though and we are going to teach Eleonora about
fasting and do a fast with her this September. She's going to get a
great opportunity to see how powerful God is. Let's pray her parents
feel the spirit and change their minds. She also asked bishop if she
could speak in church, so this last sunday she gave a talk. Used the
BOM and everything. It was great. No one could believe that she wasn't
a member.

Matthew and Patience and living together, unmarried but want to get
baptized. They are from Nigeria. They were going to move to thise
other apartment this last week and when they went, the owner turned
them away because they were black. How sad?! Apparently some Italians
are still racist. So now they are looking for another place. Patience
has been coming to church the last two weeks and Matthew said he'll
come with her this time. Let's hope. They are funny. Patience made us
rice with cow stomach a couple days ago. It was super spicy and a
nasty texture. I ate some of it, but couldn't handle it. Yuck! She
said this Friday she is going to make us fried rice with liver. I
don't know why she keeps feeding us these freaky things. Sorella Foote
hasn't eaten anything gross her whole mission until I got here and now
it's all we get fed. I am cursed. But Matthew isn't a very good reader
and so we got him the Book of Mormon story book to read also and it's
so funny. He loves it. He calls it his 'picture book'. And every
picture and sentence he interprets for us and gets so deep with
metaphors. So great. Ha. Very slow learners, but they definitely have
a testimony of God and Jesus Christ. They always say, "by the grace of
god..." and then say something they will do like go to church. ANd
we're trying to teach them that God will help them with anything, but
they need to make the efforts too. If they want to go to church, they
need to go themselves.

So last week we found this lady walking down the street and we gave
her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and got her phone number. Then the
next day, she called us asking for help because she needed a place to
stay for the next month before she could move into her new apartment.
She offered to pay rent and everything. So we talked to the Ward and
this girl said her and her mom could let this lady (Giusy) stay with
them. This girl is a convert of 5 years and her mom isn't a member at
all. So we meet up with Giusy to take her to meet the girl in the
ward, Natalia. And Natalia is running late, so Giusy takes us to get
some food (pizza as usual), and we talk and eat for a little bit.
Giusy tells us that like 2 days before we met her, she was talking to
a friend by the beach and a passalong card with Christ on it blows
onto her foot, so she looks at it and kisses it. He friend told her to
throw it away bcuz it is someone else's church, but she ignores her
and keeps it. And the night after she met us, she was looking at the
pamphlet and noticed that and the card were the same church. She just
was so shocked. And she was saying how she thinks we are two angels
who came to help her and guide her. And Natalia told us that her and
her mom were struggling financially and couldn't figure out how to
make ends meet and that the amount Giusy offered to pay them was the
exact amount they needed. It is so amazing how the Lord uses other
people in the most intricate ways to bless people's lives. Giusy has
been so busy lately, so we haven't gotten to teach her, but we are
excited to teach her because she has already gotten a taste of what
the Lord can do. Pretty amazing.

Last night, Sorella Foote almost died. She put her huge 2 Liter water
bottle in the freezer during the day and we came home and were getting
ready to do nightly planning and she opened the bottle and was trying
to crush the ice because it was barely harder than slush. And as she
was pressing it in on the sides, water started pouring out the top so
she put her mouth over it to catch the water. And as she kept doing
that, this huge chunk of ice launched into her throat and she started
choaking. I like started hitting her back so she could breath again
and after like 45 seconds she could breath again. It was so scary but
so funny (mom and slla. foote's mom: don't think I am insensitive for
thinking it's funny). She says her throat still hurts cuz the ice like
sliced it. But now when we think about it, we laugh. But it was pretty
scary. She really couldn't breath at all for a good chunk of time.
Everything on her desk got covered in water too. Oh man...what an
eventful night that was.

Well that's about it. THis is hard work. Right now, I wish I was back
home. I miss everyone and everything. I think the heat is what is
making me the most unhappy, but I will continue to press on. I know I
really need to be here to learn how to rely on the Lord more and
really put my life in His hands to He can mold me to the person He
knows I can become. It sure is tough though.

I miss you all and love you so much,
Sorella Heiner

One more thing

[Addendum to Chelsea's 8/17/11 email]

Monday was a big holiday here so we had to deep clean the apartment. It's only done twice a year. Everyone closes their shops and goes out and parties. It's called ferragosto and they celebrate when the virgin mary got taken up to heaven to become impregnated and such. It's crazy. But a member invited us over for lunch and we ate seafood! a salad thing with octopus, squid, clams. It was gross looking, but didn't taste TOO bad. I took pictures. I ate it all. But the idea grosses me out. But we also had spaghetti noodles with butter and clams also with garlic. THose ones were actually quite tasty. I was nervous to eat it though, but i liked that. You are all probably so proud of me. Especially after you see the picture of this because it does not look tasty.

Okay, now I am done. Gotta go see the Sistin Chapel. We already walked through the piazza at saint peters. No big deal...right. We're just 20 minutes from the Vatican. Some guy told us to not go brain washing everyone in the heart of religion. Ha!! Brainwash....more like bring truth to their rememberance.

Week one in the field

[Email from 8/17/11]

Hey everyone!

So this is my first p-day in Italy. It's so extremely hot here! I have been dying of the heat. AND there are SO MANY mosquitos. They eat us alive. I really cannot stand it. I wake up in the middle of the night scratching my legs so bad that the bites turn into scabs. And then I fall asleep again and wake up with more bites. It's very frustrating. Not going to lie, I'm kind of miserable right now. I can't understand
anyone, no one can really understand me (actually I am just to nervous and mess things up), and I am always tired. I've also been having really bad headaches lately. Since the plane to London and it makes me feel like throwing up. I've been drinking alot of water, but I still have a headache. It won't go away. I'm really worried about it actually. I wonder if maybe it's because it is so hot and I am
straining so much every minute to try to understand everyone around me. And I haven't been sleeping well. I don't know.

But even though I am kind of miserable and wonder what I got myself into, I get distracted by all the blessings we have here. My area is actually booming with investigators. Since I have started teaching in my area, we have gotten 4 new investigators. And they all are really solid people. One of them is Anna Morgia and she is catholic and is quite influential in the church. She is a "queen" in africa and has a humanitarian orginization there. She totally agrees about the apostasy
and stuff but hasn't quite grasped the concept that the truth has been restored. But at least she agrees that the truth was lost. She loves the family unit and was having a priest guy staying with her this last week and hated him. He gave the sisters a hard time when they first contacted her and she chewed him out bigtime. Then she was telling us how he preaches one thing and does the opposite and how corrupt he is. He it's funny.

We also have this lady Concettina who is a single mom and dresses like a nun or something. Super Super modest and reads the bible and prays all day long. We were teaching her and she asked to see sorella foote's bible to compare to hers. She found a picture from the ensign of conference and concettina got so excited. We explained conference and the prophet and apostles to her. She really was SO excited about it. So she will most likely come watch conference with us in october. And she does not watch tv or listen to music because she says it's all gross and evil.

Then yesterday we got stood up by three people so we went to contact a lady whose door we knocked on and she let us in. We were teaching her when a good male friend of hers came in. Sat down and asked what the difference between us and jehovas witnesses (TJ's). We told him we don't know all their beliefs but we can teach him ours. So we started teaching and he said he studies with the TJs and didnt like it because they couldnt answer his question of where we will go after this life...Funny how they avoided it and we hope people will ask that because we have the answer. Then he was saying that the bible is the word of god but that it has been translated so many times there is some truth missing in it. ECCO!! Because we know that too and so we taught about the BOM. he liked that. Then he said he doesn't think it's fair that we are all sinners because of what adam and eve did. Ecco! We have an answer to that too. Read from 2 NEphi and he loved it. Gave them a BOM and will meet with them Monday. The Lord truly does know where we are and even if an appointment bombs, he's got the plan figured out and we just need to follow the spirit and we will find someone who will be ready to hear our message.

I know this work is of God an I am excited to share it with people. i just need to learn the language. It is so hard because I have such a strong testimony and desire to share it, but the language is a big barrier for me.

Love you all,
Sorella Heiner

Sono arrivata!!

[Email from 8/10/11]

Hello hello family. We have officially arrived in Italy and are at the
mission president's home. President Kelly and his assistants picked us
up from the airport and took us to see the temple grounds. They were
just pouring concrete for the foundation of the temple. It's a HUGE
piece of land and can be seen from the main highway, so it should
stand out like the D.C. temple or the L.A. temple. I'm excited. We
then went to the mission office and they ordered pizza for us and we
ate it and relaxed for a little bit. The pizza was AMAZING!! And they
said it wasn't even the best kind. We went over orientation stuff and
got our credit cards. Then we walked down the street like a half mile
or so to the "villa" which is the mission home. It's beautiful
compared to most of the other buildings. It kind of reminds me of
Mexico or something like that.

Then we hung out and talked with Sister Kelly at the mission home and
then had dinner. She made a fresh salad, rolls, lasagna, and veggies.
It was yummy. We had tiramisu (sp?) and gelato! It was also yummy. We
then got our first assignments. I'm going to a city called Ladispoli.
It's in the suberbs of Rome on the northwest by the coast. My
companions name is...Sister Foote. Yes, the same name as my old
companion but different person. We're sleeping at the mission home
tonight and having breakfast at 8 then heading out on the tram at
10:20 to our areas. Who knows what tomorrow will hold, but I'm too
tired to think about that. Haven't slept for about 36 hours striaight,
so my head hurts alot.

My new address to send me letters is :

Sorella Chelsea Heiner
Via Flavia, 21
00055 Ladispoli, Italia

Okay well send everyone my love. I miss you all and loved talking to
you. Be safe. Work hard.

-Sorella Heiner