12/19

Fabio is baptized! it was the coolest thing i have ever seen. he was so excited and everything just went so smoothly. it was so great. and right after he got baptized he got confirmed the with the holy ghost and when that was done he hugged everyone in the circle and then he looks over at sorella ivory, arms open and says ''posso?'' (''can i?'') and she says yes! and he runs over and gives her the biggest hug. it was the sweetest thing i have ever seen... haha and the funniest. president kelly's wife was there. and tons of other missionaries. i think anyone else would have been embarassed haha... but it was so perfect. 

after the baptism, us and like 8 other missionaries went caroling at a big piazza in rome which was really cool. didnt really do anything for our work but we helped out the rome missionaries a lot hah. it was fun too. something you dont get to do at other times of the year. we're going to try and do it again this sunday.. hopefully works out. 

we had a ward christmas party the other night and it was pretty fun. we made all the primary kids do a nativity haha and it was close to a disaster but actually it turned out pretty good.. we had a ton of non members there which was great.

hm............. we are all stressing out for transfer calls (this saturday). sorella ivory has nearly been in ladispoli for an entire year and has one transfer left. (if she stays next transfer it will be exactly 1 year) and..... we have fear she is getting death transfered. (your last transfer is your death transfer.) so....... i am stressing out..... haha..... because i love sorella ivory. she is my favorite comp. probably ever. we just get along so well... gah. but i cant worry about this just yet... 

hm.......

we have an investagator from mexico. she is so great! her name is jennifer. she's like 28, married, has a 2 year old son. is just the cutest one! we actually had a lesson with her this morning. we have to go really slow with her because her whole family is catholic and whenever anyone talks about baptism it freaks her out. so... we're just not going to talk about it for a while haha... but she is so cute and really does have big desires to do whats right and her family is jsut so important to her. man. i just love her.

not sure if i've told you about antonio. he was found through english course (i love english course.) and is so sensitive to the spirit, its the coolest thing. he says he hates going a few days without seeing us because we are like the fuel to his life! he's so sweet. we went over to his house last saturday and learned how to make vegetarian lasagna with his wife. she is so sweet but not really interested in the church at all.. she is so funny though! when we made the sauce, i stirred while she poured in ingredients and it turned out so good and she was like, yeah! team effort! just this tiny old italian lady. yeah.....hah.. anyway......

we went to the colosseum  today because sorella buckley's never seen it. i was remembering my first time seeing it, when you walk out of the subway and its like BAM. colosseum! right in front of you! weird. haha so that was fun for her.. 

well im trying to think of other fun things to tell you but really nothing is coming to mind......... 

i bedazzled my retainter last night so it looks like a grill. sorella spicq's parents sent me a scarf so i look SUPER french. and my poor canadian boots that i bought last year are falling apart..... not cool. 

BUON NATALE TUTTI! 

family...... be at the house at 9am on christmas if you want to skype me. natalie. you're not allowed to work. halle and logan. BE THERE. emilee, bring your game face. is there any way you can make clinton skype you at that time too so that we can 3 way skype each other??? that would be cool..........

sorella SEGWICK (as sorella ivory likes to call me......) 

pics:

-fabio's baptism

-xmas at the vatican

-ladispoli and siracusa!

-il colosseo 

-xmas at the coloseum

-caroling in rome with other missionaries

12/12

alright famiglia e amici. 

so this sunday we have a baptism. his name is Fabio Roselli. and he is just so great. like i said, they found him a few days after i left ladispoli. he is the husband of a member and has never in their 12 year marriage had any interest whatsoever in the church, and usually didnt let his wife go to church because his only day off was sunday and wanted her to be home with him and their kids and never let her have visiting teachers or anything. 

me and sorella ivory went over to their house once before i left for siracusa and then the second time she went over with sorella buckley, they met fabio. and asked him to be baptized. and he said yes. 

so... they taught him all the lessons and the first time i met him was when we did the baptismal interview for him haha... i've seen him a couple times since then and he just seems solid as a rock. he is so cool. he used to smoke 30 cigaretts a day and now he hasnt smoked a single one for i think a little over a month. MIRACLE! its so cool to be about to see how their family is being affected by his decision and how much happier the mom is from when i first met her. i am so happy for their family. dang... so cool..... 

other than that i dont have much to tell you. i am teaching basic english here in ladispoli. its kind of cool being in 3 because we can do 3 levels. basic, intermediate and advanced. so.... i teach basic... and.... hah its rough sometimes but my class loves me. i just have 5 old italian dudes and.... its just... haha a lot of fun... they tell me i am a good teacher. so.... yeaaaah........... i gave a book of mormon to one of them last week so we will see how that goes! man, i love english course haha.. 

im pretty pumped to be able to be back in ladispoli. the ward is so fantastic.. everyone who was pregnant when i left now has tiny infant children hah. so thats weird. but its so good to be back. i feel like im home :)

we've been continually brainstorming what movies to watch for christmas. we get to watch 2 and so far we have agreed that one of them will be 'ELF'. because... its the best movie ever. 

anyone know what 'hot rod' is rated? haha...... also 'nacho libre'? we...... need to laugh...............

alright. thats about all for this week. 

its cold. 

REALLY cold.......

happy 12-12-12!!! this is probably the last time this week happen EVER. so enjoy it......... 

CIAOOOOOOOOOOOO

V.V.B.

sorella sudweeks  

pics:

-back with ivory! and our new addition, sorella buckley :)

-in rome again!

-the gypsy cats of ladispoli

12/5

ciao fam!

so i am in ladispoli again! and its like i never left. except for the fact we have pretty much all new investagators... but the members are still the same :) 

my last few days in sicily were pretty fun. our investagator, graziano, took us, the elders and cristian (ward mission leader) to a mexican restaurant haha it was good. i got this weird veggie burrito. it was an italian interpretation for sure but it tasted good.. 

i had to say bye to everyone at church..... that was rough.... a few people cried... i did too... i am going to miss siracusa.. maybe i'll go back one day. never know. im back in ladispoli right now and never thought that'd happen haha... 

when i said bye to nuccio he cried... he had found this weird p.e.t.a./Jesus (there is no other way to describe it) pamplet about how Jesus was vegetarian haha.. anyway... he signed it and wrote a note inside because it made him think of me.... anyway... haha.. he's such a sweetheart... 

when i went to say bye to annamaria she still hadn't found her ''lettera d'amore'' (love letter) that she'd been looking for (did i tell you about that?) haha... so funny... poor thing... she made is go into her son's room (where she thinks she lost it) and say a prayer. it was so funny. i felt like i was doing a voodoo. nah not really.. hah.. i had her make a voice recording (thanks for the recorder mom :) and she started off with ''dear heavenly father'' and i was like ''oh, no.. i just record your voice and it goes to my parents.'' and she said, ''i know. i was just sending the message through heavenly father..'' SO funny... 

anyway... i took the plane up to rome with sorella miles. she is sweet. she was just coming up for permesso stuff but it was so cool cause we had some weird experiences on our way up. like this random dude saw us and was like, hey do you guys have a book of mormon? PSSSSHYEAH. hah.. we talked with him and found out he was baptized like 20 years ago, and went inactive for some silly reasons in the past but just missed the book of mormon so much and was just so happy to have a copy. it was so weird though cause he was like, i jsut love in doctrine and covenants when it talks about eating meat sparingly. (we're like.. okay?) come to find out he's like huge into animal rights and the church him and his wife go to now tell him its a sin not to eat meat and all this stuff and so he's trying to find someone who's okay with him being vegan and it was just weird that me and sorella miles were there because she is the missionary who would teach his family because she's in that area, and i am probably the only vegetarian missionary in the entire mission and i just felt like God is just moving us around like chess pieces and putting us in certani places to meet certain people. really cool. and THEN the dude sitting next to us on the plane lives in catania (sorella miles area) and works in ladispoli (my new area) so.......... how perfect was that. it was just the weirdest things........ 

anyway...... traveling..... got to rome all safe and sound and FLIPPED when i saw sorella ivory cause i was so stinkin excited! 

we had zone conference yesterday and obviously it was the best day of my life because i LOVE zone conference hah.. anyway.....

anyway... i miss siracusa. i miss sorella spicq. but i know i need to be here. and..... im here. so that's good..........

we have a baptisimal interview tonight. so thats weird. his name is fabio. and from what i hear, he's fantastic. they found him 3 days after i left ladispoli. and he will get baptized the 16th. crazy...

thats really all the updates i have for you folks. 

hope everything is well and you're all getting excited for christmas! i know i am....... love your GUTZ!

vi voglio un MONDO di bene!

sorella sudweeks

shoutoutz: 

clint! i got your birthday card! thanks!!! 

steph rhodes! im in ROME! and i heard you will be too on your honeymoon! come find me! ;)

pics:

-sorella spicq and i at the madonnina

-package from mom!

-me and graziano

-showing off my mexican ancestry..

-saying bye to my favorite peeps in siracusa

-all i own for the next 9 months.

-my new comps! buckley and IVORY! (zone conference)

11/28

so it was my compleanno... im 22 now...... so thats weird....

i bought myself perfume from zara. and an investagator got me a little water pillow thing that heats up when you plug it in hahah. yes. graziano is legit. :)

we ate dinner with maria aliano, my favorite member/new convert (of a year). she cooked us weird sicilian food... man i love her! she just is like my tiny italian mama here. 

happy thanksgiving! i ate pizza. :) with all my family in english course. it was really fun. we had a party. and got some new investagators!!! i love the book of mormon!  

sabastiano dumped us. at least he made a decision... goes to show god can only bless us according to our desires. its just so sad because he couldnt tell us that he believed the catholic church was right, but he was just satisfied with what he had. which is fine... god is not going to infringe upon our agency. that is something we will always have. so..... he made his decision. life goes on..... 

important note.. i am being mid-transfer transfered. i am going back to ladispoli!!! and i am SO EXCITED!!! i cant even explain it! i am going to be companions with sorella ivory again and her greenie, sorella buckley. (jenny buckley. from timpview. crazy.) so..... i am pretty pumped about that. i leave for rome on sunday. so this is my new address:

sorella sudweeks

via flavia 21 

00055 ladispoli - RM

italia

sorry this is another lame letter. things have just been kind of coasting lately. 

i had a weird/cool experience the other night though.

i was laying in bed trying to fall asleep but i started feeling really anxious and almost scared. i started praying that i would feel better and stop having these feelings but they wouldnt go away. a thought came into my mind that i needed to go and lock the front door. this was silly to me because sorella spicq always locks it.. i said ''sorella?'' to ask if she'd locked it, but she was dead asleep... and i couldnt get the thought out of my head so finally i went to see if it was locked, and it wasnt. the keys were in sorella spicq's bag.. which never happens. 

SO. heavenly father is looking out for us... hopefully nothing would have happened if i didnt lock the door but the best part is knowing he is looking out for us and protecting us. 

anyway......

nothing left to write. 

if you have sent me letters or packages to siracusa, sorella spicq will give them to the assistents at zone conference so i should get them within the next month or two. haha we'll see. 

from now on always send packages to the mission office in rome:

Piazza Carnaro 20

00141 Rome, Italy

and you can send letters to my ladispoli address that's up there ^^^

CIAO TUTTI! vi voglio bene. 

sorella sudweeks

pics:

-buon compleanno, sorell!

-maria aliano on my birthday

-paying our respects to the madonna

-bottled coke for dayzzzz

11/21

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! tomorrow....... ma comunque...... have a good one :)

this week was the beginning of transfer #5 for me. which means that half way through this transfer, i am half-way through my mission (sisters do 11 transfers). so.... that's weird. 

things of this week... 

just got a hair cut... so thats cool.... ha...........

sorella rosato went back to catania. i miss her. she is really great. and REALLY helped me with italian. didnt think i could speak straight italian for a few days but she proved me wrong. i need to be her comp. then i'd really learn this language...

nuccio is softening his heart! which is the best... he says he is super athiest but.. i know he believes.. he just doesnt want to :) but he cried when we watched ''finding faith in christ''. if anyone can make someone soften there heart, its Jesus. haha.. nuccio is so great. he is just sad and mad at the catholic church/italian government and its making him mad at God, and for him, its just easier to believe that God doesnt exist. but.. i know there are parts of him that know he exists. and that he's listening.. man.. i love nuccio. he told us last time that he stopped smoking and on our way here, we saw him riding his scooter, cigarette in mouth. haha so funny... he asked if he could bring beer to our last lesson too..... ha...... we're working on it alright... 

we started meeting with a less active named lucia (everyone here is named lucia. because of saint lucia.. look up the story.. hah brutal.) who never showers and wears a puffy rainbow jacket every day. she's so funny.. she LOVES us. like.. after every phrase i said she would tell me the words im saying are holy. hah yeah... alright lucia.. calm down.. shes funny.. we love her! 

i found a treasure of siracusa!!! BOTTLED coke light. yes....... i havent had one of these since the coke factory in vegas.. 

anyway..

sabastiano is just breaking our hearts. he is just content with what he has even though he knows the book of mormon is true and he loves it but he just thinks he cant change, to the point that he doesnt even want to know if the church is true or not. he even told us he doesnt believe the catholic church is true.. but just likes being a part of it. we were so sad after one lesson that we went and got pizza and ate it by the sea. (we talked about our sphere's of influence during district meeting... haha...) so...... i guess we are getting a taste of what heavenly father feels about us... when we KNOW something is true, but dont do anything about it. its like we have the tree of life right in front of us but we dont want to reach out and taste the fruit. just look at it..... doesnt make sense........... but i mean... we all have our agency. so..... his choice in the end. and no one can make his choices but him. 

i think i've told you about annamaria. i dont know if i told you but like a month ago we made her a ''i've read. i've prayed'' calendar, where she has to make off the days she's read and prayed. (she's a bit slow) and she lost it so we said a prayer and the next time she found it and it was like a miracle for her because God answered her prayer. so last time we gave her a proc. to the family. and she lost that too. so i suggested again that we say a prayer. and RIGHT after the prayer she found it and she started crying because she really realized it wasnt just a coincidence and that heavenly father really was answering her prayers. it was the cutest thing! i love annamaria... she is just..... man...... you need to meet this woman..... she is HILARIOUS. she makes everything better.

so i taught BASIC english for the first time without sorella spicq's help (she started doing french course). and..... haha man...... im a disaster.... advanced english.. that's different. cause people already english. and you can teach english in english! but when you teach basic, you have to teach english, in italian. (make sense?) so...... its just........ haha difficult........ but its fine....... they think im cute and i gave away 2 books of mormon!! one to a girl thats probably a little older than me and one to a mom who comes to english course with her husband and two daughters! so... we wanna teach them! a family! that would be SWEET.

it FINALLY stopped raining............ so thats good....... 

im tired ALL the time. its the worst.......... 

dont know what else to write.....

vi voglio bene!

s.lla sudweeks

pics: 

-the black pearl and sorella rosato

-bottled coke. best day ever.

-feet.......?

-filled up one whole journal! starting number two!

-hair cut. and church. 

11/13

ciao famiglia e amici!

so i am staying here in siracusa for another 6 weeks with sorella spicq. its going to be a little hard but i know in the end it will be a huge blessing. i know im going to learn and grow a lot this transfer, and i will really be able to work more on my italian (sorella spicq speaks perfettamente) so that will be good.. 

here's my address if anyone doesnt have it:

sorella sudweeks

via polibio 17

96100 siracusa, sicilia

italia

a few nights ago we ate pizza in church with one of my favorite people, nuccio. he is this old man we found through english course. he is just so funny... he said the prayer to bless the food and included.. ''thank you god for this food and hopefully next time these missionaries will let me bring some beer. it would just make everything better...'' haha so funny..... sorry nuccio... anyway. he is so great. his wife passed away i think about a year ago and he is just lonely and doesnt know what to do with his life.. he doesnt believe in god or anything but we're taking baby steps. we've been talking about what it means to have faith lately and its been really cool. one day he's going to believe. in fact, i think parts of him believe. i think he knows his wife isnt really gone.. just on the other side of something he cant see... haha man nuccio.... i love this man......

sunday was a 'holiday' for sicilians. everyone makes/eats zeppole. which are basically fried balls of bread with whatever you want inside. (nutella zeppole are my favorite :) so we went over to a less-active's house and she taught us how to make them. it was way fun. her name is maria aliano and she is just my favorite, tiny sicilian woman! she's so great.. we're having a zeppole activity with all the women in the ward tonight in church. making zeppole 4 DAYZ! 

right now we are in 3 because one of the sisters in catania got transfered to rome and we are waiting for her companion. so an italian sister, sorella rosato, has been with us for a few days. she is so great. and its been helping me a ton with italian because she doesnt speak a lick of english. i was pretty nervous for her to be with us but she is so hilarious. its been great. i hope i get to serve with her one day. she is bomb. 

not much else to say. its finally cooled down here. for some reason it has rained on p-day 3 weeks in a row now. probably so we dont go jump in the sea. sorry... its tempting sometimes.. haha... no.. but it is...... anyway.....

miss ya. love ya. prayin for ya. tell me where jill is going on her mish! man. so crazy. EM! when can you put your papz in? haha

CIAO. VVB!

sorella sudweeks

photos:

-sebastiano

-making 'zeppole' with maria

-UFO church

-doing 'casa in casa' in ortigia

-pizza with nuccio

-sudweeks, spicq, rosato

11/7

usually i look through my journal to see what we did during the week so i will know what to write you guys but i didnt have time today... so....... this will be interesting haha... the days all blur together so sorry if i tell you things you already know.

i learned this morning that obama won. thats a bummer. cant say im surprised though.. italians LOVE obama. its kind of hilarious. since they literally know nothing about him haha... whatever.

i forgot to say happy halloween last week haha. so........... happy halloween.

we did p-day in a town called Noto. its really beautiful. we wore normal clothes :) first time i've worn jeans on my mission! (yes they still fit.. haha geez..)  

we got dumped this week by elia. (he told us he doesnt want to see us anymore) 

not really anything new i guess but i had high hopes for this kid... oh well.. one day he'll come back. at least he has a book of mormon now.

still kind of stuggling to get through this transfer but its been okay at the same time. some days are harder than others. some days are really fun. its all just haha this mission roller coaster. 

sorry.. scattered thoughts.. 

transfer calls are this saturday. i really have no idea what is going to happen. we'll know saturday. 

wow.. sorry this letter kind of sucks. 

well miss you all. love you all. praying for you all. 

VI VOGLIO BENE. 

10/31

we had zone conference last thursday. it was the best. i love zone conference. president and sorella kelly are just awesome. i love hearing from them. sorella spicq and i did the musical number. she played and i sang ''this is the christ'' and everyone really loved it. man i just love zone conference haha. we went to catania for it. catania is beautiful! but i love siracusa... we did a split with sorella christensen (my other comp in the mtc) and sorella fuller (my old roomie at byu) and it was weird haha but fun. we had a good time. i usually dont really like splits but this one was fine. it was only for a morning so.. it was good. 

saturday night we went to listen to this family in our ward who have a band (they mostly just cover music) and they were playing music from the beatles haha it was the BEST. i loved it. reminded me of velour and muse in provo.. but... italians... singing british music.... the best. 

so the elders in siracusa have this investagator named giovanna and she is just the cutest one! i love her so much. they found her through english course and she is the greatest. haha i wish we were teaching her. but i always compliment her outfits and i dont know.. shes just so cute! and she has these earrings that i really love and she BOUGHT me some! look at her! cutest one! haha anyway... i dont have a picture with her yet but ill send one soon. i told the elders that i want to teach her hah.. :) well see.

so we are thinking about switching up english course so sorella spicq can start doing a french course, which means i will lose my bambino (children)'s course and have to teach basic which will be pretty hard...... gah........ well see haha....... but yesterday for english course i taught my kids how to play ''big booty'' (big booty, number one! number one, number four! etc..) and ''jig-a-low''

 haha, yes, basically we just play girls camp games in english... its the best though...... they are CRAZY. i have three 8-year-olds right now and..... man..... haha...... its fun though. they love me hah

we have this one investagator named vincenza and she is just.. so funny...... she is so old and pretty much only speaks sicilian so we literally can only understand about 10% of what she says, and its funny cause after every sentence she says ''hai capito, gioia?'' (do you understand, joy?) and we're just like ''si, si..'' haha no........ we dont understand sicilian. sorry....... so funny though. shes great. 

hah there are just so many good ones here.. graziano. he is SO funny... he works for nuskin and speaks nearly perfect english. man i am so excited to hangout with him in utah haha.. he's insane. he left for japan yesterday on a business trip and wont be back till the end of november so i said bye to him cause im not sure if i will be here next transfer and he said ''i will just pray for you to stay..'' and i said ''you have to!! do you pray everyday, graziano?'' and he said ''i pray sometimes.. you know.. God is a pretty ambitious guy and i like ambitious people, so i talk to him sometimes..'' haha... man. he is just the funniest one. 

we'll see though. from the looks of things i am going to be transfered out. but you never know with these kinds of things.. 

vediamo. 

alright.... not much else to write. i miss you all a lot..... things are getting better... still hard.. but better. 

YOURE THE BEST ONES!

sorella sudweeks

pics:

Siracusa/the island of ortigia

Ortigia

Vincenza