PAVIA....The City of DREAMS

YO YO YO.

Well hi, yes it is a little bit completely crazy that I am actually in ITALY. It has probably been the craziest week of my entire life. I don't even know where to begin! SO MUCH TO TELL.

Just chilling in front of the duomo in Milano.

Okay yes, as you heard I am serving in the beautiful little town of Pavia. It is just 45 minutes south of Milan and is just the cutest little place. It is just sooooo Italian, it is unreal. My companion is cute Sorella Woods. She is 21 and is from American Fork. She has been here for over 12 months and is really an amazing person! i have learned soooooo much from her already and it has only been one week! It is crazy that it has been a week. The time has FLOWN. like holy cow.

There are 6 of us here in Pavia, so lots of work to be done!

Okay so we are in Pavia right? Well we are doing this thing called pinkwashing. It is where both of the sisters that were here before are gone and they just bring in 2 whole new sisters. That means that neither of us knew a single thing about Pavia before we got here which has definitely made things a little bit interesting! Its kind of hard to be in a completely new country doing new things speaking a new language and have no clue who anyone in the ward is or how to get around! It has been an interesting week to say the least!

Both of the sisters that were here before went home so they did not really care about cleaning the apartment and stuff, so therefore it is super messy and all the food in the fridge was rotten! We have had to do a lot of damage control which has not been the funnest, but thats life! On the 1st day we were here we had to buy food because they left us nothing, so we went and bought food and put it in the fridge, only to find out the next day that the fridge was completely broken and ALL of our food went bad! Complete waste of money! and we had to get a new fridge! We have literally been surviving on nasty italian cereal, and peanut butter on tortillas. (they dont have peanut butter here but slla woods got it from her parents and it is GOLD. send me some if you love me...haha creamy. large. amazon. ha) anyways the food strugg has been real but somehow we have survived! It has been a nice little adventure. Today we finally got to go to the store and buy new food and the cute missionary couple serving in the mission home went and got us a nice new and big fridge so we are in buisness! oh and mom they brought me that little package that you sent me! Thank you very much! I LOVED it and i really cannot wait to hang up all those pics on our walls! we loved the candy too, it was just so wonderfull and creative! love you and your thoughtfulness! Oh our water is nasty too, it tastes like sulfer, but whatev! Our apartment is super cute though! its just sooooo Italy. We have an awesome balcony with an incredible view!! AH i love it here. It is such a dream.

The duomo in Pavia.  The pic doesn't do it justice because it is way awesome!

Okay our ward is so awesome! They are literally the coolest people ever. The first night we were here we went to a ward council and met a bunch of them, and mom get this! They havent had a piano player in their ward for like YEARS. they were all SO stoked when I told them that I play! Oh man they were soooooo excited and just started asking me if i can play this and that hymn. oh it was so great to be able to help them with something that i can do! i cant speak but i can sure play. Tell Sister O'Very THANK YOU! haha

My first Sunday here was definitely an interesting experience. We went to church and I didnt understand anything. yay! It is pretty hard to not be able to understand. They talk so fast, it is unreal. I even had to get up and bear my testimony in front of the ward which was TERRIFYING. I dont even know what i said but everyone loved it and they were just sooooo kind to me! Italians LOVE it when you try and speak. Even if you are terrible they just love it when you try! That is great for me! ha

Woah it really is just completely crazy to actually be here. I love it though. I love the Italians. I love this work. i love the struggle. It has definitely been very hard but that's okay. I can handle it and I know that my Heavenly Father knows that I can handle it. That is why I am here! I have seen sooooo many miracles here already. Each and every day. He puts people in our paths for REAL. oh man it is so cool! I am slowly starting to get over my fear of talking to people. Slowly but surely. Its just hard because I don't understand what they are saying and I hardly know how to say anything! But i just need to try my best and It will come. I have made a goal to start 5 conversations every day with someone, and that has been going really well. It pushes me and has helped me get out of my comfort zone for sure! My trainer is really good about giving me opportunities to talk and that is exactly what I need! It really has been so good and I have learned loads. We are still just trying to figure out who everyone is and get appointments set with people. It has kind of been a struggle but nothing we cannot handle!

My first lesson was so great! It was with this lady named C and her daughter N. N is a member but C can't get baptized until January but holy cow they are the coolest people! i loved it and our lesson went great. AH Italians rule. I cannot even tell you! they don't even care that i cant speak Italian very well they just love me! It is so fun.

Oh and hi the gelato here rules. It is true. Oh and the pizza and everything else you hear about italy...IT IS ALL TRUE. ah i cannot even explain. It is just surreal.

My first real Italian gelato!  YUMMM!

okay well i think I covered pretty much everything! I probably didn't but so much has happened that there is not way that I can tell you about all of it! i wish i could but...ya no way! Just know that I am in good hands. It is hard, but i have a lot of faith, and I know that it will get better! this has already been the most amazing thing of my life and I cannot wait to see how much I will learn and grow from this experience! I love you all. Thank you for your continued support and love! holy cow i loved ALL the pics you sent me! you should print some and mail them to me?eh? ha i love pics and i love my fam!! haha

kay i love you all so very much and I hope that everything is goin well!! i pray for you every single day and I am so lucky to have such an amazing family! keep praying and just being the best you can be every single day! Have a great week!

Sorella Burt

Founds some chickens on our 30 min walk home from church.