The good that you are

heeyyyyyyy ALL. Another beautiful week enjoyed over here in the beautiful country of Italia. Here in Trieste, this week was what they call Carnevale...it is pretty much just a strange/crazy version of Halloween minus the candy, plus a LOT of confetti. And it lasts for about an entire week! Italians sure love their holidays..it seems like it is always a holiday around here and they always last for a while! Carnevale is pretty much just an excuse for everyone to dress up in strange costumes all day and throw confetti all over the ground. They literally buy large bags of colorful confetti and just throw it  all around as they walk around for an entire week! Every street is just covered in paper...its funny because they are super obsessed with recycling here but then they just throw paper all over the ground #savetheplanet? We saw some pretty weird costumes this week though, Italians sure know how to get creative! Last night we made the mistake of walking around downtown area while doing some finding and awkwardly found ourselves in the center of a large Carnevale party in the street...um, hi...always just being those awkward sister missionaries. ha also we saw the most ghetto parade i have ever seen! It ruled, it looked like a bunch of high schoolers got together after school on day and stuck a bunch of random things together and then called it a float! man, it was hilarious. They were just blasting American music and rolling down the streets, having the time of their lives!

At the beginning of this week we saw an absolutely beautiful miracle with a woman named S. She has been a potential for quite a while, and this week we were finally able to see her. It is actually pretty cool how it happened. A few weeks ago i talked to her at a bus stop for a few minutes and got her phone number, but a few days later when i tried to call her- it said that the number didnt exsist! I was super bummed because she was really awesome. Then a few weeks later when Sorella Hawks and I were doing some casa in this specific place that we had planned to go..she just happened to walk by! We were able to talk again and I figured out that i just wrote her number down wrong and we were able to get the correct one..so that was a miracle in and of itself!! We finally got an appointment with her this week and we were really super excited about it! We met her in a little piazza and taught her the entire restoration on a little bench. It was literally the coolest lesson everrrrrrrrr. not really sure how to explain it, but the spirit was just there..and it was FORTE. she is going through a lot of problems right now and expressed to us how hard it is for her to ask for help, but she really needs it. she needs something more. It was really neat to be able to testify to her that this gospel, this message is the thing that she needs. it is the hope and the happiness that will help her face any challenge that she might be facing. She was so open and involved in the lesson and I really thing that she has been prepared for this. It was just really neat to FINALLY meet someone that is searching for something and willing to change! someone that actually wants to meet with us and wants happiness! She accepted the Book of Mormon and was very excited to read it. She even asked us how she would recieve her answer...ah it was just really neat. After that lesson, i just felt pure joy. It was unreal. I am just excited for the chance that we have to actually help a human in need. to share this happiness and hope that I feel with someone who needs it so badly!! such. a. neat. miracle.

We also had an exchange this week! Our wonderful sister training leader, Sorella Andromidas came here to Trieste and it was such a good time! she is such a stellar missionary and taught me loads of gooooods. I love the chance that we have to learn from other missionaries. the thing that i learned from her that i loved the most is just the importance of ENJOYING the work. she taught me that it is possible to do the work, and do it well, and to also have a good time! I feel like all to often i just get stressed and overwhelmed with trying to doing everything right and trying to fill every moment, that i dont remember how important it is to smile, to be happy! This is such a glorious, HAPPY message! We just need to chill, not stress, do the work, and be happy about it! I loved that. We are here to bring joy into peoples lives, and we can do that each and every day! I am trying to have an attitude of love and going out each day with the mindset...i am going to make someones day today..or i am going to make someone happy...because that is missionary work. Spreading joy and light to the world that needs it oh so badly.

I am also learning the importance of positive self talk. that sounds a little bit strange when i type it into words...but yeah! I am learning how important it is for us to recognize the good in us and the things that are our strengths. I think that too often in life we tend to focus on our weaknesses, all the things that we need to improve. And because we are not perfect, this list seems never ending and often leaves us discouraged. Let us focus on the good that WE ARE, and have more faith that Heavenly Father will place people in our lives and us into situations that will help us to improve ourselves and slowly overcome our weaknesses! We have so much good to bring to this world, we need to remember that more and let the good be our focus! the rest will come!
I am doing reallllllly well. Things are happy. I have the most wonderful companion that helps me to be a better person each and every day! I am so grateful for her and the things that i learn from her. Heavenly Father knows what we need, that is for sure. This weeked we are going to be doing a lot of traveling because we have Zone Conference and Stake Conference, so it should be really great! #ilovetrainssssss
I hope you all have a wonderful week and always focus on the GOOD THAT YOU ARE.
lovvvvvvvvvve you guyyz.

Sorella Burt

Our Kitchen

Our Bedroom

Our Study Area

La Vera Bora

Buon Giorno tutti!

Trieste is infamous for what they call "The Bora." It is pretty much just INSANELY strong winds that come every february. I can proudly say that I, Sorella Burt, survived the bora...which is actually a large accomplishment! I cannot even explain it, it is CRAZY. you literally feel like you are in a hurricane..or tornado, i dont remember what the word is. But anyways the bora came this week and lasted for about 4 days, making missionary work a little bit difficult. Most people stay inside during the Bora because it is miserable and actually very dangerous! One night we were walkiing to an appointment and we were in this particularlly super extra windy area and we were trying to walk up a hill. A huge gust of freezing cold wind came and Sorella Hawks got blown backwards, i luckily got ahold of the nearby building and was holding on for dear life, but sorella hawks was literally like 2 feet away from getting blown in front of a passing car! We were both like screaming and some how she was able to turn to the other side of the building where the wind wasn't as strong...but holy cow! It was literally soooooo scary! We were just screaming and then laughing and kind of crying because the wind is so strong that your eyes just like tear up...ha we were quite the sight i am sure! And there was a man just standing there holding a pole, watching the whole thing...his face told us that he found us rather strange...but hey everyone thinks we are strange! It was crrrrraaaazzzzzzy. the bora is real. but we survived. barely. hip hip HORRAY.

This week i hit my 6 months in da mission....so naturally you gotta celebrate with some gelato. It was a little bit of a rough day and we were just really tired and things were just weird...and on the way home sorella hawks was just bound and determined to get some gelato...but naturally zero gelaterias are open in the freezing cold bora so we had to resort to the boxed gelato, still good but not the same! there were 6 cones in the box...6 cones for 6 months #perf It is cray that i have already been here for six months...like where has the time gone? fast, that is for sure.

Karli's 6 gelato cones - for 6 months in the mission

I GOT THE BOX OF LOVE. and can i just tell you all that it was the single most perfectly timed, most needed package i have probably everrrrrrrrr recieved??? we had another hardish week...wont really talk about that, but one morning we were just doing our studies and our doorbell rang and it was the post lady with a beautiful little package from home! OH MY GOSH. thank you allllllll so much. i cannot even begin to express the level of appreciation and love that i was feeling. It was perfect and just so kind and i loved it SO much. I have the greatest family ever. punto. literally those little hearts on the string...i about died. It was the exact thing i needed to make it through the week. and mom thank you SO much for taking the time to put those pictures together. they were absolutely puuuuuurrrrfect. ah i love you all more then words can say.

We sent Karli a garland of hearts with love notes on them

This week we had some sweeeeeet miracles! two of the greatest came from doing casa, believe it or not! We found this super golden place where the houses are like acutal houses, not apartments. They are small and connected but they have like little front porches. The actual houses are way better for doing casa because the people can actually see you rather then trying to talk to them over a little intercom thing. annnnyways, we were ringing the doorbells and we made it to this really adorable little green house (all the houses in italy are different, bright colors #toomuchfun) anyways this little lady came out of the house and when we asked if we could share a message with her, she was like , yeah sure...no one EVER says ya sure...they normally just shake their fingers at us and say...no mi interessa. BUT she said SURE. so we proceed to tell her about the restoration and she was just like listening and very kind and open! it ruuuuuuled. we asked if we could come back and she said YES. woah. it was just really cool. It doesnt sound super cool, but holy moly it was a huge miracle for us to find a human that would actually listen to us and that wanted us to return...her name is S. btw :) a few days later we went back to the same area, just a few streets away from S. and found a girl that was 13 named I. she was soooooo cool and also very open to listening to us! AH it ruled. the young are golden. she also said that we could come back. Heavenly Father is really helping us out. I KNOW IT. they were just some really great lil tender mercies from Heavenly Father. I know that  he is watching over us always. He sees our efforts and He is proud when we work hard. and when we dont let the discouragement get the better of us.

This week i really learned the importance of being grateful. When we are grateful no matter what...not just for the physical things we have but IN our situations and FOR everything that we go through...He showers even more blessings upon us, even more things to be grateful for. Every single little experience that we have in this life is given to us for a very specific reason, we need to be grateful for each and every one! I am grateful for the experiences that i am having each and every day out here. i know that my Heavenly Father is shaping me into the person that He needs me to be. Positivity is the key, and that is really something i am learning.

As always, i love you all. I love being a missionary. I love Italy. I love each and every opportunity that i am being given to serve God's children. I couldn't be happier!

Con amore per sempre,
Sorella Burt

The city of  Trieste and the ocean

Sorella Burt and Sorella Hawks

Trying not to get blown away in "The Bora"

A beautiful castle 

A view of the ocean at night in Trieste

He Love Us

Let me just start off by saying that we have had a STELLAR pday today. It started off with a casual little walk through small italian streets up to a beautiful ancient castle with an absolutely BEAUTIFUL view of the city...the ocean, the mountains, the castle and the lighthouse off in the distance. We literally live in the most beautiful place, i cant even stand it. After that we went to this little slightly-too-classy restaurant that one of the guys in our ward works at...they make super delicious american style but slightly better hamburgers, and he hooked us up with some free potato chips and chocolate...holla. We are just those extremely awkward sister missionaries that have no clue how to handle themselves at normal restaurants because in has been too long since they have been in one...#whatevs #embracetheawk OH and we found the most beautiful little antique thrift shop i have EVER stepped into. oh my goodness....it was literally too good to be true. Everything was just super ancient and neat and a thousand times cooler because it is all Italian...good thing i didnt have any cash or i literally would have bought way too many items. Too cool, i was literally IN HEAVEN. we will be going back. But um anywayyyyyyys, yeah it has just been a much needed goooooood pday.

This week was a little bit rough, we will just say that. okay, it was a lot a bit rough but we learned lots and did see many small little miralces that always confirmed that we are never alone out here. We were trying to go for a 21 lesson week, so naturally everything fell through and nothing went how we planned. Also, every human is sick or they are just like really busy...i think that they are just excuses, but whatev. It has just been hard because it pretty much feels like no one has any sort of desire to meet with us, or talk with us. We are really trying to get the work going here, but it is just hard to know how to do that. We are working reallllllly hard, doing what we are supposed to and trying our best to stay positive...so i guess i just still am supposed to learn patience! This week i realllllly learned the importance of just laughing. When things were sucky and nothing was going right, we would just find something to laugh about and everything got better. Attitude is everything peeps, i can tell ya that much! When you are walking around at night in POURING rain, freezing your butt off trying to talk to the very few humans that are also walking outside but do not want to talk to you and your umbrellas just constantly flip out and you just feel extremely pathetic...you just laugh, and you keep on walking! I love Sorella Hawks so much. We just made the worst week the funnest week ever. We have just gotten really good seeing the positive and never giving up.

This week i have really felt that my Heavenly Father loves me. Is is aware of us all the way out here in Trieste, and all though sometimes it may not seem like our effort is making any difference, He sees our effort, and He loves us for it. I know that I was called to this specific city at this specific time for a very specific reason. There are no mistakes in the work of the Lord. There is no such thing as random and there is no such thing as a coincidence. I know that my talents, my personality, my testimony is needed here. I am not sure why exactly yet...but i will not stop trying to figure it out. I know that even when things are tough, we can be joyful. We can look for the good and we can rejoice for the many blessings that we do have! There are so many reasons to be happy, so many things to show our gratitude for. When things are hard, and nothing seems to be going your way, stop and just say a prayer of gratitude, and then put a smile on your face and get up and keep going forward. I know that things have to get worse before they get better...and they always get better. I am grateful for the things that I am learning each and every day out here on my mission. It is hard at times, but i wouldn't change this experience for anything in the whole world!

I love you all, don't ever stop smiling and don't ever forget that we are never alone!

Buona giornata!
Vi voglio bene,
Sorella Burt

life is good in da hood‏

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyall

I am doing super great. the happiness is real, i can tell ya that! This week started last Thursday when we traveled to Verona to get new companions! We were in Verona for quite a while waiting for all of the missionaries to arrive. I didn't get to see much of the city except for the apartment of the Sorelle, but i guess i can say that i went to Verona! haha I hope to go back someday to see the sights, it really is a beautiful city! My new companion is Sorella Hawks! She is from New York, which automatically makes her like 20x cooler among the members. They all just say...finally! someone not from Utah! haha its pretty funny. But holy cow i LOVE HER SO MUCH. yeah. we already get a long sooooo well. she is just the greatest, i cannot even describe. We are just like meant to be friends, it rules. She is one transfer below me which means I have had the new opportunity of being in charge. At first it was a little bit overwhelming...having to know the city and the people and the language...but it has been wonderful. It is really good for me to have to step up and take responsibility, i am going to grow a whole lot this transfer and i am really excited about it!!

My new comp, Sorella Hawks, from New York

We are still having to do a lot of finding, but we have seen some miracles and have quite a few really great potentials! One of the biggest miracles this week was with one of our investigators named L. She is about 60  years old and is very catholic. We have only had about 4 lessons with her, but she is just very stuck in her ways and has some interesting ideas. This week we planned to teach her the plan of salvation, but we ended up having to take it in a much different direction.. She just always talks about how she has been trying to find an answer for her whole life from God about which path is the right one for her. She is angry with Him because she doesn't feel like she has gotten her answer. We taught her about how she can receive answers from Heavenly Father...and we told her that this gospel is her answer...it was a bit bold, but after we said that, the whole mood of the lesson changed. Something changed in her....the spirit was SO strong, and I know that she felt it. She said that she feels wonderful when we talk about the gospel and we helped her to realize that that is the spirit. I don't really know how to explain it, but it really was just a huge break through lesson with her! She has always been very stuck in her ways and not willing to try but by the end of the lesson she said she would read and pray about the chapter we gave her that very night. And she asked US about church and said that she wanted to come check it out! AH. it was such a cool experience, and was totally and completely guided by the spirit. It was a huge testament to me that when we follow the spirit, it has the power to soften anyone's heart. She is absolutely wonderful and I am very excited to help her on her path to find the truth.

The other day when we were doing some finding around our house, we found a wonderful lady named S! She was holding a cute little dog and we were able to talk to her for a few minutes about our message and exchange information. The other day I called her to set up an appointment and she said...YES of course! I live right by your church, so why don't we just meet there on Thursday morning! I was like...uh, yeah okay we could probs do that! I was totally excited! She is absolutely wonderful and she actually wants to meet with us, suuuuuuper stoked bout that! We are really seeing miracles as we just go out and find people. The Sorelle here in Trieste have never seen a baptism...but the Anziani have seen a lot. Hawks and I are bound and determined to get the work going for the Sorelle here, I know that it is possible for sure! there are people being prepared, you just have to go and find um! I have learned that Heavenly Father puts people in your path, when you tell Him where you are going to be! when we plan a specific place to do finding or do casa, He knows where we will be and He literally puts people in our paths. The power of planning combined with prayer is so real and SO COOL.

Today i ate a real life Italian Canoli...so that ruled. Except for i learned that it is actually Canolo not Canoli when you are talking about only one..i felt a little dumb when I was asking the lady for one Canoli..hahah oh the Italian struggle! we learn lots everyday out here :)
Yesterday we talked to this slightly rude catholic lady on the side of the street that told us that we are way too young to know the truth and that we have plenty of time to figure out that Catholisim is actually the truth....haha that was interesting! i was like...uhhhh excuse me? I AM NOT TOO YOUNG I KNOW THE TRUTH!...of course i did not actually say that but i wanted to..sometimes you just gotta bite your tongue and walk away! We met a JW on the street the other day, and had a similar experience. She have us one of her pamphlets and when we tried to give her one of ours she was like...no thanks, i already have the truth. hahaha ooooookay. the people you meet everyday out here...too fun!

I am doing realllllllllllly well. I love trieste, i LOVE sorella hawks and i love doing the work of the Lord each and everyday. Our Heavenly Father loves us and He knows us. We must remember Him and SHOW our gratitude for how incredibly blessed we have been.
keep it real peeps!
love,
Sorella Burt

oh...sorella hawks cut my hairs last night...like probably 4 inches #thesismishlyfe

ps...two sorella burts for the day..thats what happens when hawks leaves her at home hahahah

the work goes forth..sempre‏

Hello everrrrrrrryone out there!

This week we got transfer callllllllllllllls. horrrrrrrray. Transfer call day is literally the worst because you have no idea when they will call you so you just try to focus and it is just really hard because the anxiety is realllllllll! Our call didn't even come til the afternoon, so was just a struggle!! Buuuuuuuut, I am staying in Trieste and Sorella Nedelkov is leaving to Milano....awh. It is pretty much exactly what i thought would happen! I am sad that she is leaving me, it has literally been such a wonderful transfer. My new companion is named Sorella Hawks, she is one transfer below me so i will be the senior comp for the first time, yikes. ha jk i am actually like realllllly excited! It will be a challenge, but thank goodness I am not in this alone! We make the switch tomorrow, we have to go to Verona for a few hours so i am excited to see that city. It should be a really good transfer, i am excited to just keep working hard. I feel really good about this next transfer. I really feel like the work here is taking off, it is exciting and i am stoked to see where it goes!
This week RUUUUUUULEEEEEED. like literally the best week of the whole transfer. Miracle after miracle. I dont even know how to explain it, it just ruled. I am so happy because that is what this work does to ya! You cannot help but be sooooo happy when you are a part of the Lords Army! it just rules.

a few stories:
firssssssst, the other night we had a few minutes before it was time to go in, so we decided to walk down this certain street. We tried stopping people and everyone hated us until this one lady actually STOPPED. ha miracle in and of itself right there! haha but anyways, she was soooooo wonderful and kind and just was one of those people that stares into your soul and she just radiates with this neat vibe...idk how to describe. but yeah we just talked to her about the restoration and she was like...yes, well i believe that anyone be a prophet..and stuff like that. we talked for a few minutes but she was suppppper into her own religion and not really interested in learning more about ours, but we asked if we could leave her with a prayer. She agreed, very happily, and we held hands in a nice little triangle in the middle of the sidewalk. After the prayer she said...now can i pray for you?? we were like...uh YES, please do! so she prayed for us and it was just beautiful and we walked away just sooooo stoked! First time anyone has ever wanted to SWAP prayers with us. what. it was so cooooool. one day she will accept the truth, i know it. she was just too great.

Yesterday we had a MIRACLE MORNING. so the night before during planning, we both had the strong feeling like we needed to stop by one of our new investigators named Novella...we werent really sure why because she is normally not available in the morning, but we felt like it was right. So yesterday morning we were on our way to her house, and this guy stopped us to ask if we knew where a street was..we didnt but we whipped out our handy dandy map and started to look for it. Not having much luck, the lady next to us asked if we needed help. After she helped us she was like, hi my name is Jessica...and shook my hand...i am a member of your church! I was like...uh okay, um COOL. It turns out that she and her family is the less active family that we had talked about in consiglio with the ward the sunday before that really needed help...and we just ran into her on the street! She then asked if we wanted to come over, and we went over and were able to have a nice time with her and it was just SUCH A HUGE MIRACLE. after that we went and found Novella and she was ACTUALLY home. another MIRACLE. we had an awesome lesson with her and it was just sooooooo cool. Testimony builder that the is the Lords work. He puts thoughts in our minds and people in our path! we just have to follow those thoughts and talk to those people.

I had a lot of really strange encounters with random men on buses this week...i am not sure whyy. One man asked if i was a mormon and then proceeded to tell me in terrrible english that Jesus is already on the earth...not tell, he was YELLING. and just like...one day you will understand. ha Another guy pushed me off of the bus as i was trying to get on and yelled at me in some weird language that i didnt understand...that was def my first time getting pushed off a bus! Another guy was yelling at me about Musolini for like 5 minutes after i tried to talk to him about the church....and another guy started talking to me in english and told me that he has seen me around a lot.....CREEPYYYYYYYYY. literally italian men are werider then the rest! I AM SO GRATEFUL THAT WE ARE PROTECTED out here. yikes. Weird people keep things interesting, that is for sure!

I am really excited for this next trasnfer here in Trieste. The work is picking up and i am jsut really excited to see where it will go! This is the Lords work, and it will ALWAYS go forward. that is for sure. I am greatful for Sorella Nedelkov and for the time I have been able to serve with her here. We have gone through lots together and she has taught me how to always have a positive attitude and to NEVER give up, no matter how hard things get. I am so greatful fo her! i love being a missionary and I am greatful for the Miracles of the Lord.

Have a wonderful week!
peace and love
Sorella Burt