Wednesday, March 11, 2015

I'm Officially Here!

Caro Famiglia e amici!
Ciao from ITALY!! Woot! I am officially here! I'm in Milano Lampugnano right now and my companion is Sorella Nedelkov. She is from Clinton, Utah. So whenever someone from the ward asks me where I'm from I say Utah, about 15-20 min away from Sorella Nedelkov. And then they say," Oh so you knew each other before?! You were in the same ward?" ....Well not exactly..... Utah has about a bazillion wards in between us... Our ward here is HUGE! We have a huge area and there are 6 missionaries serving in 1 ward. There are about 585 members, but only about 130 or so are active. So lots of missionary work to be done. 

Anyway, the first day was so great here. We got to go talk to people on the metro and around the Duomo, a huge cathedral that is very popular in Milan. Hopefully you got to see pictures of that from the mission blog.(**Mom's note---I will post the photos when we see them.)  A miracle that day was I was trying to tell this girl about the Book of Mormon and a lady could tell I was having a hard time, so she just came in and started telling the girl all about it.  After she explained it, I was like, "Have you read it?" and turns out she had, and had actually talked with the missionaries but was having a hard time with Laban and with Nephi killing him. An AP ended up talking to her and she will probably talk to the missionaries again. yay!
That night we ate at a restaurant and had delicious food !The lasagna was soo good! Then we had a testimony meeting with our group who came in. It was amazing. I am serving with amazing missionaries! 

The next day I got my trainer! Yay! Sorella Nedelkov has been here 7 months. This is her 6th transfer. She loves sports, camping, and hiking. She is so sweet and is great at talking to people. She has taught me so much already! We had a crazy first day going so many places and trying to talk to people. So we were at a bus stop and man was there who heard us say something in English and then he started talking to us in English. It was great because since it was my first day, I was pretty overwhelmed with everyone speaking Italian. We talked with him on the bus and at the bus stop we all got off. He had great questions about pre-earth life and where we are going after. We said a prayer with him and told him about church and English class that night. We couldn't set up an appointment with him. But he actually came to church on Sunday! He said he was out shopping and then remembered there was church! So he came at like 10:30. It was great! We got to talk to him there and he will probably talk with the anziani.(elders)  He said he plans on coming every Sunday! His name is Ermes. Another guy heard us speaking English later in the day and tried to speak a little English to us since he's learning it, and he ended up just coming with us to the church since we were doing English class that night. He said he's going to come every week, so that would be awesome. 

Goodness, there's so much to write about. I don't even know how to choose since there's not enough time for everything! There is this older lady that we visited named Giovanna. She is almost 70. She invited us to a birthday type of celebration for her on the 22nd. She is so sweet and loves the Sorelle. We visited her on Friday and then on Sunday she called us and specifically asked to talk to me! On the phone! AAH! First time talking to an Italian person on the phone! It was pretty hard to understand. ok, really hard. I had no idea what she was saying. I would just say si... or i don't know what. It took about 10 tries for me to understand this one question she was trying to ask me, but I finally got it! (**Mom's note--now I know why Sorella Dixon had such a determined mind and soul as a child and really, always,--it certainly is paying off now).

Italians love to talk. It's true.Sometimes too much. We can barely get a word in! 

The members are super nice here. I had a fun time on Sunday meeting everyone. I had a headache by the end because of trying to understand! But it was great. Fratello Butto is an older brother who is over family history and he has so much confidence in me. He says I'll be fluent in 3 months. We'll see... He's going to do a test he said! haha

Lydia is a member from the Philippines. There are a lot of Filipinos here. It's great because I can say my sister served there, and then we just go in a great conversation about the Philippines, and the typhoon there. That is always brought up. They are the nicest people. Lydia is soooo sweet and just fed us so much food! I felt bad eating all her food! But it was really good. She makes and sells food for a living. 

I actually haven't had a meal with Italians yet. But that's ok! I had gelato today and that was delicious! We went to the Duomo and the Galleria! My favorite store there: The BOOK store! Oh man it was amazing! We probably spent too much time there.... 

The work is truly hastening here! We taught a family the restoration on Sunday and the spirit was so strong. The whole family was just taking it in! 

Well I have to go! Thanks for your prayers and support!!
Vi vogio bene!
--Sorella Dixon

******Mom's note--Thank you, thank you to all who sent Sorella Dixon an email. She said she had several, and my heart is full of gratitude!! I hope you all are dumped on with lots of blessings for thinking of our sweet Savanna and taking the time to write to her. I know those emails from family and friends she loves so much will help her as she transitions into the life of a full-time servant of our very loving Heavenly Father.*****

"Best Book Store Ever"

"Real Italian Gelato"

Sorella Dixon and Sorella Nedelkov
"Celebrating Festa Delle Donne or Festival of the Women. With chocolate :)"
"Homemade pillowcases from Mom"
"Exchanges with Sorella Osborn"
Sorella Dixon and Sorella Nedelkov standing in front of the Duomo

"A cute little Italian street"

The Duomo

Stores in the Galleria
"I don't even know what most of these are..."



"Best Book Store Ever"

Sorella Dixon's 7 year old cousin sent Flat Stanley with her for a little visit to Italy. Here is his adventure in Sorella Dixon's words:
"He got to see colorful buildings because so many buildings are colored here.
He got to see little cars because everyone drives little cars here.
He got to see the Duomo, a HUGE cathedral in Milan that is very popular.
He got to go shopping in the Galleria, a huge mall with very high class stores.
and He got to eat real Italian gelato, his favorite I'm assuming :)"



















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