Wilcox Happenings

Elder Wilcox...update:)

2011-05-15T21:10:00.000-06:00

So I have been having a hard time finding time to blog...I think I will just post some picture of Jarom and parts of his letters. Hope you enjoy them even though they might seem kind of random. It was SO fun to talk with him last week!! He is doing so good, loves the work and still thinks the French are stubborn and sometimes lazy!!! hahahaha! They closed down all the stores one week just because and he was unable to find a computer anywhere, that was when he said they were lazy. I didn't like not hearing from him one week, so I'm not going to disagree! As of March 8 Jarom has been gone for 8 months. Sure hope they start going by faster where he is concerned but not with the rest of my kids...is that possible?

oh guess what!? yep i got transfered to another ville! yeah thats why i didnt write you yesterday, i was on a train all day long. yep so now i'm in a new ville called... Gap. Kayla's gonna be so excited, its like the closest place to italy in my mission i think. almost to torino. and guess what... its surrounded by mountains!! oh yeah!! haha its right next to the alps and stuff i'm pretty excited. the only thing that kinda stinks is that its a tiny ville. yeah i would hate to be in a huge city but missionary work is a little easier there haha i'm back to contacting all day long yay! haha but yeah i'm pretty excited.

So now my new companion's name is Elder Winslow. he seems like a really cool guy, not the crazy hard worker that elder dorton is but he's still super cool. he opened this area and has been in gap for 2 transfers. but yeah so Gap is like three hours from the nearest missionaries. we're so far away from everybody haha. but hey its a pretty cool place. we're surrounded by mountains. oh yeah.
So yeah its been one heck of a weekend but i'm excited to meat a lot of new people. the branch here is 8 strong members so we're gonna multiply that haha. oh yeah this mission thing is pretty crazy. i'm pretty excited to see how this transfer goes. oh and by the way we have the best apartment in the mission. its a fact. an old couple used to live there so yeah its pretty much heaven for missionaries. HUGE and very new. even has a balcony. anyways life's pretty good right now haha i'm in a tiny town clear away from everyone. oh yeah just like fillmore haha.

Alright enough of that stuff. so my week here, we have gone 2 weeks and found one person who would actually agree to meet with us. things are a little different out here. after 2 weeks of doing nothing but contacting people on the road, we found one person. geez no wonder there's only 8 members here and almost all of them are over 65 years old haha. not much to work with but hey, its better than nothing. i liked what the counselor to pres. carter (like an high counsel member for a branch cuz this branch is not a part of a stake) he said that we can see in this tiny branch of Gap that the quality of the members is so much more important than the quantity. and its so true! you'd be hard pressed to find members as strong as these anywhere in america. yeah not even utah. its true but with french members its either 100 percent or 0 percent. thats not always good but when they're 100 percent its so awesome!!
Anyways, so yeah we have been teaching some people here, a jewish girl and a muslim guy who's trying to convert us. then a dude who looks homeless and another dude who said that when people say that the church is true, they're being prideful. and yeah lets just say they're really not golden haha. the jewish girl came to church yesterday! and she was like walking around during everything, going out for a smoke break, and then bore her "testimony" in sacrament haha. that was interesting. the branch loved her but ya know... well, missionary work is so much different than every other thing in the world haha. like my instructor in the mtc said, we're called to be awkward. you wouldn't think it but yeah just about everything we do is awkward haha funny stuff.
So yeah its actually super hot here in gap and we've been going out in short sleeved t shirts. thats bad. i am so not looking forward to summer. i'm gonna die. my pants dont fit anymore though! haha thats pretty sweet i think. losin too much weight or somethin.

Yep there's really not a lot of stuff happenin here, its all the same, contact everyone, get lots of "not interested"s and stuff. people are pretty closed hearted here but most of the time they just dont hear a word we say just start screaming no no no!!! haha its funny. our lessons are always a gamble, it only takes one bad lesson to lose an investigator. thats never fun. but i'm learning a lot.

Oh! big stuff happened this week. i finally ate at a french restaurant for the first time! and holy cow it was so good! instead of a salad i ordered meat, so the first dish i got a plate covered in sausage, liver, and ham. oh yeah thats right while everyone else ate salads haha, then i got a HUGE plate of potatoes, salad, and jambon grille or grilled ham covered in mushroom and carrot sauce. oh yeah it was heaven! i couldnt finish it, cuz it was so big! then we got a huge strawberry sunday. holy moley that was like the best meal of my mission!! i was on an exchange with another elder and it was an investigator who took us and payed for it. dang it was soo cool! then a member ate with us and it was just super fun.

I hope everything is going great there at home. i'm having a blast with my comp and loving missionary work! and we just had church at the hotel for the last time!!! the new place is done with construction! its like pretty much an apartment but holy crap! i'm so so excited!!!! haha and so is the ward! its amazing what just having a chapel can do to raise the spirits of members. and missionaries for that matter. its going to be so so much easier for
everything now cuz the church is in centerville. or downtown. so so awesome!

This sunday was the first sunday that the members of Gap have every had a building of their own to meet in! it was soo cool! we cleaned it earlier this week and this sunday was the first sunday at the new church and it was testimony meeting so it was a super exciting sunday. the members are soo happy to have a building of their own to meet in. it means so much. then we had three investigators there at church which was even more exciting for them. thats the most ever in like the history of Gap! this branch will grow for sure! it was a very cool sunday.

Ok so about the work :) this week, a kid from the north of France who was born in gap and whose parents still live here, introduced us to his parents. we went over to his house and taught the parents, the dad is italian and the mom is french. both not too religious but also really sceptic about us. everyone thinks we're a cult here so people are always scared to talk to us. anyways, we had a dang good lesson and towards the end after all the testimonies and stuff, the parents accepted to read the book of Mormon and pray about it! it was pretty sweet, they totally feel better about us now. i'm so glad it went well, they've come to church twice now and the mom seems pretty interested. pretty cool huh? then we ate with them right after the lesson and they fed us a pretty good dish of like rice and curry chicken or somethin with veggies but then the italian dad pulled out a bunch of sheep cheese from Sicily! haha we totally had to try it. gross haha but better than french cheese. its just super strong and tasts like rotten milk. yum huh? haha i told him about kayla and how she served in italy. it was overall a pretty cool meeting. they seem way cool.

Well, I hope you enjoy reading bits and pieces of some of Jarom's letters. We sure do!!!

SUU Graduation! Yeah Kayla!!!

2011-05-15T18:01:00.002-06:00

Even though Kayla finished college in
December, she wanted to walk at the ceremonies this month. We are so glad she did! The ceremony was a two day event and a great closure. The University had 900 plus women and 700 plus men graduate this year, and they compared it to the first graduation in 1918 which had 9 women and 7 men. I found that pretty interesting. Kayla received a BS in Communication Broadcast and is looking forward to grad school in a couple of years. She has been employed since January at Divinci Virtural and living in Salt Lake City, yep, right down town! She loves it♥
Some of the family members were able to come down to Cedar City, and Kayla truly appreciated them. Having Grandma Dorothy make it to this graduation was such a blessing! She has played such a huge roll in Kayla's life, they have a great bond. Thanks to Denise for bringing her down!
We now have four family members who are SUU GRADUATES:) Well mine was still SUSC but it still counts....Annette and Monty and myself all graduated and teachers, they both teach at a middle school in Cedar City, and I taught a couple of years, one in Mexican Hat and one in Delta North Elem. I was blessed to be able to stop teaching everyone else's children and teach my own after marrying my amazing hubby♥

Lunch at Cafe Rio was fun and yummy! Nothing like a sweet pork salad! Kayla loves them:) Joel and Elexia and Jerzie met us there and yes, we all loved on their little girl and tried to share..... Pretty sure she had her picture taken almost more than Kayla!! haha!!

Let the party begin???
(apple something...)

WE COULDN'T BE MORE PROUD OF YOU KAYLA!!!!! GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL, SERVING A MISSION TO ITALY, AND GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE ALL WITHIN 5 YEARS!!!!!!!!! LOVEY

Six Months into the Mission

2011-03-20T18:42:00.000-06:00

Possibly one of my favorite pictures! This is inside the Colosseum that is by his apartment in Nimes. I knew he would be eating things he would never try here at home, but Snails? This poor boys needs some meat! He's desperate! haha The only other thing to eat were steamed veggies, but he said they weren't bad dipped in garlic butter, just a gross texture.

Looking out over Nimes and he loves cloudy skies. The next picture just looks French doesn't it?

First baptism!!! Contacted him on the street and 4 weeks later he was baptized. Before his transfer he had three more baptisms set. Kind of sad to be missing them, but so happy to have helped them find happiness.

This is Elder Dortan, the answer to our prayers! Jarom's trainer was very difficult in so many ways and thats with Jarom not saying much, so we prayed all the time for a new companion. Now his letters say, "We're tearin it up and have Satan on the run!"

Even his smile is happier and natural now:)

When I opened this photo tears came to my eyes. I have so much love for my Son and he looks so good. He told me he new I would like this canal and fountain so he took this picture on his P-day. He was SO right!

Saying Good-Bye to his first area was pretty difficult. He loved this man on the left, enjoyed being at his home (and how loud he would play his music for them) and he is such a strong member. These ladies on the right are the girls in his branch, he knew I would like this picture of him and the 'ladies'! hahaha! See how they are leaning?? Smart girls:) I got the impression that the ward members didn't have a good relationship with the missionaries previous to Jarom. Understandable when his trainer had been there 6 months. However with Elder Dortan and Jarom, the ward welcomed them with open arms and told them 'Good Job Elders' quite often. The trust and support was restored in their missionaries once again! The picture below is the ward mission leader who supported the missionaries completely. He really welcomed in the new converts and always had the Elders over for dinner. Jarom loved this man and enjoyed being in his home. He will miss this area and all the people there....

November for Elder Jarom

2010-12-19T19:19:00.001-07:00

Finally he sends pictures with him in them! Doesn't he look great♥ We are really looking forward his phone call on Christmas!!! Time isn't going very fast for us here at home.....I know it will get better but it seems like he has been gone forever. He is just coming up on his first transfer week since he arrived in France, we don't know if he will move or one of the other ones or if they will just stay in the threesome. He spend the day with their District leader Elder Jellin from Orem in another city called Montpellier and had such a great time with him. He didn't care much for the size of the city, but I think it was nice for him to be with a fun Elder and leave the stress of his companions...They have been struggling, and I think they were struggling before Jarom even arrived, but I will share with you how they let the newest Elder solve their problems.. yep I'm proud of my Jarom.

Thanksgiving was meat and potatoes and bread. He let me know they live above a bakery that has almost American tasting chocolate cake....could be dangerous! haha..

.... i went to toulouse for the blue's conference (here we're called blues instead of greenies) and wow that was so cool!! i love our president.i LOVED that day! it was so nice. very uplifting and motivating. but yeah so eventually i had to part ways with them and when i got back, things hadn't been going well. things had been happening for a long time now and i've been praying and trying so so so hard to find a way to solve our little companionship issues. impossible! took all week and finally we all just blew up on sunday morning. bad bad morning. and i was supposed to teach sunday school (terrifying) and anyways i ended up thinking all church how to fix this problem. eventually heavenly father answered my prayers and i figured it out. i had us do a little meeting when we got back from church. i sat us all down in the middle of the room i started it with a prayer, then i had us all share our favorite scriptures and how its helped us in our lives and then started the evaluation of the problem. first, i started out by saying the things that i was having a problem with. eventually it ended up with us discussing what was wront and how it all comes down to our different perspectives of what missionary work is and stuff. all in all after about almost three hours of non contentious discussion, we all figured out what was wrong. it ends up all i found out was what type of person my trainer was and all the things he's trying to do. i really just found out how i'm supposed to deal with him and how to make things easy and good for him and at the same time have unity and be able to work good together. it was a pretty good little meeting i think. if we didn't have the spirit there, it would've been a very scary meeting. we were all pretty heated and angry in the morning and we said... fine we're calling the president... i really didn't want president to have to figure things out that we could do ourselves so i just tried this out instead. great results. we still don't really like each other but there's no tention and we can work better a lot better together.

I asked to see his apartment and he finally said after they cleaned for hours that he took this picture to send to me. I think I felt better before I knew what it looked like where he was living.....Jay didn't seem to mind he said it looked like an Elder's apartment. Jarom actually said theirs was one of the bigger and nicer apartments. Really?......our main room in my apt. we have a massive apt compared to all the others. it has a study room, main room with kitchen and couch, then a batheroom and tub and a bedroom with 4 beds. pretty sweet huh. we just spent like 4 hours deep cleaning (me and elder nicholes, while samuelson slept)........

After getting such a short haircut before leaving the MTC I was surprised to he needed another one so soon. I remember cutting his hair and he was a little picky...wonder how his companion did? Again...notice the apartment.......I might not ask for pictures of his other places! Here is some of his last letter:

so yeah everyone in the ward is french, everybody speaks french except for an indian guy who came to church yesterday as a new investagator and he is looking like a next baptism!! its so cool! we just contacted him on the bus and invited him to come to church and he came! we taught him a bit and he's super interested and doesnt speak french. just english. so its pretty cool i think. i'm excited........... my president is so awesome. i think he's getting sick of my companion and how every single time he's told to do something by an assistant or zone leader he has to complain to president...........
So we decided to stop by a referral that we got from a member and his name is Ihcean (ishean is how you say it?) he lost his job because he told his muslim boss that he was christian and that the boss should stop pushing his religion on him during work. understand? basically because he's not muslim, he was fired and can't find a job. but anyways we taught him the first lession and i taught quite a bit of it too, it was awesome and after the first lesson, he placed a baptismal date!!!!!!! holy crap huh?! so he came to church too and he was all excited and loved all the lessone (except i don't know what it is about french people but they're obsessed with deep docterine?! its so annoying all the sacrament talks were all about deep docterine stuff that wasn't even true and stuff, ) anyways i sat with him and helped him look things up in the gospel principles book and scriptures and stuff. it was awesome. i couldn't say much but i could try. it was pretty cool. i've never felt the spirit so strong in church than when i'm sittin next to an investigator helping them along!! its the coolest thing ever!! i love it..........anyways so this week went pretty good and i'm starving. i need to eat something. by the way i'm always thinking about bizarre foods with andrew zimmerman haha every time i eat something weird.... like salads.... and wow how come i really don't like tomatoes? why?! french LOVE tomatoes... its so weird. i never thought about it. well anyways i gotta send you some pictures so gotta go. i love you mom and its impossible not to think back at all the fun time we had just chillin and eating nasty hot dogs at maverick and stuff haha. i miss you a ton!! hope you have a great week!! love you.

Jarom

Goodbye to the MTC

2010-11-07T22:41:00.001-07:00

Well, as the 2 months come to an end I finally get pictures. Jarom has really enjoyed his time at the MTC. There were some really Spiritual experiences there and he is so very appreciative for the Gift of Tounges.

Let me share pieces of his letters with you. They aren't in any order, just random.

"So ten of us french missionaries had to make a trip to San Fransisco yesterday to meet with the french consolate for our visas. totally pointless trip i thought. 2 hours over, 20 minutes to meet with the guy and give out papers to him and scan our fingerprints, then stopped at peir 39 then 2 hours back. totally pointless but i was so tempted to run over and call you from the phones but i wasn't sure if it was allowed one week in. crazy its only been a week. feels like forever. but yeah it was a heck of a trip. i'll probably never do something like that again. well in class we have been working on contacting and working with the first lesson. crazy cuz on the plane ride home (all us missionaries were sitting next so someone we don't know, i think they plan that) but i sat next to a lady from texas and she was way religious and we talked the whole way home, which i wasn't too happy about cuz i love to just watch out the window of the plane, but we talked about the church and her beliefs and all sorts of stuff and right before we got off the plane i kinda bore her my testimony and gave her a pass-along card and she took it and was way excited, it was a crazy experience. pretty cool. can't wait til i actually know what i'm doing and be able to know what to do in a situation like that."

goodness!"

Roomies. All going to Toulouse
and a great bunch of guys!

He was lovin these P-Day clothes!

A distant shot but a powerful one!
They love the Temple♥

"About the french. its coming along, i can't believe how much i've learned since i got here but i kinda wish it would come faster. i'm workin hard and i talked to my instructors yesterday askin for tips on how to learn faster. my teachers are so cool. so i'm praying, testimony, and getting to know people in french. there is a program where every wednesday we go and teach something in french then teach a lesson to a investigator. its pretty cool. i'm always nervous, but when we finish i feel so pumped and awesome! its pretty cool haha in 2 weeks we start teaching 40 minute lessons in french. i''m terrified about it. anyways its goin pretty good :)"

"K its pretty hard not to turn into a spiritual giant here. so the people who don't change... they really really tried not to change. me and elder park have been dominating the first and second lesson. we teach great but we just gotta work on teaching equal time. i feel the spirit like a million times every day here haha love it. we're constantly studying churchy stuff or teaching. its pretty awesome. i gotta leave my comfort zone a TON here so i just deal with it. i gotta do it eventually so why not start now. no use complaining too. well out of time. love you guys! tell dad sorry i didn't write him back. i ran out of time while writing you. just saw his message. tell him i'm being as obedient as i can and haven't broke a rule yet... that i know of :) haha alright i'll talk to ya later! love ya"

First MTC Picture!

2010-10-24T14:26:00.000-06:00

At church today the mother of the missionary on the right showed me this picture! Her son is also in our ward and he had Jarom's good friend (first elder) from Gunnison in his district. I was so excited!! I miss my Jarom so much, so its great to get a picture of him. Sorry the quality isn't good, for some reason it wouldn't let me upload the scanned image so its a picture of a picture. I haven't gotten any pictures from Jarom yet because he has been having trouble with his camera card but has now found a machine that will read his card so pictures will come soon!!! How cute is he? I don't care how hard things might be in France, how could anyone turn away such a handsome boy?! haha...yep, that would be a 'mother' talking.
So he will be flying out about the 8 or 9 of November and I am so looking forward to his phone call. He has a 4 hour lay-over in Dallas so his call should be a long one:) Just an update on his time at the MTC. His companion is a little taller and skinnier than Jarom, is quiet like Jarom and they really enjoy each other. Thank goodness. His district is the BEST! All of this has helped him adjust even tho there were some really homesick days the first week there. He is doing great, teaching and speaking in French all the time, loving the continuous Spiritual moments that happen every day and looks forward to attending the temple every Friday. A new group of forty French speaking missionaries have come in and now he is one of the 'old' missionaries. He was hilarious when he said the newbies all looked so innocent..haha.. Imagine feeling old at 19...He has been able to see his friends come and leave the MTC and he is still there, but hey, thats the price for getting to serve in France:) His last letter home he said many times that he is so ready to go and serve the people in France. When I hear that, it makes the missing him a little easier.

Puffer Lake

2010-10-02T00:03:00.000-06:00

Leaving the Office early to go and relax and take pictures up at Puffer Lake was just what I needed today! Life was getting in the way of me going and seeing the beautiful fall leaves and I've almost missed them. I took many pictures and I am sharing only a few but probably too many :)

Jay caught his first fish almost faster than I could get my camera ready! It was crazy, the first few fish bit almost as soon as the power-bait hit the water. I truly enjoy watching my guys having so much fun with the excitement of catching fish after fish! I Unfortunately fishing isn't always this easy... I have to laugh though when Kambren is the only one who touches the fish. Jay just says its his turn, haha..Good thing he doesn't mind! The quakies were so beautiful, but its crazy how some have lost their leaves and then it varies to some that are still green. Fall is my favorite time of year.

This is the look of perfect happiness! Kambren caught a Native Brown along with all the Rainbow trout!

Mo is the best dog a boy could ever have, he never leaves Kambrens side. How cool is this spiderweb? Never saw the spider thank goodness.

When I downloaded this picture I had to turn it around and really had to look closely to see which side was the reflection.

Totally grosses me out and doesn't even bother him but he made a face just to humor me. The brown stuff I'm thinking is what he squeezed out of the fish just to see what they've been eating....

How cute is this picture?! They limited out in less than 30 minutes.

Beautiful ride home for an afternoon of enjoying the beautiful gifts of Fall.
Wondering if I should post the pictures of cleaning the fish, cooking and eating of the fish?

What do you do on your Son's last day to play?

2010-09-12T21:20:00.000-06:00

Nothing feels like freedom of riding a four-wheeler and driving fast and getting dirty! Jarom really enjoys the four-wheelers so off to the desert we went. Thanks to Uncle James for lending us his so Jarom didn't have to share with Kayla who by the way absolutely loved being by herself. Jay loves the desert so we headed off to Sugar Loaf, the old Volcano.

Along the way we stopped to see the Indian Writings and seriously I'm quite impressed with my cell phone camera! Yep all these pictures were taken with my phone because it was just too dusty for my real camera.

I've decided I will never be thin so I might as well start adding some pictures of me and my wonderful hubby. I love going on outings with him, especially when it involves holding onto him when he's driving the four-wheeler!

At the top of Sugar of Sugar Loaf a long time ago before the depression, some guy was building a windmill for electricity, but took the money and ran when the economy fell apart. There are only some pillars left, kinda reminded me something from an Alien movie.

Oh the joy! Nothing like a

dirty face and a fast ride!!!

Best part of it all was watching Jarom riding wild and free with his headphones on and music cranked.

Oh how he will miss his music, but what a fun day!

Friend and Family Support!

2010-09-08T02:59:00.000-06:00

Jarom's Farewell will be one remembered by his friends as 'the funnest farewell I've ever been to!'

The support shown to Jarom from family and friends just warmed our hearts. A big thanks to all who came and especially to the ones who worked so hard to help feed us all!

My family is growing up so very quickly.....I never thought I would become the shortest, but I'm thinking that's going to happen!
Having a Son like Jarom is such a blessing. He seems to have been a Mama's boy since his first breath, and he still is! (at least that's what I choose to believe;) I know he will be an amazing Missionary and I am so proud of his decision to serve. I will try and be unselfish enough to share him for 2 years....or as we like to look at it - just 24 fast Sundays! Sending a child off and out of reach for 18 months or 2 years, brings about feelings that are just too hard to explain. I cry alot the last week before they leave, and have my moments throughout, but am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for helping me while they are gone. I know He helps keep me distracted with life, and most of the time even makes the time move along quickly. But no matter what it's a long time not to hug your child.

Jarom's Farewell!!! August 29, 2010

2010-08-22T23:01:00.000-06:00

Just in case someone is still looking at my neglected blog I thought I would invite you to Jarom's Farewell! August 29 at 9:00 am at the Fillmore 1st and 4th ward building. (same as Kayla's homecoming) This is different then the first scheduled farewell, but the weekend before his scheduled date we received a call from our Stake President that his mission had been postponed for six weeks. Crazy huh? Never heard of such a thing, so a few days later I called the MTC and all they said was all the missionaries who were scheduled for Toulouse France on July 28 had been changed to Sept 8 with no reason given to them. So we weren't alone! It was pretty hard for Jarom, but honestly it wasn't hard for me!!! I got to keep him a little longer ;) Now the time has just flown by and I'm no better prepared for the farewell then I was then. Here's the plans so far, Sacrament meeting at 9:00 then off to the North Park for sandwiches and salads and some sort of chocolate. If you would like to bring a salad that would be great, but if you just want to come and visit that works too;) I hope to see everyone there, but totally understand if life gets in the way and you can't join us. I'll post Jarom's address as soon as I get it.

I'm Back!

2010-08-22T13:29:00.001-06:00

Somewhat embarrassed at how long it has been since my last blog....For a while I couldn't sign in, which drove me crazy and then I guess working and Facebook has taken its toll. But things will be different now because I'm going to have another missionary out! This is the Best/Worst news I will share. Let me clarify that....of course I want Jarom to serve his mission, but saying goodbye and not hugging him for 2 years is almost more than I can handle. The time before they leave is the hardest in some ways because everything starts to be "this will be the last time we will do this" and such, but then when the e-mails start coming, it gets easier.
Jarom received his Endowments at the Manti Temple on a beautiful day, in a small session with his Bishop on one side and his Father on the other with his favorite Young Mens leader on the same row. For those of you who don't know, Bishop used to be Jarom's Young Mens leader and has pretty much followed him through his teenage years and is one of Jarom's very Best friends. Grandma Thora and Dayla were also able to make it to the temple with us today too. Just a Mom note, I was surprised to see how natural it was to see Jarom sitting in the temple. He just really fit and wasn't blown away with any of it! Sitting the the Celestial Room with Jay and two of my four children was so very special, yep, shed a few tears♥

Well, I just lost all the pictures I had downloaded for this post so I'm thinking that means its time for my Sunday nap. I'll catch up my blog a little later! (I hope)

Birthday & Graduation!!!

2010-05-09T22:14:00.000-06:00

Jarom had a busy birthday this year. His birthday fell on Friday, and it was the end of finals with graduation from Snow College Saturday morning!We just couldn't be more proud of all he has accomplished since graduating from high school last year. He received his associates in only one year! He has been so working so hard that he is enjoying being home now with no responsibilities other than getting things ready for his mission. So the guest speaker for the Snow graduation was Elder Jeffrey R Holland! Jarom was pretty excited to shake his hand.

The person who was taking the pictures of the graduates with the dean, really should have been taking pictures with Elder Holland! haha ;) Just kidding. Afterwords we moved him out of his apartment and it is definitely easier moving a son than a daughter! They just don't accumulate much in the way of decorations. It has been such a busy few weeks for me and my emotions have been crazy. I have been blessed with such amazing children and they bring me so much happiness. Add a wonderful husband to the mix and I sometimes sit back and wonder how I can be this blessed? I am so grateful for my family♥

Happy Birthday!

2010-05-09T19:59:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday Kayla! It was fun to have her home after missing her last two birthdays. Jaisha made her cake and Kayla chose her colors and it turned out just perfect! Funny how Kayla feels so old at 23...cause she is really so very young. Her birthday fell on a Saturday and she and I went down to listen to Kayla's Hero - Sheri Dew!! She was speaking at a conference there and she even had the chance to shake her hand. Sister Dew is so amazing and the trip down was definitely worth it! I just had to give her a little book as a memory.

Probably the most exciting gift of the day was her little notebook/laptop. Seems like kids just can't function in college or society without the internet. When I told her she had the web-cam, she started to cry! She now speaks/see's her converts in Italy!! Best of all its free! She really misses them.

Another White Envelope Day!

2010-04-25T22:30:00.000-06:00

The time came for Jarom to send in his mission papers so out to the backyard we went to get an official looking mission picture because his Senior picture didn't have the right tie. Jarom really doesn't like getting his picture taken, so this was a last minute thing. Strange how he can live with me his whole life and yet not be used to getting his picture taken don't you think? He sent his papers in just after General Conference and we started guessing where he would be going. We didn't even get close!

The postmaster called me at work and asked if I wanted her to put "The White Envelope" in my home mailbox or deliver to me at work...Hello!!! So I waited for her out by my work mailbox for her and yes, when I read Elder Jarom Jay Wilcox I cried...just a little! I took a picture of my excitement and sent the text to Jarom and Jay and said "Hurry home"! The rest of the day that envelope sat on my desk tempting me.....

Jarom came home from Snow and we waited for Dad to get home from work.......

Finally!!! Everyone is home and the camera's are ready.......Jarom moved so very slowly just to tease us!

Very slowly and carefully he starts to read his letter trying not to just skip it and read the where....then he reads Toulouse, France Mission!!!!

Seriously??? There was much screaming, laughter and Wow!!!! Nobody even came close to France.....Jarom was so surprised! He enters the MTC July 28th.

Just a little background, the standing joke between Dad and Jarom is the standard throwing up the arms and saying "I Surrender"!!!! Ya, Jarom really use to tease Kayla about her obsession and love of Paris and anything French, which now of course is completely replaced with Italian! He just made fun of anything French!! Hahahaha!! He looked at me and said, "Well, someone has a sense of humor!" We just cracked up!!!

Needless to say we are so Very excited for Jarom. His mission borders Italy on one side just next to Kayla's first area of Torino. His mission is the South part of France. Can you just picture Jarom speaking French?! Jarom took his mission papers back to school with him so I don't have the official map but his mission includes Monaco and I think cuts over to the other side just above Bordeaux. I'm thinking he is going to have some humidity! He struggles with heat/humidity, but all I wanted was for him to be able to drink the water and not to have any fighting going on! I find it amazing how all day with the envelope staring at me and my stomach had little nerves of anticipation and worry about where my Son will go for two years, and when the words were read, Toulouse, France my insides calmed down and I felt peace with his destination. The Lord really helps me, how else could I let my children go so far away?! Of course I would be so sad if they didn't take this opportunity to serve and grow.

♥Homecoming♥

2010-04-09T21:33:00.000-06:00

After a couple of nights of basically no sleep the morning of Kayla's homecoming dawned sunny and early! Church at 9:00 am seems so early to me, so we were really touched by those family and friends that traveled to share this day with Kayla. You are all Awesome!! As promised, Kayla spoke of missionary experiences and bore her testimony in Italian! So amazing how she can talk even faster in this language than English... After the meeting we had a lunch at the Legion Hall. Thanks to all who brought food and helped. My friend Lorna always has my back. I even called her that morning in hopes she had more noodles for my pasta salad and of course she did, cooked them and added to my salad. Thanks Lorna, luv ya♥ I have found I don't really know how to judge how much drink is needed at a gathering...I always run short. Brandon and Melody came through for me and ran to the store for more sprite and kept the drink filled. I am blessed with great friends♥ Of course my family on both sides are so amazing too. The pictures I've posted were taken by Carrie Morris, I appreciate her for taking them, I was too busy mingling to take pics. Can I say that the chocolate cake made by Sara tasted just as good as it looked! It was an enjoyable day, family, friends, good food and alot of laughter :) Beginning the day listening to Kayla and feeling the special Spirit still lingering with her that only a Missionary has and I say it's a little bit of Heaven on Earth!

She's Home!!!!!

2010-04-03T13:30:00.006-06:00

March 26th was a very long day! I took the day off from work so I could help with all the last minute stuff and obviously I wouldn't be able to concentrate at work...We left home a little early, did some shopping and arrived almost two hours early. Her flight from Chicago is number 1815. I didn't realize there would be alot of missionaries on the plane with Kayla until I started meeting Mom's waiting around us. How fun is that? We kept ourselves busy by making signs for Kayla... We seemed to wait for a long time and then we saw her coming down the escalator! Holding up our signs mad it pretty easy for her to see us so when she hit the walkway behind the glass she started to run!!! It was so cute♥ Instantly

the tears started to flow ;) She looked so good and as her Mom, I must say it felt so good to have her in my arms again. We were all talking before she arrived about who was going to hug her first...ha! I'm like "Hello".... Thanks to James for taking this picture, I think it captured the moment perfectly. Good thing he was flying in that night so he could take our pictures!

Nothing says welcome home like a dozen red roses from your Dad! They are Kayla's favorite flower♥ The ride home from the airport went kinda fast with the exception for the usual stop at Walmart.... We kept Kayla talking the whole way almost, then jet-lag took over and she fell asleep like the rest of the kids. She did talk some in Italian though while sleeping! We had a blast having her talk to us in her language, she can really speak it well and so very fast!! When we got home at almost 3 a.m. we opened her gifts she brought home to us...watches, ties, purses, cookbooks, journals and chocolate! What a fun and special day.

Last Letter From Italy

2010-03-26T08:28:00.000-06:00

This is the last letter from Kayla as her mission comes to a close. I am so impressed how she worked right up to the end. I'm thinking she would like an extension but thankfully she either didn't ask or they said no! Enjoy!

Wow, this week everyone was like YOU'RE COMING HOME!!! Yikes. I freaked out a little. Did I tell you it still hasn't sunk in? I asked Sorella Pitkin on email if she felt like staying and opening up our own city and just keep working and she said I can if I want, but she is going home. Why am I the weird one? AHHHH! Mom, I love you and the family so much, but I'm just not ready to plunge back into life in the States. Anyway, that's my freak out moment. I had to bear my last testimony at interviews, got my new recommend from President (all in Italian!) and had my last district meeting. I love my district! They are seriously family. I can't get enough of them. Wait till you see all the pictures and videos. LOVE IT!

OK, back to responding to your email. I'm really glad you liked my last email! But guess what, the miracles haven't stopped yet! Sunday was the biggest one of them all. Ok, here is what happened! We were on our way to an appointment, but they stood us up and so we decided to head to where we had planned to go and knock doors. As we start on this street, we get to an apartment building who lets us in. The elevator said it only worked with a key, but seeing as how we had 0 desire to climb a billion flight of stairs, we prayed in our hearts that it would work anyway and it did! We got all the way to the top floor and started working. The first door, no. The next door a man opened up and said, come on in. We were all smiles and said, ok! Is there a woman? His countenance completely changed and he told me in English, this is not ok. You do not trust men. I let you in, having no preconceptions and you have the nerve to ask me if there is women. I am sorry, you are finished with me, go, in the other room are the women, we are done. I am not open anymore. You messed up, I am through. I tried to explain how it was a rule, but he continued to say it is a horrible rule and that it is rude. I was near tears and said a million times to his wife and daughter how sorry I was and that I wasn't trying to be rude. His wife was sweet and said Libero, come on, they are nice, listen to their message. His daughter and wife were very sweet and after a bit he came back in reluclantly. So, we decided to watch a little film, the same one I talked about the other time. It didn't work on their computer or laptop and finally after some trying it worked on their dvd player. At the end we asked if they have asked some of the questions in the film and they said yes, but they have found more or less their answers. Then he said he is a heretic and doesn't believe in certain things and asked me for answers. I don't know why I didn't just answer them, but I said, I'm going to write these down and we will talk about them the next time we come over. His wife teaches religion and he is an english professor. He believes that God is not loving and leaves some of his children behind sometimes and I got to bear strong testimony, in a loving way, in english about how I know that God is loving and He never leaves anyone behind. I was teary, he was teary and we scheduled our next appointment. He gave me a wink in a friendly way and we said a prayer. As we were teaching, I felt very strongly that one day he will bear his testimony in sacrament meeting about how the sister missionaries knocked on his door and he got mad, but in the end he felt the spirit and was converted. Sorella Ranieri said afterwards that she felt the same thing! He is going to be a strong member! He and his wife expressed in words how much they love one another and how they complimented each other in their lives. It was incredible! You don't see marriages like that anywhere these days! It was beautiful. Afterwards, we tried to use the elevator and it didn't work. The doors didn't close, nothing. As we walked down countless stairs, we realized we had witnessed a miracle and we immediately called President Dunaway and told him everything! Mom! Miracles exisit! They really do! We only had so much time, we taught with the spirit and I feel really strongly that I was sent to talk to him. Me! OH, it was AWESOME! I was crying and thanking Heavenly Father as we ran to our next meeting!

But the story doesn't stop there! Yesterday, after again being stood up for 3 appointments, we started knocking doors on this same street. After awhile, this tiny, frail little old lady with sparkly eyes opened the door and let us in. Usually they say no, but she didn't she let us in, listened to our message about prayer and then when we asked to come back she said, ok, here is my telephone number, call and confirm and I'm going to bring my friend. Then Sorella Ranieri asked if she was related to Libero, the man from the previous experience, and she said yes, he is my son in law and he talked to me about you! Mom!!!! Can you believe it???!!! How incredible is that??!! He already talked about is in an obviously positive way, to his FAMILY!!! AHH!!! We are so excited! Her name is Layla. Sound familiar? Yep, its one letter off from my name.

The miracles are just coming on in and we are loving every minute! We have done a lot of finding work, been stood up a lot, but we are happy and just loving every moment.

Well, despite everything, I'm still not trunky. In fact I had a dream that I paid someone else to pack my bags because I didn't want to! But honestly, I'm happy. We're completely booked with appointments, still working for getting baptisms and just loving every minute. Today we are going to make lasagna! Calabrese style...mmmm!

I love you so much mom and dad! Thanks for being so supportive and loving!

Ti mando un baccio di cioccolato e un abbraccio di aceto di balsalmico!!!

Sorella Wilcox

Continuing the Work!

2010-03-07T23:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay...But this letter is so worth it! I'm thinking the drama of it is awesome! I am so going to miss these letters...I keep telling Jarom his need to be as long and detailed as these...he laughed! Enjoy :)

(Missionaries on the train!)

Last wednesday we were supposed to have an appointment about 3 or 4 kilometers outside of Modena. We had heard from a less active there is a bike path and so we decided to take it! We got lost a couple of times, but miraculously we found it! I was so happy. So, we go on this path and it has lights, sometimes. So, we are going and we wonder where we are supposed to turn or if we are supposed to keep following this path. The less active said this bike path takes you straight to her house, so we just kept following it. We come to this place where there is an old villa (big house) and I see a family of GIANT RATS!!! I screamed and then sorella Ranieri screamed and stopped suddenly and her shoe fell off. One of the rats tried to steal it!! Im not joking!!! Oh my goodness, what a riot! Luckily, after much screaming the rat ran off. We kept following this cursed path for about an hour and thinking, when are we going to get to our appointment? Keep in mind we already late and have no idea where we are. So, the path ends, in the middle of nowhere and we ask some random man going to his home where we are and he says you are in CastelVetro. We are like, ok, how do we get to San Damaso? He shows us where to go and says its about 7 or 8 kilometers. We follow his directions, ask another person and said, oh you took the bike path, ok, you should just get back on it because the road to San Damaso is deadly for bikes. We are like, WHAT?? Where are we?? So, we try to find the cursed path again and get lost and after many pleading prayers find it again and go home, barely making it on time. We look at the map and realize we took about a 20 mile detour!

But, are we wise? No. So what do we do the next day when we have an appointment in San Damaso? Try the bike path again. Granted, we both felt like we should, but honestly, I had no idea what we were doing. So, we go, decided to turn at a point where we MIGHT get to San Damaso and run into the Gypsy Camp!!! Yes, a giant trailer park where all the Gypsies live. Oh my goodness! We pedalled so fast and got out of there quick! Luckily, nothing happened. So, we got to San Damaso, finally, after taking the regular road (for cars) and after talking to the same less active, she showed us how to get back to the bike path that really does take us right to her house. So, know we know how to get there and it's faster than taking the bus. What a bike adventure!

We have been feeling for some time to focus our finding work on Via Cilea (where we keep falling/getting hit, etc.) because obviously Satan doesn't want us alive there. And he has reason! We found Dora, a gospel reggae singer with an incredible testimony of Christ; Felicia, a gorgeous student from Africa who is very interested; Gulianna, a South American who is looking for something more; and the Rotoli family, a husband and wife who for the last 11 years the wife has suffered from a brain tumor that has hindered her walking and speach. Crazy!!! We have been finding, working hard and just loving all the blessings from Heavenly Father! These people are so precious and I know that we were sent for them!

But, I've saved the best story for last. Do you remember the Barros family? They are from Brazil, less active and so incredible? Well, Guillianne has been coming to church every Sunday this year. Her sister Jeane no. We have had incredible, spiritual lessons and she has felt the spirit and agreed to come to church, but never does. Well, we got stood up for an appointment and decided to go to their house. I had felt earlier that day to bring The Testements. We decided to watch it. There was an incredible spirit in the room and really I was just so...torn. I know they know it's true, but I also knew that we can only do so much. Their agency can't be taken from them. But at the same time I love them so much! It breaks my heart to see Jeane suffer so much. I just want to take her by the hand and make her do all the right things and come back to church, but I can't. Anyway, at the end of the movie, Sorella Ranieri bore such beautiful testimony and I was silently praying the whole time to know exactly what the Lord wanted me to say. When I spoke, I spoke clearly, slowly and had the words put into my mind to know how to say them. I was crying because I love her so much and it hurts to see her like this and also because the Spirit was so strong as I was given what I was supposed to say that I was overwhelmed with gratitude at the same time. Basically it ended up me saying that we love her, we know this is the church of Christ and that we want to help her, but there is only so much we can do. And then invited her to church. She said she would come. We hugged at the end, and my heart was just breaking! I felt like it was the worst breakup ever! I told Sorella Ranieri that after the mission I can handle any breakup because it will never hurt as bad as the heartbreaks I've had in the mission!

But, that's when the miracle comes in!!!!

This Sunday, we tried everything we could to get people in church. I mean EVERYTHING, but only 1 investigator came. Then, just as Sacrament was about to start, in walked Giullianne and JEANE!!!!! Oh my goodness! I felt like I was going to explode I was so happy! I gave her a hug and she said, ok, don't make me cry! But she was smiling too. She stayed the whole time and we are seeing her again this Sunday!

So, the worst heartbreak to the most joy all in roughly 20 hours. Gotta love it!

Bicycle Struggles.......

2010-01-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would share some of this letter. She does have her struggles, so I didn't want you to think she was on a wonderful Italian vacation! haha ;) I love sharing all the pictures and great moments. However there aren't any pictures to send this time, there doesn't seem to be much to take pictures of in Modena is the reason she has given me. Guess I'll just have to tell her to take a few pictures of all the Ferrari and Lamborghini that I am sure she is seeing......... Enjoy the letter!

About the bikes...I have about had it with them! This week has been a trial of our faith, I think. So, I'll start with the trama and end with the annoying.

There we were, Saturday, and we were on our way to Coorelation with our ward mission leader. Sorella Stevens was riding along and got her skirt stuck in the brakes which is normal. But, after adjusting it, it got stuck a little again. I saw it, but didnt think anything of it. Then, as were were racing to church, she tried to break, but since the skirt was jammed up really tight by this point, the bike came to a complete and sudden stop and she flew over the handle bars and then the bike landed on her! This caused her chain to fall off, but thankfully we are wearing our helmets, so she was ok. That and the 8 layers of clothing helped to soften the fall! Since we were late and couldn't fix the chain, she just held on to my arm as I pedalled and we "glided" her to church on her bike. It was true teamwork and a test of unity! Oh yes, we passed. Then, as we were parking our bikes in the bike rack, I tripped and fell flat on my bike. Classic.

The meeting went well and the Anziani fixed the chain and off we went again. On this same street, I saw a woman I wanted to invite to church. So, I signaled to Sorella Stevens to turn around. I started to talk to her while Sorella Stevens was coming and as I looked over to see where she was, I saw her get hit by a car. My heart sort of sunk I didn't know if it really happened or if I was dreaming. So, I left my bike and the woman and ran over to her. Luckily she was fine and the old Italian man driving the car was going slower so all is well, but it was so scary! Typical of Italian culture, the man who hit her jumped out of his car and started yelling at her to be careful. She just cried and I was restrained miraculously from starting a fight. He softened a little, patted her cheek and drove off. Sorella Dunaway was furious that he didn't even give his number or anything! We had to call her to see if we had to go to the emergency room. Sorella Stevens was thinking, if only we had another companion because I could be helping her and the other one could be passing out pamphlets with invites to learn about the gospel and how she was saved because she is a missionary called by the correct authority and about the Plan of Salvation!
Ah, but only if that was the end of our drama...

So, that very same night, as we were 2 blocks away from home, I was struggling to pedal and low and behold there was a snap and my pedals refused to move. The main wheel that holds the chain had broken off and was against the actual bike part, thus making it impossible to pedal. Fabulous. So, we had to get that fixed, 50 euros (I just about died because I had to use my money). But, there is a silver lining. At the bike shop we invited two women there to learn about the gospel and they accepted! We will have an appointment later this week! And the bike shop owner as well! He offered his shop for us to teach in. So, there is a reason for everything, but MAMMA MIA!!!!!! Che stress!
That is my drama this week. We had some fun door knocking experiences too though! Ok, so, sometimes people are NOT HAPPY and want nothing to do with us, right? Ok, so we were ringing the bells to see if someone would let us in to knock doors. One woman had NO interest. So, as we finally got in, Sorella Stevens accidently knocked her door! We ran down to the next floor hoping she wouldnt find us, but she walks down and glares at us even as we were apologizing and says, "You have 5 seconds to get out of here before I call the police!" I had fear! But is was fun. Sometimes we get crazies, but don't worry, I'm writing down fun experiences like this in my journal! I bought a journal for Christmas that has one page per day, numbered so I write down just a bit and it really is so much better!

Hello Modena!

2010-01-18T23:16:00.001-07:00

Here is her new address! Hope you enjoy her letter, I just don't think I need to add anything to them...

Sorella Kayla Wilcox
Via G.B. Amici 28
41100 Modena Italia

So, I've been transferred. I really feel like its a natural whirlwind if that makes any sense. I know I'm supposed to be here, but I feel like I just dreamed up Pordenone! Modena is very charming. It's bigger than Pordenone, but we are still on bikes. I think we look hilarious because we have our hoods on and then our helmets on top of the hoods to keep warm! How ridiculous, right? But if it's what the Lord wants, so be it. Plus, Sorella Stevens is a riot and we are best friends right off. It's a big relief because we weren't close like this in Milano, but I adore her now. It just goes to show how your companion is inspired when you are to be with them.
Our apartment is very Italian. It is such a relief to finally have a sister apartment again after all those Anziani apartments! It doesn't smell like a locker room, there are a TON of curling irons and other fun girl products and plus it is so much cleaner. I like it. Although, the mattresses I have aren't very fun. Oh well, I guess I cant have it all, eh?!
About New Years, well we had a rocking good time here in Modena! We partied to the missionary limit! woot woot! We ordered Chinese food from a semi-sketchy Chinese restaurant (ended up getting numbers from 2 people as potential investigators!) and then ate that, did a toast with grape juice and then did a tradition that Sorella Steven's family does every year. They write down 7 or 8 things they wish to forget that happened during the year, things they did or otherwise, then they burn them. After that, they do their New Year Resolutions. Fun eh?! We did that and it was good. Although, I did my resolutions after wards. Next year we should do it. That and really party. This is the second year in a row that I have had to be inside at 8 pm. Uncool. But, in Europe, it is much better that way.
My companion, Sorella Stevens is the "casa queen"! Meaning she has mastered, at least according to me, the art of knocking doors and getting in to teach lessons. We have gotten in more times and taught lessons than in any other transfer in my mission! We have 6 new investigators since I have gotten here! Plus one more last night! One of the stories is really cool.
My second night here, we were riding our bikes a long ways away from home for an appointment with a potential, who gave us a wrong address, lot's of fun. We got a flat tire. Even more fun. So the next morning, we met the Anziani at Esselunga (grocery store) to have them help us. We bought a few things, then walked to a mall to buy a new tube. Turns out, we had to buy a whole new tire because the threads were showing. So, we bought it, they fixed it (love them!) and then off we went. Later that night, we were off to go knock some doors and I was thinking/praying for us to find a family, a family of 3. I prayed so much and thought it over and over and knew it was possible. As we got to where we were going, we rang nearly every bell and nothing. Then it was the last door and Monica answered. She is divorced, mother of 2 and saw us earlier at Esselunga! She let us in, we had a beautiful lesson and she agreed to have us over again. We are bringing a member to her lesson tomorrow! This member has 2 sons on missions right now. Perfect! It was so exciting and I knew that my specific prayer got a specific answer!

The duomo and me! In all of my helmet glory. We put it over our hoods to help keep us warm. It works like a charm! Oh, when it rains we have these giant, bright orange trashbag things to put over our coats to keep us dry. When Sorella Stevens showed me them I thought, well, if I had any pride left in my appearance, it is all gone now. I have been HUMBLED to the depths of humility when it comes to my appearance. But, its ok. Heavenly Father gives me a good hair day every now and again to let me know He loves me.

Isn't Sorella Stevens so cute? I swear we laugh so much!Her on the bikes. What a super star. Don't worry, even with the helmets we are still getting "ciao bella" multiple times a day.

Well, here in Modena, everything is going really well. We have been finding so many potential baptisms and are just rolling in the blessings from the Lord! Plus, we have had one strange adventure after the other. This week has been mad. Truely pazzesco. But, hey, we don’t watch tv, so we need a little drama!
Our maind drama has been our bikes. Sorella Steven’s bike got a flat tire after having put a whole new tire on the rim. Then, after we herorically fixed up a different bike (there are three in our garage) by putting on a new pedal, lifting and adjusting the seat and getting everything ready to go (we felt so proud) we rode for about 30 seconds and the tire which was just fine went flat. So, there we were thinking, ok, what is the Lord trying to tell us? We decided to break down and go to a repair shop. Luckily we did and found the South American chain! In our district we joke about racial chains and if we latch on to one, we can convert a people. We already are on the African chain, have a slight grasp on the young Italian family chain and now we found the South American chain from Bolivia! All we need now is the Eastern Europe chain and the Philipino chain. Different countries cling to one another in foreign lands and we can use it to a serious advantage. Anyway, so the Lord had something in mind for us when He kept breaking our bikes! I’ve come to develop a very strong testimony that there are no coincidences. The world really isn’t that complicated. The Gospel really puts all into perspective. I mean, seriously, we are here to have faith, repent, be baptised, recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost, Endure to the end and live worthy to recieve and maintain our temple convenants. Then we help others. That’s it! Everything else is just apendages to it.
I read a great talk this morning by Elder Corbridge from the November 2008 conference and he says this, "The Lord's way is not hard. Life is hard, not the gospel." Isn't it so true?!
Plus, I have a great quote I put on my study journal: "When I know who I am, I can do ANYTHING He asks me to do." Elder Dickson.
He was the priesthood advisor for the General Young Women's Presidency when Susan B. Tanner was president. But, I'm pretty sure you already knew that, but it was news for me! I am a quote freak! I love good inspiring quotes and we have so many all around our house! It makes me stand a little taller and want to be a little better.
I love hearing how you go to the temple together so often! It makes me so happy. I just love you both. There are ten things that President Hinckley said that every missionary should come home with and one of those things is a renewed respect, gratitude and love for parents. I know that is true. I love both so much! I loved you before, don't get me wrong, but there is something about being here and seeing how vital it is to have both parents in the church continuously teaching and loving their children and desiring their success and striving for an eternal family that just puts everything into a greater perspective. I'm so grateful for you! Thank you for putting our names into the temple. I honestly can't wait to get back to the temple! AH! I miss it so much! I crave the serenity, tranquility and love that is found there. We need it so much.

Well, I love you so much and pray for you always. This church is the true church of God and the only one that holds the keys of salvation. I'm sending a huge hug and a baccio from Modena! Ti voglio un MARE di bene!

Sorella Kayla Wilcox

2010-01-08T22:26:00.002-07:00

Buone Feste!

I cant believe Christmas is almost here. In about two days. It is really strange, to be honest. Ive been thinking a lot about last year this time and I cant believe how it feels like yesterday! Back then, it felt like the next Christmas would never come and that I had forever and a day to be in the mission. Now, I feel like I blinked and a whole year is gone.

How many changes have I seen? How much have I grown? How many incredible experiences have I had? How grateful am I for this opportunity? Words really cant describe all the feelings I have. I have a little more time to think as we are on bikes going from place to place (well, when there isnt ice on the streets) and its so overwhelming for me to be where I am. Slla Doxey and I are in the same boat in a lot of ways. Both of our trainers are married (slla Moreno got married Friday) and we are both have the same amount in the mission and left, heck, we are both companions and have had the same companion before! But I dont know how much it helps. It makes it that much easier to see the changes and realize how precious little time is left.
This week has been really good though. We have both been well, no sickness! We have taught lessons knocking on doors and we have a baptism coming up on the 9th of January and our ward is just incredible.
We actually have had some interesting adventures!
One of them happened 2 nights ago. We were going to do a Power Visit with a member family. Its when we go, do a short thought and then pray together to know where we (le sorelle) need to go to find people. They took us to their old neighborhood and we started ringing doorbells. We unfortunately had little time and had to wait for the bus (which never came). So we were miles from home, no bus because of the snow and not really sure what to do. So, we say a prayer and start walking. We see a man making a snow man in his front yard and decide to talk to him. His name is Francesco and is so nice! He asked some very good questions and we sang a Christmas carol, shared a scripture from Helaman and then Moroni about how we can know the truth of all things. He seemed genuinely interested. This was all outside by the way, in the snow while it was snowing. His wife however came out and started yelling at us about the Jehova witnesses and how her husband has been studying with them for 3 years and its tearing apart her family. She jsut screamed and cried and humiliated her husband in front of us. We wanted to help her so bad, but she didnt allow us. She said she has her religion (catholic) and doesnt want to hear from us. Francesco just smiled a sad smile, had teary eyes and allowed us to pray for him. So we said a prayer and gave him the book of mormon. He was really happy to accept it which is good. I hope he is able to accept us in the future.
As we continued our walk, we got a phone call which I answered. Slla Doxey started talking to a woman named Faustina from Ghana and she said there were no more buses, but that we could come to her house and call someone to come and get us. So, we went to her home, she gave us some lemon herbal tea and introduced us to her 4 children. There were very sweet and luckily, we were able to call for a ride from the Martin couple who serve as missionaries on the American base. Faustina's son is 14 and interested in religion so we will go back and teach him on Thursday afternoon! Quite the adventures, no?!

This is Juliet's balcony, as in Romeo and Juliet!
Me and my girl Juliet. One breast is lighter than the other
because it is good luck in love to rub on it.
Weird and twisted, I know. Dont worry, I didnt do it.

VENICE FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

My favorite view.
Me in
Piazza di
San Marco!

This is Angelo, my favorite Gondolier. We had just gotten lost in Venice, happens really easily, and we were working on getting back to St. Marco's when we saw him. He watched us for a while and then when we got closer he asked, "are you Jehova witnesses?" we said no. Then he asked "are you Mormons?" and we said yes. He then said, Good! Then we can get married! I thought, hmm...very tempting! Apparently he has been studying with the Elders in Mestre and is preparing for baptism! How cool is that! We got to bear some awesome testimony and really have a great chat. He is awesome and yes, Im still considering the offer to marry him.

Oh my goodness mom, Venice is a dream! I am absolutely in love with the place! I cant wait to take you there! We got to stay from 10 am to 8:30 pm! ALL DAY!! It was incredible. We took a water bus which is just a regular boat but its the bus system there to the Piazza di San Marco and then walked everywhere from there. It was low tide so we didnt have any problems. It had recently flooded and snowed so Heavenly Father loves us so much to give us a bright sunny day. We went inside of the Basilica di San Marco and it is all done in Mosaics. I have never seen a church so beautiful in my life! Mom! It was all gold and just incredible. Of course, doesnt even begin to compare with our temples, but it was a lot better than the usual Catholic dark Cathedrals. I bought some ink and a journal too! Oh, the journal story is fun. We had gotten lost and found a cute little journal shop. Venice is full of ink bottles, journals and anything for writing. I wanted to go in, but it didnt open for an hour or so so we came back afterwards. When we did go back, it was closed still. I was way bummed, but luckily, an old man came out of the shop and started to lock up. I asked him if I could go in for a bit and he said no, but he was going to his other shop more in Centro (center of the city). So we followed him and he gave us a history of venice discorse and told us all about how he makes the journals, about the theatres, Marco Polo's house, everything. I bought a beautiful journal from him and now am just deciding what I will use it for. I had just bought one from another store for this coming year. His name is Paolo and he said he wants to do internships so the younger generation can learn how to make journals like in the old times. Interesting no? It was all in Italian too which made it that much more special.

I'm not adding anything to this post because what could it possibly need???

Letter from Pordenone

2010-01-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hey there!
I sent a bunch of pictures and I hope they got there. I dont know if they did, but if they didnt Im going to be so mad because I spent a lot of time doing that!
Anyway, Im going to answer all your questions now:
My apartment smells ok. Its not as strong of a stench, but its still pretty bad.
I was in Milano for 9 beautiful months. Valentina wrote me this week! Im so happy!
My companion is amazing and its so easy to get a long. She says I have grown up a lot since the MTC, especially confidence wise. She said before I wasnt very sure of myself and now I am. That and anger wise too. I control my temper much better. She would know!
We did get bikes! Slla Durazzani is letting us rent hers for 25 euros a piece and another sister sold us hers for 50!So basically we are really happy. Surely it is a miracle from Heavenly Father.
I will be going to Venice next Thursday! I still cant believe it! What a dream! Plus it should be overcast so it will look just like the opening scenes of The Italian Job! So watch it for me ok?

We have had a bunch of fun here in Pordenone. Although, its been a learning process of how much we have to grow as Daughters of our Heavenly Father and especially of how much growth we need as missionaries. They members love us, maybe a little too much, and especially love to feed us. NOT GOOD. Ok, there are worse things, but still. Not good. We havent been able to really get into a groove because we have been at the mercy of members and their knowledge of the city. Its been great getting rides everywhere, but its taking a toll on how we feel as missionaries and the work we are doing. So, after a lunch appointment, we knelt in prayer and listed all of our weaknesses and then worked on finding solutions. We really felt the spirit help us and now we are looking into the scriptures to find the answers more fully. I love being able to pray for anything! Isnt it just great? I have learned so much more about my relationship with Heavenly Father in this short time in Pordenone! I didnt even think it was possible to learn so much so quickly! Plus Slla Doxey is just a gem. I love this girl! She is one hard worker.
Yesterday we had quite the adventure. So, we had interviews down in Mestre (about 15 min or so outside of Venice...talk about temptation!) and what do you know, we miss our train. Yep, we ran for a good mile and still missed it. So, there we were, breatheless, hair trashed, and UPSET. The next train was in a little over an hour and all we could do was sit and wait. So we did. I was livid, but I decided there must be a reason for it, so we sat and decided to write letters and read PMG while waiting. It turned out to be a great experience! Plus on the train ride there we got to talk to a man from Rome. When we arrived, we had to wait for the bus and then determine where to get off. Yes, we nearly got off the wrong stop. Typical and by this point I was mad again. As we got off of our bus, I happened to catch my reflection in a store window and what I saw was awful! My eyes were so dark and angry and the solemn expression was so annoyed it actually surprised me. I thought, this is no way for a representative of Jesus Christ to act or look, so I immediately started praying silently for the hate to be taken from me. As I did, I could feel it leaving me slowly. Its like after you have been sick and you have a fever and are sweating. After awhile, you can feel the sickness leaving you bit by bit until you have sweat it all out. It was like that. After about 4 or 5 minutes I was fine and happy again. That is the power of the atonement. It can completely change us if we allow it.
The rest of interviews went wonderfully. The Anziani are fabulous, a couple from the MTC! and my district in Torino!, and President is inspired. He gave a beautiful blessing and I was told that my family is in the Lords hands and that the memories I will have of my time here will be precious to me. I also need to study my patriarchal blessing so that I can chart out my life. Other things were mentioned and I wrote them all down, but in short, it was just beautiful. I truly respect and love Pres. Dunaway.
Well, that is about it for here! All is wonderful and I will be buying a coat VERY SOON because it is COLD! But not nearly as bad as Torino, thank goodness!
I love you mom! Please take care and just love every moment you have! I am learning how important that is. You have always been a great example for me of this and I love how I can look up to you. Jarom is right, we have been incredibly blessed with the family we have! Whatever we did in the Pre-earth life must have been really great!

I love you so much! Hug everyone extra tight for me!
Slla Wilcox

Sorelle Wilcox Says Good-bye to Milan♥

2009-11-27T21:36:00.000-07:00

So Kayla has been transferred. I enjoyed her letter so much that I just shared the whole thing with you! No pictures until next week I hope...

Ciao from Pordenone!

Well, I made it! It was quite the adventure too. But I have to start off with the night before. To be honest, when I got the call to go and open a new city, close to Venice and with a companion I already knew I was really excited. We went out and bought new shirts that are bike friendly and boots for Slla Simons. Then we went to the Cemetery and then we went to the church. That was where it got me that I was actually leaving. I walked in the gate for the church and saw Slla Savino and Irene and I asked them to put in their information so I could keep in touch. Then I walked in the church and saw Slla Grimaldi who started crying and came and hugged me and I couldnt contain myself. I started sobbing and she was too and I felt like my heart was breaking. Then, Sussanah, a young woman who I really worked with, started crying and I was so sad! Then Maria, our beautiful investigator came, sick, to say goodbye and I cried, she cried, but with her I felt pretty certain that I would see her again so it wasnt so hard to say goodbye. We had gone to the church to teach a lesson with Victoria, an INCREDIBLE woman from Peru, and so I was a mess, she was sad I was leaving and goodness I didnt know what to do. So, I pulled myself together and we went and taught a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation. Coincidently, that was the only thing that was really getting me through this transfer because I know that I will live with these people again if we live the way we should. It was beautiful and I really loved it.
Then Slla Fiorenza, her husband and their 2 children came. She came up to me, crying and just clung to me. I cried and told her how much I loved her and she told me thank you a million times for all that we did for her and how much she loved me too. We had gone to her house during a really hard moment for her and had an incredible lesson inspired from D&C section 25 (could be wrong, maybe 24?) when the Lord is talking to Emma Smith about being an elect lady. I saw the darkness lift from her eyes and saw them being filled with love. She is incredible and I want to stay incontact with her and her family forever! She gave me a purse that I had told her months ago that I thought was cute and she said that it was for me to always remember her.
Emily and her boys came to say goodbey too and they are so sweet. I loved doing service with them every week and Emily saved my summer when she got me my shoes! Im really glad she is from Utah and lives in Italy. Little does she know that Im moving back to Milano and paying 1/2 rent for a while!!
As hard as all this was, the hardest part of all was when I had to say goodbye to my sister, Valentina. It was the hardest part of all. She was upstairs making Christmas ornaments with the Relief Society (she is Secretary!) She came downstairs to get me and then we went upstairs where Marco was playing the guitar and there were a lot of members around. She took me by the hand and let me over to where Marco was and gave me two presents. One was a little Hello Kitty stuffed kitten that I love and keep on my bed now and the other was the movie "Questo Piccolo Grande Amore" and the cd with the song that I love from the singer Claudio Baglioni. She then gave me the biggest hug and told me how much she would miss me, how much she loved me, how I am her sister and how grateful she was for me. I cried and cried and cried. My heart was truly broken and I clung to her, not wanting to ever let her go. If I could hug men, I would have hugged Marco too, but I couldnt. They are the biggest reason of why I love Milano so much. Every appointment with them I learned something that made me a better person. Her baptism was the most spiritually powerful baptisms I have ever been to. Their wedding was so incredible and there was a beautiful spirit of love and devotion there. They gave us a ride home from the church and Valentina held my hand the whole time. I loved sitting next to her in church because the spirit is always so strong wherever she is and the love she has for me and the love I have for her is so strong! I love her as a sister and she really is my sister! If all I ever got out of my mission was the chance to meet her, it would be enough. She and Marco are incredible, strong members and I know the church in Italy is much stronger thanks to them! Leaving them was just as hard as leaving you all back in America.
Well, I got home and couldnt stop crying. Slla Simons tried to be simpathetic, but to be honest, I was unconsoleable. Plus then I had to pack all of my stuff! AHH! But in the end, it was all taken care of and we got to go to bed fairly early!
The next day Slla Simons and I got ready and headed for the train station and oh my goodness my bags are SO HEAVY! I was really afraid for us because both Slla Doxey and I have been in our cities for 9 months and you collect a lot of stuff in that amount of time! But we managed it. I cried in the trainstation, not too much though because I got to see a lot of people I havent seen in a long time! Like Anz. Franklin (not since the MTC) and Anz. Bowman and Anz. Toronto! So exciting! Plus, all of the Sorelle were there except the ones in Genova and Bergamo. We had to wait at the trainstation from 9 something until 12:30 and then we almost missed our train! Ha! We would. We ran with all of our stuff, the Anziani helped thank goodness, and then we jumped on and settled in for a long ride. At the trainstation we talked to a girl on her way to France to visit her boyfriend and who would be interested in learning more and on the train from Milano to Verona we talked to another woman who wasnt too interested, but was really nice anyway!
We had to say goodbye to the sisters in Verona and switch trains to Mestre. Yes, we had to switch trains with all of our stuff! Ah!So heavy! But there were Anziani to help us. We ran to our train (again almost missing it) and realized that we had all of my stuff, but none of Slla Doxeys stuff and only one bag of one of the Anziani and the other Anziano had all of his stuff. Turns out, one of the Anziani got left with 4 bags and didnt catch the train in time! So he caught a EuroStar train (really fast) and beat us to Mestre. While there, we had to fight off gypsies and then got on the wrong train! Luckily, one of the Anziani realized this and blocked the door with his body while Slla Doxey and I climbed out and made it just in time! We all laughed, watched the preview for the New Moon movie (train stations have preview things, like tvs) and finally got our train for Pordenone.
We were all so tired! We got on the train and then made it just in time off the platform to meet Slla Durazzani who took us to our apartment. Oh my goodness, our apartment STINKS!!!!! 20 years of Anziani and it smells like a locker room. SICK! So, we drop off our stuff, have about 30 minutes and then we get picked up again by Slla Durazzani and her husband to go teach a lesson to our baptismal date Hilarios. We teach, half dazed, and get home in time to program. The couple at the millitary base here brought us some food because we didnt have a whole lot in our house and then we slept. We get up the next day, unpack and then the Martins (the couple) pick us up to go to the American base to eat TACO BELL!!!
So, we get there, eat Taco bell and Cinnabun and then we are on our way to go see the Commessary. I have to buy a bike, grrrrr, but we found one! We called President if it was ok if we bought it and he reminded us of the rule that we are not allowed to give people money to buy things from the American Base for us. So, since we arent allowed to actually buy it ourselves, we have to give the Martins money because they have id for the base, we dont get to buy it. They were all for letting us twink the rules, but we stood firm and decided that it was better to be honest and just wait for the Lord to provide a way. We are currently still waiting and doing A LOT of walking, but its going to be ok. We may go and buy a bike today at a store. That night we were picked up by the stake president (talk about nerves! I hadnt even showered yet because I didnt bring my towel but was just going to buy one here!) to go and teach Hilarious again. It was a great lesson on repentance and I fell in love with Slla Chieasurin and Pres. Chiesurin. They are incredible! There is always a family that is just YOUR FAMILY and I found mine! In Milano I had a couple and I think it will be the same here. Sunday came and we both just felt like we were in a whirlwind!
However, your prayers were COMPLETELY AND FULLY answered! The ward is absolutely in love with us! Everyone was so excited to see us and wanted us over to their house and everyone is feeding us! We are both afraid to gain weight! The ward leaders are incredible and so happy to be working with us and this ward is so full of unity and love! Everyone is so nice! It was the Primary program and the kids are so cute! I love Italian children who sing the primay songs! So adorable!
There is a big American ward here too and we are invited for Thanksgiving and they are ok with us bringing our incredible less-active almost reactivated member Orietta Giovenazzi. She is just beautiful and we are so happy to be working with her.
We do have a baptism this Saturday, yeah, I know right?! And he is incredible. His name is Hilarios, he is from Ghana and his wife is taught by the Martins. She, Diana, will be baptised in January. I will for sure send pictures!
Ready for some miracles??!!
Ok, so we offered to help our neighbor load groceries into her home and turns out they know a lot about missionaries. Sylvanna is 25 and a baker, Marilenna is her mom and works at home as a massage therapist and her daughter Katia is a high school student. We taught them a lesson Sunday and they are incredible! Got to help them quit smoking. I really hope for the best, especially Sylvanna.
Then, we were doing casa (knocking doors) by the church and we got into an apartment! They are the Artan family from Albania and they were so nice! They let us in, gave us water (wanted to give us tea or coffee) were mildly interested and said we could come back. They are muslim, but not really practicing. They have 2 sons and are truly so precious.
We have so many people we have met on the street or who have said to call them or anything really and its just a city of miracles! Not to mention absolutely adorable. Very 1950's feeling.
There is a great market here every Wednesday and Saturday and their town square is so precious! They have a two level carosel that lights up and plays every night. I really feel like Im in some sort of amazing dream. The work is growing, our members are incredible (model perfect) the city is so charming and we get along so well! What more can you ask for, except maybe a really strong candle. Our apartment is getting better, kind of. Stinky Anziani!
Anyway, this is my week so far! Its been quite the ride! But Im happy, really healthy, but still a little heartbroken for Milano. Its really hard at night. I miss it so much! But, like Slla Simons told me, its a part of the mission. I just have to work on feeling that way about Pordenone.

Sorella Wilcox♥

2009-11-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

Kayla is doing so well. I am going to share paragraphs from some of her latest emails. They might not be in order, but they will give you enough information to see how well she is. What a missionary my Daughter is! I love her and we miss her so very much. Her release date is March 26th as of now. They have changed it once on us so we are being flexible with this one. We thought she would be home on Feb. 12, but they changed that one. She has been in the Milan 2 district for quite a while now, we will hear Wed. if she is getting a transfer, she feels like she just might be. The mission home address is the safest address to use for writing her. I will put it at the end of this email again in case anyone wants it.. Cards and letters is all she wants for Christmas this year, which is a good thing because packages just don't get to her very often. Enjoy the reading!!!
Ciao Madre Mia!

This week sped right on by! It is so weird how time flies and personally I am not the biggest fan. Well, thats not true, but it is a little. I want to just stay in Milan forever! Plus Slla Simons is pretty much my best friend. She is so incredible! We both have some pretty rank garlic breath right now because we made some bruschetta con aglio, pomodorini, olio di oliva, mozzarella e un po di oregano e sale. We over did it on the aglio (garlic) and it was SPICY! I brushed my teeth, swished mouth wash and chewed gum and Im still rank! But it was scrumpcious. I wrote what we ate in Italian so you can be oh so impressed with the gift of tongues and plus it sounds better in Italian. Doesnt everything though?
Dont you worry, I am taking notes and am prepared to cook away for you when I get home! Slla Kone, a member here in Milano, taught us how to make an incredible pasta when we went to her house yesterday for lunch and invited us over for Christmas! Im praying Im still here. She is so great. She married an American who served in Milano 2 and speaks incredible english. She is so fun and said she would come visit me in Utah when they go to America.

We have some really great investigators right now too. We invited one to baptism yesterday, Elizabetta. She is african, but has lived here since she was 5 or so. Here meaning Italy, the south in Puglia. She is incredible! She told us she had been praying about whether to introduce us to her family or not and she decided that she should and the spirit was just so strong! She said once she knew that everything was true and she felt confident in the decision to be baptised, she would do it. Im so excited! The work here is growing slowly but surely. I betcha I will be speaking at her baptism too! He he he. I prayed a lot about my talk for Isaiah and I got some great insights. It is going to be two talks. One in Italian and one in English. Lots of Emily (his mom)'s friends only speak English and so I get to do it bi lingually. It really gives me chills to see how incredible the gift of tongues is. I mean honestly, who would have thought that this was even possible! To speak fluently two languages and just go back and forth between the two? I love it!

This week Maria is doing so good! Her mom has noticed a great difference in her and now wants to come to church! Can you believe that? Her mom accepted a book of mormon, but didnt want much of anything else. But now thanks to the example of Maria, she wants to come to church. We are lights unto the world and they do see us. Especially in families.
Elizabetta, our other investigator, is doing incredibly well. She is having spiritual experience after the other and really loving learning about the gospel. She doesnt really understand the apostacy, but she believes all of it. Valentina bore such sweet testimony about the scriptures to her that had us all near tears. She is a powerhouse! Marco doesnt have to work Sundays anymore and will give his first talk in Sacrament Meeting the 18th!
These people are incredible. Marco and Valentina are buying a car and they said that they are going to name it Wilcox. Yep. They are so funny! Marco said that I have to stay in Milano at least until Christmas and I hope so!
We found a new investigator! Her name is Martha and she has 3 adorable children. Antonio 6, Carolina 2 and Diana 6mos. Her husband left her because he didnt want to have they third child and she wouldnt abort it. We found her on the street a week or so ago and turns out we are next door neighbors! We finally got to see her and she is doing great! She agreed to have us back over and her children are so calm and well behaved. This gospel will bless her life so much.

I love the Germans! We went to Diechmann's ( store a billion miles away or so it felt) and they had MY SIZE!!! So I got some really nice brown shoes that are just what my doctor ordered (at least 3cm heel) and firm sides to keep my foot in place. Then These KNEE HIGH BOOTS!! Arent they beautiful! I am so excited! A year of walking paid off! Well, more ways than one, but I am thrilled. What do you think? I love them. Slla Simons approved them so I wouldnt just buy for looks and they feel great.About the journey, we had to go to Monza, a province outside Milano, and we had no idea where to go. So, naturally we were asking everyone. NO ONE KNEW! Every person we asked told us a different answer. Very frustrating. It took us a good 2 hours to get there, but it was well worth it. We ended up having to walk across a construction site that would be closed when we tried to get back, but we took it with faith and went for it. Then, on our way back we were lost and inbetween two major interstates so crossing the streets were out of the question. We called the Elders there and they were going to have to come get us, but luckily Heavenly Father took care of his helpless daughters and Slla Simons felt inspiried to walk towards a buiding. By doing so, a bus drove past us, we followed the direciton it came from and found our bus stop!!! It was a miracle! We also invited a beautiful mom named Lucia and her 2 year old to hear our message and they said ok! Well, the mom did. Maybe Sunday, but we will see. I also talked to a girl on the bus who had a pug! She was so cute and agreed to have us over on Friday! Unfortunately, she lives just outside our area so the Elders get her...:( but its ok! She was adorable, mid 20s named Federica.

All worth it for these gorgeous shoes! Heavenly Father loves me.

This week we were inside a lot. The flu caught Slla Simons off guard and we were inside Sat-Monday. That may not sound like much, but oh, it is! There are times when Im so tired and would give just about anything for a nap, even the flu, and then we get it and are inside and I realize how much better it is to just be working! No, it was fun though. I got to be very experimental with my baking and made those yummy treats! Plus, after sleeping all day Sunday, Slla Simons was a rock star and got dressed up really fast, we snapped some pics and then she passed out again! That girl goes through Camomille tea like its nobodies business! Im partial to blueberry and mixed fruits from Bolivia, but that is just me. Herbal tea rocks! And its really cheap so we are drinking hot things that are good for us!
However, Thursday I went to a reflexologist , Sorella Darwish who is our Gospel Principles teacher, and she worked on my feet. It was so nice to finally be relaxed! I didnt realize how much stress I was under until she pushed on parts of my feet and I wanted to cry! She got me spot on in a lot of things too, like how my life was pretty serene until my mission and I got thrown into an environment where I had no control and it was hard, to when I had some really tough times here and how Ive seen and heard things I havent wanted too and instead of letting them run out of me Ive tried to supress them. There is a lot of nasty pictures on billboards, lots of dirty things in general that are normal now, but that isnt good either. But, she gave me some great advice on how to work out in the morning, how to relax at night and what to do for my bruises. I have really fragile veins and need to eat blueberries and other berries. So, slowly Im learning how to take care of myself. Which is great because in my P.B. Im told to take the best care of my health! Im learning how to on my mission! I wonder a lot how I would be without my mission and it make me want to cry!
We had a door knocking miracle this week! I have been really struggling with faith in doing casa and believing it works because I see so much success outside of doing that. But last friday, Slla Simons and I decided to be completely obedient and stick to our schedule. As a part of that, we decided to go do casa for out morning finding before programming. We had picked a street, but it didnt look very promising, but we decided to go down it anyway. Slla SImons then got a stomache ache out of nowhere and we thought it would be best if we went home. Then, we saw this apartment door wide open on our way back and decided to go in and knock doors. So, we were doing it, starting on floor 5 down to floor 1 and everyone either said no or they werent home. It was the last door, we decided to introduce ourselves as disciples of Christ and sing I am a Child of God at the door. A very pregnant woman answered to door and let us do just that. She then invited us into her gorgeous home for a drink of water. We talked a little, taught about the family proc and set an appointment for Monday! She is married, this is their first daughter and they are from Puglia. Her name was Patrizia. On Monday we went back and taught the Restoration, but she couldnt see the difference from us and the Catholics, even though our lesson was clear and she stated herself what was missing from the Catholic church. So, we are not going back for a while, maybe after her baby is born, but it was really sad. However, the faith is renewed that casa does work and people do let us in! That was just a little taste of what awaits later when the real people are ready! And who knows, maybe in a week or two when the baby comes they will be ready. Funny note, the baby kept kicking her during the lesson like MOM! Listen!

Fall leaves outside her window!

Her life is complete now,,,she's been to the Opera!!

New camera..outside her window.

Just one photo of a dish she has perfected. Kayla cooking - - -Miracles are really happening!!hahaha.........

New boots she spoke about in her email.

On top of the Duomo!! How Italian is this picture !!!!

7th Grade Football..Go Kambren!!!!

2009-11-15T18:56:00.001-07:00

Another year of football!! Kambren was the Center again this year, but they didn't have a number 54 jersey like last year. They had a large team, but not a very successful one..

The game against Beaver was their one and only win! It was so exciting!! 14-6 and our boys were very happy.

Kambren is in the middle with a great offensive play, protecting his quarterback.

We just love watching Kambren play football. He just looks good out on that field. We hope his year next year will include more wins, but at least they had a good time. He did get to play defense a couple of times and he does like to tackle, but he was their only center, and he did his job really well!

This is the only sport that Kambren likes to do, so now he will spend the rest of the year traveling around with us pretending to really love girls basketball!!! haha...gotta support the Sister.

Jaisha's Sophmore Soccer Season!!

2009-11-15T18:17:00.002-07:00

Jaisha had an amazing soccer season this year playing Goalie on the Varsity Team!! The Lady Eagles were undefeated in their Region! We had so much fun following the team to every game this year! Jay was totally into this season and took vacation to watch each game. Such dedication from such an awesome Dad. We even drove to Moab to watch them play, 31/2 hours one way....I'm thinking that's dedication!

Jaisha had a 6 Shut Outs!!! Yep, six games where nobody scored on her. It seemed the only time someone could score on our defense was when there was a penalty kick, and stopping the ball from ten feet away is definitely a challenge. Just standing behind the net taking pictures scares me enough. I don't know how she does it!

One of the neatest things I witnessed our Ladies do was to link feet and fold their arms and offer a prayer before every game. I am so proud of our Team. Then after the prayer they jump around in the circle and yell "Pump it Up, Pump that Eagle Spirit Up..... etc.. The crowd yells it with them and it really fires the team up.

State Semi-Finals we met St. Joseph, a private Catholic school. We made it to the bottom three teams, the other team being Waterford, another private school who took state in 3A last year and moved down to play in 2A this year. It seems Millard makes it every year to the finals with these two teams, or at least two private schools. Last year they took second place and we were proud of them. This year we held St Joseph scoreless until the last four minutes of the game. The other team was able to score and then three more followed rather quickly. It was heartbreaking, but we are so Proud of our Lady Eagles, and feel they played as a team and did their best. Hugging them when it was over and seeing their tears was pretty tough, I'm not gonna lie....

Jaisha was chosen for the All State Second Team her Sophomore Year!!!! Yep, we're proud!

We are the STATE CHAMPIONS of the PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!!

Baptism

2009-09-06T21:41:00.005-06:00

We had a baptism this last week! Yep! Irania was baptised and it was incredible! Lots of her inactive family came and she was promised in her blessing when she recieved the holy ghost that she would be an example for them and a great help. I believe anyway. They were all litereally BAWLING during the baptism. It was incredible. The spirit was so strong!

THE BIG ITALIAN WEDDING!
Well, let me tell you what, Italian weddings are a riot! Valentina and Marco were so cute and Marco was SO proud of his suit. I was a little confused about the choice of dress that Valentina had, but it was cute. Just not wedding. Most of Marcos family was there and then all of a sudden Valentinas family showed up! They werent going to be able to come because they live clear down in Napoli, the grandma is house ridden, etc. But they came! At least her aunt, brothers and father. She was so happy! Plus, Valentinas first missionary was studying in Spain and was able to come and see the wedding on her way home. A couple friends were with her and guess where she was studying? SUU. Yep! Way too close to home. The two girls, Courtney and Cindy were so cute and they were missionary crazy! They gave out a couple Book of Mormons and pass a long cards and now are both seriously considering missions. The ceremony was short and sweet and they played really fun music in the back ground, all in English, about love and marriage. Everyone was so excited because there were Americans. I even got a pictures with the man who married them!
I did cry when they got married because the spirit was so strong there! It was a confirmation that marriage is ordained of God.

And BIG NEWS! Marco and Valentina are going to come to America next summer and be sealed in the Salt Lake City Temple! They were already coming, but now they are coming to Utah as a main stop and will be sealed there!!!! AHH!!! Im so excited!

I just saw Valentina, a 25 year old Italian who has been living with her boyfriend for 1 year be married and then the next week be baptised and confirmed. She is adorable and she is ready to do this, but to see the light and the joy she had when she was baptised and confirmed is incredible!! The world cant give that. It cant give you the feelings of complete joy and love. It can make you feel like you are only worth what someone will pay for you or how much you pay for yourself, but to feel completely sure and satisfyied inside and out? It cant do that. It cant give you peace and satisfaction. It cant make you feel beautiful, loved and sure about who you are. But it can make you feel completely worthless and not worthy of love and dependent on everything but goodness. Ive seen both sides in people. Ive seen people who dont know if anybody is there as in God. They honestly dont know if He is there. They dont feel love and secure. On the other hand I have seen pure joy and happiness and a complete change of character. Its incredible! Do we realize what we have? Sure I have really dark moments out here when I just cry because I cant handle how my heart hurts, but as I cry, He is with me. He listens and just lets me cry. Then He sends His spirit and I can go out for the rest of the day and do the work He has called me to do. Its incredible! He takes away my pain! Thats how great the atonement is. It is for everyone for every pain, for the moments too rough, He is there. Waiting! D&C 84:88 and 3 Nephi 13:28-34 are my scriptures of comfort. A mini warm blanket if you will!

Kayla has sent home yet another companion! Sorella Smith (in the green) has been a great companion for Kayla and she is really going to miss her. It didn't take long for them to find their comfort zone and they enjoyed great success with their three baptisms. Here is what she said about her new companion...
I am now Senior Companion. Its really easy when you have a great companion like Slla Simons! She is so great! I truly just love her. Plus, she absolutely loves Milano! She thinks its beautiful and loves the ward. We have already had some pretty great experiences! I will write about them in a minute. The weather is much cooler. We can wear our hair down! Its not way cool, but cooler. Im so grateful! My head was starting to hurt from always having my hair up.
So, about my newby, Slla Simons isnt really from anywhere. Her dad is in the Navy and so she moved every year or so. She has moved over 20 times. She did live in Napoli (southern Italy) for 3 years in High School so she speaks really well. She is so cute too. She looks like Belle from Beauty and the Beast mixed with Sandra Bullock. She talks like Sandra Bullock too. She is a great cook and is going to teach me!

Now Im going to fill you in on some great new experiences! Oh the adventures of Milano!

1. We were on the train yesterday and this Orthodox priest in full robes and a square hat sits next to us and starts talking to us. He was sweet but very on the defense and told us all about the marriages he has performed and waves his arms about, nearly knocking out the girl sitting next to him! He accepted a pamphlet about the book of mormon and gave me a card with a picture of Mary and Jesus.
2. I am talking yet again at a baptism...makes for 4 times now. It is for Isaiah Nelson, Emily's son. Im honored to be asked, but clueless about how I can make my talk different than the other 3!Ideas? Its next wednesday.
3. We have a brand new Egyptian Christian investigator! Her name is Erinny (Eereenie) and she is fabulous! She prayed to God to know how she can get closer to him and then the next day she was at the trainstation during transfers. Slla Rossi, one of the sisters here, stopped and talked to her and got her number! We are an answer to her prayers! She is very curious and open and we will teach her again tonight.
4. We were in district meeting and talking about our investigators when Anziano and Sorella Lisonbee started talking about the new Outreach center and I just teared up. The spirit was so strong and just a great confirmation that this is exactly what this city needs. We are so excited for it to start!
5. Slla Glass is officially engaged!! To Adam. the same one who broke her heart. She is excited to see you!
6. We went and did finding work with our Relief Society president and it was incredible! She served in Rome in 2001 and her sister served with Matthews wife Lilian! We did a power lesson with her, a lesson where we pray for where we should go and find people and then we went out in Sunday together and talked to people on the street and in the park. I went with Slla calderon, the president and Slla Simons went with her sister. I love Slla Calderon! Our relationship is so much stronger and the desire for the relief society to do missionary work is so much greater! Does Dad do that with the Elders there? If not, he should look into it! It really helps the work grow so fast! When the ward puts forth more effort as a whole, we get baptisms. I cant wait to see what happens soon with a few of our investigators!
7. For example, 2 days ago we had a full schedule and got stood up on all of our appointments and then the next day we had nothing in the morning. We werent discouraged though because its not our work it's the Lords and there is a reason for everything. So, we went to a less actives house and randomly during the lesson their friend showed up, listened and agreed to come to church (maybe) but definitely for a return appointment! Then we decided just to pass by Rosa (an investigator) at work and we ended us meeting her friend Hilda again and teaching about tithing because she had a question about it. Her brother recently joined the church in California and she had seen the temple in Peru. She agreed to still see us and we sang How Firm a Foundation to her and Rosa and there was a sweet spirit in that store. You really never know what blessings the Lord has in store. You just have to be patient and keep your trust with Him! Thats a major lesson I have learned on the mission

First Baptism!!!

2009-07-23T23:02:00.002-06:00

This is Kayla's new companion Sorella Smith, but she has been with her for a while, I just haven't posted a picture of her yet. They are working together really well and have had their first baptism! Meet Carmen. I will post some of Kayla's thoughts of this day, they are pretty entertaining and they really say it all:

THE SICILIAN BAPTISM!
Carmen (she's from Sicily) was incredible. She took the baptism gown home and sewed on beads because the white dress was too plain and not "her" enough. So she fixed it the way she wanted it! She was just beaming and a lot of ward members came, except the Bishop. I was so stressed! I mean he was supposed to give the talk, he had the keys to open up the font, the font water was green because they didnt run the pipes long enough before filling it (long time since this ward has had a baptism) and while it started at 6, it didnt really start until nearly 6:30 because people were late. I was dying/still really happy. We managed to find one key that opened one side of the font, the water got drained a little so it didnt seem too bad and Fratello Fiorenza came to fill in for Bishop and gave a talk. Carmen didnt even notice she was so happy and the Relief Society President was AMAZING! She calmed us down, helped us out and her Presidency was just as amazing. They were so sweet with Carmen and really, everything worked out fine. Slla Smith and I ended up speaking as well because those who were asked to speak said they couldnt (most everyone is out of town on vacation. Its normal to take 2 months or more for vacation). But in the end everything really was ok. Our Ward Mission Leader was so sweet and he made the most beautiful programs! He even made Slla Smith and I our own colored copy and a thick nice one for Carmen. He is so humble and so hard working. I just love our ward!

So the week was crazy!! But when Carmen recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost it was incredible! She has the light with her She is so much happier and I thought to myself, wow, she is a perfect person right now! I just love her and am so happy to know her? She is so funny with me too! She keeps telling me, Sono la tua madre qui, la tua mamma Italiana! Which is Im your mom here, your italian mom! She fixed my shirt one time and asks how we eat, etc. Shes so sweet! She said something really sweet the night after she was baptised. She called our phone and she sounded a little sad and I thought, oh no! What is it? But she said, I just needed to tell you that I needed you and slla Glass, but I say you both but I really needed you. As in me! She said, I dont know what else to say but God bless you. I cried! She is so amazing and I dont think she needed me at all, but to hear that was pretty incredible. She gives me hope that there are other people out there and every no brings me closer to finding another Carmen. My mission was worth it after that phone call. You know, I left for my mission thinking I was going to "pay back" Heavenly Father for some of my mistakes, but it turns out He keeps giving me more than I ever could repay. I am indebted to Him forever.

"Warm Blanket"

2009-07-10T17:52:00.003-06:00

Kayla has started sending a fun little commentary about her scripture study, I hope you enjoy them! It's call Warm Blanket:

"Ed io suppongo ch'essi sono venuti fin qui per udire la piacevole parola did Dio, si, la parola che guarisce l'anima ferita" Jacob 2:8.

Alright, so this is the first edition of Warm Blanket! My findings in the scriptures for this week and how the scriptures really are a comfort for us, just like a warm blanket on a cold night.

This edition is thanks to Preach my Gospel! I did an excerise on p. 63 and really found some amazing insights to repentance. Repentance = Joy
Basically what I did was chose one scripture under each black heading in the blue box and studied it out.
Romans 3:23: We are all sinners and by ourselves we all fall short of Gods glory. We cant make it on our own.
D&C 58:42-43: the Lord forgets our sins completely when we repent. we remember them to help us learn and to keep us humble and remember always how merciful He is. The trick is to not do the sin again or especially dwell on them. He has forgot them and we are clean. Its kind of like what my mom always said, "take it as an experience and move on".
Helaman 5:10-11: repenting activates the Atonement. When we choose to repent and DO IT, then Jesus works to free us. The Atonement is already done, but He helps us in the process. He knows how hard it us for us because He ALREADY suffered for what we are currently going through. Here is an analogy that I thought of... the Savior is like an 2010 Astin Martin that is perfect. We have to get somewhere and we have the keys and are standing there next to the car. All we have to do is climb in, and start the engine. We have to ACT. Thats it, then we can go! The car is ready to go and will take us where we need to go, its us that has to ACT. If not, that amazing 2010 Astin Martin just sits there and we go no where.
Alma 12:32-35: This one I learned a lot from! Vs. 32, God gave the commandment AFTER teaching the doctrine of the Plan of Redemption. The people had an understanding before He gave the invite (commandment). Vs 33, God called men in the name of His son. This could be prophets, apostles, missionaries or anyone who "takes upon him the name of His Son" like baptism. Aka all of us. He told them that if they repented and hardened not their hearts they would have mercy.
Vs. 34 He repeats vs. 33 in more simple terms and words it differently so there is no room for error or confusion. Vs. 35 a warning for if we dont obey. There is a consequence for everything and He lets us know what the consequences for the commandments He has given.

Well, these are just my findings, my opinions and what Im learning. The great thing is that each of us can read these exact same scriptures and learn something completely new for ourselves to help US! The scriptures are amazing!

Pictures from Kayla

2009-06-08T23:30:00.006-06:00

This little girl is Kayla's favorite primary girl in her ward! When she sends me pictures of the missionaries in her area the pictures are never serious, wonder why?! Sorella Glass was transferred so they spent an afternoon at the park with one of their ward friends. Kayla says the pizza is to die for...guess we just have to take her word for it.. This little grandma speaks Italian and interprets for her family into spanish. They have had some very neat experiences with them. Hope you like the pictures! Kayla is enduring very hot/humid weather and just a little worried about the month of August!

Catch up Pictures!

2009-06-08T22:54:00.002-06:00

Seminary Graduation was really good. This class has so many great kids! The pictures are out of order, but you know it takes so long to load them, I'm not changing! Gotta love the classic 'M' pose. I have so many pictures, but these will just have to do! I'm not gonna lie, I'm really sad to loose my Jarom :( I know he needs to move on, but I am sure going to miss him!

2009-06-06T21:15:00.005-06:00

I have really been a slacker lately and have been spending too much time on facebook! I know, not much of an excuse, but the month of May was such a whirlwind!!! Wow, I am so glad to have if over..even though it means one more child of mine has graduated and will be moving on. So anyway, I plan on submitting news from my missionary, some pics of graduation, youth conference, and yes - girls basketball.......

Here are some of Kayla's letters over the last few weeks...

I cant wait until the Rome temple is finished. Right now we are praying really hard for it even to start. The general authorities have asked us to include that in our prayers every day. Right now the church isnt recognized as a certain level of churchiness (not a word I know, but I dont know how to translate it) and to have a temple, you have to be well established. So we are praying like crazy!

About the religious background of those we teach, here they are. Most of them were all born Catholics, but nearly ALL are not practicing, dont really believe its true and some how have mostly a half belief in Christianity and half in reincarnation and budhism. Not sure how they make the shift, but alright. Its kind of hard because just getting the basic knowledge of the personality and characteristics of God is so hard! Its so sad because honestly people dont know that God is like us. He is our Father in Heaven, has a body of flesh and bone, LOVES us (big one) isnt out to get us and wants us to be happy. I have learned a lot more about the Catholic church and mostly figured out one thing. No one really knows what exactly the Catholics believe, not even Catholics. Thats why its so amazing to some about our church because you can walk into any one of our churches and hear the same things! Not so with catholocism. They teach good things, but not all the same beliefs.

As for me in this gigantic city, a few things are changing. The first and foremost is transfers. I am staying here (YES!) and Sorella Glass is headed to Torino 2. Im happy for her, Torino 2 is the beautiful, non slummy area and she will do great! Im going to miss her, but I think you are right. We were both up for a change. But I think we will miss each other a lot more once we arent with each other. I am getting Sorella SMITH!!! remember her? She was the blonde sister from Torino 2 when I was there! We had all the fun pictures and what not! Anyway, Im so excited and cant wait to work with her! She is an amazing missionary and is so hard working! I got a letter from Sorella Doxey, my MTC companion, and she is doing really good. I think she is training this transfer. She is in Modena and is such a good missionary. Honestly, this mission is blessed with such good people!
As for our baptisms, Carmen is doing so good! We had a lesson in McDonalds with her and a member named Lucia. It was going to be outside, but these Italians cant handle a breeze to save their lives. Love them anyway! Anyway, so there we were in McDonalds and we decided to read the Jospeh Smith story together. We were reading in the pearl of great price about the 1st vision and Carmen taught us the apostacy! Basicall this is what she said: so, God and Abraham made covenants in the Bible, then Jesus came and made it possible for us to make covenants with God and then there wasnt anyone to help us make covenants until Joseph Smith came! So now we can make covenants with God! Mom, her eyes were shining and you could just tell she knew that what she was saying was true! S. Glass and I just about died! How amazing is she? I mean really! There is such a difference from the time we met her until now. Im so grateful to be able to be apart of her story. We dont even have to teach her, she is open and ready for the gospel. She is ready to pay tithing! So incredible. The 4th of July is going to be the best day of my life.
Valentina went home to Napoli to tell her mom that she is going to be baptised. We dont know how it went yet, but her mom is a staunch Catholic and she freaked out when Marco (Valentinas boyfriend) was baptised. We fasted for her and know everything will work out. Im so glad Valentina has such a strong testimony. Her mom and her are SO TIGHT. I really am praying and hoping for her.

I am having problems loading pictures off of my laptop, so I guess I will just load them in another post from my home computer... Until next week!!

News from Italy

2009-05-22T23:03:00.005-06:00

Ok, so the most AMAZING THING EVERY HAPPENED!!! Remember Carmen? Our amazing Sicilian investigator who came to conference and immediately started progressing? We just set a baptism date with her for the 4th of July!!! AHHHH!!!! I know!! Im so happy! She is doing so good mom! After we set the date and talked for a while, she asked if we would like to go talk to her friend! So, we walked on down and talked to her neighbor and her son! She is incredible. The bishops wife invited her to dinner Saturday night and everything is just going so well. So for July we will have a baptism the 4th and then again 11th with Valentina. It is going to be one crazy week that I am so ready for! Everything is just really falling into place. After Zone Conference I felt so pumped for the work and have been an inviting-finding machine and its been wonderful. Today a lady who we gave a card to 4 months ago called us and asked us if we could meet with her! That so rarely ever happens and I cant believe how amazing that is! We are meeting her in church this sunday. The ward members here are way into missionary work too and one family in particular is really helping us out. They are the Fiorenza family and their son has a lot of problems and is struggling. He has a tube in his throat, cant talk and cant walk on his own yet but he is adorable! His physical therapist comes every Friday and the family asked if we could come by Friday morning and talk to her. They feel like she is really ready for the message and of course we jumped right on that! Im really excited. We tried a really cool thing with them. We go to the members house a little bit before the lesson, a day or two, and teach them what we want to teach their friend or referral. That way when we teach the friend or whoever it is, they already know what they are to do and what we are going to do and it goes so much better. I like it a lot. That way they feel more involved. Cool, eh? I like it.

I have AMAZING news though!!! Remember my investigators in Torino? One named Victoria from Nigeria who had a really hard time reading and didnt speak Italian or English very well and what not? Well, she is getting baptised this month!!!! And also, if that isnt great enough, Sebastian, a nine year old in the Diaz-Moreno family we were teaching is also getting baptised!!!! I was really so happy to hear that! Mom! They are making the best changes ever in their lives! I got to see some of the progress and now, things are amazing! I found out this morning. Sorella Pitkin wrote me and told me and I couldnt be happier. Wow. I feel like I really did something in Torino, at least a little bit. I dont know, I know that numbers dont mean all that much and that its not how many baptisms you get, but really, baptisms are the only VISUAL way you can measure progress on the mission. Sad but true. All in all, it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside! I worked really hard in Torino and really tried to help those people and to hear that makes me so happy!
Anyway, so you are going to the MTC this morning, eh? Wow! Flashback! I love that place. I was thinking about it the other day about how strange and wonderful that place is and how I miss it like non other sometimes. I always felt like I was under SO much stress there and that I had so much to do, but now, heck! I would take that amount of stress for anything! If only! he he! Tell Ephraim I love him and that I need his address because there is an Elder here with a load of referrals from him! Anz. Carter lived in New York for a really long time and has a lot of friends there. The work never really ends.

As far as geneology bug, yeah! Im all for that! There is a really good scripture about geneology in D&C 128:15 that I like to use when we teach Geneology. S. Moreno was really into that because hardly any of her family members are members so genology is big. But it says that we cant be saved without our dead, so if we dont do the work for our dead, we cant get into the celestial kingdom either! Its like we have our key and we are standing infront of this huge door. there are tons and tons of locks and in order to get to the other side of this door and enter the kingdom of God we have to unlock all the locks. But, the problem is, we only have one key that unlocks one of the locks. So, we have to go and find the other members of our family with their keys! When we are all together, then we can finally recieve all the joy, rest, peace and happiness that we want so bad! Thats how I like to see it. So go for it girl! Go find our dead! I will be helping you when I get back!

This week, 20 of May:
Our week went really well! We have been outside, teaching and really trying to get to as many appointments as possible. I have been trying really really hard to organize myself better and to make it so we have time for everything and being with Sorella Acerson and DeVocht helped a lot. I went to Milano 3, the east half of the city, Monday night, Tuesday and then we swapped back today. It was like a breath of fresh air! I am right in the center of the city of Milan and in Milano 3 there is SKY AND GRASS!!! I was awestruck! I havent seen so much in so so long. I really missed it. Yeah, me, wanna live in a city for the rest of my days in an apartment and so much sidewalk and buildings that you cant even see the sky, is so out the window! I have absolutely NO desire to live like that after the mission! I want to have a house and a little yard in a smaller city so I can go outside and not see my neighbors on all four sides! Dont get me wrong, I love my area and I love my part of the city, but for when I return to Babylon, I want to take a much different route in life! Thats just ONE of the beautful things I have learned on the mission!

So, guess what I learned to do! I learned how to teach an Italian write off the street! Usually they are a little cold to you when they see your nametag, but I found a way! Here is what you do...you spot one, smile and start waving and say Signora or Signore!! like you know who they are. They will act a little confused, but they will come over and then you shake their hand and jump right into what you are doing here! We placed a BoM that way and it was awesome! I really like it! Wanna know how to soften an Italians heart? Tell them this...when they start going off on how awful the world is and how they just dont see any good, tell them how one time you ate pasta al forno or lasagna or something food related from THEIR part of this country and go off on it! Then they warm right up, ask you how it was and go off on how they make it better than anyone else in the world! Works like a charm. Enthusiasm for wherever they are from, honest enthusiasm is the trick. At least thats what works for me. And to be honest, usually Im fascinated by their parts of the country! I did this with a family we were teaching. They are from Puglia, in the south, and they just werent happy and so I went off on how I loved the food from there and they perked up, asked me about such and such and we started talking and then they told me to come back and we will eat! But, I was only there for one day, so they told me to get their number from the Sorelle there and that I always have a place to stay in Milano! They were so sweet! I so hope that Jarom gets to come serve here or at least have a ton of Italians wherever he gets to serve!

I have a cool quote from President Hinckley! Ready?

"Anyone who imagines that bliss in life is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. the fact is that most putts dont drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Lif eis like on old time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cindrs, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride!"

I agree. And it helps to think about that and just being content and happy where you are. Even if its sweating like a banshee running to an appointment or riding the metro and having no one on board wearing deodorant, but the teenager next to you accepts a pamphlet for the Book of Mormon! I love you mom. I love my mission so much and I love being where I am right now.

I know this is a long blog, but I didn't even share everything!! I just love how her personality comes through :)

Little Brother is a Missionary!

2009-05-11T14:11:00.005-06:00

Looking just like a missionary all ready!
The family! Yep he's headed off to New York with a huge support system back home. Only three weeks in the MTC, sure is different than Kayla's stay...

Elaine and Elexia helping with the name tag. How proud am I of my little Bro's decision?!

We all enjoyed breakfast at Denny's. We talked and laughed and took so many pictures, and yes I'm sharing the picture of the 'Italian' Tie sent from Kayla :) Of course it all the laughing and noise was kind of a cover-up in a way cause it is also a sad thing to say goodbye to Ephraim for two years. But we are so proud of his decision and will absolutely love writing our missionary!

Happy Birthday Kayla!

2009-05-03T23:27:00.002-06:00

Well, can I just tell you my birthday was a lot of fun! The night before we made the cake (SO good!) and it was pure American goodness right here in Italy! I miss American food so much sometimes. But, I think our bodies arent used to that sort of sugar or preservatives because we both got really bad stomache aches and had diarrhea! But it was worth every bite and I would do it again! S. Glass got up in the middle of the night and put signs all over the apartment that said Happy Birthday and other cute things and even wrote on our bathroom mirror in lipstick! Yeah! That was always my favorite thing you did. We talked about birthday traditions and lo and behold look what happened. I loved the cards! I took a couple pictures of everything and I had all my cards lined up on the table and candles (2) and it was good.

I cant believe im nearly half done. Its a really weird feeling. I thought it would feel different. Somedays it feels like its whipping by, but then it feels so slow and like Im just never going to be finished. I really want to make the last half the best!

I am for sure washing my hands. Oh! I had an awful experience! There is an investigator of the Anzianis who is homeless and we met him on the street in front of an ACTUAL Gastation!! They dont exist here and we found one! I stepped inside and took a deep breathe. Anyway, we bought icecream there and then met this guy and we had to shake hands and i didnt want to because he is homeless. Then S. Glass touched my icecream cone and i couldnt handle it so i gave it to her. THen i got your cards! when we got home and got distracted and ended up licking my fingers after eating peanut butter and crackers! I freaked out and wanted to cry. But, Ive learned my lesson now! wash hands when you first get in the house, then read letters.

.
Alright, here is the work update:
Eva is in her mid fifties, early 60s and she wants to be baptised so bad! She has had a couple of baptism dates, but her always works on Sundays and cant come to church. We had a special fast for her so her boss will let her off and now we are waiting.
Valentia is 23 and is getting baptised the 5th of July. The only reason she is waiting is because she is living with her boyfriend who is a member and they are getting married July 4th! She is solid and the only problem is she wont come to church if Marco is home. He works crazy hours at a bakery and plays the Im too tired card and pulls her down. We are teaching enduring to the end and trying to help her.

Carmen is in her 60s and is a referral from our mission president. She loves church and for a while would only come to church and not let us over. Then, she randomly came to conference, loved it and lets us teach at her home! She is amazing and is planning on being baptised when she feels she is ready. She wants to know everything. She is gone for the week visiting her daughter, so we will see her in a bit.

Irania is 14, speaks ok Italian but mostly spanish. She was really interested for a while, but with her family (all members but mostly less active) keep hounding her to get baptised and so she is backing off. Its really hard to see, but we will work with her and pray a lot.

Jashmine is 9, Philipina but speaks only Italian. She is slipping a little because her dad wont let her be baptised, but she believes it all. She gets confused sometimes because shes so young and is being taught Catholism in school I think. Her mom was a return missionary and now is completely less active thanks to work. I wish she would put her foot down on the being baptised part. She keeps saying someday, but the longer her daughter lives without the Holy Ghost the harder its going to be for her to be strong.

Olga is the sister of a member and is so confused. She married a Morrocan and was a practicing Muslim for a while, now she is all for Christianity. Her daughter, 9, and her are our investigators and she is going slow. I almost think she likes being confused. But, we are working with her and she is doing good. We have only met with her 3 times, once before I got here.

Those are our main investigators right now, but we just found a man from Sri Lanka and luckily we have one member from Sri Lanka who is going to come with us to help translate! He, the contact, is here with his family, so with all hope and luck we will have a new family in the ward!!!

I just don't have time to add a bunch of stuff! So Kayla gets to do all the information today! :)

It's Great to be a Senior!

2009-04-24T11:21:00.005-06:00

So I just have to share a couple of pictures with you!! Jarom is just too handsome to keep his pictures to myself! He let me take some pictures for his graduation announcement, it was hard for him because he really hates taking pictures! These are just a couple of good ones!

The Senior Ball was last week too, so here a some pictures of Jarom and a couple of his friends. They came over after their dates dropped them off just to take pictures with him! They have pictures with Jarom of all the major events since 8th grade. I just love these girls!! Of course I couldn't talk him into bringing his date back to our house for pictures so I will just have to wait for him to bring home the dance pictures. Don't worry, I'll share them too!!

♥ Milan ♥

2009-04-24T11:00:00.004-06:00

This past week Kayla and I both had to talk in church. She did hers in sacrament and I did mine in Stake Conference..it was so scary. But anyway that is why she is talking about her talk. Her birthday is today!! April 24th :) Last year for her birthday I drove down to Cedar City with a big white envelope!! Wow time flies! She will be starting her 8th month on May 3... Here is her week!

My talk went well and after cracking a few jokes, a little PMG magic and one testimony later, I was off that stand in less than 5 minutes! It was good though because the Elder before me took up a lot of time, so I was just the break inbetween! Its so funny to see peoples faces here when they can tell you are having a bit of trouble pronouncing something because Italians can NOT control their facial expressions! Anything they are feeling, they show and one family, the Grimaldi's, were smiling and then they looked a little like they were straining to understand, then they would relax and then go back to straining! I almost laughed right on the stand! But all in all it was a neat experience and one that most likely I will have the opportunity to experience time and time again!
This week is transfers, yes already I know, but I have good news! Im staying here and so is Sorella Glass! I get to do another transfer with the best companion I have ever had! Im happy, but she is dying a little because this makes 6 transfers here! 1/2 her mission in one city! But, we will make it fun for her. We are already making goals to really get to work and find even more investigators! I cant wait to see where this work goes. The members are really getting into it and the Bishop is a great help. He and I have a great rapport and Im so greatful. He always asks me how I am, if there is anything he can do to help, how the work is, how my family is, you know, the usual questions, but it really makes me feel appreciated and cared about.
I witnessed a cop and robber chase! Here we go, let me set up the scene for you because it was absolutely priceless. So, we were in the Metro, its underground and its a big cement platform with traintracks in the middle where you wait for the Subway. Usually there are vendors with cheap things like jewerly, bags, socks, etc. We were waiting for our subway, just having finished speaking to an amazing man who gave us his name and 2 numbers and address, Alessandro, and all of the sudden about 5 vendors came running down the platform smiling and laughing a bit and following them was this chunky, mid 50s cop just running as fast as he could to catch up with them! We didnt know what to do, so we just watched, paused and then I asked S. Glass "Did that really just happen?" and I promise you this, it did! I was thoroughly entertained! It was just like the movies and the only thing missing was a donut and some coffee involved somehow! Take care Mom! You are always in my prayers and thoughts. Im standing in Holy Places and loving every minute of it! Sorella Kayla Wilcox
Easter was spent at the park with these investigators. The lady has a baptism date for July!!

Another week passes!

2009-04-19T21:41:00.003-06:00

This week we:
1. Spent Easter Sunday at the house of Marco and Valentina. They made us a 4
or 5 course meal, we had a great lesson and set a firm baptism date with
Valentina! July 5th!!!
2. We spent the day after easter with them in a park! Marco brought his
guitar and he and I jammed while Valentina taught S. Glass how to play
Scopa. A really sweet Italian game that I will be teaching you all. It was
beautiful and I have pictures coming next week.
3.Our investigator Carmen bore her testimony in Sunday School!!! We only
taught her twice, but we taught her the plan of salvation and while we were
teaching it she asked a lot of questions and said, yeah, I knew thats how it
must be! Yeah, thats right! I knew that was the personality of God! She is
amazing! Sicilian and ready to be baptised. She just wants to learn
everything and then she is good to go! It was amazing.

I have a M. A. F.I .A story for you guys FINALLY! Ready? Here is the story. So, we live on a very posh type of street and there are lots of small restaurants. One morning we are walking to the Metro to go to an appointment and we see about 8 men, older, VERY Italian, dressed very nice outside of this one. They were all standing there and saying congratulations to each other and you just knew. We walked by quickly, but not too quickly! Not a very exciting one, but nevertheless, they are alive and well. Even here in Milano.

I am combining two weeks into one. The first half this message is written by Kayla. The rest is just me commenting! This painter has agreed to listen to their message! I wonder if that's why Kayla bought her mom one of his paintings!? :) Can't wait to see it!! Did you notice the paintings on the apartment building? They got together with the Elders and watched Conference at their Relief Society room. The Elder on the far left is Elder Whatcott from Fillmore!! How crazy is that? Two missionaries from Fillmore in Italy at the same time!

Pictures of Milan!

2009-04-01T18:46:00.003-06:00

I am sharing pictures this week! They pretty much say everything that needs to be said don't you think? I a couple of her experiences tho, she is a missionary after all!! haha ;)

Irania only speaks Spanish and a tiny bit of English, but if Jaisha wants, I could translate her letters into Italian and then her grandma could translate them into spanish! That would be so great!!! They are teaching us spanish and an amazing thing happened last lesson we had. We usually have someone there to help us translate into spanish, but the grandma wasnt there, so we just drew up the plan of salvation, had them read their scriptures in spanish and taught anyway and it worked!! We understood them (no idea how and it wasnt even that I understood the words, its like I understood everything in my head even though I got no words!!! it was crazy and such a testimony of the gift of tongues) she asked us questions and we answered them! and vice versa! Such an amazing experience and she is progressing so well! She wants to get baptised and we are going to set a date as soon as shes ready.

Mom, I love Milan and I love my companion. We were talking last night about our last 3 transfers and she was with a really hard companion too and so we both are just like taking a breather this transfer and loving it. The transportation is absolutely crazy! We have buses and trams (all the trams look like trolleys from San Fransisco minus the ability to just stand on the side and ride like that) adn then we have 3 metro lines. Do you know metro lines? Its like the subway in chicago or new york. Italians are so funny too because they are the most impatient people I have ever met! Funniest thing and I thought it demonstrated italy so well. We were sitting on the metro and I was deciding who to talk to next and this old man and his grandson got on the metro. He was about 5 or maybe 6 and I said Ciao! and waved and he got all shy and his grandpa was like, say hi to the senorina! and he did a gruff little salute. We were waiting for about a 30 seconds or so longer than we usually do and this little boy was like, are we going to have to live on this train or is it going to go? and he was waving his hands all italian style and everyone was just cracking up at his 60 yr old little boy! the kids are like that sometimes here! They are old people in little bodies! I loved it and laughed so hard.

A book store on the street! You can buy pretty much anything from off the street and these are my favorite. Fashion street this morning on the way here. I took it while in the tram. Its really rainy!

Not the best pictures, but this is my companion Sorella Glass, we're posing by trees that have daisy's on them! They are my favorite!!!

An amazing apartment building.

A huge park by our house. It has a natural history museum, a planetarium, a lake, fountains, a cinema museum. Its beautiful and these trees are some of my favorites!

The coblestone one is when I was at the Gallery. Its a huge outdoor, but covered mall that sells Gucci, Prada, everything expensive and pretty much where Denise belongs! Its right next to the Duomo.
Daisy trees! I'm obsessed with the trees here so expect a lot of these types of pictures in the future.

♥Twilight Movie Night♥

2009-03-26T21:06:00.004-06:00

How lucky were we to have EDWARD join us at our party? :)
Yes, we watched it on Friday night, (early!!) and partied till 4:00 am!!!! Isn't it just amazing how something so silly as a Vampire can inspire so many fun get togethers? We have partied for over a year now because of these books and the movie ;) As you can see, plenty of food, some kissing?, and great friends made a great night!!!!

My best friends, Melody and Sheri!! Stevie and Kortney came to hang with us too. Having him stand by the screen was a little distracting!! heehee♥ We're looking forward to New Moon!!!!!!!!

Kayla's first transfer!!! Hello Milan♥

2009-03-26T19:10:00.006-06:00

Saying good-bye to her first companion Sorella Moreno, and all of the other people she has grown to love.This is Victoria and she is an artist and almost ready for a baptism challenge. This their family home evening group, so she had the chance to say goodbye before she left. Just a few fun pictures from Torino, like the Chocolate Festival, a random human statue? and other Sorella in Torino.

HELLO MILAN!!!! How pretty is this street? I'm sure you noticed she is posing in front of some mighty fine vehicles!:) How else do you really enjoy Milan on your first P-Day? Buy some cheap sunglasses and relax for a bit in the park.....This is her new companion Sorella Glass, she is from Arizona and they seem to be a perfect match! It's so good to hear her talk about laughing and being happy and really feeling at home with this transfer.

Her new apartment. It must be nicer than her last one because she never sent any pictures of it!

Here is some of her last email. It's nice to see a little of her old personality come through along with all the growth she is experiencing!! Enjoy!!!

So, I have to tell you something. I absolutely adore Milan! I feel so at home here and its so beautiful! I feel like I have been here before because most the time I dont feel lost and I feel comfortable. I could live here! But not for a while. The ward members are amazing and the Bishop and this wife and I have a good report! She even gave me a recipe for Riso con latte e canella which is divine! My companion and I are getting along really well and we are so much alike. Last night we didnt feel tired so we just stayed up talking and lo and behold, she loves baking and the movie Stranger than Fiction and we decided to just open up a bakery in San Fransisco when we get home and cook Italian sweets. Yes, really silly, but so fun!

We have an investigator named Irania who is 14 and just lost her mom 3 weeks ago. We are trying to get her to go to Young Womens and I wish Jaisha was here to be her friend! I would kill for it! But the girls here are good too. Irania is doing really good and we are planning on an end of april/mid may baptism for her. Her whole family are members, but inactive and she is getting them activated again. She is so with it too! They all hound her about getting baptised, but she doesnt give in. She told us she wants to understand everything and really choose! I love her. We also have Valentina and Marco. Marco is less active and Valentina is an investigator. They are getting married in July and then she is getting baptised! They live together, or else she would already be baptised. I cant believe I get to see all these miracles! I love our investigators! Yesterday we had a lesson with one named Maria Cruz who speaks more Spanish than Italian, but thanks to the gift of tongues we are able to understand one another. Anyway, it was my first time meeting her and our second lesson with her and we had planned to teach her the restoration, but she wanted to wait until her grandkids were there. So, we were like, ok...umm... then S. Glass had a thought to teach 2 Nefi 31 which is all about baptism, so we taught it and it went really well! She wants to get baptised! With S. Moreno, I always felt like a baptism invite came after we had taught them everything, but instead, PMG says we can invite them the first time we meet them. Im learning so much from S. Glass and I love it.

We have 4 baptism dates for our companionship and we have 10 as a district!!! Its so exciting!

Here, every teenager and little girl asks us if we have ever met the people on High School Musical and of course we havent. But, I have an in! I tell them my cousin danced in High School Musical two and they go crazy! So, Brittney is super famous here. I show them the pictures of Elexias wedding so they know what she looks like. If she ever comes here, she will be mauled by our investigators.

I miss the people in Torino a lot. It was really hard to leave a lot of them and when some cried I really had a hard time. I was of course crying right a long with them because you know me, but I didnt think it was going to be that hard. I think its harder than saying goodbye to friends at home because there is next to no chance that I will ever see those people again and that just hurts. I cant think about it too much because I need to love the people of Milano just as much, if not more than them so I can do my duty to the fullest!

I still dream in English. Blast! But everyone says I speak really well in Italian and I understand almost everything. So, its ok. Maybe that will come. Its so nice just to say what I want to say in lessons and on the street. But, if Im under pressure its really hard still. Yesterday I forgot the word for hand dryer and couldnt think of it! It was frustrating/amazing. Its getting harder to speak well in English. S. Glass and I try to say something conjugated and we have to think for a while. This morning I wanted to say "we arent capable" but I kept saying "its not in our capaciability". Which makes sense in Italian, but in English it sounds wrong. So much fun!

2009-03-04T15:50:00.001-07:00

So this is the new hair "trim".... uhmm looks like a lot more than a trim to me! But since she looks so good I guess it's ok!! haha

Kayla says she is always wet and usually cold. Definitely looks that way, but it just doesn't seem to dampen their spirits! I wonder what the summer will be?

A few of the sister's serving in her area...

Who could resist being drawn to this group of young ladies? I think they just glow!! Here are a few parts from her last email. She spent a couple of days with another companion, it was time for their switch thing they do every so often....

Im over a 1/3 of the way through and I will be home before you even know it. I am keeping my companion pretty focused and we are doing much better. I laughed A LOT over your last email! this last week was really rough, but its ok. I learned a lot and am so glad is over. Its funny you asked about my health because I had a bit of the flu that I am getting over. Monday night, Tuesday and this morning we did scambi (traded companions) and I had to go to Genova to pick up S.lla Rasmussen. I was feeling pretty sick and threw up on the train and then threw up on the train home and just wasnt ship shape. That night I just went to bed, poor S.lla Ras! The next day I felt like lying in bed all day and doing nothing, but I prayed the night before to be able to go to our appointments and did. We had 3 appointments! We were out pretty much all day and I unwisely decided to eat pizza ( I was hungry!) and we ended up having a really great experience. First off, Sorella Ras is awesome! She is so happy! So, we had this boy that we met doing mostra and his name is Luigi (no he doesnt have a brother named Mario, I checked ;) ). Anyway, he is 19 and he had a girlfriend who was a member but she died two years ago. When she was alive she answered some of the questions that he had about the church,but when he really got interested, she was already gone. When he saw us at mostra he was really happy and so we set up an appointment to meet him and give him a book of mormon. He was really excited, wants to know more and is really just ready. He is coming to F.H.E tonight!!! We already have a friend lined up for him and are really excited to see where this goes. Its so amazing! I have sad news for you though, Lucia dropped us. She says she has her religion and doesnt need anything else. Its sad, but maybe this was just her first contact. They say everyone needs at least 6 or 7. But, good news! We have 6 new investigators this week! Our work is really growing and its growing fast! I dont even know how to keep up with it all! The Anziani are a little jealous, but Im telling you, the blessings of obedience and doing casa (knocking doors) and praying are where its at.

Transfer calls are the 10th. So, next wednesday I will know if Im going or staying!!

I got a little teary eyed when you described what happened the first Sunday Kambren passed the sacrament. I dont know what we all did to deserve each other, but Im sure glad we did it! I love being here on my mission. I dont think I can say it enough. Its hard, Im cold and wet a lot, I have people look at me like Im crazy, but I get to see MIRACLES every single day. My prayers are answered and I feel so close to my Heavenly Father. He wipes away my tears when I feel like its too tough. We are so fortunate to have such good parents. It is not the norm and I know how lucky I am. I always get choked up when I talk about you two. You definitely chose well! I love you mom!!!

2009-02-23T13:26:00.003-07:00

The emails coming from Kayla are getting more missionary like all of the time! She is really settling into the work, culture, and everything that goes along with being a missionary. How crazy is it she had to go all the way to Italy to visit an IKEA?! Enjoy her stories. The last one about Barbara, she has been involved with Kayla since the very beginning so she is kind of an ongoing story. She is still in Torino and appreciates the mail some of you are sending!! She says to tell everyone hi and if your single, get your self on a mission!!!:)

I had a really good week this week too! Its been such an amazing experience so far! The days go by so fast! Oh, we are going to Ikea today! Woo hoo! Im excited. Oh yes,they have a lot of those here. S. Moreno is dying because Im 21 and havent gone yet. Apparently its some sort of sin I wasnt aware of! jk.
Last night the Pinto Family and the Narduzzi family (other Narduzzis) came to our apartment at 9:40 to inspect things that need fixing and other things. The Pintos take such good care of us! I just love them! When they brought us their oven they just beamed! Sorella Narduzzi is the relief society president and we were talking and she confessed to be a huge fan of rock music, especially Metallica! I of course loved Metallica at one point and used it to my advantage and we did even more bonding! We are really becoming close to this ward, which hasnt been easy becuase of the bad examples of sister missionaries in the past. But now they love us and Im so happy!
Remember CJ? She is a lady in the ward who speaks perfect english and is one of my good friends. We bonded over Metallica too! Its seems that is the bonding factor! Rock music! Who knew? I have to say Im pretty ok with that! I knew listening to all that would come in handy someday! ok, I didnt know, but it did anyway. Scoff if you will!

First off, let us remember that here in Italy I am some kind of strange blonde giant who little old people look at in open mouted awe. Taking this into consideration, here is the first story:
We were teaching a less active Carla and her two sons, Danile 9 and Alessio 15. We were done and walking out of the door and Daniele starts laughing says this " your shoes are ENORMOUS!" He continues to point, laugh andfinally falls to the ground unable to stand anymore. Oh yes, my feet are unheard of huge here! His mom was way embarrased, but I said not to worry about it, if you could only see my brother! Ha!

Second story of my hugeness:
We teaching our two african investigators Rachel and Victoria. They had a friend there named Bobby, also african. He listened to our lesson, wanted to learn more and gave us his information. Yay for the Anziani! We left and he was going our same way and decided to come with us. While we were standing on the tram, he looked at me for a while and said, "you are very tall, why arent you in the army?" I said, thanks...um...Im a missionary. He said, oh, ok. Yep, too big for civilian life!

1. We are working with a woman named Carla Clavario. She is a less active (around 15 years inactive) with two sons, Daniele and Alessio. Daniele is the one who makes fun of my feet. Dont worry, I take solace in the fact that Jarom is WAY bigger than me! I tell people how tall he is and they dont believe me. Anyway, so we taught a little about prayer a week or so ago with them and then we went back ready to answer more questions. We were teaching prayer and Carla asked, yeah, but sometimes what you pray for isnt always what you get. (pretty much the same think Daniele asked about the last time) He, Daniele, looks at his mom and says, werent you listening last time? and teaches his mom about prayer! It was absolutely amazing! He is 9 years old and he is so bright and with it! I just love him. Carla told me this last time that she thinks that I am pure and that I am moves easily by the spirit and that I have a big heart. I nearly cried when she told me that.

2. We teach an english class and this last week we got a new member. Her name is Donatella and she said she is from Italy, she likes movies (Pride and Predjudice..sp?) and that she is lonely and just lost her job. She is learning English to help her get a job. She also said she remembers me and S. Moreno from midnight mass! We are going to try and teach her tomorrow. She stayed behind and listened to the lessonthat we gave after English class We teach a lesson after every other class for those who want to learn more about our church. We do shine as members as the church, not just missionaries, but members and others do see it. Especially when we are in a dark cathedral.

3. We are trying to teach a Muslim family. There names are Abrahamo, Siham and they just had a baby boy named Yazid. They are adorable and would be amazing members of the church, but traditions run strong. But, with Heavenly Father everything is possible. Everyone said yes once to this plan!

4. We are giving a punch-in-the-face-with-love message to Barbara tonight. She is blaming everyong and trying to find fault with the church and refusing to take responsibility for her actions. This is why the law of chastity is so important. She is living with her boyfriend and because of it, she is loosing her testimony. We love her so much and it hurts to see her this way, especially when we know what she is capable of if only she repents and makes the gospel priority. I will let you know how it goes.

Jaden's Baptism Day

2009-02-01T19:51:00.008-07:00

Jarom was asked by his cousin Jaden to baptize him this Saturday. What a neat day! Of course as a Mom I could not have been more proud of my son. I am so blessed to have a son like Jarom, he holds his priesthood with such high respect.
Denise wanted a picture with her little brother, so I jumped in and gave the camera to Jarom! It was a fun day and I ate way too much! Denise and Sara know how to throw a party! This is definitely a day to remember for Jaden and Jarom.

Pictures that just had to be shared!

2009-01-29T11:37:00.005-07:00

The famous Duomo in Milan!
Not really sure the name of the places these pictures were taken, but wanted to share anyway!
Kayla is winning over many people with her famous sugar cookies!! Everyone loves them!

This is the daughter of the couple Kayla spent Christmas with.

A day away from the snow!

2009-01-29T10:04:00.008-07:00

Who could resist listening to the message these beautiful missionaries have to share? Genova, the port city.
Genova...doesn't really need any words does it...
Makes you remember they're still just kids!
How "Italian" is this?

Finally pictures!! She sent so many I had a hard time knowing which ones to post, so I picked the ones that were most "Italian". Kayla's email was so fun this week. She is doing great! Here is some of her letter...

Here is the story of Genova. So we took a train really early in the morning (7) so it meant we gad to get up at 5. Not very fun. But worth it. So, we get our train, we talk to one man just before we got to Genova and then we met up with Sorella Harris, Moreno, Doxey, Smith and our "tour guide" Roby. We went to the royal palace there, then to their Duomo which is striped black and white and nearly every stone is stolen from somewhere. In world war II a bomb was dropped on the roof and it busted it and fell to the floor, but it didn't explode! So, we saw the bomb and then ate at the best foccacia ever made! Its famous in Genova, foccacia and ravioli. We were walking to get food and this man walks onto the street carrying a painting, huge and still wet, on his back up the street! Only in Italy. After playing in the sun (its so warm there) we came back to frigid Torino and ran to do email.
I was reading your letter (I print them off) as we were walking to the tram to get home and I sat next to this woman who looked normal and I thought, why not ask her about her mom. So I did and we ended up talking about how she had just gotten back from visiting her mom in the hospital (she has cancer) and was near tears. Then I asked her about her family here and she has a daughter with 2 kids and she talked about how her son was killed at age nineteen and showed me his funeral notice. It was about 1993 when it happened. She almost cried and I bore my testimony of eternal families and how she can be with her family forever and she was so sweet! I gave her a pamphlet and she asked me if this was my number on the back (our number is always on the back) and if she could call it and I of course said yes and then I asked if I could have her number and she game me two! I had to get off, but she was so sweet mom! She called us when we got home with another umber because she wanted to make sure I had one that worked! So, we are going to try and meet her next week, but I've talked to her twice since then. She is doing good and really wants us to come over! I am so thankful for you, I was thinking about you and your letter and because of that I was able to meet Luccia!
In Torino there are not very many Italians. In fact, its really rare to teach one. Most everyone in this area is from Morrocco, Africa, Romania or China. Its quite the mix. The work here in Torino is crazy! We had 8 investigators at church!!! Amazing, eh? I can't even believe it! I'm so grateful. Our days are packed full and I love it.

Ice Fishing at Yuba

2009-01-23T22:14:00.005-07:00

Humans are really silly, why else would we stand out on a frozen lake, freezing temperatures, and stare down a small hole watching for our fishing line to move in hopes of catching a fish? Yes that's what we did last Monday with Kambren. It was one degrees at Yuba and no sunshine, and our mil worms froze in their cup. We could tell the fish weren't moving much because everyone kept walking around drilling new holes... So when Kambren pulled this huge perch out we really got excited! It was 11 inches long and really fat:) I took pictures of the ice crystals that covered the ice because I thought they were really cool. Luckily we didn't have to stay long after he caught his fish, but headed home and had one of Jay's awesome breakfast burritos. Kambren fixed his fish for dinner and shared a taste with whoever wanted some, quite tasty.

Jaisha Scores!

2009-01-23T22:01:00.002-07:00

So how exciting is it when my freshman gets to play in a varsity game and she SCORES!!??!! Yep, two baskets! It was so fun and she was so happy. Even the seniors told her good game Jaish...! Great confidence builder;) Watching girls basketball is a riot! Now the boys just look boring...heehee... The girls are much more physical, they sneak in some wrestling, soccer, karate, and football along with basketball!!! Oh ya, that would be Jaisha making one of her shots!

Snow in Italy

2009-01-07T09:45:00.003-07:00

A surprising six inches and still snowing according to Kayla. I guess it is a little unusual and her companions first experience of so much snow, so they are building a snowman on p-day! She is from California. It made the holidays seem like home for Kayla. She had a great Christmas and even had the chance to go see the Forgotten Carols performed in Italian. She loved it! The holidays aren't quite over yet she tells a little about them:

There is a couple of huge celebrations at the new year. First, the day before new years, then new years, the day after (3 days to get over the hangover;) and the the 6th is what is called Befana. Its a tradition that no one really knows where it originates but the jist is this...an old woman who looks like a witch helped the wise men find baby Jesus and somehow the tradition of stockings full of candy for the good kids and coal for the bad is incorporated. Its crazy, but Barbara our investigater gave us one after dinner last night!

Did I tell you that Lorenzo Snow served here in Torino too? Yep! He didicated the work for Italy on Mount Brigham which is in my area and if i'm here in the spring (hope so!) we can go see it! Read his story if you get a chance because the people and the area haven't changed a bit.

I love the Be Bold pins! (our Bishop Ashton handed these out last year to the members in our ward and issued us a challenge to be bold and share the gospel) If you read about Amulek and Alma in the Book of Mormon, they were the BOLDEST missionaries I have ever heard. Sometimes the people only get a split second chance to hear the gospel, thats why we talk to as many people as possible. But, if you think about it too much as a missionary it starts to weigh on you and you start to get a little discoraged. So, the trick is to use it as an inspiration to talk to everyone you can and if you can't talk to some people, thats when you little brother gets sent on his mission to catch the ones you missed!;) But seriously, even at home, use it as inspiration. The end is near, but that doesn't mean we have to run around all crazy like, just be steady and constant at working toward good. Thats what I do! Yesterday we (companion) and I were talking about stuff like this. The mission is like a mirror. We see everything we like and don't like about ourself from our eyes and from our companions and we get the chance to repent and change the things we don't like and improve what we do. I have learned alot about me and frankly, I drive me nuts sometimes! But I've learned more of my talents and the things Heavenly Father has given me to work on and improve and become happier.

So this is just a little of her last email, and I think she sounds great! She is just too slow to send pictures to me! Hope you enjoy reading about Sorella Wilcox!!

Christmas Fun!

2009-01-03T11:04:00.009-07:00

Christmas seemed to come so fast this year! We started with the family party at Granny Thora's..
The little kids are so fun to watch with Santa! Granny's house was pretty crowded but somehow that made it even funner.

Santa found our house without any problem. We are quite blessed every year to be able to spoil our children. One of the best highlights of the season was being able to attend the program Savior of the World with our YM & YW. If any of you get a chance to attend, don't miss it!!

This program was the best way to begin the Holiday Season. I think it's great to take our youth to the temple every chance we get! They need to feel the spirit as often as possible!
The BEST GIFT EVER was the telephone call from Sorella Wilcox!! She called about 10:30 and was able to talk for forty min. I shared a few with the family but pretty much kept the phone in my hand! She sounded great and we both cried most of the time! She spent the day with an awesome family and really is happy. She spoke Italian to her Dad and he was very impressed. I will post pictures as soon as I get them. We all missed her this Christmas, but we are so proud of her. Thanks to all of you who remembered her and sent her cards!
The traditional Christmas Eve pj's! Kayla said she bought her some too! Grandma Dorothy gave chocolate and money! Oh and how can I forget to share a picture of my birthday present? King Crab Legs and Shrimp!! My hubby loves me!!

More than emails from Italy!

2008-12-14T20:40:00.005-07:00

How exciting is to receive a package fromKayla!? She sent chocolate and Jaisha's birthday present (pink Italian leather wallet) I just had to take a picture of it! But I must say the funnest thing to receive are the pictures! She looks great and she is in a really big city. I didn't realize just how big. I will share some of her letter and try to add pictures too. Just couldn't resist sharing the food comments!

there is NO ranch dressing, the ketchup is very sweet, no jello, no marshmellows, no cool whip, no cottage cheese (but they have a BILLION types of cheese!) the mayonaise is really different and is really good! They put it on fries mainly and meats. I really miss peanut butter, so if you could slip some my way, that would be awesome! Their yougurt is like a smoothie and is really good. Their milk comes in two ways, either in a box that can last for nearly a year on the shelf (i still can't figure that one out and choose to ignore it, they call it poo milk in the mission!) or really fresh and goes bad in a few days! I claim allergies with eggplant and found something new about that. Alot of the women here go balk and one theory is that the eggplant causes it! Yeah! so SOOOOO not eating it!!!!

Here is my big story for this week! Are you ready?? I went on what we call scambi (it means change, but its kinda slang, and its like exchanges) I went to GENOVA! Mom, if there is a place where we are all going to live someday, this is it!! Its beautiful! Truly! There is a port and a big duomo (catherdral) and it was just beautiful! Palm trees! I was there 2 days and then I came back to Torino. I was there with S. Harris and we taught this family and the Spirit was so strong! S. Harris said that it was finally a break through! She was worried that they would have to drop this family and focus on others because they weren't progressing, but then this happened and bam! We were going to go somewhere else, but we got a prompting not to and to go here instead and I'm so glad we did! Sorry if i'm not spelling right, but my hands are so cold! Its freezing here! We had Napoli Pizza with two investigators and the city had such a good feeling

Lessons with a member always goes better, so if the missionaries haven't asked you yet, ask them. I would just flat out PASS OUT with joy if a member did that! The spirit is so much stronger and the lessons go so much smoother with that one or two extra testimonies! We had a member lesson just a couple of days ago with Luz and she agreed to follow the word of wisdom and opened up alot more! Our member was davide, a return missionary and it was amazing! Our lesson this morning went smoother and she is trusting us and really working hard! Progress is sometimes slow, but it is progress and that is all that matters! She agreed to follow the law of chastity. I was a little worried about teaching that, but when I bore my testimony tears just flowed and it went so well and the Spirit was so strong! I knew with all my heart that this commandment is of God and that when we obey it our self worth sky rockets and the love we feel is limitless!

My Italian is coming along great! Thanks to my Heavenly Father He is so merciful! I don't remember if I told you or not, but every so often I meet someone who speaks Englis and I get to talk about the gospel that way! its such a tender mercy! We try to speak Italian all of the time, but sometimes I just miss English! That's when Heavenly Father helps me.

I could go on and on with the sharing, but I better quit. The pictures are of her companion who is from California and the statue of satan and his fallen angels.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-11T22:57:00.004-07:00

Just a quick thought about this years Thanksgiving. This year was a special one for Grandma, and all but three grandkids were able to attend. Kayla of course being in Italy!! Three grandsons just couldn't make it:( It was so fun seeing everyone, because it had been a very long time and my children couldn't remember a couple of their cousins. Family is so precious that we really should try harder to get together at least once a year. Granny is going to be 89 in Feb. and she is really doing good. Funny thing about families, you love them so much, but life just seems to get in the way of really spending time together. Enjoy just a few pictures, believe me when I say there were SO many taken, Jay just laughed at my camera crazy family!

Christmas for Kayla

2008-11-29T11:34:00.007-07:00

Just in case anyone wants to send something to Kayla, I thought I better share this information from her Mission Pres.

All Christmas packages must be delivered to the mission office by December 1, to insure delivery to the missionary.

Due to customs regulations Christmas package delivery to missionaries can be expensive and complicated. Our recommendation is that instead of sending a large package, send something small and then put money into your missionary’s personal account so that he or she can purchase a gift here.

Beware that the Italian government often charges an import fee of 25% or more of the value of the package. You should be cautious when writing in the value and contents of anything you send. Packages are randomly stopped for inspection, but are targeted if they look suspicious. For example, if the value declared is too low compared with its list of contents. Italian customs will not accept zero as a value, so assign a reasonable value to letters, pictures, CD’s, etc. Our experience is that Italian customs will usually stop and inspect packages when “missionary supplies” is listed as the contents.
It is our experience that items sent in a padded envelope are seldom stopped or have a customs fee charged for them. When the phrase “dalla famiglia” is added at the end of the list of items, packages also are less likely to be stopped. This phrase means that the contents are “from the family” rather than having been purchased via mail order.

It is important to note that missionaries are required to pay from their own funds all duty and import fees for packages they receive. At times these fees can exceed the value of the package.

Send packages or hard copy mail to:

(Missionary’s FULL Name)
Missione Italiana di Milan
Via A. Gramsci 13/4
20090 Opera (MI) Italy

I guess the mail there is not real reliable so maybe any letters that are sent need to just go to the mission home and let them get them to her. Still no pictures to share with you! But will post more of her last letter next.