Sorella Gisseman: December 2018

(Brie's P-Day this week was switched to Tuesday, Christmas Day. She only sent a brief e-mail since we would be talking with her that day. This is her e-mail.)

Buongiorno!!!!!! Buon Natale!!! Auguri!!!!!!

I figured I have a little time and today is technically P-Day so I would update you a little about the week! It was so fun!!!! It was super awkward to go finding because it's Christmas and everyone is in fretta and Christmas shopping... but it's okay. We had a super cool appointment with (I think it was this week) a couple we met while petting their dog. He is African and she is Italian (which doesn't happen here... He is from Cameroon) and she is atheist and he is searching kind of.. but I mention this because it was all the things and questions that we can answer with our knowledge of the restored gospel. So cool. He was hyped about the book of Mormon. And she kind of has made up her own ideas about God but that's okay. And we got to talk in English which was awesome!!! Incredible because you can say whatever you want but also difficult because you can say whatever you want. So there is my lesson of the week. My memory of this week is gone because CHRISTMAS!!!! We had Christmas Eve dinner with E's family which is a huge deal because that's their big meal. And it was INCREDIBLE. Nine different kinds of seafood. And it was so funny and everyone was laughing and there was an argument or two but it was so fun! And so real!! And the food was incredible! And we got permission to stay out later and we got home later, like 11 pm, and we hadn't even gotten to the dessert course yet. Can you BELIEVE IT?!

Last thing -- I'll keep it short -- we've been asked to invite our families and friends to GO ON FACEBOOK and like the page "la Chiesa di Gesù Cristo dei Santi degli Ultimi Giorni" (the Italian page) so that we can get more press and media coverage for the temple! So everyone do that!

Love you all and Buon Natale!

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(This is Brie's Mom) -- We were able to talk with Brie over Facebook Messenger and she looked and sounded SO good. She is so happy and she just sparkles and glows. She is doing great. It was rough at the end when it was to end...there were tears...but it was so good to see her and talk to her.

A service project at the bishop's house...

Our video chat with Brie on Christmas Day

More pictures of the service project

Pictures from zone conference with the mission president and his wife

They acted out the nativity as a zone. Brie was a wise man.

I learned how to make ragu (sauce) and it was SO GOOD -- I am a master!

LOVE!

More pictures of the service project with the Trimbles (the bishop and his wife). She came up and gave me an extra hug in church. Basically they are African packages and it was INCREDIBLE.

We had pranzo with the church family on Sunday and they are so cool and an Italian Grandma (the rock of our ward) joined us.

We went caroling and the anziani bought a miniature Christmas tree.

A fun vlog of Napoli on Christmas Eve when we tried to go finding.

Christmas Eve dinner. Course 1 was raw oysters...

So much excitement!

Raw oysters are gross.

A pizza on the left with a shrimp antipasto, octopus below, and in the shell was INCREDIBLE, like a seafood with potatoes and cooked in this shell.

Mussells, I think.

Pasta course.

Lobster

More frutto di mare

More again -- a different course.

With the fam

You guys literally wrecked me. Like literally I cried so hard. I love it.

Just a silly pic with the stack...

The Caserta sorrelle came over and we made them breakfast and then made the gingerbread houses.

Our Christmas village. I LOVE the tree Oma made and sent!

This week went soooooooo fast!!! I am feeling much much better this week -- like, we are thriving out here in Pozzuoli. Companionship unity? 10/10. Positivity like 7/10 which is incredible for me. ALSO WE ARE ON THE TRAIN RIGHT NOW AND PEOPLE ARE JUST SINGING AND PLAYING GUITAR IT'S SO CUTE AND CHRISTMAS.

On Monday we did some caroling in Napoli as a zone which was super cute! And in the Galleria which I think is famous in Napoli. It's beautiful! Then Tuesday we woke up at 6 am and ran to THE BEST bakery called Dolci Moment and got probably the best pastry I've ever had and I don't even know what it was called. It was cute and then we ate our pastries and hung out. Cute. Had district meeting (DDM) and took chair pics which I guess is a thing. ALSO there has been a super cute girl coming to church (she was in a pic last week) named M and we got to finally teach her this week and it was so cute!!!! ALSO we had a lesson with E but before the lesson we went with her to look at a presepe which is the nativity but not just the nativity -- also a bunch of little houses and like a whole village... like three rooms worth of it! It was cute. And then for the lesson we talked about testimonies (and she was super cool and understood that we can't be her testimony type of deal) and we used a scripture from Corinthians, I think.. and it was basically about how like we came unto you in weak words to proclaim about Christ and want you to be able to see that it's of God and not of the world and not of us type of thing. And Sorella read it again and substituted her name for "brethren" and us for "I" and it was so cool!!!! And then I asked her if she would be baptized and you don't use question words in Italian -- it's all tone of voice and so after I asked her, like, hey will you be baptized by someone with the priesthood authority of God, she was like is it a question? And we were like, yes, it's a question and she was like, yes, of course -- that's what I'm planning on doing!!!!!! So right now she is praying about the two dates that we prayed about!!!!!
1. Elder Ballard promised our mission that if we would talk to 10 people per member of companionship outside of tracting everyday we would find the elect (basically more or less) and so we really have been trying to do that and it's CRAZY because everytime we go finding we find for like two hours and then right about the time we probably hit 20 people we find someone that actually has interest!!!!!!! It's incredible.
2. We were finding and a bird pooped literally like 0.2 seconds before I would have walked it in. Missed it like really completely. Like it hit the ground the same point that my foot did, if that makes any sense. Wow. Fun to know that I'm being looked after in the small things, too.
3. I lost my name tag on the train today. It somehow ended up in my companion's pocket. It was INCREDIBLE.
1. Have you enjoyed being able to cook again? What have you been making?
Yes, we can. We made pancakes and pasta with meatballs last week and again this week. And we boil eggs.
2. How was church? Did you have a good turnout?
Church was good. We had kind of a good turnout. M was there so we got to teach her alone in Sunday School because no one else was there, which was kind of sad.
3. What was the funnest/funniest thing that happened this week?
Super fun -- we went caroling in Napoli last Monday and that was cute and fun. And went into the Galleria which is some huge building and everyone's like, look in this building -- it's cool! So you walk by and look in it. It might be famous. I don't really know. Today for P-Day we went to castle San Elmo -- I don't really know. It was cool and fun. We went with the sorellas from Caserte and then we got pizza and gelato.
4. How have you seen the hand of the Lord in your life this week?
One of our goals and one of our invitations from district council (DDM) was to pray to be able to see the little miracles in finding and to pray for the little miracles. So one was not getting pooped on by the bird. The tiniest little bit got on my boot. The same time my foot hit the ground, in the same place but like two inches to the left the bird poop hit the ground. So if I had literally been like half a second sooner in my step I would have been pooped on by that bird. But I wasn't. That's a miracle. And we rode the train today and -- this is the most packed train that I've been on. You literally cannot breathe. You usually need to hold on because the trains move so much but it was so packed that you didn't even need to hold onto anything because there were people surrounding you. Finally we get to our stop and we get off and walk 10 feet and I realize I didn't have my name tag -- it was gone. Sorella said we should go check for it so we ran back to the train and I see the back of it on the train, so I'm saying excuse me and I get on the ground and grab it from in between these guys' legs because the train is packed again because more people have gotten on it. So I grabbed the back and in my broken Italian asked if anyone has seen a tag, and I point to Sorella Brandt's, asking "can you see it? Have you seen it?" And everyone said no. So I got stressed out because, first of all, I'm not wearing a tag, and second of all, I lost my tag. This is my only magnetic tag and it has some stickers on the back and I don't want to lose my tag. One of the other sorella had two tags on her so I was wearing one of her tags so that was fine. When we were waiting in line at our favorite pizza place in Napoli, Sorella Brandt reached in her pocket and my tag was in her pocket. WHAT!!
5. What was the best thing you ate this week? What was the strangest thing you ate this week?
We officially decided that the pizza place next to our house is the best one in Napoli. Our district leader served in Napoli proper for five or six months and we told him this was the best pizza and he said there was no way that there's a better pizza that's not in Napoli. So then he tried it and he got really quiet when he was eating it, because I think he knew it was better but he didn't want to admit he was wrong. We didn't really eat anything strange this week.
6. Are their different Christmas songs in the Italian hymnal than in our hymnal?
Yes -- there are two or three but I've never heard them because in our ward we sing English and Italian at the same time so we can't sing the only Italian songs.
7. What stood out to you in your studies this week?
I've been reading in Italian so I'm studying a lot, lot slower. I think it's interesting -- one thing I've been noticing a lot is the way that things are translated -- like words that are Old English and then the Italian translation kind of gives you more insight into what it meant, like out of these four words that they could have used to describe this one word in English they chose this one. Does that make sense? I wish I had an example but I don't have any on me right now.
8. What has the weather been like there lately?
It's been colder than usual. Kinda chilly. Really cold.
9. Did you see anything interesting or unusual this week?
No. There was a crazy guy yelling in the train station a few minutes ago.
10. What is your favorite Christmas song and why?
We can listen to Christmas music. I love Christmas music.
11. Do you know how much I love you?
Yes, yes, yes, and I love you a lot.
12. How has someone shown you love or kindness this week?
Mom showed me love and kindness with the Twelve Days of Christmas because they're so thoughtful and so cute and we love them.
13. What was the happiest part of your week?
The lesson with E when she said she wanted to get baptized. She understood the lesson super well and was like, duh, I'm going to get baptized! Why are you even asking?!? :-)
14. What did you do for P-Day today?
Castle San Elmo, ate good foods....
15. Do you have any information on skyping (or whatever) for Christmas?
I think I sent it to you already. We can skype between the 23rd and 26th, I guess at any time -- we just figure it out amongst ourselves. As long as it's not 3 in the morning. We can do it during proselyting time.

Mom, panettone is huge here! I haven't had it because my companion says it's gross and she likes pandoro more, if you can find that...I don't know, though, because I haven't had either one! We had one from a member but then talked to this really cool lady in the train station and she was homeless but like a sad situation homeless and she was working hard to get out of it so we gave it to her! She needed it more than us, but long story short -- I have not tried it. If you have let me know how it is.

ALSO I have lost like 1.2 of my hair, maybe like only a 1.3 so I called the mission nurse this week and she was like, you need to see a doctor and then I was like this is common I thought (because she is new) and so she was like, let me do some research.. came back and told me what vitamin to get and I've only been taking it this week but today I washed my hair and I only lost like 1.2 the hair I usually do!!!!! Progress!!!

Also some quick miracles from the week --

This week has been a much better week. I think something that Sorella Brandt told me to do and so I've been doing it is when you have a thought that's discouraging just literally stop it -- you can't let it enter you mind and so I've been doing that and it has been super helpful.

The guy who told you that in Napoli they speak a different type of Italian -- it's true. I'll try to listen to see what people are saying, listen to see if I understand their conversations, and half the time they're not even speaking Italian because Napolitan, their dialect, is like a real language now, like as of a year ago it was declared a real language.

We love the Twelve Days of Christmas that you did for us, Mom. The first two days we loved -- they were just candy because we just love candy, except for I'm getting fat so after Christmas no more candies. But before Christmas it's ok! We laughed last night because we got the tealights and we were like, what?? It was cute.

The Twelve Days of Christmas that someone is doing for you guys is so cute - you should do that for someone next year because Christmas! Yea, yea, yea! We love Christmas!

I cannot believe I'm like 1/6 done with my mission because I literally can't speak to anyone still....yikes...

Your ward covering the December mission payment is so cute and I'm so grateful for that. That's so sweet. I think Mom might be having a harder time with me being gone than me with being gone. Are you having a hard time with me being gone? Let me know.

Also, we're trying to do Christmas stuff right now, we have to get gifts for our anziani and we want to get the sorella in Caserte something because she just got a greenie and her greenie has only been here for six days so she's only going to be in the field for 12 days before she calls home. So we just want to do something for them but it's hard to figure out how to do something for them that's cheap and, you know, so I feel like I understand Christmas stress for the first time now because we can't do anything except on P-days.

We didn't hear anything about the changes in kids moving up in the programs in January. That's crazy but it makes sense, but at the same time it's like, what???

I'm super excited for Alyssa to come be with you guys. You guys have to send me lots of pictures, not too many, though, because then I'll get sad. Also, Dad said that you guys got her a keyboard for Christmas. That's super cute.

I did finish the Book of Mormon. I think I told you last week I finished it, so that's nice. My goal is to read two chapters in Italian out loud every day and I should finish it. If I read seven chapters every day I'll finish it in one transfer, so I think if I read two chapters I'll finish it in three or four transfers.

Love you all xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo and Sorella Brandt loves you, too!

At DDM