Well I didn't get an email from you which is really abnormal and kind of sad, but I'm sure you are busy, and it just slipped your mind. I'm hoping to get one before I sign off. Have you gotten any of my letters yet? I have sent two and I'm hoping they get to you soon!
Sorry the letters haven't been longer. It's really hard as a missionary to talk to your family as much as you would like because we are only supposed to write once a week and also get ready for the following week, which makes it really tough. I'm trying to be better about it and work out systems hopefully it gets better. I really hope that you aren't mad at me, and that's why you haven't written. For the most part I prefer writing to you and Dan via letters because I want to make sure that I can say everything I want to, and if I spent my whole time writing to just you no one else would get any emails at all. So if it seems like other people are getting more attention via email, it's just because I am writing you three page letters, and using my email for people that are less convenient to write. I really love and miss you, and I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings.
Things are good. The work is alive and well. My companion and I are very different, as were my last companion and I , but I know that this is divinely inspired and the Lord is putting me with the people that I need and who need me. Also I have learned a lot of things from these two girls that I am very grateful for. If I only had companions that were just like me, I wouldn't grow. The food here is a little hard for me to handle sometimes. Mainly the fruits and veggies. Lettuce here makes me the sickest. It would make my stomach hurt sometimes in the states, but it really kills me here. My companion thinks that I have a lettuce intolerance, but I think I just need time to adjust to the food.
The mission president in Georgia does a lot of emergency transfers, President Waddoups is fairly opposed. Is Elder Douglass helping dad? I had a lot of faith in him but dad doesn't seem to be making any progress through him. Maybe the sisters would be better, because they remind him of me? Also did Elder Douglass follow up on that name I sent him? Whichever missionaries you are working with you should encourage them to do an English course for all the Spanish immigrants. We are doing an immersion program so it doesn't matter if we speak the language or not, and I imagine it would be similar for them. They could have a member from the Spanish branch to give a spiritual thought. How is Dad doing by the way? Is he going to therapy?
I am really sorry about Grandma and Grandpa. I don't know what to say but they are in my prayers. I hope everything works out mom. I know that this is hard and that family is important to you. I wish that I could be there to help you, and I wish that Grandma and Grandpa would respond to the gospel. I know that it has been difficult for you not having the family dynamic that you might want, but I just want you to know that I am grateful for you and that I can't wait to get sealed to you. Maybe you could start looking into the details of that.
I forgot to mention that I took photos for dad's birthday and that they are in the drafts folder, but they are in there and there are new ones for this week.
xoxoxox Madyline
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Siracusa Week 4
This week like every other week in the mission has been very full of miracles. Earlier this week we had an appointment with a less active named Sorella D'luca. We got her address out of the ward directory and started to look for her house. After about an hour of searching we gave up, and our phone has been acting up so we couldn't call her and let her know what was going on. We were really frustrated as we were leaving her house. However, as we were heading to the church when a man at a plant stand saluted us and told us that our Italian was very good. I have always wanted to stop and look at this plant stand, and the man seemed very friendly so I stopped to thank him for the compliment. As we were talking he told us that he had known another missionary in the past who used to walk past his plant stand all the time, but that the missionary hadn't passed by in a long time. We asked him if he had ever spoken to this missionary, and he said yes. The other missionary had given him a vangello di Gesu Cristo Opuscolo {a brochure about Jesus Christ}and he had read it so many times he probably had it memorized. He told us he liked to read when it was slow at his stand and asked if we had any more opuscoli {brochures}. So we gave him a restoration, and plan of salvation pamphlet, and a Book of Mormon. Then we exchanged numbers and left. The next morning was church and we were having an appointment about meeting with members before general conference, and he walked in to the church. We had given him a genealogy pass a long card and he wanted to know more about it. Later we had an appointment with him where he told us that he had begun to read the Book of Mormon, he isn't a huge fan of Nephi killing Laban, but he is very curious and very receptive. He was also interested in how much the Book of Mormon stresses record keeping, and he wants to know more about genealogy. Later we found out that Sorella D'luca has never lived in the address that is listed in our 5 years old ward directory. So years ago someone made a very inspired mistake.
The English course is going great. I really desperately want my students to come to general conference, and so I have given two spiritual thoughts on conference, and will be giving a third on Thursday. This last Tuesday I brought a picture of Thomas S. Monson and bore a really strong testimony of how blessed we are to have this man acting as a prophet in these latter days. I wanted my testimony to be enough to get them to come, but I wasn't sure that it would be so I told them that it would be in English and Italian to give them a little more incentive to come, but I stressed what a wonderful opportunity it is to receive personal revelation. After class (I teach the advanced huddle) one of my students came up to me and told me he is coming to conference. He is one of my most dedicated English students and I thought it was for the opportunity to practice hearing English, which while not ideal is better than nothing but after he told me that he was coming because I wanted him to come. It was one of the most beautiful moments I have had on the mission so far. I am just saying really really sincere, maybe even desperate prayers that all of the speakers speak very slowly, and very clearly, and that my students can be touched by the spirit.
Another cool thing that we did this week was Jesso. Which is where we take a sheet to a busy piaza and two of us draw the plan of salvation, and two of us distribute pamphlets. I like talking to people a lot, and drawing not very much at all so I drew one cloud and then started passing out pamphlets. As I was grabbing pamphlets a woman stopped me and in English asked if I spoke English (This happens to me all the time because I look so very not Italian. A lot of times I will be speaking to someone in Italian and they will proceed to tell me all the words they know in Italian which for the most part consists of hello, how are you, I love you.) We talked to her for a good 45 minutes and she seemed very interested in Genealogy, and her boyfriend might come to English course!
We are meeting with a lot of ward members to help prepare them for general conference and inviting them to bring a friend (same goes for everyone reading this email :) ) which means that I have eaten a lot of cookies this week. I think we should start hiding them in our bags, but it hasn't happened yet.
I absolutely love Italy, Sicilia especially. The ward is great, and the Lord is preparing us to meet people. As much as everyone told me that Europe was a hard mission and that I wouldnt have a lot of success, the Lord has almost been throwing people at us.
Love and miss you all
Sorella Madyline Spencer
The English course is going great. I really desperately want my students to come to general conference, and so I have given two spiritual thoughts on conference, and will be giving a third on Thursday. This last Tuesday I brought a picture of Thomas S. Monson and bore a really strong testimony of how blessed we are to have this man acting as a prophet in these latter days. I wanted my testimony to be enough to get them to come, but I wasn't sure that it would be so I told them that it would be in English and Italian to give them a little more incentive to come, but I stressed what a wonderful opportunity it is to receive personal revelation. After class (I teach the advanced huddle) one of my students came up to me and told me he is coming to conference. He is one of my most dedicated English students and I thought it was for the opportunity to practice hearing English, which while not ideal is better than nothing but after he told me that he was coming because I wanted him to come. It was one of the most beautiful moments I have had on the mission so far. I am just saying really really sincere, maybe even desperate prayers that all of the speakers speak very slowly, and very clearly, and that my students can be touched by the spirit.
Another cool thing that we did this week was Jesso. Which is where we take a sheet to a busy piaza and two of us draw the plan of salvation, and two of us distribute pamphlets. I like talking to people a lot, and drawing not very much at all so I drew one cloud and then started passing out pamphlets. As I was grabbing pamphlets a woman stopped me and in English asked if I spoke English (This happens to me all the time because I look so very not Italian. A lot of times I will be speaking to someone in Italian and they will proceed to tell me all the words they know in Italian which for the most part consists of hello, how are you, I love you.) We talked to her for a good 45 minutes and she seemed very interested in Genealogy, and her boyfriend might come to English course!
We are meeting with a lot of ward members to help prepare them for general conference and inviting them to bring a friend (same goes for everyone reading this email :) ) which means that I have eaten a lot of cookies this week. I think we should start hiding them in our bags, but it hasn't happened yet.
I absolutely love Italy, Sicilia especially. The ward is great, and the Lord is preparing us to meet people. As much as everyone told me that Europe was a hard mission and that I wouldnt have a lot of success, the Lord has almost been throwing people at us.
Love and miss you all
Sorella Madyline Spencer
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Personal Letter
I haven't read any of your emails, but they are all already to be printed off. I also have a few photos in the draft folder if you want to go get them, and I have a letter that should be on its way to you sometime in the next day or two. I really hope my mail is making it to the states. They dont do international stamps here, so I dont know how that is going to work out. I got your letter, it couldn't have come on a better day...... and here's why.
The day before yesterday was zone conference, so we got up early to bus home from zone conference, and my allergies were acting up, so all sorts of fun stuff was draining into my stomach. So I felt a little nauseous as we leave the Catania apartment, but I decide that it will probably pass. We got into the car to drive to the bus station, and it does the opposite of pass, It gets 1000 times worse, so I stick my head out of the window and tried to not throw up all over the mission car. We were leaving early because we had an appointment with a less active at ten thirty. I debated at this point telling my companion I couldn't handle a crowded dirty Italian bus, but I decided that our less active was important and powered through. So we are waiting for the bus and in the fresh air and I feel great, but the second we got on the bus I feel terrible again. I knew that I was either going to throw up or I needed to sleep, and the best thing about buses is they are the one time we are allowed to actually take a break in the mission, so I decide to sleep. Unfortunately this was one of the more crowded less comfy hotter buses, so sleep didn't work wort. We had been on the bus for about 20 minutes when we stopped for a city just outside of Catania. At this point I knew I had to get off the bus or I was going to throw up. I also knew we were about a 40 minute walk from Catania and a 5 hour walk from Siracusa so that wasn't an option. So I started to look for something to throw up in. At this point my companion can tell via my body language that I am probably going to throw up, so she is checking the front and the back of the bus for bags, and I'm trying to decided what to throw up in. We had just ordered our English packet and I thought about throwing up in that but I knew that my entire district would kill me if I ruined an English course packet because we have had a lot of scheduling issues through sharing our poster packets, so I decided no. At this point it's too late to find anything else, so I threw up into my hands onto my skirt and down my legs. The irony of this is that 99% of the time I carry wet wipes and an assorted variety of pain meds etc. and we had decided not to bring any of those things to conserve space for zone conference, so I'm sitting here covered in gross crying thinking how I wish that I had chosen to be prepared instead of conserve space. About now my companion came back and she goes Sorella Spencer they dont have any bags. Then she sees me and asks if I have anything in my backpack that I could throw up in again. So I told her to get out my make up bag dump out the make up and we can use that. So she grabs my make up bag dumps it out, and I pour the gross into it. She asks around for a tissue, we find 1 and kind of clean me up. Then we rode on the bus for another hour and ten minutes. When we get to Siracusa she calls to cancel our appointment, and we are almost at our door when Sorella Baker remembers that we had decided not to bring a key because we had expected to come back with the other sorelle. So we waited another hour and ten minutes for someone from the ward to come and open our door. Then I cleaned myself up changed my clothes and got into bed and slept until pranzo. When I woke up the other sorelle were waiting with your letter, which made up for all of the not fun parts of the day. I cant wait to hear from you and I love you so much. The language is coming along great. I actually understood serata famigliare (FHE) yesterday, and our fruit vendor is in my English course so I get really good deals on fruit. All in all, I can't complain.
con amore slla spencer
The day before yesterday was zone conference, so we got up early to bus home from zone conference, and my allergies were acting up, so all sorts of fun stuff was draining into my stomach. So I felt a little nauseous as we leave the Catania apartment, but I decide that it will probably pass. We got into the car to drive to the bus station, and it does the opposite of pass, It gets 1000 times worse, so I stick my head out of the window and tried to not throw up all over the mission car. We were leaving early because we had an appointment with a less active at ten thirty. I debated at this point telling my companion I couldn't handle a crowded dirty Italian bus, but I decided that our less active was important and powered through. So we are waiting for the bus and in the fresh air and I feel great, but the second we got on the bus I feel terrible again. I knew that I was either going to throw up or I needed to sleep, and the best thing about buses is they are the one time we are allowed to actually take a break in the mission, so I decide to sleep. Unfortunately this was one of the more crowded less comfy hotter buses, so sleep didn't work wort. We had been on the bus for about 20 minutes when we stopped for a city just outside of Catania. At this point I knew I had to get off the bus or I was going to throw up. I also knew we were about a 40 minute walk from Catania and a 5 hour walk from Siracusa so that wasn't an option. So I started to look for something to throw up in. At this point my companion can tell via my body language that I am probably going to throw up, so she is checking the front and the back of the bus for bags, and I'm trying to decided what to throw up in. We had just ordered our English packet and I thought about throwing up in that but I knew that my entire district would kill me if I ruined an English course packet because we have had a lot of scheduling issues through sharing our poster packets, so I decided no. At this point it's too late to find anything else, so I threw up into my hands onto my skirt and down my legs. The irony of this is that 99% of the time I carry wet wipes and an assorted variety of pain meds etc. and we had decided not to bring any of those things to conserve space for zone conference, so I'm sitting here covered in gross crying thinking how I wish that I had chosen to be prepared instead of conserve space. About now my companion came back and she goes Sorella Spencer they dont have any bags. Then she sees me and asks if I have anything in my backpack that I could throw up in again. So I told her to get out my make up bag dump out the make up and we can use that. So she grabs my make up bag dumps it out, and I pour the gross into it. She asks around for a tissue, we find 1 and kind of clean me up. Then we rode on the bus for another hour and ten minutes. When we get to Siracusa she calls to cancel our appointment, and we are almost at our door when Sorella Baker remembers that we had decided not to bring a key because we had expected to come back with the other sorelle. So we waited another hour and ten minutes for someone from the ward to come and open our door. Then I cleaned myself up changed my clothes and got into bed and slept until pranzo. When I woke up the other sorelle were waiting with your letter, which made up for all of the not fun parts of the day. I cant wait to hear from you and I love you so much. The language is coming along great. I actually understood serata famigliare (FHE) yesterday, and our fruit vendor is in my English course so I get really good deals on fruit. All in all, I can't complain.
con amore slla spencer
The work is alive and well in Italy.
OK sorry there was no blog update last week, I had a hard time figuring out how to get photos loaded and it needed to be done so I spent most of my time figuring that out. OK so as you all know I am in Siracusa which is a small small town (not small enough that we know everybody but small enough that I have only been here for 3 weeks and at least five people said Hi to us on our way to get groceries today) on the coast of Sicilia. The work is really slow because we were "blown in", which means that we are both new to this area and that we have 0 solid investigators at this point in time. It is hard but I am actually really grateful for this time to dedicate to the lonelier members of our ward. We have a lot of time to dedicate to the elderly and widows which is absolutely wonderful. We have become family to some of these people which is amazing. I wish that we had more investigators but I am really glad I can spend so much time with these people. I know that I wont have this kind of opportunity in my life ever again, after the mission, and I probably wont have as much time once the work picks up so I am savoring it while it lasts.
That being said miracles are happening every day. The other day we were heading out to do ricerca per gli meni-attivi (searching for the less active) and I don't like to bring my Book of Mormon for distribution unless we are searching, because it is heavy and our area covers a lot of ground, but this morning I decided to put it in my bag. We spent a while knocking on a few doors with no response when we hit a name on a street we were unfamiliar with. We spent about an hour and a half looking for his house before we decided to move on so we could get a couple more houses in before prazo (in Italy its against the law to knock on doors between 1 and 4p) and we moved on to another street we were unfamiliar with. We spent about 40 minutes looking for this house as well when someone stopped us and asked if we were evangelists. We said no and introduced ourselves. She told us she was very curious and she said she wanted to hear more. So we sat down and gave her the first discussion. When we were done she gave us her number and address. We get a lot of fake numbers so we did a squillo {RING}(really common in Italy you call and let the phone ring once and then hang up.) and her phone actually rang! Right now I think she is more curious than anything else, but I think she has been searching for this for a long time. The work is alive and well in Italy.
Con amore
-Sorella Madyline Spencer
(this weeks email comes with a couple of pictures!)
That being said miracles are happening every day. The other day we were heading out to do ricerca per gli meni-attivi (searching for the less active) and I don't like to bring my Book of Mormon for distribution unless we are searching, because it is heavy and our area covers a lot of ground, but this morning I decided to put it in my bag. We spent a while knocking on a few doors with no response when we hit a name on a street we were unfamiliar with. We spent about an hour and a half looking for his house before we decided to move on so we could get a couple more houses in before prazo (in Italy its against the law to knock on doors between 1 and 4p) and we moved on to another street we were unfamiliar with. We spent about 40 minutes looking for this house as well when someone stopped us and asked if we were evangelists. We said no and introduced ourselves. She told us she was very curious and she said she wanted to hear more. So we sat down and gave her the first discussion. When we were done she gave us her number and address. We get a lot of fake numbers so we did a squillo {RING}(really common in Italy you call and let the phone ring once and then hang up.) and her phone actually rang! Right now I think she is more curious than anything else, but I think she has been searching for this for a long time. The work is alive and well in Italy.
Con amore
-Sorella Madyline Spencer
(this weeks email comes with a couple of pictures!)
Monday, September 23, 2013
Saved by the mission president's wife! Pictures!!
Mady wasn't able to send pictures this week (Oct 2, 2013), but the mission president's wife has saved the day!! These pictures are from her blog from the Catania/Palermo/Malta Zone Conference held a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!
This is her bearing her first testimony (according to Sis Waddoup's blog)
And some miscellaneous shots.....
And my all time favorite.....she is absolutely glowing!!
This is her bearing her first testimony (according to Sis Waddoup's blog)
And some miscellaneous shots.....
And my all time favorite.....she is absolutely glowing!!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
More Pictures!!
I finally found out how to snag photos of Mady from other blogs to share here! (Where there is a will, there is a way!)
These were borrowed from a sister that she roomed with in the MTC that is now serving in the Milan Mission.
These were borrowed from a sister that she roomed with in the MTC that is now serving in the Milan Mission.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Personal Email
Ok so I am writing you a really long letter about how I'm feeling and growing in the mission but that is a lot harder to do in email so for the most part my email will just be a surplus of information. I also am printing off your email so I haven't read it yet. I read the part about blonde hair being a gypsy good luck charm though haha. We dont have gypsies in Siracusa so for the time being I am set.
Ok first off happy happy birthday! I thought about you a lot on your birthday. and missed you tons. I hope that you had fun! We took a cool picture of us holding a sign that I hope that I am going to figure out how to get to you. I'm working on it.
So photos. You can only send 3 at a time and it eats all of your email time so I'm going to upload them all and then save them as a draft and you can log on and grab them. Madyline college 2012. This is allowed. I'm working on it now, but my comp is being difficult.
I went to a FHE with a family in our ward and while we were eating I noticed that they had a birdhouse on their wall. I commented on it and told them that you had tanto in our house. They responded very excitedly and with very Sicilian accents so I just kind of nodded and smiled. After a few minutes of excited moments they paused as if waiting for a response. I had no idea what they said so I said si. Everyone looked really surprised so my companion turned to me and said your mom lets all the birds fly around the house? I explained and she tried to clarify, but I'm not 100 percent sure they got it so there might be a family who thinks you have 100's of birds flying around our house.
Also I have been recording a little synopsis of my day in my planner every day and once it is done I will send it to you.
Also I got on family search.org the other day and the only person recorded was dads mom. If you could send me dads dads general info I could probably get started on that.
Ok the comp is being truly unkind. It looks like pictures wont happen this week but you can log on later and check and see if I figured it out.
Ok about packages. Padded envelopes are safe they dont go through customs they just go straight to our house. If you send one out there a few things that we cannot get here. Mostly because this is Siracusa, Rome has more stuff. Face wash is really different here, and I really really like the stuff you sent me in the MTC. If you dont want to spend that much money sending face wash I understand, and I am looking for something here. Maybe we will find something really exciting that clears all skin problems so its up to you, but if you would be willing its anti oil grayish silver tube and I love it. Also marshmallows. I was trying to explain them to a recent convert and they were so confused. If you could send a package I would love to show them.
I love you sosososo much. I really hope I can get these photos to work so that you can see how blessed I am here. I hope that the Lord is blessing you, and I cant wait to hear all of your stories. xoxoxoxo Madyline
Ok first off happy happy birthday! I thought about you a lot on your birthday. and missed you tons. I hope that you had fun! We took a cool picture of us holding a sign that I hope that I am going to figure out how to get to you. I'm working on it.
So photos. You can only send 3 at a time and it eats all of your email time so I'm going to upload them all and then save them as a draft and you can log on and grab them. Madyline college 2012. This is allowed. I'm working on it now, but my comp is being difficult.
I went to a FHE with a family in our ward and while we were eating I noticed that they had a birdhouse on their wall. I commented on it and told them that you had tanto in our house. They responded very excitedly and with very Sicilian accents so I just kind of nodded and smiled. After a few minutes of excited moments they paused as if waiting for a response. I had no idea what they said so I said si. Everyone looked really surprised so my companion turned to me and said your mom lets all the birds fly around the house? I explained and she tried to clarify, but I'm not 100 percent sure they got it so there might be a family who thinks you have 100's of birds flying around our house.
Also I have been recording a little synopsis of my day in my planner every day and once it is done I will send it to you.
Also I got on family search.org the other day and the only person recorded was dads mom. If you could send me dads dads general info I could probably get started on that.
Ok the comp is being truly unkind. It looks like pictures wont happen this week but you can log on later and check and see if I figured it out.
Ok about packages. Padded envelopes are safe they dont go through customs they just go straight to our house. If you send one out there a few things that we cannot get here. Mostly because this is Siracusa, Rome has more stuff. Face wash is really different here, and I really really like the stuff you sent me in the MTC. If you dont want to spend that much money sending face wash I understand, and I am looking for something here. Maybe we will find something really exciting that clears all skin problems so its up to you, but if you would be willing its anti oil grayish silver tube and I love it. Also marshmallows. I was trying to explain them to a recent convert and they were so confused. If you could send a package I would love to show them.
I love you sosososo much. I really hope I can get these photos to work so that you can see how blessed I am here. I hope that the Lord is blessing you, and I cant wait to hear all of your stories. xoxoxoxo Madyline
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