Week 2 of Training

Ciao la mia famiglia e amici, buono giorno!

Okay, this week was insane!!!! So first, Sorella Burkman and I are becoming very close and will definitely be friends for life. We have many of the same characteristics and her favorite Disney Princess is also Pochohantas (what up, I cant spell) so we are a match made in President Wolfgramm's office and in Heaven. We laugh through the frustrations and are patient with our weaknesses. We grow each day together and it has been a wonderful blessing to our companionship. She also sleep testifies in Italian so who does't love that?!? 

Sister Burkman and I

I made waffles with Nutella for my kid!

Adventure #1) last wed night, we met with Emilio (branch mission leader) at the church. After we walk out, Sorella Burkman starts dying with laughter and points. I look to see STAUNCH NAKED italian man sitting in the middle of the road that leads into the chapel!!! Yes, in all his earthly glory, he is blocking our only way out. Thankfully a few minutes later he gets up, walks a few feet and puts pants on. Now is our time to escape. We quickly dawn the helments, and make a run for it, meanwhile Emilio cant even say goodbye he is laughing so hard. So he has a Chester Molester van parked two feet away from the gate, we must close. As we go by he looks at me and says something. This is what happened....

          Creepy man: mumbling in italian and looking at us

           Sorella Alley: ignoring him

           Sorella burkman: "Sorella, what did he say?"

           Sorella Alley: "He asked if we wanted to come look in his van....RIDE FAST!"

Survivor: Mission Style

I have survived my first week as a teen mom. It goes as follows.

 

I traveled to Milan on thursday to pick up my companion. She walked in and I knew immadietly she would be my companion. why? because she looks italian and I was convinced (as was every other person in the world) that I would be assigned a native. Nope, Heavenly Father has a sense of humor and she is from Spanish Fork and is 20 years old. Her name is Eileen Burkman! We got back to Rimini that night around 830 and I treated her to some gelato because it seemed....motherly..... Friday we jumped right into the work and have been going hard ever since. My favorite moments this week include

Hans-Albert (a nice german fellow for you Rachel) who we found looking at the Duomo at the piazza in Rimini. We approached him and he spoke wonderful english so we talked all about religion and his life. HE said that he isnt looking for anything additional in faith but we asked if we could at least leave him with a prayer. Sorella Burkman asked what we could pray for in specific and I offered the prayer, which included a blessing for his knee, his 3 daughters and his wife. After, he had tears streaming down his face and asked if he could read our Book!!!!!!!! booo ya! Unforutunately he is a referel for another area but the spirit was so strong and i felt perfectly normal to be praying in the middle of the touristy piazza. weird...

Pictures from Rimini!

(I won't put what Sorella wrote here...)

Four years of Oly Grads!

Rimini ward mission leader and his wife: My Italian Parents!

The end of the first transfer... will I go or will I stay?

Yes folks, I did it, I survived the first full transfer in Italy. What can I say I learned?

more gospel principles learned from a bike

1) always shake your helmet out before you jam it on your too large head...

okay homies, that is just good sense. a spider crawled out two seconds before I put it on my head. I killed it with my hand. I am a monster now-nothing phases me. I guess the spider could be Satan. Kill him too.

2) drive like a local or die like a tourist....

We are in the world, but not of the world. Crazy insane problems are thrown at us every single day and unfortunately we have to know how to say no these days to the temptations of porn, drugs, sex, and other nasty things. However, we have the tools necessary to make it a heck of a lot easier to say no and therefore not die like a tourist.....

3) Twist ties are not enough to secure your basket to your bike forever.

Just as i use twist ties to secure my basket to my bike (still think it was a good idea) sure enough, it got stolen, dang! Well it was superficial and basically said "look, i am free!". Such is life. When we read our scriptures superficially or pray redundantly we are just asking for something dumb to happen. Take time for the things that matter and your baskets wont get stolen!