ciao tutti!

I write to you from Laveno at a member's home. We decided to make lunch for a sorella here to surprise her for when she gets home from work. So her son, who teaches with us a lot, has been hanging outside while I cooked moroccan stew and now we're waiting to surprise her and eat lunch.

I'm slowly getting more used to being here. Since I last wrote we've done a ton of finding work. I'm a little tired of it to be honest. Had some good days and some not so good days. But we decided it's time to leave Varese and work the surrounding towns. The Anziani knocked this place dead so we feel really good about doing work outside of the main city. August will be interesting because everyone is leaving for vacation. We keep finding people and they're like call me in September when I get home again.

I also finally got to teach Luca Sunday night, a solid investigator the Sorelle have been teaching for a while. He's been pretty much taught everything but is still working on understanding better the atonement, the priesthood and a couple other things. So we just get together and talk about his different questions. He's super rad and I'm sure teaching him will be one of the highlights of every week.

Okay...love you guysss! be good!

salve tutti!

OK, so I am stealing a quick 20 minutes to email you a real letter that is not wallowing in depression. After a week of trying to love being here it all of a sudden worked. Varese really is beautiful. These lakes and mountains are not what I imagine when I think of Italy but it keeps the weather cool and reminds me of my green home. Yesterday we also had a really great zone conference that was exactly what I needed and I'm ready to work. I know tons is waiting to happen in Varese and that there's a reason I'm here. I know what my weaknesses are and what I need to change and I'm ready to do everything I can to change the work here so that when it's time for me to leave I'll be leaving the same amount of work I left for the sorelle in Bergamo.

We're teaching a beautiful family. Dad is Italian, mom is from Santo Domingo and her son who's 11 just got here two weeks ago, so doesn't really speak Italian yet. Last night we taught the plan of salvation and talked about how families can be together forever and there was a beautiful spirit. He understands everything we teach so well and she's starting to as well. They both are happy to have us there whenever we come and this week we're planning on bringing some members and I feel like that will help them a ton, see the gospel being lived by real people. He's read the begining of the Book of Mormon and told us he would try and start praying more, that it probs would be a good idea. I told him it would.

Other beautiful peeps we started teaching this week. A half moroccan half egyptian muslim we stopped on the street and a Congo refugee who speaks decent italian and has been here for 5 months. Both of them came to their second appointments having written down all the things they understood about what they read and all their questions. It was so rad. I invited our muslim to get baptized when he knew it was all true and he was like you know, maybe I'll get there, we'll see, pian piano. But he prayed and it was beautiful. 

Right now we're focusing a ton on finding new people because really they have one awesome investigator who should get baptized soon and another young kid from El Salvador, but we need people to teach. It's funny because I feel so comfortable teaching whoever wherever whenever and Sorella McNamara feels so awkward teaching, but she's great at just walking up to people and telling them God is their father of the family brings us more happiness than anything else, which is something I have to fight with myself a bit more to do. I know all my fears are unrational because who cares what any of these peeps that I'll never see again think about this funny american talking about God, but I still find it to be a bit tricky. But I'm getting better! And that's what it's all about.  

At the end of Zone Conference we watched Eryings talk from conference called mountains to climb and at the end Sorella Wolfgramm talked about the part where he talks about his mother's battle with cancer, and if a woman that good needed that much polishing what was in store for him. And Sorella Wolfgramm said isn't it beautiful that the Lord thinks you are worth polishing. And I like that. Obviously I've heard a thousand times that trials are what later bring the blessings, but it felt more real yesterday. There is a reason for all of this. All the mountains I'm climbing in Varese are tailor-made for me, which is beautiful thought. I'm ready to climb, espesh since it's likely I'll be training here next transfer. I'm ready to get my feet planted firmly and do some growing so that the work only gets better every transfer.

Last night we came home and did 10 minutes of yoga on the roof before planning. We live on the 10th floor and there's a sneaky door out to the roof. The sky here is beautiful, usually with fatty clouds sitting over Como. It felt good to stand still and be, let me feet stand firm and get ready for everything that awaits me here. I'm ready to really love my comp, this city, the members and all the people we meet everyday and that's the only way to cast out my fears. Love!

Hope you are having a happy Saturday, maybs a bit of farmer's market?

Love you all!

sorella bush

no time for email this week...

I had to go back to Bergamo today to get my permesso card saying I can legally be here so today is a lot of trains and waiting in hot rooms full of foreigners. I'm hoping tomorrow to have time to email you. Varese is beautiful. I'm in love with the mountains and lakes and our baby branch.

Not so in love with the work yet but I'm trying. Turns out I'm bad at transitioning, and not much is happening so we've got a lot to do. I love you all and will try and write you a real letter tomorrow. New address is:

Via Rainoldi 19
Box number 56
21100 Varese
Italia

I saw Sorella Simkins and all my Bergamo peeps are happy and well and Lulu is getting baptized Friday.

Keep praying for me, these next few weeks are going to be interesting...

xoxoxo

sorella bush

varese!

Okay, famiglia, I have a weird P-day tomorrow and we're not sure we're going to have time to do all our email, so here's a baby letter for you. Thursday morning I head to Varese.

I don't know my comps name yet becuase she's new, she just is finishing her second transfer so I'll be her first comp that's not her trainer. Going senior companion.

I'll start another email that I'll finish and send off tomorrow hopefully, but I love you both! Pray that I have an easy transition into city number two. I'm nervous but excited and I know I'm going where I should be because this is God's work.

 P.S. This picture is dedicated to Larry Hewett (Director of Specialty Sales for Thule USA). Ignore my crazy hair.

hi ho!

Hey guys, happy 4th! I told Sorella Simkins we needed to buy trashy flag shirts, eat a whole cow and shoot guns. I'm pretty sure all that's going to happen is a nice hamburger and a rootbeer float at our little BBQ with the Anziani and the Petersons, a senior missionary couple. But I'm content. 


Had a nice sleep this morning and reloading on my energy for one more week in Bergamo. Hooray for Ian's new job! For lots of wood! For Ian being a rock star and bringing peeps to church! for mom's bucket of new keens! for summer living in general. All your pics made me the babiest bit home\summer sick, but I know it'll all be there when I get home next year. 

Bergamo is still an oven. So glad I'm not a pizza maker, madonna, fa troppo caldo. But we have some awesome new people that we're working with. One Bolivian lady is the friend of a member, had come to church in the past before going home to Bolivia for a few months. Came back and is totally on board, loves everything we say, feels so peaceful and picked her own date to be baptized July 28 and she keeps telling us just how good she feels about her decision and says she knows it will bless her life as well as her children in Bolivia. Then we started teaching three new peeps this week.

First there's Leonardo, 21, Italian, studying to be a lawyer. Has a few funny ideas but is down for meeting with us and totally understands that the key is reading the Book of Mormon. He said a prayer at the end of our lesson asking God for help to find time to read a bit because he's really interested. Cool stuff.

Then we have Mauricio, 17 Bolivian, mom and sisters are members and just decided to come to our church with them for the second time in his life and agreed to meet with us. We had a beautiful simple restoration lesson with his sister who's 14 and has a really sweet testimony and he was really glad we came and wants to learn more and was excited when we gave him his own BOM.

Then we have Lulu who is hilarious. She's Mexican, but has lived in Canada most of her adult life. She's here on vacation and the lady she's staying with basically fed her a bunch of lies about what the situation would be like with us. She's pretty lonely but randomly met one of our reactivated members we've been working with who works at the airport and found Lulu when she first got her because her flacky friend didn't even come get her from the airport. Any way, she came to church, met with us yesterday and when I called her last night she was just hanging out reading the book of mormon and loving it. She is so hungry to learn and keeps asking us questions about things that have never felt right to her doctrinly, like original sin, and is so relieved when we tell her how it really is. We can't teach her fast enough. She's coming to our BBQ today and I'll take some pics, she is just the coolest old lady. Sorella Simkins and I are invited to her beach house in Mexico whenever we like. Totally hitting that up in the future.

The last few days really have been beautiful. We felt like things wern't making much sense, we're teaching tons of lessons, at least tons for our mission, finding new people but all these people that seem elect keep dropping off, and then the Lord handed us three beautiful people working through the ward.

Lauren asked in her last letter if she could email me pics and I forgot to tell her that yes, she can. Thanks for all the prayers, thoughts and letters. You all sound happy and that makes me happy! Salute the Sorella Noteware for me, I did a scambio with her baby Sorella Walton last week who finishes her mission next week. Time is a funny thing.

Much love!

xoxo,

sorella bush