Hot Showers and Mistaken Identity

HI! this week was... full of new experiences. hahah

Our hot water heater broke, and it rained\hailed all week! yay. But it's fine. I'm fine.  Don't you worry about me!  

two jobs

My companion has been such a saint through it all though-- always making sure I'm alive.  She says that her only jobs are to make sure I'm alive and that I don't get deported.  

I cannot confirm or deny me crying during my "shower," which consisted of two pots of boiling water and a sponge. hahahah. 

I PROMISE I'M FINE.  They fixed it yesterday, and my sweet compy helped me heat up the water. 

fake it like Aretha

We had a mixed zone conference with the Mestre and Verona zone yesterday, which was so fun.  Believe it or not, our apartment had a special musical number in front of everyone.  It's fine, I just mouthed the words at some parts.  

My lovely companion carried the entire group.  She has a voice comparable to Aretha Franklin (says one of our investigators) haha.  Really though, she's so good.  

MTC Buddies at Zone Conference - O'Connor, Gneiting, Astel

mistaken identity

A lot of missionaries thought I was Kaitlin.  (The fact that I'm in Italy doesn't stop that from happening.)  

But one missionary who mistook me at the first zone conference in Pordenone, came up to me and was like, "Hey Sister O'Connor, I think I saw your sister a few weeks ago at a conference!" 

and I was just like, "Nope, still me."  

He was embarrassed, hahah.  Elders are so funny.  I don't think he will make the mistake again.  

But before the conference, WE GOT LOST!  I'm so not mad about about it (even though I had to run and walk alot of stairs.)  Because when you're in Verona.. life is good.  It's so pretty! 

Lost in Verona

happy missionary

I got the Pureology yesterday!  It was literally sent from heaven.  So last night I took my first hot shower in a week and had good shampoo!  And now I'm a happy missionary.  I even got to have a pistaccio McFlurry (with no blood) for the train ride home! 

I imagine Steve and Karen's apartment is a lot like the one our senior missionaries have.  It seems like it from what you described of their apartment in Mallorca. 

The beach house looks the most beautiful out of all the pictures you sent. 

That reminds me! YOU HAVE TO TELL BISHOP... I found out that Pordenone area touches Austria and that one of our cities is like 80 percent German speaking and we have German grocery stores.  Ask him if he's ever had Master Crumble... It's probably after his time, hahaha, but so yummy.

We still have no bikes.

I'm starting to prefer not having bikes because we just take the bus everywhere and that is nice.  The buses in Pordenone are apparently super high class, hahah.  I don't know how that is.  

awkward

But now I'm starting to know the people who take the buses at certain times. There is this one handicapped man who has no teeth and is in a wheelchair that pulled my compy in for a real nice baci (kiss) and then started to roll over to me.  All I could say was, "Sono timida" while giggling, because I'm a missionary and I giggle in awkward situations. 

families

As for missionary work, we are teaching the coolest people!  This family we met Monday are quality.   The wife is a cute, blonde Italian who looks like Ellie Goulding and is a DJ.  Her husband is tall and African, and they have a two-week-old baby girl.   I love that family.  Our power couple with the two girls are also doing great!  

The work is really moving forward.  Everyone is super solid and I love them all.

small world

I was talking to someone in our military ward on Sunday from Heber, and he was telling me all the cool things about Red Ledges (where our family is building a cabin).   Better start working on it Dad!  Another brother was talking to me all about Moreno Valley because he used to serve at March Air Force base.  Weird right?  Small world.  

Also the families in the military ward are literally angels.  They know we can't make it to dinner appointments in the evening, so this perfect family made us frozen dinners to take home and our favorite snacks... that was a miracle. 

I'm surviving. 

With love, from the smelly internet cafe inside very wet Pordenone, 

Sorella Paige OConnor. 

My Beautiful City - Pordenone

Training and a Pistachio McFlurry

Ciao Babes!

Italy is so cool, huh?  This week was good good!  

romeo and juliet

We had a new missionary training meeting in Verona, so I got to see the missionaries I came in with who are serving in the Verona and the Mestre zones!  Verona cannot be accurately described.  It's where that super cute Romeo and Juliet movie was filmed that has Amanda Seyfried with the lame ending?  You know what I'm talking about!  

So it is always fun hanging out with other missionaries.  You just learn about the gospel and compare embarrassing stories (mine won). 

McBloody Nose

I also got a pistachio McFlurry at the train station.  I only got one bite!  You know how I do that thing where I save my food till we sit down on the plane (or train in this case) so I can enjoy it and also make you (or my companion) jealous for finishing yours already?  

Well there were no seats, so we were walking through the cars trying to find a spot and I got a bloody nose.  Italians apparently dont get those.  Anyways, it was embarrassing and I had to throw away my McFlurry. 

playing favorites
We ate at a member's house with a new convert last night.  I shouldn't have favorites, but they are my favorite family.  They have a daughter serving a mission in England and she got there the same day I got to Italy and she is learning English.  

The family is just super nice!  They have another daughter who is 18 named Miriam and I love her.  I cant talk to her, but we connect.  She also knows a tiny bit of English.  There is also a son, Gabriele, who is 20 and Rachele who is 14.

So we were eating pizza (obvi) and they were talking, and I'm just watching my companion like I always do to figure out if I need to laugh or look sad (since I can't understand).  

But I'm trying to listen and learn and pick out the words I know, and all the sudden I hear "zoom-beyz" and I'm like "ZOMBIES!"   So I ask Gabriele what show they were talking about, and he says, "v-all-kean d-ah-d"  --That's him trying to tell me in English,  "Walking Dead."  I just can't get away.  Italians watch American shows and listen to American music. 

bielieber

Sometimes I offend Sorella Pearce because I forget she hasn't been in the mission for 25 years, hahah.  Yesterday I asked, "Do you know who Justin Bieber is?"  That didn't go over very well hahaha.  

She is great.  Such a trooper!  They gave me a super solid companion.  She makes fun of me because I love European people and their clothes and hair.  Italians are super hip.  They love Rihanna.  

baptism

So we baptized Germey this week!  It was lovely.  He is a timid soul, but he is great.  Baptisms are a lot of work! 

We started teaching the coolest couple!  They have two daughters 14 & 11(score) and one on the way.  The dad is a policeman and the wife is a nurse.  

ageless
It is impossible to guess how old people in Italy are, because they have children later than Americans and the old people dress themselves really well.  Also Italians never die.  The OLDEST ladies ride bikes so fast and so well (and so much better than me) ... cool.  Anyway, the dad is 50, so mom and dad you fit right in here! 

I love Italy and the people.  I want to be just like them! 

on our own

Sorella Astel and I had to do an exchange this Sunday, so it was us handling the Italian ward. hahahhahahahah hahah.  Don't even try to picture it. 

I haven't got ANY mail since being here.  and we have conferences all the time with mail call. what the heck family? gimme some lovin!

MOM AND DAD:  Tell me all about how great Italy is.  Mom please tell me you're buying all the cool stuff here and cute stuff for me to wear when I come home.  I can't buy anything here because it's really easy to make other people feel small.  But I'm not distracted from missionary work, don't worry.  I promise.

Mom and Dad in Italy Eating Gelato 

(and not buying Paige cool stuff for when she get's home... oops)

We move into our new apartment soon!  It's a penthouse, which is a really cool thing in America, but in Italy it just means you have to walk a lot of stairs. 

We still have no bikes in case you're wondering. 

I love my Heavenly Father and the Book of Mormon and the Church 
(and Kim Kardashian--I guess--I had a dream about her last night. ha)

Ciao Ciao!  With love from the same sketchy internet cafe in Pordenone, 

Sorella Paige O'Connor 

P. S.

I just read Kaitlin's email and realized she talks about all her spiritual experiences and I just talk about random things.  But I swear I'm growing spiritually too, hahahah, just you wait and seeeee 

(Email Sent - May 22,  2013

Taco Bell Blasty and other Good Things

Ciao Bella/o!

This week was good!  Sorry I cried on Skype, hahah, missions will do that to you.  It's really not that hard, but I'm thankful for your prayers.

So don't tell Kaitlin, but we set another baptismal date!  

don't be scared

This man from Ethiopia was following us and stopped us (I was scared but Sorella Pearce is a champ).  She gave him a card with our number and then he texted us about wanting to read "our book."  

I was afraid of him, so Sorella Pearce said, "If he really wants one, he has to come to church to get it." 

 Long story short, he comes to church after district meeting when the anziani from Udine were there to look scary (haha they are not scary elders), and it was actually really spiritual and he is preparing to be baptised on the 8th of June!  

I feel bad for being scared of him.  

Also, we teach him in English and it's really hard for Sorella Pearce to translate the lessons back into English.  Her First Vision lesson in English was entertaining, hahah.  We are both just having such a good time.

like riding a bike

So we still only have three bikes and four sisters.  I can't accurately describe the things that happen on those bikes.  

Like the day when three sisters rode bikes and we traded off being the one to run along side (with our helmet still on) in the rain. hahah.  I also ran straight into a dumpster.  It was unavoidable.  I don't know how Sorella Pearce got through it without a scratch!  

Also, one of our bikes is a man's style bike which means it is definitely not made for sisters wearing skirts.  Sorella Pearce was a gem and took it home from church but literally could not stop because the bike is 4 inches too tall.  

Watching her jump and start to pedal in a skirt truly is a sight to be seen.  I took a wrong turn that day but it's fine.

(Note: Here is a video from our Mother's Day Skype session that shows Paige telling Kaitlin about riding the bikes.  Sorry the audio is too quiet, but it is still funny to watch Paige tell the story.)  

Here is the basic dialog:

P-"And we're like, okay one sister can ride on the back. And, like, she can just sit there. And so Sister Pearce is ready to go and there is a sister on the back, but it was heavy and going from side-to-side.  So we decide every two bus stops and we'll switch and relay.

And so there are three sisters on bikes and one sister running up the street next to the bikes.  And then every two bus stops we switch.  So there is one sister jumping off the bike and running with the bike and the other sister is getting on.  And it took us so long to get to the church."

K - "Why didn't you just all walk?"

P - "Because we had to be there at a specific time."

K- "Ohhh..."

any volunteers?

Sorella Pearce has volunteered us to sing a song at the baptism on Saturday. in Italian.  I literally have no idea how this is going to turn out. hahaha.  It's payback because I volunteered her for some embarassing things last Saturday.

shopping like an american 

I love our American ward!  A member took us on base today and took us grocery  shopping.  I literally spent every single American dollar I had.  But we now have all our favorite things, food and living wise.  

I have really missed American laundry soap. (Mom, they had Seventh Generation!) and there was no tax!   I bought salt and vinegar chips. oops.  

And then for lunch... she took us to TACO BELL!  They have one on base and I got a "blasty"

--  talk about miracles.  

(I'm not wearing a name tag on base because it's not allowed! It's weird.)

Yesterday, we went to a member's house in the American ward and she is the coolest.  She has the most beautiful house with the best view of Italy.  I was in love.  I'm taking pictures next time. 

I told you this, but I don't want you to forget that I taught Gospel Doctrine (not Gospel Principles) in the Italian ward on Sunday. In the Italian language. hahahaha

This is our beautiful church.  I love it.

We get our new apartment soon! 

My favorite gelato in Italy is pistachio and sweet cream. mmmm. Get that Mom and Dad!

Also I won't be mad if you buy me something when you are in Italy and just save it for me when I get back.  I'm a 39 in european shoe size.  

love you! 

With love from the sketchiest internet cafe in the world, 

Sorella Paige O'Connor

(Email Sent - May 15, 2013)

In ITALY!! First stop - Pordenone

Hello!! 

I am in Pordenone! 

My trainer is Sorella Pearce from Provo, Utah and she is a gem! 

OK so good news! I love it here! It is so Italian.  It's like the Italian version of Los Altos, just more humid.  It's so green!  More vibrant though.  And I can see the Swiss Alps, which I love. 

So we arrived in Milan and it was wonderful, I ate pizza and gelato and got to go to the Duomo.  

That reminds me, I want you to picture four sisters and 12 bags using the Milan metro.. it was... interesting.

life is good in pordenone

But the best part was finding out that I am LIVING with Sorella Astel!!  We share Pordenone!  Isn't that such a blessing?  We needed each other.  

Astel and her trainer.... one pizza each-- it's fine

Just a little about it here.  Pordenone has a military base! So there is an American ward where they speak English! (and also buy us American food like Oreos and peanut butter.)  

So we split the Italian ward and our companionship gets the American ward.  We are covering two wards, which is interesting.. the hardest part is switching between Italian and English.  We also have a senior missionary couple, which is such a blessing.  They are awesome.  

pinkwash

But the four of us are new to Pordenone and we kicked out the elders.  I think its called a "pinkwash" hahah, but we had to do some major damage control to the apartment.  Elders don't like to throw things away.  

I also broke my closet with all my clothes.  

But we are getting a new apartment soon which is so beautiful!  I have the best view of the city and we will soon have two bathrooms!  The bathroom we have now has its own Italian charm (not complaining).  

I'm in love.  People here are pretty affluent but are still very kind to me when I contact.  The people of Pordenone are lovely.  

Our investigators are so ready!  I set my first baptism yesturday!  Her name is Sara and she's so cute.  She's 19 and has cousins who live in SLC, and she went to visit them and got on the internet and said, "Send the missionaries to me!"  She is super cool.  The 25th is her special day!

Happy birthday Dad!!!!  For your birthday we cleaned the apartment, 

went to a baptism, 

taught a lesson and I got gelato and fruit from the outside market.  

Also they have Coke products here. 

 I love Italy! 

I still don't know Italian, but my trainer is very good.  Sorella Astel and i just laugh at ourselves.  We can't believe we are together.  hahaha it's so, so fun!  Ahh!  We have the most beautiful church!  It's wonderful. There is even carpet, which our trainers were excited about.

So this Pday is for organizing, but we are in the Mestre Zone which means we can go to Venice for Pday (score).  

Like I can't even put into words how much I love being a missionary.  It's so so hard, and I miss you all.  But it's going to be so good. 

Oh, hahah funny story.  So the sorelle with our 12 bags coming to Pordenone was funny, but the anziani going to their zone were helping us unload our bags and the train left without them!  Poor Anziano Pagano left everything he had--all his luggage--on the train.  hahah. Okay, maybe it's not funny but he found his stuff eventually. 

Oh we were sharing bikes and a phone up until yesturday.  We don't have four bikes yet, but we will hahah.  I walk alot.  I'm excited to know my way around and learn Italian.  We get lost, but always a member seems to find us and tell us where we went wrong. hahaha 

I love Italy and the Italians.  Also the people from Ghana are nice because they speak English.

The bishop in our AMERICAN ward has a 6-year-old daughter who speaks better Italian than me. We are not supposed to compare ourselves to other people, but reallllyyy... that's unfair.

Love, Paige

(Email Sent - May 8, 2013)

Final Training and My Future...

Let's be honest; I'm not ready. Aaaaah! It's fine. 

I am excited and want to be there so, so bad but my Italian is not great, haha. 

When I start to freak out I watch Marco Petrollini, and then I feel better.

He is so precious!  Our district quotes him all the time: "This is Cammiilllaaa." "I smile because I am happy." Ahhhh, I want to meet all the Marco Petrollini's.   Speaking of "Marco's"... 

my future

Sorella Egbert likes to predict the future.  My future is going to be a good one. (Being nice to the fortune teller is ALWAYS a good idea.)  ANYWAYS... according to Eggie, I will meet my husband at the NYC temple.  His name will be Marco Velenzia, and he will be wearing a european navy blue fitted suit.  He will be tall with olive skin (his mom is from Italy and his dad is from Portugal, but he was born in Virginia) hahah.  He'll ask me out for lunch after the temple, and it will be love forever!  We will get married in Rome and have three children (girl, boy, girl). We will live in California but we also have an apartment in London because of his job. 

my fate

So, we're at temple walk on Sunday and Sorella Egbert points and says, "There's Marco Velenzia." My heart stops. Walking down the stairs comes... wait for it.... Ben Patch. 

Paige and Marco, I mean, Ben Patch

At this point I am distracted from missionary work and focused on B.P. (Brother Patch).  He is wearing a fitted navy suit, and I am dying.  

Flash back to class on Saturday and Fratello Jeter is giving us a pep talk on how we need to contact pretty people too.  So I'm back in missionary mode and jump out of my comfort zone and walk right up to him.  (Sorella Bennett has no clue what is going on and is really just trying to keep up.) 

I walk up to him and say, "Hi, my name is Sorella O'Connor.  You don't know me, but I LOVE BYU Men's Volleyball."

making contact

Sorella Astel makes fun of me every second for this moment in time.  But I was practicing contacting!  Anyways, we chit chat and take a picture and I was distracted for a minute, but I'm not sorry about it. hahaha.  He is totally my Marco!  That was the highlight of my week. 

stuck

Another funny story!  The popscicles here are really frozen.  You have to let them thaw out before eating one.  This poor new sister, hahah, just went to town on her Orange Creamsicle, AND IT GOT STUCK.  

In her mouth. like Christmas Story status, she starts freaking out!!!! hahahhaha. 

At this point I'm crying (laughing), and her sweet companion starts to pour water on her mouth/popscicle to get it unstuck.  It takes FOUR regular sized glasses of water for them to realize they should warm the water in the microwave first to get this sister unstuck from her worst nightmare. hahahaha. 

She is drooling and spitting everywhere; it was not pretty.  Everyone is just dying laughing and, she was a good sport about it and was laughing too.  She finally got unstuck, five glasses of water later. 

She 100% deserved the round of applause everyone gave her after.  I have yet to attempt the popscicles here at the MTC. 

finding myself

Everyone here (including me) is trying to find themselves and figure out who they are as a missionary. So you kind of forget about who you were before the mission and are trying to gain really good traits. 

But I have a theory:  When forgeting about yourself, you become really susceptible to everyone else's traits. 

So it's really funny, because I'll make a face and someone will point out, "You took that face from Anziano G!" or Sorella Astel now says, "It's fiinneee." and "Okay fiinnee, I'll eat a cooookie."  (like me).  

But it is really funny to see what we pick up from each other.  I can't explain it properly, but our district is basically one person. 

the field is... green and ready to... play

The field is open now!  So we get to go to the outside world every day!  It's so fun.  Sorella Bennett LOVES kick ball hahah. 

hosting

I got to host yesterday! It was so so fun! I hosted just for the possibility of getting Natalie. 

ANYWAYS I saw her! She is two floors below me.  (I practiced my casa in casa last night until I found her.)  I love her. She is so great. It's true.  She loves it here and likes her companion! We plan to meet up at the night time every night time until I leave.
 

shout-out

Fratello Merrell has NO IDEA of the Commencement plan >=] i'm so excited.  His entire family is in town and going too!! It's gonna be good.  I wish I was there to see his face turn so so red hahaha.

(Paige's Dad spoke at Commencement for BYU graduation and mentioned her teacher in front of about 20,000 people (and on TV).  He said, "I would like to congratulate Josh Merrell for not only graduating today, but also for surviving 12 consecutive weeks of teaching Italian to my two missionary daughters.  Tell Paige hello when you see her.")

Good Luck again Dad! I love you! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! It sounds like today is gonna be so so good!

Anyways, I leave for Italy Tuesday! Mamma Mia

se rubbassi una stella ogni volta che ti pensa la luna morrirebbe di solitudine. 

This Week in Pictures:

Final Shots

Sorelle O'Connor and Nef

See You in Milan!

(Email Sent:  April 25, 2013)