What Happens When You Kill The Queen Termite

Puchica! Mom, you look GREAT! Like  you look amazing in those pictures. Although, you probably look good in all pictures, because no one ever believes you're my mom...in fact they always think the picture of us in Maine by the waterfall is me and my siblings...it's pretty funny.

Sorry, if the last email sounded like I was distracted...sometimes it's just weird when I have to rush to write. I dont know what to say. I am definitely still loving it here...this expereince is amazing beyond words. Sometimes, it's still so surreal to me. 

I really enjoyed your emails this week though...they were nice and long...haha. I am very interested to see the results of this 3d printer...sounds cool. And suspender clips sounds like your typical Pop-Pop joke. Also, a cat that thinks its a dog...sounds like exciting things in store for Jared and Alyssa. Dad, the bunk bed is beautiful! Oh and Hermana Perry says she wants to see a picture of Sister Sherrard and her crazy hair, she writes me all the time so she is quite famous here among the missionaries. The pictures of the snow Dad sent were gorgeous...I'm going to go print them. 

So, this week has been EXCITING! No we didnt have a baptism...but they're coming. We've been working really hard and finding new people to teach. I'm not going to lie, this missionary thing is hard...but it is totally worth it when you see someone just get it! Also, I think the Spanish has really clicked! Dad, you should know I am becoming an expert detective...I am great at tracking people down these days haha. 

The coolest missionary experience this week was actually with a family, in which the wife is active but the husband isnt and they have a five year old son (who is adorable). They are both returned missionaries and she asked us to come visit and talk with him. All we did was go in and sing "Hark All Ye Nations" to open the lesson and the spirit was strong. He just opened up about all his doubts. We talked about how this Gospel blesses families and makes us into better people it was awesome. He also shared with us his conversion story and how he loves the light you can see in missionaries. Pretty cool experience. Like I said, I love doing this. 

Also cool this week, our house was infested with termites! Over the past couple weeks this weird stuff had been falling from our ceiling. So Wednesday night I was laying in bed and I saw this HUGE nasty bug on the wall...so I killed it with a flip flop. Bad idea, I think it was the queen termite...because all of a sudden all this little versions of the same bug started falling from the ceiling onto our bed. After much screaming and spraying them with "OFF and whacking them with flip flops we decided to move our mattresses and sleep with our mosquito nets...it was an adventure. 

Well, I have to go. Zone leaders are on my tail about finishing. I love you tons! Miss you like crazy!

Love,

Hermana Giossi

I Love This Country and It's People

Hey Hey Hey!

Good news! I got the email from Daddy! I am a little bummed about missing his literary comedy though these past couple weeks.

I'm super proud of Grandma! I really hope she is enjoying the experience of reading the Book of Mormon and realizing how much it truly does testify of the Savior. I'm just about finished with it and will start reading it in Spanish next. My goal is to read all the standard works at least twice during my mission. Once in English and once in Spanish. 

Mom, I'm proud of you too. I get letters from members of the ward all the time telling me what a great Relief Society President you are. How much the ward loves you and how much you truly love your calling and it shows.

And then there's Zach. Sounds like he is doing awesome! (I wouldn't mind an email from him either...just saying). I bet he impressed at his interview for Old Colony. He's always had a way with people, especially adults. I hope he is staying strong in the church and always reading his scriptures. 

How is Nana doing? She looks great in the photos you sent me. 

Speaking of those photos ..I look at them just about daily. Everyone looks so happy and healthy. I mean this in the best way possible, but I don't really worry about you too much. I really hope everything is a wonderful as it seems. 

Now for what I've been up too because I'm sure that's what you're waiting for ;) Life here is pretty normal. In 3 weeks I'll hit my 6 month mark...then we'll have conference. I'm really looking forward to conference. I can't wait for my investigators to have the chance to hear the Prophet speak. And I know it will strengthen me and all the members. 

I really do love this country and these people. Sometimes it's hard for me to be here. There are so many poor people and there isn't a whole lot I can do physically. We're teaching this one woman, she works every single day in a grocery store and on her one day off she spends all day outside selling food (for almost nothing) on the street. She just wants to provide for her children. It's tough but  know that this gospel can bless people with happiness that they can't even imagine. Yesterday in church I realized how much I love it here and how good I feel. It's hard to explain but sometimes I forget that this isn't where I'm from. That these people are from a different country or speak a different language or that where I'm from not everyone is Latina. I really do feel at home here and I really do love these people and this work.

I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in it's fullness.And that His doctrine and authority is found only in the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints. I know that this Gospel blesses people every single day and that through living the principles it teaches all of Heavenly Father's children how they can return to live with Him and their families forever. I love my Savior and strive to serve Him in the best way that I can. 

I love you, miss you and pray for you always.

Love, 

Hermana Victoria Giossi

PS

You got it all for the package. Maybe some more pictures from home. and/or pictures from my college days (unless you could email some which would be better). The Mo-Tab CD is called "Showtime"...I'm pretty sure. 

PPS Sorry for any grammatical or spellings errors. English is hard sometimes. And I'm typing really fast. 

P-Day is a Busy Day

Hello Again, 

So this is weird but for some reason my email thinks the Mom's email belongs to Zach, so I'm always sending emails to "Zach Giossi @ queeny" it's pretty funny. Also, has Daddy sent me emails recently, if so I have not gotten them :(  And while we're talking about random stuff, I'd like to write Lawrence a letter but I don't know where to send it (I'd also like his wedding invitation but who knows). And thank you to Nalani for writing me every single week. It takes dedication, especially since she only gets letters from me once every few weeks. It makes me feel very happy when I open my page and have an email from her. I put another letter in the mail for her last week (: Please elaborate on this signing in conference thing. 

Anyway, yes it is P-Day once again and yes it is a busy day. But the truth is, getting on this computer and writing home is easily the best part of the day. What is P-Day like? It's super BUSY. I don't know where the time goes. We have to do everything that you would normally do during the week...buy groceries, clean the house, still study and write home. Sometimes we do other stuff but mostly I use that time writing letters. Then at 6 we go to appointments for two hours. It's a good day and definitely needed after Sunday. 

Things are going well down here. Celso is doing AWESOME. He's starting his family history and already wants to do the work for his Dad.

We are teaching a man who is going blind and he really likes that the church believes in continuing revelation and miracle. Actually, he is "waiting for his miracle." He also wanted to know if our prophet and apostles have the same power as the originals in the Bible. And asked if our Prophet came to this country and could help him. Hermana Perry and I have studied, fasted and prayed (keeping in mind what D&C 23:13-14 says) and have decided to explain priesthood blessings to him and give him the options to receive one, from the Elders of course...not us...that would be apostasy. We'll see how this goes, I don't doubt this mans faith at all. In fact, he probably has more than I do. 

Let's see what else? Well we were supposed to have a ward mission activity this Friday. It was all planned and we were excited about it. Friday afternoon we got word that the 1st Counselor in the Stake Presidency's wife (who is also in our ward) had passed away and activities had been postponed because they were going to have the viewing in the church. These people do stuff fast here! She died at 11:00AM Friday, the viewing thing was at 8:00PM Friday night...and everyone knew. We stopped by the church at 7:30 to help set up and everyone was ready and waiting, it's nuts the sense of community they have down here.

Other than that stuff we're just working hard with the members to get references and help families know the truth of this Gospel. We're really focusing on families...because well, that is the focus of this gospel. My challenge for you this week is to read the Family Proclamation again as a family (without me, of course) and think about how it can be applied to strengthen our family. I've realized that the blessings of this gospel are meant for everyone, member of the church or not.

I love you so much! I miss you and pray for you daily. 

Con Amor,

Hermana Victoria Giossi

P.S. 

Mom, Hermana Perry says that reading Alma 59:1-2 reminds her of what she thinks you're like. Just replace Moroni's name with yours and Helaman's with mine. 

Photo: Hermana Perry, Me, Elder DeFig, Elder Steinhoek and Elder Contreras in the Family History Center where we write every week!

My Tiny Country

Hola Hola!

Well looks like you do read the church news after all. I was thinking you didn't and wouldn't know about this new mission situation. I only knew they were splitting our mission and I figured they would be doing the same with others...but 58! Holy smokes...I can not even believe how the church is growing. We found out about this on Wednesday. It was weird - President called us all to the change meeting, even though we weren't being changed,  He was talking about how change is a good thing. Change is an opportunity for growth and how sometimes we don't want change but we grow to love our new situation too. Then he dropped the bomb on us that he and Hermana Glazier have been reassigned to the new El Salvador San Salvador East mission effective July 1. We have a change meeting on the 26th of June and wherever we are after that change determines what mission we will be in. President Glazier made it clear that although he will be assigning us it is through the Lord's inspiration, and either way we will be in good hands with our Mission President. I love the Glaziers and of course would love to keep them as my Mission President (they will only have 10 hermanas in their mission) but I know that the Lord knows me and where I need to be. 

My little country (the size of Massachusetts) is going to have 3 missions! I can hardly believe it! I've been thinking about what this means for missionary work here and I thought about a couple verses in Alma 29... " Yea, and that same God did establish his church among them; yea, and that same God hath called me by a holy calling to preach the word unto this people, and hath given me much success, in the which my joy is full. But I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren...behold they have labored exceedingly, and have brought forth much fruit." (Alma 29:13-15). The work is moving forward quickly and I am so blessed to be a missionary at this great time in the history of the church. 

That's SO exciting about the Ericksons...I've never been a Mission President but I know that they will be blessed more than they can imagine in these coming 3 years. 

The girls are getting so big but still as adorable as ever. Sounds like you are having a ton of fun at home. Sleepovers with the twins, playing Catch Phrase (my favorite game), missing me...just kidding, I do miss you all though. 

I have to go now, writing time was short this week. In my next package I might need some new foundation, I like cover-girl lux-nature 315 "bamboo", if that makes sense. Sorry I know I ask for alot but I bet you can shove everything in there lol. 

Love you lots! 

Hermana Victoria Giossi

Trip to the Ruins!

Hola!

We found out about changes today, Hermana Perry and I will both be here together for at least another 6 weeks. Yes the package was great, I have now actually had a chance to enjoy the contents. The bracelet is super chivo (cool), and you're right the beef jerkey is super rico (rich, but it means its tastes really good), I am also enjoying the candy, and you will be seeing the results of the adapter shortly :) 

Okay, so the super cool activity from Friday. We got to go to RUINS! They aren't open on Mondays, which is why we had to change P-Day. The things is President never authorizes changes in P-Day, but we have the office elders and assistants in our zone and their P-day is always Friday. The assistants put in a good word with President asking if we could have a zone P-day and I dont know all the details but he gave us permission to go! We are probably one of the only groups in our mission who will have had this opportunity so I´m pretty grateful for the chance. 

First we went to the ruins at San Adres, which is like a temple site. (you can probably look these places up on Wikipedia if you want). It was really cool and we had so much fun as a zone. The Elders all played King of the Hill and were battling with each other (boys will be boys), I of course took pictures. There was also a group of tourists there from South Carolina. I was totally confused when I heard a southern voice talking to me in English, the funniest part was that I began to respond in Spanish (it's a habit , poor thing looked absolutely shocked so I switched to English. (She was asking me why there was no toilet paper in the stall in the bathroom-it's a thing here, you have to get it from outside before you go in). But the assistants were telling me there are some really nice (cheap) hotels around all the tourist sites, so maybe one day we could family trip it back here one day...maybe. But Costa Rica is probably prettier, lol. 

Next we headed over to Joya de Ceren, which are ruins of just an everyday city. It was so cool. And really peaceful. It was kind of weird to think about how thousands of years ago there were just people there living there lives. I'm sure they never imagined a group of weirdly dressed jovenes (young people) would be gawking at the ruins of their homes and town square. Also, Hermana Perry and I got to ride with the assistants in their truck, it had AC. I can't remember the last time I felt AC! Oh and a clown helped us cross the street, haha. 

Man, I want to see pictures of all this snow, that's crazy! 2 Big storms in a row. As far as the tough mudder, I'm sad I'll be missing this. Dad should do it! Whenever the other missionaries see pictures of Daddy they always mention how big he is. "El es bien fuerte?" which is to ask if he's strong. 

As far as package requests go, just that one CD ("Showtimes" or something like that) and my "Called to Serve" CD, I think it's in the RAV. And more pictures! I LOVE PICTURES! Also, surprises, I like surprises. 

Pray for you always. Love you and Miss you! 

Hermana Victoria Giossi

PHOTOS

 Making Pupusas with our recent convert Dora. She taught us how but the recipe is kinda complicated. I might have to do it a few more times before I could make them for you. But you will try them one way or another when I get home. They are SO good. 

 At the Ruins at San Adres. My hair is looking real good, I know. But theres not much I can do about it in this heat. Also, Hermana Perry and I thought we were going to be last to the bus and we ran the usual 15 minute walk to the chapel in 5 mins. 

 At San Andres with Hermana Perry. We were SO excited to be there

I really am Part of an Army! - 4,000 Missionaries

Hola!

So this is weird right? Getting an email from me on a Friday. The short story is that for this week only they changed our P-Day to Friday so we could do a super cool activity. I will write more about it on Monday (because if not I will have literally nothing to say about the "week"). In other news I received the package. Thank you for everything! Although I am a little confused about why the person I assume is Uncle Jared is wearing a horse mask in that picture with Alyssa? I also got letters from Bro. Metro, Sis. Enya, Sis. Sherrard and The Cabreras!  Thank you!! It makes my day!

Things here have been pretty good. I'm about to finish my training which is pretty crazy. Hermana Perry and I are hoping for one more change together here, but we'll see what happens. We had a multi-zone conference last week. That was pretty fun. President told us that they are going to be opening a new MTC in Mexico soon and it will be the second largest in the world (only Provo is bigger). Last Wednesday the first group of the new younger missionaries entered the MTC...4000 went into Provo! That is absolutely crazy! I really do feel like I am part of an army. 

We also had two day intercambios this Wednesday and Thursday. It was a little bit stressful for me because I was left in my area with a mini-missionary. But I did it, and I learned a ton from her. Hermana Hernandez is a recent convert of less than a year, trying to decide if she wants to go on a mission. We had a lot of fun together, she is hilarious. 

So I have a funny story for you. A few Sundays ago Hermana Perry and I were coming home from breakfast and we cut through the church (it's faster that way). We were  approached by a woman asking us what time the meetings were at. We explained that it depends where she lives and the whole situation with having 3 wards in the same chapel. She told us about how last year these two elders had invited her to church and how she told them she would come so she came. She told us it was a Gautemalteco and a Gringo that she had talked to and where she lived. Turns out she lives in our area but near the limit with an area of two other elders (who happen to be a gringo and guatemalteco) so we went to visit her. When we showed up she proudly took out the pamphlet the elders had given her. We were expecting a Restoration pamphlet but what she gave was this black and white pre-Preach My Gospel era pamphlet printed in like 1985. We were shocked, it obviously wasn't last year that these elders met her, especially since the names written on the back were two elders that are not here anymore and no one has ever heard of. Well...almost no one. We were talking about this experience in Ward Council and when we mentioned the name of the Elders our RS president let out a gasp and exclaimed, "They baptized me! 11 years ago!" Yes, that's right, this woman showed up at church because over 11 years ago she promised two elders she would go. The coolest part is she has been going to church with us now and in our last meeting basically asked us when she could be baptized. It's pretty awesome she is reading the Book of Mormon and everything. After 11 years she came to the chapel for a reason, right?

Also, one day Hermana Perry and I were waiting to cross the street and this "viejita"came up and asked where we were from and started talking to us. She wanted to cross the street with us. A bus stopped and let us cross, and she joked that it was only because we're gringas and if it had just been her the bus would have hit her. There is really no point to this story she just specifically told us to write home about it.

Sounds like things are nuts back home with Blizzard Nemo (that's a really weird name, Clown Fish are tropical). But everyone loves the pictures of the snow, especially the Latinos...they're amazed. I also have to say, the mental picture of Jen, Aimee and Mom playing outside in the snow together makes me chuckle a bit. Oh and not really related but in the pictures you sent in the package you can totally tell that Daddy has lost weight.

Anyway, I am about out of writing time and I am really working on being exactly obedient ;) I love you and a pray for you everyday. 

Love, 

Hermana Victoria Giossi

P.S. Today I was riding with the assistants in their truck and they have this Mo-Tab CD with a bunch of songs from movies (Like the Lion King) and stuff on it. I think its called "Showtime"or something like that. If one day for my birthday or other random occasion you could ship one of those out that would be sweet. I'm getting sick of the same music over and over again haha. 

Also, to save money you should trying shoving things more tightly in packages, that's what Hermana Perry's family does...it seems to work. I don't know, give it a shot. 

Visit from the President & Wife!

Hello all,

Celso finally got baptized. Technically I have 3 baptisms but this is really the first person I taught, and watched as they changed their life. His wife is already a member, so in a year they can be sealed in the Temple, how exciting is that?! You know, baptisms are what makes the mission so worth it, but they're also pretty stressful. You want it to be perfect and wonderful for this person so that they remember it. The problem is that we have had really low ward attendance at our other baptisms, so we were working really hard to make sure everything went perfect with this one. So Thursday afternoon(Baptism was Thursday night) we come home from District Meeting and we have a missed call from President's cell phone...that's super weird, President doesn't just call, usually just the zone leaders relay mission business to you. We called him back immediately, and he asked us what time our baptism was and then told us, "Great, see you there." So we were super stressed after that. Sure enough, in they came and President even gave a little thought. He is super powerful. It amazes me always. Hermana Glazier told us afterwards that she thinks we just baptized a future Stake President...sweet!

We saw alot of President and Hermana Glazier this week, Tuesday we went up to the mission home for a Hermana Conference. All the sisters in the mission were there (28 of us). It was super fun and inspiring. Also, there is one hermana newer than me in the mission, wooho! She is really homesick though, she told me these have been the longest 2 weeks of her life. She asked me if I felt like that...the truth is no. Of course I miss everyone but I'm having so much fun. Time is flying by. For example, I was looking at the calendar the other day in amazement that January was already over. I thought to myself, "Wow, I've already been here for a whole month, that went fast." Then I realized I've been here for 2. 

Let's see what's else happened this week? I learned how to make Pupusas with Dora, one of our recent converts. That was really fun, maybe next week I'll send pictures. I have a passion fruit, they are super delicious. I introduced Hermana Perry to Nancy' salve...she is amazed by it. One of our investigators told us he is an explosive person and he doesn't like when people mistreat others. He told us this story about one time when he was on the bus and he saw a man trying to rob a 14 year old, our investigator grabbed the man's hand and then started stabbing him with a pen until he left the bus. Whoa a bit crazy.

Sounds like everyone is doing amazing. So happy for Grandma (THANK YOU) that is amazing. Not, as happy about the Ravens beating the 49ers. But, I had pretty much forgotten the Superbowl was this week.

Well, I gotta go so others can write. Love you, miss you, pray for you always. 

Love, 

Hermana Victoria Giossi