Christmas 2012!

Hey Hey Hey! Okay, business first. I received one letter that you wrote on Thanksgiving and another from Sis. Sherrard-I dont know if she writes me a ton or if her letters just get here faster, but I have like 5 from her, its awesome! As far as the package from Grandma and Uncle Scott, this is what I know- I have a package in the office that my zone leaders are going to get right now but I have no idea who it's from. As far as tomorrow, I'm thinking it will just be easier to call the house phone where we live. I dont really know exactly how to do it but you can probably look up "how to call El Salvador" on google. I think the country code is 503 and our phone number is 2272-7900. We have 45 minutes talk, I will be waiting at home at 4:45pm your time. Also, this is random but one of the elders here has this cool thing called "All-in-1 External Card Reader/Writer" by Dynex...It's awesome and if I had one I could send you pictures. Just throwing that out there. Also, twizzlers, beef jerkey and reeses are awesome. Sorry I'm a brat. It is a little weird that tomorrow is Christmas...actually here today is their Christmas. Until last night we hadn't even put up a "tree" (see attached picture). We did have a ward Christmas party and let me tell you these people PARTY. It started at 6:00PM we left at 8:00 and they didnt end until 11:00PM and only because it started raining. We also went to President's house on Friday as a zone and spent the day celebrating Christmas with them. It was SUPER fun, we played all these crazy games. My favorite was when we moved the couches around and divided into teams and then threw sock balls at each other. It was like an El Salvador snowball fight. Definitely not something I imagined doing on my mission. President and Hermana Glazier are AMAZING! Like I said tonight is their Christmas so we have dinner plans with a family in the ward. He was a mission president in Costa Rica a few years ago and he has a daughter who served a mission, so it should be fun. And my Spanish is to the point where I can understand what is going on. Yes there is really garbage hanging from trees. Our chapel looks like ours at home. But I'm in the city and meet in the Stake Center (I'm actually in the chapel right now) I dont know if some of the more rural areas have chapels. No it is not hard to wash clothes by hand...it's about as hard as doing my laundry with a machine. Now that I am on my mission I realize how lazy I was before. For example now that I walk everywhere I can't believe how ridiculous it was that I didn't want to walk the 3 blocks to campus more than once a day. Or now that I get up at 6:30 I would give anything to sleep just until 7:00. Also, I was not a good member missionary and I need to apologize to those poor elders. You need to work with the missionaries, give them references, if they need a member to teach with them go and do it! Sorry, just try it, it's worth the blessings. They food here is awesome. There is way more than just pupusas. There is this man in our ward, he has a super powerful testimony and we love having him teach with us, but also he makes amazing bread. You know how I love my bread. And for Christmas he made us this awesome bread wreath thing-So delicious! And there is this stuff called "budding"-it's kinda like Nana's french toast caserole (so sad I'm missing that) and I am addicted. I really enjoyed Daddy's email this week. It made me laugh, he painted this beautiful scene of Christmas and then said "and i just got home from a drug overdose death." Sorry this is so short. We're going to talk tomorrow so I don't want to ruin it all. I hope everyone has fun tonight at Grandma's and misses me :P Love you! Hermana Giossi

"This Is What It's All About"

Hello Family! I was so happy to have an email from you this week. I have P-day on Mondays now so that's when I will read and write. Thank you for sharing the email-address with everyone. I really love and appreciate the emails but just know that I can only email people I am related to but will snail mail others as often as I can. I have not received the letters or package from Grandma but they could be at the mission office, I have no idea. I will let you know. According to my companion the mailing address for letters is: Hermana Giossi La Mision El Salvador San Salvador AP 3362 CP San Salvador El Salvador C.A. Sounds like things are almost all set for Christmas over there. If I'm being honest I forgot next week was Christmas. It just seems so weird because its like summer here. I dont know exactly what is going to happen on Christmas, but the way it works is you have to call me.The President has suggested skype because it's free. I will let you know on the 24th which time I will be waiting and all that. I'm sure this is going to be one of the most memorable Christmas experiences of my life, if nothing else it will be unique. Exciting about the Christmas Cantata...I'm sure it will be amazing! And my Patriots, of course I'm missing a sweet season but it's all good. Everyone here is really jealous because I got to see the Olympics...so count your blessings right? Sounds like you Jen and Aimee are having a blast as always! Oh, Hermana Perry´s brother served in Tacoma...guess who his Mission President was? President Bowen...pretty cool huh? Anyway, Mom I doubt that what you're picturing of me walking down the streets of El Salvador is correct. It looks nothing like what I expected. Let me paint you a picture: There are little stores on every corner, if you want to try pupusas there is a pupusaria every 20 ft or so, when you have garbage you hang the bag on a tree on the side of the rode and the truck comes and picks it up. There is garbage everywhere.There are dogs everywhere and they bark all night long (I´m used to it now), and apparently we have earthquakes alot but they're so tiny that I haven't even felt one. And I probably sweat way more than you picture. For this reason I do not mind the cold showers at all. I still have a hard time believing that I am in El Salvador, walking around speaking Spanish all day. And yes I am a little tired of my clothes already but it's all good. I might do a little shopping this afternoon because stuff is so cheap here...we'll see. I will let you know if I need more clothes or anything. Climate=hot! OH YEAH, that's another thing, the people here also talk about the "climate change" and how they might be getting sick because of it. There will be like a 3 degree difference in temperature and they´ll be talking about how yesterday was SOOO hot and today is SO cool...I'm just like "everyday is hot". They would never survive in New England. I gave a talk in church this week. Hermana Perry and I were planning the baptism with one of our investigators and one of the members of the bishopric came up and asked us if we could each give an 8 minute talk about whatever subject we wanted. I spoke about the Atonement and Hermana Perry talked about accessing the Atonement through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Somehow I managed to prepare a talk in like 3 minutes. I thought I would be so nervous but it wasn't bad at all. I had my first Baptism this week, Hermano Manuel. He is so strong and satan worked really hard against us, but we worked harder. We washed the baptismal jumpers and hung them out to dry the night before, when we went to get them right before we had to leave a bird had pooped on one! Thankfully we had an extra. We had everything planned and the person that was supposed to baptize him didn't show up, thankfully one of the elders, Elder Defigueiredo, stepped up and performed the ordinance-I think it was a great experience for him too. When Manuel came out of the water he was just so happy. Then he bore his testimony afterwards, it was so powerful-he blew everyone away. As we were filling the font beforehand Hermana Perry and I just looked at each other and were like "This is what it's all about." I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and testify daily of Jesus Christ. I love you all so much. Hermana Victoria Giossi

Bienvenidos a San Salvador!!

Hola! Well I´m here! I still can´t believe it. I spent the first two nights in the palatial residence of my Mission President and his wife-I was the only Hermana who arrived in my group so I spent two nights in the ¨General Authority Room in a queen sized bed. My President and his wife are amazing. It´s kinda weird, President Glazier reminds me a ton of Bro. Metro and Hermana Glazier is quite possibly the sweetest woman I have ever met. We went to the Temple too which was really awesome. It´s such a blessings to have a Temple in my mission-we get to go every six weeks (I went today too). This Temple is my new favorite...it is literally a vision of heaven. I can´t even describe it. Anyway that vacation is over now and I am hard at work in my first area! Mom you would like my house, we have two iron doors that lock and a working (cold) shower. I wash my clothes by hand and cook my own food except for lunch. Everyone here thinks I´m Latina-it´s just because I have dark hair- And when I tell them I´m not they keep asking like they don´t believe me. Just wait until I can actually speak Spanish, I´m really going to have them fooled. El Salvador is an interesting place, sometimes when we´re walking down the street heading to an appointment, I still can not believe I´m here. It is like something out of a movie to me. No one in the United States should ever complain about their living situation, my area is ¨nicer¨ and I can´t believe how poor it is. The people are amazing though, so kind and giving. Funny story; so my companion (I´ll get to her) were contacting and we knocked on this door. The woman in the house across the way said the person we were looking for wasn´t there, we walked over to talk to her and were met with quite the surprise. The old woman who had talked to us was sitting there carving wood and next to her was a woman sitting in a chair doing nothing but staring at us...she was completely naked! Hermana Perry and I just said thank you and quickly walked away. I think it´s going to be an interesting 16 months. So my companion is Hermana Perry. SHE IS AMAZING! I absolutely love her and we get along great. We actually took gymnastics together at BYU...crazy right. She´s from California and really loves sports. She is also minoring in Non-Profit management , her major is Recreational Management. She has been out about 6 months. Oh, and I saw Heremana Hale (who´s blog I had been reading) my first day. She was so surprised and happy- it´s nice to see a familiar face. She and Hermana Perry were companions in the MTC. Small world. Speaking of which, there is an Elder in my zone who was in Analisa´s freshman ward! The conversation went something like this, Me-"Oh that´s cool that you know her. She´s married now." Him- "What? She´s married?!" Me-"Hate to break it to you Elder but alot of your freshman friends will be married when you get home." Him-"I know but I dated her!" It was hilarious, my companion and I were cracking up! So I have been here one week and...We have a baptism scheduled for this Saturday! I can't even believe it! Heremano Manuel is ¨de Oro¨or in English "golden". Pretty much he had been waiting for the church his whole life and just needed the missionaries to come along. He has such an amazing testimony, I am so excited for him-he is just so happy to be getting baptized. Guess what!? We have another Baptism scheduled for the 22nd! Hermana Dora, she has been investigating for a long time she just had to make the decision. She finally made it this week and we are beyond thrilled. She shared here testimony with us yesterday, I was crying. I love this calling, it is such an amazing opportunity. We´re really trying to work hard with the members because there is a new rule that missionaries in Central America do not knock doors anymore. It´s hard work but I love it. I have to go soon but here´s the deal. 1)I wasn´t able to send pictures today. I don't know when I will be able to sorry...but I will as soon as I can. 2) Mail and Dear Elders take forever here. So I would love it if I received emails. My P-Day is Monday. I can only email family but I will always do my best to write back to other people. I received letters from Shelby, Kristy and a DearElder from Bishop Spearin. 3) Nalani Artinger is in big trouble if I don´t hear from her soon! And could someone please tell me if Lawrence is engaged yet. Alrighty, I´m off to go pay some bills and enjoy they rest of my P-Day. Hope to have an email next week! Sorry this was such a scatterbrain email, next time I will organize my thoughts better. Love you SO much! Hermana Victoria Giossi

The Days Feel Like Weeks and The Weeks Feel Like Days

Hola familia! como estan? Well this is it, my last email from the CCM, I cant believe it. I leave for El Salvador at 7:00 Monday morning. Thank you for all the letters and DearElders this week. I got DE from Mom, Christina Cook and Grandma and 3...yes 3 letter/cards from Sis. Sherrard. Grandma, I have not received the package yet, hope it makes it. I will be sending letters today in response. I cant believe all the exciting news about Sisters going on missions. I'm so excited for Diana especially, she enters to MTC on my 6 month mark exactly. And it would be so awesome if the Southcaost Ward got Sister Missionaries. Sounds like things are awesome at home. Zach seems to be doing great...I'm happy he's drumming again! I miss my little Bruschi boy like crazy! I'm so happy Jared and Alyssa come over every Sunday...I'm sure that makes Nana very happy. I have to say to Uncle Jared, we need a facility like the CCM for when the Zombies come...this place is like prison secure but still comfy. How is Daddy doing, haven't heard from him in a while? Good to hear about all your working out. I'm sure not eating healthy here.....the ice cream is way too amazing and I think they are trying to fatten us up for the field.Supposedly I'll lose it all in a month though once I enter the field; that's what the teachers say. Also, I have really enjoyed having beans for breakfast almost everyday Seriously. I especially love fried plantains with black bean pure'....just thought that was something random I could share. Sounds like you have had some amazing service opportunities. I was reading the Dear Elder where you quoted that missionary doing service in New York. The Elders in my district were like, "That's how we do! Represent!" and fist pumping. They crack me up. Seriously, this group of Elders are absolutely amazing I would have gone crazy without them. They kept me laughing and strengthened my testimony so much. I love them...it's so sad that we can't hug them. Although one of them informed us, "Just so you sisters know, if I see you after the mission, I'm going to hug you so hard you wont know what hit you." Man, I am going to miss them.In the CCM you have this whole family that you can turn to when you and your comp are having trouble or when you need help with something...in the field it's just you and your companion. I'm so excited for the field though. Let's see what else, the Spanish is coming pretty well. I still have a wicked Gringa accent but the Latinas say my Spanish is good. The other day I only spoke 25 words in English from 6:30-9:00 it was SO hard. So for my weekly spiritual thought I want to talk about Faith, the first principle of the Gospel. We had a meeting about "Exercising Faith as a Missionary" during which the speaker talked about how in our lives we all have "moments of truth" where we choose to either exercise our faith and follow Heavenly Fathers plan for us even if we are afraid or we choose our own will. When we follow Heavenly Father we allow our testimonies to grow and see the miracles that result because of our act of faith. Moroni 10:7 says that Heavenly Father only works ACCORDING to our faith. We have to act in order to see results. I am so excited for the opportunity to have my own "moments of truth" but also for the opportunity to help others realize theirs and exercise faith. I love my savior Jesus Christ and know that this church is His church and that the fullness of the Gospel has been restored to the earth. I know that it is only through the Gospel that we can find true happiness. I love you all so much. Always, Hermana Victoria Giossi. P.S. I will try to send pictures once I am in the field. I will TRY, I have no idea what is going to happen out there though.

"I desire to dwell among this people for a time...but I will be thy servant." Alma 17: 23&26

Hola! Que Tal? Okay so the title of the email...I realize that I spelled "Restoration" last week in a mixture between English and Spanish. It's a little embarrassing but I should probably be happy, Spanish is starting to stick. I know I've always been a bad speller but from now on my excuse is Spanish. Yesterday I managed to speak less than 40 words of English all day, from 6:30am-9:00pm. It was incredibly hard and the Elders really like to try and make us speak English. Also, want to know whats really hard? Learning to direct music when the instructor is speaking Spanish. I do not speak the language of music and I am new at speaking/understanding Spanish...It was a very difficult hour of my life. But I can kind of lead hymns now, so that's cool. This week was another great one here in the MTC, although I think we're starting to lose it being locked in the same room with the same people all day everyday. It's fun though, I'm thankful for the Elders for making me laugh everyday. And for my Hermanas for helping calm them down when we need to focus. We took another group photo this week. I was still one of the shortest (2 sisters were shorter this time...I'm moving up!). I had to stand on my tiptoes for the picture so they could see me...ridiculous I know. I got my package this week...it was HUGE! Jeepers. I thought I was in trouble because I was coming out of the cafeteria and suddenly the Presidents wife came up, checked my tag and said "I thought that was you." And dragged me into the office. I was trying to figure out what I had done wrong. Then she showed me the package and was like, "Good heavens! Clearly someone loves you." Haha...so everyone here can see your love for me. Thank you so much for all the stuff, seriously the sweater came just in time...it's been so cold the last couple days. And I will try not to open the presents...but its so tempting. So I have a funny story. So the MTC here shares the campus with housing for Temple visitors and this week there was a BIG group in from Northern Guatemala. Hermana Harris and I were teaching this week and we were sitting outside. We were sitting on this little tiny bench and our investigator was on the other. Then right in the middle of our lesson this random woman came up and sat on our bench with the two of us and pushed us right over so we were really squished. There were like 7 other benches available. Then like 5 mins later she left. Turns out she was standing behind the bench while we were teaching and took her shirt off...which explains our investigator's weird behavior. Yeah, its interesting here. Later that night we were practicing teaching with other missionaries and the elders started to fidget and get uncomfortable. A woman had just started breastfeeding right in front of us. It's totally normal down here but it was hilarious to see the Elders reactions. We got to go contacting at the Temple again this week. Because of the big trip there were tons of people to talk to. I talked to a young man who had just been baptized and confirmed for his friend who died and a family that had just been sealed. I also talked to some teenagers who were about to receive their Patriarchal blessings. And my favorite this little 11 year old boy named Ishmael who told us how excited he was to serve a mission and how much he loved reading the book of Mosiah. And he really liked giving us high fives. Honestly one of the most uplifting experiences I have had out here. I love the people here in Guatemala, they are beyond loving, I wish I could describe it to you. They are so patient with our Spanish and love to smile and laugh with us. And they share their testimonies with us so freely, it's amazing. Remember the story of Ammon in the book of Alma. He was such an amazing missionary but it wasn't like he just walked in and started preaching. He showed the people love with his actions toward them first. In Alma 17: 23&26 it says " I desire to dwell among this people for a time...but I will be thy servant." I wrote that down on my planner so I can remember that I am here to love and to serve. I am a representative of Jesus Christ and need to love with the same love he would. I am learning so much in the MTC but I am super excited for the field. I can't believe that in about a week and a half I will be in El Salvador. Speaking of which, from now on all mail and DearElders should be sent to my mission home. Also, if you want to email this week that would be fine too :) That way I get it before I leave. I got the most amazing packet of letters from the primary children and Sister Enyia this week. I have written a little note back to each one of them and will be sending it out today. Please thank them for me...it was the highlight of my night last night. I hope all is well at home. I love you all so much. Read your scriptures and pray together. All my love, Hermana Victoria Giossi

"Yo Si" .....Pronounced in English "Giossi"

Its been another great week here in CA! Once again I was so excited to
get mail- you know how I love letters! And I got a package from the
Patraikos...which was awesome! Thank you so much! The pictures kept me
smiling real big and I am loving all the goodies. My District is
really enjoying the candy too-its perfect when you're stuck in the same
room all day! 

 So happy to hear all the amazing news
from home. Glad things are so wonderful. WHAT has everyone been doing?
 How is my little Bruschi boy? I'm really excited for my package...I'm sure I'll love the
glasses. It will be better than wearing my broken ones like I am now.
I will try not to open the Christmas presents...unless they make me at
the El Salvador border. Also, I don't need stamps anymore, I bought
some here. 

 You like funny Elder stories? Really?  I don't feel like they always translate
 really well into email. This week especially our  district elders
 have been cracking me up. We have a peep hole on our classroom door;
 everyday they put a piece of tape over it and write a new message so that
 when you look through that's all you see. The messages are funny but the best part
 is they have to write backwards and that always end up messing it up. Oh and the other
night they had us Hermanas cracking up. We have these huge windows in
our classroom with curtains. So each of the elders took a curtain,
wrapped it around their waist like a skirt and did a holla like dance
for us. I am so grateful for the Elders who always keeping life
interesting. 

 Like I said it's been a great week.
You're not going to believe this...I sang in church this week as the
special musical number, IN SPANISH! My roommates and I sang, "A
Child's Prayer"- I was scared out of my mind but I did it. The mission
is already changing me...haha. We also watched two amazing films on
Sunday. You should check them out. "Mountain of the Lord" about the
Salt Lake Temple and "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration"

 On Tuesday we got to go out in to the real world again for
a "City Tour". Except we didn't get to tour the city because there was
a bunch of pretesting downtown and we missionaries are supposed to
avoid that stuff. It was still really fun though; we got to hang out
with the MTC President and his wife all day on a big tour bus that
always felt like it was a second from tipping over. People drive CRAZY
down here, seriously, Utah has got nothing on this place! We went to
an artisan market which of course I loved. And I saw a coffee bean
plant which was really cool. Then we went to this mall, its a big deal
here in Guatemala. I felt weird being at the mall, like we didn't
belong there as missionaries. We got a lot of weird looks. And on
Tuesday we went to the Temple which is always a wonderful experience.
The Guatemala Temple is SO beautiful inside. I wish you could see it.
Also, we watched a devotional address from the Provo MTC in April.
David Archuletta sang during it. The Hermanas were freaking out and it
wasn't even live. All I can say is I hope they've pulled all of the
sisters missionaries out of his mission...haha

 We got new investigators this week, which I am really excited about. Its so
fun to figure out how to apply them to different people. Everyone
needs the gospel, and we have to help them see that. That's why the
Holy Spirit is so important in this work, because he's the only one
who can tell me the best way to help my investigators. 

I hope you got the chance to look up the video I told you about on
youtube...it's awesome! I actually have something else I was hoping
you could look up for me. It's a poem called "A Missionary Prayer"
that one of my district elders shared with us. It's pretty long but
BEAUTIFUL. It starts " The alarm rings at 6 am, I stumble to my
feet..." and ends with "No matter what we go through when we feel we
can't take any more. Just stop and think about Jesus Chris,t he has been
there before." If you find it, I would love a copy. It's so amazing.
Reminds me of Alma 7:11-12. 

 Anyway, time to sign off.I hope all is well and I  LOVE you all so much.
 Always, Hermana Victoria Giossi or as the Latinas say "Yo Sí" (Our last name is a little
difficult for them to read but once they figure out it's just said
like two Spanish words together they tell me it's "muy facil")

Mom, It IS possible to lock a Hut!

Hola!
                                                Sounds like things
have been pretty crazy at home with the hurricane and all that. I had
heard about it but I wasn't too worried, I know my family will be just
fine. Also, sorry about the election. Everyone here is still upset
about it. The CCM building manager told us on Tuesday "Obama won,
America lost." It was pretty funny. Well, at least I will be living in
the country of El Salvador for almost half of the next 4 years.

 Anyway I have had a super exciting week. Probably the best
so far and then next week looks amazing too. After emailing last week
our district went over to the Temple grounds and just chatted with
some of the patrons to practice our Spanish. It was SO fun. There was
this one women who literally talked to us nonstop for 20 minutes about
how missionaries have influenced her life...and then invited us for
dinner anytime. It was pretty funny. She was a little hard to
understand but I probably got about 70% of what she was saying.
 We also went proselyting on Monday. They gave us a Latina
companion, a couple copies of the Book of Mormon and some pamphlets
and dropped us off in a random village to go talk to people. It was
by far the best day of my mission so far. I was really nervous at
first but for the most part I was able to understand what people were
saying and able to talk with them and bear my testimony. I learned
alot in those few hours out there. Here's two: 1) Everyone wasn't
kidding when they said the people would be easy to love because of
their humility. I have never met more loving individuals with such
kind faces. If the people of El Salvador are anything like the people
I met Monday it going to be a GREAT year and a half. We were able to
place 3 BOMs and I felt so good about all of them. Like they really
wanted to read it. 2) Mom, I promise you it is possible to lock a hut.
I said the people are humble and I meant it. Such an amazing
experience. I got so many hugs from the women, they just loved us.

 The other really awesome thing this week, and maybe I
should have addressed this right away, I experienced my first
earthquake on Wednesday. Everyone is fine here. My companion and I were
working on memorizing D&C 4 in Spanish when all of a sudden everything
started shaking...I didn't even notice and then ermana Harris was like
"Uhh, are we having an Earthquake!" It lasted for almost a minute and
was about a 7.2 Dad you were right, it just felt like someone was
shaking the couch. I'm fine though and actually enjoyed it. Apparently
it was worse near the coast but all the missionaries are just fine.

  I was so happy when I got my DearElders this week- I
pretty much live for DearElders! Daddy you crack me up, I'm pretty
sure it will be just fine if you call me Tori. But we'll keep it on
the DL just in case. I love the new way Sunday School will be taught.
Sounds alot like the way the missionary lessons go, you learn as much
as you can about the topic and then go teach it. What you said about
following the Spirit and teaching what is needed is something they
stress here all the time. I think Sunday School will be so awesome
with this new program. Sounds like Mommy is becoming a fine little
missionary herself. Talking to people all the time about the
Church...go Mama! I cant wait to be able to speak Spanish when I get
home either. I was just talking to my companion about how I will keep
using it as much as a can. My Spanish scriptures are already being
used a ton and I cant wait to see how they are by the end of the
mission-although I don't know if I ever want my mission to end. 

 I also got a DearElder from Jen. I think about her parents
whenever I go to the Temple. I'm so happy I was able to meet them
before I left, they're amazing. Sounds like there setting apart was
pretty special. Jen also asked how many of us are going to San
Salvador, I'm not sure but I think there are 5 of us...and I'm the
only Hermana. My companion is going to Santa Ana and Belize. She also asked
if Spanish just rolls of my tongue or if I have to think about it
first...haha. Pues a veces necessito...sorry I mean sometimes I need
to think about it but sometimes words just come out. And there are
some English words I just don't use anymore. I always say "pero"
instead of but and "sobre" instead of about, just a couple examples.

 I have a couple of things I want you to look up. On
Youtube you should look up "Missionary Work and The Atonement" by Pres
Eyring and Elder Holland. It's amazing, we watched it in class. It
will make you see salvation and the Atonement in a totally different
way. One thing that was said was "If you let it, the Atonement will
carry you even more so than your investigators." Anyway, amazing! 

 From now on packages should go to my mission home. And
always adress them to HERMANA GIOSSI. Okay. gotta go. Love you so
much. Hermana Giossi.