Baptism #1

Okay, so this sucks... But my general email was just deleted... And so
this is going to be shorter I guess. Sorry folks.

Last Monday, we went tourist shopping because I really wanted shirts
that said Sicily or Catania on them.. So we found some and then I saw
this awesome clock that I've been thinking about all week, so I went
back and bought it today. I'm pretending that it wasn't made in China.
I bought it in Sicily and that is all that counts.

Tuesday, we had an interesting encounter with a TJ or Jehovah's
Witness... She popped out of nowhere from behind a car and wanted to
give us a pamphlet.. But we said that we weren't interested. We are
missionaries for the LDS church, and she was like, oh so you believe
in Joseph Smith.. And we told her that we believe he was called of God
to be the prophet of the restoration of Christ's church on the earth.
And then she started to walk away slowly while staring at us and
saying "remember Gesu". Okay signora. Will do. ;) I was also told that
I speak Italian like a Sicilian basically meaning that I have an
American accent. They said it was a compliment, but I'm not so sure...

On Wednesday, nothing that exciting happened. We taught 3 lessons. It
was nice and hot outside like normal. Whoever said it cooled off
towards the end of August lied to us... So I will continue to be
drenched in sweat for hours on end. No big deal. I'm not trying to
impress anybody anyways.

Thursday was 3 months on the mission. Hard for me to believe. I
honestly don't know where the time goes because tomorrow is September.
I can't remember what else I was going to say about Thursday. I guess
my email next week will be extra long so I can tell you everything I
forgot this week. I'm really sad that happened. My email was so good.

Oh yeah, we had DDM. We got yelled at for being in the church building
because they do some super secret maintenance stuff on Thursdays. We
joked about how if the ward put as much work into helping all the less
actives as they put into building maintenance, we could probably have
two wards here in Catania.

Friday was a bit of a bummer. We did companionship inventory which are
sometimes a bit rough. But our companionship is always better because
of it. All our lessons cancelled and Jennifer wasn't there for our
lesson on Friday. The day before her baptism, nice right?

So we prayed really hard Friday night that she would still get
baptized, we called her Saturday morning and she said she would be at
the church at 5. Then she ended up getting to the church at 5:35. Just
a bit of freak out mode for us before the baptism started. But
everything went really well. The talks were really great and President
Waddoups came so that was fun. And Jennifer was so happy. She kept
saying, "I did it." And her smile was contagious. The ward also really
stepped in, so I hope they continue to do that. She was confirmed on
Sunday, and that was really touching. I think the whole ward could
feel the spirit so strongly. I could definitely feel Heavenly Father's
love for her, and it was a good reminder of how much he loves each of
us. When the confirmation was over, she sat back down and put her head
in her hands.. And she was just so incredibly happy. The scripture in
D&C 18 where it says how great your joy shall be if you bring one soul
unto me. I definitely felt that joy this weekend. And in A Heritage of
Hope by Henry B. Eyring, it talks about how one persons choice can
affect generations of people. I definitely see this because her boys
are not 2 and 4 year olds to me. They are 18 year old missionaries
wearing name tags or fathers in their own families. Pretty cool to
think about. :)

On Saturday night, President and Sister Waddoups did a surprise
apartment check so Sorella Defranchi and I were grateful that we had
done the dishes. Haha.. They were surprised by how big our apartment
is. And it's true. It is gigantic for 2 people.

Well, sorry for the shorter email. Next week will be better. I
promise. I got the gist of everything I wanted to say. So a spiritual
thought now.

I finished 2 Nephi this week, in English.. But there is a lot of
really good stuff at the end of that book which is a nice reward after
finishing the Isaiah chapters. I liked chapter 28 vs 32. It is so true
how the Lords arm is extended all the day long. Sometimes we fail to
see how much of a role he plays in our lives. I am so grateful to be a
missionary. It is one of the best choices I have ever made. Thank you
for all your prayers and your support. It means a lot.

I love you all. Have a golden week!

Love,

Sorella Flansberg

Pics 2

After her confirmation.. :)

This is a type of melon here. It is literally the best. So good! I don't know what it is, and I never saw one in America before. Sorry for the crazy picture.

This is the church building in Catania. It is super gorgeous. :)

Week 6?

Hello!

Oh boy, I am losing track of how long I've been here. I guess that is
good, but I don't know how to label my e-mails. Haha..

Okay, let's start the week off with last p-day. We took the train to
Taormina which is close to Messina which is the city that connects
Sicily to mainland Italy. It took an hour to get there. The train
leaves you at the bottom of the mountain, and central Taormina is all
the way at the tippy top. It was really hot, but there was a nice
breeze coming from the sea. Anyways, we had decided to wear jeans that
day, and so I wore jeans and toms and a t-shirt that got soaked with
sweat and was pretty disgusting, but to the point... We didn't want to
wait for the bus to take us up from the station to the city, so we had
the genius idea to walk. I about died, and would have been much
happier if I had been wearing workout clothes. Having jeans stick to
your legs is not quite comfortable. But we made it to the top, it was
absolutely gorgeous, and we enjoyed the views, and seeing an actual
tourist town. We were going to see a historic amphitheater, but it
costs 4€, and you need your passport if you are from anywhere outside
the European Union (which we don't carry around with us on a daily
basis). I also found the perfect honeymoon location.. The hotel is
super cute.. And it is literally perfect. :) Then, we were running
late to catch the train back to Catania, so we ended up literally
running down the mountain. Can you imagine a group of missionaries
running down a hill that is kind of like y-mountain, a little less
steep, and paved... Yeah, that was us. Toms were not the best shoe
choice. It makes for good memories though.

Tuesday was normal, but my calves were sore from the day before, and
walking everywhere was super hard.. I guess that is what happens when
you choose to have a fun p-day for once. Or I guess climbing up a
mountain.. But I think it was worth it.

Wednesday was absolutely crazy. We did our normal routine that
morning, and then we caught a bus to Motta which is an hour away from
Catania. The senior couple, the Clarks live there.. And they had made
a pranzo for us and this super sweet lady named Rosa and her daughter
Letizia. We taught about the plan of salvation and it was a super
great lesson and I think it touched Rosa especially because we were
able to testify of eternal families and her dad passed away a year
ago. Elder Clark made this super yummy omelette for us and this
delicious cranberry homemade bread. I also ate most of the salad they
had. I drenched it in bacon ranch, but I ate a lot of it. I was proud
of myself. Also, the Clarks have this couch that felt heavenly to sit
on while we waited for Rosa to get there. I think it has been my
entire mission that I haven't actually sat and relaxed on a couch.. I
miss couches. Then we rode the bus home, had an appointment with
Angela the new convert.. We now have 3 Angela's we are teaching.. It's
a bit confusing, more so for you all because you haven't met them.
Then we had our usual lesson with Jennifer. And she is all set for her
baptism on August 29. She is literally the sweetest person. And it is
too bad that we have a hard time getting the ward to help us with her
because she is "colored". Grr.. She is so super sweet, and she will be
one of the miracles that I remember from my mission for years to come.

Thursday was transfer day! Ahh! How did that come so fast!? We had to
wake up at 4 to help one of the sisters get to the airport, so we took
a bus to the airport.. You don't realize how much missing 2.5 hours of
sleep affects the next few days in missionary life, but it totally
does. Then we were a 3-some for that day until the train from Rome got
to Catania at 6:00. We have new missionaries! An elder was blown into
the city and is training a new greenie, but it is worse than being
blown in because they don't even have their own separate area book, so
they have to find all of their own people to teach. Oh, also the
greenie already speaks Italian because his parents are Italian, but he
is from America. I think he is like 6'5". Maybe more.. If I tower over
people, he towers over them even more. His trainer is also super
short, so it makes it kind of funny. They are super sweet, and it is
great to have more missionaries, but now we lose our car privileges
with the other anziani so we are completely reliant on the bus
systems. Yay for the unreliable bus systems. Also, I could be a bit
bitter that they got to go to Sigonella for the linger longer instead
of us. But, we get to go next time. :p

We got a new phone because our other one was broken.. And I don't like
it. Haha.. It is a flip phone, and it doesn't say who is calling on
the outside so when it rings and you open it, it answers the call. So
frustrating! I'm getting to be the expert at saying Pronto? And then
saying uno momento and passing the phone to Slla Defranchi. Haha.. But
now that it is the second transfer, I get to keep talking on the phone
to Italian people. Yay!

We got 4 new investigators this week! We began to teach this woman who
has been coming to church for the past year and I guess all the
previous missionaries just assumed that she is a member, but she's
not.. She is dating an ex member of the church.. Not an
excommunicated, he just asked for his name to be taken off the
records. Comunque, her name is Iole and his is Gesualdo. We had our
first lesson on Monday with them, and they intimidate me a bit.
Because they know so much about the church. Like so much. I mean,
she's been coming to church for a year. All the simple stuff I know
how to say in Italian is just common knowledge from them. Iole is this
super smart person who is always wanting to learn more.. But quite
honestly, I don't think that me or Slla Defranchi can teach them more
than they already know. We now have 4 investigators who just want to
learn more before they get baptized.. It is frustrating to me, because
the gospel and living the gospel goes back to a simple faith for me. I
always have a desire to learn more and to gain more knowledge.. But
seeking out things that could be true or untrue about the church and
basing a testimony on that isn't how it works to me. If I ever did
hear any bad thing about Joseph Smith, whether it was true or false,
it wouldn't shake my testimony because I know that the gospel is
perfect and that God works through imperfect people. It's simple, but
these people are making it too complicated.. We had another lesson
with them on Saturday, and they invited 2 friends who are interested
in learning about the gospel. Gotta love referrals from investigators.

Teaching them also made me start thinking about something else... Our
lessons with them start at 8 at night because Gesualdo works that
late. The two times, they have invited us to stay for dinner. The
first time because we went over to a members house. We are also
supposed to be home no later than 9:30. Which gets me into my question
that I am going to ask.. 3 times this week, we were out later than
9:30.. But we were doing good things. We were forming friendships and
trust with our investigators, and then the third time, we helped
Jennifer do some dishes as service because she really needed our help.
We know that it is important to be home on time and be exactly
obedient, but I honestly don't know what falls under the good, better,
and best categories here. Any opinions would be helpful...

One thing Gesualdo said that I liked though was that "Our spirits are
all the same age. We are just at different stages in our mortal
bodies." I liked that. Just because someone is older or younger than
me or you, does not mean that you can or can't learn something from
them.

P.S. There are Nicholas Sparks books in Italian, say what? That's a
note for after the mission. :)

Then surprise! I was asked to give a talk last week for yesterday.. So
in other words, I have a 10 minute talk in church, in Italian
yesterday.. Fun stuff. I feel like the talks are just beginning. I
also had the genius idea of playing redeemer because music is an
international language and then I wouldn't have to talk as long.
GENIUS! Haha.. I talked on faith. I had to pick my own topic, which is
way worse than being assigned a topic. I picked that one because it is
the first principle of the gospel, and I've been reading about it a
lot in Jesus the Christ. One thing that I liked that I put in my talk
is that we say in English that we take a leap of faith.. When we leap,
our feet leave the safety of the ground. Or when we take a leap of
faith, we leave behind the things we know for things that we don't
know, and to our surprise, the things we didn't know become better
than the things that we knew. I wrote it mostly in Italian, but I will
translate my talk back to English and sent it to y'all next week.
Jake, I'll send it to you in Italian. Maybe you will actually be able
to understand it.. I don't know. Also, I think Redeemer was a real
treat for everyone because the ward does not have very much musical
talent. :)

Fun cultural things... I tried a cannoli this week. It was chocolate,
so different than the ricotta cheese ones... I'll try that one next.
:) it was delicious. I am also addicted to pistachio granita so dad,
if you can master a recipe for that, you would be my favorite person
ever. They are so good!

Well, I love you all! And I hope everyone had a great week!

Love,

Sorella Flansberg

Almost 11 lessons this week!

Hello family!!!! And friends!!

Okay.. We were so close to setting a record this week, but sadly..
Only 10 lessons again. So Jake, you are probably laughing at that
number right now because it was totally different in Peru... Heidi too
for that matter.. This week, we had to watch the district for 12 weeks
which is the training program for new missionaries. We had to watch
the planning session ones, which are incredibly helpful... I won't
lie. I like watching the district.... And it is helpful, but the
planning ones were a bit disheartening because of their numbers
compared to our numbers. They would have like 17 member lessons a
week, and we are lucky if we get to 2 or 3. Italy is different.... But
still a bit disheartening... Haha.

So much happened this week! So, Tuesday... That morning, we went to
try to contact a referral that the AP's gave to us while they were
here for zone conference... So we take the bus up to the church and we
get out, and it is steaming hot again... But nevertheless, we are
smiling and walking down the hill to her apartment. We climb up all 5
flights of stairs, and knock on her door... She says Chi è? As is
normal for anybody here... It means who is it, if you didn't catch on
to that... We answer, siamo le sorelle missionarie per la chiesa di
Gesù Cristo dei santi degli ultimi giorni. No answer back. Okay? We
knock again thinking maybe if we say Anz. Borden and Puff sent us,
then maybe she would open the door. Nope... Then we hear her feet
slowly shuffling away from the door... Really? We know you are home,
and we can hear you... So, you could tell us that you just aren't
interested... But stay silent? Really? I don't understand....

I guess I sort of understand the concept of street contacting and
someone giving us their phone number to just be nice... But we really
are going to call you and try to set up an appointment with you. We
aren't just doing some campaign thing where we get as many phone
numbers as we can and then not call you... Weird.

Then that night, we had English course. The anziani couldn't come
because they were teaching Italian course at the military base in
Sigonella. The bad thing about Catania English course is that we have
serious creeper men in that class, but Slla Defranchi and I decided we
could handle it with her pepper spray if things got nasty.. Anyways,
so we tell them that we got it and we didn't need them... Then after
English course, we ran to the bus stop and nobody was there. Usually
that means that the bus has already passed... So we wait for 20
minutes, and no bus. So, we obviously assume that we missed the last
bus that night.. So we call the anziani and are like, "We missed the
bus, so could you come pick us up" because they have a car. They say
sure, and we have to admit that we really do actually need them. Then
5 minutes later, the bus shows up. So, I call them back and I say,
never mind.. We are on the bus. Then halfway to where we get off, the
bus pulls over and the engine dies.. I'm thinking to myself.. If I
have to call the anziani back and tell them we need a ride again
because the bus broke down, I am going to die... But thankfully after
a few minutes or so, it started back up and we got home safely.
Anyways, two funny stories from Tuesday. :)

It kind of hit me this week that new missionaries arrive in Italy
tomorrow... Like TOMORROW. Since when I have I been here for 6
WEEKS???? This 6 weeks went by so much quicker than the first six
weeks at the MTC. I feel like the statement, "the first week of the
MTC is the first third of your mission, the rest of the MTC is the
second third, and the field is the third." It really is so true. We
had DDM on Wednesday where we did transfer predictions... And that was
pretty fun. Not accurate at all though.. But fun nevertheless. It is a
5th week of the transfer tradition. :)

We had two really great lessons with Jennifer this week. The first one
was about prophets and how God's words never cease and we used the
talk by Jeffrey R. Holland. She was amazed at how he described the
Book of Mormon, and I agreed with her by like... "I'm amazed after
every word that comes out of that man's mouth... " Like seriously,
though. Then, she had been feeling sick for the last few days because,
ding ding ding.. She hadn't taken her "cultural medicine" for a few
days.. And so, we asked if the anziani could come and give her a
blessing next time we came. So, we had that lesson on Friday. The
blessing was amazing. I thought I had this great appreciation for the
priesthood every time I received a fathers blessing, but it really is
amazing watching and listening to 18 and 19 year old boys give
blessings. It was a miracle.. The blessing promised that if she kept
God's commandments, she would have the strength and the health needed
to take care of her boys. And she said that as soon as the blessing
was over, her headache was gone. Like completely gone. She was so
happy and on cloud nine for the rest of the night. It was just
amazing.

Back to Thursday... Normal day and then we had English course like
normal. I was teaching the advanced class with Anz. Covalt and the two
guys who are the creepers came into that class, because they were
bored of beginning even if they can't speak English that well. Yay!
Not. Comunque, in the advanced class we just usually pick a topic and
we talk about it for the hour. The topic usually changes and its fun.
We just get to talk.. But, Giacommo would not stop staring at me.
After English course was over, I said to Slla Defranchi that "Penso
che Giacommo mi guarda come sono il cibo". (I think Giaccomo looks at
me like I'm food.) Anz. Pope heard, and he almost died from choking.
Haha.. But really. It is just disturbing how the men in Sicily stare
at you. It literally cuts you to the bone and makes you feel so
uncomfortable and horrible. I am so grateful that I can feel
respected, loved, and beautiful when Ty looks at me.

Friday was a great day... Like really great. All Friday's are great
here. So I look forward to them. We had a lesson with this guy named
Giovanni who approached us in Villa Bellini a week ago while we were
eating a granita before going to Jennifer's. We did a short lesson
then and then had another one. He is curious about religion and he is
trying to find God. He is 26 and is looking into the Evangelical
church right now.. Which by the way is the other big church here... (
there are the Catholics, the evangelists, the Mormons, and the TJ's or
JW's, whatever you want to call them). It was a good lesson when
halfway through, 2 other guys approach us too, and ask us some
questions. We agree to meet them too, but we will probably pass them
off to the anziani. Then as we were leaving the park for Jennifer's,
we saw the cutest puppy ever, so we ask the lady if we can pet her..
And then the lady recognizes our name tags and says that she talked to
the elders last week. Different elders because of zone conference, but
we exchanged numbers with her and went back to teach her Saturday
night. We are really excited. :) Her name is Christina. I'm just glad
it wasn't Angela. We are now teaching 3 different Angela's.. Really?
Could you get more creative with your names??

On Saturday was FerAgosto.. Don't think I spelled that right.. But it
is a big holiday in Italy.. Anyways, we did deep cleaning of our
apartments, since we weren't allowed to leave the apartments until 6.
So it was basically another p-day except we were stuck inside.. I did
get to wear sweatpants and a shirt all day and it was the best..
Wearing a skirt everyday gets old real quick. It was fun and it was
nice to have a clean apartment. :) It's still clean, so that is good.
:) We also had transfer calls, and I wonder why in the world I am so
gullible... The AP's were like, you are getting transferred to Rome 1
with Sorella Defranchi.. And I believed them! Grr.. But it was a
scherzo (joke). I am staying here in Catania, and nothing is changing
in our district other than we are getting a new companionship of
elders. Which includes a new greenie. :) whoop!

Then, we had our lesson with Christina... And it seemed to go really
great. Some of the things she told us about her life seemed a bit
strange, but we were like, "eh..its Catania..everyone is a bit
strange".. So we continue with the lesson, we do the restoration, and
it goes great. We invited her to church and set up an appointment with
her for Sunday to teach the plan of salvation, and asked her to read
alma 42. She agreed to all of it. Then we got on the topic of baptism,
and she was like, " I would like to get baptized." We were like WHAT?
Haha... But that is where it goes downhill. On Sunday morning, we
called her to make sure she was all good to get to the bus stop and
she said she wouldn't be able to come to church, but that we were
still on for 4.. Okay, then 30 minutes later, she calls back and says
that they are actually going camping and so she cancelled the lesson.
Then that evening, she called and said she read Alma 42, but she
didn't understand why we wanted her to read it and she didn't like it,
so she wants to give the BOM back to us.. We were like, uh... Ci
sentiamo which means kind of like we'll talk later about future
plans.. But there is no way we are taking the BOM back. So, yeah..

I kind of feel like it is a game. Like hey, I know you are
missionaries, and I know what you want, so I'm going to pretend to be
a golden investigator for one lesson and then drop you like a sack of
potatoes after I get your hopes all up.. It's not the first time this
has happened, and it is so frustrating.. We aren't focused on numbers
and we just want you to have salvation because your Heavenly Father
loves you and wants you to become like him, and we love you because
you are a child of God, and we sincerely want to help you. Why can't
people see that? I know that it most likely isn't a game, but
sometimes it sure feels like one.

Comunque, back to Sunday... We went to church to find no electricity..
No air conditioning, no keyboard for the chapel.. (Which doesn't make
sense because there are 3 real pianos elsewhere in the church
building, why not in the chapel?), and no lights.. And the temple trip
bus was leaving this morning so nobody was at church either.. But, the
electricity turned back on right as sacrament meeting started.. Yay!
Then we went to the Bruno's( the ward mission leaders house for
pranzo), it was mostly delicious.. And of course, I ate more than I
needed to. Then we went to Kiran's and had a great lesson with her..
We left after our lesson, start walking down the street, Kiran calls
us and says her husband actually made food for us and was too
embarrassed to tell us that as we were leaving, so she told us to come
back and eat... But, "Kiran, my stomach is about to explode." We
didn't say that, but we did go back and eat some more. It was
delicious, but nevertheless, I don't think I will eat for a few days..

Also, I started reading he Book of Mormon in Italian, and I read 1
Nephi chapter 1 in less than 15 minutes without looking up that many
words and also saying all the words in Italian. So, pretty much.. I'm
pro. Haha.. Just kidding. But I was pleased with myself. Although, it
does help that I have read that chapter only about a thousand times...

Also, I hate pigeons with every bone in my body. They are everywhere
and they are the most disgusting creatures I have ever seen. We saw
one in the middle of the bus station parking lot thing... And it just
sat down in the middle, not worried about getting hit by a bus or
anything, and me and Slla Defranchi were trying to figure out what it
was doing. We decided that it was one of the pigeons we saw eating
rice earlier, and it was going to die, because the rice would expand
and then make their stomach explode. I guess that is what happens when
they eat rice. Who knew? I took a picture, so I will send that to you.
It was really strange. But yes, I hate pigeons.

So, some things I really liked from studies this week... :) I got an
e-mail from Emily Magleby on Tuesday.. ( by the way... I can read
e-mails throughout the week, I just can't respond, so if you want to
tell me something before you forget or if you feel like e-mailing me..
I can read it and then I will respond on Monday.) Anyways, I really
liked something she said in her e-mail.. She said, "Ultimately, we
will all be asked what we did with our opportunities on the earth. It
may not be so much the bad that we did, but the good that we missed."
Profound, huh? Makes you think about all the opportunities you might
have missed in the recent past.

Then, I was thinking about something that dad said in my last e-mail
about how I have an ally in Christ. And I was thinking about the word
ally and what it means. So, obviously in times of war, it means
somebody who is fighting for the same cause that you are fighting for.
Well, we are in a war against Satan right now, and Christ is fighting
against him just the same as we are. Then I read in the BOM the same
day I thought about all this and it said in 2 Nephi 10: 16.. "For they
who are not for me are against me, saith our God". Then because I am a
history geek, I likened that to Switzerland during world war 2. It
stayed neutral during the whole war, because it didn't want to pick a
side. But staying neutral can sometimes be just as bad as the enemy in
some cases. When we choose not to fight for something that is right,
we are just sitting on the fence which is just as bad as fighting for
something wrong because you aren't acting. We are beings created to
act, not to be acted upon. I'm not saying Switzerland was wrong, but
kind of interesting to think about. Also, I read in 2 Nephi 6:17.."for
thus saith the Lord: I will contend with them that contendeth with
thee." I really like that along with the word ally to describe what
our relationship can be with the savior if we choose to fight for what
is right.

Then my coolest one yet.. Think about where you have heard the words
"return and report" before... Then read.. Haha.. Okay, so we could
view it as okay, we are on earth, when we die, we are to return and
report on everything we did. But if you make it one step smaller into
the mission... When I'm done with my mission, I'll return and report
what I did to the high council and in my homecoming talk. But then I
took it one step further.. Every day. Every day, we leave the
apartment as missionaries, we do missionary work, and then we return
and we report through prayer what we did with our day to our Heavenly
Father. Sorella Defranchi and I then made a saying, "RETURN with
honor, REPORT with confidence." I love this. When we report about our
day, we should be confident. We don't want to be ashamed or
embarrassed by how we used the time that he has given to us.
Obviously, this can apply to normal life too. You can ask yourself,
did I serve my neighbor today, did I lift others burdens, did I do my
best? If not.. Do better the next day so you can report to Heavenly
Father with confidence. The atonement allows us to take the things we
aren't that great at and slowly but surely turn them into strengths as
we have faith in Christ.

Goodness, I write super long emails... Ha. Since I had a lot of
questions, my zone is the east half of Sicily and then there is the
Palermo Zone. Also, I'm glad you tried the granita recipe and that it
worked and that it tasted good. I haven't had one in a few days...
Pretty proud of myself, but it has taken us like 2.5 weeks to get
through a jar of Nutella. A big one, which is also made out of
glass... In my opinion, the glass container is better than the plastic
ones. Well, arrivederci! Vi voglio bene! We are going to Taormina
today for p-day, so I will send you some good pictures next week. :)

With all my love,

Sorella Flansberg

1 month mark in Italy

Buongiorno! 

This week was pretty great, and hey? Good news! No tears this week! Haha.. 

Like most of you mentioned... Yes! I had zone conference this week! And I loved it! It was nice seeing more missionaries around. It is a little bit of a hard transition to having hundreds of missionaries around in the MTC to just you and your companion in the mission field. But, I got to see Slla Embley again. We are soul sisters and she is literally the sweetest. She was in the MTC with me. And, I had to give my birth testimony... Duhn Dunn Dunn... In Italian! Yay! I sure hope you were being completely truthful bout the pictures of me on the blog. Sometimes Slla Waddoups puts absolutely horrible ones up there. And mom, I like my skirt too. :) 

The main thing I learned is when we don't act in faith, we aren't opening any doors for the spirit to enter into our lives. We just have a beginning of belief and it will just continue to sit there until you do something about it. Acting on faith is what brings the blessings. When we do our part, God does his part. And his part is bigger and better than any part we could ever give him. We are to teach this concept to our investigators. That the missionaries won't always be there to help them. They need to read the Book of Mormon on their own. If they need a ride to church, call for a ride... Etc. 

They fed us lunch. We had sandwiches. And then we had the genius idea of making this granita drink there. You take water and put fruit syrup in it and then you add the granita. It was delicious! I don't know if Presidente was talking about that or if they actually went to get a granita after the zone conference. Catania is known for their granite. 

Speaking of granite. I got a few recipes for them. You could probably also look some up on the Internet and then make them in the ice cream maker. But here are two. 

Lemon granita:

1 liter of water

500 g of sugar

5 big lemons

Melt water with the sugar, let it cool, add lemon juice

Put in freezer and stir every two to three hours

Once frozen, scrape the solid to make the granita like texture

Or put it in an ice cream maker :)

Watermelon granita: ( I would either take the seeds out or blend them up in the vita mix) 

Blend a watermelon, but leave a few pieces 

For every kilo of watermelon, 250 grams of sugar

Heat some of watermelon to make the sugar melt

Add some Lemon juice

Mix together and freeze

Let me know what you think. :) Oh, and you will have to do the conversions yourself. 

Back to zone conference.. We had 8 sorelle in our apartment on Monday night. It got a slight bit crazy, but it was really fun too. I am beyond grateful for two showers though. Oh, and I also think it is slightly ridiculous how much time some of the sisters put into getting ready. They had to look perfect for zone conference. We had interviews with Presidente on Monday afternoon and that was really good. He said that he could tell I've learned some Italian, which is good I think. Our interviews are always super short.. Haha, but his love for me is tangible even though we only met 4 weeks ago. I still can't believe I have been here that long! 

Tuesday was zone conference and then we had English course. And then Wednesday was super eventful. 

We did scambios (exchanges) on Wednesday with the sister training leaders who also happen to speak only Italian. I was with Sorella Furia and yes, I spoke Italian all day. Exhausting? Yes. Headache? Definitely. But I learned so much. From day one in the MTC, they said to speak your language. But it has always been so hard because you just want to revert back to English instead of thinking sometimes... Or rather most of the time, but I have a testimony of SYL now. Also, everyone says I'm doing really well with the language. So, I still don't know what that means. Also, absolutely no comments on the translating thing. Really? I think that would be so cool! 

Jennifer had her interview with Presidente Monday night. If you could pray for her that would be great. She is struggling with part of the Word of Wisdom right now because of a cultural thing... And she could really use your prayers. She is frustrated that this thing is keeping her from being baptized. But, sometimes we have to do things for reasons that are unknown to us. 

I figure out at least once a week that I am older than most of the anziani here and it is so weird, because I could have sworn that they were older than me. It is fun to see the changing process firsthand on the mission instead of the before and after. Speaking of being older.... I turn 20 in less than three months. Uh, what? I won't be a teenager anymore! 

Thursday, we had pranzo with a sister in the ward. The food was  really good. And this sister is the best member missionary. She talks to everyone about the gospel. She is really sweet, but she also doesn't have a filter. She told me that I should stop touching my face so I won't have acne. But I really don't touch my face that much, and plus I only have like 3 spots on my chin. It isn't even that bad! But really? It made me a bit upset. But, I read in Jesus the Christ why we need to bless those that persecute us.. ;) But in all seriousness, it is easy to treat others with kindness if they are kind to you. But because we are disciples of Christ, it is required of us to do more than every other man does. We are striving to be lights to the world, but we can't be lights if we aren't shining out in the darkness. 

On Saturday, the elders were supposed to have a baptism, but then he called an hour and a half before that he didn't know if he could do it anymore because his family couldn't come because of a freak storm. We were like what? What storm? 5 minutes later, the rain was pouring, the lightening was striking, the waters went up, and the thunder started cracking. It was nice to be in the church building because I definitely felt safe in there, and I was definitely glad that I wasn't outside. So, he will be baptized in 2 weeks. This guy is literally golden. He walked into the church one day because he had read the BOM online. Like what? He is super sweet though, and he will be a great member of the church. We decided either Satan made the storm happen or that God was clapping because he was getting baptized. Haha. 

Sunday was so good. We had visitors from Colorado and England and they obviously spoke English. Yay! Hahaha. :) I also play the piano almost every Sunday at church which is fun. I'm grateful that I have that talent. So thanks mom and dad for making me practice! ;) Sis. G is also the American sister and she gave us more American food. A big jar of peanut butter, kix, Reese's, and Oreos. She is so awesome! Love love love! Slla Defranchi and I also gave into the temptation and bought a jar of Nutella this week. Grr. I think I'm past the stage of losing weight that everyone goes through when they first get here. Slla Defranchi says I'm a fatty at heart. Inside joke, but I think it is true. I have never been one of those to necessarily watch what I eat. I eat what I want to eat when I want to eat it. I think that will need to change. Haha. 

Then after church, we went to the home of the Parisi Family. The food was probably the best I have had here. They are the ones who gave us the recipes for the granite and her breaded chicken was the best. I also tried figs this week (side note). They aren't my favorite, but I will eat them. Italians don't know how to have an hour meal. Probably because they don't start cooking until we get there, and then we eat and we talk and we eat some more. We also shared a thought with them about missionary work and you would have hated me mom, but we did role plays with them. :) Haha.. Fratello P was not the biggest fan. He then spouted off on us how we shouldn't just talk to everyone about the gospel and how we should only talk to those who are ready. We then tried to explain to him that we don't know who is ready just by looking at them, and that is why we talk to everybody. He was still determined that the spirit will tell you who is ready or not, but his wife and daughter understood what we were getting at. He talks a lot.. Like the entire meal and then this little lecture to us. But guess what? We will continue talking to everyone. :) 

Then we had a lesson with a less active. She is having a hard time, and she explained it to us in French! Uh... Non parlo Francese! I picked up a few phrases here and there, but Slla Defranchi didn't want to stop her and remind her to speak in Italian.. So I tried not to look bored. Haha.. 

So, I said a few weeks ago, how I am reading conference talks from a few years ago. It is super fun, and it makes me reflect how we are so lucky to have the knowledge we do of living prophets. We get so many questions all the time of how our church is different than others. And we are different because one, we have the fullness of the gospel and the actual priesthood, and two, because we have the Book of Mormon, and three, because we have living prophets. My testimony has grown so much about prophets just from reading the conference talks. They are truly men of God, and 1 Nephi 22:2 explains just how they know what to say to us. :) 

My other spiritual thought of today is: What is a miracle? In Jesus the Christ, it talks about how everything is a miracle, but it seems to me in modern day culture, that everything is not necessarily a miracle. Miracles cease when knowledge of why something happens replaces the astonishment of something happening. Once we know something, the wonders seem to disappear. So my challenge for you all this week is to try to recognize the miracles of life around us. Not the miracles that only the world counts as a miracle, but everything! Even just the idea of a plant growing up from a seed is a miracle. 

Love, Sorella Flansberg

Week 4

Hello family and friends!

Well, I'm kind of at a loss of words today, so I apologize if this
email is a little shorter. I don't know what is wrong with me. I
usually have lots to say.

This week was a little harder for me. I swear there is something in
the setting apart that makes you more prone to crying. I never used to
cry this much before the mission, and now my eyes seem to water all
the time. And quite honestly, I don't even know what the reason is.
It's probably a combination of culture shock, lots of culture shock,
and language stuff, and a little bit of homesickness.... But that is a
secret. Don't tell anybody.. Shh. :)

But the weeks seem to fly by. Tuesday is the longest... And then all
of a sudden, it's Friday. Which is a good and a bad thing. Haha.. So a
little rundown from my journal this past week because I really don't
know what to say. Sorry!

So, I slept terribly on Monday night this week. Like absolutely
horrible. I was grumpy on Tuesday because of that and we had all of
our appointments cancel on us which makes for not a great day. So we
decided to go less active finding. Sorella Defranchi decided to take a
picture of the map of Catania and then we got lost, it was hot, and
she doesn't talk to me when we're lost and looking for something.
Seems to me that 4 eyes looking for something would be better than 2.
And then she would talk and text on the phone as we walked, and if you
know me... I like to know where I'm going, and I like to go once we
start. So we walked slower and slower and slower and it was hot... And
when I'm tired, grumpy, hot, and blah... It was bad. But once we
figured out what we were doing.. Everything was great. And she forgave
my grumpiness. I also said a prayer to fix my attitude, and once
again... Prayers are answered all the time.

Then, I really wanted to sleep better on Tuesday night. But....

All the apartments in Italy are above street level and above stores.
So in between the store entrances are the doors to the lobby of the
apartment buildings. The doors are locked and so they have a plate
with buttons and names of the people who live there. The buttons are
then connected to these annoying buzzers in each of the apartments.
But background story first... I was so tired on Monday, so I put a
load of laundry in an hour and a half before bed, and Sorella
Defranchi made zucchini bread, and I accidentally fell asleep with my
flip flops on, and my hair up still, but at 2:30, I woke up for some
really strange reason. I didn't remember why I woke up, but I went to
check my laundry and Sorella Defranchi starts to freak out and tells
me not to turn the lights on and to put pants and a shirt on really
quick and to not make any noise. So like a good greenie, I did what
she said. Then I heard it and figured out what was going on. Someone
was pressing our buzzer for long intervals, would stop for like 5
minutes and press it again. It is so loud and impossible to sleep and
ignore it. So we snuck out to our balcony to see who it was. We could
hear a guy talking and he looked pretty sketchy and we were worried
that there were multiple guys. So we called the anziani because we
decided it wasn't very Christlike to yell at the guy off the balcony
and we didn't want something bad to happen. They were half asleep too
but gave us permission to yell at him. We picked up the phone first,
asked who it was... No answer, so we thought he left.. 30 seconds
later, he does the stupid buzzer again, so Sorella Defranchi goes to
yell at him and the neighbors above us tell her to be quiet. So I
thought maybe they had called the police and didn't want us to scare
him off, so we wait... And there comes a police car dropping off some
girl and then it drives away. I guess it scared him because he left...
But come to find out, the neighbors were just waiting for their son to
get home. They weren't concerned about us at all.. Grr.

This week, a lot of appointments fell through. Really frustrating
because we plan lessons, and I practice my Italian so it is all
squeaky clean, and then they don't meet with us. "I practiced all
morning for you!"

On Thursday, we made cookies to go building finding in the building we
live in. They tasted funny because Italians don't know how to make
butter.. But it was American enough for me to have chocolate chip
cookies. Yay! We made them in a muffin tin, so they looked funny but
tasted pretty dang good.

On Friday, we had a lesson with a less active, and then went building
finding. We knocked on this super sweet family's house and they let us
in. We shared a message about Christ with them and then we talked and
got to know each other. They offered us something to drink and told us
about the other people who live in the building. They are catholic. We
couldn't have guessed that... ;) but surprisingly they are practicing
Catholics. The man has a strong testimony of the Madonna because he
had smoked for 20 years but had to stop because his grandson had
health problems, so he prayed to the Madonna and then quit cold
turkey. Cool story, but we'll work on the whole prayer thing.
Although, before the mission, I talked to Ty and Bro. Majors and they
were saying how all religions are really quite similar and they all
have pieces of the truth and I learned that more fully during that
lesson. I had some enlightening thoughts. The first is that because
Catholics believe that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all
the same person, they pray through Mary because it is "disrespectful"
to pray directly to God. But we do something similar. We end all our
prayers with in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. We do that because
Christ is our advocate with the Father. Then, everybody here likes to
compare us with the nuns like the suori.. Because we are missionaries
and because we go by our last names. We just smile and say no, not
really. We dedicate our lives to the Lord for a year and a half but
when we get back, we are completely normal individuals. We'll study
again and get jobs and have families.. But I guess the nuns adopt a
new name and we do that too in the temple, just not publicly and that
new name is sacred to us. Kind of cool to realize all the
similarities. Someday they will realize that the fullness of the
gospel can only be in one place and then they will want to listen to
our message.

Oh, um by the way, it's August. Is that crazy, or what?

On Saturday, we had a lot of time to go finding. We saw some miracles
or what we thought would be miracles... Lots of new potentials for
this week so that will be super fun. We went to the super market to
give the cashier lady a pass along card because we felt like we
should, and then we bought cockroach killer stuff. While there, we met
this lady named Rose from Australia and she seemed genuinely
interested. Her cousin is a member of the church and she could see the
difference the gospel made in her life. She gave us a phone number and
said she would probably come to church tomorrow.. Come to find out,
the phone number isn't even active... That has happened like 3 times
to us. Well either when we meet them or they blow us off after a first
lesson after seeming really interested the first time. I wish people
would just be genuine. You are either interested or not. Don't lie or
act like you think we want you to act. Just be yourself. We aren't
selling something, we are being genuine, so you should do the same. So
frustrating.

Yesterday, we went to Fichera's again. Sister F is so super sweet. She
made us lasagna and it was delicious. She also fed us gelato. It was
strawberry and lemon and it had like angel food cake in the middle..
It was so good! And, I tried frizzante water for the first time. It
definitely isn't my favorite, but I'll drink it.

That is about it. Haha... Sorry for a somewhat boring e-mail. It is
also hard to concentrate on writing because it is zone conference
tomorrow and all the anziani and Sorelle are here for that in Catania.
So a slightly crazy environment right now.

I love you all. I hope you had a great week! :)

Love,

Sorella Flansberg