Week 30: Merry Christmas!

Hello!

Merry Christmas to everybody! This is my favorite time of the year!
And I am absolutely loving my first Italian Christmas! :)

This week was really great! It also seemed like the longest but
shortest week of my life! On Tuesday, we had a specialized training
with Presidente and Sorella Waddoups. The zone leaders and STL's gave
an Addestramento about repentance. They talked about how sin is like a
dirty pair of clothing and how there is still a child of God
underneath all the clothing. When we repent, we take the dirty clothes
off and put clean ones on. They shared a little story about a beggar
man who wanted to go to a royal banquet. He decided to go to the king
and ask for one of his old robes in exchange for his rags. The king
said yes, and told him that it would last forever and he wouldn't need
his old rags anymore. But the beggar didn't believe him. He picked up
his old clothes and carried them around with him wherever he went. He
didn't enjoy himself at the banquet because his dirty clothes kept
slipping out. And even though he had on this grand robe, everyone
still paid attention only to the little sack of dirty clothes hanging
around his waist. In the end, the robe actually did last forever and
he felt silly for clinging onto his old rags for his entire life when
he should have just trusted in the new robe. The story has a sad
ending, but I really liked all the symbolism. I have to remember to
get the real version of the story from Anziano Stanley. Then they
challenged us to find something that is holding us back from being the
best missionaries that we can be and to throw it away and enjoy
wearing our new robes or in other words, to trade our rags for robes.

After that, we acted out the nativity. I was an angel, and it was
really fun. I haven't acted it out since I was like 5. They took a
picture of the zone in all our costumes and will be posting it on the
blog on Christmas morning. So look for me with a halo on top of my
head. :) I also got a few things for Christmas. I am being obedient
and I haven't opened them yet. We got Christmas cards from the first
presidency, the mission DVD for the year, and new pillows!

Wednesday was an awesome day! We were busy, we ate lots of food, and
we met a whole bunch of people! After our afternoon appointment, we
were walking to catch a bus to the church when we saw this man
painting something with spray paint. Because I'm a geek, we stopped to
watch. When we stopped, he had a piece of paper with orange painted on
the bottom, blue on the top, and a big white circle. And he literally
painted a full moon, a starry night sky, a tree, a forest, two
waterfalls, and a pool of water all with spray paint. And we watched
it unfold before our eyes. I thought it was so cool, and I had to buy
it.. it was only 10€. :) He also knew about the church and said he had
tried to read the Book of Mormon before but there were a lot of
unfamiliar words to him. So we asked if he would want the Anziani to
help him, he said yes, and we got his phone number. I also got a
picture with him since he is the master creator with spray paint. :)

Thursday on the way home from English course, we were on the bus and
this woman got on with her son and another girl we've met before. I
started talking to the three of them and eventually I asked for the
lady's phone number. She seemed really sweet. We did a lot of
contacting this week, and we have quite a few potentials. :) One of
our goals this week is to get some new investigators because we
haven't had anybody new for the past 6 weeks. We're excited.

Friday morning, we went to sing at an old folks home. We sang a few
Christmas carols and ate Pandoro and visited with the women there. It
was a really fun experience. And doing actual service activities is
really fun as missionaries. So many of the people there perked up and
the Christmas spirit lit up their smiles. We gave a Book of Mormon to
one of the employees and she seemed really really sweet. We hope
something comes of that.

Saturday evening, we went to the piazza in town with the university
buildings in centro and we sang carols with a few ward members and the
youth. One of the young women played the saxophone and we sang along.
A lot of people stopped to listen and a few of the missionaries
pounced. We placed an entire box of Books of Mormon. And we sang
Angels We Have Heard on High a few times more than I might have
necessarily liked. But it was really fun. After we finished singing,
we had a district challenge to finish placing the box of books and we
were successful. We got a few phone numbers out of it too. :)
Christmas makes people more open to listening to a message about
Christ.

Sunday was a really great day at church. We are going to Sorella
Battezato's moms house for Christmas. We really didn't want to be a
burden on ward members, so we were grateful when she invited us. She
was going to be alone as Sorella Battezato will be waiting for a Skype
call from her son, and we didn't want her to be alone. Plus she is a
really great cook. We also ate there on Sunday, and we ate something
that seemed like an American crock pot meal. It was delicious! :) We
had a lesson with Kiran and she was talking about how I had a really
hard time when I first got out on the mission, and how I was thinner
back then. I was like, "thanks Kiran!" *rolls eyes* haha.. Obviously I
had a hard time for awhile. New language, new culture, everything
else. Haha... Oh well. She's become as blunt as real Italians, but I
love her to pieces.

This morning, we had technicians to come over to fix our heat. Our
thermostat was broken and the water heater had a leak. But they fixed
it and it is the best Christmas present ever. :) now our house is
warmer than 60 degrees.

I read a talk this week called the 4th missionary. It was so good as
it talked about how we can be obedient but resentful obedient
missionaries, or we can turn our will over to God, be obedient, and
gain something from our missions. I loved how he said that life is
always dynamic. Every choice we make moves us either closer to Christ
or farther from Christ. It is a good talk to read even for not
missionaries as we all need to learn how to accept God's will
cheerfully and happily and hopefully.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Buon Natale! And remember
the reason for the season in the midst of all the rest. I love the
church video that talks about what the world would be like if we
didn't have a Savior. I am so grateful for my savior Jesus Christ. I
learn every day a little more about the sacrifice he made. He did it
because he loves us. And he did it for me, and for all of you. We are
never alone. And we can never go to far to be able to come back into
the fold. And to make this email go full round, this Christmas season,
trade your rags for robes and enjoy the banquet of the atonement.

Vi voglio bene! :)

Sorella Flansberg