Dear loved ones:
Happy 2016!
I'll see y'all later this year. On New Years Eve, we went to the
Bachetti/Battezato household again. 3rd time in 2 weeks! I think they
like us! :) It was super fun as always, and they were all like "how do
you feel about going home this year?" And Sorella Bachetti was shocked
that I go home in November. She was like, "GIÀ??" (Already?) Time
flies for everyone else too, because they still don't believe that
I've been here for 6 months. BUT... 2016 should be a good year!
On Tuesday this last week, we had an appointment with my Sicilian
grandmother, Lucia. We walked to her apartment and no answer on the
citofone. So, we snuck into the building and went up to her floor and
niente. I was a tad bit frustrated because that would have been like 6
miles of unnecessary walking, but we sat on the stairs to write her a
note when she came out of her neighbor's door. Miracles are real! :)
That evening, we had a ward activity. We got permission to stay at the
church until 9:30 for it because members were supposed to bring their
friends and it was supposed to start at 8:30. So, we are at the church
and there is this family there. They were invited to come and we
introduced ourselves. We talked for awhile and enjoyed conversing. The
daughter was gorgeous and had a beautiful smile and all the elders
were staring at her with googly eyes. Haha... But they've met with
missionaries before, and so we are hoping to have a family home
evening at the elderly Battezato house with them sometime in the near
future. They were super sweet. Sicily has such a laid back culture
though, because it was 9:30 and the activity hadn't even started yet.
It's worse than Mormon standard time!
New Year's Eve had a few miracles. That afternoon, our plan had fallen
through.. And I really didn't want to go finding on New Years Eve.
So, I said a little prayer and I remembered we could go see Marieanne
(the lady from the Mauritius islands). It was really good to see her,
and as we were heading home, we ran into Angela Maglia! It was such a
coincidence, but it was a LITERAL tender mercy to see her as I haven't
seen her in 2 months because of university business and she wasn't
even living in the city at that point in time. She said she really
needs to meet with us again. :) So after the feste... We have plans
and a lesson with her.
Firecrackers. That is the one word I have for New Years Eve. We went
to bed at 10:30 like obedient missionaries, and promptly at midnight,
we awoke to firecrackers. Hundreds of them going off at the same time.
I felt like I was in the middle of a bomb raid during World War II, no
joke. I was terrified! Also, people are stupid here and light them
right next to buildings. Who thought that was a good idea? Deck sent
me an article about the injuries that happened from firecrackers. A
few missing fingers and eyes, but nobody died.
One night this week, I supposedly slept talked in Italian. One of my
goals was to dream in Italian, and so it has happened!! Haha... I've
probably been dreaming in it for a while longer than that.. But I
never remember my dreams. So who knows?
January 1, the whole mission was to deep clean our apartments. We got
a list of things we needed to do, and wrote them on paper and drew
them out of a hat. It was so much work! We have a larger apartment and
only two sisters, so lots and lots and lots of work. It took us 5
hours. However, now our apartment is clean and that makes me really
happy. :)
On Sunday, Emmanuel and JoJo (Jennifer's boys) were blessed. They
looked quite spiffy in their suits and it was adorable. Emmanuel was
old enough to sit in a chair, but JoJo was clinging onto Fratello
Bruno for dear life. They were a little confused, but it was really
cute. And baby blessings have always been one of my favorite things.
:)
This week, one of my favorite scriptures is Jacob 4:5. Actually just
one part of it. It says "for this cause, we keep the law of Moses, to
point our souls to Christ. " I really liked that phrase, especially if
you change the law of Moses to the commandments. We keep the
commandments in order to point our souls to Christ and to worship him.
We talked in Sunday school yesterday how we come to know who Heavenly
Father is, and we do that by keeping the commandments and following
Christ's example. "Ye should consider on the blessed and happy state
of those that keep the commandments of God. (Mosiah 2:41)"
I also made some resolutions this year. I love resolutions, even
though in the past... I'm not the best at sticking to them. But, I
will be better. There is a quote from a talk from April 2015 general
conference that I love. Dale G. Renlund said, "God cares more about
who we are and who we are becoming than who we once were. He cares
that we keep on trying." One of mine this year is to take the stairs
whenever we get home or go to an appointment. It's been a good
additional workout. :) But in all seriousness, I'm grateful for the
ability we have to set goals. Without goal setting, progress is much
slower. I also came to the abrupt realization this week that even at
the end of my mission, I won't be the person God wants me to be. I'll
still have work to do, and I will need to continue to progress for my
entire life.
Happy New Years again! I hope 2015 was good to all of you as it was
really good to me. Let's make 2016 even better.
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
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