ROME!
9 months!
Love you!
I spy the Vatican!
Monday, February 29, 2016
Week 40: Rome, Pizza, Progressing Investigator, 9 months, and French Bulldogs
Buongiorno tutti! :)
So many adventures to talk about this week. On Monday for p-day last
week, we went with one of our English course students, Cinzia, to
Cerveteri. They have a necropolis there from the very first settlers
of Italy. We saw some catacombs there, and then we also went to see
another castle. As you saw from pictures, we were able to wear pants
and it was glorious! Today, we went to Rome. We saw the mouth of truth
(la bocca della verita) and this keyhole where you can supposedly see 3
countries from. I believe it is Malta, Vatican City, and Italy... But
Malta doesn't seem right. Maybe it is the French island that starts
with a C. Comunque, it was so cool! And Heavenly Father answered our
prayers and let it not rain for the entire 4 hours we were there. He
is aware of us his children and answers even the small requests.
Monday night, we went to see on of our less actives. Her name is
Sorella Silva and she is the mother of one the active families in the
ward. She takes care of an old lady and it occupies a lot of her time
and she was telling us how she can't go out and get a pizza on Friday
nights with friends. Ha, so we bought a pizza and we took it to her
that night. I think she liked that. It was fun to eat pizza with her
and discuss things about her life and get to know her better. Plus
Italian pizza is the best!
On Tuesday morning, we had DDM. It was really great, the spirit was
really strong. And we did transfer predictions. We have transfer calls
this weekend, I know, it seems really quick. This transfer was only 5
weeks. But we did them a week early because we have zone conference
tomorrow. What we do, is we buy kinder eggs. It is a candy that has a
chocolate shell around a plastic egg that you crack open to find a
toy. Then everyone in the district uses the toy to determine what is
happening this transfer. We do it every transfer, and it is super fun.
I keep all my toys too. This time I got a Disney princess palace pet
for Cinderella. Everyone guessed that I'll train and be sister
training leader, but we'll see... That would be a lot on my plate.
We also had a lesson with Cinzia on Tuesday. She is from Tuscany, and
she is a lover of history. The anziani found her and invited her to
English course. They also gave her a Book of Mormon, and so a week
ago, we asked if she had read any of it... And she said a little bit.
She had a few questions so we made an appointment with her. We taught
her on Tuesday, and it was amazing. We walked past the church really
quick 10 minutes before her lesson was to start because we were going
to see the pizza lady we met on Monday. But Cinzia rolled down her
window, and there she was waiting for us, reading her Book of Mormon.
She is so golden! We taught her the Restoration on Tuesday, the plan
of salvation on Friday, and she is keeping commitments. Guys, we found
an investigator... And she's progressing. What more could we ask for?
She said after the first lesson to the anziani that she feels happy
when we talk about God. And I'm just so grateful for the spirit during
the lessons. Because it is not my words that touch these people's
hearts. :)
This week, I finally fracked open my Italian textbook that we got at
the MTC that is written all in Italian... And I actually understood
what it was saying. I understood the directions, and I was able to do
activities out of it. In the MTC, I was thinking this Crescendo book
was kind of pointless. But the gift of tongues is so real!
Wednesday afternoon, we went to the church to use the wifi to do
something... And Fratello Giorgianni walks in and somehow he finds out
that I play the piano. He made me sit down, and play a few hymns. He
was shocked that I've played for 12 years and don't have anything
memorized. All I can say for myself is I have a really bad memory...
Then he made me try just playing a random song out of my head in a
certain key. But then he talked to me about it for another 20 minutes
about how I should never lose my talent, and how I should try to
expand my talent especially when I go home. He said he only pushes
people out of their comfort zone when he sees that they have
potential. It was sweet of him.
On Thursday morning, we rode a train out to Civitavecchia to find a
less active. Once we arrived, we discovered that the station is by the
sea, and where we need to go is up in the hills on the opposite side
of town. So we went on a hike for an hour. This less active didn't
have an active phone number on the ward directory so we didn't have an
appointment and we didn't even know if she still lived there. As I'm
hiking up this hill, I'm just praying that she'll be home and be
welcoming. We arrive at the address, and her name isn't on the outside
gate, but the gate was open, so we walked inside to her building
number. And her name was there, so we rang the buzzer, and this lady
answered and said she wasn't there and wouldn't be back until 2. So as
we were awkwardly standing outside the outside door trying to decide
what we were going to do, we see a woman getting out of her car. So we
decided to ask her, and it was her!She used to teach English, so she
spoke to us in English to practice. The funny part of the story is her
French bulldog. His name is Lou, and as soon as we got in the door and
sat down, he just perched himself on our laps and wasn't going to
move. We shared a message with her, and she gave us a ride home. We
also got her new phone number, and next time she'll pick us up from
the station. The whole visit was a miracle, and I know that Heavenly
Father was behind it all.
On Thursday night at English course, we started to interview the
students to see what we could do better as teachers to help them learn
English. We also asked how they liked the spiritual thoughts and asked
them if they would have an interest in learning more. We got some nice
potentials from those wonderful people.. :)
On Friday, we also went to see this other less active who is really
hard to see because she is always out of town. Her name is Enriquetta,
and when we got to her place, she told us that she only had 10
minutes. Her 18 year old granddaughter was there but didn't want to
participate. We taught a short spiritual thought, and we're getting
ready to say the closing prayer when Enriquetta told Michaela to come
join us. She came over and was saying the whole time about how she
doesn't pray and doesn't believe in God. She explained why (because
the bible was written by men and has been translated a million times
and because of that, it is missing stuff). I felt prompted to mention
how we believe the Bible was written by prophets who were in direct
communication with God, but we also believe that it needs to be
translated correctly. Then I mentioned that the Book of Mormon and the
bible together contain the fulness of the gospel. And naturally she
wanted to know more about the Book of Mormon, so we taught her the
restoration and ended up being at this lady's house for 40 minutes.
She agreed to read Moroni 10 and pray about it... But we couldn't set
up a specific return appointment and couldn't count her as a new
investigator. But that's okay. :)
Saturday was 9 months on the mission (hump day), but not really.
Haha.. Sorella Condé drew some cute pictures, we got gelato, and
nothing else really special. But it was fun. When we got gelato, I
thought a got Nutella flavored gelato, but it ended up being just real
Nutella. Haha, my ice cream ended up being really sweet.
Something I learned this week was in 2 nephi 2. It talks about in one
of the verses how the creation would have been pointless if there
wasn't opposition in all things. It basically said that life is
pointless if we don't have afflictions and trials. I am a firm
believer that this is true. The only way we grow is by climbing
mountains, and at the end of our hike (life), we will have a grand
view to look at if we don't give up, and if we endure it well. I'm
grateful for the atonement of my Savior, Jesus Christ and his
sacrifice for me. I know that without the mission, I wouldn't be where
I am today. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father knows more about my
life than I do, and that I was courageous enough to follow his will
and come out here. I know my life would be tremendously different if I
hadn't.
I love you all! Have a fantastic week, and first few days of March!
Oh, and happy leap day. :)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad
So many adventures to talk about this week. On Monday for p-day last
week, we went with one of our English course students, Cinzia, to
Cerveteri. They have a necropolis there from the very first settlers
of Italy. We saw some catacombs there, and then we also went to see
another castle. As you saw from pictures, we were able to wear pants
and it was glorious! Today, we went to Rome. We saw the mouth of truth
(la bocca della verita) and this keyhole where you can supposedly see 3
countries from. I believe it is Malta, Vatican City, and Italy... But
Malta doesn't seem right. Maybe it is the French island that starts
with a C. Comunque, it was so cool! And Heavenly Father answered our
prayers and let it not rain for the entire 4 hours we were there. He
is aware of us his children and answers even the small requests.
Monday night, we went to see on of our less actives. Her name is
Sorella Silva and she is the mother of one the active families in the
ward. She takes care of an old lady and it occupies a lot of her time
and she was telling us how she can't go out and get a pizza on Friday
nights with friends. Ha, so we bought a pizza and we took it to her
that night. I think she liked that. It was fun to eat pizza with her
and discuss things about her life and get to know her better. Plus
Italian pizza is the best!
On Tuesday morning, we had DDM. It was really great, the spirit was
really strong. And we did transfer predictions. We have transfer calls
this weekend, I know, it seems really quick. This transfer was only 5
weeks. But we did them a week early because we have zone conference
tomorrow. What we do, is we buy kinder eggs. It is a candy that has a
chocolate shell around a plastic egg that you crack open to find a
toy. Then everyone in the district uses the toy to determine what is
happening this transfer. We do it every transfer, and it is super fun.
I keep all my toys too. This time I got a Disney princess palace pet
for Cinderella. Everyone guessed that I'll train and be sister
training leader, but we'll see... That would be a lot on my plate.
We also had a lesson with Cinzia on Tuesday. She is from Tuscany, and
she is a lover of history. The anziani found her and invited her to
English course. They also gave her a Book of Mormon, and so a week
ago, we asked if she had read any of it... And she said a little bit.
She had a few questions so we made an appointment with her. We taught
her on Tuesday, and it was amazing. We walked past the church really
quick 10 minutes before her lesson was to start because we were going
to see the pizza lady we met on Monday. But Cinzia rolled down her
window, and there she was waiting for us, reading her Book of Mormon.
She is so golden! We taught her the Restoration on Tuesday, the plan
of salvation on Friday, and she is keeping commitments. Guys, we found
an investigator... And she's progressing. What more could we ask for?
She said after the first lesson to the anziani that she feels happy
when we talk about God. And I'm just so grateful for the spirit during
the lessons. Because it is not my words that touch these people's
hearts. :)
This week, I finally fracked open my Italian textbook that we got at
the MTC that is written all in Italian... And I actually understood
what it was saying. I understood the directions, and I was able to do
activities out of it. In the MTC, I was thinking this Crescendo book
was kind of pointless. But the gift of tongues is so real!
Wednesday afternoon, we went to the church to use the wifi to do
something... And Fratello Giorgianni walks in and somehow he finds out
that I play the piano. He made me sit down, and play a few hymns. He
was shocked that I've played for 12 years and don't have anything
memorized. All I can say for myself is I have a really bad memory...
Then he made me try just playing a random song out of my head in a
certain key. But then he talked to me about it for another 20 minutes
about how I should never lose my talent, and how I should try to
expand my talent especially when I go home. He said he only pushes
people out of their comfort zone when he sees that they have
potential. It was sweet of him.
On Thursday morning, we rode a train out to Civitavecchia to find a
less active. Once we arrived, we discovered that the station is by the
sea, and where we need to go is up in the hills on the opposite side
of town. So we went on a hike for an hour. This less active didn't
have an active phone number on the ward directory so we didn't have an
appointment and we didn't even know if she still lived there. As I'm
hiking up this hill, I'm just praying that she'll be home and be
welcoming. We arrive at the address, and her name isn't on the outside
gate, but the gate was open, so we walked inside to her building
number. And her name was there, so we rang the buzzer, and this lady
answered and said she wasn't there and wouldn't be back until 2. So as
we were awkwardly standing outside the outside door trying to decide
what we were going to do, we see a woman getting out of her car. So we
decided to ask her, and it was her!She used to teach English, so she
spoke to us in English to practice. The funny part of the story is her
French bulldog. His name is Lou, and as soon as we got in the door and
sat down, he just perched himself on our laps and wasn't going to
move. We shared a message with her, and she gave us a ride home. We
also got her new phone number, and next time she'll pick us up from
the station. The whole visit was a miracle, and I know that Heavenly
Father was behind it all.
On Thursday night at English course, we started to interview the
students to see what we could do better as teachers to help them learn
English. We also asked how they liked the spiritual thoughts and asked
them if they would have an interest in learning more. We got some nice
potentials from those wonderful people.. :)
On Friday, we also went to see this other less active who is really
hard to see because she is always out of town. Her name is Enriquetta,
and when we got to her place, she told us that she only had 10
minutes. Her 18 year old granddaughter was there but didn't want to
participate. We taught a short spiritual thought, and we're getting
ready to say the closing prayer when Enriquetta told Michaela to come
join us. She came over and was saying the whole time about how she
doesn't pray and doesn't believe in God. She explained why (because
the bible was written by men and has been translated a million times
and because of that, it is missing stuff). I felt prompted to mention
how we believe the Bible was written by prophets who were in direct
communication with God, but we also believe that it needs to be
translated correctly. Then I mentioned that the Book of Mormon and the
bible together contain the fulness of the gospel. And naturally she
wanted to know more about the Book of Mormon, so we taught her the
restoration and ended up being at this lady's house for 40 minutes.
She agreed to read Moroni 10 and pray about it... But we couldn't set
up a specific return appointment and couldn't count her as a new
investigator. But that's okay. :)
Saturday was 9 months on the mission (hump day), but not really.
Haha.. Sorella Condé drew some cute pictures, we got gelato, and
nothing else really special. But it was fun. When we got gelato, I
thought a got Nutella flavored gelato, but it ended up being just real
Nutella. Haha, my ice cream ended up being really sweet.
Something I learned this week was in 2 nephi 2. It talks about in one
of the verses how the creation would have been pointless if there
wasn't opposition in all things. It basically said that life is
pointless if we don't have afflictions and trials. I am a firm
believer that this is true. The only way we grow is by climbing
mountains, and at the end of our hike (life), we will have a grand
view to look at if we don't give up, and if we endure it well. I'm
grateful for the atonement of my Savior, Jesus Christ and his
sacrifice for me. I know that without the mission, I wouldn't be where
I am today. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father knows more about my
life than I do, and that I was courageous enough to follow his will
and come out here. I know my life would be tremendously different if I
hadn't.
I love you all! Have a fantastic week, and first few days of March!
Oh, and happy leap day. :)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad
Monday, February 22, 2016
Week 39 pictures!
Sorella FlansbergHappy Valentine's Day!
The top of some catacombs! :)
Con amore,
Sorella FlansbergHappy Valentine's Day!
Week 39: Sugar cookies, castles, schools, and BOM reading challenge
Dear Family and Friends:
Last Monday, we went to the Giorgianni's house for a family home
evening with Dayana (our new convert) and it was so much fun! They
have two of the cutest kids, and other than with Jennifer's boys, this
was the only time I've had the hardest time with not being able to
hold kids. It is so hard! I just love babies! Comunque, they have
Aaron and Kendra. Aaron is almost 3, I think.. And he has a huge crush
on Sorella Condé. They picked us up from the church and Fratello
Giorgianni told us that Aaron had been asking where Sorella Gialla was
(Yellow sister-because of her hair). Then Fratello G corrected him and
said it was Sorella Bionda (blonde sister). Haha, the rest of the
night, he was saying Sorella Bionda, guarda! (Look!) Fratello G
thought he was being funny and called me Sorella Arancione which means
orange sister. Orange, I don't know why.. But we had a great lesson
with them using the article from the Ensign about 'what the Book of
Mormon teaches us about being happy' (Such a good article!) and made
homemade pizza on thicker tortillas. It was kind of like an open face
quesadilla. Yum!
On Tuesday, we had our district meeting travels again. To make this
clearer, we ride a train to a stop in Rome and then take a metro from
there to the mission office. But, back to my story, we met people from
Ladispoli and got their phone numbers! We met Simona first. She was
really cute and spoke to us in English. She lived in London for 2
years and got really good at English! She said she knew a sister
missionary from 16 years ago who sat next to her on the bus. We hope
to be able to teach her the gospel sometime this next week. We met
Paola on the way back. We didn't talk to her as much, but she gave us
her phone number and told us she wanted to meet up. It was rewarding
to finally be able to talk to people on the train from Ladispoli. :)
Sorella Condé got a Valentine's Day package on Tuesday, and she shared
with me. So thank you Sorella Condé's mom! We had sugar cookies,
kisses, and REESES'! It was a nice midweek surprise!
Wednesday, we rode on trains almost the whole day. We left the house
that morning, rode 2 trains for a total of an hour and a half and
finally got to this member's house. They invited us to stay for pranzo
and we ate really great. They were afraid we wouldn't like it because
they don't eat like normal Italians, meaning pasta and meat for every
meal. We ate rice, with turkey pieces, and zucchini and artichokes, I
think. It was pretty good, and they were happy we liked it. Sorella
Viglietta made us homemade peanut butter later that day and gave it to
us on Sunday. It was really good! But cracking open a bunch of peanuts
for a little bit of peanut butter sounds like too much work to me even
if it supposedly healthier.
On Thursday morning, we had this thing at a school where we taught
13-14 year olds about America and we spoke in English. One of our
English course students, Giada, asked if we could help her out with
this and President said it was okay. It was a really good experience,
and I now understand how hard it is to be a teacher! We basically just
introduced ourself, where we come from, what the common animals are,
what the weather is like, and what we like to do, and why we are here
as missionaries. Then we talked about food and all the different
accents of people from different places in the US. We taught our
presentation 4 times in 5 hours, and after the second time, our jokes
weren't that funny anymore. Then we invited them all to come to
English course! :)
Afterwards, Giada wanted to buy us lunch for helping her, and she
wouldn't let us say no, so she bought us pizza and took us out to this
beautiful castle on the coast. Only in Italy does this ever happen!
Haha... The castle was cool, but I thought the countryside getting out
there was even prettier. Italy is just beautiful!
This week, President Waddoups challenged all of us missionaries to
read the entire Book of Mormon before May 15. I don't know what is so
special about that day, but I'm excited. We have to read about 5 pages
a day, and I'm only 20 pages in and I've noticed so many things that I
haven't noticed before. And I've read that book a lot! But the thing I
wanted to share with you all is that Nephi wasn't perfect! I always
thought that since he was writing the story, maybe he left out some of
the parts where he murmured too, but this week I discovered that he
didn't! A verse after it talks about Laman and Lemuel murmuring, talks
about how Nephi prayed to the Lord to know for himself and the Lord
softened his heart. If his heart had to be softened, that means it was
hard before. Maybe he didn't murmur like his brothers, but maybe he
was still a bit resentful for having to leave Jerusalem. Who knows?
(Chissà?) and then when they went to get the plates, after the first
try, it said that 'we began to be sorrowful'. The 'we' means Nephi was
included. And when he received the prompting to kill Laban, Nephi
shrunk meaning he recoiled. It took him a bit of convincing to do it.
I just thought it was cool to realize that even Nephi wasn't perfect.
This week it started to hit me more the meaning that is behind my name
tag. It only took me 9 months to really make me think about being a
representative of Christ. It is such a privilege every morning to put
my 'targhetta' on my shirt over my heart. It is a great reminder
throughout the day of who I am and why I am here. It motivates me to
work hard, push a little farther, and keep going!
Twice this week, Sorella Condé and I have finished getting ready only
to realize that we are wearing really similar outfits! Haha.. We were
going to take a picture, but we forgot.
On Friday night, we were walking and making rounds to see the less
actives we hadn't been able to see this last week. On our way to the
first one, my foot rolled and slipped off the curb and I ended up face
planting in the middle of the street. Meno male there weren't any cars
coming. I only got scraped up with a few bruises, and maybe my pride
got a little hurt, but we continued on to see the less actives after
sitting on a bench for a few minutes. We talked to one less active for
a few minutes, but then left and as we were walking down the road, we
met this cute Colombian lady and we invited her to English course. We
are hoping that she comes, because she was adorable. To console me,
Sorella Condé said I probably fell so we could meet her. If that is
the case, I'll be more grateful when she comes to English course.
On Saturday morning, we helped an older American man in the ward with
family history. We are helping him understand how the new programs
work, and I was just reminded about how important it is for young
adults to be doing this work. We grew up knowing how to use this
technology. Everything we taught him how to do in an hour and a half
would have taken us 20 minutes. But it was fun and a great test of
patience. Also helping other people do family history makes me really
excited to work on mine again. :)
That's it for this week! I love you all!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Last Monday, we went to the Giorgianni's house for a family home
evening with Dayana (our new convert) and it was so much fun! They
have two of the cutest kids, and other than with Jennifer's boys, this
was the only time I've had the hardest time with not being able to
hold kids. It is so hard! I just love babies! Comunque, they have
Aaron and Kendra. Aaron is almost 3, I think.. And he has a huge crush
on Sorella Condé. They picked us up from the church and Fratello
Giorgianni told us that Aaron had been asking where Sorella Gialla was
(Yellow sister-because of her hair). Then Fratello G corrected him and
said it was Sorella Bionda (blonde sister). Haha, the rest of the
night, he was saying Sorella Bionda, guarda! (Look!) Fratello G
thought he was being funny and called me Sorella Arancione which means
orange sister. Orange, I don't know why.. But we had a great lesson
with them using the article from the Ensign about 'what the Book of
Mormon teaches us about being happy' (Such a good article!) and made
homemade pizza on thicker tortillas. It was kind of like an open face
quesadilla. Yum!
On Tuesday, we had our district meeting travels again. To make this
clearer, we ride a train to a stop in Rome and then take a metro from
there to the mission office. But, back to my story, we met people from
Ladispoli and got their phone numbers! We met Simona first. She was
really cute and spoke to us in English. She lived in London for 2
years and got really good at English! She said she knew a sister
missionary from 16 years ago who sat next to her on the bus. We hope
to be able to teach her the gospel sometime this next week. We met
Paola on the way back. We didn't talk to her as much, but she gave us
her phone number and told us she wanted to meet up. It was rewarding
to finally be able to talk to people on the train from Ladispoli. :)
Sorella Condé got a Valentine's Day package on Tuesday, and she shared
with me. So thank you Sorella Condé's mom! We had sugar cookies,
kisses, and REESES'! It was a nice midweek surprise!
Wednesday, we rode on trains almost the whole day. We left the house
that morning, rode 2 trains for a total of an hour and a half and
finally got to this member's house. They invited us to stay for pranzo
and we ate really great. They were afraid we wouldn't like it because
they don't eat like normal Italians, meaning pasta and meat for every
meal. We ate rice, with turkey pieces, and zucchini and artichokes, I
think. It was pretty good, and they were happy we liked it. Sorella
Viglietta made us homemade peanut butter later that day and gave it to
us on Sunday. It was really good! But cracking open a bunch of peanuts
for a little bit of peanut butter sounds like too much work to me even
if it supposedly healthier.
On Thursday morning, we had this thing at a school where we taught
13-14 year olds about America and we spoke in English. One of our
English course students, Giada, asked if we could help her out with
this and President said it was okay. It was a really good experience,
and I now understand how hard it is to be a teacher! We basically just
introduced ourself, where we come from, what the common animals are,
what the weather is like, and what we like to do, and why we are here
as missionaries. Then we talked about food and all the different
accents of people from different places in the US. We taught our
presentation 4 times in 5 hours, and after the second time, our jokes
weren't that funny anymore. Then we invited them all to come to
English course! :)
Afterwards, Giada wanted to buy us lunch for helping her, and she
wouldn't let us say no, so she bought us pizza and took us out to this
beautiful castle on the coast. Only in Italy does this ever happen!
Haha... The castle was cool, but I thought the countryside getting out
there was even prettier. Italy is just beautiful!
This week, President Waddoups challenged all of us missionaries to
read the entire Book of Mormon before May 15. I don't know what is so
special about that day, but I'm excited. We have to read about 5 pages
a day, and I'm only 20 pages in and I've noticed so many things that I
haven't noticed before. And I've read that book a lot! But the thing I
wanted to share with you all is that Nephi wasn't perfect! I always
thought that since he was writing the story, maybe he left out some of
the parts where he murmured too, but this week I discovered that he
didn't! A verse after it talks about Laman and Lemuel murmuring, talks
about how Nephi prayed to the Lord to know for himself and the Lord
softened his heart. If his heart had to be softened, that means it was
hard before. Maybe he didn't murmur like his brothers, but maybe he
was still a bit resentful for having to leave Jerusalem. Who knows?
(Chissà?) and then when they went to get the plates, after the first
try, it said that 'we began to be sorrowful'. The 'we' means Nephi was
included. And when he received the prompting to kill Laban, Nephi
shrunk meaning he recoiled. It took him a bit of convincing to do it.
I just thought it was cool to realize that even Nephi wasn't perfect.
This week it started to hit me more the meaning that is behind my name
tag. It only took me 9 months to really make me think about being a
representative of Christ. It is such a privilege every morning to put
my 'targhetta' on my shirt over my heart. It is a great reminder
throughout the day of who I am and why I am here. It motivates me to
work hard, push a little farther, and keep going!
Twice this week, Sorella Condé and I have finished getting ready only
to realize that we are wearing really similar outfits! Haha.. We were
going to take a picture, but we forgot.
On Friday night, we were walking and making rounds to see the less
actives we hadn't been able to see this last week. On our way to the
first one, my foot rolled and slipped off the curb and I ended up face
planting in the middle of the street. Meno male there weren't any cars
coming. I only got scraped up with a few bruises, and maybe my pride
got a little hurt, but we continued on to see the less actives after
sitting on a bench for a few minutes. We talked to one less active for
a few minutes, but then left and as we were walking down the road, we
met this cute Colombian lady and we invited her to English course. We
are hoping that she comes, because she was adorable. To console me,
Sorella Condé said I probably fell so we could meet her. If that is
the case, I'll be more grateful when she comes to English course.
On Saturday morning, we helped an older American man in the ward with
family history. We are helping him understand how the new programs
work, and I was just reminded about how important it is for young
adults to be doing this work. We grew up knowing how to use this
technology. Everything we taught him how to do in an hour and a half
would have taken us 20 minutes. But it was fun and a great test of
patience. Also helping other people do family history makes me really
excited to work on mine again. :)
That's it for this week! I love you all!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Monday, February 15, 2016
Pictures!!
My haircut! :)
My new district! :)
The view from our apartment building. :)
Con amore,
Sorella FlansbergThe beach in Ladispoli!
Dear family and dear ones:
This week was so crazy! It had the good moments and the bad moments,
but no week in missionary work is ever perfect. There must be
opposition in all things! I am convinced that if we had investigators
falling out of the sky, we wouldn't be able to see the tiny daily
miracles that we have this past week. We've been working with a lot of
the less actives lately and we saw so many miracles and tender mercies
happen. Even though none of them came to church this past week, it's
okay. This work takes patience sometimes, and I can only imagine how
hard it would be to come back after years of not going. We just have
to keep reminding them of the rewards that they will receive in forms
of blessings and eventually eternal life with their families.
This week, we travelled to Rome a lot. On Monday for P-day, then on
Tuesday for district meeting, which we go to the mission office for
(meaning, send my mail there since I go every week), and again on
Wednesday for a conference we had with the Europe area president,
Elder Kearon, and Elder Hallstrom, a member of the presidency of the
seventy. I'll talk more about that later. Traveling to Rome means lots
of opportunities to talk to people on the trains and on the metros. On
Tuesday, we met this sweet lady named Alessandra on the metro. She
lives near Ostia which is Rome 4. She was really sweet. She has a
family, I think she was an author, and she listened to us. It was fun
to see her eyes light up when we said families can be together
forever. Even if we wouldn't even be the ones to teach her someday, it
is so fun to share your testimony. We were going to ask for her phone
number when she received a call herself and then by the time she got
off, we had to get off the metro. I'm pretty sure Satan does that
sometimes... Oh well, we gave her pass along cards. Phone numbers are
so much better though!
Also, for those who know me... Riding the metro has given me
flashbacks of Washington D.C. and riding the metro there when I was 7.
Thankfully the doors haven't shut on me and my companion yet. That
would be scary!
Sergio (the guy who helped us with my luggage) came to English course!
Such a miracle! He really enjoyed it too, and he seemed to really
listen and enjoy the spiritual thought. Then the anziani saw him on
the train on Friday and talked to him for a bit. We talked about
feelings in English course, and when we asked him how he felt.. He
said, " I feel happy." He is so cool!
Wednesday, we had the conference with Elder Hallstrom. And it was so
good! They said a lot of really cool things, but two things I really
liked, one from the area president, and one from Elder Hallstrom kind
of go together. President Kearon said, "we should be happy with
success and progress, but we should never be satisfied." Satisfaction
leads to slothfulness and a block in our progress. Then Elder
Hallstrom said something along the lines of, "the mission changes
people, and we want that change to last forever. We want your
discipleship now, and we want you forever." At least that was my
interpretation of what he said through whatever I felt the spirit tell
me. They also talked a lot about how appreciative they are for our
service. Especially the sisters. Elder Hallstrom asked President how
many sisters are in the mission right now. He said 55. That means I am
just one of 55 of the luckiest people in the world, who get the chance
to serve in this beautiful mission. It made me realize how blessed I
am and also how once of a lifetime this opportunity is. I learned a
lot of other things too, but that is the basis of what I felt while I
was listening. :)
While at the conference, I got to see a lot of other missionaries that
I know. It was really fun to see some of the them again. Sorella
Waddoups asked if I felt lost in Rome. She then said that she missed
me and gave me a nice hug when she only gave bacis(kisses on the
cheek) to everyone else. Hah! It made me feel loved.
I also got a haircut on Wednesday. Before I left, I didn't get many
layers in it, so as it grew out, it got really thick and kind of
triangle shaped. Frankly, I was kind of nervous to get it cut, because
I've heard horror stories, and I didn't really know the vocabulary to
explain what I wanted, but it turned out okay. She did a great job,
and Sorella Condé spoke up and talked about the gospel with them. It
was perfect!
We went to see this less active sister this week. She doesn't usually
let the missionaries in when we go by, but she did this time. :) it
was a miracle! We got to know her a but and learned that she has a
really strong testimony about prayer and she can recognize the spirit.
She agreed to come to church this last Sunday, and although she ended
up not coming, seeing the light come back into her eyes just from
before and after the lesson was enough for me. We'll bring her back
even if it takes patience and lots of work. The moment I meet the
people here in Ladispoli, I just love them more than I ever could have
imagined.
Friday was a sick day. I began to feel sick on Wednesday.. And I was
so frustrated because that means I've been sick 5 times in 6
transfers, which is a lot. Sorella Condé thinks I stress myself out
too much and it makes me more susceptible. It could be true, but if I
do... My body needs to realize that stressing myself out is just
making it worse. Anyways, I felt horrible on Friday. We tried to do a
few appointments, but they all fell through at last minute. I think it
was Heavenly Father telling me to go home.
Saturday night we helped this lady named Antonetta with English. She
is technically our investigator. She is just a really slowly
progressing one. Like really slow. But she is sweet. She made us
dinner on Sunday night since we were fasting on Saturday. It's hard to
teach English grammar in Italian. But it was a good experience. :) She
doesn't believe in organized religion, but we'll get her there
someday. We gave her an English Book of Mormon on Sunday and told her
the promise that if she reads it in English, she will be able to speak
and understand the language. It's a promise from the prophets. It's
also our attempt to get her to read the Book of Mormon. Clever, eh? ;)
On Sunday morning, it rained so hard. Haha... I was soaked by the time
we got to the church. The bottom of my skirt was so wet. And my hair
got so big from the humidity! Haha.. I'm sure I was quite a sight
while bearing my testimony. :) I love the ward here. Everybody speaks
English pretty much, and I realized that I'm so excited to bring my
family back here because then you will actually get to talk and
understand these people that I have fallen in love with. These people
are just awesome!
Sunday afternoon, we went to the Palmieri's to make brownies and
chocolate chip cookies. Their 12 year old daughter had invited friends
over, so we helped them out. It was so much fun, and at the end we
were able to share a short spiritual thought with all the kids who
were there. The spirit really does help us know which spiritual
thoughts we need to do with which families.
This week in my personal studies, I got curious as to how Moses, Adam,
etc were called to be prophets. My search led me to The Pearl of Great
Price where I skimmed all the chapters and discovered that all of them
either saw an angel or the lord and then were ordained to the
priesthood. Also, it specifically says that Moses was given power over
water. Just think about it... So cool! I just loved learning again
that the ministering of angels really isn't that weird of a belief. If
it happened in ancient times, what happened in history that would have
made it stop happening? I just love how simple and powerful the
message of the restoration is. It truly is a message from God.
Yesterday, Valentine's Day, one year ago, I went to the Bountiful
Temple and received my endowment. I can't believe that was a year ago,
but I can still remember how amazing it felt to have my entire family
in the celestial room with me. That is what heaven feels like, and I'm
so grateful I can share the message of eternal families with the
people in Italy. Leaving your family for a year and a half is a
difficult sacrifice, but to help other families be together for
eternity, I think it's worth it.
Also, last night, I had a slight panic attack as I realized that today
is 9 months until I go home. It scares me so much how fast time goes.
I'm going to cherish the next 9 months like they are gold. :)
Long email this week. Hope you all had as great of a week as I did. :)
I love you all!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
This week was so crazy! It had the good moments and the bad moments,
but no week in missionary work is ever perfect. There must be
opposition in all things! I am convinced that if we had investigators
falling out of the sky, we wouldn't be able to see the tiny daily
miracles that we have this past week. We've been working with a lot of
the less actives lately and we saw so many miracles and tender mercies
happen. Even though none of them came to church this past week, it's
okay. This work takes patience sometimes, and I can only imagine how
hard it would be to come back after years of not going. We just have
to keep reminding them of the rewards that they will receive in forms
of blessings and eventually eternal life with their families.
This week, we travelled to Rome a lot. On Monday for P-day, then on
Tuesday for district meeting, which we go to the mission office for
(meaning, send my mail there since I go every week), and again on
Wednesday for a conference we had with the Europe area president,
Elder Kearon, and Elder Hallstrom, a member of the presidency of the
seventy. I'll talk more about that later. Traveling to Rome means lots
of opportunities to talk to people on the trains and on the metros. On
Tuesday, we met this sweet lady named Alessandra on the metro. She
lives near Ostia which is Rome 4. She was really sweet. She has a
family, I think she was an author, and she listened to us. It was fun
to see her eyes light up when we said families can be together
forever. Even if we wouldn't even be the ones to teach her someday, it
is so fun to share your testimony. We were going to ask for her phone
number when she received a call herself and then by the time she got
off, we had to get off the metro. I'm pretty sure Satan does that
sometimes... Oh well, we gave her pass along cards. Phone numbers are
so much better though!
Also, for those who know me... Riding the metro has given me
flashbacks of Washington D.C. and riding the metro there when I was 7.
Thankfully the doors haven't shut on me and my companion yet. That
would be scary!
Sergio (the guy who helped us with my luggage) came to English course!
Such a miracle! He really enjoyed it too, and he seemed to really
listen and enjoy the spiritual thought. Then the anziani saw him on
the train on Friday and talked to him for a bit. We talked about
feelings in English course, and when we asked him how he felt.. He
said, " I feel happy." He is so cool!
Wednesday, we had the conference with Elder Hallstrom. And it was so
good! They said a lot of really cool things, but two things I really
liked, one from the area president, and one from Elder Hallstrom kind
of go together. President Kearon said, "we should be happy with
success and progress, but we should never be satisfied." Satisfaction
leads to slothfulness and a block in our progress. Then Elder
Hallstrom said something along the lines of, "the mission changes
people, and we want that change to last forever. We want your
discipleship now, and we want you forever." At least that was my
interpretation of what he said through whatever I felt the spirit tell
me. They also talked a lot about how appreciative they are for our
service. Especially the sisters. Elder Hallstrom asked President how
many sisters are in the mission right now. He said 55. That means I am
just one of 55 of the luckiest people in the world, who get the chance
to serve in this beautiful mission. It made me realize how blessed I
am and also how once of a lifetime this opportunity is. I learned a
lot of other things too, but that is the basis of what I felt while I
was listening. :)
While at the conference, I got to see a lot of other missionaries that
I know. It was really fun to see some of the them again. Sorella
Waddoups asked if I felt lost in Rome. She then said that she missed
me and gave me a nice hug when she only gave bacis(kisses on the
cheek) to everyone else. Hah! It made me feel loved.
I also got a haircut on Wednesday. Before I left, I didn't get many
layers in it, so as it grew out, it got really thick and kind of
triangle shaped. Frankly, I was kind of nervous to get it cut, because
I've heard horror stories, and I didn't really know the vocabulary to
explain what I wanted, but it turned out okay. She did a great job,
and Sorella Condé spoke up and talked about the gospel with them. It
was perfect!
We went to see this less active sister this week. She doesn't usually
let the missionaries in when we go by, but she did this time. :) it
was a miracle! We got to know her a but and learned that she has a
really strong testimony about prayer and she can recognize the spirit.
She agreed to come to church this last Sunday, and although she ended
up not coming, seeing the light come back into her eyes just from
before and after the lesson was enough for me. We'll bring her back
even if it takes patience and lots of work. The moment I meet the
people here in Ladispoli, I just love them more than I ever could have
imagined.
Friday was a sick day. I began to feel sick on Wednesday.. And I was
so frustrated because that means I've been sick 5 times in 6
transfers, which is a lot. Sorella Condé thinks I stress myself out
too much and it makes me more susceptible. It could be true, but if I
do... My body needs to realize that stressing myself out is just
making it worse. Anyways, I felt horrible on Friday. We tried to do a
few appointments, but they all fell through at last minute. I think it
was Heavenly Father telling me to go home.
Saturday night we helped this lady named Antonetta with English. She
is technically our investigator. She is just a really slowly
progressing one. Like really slow. But she is sweet. She made us
dinner on Sunday night since we were fasting on Saturday. It's hard to
teach English grammar in Italian. But it was a good experience. :) She
doesn't believe in organized religion, but we'll get her there
someday. We gave her an English Book of Mormon on Sunday and told her
the promise that if she reads it in English, she will be able to speak
and understand the language. It's a promise from the prophets. It's
also our attempt to get her to read the Book of Mormon. Clever, eh? ;)
On Sunday morning, it rained so hard. Haha... I was soaked by the time
we got to the church. The bottom of my skirt was so wet. And my hair
got so big from the humidity! Haha.. I'm sure I was quite a sight
while bearing my testimony. :) I love the ward here. Everybody speaks
English pretty much, and I realized that I'm so excited to bring my
family back here because then you will actually get to talk and
understand these people that I have fallen in love with. These people
are just awesome!
Sunday afternoon, we went to the Palmieri's to make brownies and
chocolate chip cookies. Their 12 year old daughter had invited friends
over, so we helped them out. It was so much fun, and at the end we
were able to share a short spiritual thought with all the kids who
were there. The spirit really does help us know which spiritual
thoughts we need to do with which families.
This week in my personal studies, I got curious as to how Moses, Adam,
etc were called to be prophets. My search led me to The Pearl of Great
Price where I skimmed all the chapters and discovered that all of them
either saw an angel or the lord and then were ordained to the
priesthood. Also, it specifically says that Moses was given power over
water. Just think about it... So cool! I just loved learning again
that the ministering of angels really isn't that weird of a belief. If
it happened in ancient times, what happened in history that would have
made it stop happening? I just love how simple and powerful the
message of the restoration is. It truly is a message from God.
Yesterday, Valentine's Day, one year ago, I went to the Bountiful
Temple and received my endowment. I can't believe that was a year ago,
but I can still remember how amazing it felt to have my entire family
in the celestial room with me. That is what heaven feels like, and I'm
so grateful I can share the message of eternal families with the
people in Italy. Leaving your family for a year and a half is a
difficult sacrifice, but to help other families be together for
eternity, I think it's worth it.
Also, last night, I had a slight panic attack as I realized that today
is 9 months until I go home. It scares me so much how fast time goes.
I'm going to cherish the next 9 months like they are gold. :)
Long email this week. Hope you all had as great of a week as I did. :)
I love you all!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Hello family and friends:
This week was probably one of the longest weeks of my life. But... I
survived! The first part of the week was running around the beautiful
city of Catania saluting (saying goodbye to people).. I forget you
don't say that in English. It was hard to say goodbye to the people I
have come to love. And I realized it is hard to let go of a city. But
LADISPOLI is wonderful. More on that later. :) I also thought of some
things that I don't miss about Catania... Namely the bus system, dog
poop, dirty streets, and car horns. It was still my home for the last
7 months, so obviously it was still hard to say goodbye.
Wednesday morning, the assistants had a Skype call with all of the
missionaries who were beginning training. We had 17 new missionaries
come in last week, so our mission is turning quite young. It was good
for me to listen to as well, and I learned some things for when the
day comes that I start training. Sorella Davison has an Italian
greenie and she looks like they are doing good. Also the family we
began teaching are progressing! So happy! Wednesday night was
absolutely crazy as we had all sisters in the zone staying at our
house and the bus system wasn't working because of St. Agatha. It was
her holiday this last week. So glad I dodged out of most of it. I also
had to finish packing and finish up getting ready for my long train
ride on Thursday!
The train ride started out good. We got to Messina where we crossed
the strait on a ferry, and then we met up with the other missionaries
traveling from Palermo. One by one, the missionaries all started
getting off the train as they arrived at their destinations and then I
was left on the train with 4 elders as a solo sister. That was a bit
of an odd experience. But I met Anziano Mika (for all BYU fans and
ticket office people). Yes, he is really tall even for me. :p The
train ride was long. We arrived in the Rome train station around 6:45
and ran to catch another train to Ladispoli that left at 7:12 on the
far end of the station. That was a good workout.
I met Sorella Condé. She was raised in Boise, Idaho but now her family
lives in Logan. She goes to University of Utah... And she is studying
the harp. She wants to study musical therapy. She is the youngest of 6
kids, and she is such a great missionary. The work is not so great
here in Ladispoli. We have like 0 real investigators, but we know that
we will see miracles with the faith we have. The ward here is awesome!
It has a bunch of really young families, a lot of members speak
English but they still speak in Italian to us unless we don't
understand. There are a ton of kids, the stake president of the Rome
West stake is in the ward, and everyone is super nice. The church
building is the bottom part of an apartment building, so that is
interesting, but it is only a 10 minute walk from our house. Score! :)
When we got off the train in Ladispoli, this guy named Sergio offered
to help with my luggage. It was super sweet of him and we ended up
talking to him about English course, so we are off to a great start.
This city is so beautiful, little, clean, not very old, but I'm close
to Rome, so I can get all that from there. And just walking from the
station to our house, I couldn't help but singing, "I think I'm gonna
like it here" from the movie Annie.
There is an adorable new convert here that got baptized like 15 days
ago. Her name is Dayana. I don't know her that well yet, but she is in
her early 20's and absolutely adorable. Oh wait, I already said that.
My first real night in the city, we went to see this less active
Peruvian family. And that was probably one of my favorite nights of
the mission. The mom is from Lima, but the kids all grew up here. We
taught them about how when God gives us a commandment, he always gives
us a way to follow the commandment like going to church even when it
is hard. We also sang Nephi's Courage with them. Then the mom asked if
we wanted to stay for dinner. We couldn't really say no... So we
played Ninja and a few other hand games while we waited. And I learned
how to play jacks! When we left, the entire family agreed to come to
church! I think it was time well spent. :)
The Europe area has this plan thing... Like an area plan. And this
plan has 3 categories. Bring a friend. Become spiritually and
materially self sufficient. And find an ancestor. We had a training
thing with all the ward leaders about this plan and it was phenomenal.
I took all my notes in Italian so I got an extra hour and a half of
language study. They basically just talked about how this is important
and how they can help the missionaries (that's us) if they do the
plan. I love wards that want to help us!
The house we live in has this beautiful view of the ocean since it is
only 2 blocks away.. And there are 2 bathrooms. It is smaller than
Catania because we don't have to house sisters. But it is so cute.
There is so much fresh air here and the streets are really clean.
Overall... I love this city. It's hard not knowing the people very
well yet, but I can find my way to the church without getting lost and
if I can find the fountain with the turtles than I can find my way
home.
Today for p-day, we went and toured ALL of central Rome without
meaning too... it is beautiful! I felt like Lizzie McGuire.. And I'll
send some pictures home.
I hope you all had a good week. I love you!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
This week was probably one of the longest weeks of my life. But... I
survived! The first part of the week was running around the beautiful
city of Catania saluting (saying goodbye to people).. I forget you
don't say that in English. It was hard to say goodbye to the people I
have come to love. And I realized it is hard to let go of a city. But
LADISPOLI is wonderful. More on that later. :) I also thought of some
things that I don't miss about Catania... Namely the bus system, dog
poop, dirty streets, and car horns. It was still my home for the last
7 months, so obviously it was still hard to say goodbye.
Wednesday morning, the assistants had a Skype call with all of the
missionaries who were beginning training. We had 17 new missionaries
come in last week, so our mission is turning quite young. It was good
for me to listen to as well, and I learned some things for when the
day comes that I start training. Sorella Davison has an Italian
greenie and she looks like they are doing good. Also the family we
began teaching are progressing! So happy! Wednesday night was
absolutely crazy as we had all sisters in the zone staying at our
house and the bus system wasn't working because of St. Agatha. It was
her holiday this last week. So glad I dodged out of most of it. I also
had to finish packing and finish up getting ready for my long train
ride on Thursday!
The train ride started out good. We got to Messina where we crossed
the strait on a ferry, and then we met up with the other missionaries
traveling from Palermo. One by one, the missionaries all started
getting off the train as they arrived at their destinations and then I
was left on the train with 4 elders as a solo sister. That was a bit
of an odd experience. But I met Anziano Mika (for all BYU fans and
ticket office people). Yes, he is really tall even for me. :p The
train ride was long. We arrived in the Rome train station around 6:45
and ran to catch another train to Ladispoli that left at 7:12 on the
far end of the station. That was a good workout.
I met Sorella Condé. She was raised in Boise, Idaho but now her family
lives in Logan. She goes to University of Utah... And she is studying
the harp. She wants to study musical therapy. She is the youngest of 6
kids, and she is such a great missionary. The work is not so great
here in Ladispoli. We have like 0 real investigators, but we know that
we will see miracles with the faith we have. The ward here is awesome!
It has a bunch of really young families, a lot of members speak
English but they still speak in Italian to us unless we don't
understand. There are a ton of kids, the stake president of the Rome
West stake is in the ward, and everyone is super nice. The church
building is the bottom part of an apartment building, so that is
interesting, but it is only a 10 minute walk from our house. Score! :)
When we got off the train in Ladispoli, this guy named Sergio offered
to help with my luggage. It was super sweet of him and we ended up
talking to him about English course, so we are off to a great start.
This city is so beautiful, little, clean, not very old, but I'm close
to Rome, so I can get all that from there. And just walking from the
station to our house, I couldn't help but singing, "I think I'm gonna
like it here" from the movie Annie.
There is an adorable new convert here that got baptized like 15 days
ago. Her name is Dayana. I don't know her that well yet, but she is in
her early 20's and absolutely adorable. Oh wait, I already said that.
My first real night in the city, we went to see this less active
Peruvian family. And that was probably one of my favorite nights of
the mission. The mom is from Lima, but the kids all grew up here. We
taught them about how when God gives us a commandment, he always gives
us a way to follow the commandment like going to church even when it
is hard. We also sang Nephi's Courage with them. Then the mom asked if
we wanted to stay for dinner. We couldn't really say no... So we
played Ninja and a few other hand games while we waited. And I learned
how to play jacks! When we left, the entire family agreed to come to
church! I think it was time well spent. :)
The Europe area has this plan thing... Like an area plan. And this
plan has 3 categories. Bring a friend. Become spiritually and
materially self sufficient. And find an ancestor. We had a training
thing with all the ward leaders about this plan and it was phenomenal.
I took all my notes in Italian so I got an extra hour and a half of
language study. They basically just talked about how this is important
and how they can help the missionaries (that's us) if they do the
plan. I love wards that want to help us!
The house we live in has this beautiful view of the ocean since it is
only 2 blocks away.. And there are 2 bathrooms. It is smaller than
Catania because we don't have to house sisters. But it is so cute.
There is so much fresh air here and the streets are really clean.
Overall... I love this city. It's hard not knowing the people very
well yet, but I can find my way to the church without getting lost and
if I can find the fountain with the turtles than I can find my way
home.
Today for p-day, we went and toured ALL of central Rome without
meaning too... it is beautiful! I felt like Lizzie McGuire.. And I'll
send some pictures home.
I hope you all had a good week. I love you!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Monday, February 1, 2016
Week 36: Transfer calls, swings, spirit filled lessons, and 8 month mark
Hello family and friends:
Transfer calls were on Saturday! And I was only slightly disappointed
that the news slipped out over Facebook before I could tell you. I
wanted to be the first. Oh well, I've been transferred! I am going
to.... Drum roll please?
LADISPOLI! Haha... I am so so so excited. It is this small little
suburb/city thing outside of Rome. It is pronounced just what it looks
like. La-dis-Po-lee.. :) There is a joke around the mission that
anything that ends with "oli" is the promised land. But, we got the
call from President on Saturday at 10:30 in the morning. Meno male
that I didn't have to wait as long as last time. I was literally
dying. I didn't sleep very well on Friday. I pretty much knew that I
was leaving, but I wanted to know so badly where I was going.
President told me where I was going, and then asked if I was ready to
be senior comp. I said, "I don't know.." But then he said, "the lord
thinks you are." That's a great vote of confidence. I will be with
Sorella Condè. She is from Utah, and she is one transfer younger than
me in the mission, so as far as I am concerned, we are on equal
playing ground. And the title senior comp means absolutely nothing
since we don't have cars and we share the phone. But, I'm excited
nevertheless.
I am also really happy that I'm not serving inside the city of Rome.
And I hope Ladispoli is as close as I get. My district is with Rome 4,
so we can still go see the sights in Rome, but I don't have to deal
with tourists. Also, since I now speak Italian, I can visit Rome as a
tourist and not get super lost since I'll know the subway lines. I've
heard it is a much smaller city than Catania which is really nice. It
is right on the sea. #beachbummissionary And the ward is really good.
Most of the members work for the church in the translation center
there, so they all speak English and Italian. I'll still speak in
Italian to them. I also kind of feel like this is Heavenly Father
giving me the opportunity to see if translating is what I want to do
with my life, since I had that idea at the beginning. We'll see! The
fact that I'm leaving Catania hasn't hit me yet. Saying goodbye sucks,
but I haven't cried yet... For the first time since my setting apart
where I feel like the crybaby trait was substituted into my DNA for 18
months. I think it might start to hit me on the train. I've also
accumulated quite a bit of stuff here in Catania, so we'll see how
that all fits into my suitcases. ;) Challenge accepted.
Now that I spent two paragraphs talking about that... Here is the rest
of my week. :)
Tuesday was Australia Day! Haha.. We didn't do anything special, but I
felt the need to mention it. That morning, we had a fingerprint
appointment for her permesso renewal and we had to go back to the
place we went my third week of the mission. I remember having
absolutely no clue what the guy was saying to me, and this time... I
understood everything! I get to leave my birth city feeling pretty
comfortable with the language... How many people can say that? ;)
Haha.. But I still have tons to learn. We went on an adventure trying
to find the above ground metro stop that we needed for Wednesday, and
we found a piazza with swings. It was a glorious 5 minute break. :)
8 months down on Wednesday. This still has not ceased to freak me out.
After you hit 6 months, halfway is literally right around the corner.
Il tempo passa. That morning, I told Heavenly Father that I would talk
to everybody that he put in our path. And boy, did he listen to that.
We had so many more opportunities to talk to people in a natural way
than ever before. We went out to a member referral that afternoon. She
was absolutely adorable. She is the sister of the relief society
president who is looking for more peace and tranquility in life, so
her sister sent her us. Her husband is like super Catholic...like that
description doesn't even cover it. We shared a message about Jesus
Christ with them, and then we left. Letizia walked with us to the
metro stop where we realized that the train wasn't coming for another
hour. We told her we could wait by ourselves and that it wasn't a
problem, but she stuck around for the whole hour in which we took
advantage of the opportunity to teach her the plan of salvation
without her super Catholic husband.
Saturday afternoon, we went up with the Bruno's to teach that family
again in the paesino. And it was phenomenal. That morning, we had
decided to do an overview of the Book of Mormon, which was a little
odd since we would have usually taught the plan of salvation. But it
was perfect, because their 26 year old son joined in. So we did a
quick review of the restoration and the Book of Mormon. This family
has studied with the Jehovah's Witness and they had a really bad
experience. As we were finishing the lesson, the father said that when
we teach, he feels tranquility and peace. We helped him recognize that
it was the spirit, and they all committed to read the Book of Mormon.
It was wonderful to have the members in the lesson. Their testimonies
helped so much. We walked out of the lesson and Sorella Davison turns
to me and says, "You know you're teaching by the spirit when
everything you said popped into my mind as well." It was just a great
experience, and one of the highlights of this week. So sad I don't get
to finish teaching them, because they are truly so great. :)
It was my last Sunday in Catania. They had me give my departing
testimony. I think everybody was a little surprised that I've been
here for 7 months. After the meetings, we took several pictures with
members, and surprisingly some people that I never got to know super
well thanked me and said I'll be missed. I don't think we realize how
many lives we touch. We went to pranzo with the Battezato's and
Sorella Bachetti. The food was so good as always. And that family has
literally been my home away from home. As we were leaving, Sorella
Battezato said that my Italian has improved so much, and that when I
speak... I speak properly. Such a nice compliment.
Today, more like this morning. We went to take pictures in the
courtyards of the university buildings. And we went to say goodbye to
Iole and Gesualdo. I just remember the first time I went over to their
place and I actually understood the jokes. That was a marvelous day. I
will miss them. Several people have told me to come back for my
honeymoon and I can stay with them or that they'll pick us up from the
airport or that they'll take us to see the sites. It is very sweet of
them. I said that I will if the temple is finished by then. Come on
Rome Italy! :)
My spiritual thought this week comes from my study this morning. I
read Acts 5. And there is a verse towards the end that says, "they
left the council rejoicing in their hearts that he counted them worthy
to suffer shame for his name." I found it interesting that they
rejoiced. Because I'll be honest... Having citofones slammed down or
being yelled at or rejected is not the most fun thing in the world.
But I am grateful that I am worthy to suffer shame for his name. There
is nothing else I'd rather be doing than serving the great and
almighty God in his work.
I love you all! Happy February!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Transfer calls were on Saturday! And I was only slightly disappointed
that the news slipped out over Facebook before I could tell you. I
wanted to be the first. Oh well, I've been transferred! I am going
to.... Drum roll please?
LADISPOLI! Haha... I am so so so excited. It is this small little
suburb/city thing outside of Rome. It is pronounced just what it looks
like. La-dis-Po-lee.. :) There is a joke around the mission that
anything that ends with "oli" is the promised land. But, we got the
call from President on Saturday at 10:30 in the morning. Meno male
that I didn't have to wait as long as last time. I was literally
dying. I didn't sleep very well on Friday. I pretty much knew that I
was leaving, but I wanted to know so badly where I was going.
President told me where I was going, and then asked if I was ready to
be senior comp. I said, "I don't know.." But then he said, "the lord
thinks you are." That's a great vote of confidence. I will be with
Sorella Condè. She is from Utah, and she is one transfer younger than
me in the mission, so as far as I am concerned, we are on equal
playing ground. And the title senior comp means absolutely nothing
since we don't have cars and we share the phone. But, I'm excited
nevertheless.
I am also really happy that I'm not serving inside the city of Rome.
And I hope Ladispoli is as close as I get. My district is with Rome 4,
so we can still go see the sights in Rome, but I don't have to deal
with tourists. Also, since I now speak Italian, I can visit Rome as a
tourist and not get super lost since I'll know the subway lines. I've
heard it is a much smaller city than Catania which is really nice. It
is right on the sea. #beachbummissionary And the ward is really good.
Most of the members work for the church in the translation center
there, so they all speak English and Italian. I'll still speak in
Italian to them. I also kind of feel like this is Heavenly Father
giving me the opportunity to see if translating is what I want to do
with my life, since I had that idea at the beginning. We'll see! The
fact that I'm leaving Catania hasn't hit me yet. Saying goodbye sucks,
but I haven't cried yet... For the first time since my setting apart
where I feel like the crybaby trait was substituted into my DNA for 18
months. I think it might start to hit me on the train. I've also
accumulated quite a bit of stuff here in Catania, so we'll see how
that all fits into my suitcases. ;) Challenge accepted.
Now that I spent two paragraphs talking about that... Here is the rest
of my week. :)
Tuesday was Australia Day! Haha.. We didn't do anything special, but I
felt the need to mention it. That morning, we had a fingerprint
appointment for her permesso renewal and we had to go back to the
place we went my third week of the mission. I remember having
absolutely no clue what the guy was saying to me, and this time... I
understood everything! I get to leave my birth city feeling pretty
comfortable with the language... How many people can say that? ;)
Haha.. But I still have tons to learn. We went on an adventure trying
to find the above ground metro stop that we needed for Wednesday, and
we found a piazza with swings. It was a glorious 5 minute break. :)
8 months down on Wednesday. This still has not ceased to freak me out.
After you hit 6 months, halfway is literally right around the corner.
Il tempo passa. That morning, I told Heavenly Father that I would talk
to everybody that he put in our path. And boy, did he listen to that.
We had so many more opportunities to talk to people in a natural way
than ever before. We went out to a member referral that afternoon. She
was absolutely adorable. She is the sister of the relief society
president who is looking for more peace and tranquility in life, so
her sister sent her us. Her husband is like super Catholic...like that
description doesn't even cover it. We shared a message about Jesus
Christ with them, and then we left. Letizia walked with us to the
metro stop where we realized that the train wasn't coming for another
hour. We told her we could wait by ourselves and that it wasn't a
problem, but she stuck around for the whole hour in which we took
advantage of the opportunity to teach her the plan of salvation
without her super Catholic husband.
Saturday afternoon, we went up with the Bruno's to teach that family
again in the paesino. And it was phenomenal. That morning, we had
decided to do an overview of the Book of Mormon, which was a little
odd since we would have usually taught the plan of salvation. But it
was perfect, because their 26 year old son joined in. So we did a
quick review of the restoration and the Book of Mormon. This family
has studied with the Jehovah's Witness and they had a really bad
experience. As we were finishing the lesson, the father said that when
we teach, he feels tranquility and peace. We helped him recognize that
it was the spirit, and they all committed to read the Book of Mormon.
It was wonderful to have the members in the lesson. Their testimonies
helped so much. We walked out of the lesson and Sorella Davison turns
to me and says, "You know you're teaching by the spirit when
everything you said popped into my mind as well." It was just a great
experience, and one of the highlights of this week. So sad I don't get
to finish teaching them, because they are truly so great. :)
It was my last Sunday in Catania. They had me give my departing
testimony. I think everybody was a little surprised that I've been
here for 7 months. After the meetings, we took several pictures with
members, and surprisingly some people that I never got to know super
well thanked me and said I'll be missed. I don't think we realize how
many lives we touch. We went to pranzo with the Battezato's and
Sorella Bachetti. The food was so good as always. And that family has
literally been my home away from home. As we were leaving, Sorella
Battezato said that my Italian has improved so much, and that when I
speak... I speak properly. Such a nice compliment.
Today, more like this morning. We went to take pictures in the
courtyards of the university buildings. And we went to say goodbye to
Iole and Gesualdo. I just remember the first time I went over to their
place and I actually understood the jokes. That was a marvelous day. I
will miss them. Several people have told me to come back for my
honeymoon and I can stay with them or that they'll pick us up from the
airport or that they'll take us to see the sites. It is very sweet of
them. I said that I will if the temple is finished by then. Come on
Rome Italy! :)
My spiritual thought this week comes from my study this morning. I
read Acts 5. And there is a verse towards the end that says, "they
left the council rejoicing in their hearts that he counted them worthy
to suffer shame for his name." I found it interesting that they
rejoiced. Because I'll be honest... Having citofones slammed down or
being yelled at or rejected is not the most fun thing in the world.
But I am grateful that I am worthy to suffer shame for his name. There
is nothing else I'd rather be doing than serving the great and
almighty God in his work.
I love you all! Happy February!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
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