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
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