Hello everybody!
This week seems to have gone on forever. But then again, it feels like
I was just writing to everybody yesterday. Since I know everybody
wants to know what happened with transfer calls, here's the scoop. We
have missionaries dying this week, but the MTC or the travel office
messed something up and the new missionaries aren't coming until the
next week. President cancelled transfer calls because he didn't know
what was going to happen yet. So, now we wait. We'll get them this
week, most likely before Saturday.
On Tuesday, we had the best zone conference of my mission. I felt like
the training President gave us was written just for me. He talked
about how we can all be better missionaries using the consecrated
missionary talk by Elder Callister. I think every missionary can
always be a little more consecrated than they are, even if they are
already consecrated. It was really great along with the training by
the assistants. They talked about how we need to be doing the work the
Lord's way and we do that by using Preach My Gospel. They challenged
us to read Preach my gospel for 30 minutes every day during personal
study and then again in companion study. That combined with 6 pages of
the Book of Mormon makes for a bit of a frantic personal study. But
I'm grateful already for the things I've learned. Funny how you always
learn something new every time you read something again.
Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, we did a scambio with Sorella Dew
and Sorella Tapia. It was so fun. I was with Sorella Tapia, and she
was Sorella Rackham's (my comp from the MTC) trainer. We had some
adventures on Wednesday morning when we went to the Lloyds to help
them with two things. One was family history, and the other thing I
didn't quite hear right on the phone which made for an interesting
adventure. But, it was PAINTING! Haha... That is kind of an important
thing to know so we wouldn't have worn our missionary clothes. But
Sorella Lloyd loaned us some old t-shirts and we got busy painting in
their kitchen. That was one of my first real service projects, and it
was so much fun. I got all the tall places, and Sorella Tapia saved me
from doing a bunch of squats. ;)
We had another lesson with Cinzia on Wednesday. She is still
progressing, so good news there. I think she is opening up to the idea
of baptism, but we'll continue working with her. We taught the gospel
of Jesus Christ, and we thought it went really well. She always has a
lot of questions, so we always have a lot to talk about.
Just another thing that I remembered little like the kinder egg thing.
While walking on the street, the number of cigarette boxes we see are
endless. So missionaries made up a game. When you see an unsmashed
cigarette box, you step on it.. And you get "husband points" kind of
like when young women say prayers. Haha... Stepping on them is so
satisfying, especially if you get unsoggy ones. It just crunches, and
you don't know how good it feels until you try it. I thought it was
kind of a dumb game, but it feels so good crushing those boxes.
Thursday morning, we had a lesson with another investigator we have
named Margherita. We hadn't seen her for a few weeks, and we couldn't
contact her either... But this last week, we tried to call her again.
And miracle. We got an appointment with her the day before she moved
to Palermo. We met her at a bar, and as soon as we get there, she
moves back into the back room where there are slot machines and where
you can smoke. You could literally see a haze of smoke when you walked
in the room. I had my doubts at this point about how the lesson would
go. But, we prayed that we would still be able to feel the spirit...
And it literally created a bubble around us for the entire lesson. She
is really sweet, and read until 2 Nefi 15 in the Book of Mormon. We
taught her the plan of salvation, and invited her to be baptized. She
didn't accept it yet, but she wants to. We told her the road to
baptism isn't an easy road and after baptism, it isn't easy either...
But it is so worth it. At the end of the lesson, she tried to give us
the Book of Mormon back, but we told her that it was a gift. She began
to cry and was holding the Book of Mormon up to her chest. She then
proceeded to thank Jesus by kissing his face on the pamphlet we gave
her. It was a sweet moment to witness, and sometimes I wonder if we as
members of the church realize just how precious the Book of Mormon is.
It is such a blessing.
Thursday night, we went to get gelato because I was craving it. So we
bought some, and then we sat by the turtle fountain to eat it when
along comes another lady eating gelato. She sat down by herself and we
took advantage of the opportunity. We asked if we could show her
Grazie A Lui or because of Him. And she said yes, but she was already
firm in her beliefs. We ended up talking for another 35 minutes in the
cold, mind you, we just ate gelato... And she explained how she
believes in reincarnation but she is this really strong Catholic.
Later as I thought about it, I realized that those two don't really
seem to match up. It says nothing about reincarnation in the Bible. Oh
well. She was really nice, and we opened our mouths which is all we
are required to do. :)
We made fajitas on Saturday, so that satisfied my Mexican food craving
for a bit.. Meaning another week.
I also finished Mosiah in the Italian Book of Mormon. Woohoo! Now to
get through Alma. I feel as though I will become really familiar with
words of war and different weapons and war strategies in the Italian
language. Haha... But it will be good just the same.
Saturday afternoon, we traveled to Rome for stake conference. We took
one train for about 20 minutes, got off, and then waited for another
train when Sorella Condé realized that the phone was not in her
pocket. We searched everywhere, called it, and it was gone. So we got
on the next train, and then hopped on the metro to go to the main
train station, Termini. Got there, literally ran down the platforms
and missed it by like 20 seconds. So we talked to the train engineer
that was driving the next train and he called the other train. They
searched the train, couldn't find our phone, and long story short.. We
are now phone less. We've gone 3 days, and we are no worse the wear
except for not being able to contact people. It's funny how much you
take it for granted when suddenly it isn't there anymore. We should
get a new one tomorrow, hopefully with the same phone number.
President Waddoups asked when we arrived at the conference if we had
talked to people on the way here... Without giving him the whole story
right then, we talked a lit how we had met some people from
California, a Filipino lady, and we talked to a train engineer. He was
a little confused until we told him the rest of the story later that
night. We feel sorry for the anziani in Ladispoli though because they
have to walk to our apartment every night to make sure we are home
safe. Oops!
Stake conference was really great. There was an area seventy there
from England with his wife. He had a heavy Scottish accent, and it was
pretty fun to listen to. Plus his talks were in English... Score.
Italian is great too, but some of the meaning of things gets lost in
the translation. I really love English.
Sunday afternoon, we went to the bishops' house for pranzo. We ate so
much, but I was in Catania so I was used to eating that much every
Sunday and even twice a week. But Sorella Condé was dying. Haha... It
was so good, and I just love the Bishop here. His family is great. He
had 10 kids, who are all grown now.. But his youngest two daughters
were there and we introduced one of them to Pinterest. She was amazed!
:) haha... I love to be a missionary.
The only spiritual thought I have for y'all is to remember that the
restoration is not a secret. But sometimes we treat it like it is for
fear of how people will react. Also, the gospel is simple... But it
doesn't mean it is easy. But the blessings we receive makes it all
worth it. Sometimes we confuse those. That is what I learned at stake
conference amidst other things. :)
Love you all! Have a fantastic week!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
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