Hello!
I have some more adventures for you all to enjoy this week!
Monday, I was in a trio with Sorella Condé and Sorella Tingey in Rome
2. We went to see St. Paul's basilica, and we also went to see this
Peruvian family that night. They are from Trujillo (Jake) and they
were really sweet. The son is a member of the church, and the sisters
are teaching the parents. They made us dinner unexpectedly and it was
actually really good. It was pasta with a fresh tomato sauce and tuna.
Sounds weird, but I actually liked it. As we were eating, we started
talking about how Jacob ate Guinea pigs while in Peru. I just didn't
know the word for Guinea pig in Italian, so I tried to circumlocute
using words like mouse and small and rodent. Haha... Anyways, then
they said cui cui and I recognized that. Haha... It was just a funny
moment. We taught them a bit more about the Book of Mormon, and they
said they would try to read. :)
Tuesday, I was in the same trio, and after having 2 different district
meetings, one with my district, and one with the Rome 2 district, we
spent a lot of time waiting for buses that never actually came. Even
though they were supposed to, so we ended up going to the temple
grounds early since we had English course there that night. We were
early and the temple is in the middle of nowhere, and Sorella Condé
had the idea of handing out temple pass along cards to the cars stuck
in traffic... I have never felt more like a bangladeshian guy in my
life. In Italy, they are everywhere trying to sell things to cars or
trying to wash your windshield. It was scary and after 2 minutes, we
decided it wasn't a good idea. We ended up sitting on the side of the
road and made some calls. But English course that night was amazing.
Even though the temple isn't finished yet, the feeling when you walk
on the site was tangible. It was so different from just outside the
gate where we had been sitting on the side of the road. And how many
people get to say they've been on the construction site for a temple
before? Not very many, penso io.
I ate salsa that day for the first time in 10 months. That was a
staple of mine in college, and I almost cried tears of joy. The senior
couple in the other district made some... Dreams do come true. Haha...
In our district meeting, we did the activity where you pass around a
piece of paper and everyone writes something nice about you. It was a
fun activity, and everyone was saying how they know I'm supposed to be
the one in this trio and that I can do it. It was just nice to receive
some encouragement.
On Wednesday, I was in a trio with Sorella Roberts and Sorella Ensign
in Rome 6. That morning, we tried to accidentally "run" into the new
greenies, but we ended up not being able to. Haha... We actually had
to do stuff at the church though. We were still diligent missionaries.
:) That afternoon, we went to see this Filipino family. There was this
adorable 4 year old kid who only speaks Tagalog and a little bit of
Italian. He was really shy and reminded me of me when I was little and
hiding behind my moms legs. At one point while we were talking, he
wanted to know what our names were and shyly asked us. Hearing that
'Come ti chiami' was probably the cutest thing I've heard in a long
time.
That night after English course, we rode the bus home and I felt this
prompting to go talk to this woman. I put it off a little bit because
I was already sitting down and didn't want to get up just to sit down
again and look weird. But I kept getting the prompting. I also noticed
Sorella Roberts sitting on the edge of her seat. Our stop came and
thankfully she got off the bus with us. We started up a conversation
and exchanged numbers. She thought we were from this church that
starts with an S, that now I can't remember. But twice in one day, we
were mistaken as people from this church. It was odd, but she seemed
genuinely interested. Her name was Miriam, and now I'm curious to see
how it all plays out and why we were prompted so strongly to talk to
her. We arrived home, kicked off our shoes, and started to relax a bit
when we got a call saying that we had to pick up the Rome 5 Sorelle
from the metro stop. So the shoes went back on, and we went to meet
them. That is when I first met my adopted daughter... And boy is she
cute. ;) haha..
Thursday was transfer day, and we had 7 big bags to get to Ladispoli
with only 3 people. Not to mention taking a metro and a train that
don't wait very long at the stops. Haha... It was an adventure to say
the least. And the anziani were our heroes, because they dragged all
of their bags and ours to our apartment before they went home. I
promised to make them cookies, so hopefully that baking excursion
won't be a complete disaster. While I was in Rome for the week, we had
mission people coming in and out of our apartment to get it all set up
for 3 sisters. It was clean when we left and when we got home, it was
a complete disaster. I wasn't too happy, but now we fixed it all up.
On Friday, we got our new washer! The delivery/repair people were so
Italian though. I can't explain it... But they were in and out of our
apartment in 10 minutes. Literally. They ran in, took the old one,
pushed the new one in, tried shoving the old one into the elevator
while breaking pieces off the sides, and setting the new one up. All
in 10 minutes. They certainly weren't wasting any time. Haha. It is
nice having a new washer, and it plays a cute little song at the end
when the cycle is done. I'm just grateful we don't have a lake in our
house anymore.
That night, the anziani had their baptism. Lorenzo wanted to be
baptized in the sea... And it was freezing cold according to the
anziani, but it did make for beautiful pictures. Someone had a camera
like mine at home there, and it was so fun to play with. It made me
miss mine, but someday I'll return to Italy with it. :) The baptism
was beautiful, but the confirmation on Sunday was even better. Lorenzo
was so prepared for the gospel. He was a 4 week baptism from the time
the missionaries met him... Not that it matters.
We had another lesson with Cinzia on Saturday. We talked about
obedience using the story of the stripling warriors. And we talked
about how obedience to commandants will bring us blessings that the
Lord is just waiting to give us. The lesson then turned to having real
intent. And Sorella Tellez bore a beautiful testimony. She is an older
sister, and she is also the only member in her family. I think I
figured out that Cinzia is scared of receiving the answer that the
church is true and then having to change her life because of it. But
we actually had her read the talk by Elder Martino from the last
general conference. Cinzia is amazing nevertheless. But keep her in
your prayers! Ahh! I'm getting excited because general conference is
so SOON!
The last adventure of the week was last night. We left the house for a
lesson with Dayana, and as soon as Sorella Tellez closed the door, I
realized I had forgotten the keys. (Just the millionth thing that I've
forgotten this week). Thankfully the anziani have an extra set... But
they weren't answering their phone. So, we had our lesson with Dayana
inside her car outside the church because the keys were locked in our
house. Then we went to find some less actives and ran into an ex simp
named Bismarck from Nigeria. He said he wanted to meet with us again,
and we showed him the new Easter video. The less actives weren't home,
and so we continued doing street contacting as we walked to the
anziani's apartment. They were actually home, meno male, and they just
laughed at me for forgetting the keys. Dayana said that I need the
ball Neville's grandmother gave him in Harry Potter and I just said
that it would be red all the time and I wouldn't even know what I was
forgetting just like Neville. Haha...
This week, I have also spoken more Italian than ever. It's been a bit
tricky, because I always feel like I'm leaving somebody out of the
conversation, but it gets really tiring repeating everything you say
in 2 different languages. Thankfully, Sorella Hunter is trying to
learn Italian as fast as she can. Then I forget what I told what
person and in what language, and my brain doesn't even know the
difference between the two languages anymore. But life is good!
Tiring, but I'm learning a lot... And I've got the savior on my side.
:)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Sent from my iPad
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