Dear loved ones,
This email is coming in a little later because we had to deep clean
our apartment this morning. :)
The weather here in Ladispoli has been beautiful lately. Spring has
come. And I'm not complaining. I put my big coat away today, and I
don't have to wear tights everyday anymore. This week with the nice
weather, I also had a nice little visit by my pollen allergies. But
I'm feeling much better today.
I have quite a bit to say, and I honestly don't know what day all of
these things happened on, not that it matters.
We met with one of our less actives, Enriquetta. She's from Argentina,
I think.. And her family aren't members, so that makes it difficult
for her to come to church and she travels to see her family a lot.
Because here in Italy, family is so important! Families are important
everywhere, but you know what I mean. Her 5 yr old granddaughter woke
up from her nap while we were there, and she is mostly blind. But it
was amazing how she could feel the spirit even though she couldn't see
us or who we were very well. Sorella Tellez gave her a picture of
Jesus, and she kept asking "why?" questions every time we would say
something he did or when we would say that he loves children. She also
wanted to know why he had a beard. Haha... She has such a special
spirit and it was so fun to see her be curious about this man they
call Jesus.
Tuesday night, I wanted to shake things up at English course. So I
decided to play Redeemer on the piano for the students for the
spiritual thought. We only had like 3 students there, so they were the
lucky ones who got to hear me share my talent. It was a fun little
surprise for them for Easter, and it was perfect because we got to
share our testimonies of the Savior after. I think they were touched.
Wednesday, we had zone conference. It was amazing, like always. I'm
sure you all saw pictures on the mission blog. It was fun to see all
of my fellow missionaries. At this point in my mission, I know a lot
of people in the mission, especially since my group of sisters is the
oldest in the zone. As I said before, the mission is super young
considering that my group just hit 10 months. But all of the new
missionaries blew me away with their birth testimonies. They were all
so on point, and their Italian was awesome! The new missionaries must
be smarter, haha.. One thing I liked from the conference was that it
doesn't matter how many talents we have at the end of day. It only
matters how you used those talents to help others. Another thing I
liked was someone said that as we walk down the street, our presence
as missionaries is noticed. I guess the people who ignore us just
don't like happy people sharing a beautiful message about Christ, even
if we only want to say hello. But that's okay. :) Then President
showed us a demonstration of something he learned at a conference with
Elder Christofferson. He had two missionaries help him out. One, he
told to march like he was in the army, 10 steps in place. The other,
he said to march 10 steps toward someone. Then he asked, which one had
done more work. Neither, they both marched 10 steps. But then he asked
who went further. And obviously the one who walked towards somebody.
President said that as we have goals, we go further, and work just the
same amount as people who don't.
Wednesday night, we went to the Poli's house for dinner. They had
invited us and an English course student who has an interest in
genealogy over for dinner. She is from Poland, and we don't really
know how to use the fancy stuff on family search, but Fratello Poli
does. It was so good. She made us a light dinner, because she knew we
were Sorelle. Haha... :) That was my second meal appointment at a
members in my whole 2 months here in Ladispoli, and it was really fun.
And now, we have a better relationship with that member family. For
example, Sorella Poli said goodbye to us on Sunday before she left.
She never did that before. :)
This week, I had a few experiences where I felt like the Book of
Mormon was speaking to me specifically. I know that it doesn't just
happen by coincidence, and I know they were answers to my prayers.
Tender mercies that also help confirm my testimony of the Book of
Mormon while answering my question/needs at the same time. I know the
book is true, and even just reading it again has been such a blessing.
I've learned and seen so much new stuff. It's almost like I've never
read it before. But I have, a lot.
One day this week, we tried to see a less active, but she didn't let
us in. So, we walked down the road a bit with the intention of doing
street finding. I saw this lady sitting on the side of the road with
her big, white, husky. I felt the need to talk to her so I crossed the
street without telling my companions where I was going.. Oops.. Haha,
but she was so sweet. She was waiting for her daughter to come down
for a horse riding lesson. She is from Romania and orthodox and her
name is Theodora. She said she didn't have much time, but she watched
the Easter video and we talked for a bit more. Her dog conveniently
refused to get in the car, and that let us talk for longer. I think
the spirit can work on animals too. She ended up giving us her phone
number, so we'll see where that goes.
On Friday night, after a long day, I asked for a blessing from the
anziani. And it was just the thing I needed. I don't know why I am the
one in the trio at this time, but I know that Heavenly Father knows
and that it is for my good and for my experience. It gave me the much
needed comfort that I was looking for, and for the last few days, I
have felt like I can conquer anything and everything. I know I can do
anything I set my mind to with the help of my savior, Jesus Christ. It
certainly is never easy, but it sure is easier and more peaceful when
we ask for his help.
On Saturday, 2 English course students, Giada and Fabrizio asked if we
could come help them in the community garden that they started. It had
been a few months, and anybody knows what happens after a few months
in a garden. There were weeds galore, and if you all know me...
Pulling weeds is not my favorite thing in the world. But I kept a good
attitude by imagining what Christ would do if he were there pulling
weeds with me. I decided he would use the weeds to tell a parable.
That a weed is like a sin. If we leave it for too long, it creates a
big mess. Haha.. Also, some of these weeds were really stubborn. And
the word for "come on" in Italian is "dai" pronounced die. And Sorella
Hunter pointed out that when I said that as I'm pulling the weeds out,
I meant it in both ways. Haha.. Afterwards, we ate lunch with them,
and they made this delicious sauce by blending up a bell pepper and
adding salt. They put it on crackers, and it was SO GOOD! Don't worry.
I've started to collect recipes!
Also, Saturday afternoon, I was called to give a talk in sacrament
meeting the next day. Why does that always happen to me? Haha... At
least it only had to be 5 minutes, and it was for the kids (they have
a talk for the bambini every Sunday because there are so many kids in
the ward). And at least I didn't have to wow anybody with fancy
Italian, because I needed to make it simple enough that the kids could
understand, which is harder than you think. Haha.. Oh well. I got to
talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Also, President and
Sorella Waddoups came to church, so that wasn't intimidating at all
with my talk. Meno male, they thought it went well.
After church, we went to an English course student's house. His name
is Johnny and he is a pilot and lives out in this beautiful house in
this type of gated community. But it was better than a gated
community. His wife is the cutest thing ever, and their two boys were
well behaved and polite. They also had this other little boy over for
a few days from this orphanage run by nuns. He comes to their house
every so often to spend a few days. This man is the dryest Mormon I
have ever met. Holy moly. His family is the most important thing ever
to him and he wants to do so much good in the world. Also, his house
has got to be the most beautiful Italian house I've seen here. Also,
his kids play tennis. So I just like this family a lot. The food was
great, and I got the wife's focaccia recipe.
I love you all! Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Sorella Flansberg
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