Ciao tutti!
It's finally spring! (È primavera, finalmente!) This week, we did
district meeting on the balcony of the church in Rome because it was
so nice, and we all needed some fresh air. The addestramento
(training) was so good this week. We talked about the tender mercies
of the lord and how we are made mighty unto the power of deliverance.
This is one of my favorite scriptures, but who am I kidding, I have
more favorite scriptures than I can count. (1 Nephi 1:20) We talked
about how we need to have faith, hope, and charity to receive tender
mercies.
While at the church in Rome, I grabbed a conference edition of the
Liahona in Italian from the last conference. And I've been using it
for language study this week. When I read talks, I can usually figure
out what a sentence says even if I don't know every word. But this
week while I read, I underlined and looked up every word I came across
that I didn't know. It was so helpful!
After DDM, Sorella Hunter went with Sorella Tingey, and we took
Sorella Rushton back to Ladispoli with us. We had a really good
scambio. As always, everyone loves our balcony. I have included the
balcony as one of my tender mercies from Heavenly Father. It is so
nice to go out at pranzo and eat or to go out at night just to listen
to the waves. We usually miss the sunset since we are out working, but
that's okay. :) Sorella Rushton is in her first transfer, and she
looks a lot like Sorella Rackham. It was fun to have another sister
with us. We switched back the next day, so lots of time on trains back
and forth to Rome.
One night this week, we walked into our apartment building and there
was this really good smell coming from the apartment on the ground
floor. We knew that an Indian family lived there, and we decided to
ask the lady for her recipe for whatever she was cooking. Why not,
right? Haha.. So we knocked, and she let us in and gave us this recipe
for a vegetable soup with tamerick powder in it. She doesn't speak
very much English, or Italian, but we communicated enough. Haha... She
is really cute, and now the whole family is our friends.
That afternoon, we had a lesson with a member and one of her friends
who she was hoping would be interested in the gospel. Her daughter and
the members daughter were playing together that afternoon, and she
wanted us to just stop by with a treat. So we took brownies, and tried
to talk about religion with her, but she wasn't interested, so to
change the topic so we didn't end on a bad note, we asked for her
ciambalone recipe, and I'm excited to try that. It is basically just
pound cake, but with a fancy name. I'm collecting recipes all over the
place. :) Yum!
Thursday was an especially beautiful day, and there were so many
people outside. Sorella Hunter and I started a Hello contest. Haha.. I
tried to get more people to say hello back to me than her. It was fun,
and I won. It's amazing what the weather does to people's moods. Also,
whenever we say hello to people, they think we know them.. Then it
always surprises them that we were just being friendly.
Charlotte Bronte died on March 31, and as such our new convert who is
obsessed with the Bronte sisters, asked us to wear all black to mourn
with her. Haha... It was weird wearing all black on such a nice spring
day, but to make Dayana happy, I'll do pretty much anything. I just
love her so much!
And then it was April. I still choose not to believe this.
Paola is a less active that we met for the first time on Saturday. We
rode the train all the way to Anguillara, and we found her house! She
had the cutest villa ever. It actually had a yard! And it was fun to
meet someone new that we can help come back to church. Something that
I've realized over the span of my mission is the importance of reading
the Book of Mormon everyday. Yes, it is important to read any type of
scriptures everyday, but the Book of Mormon is so important. I can't
tell you how many people I've met who read only the bible and who are
less active or who lost a testimony of the church because of that.
Even if it is only a few verses next to the Bible, all of us need to
read the Book of Mormon everyday. :) Just a little challenge for you
all!
Since Paola lives all the way in Anguillara, we were able to talk to a
lot of people on the train on our way out there. We were given so many
opportunities, and we met a lot of really nice people. One lady got on
the train a stop after us, and when she sat down, I felt like I needed
to talk to her. But I was the farthest away, and didn't want to talk
over my companions, so I just smiled really big and straightened my
name tag a bit. Then Sorella Tellez was given the opportunity to say
something to her. When we told her why we were there, and pulled out a
Christ pass along card, tears came to her eyes, and she just kept
thanking us as she got off the train at the next stop. It was such a
cool experience. :)
I knew I would find another food weakness here in Italy. It was
pistacchio granita in Catania, and here in Ladispoli, I found cinnamon
gelato. And it is to die for. Literally. Too bad I don't walk as much
here, because I'll be eating that a lot. SO GOOD!
Also, General Conference was so good! Sunday morning session was
probably my favorite session all together. Every talk was amazing! I
loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk, and I loved Thomas S. Monson's remarks.
How cool is that to have a temple being built in Zimbabwe? And another
one in Lima! I love conference so much, and I am so grateful we get to
listen to our prophet and leaders twice a year. In other news, the
stake president here in the Rome West stake was called as an area
authority. How cool is that? He is from the Ladispoli ward, and has a
really young, cute family. It's kind of like another Elder Keele. ;)
Now we have an Italian general authority and an Italian area
authority. That is how you know the church is growing in Italy. :)
I love you all! I hope you all had a great week! I'm alive, and all is well. :)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
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