Dear loved ones,
This week was crazy! Tuesday we went to Rome for DDM. I got Heidi's
graduation announcement in the mail, and since then I've been looking
into her beautiful blue eyes all the time. :)
Apologies right now if this email isn't very good. My brain is a bit
scattered today, and I didn't bring my notes. So sorry!
We got back from Rome and we had the opportunity to see a less active
that we never actually get to see. She is never home, and we hadn't
even really planned to see her. It just kind of happened. Also, we had
a great lesson with another less active and we were able to meet two
families who are both from Libya and Muslim. One of them has a son who
is 15 and he has been coming to English course. He is just plain
awesome, and his dad was really nice too. Then as we were walking
through a park, we saw this other family. They have two younger aged
boys and don't speak a lot of Italian, but the dad speaks English. We
invited them to come to English course too, and they actually came one
day to find the church later this week. It was such a miracle!
That night, the sister training leaders came into town. We stayed up
that night the latest I've been up on my mission doing a nice little
companionship inventory with them. I'll move on from that topic of
conversation before I say something I don't want to. Needless to say,
I took some things on how I can improve and have been trying to put
them into practice. Two things that Sorella Tingey said have really
stuck out in my mind though. One she said, "Heavenly Father is
probably looking down at you three right now with a smile on his face,
because he is so proud of what you all are doing and he knows that you
are doing your best. You really are his daughters and he loves you."
She also said that, "nobody's best is perfection." I just felt like
those 2 things were so inspired of her, and I am so grateful she said
them. That was just the beginning of all my personal revelation that I
received this week.
Wednesday, Sorella Hunter and I went to Rome, and we were with Sorella
Rushton for the day. That night, I was the only one in the house who
wasn't a greenie. That made me feel old in the mission. We ordered
pizza, and I got one with bell peppers and potatoes. It was quite
interesting. Italians put weird things and weird combinations on
pizza.
The next morning, we went to see Dayana. She's been planning this
little get together forever... And whenever we have it planned, I'm on
a scambio... It almost happened again, but I told her I'd be back for
it. We ate brunch together which was more like cookies and Nutella
with juice. And then we taught her about temples and family history.
And then she brought out all her nail polish. Haha... She had about
100 different types... I'm not even joking. It was a really fun
morning and nice bonding time with Dayana. She is so sweet! And for
anyone who was wondering, this was like our lunch break with a lesson
attached. ;)
Thursday afternoon when we were doing 12 weeks at the church, the
stake choir director came in looking a bit frazzled and asked if we
could help them sing for the stake conference that was coming up on
Sunday. We said sure, and commenced practicing. It was a completely
new song for me, but I guess it is only an Italian, French, and German
hymn. Haha... They had me sing soprano and this song happens to go
really high, so that was fun. We also sang it over and over again, and
every time someone would do something else wrong. But it ended up
going okay on Sunday.
We also had English course that night, and it was nice because we had
new students. I love it when we have more students. Hopefully that
trend keeps going.
Friday, we survived another weekly planning session. Only one more to
go this transfer. During the companion inventory, my companions both
said how they admire how much I want to improve and climb. And they
admire my strength and determination. I guess I should mention that
Friday was a really great day. We also had a good lesson with the
Bendezu family. This time we taught about Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith,
and how the Book of Mormon is how we get a testimony of these things
but mostly of Jesus Christ. It was a really unified lesson which was
really nice. Unity is a hard thing in trios, because I feel like
someone always talks too much, one person says a few things, and then
one person doesn't say much. But it has been improving.
Saturday, all day we did less active research. We ended up walking a
lot, and nobody was home. But as we went, we talked with people. We
called it a successful morning because we were working and opening our
mouths. That night, we practiced with the choir again, and then helped
a ward member do her grocery shopping. Her back was hurting and she
decided to ask us if we could help. It ended up being a really good
way to get to know her better. If we can get to know ward members by
singing in their choir and going grocery shopping with them rather
than eating with them in their homes, by all means, I'll do it.
Sunday, we had the stake conference to have a new stake presidency
called. It didn't change much. Everyone just moved up an extra spot
and they called a new second counselor. We rode there with the newly
called Elder Dini Ciacci of the area seventy and his mother in law.
Wait, did I tell you that every member in Ladispoli is like all
related to like 3 families? Haha.. That makes for a fun family reunion
every Sunday, but really. I'm not kidding. As soon as we got there, we
were put to work folding programs. We folded like 500 of them. As
people came in, they all offered to help, and many hands really do
make light work.
The conference was really great. I learned a lot. These are some
things I took notes on.
We aren't usually prepared or ready for any responsibility given to
us. But we will grow into our calling or responsibility as we serve.
We must have the faith when it is given to say yes.
When we look at other people, we see more strengths than weaknesses.
We must begin to look at ourselves the same way. We are stronger than
we think and better than we are.
Put ourselves in the shoes of others. It helps form better and
stronger relationships.
Coming back from the conference, we took public transportation. The
train ended up stopping at a station halfway home for someone to have
medical attention. Then we waited for the next one. The trains don't
run as often as they usually do on Sunday's, so we got home a bit
later, but we were able to do an hour of finding on Sunday night. We
decided to do animal finding, which is where you talk to people about
their animals and then try to strike up a gospel conversation. At
least everyone in Italy has a chihuahua which are not my favorite
animals, but I can pretend to like them for a few minutes. However, I
actually saw a really cute dog and his owner was sitting on a tree
trunk. Even better. When people are sitting, it makes it more awkward
for them to leave than for us. Anyways, this guy was so cool. His name
is Radu and he is from Romania, and his dog was basically a big sized
Kona. He talked to us for a good 40 minutes, and even though he
wouldn't admit it, I think he has a lot of questions that the gospel
has answers for. We exchanged phone numbers and we are hoping for the
best.
Anyways, this week was just another week in the life of a missionary.
Miracles were seen, challenges were faced, and we are ready for
another new and even better week.
I love you all!
Love,
Sorella Flansberg
Sent from my iPad
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