Buongiorno tutti!
This week, a lot of things happened... So this email might drag on. I
hope I have time to write everything. Transfer calls happened, so if
you want to try to find where I'm going in the midst of all my
stories, go ahead. Or you can just read through all of it in order. I
still have to build the suspense. But yes, I have been transferred.
This week, we had DDM in Ostia. It was fun to visit another city for a
few hours and see another Italian church building. They all just feel
like home as soon as you walk in. We did transfer predictions, and
Sorella Hunter and I both got orange robots so everyone thought we
were staying together. One of the anziani made lasagna for lunch and
it was so good. We also had a great addestramento about love,
perseverance, and enthusiasm and how all three of those words and
characteristics are necessary for missionary work.
When we got back to Ladispoli, we went to the beach to meet with a
potential who ended up not showing. But all was well because we met
Emmanuele. He is the friend of a less active's son and he wanted to
talk to us. At the beginning, I was a little hesitant because he
seemed a little aggressive about it and I didn't want to argue, but as
we continued talking.. He actually had some really good genuine
questions and he wanted to know what we think. There were lots of
theoretical questions that I had never thought of before. Also he was
impressed that I knew what his name meant.. "God with us". Thank you
church Christmas video. ;) haha..
This transfer I've become aware of how much I just trust people and
have faith in what they say if it makes somewhat logical sense to me.
It also makes me a bit gullible, but mostly I just trust people easily
so when the prophet says something. "Okay, the prophet said it. It
must be right." But this week, so many people have been asking
questions that I just never thought to ask or things I just never had
the need to ask. And I didn't always know the answer to their
questions, so it also helped me see how much faith I have just because
the things I do make me feel good inside. I guess I don't see the need
to question it. Maybe faith is one of my gifts of the spirit. We tried
to explain to Serena this week that there isn't a logical explanation
to everything we have questions about. Sometimes, we have to rely on
the feelings we have in our heart and wait patiently until we know
more.
I guess we've become regulars at the pizza place because they know
what we want right when they see us and we walk in. 2 o'sarracino's
please. Haha.. I promise we don't eat pizza that much. Maybe once a
week. ;) We got home from getting pizza and tried to wash our hands
when we realized our apartment didn't have water. Haha.. Nice, huh? So
we just prayed really hard and examined how much water we had left in
our water bottles, and it came back on at 10:00. It happened again the
next night, but I guess it happens to the entire building during the
summer where the water will just turn off for like 2 hours a day.
Wednesday morning was rough. Every night during daily planning,
Sorella Hunter and I make solid plans for the next day. But that
morning, everything fell through and I was just getting sick of it
always happening and then us getting stuck doing street finding ALL
THE TIME. I feel that I've been trying my hardest to be bold, to work
hard, to be obedient, and talking to everyone we can, but sometimes it
is a refining fire, I suppose. I realized I need to be more grateful
for the little miracles everyday. Sometimes the little ones we see are
the ones that are easy to forget. But I know that God makes blessings
rain down on us when we are in his service.
Sorella Hunter was a great example to me this week by talking to some
people who wouldn't have been the first people I would have talked to.
One day, we were sitting next to this hobo while waiting for Slla
Sears to pick us up for an appointment, and I heard a voice in my
head, "Talk to him. He's a child of God too." So we did, and we
probably made his day since other people try to avoid people like
that. He actually plays the guitar pretty well. He was also proud
about how he stopped using the drugs he used to and now only drinks
beer. I think he probably realized that it completely ruined his life,
and stopped. It was just cool to feel the spirit remind me that he is
also a beloved son of God.
1 year down happened Friday. I can't believe it has been a year.
Depending on the day, I feel different about the fact I've been gone
for a year. Some days, I'm like.. "No! I absolutely love my mission,
and I never want to leave." And other days, "yeah, it would be nice to
see my family again.. I kind of miss them." It is a constant
contradiction.
President kind of gave me a hint about transfer calls in his email
this week because he said that I have "blessed" Ladispoli in the past
tense. So then I had anxiety Saturday morning and all of Friday
because I wanted to know where I could be headed. But then I realized
this, "The best case scenario will always happen, because God is in
charge. It just might not seem like the best case scenario to you at
the time, but that is because we can't see the situation in the long
run as clearly or as accurately as God can." Not that I had any city
that I didn't want to go to. I've realized this past week that I've
changed the most here in Ladispoli. Hard things have happened here,
and I've come closer to Christ. But as I keep thinking about things
and the order in which they happen, I've come to realize that life is
just easier when we come to trust God. Because he knows what he is
doing. That was pretty much the theme of my week.
On Saturday morning, we got the call. And I'm going to TARANTO! I'm
going to be with Sorella Hess. She'll be in her 3rd transfer, so I'm
follow up training. And her old companion/trainer, Sorella Adamson,
who is in my MTC group is coming here to Ladispoli! :) We're just
doing a comp swap. Haha.. I'm excited. For all you who don't know...
Taranto is somewhere in the arch/heel of the boot of Italy. Also in
the area of Puglia where they have good food. Guys! I'm going back to
the south! I'm just plain excited, and I do have to admit that I
wasn't expecting it.
Saturday morning, we finally were able to have a lesson with Somma.
She is this Indian lady who comes with the Distante's every week to
church. We were able to have the lesson at their house with Lidia, and
it went really well. It was harder to teach her because she doesn't
speak Italian or English very well, but we used google translate when
necessary and I'm sure the spirit helped her. At the end of the
lesson, she said a beautiful prayer in Punjabi and her eyes just lit
up when we said she could pray in her native language because she
didn't really want to do it in Italian, which is understandable. Her
eyes also lit up whenever we talked about baptism. She is the cutest.
We were also able to see Teresa. We called her Saturday afternoon. She
was one of our potentials, and when we called, she gave us her address
and told us to come. That never happens, but we were like okay. And it
ended up being an interesting experience. She is always so happy when
she sees us, and she told us a little bit about her life and how it
has been hard for her but she prays to God to get through it. I guess
she gave us both Catholic names because she can't remember our real
ones. So I'm Maria and Sorella Hunter is Angela. Also, she fed us a
lot of food including this fruit salad that had pieces of whole lemon
and lime including the rind. Definitely not my favorite, but fun
memories nevertheless. She came to church on Sunday, and really
enjoyed it. And she just feels happy and inner peace whenever she sees
us or when she comes to church, so she feels the spirit! She is still
just confused that our church is not connected with the Catholic
Church in any way sort or form.
Saturday night, we went to see Antonetta. She is one of our
investigators who has not been making progress since I got here, but
all of my companions, especially Sorella Tellez, insisted that we go
see her. We tried to do a how to begin teaching thing with her about
how we are here to help bring others to Christ, but she is a firm
believer that we don't need churches. She claims she "goes to church"
every time she does something good for another person. I love her and
she always makes us good food when we go over, but hopefully someday
the sisters can help her see why it is important to go to church and
to do good things for others. While at her house, I learned how to
twirl spaghetti noodles properly with a spoon for the first time, and
she taught us to always make extra food when you cook for the
unexpected guests. The only problem was that no unexpected guests came
and since Italians don't believe in leftovers, we ate the extra. And I
was already full from Teresa's house.
On Sunday, the bishopric asked me to bear my testimony so I go up and
in the back row I see a member from Catania. Haha... It was a nice
surprise, and when he asked Sorella Hunter how long she has been out
(a question that she usually understands), but she didn't understand
because of the heavy Sicilian accent. But when I heard it, it was like
coming home. Mamma mia, I miss Sicily!
The Ostia Sorella came to sleep over at our house last night because
Sorella Rossi served in Ladispoli a year ago, and is dying, so it was
good to see them. But the house was very full for a little while.
And then we had an appointment with Jon in this park that looks like a
forest inside. He played his guitar for us and is actually really
good. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes. And I think it is time to carry
bug repellent in my purse again everywhere I go.
And then today we played tennis with an English course student, Gianni
and his family. It was so dang fun! They have turf instead of concrete
courts here so that was a fun new experience. Once I got warmed up, I
got in the hang of it and I couldn't even tell that I haven't played
in a year. It was so fun to get out there and hit tennis balls a bit.
I almost felt normal again. Even Sorella Hunter who has never played
before did well and had fun. Thank goodness she's a good sport. Gianni
was impressed by my backhand, and I had some pretty sweet serves. It
really felt like I had never stopped. :)
Well, sorry for a long email. And I didn't even tell you all of my
stories from this week. I have so many that I am now behind in my
journal. Love you all!
I love being a missionary and living in Italy. I'm having the time of
my life. :)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
Monday, May 30, 2016
Pictures!
District picture. Sitting on the number of chairs of transfers we have done.
Twins!
Love you!
Sorella Flansberg
Sent from my iPadTennis! It was so fun!
Monday, May 23, 2016
Week 52: fresh milk, tortillas, more miracles, spiritual experiences, and the vatican
Dear family and friends:
This week started out on a really good note. Fresh milk. We went to
this stand, kind of like a vending machine of sorts that lets you buy
a bottle and then fill it with fresh cold milk. I was in heaven the
whole week whenever I ate breakfast. It tasted like America. Then I
was wondering why I had never seen this thing before, because I would
have bought my milk there every single week I've been here in
Ladispoli. It also came in a cute little glass bottle like the olden
days.
On Tuesday, after DDM, we went to Fratelli la Bufala for pizza at
Porta di Roma. Overlooking the side of the mall, you can see the
temple under construction so we had to take pictures. And it was just
the motivation I needed to remind myself why I'm here and what our
goal is as missionaries. We want to fill the temple! :) The pizza was
pretty good, and the history of the brothers who created the
restaurant have a history in both Italy and Japan, so of course that
made me smile.
Tuesday night at English course, we had a nice surprise waiting for
us. We had a new student, Serena. She said that she was just walking
down the street when she saw the sign for free English course outside
the church. She talked to Sorella Hunter a little bit before class
started and said that she wanted to find her faith. She doesn't
believe in the Catholic Church and has traveled all the way around the
world and has talked to different religious leaders about all of her
questions. And boy, does she have a lot of questions. Our first lesson
was almost 2 hours long, and got off topic really quick. Classic
Italians. When we asked her a few days later what she thinks of the
Book of Mormon, she said, " I'm thinking about it." We haven't had a
chance to figure out what that means yet. But hopefully good news. She
is pretty much fluent in English, and would rather us teach her in
that... But it is so hard for me. Italian is just easier at times,
weird as it is saying that.
We've been finding a lot of people who would rather us teach in
English. Nice for Sorella Hunter, but I'm like, "can I please speak to
you in Italian?" Plus if we speak in Italian, they will understand
more like 90% of the restoration instead of like 50%.
This week we actually had a full planner of lots of appointments which
was nice until they all started to fall through at the end of the
week. Then we just did a lot of finding and added to our growing list
of potentials. We've been struggling this week turning the potentials
we talk to into investigators. Maybe we'll have more luck this next
week.
Wednesday morning, we went to lungomare which is just the street along
the beach. And we put up a ton of English course posters even though
we aren't supposed to call it English course anymore. Now it is
English discussion group and instead of students, they are
participants. It's a hard habit to break. Anyways, I was determined
not to let anyone pass by me without at least a "buongiorno." We got
the usual people who ignore us and keep walking, the people who say a
courteous good morning back, and then we have the old men, and maybe
some younger ones too, who say "ciao belle". Haha.. It was good to
just let our lights shine and smile at people even if they didn't want
to talk to us. Who knows? (Chissà?) We might have even made someone's
day without even knowing it.
This week for language study I've been listening to conference talks
in Italian.. And I've been having fun playing the game, "which member
is it?" Haha.. The church translating center is here in Ladispoli, and
so most of the members work there. I've gotten pretty good at voice
recognition. :)
We were also able to meet with Giovanni this week, once from an
appointment, and a second time as we were finding. We shared the
restoration with him and challenged him to read the Book of Mormon. He
is a person who doesn't really like a lot of rules, and for right now
he sees a lot of rules in our religion, especially as missionaries.
But he'll come around, I'm sure of it. He said during the lesson that,
"it is hard to explain how a person feels about God in words. It is
impossible to describe feelings of the heart or what we feel inside
with accuracy. You have to experience it for yourself." And we were
like, Bingo! That is exactly what we are doing as missionaries. We
aren't here to convince someone that our religion is right and we
aren't here to talk their ears off. We are here to invite them to
experience God and religion the way we experience it, to put the Book
of Mormon to the test and find out for themselves if what we are
saying is true. We also invited him to come to church, but according
to him, "morning doesn't start until 12:00." We texted him before
church anyways the next morning, and he texted back at 10:30, "what a
beautiful Sunday morning. Prince and I just woke up. Time for a double
shot of coffee." We'll work with him a bit more on that one, haha.. :)
We also went to help Sorella Van Zwet with her garden this week. Her
wiener dog, the one who loves us, kept laying on our feet while we
swept up leaves. Makes it a bit hard to work, but it sure was cute.
Then she invited us over for burritos on Sunday night. It was more
like chili with a tortilla, but it tasted good nevertheless. I just
think it is interesting how much more available a person becomes when
you finally meet them. 3 times in 10 days since we met her. Haha.. We
were able to read Alma 32 with her, and it was perfect since she likes
gardening. It was easier for her to relate with. She also got a kick
out of how we call dachshunds, Weiner dogs in America. She was
literally laughing so hard. Haha.. We also asked how to say "how are
you?" in Dutch, and it sounded like gibberish with lots of guttural
noises. Haha..
I also mentioned last week how we met this lady and her daughter in
law and grandson last week. Well, we keep seeing Teresa all over the
place. She said she was going to come to church on Sunday, and one day
when we saw her, we walked with her to the church so she would know
where it was. We decided to show her around inside and give her a
little tour. And we were so glad she did. I was a bit worried that she
wouldn't like it since it is completely different and not gaudy like a
Catholic Church, but she LOVED it. As we walked outside, she kept
saying how she felt heat inside her and how she could feel the
presence of Jesus, and how it felt like coming home. She also
mentioned how she hates how focused the Catholic Church is on
commercialism. The spirit inside the sacrament room was so sweet and
so real. It was amazing.
It has been pretty hot the past few days. We can actually feel the
humidity now, and I just have this silent prayer in my heart that I'll
be able to survive another summer here. I'm hoping my next area has
air conditioning. That would be a dream. Speaking of which, transfer
calls are this Saturday. If it seemed short to you, it was. Only 5
weeks this time around. I'm sure y'all will guess where you think I'm
going in the next weeks emails. I think I'm going to Cosenza. :)
We also had the opportunity to meet this very very practicing Catholic
man one night this week. We were counting our blessings that it was
almost 9:00, because this guy was so intent on convincing us that we
weren't going to be saved and that our religion is man made. It was so
hard not to argue with him. But we bore our testimonies, and I asked a
few questions. But to no avail. A lot of the things he said didn't
make any sense, and then another thing he said just made me laugh.
Mostly the way he said it, because it should be a sacred thing, but he
said, "mangiamo Gesù ogni giorno." (We eat Jesus every day.) haha..
Then Sorella Van Zwet said that we were going to make tortillas from
scratch and I guess she thinks all Americans know how to do that. So I
practiced on Sunday before we went, and it actually turned out really
yummy. I had to use vanilla flavored baking powder, so I put Nutella
on it. Yum! :) Now I know how for when I'm a poor college student.
Today, we went to the Vatican! We climbed all 551 steps up to the
cupola of the basilica. My calves are only somewhat killing me now.
But I didn't have to stop and take a break. It was beautiful, Italy is
beautiful, and I'm the luckiest person ever!
Well, I love you all! We're looking forward to seeing more miracles
this week. :) I know my savior lives and that he loves me and cares
about me. He loves all of us so much, and he wants us all to find the
truth. I'm so grateful I get to be one of the instruments he uses to
help his children find it.
Love,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
This week started out on a really good note. Fresh milk. We went to
this stand, kind of like a vending machine of sorts that lets you buy
a bottle and then fill it with fresh cold milk. I was in heaven the
whole week whenever I ate breakfast. It tasted like America. Then I
was wondering why I had never seen this thing before, because I would
have bought my milk there every single week I've been here in
Ladispoli. It also came in a cute little glass bottle like the olden
days.
On Tuesday, after DDM, we went to Fratelli la Bufala for pizza at
Porta di Roma. Overlooking the side of the mall, you can see the
temple under construction so we had to take pictures. And it was just
the motivation I needed to remind myself why I'm here and what our
goal is as missionaries. We want to fill the temple! :) The pizza was
pretty good, and the history of the brothers who created the
restaurant have a history in both Italy and Japan, so of course that
made me smile.
Tuesday night at English course, we had a nice surprise waiting for
us. We had a new student, Serena. She said that she was just walking
down the street when she saw the sign for free English course outside
the church. She talked to Sorella Hunter a little bit before class
started and said that she wanted to find her faith. She doesn't
believe in the Catholic Church and has traveled all the way around the
world and has talked to different religious leaders about all of her
questions. And boy, does she have a lot of questions. Our first lesson
was almost 2 hours long, and got off topic really quick. Classic
Italians. When we asked her a few days later what she thinks of the
Book of Mormon, she said, " I'm thinking about it." We haven't had a
chance to figure out what that means yet. But hopefully good news. She
is pretty much fluent in English, and would rather us teach her in
that... But it is so hard for me. Italian is just easier at times,
weird as it is saying that.
We've been finding a lot of people who would rather us teach in
English. Nice for Sorella Hunter, but I'm like, "can I please speak to
you in Italian?" Plus if we speak in Italian, they will understand
more like 90% of the restoration instead of like 50%.
This week we actually had a full planner of lots of appointments which
was nice until they all started to fall through at the end of the
week. Then we just did a lot of finding and added to our growing list
of potentials. We've been struggling this week turning the potentials
we talk to into investigators. Maybe we'll have more luck this next
week.
Wednesday morning, we went to lungomare which is just the street along
the beach. And we put up a ton of English course posters even though
we aren't supposed to call it English course anymore. Now it is
English discussion group and instead of students, they are
participants. It's a hard habit to break. Anyways, I was determined
not to let anyone pass by me without at least a "buongiorno." We got
the usual people who ignore us and keep walking, the people who say a
courteous good morning back, and then we have the old men, and maybe
some younger ones too, who say "ciao belle". Haha.. It was good to
just let our lights shine and smile at people even if they didn't want
to talk to us. Who knows? (Chissà?) We might have even made someone's
day without even knowing it.
This week for language study I've been listening to conference talks
in Italian.. And I've been having fun playing the game, "which member
is it?" Haha.. The church translating center is here in Ladispoli, and
so most of the members work there. I've gotten pretty good at voice
recognition. :)
We were also able to meet with Giovanni this week, once from an
appointment, and a second time as we were finding. We shared the
restoration with him and challenged him to read the Book of Mormon. He
is a person who doesn't really like a lot of rules, and for right now
he sees a lot of rules in our religion, especially as missionaries.
But he'll come around, I'm sure of it. He said during the lesson that,
"it is hard to explain how a person feels about God in words. It is
impossible to describe feelings of the heart or what we feel inside
with accuracy. You have to experience it for yourself." And we were
like, Bingo! That is exactly what we are doing as missionaries. We
aren't here to convince someone that our religion is right and we
aren't here to talk their ears off. We are here to invite them to
experience God and religion the way we experience it, to put the Book
of Mormon to the test and find out for themselves if what we are
saying is true. We also invited him to come to church, but according
to him, "morning doesn't start until 12:00." We texted him before
church anyways the next morning, and he texted back at 10:30, "what a
beautiful Sunday morning. Prince and I just woke up. Time for a double
shot of coffee." We'll work with him a bit more on that one, haha.. :)
We also went to help Sorella Van Zwet with her garden this week. Her
wiener dog, the one who loves us, kept laying on our feet while we
swept up leaves. Makes it a bit hard to work, but it sure was cute.
Then she invited us over for burritos on Sunday night. It was more
like chili with a tortilla, but it tasted good nevertheless. I just
think it is interesting how much more available a person becomes when
you finally meet them. 3 times in 10 days since we met her. Haha.. We
were able to read Alma 32 with her, and it was perfect since she likes
gardening. It was easier for her to relate with. She also got a kick
out of how we call dachshunds, Weiner dogs in America. She was
literally laughing so hard. Haha.. We also asked how to say "how are
you?" in Dutch, and it sounded like gibberish with lots of guttural
noises. Haha..
I also mentioned last week how we met this lady and her daughter in
law and grandson last week. Well, we keep seeing Teresa all over the
place. She said she was going to come to church on Sunday, and one day
when we saw her, we walked with her to the church so she would know
where it was. We decided to show her around inside and give her a
little tour. And we were so glad she did. I was a bit worried that she
wouldn't like it since it is completely different and not gaudy like a
Catholic Church, but she LOVED it. As we walked outside, she kept
saying how she felt heat inside her and how she could feel the
presence of Jesus, and how it felt like coming home. She also
mentioned how she hates how focused the Catholic Church is on
commercialism. The spirit inside the sacrament room was so sweet and
so real. It was amazing.
It has been pretty hot the past few days. We can actually feel the
humidity now, and I just have this silent prayer in my heart that I'll
be able to survive another summer here. I'm hoping my next area has
air conditioning. That would be a dream. Speaking of which, transfer
calls are this Saturday. If it seemed short to you, it was. Only 5
weeks this time around. I'm sure y'all will guess where you think I'm
going in the next weeks emails. I think I'm going to Cosenza. :)
We also had the opportunity to meet this very very practicing Catholic
man one night this week. We were counting our blessings that it was
almost 9:00, because this guy was so intent on convincing us that we
weren't going to be saved and that our religion is man made. It was so
hard not to argue with him. But we bore our testimonies, and I asked a
few questions. But to no avail. A lot of the things he said didn't
make any sense, and then another thing he said just made me laugh.
Mostly the way he said it, because it should be a sacred thing, but he
said, "mangiamo Gesù ogni giorno." (We eat Jesus every day.) haha..
Then Sorella Van Zwet said that we were going to make tortillas from
scratch and I guess she thinks all Americans know how to do that. So I
practiced on Sunday before we went, and it actually turned out really
yummy. I had to use vanilla flavored baking powder, so I put Nutella
on it. Yum! :) Now I know how for when I'm a poor college student.
Today, we went to the Vatican! We climbed all 551 steps up to the
cupola of the basilica. My calves are only somewhat killing me now.
But I didn't have to stop and take a break. It was beautiful, Italy is
beautiful, and I'm the luckiest person ever!
Well, I love you all! We're looking forward to seeing more miracles
this week. :) I know my savior lives and that he loves me and cares
about me. He loves all of us so much, and he wants us all to find the
truth. I'm so grateful I get to be one of the instruments he uses to
help his children find it.
Love,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
Pictures!
Fresh milk!
Rome Italy temple in the back ground
Sent from my iPad
Monday, May 16, 2016
Week 51: Successful missionaries, finding, more finding, cruisers, restoration teaching, and miracles
Dear family and friends:
This week, I was reading about Ammon and his brethren teaching among
the Lamanites. And while I was reading, I wondered if Aaron and his
brethren ever felt like not successful missionaries compared to Ammon.
Ammon seemed to have much success with King Lamoni but Aaron and his
brethren were thrown in prison. Something that has been on my mind
lately is how to know if I'm a successful missionary. There is a great
paragraph in Preach My Gospel about it, but it is still difficult at
times to believe when I see other missionaries around me having what
the world calls success. But I really liked a lesson in the manual
from Howard W. Hunter called true greatness. It had some good
thoughts, like this:
"there is within each of us a giant struggling with celestial homesickness."
"we often allow unfair and improper comparisons to destroy our
happiness when they cause us to feel unfulfilled or inadequate or
unsuccessful. Sometimes, because of these feelings, we are led into
error and dwell on our failures while ignoring aspects of our lives
that may contain elements of true greatness"
"True greatness is never a result of a chance occurrence or a one-time
effort or achievement. Greatness requires the development of
character."
And... "We are each different and unique; we have each had different
starting points in the race of life; we each have a unique mixture of
talents and skills; we each have our own set of challenges and
constraints with which to contend. Therefore, our judgment of
ourselves and our achievements should not merely include the size or
magnitude and number of our accomplishments; it should also include
the conditions that have existed and the effect that our efforts have
had on others. We have an unlimited number of opportunities to do the
many simple and minor things that will ultimately make us great."
The number of baptisms someone has on the mission does not make the
missionary, and this past week, I've felt the spirit work through me,
so I know that the Lord is pleased.
We went to see Elena this week. We had a lesson planned that just a
few hours before wasn't sitting right with me. We wanted to review the
restoration with her, but I didn't want to teach the whole thing from
scratch because she's a less active. But we still needed to cover why
the restoration needed to happen. :) It ended up being a really great
lesson, and the spirit was strong, and it still amazes me how much one
can learn about the restoration and never have it be enough. Or
anything in the gospel really.
Then we had a lesson with Nicole. She is one of our investigators that
I don't think I've told you about yet. Probably because this is only
the 2nd time I've seen her. She is 15, and met the sisters through
English course. And she took all the lessons and wants to be baptized,
but the only problem is that her mom is not on the same page. So we're
going to see what we can do about that in the coming weeks. She is
really cute and has a sweet spirit about her. We were thinking about
setting a baptism date with her for the year 2019. Haha... I think it
would work. ;)
One night this week, we went train finding. This is when we get on a
train, sit down next to someone, tell them we're getting off at the
next stop, and teach them about the restoration. We got a few people
who were interested in English course, and actually had to get off at
one of the stops since the woman was sitting next to the window.
Haha.. It was fun, and better than doing finding out in the rain.
While walking home, Sorella Hunter and I decided crepes sounded good
again.. So we stopped in to get some after counting out the exact
number of coin we needed. When I paid, I handed the man the coins, he
looked at them, and said thank you with a weird look on his face. It
was funny, and afterwards we realized how desperate we were. Haha..
One day, we met this Canadian couple on the train. They were on a 52
day cruise that starts in England and ends in China. They did a 58 day
cruise one last year and at the end of this cruise, they will have
sailed for more than 700+ days. I can't even imagine being on the same
boat for 2 months. Or how much food I would eat. They also enlightened
us on the fact that diamond rings in Caribbean namely on St. Thomas
island are way cheaper than the US. They said that you can buy a
cruise there and the ring for the price of a ring in the US. They
would know, because her diamond on her ring was the size of a marble.
Literally. It was quite the rock.
I made cake for English course, and had leftovers so I gave some to
the bishopric as they were meeting. The bishop is always around when I
happen to make cake, so he just lucks out. I've been experimenting
with baking and cooking lately.
After English course, we went to get pizza. I tried to film them
making it, but they made it too fast. I guess it just gives us an
excuse to go back and get more. He owner, Angelo, (I wrote about him
last week) saw us holding Books of Mormon and we ended up giving him
one that night. The next night, the sisters (there was a scambio) went
to get pizza again, and they said that it looked like they read some
of it. Score!
Friday morning, we rode the train to Rome to begin our scambio. I went
to Rome 2 with Sorella Tingey. But the real story is what happened on
the train. We ran to catch it, and it was pretty full, but there was a
seat upstairs next to this guy. His name was Giovanni again... And he
is Italian, but works in Germany. He was visiting his family. We
started a conversation, the woman across the aisle joined in, and we
were given the opportunity to introduce the restoration and leave them
both with restoration pamphlets. Giovanni also liked us because we're
cute American girls, and gave us fresh lemons. He also lightly put his
hand on my waist when he stood up and "lost his balance". Sorella
Hunter and I have started to think that Sorella Tellez was our
protection from men. They never talked to us or made comments when she
was around.
We had a great scambio and we headed back the next morning. It was
raining, so that was a nice surprise. During the scambio, we taught
Natalia (Rome 2's new convert) and she is so fun to be around because
she has such a light. I find it so much easier to do finding in Rome
since they use public transportation more, but I know that Heavenly
Father is strengthening my weakness of talking to people by making it
harder for me. I've really had to hand my will over to him this past
week, and as a result, we saw miracles. :)
At the train station waiting for the other sisters, Sorella Tingey
bought a candy bar. It was 1€ but she only had a 20€. Little stores
here don't have change... Hardly ever, so the lady was like.. Sorry.
It doesn't work. (Non va.) So Sorella Tingey bartered with her for 97
cents. Haha... :)
We finally got to see this less active we've been trying to see for
the last 4 months on Saturday. Sorella van zwet finally let us come
see her. We had an appointment a few months ago, but it ended up that
we couldn't go and couldn't call her because we lost our phone. But
she forgave us and we made an appointment. But then I was freaking out
because we were going to be late because the trains don't run as much
on Saturdays. We accidentally forgot about that when we planned the
scambio. But I called her, and she just said we could come later.
Tender mercy... I thought we ruined our chance of ever seeing her for
good. It went well and her little dachshund fell in love with me. When
the animal likes you, the people automatically warm up to you more. :)
Because the train was late going home, we met this cute couple from
Texas. We didn't get the opportunity to talk much about the gospel.
But he mentioned how his doctor is Mormon back home. We also helped
them figure out train times in English. I think they were grateful for
us, and that we spoke English. Then when they go home, they'll
remember and get baptized. :)
We also met this super cute woman from Florida, originally from Cuba.
We talked to her for the entire train ride home. Just from listening,
she said several things that made us realize she doesn't agree with
the Catholic Church all the way. So before we got off, I told her that
"I think you should look up the missionaries when you get home to
Flordia, because I think you will really like what message they have
to share. Here's a card with our site on it." She was so excited that
it had a qr code and said she would look it up right then. Her name
was Marta, and she was another miracle.
Another night this week, we met Gigi. He is from Romania, and we found
him in a park on a bench watching his son play. We were sitting on
another bench because we were talking to a woman who left us a few
minutes before. And we awkwardly said hello over the seesaw that was
in between us. As we started talking, he kind of went on a tangent
about how people are evil and we are just waiting to be destroyed and
how after Christ, nothing happened again.. And how we are pretty much
just the scum of the earth. To his amazement, we were able to tell him
that actually something did happen after the death of Christ.
Afterwards, he said, "well, I hope what you said is true." And we were
like, "well, you can actually know for yourself if you read this
book." He said he would, and his son seemed pretty interested as well.
Sorella Hunter and I always seem to talk to people from different
countries. There isn't a problem with that, but usually every week, we
have to leave DDM with a few different copies of Books of Mormon in
different languages for all the different people we meet. We've talked
to people from Georgia, India, Romania, Ukraine, Albania, America, and
Cuba. Everyone at some point or another will have the opportunity to
hear the gospel. :)
On Sunday, we figured out we can use google translate to help Somma
understand the lessons better. It translates it into Punjabi and after
seeing all different crazy types of languages, I'm just counting my
blessings I got to learn a language with a normal alphabet.
Last night, we also met some cute women and their son/grandson. They
are practicing Catholics, but the grandmother said she would be
interested in coming to church one time to see what it is all about.
As we have done lots and lots of finding this week, Heavenly Father
has blessed us with at least one person every time who wants to listen
to us. He knows we are working hard and trying our best. And we are
continually seeing miracles from it.
Being a missionary is the best, hardest, most worthwhile thing I've
ever done. I love serving my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. :)
Love,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
This week, I was reading about Ammon and his brethren teaching among
the Lamanites. And while I was reading, I wondered if Aaron and his
brethren ever felt like not successful missionaries compared to Ammon.
Ammon seemed to have much success with King Lamoni but Aaron and his
brethren were thrown in prison. Something that has been on my mind
lately is how to know if I'm a successful missionary. There is a great
paragraph in Preach My Gospel about it, but it is still difficult at
times to believe when I see other missionaries around me having what
the world calls success. But I really liked a lesson in the manual
from Howard W. Hunter called true greatness. It had some good
thoughts, like this:
"there is within each of us a giant struggling with celestial homesickness."
"we often allow unfair and improper comparisons to destroy our
happiness when they cause us to feel unfulfilled or inadequate or
unsuccessful. Sometimes, because of these feelings, we are led into
error and dwell on our failures while ignoring aspects of our lives
that may contain elements of true greatness"
"True greatness is never a result of a chance occurrence or a one-time
effort or achievement. Greatness requires the development of
character."
And... "We are each different and unique; we have each had different
starting points in the race of life; we each have a unique mixture of
talents and skills; we each have our own set of challenges and
constraints with which to contend. Therefore, our judgment of
ourselves and our achievements should not merely include the size or
magnitude and number of our accomplishments; it should also include
the conditions that have existed and the effect that our efforts have
had on others. We have an unlimited number of opportunities to do the
many simple and minor things that will ultimately make us great."
The number of baptisms someone has on the mission does not make the
missionary, and this past week, I've felt the spirit work through me,
so I know that the Lord is pleased.
We went to see Elena this week. We had a lesson planned that just a
few hours before wasn't sitting right with me. We wanted to review the
restoration with her, but I didn't want to teach the whole thing from
scratch because she's a less active. But we still needed to cover why
the restoration needed to happen. :) It ended up being a really great
lesson, and the spirit was strong, and it still amazes me how much one
can learn about the restoration and never have it be enough. Or
anything in the gospel really.
Then we had a lesson with Nicole. She is one of our investigators that
I don't think I've told you about yet. Probably because this is only
the 2nd time I've seen her. She is 15, and met the sisters through
English course. And she took all the lessons and wants to be baptized,
but the only problem is that her mom is not on the same page. So we're
going to see what we can do about that in the coming weeks. She is
really cute and has a sweet spirit about her. We were thinking about
setting a baptism date with her for the year 2019. Haha... I think it
would work. ;)
One night this week, we went train finding. This is when we get on a
train, sit down next to someone, tell them we're getting off at the
next stop, and teach them about the restoration. We got a few people
who were interested in English course, and actually had to get off at
one of the stops since the woman was sitting next to the window.
Haha.. It was fun, and better than doing finding out in the rain.
While walking home, Sorella Hunter and I decided crepes sounded good
again.. So we stopped in to get some after counting out the exact
number of coin we needed. When I paid, I handed the man the coins, he
looked at them, and said thank you with a weird look on his face. It
was funny, and afterwards we realized how desperate we were. Haha..
One day, we met this Canadian couple on the train. They were on a 52
day cruise that starts in England and ends in China. They did a 58 day
cruise one last year and at the end of this cruise, they will have
sailed for more than 700+ days. I can't even imagine being on the same
boat for 2 months. Or how much food I would eat. They also enlightened
us on the fact that diamond rings in Caribbean namely on St. Thomas
island are way cheaper than the US. They said that you can buy a
cruise there and the ring for the price of a ring in the US. They
would know, because her diamond on her ring was the size of a marble.
Literally. It was quite the rock.
I made cake for English course, and had leftovers so I gave some to
the bishopric as they were meeting. The bishop is always around when I
happen to make cake, so he just lucks out. I've been experimenting
with baking and cooking lately.
After English course, we went to get pizza. I tried to film them
making it, but they made it too fast. I guess it just gives us an
excuse to go back and get more. He owner, Angelo, (I wrote about him
last week) saw us holding Books of Mormon and we ended up giving him
one that night. The next night, the sisters (there was a scambio) went
to get pizza again, and they said that it looked like they read some
of it. Score!
Friday morning, we rode the train to Rome to begin our scambio. I went
to Rome 2 with Sorella Tingey. But the real story is what happened on
the train. We ran to catch it, and it was pretty full, but there was a
seat upstairs next to this guy. His name was Giovanni again... And he
is Italian, but works in Germany. He was visiting his family. We
started a conversation, the woman across the aisle joined in, and we
were given the opportunity to introduce the restoration and leave them
both with restoration pamphlets. Giovanni also liked us because we're
cute American girls, and gave us fresh lemons. He also lightly put his
hand on my waist when he stood up and "lost his balance". Sorella
Hunter and I have started to think that Sorella Tellez was our
protection from men. They never talked to us or made comments when she
was around.
We had a great scambio and we headed back the next morning. It was
raining, so that was a nice surprise. During the scambio, we taught
Natalia (Rome 2's new convert) and she is so fun to be around because
she has such a light. I find it so much easier to do finding in Rome
since they use public transportation more, but I know that Heavenly
Father is strengthening my weakness of talking to people by making it
harder for me. I've really had to hand my will over to him this past
week, and as a result, we saw miracles. :)
At the train station waiting for the other sisters, Sorella Tingey
bought a candy bar. It was 1€ but she only had a 20€. Little stores
here don't have change... Hardly ever, so the lady was like.. Sorry.
It doesn't work. (Non va.) So Sorella Tingey bartered with her for 97
cents. Haha... :)
We finally got to see this less active we've been trying to see for
the last 4 months on Saturday. Sorella van zwet finally let us come
see her. We had an appointment a few months ago, but it ended up that
we couldn't go and couldn't call her because we lost our phone. But
she forgave us and we made an appointment. But then I was freaking out
because we were going to be late because the trains don't run as much
on Saturdays. We accidentally forgot about that when we planned the
scambio. But I called her, and she just said we could come later.
Tender mercy... I thought we ruined our chance of ever seeing her for
good. It went well and her little dachshund fell in love with me. When
the animal likes you, the people automatically warm up to you more. :)
Because the train was late going home, we met this cute couple from
Texas. We didn't get the opportunity to talk much about the gospel.
But he mentioned how his doctor is Mormon back home. We also helped
them figure out train times in English. I think they were grateful for
us, and that we spoke English. Then when they go home, they'll
remember and get baptized. :)
We also met this super cute woman from Florida, originally from Cuba.
We talked to her for the entire train ride home. Just from listening,
she said several things that made us realize she doesn't agree with
the Catholic Church all the way. So before we got off, I told her that
"I think you should look up the missionaries when you get home to
Flordia, because I think you will really like what message they have
to share. Here's a card with our site on it." She was so excited that
it had a qr code and said she would look it up right then. Her name
was Marta, and she was another miracle.
Another night this week, we met Gigi. He is from Romania, and we found
him in a park on a bench watching his son play. We were sitting on
another bench because we were talking to a woman who left us a few
minutes before. And we awkwardly said hello over the seesaw that was
in between us. As we started talking, he kind of went on a tangent
about how people are evil and we are just waiting to be destroyed and
how after Christ, nothing happened again.. And how we are pretty much
just the scum of the earth. To his amazement, we were able to tell him
that actually something did happen after the death of Christ.
Afterwards, he said, "well, I hope what you said is true." And we were
like, "well, you can actually know for yourself if you read this
book." He said he would, and his son seemed pretty interested as well.
Sorella Hunter and I always seem to talk to people from different
countries. There isn't a problem with that, but usually every week, we
have to leave DDM with a few different copies of Books of Mormon in
different languages for all the different people we meet. We've talked
to people from Georgia, India, Romania, Ukraine, Albania, America, and
Cuba. Everyone at some point or another will have the opportunity to
hear the gospel. :)
On Sunday, we figured out we can use google translate to help Somma
understand the lessons better. It translates it into Punjabi and after
seeing all different crazy types of languages, I'm just counting my
blessings I got to learn a language with a normal alphabet.
Last night, we also met some cute women and their son/grandson. They
are practicing Catholics, but the grandmother said she would be
interested in coming to church one time to see what it is all about.
As we have done lots and lots of finding this week, Heavenly Father
has blessed us with at least one person every time who wants to listen
to us. He knows we are working hard and trying our best. And we are
continually seeing miracles from it.
Being a missionary is the best, hardest, most worthwhile thing I've
ever done. I love serving my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. :)
Love,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
Pictures!
Ladispoli!
A beautiful view.
Love you!
Missione Italiana di RomaJust a castle!
Monday, May 9, 2016
Week 50: pizza, scambios, zone conference, not so secret admirers, weddings, and Mother's Day
Hello my dear family and friends:
I told my family yesterday that it would be a shorter email today, but
it turns out... I still have a lot of fun stories to tell y'all. (The
y'all is for my sweet Georgia peach of a companion).
This week, we were blessed to have zone conference! Blessed because I
turn into a different, better kind of missionary after each one. This
conference was based on the restoration. We practiced teaching the
restoration in 2-5 minutes so many times. President wants us to be
bold and get the message out there instead of just saying, "we're the
missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and
we have a message that we want to share with you." The other thing
that hit me the most was the training by the assistants. They talked
about the difference between numbers and key indicators. We talked
about how the connotation of numbers is "it's all about me as a
missionary and how good I am" and with key indicators, it is more
about the people and bringing them unto Christ. So in reality, numbers
don't matter, but key indicators do. We should plan our days according
to our goals for key indicators, and that way we are working to meet
goals instead of filling time. It was a really powerful zone
conference, and President challenged all of us at the end to give
someone the restoration pamphlet on our way home... And we did.
On the way home, we met Elena. She is from Romania, and is orthodox.
She kept saying that she has a religion, but she doesn't practice it.
It is a family thing, but she isn't likely to change. We were able to
testify how our religions should bring peace, joy, and happiness into
our lives. And I was able to be bold, and ask what she would do if she
found a church that had more truth and made her happy. It made her
think, and I'm so grateful for inspired questions by the spirit. I've
discovered that by asking inspired questions, and then bearing
powerful testimony, I do the most effective missionary work. I guess
Preach my Gospel is right. ;)
On Wednesday, one of our less actives was getting married, and we were
invited to the ceremony. So, we left the house and got to the bus
station and the bus (that never passes) came after 2 minutes. We knew
God loved us that day. Haha.. And then we got off the bus and walked a
good 45 minutes to the location. I'm just getting more and more tan,
and it's only May. I also have a nice sandal tan from the sun that
created nice diamond shapes on the top of my feet. Anyways, the
wedding was beautiful, Beatrice was happy, and she stuck to church
standards (modest bridesmaid dresses, and no alcohol). The ceremony
was like 10 minutes long, and not romantic at all... But they are
married! Yay! Now we get them to the temple. :)
Comparing myself/my mission
Cinco de mayo or cinque di maggio here in Italy, haha.. We ate tacos
for lunch. With orange juice. Can't forget the orange juice.
I found a secret admirer. Maybe not so secret.
We went to ward council on Thursday, and the bishop was happy with us
because we followed up on the two assignments he gave us for people to
try to visit. Then when I said that we don't have any progressing
investigators, a sister in the ward just confirmed to us that we were
doing a good job, and working hard, and it is typical for Ladispoli.
But, that won't stop us from working hard and helping make the work
explode since #mayisthemonth.
Both Sorella Hunter and I were sick this week, so we watched a lot of
movies and didn't get as much work done. But we worked when we could,
and rested when we needed to. And now we are both feeling better
thanks to vitamin C and zinc. ;)
On Friday, I went on a scambio with Sorella Leathern. She is in her
second transfer in Rome 2. And it was really fun. We ate gelato, and
pizza, and we had a wonderful lesson with Enriqueta. It has been fun
to watch Enriqueta open up to us over time. The first time I went, she
was a little cold. But little by little, she's starting to like us.
When we went to get pizza, the man who owns this pizza place was
begging us to eat our pizza there so he could talk to us. Since we had
time, we did. The missionaries have been trying to teach his family
for probably years. But it was fun. We got to know them a little bit
more, and his granddaughter just kept talking to us. She kept asking
if we knew her name.. And I did. So I said, your name is Claudia. But
she didn't understand me because of my American accent. Haha.. Her
parents and grandparents got a kick out of that. I've also eaten many
other kinds of pizza from other places, but they just aren't as good
as O'Sarracino's. I'm gonna be a pizza snob for the rest of my life.
On Saturday, we went to a Chinese buffet with Dayana, the anziani, and
a member. The Chinese food here is different, good but different. And
it was the first time I heard Dayana say that she wasn't hungry.
Haha.. The conversation kept switching back and forth from English to
Italian and back. And I could keep up with it all. It is just nice
being able to understand two languages. I'm not going to lie. :)
Since I'm almost at my year mark, I feel like sisters consider me the
wise old owl who is experienced at missionary work and who knows
exactly what she's doing. But the opposite couldn't be more true. I'm
just grateful for times like these where I can rely on the spirit to
help me give advice. And saying it to them usually helps me too. One
of these things helped me figure something out that I need to work on.
Haha... So as a surprise to none of you, I'm a perfectionist. And I
discovered that I'm afraid of endings because I'm worried that I won't
be where I'm supposed to be at the end. But I'm slowly learning that I
don't need to be perfect by the end of something, I just need to be
moving in the right direction. Like Boyd K. Packer said in one of his
talks... "If you have a letter that you need to mail, and you walk
half the distance to the mailbox every time, theoretically, you will
never reach the mail box. But you will be close enough to mail the
letter." Thank heavens there is grace to make up for the rest.
We had 3 less actives in church yesterday, and even if it doesn't go
towards a key indicator, it was a nice sign to me that the work is
moving forward.
Because yesterday was my half birthday, we celebrated with crepes on
Saturday night. We'll take any excuse to go get sweets, and I would
rather not tell you how many times we ate gelato last week.
And last but not least, we had Mother's Day Skyping. It was heavenly
to talk to my family, and a bit thrilling to think the next time will
be in person. I will admit that I prefer Christmas Day skyping,
because we had at least a few hours to enjoy ourselves after and then
get back to work. Yesterday, it was like.. Okay, you Skyped your
family, now let's go finding. Haha.. We did language study afterwards,
and all the way through I was thinking about how much I didn't want to
go finding. The quote ran through my mind, "when you don't feel like
praying, that is when you need to pray the most." And I decided that
Satan was working on me hard last night so we wouldn't find the person
who was out there waiting for us. So I changed the quote to "when you
don't feel like finding, that is when you need to do it the most." And
it was true, because we found Giovanni last night.
Giovanni was out sitting with his dog near the beach when we stopped
to talk to him, and he was our miracle for the evening. He is a
musician who speaks English really well. He told us that he grew up in
a Christian background, but he decided to stop going a few years back,
because he felt it was missing something. He turned his life to music,
loves Prince, and feels he receives inspiration through his music. We
got his phone number, and asked directly if he would read the
restoration pamphlet, and he said he would that night. He was really
really cool, and we know that he will find what his life is missing.
Our message as missionaries really is different from the rest of the
world, and we offer more. I know that I'm changing lives by being an
instrument in my Heavenly Father's hands.
Well, I hope all the mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day.
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
I told my family yesterday that it would be a shorter email today, but
it turns out... I still have a lot of fun stories to tell y'all. (The
y'all is for my sweet Georgia peach of a companion).
This week, we were blessed to have zone conference! Blessed because I
turn into a different, better kind of missionary after each one. This
conference was based on the restoration. We practiced teaching the
restoration in 2-5 minutes so many times. President wants us to be
bold and get the message out there instead of just saying, "we're the
missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and
we have a message that we want to share with you." The other thing
that hit me the most was the training by the assistants. They talked
about the difference between numbers and key indicators. We talked
about how the connotation of numbers is "it's all about me as a
missionary and how good I am" and with key indicators, it is more
about the people and bringing them unto Christ. So in reality, numbers
don't matter, but key indicators do. We should plan our days according
to our goals for key indicators, and that way we are working to meet
goals instead of filling time. It was a really powerful zone
conference, and President challenged all of us at the end to give
someone the restoration pamphlet on our way home... And we did.
On the way home, we met Elena. She is from Romania, and is orthodox.
She kept saying that she has a religion, but she doesn't practice it.
It is a family thing, but she isn't likely to change. We were able to
testify how our religions should bring peace, joy, and happiness into
our lives. And I was able to be bold, and ask what she would do if she
found a church that had more truth and made her happy. It made her
think, and I'm so grateful for inspired questions by the spirit. I've
discovered that by asking inspired questions, and then bearing
powerful testimony, I do the most effective missionary work. I guess
Preach my Gospel is right. ;)
On Wednesday, one of our less actives was getting married, and we were
invited to the ceremony. So, we left the house and got to the bus
station and the bus (that never passes) came after 2 minutes. We knew
God loved us that day. Haha.. And then we got off the bus and walked a
good 45 minutes to the location. I'm just getting more and more tan,
and it's only May. I also have a nice sandal tan from the sun that
created nice diamond shapes on the top of my feet. Anyways, the
wedding was beautiful, Beatrice was happy, and she stuck to church
standards (modest bridesmaid dresses, and no alcohol). The ceremony
was like 10 minutes long, and not romantic at all... But they are
married! Yay! Now we get them to the temple. :)
Comparing myself/my mission
Cinco de mayo or cinque di maggio here in Italy, haha.. We ate tacos
for lunch. With orange juice. Can't forget the orange juice.
I found a secret admirer. Maybe not so secret.
We went to ward council on Thursday, and the bishop was happy with us
because we followed up on the two assignments he gave us for people to
try to visit. Then when I said that we don't have any progressing
investigators, a sister in the ward just confirmed to us that we were
doing a good job, and working hard, and it is typical for Ladispoli.
But, that won't stop us from working hard and helping make the work
explode since #mayisthemonth.
Both Sorella Hunter and I were sick this week, so we watched a lot of
movies and didn't get as much work done. But we worked when we could,
and rested when we needed to. And now we are both feeling better
thanks to vitamin C and zinc. ;)
On Friday, I went on a scambio with Sorella Leathern. She is in her
second transfer in Rome 2. And it was really fun. We ate gelato, and
pizza, and we had a wonderful lesson with Enriqueta. It has been fun
to watch Enriqueta open up to us over time. The first time I went, she
was a little cold. But little by little, she's starting to like us.
When we went to get pizza, the man who owns this pizza place was
begging us to eat our pizza there so he could talk to us. Since we had
time, we did. The missionaries have been trying to teach his family
for probably years. But it was fun. We got to know them a little bit
more, and his granddaughter just kept talking to us. She kept asking
if we knew her name.. And I did. So I said, your name is Claudia. But
she didn't understand me because of my American accent. Haha.. Her
parents and grandparents got a kick out of that. I've also eaten many
other kinds of pizza from other places, but they just aren't as good
as O'Sarracino's. I'm gonna be a pizza snob for the rest of my life.
On Saturday, we went to a Chinese buffet with Dayana, the anziani, and
a member. The Chinese food here is different, good but different. And
it was the first time I heard Dayana say that she wasn't hungry.
Haha.. The conversation kept switching back and forth from English to
Italian and back. And I could keep up with it all. It is just nice
being able to understand two languages. I'm not going to lie. :)
Since I'm almost at my year mark, I feel like sisters consider me the
wise old owl who is experienced at missionary work and who knows
exactly what she's doing. But the opposite couldn't be more true. I'm
just grateful for times like these where I can rely on the spirit to
help me give advice. And saying it to them usually helps me too. One
of these things helped me figure something out that I need to work on.
Haha... So as a surprise to none of you, I'm a perfectionist. And I
discovered that I'm afraid of endings because I'm worried that I won't
be where I'm supposed to be at the end. But I'm slowly learning that I
don't need to be perfect by the end of something, I just need to be
moving in the right direction. Like Boyd K. Packer said in one of his
talks... "If you have a letter that you need to mail, and you walk
half the distance to the mailbox every time, theoretically, you will
never reach the mail box. But you will be close enough to mail the
letter." Thank heavens there is grace to make up for the rest.
We had 3 less actives in church yesterday, and even if it doesn't go
towards a key indicator, it was a nice sign to me that the work is
moving forward.
Because yesterday was my half birthday, we celebrated with crepes on
Saturday night. We'll take any excuse to go get sweets, and I would
rather not tell you how many times we ate gelato last week.
And last but not least, we had Mother's Day Skyping. It was heavenly
to talk to my family, and a bit thrilling to think the next time will
be in person. I will admit that I prefer Christmas Day skyping,
because we had at least a few hours to enjoy ourselves after and then
get back to work. Yesterday, it was like.. Okay, you Skyped your
family, now let's go finding. Haha.. We did language study afterwards,
and all the way through I was thinking about how much I didn't want to
go finding. The quote ran through my mind, "when you don't feel like
praying, that is when you need to pray the most." And I decided that
Satan was working on me hard last night so we wouldn't find the person
who was out there waiting for us. So I changed the quote to "when you
don't feel like finding, that is when you need to do it the most." And
it was true, because we found Giovanni last night.
Giovanni was out sitting with his dog near the beach when we stopped
to talk to him, and he was our miracle for the evening. He is a
musician who speaks English really well. He told us that he grew up in
a Christian background, but he decided to stop going a few years back,
because he felt it was missing something. He turned his life to music,
loves Prince, and feels he receives inspiration through his music. We
got his phone number, and asked directly if he would read the
restoration pamphlet, and he said he would that night. He was really
really cool, and we know that he will find what his life is missing.
Our message as missionaries really is different from the rest of the
world, and we offer more. I know that I'm changing lives by being an
instrument in my Heavenly Father's hands.
Well, I hope all the mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day.
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
Monday, May 2, 2016
Week 49: tender mercies, potentials, gelato, pizza, and Nigerian beauty tips
Dear family and friends:
I have a lot of stories this week of tender mercies and naturally,
there are the funny weird things that accompany all of those tender
mercies.
So last Monday, we spent the day packing, by we, I mean Sorella
T. And she has a lot of stuff. I'm talking like 9 suitcases in
total. She left 3 in the house, and had 3 giant ones with her, plus
she has some in the mission office. Anyways, we called the anziani
Tuesday morning to help us lug all of these bags to the train station
when we saw one of our English course students Paolo. He was kind and
offered to give us a ride to the station. Miraculously, all of her
bags fit in the car and all five of us, without seat belts (I can't
even tell you how many times I've done that on the mission). It was a
nice tender mercy, and the funny part of the story is that the street
we live on is one way, but to get his car to us, Paolo backed his car
up the one way street. The crazy things Italians do when driving.
Also, we made the right train so we could drop her off at Termini with
the Sears couple, and head off to DDM. Miracles.
After DDM, we went to get gelato with the sisters from Ostia. Sorella
McKenzie was headed off to Catania, and I might have just been a bit
excited. Everybody else finished eating their ice cream before me,
probably because I just could not stop talking. I used to think I
wouldn't be one of those awkward missionaries when I get home, but now
I'm not so sure. I'm just going to talk about my mission and Italy ALL
THE TIME.
Tuesday night, we went to see our less active, Elena who works as a
veterinarian. We meet her at her clinic, and we had a wonderful lesson
with her about the importance of the Book of Mormon. She created an
analogy with how the Book of Mormon is like a gym, and when we read
it, we strengthen and grow our muscles. She then admitted that her
muscles (testimony) are not as strong as she would like, and she
realized that she needs to be more diligent in reading. Because when
hard times come, we want our muscles or testimony to be strong enough
to weather the storm.
11 months down was this week, and as I was saying goodbye to Sorella
Roberts, I realized that I now have less time left on the mission than
the time I spent in Catania. Crazy to think I might have one transfer
left and two more cities in the time I spent in just one.
Wednesday morning we spent cleaning, organizing less actives, goal
setting, and getting the house situated for 2 people again. The
anziani came and tried to fix our shower, but no such luck. Thankfully
we have two bathrooms, because that would have made for an interesting
situation. It is so nice to have more space in the house now, and
there is such a different feel. It makes it easier for the spirit to
abide there when it is not as cluttered.
We called Sorella Silva on Wednesday to see if we could go see her
that night. At first, she was like, "no. No. I don't have time
tonight." But then when I asked for 15 minutes, she was like, "oh.
Only 15 minutes?" We ended up having a wonderful lesson with her about
what a testimony is and how we know we have one and how the spirit
speaks to us. It felt like we were listening to a conversation between
her and the spirit, and it was just so dang cool.
Thursday morning, we went to see Sorella Favaloro. She is a counselor
in the stake relief society president, but I felt like we needed to go
visit her. We also needed to follow up on some names she gave us to
pray for. So we called, and she invited us for pranzo the next day. I
realized how much I kind of relied on Sorella T to respond and
reply to most of the things people say, but now that she's gone.. The
responsibly fell to me. My brain hurt from concentrating so hard, but
I just keep being amazed at how powerful the gift of tongues really is
every week. It truly is a miracle that I feel comfortable talking to
people in Italian now after only 11 months. I also slept talked last
night in Italian again. Yes! :)
Thursday night, we had English course. And the anziani ended up
teaching most of the lesson because we got caught up talking about
health insurance in America. And of course, obamacare was brought up..
And that took up half the English course lesson. Have I mentioned yet
that every single Italian LOVES Obama? Well, now you know.
So last week, we were putting up English course posters. And we met
this Nigerian named Samuel. He proceeded to tell us about how he
doesn't like missionaries, because the missionaries who baptized him
don't talk to him anymore, and how he left (doesn't come) the church
because he just thinks how they are not real Christians and all that.
Anyways, we went to talk to him on Friday again to find out if he was
still a member of the church or not because his name isn't on the ward
list. And the conversation was very strange. He wouldn't actually
answer our question, and he just kept bouncing around it. But he did
give us some beauty tips.
1. Bathe in a river, without soap, and using leaves as a sponge.
According to him, his grandfather lived until he was 120-170 doing
this.
2. Don't put products on acne. If you leave them alone, someday you'll
have perfect skin. He used his face as an example.
3. And women should wear high heels because they make us walk sexy.
His words, not mine.
4. Don't dress like an American... Which I obviously do.
Now you know. It was very enlightening.
Stress with making work explode, faith to baptize, spirit working through me
Last day of April. How is it May? I feel like I say this statement
every single time a new month comes around. Anyone sick of it yet? Il
tempo vola.
Sorella Hunter got me sick this week. But on Saturday, she felt pretty
bad. However, she was determined to go out and work anyways. I was
going to be content to let her rest, but she was determined.. As I
said. So we went to try to find this referral we were given from a
less active. We have to take a bus to get there, so we went to the bus
stop. We waited and waited and waited some more. It didn't come and
then the guy said it wouldn't be there for another hour. But, this guy
ended up being our tender mercy. His name is Vladimir, and he is from
Ukraine. We talked for quite awhile, and we exchanged phone numbers.
He said he would come to English course on Thursday, but we'll call
him before then to see if he wants to learn more about the gospel. He
joked with us about James Bond because our phone number ends with 007.
When I call him, I'm answering, "sì, sono James Bond." (Yes, this is
James Bond. Haha..) By the time the bus came, it was too late for us
to go and be sure that a bus would be able to take us home. So, we
determined that we were supposed to go out only to meet him. Tender
mercies are all around us this week. But here's another one.
On Sunday, we finally gave this lady named Somma a Book of Mormon in
Hindi. It was her third Sunday coming to church with a member (this
member is the best member missionary I've ever met. Shout out to
Lidia), and this week, we set plans in place to teach her. She is from
India, but this whole thing is such a testimony to me that the Holy
Ghost is the true teacher. Somma doesn't speak much Italian, but she
keeps coming to church anyways even though she doesn't get much out of
the lessons. She obviously comes to church every week because she
feels something different. Yesterday, with the Book of Mormon, she was
able to follow along better. It will be interesting to teach her since
she doesn't speak Italian or English super great, but we already know
that she is letting the spirit touch her heart which in the end is the
most important part. She is the cutest.
Then yesterday after church, I made brownies. We met a couple from our
building a couple weeks ago, and the wife was telling us how she had
tried to make brownies but they didn't turn out as well as she hoped.
So I made brownies and we decided to go visit them because they were
very open to us coming over. They were amazed at our brownie making
skills, but they still refused to let us share a message about Christ
with them. They reminded me a lot of the practicing Catholic couple we
met last week, but we'll keep a friendship up. Sorella Conde always
said that it takes an average of 7 times of interacting with
missionaries, before the average person will be baptized. So... We
were just a part of their interactions. :) The wife was just shocked
the entire time that we are 19 and 20 year olds living in Italy alone,
and that we don't have very much contact with our families. The
culture differences here are real because it is completely normal for
you to be 25+ and still living with your parents. But not in America.
Last night when we called in numbers, we thought we'd be funny and
after every 0, we were like, but "we almost had.." Haha.. But it was
true. We had so much potential this week to have more than we had, but
we have a lot of hope for next week. :)
Then this morning while we were waiting for the train to Rome.. We
were sitting on a bench reading our emails. Since we missed the
earlier train, we had about 40 minutes to wait. And this man chooses
to come and sit next to us when there are quite a few other benches
open. He obviously wanted to talk because he kept peering over Sorella
Hunter's iPad and making comments. So we started talking to him. His
name was Paolo and he seemed actually interested. He wouldn't switch
numbers with us but he did say he would come to English course. There
had to be a reason he sat next to us when he had other options. I
guess our light was glowing, and he recognized we have something that
he wants. :)
Being a missionary is the best thing ever. I love meeting new people,
and this week, I've really been able to see the Lord's hand in the
work. And I am so grateful for every single tender mercy he places in
front of us.
I could go on... But I'm sure I'll have more for next week. I love you
all! A dopo.
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Sent from my iPad
I have a lot of stories this week of tender mercies and naturally,
there are the funny weird things that accompany all of those tender
mercies.
So last Monday, we spent the day packing, by we, I mean Sorella
T. And she has a lot of stuff. I'm talking like 9 suitcases in
total. She left 3 in the house, and had 3 giant ones with her, plus
she has some in the mission office. Anyways, we called the anziani
Tuesday morning to help us lug all of these bags to the train station
when we saw one of our English course students Paolo. He was kind and
offered to give us a ride to the station. Miraculously, all of her
bags fit in the car and all five of us, without seat belts (I can't
even tell you how many times I've done that on the mission). It was a
nice tender mercy, and the funny part of the story is that the street
we live on is one way, but to get his car to us, Paolo backed his car
up the one way street. The crazy things Italians do when driving.
Also, we made the right train so we could drop her off at Termini with
the Sears couple, and head off to DDM. Miracles.
After DDM, we went to get gelato with the sisters from Ostia. Sorella
McKenzie was headed off to Catania, and I might have just been a bit
excited. Everybody else finished eating their ice cream before me,
probably because I just could not stop talking. I used to think I
wouldn't be one of those awkward missionaries when I get home, but now
I'm not so sure. I'm just going to talk about my mission and Italy ALL
THE TIME.
Tuesday night, we went to see our less active, Elena who works as a
veterinarian. We meet her at her clinic, and we had a wonderful lesson
with her about the importance of the Book of Mormon. She created an
analogy with how the Book of Mormon is like a gym, and when we read
it, we strengthen and grow our muscles. She then admitted that her
muscles (testimony) are not as strong as she would like, and she
realized that she needs to be more diligent in reading. Because when
hard times come, we want our muscles or testimony to be strong enough
to weather the storm.
11 months down was this week, and as I was saying goodbye to Sorella
Roberts, I realized that I now have less time left on the mission than
the time I spent in Catania. Crazy to think I might have one transfer
left and two more cities in the time I spent in just one.
Wednesday morning we spent cleaning, organizing less actives, goal
setting, and getting the house situated for 2 people again. The
anziani came and tried to fix our shower, but no such luck. Thankfully
we have two bathrooms, because that would have made for an interesting
situation. It is so nice to have more space in the house now, and
there is such a different feel. It makes it easier for the spirit to
abide there when it is not as cluttered.
We called Sorella Silva on Wednesday to see if we could go see her
that night. At first, she was like, "no. No. I don't have time
tonight." But then when I asked for 15 minutes, she was like, "oh.
Only 15 minutes?" We ended up having a wonderful lesson with her about
what a testimony is and how we know we have one and how the spirit
speaks to us. It felt like we were listening to a conversation between
her and the spirit, and it was just so dang cool.
Thursday morning, we went to see Sorella Favaloro. She is a counselor
in the stake relief society president, but I felt like we needed to go
visit her. We also needed to follow up on some names she gave us to
pray for. So we called, and she invited us for pranzo the next day. I
realized how much I kind of relied on Sorella T to respond and
reply to most of the things people say, but now that she's gone.. The
responsibly fell to me. My brain hurt from concentrating so hard, but
I just keep being amazed at how powerful the gift of tongues really is
every week. It truly is a miracle that I feel comfortable talking to
people in Italian now after only 11 months. I also slept talked last
night in Italian again. Yes! :)
Thursday night, we had English course. And the anziani ended up
teaching most of the lesson because we got caught up talking about
health insurance in America. And of course, obamacare was brought up..
And that took up half the English course lesson. Have I mentioned yet
that every single Italian LOVES Obama? Well, now you know.
So last week, we were putting up English course posters. And we met
this Nigerian named Samuel. He proceeded to tell us about how he
doesn't like missionaries, because the missionaries who baptized him
don't talk to him anymore, and how he left (doesn't come) the church
because he just thinks how they are not real Christians and all that.
Anyways, we went to talk to him on Friday again to find out if he was
still a member of the church or not because his name isn't on the ward
list. And the conversation was very strange. He wouldn't actually
answer our question, and he just kept bouncing around it. But he did
give us some beauty tips.
1. Bathe in a river, without soap, and using leaves as a sponge.
According to him, his grandfather lived until he was 120-170 doing
this.
2. Don't put products on acne. If you leave them alone, someday you'll
have perfect skin. He used his face as an example.
3. And women should wear high heels because they make us walk sexy.
His words, not mine.
4. Don't dress like an American... Which I obviously do.
Now you know. It was very enlightening.
Stress with making work explode, faith to baptize, spirit working through me
Last day of April. How is it May? I feel like I say this statement
every single time a new month comes around. Anyone sick of it yet? Il
tempo vola.
Sorella Hunter got me sick this week. But on Saturday, she felt pretty
bad. However, she was determined to go out and work anyways. I was
going to be content to let her rest, but she was determined.. As I
said. So we went to try to find this referral we were given from a
less active. We have to take a bus to get there, so we went to the bus
stop. We waited and waited and waited some more. It didn't come and
then the guy said it wouldn't be there for another hour. But, this guy
ended up being our tender mercy. His name is Vladimir, and he is from
Ukraine. We talked for quite awhile, and we exchanged phone numbers.
He said he would come to English course on Thursday, but we'll call
him before then to see if he wants to learn more about the gospel. He
joked with us about James Bond because our phone number ends with 007.
When I call him, I'm answering, "sì, sono James Bond." (Yes, this is
James Bond. Haha..) By the time the bus came, it was too late for us
to go and be sure that a bus would be able to take us home. So, we
determined that we were supposed to go out only to meet him. Tender
mercies are all around us this week. But here's another one.
On Sunday, we finally gave this lady named Somma a Book of Mormon in
Hindi. It was her third Sunday coming to church with a member (this
member is the best member missionary I've ever met. Shout out to
Lidia), and this week, we set plans in place to teach her. She is from
India, but this whole thing is such a testimony to me that the Holy
Ghost is the true teacher. Somma doesn't speak much Italian, but she
keeps coming to church anyways even though she doesn't get much out of
the lessons. She obviously comes to church every week because she
feels something different. Yesterday, with the Book of Mormon, she was
able to follow along better. It will be interesting to teach her since
she doesn't speak Italian or English super great, but we already know
that she is letting the spirit touch her heart which in the end is the
most important part. She is the cutest.
Then yesterday after church, I made brownies. We met a couple from our
building a couple weeks ago, and the wife was telling us how she had
tried to make brownies but they didn't turn out as well as she hoped.
So I made brownies and we decided to go visit them because they were
very open to us coming over. They were amazed at our brownie making
skills, but they still refused to let us share a message about Christ
with them. They reminded me a lot of the practicing Catholic couple we
met last week, but we'll keep a friendship up. Sorella Conde always
said that it takes an average of 7 times of interacting with
missionaries, before the average person will be baptized. So... We
were just a part of their interactions. :) The wife was just shocked
the entire time that we are 19 and 20 year olds living in Italy alone,
and that we don't have very much contact with our families. The
culture differences here are real because it is completely normal for
you to be 25+ and still living with your parents. But not in America.
Last night when we called in numbers, we thought we'd be funny and
after every 0, we were like, but "we almost had.." Haha.. But it was
true. We had so much potential this week to have more than we had, but
we have a lot of hope for next week. :)
Then this morning while we were waiting for the train to Rome.. We
were sitting on a bench reading our emails. Since we missed the
earlier train, we had about 40 minutes to wait. And this man chooses
to come and sit next to us when there are quite a few other benches
open. He obviously wanted to talk because he kept peering over Sorella
Hunter's iPad and making comments. So we started talking to him. His
name was Paolo and he seemed actually interested. He wouldn't switch
numbers with us but he did say he would come to English course. There
had to be a reason he sat next to us when he had other options. I
guess our light was glowing, and he recognized we have something that
he wants. :)
Being a missionary is the best thing ever. I love meeting new people,
and this week, I've really been able to see the Lord's hand in the
work. And I am so grateful for every single tender mercy he places in
front of us.
I could go on... But I'm sure I'll have more for next week. I love you
all! A dopo.
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Sent from my iPad
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