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
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