Dear family and friends,
It's a little weird writing to y'all on Wednesday, but next week will
be back to Monday. As a reward for your patience, you only have to
wait 4 days for my next letter. :) And I'll try to cover all the
important parts of our extra long week.
On Monday night, we had an FHE with a returned to activation family
and their mother who is an active member. We read the verses about our
baptismal covenant in Mosiah and then they ended up teaching us more
than we taught them. They answered all of our questions before we
could even ask them.. Haha... We also ate some focaccia for dinner,
and the primary president (the mom) invited us over another time to
learn how to make it. Look at me! I'm becoming domestic! We are going
over tonight for that. We also think it will be good to build a
relationship with her because we have 2 investigators who are primary
aged. It will be fun.
On Tuesday, we had DDM with a wonderful addestramento about leaving
commitments and helping people keep them. And afterwards, we had a few
ideas about what we could do. We've been wanting to visit Miriam, one
of our investigators, and go get gelato with her. We texted and called
Monday night, and she didn't respond. But for some reason [the
spirit], I felt all day Tuesday that we needed to stop by. We did, and
she was home! We ate gelato with her and I made a big mess because it
literally melts into a puddle as soon as you step outside and talked
with her about the worth of souls in the sight of God. We are trying
to figure out how to fellowship her more. She has taken all the
lessons from the missionaries and used to go to seminary for 2 years,
but every time we bring up a baptism invite, she disappears for a
month or so. It has happened 3 times, so for right now... We are going
to be friends and try to build up her faith as to why we do things in
the church. Like we don't go to church to have friends, we go to
worship God.
On the way to her place, we were on the bus and this guy was looking
at us a little weird and at our name tags. So, I said, "come va?" We
had a nice little conversation until we had to get off the bus. He
said he knew some of the members. Little did we know, he's a member!
He was a new convert in like 2007 and then stopped coming to church. I
was so glad I said hi to him, because if I'm honest... Men who stare
at us weird are not the first people I talk to on a bus. Or anywhere
for that matter. Two little miracles that afternoon from just
following the prompting to go see Miriam.
That night after English course, we met with Giusy. She is the
daughter of our investigator Cristina who came back to church a few
weeks ago. She was baptized 20 years ago and for various reason
distanced herself for years. But as she continued to study counseling
and personal coaching, her studies always brought her back to Christ
and all of the feelings and thoughts and experiences she had at church
started coming back. 4 years ago she started listening to the Mormon
tabernacle choir and general conference talks on YouTube and now has
come back. She is amazing, and we are so glad we are able to teach her
mom.
Wednesday, we went to see this other less active. Our theme video this
week was frammenti d'oro or flecks of gold in English. It is from a
talk by M. Russell Ballard and talked about how small and simple
things bring great things to pass. We shared that video with her and
bore our testimonies about how reading the scriptures, praying, and
going to church are simple things, but they do wonders to grow our
testimony. While we were watching the video, her adorable 2 month old
puppy was licking my toes. It tickled and I couldn't stop laughing...
Haha. :)
I guess this week was less active week, because on Thursday we went to
see another one. But here's the kicker. We pushed the wrong button on
the citofono and it ended up being the grandparents of this family we
wanted to see. We got up to the door and realized only 3 men were
home. They offered us a Popsicle, so we ate them while trying to make
small talk with the teenage boys who were playing soccer on the
PlayStation while the grandfather completely ignored us and continued
to work on family history. We just ate the Popsicles really quick and
then left since we weren't even supposed to be there in the first
place. We pretended to go down the stairs until they shut the door and
we went and knocked on the correct door. Why do we always have so many
awkward moments as missionaries?
We ran late at this certain less actives house, so we had 15 minutes
to run 2 miles to the church in 96 degree weather with humidity.
Needless to say, we were drenched with sweat... And we looked it too.
Meno male that the church as air conditioning, or I would have died.
We had a lesson with Cristina. She wasn't able to read because of this
bad back pain she had during the week/weekend. So we read the Book of
Mormon with a member (wife of the senior couple). Sorella Lahaderne
made a wonderful analogy with the Book of Mormon and her life. She
said that she's really Italian, but she chose to leave Italy to move
to America with her husband. Just because she doesn't live in Italy 1)
doesn't make her not Italian and 2) doesn't make her diary not true.
Same thing with the BOM. Just because the people who wrote it left
Jerusalem and wrote a new record, doesn't mean the new one isn't true.
Kind of a cool comparison.
Friday morning, we had to go to the questura (immigration office) to
do my fingerprints to finalize the renewal of my permesso. Sorella
Hess said she had to be there for like 5 hours so I was a little
worried, but I was the first appointment and we got in and out. The
lady behind us was super cute too and had the cutest kid. The funny
thing is that the first time I went to the questura, we met a
Brazilian woman with a little boy and then this time, we met another
Brazilian woman. Kind of strange. Haha.. :) She even saw us at the bus
stop afterwards and offered us a ride home, but she didn't know where
we lived.
We also had the musical on Friday, so IT IS FINISHED. I don't think
I've ever been more happy. Haha... No more practicing every night at
5. Haha.. I think our song went okay, and it went off without any
problems. It is a nice memory to have though, and now that it is over,
we'll be able to find more people to teach and do more missionary
work.
Saturday wasn't very fun. Everyone was at the beach. I hate beaches
when everyone else can go, but I can't. That morning, we went to see
Tanya and we wanted to have a lesson with them. But her mom was really
busy packing, because they are moving to Bologna. :( She was being a
bit sassy and only speaking in Sri Lankan instead of Italian. That
afternoon, every single one of our plans fell through. One of them 5
minutes before the lesson was supposed to start and the Lahaderne's
were already there. #lifeofamissionary. It is kind of a said thing in
the mission that "when you get to plan d on your list of plans, go get
a gelato because you deserve one." But we couldn't even do that
because we started our mission wide fast for the new president after
lunch. Haha... It was miserable, but we kept going, we kept smiling,
and we kept inviting people to come to Christ.
Sunday morning came around, and it looked like we weren't going to
have any investigators in church when we were expecting 4. We were
like, really? We worked so hard this week. But as we read in a talk on
Monday, "often trials and tribulations are allowed to come into [your
life] because of what [you] are doing right". And I feel like this
statement is so true especially on the mission. Elena finally came, so
we were grateful for that.
We have had 3 meal appointments in the last 3 days... So much for
complaining about not having one last week. We went to the Del
Vecchio's and it was good. I felt like we were crashing a big extended
family dinner. There were so many people in that house. Also, when it
is hot... Your appetite to eat hot things diminishes by a lot. They
had these mint Popsicles for dessert, and I guess nobody likes them
because they gave us their extras and told us to take them home
because they are just taking up space in their freezer. Haha... They
are probably one of my new favorite treats. It is so light and
obviously cold. Much better than the fruity ones. :)
Sunday night, we had a lesson with Elena and we were a little worried.
Members weren't able to go with us like we had planned and then we
began to feel like the lesson we planned wasn't right. So we changed
plans last minute, and it actually went really well. We talked about
faith using alma 32-33. We talked about how some things, you just have
to believe on faith because there aren't facts or proof. And we talked
about how we need to pray and read the scriptures everyday. Like I
said before, we have to do these things and go to church to grow our
testimony, but she already has the coming to church part down. Which
is a miracle in and of itself because that is usually the hardest part
about helping people prepare for baptism. At the end of the lesson,
she actually said a prayer in the correct way and she said she would
read the Book of Mormon every day. We are making progress with her. :)
Monday was 13 months down. Ahh! We got gelato on Tuesday to celebrate
and I tried this Vienna Creme kind and it is my new favorite. It
tastes like a lemony cream ice cream. So good! And I'm not thinking
about how much time I have left because it scares me. 😳
We also went out to Giusy's house on Monday. She lives pretty far out,
and we barely missed the bus after sprinting after it. So we waited
for the next one, and finally arrived. She made pranzo for us and it
was a really good quinoa dish with peppers and eggplant. That was the
third time I ate eggplant in 4 meals, so it must be in season. We just
love Giusy so much and I learn so much from her all the time. I guess
according to blood type, our body reacts differently to different
kinds of food. I don't know how accurate that is, but it sounded cool.
She also made me feel like a down to earth girl because she has
drawers and drawers full of makeup and I just do the same thing
everyday and replace it with the same stuff when it runs out. Haha..
And some people think I'm high maintenance. :p
We said goodbye to Tanya Monday evening. Even though I've only known
her for 3 weeks, she is such an example to me of going forward with
hope and a smile on her face even if life is hard. She has such a
strong testimony and I'm going to miss her so much.
That night, we went to see our friend Nicoletta who owns this pastry
shop on one of the main roads. She has some of the best little
pastries, and we've been hoping to be able to teach her the gospel one
day. We just need to make the friendship a bit stronger. She had the
soccer game on (Italia vs. Spain) and we happened to be there when
Italy scored a goal. That was when we noticed that nobody was on the
streets, and once Italy scored, car horns started honking, people
appeared on balconies to wave flags, and we could hear cheering from
inside apartments. Who knew how big soccer was here? I wish I knew
more about it...
Yesterday, we went to see this little old widow in the ward. Her name
is Sorella Panunzio and she is the cutest little thing. Going to visit
her made me realize that we can learn so much from widows and they
benefit from our company. No wonder it is one of Thomas S. Monson's
favorite thing to do. She makes orecchiette every day which is the
famous type of pasta that everybody eats here and we asked her to
teach us how to make it. And it was so much fun! She also fed us
lunch, which included mystery meat, beets, and a worm in my apricot.
I'd say it was pretty successful. Haha... I'm grateful for the food
though. It is always good. I love Italy and Italian food and Italians.
Although I still don't like beets ever since mom made me sit at the
table until they were gone and she kept warming them up in the
microwave. I had a rough childhood. 😉 Now I know how to make homemade
pasta, and I'll be able to teach other people. As I said before, I'm
becoming domestic. Haha... :)
This morning, we went to see these underground ruins they discovered
in Taranto less than a year ago. We went with the whole zone. That's a
lot of missionaries roaming around Taranto. :)
Love you all! I hope you all have a wonderful week! If you read all of
that, you deserve some kind of reward. :) We go to Bari to meet
President Pickerd tomorrow. We are excited!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missions Italiana di Roma
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Buona Domenica!
Dear people I love:
I am sending you an email today as a courtesy so you know I didn't
die. Our zone switched our p-day so we don't waste time traveling
during proselyting hours as we are going to BARI on Thursday to meet
the new mission president and wife, Presidente and Sorella Pickerd.
I love you all. I'll write on Wednesday, but I would still love to
hear from you tomorrow. Hint hint. ;)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
I am sending you an email today as a courtesy so you know I didn't
die. Our zone switched our p-day so we don't waste time traveling
during proselyting hours as we are going to BARI on Thursday to meet
the new mission president and wife, Presidente and Sorella Pickerd.
I love you all. I'll write on Wednesday, but I would still love to
hear from you tomorrow. Hint hint. ;)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
Monday, June 20, 2016
Pictures from a Week 56:
We found otter pops, but the healthy kind. :)
Tanya! She is the cutest and turned 16 on Tuesday!
My first panzerotto! :)
It rained a few times!
Have a great week!
Sent from my iPad
Week 56: water adventures, Crotone, otter pops, peanut butter, and Cristina
Buongiorno family and friends:
Well, I'm past the whole time slowing down part for being in a new
city. This week went so fast. It was literally just p-day and I feel
like I just wrote all of you. But alas, here we are again.
This week for DDM, we talked about why our purpose as missionaries is
outlined in the first chapter of Preach my Gospel. We discussed how
having a purpose gives us direction and motivates us to do the right
things. It is important that we know what our purpose is as
missionaries, and there is a reason we recite it every morning. I
guess it should become more of a declaration instead of a recitation
for me. I've been working on thinking about what I'm saying a little
more this past week.
We also had a scambio in Crotone this week. The bus times in Calabria
are really horrible plus it takes like 4 hours to get there. Haha.. So
we spent a lot of time on the bus. We left at 4:00 on Tuesday, and
then we left Crotone Thursday morning at 5:30. This mission just has a
different aspect to other missions just because we have to travel so
far to get places. I also don't think we get as close to our mission
president because the only time we get to see them is for zone
conferences. They don't randomly pick us up for lunch. Haha.. But it
is also the best mission in the world, so I guess I'll take it. ;)
Crotone was fun, but I sure am glad to be back in Taranto. 1) because
they have a cockroach problem in their church and 2) the town is known
for the mafia. A guy we met on the bus down there was probably part of
it. They are nice to us, but scary.
I went on scambio with Sorella Dustin. We were able to have an
appointment with their new converts who are also Nigerians. Just being
with them and listening to them speak in English reminded me of
Jennifer. We helped Juliet with a talk she was giving at a baptism on
Friday night, because she doesn't read or write and she was so cute
about it. She practiced for us and it was definitely African in style,
but she has a testimony of the church which was cute to hear. We also
made Tiramisu for the first time. I don't know how Italian it was, but
it was fun to make. We made it for one of their investigators who they
haven't seen in awhile. Sweets open doors here in Italy.
This week on gospel library, I found these videos where they had
little kids tell the stories of the bible in their own words. I just
wish they were in Italian, because they are so simple. My favorite was
probably the one that is titled, "who is Jesus?" And one of the little
girls says, "he heals our owies." And I just love that. He really does
heal us, and maybe in the moments where it seems like the trials we
have are hurting more than helping us, I know that he will heal our
pains and sufferings and replace them with peace. I feel like having
faith in Christ is just relying and trusting him enough to follow his
will and let him "kiss our owies better" for lack of better words.
We were also able to see Sorella Parabita again this week. She was
talking to us about how she has been sick for a long time, and how she
doesn't really know why she is still on the earth. But I've learned so
much from her just from the 3 times we have gone to visit her. So if
nothing else, she has been a blessing in my life. I hope that my
testimony is as strong as hers when I am 86 years old.
And now I get to tell you about our miracle of the week! Two weeks
ago, this less active named Giusy came back to church... And she
brought her non-member mom with her. We were finally able to have an
appointment with Cristina... And she was so cute! She began by telling
us about her life, and how when things started going wrong a few years
ago, she went to the Catholic Church to find peace. Before that, she
remembered her daughter Giusy telling her about the LDS church because
Giusy joined 20 years ago. And ever since then, Cristina has felt
drawn to our church. She has come a few times, but every time she
comes she just feels peace in her heart and she feels at home. It is
her first time meeting with the missionaries and she is so ready!
During the lesson, she kept referring to the church as "her church"
and the Catholic Church as the "other church". I've noticed that here
in Italy, we have the most success with people who already know the
Catholic Church isn't completely true. It was such a miracle, and she
wants to be baptized. I'm excited to watch her progress. :)
We also tried to go see Margherita, one of our other investigators
this week. Her brother Fortunato is a member of the church, but was in
a motorcycle accident a few years ago and now only has half a brain.
He can't survive on his own, and his family are literal angels to him.
They love him so much. Supposedly the mom is a member too, but she
isn't in the church records. But we were able to have a lesson with
Elisabetta (the mom) and Fortunato. I could just feel God's love when
we entered the room with Fortunato's hospital bed. It was a really
cool experience. :)
Also, I happy danced this week because they sell peanut butter in a
store here that is right next to our house and it is actually a
reasonable price. Hallelujah! I never thought I'd be so happy to eat a
peanut butter sandwich.
On Saturday, we went to see Fia and we read the Book of Mormon with
her. We talked about how the people who keep the commandments of God
are the happiest using the scripture in Mosiah 2. She told us how she
knows she needs to come back to church and how she needs to program
her week better so she is able to come. We are making progress with
her, because now she recognizes the need for church in her life. Being
able to watch people repent is probably one of the happiest parts of
my mission. :)
We also went to see our kidnapping grandma again this week, and the
miracle was that we got in and out of her house in less than an hour.
We also read the Book of Mormon with her, and she tried to parallel it
to a movie she saw this week. She could not stop talking about this
movie, but she read the Book of Mormon without us too. She still
doesn't listen very well, but hopefully she will begin coming to
church. I know that she will feel a peace there just like everybody
else. We rode home on an air conditioned city bus, the first one I've
seen in Italy. It was heaven since Saturday was also the hottest day
of the week.
One of the people we went to visit this week, I'm not going to name
names, gave us this coconut almond drink. We asked her how she made it
and she said you put the concentrate in it and fill it up with water.
That is when what we feared was confirmed. We just drank tap water
from Taranto. Well, yesterday and today, Sorella Hess has felt a
little nauseous. But yesterday in church, I had to give a talk. So I
knew that we had to go even if she wasn't feeling well. But all was
well and she survived church. She still has a stomach ache today, but
it didn't have the same effect on me. And I don't understand. Maybe I
just became immune to it from Sicily. Boh. (I don't know.) But they
weren't kidding when they said the water was bad here. Now we know.
My talk went well. It was about how the plan of salvation helps me
know the things I have to do to return to Heavenly Father. I used the
talk, I'm a Child of God by Elder Hallstrom as my basis, and just
talked about how knowing we are children of God makes such a
difference in how we comprehend this life. Last week, the bishop
forgot to have me get up and bear my testimony, so he apologized by
having me give a talk this week. How nice of him! ;)
Also in church, a member who started coming back 3 months ago made a
comment in relief society which I found very interesting. She said
that there was a member who would text and call her to check up on
her. She said that she was a little annoyed about it at first because
she thought the member just wanted her to come back to church. But
after a while, she realized it was because she really loved her. This
recently returned less active member realized that consistency was the
key in her coming back to church. Maybe in the moment, we might feel
like we keep doing the same things over and over, and we don't feel
like we are doing anything. But with consistency, our efforts over
time can make a big impact.
This was our third week without a meal appointment, so we sadly walked
home from church to make our own humble meal. We take 1.5 to 2 hour
lunch breaks because we work through dinner so yesterday we watched
the Joseph smith movie and ate Popsicles. It was a nice little break.
We also had a lesson with Elena. She is pretty determined not to say
that this church is the only true church on the earth even though she
believes in Joseph Smith. We tried to explain the importance of the
priesthood and how God reveals his gospel in all dispensations. She
keeps resorting back to other inspired people in the world from
religions like Buddhism, and Islam, and Conficianism who claim to have
seen God. And I just want to know what everyone else thinks about
these people. Do you think they really saw what they said they saw? To
me, I want to believe them because I know God reveals truth, but I
don't quite understand how there can be such a variety of religions in
the world from the same God. I also feel like they could be inspired
men, but there is a difference between revelation and inspiration
right? Anyways, if anybody has ideas of how we could reach this to
her, let me know. Whoever responds first, wins. ;) haha...
Speaking English has been hard this week. I always add in Italian
vocabulary when I do speak English and then my grammar and everything
just gets mixed up. I'm going to be a laughing stock when I get home
because I can't speak anymore. I don't even know if that made sense.
Hahah... SOS. Plus there are words in Italian which I will never be
able to give up. Like "proprio, boh, mamma mia, mannaggia, meno male,
giro, GANS" and the list could go on and on. I'm gonna be a mess. And
I feel bad for whoever has to read my first paper at university. Ahh.
Well, I love you all! I hope you have a marvelous week!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
Well, I'm past the whole time slowing down part for being in a new
city. This week went so fast. It was literally just p-day and I feel
like I just wrote all of you. But alas, here we are again.
This week for DDM, we talked about why our purpose as missionaries is
outlined in the first chapter of Preach my Gospel. We discussed how
having a purpose gives us direction and motivates us to do the right
things. It is important that we know what our purpose is as
missionaries, and there is a reason we recite it every morning. I
guess it should become more of a declaration instead of a recitation
for me. I've been working on thinking about what I'm saying a little
more this past week.
We also had a scambio in Crotone this week. The bus times in Calabria
are really horrible plus it takes like 4 hours to get there. Haha.. So
we spent a lot of time on the bus. We left at 4:00 on Tuesday, and
then we left Crotone Thursday morning at 5:30. This mission just has a
different aspect to other missions just because we have to travel so
far to get places. I also don't think we get as close to our mission
president because the only time we get to see them is for zone
conferences. They don't randomly pick us up for lunch. Haha.. But it
is also the best mission in the world, so I guess I'll take it. ;)
Crotone was fun, but I sure am glad to be back in Taranto. 1) because
they have a cockroach problem in their church and 2) the town is known
for the mafia. A guy we met on the bus down there was probably part of
it. They are nice to us, but scary.
I went on scambio with Sorella Dustin. We were able to have an
appointment with their new converts who are also Nigerians. Just being
with them and listening to them speak in English reminded me of
Jennifer. We helped Juliet with a talk she was giving at a baptism on
Friday night, because she doesn't read or write and she was so cute
about it. She practiced for us and it was definitely African in style,
but she has a testimony of the church which was cute to hear. We also
made Tiramisu for the first time. I don't know how Italian it was, but
it was fun to make. We made it for one of their investigators who they
haven't seen in awhile. Sweets open doors here in Italy.
This week on gospel library, I found these videos where they had
little kids tell the stories of the bible in their own words. I just
wish they were in Italian, because they are so simple. My favorite was
probably the one that is titled, "who is Jesus?" And one of the little
girls says, "he heals our owies." And I just love that. He really does
heal us, and maybe in the moments where it seems like the trials we
have are hurting more than helping us, I know that he will heal our
pains and sufferings and replace them with peace. I feel like having
faith in Christ is just relying and trusting him enough to follow his
will and let him "kiss our owies better" for lack of better words.
We were also able to see Sorella Parabita again this week. She was
talking to us about how she has been sick for a long time, and how she
doesn't really know why she is still on the earth. But I've learned so
much from her just from the 3 times we have gone to visit her. So if
nothing else, she has been a blessing in my life. I hope that my
testimony is as strong as hers when I am 86 years old.
And now I get to tell you about our miracle of the week! Two weeks
ago, this less active named Giusy came back to church... And she
brought her non-member mom with her. We were finally able to have an
appointment with Cristina... And she was so cute! She began by telling
us about her life, and how when things started going wrong a few years
ago, she went to the Catholic Church to find peace. Before that, she
remembered her daughter Giusy telling her about the LDS church because
Giusy joined 20 years ago. And ever since then, Cristina has felt
drawn to our church. She has come a few times, but every time she
comes she just feels peace in her heart and she feels at home. It is
her first time meeting with the missionaries and she is so ready!
During the lesson, she kept referring to the church as "her church"
and the Catholic Church as the "other church". I've noticed that here
in Italy, we have the most success with people who already know the
Catholic Church isn't completely true. It was such a miracle, and she
wants to be baptized. I'm excited to watch her progress. :)
We also tried to go see Margherita, one of our other investigators
this week. Her brother Fortunato is a member of the church, but was in
a motorcycle accident a few years ago and now only has half a brain.
He can't survive on his own, and his family are literal angels to him.
They love him so much. Supposedly the mom is a member too, but she
isn't in the church records. But we were able to have a lesson with
Elisabetta (the mom) and Fortunato. I could just feel God's love when
we entered the room with Fortunato's hospital bed. It was a really
cool experience. :)
Also, I happy danced this week because they sell peanut butter in a
store here that is right next to our house and it is actually a
reasonable price. Hallelujah! I never thought I'd be so happy to eat a
peanut butter sandwich.
On Saturday, we went to see Fia and we read the Book of Mormon with
her. We talked about how the people who keep the commandments of God
are the happiest using the scripture in Mosiah 2. She told us how she
knows she needs to come back to church and how she needs to program
her week better so she is able to come. We are making progress with
her, because now she recognizes the need for church in her life. Being
able to watch people repent is probably one of the happiest parts of
my mission. :)
We also went to see our kidnapping grandma again this week, and the
miracle was that we got in and out of her house in less than an hour.
We also read the Book of Mormon with her, and she tried to parallel it
to a movie she saw this week. She could not stop talking about this
movie, but she read the Book of Mormon without us too. She still
doesn't listen very well, but hopefully she will begin coming to
church. I know that she will feel a peace there just like everybody
else. We rode home on an air conditioned city bus, the first one I've
seen in Italy. It was heaven since Saturday was also the hottest day
of the week.
One of the people we went to visit this week, I'm not going to name
names, gave us this coconut almond drink. We asked her how she made it
and she said you put the concentrate in it and fill it up with water.
That is when what we feared was confirmed. We just drank tap water
from Taranto. Well, yesterday and today, Sorella Hess has felt a
little nauseous. But yesterday in church, I had to give a talk. So I
knew that we had to go even if she wasn't feeling well. But all was
well and she survived church. She still has a stomach ache today, but
it didn't have the same effect on me. And I don't understand. Maybe I
just became immune to it from Sicily. Boh. (I don't know.) But they
weren't kidding when they said the water was bad here. Now we know.
My talk went well. It was about how the plan of salvation helps me
know the things I have to do to return to Heavenly Father. I used the
talk, I'm a Child of God by Elder Hallstrom as my basis, and just
talked about how knowing we are children of God makes such a
difference in how we comprehend this life. Last week, the bishop
forgot to have me get up and bear my testimony, so he apologized by
having me give a talk this week. How nice of him! ;)
Also in church, a member who started coming back 3 months ago made a
comment in relief society which I found very interesting. She said
that there was a member who would text and call her to check up on
her. She said that she was a little annoyed about it at first because
she thought the member just wanted her to come back to church. But
after a while, she realized it was because she really loved her. This
recently returned less active member realized that consistency was the
key in her coming back to church. Maybe in the moment, we might feel
like we keep doing the same things over and over, and we don't feel
like we are doing anything. But with consistency, our efforts over
time can make a big impact.
This was our third week without a meal appointment, so we sadly walked
home from church to make our own humble meal. We take 1.5 to 2 hour
lunch breaks because we work through dinner so yesterday we watched
the Joseph smith movie and ate Popsicles. It was a nice little break.
We also had a lesson with Elena. She is pretty determined not to say
that this church is the only true church on the earth even though she
believes in Joseph Smith. We tried to explain the importance of the
priesthood and how God reveals his gospel in all dispensations. She
keeps resorting back to other inspired people in the world from
religions like Buddhism, and Islam, and Conficianism who claim to have
seen God. And I just want to know what everyone else thinks about
these people. Do you think they really saw what they said they saw? To
me, I want to believe them because I know God reveals truth, but I
don't quite understand how there can be such a variety of religions in
the world from the same God. I also feel like they could be inspired
men, but there is a difference between revelation and inspiration
right? Anyways, if anybody has ideas of how we could reach this to
her, let me know. Whoever responds first, wins. ;) haha...
Speaking English has been hard this week. I always add in Italian
vocabulary when I do speak English and then my grammar and everything
just gets mixed up. I'm going to be a laughing stock when I get home
because I can't speak anymore. I don't even know if that made sense.
Hahah... SOS. Plus there are words in Italian which I will never be
able to give up. Like "proprio, boh, mamma mia, mannaggia, meno male,
giro, GANS" and the list could go on and on. I'm gonna be a mess. And
I feel bad for whoever has to read my first paper at university. Ahh.
Well, I love you all! I hope you have a marvelous week!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Week 55: specialized training, goodbye Waddoups, rained out gesso, running down buses, and humid HOTNESS
Dear family and friends:
We had a good week here in Taranto. It felt like one of the longest
weeks of my life, but looking back on it... It's because so many
things happened!
On Monday night, we had all the other sisters from the zone in Taranto
and so we planned to do a gesso. We have all the supplies and we pick
our location and we get a solid 15 minutes in when rain begins to pour
out of the heavens. It is kind of hard to draw with chalk when it is
raining, plus we weren't prepared for it.. So we hid under the awning
of one of the buildings until it stopped. Then we continued to do
finding with English course cards down the center of the Main Street.
It was fun to do a little bonding with the other sisters in the rain.
On Tuesday, we had Specialized training or the shorter version of zone
conference. The zone leaders and sister training leader did a training
(addestramento) with an analogy to football. Here are some of my
notes. :)
We are on the football team of the Lord. Pres. Waddoups is our coach.
He has rules, guidelines, and standards. When the coach changes, these
change, but if we want to play, we'll accept the changes. We all have
an assignment to do that is fit just for us and our talents. We all
need to do our job and work together. One superstar doesn't make a
good team.
The linemen are the members. They protect us from the enemy, and as
missionaries we need to have a strong relationship with them.
The quarterback represents our leaders or the quality of leadership.
We are all leaders and we need to do everything with a bounce in our
step. When we teach, we teach with power, and when we study, we study
with a purpose.
The running back represents diligence. We need to put forward a
continuous effort to push forward even if it seems we aren't getting
as far as we would like. Every small step forward is a step closer to
winning the prize.
And the wide receiver represents boldness. Sometimes we need to
sacrifice our pride to be bold. We need to go for the ball and not
wait for it to come to us. We need to be fearless and push ourselves
out of the way to get the touchdown. The talents we have need to be
used and the talents we don't have need to be developed.
Do I have it in me to become great? Am I willing to put my work in?
Nothing good/beautiful/worthwhile in this life comes without work.
We were also able to hear some death testimonies. And one of the
senior couples said something I really liked. "Heavenly Father is the
one doing the hard work. He does all the heavy lifting. He is the one
who changes hearts." It was a good reminder for when we feel like the
work is hard. Because really, the hardness for us is nothing compared
to what it is for him.
Then Sorella Waddoups and President Waddoups did their last training
together... And we made bracelets. You can probably guess that Sorella
Waddoups came up with that idea. She told us this story of these
Taiwanese monks who wore these bracelets with wooden beads. They were
called blessing bracelets and for each bead we are supposed to name a
blessing, and the idea was that the bracelet doesn't have an end, so
the blessings just never end. She said that the bracelet can be
blessings and also circumstances that we have in our lives. And it is
up to us how to use our beads, the beads we don't necessarily want and
the beads that we choose. We need to make our bracelets beautiful.
Then we had to say goodbye to the Waddoups. The mission is going to be
so weird without them. But I'm so grateful for their service and for
all the things I've learned from them. I'm also excited to meet the
Pickerds. We are going to Bari at the end of June to meet them! It
will be fun to go to Bari!
On Wednesday morning, we had the lovely chore of renewing my permesso.
I felt like it was the first time I had to do it because the first
time, Sorella Defranchi handled everything for me, so I didn't really
pay attention to all of the different steps. But I know that Heavenly
Father blesses his missionaries when we are following the laws of the
country. And everything went smoothly. The people we needed help from
were really patient and kind and that includes the post office
workers. The guy who helped us there is actually related to one of our
less active members here and to a professor at BYU. He knew exactly
what we needed when we walked up to the window.
It has been really humid this week, and really hot. And I'm not
looking forward to July and August because it is supposedly worse and
I'm dying now. But I'm just drinking lots of water and taking cold
showers because that is the only way to survive.
We take the buses most places here, but we still get to walk a lot.
The buses are surprisingly reliable here, but we have had the
opportunity to run after them this week. We'll see one coming down the
street and take off running and the bus driver usually slows down when
he sees us running. And then they kindly stop once we get to the stop.
I think they like seeing us run. Oh well, it is good exercise and I'm
already sweating like a pig. So no harm done.
On Thursday, we went to have lunch with a Samoan less active here
named Fia. You can tell she is from the islands the second you walk in
to her house with the turtle shells on the wall and all of the beads.
She fed us fish... And I was just thinking how God has a sense of
humor for sending me down here to Taranto in the summer when everyone
eats it. I just don't understand the appeal to picking bones out of
your teeth. It is gross.
The YSA here or (GANS) is putting on a musical at the end of the
month. They are doing the Prince of Egypt. And Sorella Hess and I were
volunteered to sing a song together. We have to sing "there can be
miracles" or in Italian (vedrai miracoli, se crederai). These are the
things that I didn't know I signed up for when I came on a mission.
😂haha...
On Wednesday night, we noticed that this bucket we have on our balcony
was full from water that comes from our air conditioner. So, we threw
it over the balcony making sure that it went straight to the ground
without hitting our neighbors balconies, but after we did it, one of
our neighbors came up and was a little mad at us. We decided the next
time, we would take it inside to dump it. But the next morning when we
woke up, it was full again to the brim. So to avoid it splashing all
over, we dumped out like not even a 1/4 inch of water over the
balcony, and 10 secs later, the neighbors were all mad at us again
even after we explained what happened. I just don't understand. Water
doesn't hurt anyone and we didn't even affect you. It drops from our
balcony to the ground where no one lives. We're going to make brownies
this week and apologize to them. Italy just needs to make normal
cooling systems, but I'm grateful for what we have.
Another day this week, we went to see this old lady named Sorella
Parabita. She is sick and can't come to church, but she listens to
conference talks everyday. We go and visit her to keep her company and
she also has a less active daughter. This time, she was telling us how
she can't read anymore. So we read a chapter from the Book of Mormon
to her and you could tell how much she loves the stories. The Book of
Mormon is such a powerful book, and I'm so grateful to see how it
affects people's testimonies.
This week, I was also able to meet investigators and put some faces to
names. We teach some really cute people here. And I'm excited to see
how the gospel will change and bless their lives.
Another day, these ragazzacci (punk teenagers) were on the bus with
us. They were sitting in the back and we were in the last row. But
this guy started playing with a lighter and was trying to burn the
girls he was sitting with and he caught the seat and window slightly
on fire. It went out immediately because of the breeze, but it was a
bit scary. I could just see the scene from Footloose happening in real
life. This literally happened right after we were talking about how we
just love all the people in Italy and how we can see that they are all
children of God. Nice, huh?
On Saturday, we went out to see this contact that the anziani gave us
awhile ago, who we finally got in contact with. We got lost looking
for her house, but we finally found it. She's really cute. She's 73
and her husband died in October and she is a bit lonely. She didn't
really listen to our message all that great, but she said she would
read the Book of Mormon and she prayed and she set up the return
appointment herself. Needless to say we almost kind of got kidnapped
because she tried to get us to stay all night, sleep at her house with
her, and then go to church in the morning and come back for pranzo.
But when we went back on Sunday for pranzo, she kind of jokingly (I
hope) said that the next time we come, she's locking the gate so we
can't leave. But we can't drop her because she is progressing and she
did read. So, we'll see where it goes. We were rescued yesterday by
the senior couple, but she is really sweet. And doesn't mean any harm.
She's just really lonely. Also, she poured coffee over the gelato
yesterday and refroze it, but I didn't know it was real coffee until
halfway through. Ahh.
I also was able to meet Elena. She is one of our investigators. And
she is so smart. The only problem with that is that she believes
Joseph Smith was a prophet, but because of logic. She explained it all
to me using physics. Needless to say, my head was spinning after our
lesson with her. She doesn't understand the priesthood or the apostasy
so it is hard for her to understand why the church is the only true
church on the face of the earth. But she comes to church every Sunday,
totally agreed with the word of wisdom, reads the Book of Mormon,
prays (not correctly) but she is really sweet. Just too smart. And
talks too much. But I do love her already. She's cute.
Yesterday, as I was reading Alma 46 I think... I read the verse about
the title of liberty and I was thinking about how the things listed,
our God, our religion, our wives, our liberty, our children are the
things our priorities should be based on. If we are spending a
majority of our time on one of the things that isn't listed, we
probably shouldn't be doing it. It is so important that we have good
priorities and we choose to do wise things with our time.
Hope you all had and will have a wonderful week. I'm ready for another
week of serving the Lord here in the beautiful country of Italy. Love
you all!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
We had a good week here in Taranto. It felt like one of the longest
weeks of my life, but looking back on it... It's because so many
things happened!
On Monday night, we had all the other sisters from the zone in Taranto
and so we planned to do a gesso. We have all the supplies and we pick
our location and we get a solid 15 minutes in when rain begins to pour
out of the heavens. It is kind of hard to draw with chalk when it is
raining, plus we weren't prepared for it.. So we hid under the awning
of one of the buildings until it stopped. Then we continued to do
finding with English course cards down the center of the Main Street.
It was fun to do a little bonding with the other sisters in the rain.
On Tuesday, we had Specialized training or the shorter version of zone
conference. The zone leaders and sister training leader did a training
(addestramento) with an analogy to football. Here are some of my
notes. :)
We are on the football team of the Lord. Pres. Waddoups is our coach.
He has rules, guidelines, and standards. When the coach changes, these
change, but if we want to play, we'll accept the changes. We all have
an assignment to do that is fit just for us and our talents. We all
need to do our job and work together. One superstar doesn't make a
good team.
The linemen are the members. They protect us from the enemy, and as
missionaries we need to have a strong relationship with them.
The quarterback represents our leaders or the quality of leadership.
We are all leaders and we need to do everything with a bounce in our
step. When we teach, we teach with power, and when we study, we study
with a purpose.
The running back represents diligence. We need to put forward a
continuous effort to push forward even if it seems we aren't getting
as far as we would like. Every small step forward is a step closer to
winning the prize.
And the wide receiver represents boldness. Sometimes we need to
sacrifice our pride to be bold. We need to go for the ball and not
wait for it to come to us. We need to be fearless and push ourselves
out of the way to get the touchdown. The talents we have need to be
used and the talents we don't have need to be developed.
Do I have it in me to become great? Am I willing to put my work in?
Nothing good/beautiful/worthwhile in this life comes without work.
We were also able to hear some death testimonies. And one of the
senior couples said something I really liked. "Heavenly Father is the
one doing the hard work. He does all the heavy lifting. He is the one
who changes hearts." It was a good reminder for when we feel like the
work is hard. Because really, the hardness for us is nothing compared
to what it is for him.
Then Sorella Waddoups and President Waddoups did their last training
together... And we made bracelets. You can probably guess that Sorella
Waddoups came up with that idea. She told us this story of these
Taiwanese monks who wore these bracelets with wooden beads. They were
called blessing bracelets and for each bead we are supposed to name a
blessing, and the idea was that the bracelet doesn't have an end, so
the blessings just never end. She said that the bracelet can be
blessings and also circumstances that we have in our lives. And it is
up to us how to use our beads, the beads we don't necessarily want and
the beads that we choose. We need to make our bracelets beautiful.
Then we had to say goodbye to the Waddoups. The mission is going to be
so weird without them. But I'm so grateful for their service and for
all the things I've learned from them. I'm also excited to meet the
Pickerds. We are going to Bari at the end of June to meet them! It
will be fun to go to Bari!
On Wednesday morning, we had the lovely chore of renewing my permesso.
I felt like it was the first time I had to do it because the first
time, Sorella Defranchi handled everything for me, so I didn't really
pay attention to all of the different steps. But I know that Heavenly
Father blesses his missionaries when we are following the laws of the
country. And everything went smoothly. The people we needed help from
were really patient and kind and that includes the post office
workers. The guy who helped us there is actually related to one of our
less active members here and to a professor at BYU. He knew exactly
what we needed when we walked up to the window.
It has been really humid this week, and really hot. And I'm not
looking forward to July and August because it is supposedly worse and
I'm dying now. But I'm just drinking lots of water and taking cold
showers because that is the only way to survive.
We take the buses most places here, but we still get to walk a lot.
The buses are surprisingly reliable here, but we have had the
opportunity to run after them this week. We'll see one coming down the
street and take off running and the bus driver usually slows down when
he sees us running. And then they kindly stop once we get to the stop.
I think they like seeing us run. Oh well, it is good exercise and I'm
already sweating like a pig. So no harm done.
On Thursday, we went to have lunch with a Samoan less active here
named Fia. You can tell she is from the islands the second you walk in
to her house with the turtle shells on the wall and all of the beads.
She fed us fish... And I was just thinking how God has a sense of
humor for sending me down here to Taranto in the summer when everyone
eats it. I just don't understand the appeal to picking bones out of
your teeth. It is gross.
The YSA here or (GANS) is putting on a musical at the end of the
month. They are doing the Prince of Egypt. And Sorella Hess and I were
volunteered to sing a song together. We have to sing "there can be
miracles" or in Italian (vedrai miracoli, se crederai). These are the
things that I didn't know I signed up for when I came on a mission.
😂haha...
On Wednesday night, we noticed that this bucket we have on our balcony
was full from water that comes from our air conditioner. So, we threw
it over the balcony making sure that it went straight to the ground
without hitting our neighbors balconies, but after we did it, one of
our neighbors came up and was a little mad at us. We decided the next
time, we would take it inside to dump it. But the next morning when we
woke up, it was full again to the brim. So to avoid it splashing all
over, we dumped out like not even a 1/4 inch of water over the
balcony, and 10 secs later, the neighbors were all mad at us again
even after we explained what happened. I just don't understand. Water
doesn't hurt anyone and we didn't even affect you. It drops from our
balcony to the ground where no one lives. We're going to make brownies
this week and apologize to them. Italy just needs to make normal
cooling systems, but I'm grateful for what we have.
Another day this week, we went to see this old lady named Sorella
Parabita. She is sick and can't come to church, but she listens to
conference talks everyday. We go and visit her to keep her company and
she also has a less active daughter. This time, she was telling us how
she can't read anymore. So we read a chapter from the Book of Mormon
to her and you could tell how much she loves the stories. The Book of
Mormon is such a powerful book, and I'm so grateful to see how it
affects people's testimonies.
This week, I was also able to meet investigators and put some faces to
names. We teach some really cute people here. And I'm excited to see
how the gospel will change and bless their lives.
Another day, these ragazzacci (punk teenagers) were on the bus with
us. They were sitting in the back and we were in the last row. But
this guy started playing with a lighter and was trying to burn the
girls he was sitting with and he caught the seat and window slightly
on fire. It went out immediately because of the breeze, but it was a
bit scary. I could just see the scene from Footloose happening in real
life. This literally happened right after we were talking about how we
just love all the people in Italy and how we can see that they are all
children of God. Nice, huh?
On Saturday, we went out to see this contact that the anziani gave us
awhile ago, who we finally got in contact with. We got lost looking
for her house, but we finally found it. She's really cute. She's 73
and her husband died in October and she is a bit lonely. She didn't
really listen to our message all that great, but she said she would
read the Book of Mormon and she prayed and she set up the return
appointment herself. Needless to say we almost kind of got kidnapped
because she tried to get us to stay all night, sleep at her house with
her, and then go to church in the morning and come back for pranzo.
But when we went back on Sunday for pranzo, she kind of jokingly (I
hope) said that the next time we come, she's locking the gate so we
can't leave. But we can't drop her because she is progressing and she
did read. So, we'll see where it goes. We were rescued yesterday by
the senior couple, but she is really sweet. And doesn't mean any harm.
She's just really lonely. Also, she poured coffee over the gelato
yesterday and refroze it, but I didn't know it was real coffee until
halfway through. Ahh.
I also was able to meet Elena. She is one of our investigators. And
she is so smart. The only problem with that is that she believes
Joseph Smith was a prophet, but because of logic. She explained it all
to me using physics. Needless to say, my head was spinning after our
lesson with her. She doesn't understand the priesthood or the apostasy
so it is hard for her to understand why the church is the only true
church on the face of the earth. But she comes to church every Sunday,
totally agreed with the word of wisdom, reads the Book of Mormon,
prays (not correctly) but she is really sweet. Just too smart. And
talks too much. But I do love her already. She's cute.
Yesterday, as I was reading Alma 46 I think... I read the verse about
the title of liberty and I was thinking about how the things listed,
our God, our religion, our wives, our liberty, our children are the
things our priorities should be based on. If we are spending a
majority of our time on one of the things that isn't listed, we
probably shouldn't be doing it. It is so important that we have good
priorities and we choose to do wise things with our time.
Hope you all had and will have a wonderful week. I'm ready for another
week of serving the Lord here in the beautiful country of Italy. Love
you all!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
Monday, June 6, 2016
Week 54: new city, train ride, transfers, weddings, and southern hospitality
Hello family and friends:
Here I am in the beautiful city of Taranto... Well, most people say
the ugly city.. But I think it is quaint. This last week was a bit
crazy with transfers and saying goodbye to everyone in Ladispoli, but
this city transfer was a lot easier than my last one.
On Monday night, we went to see Sorella Silva. Just a few weeks before
I arrived in Ladispoli, she wanted nothing to do with us as sister
missionaries, but by the time I left she loved us and invited us over
twice in 5 days. She is just one of my favorite people. I always loved
going to see her and the spirit is always so strong. We shared how we
all have potential as children of God and we all receive privileges,
but how we can also have more privileges and more blessings when we
follow his commandments and serve him. We shouldn't cut ourselves
short. We all have the potential to be gods and goddesses one day.
What are we going to do with it?
Tuesday we had district meeting in Rome. We rode the train out there
and a little before we were going to get off the train to switch to
the metro, the anziani called us to say that the metro was closed
because of a strike. It was like an organized strike that ended at
12:30, so we took a bus from the main train station up to the church.
An organized strike doesn't really make sense to me, but whatever
floats your boat. I guess public transportation strikes work well here
since everyone uses the metro to get around.
On Tuesday, we also had a lesson with Enriqueta and Elena. We were
running around like crazy on Tuesday seeing everyone so we packed sack
lunches, but it was a successful day. Elena said that she learns
something from every missionary that comes to Ladispoli. I feel like I
got really close to the less actives in this city and it was hard to
leave. But hopefully they will be able to remember the spirit they
felt and come back to church one day.
Dayana. It was so hard to say goodbye. I just love her so much, and
she has been the sunshine in my life since I came to Ladispoli. She
just welcomed me with open arms and made me feel loved. We already
have plans to talk after the mission about all the books I read
including the ones by the Brontë sisters. She is funny, quirky, and
cute and she has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. I'm so glad
that she was able to bless my life.
It is now June. I can't believe it is already a new month. I really do
say this every time the month changes. Time really does fly when
you're working hard and having fun. Happy summer to everybody! Haha..
Wednesday afternoon, I finished packing and finished stuffing
everything into my suitcases. And in case anybody was worried, it all
fit. And without the expander on my bags. Miracles! We left with my
bags to say goodbye to Sorella Van Zwet. Haha... 2 American girls
hauling 3 heavy suitcases along the beach front and all anybody did
was stare at us. Nobody offered to help us even if they had open
hands. Needless to say Sorella Van Zwet thought we were crazy to take
all my suitcases to her house, but we didn't have time to run to the
church first.
We left Wednesday night to go to Rome because my train left at 6:26 in
the morning on Thursday. But there were so many tender mercies that
happened that night to make sure we got to Rome safely with all my
stuff in one piece. We had to get 3 heavy bags on/off trains, metros,
buses and up/down escalators in skirts. Add in a creepy man and some
rain, and we were just really grateful to arrive. Tender mercy #1, we
remembered to buy train tickets. #2, the anziani helped us take our
stuff to the station, #3, we chased away a creepy man who followed us
on the metro, #4, the anziani of Rome 6 were on the bus we had to take
to the Rome 6 apartment. For dinner that night, we went up to the
senior couples house to make sandwiches. And.... They had cheddar
cheese. Who knew that was something you could miss so much?
Thursday was interesting. They made me travel by myself. So what did I
do after not being alone for a year of my life and then being alone
for 7+ hours? I went crazy! I kept singing the song "all by myself".
Haha.. But it was nice because the people who were sitting next to me
all got off at Napoli and then I could spread out. By the time the
train arrived in Taranto, I was the only one in the entire car, so I
was really alone. I was just praying that someone would be there to
pick me up when I got here.
As much as I've seen of Taranto, it is cute so far. Some of the first
things Sorella Hess told me as well as the senior couple was:
Don't drink the water.
Don't look in parked cars especially by the church because you might
see something you don't want to see.
And Taranto has some really ugly buildings. Sorella Hess says it is
the place where all of the architects practice their crazy designs and
they ended up not working. Haha.. But our apartment here is nice and
it is a literal 2 minute walk to the church. It has 2 bathrooms again,
so I just keep lucking out in that aspect. It also has an air
conditioner which is heavenly. Heavenly Father answered my prayer. It
is just different because all our furniture is in the room with the
air conditioner, so it acts as a bedroom, living room, and study room.
And we don't really use the rest of the house, haha..
Sorella Hess is so cute. She is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. She is the
oldest of 5 siblings, and we have quite a bit in common. She graduated
in 2015 and went to BYU for 2 semesters, and we always have something
to talk about. She is a really great missionary and always
participates in lessons and seems way more on the ball than I was
fresh out of my greenie stages. She also thinks I look like Shaylene
Woodley.
My first night here, we saw a snake outside of the church.
We have the cutest senior couple here, the Lahadearne's... Their
daughter Sabrina is here after just graduating from BYU Idaho, and
they have already done so much for us... Like rescuing us last night
when a bus never came to take us home to Taranto. The first thing that
Sorella Lahadearne said to me was that I look like a mermaid. Probably
just because of the braid in my hair and my pencil skirt. Haha.. They
are from Montana and Anziano Lahadearne served his mission here and
met his wife who is actually from Taranto.
Saturday morning, there was a beautiful wedding in the church for a
couple from the ward. I'm so glad that we don't have to do a civil
ceremony and then the sealing in the temple in America. It's like
planning two separate weddings and that seems like a lot of work.
We also went to see this teenage girl, Tanya, who is from Sri Lanka.
She joined the church 2 years ago, and she speaks fluent English and
Italian. She's really cute and is the best member missionary ever. She
introduced us to her first floor neighbors and we ended up teaching
them the restoration and having 2 new investigators on the first
lesson Sorella Hess and I taught together. How cool is that? Tanya
also shared the Joseph Smith story to this family like a seasoned
missionary. She did so well. :)
The reason why I love the south is because everybody wants to give you
food. And food is good especially here in Italy. It is pretty much
southern hospitality but the Italian version. At least I'll be down
here in the summer where I sweat so much and walk a lot. I'm already
hoping my metabolism will be able to keep up, because the food has
just begun. Supposedly we have like 3 meal appointments a week.
Sunday evening, we went to Talsano which is a small town outside of
Taranto. Some of our investigators live out there, so we went to see
them. Alessia is like 17 and lives at the school she goes to, so she's
only ever home on the weekends. We were able to have a really great
lesson with them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Alessia straight up
said that she didn't like my shirt, but she said my eyes were pretty.
Haha.. They were also both enthralled by our hair color. Hopefully we
can help them understand the importance of coming to church and being
baptized. The mom has had a baptism date a few times, but never comes
to church.
Then we found the house of an inactive member, but only her non member
daughter was home. Which was fine until she told us that she doesn't
need Jesus Christ in her life and how she doesn't worry about the life
to come because she's a good person. She was really sweet, but this
was all after she politely watched the video we showed her. Haha.. It
just made it a bit awkward. But we can't be shy about bearing our
testimonies and it is the person's decision to accept it or not. We
did our part.
On Sunday, we had a broadcasted Stake conference for all of the stakes
in Western Europe. It was a bit odd hearing voices from Ladispoli
translating the conference though. It was good. A lot of the talks
talked about living the gospel and being ready to go to the temple.
All things that members here in Europe need. :)
I've been able to meet a few of the members here and they are so solid
in this city. I am excited to work with them. The bishop is like 31
years old, so he is super young. But Taranto reminds me a lot of
Catania. The size of the city, the ward, everything. Plus it is in the
south, and the accent is easier for me to understand down here.
Well, I love you all! Have a wonderful week! :)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
Here I am in the beautiful city of Taranto... Well, most people say
the ugly city.. But I think it is quaint. This last week was a bit
crazy with transfers and saying goodbye to everyone in Ladispoli, but
this city transfer was a lot easier than my last one.
On Monday night, we went to see Sorella Silva. Just a few weeks before
I arrived in Ladispoli, she wanted nothing to do with us as sister
missionaries, but by the time I left she loved us and invited us over
twice in 5 days. She is just one of my favorite people. I always loved
going to see her and the spirit is always so strong. We shared how we
all have potential as children of God and we all receive privileges,
but how we can also have more privileges and more blessings when we
follow his commandments and serve him. We shouldn't cut ourselves
short. We all have the potential to be gods and goddesses one day.
What are we going to do with it?
Tuesday we had district meeting in Rome. We rode the train out there
and a little before we were going to get off the train to switch to
the metro, the anziani called us to say that the metro was closed
because of a strike. It was like an organized strike that ended at
12:30, so we took a bus from the main train station up to the church.
An organized strike doesn't really make sense to me, but whatever
floats your boat. I guess public transportation strikes work well here
since everyone uses the metro to get around.
On Tuesday, we also had a lesson with Enriqueta and Elena. We were
running around like crazy on Tuesday seeing everyone so we packed sack
lunches, but it was a successful day. Elena said that she learns
something from every missionary that comes to Ladispoli. I feel like I
got really close to the less actives in this city and it was hard to
leave. But hopefully they will be able to remember the spirit they
felt and come back to church one day.
Dayana. It was so hard to say goodbye. I just love her so much, and
she has been the sunshine in my life since I came to Ladispoli. She
just welcomed me with open arms and made me feel loved. We already
have plans to talk after the mission about all the books I read
including the ones by the Brontë sisters. She is funny, quirky, and
cute and she has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. I'm so glad
that she was able to bless my life.
It is now June. I can't believe it is already a new month. I really do
say this every time the month changes. Time really does fly when
you're working hard and having fun. Happy summer to everybody! Haha..
Wednesday afternoon, I finished packing and finished stuffing
everything into my suitcases. And in case anybody was worried, it all
fit. And without the expander on my bags. Miracles! We left with my
bags to say goodbye to Sorella Van Zwet. Haha... 2 American girls
hauling 3 heavy suitcases along the beach front and all anybody did
was stare at us. Nobody offered to help us even if they had open
hands. Needless to say Sorella Van Zwet thought we were crazy to take
all my suitcases to her house, but we didn't have time to run to the
church first.
We left Wednesday night to go to Rome because my train left at 6:26 in
the morning on Thursday. But there were so many tender mercies that
happened that night to make sure we got to Rome safely with all my
stuff in one piece. We had to get 3 heavy bags on/off trains, metros,
buses and up/down escalators in skirts. Add in a creepy man and some
rain, and we were just really grateful to arrive. Tender mercy #1, we
remembered to buy train tickets. #2, the anziani helped us take our
stuff to the station, #3, we chased away a creepy man who followed us
on the metro, #4, the anziani of Rome 6 were on the bus we had to take
to the Rome 6 apartment. For dinner that night, we went up to the
senior couples house to make sandwiches. And.... They had cheddar
cheese. Who knew that was something you could miss so much?
Thursday was interesting. They made me travel by myself. So what did I
do after not being alone for a year of my life and then being alone
for 7+ hours? I went crazy! I kept singing the song "all by myself".
Haha.. But it was nice because the people who were sitting next to me
all got off at Napoli and then I could spread out. By the time the
train arrived in Taranto, I was the only one in the entire car, so I
was really alone. I was just praying that someone would be there to
pick me up when I got here.
As much as I've seen of Taranto, it is cute so far. Some of the first
things Sorella Hess told me as well as the senior couple was:
Don't drink the water.
Don't look in parked cars especially by the church because you might
see something you don't want to see.
And Taranto has some really ugly buildings. Sorella Hess says it is
the place where all of the architects practice their crazy designs and
they ended up not working. Haha.. But our apartment here is nice and
it is a literal 2 minute walk to the church. It has 2 bathrooms again,
so I just keep lucking out in that aspect. It also has an air
conditioner which is heavenly. Heavenly Father answered my prayer. It
is just different because all our furniture is in the room with the
air conditioner, so it acts as a bedroom, living room, and study room.
And we don't really use the rest of the house, haha..
Sorella Hess is so cute. She is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. She is the
oldest of 5 siblings, and we have quite a bit in common. She graduated
in 2015 and went to BYU for 2 semesters, and we always have something
to talk about. She is a really great missionary and always
participates in lessons and seems way more on the ball than I was
fresh out of my greenie stages. She also thinks I look like Shaylene
Woodley.
My first night here, we saw a snake outside of the church.
We have the cutest senior couple here, the Lahadearne's... Their
daughter Sabrina is here after just graduating from BYU Idaho, and
they have already done so much for us... Like rescuing us last night
when a bus never came to take us home to Taranto. The first thing that
Sorella Lahadearne said to me was that I look like a mermaid. Probably
just because of the braid in my hair and my pencil skirt. Haha.. They
are from Montana and Anziano Lahadearne served his mission here and
met his wife who is actually from Taranto.
Saturday morning, there was a beautiful wedding in the church for a
couple from the ward. I'm so glad that we don't have to do a civil
ceremony and then the sealing in the temple in America. It's like
planning two separate weddings and that seems like a lot of work.
We also went to see this teenage girl, Tanya, who is from Sri Lanka.
She joined the church 2 years ago, and she speaks fluent English and
Italian. She's really cute and is the best member missionary ever. She
introduced us to her first floor neighbors and we ended up teaching
them the restoration and having 2 new investigators on the first
lesson Sorella Hess and I taught together. How cool is that? Tanya
also shared the Joseph Smith story to this family like a seasoned
missionary. She did so well. :)
The reason why I love the south is because everybody wants to give you
food. And food is good especially here in Italy. It is pretty much
southern hospitality but the Italian version. At least I'll be down
here in the summer where I sweat so much and walk a lot. I'm already
hoping my metabolism will be able to keep up, because the food has
just begun. Supposedly we have like 3 meal appointments a week.
Sunday evening, we went to Talsano which is a small town outside of
Taranto. Some of our investigators live out there, so we went to see
them. Alessia is like 17 and lives at the school she goes to, so she's
only ever home on the weekends. We were able to have a really great
lesson with them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Alessia straight up
said that she didn't like my shirt, but she said my eyes were pretty.
Haha.. They were also both enthralled by our hair color. Hopefully we
can help them understand the importance of coming to church and being
baptized. The mom has had a baptism date a few times, but never comes
to church.
Then we found the house of an inactive member, but only her non member
daughter was home. Which was fine until she told us that she doesn't
need Jesus Christ in her life and how she doesn't worry about the life
to come because she's a good person. She was really sweet, but this
was all after she politely watched the video we showed her. Haha.. It
just made it a bit awkward. But we can't be shy about bearing our
testimonies and it is the person's decision to accept it or not. We
did our part.
On Sunday, we had a broadcasted Stake conference for all of the stakes
in Western Europe. It was a bit odd hearing voices from Ladispoli
translating the conference though. It was good. A lot of the talks
talked about living the gospel and being ready to go to the temple.
All things that members here in Europe need. :)
I've been able to meet a few of the members here and they are so solid
in this city. I am excited to work with them. The bishop is like 31
years old, so he is super young. But Taranto reminds me a lot of
Catania. The size of the city, the ward, everything. Plus it is in the
south, and the accent is easier for me to understand down here.
Well, I love you all! Have a wonderful week! :)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
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