Dear family and friends:
Happy Fourth of July! :) We are going to the senior couples house
today to have a barbecue and a party for America. It will be a shorter
email today because this week was only 5 days long. Haha..
But to star off... Wednesday night we went and we learned how to make
Focaccia with the Primary President. And may I just say that it was
probably one of the best nights of my mission? It was so fun and
Sorella D'Amuri is an angel. She had us make the dough by hand so we
would know what the consistency needs to be to make it again. It was
actually quite the workout. Haha.. We learned that the recipe is the
same one they use for everything here in Italy. Less yeast to make
pizza dough, but it is basically the same. So now I'm going to be the
famous young women's leader who can teach everyone how to make real
pizza and real pasta. ;) haha..
She also showed us this gigantic cross stitch she did of Christ. And
it was beautiful. My jaw was on the floor. It was amazing! Haha.. It
took like 4 years for her to do. It is probably one of my new favorite
things.
Thursday morning, we all woke up early and rode a train to Bari! We
were actually authorized to leave our area. :) As we were getting off
the train, I saw so many people I love! And I was so conflicted about
who to hug first. There was Sorella Hunter, and Sorella Embley,
Sorella Ensign, and Sorella Adamson... And plus all the other Sorelle
I haven't met yet. So much love!
President and Sorella Waddoups asked all of the missionaries to pray
to know if President and Sorella Pickerd were called of God to preside
over the mission. I knew that my answer probably wouldn't come until I
met them, but not even 30 seconds after they started talking to us, I
knew. They met us all as companion ships, and they told us they
studied our names and pictures... So we had them guess our names. I
guess I look nothing like my mission picture, but they knew who I was
after I said I was from Nevada. Haha.. They are so awesome! And I'm
excited for all the things that I will be able to learn from them.
When President Pickerd shook my hand, he held it for a good long while
and stared into my soul, or at least that is what it felt like. They
have 3 kids and all of them are accountants. Talk about following
after their dad's footsteps. Sorella Pickerd has a masters in business
administration. Maybe they'll help me figure out if I'm supposed to
study business too. We'll see. :) They both served in the Italy Rome
Mission at the same time although they met after the mission at BYU.
At that time, the mission was only Napoli to a little north of Rome,
so going to Bari or Taranto or Sicily will be a complete new
experience for them. They refer to the mission as The Great Italy Rome
Mission.
They gave a great training at the conference thing we had with them,
and it was really great. He talked about Enoch and talked about how we
need to walk with God. I guess there are like 90 scriptures that talk
about walking with God. He asked us to look them all up and then to
find 10 scriptures that we can use everyday about repentance in the
Book of Mormon. He said his goal is to engrave a testimony of Jesus
Christ on the marrow of our bones. Another thing he said:
"Who did God call upon to be the mother of Israel?
A 90 year old woman. Everyone knows that a 90 year old woman can't have a baby.
Who did God call to be the mother of the son of God?
A virgin. Everyone knows that a virgin can't have a baby.
Who did God call to restore his kingdom to the earth?
A 14 year old boy. Everyone knows that this would be a crazy idea.
Who did God call to serve in the great Italy Rome mission?
He called you. God can fulfill even impossible things. "
-One of the apostles through President Pickerd to us. :) With the
addition at the end.
We rode the train back to Taranto (only 1 hour and 20 minutes) and we
started our scambio. I was with Sorella Roberts, she goes home in a
week, and we had fun talking about how much the mission has changed us
and just how the mission is overall. We had a wonderful lesson with
Cristina and we taught her half the plan of salvation because we
talked a lot. Well, we listened a lot. But it went really well.
Sorella Hess is awesome and pulls her weight in the lessons, but it
was nice not having to worry about responding to every single question
she asked. The next morning, we had the opportunity to do a little
finding, so we talked to some cute people including a native
fisherman. There was also this adorable 5 year old who began talking
to us on the bus. She was so proud that she knew her numbers in
English.
Saturday was about the same as last week. Haha... But maybe worse.
Actually just the same. But we called probably the whole ward and
NOBODY answered. So we made a list of about 15 less actives who all
lived relatively close to each other. And I prayed before we left that
we would be able to find at least one of these people. And guess what?
God answered my prayer in a very exact manner. We found one person. It
was like my test of gratitude for the day since I've been working on
that. One person out of 15. Come to find out later that not only was
everybody at the beach on Saturday, but it was also pay day and there
was also a soccer game between Italy and Germany. Hence why nobody was
home....
Sunday, Cristina came to all 3 hours of church. The bishop and ex
bishop gave her a blessing after sacrament meeting and she had a hard
time concentrating on Sunday school because of how she felt. I love
watching people describe how they feel when they feel the spirit. The
light and sparkle in their eyes is indescribable. :)
We had pranzo with the Mazzolari family on Sunday. And I don't think
I've ever seen so much food. Meno male that they weren't forceful
about us eating everything. The funny thing was when I was putting
Parmesan cheese on my pasta... It was in a container where you spin
the bottom and cheese sprinkles out. Next thing you know, I had pulled
an uncle Kevin with pepper and I had cheese all over my pasta, all
over the table, and all over my skirt and lap. Needless to say I was
the joke of the entire meal. But I took it like a champ and even joked
about my pasta being un po' formaggioso. (A little cheesy)... Haha..
:)
That was my week. Love you all! :)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
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