Dear family and friends:
This week, I hit a year of living in Italy. I never thought I'd be
lucky enough to live in a beautiful country like this one. It really
is crazy how time flies! But as always, this week had its ups and
downs and I decided the mission is kind of like riding a roller
coaster with your eyes closed, or basically space mountain. And
everybody in my family knows that space mountain is NOT my favorite
ride at Disneyland. You never know when you are going to drop a
million feet and you never know when things are going to start going
up. You just have to be prepared for anything.
On Monday, we went over to the Lahaderne's and they had prepared for a
huge Fourth of July barbecue/festa with games and activities like
water balloons, and a video scavenger hunt, and a lot of good food.
Stuff like hamburgers and hotdogs and chicken wings and potato salad
and jello salad...things I haven't eaten in a long time. It was so
much fun! Plus the water balloons were well needed in the heat.
Sorella Hess got me real good and I wasn't even mad.
That night, our streak continued that started last Friday. The streak
of nobody answering our phone calls or their doors. Monday night, we
tried to see some less actives, and since they weren't home, we did
some English course finding and finally went home to work on updating
the ward list.
Tuesday, we had district meeting. We talked about teaching people and
not lessons. We did a kind of role play, but it was actually a real
lesson. We were supposed to teach one of the missionary lessons to
someone who already knows all the doctrine meaning our comp was acting
as themselves. It was actually really challenging and made you think
of how you can make it applicable in their lives without repeating the
known information again and again. We also did transfer predictions
and everyone thought Sorella Hess was leaving and I was getting a
greenie.
We left the house after lunch and language study and we were ready to
conquer the day, but at 5:00... We felt like we were the ones who were
conquered. Not exactly a good way to feel 2 hours before English
course started. But, we found an address for a less active and we were
able to contact a member to ask if she could come to a lesson we had
scheduled for Wednesday and she said yes.
When we got to English course, we talked with a woman who had cried in
the last English course spiritual thought. She actually asked us a
question first. "What are you referring to when you talk about
scriptures?" So, we were able to tell her that we read both the bible
and the Book of Mormon and how we would love to explain to her more
about the Book of Mormon after corso. She had to leave right after,
but we set up an appointment on Thursday. And she came! It was a
really great short lesson. I think we taught the restoration in 20
minutes, and she said she would read it. We set up a return
appointment for Tuesday and we are excited. Her name is Iole.
But back to Wednesday, we were back up to our eyeballs with
frustration. Everyone we tried to visit was either too busy or not
home. We were able to visit 2 older less active ladies. They were
really nice, but we spent 2 hours with one who couldn't stop talking
about all the people who once offended her in church. I don't think we
got 5 words in. But we were glad they let us in and that we could
share a short... Very short... message about Christ with them. While
we were in that lesson, Cristina called and cancelled her lesson
because of a storm which meant we had to cancel on the member and she
wasn't able to come the next day. When we told her, she was so sad and
told us that she had already mentally prepared for the lesson and was
ready to leave her house. So frustrating!
Thursday, we weren't told that they cancelled correlation... And then
we waited at a bus stop to go out to bishop's house for lunch... But
two busses passed and when we stuck our arm out for it to stop, the
driver just shook his head and kept driving. We could not figure out
for the life of us why... At this point... After 7 days of feeling
like we weren't doing anything, all we could do was laugh because of
how pathetic it was. And if we didn't laugh, we would have started
crying. Not to mention in all these days, we had gotten so many cat
calls and whistles and car horns from creepy men even though we were
nothing but a puddle of sweat. But we walked up the street a mile to
the other bus stop and finally caught one there. Meno male!
But after the drought... There was rain, and when it rains, it
pours... At least for 2 days. Thursday and Friday were so great. We
had a great lunch appointment with vescovo. Their house literally
looks like it is out of a magazine. Plus his wife didn't make us any
hot food because in this weather, it is hardly appetizing.
Then we had a wonderful lesson with Cristina about the plan of
salvation and we had Sorella Lahaderne come to that. It was a great
lesson and I'm so glad Sorella Lahaderne was there to answer the
questions that I could have answered but not as clearly. She was
awesome, and Cristina just continues to progress. She is amazing! We
also had the lesson with Iole, so Thursday was a really great day
after the whole bus episode.
Friday, we called a member to see if we could come see her. And 1) she
answered the phone and 2) she was available. Anyone who does that
becomes my favorite person for the day. Haha.. Her less active
granddaughter actually moved back in with her after living up north.
Her name is Debora(h) and she was so cute. She loved seeing sister
missionaries again. We shared the Mormon message courage and we talked
about how sometimes our plan isn't the same as the Lord's, but we have
to continue to go forward and accept his plan even if it takes
courage. We are excited to continue visiting her.
Saturday, we got transfer calls! And everyone predicted right! Sorella
Hess is headed off to Caserta. And I'm staying in Taranto with a
greenie. It is slightly weird not knowing who my companion is going to
be. But I'm excited, and I'm also excited to have more normal
circumstances when I train this time. Transfers this time are crazy
though. President Pickerd talked to us about how we need to accept
change and change isn't always a bad thing at his meet the president
conference. And now we understand. 72/75 companionships are changing
this transfer and there are blow ins and blow outs like crazy.
Saturday, we did weekly planning in the morning and had a hard time
concentrating because of transfer calls. We were the first call
Sorella Pickerd made so it was nice to know early, but then we
couldn't concentrate. We also walked 6.2 miles and nobody was home.
Saturday's though....
Sunday, we ate lunch with a member family. It was only the mom and her
two little girls, both who are the cutest things ever. She made us
lasagna, sausage, salad, and brownies. We talked about missions and
looked at her mission pictures. She served in temple square and so our
conversation switched back and forth from English to Italian halfway
through sentences. It was a fun meal.
I read Helaman 8 this week for personal study, and it was an answer to
a prayer. Unlike the people who became angry at Nephi for preaching
hard things to them, we should be finding joy in Christ. Then I read a
talk by Henry B. Eyring and it talked about how we come unto him when
we serve him, and he draws near unto us when we draw near unto him.
That is one of my favorite scriptures as of late. The mission is
crazy. Sometimes it is hard to really feel like he is there or that
you are doing anything when all your plans fall through, but I know he
is there and that he still loves me, and that I am doing something. I
know that as I draw near unto him by doing my best in the things I
have control over, he will be there for me. It may not be easy, but it
will be worth it.
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
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