Cara famiglia e cari amici,
Hello! How are you all doing? This week started out crazy and got even
crazier as we went, but my greenie has arrived and I will tell you all
more a little bit about her later on.
On Monday night, we had planned to do a family home evening with Tanya
and her family, but her family left shortly after we got there, so we
ended up reading Mosiah 2 with Tanya. It went really great, and I also
feel like I learn more from her than she learns from us. She is truly
amazing, and will be such a great missionary someday.
Tuesday, we were out all day. We left at 10 to go to district meeting
and then didn't come home until after English course. We were a bit
tired, but we were busy doing good things. We went out to district
lunch after our meeting and taking pictures, and it was like pulling
teeth to make them go with us. How hard is it to eat a pizza? They
finally came, and I thought we had a good time. :)
Then we rode a bus out to see Fia, our Samoan less active. We had
called that morning to confirm and she said we could come. But when we
arrived in Lama, she wasn't home. So we were stranded in this small
little city for an hour before our next appointment where nobody was
out because it was still pranzo or they were all at the beach. So we
went to the beach to do language study. And we were able to tan our
knees (mine are white because they never see the sun) and we also
sweated like pigs while we watched everyone else swim. It looked so
nice out there!
Then we went to see the Delle Foglie's. We had a nice little
visit/lesson with them and then we booked it to the bus stop because
the bus was supposed to pass at 5:30. At 5:45, the bus still hadn't
come and we were slightly worried because we had an appointment at
6:15 with Iole before English course started... So we said a prayer.
And God answered it. I told Sorella Hess that if the bus didn't come
before 5:50, we would need to call Iole, but at promptly 5:49, the bus
showed up and we arrived at the church right on time. Che miracolo!
Iole, on the other hand completely blew us off our feet when she said
she had read 11 chapters of the Book of Mormon, plus all of the
introduction. We were able to talk about what she read, and what
exactly she wants to get out of meeting with us. We invited her to
church, and right now we need to help her have a desire to know if the
Book of Mormon is true. She told us that she likes to read spiritual
books, but isn't sure that knowing Joseph Smith is a prophet is
important. As long as we can help her feel the spirit when she prays
and reads, then I think she will slowly begin to have a desire.
Tuesday morning, Anziano Toronto, one of the AP's called us and asked
if we would be willing to travel to Bari on Wednesday morning. We
obviously said we would love to, and then he told us the training we
had to be at started at 8 but we would need to be there at 7:30. So if
you do the math that to get to Bari is an hour and a half train
ride... We had to leave Taranto on a train at 5:25 which means we had
to wake up at 3. Haha... So we had a fun little escapade to Bari. We
had a wonderful trainers training that was based on D&C 121 39-46. We
talked about how we should praise in public, and correct in private.
If correction needs to be made, always do it with love. And how we
should make our companionship, a forever friendship. I hope the
comments I made were intelligible. Because looking back now, I don't
even know what I said. 😂 haha...
We got back to Taranto later than we thought, because the trains
didn't come as often as we thought. We went to see Tanya for Sorella
Hess to say goodbye. And then she finished packing and we cleaned the
house up for my greenie. We made a cute banner welcoming her to
Taranto, and I finished mentally preparing myself for her to come.
Then we had a lesson with Cristina. We read the Book of Mormon, and
were able to help her understand the story line better. We don't
really think about it since we've read the Book of Mormon so many
times, but there are so many characters. Then we asked her to pray
about a baptism date. She is so amazing, and said again how much she
wants to be baptized and how she'll do it if that is what God tells
her to do. She also fasted for the first time and we haven't even
taught her about that yet. She has been so prepared!
Thursday morning, we had to drop all the missionaries off at their
specified times at either the train or bus station. Sorella Hess was
the first to leave so I had the privilege of spending the morning with
the Lahaderne's until my greenie arrived. We spent a lot of time
waiting because Sorella Hess left at 8, Anziano Pineau left at 9, and
Anziano Battaglia left at 10. Then we went to the Lahaderne's house to
make pizza rustica which is basically this omelette on top of pizza
crust. And Anziano Lahaderne taught me how to do Italian indexing and
told me all about his family history. Something really cool was that
they couldn't find his grandmother anywhere because she moved from
Italy to America and there wasn't any information on her. But one day
when he typed her name into family search, it popped up because
somebody had indexed it. What a testimony about how important indexing
is!!
There was traffic as we headed back to the station and we thought we
might be late, but we arrived right on time. I had butterflies in my
stomach the whole time because I didn't know who my next companion
would be.
And there she was: Sorella Gochnour with her violin on her back and
only 2 suitcases. She is adorable and is just taking everything with
so much patience and such a good attitude. She is so courageous and
willing to do anything and everything. She took jet lag like a champ
and just kept plowing ahead. And her language is a lot better than
mine was when I was a greenie. She is from Holladay, Utah and she went
to UVU before the mission. She is the second youngest in her family
and pretty much the cutest thing ever. I think we'll have fun
together.
We also have new anziani here in Taranto and they are just taking
everything in stride with so much optimism. One of them is also a
greenie, so the older elder is making a big emphasis on how we are all
a family. Now I have 2 sons and 2 daughters on the mission, so I have
a lot of offspring. Haha... 😂 We've been helping them find their way
around the city and getting to know the ward.. Well I'm mostly helping
with that. None of them can get over the fact that I go home in 4
months, and I am constantly surrounded by them saying how I'm deader
than a door nail. How nice, right? I'm not even trunky and those are
the comments I get.
We also had to go to the post office to start Sorella Gochnour's
permesso process so she can be legal in Italy. We'll have to go to the
questura in a few days to finish that process up.
Training has been interesting for the past few days. I think I forget
how many mission terms have become part of my normal vocabulary until
she asks me what everything means. I have been teaching her everything
I know (how to plan, how to find, all the mission rules, how to speak
Italian, how to get around Taranto, how to teach, how to decorate
planners, how to study...etc...) It can get a bit exhausting, but I'm
also learning so so much from her.
We had a cold weather streak this past weekend. It was a tender mercy
from God if I can simply put it that way. It was almost actually cold,
and I had to get a blanket last night because I got chilly. I think I
will die in the cold weather when I get home because a Nevada/Utah
winter is a lot different from the winter weather here.
It was Mexican week at LiDL which is the grocery store here where we
shop or do our spesa. So, obviously we had to buy taco seasoning and
they actually had salsa. Dreams do come true. I'm just like my mom,
and my college diet is coming back into style. Chips and salsa for
every meal. Haha.. Just kidding.
The new missionaries bore their testimonies in church, and they did so
great! It was like a "proud mama" moment. Haha... And she did so great
fending for herself as I played the piano. I think that will be my new
responsibility now that Sorella Hess isn't here.
After church, we had a 2 hour lesson with Elena, and I really think
she believes it. She just doesn't want to admit that it is the only
true church because she thinks that statement means all other churches
are wrong. She said the most beautiful prayer at the end of the
lesson. She uses physics to explain why she believes what she believes
, but today... She also gave a reason why she could never be a part of
all the other world religions, but then said that she could be Mormon.
She is making so much progress.
We also had some really cool other little tender mercies this week,
like a really nice looking lady who learned English in Germany
stopping us in the grocery store and asking about English course. Or
randomly meeting a less active member on a bus who asks for your copy
of the Book of Mormon. Another mother and son walked all the way
around the church to the other door to ask about English course as
well after our lesson with Elena. Things are happening, and I'm
crediting it all to my spunky greenie. :) haha..
We also had to list 3 things that our companionship does for the zone
leaders this week.. And these were ours.
In our companionship, we:
1. Are exactly obedient
2. Work together to invite souls to Christ
3. Go to bed TIRED.
Well, I love you all! Today for p-day, we went to see this awesome
castle that I've been looking at for my entire 6 weeks here in
Taranto. And it was so COOL! I'm sure we'll have some fun p-days as a
district here for the next 2 transfers. Have a wonderful week and
don't forget that God loves you!
Also, p-day next week will be on Tuesday in order to accommodate for
zone conference.
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
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