Dear family and friends:
Well, I love you all! Haha... I don't even know where to begin this
week. So I guess I'll just dive in.
I taught Sorella Gochnour the art of chasing down buses. Haha... On
Monday night, we had to take a bus out to another city and as we were
getting off another bus, it pulled up to the stop on the other side of
the street. So I just take off running for the next stop, and she had
to keep up with me. Haha... Thank goodness there was traffic, and we
made it! A lady said as we got on, "l'avete fatto", or you did it. I'm
sure we made for a grand show for everyone who was on board. And we
did it again later on in the week too.
Monday night, we went to a less active's birthday party and that was
fun. We got there a bit early, but we were able to talk to two of her
friends. As I was telling them a short run down of the restoration and
how we have a living prophet today, one of the ladies told us that she
had "brividi" or chills when I said that. We didn't talk much for the
rest of the night, but we got both of their phone numbers. Hopefully
something will come of that.
This week, one of our goals was to memorize the mission hymn because
I've been here for 14 months and still didn't know it. Yeah I know...
Shameful. But I have it down now. And I love it. I don't think I ever
actually paid attention to the words before, but it is so lovely. I
thought I'd translate my favorite lines and the chorus for you here
because I love it so much.
We declare love as the heavens have revealed
To the humble and sincere, we say it is true
Of him, we testify that he lives and reigns in heaven
To God, we give our life but then we will find it again
Italy is blooming, like it was promised long ago
The saints advance in the work that Paul performed
The discomforts and problems will vanish in the sun
We will have blessings if we look to eternity
Chorus:
With faith, we press forward doing his work
With strength, we bring souls back to the Lord
Great is the priesthood that will save the world
Faithful to the mission, we serve him with honor
That isn't all of it... It is also so much prettier and awesome in
Italian, but English will have to do.
We had the opportunity to teach a short training at district meeting
this week as a companionship. And I wanted to share it with you. We
were assigned the verse Alma 29:17. We focused on the word fruit, and
how we as missionaries grow this fruit. We talked about how our call
from a prophet of God is the seed. Our studies represent the water we
add to our seed. The spirit is the light, and the soil is the
atmosphere we create by our obedience, diligence, worthiness, and our
desire. This is a simple recipe that God has given us to grow fruit.
He promises if we follow his directions, he will bless us... And I
know that God keeps his promises. But one of the things I've been
thinking about lately is that fruit comes in all different shapes and
sizes. Not everyone can grow watermelons. And I'll be the first to
admit that I've seen more blueberries than watermelons on my mission.
But fruit is fruit. We are making a difference, and God's hand is in
this work. I know that with a surety.
A miracle! Margherita had time for us this week. We've been trying for
the past 5 weeks to meet with her but to no avail. But we went this
week, and she had time. Heavenly Father answered my prayer. Hopefully
we can help her have a greater desire to read or at least listen to
the Book of Mormon. She is really sweet, and we are starting to
develop a little relationship with her. Slowly, but surely.
Less active finding was the theme of our week. Haha.. We spent a lot
of time under the sun walking around trying to find nonexistent
addresses, ringing citofones that went unanswered, and discovering
which addresses and phone numbers were right. We always have a backup
plan finding less actives because there are so many in this ward!
One night this week, we went to see this sister in this type of
private hospital. We had never met her before, but as soon as we
walked in, a smile just came across her face. The thing I love about
Italians is that the conversation never lulls even if we don't know
them. They just keep talking and one question can lead to a whole
other conversation. Haha.. I just love Italians so much.
We also read the Book of Mormon with Cristina. A verse came up about
Joseph who was sold to Egypt. And I had to explain basically the whole
story, and that was a test of my language skills. So, jokes up. Nobody
is actually fluent when they go home from their mission. Haha.. :)
Friday morning, we did weekly planning. And everything was fine and
dandy until the zone leaders called and asked us to do 101 scambios
with all the sisters this week when they come for zone conference. I
love doing scambios, but it was only slightly stressful double
planning for everything. Basically a double first plan, and a double
back up plan so 4 plans for each hour. Haha.. It is all okay though.
Everything will work out and Heavenly Father is just giving us more
time to go out and find his elect.
We sang hymns with Sorella Parabita when we went over to see her this
week. Her eyes started watering, and it was the sweetest thing. Hymns
bring the spirit into any situation and can comfort us when times are
hard. I just love this lady with all my heart. She is such a great
example of enduring to the end with patience. Pazienza pazienza is a
phrase commonly repeated by Italians. And I'll be saying it for the
rest of my life. :)
Then we did some finding in centro while Sorella Gochnour played her
violin. We call it a mostra, and we did it with the anziani. And I
learned that I still have a hard time walking up to people on the
street. Haha... I was denied every time I tried to talk to someone.
Well, all of us were denied. But Sorella Gochnour made some little
girls really happy. They loved to watch her play. And the gelato we
ate afterwards made everything a bit better. I had mint, dark
chocolate, and vanilla. It tasted like a peppermint patty. So good!
Lucia finally came back to Taranto from her trip to northern Italy. We
had a lesson with her and Sorella Mazzolari on Saturday. And she came
to church on Sunday! Sorella Mazzolari knows how to be a member
missionary. She did so great in the lesson and we were so grateful for
her help. We wrote her a thank you note that night, and we had to
write it in lei form which is not one of my strong points. Haha.. But
now I know two things I can do to strengthen my language. Summarize
bible stories and use lei form. 😂
Vescovo (bishop) Casti gave a really great 5 minute talk at the end of
sacrament meeting this week. He talked about how we can only change
the world by changing ourselves. After we change ourselves, we slowly
make a change in the people around us through our example.
President Pickerd asked us to do two things before we have zone
conference tomorrow. He asked us to find 10 scriptures in the Book of
Mormon that talk about turning, changing, or repentance. And then he
also asked us to ponder what it means to walk with God. My favorite
repentance scripture in the Book of Mormon is when it talks about
Moses and the brass serpent. When we turn and choose to trust in the
Lord to heal us, we become whole. The way is prepared and all we have
to do is walk in the way. When we walk in the way, God will walk with
us.
The other good thing about Sunday was we finally got a ward mission
leader! It's a miracle! He is awesome and is really excited to get
into missionary work again. We met with him on Sunday night and his
wife and her mother. We shared the first vision with them and then
asked how this vision has changed their lives. It was really cool to
listen to their conversion stories and hear their testimonies about
Joseph Smith.
Training update: something that touched me this week is the power of
simple testimonies. It just brings the spirit so much stronger when
the words they do say are thought about and are said with such
conviction. And Sorella Gochnour is so awesome! She just continues to
blow me off my feet. I love her so much and she is such a great
example to me.
This week, this guy stopped by our apartment and asked to check our
water levels. He couldn't come in, so he left us the paper and told us
to take it in to their office when we finished checking it. Well, we
had to turn it in yesterday morning, but we got halfway to the office
and I realized I didn't have the paper. So we got off the bus we were
on, crossed the street, and waited for another bus. We started talking
to this sweet lady named Elisabetta, and after we awkwardly found out
her husband had died, we were able to testify about the plan of
salvation to her and invite her to learn more. We didn't get a phone
number, or a return appointment, but I felt good about her and about
the experience. We got home, got the paper, walked out as the bus was
pulling away. There wasn't a way to catch it at that point, so we
waited for another. Dropped the paper off which took 2 seconds, and
waited for another bus home. I typically would have thought of that as
a waste of time, but Elisabetta made up for that. There was a reason
why I forgot the paper that was sitting on top of my desk right in
front of me as I was putting stuff in my bag.
Well, that is it for this week. Life is good. I'm happy. God loves us.
Until next week.
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
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