Week 66: earthquakes, running, Nutella, buses, gnocchi, and panzerotti

Hello family and friends:

Earthquake. I figured I'd talk about this first because it is probably
what is all on your minds. It didn't affect us here in Taranto. We are
too far away from Rome, but we hear about it wherever we go. My heart
breaks for the Italian people who were affected. And the only affect
it has had on our work is people asking if there really is a God and
why he would allow this to happen.

Last Monday, we had a great time in Alberobello. It is basically a
little village made out of little houses called trulli. It is made of
white stone and has a stone roof that is shaped like a dwarfs hat.
Supposedly these houses are supposed to keep one cooler in the summer
and warmer in the winter. They were very cool, and they had some fun
souvenirs and cute shops. Although every shop has the exact same
souvenirs, haha... So that got old after a little while. We took a lot
of pictures that I would have sent home but the wifi at the church is
not working and the emails with pictures don't send very easily.

Monday night, we did the rest of the less active finding that we had
started on Saturday and we didn't find any of those ones either. More
lost people... So sad. After that, we went to the hospital, again, to
visit a member who is there. I'm going on hospital visit #7 or 8 in
only 12 weeks of being here.

This week, we actually worked out more than just stretching and doing
sit ups and stuff inside. The anziani would meet us outside our house
and we would run laps to the church and back. I did it 3 times. The
first time, 1 lap, then 1.5, and then 2. I have to get back in shape
sometime and Sorella Gochnour wanted to go running so I'm being a good
sport about it. One day we also did jump rope and I did like 550. It
felt good to actually do something. I have to lose my pasta cheeks and
belly somehow.. ;)

Our district meeting counsel was really great this week. We just all
talked about Chapter 4 of preach my gospel about the importance of the
spirit in missionary work and how to recognize it. It was a really
great council and everybody did a great job of participating and
sharing their thoughts. One elder said, "Trying to do missionary work
without the spirit is like trying to make pasta without the water. It
just doesn't work." Of course all of us Italian missionaries
appreciated that thought since all we eat is pasta. :)

Fun thing that happened: well, not really... But Sorella Gochnour
dropped a Nutella jar and Italy hasn't learned about plastic
containers yet so it shattered and Nutella went everywhere. She even
cut herself while cleaning it up, the poor thing. Also, I'll be
bringing a small container of Nutella home with me... Because it is
better here. I don't know why, but it has a better consistency.

We went to San Giorgio to see Giusy this week and we had a bus flop
and a bus miracle. The bus flop was that I didn't know what stop to
get off at and I chose the one farthest away from her house. When we
started asking people where we needed to walk to get there... They
kept saying, but that is far away. (È lontano). We just kind of shook
it off because usually when they say it is far away, it isn't that far
away for us because we walk all the time. But it was indeed far
away... Haha... At least Sorella Gochnour was a good sport about my
mistake. Then Italians are funny when they give directions on how to
get somewhere. Whether they know where something is or not, they will
give you directions.. But only right, left, straight... No street
names so you are taking a risk of getting lost following what they
say. Luckily it ended up okay and we finally found her house. Then
when we were leaving, I couldn't remember where the bus stop to get
home was since I'd only been to her house once with Sorella Hess...
But after calling Sorella Hess and finding the grocery store she
talked about, we found the stop, sat down for not even a minute, and
the bus that only passes every hour passed not even a minute later.
Literally a miracle!

We also played volleyball with Sorella Mazzolari this week, her less
active son, the anziani's investigator, and a few other youth. It was
really fun and we got to know some of the members better too. Sorella
Mazzolari is literally becoming one of my favorites. She came to
English course this week too and invites us over to eat all the time.
She is so fun, and such a blessing for us missionaries.

Thursday morning was full of miracles. We made the cups to explain the
apostasy to Lucia, then went to try to find a potential who was still
sleeping when we arrived for the appointment we had made with her. So
we decided to try to find this less active who lived near by, ran into
Tanya's mom, and then walked to a bus stop where this group of people
stopped us, asked who we were and said they would pay us a visit
sometime. Miracles!

So that was all really cool, but then we went to see Lucia. And I
can't say that was my favorite experience of my mission. She was in a
grumpy mood and as soon as we started the lesson that we had received
revelation for using these cups we made for it, she went off on how
God doesn't love us, how we are in the world to suffer, and why do we
have to suffer for 2 people's sins. We tried to explain that God loves
us, how he sent Christ to the earth, and how she will see her husband
again someday, with which she went off about how we turn into dust
when we die and if we wanted proof, we could go dig up her aunt. Then
she said that we were too young to know anything about life and how
our church brain washed us and sent us here to brain wash her, and how
she was happy with her church. At that point, the spirit was long
gone, and so we just left and went to get ice cream. It was a rough
experience... But I still love her. Hopefully she will find the peace
and joy she is looking for.

That night, we had an English course party and played jeopardy with
our students. They all spoiled us and ordered us panzerotti. And we
ate a lot. I don't think anybody beat Anziano Friedman though. He ate
4.5 panzerotti, 3.5 of which were fried. Everybody was looking at him
like he was a freak of nature, haha.. It was pretty funny. We made
butterscotch brownies and they were so good! Definitely a keeper
recipe!

We had a great lesson with Cristina on Friday night! Things are
progressing in her situation and I know things are happening according
to God's will and his timing. He is taking care of her. We were able
to read the tree of life with her and apply it to her life and it was
a really great lesson. The spirit was so strong, and I think she was
touched by it. It was truly revelation that we received for her from
God about how to apply it to her life. So cool to see her testimony
grow. She also brought a friend to church this week, the same one who
came to the party a few weeks ago. She is so awesome! I love her to
pieces!

Saturday, we went to see our Samoan, Fia. And she made lunch for us.
We sang hymns for her while she was preparing our plates. And I was
counting my blessings that she didn't make us fish. She said she
usually eats fish everyday. So that was our second of three meal
appointments this week. We ate this vegetable soup which had a kick to
it from fresh peppermint?? Then a cucumber, tomato, tuna salad, melon,
and ice cream. We had a great spiritual thought with her about Christ
and the atonement and the joy that repentance brings into our lives.
We also waited under the midday sun for 40 minutes trying to get home
from her house.

That night we went to see Elena. She always tells us it will be a
short lesson, but 2 hours later, we finally leave her house. She just
loves to talk and talk and talk. But we had a good lesson with her
about the 10 commandments. She finally read the Book of Mormon! And we
talked about how the gospel helps us get rid of the natural man inside
of us and become disciples of Christ.

We had lunch with the Mazzolari's yesterday, and it was delicious, as
always. They prepared gnocchi for us and that was my first time having
them here in Italy. But they gave us a whole plate of those the equal
size of a plate of pasta, but they are a lot more filling than pasta.
So we were basically dying and rolling out of their house. We were so
full, and it got worse as the time went on. Haha.... But it was so
good!

We also made some goals yesterday to reach our vision of having 1
baptism a transfer per companionship. We have faith that it will
happen! We don't know who it will be, but we have some great
potentials. I really do believe that President Pickerd was inspired to
have that become a new standard of excellence. :)

Then this morning, something else just made my whole entire day. This
member from Catania is visiting her in laws here in Taranto with her
children, and she was at the grocery store this morning. She saw me,
recognized me, and came and said hi! I was so surprised because I
think I ate at her house maybe twice and didn't really talk to her
much because my Italian wasn't so great back then, but she remembered
me and remembered that I have a boyfriend. It just made my day to
think that people do still remember me. :) So fun! I mean I was there
for 7 months, but they remember me!

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all! Keep
praying for the lovely Italian people north of Rome as there are still
aftershocks from the earthquake.

Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma

Week 65: hobos, transfer calls, Alberobello, food, ward parties, less active finding, and another gesso

Hello family and friends:

Last Monday, we had the nice privilege of sitting on the ground
outside the closed mall under the hot sun for awhile to email all of
you. We felt like real hobos but thankfully not very many people saw
us because the mall is pretty out of the way. The anziani were finally
asked to leave after we left, but it was literally the only place we
could email. So I guess we are grateful for the free wifi because the
church's still doesn't work.

Well, today we got special permission to leave the zone to go to this
place called Alberobello. I'll send pictures, but basically there is
nothing fun to do in Taranto. The good news is that we are an hour
away from all the cool things that are unfortunately located in the
Bari Zone. So I got the nerve up to call president and ask if we could
go and he said yes. So glad I asked because I only have 12 p-days left
in Italy and I want to make the most of it.

Anyways, Monday night.. We got transfer calls. And we are both staying
for another! Woohoo! I'm so glad that we get to stay. I love Sorella
Gochnour and I'm excited to learn more from her and help her get more
adjusted to missionary life. Another 7 weeks.. Transfer #11. :)

On Tuesday, we did a district meeting addestramento about how to teach
according to investigator's needs. We talked about when Christ
explained why he taught in parables and talked about how to understand
these parables, we must have eyes to see and ears to hear. We thought
that in order to teach according to needs, we need to have eyes to see
and ears to hear too because the spirit is the real teacher and we
need to listen to him. We must be humble and realize that we can't do
missionary work on our own.

Wednesday morning started out a bit rough because we went to see
Margherita and determine whether she had the desire to change her life
and come closer to Christ. And unfortunately she doesn't.. And so we
did my very first drop. And it was hard. I just love these people so
much, and it makes my heart sad when they don't want to apply the
things they have learned. Usually investigators drop us before we drop
them, so I didn't really know what to say... But it all worked out.

We also had a lesson with Elena that evening. We role played before we
went in and it went completely opposite to our plan. She is so
fascinating to listen to and to learn from because she really is so
smart. But she doesn't let us talk much. And that can get a bit
frustrating. We watched the children's bible video about baptism and
she really liked it. I'm glad that she speaks English so we were able
to use that resource. She also said, again, that she would read the
Book of Mormon. We're praying that she does.

After that, we had a ward party after the elder's quorum cleaned up
the road the church is on. They played music, we danced, we ate these
really good Italian sausage type hotdogs with barbecue sauce, and
Cristina brought her friend. We are hoping to be able to start
teaching her, and it is true that the best place to find referrals is
from investigators/members. I love that the gospel makes Cristina so
happy that she wants to share it with others.

Thursday we went to a pranzo appointment with the anziani to the house
of our English conversation group people who are also some of our
potential investigators and one of the anziani's investigators. It was
really good, and of course we ate a lot. It was also the strangest
Italian meal I've ever eaten, in a good way. And I think I can
officially say that I don't like mushrooms now. They made these
bruschetta type things with eggplant and cheese on top, and pizza
rustica. And then crepes with cream and mushrooms inside, and then
French fries, and a super thin steak cooked in butter. They also made
tiramisu and we felt bad because we couldn't eat it. But they also had
a crostata with fruit. Basically a lot of food. We also had a fun
conversation and they weren't aware that Italians are known for using
their hands when they speak. Haha.. They tried to teach us some of the
gestures and there are a lot more than I thought. Basically it is a
completely different language.

Then we went to see Lucia, and we showed her the restoration video
because she still doesn't seem to understand that we are separate from
the Catholic Church even though we clearly explained it last time. It
was a good idea to use a video because it caught her attention and she
actually watched it without talking. So we are going to try to teach
her the apostasy using cups and maybe that will help her understand.
She seems to be a visual person. We also invited her to be baptized
when she reads and prays about the Book of Mormon. She said she would
think about it. Sorella Gochnour and I were really bold and we did it
with love.

Friday, we tried to go to the mall and do some English course finding.
We did that for a solid 30 minutes and then the security people came
up to us and told us that we weren't allowed to be there. Haha...
Whoops!

Saturday, we spent 5 solid hours doing less active finding. We had a
list of 11 less actives to find who all live in downtown Taranto. We
found 8 of the addresses, and 7 of the people don't live there anymore
and they also don't have accurate phone numbers. So that was kind of
frustrating for us because we walked all morning and all afternoon,
but we felt productive because now we know we need to find them. Most
of these people, nobody knows. We asked members and they are all like,
who? How sad is that!

That night, we did another gesso, but this time in Taranto. Anziano
Friedman drew this time and we went around asking people if they
believe that there is a prophet on the earth today. Most people said
no... And a few people said maybe. And then A LOT of people said, it
doesn't interest me, and walked away. But I talked to this one guy
named Nicola who seemed interested and then this cute couple who said
they might come to church. They didn't, but maybe next week. I also
talked to a man from up north who seemed interested in a Mormon.org
card. You never know what will happen to those people. We got home
that night and felt like we had a productive day. We were plain
tuckered out and I love feeling that way on the mission.

Sunday, we had some wonderful talks in church about the Holy Spirit,
overcoming discouragement, how much God loves us, and our choices. It
was a great meeting, and Cristina convinced her companion (the person
she lives with) to come and he really enjoyed church too even if he
was skeptical at first. After church, we went to the relief society
president's house and she made us a really great meal. We had lasagna,
like a hamburger meatloaf, potatoes, really good salad (yes, I just
said that) and these really good pastries stuffed with cream and
chocolate. I thought they would be really good with strawberries
inside. I'll ask for the recipe. We shared a spiritual thought with
them using a scarf about prayer. If you hold both ends of a scarf
without letting go, you can't tie a knot... But if you fold your arms
and then hold the ends and unfold your arms, you tie a knot. So when
we pray, we can do all things through Christ. The little kids liked
that.. Well, the 11 year old girl did.. The 5 year old was just
playing with another scarf. Haha..

We rode a bus home from lunch. We waited 40 minutes for a bus to come,
then the bus took an hour ride back to Taranto and was packed to the
brim with beach goers and dogs. We had a seat the whole way, but it
was still super claustrophobic. We finally got home at 6 to do some
language study before going to Slla Lahaderne's surprise birthday
party. So, we had our 4th ward party in 2 weeks. Haha.. It was really
fun and she was so surprised. Cristina came and she enjoyed it and
talked with everyone. Plus Sorella Mazzolari made a delicious birthday
cake that I ate even though I wasn't hungry, and I didn't regret it.

Well, that is it for our wonderful week here in Taranto. We had a
great time in Alberobello today and it was so worth it. Definitely
coming back someday. I hope you all had a wonderful week! You are all
amazing and I know that God loves each and every one of you.

Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma

Week 64: scambios, hospitals, baptism date, road trips, karaoke, and olive trees

Dear friends and family:

I promise I'm not counting down. I have enough fellow missionaries who
do that for me. But I do have to say that I'm grateful that I only
have a few more big emails to write home. Haha.. Actually, I just miss
typing on a real keyboard. This would go much faster. I am so sad I
only have 12 more weeks of the mission, so I'm trying not to think
about it. It went so fast... We get transfer calls tonight, the new
mission president is switching it up, but we are pretty sure Sorella
Gochnour and I will stay together. :)

Well, before I arrived in Taranto, I never had to step foot inside a
hospital. But since I've been here, I've been to visit so many people
who are sick and want people to visit them. I think I've been 6 times
in 12 weeks... Haha.. And I don't even like hospitals. I'll just say
it has been interesting to see how social healthcare works. And I'm
glad I live in America. Haha.. I think there are pros and cons to both
healthcare systems.

We had a lesson with Elena on Tuesday, and when we arrived, she was
jumping in the shower so she opened the door for us and told us to
come in, have a seat, and wait for her. Haha.. We reviewed the plan of
salvation with her and that went well. And then she kept bringing up
the topic of baptism, so we asked if that was something she wanted.
She has had baptism dates before, but she said she understands more
now and she said she would be baptized when we wanted her to be
baptized. When we proposed September 10, she was more wishy-washy but
finally said yes. So hopefully that will happen. She explained
everything and understands that after baptism, she agrees to change
her life and follow Christ more. We are excited for her. :) Then she
didn't have ice cream in her house, so she took us downstairs and ran
to the store to buy some. Even though we arrived 2 hours before
English course, we were still running late. So we ended up scarfing
our ice cream down and then running/speed walking all the way to
English course. I love Italians.

We had district meeting on Wednesday this week and we did another
training. I like how Anziano Friedman does district meeting. He has
every companionship plan a part of the training and then we all teach
each other instead of him teaching us every time. Our assignment this
time was John 15:15-21 and we were to teach about our sacred calling
as missionaries. We liked the word friend in these verses, so we
talked about how Christ is basically calling us to be his friends.
Then in the following verses, all of the things correlate to a
Christlike attribute (faith, diligence, patience, humility, and love).
It went well and I learned a lot. Sometimes I feel like I've mastered
a Christlike attribute, but then I learn more about it and realize I
still have a long ways to go.

Wednesday after district meeting, we caught a bus to go to the station
in Taranto to catch a bus to Sibari. Then from Sibari, we took a train
to Crotone to do a scambio. And we were able to meet this lovely lady
named Caterina at the station in Taranto as we waited for our bus. She
lives outside our area, but was genuinely curious about the church.
She asked great questions, and I was so grateful Heavenly Father gave
me the opportunity to talk to her. I couldn't get her phone number
because the bus was literally pulling away as we were saying goodbye,
but she said she'd look up mormon.org so I am crossing my fingers. She
was such a tender mercy for me that day. :)

We arrived safely in Crotone without any problems even though the
train we rode from Sibari to Crotone seemed a bit sketchy. Haha.. It
was not even two carriages long and it kind of felt like Thomas the
Train Engine. We made it up the hill. ;) The "I think I can" 's
worked. We went out that night with the sisters there and we used a
chalkboard to advertise for English course or our English discussion
group. We were able to talk to quite a few people, and some of them
even came to class on Thursday.

I went on a scambio with Sorella Rohner who is Sorella Conde's
greenie. And we had a good day together on Thursday. We had an
appointment with a member in the morning and it was so hard to stay
awake. This lady talked for about an hour about the history of Italy
and Christopher Columbus... And her house was so hot. Oh did you guys
know that Christopher Columbus is actually Italian and not Spanish?
Haha.. I didn't until I arrived in Italy. We also met this cute lady
who is from Ukraine and another nice man who buys gold. They were both
really nice and seemed a bit interested, so hopefully they will become
investigators for them. We also had a lesson with this 10 year old
potential they have named Roberta. And supposedly she has decided to
be baptized in September. Haha... She was cute, sassy, and did not act
like a 10 year old. I also ate the best frozen gelato I've had here
because she couldn't make up her mind what kind of ice cream she
wanted.

That night after English course, the Lahaderne's arrived because they
were doing apartment checks for Crotone the following morning and then
driving us home. They invited us to go get pizza with them, but they
didn't end up leaving the church until 8:45 because the anziani were
teaching a lesson. So, we obediently decided to forego getting pizza
and walked home, and guess who shows up after we finish planning? The
Lahaderne's with calzones for each of us because they are literal
angels. Blessings for being obedient. It was a good thing they did
too, because the house smelled like gas and we couldn't figure out
why. They just turned the gas off until the next morning since we
wouldn't be using it anyways.

Friday morning, the Lahaderne's came to check the apartments and then
we got to go on our road trip with them. And it was so fun!! We
stopped at the store to buy sandwich fixing stuff before we left and
they stopped for gelato halfway there and we just had a fun time
talking to them and getting to know them better. I love them so much.
They spoil us like we are there own kids and when they walked in to
English course, it was like seeing my mission mom and dad walk in. So
fun! I will forever be grateful for them. I have also never been more
grateful for Taranto. I just love this city with all my heart.

We had a lesson with Cristina on Friday evening. Sorella Casti came to
that lesson again and she was awesome. Cristina had a hard week
because she had decided that she wanted to be baptized, but then ran
into some obstacles and she couldn't figure out why God was "stopping
her" from being baptized, but she realized that it is just something
that she has to get over and that he does very much want her to get
baptized. Yay! So grateful for the spirit that helped her realize
that. We had a great lesson about keeping the sabbath day holy and
prayer, and we read 3 Nephi 18 with her.

That night, we had a ward party for the summer. And it was a blast.
Literally every ward member came, there was music playing, food,
dancing, and karaoke. It was so fun and a good event for investigators
to come too. Cristina stayed for it and Elena came for a few hours,
and all of the anziani's investigators came too. It was so fun, and it
was nice to talk to all the members and get to know them better. The
bishop's wife even gave us a hug so basically she likes us. Woohoo!
The ward here is indescribable. I love it.

We've been able to see the power of thank you notes here the past few
weeks. We've been trying to figure out how to gain the members trust
other than just eating with them once a week. So every time they come
to a lesson or feed us, we have started to write them thank you notes.
And they love it. It is also a fun way for us to show our gratitude
and to bear our testimonies to them again.

Saturday night, we went to Statte to do a gesso (chalk
drawing/demonstration) to help the anziani there to find new
investigators. And it was a lot of fun. I drew the picture with chalk
on a sheet, Sorella Gochnour attracted people with her violin and it
was a successful night. We talked to a lot of teenagers (one of the
boys wanted a picture with me, so I might randomly show up on
someone's Instagram... Haha) and this other man approached the sheet
as I was drawing so I was able to talk to him. And we talked to
another girl who might go to English course. Then Anziano Lahaderne
treated us to gelato. Again, they spoil us so much.

Sunday, we had pranzo with the Mazzolari's. Sorella Mazzolari is the
nicest angel I've ever met and is such a great member. She is also a
great cook and we sure ate well. Her husband has this saying that is a
term of endearment for them and it is also the only 6 words he knows
in English. He says, "my wife is a beautiful witch." They tease each
other so much. It made for a fun afternoon. We talked about so many
things including how root beer tastes like medicine to them. Haha.. I
don't think I've ever had medicine that tastes like rootbeer. Most
Italians also don't like Dr. Pepper, so I guess they don't know what
they are missing out on.

Well, this week as we were traveling, we passed by a ton of olive
trees. And it just made me think of the atonement of Jesus Christ.
This is a topic that you think about a lot as a missionary. I was
curious so I searched olive tree on gospel library and it has so much
significance. Well, first I love how the olive tree is described in
Jacob 5 to signify the gathering and scattering of Israel. The only
way that Israel could ever be gathered is because of the atonement. He
loves us all so much that he suffered for all of our sins just so we
would have the opportunity to live forever in the presence of our
Heavenly Father. The Lord has done everything he possibly can for his
vineyard and now it is up to us to choose him. The word Gethsemane
also means oil press, and the first press of olives has a reddish tint
before it turns back to gold. Russell M. Nelson said this, "Remember,
just as the body of the olive, which was pressed for the oil that gave
light, so the Savior was pressed. From every pore oozed the lifeblood
of our Redeemer. Throughout the joyous days of your mission, when your
cup of gladness runs over, remember His cup of bitterness which made
it possible. And when sore trials come upon you, remember Gethsemane."
The olive tree represents peace. Without the atonement, we have no
hope of having peace in this life or in the life to come. And the last
thing I learned, if an olive tree is cut down, a new tree sprouts from
the roots which represents the resurrection. So much symbolism, my
mind almost exploded.

Also, other cool news for the week. Gordon B. Hinckley now has a
teaching of the presidents book. We read his history and it is crazy
how much the church changed and all the things he contributed to the
church while he was prophet. He was an amazing man!

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful week! I love you all! Happy
Ferr'Agosto! Today is a big holiday in Italy where everything shuts
down for the day. So we deep cleaned our apartment this morning, and
then went searching for a place with wifi that was open because the
church's conveniently stopped working yesterday.

Love you all!

Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma

Week 63: rainbows, opposition in all things, Taranto soccer, progressing investigators, and apartment inspections

Dear family and friends:

"There must be opposition in all things." This week in comparison to
last week was that opposition. There were still good moments, and we
had some great lessons with our investigators, but there were also
some challenges to face and overcome.

We had a wonderful lesson with Elena on Monday night. We went planning
on explaining the gospel of Jesus Christ, but the spirit led us in a
different direction. We talked about how the Book of Mormon contains
the fullness of the gospel and how we can know for ourselves that
Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the book is true. She kept saying,
"ci credo." Or I believe it, I believe it. But I was led to ask her if
there was a difference between the words "to know" and "to believe".
Obviously, she said yes. Then we shared Moroni 10:5 and testified that
through the spirit, we can know the truth of all things. Then she
FINALLY agreed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. What a
miracle! She also said the opening prayer in gospel principles
yesterday, and she is making great progress. She also understands
prophets and the idea of continuous revelation now.. So thank the
heavens! :)

On Tuesday, we went to see Lucia. She hadn't been answering her phone
and the last thing we had heard was that she was in the hospital. So,
we were a little worried that something happened. But, she was home
and had been in the hospital for 8 days. We had a good lesson with her
and now she finally understands that our church is not associated with
the Catholic Church. We hope she starts to feel better. Her daughter
was there to help her recover and to help her put her house on the
market, so we hope we can teach her more before she moves to Milan and
then we can give missionaries there a solid referral. We left an hour
before English course was supposed to start and after 30 minutes of
waiting at the bus stop, these members were our heroes and picked us
up as they were driving towards that direction.

Since we had to go to the questura on Monday, we were able to have 2
more hours of p-day on Wednesday morning, so Sorella Lahaderne took us
to the open air market where I bought a swimsuit of all things. Yes, I
bought a swim suit on my mission. My only excuse was that it was 4€
for top and bottom and it was modest. I promise I'm saving it for when
I get home, and I'm not apostate swimming on the mission. Then we went
back to our house and she taught us how to make Italian food. And she
trimmed my hair. It was a fun morning to spend with her. And now I
know how Italians make yummy tomato sauce. Woohoo!

We made homemade lemonade for a family we were going to visit that
evening. We had made an FHE game for the girls to do, but when we got
there, she sent the girls to the back and we just talked to the mom.
But we left the FHE for them to do later. And then we went to do some
English course finding, but nobody wanted to talk to us. They
wouldn't even say good evening, so... We were struggling a bit. I feel
like some people here think we don't have feelings as people. But I'm
actually a really nice person.. And I'm human. So, the least you could
do is say good evening. Sorry... *rant over*.

Thursday morning, we were able to meet with the new ward mission
leader and come up with a new ward mission plan. We are launching it
in September, and we are excited for it because hopefully the members
will become more involved. But until then, it is a secret that nobody
can know about it... Not even you guys. :)

That afternoon, we went out to find Margherita. She wasn't available
to stay around, so then we tried to call Tanya... But she didn't
answer, so we stopped by Nicoletta's pastry shop and she was not as
nice as she usually is to us, so we might have burnt our bridges with
her when we shared "because of him" last week. But hopefully not.

As we were leaving Margherita's house, we ran into a giant parade in
cittavecchia that was celebrating the moving up in ranks of the
Taranto soccer team. But don't worry about it too much, they are still
very much at the bottom. It was fun to see how much the city has pride
for their team though even if everyone knows that they aren't very
good. Even I know that, and I know nothing about soccer.

We cleaned our apartment for a few hours on Friday because we had
cleaning inspections on Saturday. The Lahaderne's were impressed by
how clean it was and it was nice to feel the spirit even more. Now
we've been trying to keep it clean. It had gotten really dirty ever
since we had zone conference, so now it is nice to have a clean
apartment. Also, our air conditioner is now working so I haven't been
sweating all day every day, and I can even sleep at night now.
Hallelujah. :)

On Friday, we had a lesson with Cristina and Sorella Casti. It turned
out to be a really great lesson and their stories are very similar, so
it was fun for them to fellowship with each other. Cristina wants to
get baptized by the end of August, but has a few things she needs to
figure out before then, like where she is going to live. So keep her
in your prayers, please. She is so ready and just needs to climb over
this last obstacle.

Saturday was interesting. That morning after our apartment inspection,
we tried to go see some people. Our original appointment had cancelled
on us, so we were going to see this elderly sister in the ward... But
she wasn't feeling well when we arrived at her house. So then we tried
to find this less active, but there were two sides of the streets and
we picked the wrong one first. Then we stopped by to see this other
lady in this care home, but we went up to her room, and she wasn't in
her bed. Haha.. At this point, we were like... Okay Heavenly Father...
What do you want us to do? So we said a prayer, and still felt good
about going to find the less active because we finally figured out
where she lived. She opened the bottom gate for us, but when she
looked out her peephole and saw it was us.. She didn't open the door
even though we could hear people inside. Then we went home, because we
were out of time in the morning. But at the bus stop, we started
talking to this man.. But the only English sentence he knows how to
say is.. "You are beautiful girls." So you can just imagine how that
went.

Then when we left in the afternoon, we took a bus to cittavecchia. And
the bus broke down... Not once, but twice. We finally had to walk the
rest of the way, but we were already late. Need I mention that this
address was in the sketchy part of the old city. We found the street,
but it was in an alleyway that was literally no wider than if I stuck
one of my arms out and tried to walk through it. Yeah... Sorry, not
doing that. So after I called the lady for other directions, it
started pouring down rain. We still couldn't find where they lived, so
we called again and said we would have to come another time, because
we have to leave cittavecchia before it gets dark and we only had 30
minutes until that happened and you can't have a 30 minute appointment
with Italians. But as we were waiting at the bus stop to head back, we
saw a rainbow. So that was a nice tender mercy on a day when nothing
seemed to go right.

The air conditioning broke in the church this week, so it has been
quite hot.. All the old ladies have their fans out. Haha.. :) I love
Italians so much!

We had a nice meal appointment after church. The food was all
delicious! And Sorella Gochnour was waddling out of there. Haha... We
ate so much, and she kept saying... I've got to learn how to eat slow
like you. I just said that I'm experienced with these meal
appointments and I've learned that is the only way to survive. Haha...
So much food.

We also went to see Tanya last night, and we had a good spiritual
thought with her about Moroni's promise. Her baby sister, Raini, was
playing with me on the ground. And she was so fascinated by my name
tag. She kept trying to pull it off my shirt. And when I wouldn't let
her have it... She kept pinching and scratching me and pulling my
hair. Haha.. She is too cute and she knows it, except when that demon
side comes out. JoJo and Emmanuel in Catania were always fascinated by
them too. Haha..

Then we had a movie night featuring the District 1.

Training update: sometimes I feel like Sorella Gochnour is training me
more than I am training her. She is so awesome, and doesn't get
discouraged very easily. There is always something new that I can
learn from her.

I read the talk, "The Best is Yet to Come" by Jeffrey R. Holland this
week and something I really liked from it was:
"I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone nor to yearn vainly
for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past
is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the
embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have
learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that
we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is
always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with
blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our
lives.
So a more theological way to talk about Lot's wife is to say that she
did not have faith. She doubted the Lord's ability to give her
something better than she already had. Apparently, she thought that
nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as what she was
leaving behind."

I hope you all had a good week! Love you all!

Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma

Week 62: the real week 62... Zone conference, scambios, and baptisms, and many many miracles

Dear family and friends:

Well, I guess I can't count, because last week was definitely week 61.
But who even cares? It is still way too close to the end for me! Haha..
Well, we had a great week 62 here in Taranto with zone conference,
scambios, and lots of miracles. So, here we go:

On Tuesday night after our p-day, I went on a scambio with Sorella
Caliò. She is from Milan, and is super sassy and really funny. She is
actually my MTC companion's daughter in the mission. We had a fun time
together for the hour that we did English course finding at the mall.
We got really good and saying "ciao, facciamo un corso d'inglese
gratuito" really quickly and then handing them a card. Hopefully we'll
be able to get a few new students especially after summer ends when
all the Italians come out of hiding. Haha...

After that, we headed back to the church, and I joined other
missionaries for the English course spiritual thought. After class,
all the missionaries just went ham on all of our students. Haha.. In a
good way. We actually got a new investigator out of it. Her name is
Rosanna, and one of the AP's talked to her and we had a lesson right
then after English course. We taught her the restoration, and set up a
return appointment for Thursday because she wanted us to read the Book
of Mormon with her. So we read the introduction and went through all
the pictures, and she understands exactly what she needs to do. And
she said she would read it and pray about it. She's just worried about
what her family will think if she decides to change her religion.
Funny thing though: we texted her on Friday to invite her to the
baptism and she thought we were asking her to be baptized, so she
politely refused and said, I have to read and pray first. Haha... She
is so golden, and I'm really excited about her.

14 months was on Wednesday. Perfect timing for my third to last zone
conference. Ahh. That is weird to think about. But to put it
briefly... Wednesday was a day on the mission that made me never want
to go home. It was just so amazing and spiritually filled with good
stuff that made my heart so happy. :)

We had interviews for the first time with the Pickerds, so that was
fun. While president was talking to our companion, we talked to
Sorella Pickerd. I just love both of them so much. Sorella Pickerd
totally answered one of my questions though. I thought that because
she has an MBA and her husband and all her kids studied accounting,
they would try to convince me to study accounting... But that is the
exact opposite of what happened. She told me that she wishes she had
studied something math based instead of business for various
reasons... But it was such an answer to my prayer. Then Pres. Pickerd
asked me how much time I have left in the mission, and his words were
simple... He said, "sprint to the end." I just loved that thought.
I've been working/running hard my whole mission, but because the
finish line is in sight... It is time to sprint, and now I just need
to give it my all.

This zone conference was so amazing! I just loved every bit. One of
the first things the Pickerd's told us was that every general
authority cares about the Italy Rome temple and all of their eyes are
on us as missionaries. Just a bit intimidating, but this country is
under the microscope because Satan's hand has such a tight grip here.
We also talked about Alma 8 and how he "entered the city by another
way". We talked about the other ways we can "enter the city" and
different ways we can find people. It was here that we found out
Sorella Gochnour playing her violin wasn't a complete failure the
other night. Supposedly one of the people the anziani talked to came
to English course and from there became an investigator with a baptism
date. So now that story is going around the mission.

Then the first part of zone conference, we just had a council type of
a meeting. So everyone could speak if they wanted to and we just
bounced ideas back and forth and shared scriptures about repentance
for the first 2 hours. It was really fun, and everyone participated
and we all learned a lot. It was just a new way to do zone conference.
We trained each other instead of being trained by one person the whole
time.

That night, Sorella Conde and I left our greenies and went on a
scambio. We talked to a lot of people, showed 3 "Because of Him" and
we then had the biggest miracle of the night. We have this
investigator who is 9 years old. Her mom is a less active member, but
we've been trying for so long to see them. They just spend all day
every day at the beach and are never home when we go. But, they were
home this time! It was such a miracle. We had a lesson with almost the
whole family, taught them about how God loves them, how the gospel
blesses families, and how important prophets are. We invited them to
read and pray together as a family, but it was just a miracle that we
saw them.

It was good to go on a scambio with Sorella Conde. We had a good time
together, and saw so many miracles! We taught with unity, and we
caught up on all that has changed and all that happened since our time
together in Ladispoli.

The next morning, we went to see Margherita. She's been having a hard
time reading the Book of Mormon, because she hates reading. And so we
decided to take a suggestion from zone conference and teach her about
the atonement. And how our role as representatives of Christ is to
invite her to do things that will bless her life if she tests her
faith. It was such a great lesson, and also one of our other miracles.
She was alone at her house. Her mom who doesn't really like us wasn't
there, her grandmother who makes Margherita act all awkward around us
wasn't there, and her nephew who is loud and rambunctious wasn't there
either. It was her and us talking about Christ. And it was a powerful
lesson.

Friday, we did weekly planning. We baked cookies, and did laundry that
morning as well from all the sisters staying over, and our house got
so hot. It was ridiculous. Oh, did I mention that our air conditioner
was broken? Yeah... So hot. We were dying.

Friday night, we had a lesson with Cristina, and we were finally able
to teach her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a really great
lesson, and at the end... I knew we needed to ask her when she was
getting baptized. I'm not exactly sure what I said, but I know the
spirit guided it. I think it was something along the lines of,
"Cristina... You know it is true. You know that God has led you to
this church, this place, these people, and you know you want to get
baptized. I know that the sooner you make this decision, the more
blessed your life will be." I just felt so much love for this woman as
I was saying that, so I obviously started tearing up. And I think she
interpreted the whole thing as I want her to get baptized before I
leave Taranto, which isn't what I meant... Obviously, I would be
ecstatic if that did happen. But I think we needed to be bold with
her. Hopefully we'll get to help her pick a date during our next
lesson. She is so amazing!

On Saturday morning, we had a baptism at the church here in Taranto.
One of our investigators, Miriam, moved to Brindisi for the summer.
She called us the day Sorella Hess left and said she wanted to be
baptized and asked what she needed to do to be ready. This was a bit
of a shock to me and to the Lahaderne's but we told her to contact the
elders in Brindisi and go to church for like 2 weeks. She's been
investigating the church for more than 2 years. But she finally did
it. It was here in Taranto because we have a font and this is her ward
for the rest of the year except summer. It was a beautiful baptism.
She was so genuine and her smile was just gleaming.

During the scambio with Sorella Conde, we passed by this store called
upim and I pointed out that I really liked this dress that was on the
mannequin. And Sorella Conde was like, let's go in and try it on and
do store finding. So, we talked to people as we went, and I ended up
buying it. It is really cute, but besides the point... We saw this
lady at a bus stop later on in the week who was the cashier and she
recognized us. We talked to her a bit, but ran out of time to go too
much into the gospel, but I'm sure we'll see her again. It was just
cool that she recognized us and paid enough attention to even know
what I bought when we came in even though there was a line of people
behind me. The missionary name tag stands out, and she noticed that we
weren't just some American tourists. Such a cool follow up experience.

Sorella Gochnour had her first meal appointment on Sunday. We went to
the Taconelli's and the food was really good. They thankfully didn't
make that much food... It was a lot, but not too much that I was
dying. Sorella Gochnour thought she ate a lot, but little does she
know. Haha.. :) Her daughter is less active and our age and it was fun
to talk to her and get to know her better. Maybe we'll get to be their
friends and help her come back to church.

Sunday night, we tried to take lemon cookies to some members, but
Italians don't really like it when you just pass by their house and I
didn't want to walk halfway across the city if they weren't even going
to be home, so we called them first and nobody was home. So it was a
bit frustrating because our first plan had already fallen through, and
nobody seemed to want our cookies, but we decided to stop by this less
active's house who we haven't seen in awhile with some cookies. We
literally arrived just as they were heading out the door, so that was
a miracle. It was just enough, so this sister knows we love her. Then
we went to see Tanya and her mom. We had a really awesome lesson with
them too using President Monson's talk from last conference about
choices. We sang a hymn with them and it was amazing. We also took
them lemon cookies.

We had to go to the questura this morning to do Sorella Gochnour's
permesso. We arrived early, and then we realized that we didn't have
the paper we needed. Haha... So we called Anziano Lahaderne and gave
the anziani keys to our apartment and they went to pick it up for us.
Whoops! Thank goodness we realized that early enough. And I also don't
even know how people do missionary work without senior couples.
Haha... If you're as forgetful as I am... They are like lifesavers. So
grateful for them and all they do. Someday, I'll be a senior couple
missionary and be able to help all the missionaries as payback for all
of my "help" moments.

Training update: I feel like I didn't spend much time with Sorella
Gochnour this week because of all the different scambios and zone
conference, but she is still awesome. We are slowly discovering how
similar we are. If one of us says we like something, the other gasps
and is like, "I like that too." Haha.. She was also so brave and
during the scambio went out with another greenie, and they actually
talked to people and saw their own miracles.

President Pickerd says we can have and we should expect to have and
see miracles every day. And the miracles are happening. Italy is
blooming.

Love you all!

Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma