Dear family and friends:
This week, I've begun to realize how much I'm going to miss hearing
people say "ciao, bella, ciao." Obviously not the creepy men, but the
cute old ones... Yeah, nobody says that in America.
Tuesday was an all around sad day.. Well, not really. But we had to
say goodbye to the Lahaderne's! And it was so hard because they have
literally become my mom and dad on the mission. They were all crying,
we were all crying, and it was a mess.. But Anziano Lahaderne was just
like.. We'll see you soon. ;) haha.. Taranto is not the same without
them.
This week, we taught really basic English course lessons like the
alphabet and the pronunciation of the vowels and other funky letter
combinations. And then this week, we get to start the lessons over
again. Hopefully, we will start to have more students now that summer
is basically over. :) We survived my last Italian summer, for the most
part. That is a miracle all on its own.
Tuesday night after English course, we were invited by four of the
English course students to get panzerotti with them and the anziani.
And it ended up being a really great evening. We were able to talk
about the gospel, and every single one of the girls said something
that will hopefully make it easy for us to start teaching them all
this week. We are so excited for that. They are all amazing and are
all in the golden age of golden conversion meaning 15-45. Ish....
Wednesday started out with no solid plans other than finding, but by
the end of comp study, we had 2 appointments so that was a miracle. We
were able to go see a lady who lives out in Taranto 2 who is a less
active. We decided it would be more time efficient to walk there
instead of taking the bus that only passes once an hour, and it was
more time efficient, but she just didn't answer the door the first
time. Or her phone. So we walked back because there is literally
nothing in Taranto 2 except us and dumpster divers... And then we
walked back an hour later to see if she was home then. Turns out she
was waiting for us, but we went to the wrong door. That's okay, we
just got a lot of extra walking in that day. I had never met her
before, but she was super nice except she wouldn't let us help her
paint her house. That is one thing that drives me crazy is that
Italians won't let you help them. We are guests in their book so they
won't let us do their dishes or paint their house or help them with
anything! I guess it counts that we try.
That night, we helped Tanya study for one of her exams at school, and
we went home... And we had a centipede in our house. Sorella Gochnour
refused to get anywhere near it, so I had to swallow my fear and do
something with it. I know... You read that right... I saved my mission
daughter from a centipede. I made it climb on a piece of paper and
then threw it over the balcony because I wasn't going to step on it.
So gross. And I managed to do that without screaming, impressive, huh?
Thursday, we had lunch with a less active who we went to visit in the
hospital a few weeks ago. The food was really good, but she had
invited another member family over to pranzo that day too, and they
could have cared less if we were there or not. I think we might have
said 10 words in total during the whole 2 hour meal. They would stop
their conversation a few times to tell us to eat more when we were
already eating more than all of them combined. Haha.. Oh well.
Memories.
Then we had planned to go visit her son who is also less active and
his family, but the bus never came.. So we had to take a different bus
back to Taranto, but we didn't know where the stop was. So we asked
these 3 old men on a bench at a park where it was located and all 3
men point in opposite directions and then try to tell us their
individual instructions all in something that wasn't Italian.. It was
probably Tarantino, the dialect here, but it was so funny. Haha.. We
just kept walking until we eventually found it. Haha..
That night for English course, Sorella Gochnour and I had practiced
Redeemer for the spiritual thought and it went well. Some of the girls
we went to get panzerotti with cried as we played it, and all of them
were really impressed with our musical talent. Don't worry, dad.. We
recorded it. I'll show you at some later date. :) Hopefully they were
able to feel the spirit through the music we played. Then one of them
brought his harmonica and played some songs for us.. It was funny.
Then one of the anziani's investigators stayed after to give us all
these books. It is part of a trilogy by Dante Alighieri who supposedly
created the Italian language. I got the book called purgatory, Anziano
Friedman got hell, and Sorella Gochnour got paradise. I guess they are
really cool books with a lot of value. I'll have to do more research.
Anziano Anderson got a different book, but it was so nice of him. We
are so sad that he is leaving for Scotland this week. He is the nicest
kid.
I had the opportunity to go on a scambio with Sorella Hills this week.
She is from New Hampshire and Sorella Conde's new companion. She is
super cute and we had a good day together. We walked a whole bunch,
but we got a lot done and we saw some miracles. My favorite of the day
was when our plans fell through that night, so as we walked out of the
hospital, I opened my planner to decide which of the 3 back up plans
was the most effective use of our time. And it just seemed to me that
this less active's name was highlighted in my planner even though it
wasn't. I was a little doubtful that she would be there, but she was
and it was a really great lesson. We talked about how Jesus Christ is
aware of us, and how he knows us and he has a plan for us. We also
talked about the painting of Jesus Christ waiting outside the door
without the door handle and we are the ones who have to let him in.
Christ is at the door. What are we going to do to let him in? It was a
great lesson. She also gave us green seedless grapes to take home, so
basically she gets an A in my book.
We made our very first lasagna that day too, and it actually didn't
turn out too shabby. Obviously, Italians have years and years of
practice. So with a little more practice, we'll get the hang of it.
We did weekly planning on Saturday since we had the scambio on Friday.
And that afternoon, all of our plans weren't working. And it was hot
and it felt like we were walking through molasses. Haha... But we did
some finding in this piazza and talked to these two men named
Giuseppe. We invited them to come to church, and then we went to see
this less active in the old city. We had started our fast, but they
gave us ice cream anyway even when we said we didn't want it. Haha..
And then we left their place and caught a bus right before it got
dark.
Cristina brought Gilda again to church. When Sorella Gochnour and
Sorella Conde went to the lesson with Cristina this week and taught
her about tithing and fasting, she was already fasting.. And then both
her and Gilda payed a fast offering, and everybody is like "baptize
them already".. And we're like.. "We're trying". Hopefully we will be
able to meet with Gilda this week. :)
We had lunch with the bishop's mom and dad and with bishop and his
wife on Sunday. It was really good, and we had a good time. They all
talk really fast, so it was hard to understand at times, but they are
so funny. And the bishop just understands missionary work because he
was a missionary not that long ago. He believes that missionaries are
the protagonist and that they should be at the center of every church
meeting, for example, ward council. And I frankly agree with him. I
just love that family so much! :)
I also read this quote during my studies of Joseph Fielding Smith this
week. He said, "The fall of Adam brought to pass all of the
vicissitudes of mortality. It brought pain, it brought sorrow, it
brought death; but we must not lose sight of the fact that it brought
blessings also. … It brought the blessing of knowledge and
understanding and mortal life." I wish more people would understand
this. The fall is not a bad thing, but a good thing. And even though
the bad things like death, sorrow, and pain come, we wouldn't be able
to know things like life, joy, and happiness.
I hope you all have a wonderful week wherever in the world you may be.
I love you all! This work is really the greatest work we could ever be
a part of.. And I'm grateful for the time I have to still do it 24
hours a day. It is such a blessing. My challenge for you all this week
is to pick one truth that the gospel brings into our lives that really
changed our lives and think of one person to share that thing with. Be
it eternal families, or personal revelation, or living prophets, or
the Book of Mormon. You'll receive blessings. I promise. :) Love you
all!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
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