Dear family and friends:
Wow! We had a crazy week. We felt like we were just running here and
there trying to get everything done. So prepare yourselves for a crazy
long email. Haha.. :D
Monday night, we went to see Tanya and her family. We had planned to
make pancakes with her and so we made the batter before we went. And
they turned out so good. I haven't eaten pancakes in a very long time.
Plus we had peanut butter and syrup from the Lahaderne's so it was
basically like America. Tanya thought we were crazy with all of our
topping combinations. Then we talked with her about having faith to
leave the harbor because she is moving to Bologna at the end of the
week. And then she brought up the point that the church is like a safe
harbor wherever we go. She is just awesome and Bologna is so lucky to
have her!
Our DDM this week was absolutely fantastic. We talked about Pilate and
how we can't have fear of men or just be passive as representatives of
Christ. We need to live up to our potential as missionaries. We also
used the story of the rich young ruler and how important it is to give
our will to God, because it is really the only thing that we can give
him. And then last of all, we talked about enjoying being a
missionary. This opportunity is really a once in a lifetime thing, and
I'm starting to realize just how short this period of time really
is...
After DDM on Tuesday, we headed out to Matteo's with the anziani. They
had planned a going away lunch for him since he left for Scotland on
Friday. (So sad!) His mom made lasagna, and it was basically to die
for. We watched her make it, and we took a time lapse so maybe someday
we will be able to replicate it. We also had a great lesson with all
of us missionaries with Matteo about faith and how we need to pray in
faith to receive an answer. His mom and sister sat in at the end of
the lesson, and the mom said, "basically you guys teach what every
other church teaches". And something I read in personal study a few
weeks ago helped me answer her question. I read a statement by Elder
McConkie and he talked about the importance of having the word and
having the power. A lot of churches have the word or some of the word,
that comes from the Bible, so yes... A lot of the doctrine that we
teach is going to sound the same, but because we also have the power
of God leading this church, we have access to continuing revelation
which helps us know ALL of the word and we have access to the power
that helps us complete saving ordinances. I just loved how simple that
explanation was. This was me paraphrasing him. :) At the end of the
lesson with Matteo, he promised with a good firm Italian handshake
that he would pray that night to know that 1) God exists and 2) that
the Book of Mormon is true.
And guess what? He got an answer. He prayed, ended his prayer, waited,
didn't really feel anything different. Then right before he was going
to bed, he felt like he needed to pray again. He didn't follow that
prompting until the anziani told him to try it again because that was
likely a prompting from the Holy Ghost. So the next night, he prayed
again... And this time, after his prayer, he said, I just felt good
inside. He likened this good feeling with the feeling he feels
whenever he is in the church, whenever he is around the missionaries,
and whenever he is around members. The missionaries were able to
testify that it was the Holy Ghost that brings us those feelings. And
he promised that he would find the church in Scotland and the anziani
are sending the missionaries there his information. He said that if he
feels the same thing at the church there and with the people there,
then he will know that this is the true church. How cool is that? :)
He is the miracle that came from that one night of finding where we
felt like it was a failure, but it wasn't.
One thing that I've really been realizing this week is how important
it is to have a relationship with God. We must all have the beginning
of some personal, spiritual, true experience with God and know that he
exists before we will have real conversion. And how do we have that
experience with God? We pray. I believe the commandments to read the
scriptures and to pray daily are commandments to help us form a
relationship with our Heavenly Father. We learn about him, he teaches
us about himself through the Holy Spirit, and in receiving those
answers, we experience the love that he has for us. And that love
leads to true conversion.
This is the experience that we are trying to help Elena develop. We
had a lesson with her this week, and just from listening to her, we
learned that she still doesn't know that God has a body of flesh and
bone. He isn't just some abstract idea that lives inside of all of us.
He is literally our father and he asks us to come and to learn about
him and his plan of salvation for all of us. So she might have what
she calls a testimony of Joseph Smith, but until she begins to build
that relationship with God, it will be hard for her heart to be open
to the rest of the doctrine that came along with the restoration of
the church. We have a lesson with her tonight with a member and we are
praying that it will go well.
Wednesday after our lesson with Elena and our unplanned lunch with
her, we met up with Tanya again to go get ice cream. It was her 2
years since being baptized anniversary and so we treated her to
gelato. We also had to say goodbye and that was so sad.
We had ward council at the church later that night and the zone
leaders were in town doing a scambio with the anziani. They had made a
deal with the whole zone a few weeks back that if every companionship
brought an investigator to church, we could pie them in the face at
specialized training. Well, we aren't having specialized training this
transfer because we are going up to Rome for a mission conference. I
think I forgot to mention that... Haha.. So, we can't exactly pie them
in the face in front of a general authority. Haha.. But our district
was the only district where every companionship had an investigator in
church that Sunday, so we had the privilege of pieing them. Anziano
Friedman made pies with pudding and Greek yogurt and it was so funny.
The incentives we do in the Italy Rome Mission to get investigators in
church... Haha.. :)
Thursday morning, we had a surprise phone call from Pres. Pickerd.
Haha.. I was worried I was getting emergency transferred for some
reason, but no.. He was just calling to do my ecclesiastical
endorsement interview over the phone. Haha.. He told me that part of
the BYU honor code is respecting those around me and that includes
people who go to the University of Utah. Kind of ironic because of the
BYU game this week. Now that is one less thing I have to stress about.
Thursday, we had pranzo with a member. So we rode a bus out to San
Giorgio to do a little less active finding before that. The pranzo
took forever.... And after we finally left, we found a bus stop. But
there are 2 bus companies that take us back to Taranto, and I was so
sure that the tickets we had were for CTP, so two busses pass that are
from Sud-Est and I kind of ignored a prompting to go ask the driver.
Whoops. So then a CTP bus finally comes and he tells us our tickets
are for Sud-Est, so we waited some more. At least this stop had a
cover over it for when it started to poor down rain. And even though
I ignored a prompting (don't do that), we still saw blessings? One of
our investigators that we haven't seen since my first week in Taranto
passed by the bus stop and we were able to talk with her and she said
we can come see her this next week. And we also talked to this really
nice guy named Alfonso who is Italian but lives in the Dominican
Republic. So I'd say the moral of that story is to follow the
promptings of the spirit, but then we wouldn't have met Alfonso or
seen Nunzia. So.... Take from that what you will.
That night after English course, we went to get panzerotti with the
anziani and Matteo, his sister and her boyfriend. And that was really
fun. And then we had to say goodbye which was hard because Matteo is
just so awesome. He taught us all of the hand gestures that they use
most commonly in Italian and he is just a fun person to be around. But
it will be good for him to go to Scotland and we are just praying that
he will get baptized there.
We did weekly planning on Friday morning, and we have another crazy
week ahead of us. Monday night, the Caserta sisters are coming to stay
until Wednesday morning so they can pick up Sorella Hess' permesso.
Wednesday morning, we all leave to go to Rome for the mission
conference with President Kearon of the Europe area presidency and
Elder Sabin of the seventy, and we will officially return to Taranto
on Friday morning. Friday evening, we have a ward party. Saturday, we
have correlation, and Sunday, we have church and a self sufficiency
workshop that we want some of our investigators to go to, so this next
week is bound to have some adventures. :)
It has been raining every day this week, so that has made things nice
and cool. And currently, it is pouring down rain. Haha.. We've had
more than a few opportunities to get wet and then stay wet the whole
day because of humidity. But it also brought some miracles because
sometimes I can be a dumbo and leave my umbrella at home. Friday, we
had gone to see Sorella Parabita, and after her, we had an appointment
with this less active couple and we had decided to wait at a bus stop
that we hadn't ever waited at before. We were already running late,
and we waited and we waited, it was raining, and we waited some more.
Finally, this guy comes to tell us that there aren't any buses that
pass at this stop and he thought he would come tell us so we weren't
waiting out in the rain. So nice of him, right?? And then we crossed
the street and he gave us instructions on where we could catch a bus
and then he let me a borrow an umbrella. We have plans to return the
umbrella and then teach him the gospel. His name was Nicola and he was
so nice to us lost Americans. I've gotten lost more times in these
last 2 transfers than I would ever like to admit. Haha.. It's just
humbling me...
Saturday, we rode a bus out to visit Slla Panunzio. She is the nicest
old lady and she taught us how to make pasta again. She has been a
widow for a little less than 40 years, her testimony is so strong, and
she is literally the most humble person I have ever met. We stayed for
lunch even though that wasn't our original plan, and her prayer almost
made me cry. She just thanked Heavenly Father for allowing 2 beautiful
angels to be in her home and visit with her, and how that day was such
a special day for her. Making pasta was fun too, although she said
that I'm not very good at working with my hands.. Haha.. 😐 I guess
you are supposed to use your palms to roll out dough but I use my
fingers and then the dough becomes misshapen. Oh well, I'll just keep
practicing. She's been making pasta for her whole life.
We left her and we walked to our other appointment because we thought
it was nearby. We ended up walking a lot more than we needed to and
because the roads are kind of out in the country, these cars that
didn't slow down splashed us all up and down with water. We were
soaked when we arrived at Sorella Basile's house. Haha...
This week, we spent a lot of time waiting at bus stops. So frustrating
especially when the bus stop you are waiting at is not a busy one, so
nobody is there waiting with you. Sometimes it is hard to feel like
you are not wasting time.... But those are some of the things that are
out of control as missionaries. And I just remind myself of D&C
123:17. "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all
things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the
utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be
revealed."
This week, we also didn't cook once. We were literally at somebody's
house for every lunch except for Friday when we ate leftovers someone
gave us. Haha.. We ate so much, and we have been feeling it. Haha...
So much food. Looking forward to tomorrow when we can cook curry and
have some different flavors.
Sunday was a beautiful day as well. The lesson that Anziano Friedman
taught in gospel principles went really well. He made everyone cry
because the spirit was so strong. The lesson was on faith in Jesus
Christ and how we shouldn't have faith that we will get the solutions
we want to all of the problems that we have in this life. We should
put our trust in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father who know the grand
scheme of things and who know what is best for us to figure out the
details. We just need to show our faith by keeping the commandments
and enduring to the end. At some point, we will realize why everything
happened the way that it did, and we just need to trust that
everything that happens is for a benefit. There is not a single trial
that we will go through in this life that is not intended for us.
On Sunday, we had the shortest pranzo appointment of my life. It was
really good. We are with the Piccione's. The husband is really smart.
And he tells a lot of really interesting stories. Haha.. One of them
was explaining why the streets in the old city are really just like
super thin alleyways. He said, that 1) it is because the old city is
on an island and they didn't have enough space and 2) it was to enable
the people to drop boiling oil on pirates when they came and tried to
take over the city from above these tiny alleyways. I'm not sure how
much I believe reason number 2 but it makes for a fun story. :)
Sunday night, we went to the church to practice the musical number
that Sorella Gochnour and Anziano Anderson (the kids) are
participating in for the mission conference. It is a really pretty
arrangement of Joseph Smith's First Prayer and it will be a powerful
musical number because that is the reason all of us are on missions,
and it testifies of the sweet message of the restoration of the
fullness of the gospel. It will be so good. :)
Well, you made it to end of another one of Sorella Flansberg's
famously long emails. Enjoy them while you can. ;)
I love you all! Have a wonderful week everyone!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
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