Hello family and friends,
I forgot to mention this in my last email, but last p-day we went paint balling and had a barbecue at Mariella's (Matteo's mom) for Erika's (his sisters) birthday. (Hopefully you remember who Matteo is. His family are the anziani's investigators and are amazing. Someday, they will be an eternal family, so they are like the miracle of our time here in Taranto. And I say "our time" because we started out teaching Mariella and the anziani with Matteo and told them to teach them as a family. But they love all of us and I love all of them. Plus Mariella is our student for English course and we eat at their house a lot.) It was really fun. The paint balling was not my favorite, but now I can say that I tried. "I'll try anything once" is a phrase I'm adopting from my beautiful mission daughter Sorella G.
After p-day, we watched the women's session of conference. And I loved all of it. Some of the things that stood out to me though was how our kind words can propel the sails of another person in challenging times. How we shouldn't focus on the golden windows of someone else's house. The imagery of the master healer. How we as women need to study out the temple ordinances and covenants to have the power of God with us. And that there are more ways to see, hear, and feel something than with our eyes, ears, and hands.
This week for DDM, we had a council about repentance. It kind of turned into a discussion about the refiner's fire towards the end. And Anziano F. shared an article found in an ensign from 2014 called The Jadeite Cabbage. It tells of a sculpture made out of jade. But the master sculptor used a piece of jade that wasn't worth very much because it changed colors from green to white and had cracks. The master turned this piece of jade into this beautiful sculpture of a cabbage and used the cracks to make the piece of art look more lifelike. In my head after the council, I likened the cracks to our sins that we have repented of. We don't usually forget our sins and the remains are still there so we don't sin again, but to Heavenly Father, our sins are used to make us more perfect. He takes us, the cracks and all, and turns us into a beautiful sculpture. He doesn't see those cracks as something that makes us worth less. He sees those cracks being used to make us who we are and they help us become who we are ultimately supposed to become. Go read the article. It might make more sense that way.
Tuesday afternoon, we took a bus to Crotone. So that took a majority of the afternoon. (4 hours) They played a movie halfway through the trip and blasted music the rest of the time and when we arrived, I had the biggest headache. I don't know how I am going to survive the real world.
So I went on the scambio with Sorella C. and she happened to be sick for like the 5th day in a row. So I got to be her indoor buddy for a few hours. We still went out and worked and saw miracles though. The one that stuck out to me was with this guy named Michele. When we first sat down at the table with him, he seemed a bit rough and tumble. He was drinking, smoking, and had tattoos all up and down his arms. But he was so prepared for the gospel. He actually lives in Como, but travels down to Crotone once a month for work. One of his work colleagues was at the table with us and has talked to Michele about religion before, and then we showed up and shared the restoration with him. He took it as a sign that God was calling him and he agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We also got his phone number to give missionaries up there. Such a cool experience to watch God really soften someone's heart.
Thursday morning, we woke up early to take a bus back. Another 4 hours there. When we got back, we went to see Elena. And I can't say it was my favorite lesson of the week. Haha.. I feel like we've had the same lesson with her every week for the last 4 months I've been in Taranto. Let me just admit now that I still need to work on patience, and leave it at that. Thankfully my companion went back to the basics and invited her again to pray to know that this church is the only church that has the fullness of the gospel, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet who received the authority from God to organize his church again on the earth. She said she would, for the last time, so we'll see if she does. She came to conference on Sunday and was amazed that the conference center is bigger than St. Peter's. 😂
Something cool I learned at English course this week is that there are two ways to ask someone to say a prayer. "Dire la preghiera" and "fare la preghiera" which translates to say and to do/make. As a missionary I always use "fare la preghiera" and one of the students was like, "in Italian, we don't usually say that." But then someone explained, and I liked it. They said, "dire la preghiera" is for when you want someone to say a prayer that is written already. But "fare la preghiera" is for when you "create" a prayer according to them. Which is what we do. Isn't Italian so cool? :) No one else probably cares about that. Haha...
Friday, we went to have our famous mozzarella filled lunch. And we ate a lot. And it was very cheesy, but also very good. Except the green beans because she put mint leaves in them. We shared a thought with them about prophets and general conference. Everything we said the mom translated from Italian to Tarantino to the daughter. It was nice to get to know the family a little better and learn some Tarantino. :) You have to love how every city has a different dialect. And people who live in the old parts of the city usually speak that instead of Italian.
When we left, we waited at a bus stop for an entire hour. Now that it is September/October, the buses actually attempt to follow the schedule again, but that day someone wasn't doing his job or several people. 7 other buses were supposed to pass in that hour. No harm done since there was a bench and a nice woman named Tonia to talk to. This lady used to have missionaries visit her all the time when she was a young mom. And she said she enjoyed when they came over, but when we asked if we could come and find her sometime, she said she was too busy. So I invited her to come to church if she had a Sunday free.
That night, we had a relief society activity called, "Noi con Cristo" (Us with Christ). It was focused on the purpose of relief society and how we become like Christ by serving others. The ward has been raving over our violin and piano talents ever since we played in sacrament meeting. So we played again for that activity. Mariella made the cake with fondant, Cristina came, and I think another investigator came of the anziani's if I remember right. So it was successful. Oh, also all of the investigators bore their testimony during the meeting too. How cool is that? :)
I also recruited people to pray for me to stay in Taranto. Everybody kept saying that I can't leave because it doesn't make sense for me to go somewhere else for the last 6 weeks of my mission. And I've been praying fervently to not leave either because I love the people here so much and I want to be able to say a proper see you later. But in the end, I'll go where the Lord wants me to go because he knows best. So we get calls tonight and you will hear next week from me either in a new city or still in Taranto. :)
October is here. I don't really know where September went. And I think October will go fast too because of general conference and we all get to go up to Rome again for another mission conference on the 20, because guess who's coming?! President Russell M. Nelson, Bishop Gerald Caussè, Elder Hallstrom, and President Kearon. So cool, right??
Saturday morning, we had a lesson with Cristina about following the prophet and general conference. We listened to a talk with her from the last conference and we talked about her situation. She is SO SAD that one of us could be leaving. So in her prayer to start the lesson, she prayed for us and our future families. Haha.. I just love her so much! She definitely has a talent for making people laugh.
Conference was so good! It is basically like Christmas for missionaries. New reading material! :) haha.. And I am so grateful my native language is English. It is such a blessing that we have the technology to translate the conference in a ton of different languages, but it just isn't the same. I love to hear their real voices. I think some of my favorite talks have been President Nelson's, President Uchtdorf's, Elder Hales, Elder Cornish, and Elder Andersen's. I don't have my notes with me, but I loved how much they stressed that God loves us, and how precious the knowledge we have in this church is. And they definitely took us back to the basics. :) We haven't watched the last session yet, and I want to watch the Sunday morning session in English. But it was all so good! Members made us lunch and brought it to the church so we could eat, so that was really nice too.
And today, we took advantage of it being AFTER conference and went to the beach. We got to put our feet in and now I understand why everybody just spends their summer at the beach. I would too if I lived here as a normal person. Taranto is known for their beaches for a reason. :) So beautiful and the water is so blue and so clear.
Well, I hope you all have a lovely week! God loves you!
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
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