Hello family and friends:
Turns out that the common cold was actually the flu. So, just when I thought I was getting better and went out for p-day, we went home that night and I felt not so great. So we rested Monday night and Tuesday morning after our appointment cancelled on us. I wanted to get all better for the scambio we had on Wednesday and zone conference on Thursday.
While resting, I had the chance to finish filling out all my death packet paperwork for my last interview with President. Good thing too because we got a call from the zone leaders Tuesday morning that said we were having our exit interviews Wednesday instead of when we go up to Rome. My heart stopped beating for a little bit when I heard that because I thought I had 3 more weeks before I had to think about my future. Tuesday afternoon came around and I was sick of resting, so we ventured out and made copies of this temple activity that Sorella K has. There are footprints that have scriptures and commandments on them and they lead up to the temple. We have been using it with members for a spiritual thought to help prepare everybody for the temple. After english course that night, I was dead.
Wednesday, the Cosenza sisters were coming to do a scambio with us, but because it was interview day, the Crotone sisters ended up coming too. So we went on a trio scambio. The zone leaders or more specifically Anziano F was getting a kick out of who we were on the scambio with. Sorella Mc goes home with me and Sorella Cgoes home one transfer after us, so he was explaining that it was like dead with dead with almost dead. Nice, huh? They also calculated it out yesterday that I have
2.6 % of my mission left. We had a lot of fun on the scambio. We did house to house after the less active we tried to see opened the door to the building. We were like, "11th floor, last door", let's go! Haha... the ironic part is that the fourth floor, last door was the nicest lady. We also did some street finding by an elementary school next to our house. That was a good idea to find new families, especially right before lunch when everybody is picking up their kids.
2.6 % of my mission left. We had a lot of fun on the scambio. We did house to house after the less active we tried to see opened the door to the building. We were like, "11th floor, last door", let's go! Haha... the ironic part is that the fourth floor, last door was the nicest lady. We also did some street finding by an elementary school next to our house. That was a good idea to find new families, especially right before lunch when everybody is picking up their kids.
After lunch, it was just me and Sorella McKenzie on scambio and we basically talked in Italian for the whole time. It was a blast, plus we got to talk about Catania since she was there for 4 transfers. We had our interviews that evening and those were 45 minutes each. We talked to Sorella Pickerd while the other one was in the interview and I talked to Sorella Pickerd for the whole 45 minutes. So I spent a good solid hour and a half with our wonderful mission president and his wonderful wife. I just love them so much! The interview was pretty much "tell me about your plans." Me: *telling him my plans* "That sounds good. Here's some additional advice. You are great, and I know you will make good choices." So, basically I didn't have to worry about a thing, and I learned a lot from them.
After interviews, we headed to the Dorgia's. They are a less active family who invited us over for dinner. Another member and her less active daughter came too, so it was a party. We learned how to play scopa while we waited for dinner to be ready. Scopa cards are from Napoli and there are a bunch of Italian card games you can play with them. Yes, I will be bringing some home. And yes, I will teach you how to play. :) We had a really great night and a fun time all together. And we ate way too much food! The other sisters on the scambio finally got to teach Gilda. Talk about a miracle! So now she is a new investigator and we will be working with her.
Zone conference on Thursday was really great! It felt like a giant review of all of the past zone conferences which was kind of nice not to have something new thrown at us. But President Pickerd talked a lot about success as a missionary. It was nice to hear for me being one who maybe hasn't seen as much fruit on the mission as I would have liked. But success doesn't come in the number of baptisms one has. They sang happy birthday to me and the other missionaries who have birthdays this transfer, and then all the dying missionaries had to give their death testimonies. I bore my testimony on the 4 things that have really grown my testimony on the mission.. 1) Heavenly Father loves us and has an individual plan for each of us. 2) Jesus Christ is truly the Savior of the world, my redeemer, my brother, and my friend. 3) The book of mormon is true. We draw nearer to the savior as we read, study, and apply the things in that book. And 4) When we lose ourselves in the service of others, and more importantly in the service of our God, there truly is more of us to find. It went well, but the whole time I couldn't believe that it was already my time to stand up there.
The anziani had a baptism Thursday night and that was a beautiful thing to witness. Cristina came and still wants to be baptized, but hopefully we can get her to act a little bit more. We haven't met with her for 3 weeks. Maria Grazia is awesome though and I have seen her progress so much from the time I got here to now. So happy for her!
Friday morning, we did weekly planning which went well. And that evening was interesting. We did some finding, waited at a bus stop, had a creepy guy start following us, stared at me for the whole 20 minute bus ride, finally got off, and then we went home to complete some area book updates instead of going to the military base to see an investigator because we had the heebie jeebies. Mom, don't worry. I promise I am safe. :)
That night, the handle to flush my toilet broke off. So Saturday morning after we had correlation with the ward mission leader, we went to a hardware store to get a new screw to fix it. I had to learn some new vocabulary for that adventure. The guy at the hardware store gifted us the screw probably because he felt bad for us. Then we got pizza for lunch and went home to eat it. And get a round of applause ready... I fixed my toilet handle all by myself. No, it isn't like an American handle so I actually had to use my brain to figure out how to fix it. I think I am now qualified to live on my own.
I've been studying the subjunctive mood this week for language study and I think I am finally understanding it. 17 months later.
Saturday night, we went to see a less active. Her daughter that our lesson was actually planned for was sleeping, so we had to come up with something on the spot. We ended up sharing the story of Esther with her and watching the video Courage. We talked about how we have to have the courage to keep going forward in life with faith even when things don't go the way we had originally planned them to go. It was definitely inspired to share that with her, and it is always cool to watch the spirit work through us as missionaries.
It was daylight savings here in Italy on Sunday. I forgot, so I woke up and got ready anyways. Once I realized, I went back to bed for a bit but couldn't sleep. Darn it. The one time I get to sleep for an extra hour and I ruined my chance. Haha... We went to stake conference in Bari. 5th time in Bari and it isn't even in the zone. I think I have probably set a new record. Haha. Stake conference was really great though, and I got an idea for my homecoming talk.
Sunday night, we went and did some finding. We talked to this nice guy named Mauro and taught him about the restoration. Nothing came of it, but all his problems about the catholic church don't exist in the restored church of Jesus Christ. Hopefully he will discover that. He had seen other missionaries before, so someday he will accept the gospel, right? The less active we had an appointment with cancelled on us, so we went by the ward mission leaders since they live in the same building. The mom is 86 and she writes these hymns, and they were actually really good. If I knew how to compose music, I would write the notes out for it. They also fed us gelato.
We had a great week this week, and we are excited to attack the next 2 weeks with just as much energy. We know we will see miracles if we give it our all. And I only have 15 more days to be a missionary, so we are going all out. :)
Con amore,
Sorella Flansberg
Missione Italiana di Roma
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