Verona, Italy - August 18, 2010

On Thursday of last week we managed to see again the investigators, a couple, that we were teaching when I first got here that we had not seen in a whole transfer [6 weeks]! It was good to see them again. And we have since seen them again, last night, and we have another appointment for next week. So I am excited. We are also finding new investigators. August in Italy is kind of funny because everyone, almost literally, goes out of town for three or four week vacations, so all the shops shut down and no one is home when we go knocking on doors and when we do find someone they go away the next day and tell us to call them when they get back. So you would think we would have a hard time finding people to teach, but we actually are teaching regularly and working steadily with some of our investigators. It is cool.

Every August 15 is a big national Italian holiday called Ferrogosto, and I think it in some way honors the Madonna. But they don't want the missionaries out and about on that day, so instead we stay in all day long and do this massive deep cleaning of our apartment. So that is what we did on Monday, all day long. We woke up, did studies, and at 10 am started cleaning. Then took a half hour-ish long break for lunch around 1, and then started cleaning again and cleaned and cleaned all the way until 9pm, when we planned for the next day and went to bed. It was intense. And then the next day, Tuesday, we went to go visit one of our investigators and helped her clean her house for a couple of hours. So this week has certainly been full of cleaning! It was intense, but also kind of relaxing to have a day of doing something different. The strange thing was that even though I was inside literally all day with my companion, I actually felt like I spent less time with her than I ever do on any other day! At the end of the day I realized we had really only seen each other at lunch, because when we are at home we can be in different rooms of our apartment, and so we had divvied up the rooms between us to clean and spent all of our time cleaning in different rooms, and really wanted to ask her how her day had been and what she had done! Usually that never happens because we are always exactly together all day. It was kind of funny. I like Sorella Tramacchi a lot. She is easy to get along with.

I had one neat experience I wanted to share. When we are knocking on doors, doing casa, and a man says we can come in, we always have to check and see if there is a woman in the house, because if there is not and it is just the man alone we cannot go in. It is the same for the anziani, of course, who cannot go in if there is just a woman at home. So usually what we all do when that happens is say, well could we send the missionaries of your gender by to see you another day? And then we pass the referral on to the other coppia (companionship in italian). So the anziani had given us two referrals from the same street, one at number 17 and one at number 19, and had told us the one in number 17 was probably not actually interested, but that the one in number 19 was really awesome and we had to go see her. When we went by, however, number 19 couldn't see us right then, and the mother of the girl in number 17 was home with her granddaughter and they let us in and they are now new and progressing investigators. So the woman the anziani had talked to was not there, but the other two are awesome and now we are teaching them! But the real story starts with when we finally did get to see the person in number 19, the one the anziani told us was a really good strong referral, so we were excited to see her. We get to her door yesterday morning and she said, yes please come in come in! So we come on in, but then she gets a phone call, so we talk to her sister who is visiting from Sicilia while she is on the phone. Then the instant she gets off the phone she starts railing into us about how she doesn't want to listen to any messages, but just wants help, so if we are not going to help her than we can just get on going and leave her be, and is talking all about her financial problems and her children who have died and her husband who passed away three years ago. We were a little surprised, and couldn't get a word in edgewise because she was very loud and forceful and so was her sister. But despite how intense and scary they were, I really didn't feel the least bit intimidated or scared, just very calm and sure of myself and that the message we have is true and that I really am God's representative and that as long as I cared about them, listened, and did my best to testify and help them, that it was all okay. So we listened carefully. We said a few things, and usually they would cut us off and talk over us and kept saying about how they had faith but had never seen any miracles come from it and asking us why there is suffering in the world and challenging us to answer all of these really intense dilemmas. But still I felt really calm, like I was perfectly capable of answering their questions and helping these intimidating people because I was not alone. I felt to tell them that maybe the reason they had not seen miracles was because there was more truth in existence than they knew, that they needed to know about and be true to before they could see the miracles, and that we knew this truth thanks to a modern day prophet, Joseph Smith. I shared the Joseph Smith story and then when I started reciting Joseph Smith's own words about the 1st Vision, the most remarkable thing happened. They were silent. Totally silent, even for a little bit after I stopped talking. It was really incredible to see how the Holy Ghost entered the room as we started testifying of Joseph Smith as a prophet and to see how that was manifest in their being calmed. The reason they were so forceful and intense was because of the pain they still feel at the suffering they have experienced in their lives, and I believe that they felt the comfort and influence of the Holy Ghost in that moment and that that is why they were quiet and still and attentive. The sister wants to learn more, and said we can give her information to the missionaries in Sicilia. Number 19 said no, she does not want to listen, but that we can keep coming and visiting her sister for as long as her sister is still there visiting, which will be for a while longer. Who knows, maybe her heart, too, will be softened as she listens to us teach her sister. It was a really cool experience. The Holy Ghost really is what has the power, not us at all. I didn't do a thing to make them listen, but they did listen all the same because the Holy Ghost was there. Neat, huh? Dad, I thought later of the lyrics of that song you sent, about how sometimes God calms the storm, but sometimes the child, and how at the beginning it really was a calming the child moment because I felt perfectly calm even while these sisters were very agitated, and then it was the other way around and the storm was calmed as the Holy Ghost worked on them. It was really neat.

August 11, 2010 - Verona, Italy

First of all, this week I have had a couple of eerie old lady experiences. We have a member who lives in a casa di cura (like an old folk's home) whom the R.S. pres. has asked us to go visit, so we do. This old lady came up and really wanted to hold my hand, but really she was just looking for a tissue because her nose was running, so then she took the tissue my companion gave her and my companion's hand, and then dragged my companion off with her for five minutes or so into the dining room to find her seat. Then the next time we went, another old lady followed us into the stairwell and started trying to go down the stairs. But I was afraid she would fall, so I took her arm and helped her down. We get to the bottom of the stairs, and then she kept trying to go down further, but there weren't any more stairs! So then we asked her if she wanted to go back up since she couldn't keep going down, so then I helped her back up all the stairs, and we took her back into her hallway, but she wouldn't let go of me. She was pretty old and weak looking, but she had a vice-like grip and I really couldn't get out. I finally had to use my other hand to pry hers off mine, but then she would grab that hand. It was ridiculous! We finally get her off with the help of a nurse and ran into the stairwell before she could grab hold again and had to almost close the door on her to keep her from coming back in the stairwell. That was intense. Then we were doing casa the other day, maybe even yesterday, and knocked on the door and this very old woman answered with a slightly eerie smile on. She said how wonderful it was that we finally found her and I thought, 'maybe she's not eerie, just super ready,' then she shook my companion's hand. Then she shook my hand, but decided not to let go. Instead, with the same eerie smile on and without an inch of change in any part of her expression, she yanks me forward through the door right up to her face, and I was a little bit frozen and not knowing what to do, and then she kissed me on the cheek like the Italians do, so I was a little less alarmed, but still a little weirded out. Then she pulled me in further and made me go past her into the house and beckoned my companion in. Then her very old husband also came out so I greeted him. Then her daughter came out and got very very angry at us and commanded us to get out and go away! So then we had to run away. It was so bizarre.

But in the way of other news, we have made some real progress with one investigator. She really is beautiful, and also super intense. But she has had a really hard life, and we talked to her about it the time before last, and helped her see that it is possible to be happy even in difficult circumstances. This time we shared the plan of salvation. Her son passed away unexpectedly a year ago, and it has been very hard for her and her husband, but just in these last few times we have seen her since she got out of the hospital I have seen her soften a lot and really start to open up her heart more. She really is searching, and I am so happy for the peace that I know the gospel will bring her. She said her first prayer for us yesterday, a major turning point! Normally she has us pray. She is really adorable about prayers. She always interrupts us to tell us what to pray for. The first time I remember praying for her with her there she stopped us and said, 'no, no, that is my nickname, you have to use my name from my baptism so that He knows who you are talking about.' And then she will often interrupt for things like, 'don't forget to pray that my husband will stop blaspheming,' or 'pray that the word will enter my heart,' but all of this happens in the middle of the prayer. Yesterday when I was saying the opening prayer she stopped and said, 'every time you pray I just want to open my eyes and stare at you and I can't keep my eyes closed! Why can't I keep my eyes closed?' And so then we have to respond, but we are in the middle of a prayer. I haven't figured it out yet, what is the prayer ettiquete? Should you close and then say like five prayers to get it all said that you want to say, just ignore her, or just respond and then keep on with the prayer when you are done? Who knows? At least I do know that whatever way you do it God is listening. I think He is probably pleased with her for paying such attention during the prayer and being so conscientious of praying in her own way, like asking about little details like eyes closed, and like always having something to say in the prayer. It is fun.

Antonella is doing well, we got to meet her sons on Friday, Niccolo and Samuele. They are 15 and 17, and have hearts every bit as kind as Antonella's. We got to go walk around centro with them and their family and gave them each a Book of Mormon. It was fun.

Also, Benita is back and forth in health. Better one day and not as good the next. She cannot see at all anymore really, so we try to do not just visual aids but tactile aids as much as possible to help her feel involved. We love going to see her, despite everything she is still so kind and cheerful and always joking. JR, her friend who is 24 and takes care of her, is really progressing as we are teaching him. He is actually thinking about baptism right now, and taking it very seriously. He loves the Book of Mormon and prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and said he felt good, a really bright feeling. He really thinks that Joseph Smith could have been a prophet. Meno male we know he was. It is really cool to watch people search for and then gradually find the truth. I love it. And prayer has such power, and the Book of Mormon really has converting power, and that comes because it is truly the word of God, written by true prophets, and because it testifies so fully of Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer. That brings power into the words of the book, and people feel that power when they read. It is so important that they read and pray, because those are the things that will help them gain the faith they are searching for. It is also the things that we must do in order to endure to the end, because those two small things done daily, combined with going to church weekly, will give us a strong and very real protection from temptation. It is true. Always read your scriptures and pray every day.

August 4, 2010 - Verona, Italy

Woot! I have been with my new companion almost a week now. Her name is actually Sorella Tramacchi, and she is from Australia! She is really cool, super sweet and laid back. She was actually in the Rome mission, but got switched to ours because she was in the zone that moved up this past transfer, and has been in the mission for over a year now, so she only has this transfer and next left! She is really cool, and we are having a ton of fun together, even though bikes are being as hard for her as they were for me when I started. I have really come a long ways, it seems, with the bikes; they are a lot easier for me now and I actually enjoy them!

We have an investigator who is in the hospital. Well, she got transferred to another part in the hospital, then went home, then came back in another part, and now is in yet another part. We have been seeing her as often as possible through all of this, and teaching her. I think this experience has really humbled her, and she gave us her promise one week ago that she would be baptized! It has been really neat to see the change in her since then. Every time we come she talks about how it took her thirty years to be converted but now she is and how happy she is with this decision. Right now the problem she has is kind of intense and she is not doing well at all. I am afraid she will die before she can be baptized, but at least if that is the case she can accept it in the next life. We are right now trying to help her prepare for that if that is in fact what happens, planning on teaching her about repentance so she can start preparing. I know that sounds kind of weird, but that is what we feel like we should do. Awesomely enough, though, her hospital roommate is a twenty-four year old man from the Philippines, and we have started teaching him and he is so cool and super interested. He loves the stuff we are telling him and always feels good when we read together from the Book of Mormon. We have taught him the plan of salvation and the restoration, and he said he would pray to know if it is true. He is really cool, and I love teaching them together even in the hospital!

We've had some moderately goofy experiences, like our investigator giving us umbrellas because it was raining when we went to leave her apartment, but then asking us if we were even capable of riding our bikes with umbrellas, so we said no, because we can't (I certainly don't have the balance - remember that time I fell at the bottom of the ramp right on my bags when we were leaving the MTC?), and then she gave them to us anyway. This morning something really cool happened. The sorelle from Pordenone were here (i.e., Sorella Shuel!! my MTC companion and Sorella Jacobson) because they needed to bunk over on their way home from permesso (the documents that say you can live in Italy) stuff in Genova, so we took them to see centro here, and of course if you come to Verona you have to see Juliet's balcony. So we went there and just as we were entering this woman stopped my companion and started talking to her (I didn't notice and had to go back and find her a few moments later). Turns out she found a Book of Mormon in a used book store, bought it, and has been seriously reading and studying it. She has read about half of it and studying alongside the Bible using the footnotes, and is super interested and really likes it. She wants to see us when she gets back from vacation in two weeks! How cool is that? Even cooler: my companion just told me that her family found the church because her grandpa found the Book of Mormon in a used book store then went and found the missionaries. Neat, huh?

Sorella Rossi really taught me a lot about using visual aids, and teaching has become way fun using them in these days. My new companion really likes it too. It is fun.

July 28, 2010 - Verona, Italy

Of course the biggest news of the week is what happens for transfers! When I got my mission call, there were three missions in Italy: Milan in the north, Rome in the middle, and Catania in the south. Just this transfer the change happened and they closed the Catania mission and combined all of that area with the Rome mission, making there be just two missions in italy: Milan top half and Rome bottom half. They also moved the northern part of the Rome mission into our mission to even out the geographical area of the two missions, which happens to be Tuscany, so now Tuscany is in our mission! The reason this is relevant is because my new companion here in Verona will be coming from Florence, which was formerly part of the Rome mission. Her name is something like Sister Tachamuri, but I suppose I will find out tomorrow for certain when we meet in Milan! So that is exciting. Sorella Rossi goes home, of course, because it has been a year and a half for her. Strange to already be starting my third transfer.

Oh! The Romanian investigator totally came to church again, and then met with us yesterday for a lesson and says she will meet us again on Friday. How bizarre. We still can't communicate, but we should be getting some stuff in Romanian and we can just read together instead!

Weirdest food for the week was this creepy corn pudding thing, but without any sugar. I had a hard time swallowing; it was so gross I just wanted to gag. I took your slogan very much to heart, Dad, of “where you lead, I will follow. What you feed, I will swallow!” It was a really weird dessert. Don't ever try it.

July 21, 2010 - Verona, Italy

[Email 11] Is that right? number 11? I am kind of loosing count; I might switch counting methods if I do lose count. Wwoops! =)

First and foremost: baptism!!! Woohoo!! Antonella is officially a baptised and confirmed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! What an incredible feeling! At the baptism, she changed into her white dress, and when I walked back into the chapel she was sitting there in a white dress and the organ was softly playing in the background, and all the members, her friends, were there and everyone was just sitting quietly and reverently. It really felt like the temple, and thinking of Antonella in the temple was awesome. I want to go with her someday, somehow. Maybe I will come back to Italy for the Rome temple dedication when it happens, and I can see her again then. How cool is that? Antonella has the Holy Ghost! She is so cool. I am so happy for her! And she was so happy. And the baptism was beautiful. One sister, who has come to lessons with Antonella, gave the talk about baptism, and another sister, our member in the hospital, gave the talk on the holy ghost! I was so proud of her for getting up in front of everyone to give a talk! Antonella has come with us to visit this sister in the hospital, and they have quickly become friends. This sister speaks Italian, but not super well, so they can't even communicate humongously, but they are still friends and Antonella was so excited that this sister would give a talk at her baptism. She spoke in English, so I was at the pulpit with her translating into Italian what she was saying. I was nervous. It went well though. And it was beautiful!

We had another investigator attend the baptism. She is very interesting. She really doesn't speak Italian. Teaching her is completely insane. We met her on the street, and understood each other enough to set up an appointment. So we brought her a Book of Mormon in Romanian (we met in the church), and had her read the introduction. She speaks pretty much all in Romanian, so it is difficult to communicate. I finally just kneeled down to make us say a closing prayer because we had to go! Then we met her again with a member and watched the restoration video (which doesn't come in Romanian, which was frustrating, and makes me wonder what on earth the Romanian missionaries do!) with a member. Again, we could not communicate. Then she shows up randomly in church! How surprising! She brought her Book of Mormon with her, and kept saying, it is all true, it is all true over and over again. It was super cool. She felt the spirit super strongly, and actually had to sit down during the intermediate hymn because she was so overcome and crying. Crazy! Afterwards the bishop came up and introduced himself, and we stepped off to help Antonella, and when we came back she was gone. So Sorella Rossi called and set up an appointment and we saw her again the next day in the church building again. I was praying so hard to be able to understand her, and I actually did understand a good portion of what she was saying! (thank goodness Italian and Romanian are as similar as they are.) She was telling us about her husband, who died a year ago, and her commitment to follow God, and about all the churches she has been to and about how they all talk about the word of God. Then we find out she gave her Book of Mormon to the bishop, who knows why, we really couldn't understand that part. Then we had a prayer and sang a song (we were just going to read from the Book of Mormon, but she didn't have it anymore, and we can't talk effectively), and she felt the Spirit I believe. Then she stands up and starts crying and just puts her chair away and leaves. And we kept saying, wait! Wait! and are following after her locking up the church building as we go. She was so distraught, and telling us about how she is really at a point of survival financially right now, no food, no water, nothing. We convinced her to meet us again the next day at the church so we could give her another Book of Mormon and read from it together. So we go the next day to the church and she is there already, so we start unlocking the gate to go up together and I handed her a new Book of Mormon, and she just refuses to take it. She was super angry and gave it back to me and just kept asking for money and saying how the bishop wouldn't give her money, and how is a book supposed to help her when she needs food and water? And she was really angry and kind of yelling at us and finally just yelled 'arrivederci!' and stalked off down the hill. I was so befuddled and had no idea where this came from when just two days before in church she was telling us how the whole Book of Mormon was true! We saw her again randomly later that day, and talked, but then she got mad at us again. I told her that she is of course always welcome in church, but she was really mad and I didn't think we would ever see her again. Then she shows up at Antonella's baptism on Saturday! We were able to give her a Book of Mormon in Romanian again, and even a pamphlet of the plan of salvation in her language we had found. She stayed for the whole baptism, and at the end I talked to her a bit and she kept pointing at the plan and saying something (she was reading it during the baptism), I think about wanting to endure to the end, but honestly it is all such guess work because she only speaks to us in Romanian. Then she leaves again very suddenly. She does that a lot, in the middle of talking, but she can't understand what we are saying and we can't understand her so it is crazy! Then we saw her again on Monday, and she gave her Book of Mormon to some other random person again. We talked and she was complaining about the bishop not giving her money again. She just kept saying, 'lultima volta' which is 'last time' that she is ever coming to the church to see us again. And then she left. And then we ran into her on the street today. And she started talking, and wouldn't stop, but we had to go to interviews, so we finally just had to interrupt her and tell her we had to go. It is insane! I have no clue if we will ever see her again! But even if we do, who knows if she will love us or hate us, and there is no way we will understand her anyway! How crazy is this?

We did have a really amazing experience this week with these three American girls. On Sunday, two Americans show up in church, turns out they are here for a three week opera thingy in Verona. One was a member, the other was her roommate for the program whom she had invited to come to church. We went to go visit them, and the non-member friend had invited another non-member to come listen to us with them, so then we are teaching two girls with their member friend. It was so incredible! Teaching in English, real English, not pigeon English, was really a cool feeling. We sang I am a Child of God to them, and everyone started crying, the Spirit was really strong. The one of them kept telling us she hasn't cried in 18 years. The other is super prepared, and really wants to keep meeting with us and hear our message. I love seeing the powerful testimony of members, and how incredibly important it is to bring members to lessons. They bring a very strong spirit and are an important step for the investigator to have friends in the church.

Pictures from Verona - June 2010

These are pictures that Rebecca sent from Verona, Italy in June 2010. The picture of the desk is Rebecca's work area in her apartment. The picture of the apartment buildings is the view from her apartment. There is also a picture of Sorella Harper, Rebecca's first companion and trainer.

July 7, 2010 - Verona, Italy

Ciao famiglia,

One thing that makes riding a bike more difficult is to have a very heavy bag of groceries on one handlebar with absolutely nothing on the other. Another thing is strapping a watermelon to the platform above the rear wheel. Another thing is sitting yourself on that platform while your companion drives your bike, so that your new convert can ride your companion's bike, so that you can escort her safely home from an appointment in a slightly sketchy neighborhood.

This week I actually just want to describe in great detail Saturday night, rather than many stories, because it was both so awesome and also having some crazy stuff like always.

It started off with us trying to find these new contacts, but the address they gave us turned out to be not right so then we were hot and very tired. It is very hot here. And humid. And the sun beats down on you and the only saving grace is that when you are on the bike there is wind, meno male. So then we went and passed by one of our super interested awesome new investigators, who is from Bolivia. She loves visual aids, and seeing her understand stuff when we use them is so cool. Sorella Rossi is super incredible at using visual aids, and I am learning a lot from her about teaching. So we did this fun paper folding visual aid about the story of the Book of Mormon to introduce it to her, and then gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would come to church on Sunday. The next time we see her we are planning on inviting her to be baptized, we have taught her pretty thoroughly about authority and the restoration idea, so she understands that if this church is true she will need to be baptized, and she has definitely felt the Spirit. It's really cool when she tells us how she feels, because she sees that there is something different, she feels goose bumps and wants to cry and just feels very emotional when we are teaching her. It is fascinating to see how people feel the Spirit and what incredible power the simple truths of the gospel have.

[Editor Note: I will use letters to distinguish the people in the following story.] Then we met A at Porta Vescovo (the big bus stop) and walked up to the church for a baptism of one of the anziani's investigators. That was way cool. A wanted to see how a baptism works, and she loved it. She felt the spirit really strongly and was so excited, and kept telling everyone she met how in two weeks it would be her turn (now only one week from Saturday!!), and kept saying how she wanted her program to go, and asking who will perform her baptism, and was just so excited. Afterwards we were teaching her a little lesson when S, our super awesome new convert from Nigeria who therefore speaks English and is learning Italian came in, so she taught with us and even in Italian, which makes her nervous and I was so proud of her. Then we found out that A was heading directly over to B's house, who is the investigator in the hospital who wants to be baptized. (She was home for a day and a half from the hospital to rest, then went back in on Sunday night, but we didn't know so how lucky it is that A told us?!) S had gone with us to the hospital to teach B, so they have met, so we all three decided to go with A to teach B a lesson, but we had the bikes. So we sent A and S off on their own on the bus, and we took off on the bikes. It is so important for investigators to form friendships with members, so I was excited for them to get to know each other on the bus. We are biking along, when suddenly my bike chain just falls off! We didn't know what to do but really needed to get to B's. So we bought a screwdriver for one euro at this random store that happened to be right there and start trying to take apart and fix the bike on the sidewalk in our skirts on our own. We couldn't do it, and were just feeling very much at a loss, when right then this married couple from the Philippines walks up and the she says, 'We walked past and my husband told me that he wished he had stopped to help you, so I told him we should go back and here we are. My husband repairs bikes for a living.' And he takes over and totally fixes my bike for us. We got their address and phone number and plan to see them soon! What a miraculously random finding opportunity. Then we got back on the bikes and finally get to B's. B and S are hanging out on the balcony while A is cleaning B's kitchen, and we go in and are talking with everyone and it is super fun. We all gather together on the balcony and start teaching B about the restoration again. Let me tell you, it is so cool to see your soon-to-be-baptized investigator bearing testimony of how she knows the Book of Mormon is true, how B doesn't need to study a ton or know everything to know enough to be baptized. S doing missionary work in Italian, and saying her first prayer in Italian, B interrupting S's prayer to make sure she tells God to make the words of our message enter into her heart so that she can know they are true because she wants to be baptized (which to me says she has already felt their truth), feeling the spirit testifying so strongly, was just such a cool experience. It was really a night of amazing sisterhood in the gospel and growing together spiritually, I absolutely loved it. I realized how much I love these people and how we are actually friends, and how I have friends that only speak to me in Italian and I am happy to realize I have relationships in a foreign language now, thanks very much to the help of God. He really does bless His missionaries to be able to preach the gospel in a foreign language. It was so cool. And then we did our lovely bike procedure previously described to get S home. It was beautiful. The whole evening.

I do have one crazy story, though. On Monday we went to go see our investigator who is a follower of Diksha, named T. She was pretty cool and interesting when we met her before, so I was excited to see her and for Sorella Rossi to meet her. We get there and she talks non-stop, we try to teach, but she really isn't listening. We say something about the Holy Ghost, and then she suddenly stops my companion. She holds out her hands in a cupped shape together, like you are going to splash your face with water, and looks at Sorella Rossi and says, 'would you like more? I have more Holy Ghost to offer you. It will only take a minute.' My companion handled it so so well, and just told her that she felt like that would be mocking her beliefs to accept something she knows does not come from the authority of God (but she said it really well). So Tatiana started talked to her about being closed and goes on with a smile constantly about how she lets us into her home and listens to us (which she didn't, because she talked the whole time) and only wants to offer us a gift, but if we say no then so be it. It was crazy, and so we just tried to smooth things over and get out of there. It was such a weird feeling and way creepy in a lot of ways, so we went and bought some plum cakes and ate them.

June 30, 2010 - Verona, Italy

Cara famiglia,

Everybody was surprised to hear from me a day early! It is nice to know how much your week revolves around my emails. Nice to know that I really am the center of y'alls' virtual universe. (Scherzo!)

So, you know already we had zone conference last week, since that is why I wrote early. Sorella Rossi, my companion now, loves watermelons. Absolutely loves them. There is a fruit stand place near our apartment that has really good prices, so last p-day, the day before zone conference, we went and bought two watermelons, one for her, and one for her old companion before me, who is now companions with my trainer in Modena, Sorella Ranieri. And then we took that watermelon all the way to Mestre with us (right outside Venezia, where we have zone conference), and gave it to them as a happy surprise gift. How random is that? So we took the watermelon (anguria in Italian) on our two hour train ride to get there, along with a bag of stuff Sorella Harper had forgotten to take with them. We met an Israeli woman on the train, and had a really good conversation with her about faith and what we believe. She spoke English very well, not Italian, and I actually ended up giving her my very tiny Book of Mormon because she needed to be given one! Who knows if she will ever have another chance to get a Book of Mormon? So now I don't have my tiny one that I bought at the temple. How sad. But hey, what does it matter to have a Book of Mormon if you aren't sharing it anyway, right?

Zone conference was really cool, because Sorella Harper and Sorella Ranieri were there, so I got to see my old companion and Sorella Rossi got to see hers, and then also Sorella Shuel was there! It was very very exciting to get to see and talk to Sorella Shuel. And her companion now, Sorella Jacobson, was another of Sorella Rossi's old companions, so each of us got to see an old companion and all of our old companions seem to be companions with each other! How funny. Sorella Shuel is doing well. Her bike got stolen, she said. I also got to see Anziano Lesa, from our MTC district, because it was a bigger zone conference with three zones and he was in the one that is not usually with us, and that was really good too. We had a great district in the MTC.

One of our investigators is getting baptized on Luglio 17 (July 17th)!!! Woo hoo! I am very excited for her, this will be such a blessing to have the gift of the Holy Ghost in her life. So here is what happened. She had not come to church for two weeks and also had not been at home for our appointments, but all for bizarrely legitimate reasons, like she had a problem with her teeth one week, then her legs, and then a friend in the hospital she had to go visit, and stuff like that, but I was still pretty stressed out about how we hadn't seen her in a while. So one night we had an appointment in the zone with another investigator, who gave us a bedone, so we were about to go to a less active in the zone and visit her, when we stopped and said, “is this really the right thing for us to do right now?” We didn't feel like it was right, so we stopped. And then we saw another less active family walking down the street with tons of groceries instead, so we helped them take them home on our bikes for them, and then felt like we should go pass by our investigator’s house because we had not seen her in a couple of weeks. We went, and she came to the door, but did not look well at all, and in fact was not well. So we talked with her at a door for a few minutes, and she told us about her health that was going on. We had planned that the next time we taught her we would invite her to baptism, but then I started worrying we wouldn't be able to because we were just at the door, but then Sorella Rossi asked if we could come in and promised her that if she would talk to us for just five minutes she would not feel the pain anymore. She let us in, and we went into another room, and sang her a song (“Where can I turn for peace”) that my companion and I had practiced earlier, and it really brought in the spirit. Then, we of course had prayed already, we talked and read 3 Nephi 27:20, about the commandment to get baptized. I told our investigator how I have seen her life change and her become happier as she has been reading the Book of Mormon and letting the spirit into her life, and then she said, 'yes, a little example,' and launches into this story about a blessing that has come from her living the word of wisdom. I love that about her, she is really cool about stories like that. And then I invited her to be baptized, and she said yes. Actually, she said alright, and then asked what time it was at. Which is funny. So Sorella Rossi just picked a time (which is the most insignificant random detail; why did she ask about that before anything else in the whole world?), and talked to her about what baptism is, what it means, and the promises of it. She seemed so happy and peaceful by the time we left, it felt wonderful! Then my companion explained to me that I had, instead of saying to our investigator, 'Will you be baptized on the 17th of July' I had said in Italian 'You will be baptized on the 17th of July', so thank goodness I have got a companion who speaks Italian and can help fix it when I say things wrong! But we are so excited for her! She is amazing. She reads the Book of Mormon every day, loves it, knows it is true, and is now meeting with us three times a week so that we can help her prepare for baptism. It is wonderful.

June 22, 2010 - Verona, Italy

Salve famiglia.

Surprise! I bet you were not expecting to hear from me today. That is because today is Tuesday. We are having p-day today this week because zone conference is tomorrow when we normally would have had p-day, so that is why you are getting email from me today instead of tomorrow. Che bello!

My new companion, Sorella Rossi, and I are doing great. I love working with her, because she is teaching me so much. This is her last transfer, so we will only have one transfer together. But she started her mission here in Verona a year and a half ago, so she knows the members really well and has a lot of ties to people here in the city. She is so good at talking to everyone about the gospel and connecting with people quickly on the street, we find people to teach everywhere, all the time. Really truly miracles happen when you have faith, and Sorella Rossi has faith.
Sorella Harper is now in Modena with Sorella Rossi's previous companion, Sorella Ranieri, which is kind of funny. So we have good friends for sister missionaries in Modena, and we get to do scambi with them this transfer too, which will be way exciting.

On Friday we got all bedones, so we were on this street that Sorella Harper and I had felt prompted to do casa on, but never finished because we got in and started teaching a family (whom we have now taught a couple of times, I believe they are slowly gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith). But that was the street we were one, so we walked around talking to people on the street and doing more casa, and found so many people that we truly were the answers to their prayers. One woman we met on the street told us of her two sons in prison, and was actually praying with her rosary when we stopped to talk to her on her way to the Catholic Church to pray. We talked with her, gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet, and the beautiful image of the resurrected Savior on the front really brought her to tears. Then we knocked on a door and an old infirm woman let us in. We taught her a very brief message and testified to her of how God loves her and is mindful of her, and that was why we were there, because God sent us to her right then right there. And she started crying to, and said, 'really?' so hopefully. We told her yes and she held our hands and cried. We took her trash out for her. We knocked on another door and this woman said she remembered talking to me on a bus somewhere in the city one day (although I must confess I don't remember her, Sorella Rossi thinks she might have been mistaking me for another missionary before I got here, which would explain why), so she let us in. She did not have much time for a message then, but wants us to come back and gave us each a gift to remember her by - me a blue and red flashing cross with Jesus crucified on it, and Sorella Rossi a rosary...um... I am excited to see her again sometime.

On my very first day in Verona, right after dropping off my bags at the apartment, the first person I talked to was this woman at a bus stop. I was so excited to go talk to someone, so my companion and I went and talked to her. She said she was from Russia! So I said, “Oh, I know a song in Russian,” and started singing the Katyusha song, and she knew it! So we connected right away and it was wonderful. She gave us her number and said she wanted to meet with us. I was so excited. We tried all transfer to call and set up a time, but she was always busy, and I was so sad. Then this Saturday night, a full six weeks after our initial meeting on the street, she was finally able to meet us in the church for a lesson. She opened up right away, told us of her troubles and how she has been searching for the purpose in life for ten years now. So we taught her the plan of salvation. The spirit was so strong, she was literally in tears the entire lesson (which was not very long, it is better to teach for short times). It was incredible! We are meeting with her again tonight and feel impressed to invite her to baptism. She needs this gospel, I so want her to have the joy that it brings. And I am so glad that I know that song!

Yesterday we were biking along and felt to stop and talk to someone, and then we started suoning at this palazzo, and then I saw this nun digging through a dumpster with a broom. She had the lid of the dumpster balanced on her head to keep it open, and was literally fishing through the dumpster with a broom. It was so odd. So we went over to offer to help. Turns out she needed plastic bags, so she was fishing out old dirty ones and emptying them, and then taking them to use! We made her stop and told her we have a bunch at home and offered to bring her some, she was very appreciative. We shared a little bit about the Book of Mormon, so today we dropped off at this prearranged meeting spot the bags and a Book of Mormon for her to read. Isn't that a random encounter? I don't think I ever would have thought to dig through a dumpster to find plastic bags.

June 16, 2010 - Verona, Italy

Ciao Famiglia!

Last week of transfer 1! I cannot believe a whole transfer is almost complete. Even more shocking, I cannot believe what is happening for transfers! I will be staying in Verona, which is nice because I am just getting the hang of the city a little bit. But Sorella Harper is leaving! My trainer is going to Modena, and the sister I did scambi with last week, Sorella Rossi, is coming here to be my companion! This will be Sorella Rossi's last transfer, and she actually started in Verona a year and a half ago, so people already know her and a few of our new converts she baptized, so this is going to be really interesting and super cool. I so admired how wonderful of a missionary she was when I met her last week, and I am so looking forward to what I will learn from her this transfer. And she speaks Italian really well, so I am sure that will help my Italian as well. I am sad, because Sorella Harper is so much fun and I am really going to miss her, but I am a little more used to the idea now and know it is right, so all will be well.

Sorella Harper makes very good zucchini bread and I have, surprisingly, discovered I like it! Can you even believe I tried it in the first place?

Fruit juice is incredibly popular here. Every time we go to someone's house, whether it is just a random door we have knocked on or a member or an investigator, they give us some really amazing random flavor of fruit juice. It is really fun. One of my favorites is ananas, which is pineapple, and red orange.

People cannot pronounce my name, by the way. They sort of say it like 'long-gum'. One lady wrote down our names, and she wrote down Herper for my companion and london for me. How funny! I almost can't even say my name right anymore, because I just introduce myself like they say it.

We have one amazing woman, a semi investigator right now. She is so amazing. She has a twelve-year-old son who is really cool. We met her on the bus, and ran into them again when we were doing casa in their palazzo. We taught her a lesson and had an appointment to meet her again, and called to confirm the day before only to find out that her son had been hit by a car and is now in the hospital, pretty critical, in a coma. It is so sad. We wanted so badly to help her, the only thing I could think of was bake her something and drop it off the next day, so we did and were hoping to find her at home, and instead randomly met her on the street on our way there! She was so frazzled seeming and keeping so strong and such a good attitude through the whole thing, so we chatted and then told her we had brought her a note (we wrote out Helaman 5:12 for her) and some sweets, and I really thought she was going to break down and cry on the spot, she was so overwhelmingly touched and grateful. And then miraculously she came to church on Sunday just because she felt like she needed to see us and pray together with us! How amazing! We pray often for her and her son.

June 9, 2010 - Verona, Italy

Buon giorno famiglia!

This week was much less crazy than the last, so I have quite a few less stories to tell. We have found several new investigators. It is amazing how people ever let in these random strangers at their door!

The most exciting thing this week was that we had scambi, or exchanges. Normally we have scambi once a transfer with the Sorelle in Modena, about an hour and a half or more south of us by train, where one of us goes there and one of them comes here (though we travel all together to never be alone). Obviously this was my first scambi, which means my first time doing missionary work with someone other than Sorella Harper. Ironically, our capi zona (zone leaders) hadn't been setting them up for us the past three transfers before me, which are all the transfers of my trainer, so it was her first scambi too! But we really pushed scambi this transfer and made it happen, and I am so grateful, we learned so much from it.

On Monday night, Sorella Harper and I rode the train down to Modena to make the switch, and Sorella Harper stayed there with Sorella Ranieri (an Italian sister from the south of Italy), and I came back to Verona with Sorella Rossi. This is Sorella Rossi's second to last transfer, and she actually started her mission here in Verona, so she knew the city and a lot of people, including a bunch of ex-simpattizzanti (investigators), some of which we stopped by. It was so much fun to see her in action, so relaxed, so good at Italian, and amazingly powerful and talking to and inviting people to hear the message of the restored gospel! I loved it. She has such a strong spirit about her as a missionary, and it was great to see that process of revelation and inspiration really in practice in missionary work. I realized she is the kind of missionary I want to be, and felt like I learned a lot of things I can work on to get there. Scambi are so important, and really help us learn.

In fact, that is what I have found this week that I like so much about a mission. It is hard, of course, but that is why I like it. Every day you learn. The mission is ridiculous, pointless, and boring if you are not constantly striving to be better, constantly setting and achieving goals for personal improvement. That is why a mission is so wonderful, because it is such a perfect opportunity to grow and come closer to the Savior every single day. In fact, all hard things in life are just like that. It is amazing how the Lord works through those things to help us, how all things really do work together for our good.

Our bikes broke down yesterday on the way to an appointment - my companion's tire popped, very loudly, to be specific. So we locked up our bikes and hopped on the next bus, knowing we were going to be late at this point no matter what we did. But then on the bus Sorella Rossi and I each met wonderful people who had really been prepared to hear the message of the gospel. I not only carried on a conversation with this woman, in Italian, but also bore testimony that God exists and of what a difference faith has made in my life, got her phone number, and set up an appointment to meet with her on Friday. Sorella Rossi also set up an appointment with the woman she met for next Thursday. Can you believe how God can work miracles through a broken bike tire? It was a good scambi. I learned a lot about talking to people and inviting them to hear the gospel, and have already seen some of the fruits of this labor.

Missionary work can be really fun, as long as you always keep trying, learning, changing, and improving. You have to try new stuff, always look for a better way, and then carry it out! And avoid gross food, which we have mainly successfully done this week. Hurrah.

Love,
Sorella Langham

June 2, 2010 - Verona, Italy

Cara famiglia,

I made a list of stories to tell so that hopefully I don't forget any. This email is going to be a long one, methinketh. Here we go!

Ok, one day this week we had an appointment with a new convert, but she wasn't there. When someone just stands you up like that, it is said that they gave you a bedone (a trash can, basically). So she gave us a bedone (but she's still super awesome). In fact, she was hanging out with another of our investigators, which is kind of funny. So we decided to just do casa in the area, so we walked up the street a ways, picked a palazzo (apartment building) and started suoning the citofono (sort of an Italian-English made up saying that means we rang or sounding or something the intercom thingy). This old man comes out of the palazzo and got really mad at us and started fighting with us. What are you doing? We all belong to that church over there. No one will open up for you. We are all of that other church. No one will open. Go away! Andate via! And my companion, cool as a cucumber, just looks at him and says, thank you, we can still try, and keeps on souning. He wouldn't go away, either. He kept yelling at us for a solid five minutes, and then another old man on a balcony started joining in, and they are yelling at us for trying to talk to the people. They keep saying, what do you want? What are you doing? And my companion kept saying, we are here to talk to the people here about Jesus. And the first one just kept saying, Andate via! Don't you understand what I am saying? And my companion would say, yes, we speak Italian, we understand, but we can still try. And they just wouldn't give up. Someone actually did open up the gate at one point, and right then this other lady walked out onto her balcony, so the old man yelled at her from where we were, was it you? Did you open the gate? and she hastily said no and then hung around to watch. The funny thing is, people always think we are either Catholic nuns (suore) or Testimoni di Geova (Jehovah's Witness). This guy thought we were nuns, he told the other old man on the balcony that these nuns wouldn't go away. And my companion told me later she wished she had said, 'do you frequently yell at nuns, sir?' But eventually we suoned all the people and so we left. It was crazy.

Also, when we do get in the palazzo we knock on all the doors, of course, and for some reason there are a ridiculous amount of men who open the door without pants. We don't understand. The other day, this ragazzo (so, a teenage boy) answered the door, and I couldn't really see, but Sorella Harper tried to give the approach and just started laughing, right in his face, instead. Then he said, 'arrivo subito' (best English equivalent is something like, I'll be right there) and closed the door. Sorella Harper explained to me that he didn't have pants, and then he opens the door again and has on a pair of shorts, but she still couldn't talk to him so I tried to and then we all started laughing and it was just ridiculous. Then again just two-ish days later, another ragazzo opens the door with only some spandex on, and it was so recently after the other that we really did start laughing, again, right there at the door. So in district meeting on Monday we get to ask everyone a question of what we should do with some problem we are having, so we asked the anziani what they think we should do with these men who keep answering the door without pants on and how we can keep from laughing, and their advice was to laugh anyway, and say 'haha, you don't have pants on. Can we come in?' Which apparently works for the anziani, and they have gotten in and taught lessons that way. But Sorella and I just don't really know if that is the best approach for two sisters to take to the situation...

Here in Italy, Testimoni di Geova [Jehovah's Witness] abound. I don't know why, but there are tons of their missionaries, and in fact a lot of people have this stickers by their doorbells that say, 'Testimoni di Geova, non suonate!' Or, Jehovah's Witnesses, don't ring! And people think we are them all the time. It's crazy! Who knew Testimoni di Geova went around so much in Italy. I sure didn't. Italians also have pretty standard ways of answering the door. They walk up to the door, don't open it, and yell, 'chi e?' (who is it?) and we answer. And sometimes they don't understand so we have a bit of a yelling repetitive conversation back and forth through the closed door, and then when they find out who we are and don't want to talk to us, they just say, 'no, no. non c'e nessuno.' or 'no, no. There's no one here.' What? Sorella Harper always looks at me after that and says, “then who are we talking to?” It's kind of funny. They also sometimes open the door, see our nametags, and either just wave their hand in the Italian dismissive gesture and shut the door in our face or just say, 'guarda, non mi interessa' or 'look, I’m not interested' and slam and lock the door in our face. Weird. I am never closing the door on anyone ever when I get back, no matter who they are.

Also, sometimes we get random people who walk up to us on the street or on the bus and tell us they are members of our church, and in this manner we find less actives. Usually it is Africans, mainly from Nigeria, who moved here and just never bothered to find the church building. Most recently we met two African young men on the bus, and so we took their names and numbers and gave them to the Anziani. One of them was named Jared, and the other we simply couldn't understand what he said, so we made him write down his name. I looked at what he wrote, only to discover that his name is Godpower. Literally. No joke. And then we were in a lesson with another investigator, a Nigerian, and she was telling us about how everything is from God, and she said, 'my body was not created by mother power, or by father power. It was God power.' And we had to try really hard not to laugh. We are going to suppose that that is similar to how Godpower got his name.

That's another thing that surprised me a lot about Italy; there are a lot of Africans, mainly Nigerians, and many of them illegal immigrants. They don't normally speak a lot of Italian, but English instead. But I have come to learn that Nigerian English and English English are not the same language. They are very difficult to understand. We usually have to bring one of our Nigerian members to lessons with us to translate from our English to their English or else we just can't communicate! There are also a lot of immigrants from Sri Lanka (mainly I have met them in families), and Ukraine, Russia, and Moldavia, and Romania, and a lot of these last four countries are middle aged women who work as a bedante. A bedante is a person who takes care of someone old and infirm, and lives with them and as their caretaker. There are a lot of old people in Italy, so there are a lot of bedantes. This piece of cultural knowledge will become key in another story I will relate later.

I love how different everyone is here; there is a ton of diversity. I have been thinking a lot this week about how much we in America don't realize, even when we think we do, how much of a Mormon culture we have, and how much that culture really is not the gospel. I remember noticing it in London, but it has become even more apparent here, just how different the culture and the gospel really are. There are people here who are crazy, or weird, or would be total social Mormon outcasts if they lived anywhere in the U.S, especially Utah, but as we get to know them I see their hearts, their devotion to God, and how faithfully they live the gospel. They do not in any way shape or form have to conform to American Mormon culture in order to obey God's laws, and that is all that truly matters! It is really awesome to see such richness brought into the ward here because of the overall lack of that Mormon culture where everyone still lives the gospel. I love it. A lot of people pray very Pentecostalish, for example, especially the Nigerians, and say dramatic things like, 'we pray in the mighty name of Jesus, wash our lives in the blood of Jesus, wash our souls in the blood of Jesus' and stuff like that. It's pretty fun.

The light bulb in our kitchen burned out a few weeks ago. But we keep forgetting to figure out what kind of a light bulb it is, once it gets dark at night we just can't do anything in the kitchen because we can't see! And then just the other day the light in the bathroom burnt out, and we tried this morning to take it out so we can see what kind of light bulb we need to get, but the ceiling is too high and we just couldn't reach it, even when we stood on the washer. So I think our plan is to just live in the dark for now. How silly. We would have bought a new light bulb for the kitchen today, and food because we don't have any more, but alas, turns out to be some sort of holiday. But as missionarie, we don't read news or keep up on current events, so we didn't know it was a holiday until we went and found everything closed! How distressing! So now we are still in the dark. Che triste. And we still have no food.

We taught an investigator and her boyfriend the Restoration this past Thursday. It was such an incredible lesson, and the spirit was so strong. She is from Nigeria, and so is her boyfriend, and she is so amazing, I love her so much. There is definitely a language barrier, but they want so much to understand, and they ask questions, and explain what they are thinking, and we can tell they really understand what we are teaching them. They were pretty blown away by the idea that we have a living prophet on the earth today. She didn't realize that is what we were telling her, but when she did she just said, but I have never heard of this. Who is this prophet? So Sorella Harper pulled out her centerfold from a general conference ensign and showed them the picture of President Monson. We kept talking with her, but her boyfriend wasn't saying much, just staring intently at the picture, so Sorella Harper asked if he wanted to hold it and see it, and he took it and just kept staring at it for the rest of the lesson. He still didn't say much, but he seemed so captured by it, it was really neat. And our investigator was so startled by the idea as well, but the spirit was so strong. We committed them to pray to know if it was true, and she said, you have asked me to pray twice now and each time I forget. Will you call me tonight to remind me to pray before I go to bed?' so we arranged to call her around 10 to remind her. It was so cool that she is taking that commitment to pray so seriously and asking for help to keep it! So we called her and reminded her. We meet with her tomorrow, and I am so excited to hear how it went.

Oh, and another thing about Testimoni di Geova, it seems that a ton of people don't like them. We have a member who lives in a rest home, whom we have been asked by the ward to go visit. The first time we visited her we found that our investigator's uncle is there as well, whom she goes to visit almost daily, and our investigator asked to meet the member at our last meeting. So on Monday when we went we found our investigator and were talking to her for a minute at the rest home, when this random old lady walks up to us and interrupts and says, 'are you Testimoni di Geova?' and my companion says 'no, we are a completely different church' and she says, 'good, because if you were I was going to beat you on the shoulder with my stick. I don't like Testimoni di Geova' and then our investigator, who used to study with the Geova people jumps over and starts defending us like crazy to this old lady and goes off on how we are not like the Testimoni di Geova, that those people are wrong but she has read our books and been to our church and we are nothing like them and we are right. Sometimes we think that our investigator's testimony isn't that our church is true, but that our church is better than the Testimoni di Geova, as she mentions them almost every time we meet with her and how wrong they are and how much more true the Book of Mormon is. Kind of funny. But can you imagine this old infirm Italian lady beating two sister missionaries because she thinks we are Testimoni di Geova?

On Sunday there was this random bike race, Giro d'Italia or something, that was finishing in Verona, so all the busses were running strangely and tons of streets were blocked off. The anziani would have had six investigators in sacrament, but none of them could get there. Even our investigator didn't make it, and we found out later she tried to take the bus but then just started walking, but it was too far and she just couldn't get there. We were trying to go to a sudden appointment the Anziani called us to do (they had an appointment, but when they showed up there was no man in the house, so they couldn't do anything, and called us to rush over there). Normally it would have taken us twenty or twenty-five minutes in bike, but Sunday it took us 45 because of all the streets blocked off. At one point we actually ended up on the track of the bike race, and people were cheering for us riding in our skirts and waving flags for us. That was kind of fun.

Also on Monday, after the nursing home, we went over to an investigator's for an appointment with her. She speaks Nigerian English and we are really not sure how much she understands. So we get there, and she is not there. So we call, and she said she should be back from the supermercato in a few minutes, so we sit down on the stairs to wait. After a few minutes, this creepy, huge, intimidating Nigerian man comes out of the elevator, so we tried not to talk to him because he scared us, but then he found out somehow we were there to see our investigator and he said, 'oh, she is my girlfriend. This is my apartment. Come in and sit down to wait.' So we told him we couldn't, but he kept insisting. We told him we had to wait for our investigator, and he just told us to come in again. We told him we have a rule where we can't go into the house without a woman, and we have to obey God's rules, and he said yes, we must obey God's rules, but come in and sit down to wait. And we said no again, so he starts lecturing us on respect and how we are disrespecting him by not coming into his house. We did not know what to do! But we just didn't get up from the stairs so he finally just swore and went inside and said, “I am leaving the door open, so you can come in if you want to.” It was really awkward. So we sit some more to wait for our investigator, who still isn't there. And the boyfriend keeps coming back to the door to look at us, but in all sorts of different stages of undress because now he is changing clothes. Why he came and checked on us when he had no pants on, I am not sure, but he did. Yet another man who doesn't seem to care if he is half-naked in front of the people he probably thinks are catholic nuns. Then he left. then he came back without a shirt on, with shorts on that weren't actually buckled, and looms over us and asks if we can eat African food, and my companion said yes because he was scary, and he said, “come in and eat. I will make you food.” We said we still couldn't come in, and he said “come in and eat” and we said we still couldn't come in, and he said, “I am making you food” and went back inside. The next time he came out he had finished dressing and brought us a giant plate of African food. Then water. Then oranges. Then bread. The food was disgusting and there was way more than we could eat. So we are contemplating how we are going to handle the situation and had gotten some of the food stuffed in my bag (we have permanently lined it now with paper towels and plastic bags), when he brings his chair out to the stairwell to eat with us. He said, “I am having some problems with my girlfriend” (our investigator) and launches into telling us about how he has a fiancé in Nigeria, or maybe he used to, we couldn't quite tell, and about how he likes white girls better than black girls, white girls like us, and about how everyone here calls him Tyson even though that is not his name and a whole slew of who knows what else, about his brother married to an African American living in the U.S., about his sister who is married to the Nigerian prince who turned out to be his cousin, and he just kept going. We didn't know what to do. We've been there for about an hour at this point, and our investigator still isn't there, and we are stuck in the stairwell eating really gross food with a giant scary crazy creepy African man telling us who knows what. Finally, finally, our investigator comes and she was sort of mad at Tyson, and didn't make us eat the rest of the food, and we went inside, and Tyson made us take down his number and wants us to call him, and then he finally left. We were so bamboozled that we couldn't teach the lesson we had planned and just went over the restoration pamphlet that our investigator hadn't read like she was supposed to, and got out of there as fast as we could. Now we still don't know what to do! We are still supposed to teach our investigator, but we are unanimously agreed we can't see Tyson again, ever. So we don't know what to do! So we ate a gelato and then went to our next appointment and there, that lady tried to feed us too! It was sad, because her food was good, but we were too full to eat any of it! But we had to anyway. Ahh!

Yesterday we called a member here from Brazil, Samuel, to go to an appointment with us with an investigator who is from Brazil and doesn't speak Italian very well so we need help communicating. After I got off the phone with Samuel to arrange the appointment, I said to Sorella Harper, 'at least I have full confidence that Samuel will actually come and not give us any sort of bedante!' Sorella Harper burst out laughing and pulled out her planner to write down what I said, and then explained to me that I said he wasn't going to give us any sort of Moldavian woman who takes care of old people instead of that he wasn't going to give us any sort of trash can. Che buffo!

Um, there is one more story I want to tell. About a woman, a member, the one who lives in the insane asylum. We do these things called power visits with members, where we stop by their house, teach a ten minute spiritually powerful lesson about combining our faith, then pray together to know where the missionaries (us, of course) should go right now to find someone who is waiting for the gospel, then pull out the map and have the family pick somewhere, then we rush off to the place and find someone. So we decided to do a power visit with this member in the asylum. This member is a little crazy, so my companion was a little worried about trying this. Sure enough, after the closing prayer, we asked her where we should go, and she said, 'heaven.' Struggling not to laugh, Sorella Harper said yes, there are people waiting to hear the gospel in heaven, but asked if there was anywhere we could go in Verona, and we pulled out the map. She said she couldn't read it, but we pressed her for a place and finally she just told us her old street, which I think was just the only street she could think of. So we left to head over there, but the thing is that we have done casa there and the anziani have recently and we actually already have an investigator there, but we tried to just have faith that God can work through anyone, even this sister. We got there and the very first door we knocked on, we found a man who is from Verona but works in Romania and is not often at home. He was very interested and we taught him a lesson, and then we went back again yesterday and brought him a Book of Mormon. How miraculous is that? God knew that no one was going to do that street again right now because it has been done so recently, but this man was not there then and won't be there again soon (he is sick right now and that is why he is at home this week), and it happens to be the only street name the sister in the asylum knows, the only one she could have given us. God really does use mysterious, and small and simple means to accomplish his purpose, even through all the crazy stuff that happens here!

Love,
Sorella Langham

May 26, 2010 - Verona, Italy

Ciao famiglia!

I can't believe I am already halfway through my first transfer! Che strano. We had zone conference this past Friday, and it was amazing. Both of us were feeling really tired and slightly discouraged last week because we never seem to have the success getting in doing casa that the anziani have, and the wards look at us differently because of it. They make a distinction between the missionaries and the sisters, like we are not also missionaries. And we were both physically exhausted as well. So we went to Mestre (near Venice) for zone conference, so we got to ride in a train for a couple of hours and rest and ponder and talk to some people. Then we met together with the other missionaries for a few hours with President and Sister Dunaway as well, which was great and very energizing. Our zone conference actually includes two zones meeting together. That is especially nice for us because Sorella Harper and I are the only sister missionaries in our entire zone, but there are 4 in the zone we meet with, so we got to see some other sisters too, which was good. We spent our train ride back talking about how we want to implement the things we learned, which had to do mainly with finding and casa approaches, and setting goals. It was really good. And the next day we both were so much more energized and ready to go, I don't think we had realized how much we needed zone conference, but it was really good for us. And we really have seen more success with casa as we have implemented the things we learned about! In fact, sometimes when a little kid opens the door and they run off to get their parents, we just walk right in and stand just inside the door. It's really fun. We found a big mansion thing yesterday and the gate just happened to be open, so we just walked right on in like we owned the place, but then we couldn't find the front door it was so huge! Eventually someone in the house saw us through a window and demanded to know what we were doing there. We told them. They weren't interested, so we left, but it was fun to just barge onto the mansion grounds!

Also on Monday night we put together a crib bed thing for this less active member we are working with. That was fun.

Sometimes (not very often, but every now and then) we do bike contacting, where we ride around on our bikes and just ride up to someone walking and stop them and talk to them. It is so fun and super awkward, but we just act like it is totally normal. A lot of times, though, it goes just like this, 'Salve. Come sta?' 'Sto bene' and then they walk off and refuse to talk to us. My companion turns to me and says, 'meno male. pensavo per un minuto che forse lei sta male.' Translation: “hello, how are you? I am well,” but they walk off and refuse to say anything else. Companion: 'thank goodness. I thought for a minute they might have been doing badly.' It's just so ridiculous, because we stop our bikes and walk up to someone and all we get in is a how are you? and they say I'm fine. It's like we are biking around just to ask random people how they are doing today, and for some reason it is just super funny to both of us.

Also, we have taught a few people with adorable kids nearby this week. We taught this Italian family that we met and the seven year old twins, a boy and a girl, were playing in the corner, and the girl calls out, 'missionarie, missionarie, aiuta! aiuta!' which is, 'sister missionaries, sister missionaries, help! help!' and it was so adorable. And then another little girl of a member that came to a lesson with us called out to us as we were riding away on our bikes, 'ciao belle missionarie!' or 'ciao beautiful sister missionaries!' They are adorable. Also this week, another little girl stuck a giant green sticker with her name on it on my planner, but her name is endurance, so it probably looks like I am having trouble enduring. Che buffo!

Also, miracles really do happen. We have had a couple of incredible timing miracles this week. On Thursday, we were biking to meet one of our investigators for an appointment when we ran into her and her boyfriend walking away from the house, for some reason she thought we weren't coming because it was a little later in the evening, but she actually just didn't realize that was when we set our appointment for. But because we randomly ran into her we were able to walk back with them and teach them more about the plan of salvation. We even invited them to be baptized, and it was beautiful to see how happy the idea made her. She wants to follow God so badly, I love watching her hear and talk about truth, and I love feeling God's love for her. And then on Saturday morning we had our regular appointment with an investigator, but when we got there no one answered the door. So we went to go check at her drunk friend's house in case she was helping her (that has happened before), but no one answered there either. We went back and tried calling and knocking again, but no response. We were quite distraught, because she is amazing and really needed the lesson we had planned and is thinking about baptism, so it would be a really bad time to not see her for two weeks. So we stopped to write a note saying we were sad we missed her, and I prayed so hard that we would somehow find her that maybe she would come back while we were writing so we could teach her. She never came. So we decided to pass-by a former investigator in the area as according to our back-up plan, and as soon as we started walking down the sidewalk there was our investigator walking towards us, sure enough helping her friend who needed to be taken to the hospital or something. She was so sad to not be able to meet with us right then, so we rescheduled for that evening at 8 and still got to teach her on Saturday as planned, and she loved it. It was very good. And she came to church on Sunday. She really feels the spirit and knows that what we are teaching is true! She even said she wants to be baptized, but needs to wait for la cresima (a Catholic thing, I think it is the Italian way of saying confirmation) of her youngest daughter...so we are trying to help her understand the importance of this gospel and these ordinances so she can leave behind those things that she does out of culture and not out of belief.

On Sunday we went out to do casa, and for some reason I decided to carry around a copy of the Book of Mormon in Singelese, the language in Sri Lanka (that's how you say the language in Italian, I don't know what it is called in English), even though my companion thought it was weird and random. And we got in to the home of this beautiful family from Sri Lanka and were able to leave them with the Book of Mormon in their own language and set a return appointment. God really does have His hand in every aspect of this work.

One of our best investigators is moving to Romania for the summer! Che triste! She'll be back in September, but who knows if either I or Sorella Harper will still be here. She agreed to keep meeting with the missionaries there while she is gone.

Well, I guess that is all for this week.

Love,
Sorella Langham

May 19, 2010

Hello family and friends!

To first and foremost put your minds at ease, I have not only survived another week on the bike, but even gotten better at it! I can start better at lights now; my legs are stronger so it is easier to keep up with my companion. I haven't fallen even once this week, so no need to worry about me!

Ok, so one day this week we went and ate lunch with a member here who is awesome. She has a three-year-old daughter who loves to 'do our hair', which means she climbs all over us and we try not to let her sit on our lap because that is against the rules and she messes up our hair. It's pretty funny.

This week our apartment was kind of crazy. Fratello Gozzi, from one of the wards here in Verona, really wanted to paint our apartment as a service project, so we let them come and paint, so things were totally disarranged and beserk for two-ish days while a couple of the brothers in the ward were over painting, and there was a lot of white dust stuff all over the floor afterwards. But the walls really do look super nice. Then on Sunday night (but we didn't realize it until Monday) our water heater stopped working. There is a flame inside it, and apparently the flame had gone out, but vescovo (bishop) came over after the ward Family Home Evening (FHE) on Monday night and tried to start it up, and couldn't. So Tuesday morning we had to take freezing cold showers. It was unavoidable. A bird had pooped on my hair the previous day and a shower could simply not be skipped, no matter how cold it was. And it was cold, really cold, and painful. But pretty funny. So Fratello Gozzi came over that morning and just got it started right back up and now it is working again. Today we got to take a nice warm shower and it was amazing!

On Monday night there was a ward FHE thing about developing talents. We had invited one of our investigators to go with us, so we went, but then she forgot and couldn't come, but that's ok. The FHE was still super amazing and way fun, a great ending to a kind of tough day (we did casa all day -knocking on doors- but never got in and lots of appointments fell through and it was just super lame). A few ward members did little musical performances, on the piano, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar, and then we played this game where we had to alphabetize ourselves by first name, and then by what time we got up this morning (that was amazing, the earliest was 4:30 am and the latest 7:30, apparently Italians are really early risers. Any group of people that organizes themselves by what time they got up and the missionaries are in the middle of the pack and not the earliest risers is amazing to me.) Then we played the game where someone stands in the middle and says some characteristic, like everyone with blonde hair, and everyone with blonde hair has to run around and switch seats and whoever is left in the middle says another thing. But of course the game is in Italian, which was so fun and so tricky and somehow I ended up in the middle like three times! The first time the man in charge, fratello avesani, knew I felt stuck. I didn't know how to say or what to say, so he walks up and whispers in my ear and I just repeated what he said; I hadn't had any examples first because I was somehow the first person in the middle. 'Si alzano in piedi se avete i capelli biondi' or something like that. It was so much fun, and I loved being with the ward members. It was super rejuvenating to see all these wonderful Italians striving to have good fun and follow the Lord. I really love the members here.

One of our investigators we see every Saturday morning. She is really cool and has a super strong testimony that the Book of Mormon is true; every time we are over there she tells us how it is so true, it's really cool to hear her. So on Saturday we had a lesson and we had planned to invite her to be baptized. So we taught her about the 10 commandments, and then invited her to be baptized, and it was a really neat and interesting experience. She asked if she could think about, said some things about 'normal' church (that's what she calls the Catholic Church), like if she could still go to normal church. It was really illuminating in helping us realize what she understands and doesn't and what she needs to learn. But both of us knew we needed to say something more, and a scripture Sister Costely and Sister Shuel and I had found in the MTC popped into my head, so I read it with her and talked about it, bore testimony of how baptism that we offer is a covenant with God through which he helps us in this life, that it is the way God wants us to go, and we asked her to pray about it and see if that was what God wanted for her. She said she would, so I am excited to see her again on Saturday. Then on Sunday she came to church! She really enjoyed Sacrament meeting (this is the second time she has come to church, I believe), and told us all about how she feels so great when she is there at church. I feel like we have learned a lot this weekend about her spiritual needs and know a little better what she needs from us. She is really awesome, I really love her.

On Sunday we also went to visit a member in our ward who is ill or something, no one is really sure what is wrong. But she is in the hospital-ish place, but turns out it is more like an insane asylum. So we get there and are waiting to be taken up to her room, and this lady comes up and starts rubbing my arms and mumbling (in Italian, of course, which only made it harder), and I have absolutely no idea what she is saying. Plus she is whispering for no reason. It was super awkward. Sorella Harper was standing off to the side, and it was just so funny and horrible all at once that she started laughing. Then I started sort of laughing, but trying so hard not to because the lady is talking to me, but then the lady sort of laughed, and so Sister Harper and I are losing it trying not to laugh, but the lady really has no grasp on reality or any clue what she is saying or what we are saying, and we felt like really horrible people. It was a strange experience. We had a few other run-ins while there. I don't understand why the member is there or what exactly that place is for, because she is not insane. We can't figure it out.

One thing we are trying to do better at is finding, and so whenever we are on the bus we try to talk to people. I really like talking to people on the bus. A few days ago, for example, I started talking to this one lady and found out about her kids and grandkids, and then was telling her about eternal families and the restoration, when the lady across jumps into the conversation as well, and then another lady standing next to me joins in too. So I end up feeling like I am on speaker's corner preaching to several people on a moving bus at once, telling them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I'm still not super good at this, and I am kicking myself that I didn't get their contact info, but I did give them pass along cards with our numbers at least. That was kind of a cool experience.

We do a lot of casa. Casa is the Italian word for house, so doing casa means knocking on doors in apartment buildings (palazzo). We were in this one gigantic palazzo the other day, and on one of our last doors this old man answers and steps sort of towards us and starts talking to us. At us, really, and gives us a sermon on how society doesn't need religion and the pointlessness of religion and how he doesn't believe in it, and I am pretty sure he threw in the holocaust too somewhere (I was confused when that popped up at the time because I couldn't follow all of it, but I could follow most of it, in Italian, so Sister Harper confirmed my suspicions afterwards). At first I was interested to listen to him. Then I found myself feeling like he was just going to rant and not really sure how to react or if we just needed to get out of there or what. But then towards the end I experienced this intense change in heart, where I suddenly felt very very sad for him, and I knew that more than anyone he needs the gospel and the peace and purpose it offers, and he was literally crying out for it without even knowing it. It was a really interesting experience. Sorella Harper said she felt the same way after we left too. I think the Lord really tries to help His missionaries feel a bit of what He feels for His children, as well as what His children that we talk to are feeling, so that we can serve better and be better tools.

I realized that I never did say much about Sorella Harper in my last email, probably because I hadn't even known her a week at that point, but she really is super awesome. She is easy to get along with and talk to, super fun, and so patient and good at listening and talking to people when we are meeting with them. This is only her fourth transfer, and she has been in Verona the whole time with her trainer. So I am her second companion and we are in both our first city. It's hard that way because both of us don't know what to do sometimes, but also really fun because we get to figure it out and learn together. I really like Sorella Harper and am very grateful for her as my trainer. Also, she is really good at riding her bike and finding her way around the city (probably because she's been doing it for five months), which I really need. hehe.

I think that is about all of my stories for the week. I am doing really well, it is great to be in Italy, so much better than the MTC, which I definitely also enjoyed, so that's good.

Love,
Sorella Langham

First Week in Italy - May 12, 2010

Hello All!

I can hardly believe I am actually here in Italy, and actually a missionary. It's such a strange world and we are really not normal people. Well, my first city, as you already know, is Verona, as in Romeo and Juliet. In fact, I think later today we will be going by Juliet's balcony. It is so beautiful here. There are just two sisters, myself and my trainer and companion, Sorella Harper, and four anziani, our capi zona (zone leaders, Anziano Divett and Anziano Toronto) and two others (Anziano Colins and Anziano Pastillo). I met the Anziani briefly at church on Sunday and then again at District Meeting on Monday, along with our district leader and his companion, who serve in Vicenza (Anziano Watkins and Anziano Perdonarillo or something like that). They all seem very nice and friendly.

Ok, so we got to Italy on Wednesday last week, and they took half of us to the mission home and the other half to the Duomo. But when we were getting in the cars to drive to our respective places from the airport, there wasn't enough room in Sister Dunaway's car (the mission president's wife) for all the sisters, so all the rest hopped in with her and I was all by myself! It felt really weird. But I rode with the mission president and a bunch of elders that I had just spent nine weeks with in the MTC, so it was actually just fine even though it scared me for a moment to be separated from my sisters within ten minutes of arriving in Italy! My car and the other sisters went back to the mission home for an orientation. Then later in the afternoon they took us over to the Duomo in Milano to try contacting and sharing the gospel! It was intense. We got there and they took us inside the Duomo to look around, but definitely told us not to proselyte inside. So we are all standing there when this girl who looks about my age walks up to me and says, siete mormoni? are you mormons? you aren't allowed to be here. In Italian, and I was scared out of my wits! So I told her we weren't preaching, just looking, and I'm sure I looked terrified, and she then said, scherzo! which means 'joking,' and pulled out her name tag. She was one of the sister missionaries serving in Milan there to meet us at the Duomo! Crazy, huh? So then we went back outside and the sisters split into groups of three, so I went with Sorella Johnson and Sorella Cozzens, the one who played the joke on us, and we talked to four people in the time we had. The first turned out not to speak Italian and was from Texas! So that was fun. But while we were talking to her these two Italians came up to join in the conversation, but they didn’t speak English. So we were translating back and forth for this bizarre two-language conversation, and found out the two Italians were Baptist missionaries, and ended up translating their invite to the lady from Texas to go to church with them! How goofy! Then we talked to this super-staunch atheist, and that was fun because I understood a good chunk of what he was saying and could ask a few questions. Then these two elderly ladies flat out ignored us, so we had to give up after a while. Then this lady who is studying to do something medical, but I couldn't quite understand what. It was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. We also got to eat gelato after, which of course was fantastic.

The next day, Thursday, we went to the LDS church building in Milan to meet our trainers and find out where we would all be going first! It was super exciting mainly, with a tint of sadness because we all are very dear friends now after all that time in the MTC together and have no idea when we will ever see each other again! But it's great knowing that we are spreading out to all serve the people we have been preparing so hard to serve together, and I am so excited that we all get to go all over! The assistants to the president would stand at the front of the room, call out a new missionary’s name, and then tell them they will be with so-and-so at such-and-such place, and then the trainer and new missionary would walk forward and meet each other and hug and smile and be really excited about where they are going. It was really neat to see. I came in with my five sisters from the MTC, my two companions and the other companionship in our district: Sorella Shuel, Sorella Costley, Sorella Johnson, and Sorella Tressler. Sorella Shuel is now in Genova, Sorella Costley in Bergamo, Sorella Johnson in Torino, and Sorella Tressler in Milano, with me in Verona! It's a good thing I really like my new companion, or I would be sadder about them being elsewhere, I think. Here is something cool: I was wondering if I would get to see Sorella Thurston, Anna Thurston, who went to London with me and it turns out she is training Sorella Johnson in Torino! So she was there at the church my very first day, and it was great to get to see her. After the meeting my trainer and I left and came straight to Verona with my luggage on the train, and she told me about our city while I tried not to fall asleep. The first thing we did after arriving was rush off to the grocery store because we had practically no food - the sister I am replacing, Sorella Ferguson, just went home because she finished her mission, so in the craziness of packing they hadn't been able to go shopping this week! The thing is, in Verona, we are on bikes, so my very first day I got to try riding my bike with groceries on the handlebars, and that was certainly a crazy experience. I was scared to death I wouldn't be able to navigate, but it actually turned out just fine!

In fact, the bike is the number one hardest thing about being a missionary for me right now. I feel like that sounds lame, but just wait till you hear how crazy the relationship is between my bike and I. I loved it a ton the next morning, when we went to the questura to get my companion's permesso di sogiorno and ran a bunch of other errands (like buying my bus pass and a bag for my stuff), and couldn't stop smiling because there I was, biking through Italy. The only problem is the skirt. It is impossible to keep my skirt down. Not so fun. But I am getting used to it. So that was a good day for us, my bike and I (even though the seat still hurt.) The next day, however, we rode to meet and teach this wonderful amazing woman and the ride almost killed me, it was so hard and there were so many uphill slopes. Also, I was having a lot of trouble starting up again in a straight line at stoplights so I ran smack into the side of the car next to me. The driver was not very happy, methinketh. But I survived the ride with a lot of prayer and then we took the bus for the rest of the day to give me a break. Sunday we walked to church because it is at the top of this really steep hill, and we even had this random lady come that we weren't expecting! Which was good, since both our planned investigators didn't show. That afternoon we got to call home from the church because it was Mother’s Day, so we took our bikes to the church so we could go straight to Montorio (a section of town) that evening. I talked to y'all, which was awesome, and when I talked to you, Dad, do you remember telling me to be safe on my bike because flying over the handlebars and being sprawled out in a skirt would probably not be too flattering? Well, we went to go ride home after phone calls and it turned out to be raining, so I got to ride my bike in the rain in my skirt for the first time. But, like I said, the church is at the top of this really steep hill, so my companion warned me to keep the brakes pushed some the whole time because it is so steep. So I do, but right when I get to the bottom of the hill and go to turn the wheel starts sliding instead of turning and I fell, rather spectacularly, over the handlebars and landed on the ground sprawled in my skirt. My first thought was, I need my companion to know so she doesn't leave! So I yelled, 'io fell!' which is half Italian half English, but I looked up and she hadn't heard and was long gone and this random family was standing there staring at me very concernedly, asking if I was ok. I told them I was fine and hurried to get up and started walking my bike down the hill, when my companion comes riding curiously back around the corner wondering where I am and sees me and it was really funny. So now I have a bunch of bruises all down my left side and my hand got kind of scraped up, but otherwise I am fine and glad to know that I can survive a fall. We took a break from the bikes the next day, thank goodness. Then the next day, yesterday, we biked a ton, and mostly it turned out well, except for the part where I fell again right in front of this old lady in a park. The bike landed on top of me and my bag flew up over my head and made my helmet sit all awkward so I couldn't see and couldn't get up. This time my companion saw so she was rushing back over while the old lady got my bag off me and some random passing-by man picked up my bike off me so I could get up. Another bruise and two skinned knees. So you know how missionaries joke about having bruised knees from praying so much? Mine are just from being a terrible bike rider! So those are my funny stories about the bike. My companion is so worried about me every time we take the bikes out now, it is kind of hilarious, but I am not worried, I can do this because God has called me to, and plus I am accumulating a whole slew of funny stories.

Anyway, the other exciting thing going on with the actual work is that we found this family, and they said we could stop by sometime, so we are really hoping to teach them and that they will be interested. We couldn't find their house, and then we sort of miraculously found it, so it was super awesome and we were so excited!! We also taught yesterday this one investigator who is from Romania and has such incredible faith. She misses Sorella Ferguson, but I am excited to get to teach her also.

My companion, Sorella Harper, is really funny. I really like her a lot. She has only been out three transfers [transfer = 6 weeks], all of them in Verona, but she speaks really well and knows the city and how to do the work, so it is great.

I love you,