So, we went out to Lago di Garda today for p-day, which is a big giant famous lake right here near Verona, and it took a while to get there in the bus, but it was absolutely gorgeous with a castle and a swan that tried to eat me. We ate some really good fish from the lake.
It is really hard for me to get up in the morning every morning at 6:30, and then even harder to exercise. So this week my companion and I wrote a jingle, and we sing it every morning when the alarm goes off, and it makes a huge difference. It's amazing. The only day I didn't wake up was the day we didn't sing. (Today, actually.) It is to the tune of Good Morning Baltimore, from the beginning and through a chorus. It goes like this:
Oh oh oh woke up today just in the way the handbook says.
Oh oh oh dreaming of sleep that I can't have, when I hear that beep!
That's my alarm clock. It's going tick tock. It's 6:30 and time to exercise.
Oh oh but I know I can cuz of 1 Nephi 3:7!
Good morning mission life! Exercise helps us beat the strife!
It's the way that we show our faith that there are those who do us await.
And one day these children of God will get baptized and then hold to the rod!
And we'll be right there to say: I exercised today!
It may seem silly, but it's fun, and it works for real, I suddenly am able to get up and exercise!
Also, on Friday the bishop (vescovo in Italian), called us to tell us that there was a wedding for a random inactive member from Bulgaria the next morning at Juliett's tomb (yes, as in Romeo and Juliet), and that he wanted us to go and convert the non-member she was about to marry. So we show up, and it is the strangest wedding ever. We are at a tomb of a fictional character, with some judge lady wearing a sash who does the wedding, and the only people there are the two getting married, one legal witness they brought, us two sisters, and the elders. So Elder Bartholomew got to be the other witness, because there was no one else. The lady started off asking if they wanted to exchange rings, and the member from Bulgaria said of course and starts searching through these thousands of different small bags she brought for about ten minutes, and never finds them, finally gives up and says that they will just do it at home later. Then the ceremony takes about two minutes flat, and then the judge spends about ten minutes getting Anziano Bartholomew's information, because he didn't have his passport on him, just his U.S. driver's license. Then the bishop and his wife showed up late, and the bishop was taking tons of pictures. And then Anziano Bartholomew couldn't understand what the lady was asking him and so his companion had to tell the judge what his birthday was. It was really funny. Then afterwards we went onto the lawn and the Bulgarian member had us take a ton of really goofy pictures, she was super excited, and then they wanted us to go to a bar and drink with them. The bishop luckily tactfully got us to go to a pastry shop instead. It was so weird. But we are going to go see them day after tomorrow, so hopefully it will have been worth it! What a strange wedding.
Also, Anziano Jones, our capo zona (zone leader) here in Verona, told us at district meeting on Monday that his grandma is the one who picked the color for the cover of the hymn book. Apparently she was working doing colors for the church. They presented her with a bunch of choices, and she told Anziano Jones that she looked at them and simply knew it had to be green. So green is our hymnbook. Thank you, Grandma Jones. How awesome is that?
Also, an investigator got baptized on Sunday! And now his sister, another of our investigators, is totally excited to get baptized too. It was amazing to see the change in her, and hear her telling us about how she finally came to gain a personal spiritual testimony this week of the fact that Joseph Smith was a prophet. She is so happy now already, and she hasn't even gotten baptized yet! And her brother is so happy. It is so awesome. And Sorella Tramacchi, with whom we started teaching them, came back to Verona with her parents this weekend because she finished her mission and got to see the baptism! Woohoo! It was cool to see her too.
My companion the other day was trying to say that it was just the beginning of winter, which is inverno, but accidently said instead inferno, which is hell. So instead of "it is just the beginning of winter," she said "it was the beginning of hell." Very funny.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Verona, Italy - October 13, 2010
Well, I don't know if I remembered to tell y'all, but transfers this transfer were only 5 weeks long, and the next one will be seven weeks to get us back on track, so the transfer call came last night. And I finally get to have a companion for more than one transfer! Woohoo! Sorella Mullen and I will be staying right here in good ol' Verona for my fifth transfer. We are super excited about it. Woohoo!
Also, the weather is really really cooling down. I now wear three layers at almost all times, including flannel pants rolled up under my skirt. I have at least three more layers I can readily and easily add when it gets to full-blown winter, so hopefully I will be fine. My poor companion, though, did not bring a single article of winter clothing! poverina! So today we went about trying to find some more stockings and sweaters and stuff, but no one is selling gloves yet, which is a problem on the bikes because your hands get really really cold. hmph. We will keep searching!
This week we met this guy from Sri Lanka on a park bench who speaks neither Italian nor English. We have given him a Book of Mormon, but about all we can communicate further than that is enough to set up a next appointment, and that only on the park bench because we can't communicate an address even! So tomorrow night we are going to show up at the park bench at 6 o'clock and then take him with us to Italian class at the church, because it is the only way we can ever get him there. We have been able to figure out that he has been in Italy more than a year, and is still searching for work. He probably won't find anything until he can speak Italian, too, so he really needs to come to Italian class. It is an interesting experience trying to communicate, pretty funny really. But he is such a softspoken, kindly fellow that we are really hoping that he will read the Book of Mormon, because it is the only way to teach him!
Also, we are teaching these three people from Ghana, a sister and her two brothers, although the youngest brother is basically Italian because he has been here most of his life. And he is so super into reading, he was sooo excited to get the Book of Mormon. The last time we went, the first thing he said was, did you bring my bible? when we told him yes, he immediately asked if he could see it. He broke the CTR ring we gave him, and really wants another one. He is super cool and an adorable twelve-year old, and we are super excited to see him again. We did this paper folding lesson thing on what the Book of Mormon is, where you fold it and each fold makes an object in the story of the Book of Mormon: first a boat, then houses, then a plow to till the ground, then swords for the wars they have, then you rip it in half to say the people were divided, and throw the pieces on the ground to show how sad it was, and say but there is only one thing that could help them have peace and come back together, pick up one of the pieces, unfold it, and it is a cross. So you say that that is the story of the Book of Mormon; it is how Jesus Christ helps us have peace and blesses our lives when we follow his teachings that are in the book. We did that with this young investigator and when we unfolded the last piece he got so excited, he ran back to his bedroom and came out with another piece of paper because he wanted to learn how to do it. And he remembered every step on his own and the whole story; we didn't have to tell him a thing. It was super cool.
Also, the other day we went to go teach our 3 Nigerian investigators again. We were talking about the gospel, and one of them straight up asked if we are saying that only our church is true, and got really mad when we said it was the only true church of God's on the earth, and she started yelling and arguing, and then the other two got really into it too, and so they are all yelling at each other, one insisting she knows Joseph Smith was a true prophet, another saying it can't be so, and the third yelling in their native dialect so we couldn't understand what she thought. We kept trying to get into the conversation, but we really could not. It was impossible. So finally, I stood up in the middle of the room, they looked at me, and I declared that the Spirit could not dwell in a place of so much contention and that therefore we had to go. No joke. Straight up said that to them. And then we prayed and left. It was crazy. It calmed down right after I said that enough that the doubting investigator did say she would pray and that if God told her it was true she would stop going to her church and start going to ours. It was a really intense lesson. And I don't think ever in my life did I expect myself to stand up and declare that I was leaving because the Spirit could not dwell there. It was crazy, but really awesome. I really do love teaching them, even if they are crazy intense! And then we saw one of them on her own, the first time she has ever been alone, the next time we went, and let me tell you she has a really strong testimony of the truth of Joseph Smith being a prophet and of the Book of Mormon and of this church. It was such a beautiful lesson just the three of us together. We gave her a baptismal calendar to look over (did I tell you she committed to be baptized?), and she is super excited about it.
Also, yesterday, we were studying, when suddenly there was a bird inside our glass walled balcony! But none of the windows were open! We had no idea how it could possibly have got in, but the poor thing was going absolutely insane battering around trying to get out. Its breathing was rapid and shallow, which I of course recognized as the beginning symptoms of bird shock (thanks to First Aid for Birds, how useful that book is!), and thanks again to the same book, I knew exactly what to do. So we snuck out there with it and threw a towel over it to help it calm down (as per bird catching instructions), opened the window, and let it go free! Yet another chapter in the bird saga of my life.
Also, we had a really hilarious experience on Monday evening. Last week we met this guy from Ghana (named Samuel) and his 8 year old daughter and set up an appointment to go to his house and visit him and his wife and their two children on Sunday night. So we went and everyone but the husband was there, and his wife doesn't really speak Italian or English well. So we got along alright speaking to the daughter in Italian and having her translate into Twi (their language), but we set up an appointment to come back the next day when the husband would also be home. So on Monday we tried to call to confirm with him, but unfortunately Sorella Mullen still hasn't figured out the back few pages of the planner, so none of the numbers were labeled well and we didn't know which one was his. So I called one, and it was someone else. Woops. Then we called another, a man named Samuel answered, meno male. So we reminded him we were coming by that night at 7 to see him and his wife and daughter. He was a little confused, but said ok. So then we get there and they are not home, so we called and asked him if he was home. He said no, he was at work. We said, "but you said you would be home!" and he said, "no, I am at work." He asked where we were, so we told him we were at his house, and he was very disturbed by that and couldn't understand how we knew where his house was. But it was so strange, because when we met we were at the dumpster outside his house and he pointed and said, "I live in that big yellow palazzo!" Finally we just agreed that he would be home in about an hour and so we would come back then. So we came back at 8 and he still wasn't home, so we called and he asked again how we knew where his house was, and so we told him again about how he pointed at it for us and then we came back and met his wife and daughter the next night. He was really not getting it, and he still just wasn't home, so we finally decided to leave. He calls us back while we are walking home (the bikes were broken), and he asks again how we know all this stuff, and asks about his wife and daughter, which was really confusing. Finally he said, "because I live here in Verona just with some friends of mine. I don't have a wife and daughter." and I said, "wait, you don't have a wife named Evening and daughter named Veronica?" and he said, "no." It was then that we realized he was not the same Samuel at all, but a different one we had met a different day! But neither of us could remember who the other was, so we agreed to go meet right then and there at Porta Vescovo so we could figure out who we were. When we met we recognized each other and he agreed the anziani could call him and visit. It was so awkward and hilarious. Poor guy, we were really hassling him for not being home too. hehe.
Also, the weather is really really cooling down. I now wear three layers at almost all times, including flannel pants rolled up under my skirt. I have at least three more layers I can readily and easily add when it gets to full-blown winter, so hopefully I will be fine. My poor companion, though, did not bring a single article of winter clothing! poverina! So today we went about trying to find some more stockings and sweaters and stuff, but no one is selling gloves yet, which is a problem on the bikes because your hands get really really cold. hmph. We will keep searching!
This week we met this guy from Sri Lanka on a park bench who speaks neither Italian nor English. We have given him a Book of Mormon, but about all we can communicate further than that is enough to set up a next appointment, and that only on the park bench because we can't communicate an address even! So tomorrow night we are going to show up at the park bench at 6 o'clock and then take him with us to Italian class at the church, because it is the only way we can ever get him there. We have been able to figure out that he has been in Italy more than a year, and is still searching for work. He probably won't find anything until he can speak Italian, too, so he really needs to come to Italian class. It is an interesting experience trying to communicate, pretty funny really. But he is such a softspoken, kindly fellow that we are really hoping that he will read the Book of Mormon, because it is the only way to teach him!
Also, we are teaching these three people from Ghana, a sister and her two brothers, although the youngest brother is basically Italian because he has been here most of his life. And he is so super into reading, he was sooo excited to get the Book of Mormon. The last time we went, the first thing he said was, did you bring my bible? when we told him yes, he immediately asked if he could see it. He broke the CTR ring we gave him, and really wants another one. He is super cool and an adorable twelve-year old, and we are super excited to see him again. We did this paper folding lesson thing on what the Book of Mormon is, where you fold it and each fold makes an object in the story of the Book of Mormon: first a boat, then houses, then a plow to till the ground, then swords for the wars they have, then you rip it in half to say the people were divided, and throw the pieces on the ground to show how sad it was, and say but there is only one thing that could help them have peace and come back together, pick up one of the pieces, unfold it, and it is a cross. So you say that that is the story of the Book of Mormon; it is how Jesus Christ helps us have peace and blesses our lives when we follow his teachings that are in the book. We did that with this young investigator and when we unfolded the last piece he got so excited, he ran back to his bedroom and came out with another piece of paper because he wanted to learn how to do it. And he remembered every step on his own and the whole story; we didn't have to tell him a thing. It was super cool.
Also, the other day we went to go teach our 3 Nigerian investigators again. We were talking about the gospel, and one of them straight up asked if we are saying that only our church is true, and got really mad when we said it was the only true church of God's on the earth, and she started yelling and arguing, and then the other two got really into it too, and so they are all yelling at each other, one insisting she knows Joseph Smith was a true prophet, another saying it can't be so, and the third yelling in their native dialect so we couldn't understand what she thought. We kept trying to get into the conversation, but we really could not. It was impossible. So finally, I stood up in the middle of the room, they looked at me, and I declared that the Spirit could not dwell in a place of so much contention and that therefore we had to go. No joke. Straight up said that to them. And then we prayed and left. It was crazy. It calmed down right after I said that enough that the doubting investigator did say she would pray and that if God told her it was true she would stop going to her church and start going to ours. It was a really intense lesson. And I don't think ever in my life did I expect myself to stand up and declare that I was leaving because the Spirit could not dwell there. It was crazy, but really awesome. I really do love teaching them, even if they are crazy intense! And then we saw one of them on her own, the first time she has ever been alone, the next time we went, and let me tell you she has a really strong testimony of the truth of Joseph Smith being a prophet and of the Book of Mormon and of this church. It was such a beautiful lesson just the three of us together. We gave her a baptismal calendar to look over (did I tell you she committed to be baptized?), and she is super excited about it.
Also, yesterday, we were studying, when suddenly there was a bird inside our glass walled balcony! But none of the windows were open! We had no idea how it could possibly have got in, but the poor thing was going absolutely insane battering around trying to get out. Its breathing was rapid and shallow, which I of course recognized as the beginning symptoms of bird shock (thanks to First Aid for Birds, how useful that book is!), and thanks again to the same book, I knew exactly what to do. So we snuck out there with it and threw a towel over it to help it calm down (as per bird catching instructions), opened the window, and let it go free! Yet another chapter in the bird saga of my life.
Also, we had a really hilarious experience on Monday evening. Last week we met this guy from Ghana (named Samuel) and his 8 year old daughter and set up an appointment to go to his house and visit him and his wife and their two children on Sunday night. So we went and everyone but the husband was there, and his wife doesn't really speak Italian or English well. So we got along alright speaking to the daughter in Italian and having her translate into Twi (their language), but we set up an appointment to come back the next day when the husband would also be home. So on Monday we tried to call to confirm with him, but unfortunately Sorella Mullen still hasn't figured out the back few pages of the planner, so none of the numbers were labeled well and we didn't know which one was his. So I called one, and it was someone else. Woops. Then we called another, a man named Samuel answered, meno male. So we reminded him we were coming by that night at 7 to see him and his wife and daughter. He was a little confused, but said ok. So then we get there and they are not home, so we called and asked him if he was home. He said no, he was at work. We said, "but you said you would be home!" and he said, "no, I am at work." He asked where we were, so we told him we were at his house, and he was very disturbed by that and couldn't understand how we knew where his house was. But it was so strange, because when we met we were at the dumpster outside his house and he pointed and said, "I live in that big yellow palazzo!" Finally we just agreed that he would be home in about an hour and so we would come back then. So we came back at 8 and he still wasn't home, so we called and he asked again how we knew where his house was, and so we told him again about how he pointed at it for us and then we came back and met his wife and daughter the next night. He was really not getting it, and he still just wasn't home, so we finally decided to leave. He calls us back while we are walking home (the bikes were broken), and he asks again how we know all this stuff, and asks about his wife and daughter, which was really confusing. Finally he said, "because I live here in Verona just with some friends of mine. I don't have a wife and daughter." and I said, "wait, you don't have a wife named Evening and daughter named Veronica?" and he said, "no." It was then that we realized he was not the same Samuel at all, but a different one we had met a different day! But neither of us could remember who the other was, so we agreed to go meet right then and there at Porta Vescovo so we could figure out who we were. When we met we recognized each other and he agreed the anziani could call him and visit. It was so awkward and hilarious. Poor guy, we were really hassling him for not being home too. hehe.
Verona, Italy - October 6, 2010
Conference this week was awesome, yeah? We were able to watch the Relief Society session on Saturday afternoon (this weekend, they show it the week after here), then Saturday morning session on Saturday evening, then Saturday evening we watched Sunday afternoon (the men watched priesthood Sunday morning), and then Sunday morning on Sunday evening. It was beautiful! I watched the Relief Society session in English with an investigator who came, and then Saturday morning in Italian because we were waiting for investigators who never came, then Saturday afternoon in English because no investigators came, and then Sunday morning in Italian with two investigators who came and both loved it. It was a great experience and everyone who came really felt the spirit and the truth of Thomas Monson as a prophet today. It was awesome. He spoke out really strongly in the Relief Society session, yeah? In Italian there is a phrase, 'rompere le scattole,' which means 'to break boxes,' which is used to sort of refer to a scolding, maybe, or something, and everyone was talking about how President Monson really broke our boxes there. It was great.
Also, we did scambio this week with the Sorelle in Modena, and it was so fun! I went to Modena to work with Sorella Ryan, whom I have never been with before, and Sorella Harper came here with Sorella Mullen, and they had fun in Verona. I loved getting to be with Sorella Ryan, and it was way fun getting to know another sister in the mission. She is awesome. This is her second transfer, and she is so excited to be here and work hard. It was fun spending a scambio with someone new, especially since Sorella Harper and I did get to see each other all p-day today. In fact, our train got back late, so unfortunately we don't have the full email time today so this will be a little short. But today was great, it was fun to have my birthday on a p-day. Sorella Harper and Sorella Mullen called me early right in the morning from Verona to sing happy birthday, and they brought down to Modena the birthday card Kirsten sent, which had arrived while I was in Modena on scambio, so I got to open it. Kirsten, thank you sooooo much!! It was so perfect, I was so excited to open it and hear your voice! What a perfect card. i love you, thank you!
I've had a great day, and a great week, and now my email is about to kick me off...sorry. But I love you, and thank you so much for the birthday wishes, they really made my day!
Also, we did scambio this week with the Sorelle in Modena, and it was so fun! I went to Modena to work with Sorella Ryan, whom I have never been with before, and Sorella Harper came here with Sorella Mullen, and they had fun in Verona. I loved getting to be with Sorella Ryan, and it was way fun getting to know another sister in the mission. She is awesome. This is her second transfer, and she is so excited to be here and work hard. It was fun spending a scambio with someone new, especially since Sorella Harper and I did get to see each other all p-day today. In fact, our train got back late, so unfortunately we don't have the full email time today so this will be a little short. But today was great, it was fun to have my birthday on a p-day. Sorella Harper and Sorella Mullen called me early right in the morning from Verona to sing happy birthday, and they brought down to Modena the birthday card Kirsten sent, which had arrived while I was in Modena on scambio, so I got to open it. Kirsten, thank you sooooo much!! It was so perfect, I was so excited to open it and hear your voice! What a perfect card. i love you, thank you!
I've had a great day, and a great week, and now my email is about to kick me off...sorry. But I love you, and thank you so much for the birthday wishes, they really made my day!
Verona, Italy - September 29, 2010
We have had some pretty awesome adventures this week. Last Thursday was our first time going to Trento. There are a pair of Anziani in Trento, it is a city up north, in the Alps, about an hour by train from Verona, and the members have been clamboring for Sorelle. They used to send Sorella to Trento, but not for about ten years, and the Anziani find a lot of single women investigators, which means they can't teach them without a member absolutely ever, and can never go into the house when they find them doing casa. So it is hard. So President has asked us, the Sorelle in Verona, to go up to Trento once a week because we are the closest Sorelle, so now we go to Trento every Thursday! Last Thursday was the first time, and it was so awesome. Completely gorgeous, absolutely incredible. We just head north right in between the Alps as they are beginning over in this part of Italy, and then you get to Trento and the city is literally tucked up right in the mountains, surrounded. It was such a beautiful city. The Elders up there are setting up our Thursdays for us, including members to feed us every time we come. Apparently the members are going crazy trying to take turns feeding us, it sounds weird. But this awesome lady, a convert of about ten years, fed us this really good pasta, and talked with us about her worries about her nonmember husband and daughter who has declared that she will stop going to church as soon as she turns 18, and my companion felt to share this incredibly perfect scripture and the member was so moved she was crying, I think Sorella Mullen was a little startled and didn't quite know how to react, especially in Italian, but she was awesome. It was a cool experience. We also ran into members on the street who were super excited to see us, and spent the morning doing finding work up there in Trento, we knocked some doors, and found people right away! We are very very excited to go back. Also, right at the end of the day, we had this really cool experience. We felt really strongly to talk to this guy on the street while we were walking to catch our train, so I called to him to turn and come talk with us, and he did. Turns out the elders in Trento had actually just invited him that very day earlier, and it was his very first day in Trento ever, but he said no to them because he is Muslim. So we talked with him for a few minutes, and he had said no again right off the bat when we started talking, but by the end of our conversation he accepted a pamphlet and said he would be happy to have the male missionaries call him. It was incredible! We felt really strongly to say certain things to him, and it was a really cool experience. Anyway, Trento is gorgeous, and we are going back tomorrow. Woohoo!
Also, last p-day after email we went down to centro, so my companion could check out all the big stuff in town, including the Romeo and Juliet stuff, and on our way we walked past the Disney store here, which of course has everything in Italian, and found out they were having a big sale on the Disney DVDs in Italian...so I bought two. haha! I now have Princess and the Frog and Monsters Inc. in Italian, to watch upon returning from here. Won't that be exciting!?
Also, our Mission President challenged us all to challenge all of our investigators to baptism by the third lesson, so my companion and I have been taking it really seriously, and we have seen some awesome miracles, for real. We met this woman last week and now she is planning on being baptized November 7! She is so cool and so wants to study and learn the gospel, and is so sweet and nice. We have another appointment with her tonight, and we are bringing her a baptismal calendar. And then, here is another cool story about our mermaid buddies (the 3 investigators). We were teaching just #1 this time a lesson, and it was really great and the spirit was super powerful and she really felt it too, but then #3 came out of the bath and was literally deliberately trying to destroy the spirit. Like, I am not exaggerating, she was consciously and literally doing just that. So I called her out on it, and told her we were trying to create a spirit of reverence and would she please respect that. It really didn't have any effect on her, but it hit #1 pretty hard; I think she really took it seriously that what we are doing with her is seriously important. But we still needed to do something because the spirit was being destroyed, so we decided to take them to the church building right then and there in the middle of the lesson to meet Sorella Wolfgramm, the president's wife, who was there for interviews that night and didn’t have anything scheduled, she was just waiting for her husband. We made them get dressed and walk up to the church with us, and #3 wanted to come to, so it was all four of us, and we get there and took them on a tour of the church and they loved it. Even #3. They wanted to know if we sing, and when they found out we do, they wanted us to sing for them, so we sang Joseph Smith's First prayer first verse in Italian and then English. Even #3 really felt the spirit and was so much more calm and respectful afterwards, and #1 really knows this is the true church of God. And then I pulled Sorella Wolfgramm aside while Sorella Mullen started leading them down to the baptismal font for the end of the tour, and told her we wanted her to invite them to baptism. And she did, and it was awesome, and now #1 is getting baptized on November 6! #3 is praying to find out if it is the right thing. I really love that advice from the president to invite everyone early, it really helps the investigators progress and understand why we are coming and we are seeing great miracles from following our mission president. It is super cool!
Also, I think I might have gone a little crazy on the mission...and here is why. I am reading all the scripture references in the white handbook to study it better, and under the section about your relationships with others, your companion, there is a reference for Ecclesiastes 4:9-10. I absolutely loved the reference, and thought it was so sweet, in fact, that I literally rewrote it all nice and pretty on colored paper, mounted it on another color, and put a flower sticker on it and put it on our front door. I. Did that. What? Sorella Mullen laughed at me, but really likes it anyway.
And that has been my week. I can't believe my birthday is next week, how weird is that? I will shortly be 23. hm. In Italy! yay!
Also, last p-day after email we went down to centro, so my companion could check out all the big stuff in town, including the Romeo and Juliet stuff, and on our way we walked past the Disney store here, which of course has everything in Italian, and found out they were having a big sale on the Disney DVDs in Italian...so I bought two. haha! I now have Princess and the Frog and Monsters Inc. in Italian, to watch upon returning from here. Won't that be exciting!?
Also, our Mission President challenged us all to challenge all of our investigators to baptism by the third lesson, so my companion and I have been taking it really seriously, and we have seen some awesome miracles, for real. We met this woman last week and now she is planning on being baptized November 7! She is so cool and so wants to study and learn the gospel, and is so sweet and nice. We have another appointment with her tonight, and we are bringing her a baptismal calendar. And then, here is another cool story about our mermaid buddies (the 3 investigators). We were teaching just #1 this time a lesson, and it was really great and the spirit was super powerful and she really felt it too, but then #3 came out of the bath and was literally deliberately trying to destroy the spirit. Like, I am not exaggerating, she was consciously and literally doing just that. So I called her out on it, and told her we were trying to create a spirit of reverence and would she please respect that. It really didn't have any effect on her, but it hit #1 pretty hard; I think she really took it seriously that what we are doing with her is seriously important. But we still needed to do something because the spirit was being destroyed, so we decided to take them to the church building right then and there in the middle of the lesson to meet Sorella Wolfgramm, the president's wife, who was there for interviews that night and didn’t have anything scheduled, she was just waiting for her husband. We made them get dressed and walk up to the church with us, and #3 wanted to come to, so it was all four of us, and we get there and took them on a tour of the church and they loved it. Even #3. They wanted to know if we sing, and when they found out we do, they wanted us to sing for them, so we sang Joseph Smith's First prayer first verse in Italian and then English. Even #3 really felt the spirit and was so much more calm and respectful afterwards, and #1 really knows this is the true church of God. And then I pulled Sorella Wolfgramm aside while Sorella Mullen started leading them down to the baptismal font for the end of the tour, and told her we wanted her to invite them to baptism. And she did, and it was awesome, and now #1 is getting baptized on November 6! #3 is praying to find out if it is the right thing. I really love that advice from the president to invite everyone early, it really helps the investigators progress and understand why we are coming and we are seeing great miracles from following our mission president. It is super cool!
Also, I think I might have gone a little crazy on the mission...and here is why. I am reading all the scripture references in the white handbook to study it better, and under the section about your relationships with others, your companion, there is a reference for Ecclesiastes 4:9-10. I absolutely loved the reference, and thought it was so sweet, in fact, that I literally rewrote it all nice and pretty on colored paper, mounted it on another color, and put a flower sticker on it and put it on our front door. I. Did that. What? Sorella Mullen laughed at me, but really likes it anyway.
And that has been my week. I can't believe my birthday is next week, how weird is that? I will shortly be 23. hm. In Italy! yay!
Verona, Italy - September 22, 2010
I was a little bummed yesterday because our investigator won't admit to the truth. We had as part of our training last time about asking good and inspired questions, and Sorella Mullen and I felt that that would really help our investigator family, whom we have invited to baptism but they do not want to because they have already been baptized catholic and feel that it would be an insult to God to be baptized twice. We respect that, because it is a valid concern, so we explained the concept of authority to them and how a baptism without authority is really just getting wet and not a real baptism. They understand the concept, but still are not moving forward. We asked the investigator questions and she told us she believes that Joseph Smith is a prophet, so we asked her what that would mean for who has the authority to baptize today, and she sort of laughed and just refused to answer the question. So I felt sad because she has had so many very strong spiritual witnesses of the truth of this message, and she knows what it means, and just doesn't seem quite willing to accept it. We also found out that they really haven't been reading, so I think that we will focus on helping them to read the Book of Mormon, because there is great power in that. We'll see.
Then we had this fun lesson with some of our Nigerian investigators (3 of them) about the plan of salvation. We taught about the plan of salvation, which they really needed to hear, and you could tell investigator #1 really felt the spirit. But then they backed out of coming to church on Sunday and we scolded #1 because she promised she would come, and she said she would really really come the next week, but that they have program this week (a big thing the Nigerian churches do kind of frequently). So then we used all our recently learned training skills to invite them to start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning, and it was going great, so I said, 'will you read the Book of Mormon?' and there was a momentary pause while they thought about it. Then #2 said, 'I want to ask you a question first. In America, are there marine spirits?' Which is a totally beffuddling question, especially when we couldn't tell what all the words were at first. So finally we said, 'um, not that we know of...' but we didn't even really know what marine spirits were, but whatever they were they walk around and live in Nigeria, so we asked what they are, and she said they are half man half fish, so we said, 'mermaids?' and she said, “yes! Are they in America among the whites?” We said “no, we've only heard of them in stories.” She said, “no, not in stories, are they in America?” so we said no (because I have certainly never seen one). but it was such a weird random question, so next I said, “do you mind if I ask why you asked that all of a sudden?” and when I said that #2 just burst out laughing tremendously loudly because apparently it was very funny, and #2 said, “no, I just wanted to know!” like she was defending herself to #1, and then she starts telling us about the flying witches that go around strangling people in their sleep if someone is mad at them that exist in Nigeria too, and wanted to know if we knew about them in America too, so we told her that there weren't any in America...and that is where all our training on great invites last week led to. (They did in the end let us get back to the invite and said they would, so that's good.) But what is the deal with that? Anyone out there know about the mermaids and witches in Nigeria or what the deal is? Because that's the first time I've gotten that question, and it really threw us off...
We had another thought we wanted to open the table to for responses from some experiences we had yesterday. Yesterday morning our appointments all cancelled on us, so we were doing casa in a neighborhood called Borgo Venezia and we had about two hours to do it. And I was dreading every minute of it, and felt like two hours might as well be two years it felt so long and I really really didn't want to do it. Then Sorella Mullen mentioned feeling the same way, and it occurred to me that it was a little strange that we both felt that way when normally it would be just fine and fun and stuff, so I asked her if she thought we were doing the right thing, and she said, “no, we're not.” So we sat down and pulled out the map and said a prayer to know where we should go to do casa, and both felt really good about going to a neighborhood called Valdonega. The thing is that Valdonega has been on both our minds all transfer long, and as soon as we decided to go there we both felt great and were super energized and suddenly two hours didn't even feel like enough. So we hopped on our bikes and went as fast as we possibly could to get there, and even felt unanimously really good about a particular street. We started knocking doors like crazy, because we needed to find whoever it was we were led there to find. We did two hours of casa and never once got in a door. And we both still felt really really like we did the right thing, even though there are absolutely zero visible results that that was actually a prompting to go out to Valdonega. And then that evening we got a bidone from a family we have been teaching, which was really sad, so we were going to get started doing our back up plan, but we really didn't feel like it was quite right either. So we prayed again, and the only thing either of us felt good about was sitting on the steps of their palazzo and waiting. And I have never felt like the right thing to do on the mission was sit. It was so weird, but we decided to do it anyway. We waited for half an hour until it was time to go home, and they never came home. Right as we were leaving this woman comes out and starts asking us who we are and what we are doing, and we both thought instantly that maybe she was why we were supposed to sit there, but then she flatly refused to hear our message and said she was perfectly fine with her own religion. So we hopped on our bikes, and in the underpass by the train station both of us independently felt very strongly to not leave this woman with a bunch of bags we saw by herself, but to go and offer to help her. So we turned back around to go find her, and turns out she couldn't speak Italian at all, did not want help, and that of all of the twenty languages I had in my bag she didn't speak a single one of them and we couldn't even give her a pamphlet or sit with her or help her with her bags. So we went on our way and came home. It was so weird, because we felt like we were trying hard to follow promptings but none of them made sense or yielded any results. So we were wondering what y'all make of that? Thoughts? Comments?
Then we had this fun lesson with some of our Nigerian investigators (3 of them) about the plan of salvation. We taught about the plan of salvation, which they really needed to hear, and you could tell investigator #1 really felt the spirit. But then they backed out of coming to church on Sunday and we scolded #1 because she promised she would come, and she said she would really really come the next week, but that they have program this week (a big thing the Nigerian churches do kind of frequently). So then we used all our recently learned training skills to invite them to start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning, and it was going great, so I said, 'will you read the Book of Mormon?' and there was a momentary pause while they thought about it. Then #2 said, 'I want to ask you a question first. In America, are there marine spirits?' Which is a totally beffuddling question, especially when we couldn't tell what all the words were at first. So finally we said, 'um, not that we know of...' but we didn't even really know what marine spirits were, but whatever they were they walk around and live in Nigeria, so we asked what they are, and she said they are half man half fish, so we said, 'mermaids?' and she said, “yes! Are they in America among the whites?” We said “no, we've only heard of them in stories.” She said, “no, not in stories, are they in America?” so we said no (because I have certainly never seen one). but it was such a weird random question, so next I said, “do you mind if I ask why you asked that all of a sudden?” and when I said that #2 just burst out laughing tremendously loudly because apparently it was very funny, and #2 said, “no, I just wanted to know!” like she was defending herself to #1, and then she starts telling us about the flying witches that go around strangling people in their sleep if someone is mad at them that exist in Nigeria too, and wanted to know if we knew about them in America too, so we told her that there weren't any in America...and that is where all our training on great invites last week led to. (They did in the end let us get back to the invite and said they would, so that's good.) But what is the deal with that? Anyone out there know about the mermaids and witches in Nigeria or what the deal is? Because that's the first time I've gotten that question, and it really threw us off...
We had another thought we wanted to open the table to for responses from some experiences we had yesterday. Yesterday morning our appointments all cancelled on us, so we were doing casa in a neighborhood called Borgo Venezia and we had about two hours to do it. And I was dreading every minute of it, and felt like two hours might as well be two years it felt so long and I really really didn't want to do it. Then Sorella Mullen mentioned feeling the same way, and it occurred to me that it was a little strange that we both felt that way when normally it would be just fine and fun and stuff, so I asked her if she thought we were doing the right thing, and she said, “no, we're not.” So we sat down and pulled out the map and said a prayer to know where we should go to do casa, and both felt really good about going to a neighborhood called Valdonega. The thing is that Valdonega has been on both our minds all transfer long, and as soon as we decided to go there we both felt great and were super energized and suddenly two hours didn't even feel like enough. So we hopped on our bikes and went as fast as we possibly could to get there, and even felt unanimously really good about a particular street. We started knocking doors like crazy, because we needed to find whoever it was we were led there to find. We did two hours of casa and never once got in a door. And we both still felt really really like we did the right thing, even though there are absolutely zero visible results that that was actually a prompting to go out to Valdonega. And then that evening we got a bidone from a family we have been teaching, which was really sad, so we were going to get started doing our back up plan, but we really didn't feel like it was quite right either. So we prayed again, and the only thing either of us felt good about was sitting on the steps of their palazzo and waiting. And I have never felt like the right thing to do on the mission was sit. It was so weird, but we decided to do it anyway. We waited for half an hour until it was time to go home, and they never came home. Right as we were leaving this woman comes out and starts asking us who we are and what we are doing, and we both thought instantly that maybe she was why we were supposed to sit there, but then she flatly refused to hear our message and said she was perfectly fine with her own religion. So we hopped on our bikes, and in the underpass by the train station both of us independently felt very strongly to not leave this woman with a bunch of bags we saw by herself, but to go and offer to help her. So we turned back around to go find her, and turns out she couldn't speak Italian at all, did not want help, and that of all of the twenty languages I had in my bag she didn't speak a single one of them and we couldn't even give her a pamphlet or sit with her or help her with her bags. So we went on our way and came home. It was so weird, because we felt like we were trying hard to follow promptings but none of them made sense or yielded any results. So we were wondering what y'all make of that? Thoughts? Comments?
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