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.