Here is a funny story: On Saturday we were riding our bikes down one of the main streets in our part of town to go to the church for correlation, the street was Via Venti Settembre (or, in English, 20th of September Street - but I haven't been able to find out what significant thing happened on the 20th of September in Italian or Veronan history such that they would name a street after it, any of you know?). My companion is behind me. A man on a bike is passing by next to us, but when he gets next to me he stops going faster and instead starts talking to me, while we are still biking. 'Excuse me, are you a missionary?' 'Yes,' I said, since missionaries shouldn't lie and I am a missionary so yes is the true answer. 'Oh good,' he said. 'I am looking for some information. Can I ask you a question?' So I said, 'Of course! But let's stop and not talk while riding.' So we pulled over. He said he was looking for a church to go to and can always recognize a christian when he sees one, so he wanted to know where our church was. I told him. I told him we were, as it happens, going to the church right now, and would he like to come meet some male missionaries who can teach him more about our church? He said, right now? I said yes. He said, ok then, why not? So he followed us up to the church building on the bikes and we had a nice little chat in the meantime. He is from Nigeria, but a Jewish part of Nigeria or something that I had never heard of before. We meet a lot of Nigerians, so it was cool to find out about another new place in Nigeria. He is the only one in his family here in Italy, and he has been here three years, but doesn't speak Italian super well, and doesn't super enjoy going to the Catholic Church. So we took him to the church, and he met the elders, and now he is a new investigator! How exciting! It was fun having someone try to ask me about the church on the bikes. That was a new experience!
Also awesome this week, because I don't think we have ever had a Sunday this successful, we had four people in church! And the elders had another two or three a piece! How awesome is that! Especially because we have not been able to get a single person to church all transfer, and then finally this week four people came!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Verona, Italy - August 25, 2010
Okay, I would just like to begin by saying that it is a good thing I had brainstormed and written down during the week a list of things to write home, because it is really hot today and I am exhausted! So I am sorry if this isn't as energetic sounding as normal, but you can blame it on riding bikes in the heat all day. hehe.
We had a neat experience last Wednesday night after p-day ended (p-day is never a full day, it starts at 10 am after studies and ends at 6 pm in the evening). We went to visit a couple of investigators and a member came over and gave one of the investigators a blessing because she wanted one. It was cool to see how she really was calmed and touched by the blessing. And then afterwards we taught a really impactful lesson about how to hear the Spirit, because right now that is the investigator's biggest hang up. She has felt the spirit, and she has felt the truth of our message, but she absolutely refuses to recognize it or admit it. She just keeps insisting she has not felt any thing, no change whatsoever, so we keep trying to teach her about how it is not likely to be some gigantic thing and she isn't just going to suddenly become a different person, but that it is a soft feeling. There is a quote in preach my gospel about how the spirit does not get our attention by shouting or shaking us with a heavy hand, but rather, it whispers, which we read to her twice now and I think she is starting to understand. It was really fun to have the other investigator in the lesson, because she could talk about how she came to recognize that she was feeling the spirit when reading the Book of Mormon. We have seen the first investigator a few times since that night, and she still is not willing to recognize the soft feelings of the spirit. I think there are a few distractions we need to help her eliminate. She is in a lot of pain from some of the tragedies she has suffered in life. It is so hard to watch her just persist in her pain when we know that the gospel will truly bring her peace and healing, and she is just refusing to see it or accept it. She is reading the Book of Mormon now though, abbastanza spesso, and still really loves for us to come visit her, so it is not that she isn't moving forward, just very slowly and having a lot of trouble overcoming this particular stumbling block. But it will come, though.
Anyway, the next night we finally got our Brazilian family of investigators to do a serata with our Brazilian family of members. We told the wife and mother of the investigator family that we would come by at 6 pm on Thursday then all go together by bus to see the member family, and she said ok. So we show up at the investigator’s house, but she and the older son, are not at home and are going to meet us at the station, so we go with the husband and the younger son by bus to the station and then we put them on an out of city bus to take them to the place outside Verona where the members live. But we didn't tell them beforehand how far it was, and they were a little hesitant to get on the bus, but we just acted like it was totally normal and way cool and we were super happy and excited and then they were fine. Luckily it is not too far outside the city. And then the member family took them back home afterwards in their car, so I think that helped. It was really cool! It makes me really want to learn Portugues, actually, because we teach a lot of Portuguese speakers and use a lot of portugues speaking members, and sit through a lot of lessons or evenings with familys that happen all in Portuguese with us just trying our best to understand. It is way fun though! I think it was especially good for the husband, who is a lot more hesitant than the wife. She already knows that it is true. We found her during my first transfer, right at the end, and through her started teaching her family. They are super awesome, I really love them.
Anyway, we also had zone conference this week, which was way cool! We got to spend some more time learning from and about our new mission president and his wife, and I feel a lot more comfortable with them now and like I know what they want for the mission and what they expect of us. They are really great, I love President and Sorella Wolfgramm. As part of the zone conference, we found out about some changes that are happening world wide for missionaries, particularly with the scheduling of zone conferences and interviews with president, as well as a couple of extra training things they will be instituting. They have come up with these condensed lesson thingies that relate to the information in preach my gospel but are differently formatted that they want us all to start learning, because next summer they will start teaching this way to the missionaries going for the whole world in the MTC, and we have to be ready when the new type of missionary hits the field, to train them well and to work with them well and to step missionary work up a level world-wide. I think it will be really exciting to get to see this shifting process throughout pretty literally my whole mission, since I should end up coming home just after the switch over takes place, I think. Plus then I get to be constantly learning new ways to do missionary work through training from the church and working hard on constantly implementing them and thinking as differently as possible all the time. It should be really cool. I am excited!
Also, I have been thinking a lot about less active and new convert work this week, and how that really is an extremely important part of missionary work. New converts need to be visited after baptism regularly, and need to be integrated quickly into the ward, or else they will simply get lost, and all the work before baptism will be in vain. We had scambio this week, and so Sorella Harper came back here again to Verona with me, and we got to see a new convert who got baptized with Sorella Harper and the sister before me, and she freaked out when she saw Sorella Harper. She was so excited to see her because she loves those two so much, those are really her missionaries, you know? And then we also saw another investigator, and she sort of told us the same thing, that it was Sorella Harper and I who started teaching her and took her through that process, and so we are the ones she will always have as the image of the sister missionaries in her mind. It made me feel really good to hear her say that, because I love this investigator and she is so important to me, and it was nice to hear she likes me so much too. =) It is nice to know I have really made that difference in someone's life, that the Lord let me be a part of that process with her. Yay. And then also less actives, we have been working with a family from peru here, and they have just started coming back to church and it is so exciting to see them there every sunday and to see the changes in them as they come back to church! I never knew that reactivating was so exciting, because those people still really need that help. It is cool.
Also, during zone conference, they had this example thing, where the assistants were teaching a lesson and they brought out this gigantic barbell with tons of weight on it, and said they needed someone really strong to come up and lift it for them. So they said, 'Sorella Langham, why don't you come lift this for us?' And I laughed and so did everyone else, because we all thought they were joking, but they totally weren't. So they had me come up in front of both zones full of missionaries, and then they gave me the authority to lift the big bar with so much weight and made me try. Twice! Obviously I hadn't a chance. So they called up a pair of big strong elders to help me, and they represented power, showing that we really need to back up our authority with power or else it is in vain. It was kind of exciting to get to participate in zone conference; I liked it.
We had a neat experience last Wednesday night after p-day ended (p-day is never a full day, it starts at 10 am after studies and ends at 6 pm in the evening). We went to visit a couple of investigators and a member came over and gave one of the investigators a blessing because she wanted one. It was cool to see how she really was calmed and touched by the blessing. And then afterwards we taught a really impactful lesson about how to hear the Spirit, because right now that is the investigator's biggest hang up. She has felt the spirit, and she has felt the truth of our message, but she absolutely refuses to recognize it or admit it. She just keeps insisting she has not felt any thing, no change whatsoever, so we keep trying to teach her about how it is not likely to be some gigantic thing and she isn't just going to suddenly become a different person, but that it is a soft feeling. There is a quote in preach my gospel about how the spirit does not get our attention by shouting or shaking us with a heavy hand, but rather, it whispers, which we read to her twice now and I think she is starting to understand. It was really fun to have the other investigator in the lesson, because she could talk about how she came to recognize that she was feeling the spirit when reading the Book of Mormon. We have seen the first investigator a few times since that night, and she still is not willing to recognize the soft feelings of the spirit. I think there are a few distractions we need to help her eliminate. She is in a lot of pain from some of the tragedies she has suffered in life. It is so hard to watch her just persist in her pain when we know that the gospel will truly bring her peace and healing, and she is just refusing to see it or accept it. She is reading the Book of Mormon now though, abbastanza spesso, and still really loves for us to come visit her, so it is not that she isn't moving forward, just very slowly and having a lot of trouble overcoming this particular stumbling block. But it will come, though.
Anyway, the next night we finally got our Brazilian family of investigators to do a serata with our Brazilian family of members. We told the wife and mother of the investigator family that we would come by at 6 pm on Thursday then all go together by bus to see the member family, and she said ok. So we show up at the investigator’s house, but she and the older son, are not at home and are going to meet us at the station, so we go with the husband and the younger son by bus to the station and then we put them on an out of city bus to take them to the place outside Verona where the members live. But we didn't tell them beforehand how far it was, and they were a little hesitant to get on the bus, but we just acted like it was totally normal and way cool and we were super happy and excited and then they were fine. Luckily it is not too far outside the city. And then the member family took them back home afterwards in their car, so I think that helped. It was really cool! It makes me really want to learn Portugues, actually, because we teach a lot of Portuguese speakers and use a lot of portugues speaking members, and sit through a lot of lessons or evenings with familys that happen all in Portuguese with us just trying our best to understand. It is way fun though! I think it was especially good for the husband, who is a lot more hesitant than the wife. She already knows that it is true. We found her during my first transfer, right at the end, and through her started teaching her family. They are super awesome, I really love them.
Anyway, we also had zone conference this week, which was way cool! We got to spend some more time learning from and about our new mission president and his wife, and I feel a lot more comfortable with them now and like I know what they want for the mission and what they expect of us. They are really great, I love President and Sorella Wolfgramm. As part of the zone conference, we found out about some changes that are happening world wide for missionaries, particularly with the scheduling of zone conferences and interviews with president, as well as a couple of extra training things they will be instituting. They have come up with these condensed lesson thingies that relate to the information in preach my gospel but are differently formatted that they want us all to start learning, because next summer they will start teaching this way to the missionaries going for the whole world in the MTC, and we have to be ready when the new type of missionary hits the field, to train them well and to work with them well and to step missionary work up a level world-wide. I think it will be really exciting to get to see this shifting process throughout pretty literally my whole mission, since I should end up coming home just after the switch over takes place, I think. Plus then I get to be constantly learning new ways to do missionary work through training from the church and working hard on constantly implementing them and thinking as differently as possible all the time. It should be really cool. I am excited!
Also, I have been thinking a lot about less active and new convert work this week, and how that really is an extremely important part of missionary work. New converts need to be visited after baptism regularly, and need to be integrated quickly into the ward, or else they will simply get lost, and all the work before baptism will be in vain. We had scambio this week, and so Sorella Harper came back here again to Verona with me, and we got to see a new convert who got baptized with Sorella Harper and the sister before me, and she freaked out when she saw Sorella Harper. She was so excited to see her because she loves those two so much, those are really her missionaries, you know? And then we also saw another investigator, and she sort of told us the same thing, that it was Sorella Harper and I who started teaching her and took her through that process, and so we are the ones she will always have as the image of the sister missionaries in her mind. It made me feel really good to hear her say that, because I love this investigator and she is so important to me, and it was nice to hear she likes me so much too. =) It is nice to know I have really made that difference in someone's life, that the Lord let me be a part of that process with her. Yay. And then also less actives, we have been working with a family from peru here, and they have just started coming back to church and it is so exciting to see them there every sunday and to see the changes in them as they come back to church! I never knew that reactivating was so exciting, because those people still really need that help. It is cool.
Also, during zone conference, they had this example thing, where the assistants were teaching a lesson and they brought out this gigantic barbell with tons of weight on it, and said they needed someone really strong to come up and lift it for them. So they said, 'Sorella Langham, why don't you come lift this for us?' And I laughed and so did everyone else, because we all thought they were joking, but they totally weren't. So they had me come up in front of both zones full of missionaries, and then they gave me the authority to lift the big bar with so much weight and made me try. Twice! Obviously I hadn't a chance. So they called up a pair of big strong elders to help me, and they represented power, showing that we really need to back up our authority with power or else it is in vain. It was kind of exciting to get to participate in zone conference; I liked it.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
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.
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.
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.
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.
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