for the 4th of July because it's one of my favorite holidays. But then
I realized that I'm in Italy and while these people have festas
every-other week, they unfortunately don't recognize this holiday.. So
enjoy the fireworks, country music, and barbecues for me. Because
although we get some pretty delicious pizza today, I'm really missing
those things.
Today I'm going to start with a funny story because that's how my week
started. Every Monday night we do a family home evening in the park
with our investigators and ward some members. It switches off every
week which companionship is in charge of it but if you have an
investigator there you can come every time with them. It's super fun-
we do a game, spiritual thought, then eat.
Last week we asked our investigator Daniela to meet with us at 6- an
hour before it started. She told us that she was planning to go to the
family home evening with a guy in our ward (whom she is dating now)
but said, okay I'll see if he'll pick me up early! Is it okay if he
comes? So basically our investigator brought her own member present to
her lesson! But it was super awkward when we got there because he's
African and doesn't speak much Italian so they really couldn't
communicate besides with like Google translate. So they weren't even
talking they were just both on their phones. And I think the guy was a
little annoyed with us because we crashed their first date haha but
hey I guess it all worked out anyway because now they're together! I
don't understand their relationship but whatever works I guess. --they
doesn't seem as funny now, I guess it was just kind of a "you had to
be there" kind of moments because Sorella Tingey and I could not stop
laughing about it that night.
Oh man we get along so well together. This week has been filled with
laughs and awkward moments, it's been great!
Miracles come after the trial of your faith
Wednesday We were finding all morning and it had been a little rough.
The morning started with a terrible experience, probably the worst one
on my mission yet, we were looking for a former investigator and we
weren't sure which citofono was hers so we just started from the top
and rang all of them. No one was home but then we rang the bottom one
and they just opened the door without getting on the microphone and
asking who we were. This nice man came out and we told him we were
looking for Elisabetta. He went in and asked his mom if an Elisabetta
lives here. She came out and just started screaming at us. She said
that she was resting and just because our friend didn't answer doesn't
mean we can ring her and expect to be let in. And she just kept going.
Her voice getting loader and loader then she started clapping to add
more emphasis I guess. She was fuming and I thought she might explode
she was filled with so much hatred and anger. The shouting went on for
probably 5 minutes (although it felt more like 20) and while both my
companion I felt like we were going to cry, we just stood there
patiently and smiled through the whole thing. Then as soon as she
stopped taking for a second we quickly said how sorry we were and
bolted out of there as fast as we could. We also faced a lot of
rejections, lot of people making fun of us haha and tons of
uninterested people. We've really been focusing on trying to talk to
younger people because those are the ones who will most likely
actually end up getting baptized and will build up and strengthen the
church. This is hard because a lot of younger people aren't very nice
here and think we're weirdos. But we kept going. We kept talking to
everyone, and because of this we were able to talk to a set of sisters
in a park, teach them a lesson, and set up a return appointment! 2 new
investigators! It strengthened my testimony of the importance of this
message and the importance of perseverance. I known that when times
get hard, if we just keep going that little bit more, a miracle is
right around the corner. We receive a witness (or that miracle) after
the trial of our faith!
Rina
Rina is amazing!! Like Sorella Tingey says, "she's my favorite person
in Cagliari!" She's the like 89 year old new convert that we get to
visit. She's always making little jokes, smiling, and laughing. This
week we taught her the plan of salvation (because we're teaching all
of the members all of the missionary lessons) and we get to the part
"la morta fisica" (physical death) and she goes "I don't know about
you but I don't want to die" then just starts laughing. Haha she's
adorable. And she's such a missionary!! That night while we were with
her her friend called and said she'd be coming over in a little bit so
rina asked if we would stay so we could talk with her and didn't want
to say the closing prayer until her friend got there. Then as soon as
she got there she was like "do you have another pamphlet? Give one to
her!"
We visited her again on Friday and she's been bugging us about seeing
a less active who lives close to her. We told her that we'd bring this
less-active (Valeria) to her house sometime. In the middle of the
lesson rina just goes "let's go see Valeria right now. Call her and
tell her we're on our way." Then she got changed into her dress, put
some lipstick and perfume on, and was ready to go. We told her that
it's not that close and that she'd have to walk a bit but she was
determined! So me made the slow trek over to Valeria's. It wasn't easy
for rina, I was a little worried she might collapse a few times- we
walked really slow and took lots of breaks but we eventually made it!
She is an awesome lady.
Scambio w/ Sorella Moro & Meet the President
I'm running out of time so I have to make this quick. Friday I got to
do a scambio with Sorella Moro (one of the Sassari Sorelle) she's
super awesome and really fun to be with. Then Saturday we had a
conference with our zone to meet the new president and his wife. It
was awesome! Then that night there was a baptism for a 14 year old
girl whose mom is a member and she basically grew up in the church and
just didn't get baptized. She and her mom were so happy and excited it
was great. And Eleonora came!! We haven't taught her very much because
she's busy with school but she asked if we could give her number to
the oristano Anziani because she lives really close to there and will
be moving back home right after exams. How awesome is that?! she's
like "I'd like to keep taking the lessons." I'm super happy for her.
Funny story
After the conference president Pickerd came out and said "Sorelle,
someone left theirs purse in here." We go in and he's like "whose
purse is this?" We just look at each other and say "Anziano martin's"
then he's like "well I guess if that works for him" it was pretty
funny.
Letter to President Pickerd
Welcome President Pickerd!! We were so excited to meet your wife and
you this week! I learned so much from that conference and feel like it
was exactly what I needed to help this work move forward here in
Cagliari. I love it here. My companion and I are finally figuring
things out and really getting into a groove. We're making short and
long-terms goals to help this work and these investigators progress.
This upcoming week we are going to be really focusing on finding those
"golden" investigators and dropping those whom are not quite ready to
accept the gospel at this moment in time. We are also going to focus
on setting baptismal dates (as one of the power 5 commitments.) We are
looking for to this upcoming week and all of the miracles it will
bring. A highlight from last week was on Wednesday. [the story I
already told you about out finding experience]
Thanks again for the wonderful conference! I hope that Sorella Pickerd
and you felt of the love that we already have for both of you! We're
excited to see you again in a few weeks for zone conference!
I love you all so much! And as much as I love Italy, I'm proud to be
an America.
Rina is a champ
Scambi with Sassari Sorelle
We made this poster for the pickerd's :)
Anziano Borden's last Sunday here. (The guy in the middle was a former missionary here)
We ate the best pizza in Cagliari today at the red tomato (rosso pomodoro)
x
