THE END (Monday, 17 July 2017)

Once again we spent a lot of the week traveling through Calabria and Puglia (2 regions of Italy.) Wednesday morning we left Crotone with the Zone Leaders and headed up to Catanzaro to do their apartment inspection and they fed us lunch. Then we headed off to Statte to do an exchange with the sisters there. I had the opportunity to do an exchange with Sorella Keglovitz. It was fun to reflect with her about all of the things that we have learned in the mission and how we have grown since out days together in the MTC almost a year and a half ago. She has done a great job in Statte, using her organization skills to leave the area better than she found it. We passed by a lot of different addresses and were able to see some of their investigators. We were able to follow the spirit and really help an investigator that they have who hasn't really been progressing and only continues with the lessons because her husband is interested and her daughter is a member. She is still firm in her catholic beliefs so we were able to us the Bible (something she already believes in) to support our message which I think helped a lot. That night we went to a pizzeria owned by some of their members. They are so sweet. Because they are so busy with the pizzeria, they aren't able to invite the missionaries over to eat or help in lessons so they let the sisters eat free whenever they come (and they expect them to come at least twice a week.) After stuffing ourselves with pizza and gelato (they insisted,) we went home and made a Tiramisù (with orzo instead of coffee.) Things got a little crazy and I somehow ended up with it in my hair and all over my face... exchanges make me miss having a four sister house sometimes.

Thursday morning we took our favorite 6.5 hour bus ride back to Crotone then when we got back we spent our time buying groceries and cleaning the house for the new senior couple in Crotone! A sister in the office called and asked us to make sure that they were taken care of and felt welcomed. They got in late Thursday night so we ended up meeting them on Friday. Anziano and Sorella Heyman are from southern California. Anziano Heyman served in Italy when it was all one mission but mainly served in the north. Sorella Heyman is already working on learning Italian and did a great job bearing her testimony in church on Sunday. They are wonderful and are exactly what Crotone needs.

The highlight of my week was on Friday when the Heymans arrived and came to our branch activity that night. The members had no idea that we would be getting a senior couple. They were ecstatic when they found out that the Heymans would be serving their mission in Crotone. The entire mood of the branch has gone from one side of the spectrum to the other. In the past month going to church has been a bit of a somber and depressing experience. Yesterday joy and cheer once again entered the chapel as we welcomed in the Heymans to the branch. I now feel a lot more secure about leaving Crotone in the hands of people who will care for it as much as I do.

With all of that joy the branch activity went wonderfully. We even had a little branch intervention led by our branch president to help the members rerecognize their duty as member missionaries. We watched the Restoration film and heard the testimonies of some members including the powerful testimony of President Sarcone, I have grown to love and appreciate him so much. Afterwards we ate Tiramisù (don't worry, again, no coffee,) gelato inside of a briosche bread, and the banana bread with chocolate chips that I made. If the mission talk me nothing else, I have learned how to cook well enough that Italains are asking me for my recipes and taking the leftovers home to their families (totally joking--but I'm not kidding about my bomb banana bread.)

Saturday morning we went out to Isola again to teach Precious and her boyfriend. She was really sad to find out that this is my last week in Crotone. I love her and will miss her a lot. The lesson went well as we boldly bore our testimonies of the principles of the gospel, hearts were more open to change.

Right after that we quickly grabbed some stuff for lunch from the grocery store by the station the hopped on another bus to Cosenza. That night we got to be apart of 3 african baptisms. That morning I was asked to play the piano and during the ceremony I was asked to go to the pupit and translate because the talks were being done in english for those being baptized. Serving in Calabria for so long has taught me how to just roll with everything and do whatever is asked of me even if I'm not necessarily comfortable doing it.

The spirit was sweet as we heard the testimonies of the 3 newly baptized members; Bismark, Kingsford, and George (all from Ghana.) They are such a prepared people. Each one bore witness of the spirit that they immediately felt on their first Sunday in church and they are all anxiously engaged in missionary work with their friends. The Anziani have been preparing their friend Francis for baptism next month and are trying to prepare these three to have the priesthood and be able to perform and be witnesses for his baptism.

As I mentioned before, the members warmly welcomed in the Heymans to the branch on Sunday. After sacrament meeting we asked Sorella Heyman if she'd like to join us for primary. It may not have been the best way to welcome her into the branch.... Let just say that by the end of it, Xixi (the 4 year old) was play "I've got your nose" with me and it got a little out of hand... As Vittoria (the 10 year old) was ripping out half of my hair while trying to put it in a ponytail, Xixi was violently grabbing my nose and the next thing I knew she had ran to the kitchen and brought back tongs that she had planned to use to "rip my nose off." When those were taken from her she escaped once again to the kitchen and came back with a giant serrated knife and attempted to cut my nose off with it! She ran around swinging it everywhere while all three of us chased her then she finally threw it over a wall outside. This my friends, is just a typical day of primary in Crotone...

In all reality though, words cannot express the gratitude that I feel for the opportunity that I have had to serve here in Crotone. All of the hardships and trials that I have seen here make the good things so much sweeter, and the goodbyes so much harder. Although it may not always seem like Crotone is worth all of the missionary efforts that are sent its way, there are some really great people here who are doing their very best to worship their savior and follow him, (one of these people being President Sarcone who I have come to admire and love.)

As my mission comes to a close, I have had many opportunites to look back and reflect upon the many miracles that I have seen helping other people change for the better, and all of the change and growth that I have seen in myself. The biggest thing that my mission taught me was how to become more Christlike. I have learned who I am, and understand so much better who I am trying to become. I have gained this beautiful knowledge by coming to know my savior Jesus Christ by studying his words and the words that are writting of Him. I love Him, I love His work, and I love the people here in Italy. I have done so much personal growing during this year and a half that God has given me, and I cherish every moment of it. I love you all, thanks for following me on this adventure. See you soon!

Love always,
Sorella Bonzo

Exchange

Primary with Sorella Heyman...at one point they were outside making a castle with the cardboard boxes...

I promised them my famous lasagna and they promised me chocolami

Yeah, we did this hike again for my last pday and ate Chinese food with the Heymans

Sister pic. I love my sorella Walch. I'm going to miss her tons. 

"Come What May and Love It"

Dear family and friends,
This week has been crazy, so much happened which forced us to actually
remain outside of Crotone most of Tuesday, and Wednesday-Saturday
afternoon. At the end of the day the overlying principle that I have
learned on my mission was really tested and put into practice. That
being, "Come what may, and love it." -Joseph B. Wirthlin

First example of this: the whole first part of my email was very
beautifully written but somehow got deleted. I just quickly filled in
the blanks but I'm sorry... bear with my lack of time.

Monday:
For FHE Juliet made us fufu so that Sorella Walch and Anziano
lamoureux could try it. Let's just say after I downed it like an
African they deemed me apart of an African tribe in Nigeria. After
weekly African meals for 7 months, I'm the whitest African you've ever
seen my friends.
Tuesday:
We went up to Cosenza for district meeting and afterwards had the best
American lunch with hamburgers and hot dogs. We finished it off with a
homemade apple pie they Sorella Walch and I prepared topped with
vaniglia gelato.

Wednesday:
The Statte Sorelle were supposed to be in Crotone for a scambio but
things went wrong with picking up one of their green cards so we ended
up having to go up to Cosenza all day then travel to Taranto.

Thursday:
The Taranto district had an activity on Tuesday which caused them to
do district meeting Thursday morning so we got to participate in their
district meeting as well. Their district is very different than ours
being that the only elders in it are the zone leaders who also double
as the district leaders. Their district is also very old in the
mission whereas most of the missionaries in ours are relatively young.
It was enjoyable to get to spend some time with their district and get
to know all of them a little bit better. The training given by one of
the zone leaders was wonderful. He said that he had prepared his
training, but then that morning he realized that he would have all 4
of the finishing missionaries in the zone listening to his training,
so he did it on something that would be useful both during, and after
the mission. We talked about goal setting and how not only our
successes, but also our setbacks can propel us forward and give us
more drive if we are working towards a specific goal and have a plan
of action. One thing that he said that really touched me was this,
"you don't have to regret wasted time if you learn from it." This
applies, I think, to all of our regrets. Regret is an inevitable part
of life. We as imperfect mortals mess up every single day, and the
fact that we have regrets, is a sign that we recognize our weaknesses
and are striving to do better. The beautiful thing is that we also
have the opportunity to change through Christ's atonement. If we learn
from our mistakes, and do better the next time, then we are repenting,
and becoming better, and that's all that God asks of us. We don't have
to carry around a burden of regrets as long as we learn from our past
mistakes, and use them to become better.

Thursday & Friday:
That afternoon and the next morning I got to do an exchange with
Sorella Calió. She is from Pavia, Italy and will be finishing her
mission with me. We had a lot of fun together, reflecting on all of
the things that we have learned throughout our missions. One thing
that I learned from her during this exchange was the importance of
being very personable and loving to everyone, especially here in the
south of Italy. Sometimes we get so caught up in what we're trying to
accomplish that we're too formal, and forget that these are real
people that we are working with who will trust us more as we be
ourselves and show them that we care about them.

Friday:
Friday afternoon we were supposed to take our usual bus that we always
take to get from Taranto to Crotone that leaves at 4:50 and has since
I got to this area 7 months ago... So we arrived at the bus station at
4:30, having plenty of time to buy our tickets and catch the bus. But
when we went to buy the tickets the lady said, "that bus left 10
minutes ago." It turns out that they decided to change the times so
that now, the bus leaves at 4:20! That is the only bus that goes from
Taranto to Crotone every day so we ran to the train station to see if
we could catch a train back. To our misfortune there were no more
trains going back for the rest of the night either. The best we could
do was take one the next morning at 9:00 meaning that we'd be spending
another day outside of our area.

We made the best of it though and met up with the missionaries in
Taranto and they drove us to a park where we all went finding. Sorella
Walch and I stopped to talk to some people sitting on a bench and had
the opportunity to teach the entire restoration with an opening and
closing prayer which was a tender mercy for us. I always feel so happy
when I share my testimony of the message of the restoration, that must
mean it's true I guess¿

Afterwards we went to the Taranto ward's relief society activity that
they put on as a surprise to say goodbye to one of their sisters who
will be moving to the north this week. They did a funny skit in
pugliese dialect (we had no idea what was going on,) said lots of kind
words, and of course had tons of good pigliano food to eat. It was
good to be with tons of happy, loving sisters and remember what a
beautiful and unique friendship that we can have in our wards and
branches as members of the church.

Saturday morning we finally made if back to Crotone. We left at 9 and
got to the church at 4 so you could say we were pretty hungry..
luckily we have the best anziani in the world because they had lunch
waiting for us when we got there. Then we did tons of member work
because we met with our branch president and he wants us visiting all
of them.

Today:
We finally got to visit the beautiful mountain range in Calabria
called Sila. It was amazing to be out in the fresh air without the
crazy sounds and smells of the Italian cities that I've been living in
for a year and a half.

I don't have tons of time to finish this well, but all I've got to say
is that positivity through adversity is key. When things don't go our
way, we just have to make the best with what we have, which I think
that we successfully did thanks to my amazing companion and the
perspective that she has.

Love you guys,
Sorella Bonzo

American pranzo

Taranto district

Sila

In the woods

Zone Conference was Lit

Hey guys! 

Monday:
I had my finishing interview with President Pickerd. It was super weird, especially because I still have 3 weeks left, but in the end I really appreciated it. It made me feel comforted and calmed the anxieties that I have of going home. I just love President Pickerd so much. He is the most Christlike man I have ever met.
I will miss Sorella Pickerd and him so much. They are both amazing, and are people that I will definitely look up to for the rest of my life.

Tuesday:
My last zone conference was definitely one to remember. We have one of the smallest zones in the mission which I absolutely love because we all become great friends really quickly even with the constant change in missionaries.
This transfer President Pickerd is focusing on overcoming plateaus as a mission, companionship, and individually in order to reach new heights.
I got to give a training with the zone leaders about how we felt that our zone could do this. We talked about how love is the great motivator. We shared the story of Christ when he asks Peter 3 times if he loved him and I came to the conclusion that our call as missionaries is very similar to that of Peter's, this is to love Christmas and demonstrate that love through selfless service. He has asked us to leave everything behind for this period of time, and serve loyally until the end of ministry.
I want to share with you the final quote that we shared from my most favorite general conference talk:
 "...My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: "Did you love me?" I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all--"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind." And if at such a moment we can stammer out, "Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee," then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty." (The First Great Commandment, Holland Oct. 2012)
I also got to bear my finishing testimony along with 3 other missionaries who are leaving with me. The spirit was strong and the testimonies were edifying. Then as we sang the Inno di Roma for the last time, we started to smell a strange odor. After the closing prayer we continued to smell something burning. Someone proceeded to open the curtain of the big chapel window and as we looked outside we saw the entire field across the street from church was up in flames. By the end it had spread all the way around the perimeter of the church. We quickly contacted the fire department as well as local leaders then grabbed the buckets, filled them with water, and started throwing it on the fire to protect the church's bushes. We continued to help the fire department until it was all out. It caught a few more times after that but by then we had a system down and it was all under control. It was actually a huge miracle that we had 16 missionaries there in the church in that specific moment because otherwise things could have gotten a lot worse. And on top of that, the bishop of the Taranto ward was able to talk to the firemen who were so impressed with our desire to help and they set up an appointment with the head fireman to learn more about our church!

I did an exchange with Sorella Bishop this week in Taranto. She is amazing. I was impressed at how well she already knows the area being blown-in only 2 weeks ago. We went out to a smaller town by Taranto to find some people that they have out there and saw a miracle with a less active letting us in and within 20 minutes of talking, she had already opened up and told us her problems. Everything comes with a price though haha. Her nasty dog had been distracting us the entire time and wouldn't leave me alone so as she began to open up to us in order to keep the dog calm I sacrificed my arm and was almost clawed to death by the end of it, but it was worth it! I was really impressed with Sorella Bishop when she used some verses in the Book of Mormon that she had read in her personal study that morning as a way to teach to this woman's needs.

Not being in our area for most of the week, I don't have a lot to report about our work. We did a lot of less active work in these last few days while we were here in Crotone. I've been working with these people for a while now and we're finally slowly seeing the fruits of our labors.

On Friday as we were walking to the church for a meeting, I realized that we had about a half an hour of time that we could still use. It was not long enough for us to go finding so I considered just going to the church and trying to find something to do like make phone calls, but then the thought came to my mind to pass by a less active lady who never lets us in. I was a little worried about the time if we did get in, but thought, "might as well." We got to the bottom door to the apartment building adn suprisingly, it was open! We went up and rang her door and she let us in! We talked in our lesson about the importance of studying the Book of Mormon daily. During the lesson she had made little comments about praying and worshiping at home but then In the middle of us reading the introduction to the Book of Mormon she interupted and said, "I want to come back to church, I really do, I just can't ever seem to get myself to go on Sunday morning." We promised her that if she will read The Book of Mormon daily, and pray to have the strength and desire on Sunday morning, then she will be able to do it. This was a break-through lesson with her. I'm  really grateful that we listened to that prompting to see her!

We got to see my cute nonnina this week. When she realized that I would be finishing my mission at the end of this month she gave me some of the sweetest advice I've ever recieve. It is especially close to my heart because it came from the cutest little 86 year old woman who is passionate about her love for God and gives everything she has to him. That was the highlight of this little advice session: "Love God for the rest of your life and give everything to him because he has given everything to you." 

Saturday we went out to a town called Isola with the Elders to have lunch and teach our new convert Precious and her boyfriend Bob. We helped them prepare some sick african lunch. Bob made peanut butter, tomato sauce, and chicken over rice. I know, it seems like a strange combination, but it's actually really good! Precious doesn't like peanut butter so she made some fufu soup and had us try some over our rice. It was...not as good. As we ate we asked, "so, what's in this?" It was full of spinach, spices, and...cow skin! As we looked closer and began to eat the skin chunks, we realized that some of the bigger ones were actually covered in cow hair.... it was... interesting... I love africans so much though. They're seriously the greatest. 

Yesterday was my last fast and testimony meeting with my cute little Crotone branch. As I got up to bear my testimony for the 7th consecutive month (we always bear our testimonies as missionaries because there aren't enough members to take up the time), I realized just how much these people have come to mean to me. It's true what they say about loving those you serve. Our branch president bore a power testimony at the beginning of the meeting, one that I will never forget. This branch is going through a lot right now. I am so amazed at how he is so calmly and faithfully enduring through these difficult moments. 

It was his birthday Saturday so we made him banana bread and we all went over to his house Sunday to visit his family and wish him a happy birthday and let him know how much we appreciate him. He's such a good man. 

I appreciate you guys! Have a great week!

love always,

Sorella Bonzo

Fire squad

African pranzo

The zone 

Calabrian travels 

I Apologize in Advance for this Email

Well, I tried to write about this week but I'm really tired and kind
of stressed from preparing for zone conference sooo it didn't really
work.... sorry. This is what I've got.

Monday:
We did a super fun FHE with the Africans. Juliet made plantains and
spicy beans and was probably the best thing I've had at her house. We
had less actives and investigators there and played crazy, fun game
then connected it to our spiritual thought. I'm so grateful that I get
to serve with these wonderful African people and experience their
culture as well.

Wednesday and Thursday:
We ran around the city and waited in lines a ton to take care of my
green card stuff so that I can be legal for the last few weeks of my
mission....lol

Friday:
We went over to a less active's house and by some miracle her friend
who is an active member was there getting her hair done. She helped us
so much in the lesson. I love members. They help so much. They're
super good friends so she could be bold with her in a way that we
can't.

Saturday:
We had a super awesome day planned but then all 5 of our appointments
got cancelled. Sooo. we went finding!!! And got our bidone
gelatooooo!!!! Yayyyyyyyy!

Sunday:
Sunday was interesting because the branch president was out of town so
one of the elders had to preside and bless the sacrament and give a
talk and the other elder passed the sacrament and my comp gave the
other talk for the 5 members that were there.

Then we spent the rest of the day traveling to Taranto for zone
conference this upcoming week.

Today:
We played beach volleyball with the zone for a few hours! It was great.


My companion is cute and wrote a poem about our branch so I'm going to
just send this to make up for this terrible email:
There's an itty bitty church
In an apartment down the street.
You'll find it if you search
Where all the Mormons meet.

They sit all together,
All 6, side by side.
They come in any weather
And in the Lord they confide.

They don't have any stairs,
Just cockroaches on the floor.
They have green plastic chairs
And an always open door.

The missionaries give talks.
Everyone participates.
In that church by the docks,
New members they anticipate.

And together they read
And together they sing
They resemble a seed,
Just a humble sapling.

And together they pray
And together they cry
And together they say
"O Signore, lo sai."

So they continue to grow
their faith in their hearts.
But they never feel low.
It's how every ward starts.

Love,
Sorella Bonzo

Calzoni

Pythagoras statue

The trip to Taranto. sorella walch was our entertainment

Volleyball today

Change up in Crotone

Hello friends! This week has been lots of fun and was great for us in
terms of the work. Thanks to transfers I have an iPad again which is
definitely helpful so I'll fill you in on some good stuff.

Monday we went to a little town in our area over an hour outside of
Crotone because we wanted to try to go to the famous mountain range in
Calabria. We walk around the town but it was impossible to go in the
mountains without a car, but a least we got to be surrounded by the
beautiful trees that reminded me a lot of pine valley. We also ate
some pretty posh gelato so I was happy.

That night we received the news that my little Sorella Zapata would be
leaving the nest and flying down to Catania! I'm so excited for the
great work that she will do there. And, you guessed it, I will be
finishing my mission here in Crotone! In total I will have done 7
months here. I couldn't be more content. My companion is my sister!
(in mission terms) Sorella Walch! She was also trained by Sorella
Clark about 6 months after I was. She the cutest little redhead you'll
ever meet. She comes from California and plays the ukulele. We get
along great and really do feel like sisters. We'll have a lot of fun
together!

Before Sorella Zapata left we had fun running around saying goodbye to
people and as well as fitting in as many last lessons as we could.
Sorella Zapata and I were able to meet twice with a new investigator
Slessia. She is an ex-investigator from English course who came back
to English then also came to church last week. We taught her the
restoration on Tuesday and put her on date for baptism for the 15th of
July. We saw her the next day and taught the plan of salvation. We're
working on helping her recognize the spirit and receive an answer to
her studies and prayers.

We also were out to a tiny town this week that we'd never been to
before. We had to wait a while to catch the bus back home so we did
some finding through the flee market. It was really cool because no
one in that town had ever heard anything about our church. They
weren't super accepting of our message, but at least we got to plant a
lot of seeds. Like they say, it takes an average of 7 encounters with
the church before someone will agree to take the lessons. I felt like
a pioneer a little bit and thought about the first missionaries who
ever came to Crotone and all of the hard work and seed planting that
they had to do here to prepare this city and finally open up a branch.
I'm so grateful for those missionaries and what they did here.

Then Sorella Zapata tried to kill me on her last day here... We had a
lunch appointment scheduled with Juliet at 1:00 and planned to pass by
Sorella Zito before that to say goodbye. She called us at 11:30 and
whenwe told her that we were heading over she said, "just eat with us
today!" Sorella Zapata told her not to worry about it because we had
to see other people at 1 but she insisted saying, "its already ready.
We'll be quick, just come!" So my sorell accepts the have a lunch
appointment at 12 when we had another on scheduled for 1!! We ran
through the city in the blazing heat to sorella zito's where we at
rice with broth, chicken, vegetables, and I was forced to eat an
entire giant roll of bread because she fed us potatoes with
peperoncino which was easily the spiciest thing I've ever eaten...I
was sweating and couldn't feel my lips or tongue for like 20 minutes.
Then of course you've gotta finish it off with a banana and some
gelato cake to fill us to the max. After saying goodbye to this sweet
sister we ran through the southern-Italy heat to the other side of the
town where we ate a mountain of spices African rice and deep-fried
turkey. Sorella Zapata is lucky that I love her. But wait, there's
more!! Only an hour later we met with Graziella who gave us tisana and
a bunch of little Italian pastries. Let's just say if no one fed me
for the rest of my mission, I would be perfectly okay with that.

So Graziella is one of President Sarcone's friends that has been
coming to English course for years and meeting on and off with the
missionaries but she's always been more of a friend to the
missionaries than anything. As we talked with her and read from the
Book of Mormon to answer her questions, we discovered that she
actually wants to be baptized and join this church because she see
what good people we are and feels the spirit with us and when she's
there. She said that she doesn't even come for the English anymore,
just to sit in the church because she feels good there. She told us
that the reason she isn't baptized is because she's really busy and
doesn't find the time to come to church. She said that if she gets
baptized she wants to be a "full-time" Mormon, not like some of the
less active members that she knows (she is already friends with a lot
of our members.) We told her that we're here to help her and prepare
her to do this. I'm really excited to work with her more seriously
because she will be an awesome, and very strong member and we're in
need of those right now.

Transfer day was one of the craziest days of my life, and I wasn't
even being transferred! Let's just say that as we were carrying
sorella Zapata's luggage to the train station, basically all of the
wheels broke off! That made for a fun day. After lots of travel to get
her where she needed to go, we got back to Crotone and met up with
Sorella Walch. The day was especially hot as we lugged her suitcases
back to the apartment then went right back to the station to pick up
sorella bishop who would be staying with us that night and heading off
to Taranto the next day.
That night before English we did a lesson all together with slessia. I
was a little nervous about it because teaching in a trio is kind of
different, and none of us had ever taught together at all and we
didn't have any time to study and prepare together so we had no idea
what to expect. It went really well though and was definitely guided
by the spirit.

Saturday morning I got to participate in the Missionary Leadership
Council via skype because of my new assignment as the sister training
leader of the zone. I really appreciated being apart of the MLC. We
prepared for zone conference by discussing what we as a mission can do
to overcome the plateau that we are hitting. We are seeing many
miracles and our number of baptisms have increased, but we had kind of
hit a plateau at this point where everything is staying about the same
now. We had a great discussion and I am really looking forward to zone
conference in order to put learn more and implement these ideas. A
quote that someone said that I really liked was, "If you always do
what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten."
We always be repenting (changing) and striving to reach higher levels
rather than just resting on our plateau.

Sorella Walch is amazing and I am so grateful to be with her. We have
already seen some wonderful miracles together. Her first day here we
went to visit a less active member that we have been struggling with.
She has finally started coming back to church but would not stay the
full three hours because she was offended by someone in the relief
society so she didn't want to go back. We taught her about obedience
to all of God's commandments, no matter how difficult it may be and at
the lesson we invited her to stay for relief society that week. She
was a lot more open to accept our invitation because the spirit was
there unlike some past times when we would go and kind of argue with
her a little bit. She ended up coming and staying the whole time on
Sunday and loving it!

Sunday night we ran into Roberta, a girl that I've known for a little
while because she has printed pictures for me a couple of times. Every
time I see her we talk about what we do as missionaries and our
beliefs but she always seemed more interested in a friendship than
anything else. Well we ran into her and she told us that she had
looked us up on the internet and had tons of questions for us. She
invited us into her family's shop and we sat down and she bombarded us
with all sorts of things she read on the internet. Thankfully she
understood that the things on the internet usually are not correct and
just wanted to really know what we believed in. We answered some
questions then explain The Book of Mormon and prayer to her and
invited her to read the book and start taking the lessons with us to
really know the truth. She accepted this invite and we're excited to
start working with her because she's young (26) and is intelligent.
She actually knows what she believes in as a catholic which helps a
lot.

Those are probably my biggest highlights of the week, sorry it's a
lot. Today we did a hike that I surprisingly haven't ever done before!
We hiked up to the giant sword that sits on the top of a mountain here
that we walk by almost every day. The view of the city was pretty cool
and it actually felt super nice because it was really windy up there.
We also walked through this park/museum that was created in honor of
Pythagoras because he was born in Crotone and essentially created math
here. It was full of statues that were all cool shapes and tons of
triangles and stuff. My favorite was these giant steps that created a
multiplication table (sorry I'm a nerd...)

Have a great week! I love you!
-Sorella Bonzo

Last gesso together

Dropping off Sorella Zapata 😢

Sorella Walch (aka Merida from Brave) with her deep-fried gelato! It was soo good

Times table

I ❤️math lol

The hike

Anotha 1

This week we saw many miracles because we followed the promptings of the Holy Ghost. That has probably become my biggest desire as a missionary: to recognize and follow the promptings of the Spirit. I have come to understand that that is honestly the best way that we can be successful in this work. I know that this knowledge will also bless me after my mission as I try to live my life in line with God's will and make my decisions with the guidance of the Holy Ghost. 

Alright, I'm going to apologize in advance because this email is going to be quick and I probably won't have time to respond to any of your emails. I'll explain why...

On Tuesday morning we took a train up to Catanzaro for district meeting. While on the train I was using my iPad to study The Book of Mormon, then I got super tired so I set it down and fell asleep for a few minutes. Then when I woke up it was time to get off. I grabbed my bag and got off all chill and everything. Then as we were waiting for the calabro (another little train thing to get to the church) I looked for my iPad and......I bet you can pretty much figrue out the rest. We ran back to the train station and talked to some people and eventially talked to the police. Luckily the train hadn't left the station and was just parked. They went and looked for it on there but didn't find anything so they assumed that someone must have seen it after we got off and taken it. It was unfortunate. It sadly made my proselyting a little more difficult this week because I have everything on there from addresses to lesson plans, But it's all good. In the end, like President Pickerd says, "it's just stuff." All I really need to is the spirit and my Book of Mormon and don't worry, I'll make sure to not lose either of those!

(so the reason I won't have time to email is because we're leaving in about 20 minutes to go and see the cool mountain range that's famous here in Calabria called Sila and I won't have an iPad to write emails while we travel like usual.)

We spent tons of time in the Questura this week because my green card to live here in Italy expired after a year and I had to renew it so we did that last transfer, but then they rejected my renewal request!! haha apparently I'm not welcome in Italy anymore. We sadly had to spend tons of time trying to figure that all out and still haven't gotten it completely resolved (we have to go back this Wednesday.) I hate doing legal stuff in Italy because it always takes FOREVER. But at least we get to talk to cool africans while we wait!

On Wednesday it was one of the elders' birthday so Sorella Zapata and I made them lunch. I made that super good lasagna that sorella taylor and I learned how to make together and sorella zapata made a cheesecake. Quoting sorella zapata, "I've lived in Italy for 15 years and that is the best lasagna that i've ever eaten!" Her cheesecake was super good too. It's kind of funny because I made the italian dish and she made the american dessert and they both ended up to be delicious! 

Later that day we had planned to pass by a member but on our way there we walked past a street that would take us to a less active's house and I had the smallest impression to go there instead. Mind you I haven't seen this less active since before sorella zapata arrived. she stopped answering our phone calls and wouldnt ever let us in. We went and rang her citofono and there was no answer. We rang again, then without saying anything, the door buzzed open. We went up to her house and when she saw us we could tell that she was expecting someone else. My companion really needed to use the bathroom so that was our excuse to get in haha. We came to find out that this sister had just had a surgery the day before and was now recovering. She was happy to see us and pretty open as we sat and talked to her. Then a few minutes later her aunt and cousin (the people she was actually expecting) came in. We started talking with her cousin Nuncia and found out that she has read some of The Book of Mormon, been to church, and took the lessons a long time ago. She told us that The Book of Mormon really helped her through a hard period in her life that she was passing through and so did some of our members that she became close friends with. We asked if she would like to meet with us again and she said that she would. After she left our less active member told us that once she gets better, she'll take us to her cousins house and we'll do the lessons together! I'm so grateful that we followed my prompting that day!

Thursday we got to see our nonnina sorella siniscalchi in the morning. As we were talking, she told us about how she really wanted to go and visit her husband in the cemetary that afternoon, but after what happened a few weeks ago, she was a little scared to go alone. She used to go on a long walk every morning before the sun came up from her house, down by the seaside, and to the cemetary to say hello to her husband but a few weeks ago she fainted while on her walk and ever since she hasn't been (keep in mind this lady is 86 years old and she doesn't just do one of those little granny walks, she's a speed walker.) We told her that we'd love to come back to do the walk with her that afternoon so that she could go. We met up with her after lunch that day and took the long walk to the cemetary where we were eaten alive by mosquittoes. Every time we looked down we saw 20 on our legs no joke. Cemetaries here have always kind of freaked me out..they're interesting.. but it was all worth it for her of course! When she got there she walked up to his grave and said, "I'm here, I'm here." Then she sat on a bench next to him and just smiled. On the way back she insisted on buying us a gelato and while we sat and ate so that she could regain her strength to walk home, she told of their love story. They met when they were 12 and have loved each other ever since! How cute! 

We saw how much she missed doing her morning walks to see him, and decided that we would start going with her every morning during our exercise time to do that walk. So Friday and Saturday morning we left our house at 6 and ran to her house then walked with her down lungomare to the cemetary and back. She looked so cute when she came out of her house wearing her little jumpsuit, hat, and sunglasses. Everyone that walked past us was so impressed with this cute little 86 year old that is about a head shorter than me, speed walking down the peer. The walk takes about an hour and a half total, so we have to sacrifice some of our time to get ready in the morning, but it's so worth it. I love my nonnina here in Crotone and would do anything for her. We're going to continue to do it as long as she feels up for up for it. These kinds of things are what really make me feel like a missionary. She told us, "I don't want to bug you guys or be a burden to you because I respect your calling as missionaries." We told her that we as missionaries are representatives of Jesus Christ, so we're suppose to do what He would do. And I assured here that if Christ were here, He would also walk with her to the cemetary every morning. 

Also, my cooking skills are on fire these days apparently because our bananas were about to go bad so I made banana muffins Thursday morning and brought them to english course and everyone said that they were the best muffins that they've ever eaten. Who would've thought that I'd ever get good at cooking? Look mom! I'm finally learning! 

Friday we went to see a some less active family that lives in Cutro. When we got there the dad was starting a barbecue and invite us to stay and eat dinner with them. It was really really good but holy cow they made me eat so much meat. Usually I'd eat 1 piece of meat and the grilled vegetables and everything, but he made me eat FIVE pieces of meat!!! We had rabbit, fiorentina, chicken, sausage, and chicken & onion kabobs. I definitely gained a testimony of the Word of Wisdom after that meal.... I felt sick for the entire next day. 

I didn't eat anything that next day because we had a dinner appointment scheduled for the next night and I was still super full of all of that meat. There we ate the spiciest pasta I've ever had and to wash it down he offered us non-alcoholic beer.. I don't know why anyone would ever drink that stuff. Then on Sunday one of one of the counselors from the stake presidency and his family came for a visit so we did lunch in church as a branch like always...In total we had 4 meal appointments this week and we have one with the africans tonight as well. Calabria has wrecked my stomach with all of this african food and peperoncino.T his region in Italy known for its spicey peppers- it's really the only region where they eat spicey food at all..and if you know anything about african food, you know that it's even spicier. I'm pretty sure my tastebuds were forced to change here.  

Other than that, this week we saw a lot of cool miracles that we're hoping will lead to some new investigators in this upcoming week. Including an ex-investigator coming to church, staying all three hours, and even staying for lunch after! We're going to start teaching her again on Tuesday and really feel that this might be her time!

I really loved Presidente Conforte's (counselor in the stake presidency) talk that he gave in sacrament meeting. He told the story of when he was a boy, and his grandpa helped him plant an aprocott tree. Every morning following to his dismay, nothing had grown. Then years later when he was an adult, he took his grandfather back to that place and found a tree that was fully grown. He had forgotten about it, and didn't know that in the meantime his grandfather had cared for the tree until it was fully grown. He compared it to our little branch saying that it starts out as a little seed, but with time, patience, and work, it will someday be a big, beautful tree (or ward.) 

Love, 
Sorella Bonzo

sorry, no iPad= no pictures

There is Power in the Book

I hope that you guys are prepared for the most amazing miracle-filled week ever! I know that this email is long, if you don't have time to read it, just skip down to the paragraph after today because that's the best part anyway. 

Monday:

We hung out in Cosenza with basically the rest of the zone because the missionaries from Taranto came for house inspections and exchanges. We did a gesso all together that night and while i was drawing the man came up some of the elders and showed them his phone. He was looking at Facebook on his phone while walking by us when he saw a picture of me drawing! So by now I should basically be famous for my street art. Lol. 

The gesso was fun. There were tons of young people because Cosenza has a big university. I love talking to university students. They're so smart and have open minds.

Tuesday & Wednesday: 

We did district meeting all together in Cosenza Tuesday morning then took the long bus ride back to Crotone to do our exchanges with the Taranto sister. I got to do an exchange with Sorella Bicchierri!! I love working with and learning from other sisters in the mission. It was super fun because we did scambi together when we were greenies. She's always been such a good example of consecration. She helped me a lot to see this city with a new perspective.

We did a lot of finding and had a lot of success! The biggest thing I learned was that it doesn't matter where you are, or what you're doing, as long as you talk to everyone possible and always follow the spirit, then Lord will take care of the rest. 

Wednesday-Saturday:

A bunch of other really cool things happened this week (but I won't go into detail about all of them or we'd be here all day) including eating spicey pasta with Juliet, getting new investigators whom we're excited to teach (one was a potential in our phone who ended up being an ex-investigator found a year ago, and the other is that english course student that we went to visit with the ex-sister missionary who came back to Crotone like a month ago) and getting to finally go out to visit a family in our ward. I've been trying to visit them since I got here (in January) but they always cancel on us. We finally made it out there and it ended up to be a really helpful visit for both us and them. We also taught our english class the song Mary Had a Little Lamb and made them sing it to the other students at the end. We told them that we were teaching about the culture hahaha it was fun. 

Two sad things: 1. We still don't have any hot water..it's been over 2 weeks now and we have no idea when they'll finally fix it.. It's hard to remember what a warm shower even is anymore (lol jk) we love the ghetto life! 2. I made some curry for lunch on Friday and it tasted great as always, but then the next day we woke up super sick. We didn't eat anything else that day so it must have been that.. I don't know what I did to cause that..whoops!

Sunday:

We did a gesso with the elders and invited some ward members to come and help us too! Precious (our new convert) and Vittoria (a 10 year old who wants to serve a mission) came! We promised Vittoria that we'd buy her a gelato next week if she passed out the entire stack of english course cards that we gave her. At the beginning she was really discouraged and nervous, but after having her do it with me a few times, she ended up giving them all out by the end of the night! 

Today:

We've had a really chill day that was much needed. I even had time to try to take a nap this morning around 10...but of course the one time I try to take a nap they are doing constructon in our building..haha! 

I took Sorella Zapata to a big fruit market that we have by our house and she was in heaven. We bought soo much fruit and vegetables and even some fresh fish! Then we went home and she taught me have to clean shrimp and fish and then we made a fried shrimp and peppers rice for lunch. It was restaurant worthy. Funny story: When you buy fish here they still have the head attached and all so before Sorella Zapata cleaned it she was messing around with the head she opened the mouth and it slapped shut and she essentially got bit by a dead fish! She started bleeding and everything, but don't worry, she's good, it was really funny. 

Okay.. now, I saved the best miracle for last. Are you ready to be totally blown away like we were?

On Tuesday afternoon (during the exchange) we got a phone call from Graziella (the english course student that we just started teaching.) She wanted to see us 30 minutes before english course to read The Book of Mormon together because she struggles to understand it. We sent my companion and Sorella Rhodes to that lesson because they would be the ones to english course that night as well. That night our companions were bursting with joy as they told us of the most amazing miracle of my mission. 

Midway through their lesson with Graziella someone rang the citofono. They were teh only ones in the church so Sorella Zapata went to answer the door. In walks a 16 year old kid that she had never seen before (named Antonio.) He proceeds to pull an old Book of Mormon from his backpack and the first words that he says to her are, "This book is amazing. It is the greatest book I have ever read." He handed the book to my companion and explained that he found it on his dad's bookshelf and remembers the missionaries teaching his dad more than 10 years ago. Sorella Zapata looked through the pages and found tons of markings and notes, she said, "Wow, your dad must have really loved this book." He told her, "No, that was me." She asked him why he started to read this book and he told her that he had alwasy been looking fro God and read the Bible to come to know Him, then he found this book and told her, "I found in this book what I have been searching for." Sorella Zapata asked if he would like to join the lesson that they were having with Graziella. During the lesson he asked, "How can people not believe that this book is true?" 

They finisehd the lesson and asked if he'd like to stay for english course to which he did. Afterwards he stayed a little while talking to all of the missionaries just asking about hwere they were from and such. Then he looked at one of the Elders and asked, "How long have you been following Jesus Christ?" He told him, "for my entire life." Then Sorella Zapata asked Antonio, "How long have you been following Christ?" He said, "I've always wnated to follow Him and read everything in the Bible to know all that I could about Him and find the right path to follow. Then I found The Book of Mormon and have learned so much more." She asked, "Do you feel like you have found the right path?" He said, "I hope so, When I pray, if I get an answer that this book is true then yes."

Hearing this the anziani asked if he'd like to talk for a little bit to learn more. They went a did a long, very in depth, restoration lesson with him. He said that he wants to be baptized when he recieves his answer. After the lesson he told Sorella Zapata that he really loved Jospeh Smith's story and could totally relate to him because also he was searching to turly know Christ, and that through the Book of Mormon he had found the answers to all of his questions. 

As my companion reccounted this story to me that night, tears of gratitude came streaming down my cheeks, knowing just how much this amazing miracle means to our small, struggling branch. (Right now the only fully active priesthood holder is the branch president.) I thought about how his conversion story will reignite the testimonies and conversions of our members. I thought about how he will be an exampole to his family (he is the oldest of 4) who will hopefully join the church shortly after he does. I thought of the blessing it willl be for this branch to have a missionary out in a few years, and of all the lives that he will touch in the service of God. We have been going through a little bit of a drought in Crotone but as the tears fell from my eyes I thought of the scripture that I actually sent in last week's email (D&C 58: 2-5), knowing that after a long and dark period of tribulation fro us and for the brnach, God was finally pouring down the blessings that he had been long before preparing for us. 

I got to meet Antonio at english course on Thursday. He has been meeting with the missionaries every single day since that first encounter. You can just see that he is so hungry for truth. He has a baptismal date for the 1st of July, but he is so prepared that they'll probably going to finish the lessons with him this upcoming week. 

We were in the Church on Saturday just about the leave when he showed up about 15 minutes early to the lesson so the elders weren't there yet. We talked for a little bit and then out of nowhere he just goes, "Che bello Il Libro di Mormon." (How wonderful is The Book of Mormon.) He pulls his out and asks, "Do you want to hear my favorite verse?" He turns the to front of the book where he had rewritten 3 Nephi 18:15. He started The Book of Mormon less than a month ago and is already through 3 Nephi!!! There were definitely so more tears that I couldn't hold back as we walked out of the church after that conversation. 

He was so excited to come to church on Sunday asking what he should wear and where he should sit. He lives a little bit outside of Crotone and the buses don't work on Sundays so this kid walked for more than an hour that morning to get to church (keep in mind we're in the month June and Southern Italy is not the coolest of places.) Then after church he asked the elders, "so, are we going to see each other later today?" They told him that they didn't want to make him walk all the way back here and home again and he's like "it all depends on you guys, if you can do it, I'll be there." Not to mention the fact that after finding out the he studies music in school and has been playing the piano since he was like 12 our branch president basically extended the calling of branch pianst to him! (I finally won't have to do it anymore! woohoo!)

So, the work is moving forward here. Miracles upon miracles are happening here in Crotone, All I have to say is that God truly does prepare his children to receive the restored gospel. As we patiently go about doing all that is in our power to carry forward His work by planting the seeds, God does His part by getting them ready for the harvest.

With love, 

Sorella Bonzo

Cosenza gesso (this was only half of us) 

Scambio! 

This is Angela. She's only 24 years old and was just called to be the relief society president. She served her mission in temple square.

Vittoria at the gesso (don't mind my hair..it was windy) 

Haha her cut from that nasty fish 

The best book in the world 

Inviato da iPad

For after much tribulation come the blessings

This week we did lots and lots of finding. We didn't see very much success unfortunately. We met some really cool people but none of them wanted to give us their numbers.. they did the whole: yeah, we're always here, if you see us again we'd be down to talk for sure. 

We working to help our less-active members as well and hoping to help them grow their testimonies of the Book of Mormon in order to remember what's most important in life. 

We had some appointments set up with new investigators but then they didn't answer when we went over so that was sad. 

Precious is doing really well. She wants to go on a mission! 

On Saturday our members that we were going to see cancelled on us so we went out finding all morning in all of the parks. We talked to lots of families but they're all "too busy" for us unfortunately. We went through all of the parks without any luck then went to lungomare... still nothing. Then as I was seriously about to give up for the morning because it was almost time for lunch, I went up to one more family and asked if we could show them our video....the man just stared at me...so I proceeded to tell them who we were and he goes "I know who you are.. one of you called me a month ago." We realized that he was a potential that we called when we were going through our phone. He invited us to come to his gym but we couldn't ever find it then we gave the number to the elder and I don't really know what happened after that. We talked for a bit and he said that he's been taught by the missionaries in the past. He stood up and was probably the tallest man I've ever seen! He played professional basketball and now owns a gym and trains people. He explained where we could find it so next week we'll try to see him and hope for the best! He was super nice and even said that our elders can come and play at his courts whenever they want. 

We also had a tall evangelist guy who walked up and stopped us and just went off about all of these scriptures and whatnot and it was pretty strange. He invited us to his church and we invited him to ours. He said he is convinced in what he believes in and we said that so are we. That experience helped me realize that I can't just walk up to people and start telling them about all of this crazy stuff like a robot. When we find (and teach) we need to ask questions and listen to be able to really help these people. I remember a quote that I heard in the MTC that I've always loved "instead of dispensers of information, we need to be offered a of salvation." 

We went to a less active member's house that night and took our high councilman with us. He's from Taranto and came in for church the next day and wanted to help with missionary work because he's also the ward mission leader in Taranto. It went really well and he even helped us to understand her needs better. 

Sunday we had a lesson with our friends who own the new pizzeria by our house. It was a little weird because she has some strange beliefs about reincarnation and such. She's reading the Book of Mormon and praying though. She opened up the Book that day and in ether 12 which really helped her a ton that day.  I don't know if she understands everything about the restoration and such and getting her answer rather than these meetings just being a good thing for her but hopefully we'll get her there. 

That night we were doing some more finding..haha of course..and sorella Zapata felt like we should stop by and see a member that was in that area. We went to her house and she was putting African braids into this 16 year old Italian girl's hair. This girl's 18 year old sister was there too. We started talking to them (because they obviously couldn't go anywhere) and actually had a great conversation. They were super interested to know what we believe in. The older sister told us that she doesn't want to even know what happens after death or try to find out because it gives her anxiety. Usually I don't really know what to say to people when they tell me that they don't care to know but I just said, "but i think that if you knew you'd find more peace rather than anxiety." She goes, "you know, I think you're right." We asked if they'd like to know and they said that they would. By then we had to go but we exchanged numbers. They're very promising, I said that I'd call them tomorrow and they told us that they'll wait for our call. We're praying that we can start teaching these two curious girls who are the golden age to accept the gospel. That was probably my biggest miracle for the week. 

I read this scripture last night and it helped me a tons, maybe one of you needs it too! 

D&C 58:2 For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.

3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.

5 Remember this, which I tell you before, that you may lay it to heart, and receive that which is to follow.

Have a good week! I love you! 

We took a hick picture last week 

Gelato after lots of finding! 

Anziano lamereux's first calzone 

I love Africans so much. 

Inviato da iPad

The Albino African

Ciao a tutti! Here's my update for the week. 

Tuesday: some of our appointments fell through that morning so we
really felt like should go visit an older sister who lived in the area
that we were in. We went over without calling and she answered telling
us that she was very sick. Every morning this sister speed walks down
the beach at like 6 AM then goes to the cemetery where she says hello
to her late husband. That morning she was waking on the beach and
suddenly fainted. She woke up lying on the sand with 2 men trying to
help her up. Luckily there was a doctor nearby that they called over.
They wanted to take her to the hospital but she asked them to just
drive her home. Once she was home she threw up then laid down until we
arrived. We were able to help her out by making her a tisana and some
food (she never really eats so that's why she fainted.) I was so
grateful that we listened to the spirit that morning to be able to
help out this sweet sister who is all alone. She told us that she
prayed for help and knew that we were an answer to those prayers.


Wednesday morning we took a train to Taranto and spent most of the
Zone conference always seems to be exactly what I need. Every single
After the conference I got to do an exchange with Sorella Rhodes.
Yesterday we got to eat with our african friend Bob. He's from Gambia and made us some of thier traditional food- Cuscus with chicken and this spicy peanut butter sauce. He gave us forks because he didn't think we could do it like they eat it (with their hands) but we told him that we were all in. We removed our rings, put our hair up, and washed our hands the way they do. He told us that we looked like we were going to war. He told me that I eat just like the africans, he was really impressed haha. He said that I take my food seriously and because I can eat fast with my hands just like they do, it means that I am a responsible adult who can take care of children hahaha. So basically I'm known by his friends and him as the albino african. 

week there for zone conference and exchanges. That night we did a
gesso asking people the question; "what happens after death?" I was
surprised at how many people not only had no idea how to respond, but
didn't care to know. They said things like, "I don't even know what
I'm doing in this life, how am I supposed to worry about what happens
after" "I prefer to not ask questions and see when I get there" and
"absolutely nothing." These poor people don't how any idea what is
waiting for them after death, and therefore don't know their purpose
in this life. It became so clear to me how the knowledge of the plan
of salvation affects every major decision that I take in life, and a
lot of the minor ones too. We were able to share the light and truth
of this plan with those who would listen and I just hope that those we
at least left those who wouldn't listen pondering about these
questions of the soul that we miraculously have the answers to.

one of my questions was answered and I even received answers to
problems and questions that I didn't realize that I had. I am so
grateful that the leaders of our mission are guided by the spirit in
everything that they do for us. Sorella Pickerd gave a beautiful
training about being anxiously engaged in this good cause without
having anxiety which was much needed. We learned to be joyful in doing
all that we can to bring forward this work and not worrying about the
things they we can't control. President Pickerd went over the
importance of being "all in." He helped us understand that when we
accepted this call, we accepted to go anywhere and do anything for to
serve the Lord, leaving behind all other personal affairs. He helped
us realize that rather than having one foot at home and one foot here,
it is much easier to be all in.

She's so cute and calm but works hard. We got to do teach the advanced
class of English group together. Their students are so cool we all
became instant friends. Apparently my English teaching skills has
gotten good over the year haha because they all were like "did you
study Latin? I like how you teach." There was one student who just
graduated in engineering and after he found out that I want to study
math he came up after and just started talking to me about calculus
hahaha it's been too long since I've studied that stuff... It was
super fun. The people in Taranto are so nice and friendly I love them!

Yesterday was the biggest holiday in Crotone since Christmas. It was La Festa della Madonna! (Mother Mary Day) The city is covered with lights so it looks like Disneyland and there are tons of mercatini (little stands of traditional candies and treats) everywhere. They've been having parades and a fair all week the celebrate then yesterday they went full-out for the final day. We took advantage of the loads of people on lungomare (the seaside) and did a gesso (we basically draw/write something on a sheet with chalk so that people will stop and talk to us.) I really under estimated this holiday because I'm pretty sure the entire city of Crotone was out there, it was packed! Then when it got dark they did a firework show right on the ocean. I was really grateful to see that because I'll miss my favorite American holiday again this year. 

The gesso wasn't super successful because the amount of people made it a little chaotic, but the biggest success for me was when a man came up to me near the end and said, "hey! Do you remember me?" I had talked to him on 2 different occasions already. He seemed interested and the last time he said that he'd come to church, but he never did. We had a really good long talk where I was able to summarize the Restoration, expalin how the Plan of Salvation answers the questions of the soul, and we even talked about the spirit. He said something really cool. He told me that when he talks with me, he feels good, and he sees everyone around him in a loving way. But sadly, those feelings go away when he leaves. He said that after talking to us last time he had the intentions of coming to church, then the next morning he just didn't feel the same and didn't have that motivation to come. He asked me, why do I feel so good when I talk to you? I explained to him the fruits of the spirit, and how the spirit testifies of truth. I was able to testify of the truthfulness of our message and of his need for this gospel in his life. I was very bold with him which is something that I am striving to do because it doesn't come naturally for me. In the end I was able to help him schedule an appoinment to meet with the elders tonight. He said, "you convinced me." I was so grateful to be able to see the spirit working through me to convince this man of his need for the gospel in his life. I know that even in that crazy commotion going on around us, as I testified of truths and listened for what God would have me say, this man was able to feel of that spirit and see the fruits of those feelings. 

Today we had a lot of fun! We went to Le Castella this morning. It's the castel in the middle of the ocean that I went to 2 transfers ago. We actually got to go in the castel this time and climb to the top of the tower. We didn't have tons of time though because they opened late and we had a bus to catch so we didn't see all of it, but that just means that we'll have to come back together to see it! 

Then at we met an english course student at the bus station who took us to Capo Colona. There we were able to see this famous pillar that is the last standing of an entire temple structure and pithagorus' school also used to be there also. This pillar was built more than 500 years before Christ's birth. Nearby there's an old church that was constructed for that painting that they supposedly found of Mother Mary. Apparently there's this legend that these muslims stole one of the greek's ships and tried to burn this painting but it wouldn't burn. That's why they built the church and have this Mother Mary Holiday down here. The ocean was absolutely beautiful today, we were able to see it in both locations. It's getting warm here so the water is a beautiful deep blue. 

Life is good here in Crotone. I love you guys! Have a great week! 

Love, 

Sorella Bonzo

Homemade focaccia (typical food in Puglia -region of Italy where Taranto is)

We forgot to take scambio pics so we took pictures of each other eating our pizze

Street art of mother Mary 

African meal 

Madonna week 

Gesso 

The show on lungomare 

Pics from today

The old Column
 

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