Fwd: change

Good Morning cari miei!!  

Well, we received transfer calls last Monday night and after serving in Palermo for almost 6 months the Lord has decided that it is time for me to learn something new. This week was spent packing up my little life and saying goodbye to dear friends. I have grown to love those people of Palermo more than I ever thought possible. I had so many fun moments and spiritual experiences in the half a year that I spent there. I truly miss all of my sweet friends there, but am grateful for the gift of change.

Change is a concept that has never been very easy for me. I feel like my entire life before the mission had little change (growing up in the same house, dancing at the same studio, hanging out with the same friends) and I liked it that way. I was content. When I steped into this new lifestyle 10 months ago I have seen nothing but change. Although it is still not always easy, I have learned to love and thrive off of it. Change exists to help us grow and stretch, to learn new things and gain new skills.

One of those new skills that I have already learned in my new city was perserverance and patience. We were not allowed to leave our house on new year's eve due to the dangerous situations that we could encounter. Instead we were asked to deep clean our house. I spent my entire day cleaning black mold off of the bathroom walls and ceiling. I actually 

woke up pretty sore the next day from all of the scrubbing and stretching to reach the ceiling with a little ladder. But after all the work I can proudly state that our appartment is now mold free!! It smells a lot better now haha and looks much nicer too! 

So by now you're probably wondering, where is she? Well, after 3 long train rides and a ferry with 3 pieces of luggage all by myself, I find myself finally serving on the main land in deep in the south in a cute little town called Crotone. 

It is very very different than anything that I am used to. The church is very new here in Crotone. Only 3 months ago the branch president was a missionary. We got to the church (an apartment building) an hour early as missionaries to set everything up. There are only four of us here in Crotone and we run the branch. As nine o'clock rolled around we paused the CD player of "prelude music" and I turned around to see our congregation which consisted of 3 women, 1 elder who would pass the sacrament, the other elder sitting on the stand to bless it,  the branch president, and us. By the end of the meeting we had about 10 of us there including 4 africans who I translated for because they don't speak italian. On the bright side everyone (including all of the missionaries) had the opportunity to bear their testimonies and we still had extra time! Right after the meeting finished the gospel principles teacher came up to me and asked if I would teach because she wasn't feeling well. I told her of course, then got to teach about the millenium for an hour without any prior preparation. Only 2 africans (neither of which are members) came to the class so we did it in english but with little to no participation we had to get pretty creative in order to fill the whole hour. In the third hour we sat in relief society with 4 ladies and all they did was argue the entire time. I have never felt so much hostility in a church meeting in my entire life. There are a lot of pride issues and a lot of work to be done. I am excited to get to know and love these members so that I can do my part to unify and strengthen them. 

I prayed a lot before I came here that I would be able to feel the same love for these people as I do for the people of Palermo. I also prayed a lot that Sorella Taylor (my new companion) and I would get along well and be united as a companionship for this next transfer. I have been so blessed to already see these things in this short weekend that we have spent together! On Sunday night we had our first lesson together with our investigator Rina. As we watched The Restoration film the spirit was powerfully present. The lesson went so well and we both felt that we had been guided by the spirit with the quesitons that we asked and things that we said. At the end we asked her if she believes that the things in the film really took place and she said that yes, she had recieved a witness that they had. We were filled with joy to see that she understood and recognized the spirit as well. 

That night we went to the hospital with the elders to visit a less-active member. We left them with a spiritual thought by reading a scripture from The Book of Mormon. We shared our testimonies on faith and hope and everyone in the hospital room (there were about 5 people there) all listened intently. The friend of this less-active very boldly told us that she was catholic before we shared our message, but after we shared our message and left them with a prayer, the spirit was so present and she said, I think that you all coming tonight was a sign for me. She shared how she has lost trust and faith in God. She said that what we shared was exactly what she needed to hear and fervantly asked us to pray for her mother (who was also there in the hospital) and to come back again.

This week has been a week of faith and hope and love. I am beyond excited to work here in Crotone and do everything that I can to build up this little branch of faithful saints. I love them so much already. 

Today we went to the Duomo (biggest cathedral in the city,) the town center, and a cool 

castle that has a great view of the ocean with the elders. I am so happy to still be on the coast of italy. I have gotten so used to living on the ocean and seeing it almost every day. 

I don't know what I'm going to do back in Utah...haha

Have a great week! I love you guys so much!

The Garrett's too us out to a fancy restaurant to say goodbye. 

I miss them ❤️

My last cannolo 

The ferry ride over to the mainland 

x