This week
was sooo fantastic! :D We saw miracles every day, and I love emy
new companion sooo much! She actually reminds me a lot of Shelby! lol.
She is the best! We always cook together, and she has all sorts of
cool French recipes because she is from France. She also speaks English
and Italian like a Pro, and is a really hard worker. I am just sad that
we won’t be together for two transfers because she is "dying" this
transfer. (Here, "dying" means finishing her mission. It
is one of those crazy missionary terms in the field. :) We have set
so many goals for the transfer and are hoping to see five baptisms! We
have lots of faith! But we know that the possibilities we have to baptize
the people we are seeing are the work of God- we just facilitate the teaching
of these people so they can become closer to their Heavenly father and grow a testimony
of their own. It is truly a blessing to be an instrument in the Lords
hands. Sorella Spicq always says that we have to enjoy everything we do
on our missions because each thing we do as missionaries is a privilege.
I truly believe that and I love being a missionary!
So, I should
tell you all about the lovely people we are teaching. :) There is Giuliani
who is from Romania and works as a cook. I stopped him last transfer when
we were in a rush.
He has a
really special spirit, and his family is extremely Orthodox. (He got
really excited when I told him I have a friend from Serbia btw! :D
DORA!! I hope you read this! ;) And his father and
brother are priests. He was going to be a priest himself, but he decided
against it. And he has a sincere desire to seek the truth, has loved our
message, and believes that Joseph Smith was, indeed, chosen
("scelto") for the work that he did. It is sooo cool to see
Giuleano smile when he hears our words and to hear how he believes it is true.
He just wants to read the Book of Mormon before being baptized because he
wants to know that it is all true. Which is awesome, because that is what
we want! We want people to search things out for themselves so they can
gain their own testimony. We are just here to explain things by the
Spirit so people can learn more.
THEN!
There is Francesco! XD I love that guy! Okay, we met
Francesco last transfer on the metro because he was wearing a Pink FLOYD Shirt
and I freaked out a little bit and said, "Hey! Pink Floyd! I
love them!" We then started a conversation and became buddies!
Then we started teaching him the lessons. He is really genuine and
kind of shy. He wants a bit of time to think about being baptized, so we
gave him a calendar of things he can do to gain a testimony before a date we
have set for a possible battesimo for him. He also prayed at the end of
our lesson yesterday, so he is making great progress! Also, my lovely
companion, Sorella Spicq, asked him how he met the missionaries, and he
recounted the same story that I just told you! It was really cool to hear
his perspective. Lol, "Lei ha visto la mia camicia di Pink Floyd,
abbiamo parlato, e poi abbiamo fatto amicizia!" Francesco is quite
lovely. :) He is older (50s) and comes from Sardegna (lui é Sardo).
It is the best!
Now, about English
course! :D So, last week, we had only one student and two students
the time before. BUT yesterday, we saw miracles when (after making some
phone calls to old eng course students, we had 6 students! Our class is
growing, you guys! XD They are all really great, and we had lots of fun
learning/teaching English together! We have a new program from the church
too, and we are the first LDS mission outside of the US to use it! :D
So, we fantastic English teachers in the Italy Rome Mission are the pilot
program for this English course! I really love it, and how well-organized
it is. I really hope the church continues to use it! Also, people
are really excited that they get a certificate of participation at the end!
AND, when we went to gelato afterwards at our fantastic Bar Siciliano, we
talked to our buddy, Alfredo (runs the store) and he wants us to come and teach
a course of English there too! He said that we would come by on a week
night and just teach in his Bar Siciliano! Soooo cool! We also left
a Book of Mormon on his shelf of "Bring a Book, Take a Book" books.
(Lol, hope that makes sense... ;).
OH!
And I can’t forget: We taught a lesson with Barbara and Carmello, which
went great! Lol, when Sister Spicq era per disegnare un immagine del
Vangelo di Gesu Cristo, Carmello got up and said, "I will draw it!
What are we drawing, the plan of Salvation?" He is so funny
and so cool! He and Barbara have really strong testimonies and we are
thankful that they were there with us. Family Home evening at Carmellos
was really great too. Emiliano taught us a lesson about the Book of
Mormon, we gave a Triple combo set of Scriptures to Giorgia (a 12 year old
cousin of Emilianos who was baptized a year ago, but is not really interested
in church anymore), and Carmello cooked a crab pasta for us (XD) with TONS of
tiny crabs in it. He was impressed that I have no fear, and said
"Yeah! That’s right, you like fishing!" Because he saw my
photo album with an old pic of me and Buster with a fishing pole. :)
It was soooo fun. He also cooked whole fishes for us. It is
really cool! Him and Emiliano really do fish the whole ocean!
Well, that
is all for now! I love my companion, I love the miracles we see every day, and
I thank my Heavenly Father for the many blessings that we recieve every day
here in Ostia. Ciao! Until next week!
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