Sorella Cherrington's Italy Rome Mission Blog! :D: Scambio meraviglioso con le sorelle a Crotone

Ciao, Tutti! I just love you guys. :D

Allora, this week? So, we did a scambio this week with Crotone (aka- Sorella Kimball and Taylor! :D) It was sooo cool because me and sorella Kimball got to be together for the scambio! It was really cool to be with her again, to see how much each of us has grown in these past 6 months, and to talk all about Ostia. :) I love Ostia with all my heart, and I miss it sooo much! :D She told me all about how the members are doing, and that Sorella Alicino and Teresa miss me. :) It was really nice to hear about Ostia.

Annnd, uau! We just had a great week! We have been having some of the best lessons that I have done my whole mission because we have come up with a new technique where we do quicker pass-offs between the both of us during lessons, and it is really cool to see how the Spirit works through us when we complete the things that the other person says by testifying and continuing a gospel principle. I really enjoy teaching nowadays, and it used to be one of me weak points (I got way more nervous at the beginning of my mission). I feel like the mission habits have set in, and a lot of things I could not do before are now 2nd nature. I love my mission, you guys. I have learned and grown so much.

Also, we taught _____ a couple times this week, and he really seems to be making progress. His desire to quit smoking grows every time we see him, and he has a totally different view of baptism than he had when we first started teaching him. We tried to set a date with him last night for him to be baptized and to work towards a goal for his baptism, but he said that he would think about the date and choose one himself because he does not want to make promises with God that he feels he cannot keep. That is totally understandable, and he decided last night that the next step for him to progress is to come to church! His progress is a bit more gradual, "Small, small," as he says :), but he is making progress nonetheless towards changing his life for the better. Oh! And the suggestion we got from President Waddoups worked! We talked about the difference between Temples and churches, and that made _____ understand that the church is for imperfect people. He now wants to come to church of his own merit.

And, famiglia, if you have any advice for our friend, _____ it would be much appreciated because we want to help him quit smoking and to have faith in himself, that he can quit, but we don't know how to help him take the first steps to quit smoking for good. And, Dad, I shared with him the story about how you stopped smoking because, when I was a kid, I picked up the stick off the ground and began imitating your smoking gestures. I was not sure that _____ had remembered the story, but about a week or so later, he mentioned that story, saying, "Your Dad, you see, he stopped smoking because he saw that he was a bad example for you." That started a conversation then about choosing your number 1 reason to quit (Dad's reason was to be a better example) and keeping that reason in mind, to help strengthen you in times of weakness. In the next lesson, we talked about the temple and said that his journey to Baptism, and eventually to the temple could be his "one thing." He changes more and more every time we see him. I hope we can help him to feel the Spirit and to progress more this week.

Hmmmm.... What else? Oh! _____ is absolutely amaz-a-zing! He is one of our most loyal English course students- recently turned Simpatizzante, and he invited us over to his house for pranzo yesterday. His entire family was there and they were really great! They are all really intelligent and, apparently, _____ brother went to "The MIT of Italy" to study to be an Egineer. They are so kind! We also got to teach a bit of the first lesson to his sister, L..... and her husband, _____. They are genuinely interested, and we got their phone number to be able to pass by them again soon. It was such a great day. Also, the view from their apartment was beautiful. You could see all of the naval ships on the sea and the clouds were beautiful and there was sun on the water. Guys, I love Taranto.

Welp, I am really happy for Andrew and Emma. :) I wouldn't doubt Avri's statement that they were "one of the cutest couples at the prom." Andrew looked really sharp in his suit and him and Emma looked so cool in the pic by his nice car :). I am happy that they are having so much fun together. And I can't wait to talk to Andrew this Saturday on Skype! XD

Oh! I almost forgot! So, there was a baptism the other day in our church building, and the man being baptized was afraid of water. Uh-oh! So, they ended up closing the baptismal font and trying for the next few hours to help the man to go under the water. It was so crazy because they told the man that he did not have to be baptized that day, but he said, "No, I have to do it. I still want to be baptized." It was a sure test of his faith, but the Elders were ultimately able to help this man go under the water to be baptized. I have never seen a baptism like that! Lol, molto particolare, ma è stato un successo! Che grande. :) Well, I think that is all for now. I love you guys, and I will write you all again next week! :)

Love,

Corey (Sorella Cherrington)