Ciao belli!!!! Come state?? (Hello beautiful! How are you?)
This week. Wow. So long, So much learned. So much seen.... I'll try and put it into words for y'all ;)
Last p-day was spent in the office like I said, so that was fun. We got our internet for free! Haha
Tuesday we talked for about an hour with this African guy, his name is Lasù. He is so humble, he's technically a TJ (Testamento di Geova - Jehovah’s Witness) which there are a surprising number of here in Italia, but he is super interested in the gospel. He is incredible, and he taught me that I have to be grateful for literally everything, because God gives us all that we have for our experience and learning. We gave him some of our proselyting stuff to pass out, and he did more missionary work than we did that day! He works selling stuff right outside the local grocery store (Coop) and so he knows a lot of people, he has a good relationship with them, and they know the kind of guy he is. So they are really willing to listen to him. He gave out two Restoration pamphlets, a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, and a bunch of English course cards. He’s incredible. We also had a branch member come do ricerca (finding) with us that evening, which was fun. We were supposed to teach Amède, but he cancelled, he had to go to Rome for something... oh well. We had an incredible lesson with him later that week, but I'll get to that.
Wednesday we went to Terni for DDM (district meeting) and we had a member with us for the whole day to do a mini mission! Her name is Alessandra (there are five names in Italy, I promise!) and she is the most forte (means loud, used like cool) member ever. After DDM we went to Rieti to do a pass-off lesson with the Terni anziani, since the two guys we found there are technically in the Terni area. But they missed their bus, and we had appointments to keep, so we met with Charles, who brought a friend (whaddup built in referral!) and re-taught the Restoration for this friend, Wisdom who is also African. There are a ton of immigrants here for work, but Europe is in an economic crisis still and there is no work. So these people have a lot of extra time on their hands, which is a blessing for us ;) Taught them both, got an appointment for the Terni anziano’s to go back and teach them next week. Then we went and taught two of the people we ran into last Sunday when we did the four hours of casa (house) finding. Alessandro (see! told ya so) is awesome. He just moved to Passo Corese and told us he is looking for a new church, and that it was really lucky for us to have been able to knock on the door because his citofono (doorbell for the gate) doesn't work and he usually keeps the gate closed, but when we got there Sunday the gate was miraculously open! He wanted to know about the ''business'' side of the church before we taught him anything. A lot of people here are fed up with the Catholic Church and all the corruption there. It's all about money in the Vatican according to these people (I have no idea, I haven't been to the Vatican!) so they want to know how we manage our affairs. He said that where there is money there is no love, so we taught about tithing and our unpaid ministry. At the end I felt really moved to let him know that God loves him and that God has a plan for His children, and I hadn’t said much during the lesson 1. Because my Italian is rough and my comprehension when they talk is niente (nothing) because they talk dang fast and 2. Because we had Alessandra with us so she needed a chance to really teach. She's getting ready to serve a mission actually...super forte. Anyway, at the end he was touched by our testimonies but didn't give us a return appointment, but he did say he wanted to come see how our church works - he's coming to church as soon as we can find him a ride. Same situation with Kacey. She loves God and wants to find a church but she is really discouraged by the situation of the world and all the corruption and lack of Christ in all the churches she's tried so far, so usually she does TV worship broadcasts. She was careful to make sure that even though we have other scriptures and prophets that we were all about Christ and Heavenly Father, and we got her to pray at the end of the lesson which was awesome. She is super promising, and I really hope that she calls us to see if we can come answer questions! She didn't set up a return appointment, she wanted to read and pray about the Book of Mormon first, which is fine by us! We taught Caterina that night, and I invited her to be baptized but something was off about it, and she asked if she could think about it and then pick a date to be baptized. So that's what we are working on with her now, we are going over with brownies this afternoon.
Thursday was slow, but we taught Peter and Amède in the afternoon. Both they were "member present" lessons, which is so important! Seriously, if the missionaries ask you to be at a lesson, you get there. It changes everything for the investigator to see a normal person who can testify just as strongly of the power of the restored gospel in their normal lives. GO OUT WITH THE MISSIONARIES!! Peter is as hard-headed as ever. We are praying for something to touch his heart but he refuses to believe that any book can be ''più giusto'' (better) than the Bible. We can't say anything to help him see how the BoM works together with the Bible. In fact the member who was with us explained that the two books woork together and he flat out said "No. No they don’t". SO. This is fun haha :) He'll get there and maybe we are just planting that seed for now. Chi lo sa? (who knows?) Amède's lesson was fantastic! Another "member present" which was indispensable. We talked about repentance as a way to feel closer to God, which it is, and repentance is just telling God that you aren't perfect but that you want to live His way. He really liked that! But he is going to France for a month to visit his sister, so we are making him a BoM study calendar because he committed to read every day. So we are making that happen ;) We also pranzoed (ate lunch with) with Sorella Malara and her kids on Thursday. They just moved to Passo Corese, and they are the only members in town. The branch covers a ton of ground, so we are excited to have members where all our investigators are. She is incredible and really cool and they have four little boys. I said the prayer for lunch and Gioele (her 5 years old) said he didn't understand a word of it, which was super comforting ;) From the mouths of babes, right? Haha! Actually it was good to know that I still have a ways to go.
Friday was slow. We got stood up a few times so we did some extra and unsuccessful finding, and then we went to this tiny town on the top of the mountain called Scandriglia. OH MY GOSH. It's beautiful. I took pictures but I forgot to bring my camera today, but basically the town motto is something about olive oil because the entire east side is an olive field. And there was an old castle from the Roman Empire where you could see where the old gate was that shut the town off from the road so no one could get in. It was INCREDIBLE. There is a new member and his son who live there. The son is trying to quit smoking so that he can get baptized. The dad, Michele, is fortissimo (very loud) and he was actually in one of the areas Slla. Patterson served in before she came to Rome! He just moved into our branch last week. Scandriglia is one of my favorite places I have seen though...actually probably my favorite. And because Friday was slow and hard, it was good to have such a wonderful pick-me-up.
Saturday we came to Moterotondo to do the mostra, but it POURED so we waited at the bus stop for an hour and a half singing in the pouring rain and trying to stay dry under our umbrellas which did not work very well... but we had fun :) The rain cooled things off significantly here, which is a huge blessing!
Sunday was quiet, but there was a family from Manchester England in our branch who was on vacation here. They ran into us at the beginning of the week in Passo of all places (it is a teeny town) and they were lost looking for the bus station...but they are members! So they saw us walking and stopped us to ask for directions. That was cool :)
And here we are, Monday again. We have a bunch of exchanges coming up in the next weeks because Slla P is an STL, so that should be fun, and I will finally get to have a real Italian meal with a real Italian family on Wednesday! (The Malaras we had lunch with are Argentine :)
I am out of time but I love you all, I am so sorry I couldn't respond to everyone's individual emails, I am going to write letters today!
This week. Wow. So long, So much learned. So much seen.... I'll try and put it into words for y'all ;)
Last p-day was spent in the office like I said, so that was fun. We got our internet for free! Haha
Tuesday we talked for about an hour with this African guy, his name is Lasù. He is so humble, he's technically a TJ (Testamento di Geova - Jehovah’s Witness) which there are a surprising number of here in Italia, but he is super interested in the gospel. He is incredible, and he taught me that I have to be grateful for literally everything, because God gives us all that we have for our experience and learning. We gave him some of our proselyting stuff to pass out, and he did more missionary work than we did that day! He works selling stuff right outside the local grocery store (Coop) and so he knows a lot of people, he has a good relationship with them, and they know the kind of guy he is. So they are really willing to listen to him. He gave out two Restoration pamphlets, a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, and a bunch of English course cards. He’s incredible. We also had a branch member come do ricerca (finding) with us that evening, which was fun. We were supposed to teach Amède, but he cancelled, he had to go to Rome for something... oh well. We had an incredible lesson with him later that week, but I'll get to that.
Wednesday we went to Terni for DDM (district meeting) and we had a member with us for the whole day to do a mini mission! Her name is Alessandra (there are five names in Italy, I promise!) and she is the most forte (means loud, used like cool) member ever. After DDM we went to Rieti to do a pass-off lesson with the Terni anziani, since the two guys we found there are technically in the Terni area. But they missed their bus, and we had appointments to keep, so we met with Charles, who brought a friend (whaddup built in referral!) and re-taught the Restoration for this friend, Wisdom who is also African. There are a ton of immigrants here for work, but Europe is in an economic crisis still and there is no work. So these people have a lot of extra time on their hands, which is a blessing for us ;) Taught them both, got an appointment for the Terni anziano’s to go back and teach them next week. Then we went and taught two of the people we ran into last Sunday when we did the four hours of casa (house) finding. Alessandro (see! told ya so) is awesome. He just moved to Passo Corese and told us he is looking for a new church, and that it was really lucky for us to have been able to knock on the door because his citofono (doorbell for the gate) doesn't work and he usually keeps the gate closed, but when we got there Sunday the gate was miraculously open! He wanted to know about the ''business'' side of the church before we taught him anything. A lot of people here are fed up with the Catholic Church and all the corruption there. It's all about money in the Vatican according to these people (I have no idea, I haven't been to the Vatican!) so they want to know how we manage our affairs. He said that where there is money there is no love, so we taught about tithing and our unpaid ministry. At the end I felt really moved to let him know that God loves him and that God has a plan for His children, and I hadn’t said much during the lesson 1. Because my Italian is rough and my comprehension when they talk is niente (nothing) because they talk dang fast and 2. Because we had Alessandra with us so she needed a chance to really teach. She's getting ready to serve a mission actually...super forte. Anyway, at the end he was touched by our testimonies but didn't give us a return appointment, but he did say he wanted to come see how our church works - he's coming to church as soon as we can find him a ride. Same situation with Kacey. She loves God and wants to find a church but she is really discouraged by the situation of the world and all the corruption and lack of Christ in all the churches she's tried so far, so usually she does TV worship broadcasts. She was careful to make sure that even though we have other scriptures and prophets that we were all about Christ and Heavenly Father, and we got her to pray at the end of the lesson which was awesome. She is super promising, and I really hope that she calls us to see if we can come answer questions! She didn't set up a return appointment, she wanted to read and pray about the Book of Mormon first, which is fine by us! We taught Caterina that night, and I invited her to be baptized but something was off about it, and she asked if she could think about it and then pick a date to be baptized. So that's what we are working on with her now, we are going over with brownies this afternoon.
Thursday was slow, but we taught Peter and Amède in the afternoon. Both they were "member present" lessons, which is so important! Seriously, if the missionaries ask you to be at a lesson, you get there. It changes everything for the investigator to see a normal person who can testify just as strongly of the power of the restored gospel in their normal lives. GO OUT WITH THE MISSIONARIES!! Peter is as hard-headed as ever. We are praying for something to touch his heart but he refuses to believe that any book can be ''più giusto'' (better) than the Bible. We can't say anything to help him see how the BoM works together with the Bible. In fact the member who was with us explained that the two books woork together and he flat out said "No. No they don’t". SO. This is fun haha :) He'll get there and maybe we are just planting that seed for now. Chi lo sa? (who knows?) Amède's lesson was fantastic! Another "member present" which was indispensable. We talked about repentance as a way to feel closer to God, which it is, and repentance is just telling God that you aren't perfect but that you want to live His way. He really liked that! But he is going to France for a month to visit his sister, so we are making him a BoM study calendar because he committed to read every day. So we are making that happen ;) We also pranzoed (ate lunch with) with Sorella Malara and her kids on Thursday. They just moved to Passo Corese, and they are the only members in town. The branch covers a ton of ground, so we are excited to have members where all our investigators are. She is incredible and really cool and they have four little boys. I said the prayer for lunch and Gioele (her 5 years old) said he didn't understand a word of it, which was super comforting ;) From the mouths of babes, right? Haha! Actually it was good to know that I still have a ways to go.
Friday was slow. We got stood up a few times so we did some extra and unsuccessful finding, and then we went to this tiny town on the top of the mountain called Scandriglia. OH MY GOSH. It's beautiful. I took pictures but I forgot to bring my camera today, but basically the town motto is something about olive oil because the entire east side is an olive field. And there was an old castle from the Roman Empire where you could see where the old gate was that shut the town off from the road so no one could get in. It was INCREDIBLE. There is a new member and his son who live there. The son is trying to quit smoking so that he can get baptized. The dad, Michele, is fortissimo (very loud) and he was actually in one of the areas Slla. Patterson served in before she came to Rome! He just moved into our branch last week. Scandriglia is one of my favorite places I have seen though...actually probably my favorite. And because Friday was slow and hard, it was good to have such a wonderful pick-me-up.
Saturday we came to Moterotondo to do the mostra, but it POURED so we waited at the bus stop for an hour and a half singing in the pouring rain and trying to stay dry under our umbrellas which did not work very well... but we had fun :) The rain cooled things off significantly here, which is a huge blessing!
Sunday was quiet, but there was a family from Manchester England in our branch who was on vacation here. They ran into us at the beginning of the week in Passo of all places (it is a teeny town) and they were lost looking for the bus station...but they are members! So they saw us walking and stopped us to ask for directions. That was cool :)
And here we are, Monday again. We have a bunch of exchanges coming up in the next weeks because Slla P is an STL, so that should be fun, and I will finally get to have a real Italian meal with a real Italian family on Wednesday! (The Malaras we had lunch with are Argentine :)
I am out of time but I love you all, I am so sorry I couldn't respond to everyone's individual emails, I am going to write letters today!
Vi voglio un sacco di bene!!! (We wish you all the best!)
Love,
Sorella Decker
Love,
Sorella Decker
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| Scandriglia, Italy - where Nicole spent her Friday |
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