WELL. This week was just one lesson after another. I feel
like my head is still reeling from all the stuff that happened, but I am also
very content with things are they are now :)
Monday was a little slow, but we met up with the Roma 5
sorelle and I got to see Sorella Margheriti, which was a big treat. Then we met
up with this kid Alessandro that we met a few weeks ago. He is pretty staunchly
atheist but we are still friends :) I got a call Monday morning early to pull a
musical number together for a member of the 5th quorum of the seventy who was
coming to check things out on the temple site. Everything is ready to just
go-go-go full steam ahead! We are pretty excited, even though there is still no
official completion date.
Tuesday we had district meeting at the mission office in
Rome and then we had a conference with all the Rome missionaries and Elder
Allen. It was really awesome, they talked about overcoming fear in inviting people
to make and keep commitments. He was the one who came up with the idea for
doing the District movies that the missionaries watch and the twelve weeks
program for new missionaries. He was really cool, I learned a lot of good
things that we were able to apply this week.
Wednesday we were supposed to have a pranzo appointment (lunch appointment) with
the Tripi family, but it took us over two hours to get to their house because
they took us to the wrong bus. And then we had to cancel an appointment we had
set up for after pranzo with a member's brother and his new wife, they were a
referral. I was pretty bummed about that, but we are hoping to be able to reset
the appointment for this week.
Thursday we went down to Nettuno again with Sorella Favaloro
to teach Ivano! He is like my little old Italian grandpa. Sometimes I wish I
was Italian just so that I would have a legit claim to these people... maybe I
will just have to marry an Italian someday. But anyway, we taught him the
Restoration. He is just really old and can't really hear and doesn't really
understand us. BUT he accepted the challenge to prepare to be baptized on April
25, so we are really excited for him! We want to teach his daughter and
grandkids too, since they are a really tight family, so prayers for that would
be good :)
Friday we had a baptism! Well, the anziani had a baptism,
but we went! Juan Carlos is from Peru and he has a really touching story. He was
meeting with the missionaries over the summer but decided he wasn't really
interested anymore. Then about 2 months ago his son died. He called the
missionaries back up and they started meeting again, and his first question was
"what do I have to do to be with my son again?" and the missionaries
told him that he has to get baptized before he can go to the temple, and he was
like well duh I am getting baptized! So that was Friday. It was a really sweet
experience. His daughter Benedetta is 9 and the cutest thing of my life! They
are moving back to Peru at the end of this month, but I am still really happy
for their family :) the wife still hasn't decided to be baptized, but she will
when she sees the difference it makes in Juan Carlos's life.
Saturday there was a wedding for Marco Agomeri, it was a
really big event. We were there all day pretty much, helped clean up after
because all the family members of the bride and groom just took off, and then
we had stake conference that night, so that was cool. They broadcasted it from
Sardegna to the mainland for the other members of the stake.
Sunday was crazy. We had stake conference and Ivano came!
But right at the end while a member of the Europe area presidency was speaking
he started to have a seizure. Good thing that we have a member who is a
nurse! He had 4 seizures in the building and one on the way home. He is in the
hospital right now as far as we know and we haven't heard anything else, but
we have an appointment set up for tomorrow morning. After that we came home
and ate and stuff and then we went and met with an eternal investigator who
had known the missionaries over twenty years ago. She was cute and all, but
very bitter. And disrespectful. I was not having any of that. I actually told
her that I felt disrespected because she was mocking me, and that I have been
set apart as a representative of Jesus Christ and His church, regardless of my
age. And then we left. If she keeps the commitment we left we might go back.
But the best part of my whole week was that we went to see Anna and Nando
Carbone!!! They had us over, fed us dinner, and we taught the Restoration! We
gave them a Book of Mormon and explained it, and they loooooooved it. They also
have a 16 year old son and Anna's brother just moved in with them! So we have 4
NEW INVESTIGATORS and it is an ITALIAN FAMILY!!!!!!! A few weeks ago I got a
blessing and one of the things I was told was that I was still needed in Ostia
and that there were people who needed me to find them. I think this family was
one of them. They are just so good and humble and prepared! I am really excited
to keep teaching them. OH! And they are from Campagna, which is the region that
Napoli is the capitol of... so they make reaaaaaaalllllyy good food ;) and
they told us to come over literally whenever we want. I feel like I am in the
District or something. We just need to bring a member the next time!!!
I love you all! This week had some major speed bumps but I
am doing much better! It is officially the start of the new transfer, so I am
now studying virtue as a Christ like attribute and I am very excited about it.
Mom - I wanna see allllll the priest/laurel prom pictures after you are done!
Lyssa - you can wear my blue dress if you want :)
Ethan - stop growing. Your feet
are the length of my thighs.
Dad - good luck with all your projects! I am excited for you!
Jess and Kyle - super
exciting about the internships, let me know how it goes!
And Milo - Someone give
that chunk a big squeeze from me! I can't wait to get to know him. When I tell
people how big he is they don't believe me.
Have a great week! Vi voglio tanto tanto bene!! (I wish you all the best!)
Love,
Sorella Nicole Decker
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| Me and Sorella Pinkston |
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| Selfie at Basilica di San Paolo |
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| Last picture of the Ostiapoli district! |
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| Our anziani on the metro....... |
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