Week 42: Pasquetta (Easter Sunday) and Transfer Calls!

Emailed April 13th:

Well.... I am staying in Ostia with Sorella Hansen! This will be my fourth transfer here and my third with her. We are super excited and there is so much to be done, we will have like 20 baptisms by the end of the transfer ;) (just kidding. magari.)

It was honestly a slow week, we did pday on Tuesday because of Pasquetta, then we did DDM in Ladispoli, and then we had a scambio. So we had three really slow work days in a row, and coming off of a holiday weekend is always a little slow anyway. We had a really incredible miracle during the scambio though, I was here in Ostia with Slla Knight. we were doing finding and I got really turned around and a little lost. We were trying to work our way back to the church and I couldn’t figure out where to go, but we were stopping people still. We were right where I found the Carbone family with Slla Barona last transfer, and this girl walked toward us. She didn't look like the kind of person who would listen to us or even be religious, and she had just put her headphones in, but Slla Knight stopped her anyway. We asked her if she felt like God answers prayers and she said yes without hesitating. We started talking to her, and it was the most incredible finding moment I have ever experienced. She is 19, an orphan, she is raising her two younger siblings, she's in school, she's from Romania, her name is Anna Maria. We taught almost the whole Restoration while we were talking to her, she believes in the law of chastity, she wants to get married before she has a family, she wants to make changes in her life....as we taught and listened, and we could see the Light of Christ touch her heart. She went from being a little defensive and flippant to asking if she could come in giro with us to help us talk to people about becoming better through the Atonement. She hasn't called us back yet, but I know that we were meant to find her. It was incredible.

We got to do companion study on the beach because we were supposed to go to Nettuno with Sorella Favaloro to go see Ivano, but she had to take care of her grandkids. She lives super close to the beach, so we just went and studied there ;) it is sooo beautiful, and the last few days have been really warm!

On Saturday we went and taught the rest of the Plan of Salvation to Ivano, and we talked a lot about how our families are eternal and the steps we need to take in this life to be with them forever. It was a really great lesson, we really feel like the Spirit is helping him to understand. He is really hard of hearing, but there is a big difference between what he understood from the first few lessons and now. And he'll probably get baptized in the ocean ;) He watched general conference and really liked it, he's been praying and reading from the Book of Mormon on his own, and we had a really wonderful lesson. I love that man so much, I am so happy that I get to stay and teach him.

We haven't seen Marco and Noemi this week, they were supposed to be baptized on Saturday but they and their mom said it was too soon. It's been a little frustrating, but hopefully things will all work out. Prayers for them and for the Carbone family would be wonderful!!

The anziani had a baptism on Saturday, and so did the Roma 5 sorelle, so I got to see a lot of the people from the branch :) It was so fun! Plus, Sorella Margheriti is staying there for another transfer, she's been there since I left! It is always so good to see her, I love her so much. She is still with her greenie too, they are doing 4 transfers together! That's six months with one companion! And Sorella Barazoto is the only sister in the mission who is training this transfer. There was a greenie from Milano who got called to Mozambique, but her visa got delayed so she is reassigned to our mission for now. So Slla Barazoto is training! And Anziano Wog (who is our greenie here) is being transferred to Bari Poggio Franco....please go look at pictures of Bari. It's the only place I want to serve in. SO BEAUTIFUL.

All in all a slow week, but we still have a lot to do! Please enjoy all our crazy pictures. I love this city so much :)

Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sorella Nicole

daisies from Ostia Antica

Ostia District!

Ostia beach...

...and companionship studies on scambio ;)

Pranzo! At the old wild west restaurant. It was super fun!

Italian version of Mexican food....

we bought a pizza and I tried to heat it up in the oven the next day....and I burnt it

Sorella Margheriti, Maylen Garcia, me, and Sorella Battezzato at the baptism