Week 51: Fuggi da Foggia

Alright, everyone buckle up because this week was WILD. Wild I say!

• Monday we hopped on a random bus that took us to this little town called Troia. It was really cute and OLD, it felt like being back in Rome 5 :) and there were 3 or 4 old churches (like 9th century) and one was a cathedral! It was really cool :)
• Tuesday was one of my favorite days of the week. One of the anziani companionships had a baptism after English course!
• Also on Tuesday we went and taught this cute lady named Maria Pia English at her house. She has a son who is like 23 and he was an English Course student like 3 years ago. It went well, we taught them about prayer at the end. And we invited Franceso, her son, to come to English course that night. Well, he came and then he stayed for the baptism. He got in with the GANS (YSA) kids so he will be baptized in like a month. They work pretty fast ;)
• We saw Joel, our new convert, and his testimony has roots like an oak tree. Like he is SOLID. It’s pretty cool.
• We helped with a lot of English this week.
• We also helped the bishop’s mom write her talk for Sunday, she is recently reactivated, and she is blind. So we went over to read scriptures with her and stuff, and she hasn't gotten to read the book of Mormon ever. So I showed her on her son's tablet how to work the TalkBalk system, and she was so excited about it. She is going to look in to buying an iPhone. I am so grateful for how the Lord has prepared me to help the people here to come unto Christ, if I had never helped Aunt Carol with her phone stuff I would never have ever even thought of it.
• Ate the BEST PIZZA OF MY LIFE. And the pizzeria where we got it is right down the street from us
• We ate at Mike's again, he made a really good local pasta with beans and mussels. I loved it.
• We went to the Friday market....WILD. It was crazy and chaotic and wonderful. I loved it. Santina took us with one of her friends. I love seeing them, they are both such wonderful people and really loving, dedicated mothers.
• THE CHURCH GOT BROKEN INTO on Friday night. One of the computers, the TV, the DVD player, the computer monitor and the printer all got stolen. #foggiaprobs #lifeofamissionary
• We taught Santina's mom how to make chocolate chip cookies.
• We have had so many cookies this week. We made some for all the ward members and dropped them off with the anziani.
• I met Costance, she is a member from Nigeria. She was baptized there, and then came to Italy. She is SO great.
• The relief society lesson was one of my favorite lessons I have ever heard. Sorella Fasano talked about how the words of the living prophet are the most important ones for us today, because he has the most "updated news" diciamo. Then she talked about how Pres. Monson's first two talks were about temples and the family and how we have the responsibility to make our homes a Christ-centered place. She did a really great job :)
• We got the news that our block schedule for church will be changing in July in response to the leadership training this past weekend. We will be having sacrament meeting first instead of last, and I am super pumped about it ;)
• Francesco came to church! One of the GANS invited him and he came and LOVED it. Miracles, people. It’s pretty wild :)
• Pina, the GANS who invited him, taught him about family history last night #spiritofelijah
• There was a shanking in the downtown of Foggia last night.... (I was very far away from that when it happened, Mom. Don't worry.)
• We spent our Sunday helping a crazy lady try and find a place to spend the night. She had left her boyfriend because he had been really unkind to her and then she was just wandering, homeless, for like a week. She just needed a place to spend the night. But she was CRAZY. Just acting strange. We called the bishop and we tried to make arrangements for her to stay with Costance, but Costance said no. and then she wouldn't let us take her to the Caritas. So she ended up going to the hospital which is where she slept the night before. It was just fishy. She kept changing the details of her story and every time a police car or ambulance passed with the sirens on (there were a few, someone got stabbed in centro remember?), she would flinch and try to hide behind me. It was just weird.

Well, that is about it. Today we are going to the church of Padre Pio, a saint who apparently atoned for 1/3 of our sins. He was born here in the Foggia region, in San Giovanni Rotondo, so we are taking the bus out there to see his 3 churches. He was alive when President Waddoups was a missionary here in Puglia, like back in the 60s. So it wasn't that long ago. His body is in one of the churches. I am super stoked haha.

Love you all and have a fabulous week!!!

Love,

Sorella Decker

Cute alley in Troia

The 9th century cathedral

I love the Fiats ;)