Cara famiglia! (Hi family!)
Buongiornooooooo!!! :) Oggi sto proprio benissimo haha (I'm doing really well!)
Well, this week we called "miracle week." We
fasted at the beginning of the week because we felt like we needed to exercise
our faith, and we fasted to see miracles. And let me tell you... MIRACLES
HAPPENED!!!
One of the biggest miracles happened in our very own palazzo
(building). We both felt on Tuesday that we needed to get to know our neighbors
better, especially since on Monday one of the people who lives in the apartment
next door passed away. He was about 86, but it still hit the family hard because
it happened rather suddenly. So we made two massive batches of brownies and
started knocking on all of our neighbors' doors, offering them our "dolce
americano" (American dessert: brownies with Nutella frosting!) and a pass
along card with our phone number and a picture of Jesus. They were all so kind,
all of them invited us in to chat for a bit and we were able to help them
understand who we are, why we change people so often, etc. One of the things I
love about this place is that people are very used to prayers, so when you ask
if you can pray with them they are usually ok with it. When we explain how we
pray they are never sure what to think, and then you can always see and feel
the spirit touch their hearts as you start to pray. We ended up teaching five
different people and finding a lot of service opportunities because most of the
people in the building are older. There is a widow two floors above us who is
all by herself, there is the family just upstairs whose parents are both very
old and sick, so the kids have come in from other cities to help take care of
them. There are four apartments of people related to the man who passed away
this week. I was so grateful because we got to help "lift the hands
hanging helplessly down" (Neal A. Maxwell). Even if none of these people
ever get baptized, I know they were touched by our desire to help them, and I
know that we did what the Savior would have done. We were able to comfort and
love, and that's all you can do sometimes.
Another miracle was the push-ups. All of you probably
remember me telling you that we did a push-up competition as a district like 5
months ago. Well....for some reason that we have yet to remember, Sorella
Anderson and I thought it would be a good idea to challenge the anziani to a push-up
contest. WHAT WERE WE THINKING? There were quite a few days where we would get
home at the end of the day and realize we hadn't done any, so we would have to
crank out a bunch. We had set a goal of 3000 between the two of us for the
week, so we broke it down and we were both supposed to do between 150 and 300 a
day. We made sure that we did the same amount, but there was a hard day where
Sorella Anderson couldn't keep going, so I started to do more. She jumped back
in and we ended up with a hundred extra push-ups that day. We got super crazy
competitive because the anziani were being kind of cocky about it; we became
obsessed with beating them. So last night we called to get their numbers for
the week and end the contest, AND THEY WOULDN'T TELL US. I was SOOO mad. They
said "we will discuss it tomorrow." I felt ticked and like they were
treating us like kids.....so in our anger we each did 250 more push-ups. FOR A
TOTAL OF 3500 IN ONE WEEK. Help. (We ate almost 200 grams of Nutella between
the two of us so that we would have the energy to keep going. It is a necessary
evil in our lives ;) they did 1800, but they were being super dumb and told us
that our pushups were worth less than theirs because we can't go as far down.
Which legitimately ticked me off, they wanted us to prove that we had actually
done at least one real push up....but whatever. We won. And we are really proud
of ourselves.
We had some rough moments and growing pains this week as
well. I have never been more worried about other people in my life as I am in
the mission, not even when I was serving in the relief society. I feel like
there is so much riding on us as the missionaries, and sometimes it is really
hard to not be discouraged when you don't feel like your mission measures up to
other people's or that the choices of your investigators are undermining all of
you efforts to save their souls. Especially when I read emails from missionary
friends and they have twenty investigators who are all progressing beautifully
and making good choices and the members are feeding them five times a week. But
you know what I realized? That's not the mission I was called to.
And a little
secret: missionary emails are like Facebook. You only publicize the good stuff
because you don't want people to know what is going on behind the scenes. That
was my big realization this week. I can only do my best to invite others to
come unto Christ through the restored gospel. Whether or not they actually do,
and whether or not any other missionary sees any sort of progress in their
work, is based on things we as missionaries can't actually control. You can
only control yourself, a wise mother once said ;) and it's true. So I am making
a better effort this week to be more diligent in all that I do so that I have
no regrets and I can say that I did all I could. And I am really happy :)
Regardless of fallen through appointments, heat and humidity, stupid
competitions, and the fact that EVERYONE is on vacation at the moment, I am
happier than I have ever been. I love the gospel! It just brings a smile to the
lives of all those who live it.
Love,
Sorella Decker
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| Pane e pomodoro. It's like bruschetta but minus the cheese |
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| Spaghetti alla sepia....dyed black with squid ink. And a fresh, homemade tomato sauce. Sooooo good. |
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| Foggia bellissima...I live here!!! :) |
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| Wasted after push-ups |
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