Week 62: Heartbreak and Healing

Well....this was the hardest week of my mission. I am so grateful for my testimony of the atonement, for the power we have to be healed when we cast our burdens at His feet. I know that He truly has the power to lighten our load and that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. All the pesante (heavy) things in our lives come lightened when we do what He asks of us. Following the Savior brings a very real healing into our lives from all of the things we don't understand and that are hard for us.

To explain: Francesco didn't get baptized. It threw us for a really big loop. But the Lord is in control, and He had planned it out so that we had zone conference two days later. We got to spend time relaxing, being spiritually nourished, and laughing with other missionaries. When things hurt, one of my favorite cures is laughter. It heals the soul; I promise! I won't explain here all the story, but long story short, he chose to wait. We have learned a lot already about patience and accepting the Lords timing and other people's agency and consequences...but the learning process can be quite uncomfortable at times! Haha but we are ok, we picked ourselves up, dusted each other off, and we are back to work. We have seen some really cool miracles this week...for example, we have a new investigator finally! His name is Donato, he is an older gentleman who is going through some really rough stuff and wants to know why we decided to be missionaries. We met with him and had a very interesting lesson....we are excited about him though :) I don't really know what else to say about this week honestly. There are just some things not worth reliving haha. We have a bunch of potential investigators, we have exchanges coming up this week, I turn 21 in 10 days, and I have an incredible companion. So it isn't all that bad ;)

Don't be worried about me, because I honestly am fine now. I feel a really big sense of peace and calm and I know that the Lord has been answering our prayers to be able to handle the burdens He has given us, and that makes things so much better, because I know we haven't been abandoned. So enjoy the pictures and I will have a much better email to send next week!!

Vi voglio bene! (I love you!)
Sorella Decker

Selfie got photo bombed by President Waddoups :)

The Bari zone birthday kids! :) (Sorella Dew, Sorella Barazoto, me, and Anziano Jorgenson)

Bari zone sorelle! (Yes we all have the same skirt. It was €7 and perfect for mission life....Cioè it has pockets. #coolestsistersinthemish ;)

My mission family: Sorella Anderson and her dad Anziano Pace, Anziano Stanley and his son Anziano Grover (I am Anziano Grover's mom :)

What email would be complete without a food picture? We made a bbq pizza. I wanted to weep, it was sooooo good!!