This week has been a lesson in patience and perseverance. We had a bunch of appointments and things planned, but in the end we only taught seven lessons this week...which is an average of one a day but that isn't how it turned out.
Let's start with pday. We went to the mall here in Catania and did some window shopping which was a lot of fun. In the morning we went and saw Sorella Casella, a less active widow in the ward. We shared Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from women's conference, a summer with great aunt Rose. She really liked the story..but sometimes people have a hard time with the whole "likening" concept. The point of the scriptures and talks and such is to apply them to the way that we live and try to improve from them, not to notice such flaws in others. She's such a sweetheart though, it's like having a cute Sicilian
grandma :)
Tuesday was rainy and gray (yay!) and we did district meeting in the morning. All the buses were running late because people don't know how to drive in the rain, so we showed up a little late. It was a good district meeting though :) we saw Rossella before English course and one of her friends from the ward came with us which was cool. We talked to her about her personal religious beliefs and she talked about how she likes a lot of things from lots of faiths, but she definitely is a Christian. We shared the eleventh article of faith and talked about religious freedom, which was perfect since she had been asking about early American history as well. I've become really grateful that I've always loved history because I can teach it to other people and help put certain events like the apostasy or the
restoration in perspective. I think it's one of the talents the Lord has let me develop on my mission :)
Wednesday was supposed to be the best day of the week....but there was a torrential downpour that was of the same proportions as the flood of Noah, and all four of our teaching appointments dropped like flies. One by one and in order people texted and called saying not to come because of the rain. Our street flooded, and we live on to of a hill on the higher end of town, so I can only imagine how bad the flooding was elsewhere. One of our anziani is 6'6", and he had water up to his knees at one piont. So we were stuck at home all day, cleaning and taking care of the area book and whatnot. It was fun though, it rained for about 13 straight hours, let up a little in the evening, and then rained for the rest of the night. The sound of it knocked me out and I slept really well :)
Thursday we had lunch with the Battezzato's, they have a granddaughter serving in my zone right now:) Fratello Battezzato's is 4'7" and the most adorable little man I have ever met in my life! I wish we had taken pictures with them so that I could show you all. He is so sweet and funny, I just want to adopt myself into his family. He calls us his "nipotine" which means little granddaughters:) they made us a traditional Catanese dish called pasta alla norma which is red sauce with fresh basil, fried eggplant, and fresh ricotta salata. I loved it! The story behind it goes something like this: Vincenzo Bellini, one of the most illustrious citizens of Catania, known for his operas, wrote one opera called Norma, which was his masterpiece. He came back to Catania and someone made him this dish, and he loved it so they named it after his masterpiece, but it's ironic because for whoever made him the pasta, it was a normal thing. So it's like a play on words I guess. Or at least that's what I understood....legends in your second language are hard. Someone should google that for me haha.
Friday we had an awesome weekly planning session. One of the things that has been cool as I get further and further into my mission is recognizing when the Spirit is inspiring us according to the needs of our investigators, or understanding what he says to me. After weekly planning we went to go see Angela Maglia in centro and teach her a lesson but she had two university friends with her....so she helped us share a spiritual thought with them about seeing God's hand in our lives. She watched the Mormon message "oh remember, remember" by Pres. Eyring and then spent four hours over the weekend writing in her journal about how she has seen the hand of the Lord in her life. One of the friends she brought with her is from Iran and the other is from Vietnam. Aida (Iran) is a journalist by profession and studying international politics here at the Catania university. She is Muslim and it was cool to do some comparative religion stuff while talking to her. Mo is also studying international politics and isn't super religious but believes in some Buddhist traditions. We went and chatted with them and Angela at a cafe over fruit juice and then went on a little walk of the city. While we were at the cafe I leaned to Sorella Flansberg and said "this is like the start to a bad joke..." Hence the title this week:) we then took a half-day pday (with permission from president of course) and climbed to the top of one of the church domes in centro, Badia di Sant'Agata. The view was incredible and we had so much fun with the other girls! We could see mt. Etna (the active volcano in our backyard), the ocean, and the whole city. It was awesome!
Saturday was another bust, we had a lot of appointments cancel again. It'll all work out though :)
Sunday was a lot of fun, it was the youth super Saturday for all the seminary kids in the stake (which is the whole island of Sicily). So they were in our ward building for church on Sunday, and they made the building extra rowdy. It was a little chaotic but lots of fun :) then we went to Sorella Bacchetti's for lunch. Her daughter is married to the son of the Battezzato's, so they were there too. They have a son serving in the France Lyon mission and they both served missions as well, so it was cool to listen to their stories. Fratello Battezzato served as assistant for 13 months!! He had some really cool stories. Sorella Battezzato served in Milan and trained Sorella Fasano who lives in the Foggia ward now:) she is a riot, we were laughing the whole time from her mission stories. We all ended up crying in the end....Fratello Battezzato looks kinda like dad if he had sideburns, and knowing that they were fiercely missing their missionary son made me think about my own parents....cioe waterworks haha. It worked out really well though :) we also got to see Kiran again last night, I love her dearly. She is the sweetest woman and she has been through a lot in her life, but her testimony hasn't wavered. She can't come to church at the moment but I know she misses it a lot.
Let's start with pday. We went to the mall here in Catania and did some window shopping which was a lot of fun. In the morning we went and saw Sorella Casella, a less active widow in the ward. We shared Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from women's conference, a summer with great aunt Rose. She really liked the story..but sometimes people have a hard time with the whole "likening" concept. The point of the scriptures and talks and such is to apply them to the way that we live and try to improve from them, not to notice such flaws in others. She's such a sweetheart though, it's like having a cute Sicilian
grandma :)
Tuesday was rainy and gray (yay!) and we did district meeting in the morning. All the buses were running late because people don't know how to drive in the rain, so we showed up a little late. It was a good district meeting though :) we saw Rossella before English course and one of her friends from the ward came with us which was cool. We talked to her about her personal religious beliefs and she talked about how she likes a lot of things from lots of faiths, but she definitely is a Christian. We shared the eleventh article of faith and talked about religious freedom, which was perfect since she had been asking about early American history as well. I've become really grateful that I've always loved history because I can teach it to other people and help put certain events like the apostasy or the
restoration in perspective. I think it's one of the talents the Lord has let me develop on my mission :)
Wednesday was supposed to be the best day of the week....but there was a torrential downpour that was of the same proportions as the flood of Noah, and all four of our teaching appointments dropped like flies. One by one and in order people texted and called saying not to come because of the rain. Our street flooded, and we live on to of a hill on the higher end of town, so I can only imagine how bad the flooding was elsewhere. One of our anziani is 6'6", and he had water up to his knees at one piont. So we were stuck at home all day, cleaning and taking care of the area book and whatnot. It was fun though, it rained for about 13 straight hours, let up a little in the evening, and then rained for the rest of the night. The sound of it knocked me out and I slept really well :)
Thursday we had lunch with the Battezzato's, they have a granddaughter serving in my zone right now:) Fratello Battezzato's is 4'7" and the most adorable little man I have ever met in my life! I wish we had taken pictures with them so that I could show you all. He is so sweet and funny, I just want to adopt myself into his family. He calls us his "nipotine" which means little granddaughters:) they made us a traditional Catanese dish called pasta alla norma which is red sauce with fresh basil, fried eggplant, and fresh ricotta salata. I loved it! The story behind it goes something like this: Vincenzo Bellini, one of the most illustrious citizens of Catania, known for his operas, wrote one opera called Norma, which was his masterpiece. He came back to Catania and someone made him this dish, and he loved it so they named it after his masterpiece, but it's ironic because for whoever made him the pasta, it was a normal thing. So it's like a play on words I guess. Or at least that's what I understood....legends in your second language are hard. Someone should google that for me haha.
Friday we had an awesome weekly planning session. One of the things that has been cool as I get further and further into my mission is recognizing when the Spirit is inspiring us according to the needs of our investigators, or understanding what he says to me. After weekly planning we went to go see Angela Maglia in centro and teach her a lesson but she had two university friends with her....so she helped us share a spiritual thought with them about seeing God's hand in our lives. She watched the Mormon message "oh remember, remember" by Pres. Eyring and then spent four hours over the weekend writing in her journal about how she has seen the hand of the Lord in her life. One of the friends she brought with her is from Iran and the other is from Vietnam. Aida (Iran) is a journalist by profession and studying international politics here at the Catania university. She is Muslim and it was cool to do some comparative religion stuff while talking to her. Mo is also studying international politics and isn't super religious but believes in some Buddhist traditions. We went and chatted with them and Angela at a cafe over fruit juice and then went on a little walk of the city. While we were at the cafe I leaned to Sorella Flansberg and said "this is like the start to a bad joke..." Hence the title this week:) we then took a half-day pday (with permission from president of course) and climbed to the top of one of the church domes in centro, Badia di Sant'Agata. The view was incredible and we had so much fun with the other girls! We could see mt. Etna (the active volcano in our backyard), the ocean, and the whole city. It was awesome!
Saturday was another bust, we had a lot of appointments cancel again. It'll all work out though :)
Sunday was a lot of fun, it was the youth super Saturday for all the seminary kids in the stake (which is the whole island of Sicily). So they were in our ward building for church on Sunday, and they made the building extra rowdy. It was a little chaotic but lots of fun :) then we went to Sorella Bacchetti's for lunch. Her daughter is married to the son of the Battezzato's, so they were there too. They have a son serving in the France Lyon mission and they both served missions as well, so it was cool to listen to their stories. Fratello Battezzato served as assistant for 13 months!! He had some really cool stories. Sorella Battezzato served in Milan and trained Sorella Fasano who lives in the Foggia ward now:) she is a riot, we were laughing the whole time from her mission stories. We all ended up crying in the end....Fratello Battezzato looks kinda like dad if he had sideburns, and knowing that they were fiercely missing their missionary son made me think about my own parents....cioe waterworks haha. It worked out really well though :) we also got to see Kiran again last night, I love her dearly. She is the sweetest woman and she has been through a lot in her life, but her testimony hasn't wavered. She can't come to church at the moment but I know she misses it a lot.
Other than that, it was a slow week, but I am loving every moment of this Sicilian adventure! Oh, speaking of which, I almost got run over by a moped this week. We were walking on the side of the road since people park on the sidewalks, and these two girls came tearing down the street on a Vespa. They were swerving and screwing around and ran straight into my hand. That was fun. But I'm fine :)
Anyway, love you all! Have a fantastic week!
Sorella Decker
Anyway, love you all! Have a fantastic week!
Sorella Decker
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| matching companionship bracelets |
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