Just wanted to share, not one, but TWO tender mercies that have come our way on Mother's Day. Sunday morning at 6am Nicole's mom received a text from a man who was visiting Nicole's Rome 4th ward with his wife on vacation. He sent her the following text:
"Sister Decker, I met your wonderful daughter today in the Rome 4th ward. I know you are proud of her. She translated for my wife and her Italian is very, very good. She is passionate about the gospel and about temple work. I know they have sent their best to Rome after I met her. She is a gem. I can tell after just meeting her.
Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day phone call from your missionary! My husband and I were vacationing in Italy the end of April and met your beautiful missionary daughter in Ostia at church.
Well, it was so good to see everyone on Skype! I miss you all so much and I cannot BELIEVE how fast the time has gone by! I will hit my year mark in 6 weeks, and I go home in less than 7 months. It's crazy....and I have no idea what else could possibly be in store. So much has already happened that it kind of feels like nothing could be left.....but I won't say that just in case God hears me. :P
As far as this week goes, it was a million times better. On Tuesday I got to have an interview with Presidente and it was just exactly what I needed. I definitely have a testimony that callings are inspired, and that God inspires His priesthood leaders. We have a really great mission president. After that, life just got better. My companion and I are doing a thousand times better. Our work started to progress again. We got to go to ward council. Just a million little things that feel like the blessings for enduring a fairly long trial, and I feel so blessed and loved by Heavenly Father. The biggest lesson I have learned on the mission is to keep going and watch for the blessings. They might not be the things you expect, but if you listen to the Spirit, the Lord will help you recognize the blessings that He is giving you and why. It's been an incredible learning and growing experience for me.
Tuesday we went to the office, I got to talk to President, and then we had English course. Ottavio came back from England so he was there at EC, and it was so nice to have him back. We love that kid. And there were a few new students so that is always cool :)
Wednesday we received a referral from the elders in Rome 2, there is a Thai woman who met the missionaries in Thailand and then came here because she has a store here. She went on to mormon.org and asked to have the missionaries contact her, so they did, and she lives here in Ostia! She works in Rome though, and she is really busy with her store...but it was kind of cool because I was wondering in my head if she had met Jonathan, and I was super excited to tell him about her :) we then did some finding, we used that same inspiration method where you pray for the Lord to help you know where to go to find the people who are prepared to accept the message of the gospel and then choose specific streets. We ended up getting yelled at by this guy who thought we were JW, and then we explained who we are and he talked with us for like an hour. He is also a hair dresser which is never a bad contact to have....but he was really cool. We are excited to follow up with him.
Thursday morning we went out and did more of the same kind of finding, but we didn't really find anyone. Going from door to door is really hard here because they all live in big palazzi of apartments and so there is a doorbell/intercom for each apartment outside the complex gate. Ringing someones doorbell makes them a lot less inclined to let you in. But that is ok :) We went to go visit Barbara Bartolucci, one of my favorite members here, before we headed to EC. We also called home before English course so that we could set up our Skype calls with our families :)
Friday we did more finding (seeing a pattern here? we had to let most of our investigators go for sanity reasons). We were in a park and talked to this dad who has two kids in their twenties and then a son who is 3. He was really cool, he seems pretty interested. His name is Antonio and his son is Riccardo :) One of his older kids is just obsessed with the Beetles and he plays the guitar because he started getting in to that kind of music (SOUND FAMILIAR ALYSSA ;). It was a really cool experience because we shared the belief of eternal families with him and talked about how we as missionaries are here to help strengthen the family. I hadn't really thought about it before, but it is totally true. The gospel blesses families, so by living the gospel you bless and strengthen your family. We had pranzo with Fratello Petruziello and his son Simone who is getting ready to go on a mission. Possibly one of the best meals ever. They made a pilaf (rice that you toast before you cook) with a red sauce, suggo di scampi. They boiled prawns with some other delicious things and then squeezed all the liquid out and put it in this tomato-and-wine sauce so it was lightly seafood flavored....SO FREAKIN GOOD. and then they did baked potatoes with pancetta and provolone in them. :D We saw a new investigator that night, Mauro. He is a chatterbox, but he really realized the personal significance what we were saying could have for him at the end of the lesson. Sorella Hansen did a wonderful job of recognizing the Spirit and helping him understand what the role of the Spirit is and that he testifies of the truth to us. So hopefully going forward we can help him apply these things in his life a little more, and that will help him desire to change.
Saturday was a day of miracles. After we finished planning we went to Vitinia to do some doorbell ringing, but we did the inspiration finding again. We had two streets to do, and we didn't think we would have time for the second one which was super disappointing because the first yielded no results. So we were walking back toward the metro line and passed the second street we were supposed to do, and it had a side that dead ended really quickly. We decided to do it, and the third doorbell we rang, the guy stuck his head out the window and asked if we were JWs. We said no, and then he asked well who are you then, and we said "We're the Mormons!" and he asked if we wanted to come up! His wife was home, and so we went up. Their names are Hermon and Ony, they are from Madagascar, and they have been married for less than a year. They are a really beautiful couple. We shared the whole message of the restoration with them, and they invited us to come back next weekend. It was really cool because it was the first time someone has ever let me in from ringing the doorbell. I am really glad that we ended up doing that last little bit of finding, because God helped us find a family that He has prepared for us to teach. Miracles happen!!!!!
I love you all! I miss you, I can't wait to hug all of you (and I will baciare (kiss) you all too, don't worry :) and I hope you have a wonderful week!
All my love,
Sorella Decker
"Sister Decker, I met your wonderful daughter today in the Rome 4th ward. I know you are proud of her. She translated for my wife and her Italian is very, very good. She is passionate about the gospel and about temple work. I know they have sent their best to Rome after I met her. She is a gem. I can tell after just meeting her.
Happy Mother's Day!
Brother Dana Lewis Ellington, Garland Texas."
Then later that afternoon Nicole's mom received the email below, including pictures!!!
"Dear Beth,
Then later that afternoon Nicole's mom received the email below, including pictures!!!
"Dear Beth,
Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day phone call from your missionary! My husband and I were vacationing in Italy the end of April and met your beautiful missionary daughter in Ostia at church.
We are from Denver. My husband served his mission in Italy in the early 1970's. He taught and baptized Paulo Menis, who later served as the branch president for many years in Ostia. His son, Michael, is now bishop of that ward. It was so wonderful to get together with Paulo and his wife and their two sons and daughter in law. They are an amazingly strong and faithful family.
We are so impressed with your missionary. You can be very pleased with the service she is giving. She is bright and joyful . She sang as part of a special musical number and did a very nice job. It is obvious that she loves the Italian saints and investigators. We served in the Ghana Accra mission, so we have seen a lot of missionaries and can spot the gems :) She's a jewel!
Attached are some photos we snapped at the Ostia ward and one showing us with the Menis family.
Best wishes,
Carolee Scoville"
We are so impressed with your missionary. You can be very pleased with the service she is giving. She is bright and joyful . She sang as part of a special musical number and did a very nice job. It is obvious that she loves the Italian saints and investigators. We served in the Ghana Accra mission, so we have seen a lot of missionaries and can spot the gems :) She's a jewel!
Attached are some photos we snapped at the Ostia ward and one showing us with the Menis family.
Best wishes,
Carolee Scoville"
Nicole's letter:
As far as this week goes, it was a million times better. On Tuesday I got to have an interview with Presidente and it was just exactly what I needed. I definitely have a testimony that callings are inspired, and that God inspires His priesthood leaders. We have a really great mission president. After that, life just got better. My companion and I are doing a thousand times better. Our work started to progress again. We got to go to ward council. Just a million little things that feel like the blessings for enduring a fairly long trial, and I feel so blessed and loved by Heavenly Father. The biggest lesson I have learned on the mission is to keep going and watch for the blessings. They might not be the things you expect, but if you listen to the Spirit, the Lord will help you recognize the blessings that He is giving you and why. It's been an incredible learning and growing experience for me.
For pday last week Anziano Kennedy's brother came down from Florence for his birthday so we hung out with him and then went church hopping in Rome. I am so grateful that I have gotten to know the city so well! I love Rome so much :) I'm attaching pictures of the churches, we found the Bernini statue of the Ecstasy of St. Teresa. Don't look up the story. Sicknasty.
Tuesday we went to the office, I got to talk to President, and then we had English course. Ottavio came back from England so he was there at EC, and it was so nice to have him back. We love that kid. And there were a few new students so that is always cool :)
Wednesday we received a referral from the elders in Rome 2, there is a Thai woman who met the missionaries in Thailand and then came here because she has a store here. She went on to mormon.org and asked to have the missionaries contact her, so they did, and she lives here in Ostia! She works in Rome though, and she is really busy with her store...but it was kind of cool because I was wondering in my head if she had met Jonathan, and I was super excited to tell him about her :) we then did some finding, we used that same inspiration method where you pray for the Lord to help you know where to go to find the people who are prepared to accept the message of the gospel and then choose specific streets. We ended up getting yelled at by this guy who thought we were JW, and then we explained who we are and he talked with us for like an hour. He is also a hair dresser which is never a bad contact to have....but he was really cool. We are excited to follow up with him.
Thursday morning we went out and did more of the same kind of finding, but we didn't really find anyone. Going from door to door is really hard here because they all live in big palazzi of apartments and so there is a doorbell/intercom for each apartment outside the complex gate. Ringing someones doorbell makes them a lot less inclined to let you in. But that is ok :) We went to go visit Barbara Bartolucci, one of my favorite members here, before we headed to EC. We also called home before English course so that we could set up our Skype calls with our families :)
Friday we did more finding (seeing a pattern here? we had to let most of our investigators go for sanity reasons). We were in a park and talked to this dad who has two kids in their twenties and then a son who is 3. He was really cool, he seems pretty interested. His name is Antonio and his son is Riccardo :) One of his older kids is just obsessed with the Beetles and he plays the guitar because he started getting in to that kind of music (SOUND FAMILIAR ALYSSA ;). It was a really cool experience because we shared the belief of eternal families with him and talked about how we as missionaries are here to help strengthen the family. I hadn't really thought about it before, but it is totally true. The gospel blesses families, so by living the gospel you bless and strengthen your family. We had pranzo with Fratello Petruziello and his son Simone who is getting ready to go on a mission. Possibly one of the best meals ever. They made a pilaf (rice that you toast before you cook) with a red sauce, suggo di scampi. They boiled prawns with some other delicious things and then squeezed all the liquid out and put it in this tomato-and-wine sauce so it was lightly seafood flavored....SO FREAKIN GOOD. and then they did baked potatoes with pancetta and provolone in them. :D We saw a new investigator that night, Mauro. He is a chatterbox, but he really realized the personal significance what we were saying could have for him at the end of the lesson. Sorella Hansen did a wonderful job of recognizing the Spirit and helping him understand what the role of the Spirit is and that he testifies of the truth to us. So hopefully going forward we can help him apply these things in his life a little more, and that will help him desire to change.
Saturday was a day of miracles. After we finished planning we went to Vitinia to do some doorbell ringing, but we did the inspiration finding again. We had two streets to do, and we didn't think we would have time for the second one which was super disappointing because the first yielded no results. So we were walking back toward the metro line and passed the second street we were supposed to do, and it had a side that dead ended really quickly. We decided to do it, and the third doorbell we rang, the guy stuck his head out the window and asked if we were JWs. We said no, and then he asked well who are you then, and we said "We're the Mormons!" and he asked if we wanted to come up! His wife was home, and so we went up. Their names are Hermon and Ony, they are from Madagascar, and they have been married for less than a year. They are a really beautiful couple. We shared the whole message of the restoration with them, and they invited us to come back next weekend. It was really cool because it was the first time someone has ever let me in from ringing the doorbell. I am really glad that we ended up doing that last little bit of finding, because God helped us find a family that He has prepared for us to teach. Miracles happen!!!!!
I love you all! I miss you, I can't wait to hug all of you (and I will baciare (kiss) you all too, don't worry :) and I hope you have a wonderful week!
All my love,
Sorella Decker
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| Piazza Spagna and the Spanish Steps in Spring :) |
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| St. Teresa |
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| Do these two painting look familiar/famous??? I know I recognize them but I don't know why |
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| Shrimp scampi that I made for Slla Hansen's halfway mark! |
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| Gelato with Marco and Noemi.....he is such a funny kid :) |
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