Well, it was a short week because we spent 24 hours on
Thursday in Bari for scambios. Plus I hit my 1 year in Italy mark on Thursday,
and I was with Sorelle Barona and Barazoto, who went into the MTC the day I
left for Italy, so we all had a celebration of sorts. The other sisters in the
Bari house made us a fantastic Italian style pranzo, with a new pasta that we
have already made twice since we got back to the Foge. It is a Sicilian pasta;
it has panna (which is like extra extra heavy cream, almost yogurt in
consistency and absolutely delicious), basil pesto, and passata (which is just
tomato sauce). You put all three in the cooked pasta, mix it up, and sprinkle
the parmigiana on top. Sooooooo good. The best part about Italian food is how
simple it is. This is one of the best things I have ever tasted, and it takes
like 0 minutes after the pasta finishes. (Side note: you could probably
recreate it with just heavy cream. It doesn't take a lot, just enough to make
the other two creamy. Dump it all in to the same pot ;) we were doing weekly
planning this week and we were hungry, all I had was tomatoes and pre-toasted
toast, so I cut the tomatoes, put them in a bowl with olive oil, salt, basil
and oregano, and then drizzled olive oil on the bread before putting the tomato
stuff on top. If my new cooking skills don't help me find a husband someday I
am just going to give up! Haha :) we also had panzarotti for the first time,
it's like a calzone but it's just full of marinara and mozzarella and it is
fried. Too good to be true ;)
Speaking of food, we got to eat with the Fasano family this
week, too. Sorella Fasano is literally my hero. She is a maestra at an
elementary school, and she has one son. She is a very down to earth person, but
also very cultured. She actually gave the relief society lesson today (and a
talk, and taught gospel principles), she taught about the divine role of
mothers. She talked about how we need to nurture our families in all aspects,
and how the thirteenth article of faith says "...If there is anything
virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these
things." She talked about how we need to help our children learn and come
to love the good things of life so that they can successfully be in the world
and not of the world. I loved it because that is how I want to raise my family:
firmly centered on the gospel but with an appreciation for good things, good
culture. Being a missionary has taught me so much about the wife and mother I want
to be when that day comes.
Other cool things that happened this week: we finally got to
have a lesson with Francesco! And he still wants to be baptized! So we are
hoping that we will get to see him a few more times in the coming weeks. Our
members have been so instrumental in helping Francesco to gain a testimony.
They have daily contact with him without us even asking, and they are genuinely
friends. It's beautiful :) We also had a day of 17 miracles. I won't recount
them all, but at the very end of the day, Sorella Anderson was feeling a little
antsy, which in missionary terms means that the spirit was trying to tell her
something and we had to figure out what it was. So we left the house and
started walking, but it was like the revelation signal kept getting passed back
and forth between us so that she would feel we needed to do one thing and then
I would pick it up and say we needed to turn down this street, then she felt
like we needed to get inside a building and find the stairs. The gate and door
to the building were closed but we got someone to let us in to the gate, then
we found the back door to the palazzo. We started knocking doors inside the
building, and when we reached the one we felt like we were supposed to find,
the reason for the whole goose chase, they wouldn't open the door. So we went
to go up to the next floor, then we realized it was just the roof access. We
both had the impression to ring the same doorbell again and we both ignored it
by knocking a different door, but no one answered. So we put a pass along card
at the first door, knocked, and then I had the impression to leave. So in
essence it was a Spirit-guided ding dong ditch...first time in my mission! Haha
:) it was cool to see the spirit guiding us together to find someone who we
felt needed our help. She chose not to accept it, but I know we were where the
Lord needed us to be in that moment.
Another cool story from the week: Claudia. While we were on
scambios, we went to the church to get ready for English course and the anziani
brought one of their investigators. Her name is Claudia, and I instantly fell
in love with her. She is the sweetest woman! She actually has a cousin's cousin
or something who lives in Olympia, WA and she and I swapped all our information
so that when she goes to visit him she can stay with me :) she accepted the
invitation from the elders to be baptized as well, so speriamo bene :)
Like I said before, missionary emails are like Facebook: not
to be taken at face value. There have still been a lot of trials and struggles
this week; the Lord is trying to help me be more and more diligent and while it
is improving, sometimes I just feel really lazy and weak. We also made a
butt-ton of phone calls to members and less actives this week to try and set up
appointments because all of our investigators and the rest of Foggia is on
vacation at the moment. But I think a blessing of being a missionary is that
you can see that the trials help you appreciate the blessings even more. For
example, we don't have a ton of work right now, and when people talk to us I
tend to do most of the talking so that they don't lose their patience as
Sorella Anderson works to put sentences together. It is hard on both of us
because I don't know how much to let her do so she can learn and how much I
should do so that people don't offend or get offended. However, on scambios
this week Sorella Barona made her talk and she did it! She has gotten sooo good
at the language in just a month, she has this thirst to learn it as quickly as
possible so that she can help as many other people as possible. She just has so
much faith that the Lord will bless her if she trusts Him enough to open her
mouth. So then during correlation with Bishop, she took the lead in explaining
our work and asking him questions and stuff. I am seriously so impressed and so
proud. She is putting me to shame haha. One of my former comps emailed me last
week to ask how training was going, and the only phrase that came to mind was
"fire and gold." And that is really how Sorella Anderson is. She works
hard, she tries to be obedient, she has an innate understanding of the gospel
and a desire to live it and share it, and it's making me want to work harder.
Even though I only have 4 months left out here, she is showing me how worth it
it is to keep working and striving for miracles every day.
The gospel is so awesome, guys. I don't know if I ever would
have realized it without the chance to serve a mission, but I can honestly say
it's the best decision I have ever made. I am forever changed because of the
experiences that I have had out here. I have a new culture and heritage (I wish
nothing more than to be Italian now), I have a testimony of the commandments
and of eternal families, I understand why the gospel is necessary. It isn't
just a theology or one person's idea of how things could be that then a bunch
of other people decided to adopt; it is things as they really are and always
have been. I have learned so much about who the Lord needs me to become and why
I am here, what my personal purpose is in this life. I know that there are
lives to touch, hands to lift, and service to give. And I know that I have a
Savior, a living Redeemer, who loves me and who has provided the only way back
to my Heavenly parents. And in spite of all the hard days, the sweat, the humidity,
the tears and frustrations, I have this bubble of happiness inside of me that
won't go away :) I don't know if you know what I mean, but I just am really
grateful for my mission :)
I love you all so much! This week try and ask the Lord to
show you a way to help someone in need, that's what we have been doing and it
is so fulfilling and rewarding. Stay cool!
Love,
Sorella Decker
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| The Bari Libertà sorelle after making our lunch |
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| Panzerotti |
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| The tomato and toast snack we invented. Similar to bruschetta, this is a Foggia spin called "pane e pomodoro" |
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