Hello everyone!!!
I'm going to start off this week with a question! Which parasite did you get this month??? Because I got lice. Haha SO MUCH FUN!!!!!! I will spare you with the details, but it was quite a traumatizing experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone haha. And we'll leave it at that. How did I get lice, you may ask? From traveling to Catania for zone conference at the beginning of the transfer and sleeping in a cockroach infested apartment on sheets and pillowcases that have been sitting in that apartment for at least twenty years. Haha oh man. Missions. Also this week Sorella Bicchierri's tooth was really hurting her so we took her to the dentist. (So incredibly incredibly grateful for American dentists) but we found out that her tooth right next to the front tooth (I don't know what it is called) is dead. So she is going to have to get a root canal. Not fun. We still don't know yet if she will stay in this city to get that done, or if president will transfer her. She's not in pain anymore with her tooth though so that's good. She has also had back, feet, and eye problems while being in good old Ragusa haha.
This week we switched our area book to our iPads. And our planner is now on our iPads as well. It is soooo strange. I don't know how I feel about it yet. It's very convenient, but also is so weird not to have paper planners anymore. And figuring out weekly planning took the whole day. Hopefully I won't have to spend that long on weekly planning again haha.
We have been working with a couple of our new investigators, Ida and Nida. They are from Tunisia and are of a Muslim background which is dangerous in some situations if they become Christian so we don't exactly know if we will be able to continue teaching them but this week In one of our lessons we wanted to focus on Jesus Christ so the she could kind of know and understand a little more about who He is and what exactly He did for us. We began to talk and she had some great questions. She had picked up on us saying "He suffered for our sins" and she wanted to know why we still sin and why we still have pains and afflictions. It is one of my very favorite things to help people understand that this church has answers to questions like this. That we have the opportunity to know that yes, Jesus Christ did suffer for our sins and our pains and our weaknesses so doesn't that mean we shouldn't have them anymore? It actually just means that there was someone who loved us enough to go through every single one of those things so that we don't have to go through it alone just like He did. It is something that is quite hard to comprehend at times for our mortal minds. I feel so incredibly and humbly grateful that I have a knowledge of and have felt and seen that love in my life. At the end of the lesson she expressed how she wants to feel the same way we do about Jesus Christ. That she wants to be able to know the things that we know and she has started on the path. I hope that she will just continue along that path.
This ward in Ragusa is struggling a bit and I don't exactly understand why. They have all of the problems that every other city has, but it just seems like everyone has lost their hope. There are a lot of members that don't want callings and they don't want to do their visiting teaching. There are less actives who would rather do anything else but go to church on Sunday. Our leaders are very exhausted of dealing with the same problems and we had a very depressing correlation meeting with our ward mission leader. We as missionaries are doing our best to help people be unified and excited about missionary work! To find hope and faith despite all of the problems that are happening. I heard recently that there was a tornado in Lidispoli which is near Rome and two people lost their lives. Haha and right now I am just pretty convinced that either something really big is about to happen in the Italy, Rome mission, or Satan is doing everything possible in his power to stop this work from progressing.
And this is where the title of this weeks email comes into play. There was an article in the October ensign titled "The Miracle of Medium Heat" and it talks about making a perfect grilled cheese. And if you have ever eaten one of my mom's grilled cheeses, you know what a good grilled cheese tastes like. Basically he talks about how to make a grilled cheese you have to be patient. Yes maybe if you turn the heat up it will cook faster, but your grilled cheese will come out looking burnt on the outside and with unmelted cheese on the inside. So the secret is patience and medium heat. There is a quote from President Uchtdorf that I love. He says, "Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can--working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!”
In order to go reach it to the celestial kingdom we have to endure. And do it well and that requires patience. Every single person in this world struggles with something. Whether it be lice, a dead tooth, no desire to do anything, pride, or making a good grilled cheese. But how lucky we are to have ONE who understands us all. He knows us BY NAME. And He is standing there at the ready to endure with us.
Although I feel at times like I have no idea how I could solve any of these problems, I have been set apart as a full time missionary to help others come unto Christ. And that is exactly what I will work my hardest to do. I love this work and we are CHOOSING HAPPY!!!!!
I love and miss you all very dearly.
Good luck with elections!!! ✔️
- Sorella G ❤️🇮🇹
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