Funny things this week: -
less active old lady trying to open a water bottle by cutting the lid off with a knife because she's not strong enough to open it by twisting it and she didn't ask for help until I saw what was going on and insisted to help haha (she should not be allowed to live by herself. Way too many safety hazards) - other less active lady (she can't really talk and she doesn't leave her house - she looks like a skeleton, that's the only way I can describe it) was eating a piece of cake and she had crumbs on her face, but didn't have a napkin, just PULLS ONE OUT OF HER SLEEVE, it may or may not have been used haha
Helllllooooooooooooooo,
Holy cow I know it has been cold in Utah, but here in Ragusa it has been freezing!!!! It snowed!! Actual snow this time. I had on sooo many layers and it was as if I had on a cardigan and some leggings. The humidity said "100%" haha and if you know humid cold, you know there's really not any clothing you can out on to stop the cold from cutting straight to your bones. Also add the normal wind into the factor and some rain boots to keep your feet perfectly COLD and you've got a winter in Ragusa!!! Haha I am probably exaggerating a little bit, but I feel super lucky to have seen the snow here because it is not a usual winter. I was very happy. Happy and cold haha. And we are lucky because it has gotten much warmer since then.
We had some very good less active lessons this week and a really good lesson with our investigators. Unfortunately the wife (Marcella) was in and out of the lesson, but we were able to read Alma 32 with the husband (Maurizio) and really work on his faith a little bit. He says he is aetheist, and the unfortunate thing is that he has a brother in law who used to be aetheist, but one morning felt like he needed to become catholic. Exactly like San Francesco. And he believes that this is going to happen to him some day. He is very open to our lessons, yet we are still trying to help him grow the desire to act on the questions that we have and remind him that faith without works is dead. Every time he says "Who knows? One day I might wake up and feel like it's all true." Who does know? Only God, but that doesn't mean we can just sit back and wait until we receive a sign. If Alma were here he would say, "is that faith? I say unto you NAY!!" He did say both the opening and closing prayer though and we are hoping to teach them the plan of salvation this week. They are a beautiful family and have a daughter named Asia who is about five years old. I want for them so badly to receive the happiness that the gospel brings to families!!!
We also had a cool experience with a woman on the street. We were walking to a member's house on the sixth of January so already little people on the street because of L'epifania (the holiday that ends all of the holidays where a witch comes and brings all of the little children stockings if they were good) and that was also the coldest day where it was snowing, but we almost ran into this lady walking around a corner and I asked if we could share our message and she said, ok let's walk and talk so we walked for quite a while. She said she has heard our message and doesn't really want to know more, but I asked her if she has ever read the Book of Mormon and she said no. I pulled out my copy and asked her if she would read it. She was very skeptical at first and then she was very interested and agreed to read it!! Our member ended up having to leave at the last moment so it ended up that we walked for 50 minutes in the freezing cold on an Italian holiday to give a woman a Book of Mormon and I couldn't be more happy about it. There is something the lightens your should when you give someone a Book of Mormon. It actually really does make your bag lighter (because there's not a book there), but just knowing the truthfulness and power of the book and knowing the potential it has to change lives, just lightens your soul. It's hard to describe.
BIG NEWS!!!! I got a new calling this week!! Well it's not a calling because I am set apart as a full time missionary and can't be set apart as anything else at the moment, BUT I was asked to be the young women's teacher!! We have one young woman haha. Her name is Lorena and she is SO incredible. She basically reactivated her less active parents, she's the youngest in her family of less actives, none of her friends are members, and she loves America!! Haha what more could you ask for in an Italian?? She truly is such an incredible example to the whole ward and then you've got ME trying to teach her haha. I just feel a little bad for her because she has to answer all of the questions and try to interpret my Italian on top of learning a lesson, but I am really grateful for her and her patience and she is just awesome. We're going to have a lot of fun!! I taught my first lesson on Sunday and there are five lessons that you can pick from and I picked the topic of "Chi sono io? Chi posso diventare?????" Who am I? Who can I become? There was a talk that I read that was given by Elder Renlund about how we have to always keep on trying. We are being shaped to become like Heavenly Father!! That takes a lot of tries and really we will never reach it without the help and grace of Jesus Christ. There is a quote he shares by Nelson Mandela. He says, "I’m no saint--that is, unless you think a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.” THAT IS US!!
The bottom line is that Heavenly Father cares a lot more about who we are and who we are becoming than about who we once were. He cares that we keep on trying. And that takes work!!
Missions are very humbling and honestly I fail at things every single day, but the important thing is we keep on trying!! And thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ we have the opportunity to try again and again and again!!
Un bacione
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| FROM MY DEAR FRIENDS!!!! |
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