GET OUT OF THE BOAT!!

Hello!!!

The title of my email will make a whole lot more sense later on in the email but my companion said, "I feel like we kind of jumped out of the boat and then someone shoved our heads under water for a little bit" hahahaha I love being a missionary

This week was a little more difficult! We tried to really focus on finding this week because our work has kind of plateaued, but no one was having it. I don't exactly know why our week was a little more difficult, but it just was.

I will tell you about Saturday. Well here in Rome 3 (it wasn't like this in any of my other cities and I am not sure if it is Rome 3 or if it is just this time of year), no one wants to meet with us until Saturday. So we wait all week for our appointments with members, investigators, and less actives and then try to crank out like 6 in one day!! That's near impossible here. 

I don't know if it's because Italians talk a lot or because of travel situations or what. We cancelled meetings and we had a solid four appointments to start the day. We planned very well and wanted to be very prepared so we had scriptures and thought provoking questions we wanted to ask and it was just great our lessons were going to be worth the wait!!! We get to our first appointment and our investigator Carmela just doesn't say anything. She said she had a really bad headache and she was really really down. I didn't think it would be the best idea to question her about and study the restoration so I said, "Sorella wood we have to change our lesson." She was like........uh ok....... that was all thanks to the spirit helping us out and we watched a Mormon message and read some quotes and scriptures about hope and you could see the change in her countenance. I was so amazed at how well it went!! I was bearing my testimony at the very end to close the lesson and she interrupts me and goes on for 18 minutes non stop yelling about how her husband is psycho and her children don't help her with anything! Sorella Wood timed it haha that's how I know it was 18 minutes. It was so frustrating and sad because we had seen the condition she was in, did our best to change it, changed it, and then it was right back to where we started and the spirit said "ciao ciao!!"

Well then our member cancelled and then Magdona didn't answer so we went to go see our Peruvian investigators that work at the bar. While we were there, Magdona called us and told us to meet her in Termini at 5 (which is like an hour travel time there) and the Peruvian ladies talked the whole time about how much the heat has been bugging them and how they are so tired from working all day every day. We weren't even able to teach a lesson so we left them two plan of salvation pamphlets and headed to termini.

MAGDONA!! Oh mamma mia sometimes I want to pull all of my hairs out. It was just frustrating because she believes that our church is the true church and she wants to be baptized. She even told her Mormon daughter that she is meeting with us!! The only problem is she says in the lesson "well I don't really believe that Jesus did everything people say he did." Or "Jesus and God aren't really there to hear our prayers." WHAT??? I was just pleading with her kind of throb bearing testimony and reading scriptures to please just ask in faith Magdona!!
Because God will answer!!!!

My patience was like at its wits end. It was so hard for me to sit there and listen to these people who talk for 40 minutes about how hard their life is and how the world is falling apart and how terrible this is and that and I really love them so much I just sit there and listen intently and then when I try to talk they don't want to listen. BUT!!! That's ok. We are here to learn and there is a great scripture I studied this week that really helped me out.

It is found in Matthew 14:24-32

Why would the Lord allow Peter to get out of the boat and go to him if he already knew Peter was going to fall?? Because it was the perfect opportunity for Peter to learn. Christ will always stretch forth His hand. He is merciful and He is a great teacher and after the lesson was learned, the winds ceased. Fear and faith cannot exist together!!!!

But it is also a lesson that we need to get out of the boat!! I love that Peter desired to go to the Lord. It's like the Brother of Jared. Are we seeking for things in this life? Or are we just sitting around waiting??

In Jackson Hole we went whitewater river rafting when I was about 8 years old and I was on the bottom of the boat crying the whole time because I was scared. AND I MISSED THE WHOLE RIDE!!! It's when we leave the boat that we learn and grow the most. We discover the strength of the Lord. He is there to reach out to us and lift us up. And in the process we can have joy and enjoy the whole purpose and ups and downs of life.

BE OF GOOD CHEER!!.......

AND GET OUT OF THE BOAT!


If any of you didn't know yet, I love being a missionary and I love Italy and the Italian language people, culture, everything haha. And I might be leaving Rome!!! Ahh! I'll let you know next week.

BUONA SETTIMANA!

Love,

Sorella G ❤🇮🇹