Buenos Noches? Boh! Non lo so, I speak Italian! (Kinda . . . )‏

I hope everything goes swell! This last week has been kinda crazy, problem is, I forgot my planner which is where I keep notes on all the happenings during the week since I do not keep a journal. So we will see how good my memory is and you may all luck out and get a shorter letter! So after I wrote last week we had a nice relaxing day of writing letters, dedicas, and napping until English course that night. And it was AWESOME! Anyone that disses English course needs a good swift kick to the pants because it is an excellent way of finding people to teach. Two weeks ago I told you all about Marco and this week I had another great experience. There are two students in our advanced course. One is a girl in her 20s named Marilu (Mary Lou in English) and her boyfriends brother (I do not know his name yet). He speaks excellent English and even has a British accent when he does so. I had met Marilu one time previous but this was the first day he (let us call him . . . Angelo?) had come. I talked to them a little bit before class and then we all watched "Together Forever" in English with subtitles for the lesson. I do not know if you have seen this movie, but it is pretty much my favorite thing. It is older, from the early nineties, but it sucks you right in. Sorella Laws and I kept looking at each other during the film with huge grins on our faces and by the end we were both crying. The whole class seemed really wrapped up in it as well. I kept my eyes on the faces of certain students to catch their reactions. Some were fighting it because you could see the inner turmoil across their entire face, while others absorbed every word. At the end we took questions about English for about 15 minutes, then we took questions about the content itself. They all seemed to really like it, and after we said the closing prayer and people started to mingle and talk, Angelo and Marilu came up to me and started asking me questions. It was basically Marco all over again and I LOVE bearing my testimony. There is truly no greater power than when you bear your own personal witness of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I told them how we are all called on missions and sent to different cities. I told them that I knew that I was in Bari at this very moment because there were specific people I needed to meet and those that needed to meet me as well. I told them that it was no sacrifice to leave school, work, and my family because this message was worth it, that the only pain we feel as missionaries is when those we teach fail to keep their commitments. Again, like Marco, I told them that I knew without a doubt, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the exact same church that Jesus Christ established on the earth over 2,000 years ago. They were all speechless but finally Angelo said that usually he has a hard time understanding different English accents but he had been able to understand every single word I had spoken. Marilu agreed. I explained to them that that was because the Spirit was there, and that it does not just communicate to your ears, but to your heart as well. I explained the way that they were feeling to them (which again surprised them) and told them that that was Heavenly Father telling them that the things I was saying were true. Again, like Marco, Angelo said he could see it. He knew, just by the way I looked and the way I said these things that I meant every word. I liked the way he explained it, that the light, the joy I was expressing was nearly tangible. He said he felt as if he could almost hold it but it was just barely out of reach. I then promised them both that if they did the things that we, the missionaries, asked them that not only would they be able to hold that light and truth, but it would become who they are. I promised them that if they read The Book of Mormon (which they both have copies) and pray to know if it is true, they would feel the exact same way they did then. That light, that burning they feel would return and they would know it was true. Haha, you should have seen the looks on their faces. It was as if their entire world had turned upside down. It took them about two minutes to find the door as they were leaving and neither of them spoke to one another as they left. I have just gotta say, the power missionaries are given to teach the gospel and bear witness is true. I felt it then as I have on many other occasions. We have a true physical mantle given to us to bring others unto our Savior Jesus Christ. We are not the only ones to feel it, it is visible to all we come into contact with.

Giovedì mattina was really great too, even though things did not go according to plan (but when do they ever?) We got a member named Carmen to go out to Loseto (a small little paese) with us to go visit some investigators and less actives. As always, no one was home except for one woman who is less active named Sara Puglisi. Before I got here the Sorelle have been teaching her and she has told them more than once that she has lost all her faith and she no longer even believes in God. For the lesson we taught her about prayer and read Alma 22 with her, specifically the verses where king Lamoni asks God if the words of Aaron were true and he falls to the earth. Carmen also bore a powerful testimony of how she learned that the church was true four years previously. Sorella Puglisi seemed to really be listening. She desires to have that testimony, that knowledge again, she just does not see how she can. But I think our lesson gave her hope. That afternoon we ran by several members and investigators but had no real lessons with anyone so we went to the church to see if anyone was coming for English course, even though we had moved it to Wednesday for just this week. We were very fortunate that we did because two women showed up, a mother and daughter. The lesson turned into a discussion about our families and the gospel. Then the mother asked us what made us different from everyone else. She told us that she could always see the light in our eyes and in our countenance and she has always been unable to figure out what it is. Her daughter agreed that they had seen it in all of the missionaries who have taught English course but they have never seen in anywhere else. We tried to explain that as members of the church we all have this light and that it comes from the Holy Ghost but the mother kept arguing that that could not be it because they have the Holy Ghost in their church as well. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to explain the Restoration of the Priesthood keys to them that night, but I am sure we will be able to do so in the future.

Friday morning we did weekly planning as usual and then we again made a trip out to see less actives and contacts. Again, unfortunately, no one was home. So we decided to go visit Fratello and Sorella Curci. He is the ward mission leader and an excellent example to all of us. They are both in their fifties, but Sorella Curci has lost some of her mental capabilities. But that does not stop him from being the sweetest husband to her. We had a great little scripture study with them reading from the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi and then we took him with us to visit an investigator named Antonia. Antonia had a baptismal date a month ago but the baptismal interview kind of went awry . . . No one knows what happened but she got really upset and said the church wanted to steal her money through tithing. So we took Fratello Curci with us and the lesson went really well. He keeps his head in any situation and invited her to come to church. She said she could not because she was too embarrassed but he said she should, that no one cared, that they would love to see her. She did not really give an answer, but it was clear in her face that she wanted to come back. We will just have to wait and see :)

Sabato mattina we went to see Sorella Rosa Magno. She joined the church 30 years ago? Or something like that and has made it her personal mission to teach everyone she meets, which is incredible because she is currently going through chemotherapy for cancer. While we were there she showed us all the pictures she had from her baptism and then all the pictures on her computer after she added ones of us to them. She then made us lunch and gave us each kisses before we left. If I could be like her, life would be great :) After that we had to basically go straight to our lesson with Nella. And as every lesson with her, nothing goes according to plan. We got there and this time things seemed pretty normal but that could only last so long. In all seriousness, every time we got there we meet 5 new people and that is no exaggeration. This time we met her sister and husband. But luckily people were out of the living room for most of it. We asked her how her prayer had gone to find the truth and she told us a story from when she was 14. She had just found out she was pregnant and was debating whether or not to have an abortion when she felt her Savior right next to her. She told us he took her hand and told her not to cry anymore and that she knew what she needed to do. Rather then have an abortion she got married and here she is today. She told us that she feels like she is in prison being married and does not know how to get out. She has been down lately but when we come over everything seems brighter. She took our hands and told us that we are her hope. She had indeed prayed to know if our message was true, and she said again she heard a voice in her head telling her she knew what she needed to do, that she needed to act upon the things she was hearing. We took that as a yes and wanted to invite her to be baptized again, but her husband came in the room. The problem with Nella is that, when someone else is in the room she closes up. She refuses to really talk about religious things. Usually though she laughs along with everyone else and yells in Barese but this time she just sat there, not saying anything. When her sister came in she asked what was wrong with her and all Nella said was "I'm thinking." And yes, she was. We really need to teach her outside of her home. She is so afraid that someone will walk in during a lesson that she also holds back in our discussions as well. There are plenty of members that live around her that it would be fairly easy to take her to one of their homes for a lesson. Time is now ours to make it happen.

Sunday the GANS had an activity! Singles Ward! It is kind of a strange idea for me, but here they do not have Singles Wards because there are too few members. So the young single adults planned a Sunday where all of the GANS from the entire stake met together for church and made it a whole day thing. After church they all had lunch and then ice cream. After that they had a fireside that really hit us all. Fratello Valentini started out talking about the world we live in now, that we live in the most wicked dispensation on the most wicked world of all of Heavenly Father's creations. But then he explained that there is the exact opposite as well because there has to be opposition in all things. One example he gave is that there have never been so many priesthood holders on the earth at one time than there are now. He told us the key is remembering who we are, that we are children of a Heavenly Father. We then watched the clip from "Lion King" where Mufasa appears to Simba and tells him to remember "who you are, you are my son, and the one true king." This applies to us all because we are all children of a king and we all have the potential to become such. Quite empowering actually, which lead into our next activity. Though the GANS activity was done, the Anziani from the other ward, Anziano Holland and Anziano Knutsen, asked if we wanted to go do Mostra down in Centro before the Permesso expired. I personally had never done Mostra and figured, why not? But that was before I realized what Mostra was. I knew you put up a big stand/three way poster and then you talk to people about the gospel. But had someone told me it was basically street, I would have begged to do anything else. Finding work is great, we do it all the time. But to be completely honest, I have only done street one day of my whole mission and that was in my first transfer when I did Scambi with Sorella Miller. And not going to lie . . . I did not like it. In fact, it stressed my beans out to a whole new level. I will do house, I will talk to people on buses and trains. But I have never stopped someone on the street myself without being guilt tripped into it. So we get to Centro and set up the Mostra and all of the Anziani set out and start talking to people without a drop of fear in them. One of them, Anziano Holland, has only been in the mission field a week! And he is off stopping everyone by himself. And I was scared out of my pants (or my skirt) to say more than "Buonasera" to anyone. After about 15 minutes Anziano Holland came over to me and said "Wow, this is awesome! I love mostra!" and I felt really dumb and told him I felt like I was a terrible missionary. He looked confused and said "why on earth do you think that?" When I told him it was because I was afraid he looked me right in the eye and said "What on earth do YOU have to be afraid of?" Wow, a spiritual slap in the face from a greenie, because I could not answer him because the only answer I could think of was nothing. I am a missionary of God, a representative of Jesus Christ. What DO I have to be afraid of? So I kicked myself and hopped right up to this old couple and stopped them. I then talked to them for about five minutes. The crazy thing is, as soon as I opened my mouth the fear was completely gone. After that couple, I went up to another and they stopped and talked to me for a couple of minutes and they even knew a family who attend our ward. There were several more like that. In fact, I can only think of one person that said they were not interested. We even ran into one of our English course students Frank (Francesco) and met his sister and brother-in-law. Again, so empowering when you realize who's power you have with you. The worst anyone can say is no. So as it got later we took the mostra down and started walking back to the station and I told myself I was going to give away a Book of Mormon by the end of the night. We passed this old man and we both said "Buonasera" and he stopped and grinned at us. I guess the Anziani had said hello to him too. He took our hands and said we were beautiful haha. So I gave him the Book of Mormon and said he should read it. He said he would love to and wanted to take us out for ice cream. We graciously said no, but he gave us his number. He is probably just a crazy old man, but I got to give my Book of Mormon away Then on the bus home we met this cool girl from Romania. She was really nice and talked to us the whole way home and took one of our Restoration pamphlets and said she would actually read it. Vediam. It is crazy how much the Lord blesses you when you do things that are hard for you and rely on His strength to do it. This truly is His work, not ours.

Lunedì was another spiritual recharge. We had consiglio that morning, as usual, and Anziano Reyes, our Zone leader, taught the destrimento. It was all about building the foundation of our work on love. Through this love we are able to serve those around us, teach by the spirit, find and talk to people, get lessons in the presence of a members, meet the mission standard of excellence, and witness miracles. To give you some perspective, President Kelly has set a new standard of excellence for every companionship every week:
3 new investigators
3 new baptismal dates

20 lessons in the presence of a member
To add more perspective our numbers for this last week were:

0 new investigators
0 new baptismal dates
2 lessons in the presence.
Granted, most of our other numbers were high, but it is difficult to get these particular ones higher. But if President Kelly believes we can do it, we can do it. He is inspired of God and does not expect anything we cannot do. After all, this is not our work and we have the powers of Heaven here to help us. There is literally nothing we cannot do. After this destrimento I felt so good. We have had really good destrimentos before during consiglio and zone conference but I usually go away feeling almost worse because I want to be better, I want to be free from fear and talk to everyone everywhere but I did not know how to do it. But after that lesson Monday, I knew I could. After Sunday, what do I have to be afraid of? Fear is not worthy of a disciple of Christ. Fear is nothing more than a shoddy weapon the adversary uses to keep us from meeting our potential. Ci Vediamo Satana! And it feels so good to feel that way. That night we had all of our plans fall through but Sorella Laws had a feeling we should go visit a particular family named the Santoros. And there was no better place we could have been that night. Infact, they told us the only reason they had not invited us over for dinner is because they were fasting to find a family to bring to church before the end of June. They have a son serving a mission and England and they also expressed desire to help in the Lord's work since he has left. They invited us over again next week and we asked if we could possibly bring a non-member. Of course they said yes! We need the members, they help us out so much!

Ieri was interesting as well. Our plans in the morning again fell through but we were able to go visit a mother and daughter, the Tarantinos, who are less active. In fact they had not been in church for about 9 years until two Sundays ago. We stopped by without calling and because of that we got to see a whole other side of the situation. The mother has lost a lot of her lucidness and is always yelling at her daughter, Tina. Tina cannot leave the house even to buy groceries without having to argue with her mom for the next hour. We had not realized the situation was like that and we feel like she REALLY needs to get out of the house every once in a while. We will have to talk to the ward mission leader about finding women in the ward who could go over and watch her mom every once in a while. Speriamo. That afternoon we had a lesson with an investigator, Massemilliano Italiano. We feel like he is on the brink of getting baptized or becoming an eternal investigator. He feels good when he is with us, when he learns more about the gospel but he is not willing to work for it. But thankfully the lesson went really well. We taught with a member, Raffaele Patroni, and everything I felt like I should say he ended up saying in an even better way. At first Massimo had a lot of things to say in response but as the lesson went on he got quiet and was really listening. Sorella Laws asked him if he wanted to know if the church was true. He said he did. And so she asked him what he would do if he got his answer. He told us he would tell us and that it would mean that this church is the one true church. He promised us he would pray to know but he would not promise to come to church . . . sigh. Piano piano I guess. But he is really progressing and gaining light to his countenance. It is a wonderful thing to see as the gospel changes and molds people into the person they were always meant to be. I just hope he continues to progress and gets his behind in a pew this Sunday for Fast and Testimony meeting.

Well, looks like this letter turned into another novel. My apologies. But I really love each and everyday and I do not want to forget any of it! It is crazy how much Heavenly Father has for us each to learn if we only pay attention to see the lessons he puts in our paths. This church has changed my life and through our Savior Jesus Christ, we will all be able to progress and learn for eternity!

Muah! Vi vogio bene!

Sorella Karen LeCates