No seriously, I think I may die this summer. Really. I never get a break. My body constantly has a sticky residue everywhere. But that is alright. Missions are about sacrifice or something like that ;) and I have finally found where the apostrophe key is on these keyboards! That is a miracle! I know . . . 5 months in Italy and you think I would have figured it out by now right? And another thing, it's funny, but the longer I am here in Bari, the more I wanna stay! I was way bummed and it broke my heart when I had to leave Roma and I had a bad attitude for the first week or so here. But this last week I sat in almost every lesson and in church and thought "darn it! I don't ever wanna leave!" Italians are the sweetest people on the planet! Ah! I will just stay here. Okay with you . . . ?
But we will talk about this later. This week was great, as always. Last preparation day after internet we just went home and listened to this last general conference. We still haven't received the Ensign yet and I have not heard all the talks so Sorella Laws downloaded the feed to her i-pod so we could listen to it. Wow, we are such missionaries. We fell asleep listening to conference with fans blasting on us during our preparation day afternoon. Pretty exciting! That night we had a lesson with Nella. She has been having a hard time lately and when we got there Wednesday night she kept saying "Sono giù, sono giù" because her whole life has just been a struggle. We first were reading scriptures with her from the Book of Mormon but nothing was really sinking in. So I opened to the first page and I had some pass along cards there. One of which is a card that says "La fede porta speranza" "Faith brings hope" and it has a picture of Christ with the red-robe that is used throughout the church. And one thing to know about Italians, especially here in the south, is they all LOVE Christ. Seriously. You show them a picture of them and they about die. You give them a picture of Him and they kiss is five times. This was no exception. She saw the picture and read the quote and asked if she could keep it. When I said yes she kissed it three times and hugged it to her chest. Sorella Laws then invited her to church and at first she said no, but then Sorella Laws promised her that if she came her life would improve and our Savior would help her cope with her life. Nella stopped for a minute, looked at the back of the card, read it, then quietly asked when church was. She said she would come and that when she says she will do something, she will do everything in her power to be there. We then sang "Where Can I Turn for Peace" and immediately her sister came right up next to the table and listened. She then asked us a bunch of questions as well. Pretty sure we have sucked her in with the Spirit! Speriamo!
Giovedì we went to go see a member named Francesca Leo. She is the sweetest person ever! We have gone to see her once before. She has a hard time going out and doing things by herself but her Mom was always there to help her. She is a very talented artist, has a beautiful voice, and plays both the piano and guitar. But after her mother died she stopped leaving the house and stopped finding joy in her talents. But Sorella Laws and Sorella Foote started to go see her every week or so and I guess there has been a world of a difference. She definitely likes to talk a lot and does not have much of an attention span, but she loves the Sorelle. She just never wants us to leave haha. But before we left, Sorella Laws asked her if she would draw a portrait of her. Before when she would ask she would always say no, that she could not do it. But this time she was more than happy and asked if she could do it right then. Unfortunately we had already been there all morning so Sorella Laws just left a photo with her to copy, but we love Francesca :) That night we corso d'inglese and we had several new students because other students invited their friends. It was not the most religious centered conversation like we have had in the past, but we had a lot of fun answering just about any question under the sun. They are all so funny, every last one of them. It changes from day to day, but recently my favorite is Francesco (Frank). He has this electronic dictionary and is always telling people to speak only in English. He is sure to tell us all of the things that he hates, and will do just about anything for us. One thing we have not been able to understand is he always tells us he does not want to get married or have a family even though he is in his late forties. But last week when we were doing Mostra in Centro he came over to talk to us. On one side of the mostra was a big picture of a family and I brought Frank over to see it and told him it was my favorite. But his reaction surprised me. All he said was "I do not like to see things like that." When I asked why he said "it is hard for me. That's all." Pretty sure he wants nothing more than a wife and children. So my goal while in Bari is to show him how greatly he needs this church and the help of his Savior. No worries, I am on the case!
Venerdì we met up with Massimo Italiano at the church to "play pingpong" but our intent was just to get him there to talk about the gospel. And our plan started out with being in the chapel playing and singing hymns. He came and joined in with us for about a half hour and then when we could not find the ping pong paddles we talked to him for a while longer. It was not church based, but at the end he told us he felt after tonight that we were friends, that we actually cared, rather than being "missionaries" trying to make him do things. Granted we are missionaries and we are here to teach our message, but it is never a waste of time to gain the trust of your investigators.
Saturday we went out to Loseto to go find some investigators we have yet been able to find. But no luck. Again they were all gone. So we snuck into the Palazzo of an inactive member named Sara Puglisi. We have not seen her since our last visit when we talked to her about prayer, but we felt like we shouldn't go up to see her. Instead we got in and left a picture of the Rome temple at their door and a card. Ten minutes later her husband drove by and offered us a ride. He had a big smile on his face so our gift must have been accepted well :) We then went by la famiglia Cassano. We left a picture of the temple with them as well and shared a short message. It was funny though because Sorella Cassano was getting her hair washed and done for Sunday. Most Italians, at least of the older generation, only wash their hair once a week on their "hair washing day". And for Sorella Cassano, that was Saturday. They are so nice though and insisted we come for lunch this next week. I could do with out a lunch appointment considering they stuff you full of pasta, cheese, and meat. But that is alright. I guess I can eat for the members I like haha. That afternoon we went to go see Nella again. When we got there she had a big smile on her face and immediately told us she felt more "up" because she had done what we said, she had prayed and asked Heavenly Father for help. And every time we go over there her house gets less and less crazy. This time no one even entered the living room while we were there. The door was shut almost the whole time! We had a great lesson and talked about 2 Nephi 31 and the gospel of Jesus Christ. She said she believed it all without a doubt and totally got sucked into the Book of Mormon at that point. She kept reading ahead even! I love it when people figure out what a treasure trove it is. Our one speed bump we hit was she does not understand authority and the priesthood. She believes she has already done all of the things it talks about in 2 Nephi 31, faith, repentance, baptism, confirmation . . . So next time we go by we will re-teach her the Restoration and make sure she understands the Great Apostasy and the loss of authority. But she is progressing really well and even reminded us that she would be coming to church the next day! Yes! I can already see her in the water haha. That night we had another interesting lesson haha. We went to Sorella Magno's apartment for a family night with la famiglia Curci (ward mission leader), la famiglia Costanzo (investigators), Antonia (investigator with a prior baptismal date), and Maria Pia (an investigator from the other Bari ward). Let's just say I would never have put all those people in the same room, but it ended up working out. Sorella Magno taught a lesson on the Millennium . . . which again, surprisingly was perfect, and then we all sang "I Wonder When He Comes Again." Everyone walked away being edified and excited to learn more on another day. Sometimes life just surprises you I guess haha.
On Sunday we faced a little big of a disappointment. We waited on the street corner for Nella until church has been going for 20 minutes and she still had not shown up. We tried calling her and she answered once but the call dropped. We had no idea where she was but, there was nothing we could do. Also, Massimo did not come either. Managia! If they only knew how important it was and how much we pray for them to come! But they have their agency . . . managia haha. We did have a one investigator in church though named Christina. She is from Romania and comes to church every Sunday. Gospel principles was completely catered to her and she really made a leap in her understanding. But we faced another set back because she finally found a job and she will be working on Sundays. We just never catch a break sometimes, but all we can really do is just keep working hard and we know that the Lord will bless us. He has children out there just waiting for this gospel and we will find them. For pranzo we went to eat with the Rammuni family. Again, I was fed FAR too much, but I survived. And that night we had a surprise lesson with Fratello Curci and Antonia. We saw him outside the church and he asked if we were going to go see Antonia. We said yes and invited him. He came with us and we ended up being really grateful. We gave her a picture of Christ and she goes into another room and brings out a picture of Mary, or as the Italians call her "La Madonna". They love her and pray to her all the time. Anontia I guess you could say . . . has an addiction to her. She just does not understand why we only pray to Heavenly Father. She told us she just feels a connection to her because she too is a mother. When Fratello Curci told her that we do not pray to Giuseppe and he raised Christ as well she was shocked and told us that Mary was not ever married to Joseph. Oh boy. Sometimes I wish Catholics read the Bible, then they would join our church immediately haha. But by the time we left I think she understood better. Vediam.
Lunedì we had Consiglio as always and we had the perfect destrimento about how we can help get our investigators in church. Meno male . . . that is one of the things we have the hardest time doing. We just now have to implement those things so these awesome people can begin to enjoy the blessings of Exaltation! That afternoon we tried to go and see Nella and her sister answered the door. Pretty sure she loves us :) Unfortunately though, Nella would not come out and see is because she had a really bad head-ache. We are assuming that is why she did not come to church on Sunday. We'll just have to stop by another day. After that we went to la famiglia Tarantino. They are the funniest little old women. The mother, who is 89, is propria italiana. She just cries and then smiles, tells us we're beautiful, then yells over something. They are just rollercoasters haha. We gave them a scripture reading chart with a picture of Christ on it and of course she kissed it. Then we watched "Together Forever" with them in Italian. I started to cry during it and Tina, the daughter went "ah! Lei è sentimenta! Carina! Bravissima!" So I guess being sentimental is a good thing, at least to her. After that we went to go see another less active family, named the Valerios. They are great. They were sure to offer us everything under the sun as far as food before we sat down and taught a lesson. They then took us on a tour of the house and recommended I wear my sunscreen. All together an effective day full of my favorite little Italians.
Due to the fact that Italians love pictures of Christ, we decided to use that to our advantage while doing house. I will have to thank you mom for giving me that picture of Christ wearing the red robe before I left because it worked wonders. Most of the time we just say something to the effect of "We are here with a wonderful message of Jesus Christ" and that is as far as we get before they shut the door. This time we showed them the picture and said "Chi è?" of course all they say back is "Gesù Cristo" so we ask again, who is Christ? That makes them think and when they still cannot really answer we tell them who He is to us, our Savior and Redeemer, the Son of God. Perfect opportunity to bare witness to His divinity and that He has again established His church upon the earth, just as He did during His own life. One woman seemed really interested but she said she was too busy to meet with us. So we gave un puscolo to her son, who is only 8, and he told us he would read it and started to right there. Speriamo! Later that afternoon we went to see Sorella Valenti. I love her. Really. I know I say that a lot, but she is the COOLEST old Italian woman on the planet. She is probably 80 or 90 years old, is always the first one in church on Sunday, and adores us. The best part is she used to be straight up catholic before she finally joined the church. That is why we went to go see her. We wanted to hear her conversion story. Turns out it took several encounters with the missionaries, her husbands baptism, and her daughters baptismal date for her to agree to it as well. Now you would never guess she used to pray to the Madonna and saints. She would fit in perfectly in Utah and has a steadfast testimony in the truthfulness of the gospel. I am amazed at how faithful these members are. Makes me realize how much I need to improve my own life. Before I left on my mission I had this idea in my head that the people in Italy needed me. Now I have realized how much it was I who needed them. They are perfect examples of what it means to love, obey, and endure. I will be happy if I become 1/10 of who they are. Which I had solidified during English course that night. My patience was running a little thin during the actual lesson. I do not know why. Maybe it was the heat, my feet, or my stomach, but whatever it was I was not in a good mood. But at the end, Sorella Laws turned to me and said "go ahead, you have the spiritual thought." That was about the last thing I wanted to do, but I sucked it up and grabbed that great picture of the Savior we had used doing house earlier in the day and I asked the class the same question. "Who is this?" Again, I got the same answer. Jesus Christ. And when I asked who Christ was they gave me answers like, example, Son of God, point of reference . . . and it amazed me yet again that not one of them said Savior. So I was lucky enough to bare witness of His divinity, pretty much my favorite thing in the world. I got to tell them who Christ is to me and every member of the church, as well as to them. As I was talking, Frank raised his hand and said "Well for us who do not believe that, life is a little bit more difficult." So I told him life would be easier for him if he just put his trust in the Lord. Granted they were all men about 20-50 years older than me, but they all sat there with big goofy grins on their faces. The spiritual thought then turned into an open forum about our church. Pretty sure all the questions asked have been stewing inside them for ages now and they finally asked. One man, whom we call "mullet-man" (yes, I am a terrible person for not knowing his name . . . ) asked if we believed the Pope existed. Haha, Sorella Laws took that one. Again we explained church meetings and the hours. Maybe we will get a few in church? I hope haha. Hope hope hope. That and faith are wonderful things, because sometimes that is all you are left with.
So the work is coming along. Is it easy? Far from it. But is it worth it? Of course! We are going about doing the very work Christ did when He lived on the earth. We are set apart to be His servants, representatives, to literally act and say as He would were He here. It is empowering when you really think about it and allows us to know we are never alone and all things are possible. Thank you for you prayers and love! Hope you are all doing well and know I love you bunches!
Muah! Tanti Baci!
Sorella Karen LeCates
