I have been really cold and wet these last few days, but at least I can still laugh about it! And I finally bought an umbrella today! Things are looking up!
After I wrote last week we got a ride with the Anziani to go to Auchan (a giant walmart-like store) to do the grocery shopping. Also because it was my one year mark I bought cannoli for everyone and then we got a pizza. There is this pizzeria down the street from our house called Pizzeria Nizzeti and it is SO freakin' good! Even Sorella Giordano (who is Italian) said it is the best pizza she has ever had. That says a lot. We went to our stairwell again with Anziano Andersen (who still did not have his new companion) and the two Anziani from Siracusa. The whole wall/door to the outside of our apartment is glass and there was a major thunder storm outside and we watched it all and the river that was quickly moving down the street. Welcome to winter in Sicily!
Thursday we left to go do finding in a zone close to our house but we were not out very long before it started to ring. We should have known better because we had seen the monster cloud coming our way, but we ignored it and left the house without a hat, coat, or umbrella. So as you can probably imagine we were pretty wet. Sorella Giordano grabbed some newspapers to make a makeshift hat but I refused at first, preferring to save my dignity. But in the end I made one two. But as we walked home I gave up and got drenched as we walked along the main road. At least 500 more people have seen the Mormon sister missionaries walking through the rain trying to preach the gospel right? The best was when we stopped at the Panificio (bakery) below our house to buy bread with my hair plastered to the sides of my head. Italians think you are nuts if you go outside in the rain and I am pretty sure the owner thought I was even crazier when I laughed and said being out in the rain without an umbrella is one of my favorite things. That night was also really fun. All of our planned appointments (and we had about 4 or 5) fell through. We were in a neighborhood below our house where we have done a lot of finding and I just could not take it anymore. So we left. Yep, we then walked all the way into centro on foot and did street the whole time. It was fun :) and I loved the change. Actually our goal was to get lost, so we just randomly took turns choosing when we turned left or right or straight . . . We did not talk to anyone super special, but I felt a lot better by the end of the night (at least spiritually haha) my feet were killing me.
Friday we did planning in the morning and then we left the house at 3.00 to go to the train station so that we could take a bus out to the military base. Unfortunately we couldn't meet up with Carol, but we had set up to other appointments with members. The only problem was we had an appointment at 5.30 with the Stoddard family and one at 6.30 with the Steele family. We did not have a ride home and the last bus we could take and STILL make it home on time is at 7.00. Yeah I know. Stinks doesn't it? But I thought, hey, we can just play it by ear and maybe it will all work out at the end. So we road the bus for an hour and a half, got to the base, talked with Mayhan (I am not actually sure how she spells it) and her husband Hank. They are so great! Mayhan is from the Philippines and has a sister serving there right now. They also have a little boy who is 7 months old named Trent. He is SO stinkin' cute! She also gave us these philippino rolls with chicken inside that were really good. Also Capri Suns! I don't even know when the last time was that I drank one of those. Then we hitched a ride off Mayhan to go to the Steele's house. Ramona is the mom and is a member of the church and they have the funniest little girl ever named Aiden. The last time she was latched onto me the entire time. This time she wanted to sit right by Sorella Giordano and it was great seeing her talking in English :) we then did the Restoration with the cups (even though they were written in Italian) and then we got invited to dinner! Why not? We had already missed the bus by that point. We ate stirfry and then she even shared some cookies she had bought from a pasticceria (a sweeter version of a panificio). Ramona then walked us to the bus stop outside of the base and we took the 8.40 bus home . . . well I was REALLY hoping we would arrive to the station by 9.30, but even with that luck we would still be late. So I sucked it up and called the Anziani for a ride home. And because my luck really is so great, it was the new elder, Anziano Marengo, that answered the phone. I know, perfect first impression of me asking for a favor right? But he immediately said "Don't worry at all! We will be there waiting at 9.30." Luckily we did not get there much later than that and we got home before 10.00. Meno male!
Saturday morning we had to be at the church at 8.00 to do blood analysis for the blood drive this next week. Somehow, and I am not sure how, we ended up going last. So after two hours we got stabbed by needles, lost some blood, and were on our way. Sorella Giordano and I then took off to do some finding until 1.00 when we returned to study and eat lunch. And then the REAL adventure started! Okay, not quite. Again all of our appointments fell through except for Sorella Maiori who I just adore. She is so stinkin' cute. She is a less active and we talked about family prayer with her and she said she would try harder to do it more often with her family. Then she sent us off with some cookies and hand painted napkin holders (because we CANNOT leave her house without a gift even though she literally has nothing) and we headed to a zone I had chosen earlier that day during lunch. The reason it was an adventure is I had never been to this zone, I had no clue how to get there with the buses and it had started to rain and we only had one tiny umbrella. But we pressed on diligently despite the fact that AGAIN I was soaked through and through. As we took a street that went around the back of the soccer stadium it really started to pour and the whole entire street was a river up to our ankles. But sometimes you just have to laugh, and we did. We finally made it to the zone we wanted and did some house for a little while, a little bit of street, without much success, and then it was time to go home. Again we did not know how to get home with buses so we took yet again another way home because we were pretty sure that area was sketch, especially at night, and we wanted to head up to the main street called circovallazione. So we got there and then walked along this huge road for more than an hour. The best part was when the side walk more or less ended and we thought we were following circovallazione when we realized we were almost onto the freeway. We then ran into the the center circle that was full of weeds, water, and palm trees, and trudged through the jungle until we made it back to safety. We agian made a spectacle of our selves as we walked along the median of this road in the dark and rain until we FINALLY made it home :) At least I was still laughing . . . not so sure about my companion, but I thought it was great :)
Unfortunately the next morning we both woke up sore with a head ache. Oh well, what can you do? Church was great! Lidia Tosto is really pressing forward in the church. Before she would only come to church every other week because she has work in the afternoons and she had not felt it was worth it to come out to church and then go straight to work. But now she does it because she says she does not like to miss the sacrament! I had never heard something so wonderful! At the end of church we were out in the hall waiting for Young Women's to end so that we could talk to one of the girls when the door opened a crack and Sorella Di Mauro motioned sneakily for us to enter. They then exposed their treasure of cupcakes. We even got two (the extras we shared with the Anziani of course). In the American branch we had the primary program! It ws so funny. Bobbi, the primary president, had been worried that the kids would not behave, but they all did great! Then because we had a visiting high counselor and his wife (who were of course Italian) I got to translate the gospel doctrine lesson into Italian for them. That was hard! Mama mia! It's way easier going from Italian into English than the other way around. But at least they understood it. Thank goodness! We then ate dinner with the Anziani after church and it started to rain . . . again. I know I can be a wuss every once in a while but I literally could not do it again after the night before. My head started to pound just thinking about it. So we decided to walk home in the rain and then do some finding in the area book. We set up some appointments for this next week :)
Monday we had a lesson with Melina again and she read! Not only did she read but she had questions about the story. For example, who on earth are the Nephites and Lamanites?! So we then explained where the Book of Mormon came from (which she remembered Joseph Smith and that he had seen God the Father and Jesus Christ) and the story. She really liked it, especially when we explained again that there is a record of Christ appearing to the people in 3 Nephi 11. I gave her a blown up photo copy of that chapter and she already started thumbing through it. She is not progressing quickly, but she is progressing :) We then walked to the church for district meeting and we had a really great training from Anziano Andersen. We all read the attributes listed in D&C section 4 and we had to silently choose which one we believed was our strength. I could not choose one to be completely honest, but I figured that it did not matter if I chose one or not because it was to be kept to ourselves. But I was wrong. Anziano Andersen turned to me and said, okay, we are all starting with Sorella LeCates. We will all say which attribute we think is her strength and then she has to tell us which one she chose. I thought, DARN IT! And chose Virtue because let's face it, as a missionary, that one is the easiest to keep. But everyone else was really nice with there's. Sorella Giordano said diligence (ha! I wish it was a strength), Anziano Marengo said love (only because I had worn my heart-shaped locket that day and I was playing with it he said) and Anziano Andersen said brotherly kindness. They all rolled their eyes though when I said I had chosen virtue because they all knew I had just chosen it as an easy way out. But that's alright! All the attributes are virtues anyways :) After district meeting the Anziani took us the home of the Rizzo family so that we could go to a lesson with their 14 year old caughter, Maria Grazia. We had asked her the day before to come with us to our lesson with Christiana. Maria Grazia and her parents were really excited we had asked her and they even said she would be just fine walking the five miles to Christiana's house :) Oh, but her feet were killing her by the end haha. Poor thing! But the lesson went great! We re-taught the Restoration with the cups and it was perfectly clear to Christiana. She has also been reading almost everyday, underlining the words she does not understand, and she has even written up examples of prayers in Italian and Albanian to help her. At the end she said the prayer and she did so good! The time before she had prayed to Jesus Christ, this time she did it all perfectly :) She really has desire to learn and Maria Grazia, being the star that she is, asked her for her number so that they can hang out this next week and also invite her to Young Women's activities! Perfect! We were then down in Centro for most of the night and then took a random bus that eventually made it close to our house. But while we were waiting at the station for it to leave this really tall crazy man got on (we were by ourselves) and took Sorella Giordano's hand and kissed it. He then pinched her cheek and kept caressing her face which was really weird. But he could not talk and was obviously fuori la testa. But eventually he got off but only to get back on. This time he came to me and tried to take me hand. I told him no. Then he tried to take the pass along card I had in my hand and we fought over it for about 10 seconds before he grunted in frustration and got back off the bus. Three women got on shortly after and he got back on again to try and kiss them too but again he left. As the bus finally pulled away he ran out in front of the bus only to have several of the other bus drivers run after him. Talk about crazy! But we are in Sicily, it is a WHOLE 'nother world down here!
Yesterday morning we had to get to the other side of the city but the bus never came, so we just kept walking and walking until 2 hours later we finally got to our appointment. We were more than a half hour late, but Antonella did not seem to mind. She is one of the people we found doing area book Sunday night. She is super nice but has been sick for 8 years now and cannot work. Because of that she receives a little bit of help from the government but not much so they are really poor. But she was such a sweet lady and says she wants to try and come to church this next Sunday. She has come one other time in the past and really liked it but it's hard for her to get out of bed. We really hope she can make it out! We then waited an eternity for the bus to come to take us to a lunch appointment with the Bruno Family. We ate a pasta that is only found here in Sicily which I had never seen before. It has a normal sauce, but they toast bread crumbs in a skillet and then add it to the pasta and sauce. Though it was completely different than anything else I had ever had I really liked it. For dessert we also ate this pastry that was new too. It was like a dumpling but it was filled with an almond chocolate paste. It too was super good. After that we went to go visit Giorgia Castorina! She is super cute, even though her mom was about to kill her and her little brother because they did not really sit and listen to our lesson. As her mom was chastising her she says "But mom, I'm tired." I then had to laugh and said "just wait until you are on a mission." She then told me that she tires easily and that her leg hurt. Her mom rolled her eyes and said "Giorgia, ask the sisters how far they walked today." Even her mom was surprised when we answered. So in the end Giorgia ended up sitting nicely on the couch next to her mom and listened to the rest of our message. We then luckily made it to the bus on time (because at this point I was shot and could not bring myself to walk to the church) and got to our appointment with Franchy early! I was really glad because we were unable to see her last week and I had felt bad. We talked about Captain Moroni and his characteristics listed in Alma 48 and we talked a lot about her family and how it has been since her dad and brother died a year ago. It's been really hard on her but she has already finished the work for her dad and she is getting ready to go to the temple so that her brother's work will be done. After Franchy we saw Angelo! He is so great too! As we sat down he says "Sister LeCates, I have a little surprise for you." He then pulls out an Italian dictionary. Not an english italian dictionary, but an Italian dictionary. Sure it was just an older one that he had used, but it was still nice of him. Then after the prayer he smiled and said "Sorella LeCates, I found the answer to my question." I don't remember if I have explained this, but he has been troubled by the passages in the New Testament about eternal marriage and that it won't exist because Christ said they would be "like angels" and that Paul mentioned a couple of times in Corinthians that you are better off without it . . . or something like that. But this time Angelo pulls out his Book of Mormon, turns to the Scripture Guide in the back and asks if we have D&C with us. We then read the verse in section 132 where it says that those who attain the Celestial Kingdom but do not abide the law of Celestial marriage will be ministering angels. He smiled at us and said that it all made sense now. Our lesson then turned to answering his questions about how difficult it is to get married to a member of the church here in Italy because he is now afraid that he won't get married and he won't attain exaltation. We assured him that if his desire is to be married and strives his whole life to follow the will of the Lord he has no reason to fear. We then also had to explain temple sealings and that all the work for those who did not have the opportunity to make covenants during their lives will be done. I think he was comforted by that. And he has been so embraced by the young single adults in the ward. After English course they all piled into one car (Angelo included) and went to go hang out! So great! And one funny little story to end it all because I just like to give short little antecdotes . . . After English course we were all talking in the church foyer for a bit when our phone rang and I saw it was a private withheld number. I personally do not like to answer these calls or any calls where I am not sure who it is when they are most likely going to be speaking Italian. So I handed the phone to Sorella Giordano and she answered. As she was talking to him she kept making weird faces and I was curious to know who it was. In the end she gave me the phone and said he wanted to tell me hello too. I answered and he kept trying to tell me something but I did not really understand because there were people talking and he was almost whispering. Finally I understood. He had asked me for my personal cell phone number so that we could go out sometime and form a "friendship". yeah . . . uh huh . . . As soon as I started to respond that I was a Sister missionary and did not have a private number and I was always with my companion, Sorella Giordano and the Anziani all started to burst into laughter :) Then I looked up and Anziano Marango (who is no small guy) had his hand outstretched for the phone. I gladly gave it over to him and he started inviting the man to meet with them to talk about the gospel. He ended up hanging up the phone on Anziano Marengo just to call me back again in 2 minutes. I gave the phone right to Anziano Marengo and he answered willingly. This time the man said that his grandmother wanted to know more about the church and would like to meet with the Sister missionaries. Anziano Marengo stopped him right in his tracks and he hung up the phone again haha. After that Anziano Marengo gave me a bunch of there pass-along cards with their number at the bottom so that if we ever meet anyone who seems sketch we can give them the number of the Anziani. Sounds good to me!
This morning was interesting . . . So we are going to Mistretta on Saturday and doing p-day there. So today we chose to just write emails and then do a full days work of proselyting. But I just had this combination of fatigue, cold, rain, and discouragement that I just did not really want to do finding today, which was exactly what we had planned. We wanted to go to see a member who is moving, Lia, and then do house in her area. Problem is we missed about three buses and I thought maybe it was a sign that we needed to go to the zone where we had been Saturday night when we had gotten rained on, but we went to go see Lia anyways. I did not talk to anyone on the hour long bus ride (yep, I am terrible) and then Lia was not there. Granted I did not feel that well so we decided to go home and do area book again because there was still plenty to do and I was just not in a very good mood. So we got on a random bus because it was going towards centro (because I also was not in the mood to walk either, I know sometimes it's hard to have a good attitude) and we were on the bus about 10 minutes when I looked around and then asked Sorella Giordano "Isn't this the area we were at Saturday night?" She looked around too and said "Yeah, actually I think it is." So I thought, alright Heavenly Father, I'll get off the bus. So I rang for the next stop and we stopped right in front of the street where we had done house Saturday night. The moment we got off the bus I was not cold anymore and a lot of the fatigue had left. A woman walked past and I chased after and tried to give her a pass-along card. Sure she said no, but I had had the desire and energy to do it!
The point of the story: This last week I have been really tired because we have been taking full days without any breaks and we have been walking a lot more than usual. And it's a lot harder to be excited about missionary work when you are tired. Yesterday morning anziano Andersen asked me to prepare the spiritual thought for district meeting and I shared a paragraph for "True to the Faith" about prayer. It talked all about the fact that we can freely pray for blessings but we have to be willing to do act in order to fulfill it. One line even said "Rarely will Heavenly Father give you something you are capable of doing for yourself." So this morning when I said my prayers I had asked for help, that if I followed the spirit to talk to someone that I would receive more energy to keep going. The moment I got off the bus, even though I did not really want to, I felt so much more ready to go ahead and do the work. It was such a testimony builder to me. Our Father in Heaven is anxiously waiting to help us, he is on the edge begging us to seek His help, but only if we are willing to push ourselves that little bit extra to grow. I was tired, cold, achy, and scared. I did not want to be outside of my bed today. But because I had chosen to follow the prompting I had received, my Heavenly Father answered my prayer to help me continue on and serve His children. I am still wet, my shoes and tights are soaked through, but the aches, pains, and fatigue have gone away. Thank goodness our Heavenly Father loves us despite our weaknesses :)
So yep, the work goes forth despite my stupidity! Glad I have a companion and the Holy Ghost to keep me on the straight and narrow!
Grazie per tutto!
Vi Voglio UN SACCO DI BENE!
Muah!
Sorella LeCates
In July 2010 I was called to serve an 18 month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Italy Rome mission. I've always wanted to see Italy and I can't believe I'm lucky enough to spread the gospel there!
