Hi family! How are you? I am doing just swell. We almost drowned this morning, but we survived. No worries, no casualties were taken! Menomale!
So . . . due to the accident of my letter last week I will just start up from Wednesday, from the time of the event. So that morning we got up before 6.30 and we left at 6.50 to go and catch our bus which left at 8.00. We made is safely to Ragusa, but OH MY GOODNESS! It was so freaking cold there! I had no idea it was possible to be that cold. I guess I really am climatized to the weather here because the coldest I have seen it is like 5 degrees, which is like . . . 35 degrees Fahrenheit? Yeah, not even cold. But up in Ragusa it was cold and we had not prepared ourselves. We did not have tights on, or boots. Just our skirts and jackets. The three sorelle who are in Ragusa (Sorelle Salyer, Nufer, and Clark) were all bundled up real good. Sorella Nufer was awesome though and gave me her gloves to help a sister out. Thankfully as we started walking though I warmed up a bit. But as we were walking to the internet point to write, Sorella Smedley, who was behind me talking to Sorella Clark, called out and said "Sorella! I forgot Woobie!" Okay, background story on Woobie. Woobie is Sorella Smedley's silky blanket. Since she was born she has almost slept with some kind of silky blanket, but when she was 9 or 10 her mom made her one to replace her shredded old one and she has had it ever since. She literally cannot sleep without it. The only night of her whole life where she has not had it was when she was in the hospital after heart surgery and she did not sleep the whole night. So you can imagine the drama of this, she did not have Woobie! Ah! What do we do! Luckily though she has a silk scarf attached to her purse, we're hoped it would be enough and we prayed that she would sleep that night. We then did internet and I had written for an hour and a half, was almost done, and the computer shut off. Then when I logged back on my letter had not saved, so . . . here we are :) I was rather frustrated, but I survived. The rest of the afternoon we chilled in the Ragusa apartment, writing letters and talking until it was time for us to head back to Catania. I came back with Sorella Clark and Sorella Nufer. All three of us got super car sick on the bus back down and I almost died. We then waited at the bus station until the Anziani came to give us a ride home. I don't believe anything else too crazy happened that night.
The next morning we went to go see Ike and Prudence with the Anziani. We read 1 Nephi 3 with them and then we talked about the scriptures and how we have to search for answers inside when we read. Then at the end we watched "Together Forever" and they both really liked it. In fact, their eyes were fixed on the screen the whole time. Good, I like it too :) At the end though we gave them a baptismal calendar to help them prepare for their baptism and Prudence complained a little bit about all that they had to do and then Sorella Clark said that it is not too much and that "reading your scriptures is one step to being with your family forever." I think she left an impression :) after that we got a ride to our lunch appointment and I just about threw up in the car. Mama mia! I still get way car sick. . . . lame! But needless to say, I survived! But I said a lot of prayers as we walked to Sorella Contandino's house for lunch because I was seriously afraid I would throw up if I had to eat anything. God answered my prayers and I was fine. We did have to eat a lot of meat though, but what can you do? She is also a Sorella that does not talk a lot, but instead the TV was on the whole time. The last half of the time she had it tuned into "Afternoon of Love" which is when they play all of the soap operas. Let's just say we got a bit of our language study in as we listened to all the drama haha. We tried stopping by Piera and Giosuè again but he wouldn't even open the door. He just motioned from behind the glass that she wasn't home. Darn it! Maybe they're not interested? Boh. We had to walk along Via Plebescito for a while and we came across Lidia Tosto . . . :( She did not look too good. She has completely lost the spirit and wasn't even very nice to us. All she said was "I am going to work and I have stuff to do." Then she walked away! It's so sad! Especially when you teach and baptize someone and they are that far gone while you are still in the same city! :( She's smoking and everything again and she won't let us come see her. I just don't know what we can even do for her. We will just see what the ward is willing to do. After that we kept walking until we ran into Fratello Giardina. He's great and just adores the missionaries. He was selling oranges at his stand and gave us a whole bag and wants to see us and make us lunch. Yikes! Last time we went there we ate SO much food. I literally wanted to throw up and I still put a ton of it in my back pack. 300 grams of pasta, 5 chicken breasts, and then endless amounts of grapes takes a toll on your body. But for him we can do it! And Sorella Smedley needs a nice good REAL lunch appointment hahahahaha. We then went and did street until our appointment with Massimo in Villa Bellini. We stopped random people and walked through the park up to this huge junglish tree near the far north entrance. It's FREAKIN' SWEET! Really. I tried climbing it but I was not very successful. We then all took a picture by it until this guy came by with his dog. We talked to him for a minute and gave him a pass along card, but he wasn't that interested. We then did more street until I saw a lady sitting on the bench that I wanted to go talk to. We went and sat by her and we taught her the first lesson. She is from a country by Madagascar. I cannot remember the name, but they are really similar to India, but they speak french. Her name is Ardi and she gave us her number. We will see what happens there. While I was talking to her Massimo came up and start talking to the other two while I wrapped things up. We then went inside the park with all the crazy kids running around in their costumes. It is currently Carnival, which lasts the whole month. You will just see little kids dressed up everywhere and they are all in the park with their parents throwing confetti and silly string everywhere. So we sat down, said a prayer, checked up on his word of wisdom woes and we gave him a boost and then talked about the things he can do to help him cioè . . . scripture study, prayer, and following the prophet! We each shared an experience we had had with the Book of Mormon and prayer. Sorella Clark talked about Enos and when she really came to build a relationship with Heavenly Father. I used Alma the younger's story to his son Helaman in Alma 36 and forgiveness. Sorella Nufer shared . . . okay, in reality, I forgot. I know, I am a terrible person. But what can I do? We did a fun little group photo together though and I will send it home :) Then as we walked to Kristiana's house we got Sorella Clark's first gelato (she just got here with Sorella Smedley). It was DELICIOUS as always :) YUM! The lesson with our dear little albanians went alright. The coolest part was when we walked through the door and Dritan was reading the Book of Mormon. But he had no way of knowing when we were coming because we never fix appointments, so he was legitimately reading! Wahoo! But for the rest . . . Okay, I got frustrated again, but I can't help it! Kristiana wasn't there at the beginning so we were just reading 1 Nephi 4 together. After we would each read a verse we would each take a turn and explain what we had just read. Klisman had gotten out of it twice, so this next time I had warned him that he better pay attention so that he could be ready. Again he refused. So I said "Fine, just read one verse and tell me what it means." He read it and then refused to rephrase it. He just kept saying "There's nothing more to say." He was just being a punk. So the uncle tried being nice and explaining it to him in Albanian but then Klisman was being a jerk to him and saying he was just saying the same things over and over again and laughing at him. So I KINDLY told Klisman "You can leave." Neadless to say, he didn't leave. During all of this Sorella Nufer isn't saying anything, in fact, she is preparing herself to hurl because she is feeling quite ill. Then Kristiana came and she was really attentive and read and even retold us what she had understood. That was the most attentive I have seen her in a REALLY long time so that made up for the rest. Thank goodness! And then we got home fast enough that Sorella Nufer didn't blow chunks out on the street. She did later that night, but at least it wasn't in public. I was also super stoked to see my dear companion again :) The reunion had to be delayed though because the Anziani got a flat tire as they were bringing them to our apartment. Poor things, they just don't catch a break ever. As we all congregated together after, we told Baci Stories, which were as legit as ever! Sorella Clark did one for me which was about me going to a restaurant as a home coming party and meeting a really awesome waiter named Sean that has the hots for me. We end up going to the nicklecade as the first date and then going on a bridge over a little stream. While we are there he says something oober romantic and it is the cheesy slip of paper inside of the baci which said "Lovers can live off of kisses and water." Haha, it made me die laughing. I then told a great story for Sorella Salyer about her lover boy to be. And I had to put myself in the story too.
Friday we did weekly planning and then during lunch I did a Baci story for Sorella Smedley about her friend Landon. Let me just tell you, I am a master at telling these things. She even said it was scary how accurate I was when I have never even met this kid. HECK YES! I am just super inspired by the spirit is what it is haha. Then afterwards we did area book until we left to go visit Kristiana. Dritan was exhausted but we read anyways. Kristiana was super stoked and ready to read a ton. In fact, when we finished reading the chapter she wanted to keep going. We told her she should feel utterly free to read as much as she wanted haha. She said she would. Thank heavens! We also left the Word of Wisdom pamphlet with them. Here's hoping the best with how well that one goes!
Saturday morning was filled with 7 Brides for 7 Brothers songs. Don't ask me why, that was just how it is. But it was fun because Sorella Smedley played Millie in the play when she was in middle school. She is actually quite the gifted little singer so I have truly been blessed! We had an appointment with an ex investigator named Eleanora who lives in a zone that is pretty sketch. Actually the ward has specifically asked us not to go there and her scheda (teaching record) said that they used to teach her in the church for safety. Oh well, the Lord is with us! Or I am just stupid . . . who knows really. But I actually have heard that there are a lot of stabbings and shootings in this area but I am there often enough and nothing happens. So anyways, back to the story, we get there and Eleanora's neighbor tells us that she is not there. So we figure we will go and chill and come back in a half hour because we cannot do finding in that area. So we walk a little ways down Via Plebescito and with no where to sit down we chose a tiny little step outside an apartment building. So we just sit down with our oranges we had been given from Fratello Palla that same morning and we started eating them to the shock and stares of all the Italians walking by. It was pretty great and got even better as I realized my nose was bleeding haha. How cool is that? We're in this dangerous area and my nose just starts bleeding so I have to hold a bloody tissue to my nose for 20 minutes while we wait for it to stop bleeding. I bet that was quite a sight for the others :) Finally it stopped bleeding. Haha, and Sorella Smedley helped clean me up and then kept eating her orange after. She said she is too used to it after working in a hospital for so long. But still, gross. We left and Eleanora still wasn't there. We tried calling but she didn't answer. Drats. So we went to go buy bus tickets at Piazza Alcalà where we ran into Bobbi and her husband Josh! They were there to go shopping for dresses for the Sea B. ball. I tried to warn her that most if not all the shops would be closed for lunch but she just told me to shut up :) love her! Then we bought tickets from the bus drivers and they stayed and talked to us and took our pass along cards. One of them even put it up in their office because it was a great picture of Jesus. We then took the bus home and then that afternoon we went with the Anziani to an appointment with a girl that they wanted to pass to us but turns out she was "sleeping" . . . yeah, at 5.00 in the afternoon. I find that hard to believe when the Anziani said the girl who kept telling us that she was sleeping sounded just like her. Darn. So instead we did a little bit of house and then street as we walked back up to the zone where we live to have an appointment with Sorella Radipur. But first we stopped at Ciocolato e Gelato and got yummy ice cream! Then we kept walking to Sorella Radipur's house where she was ready with a cake for us and we shared it. She has not been in church for 15 years because she chose to go back to the Catholic church. But we had a nice little chat about Captain Moroni and then we sang "Nearer my God to Thee". She really felt the spirit and I think we can get her back in church. What do you think?! We were running really late because Sorella Radipur didn't want us to go so we ended up being a half hour late for our appointment with Sorella Maiori. But she so sweet and had made us this dessert, chiacchieri, which is a specialty for Carnevale. It's fried dough that becomes crisp and they cover it in chocolate. Yum! Then Sorella Smedley shared her favorite scripture, and mine, and we talked a bit about it before going. But before we left I asked what we could do for her and all she said back was "Come again!" with a huge smile on her face. I love her!
Sunday was a blast, as always! Dritan beat us to church because he was there at 9.00. Awesome! But Kristiana and Klisman didn't come because they were sleeping . . . oh well. And then Massimo came! He is such a stud too. We just love him a lot! But as we were first coming into the chapel, Bishop San filippo asked me to bare my testimony on less active work. We all know that the 550 less actives are all due, mainly, to the members who are active who have offended them. The bishop told me not to say that, but to encourage them to change and to help us bring them back. Talk about pressure! I have no idea why he told me to do that, so I really had to think and pray about what to say. I ended up decided to tell the story how we had met Fratello Giuseppe Leotta when we were doing house and how we had brought the spirit to him for the first time in so long that he cried when we sang. I then shared with them that we all have that ability and we need their help to do that. We all have the spirit with us and we can all bring it back to these members. Hoped that was what the bishop was looking for . . . haha. Sigonella was great too. Sorella Smedley gave a talk and then we had a great talk from Sister Shadduck. My word, it was hilarious. She told the story how she had given birth 4 months earlier, then sprained her ankle on the trampoline and that same day she decided to go and hike Timpanogos. There was lightening at the top and it was dark and she almost died. The best line was when she was talking about sliding down the glacier at the top and her sister in law said it was awesome, to which she replied "No, getting your tinsels ripped out without any anesthesia is awesome. THIS is not awesome." Pretty fun, her husband was on the stand because he is in the branch presidency and he was pretty much mortified. After the meeting, because he had seen me and Sorella Smedley laughing hysterically during the meeting, he felt he had to re-explain it all to us and that he had not dragged her up that mountain. We were sure he hadn't but it still made me laugh. After church we stayed in the archivio to do the internet exams we have to do for the special training they do now with the new missionaries. After we were done we were given a ton of food that was left over from the New Beginnings activity they had done after church. Then we skedaddled to go see Sorella Catania. When we got there she did not seem surprised, even though we didn't call. We sat down and talked to her for a bit and she just kept laughing at me. she also had to laugh that I still wasn't wearing stockings despite the temperature so she started going through her drawers trying to find a pair for me haha. I was totally fine, but she was just expressing her love for us :) We sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" and then talked about the Restoration. We kept talking and it basically came down to her telling us that she knows that she is living below the best she could have by attending the evangelist church and I almost started to cry. Sorella Smedley asked her how she had felt when she first entered the Celestial Room in the temple and she got emotional. So then I just said, "it's not the same thing and you know it. This is the only church that lets you feel that way. The only church that allows you to have everything you could ever dream of." We never really resolved anything, but she knows we are right and it is obvious that she wants to come back to church. I just don't know what is stopping her . . . darn it. She then gifted us a kilo of pasta and beans before we left. She's great!
Monday we realized that Sorella Smedley's brother, Stu, and Seth will be the bestest friends ever. Also her mom wants to come to my homecoming so Seth, you will be friends with him kk? Perfect! And Melissa, her sister Bree is just like you too. She sounds LEGIT! So you will have good friends :) Our district meeting got cancelled so we went to the store to buy things to make a dessert for the ward activity the next day. The bishop asked me specifically to do it so it was perfect because we weren't going to have time anyways. Then we did more area book. We then went to Villa Bellini to have a lesson with Massimo which went great. I really do love him so much. Poor guy, the Word of Wisdom is going pretty rough for him and he said "Maybe I am just not the right person for this." We assured him that he is. That he already accepted God's plan, he just doesn't remember, but this is his opportunity to learn it all again. We then pulled out Atonement scriptures left and right to help him. I think it helped. But this random guy named Giuseppe was hanging around us and it was bugging Massimo. He kept asking us questions and then left us with his number. Massimo told us he didn't like him and that if we wanted he would stay with us for the appointment we had tentatively set up for after the lesson with him. We assured him we were fine, but he also said he wanted to get a drink with us at a kiosk again. He is so great. Also to help motivate him to quit smoking we suggested him choosing a date for baptism as a goal. He said "Okay, so a year from now?" I said "No, how about a month from now?" He thought I was kidding until I pulled out our phone and went to the calendar and chose 17th of March. We promised him that he could be more than ready for baptism by that date if we worked hard for it and allowed the Savior to help him as well. He was still unsure, but promised he would pray that night and ask Heavenly Father if he could be ready by that day. He'll surprise himself :) But the best part was at the end of the lesson when we left him with the Law of Chastity pamphlet hahahaha. He asked if we had one for all of our little chats and I said yes. Then he said "So will the next one say I can't breath?!" haha, I died laughing. Good thing he was kidding. We then walked to the kiosk and he warned us to be by the entrance of the park when we met up with that other guy and to not get in his car or anything. Yep, we're friends! After we finished our drinks we went back to the park and waited for that guy, but he never came. We then decided to leave to go see Kristiana and Dritan. We talked with them about the Word of Wisdom and Dritan said it won't be a problem because he already quit smoking and that was way harder than the rest. Good. Klisman said he MIGHT quit smoking. We will see. We then read another chapter from the Book of Mormon with them and it went pretty alright.
So the work goes ahead! Being a missionary is the best ever and I love every minute of it!
Love you all SO much!
Ciao ciao!
Vi voglio bene!
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!
