So . . . what to say? What to do? Well . . . Tuesday? Okay!
So in the morning we had a funny little experience. So the only problems I have ever had with Anziano Andersen in the past 4 transfers has been his lack of communication (which has only happened once). But I have greatly exaggerated my point that all problems in the world initiate with lack of communication. He had not believed me up until our little catastrophe last Monday with the shoe purchases of Sorella Cojan. So Tuesday morning I answer the phone to the words "So Sorella, because I want to COMMUNICATE with you because I know it is very important to COMMUNICATE with people, I just wanted to COMMUNICATE with you this morning to prevent any lack of COMMUNICATION. Because it is my last couple of days in Catania, me and my companion have been invited to a family night tonight but I know that we all have the responsibility to teach English course tonight. So before I confirm anything with them I wanted to COMMUNICATE with you and ask if you and your companion could teach English course tonight without us. ONLY if that's okay." I had to laugh at that and assured him that we were more than willing to teach English course and that I was very grateful he had COMMUNICATED with us. He was rather shocked at that and said "Wow, you are right. This communication thing really does work!" Yes Anziano, it does haha. So an hour later our fellow communicators came to pick us up and we went to go see Ike and Prudence because it would be the last appointment for Anziano Andersen before he left. They were all pretty bummed that he got transferred but we had a really nice lesson except for when Ike called me fat and said I had zits all over my face. He even said "I hope it all goes away after you get home." Good thing I like him and he calls his own wife fat who isn't at all. That was my one comfort. We read from 1 Nephi 5 and we talked a lot about Sariah and the testimony she gained after murmuring against the Lord and her husband Lehi. We talked about how Ike and Prudence's testimonies have grown since they started meeting with us and they said they can see the difference in their lives. Afterwards we went to the church to meet up with Franchy for lunch and so that she too could say good-bye to Anziano Andersen. We all ate pasta and the Anziani brought sausage and chicken from dinner on Sunday to share with everyone. Sorella Smedley and Anziano Andersen always have a food eating contest though whenever we eat with them and every time Sorella Smedley wins. I don't know how she does it but she just creams him. It's quite sad seeing as she is barely taller than me, weighs 130 pounds, and he is 6 foot and weighs 170. But she was dying for hours afterwards she was so full. Andrea Riolo, a new convert that the Anziani taught were with us too for lunch and we had a good ol' time. But the funniest part of the day though was this man who had parked his car in the church parking lot so that he could read the Bible. He scared Fratello Torriti (genealogy worker) earlier in the day when we first got there because he wasn't a member and he seemed too friendly. Well we ended up opening the window to the kitchen and before we know it, our friend with the Bible comes up to the window with a smile on his face and says in English "Thank you Jesus!" Personally I thought he was crazy, but then Anziano Marengo invites him in and they go and teach him a lesson for over an hour. While they were there I showed Franchy how to make cookies. One problem in Italy though is that brown sugar does not exist and most cooke recipes require it. Without brown sugar the cookies never turn out the way you want them too. So I had to find a random recipe in the house that didn't call for brown sugar and I instead found it in a seranwrap box from last Christmas. They turned out well though and Frachy really liked them. We were supposed to have an appointment with Simone Fichera (the boy who needs help with English for his job interview) at 4.00 but he never showed up. We were afraid he would come if we left and we didn't have his number, just the number of his dad who didn't answer the phone. So we talked to Franchy instead until Michelangelo came early for English course. We taught him a lesson with Franchy about Alma 32 and having the faith to test the word of God. Michelangelo has had difficulty the past couple of months because he has felt abandoned by God and he is still upset about it. So we ended up talking about experiences we have had in our own lives like his. I shared with him what had happened with Softball, how I had spent so much of my time pitching and practicing to play high school ball but when it came down to the time to play everything fell apart and that I was really disappointed about it. Michelangelo asked me if I was mad. I was honest and said I was a little mad but I ended up finding what God had wanted for me instead. I was able to focus on school enough that I was then able to graduate from college at 20 years old. The timing was just perfect enough that I left on my mission three months later, right after I turned 21. I hope it helped him out :) Then we had English course and we ended up teaching it together. And to our surprise the Anziani showed up because their appointment had been cancelled anyways. Well, it was still a very considerate gesture that they had communicated with us haha. We all discussed the longest days of our lives and we all went around the room and shared. We had some pretty good ones, and even Andrea Riolo (who had come to English course with the Anziani, had shared). We then sang Franchy's favorite song at the end and then she explained why she liked it so much. It was all very nice :) Then a new student, named Stefania, asked if we could give her a bit of extra help every once in a while. We never do our weekly service, so who am I to turn that down? And she could potentially have interest in the church. So we told her we could meet with her for a half hour every Tuesday after English course. She also, like Simone, has an interview in English coming up so she needed help with a lot of vocabulary to talk about her life and work experience. I really liked her a lot :)
Wednesday was sweet too. We went to write home and then Raffaele and Michelangelo (NINJA TURTLES and English course students) met us at the church to go see Acicastello with the Anziani. Raffaele gave me a CD of him singing covers and I made Michelangelo feel great inside because I have been asking him for a CD of him singing since I got here. He has assured me though that he will give me one before I go home though. Here's hoping! We then went to go see the castle at Acicastello and it was the coolest thing ever! The weather was pretty horrible. It was super windy and rainy the whole time and the castle is literally up against the water. You know The Little Mermaid? The castle where Prince Eric lives? Yeah, it's like that, but SUPER old and all made out of lava rock, and it was a pretty day at all. But Wednesday was one of the best none-spiritually-oriented-days of my mission. We went up to the castle and got some great pictures before going through the museum. So the story behind this castle is that Sant'Agata, the patron saint of Catania, was held prisoner there. I won't go into detail, but basically she didn't want to marry this prince, or rich man (or whoever he was) because she wanted to stay pure for God (kind of like a nun). But the man who wanted to marry her was upset so he placed her in prison and they . . . cut off . . . things that women usually want to keep. And then they put her on the full body stretcher and they tortured her. I am not sure the whole story because I have just heard pieces and each person tells it differently. But anyways, we went into the room where she was tortured and we got some great pictures there too. Then as we climbed to the top of the castle I got in a sword/umbrella fight with Anziano Andersen. It was pretty epic being on top of an ancient castle with the wind, rain, and ocean splashing up all around us. Needless to say . . . I won :) I rather enjoyed myself :) then we went to McDonald's, then to go pick up the other Sorelle and Sorella Cojan's bags to take her to the bus station because she was getting transferred to Siracusa. We then got there and we were stuck there from 5.00 until 7.45 because Anziano Andersen is zone leader and had to be there until Sorella Lewis and Sorella Nufer left on the bus up to Rome at 7.30. So, again it was raining, but it was getting worse and worse and was just dumping on us. And at this point we were pretty wet. And I wasn't that cold and neither was Sorella Smedley. Also, there were only a couple foreigners waiting around the bus station who didn't speak Italian or English because who wanted to be out in the rain anyways? So Sorella Smedley started splashing in puddles . . . so I joined her. After a couple of minutes we were called to come back so that we didn't get sick. But 10 minutes later, thanks to boredom, we went back out in the rain. We were SO wet. And, to the added embarrassment of our zone leader, his companion started video taping us. Yeah, not my most mature moment, but proselyting was impossible and I was already wet. Eventually there was room enough in the bus station that we got inside. As I walked around on the white tile floor though I was leaving red water all over because I had red leather shoes on. I also filled Sorella Lewis in on all the details of wonderful Roma 2 where she will be going to serve. But as things calmed down I saw that Sorella Nufer and Anziano Andersen were talking to a younger guy sitting in the station. As the others dispersed to talk in groups I plopped down right next to Sorella Nufer and listened to them talking. Oh, it was so nice. Can I just say how much I love missionary work? When do we get to feel SO good SO often? And it all comes from sharing our testimony with those who are searching for the truth. I am really gonna miss that . . . sigh. But eventually as 7.30 got closer we all had to run out in the rain with the luggage to the bus. But the bus wasn't there yet so we then had to all wait in the rain until the bus pulled up. As we said good-bye we then all ran back to the car and took off to go see Massimo. We had to park a ways away from his building and run through the rain to get there. But we got even wetter (if that were possible). Massimo got a good laugh as he saw us and kept laughing as we sat down because it looked like we had all just jumped in a pool. We had brought a version of "Nearer, My God, to Thee" from the "Reflections of Christ" CD and listened to it while Massimo followed along with the words in Italian. At the end of the song I shared why I loved that song so much, especially the third verse. The words say:
There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to thee,
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
I told him that a few weeks ago that song was not my favorite, but that a couple of weeks ago when I had been studying the scriptures that song was playing in the back ground and those lines caught my attention. God has placed the way before us, He has given us the exact way to lead our way to heaven, back to Him. And he gives us everything else possible to help us make it along the way, and he gives it all in mercy, even angels to call out to us and guide us back. Then, because Anziano Andersen is just that great, he remembered we had talked about giving Massimo a blessing in the past and offered him one then and there. Massimo accepted. Pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the room. He was promised that he has enough faith to quit smoking and that he will find the strength necessary to continue on this path to return to his father. There were so many things said that I cannot even remember, but all I knew in my heart was that these words only came from God, not from the Elder who had his hands on his head. I cannot even express how much my testimony of the Priesthood has grown since I have left on my mission, and that night was one of he most powerful moments I have experienced. It is burned into my heart how these young men, those who make mistakes, that stumble, who are so inexperienced, but can bless someone else in the name of Jesus Christ. It is absolutely incredible, the very power of God that He gives to His children to act in His name. Those who are worthy have the power of the Supreme Creator! And during that blessing I realized that one thing I can never forfeit or ever go without is that authority and power in my home. If I have learned anything in my mission it is the soul fact that I can never settle for less than a righteous Priesthood holder. Hope that eases your mind a little bit Daddy haha. But seriously, wow :) And then we went back out into the tempesta. It had been hailing during the lesson and we exited into a sheet of endless rain. In 2 seconds I was soaked again from head to foot, but 10 times worse than before. It literally was like I had been immersed in water. We leaped and jumped through puddles halfway up our calves as we ran to the car. Me, Sorella Smedley, and Anziano Andersen made it to the car but we didn't have the keys with us. Oh well, it didn't make any difference after those first two seconds in the rain because it was impossible to become any more wet than we already were. We then waited another five minutes until we saw Anziano Marengo and Sorella Giordano coming around a corner with an umbrella over their heads. Pretty sure it made no difference as to how wet they were and Sorella Giordano realized that and ran towards us, ditching Anziano Marengo and the umbrella. Finally we all got in the car and drove into the 6 inches of water that had become the road. It was quite an adventure and we made a video of it. But as we kept traveling the car began smelling like wet, moldy, stinky feet. Gross. I know. Good thing we don't have to drive that car everyday :) As we got to our house we said or "ciao" to Anziano Andersen before he left the next morning. We ran inside, took our showers, got warm and went to bed after leaving our coats and clothes out to dry.
Thursday we went with Sorella Giordano to a lesson with Gianluca, our little lawyer friend. We met with him in church and after an hour we had only covered the fall of Adam and Even in the Plan of Salvation in an hours time before Aci kicked us out of the church because they had to electrical tests in the church and we couldn't stay inside. So we left and had lunch before we left to go see Kristiana. But unfortunately she didn't have much time because she had to help her mom clean the house. So we talked to her for 2 minutes about geneology outside her house before saying a prayer and going to visit the Bruno family. We talked to them for a bit before heading back to our house to meet up with Sorella Giordano's new companion, Sorella Perez, and the Anziani, Anziano Marengo and his new companion, Anziano Hansen, who had dropped her off. Sorella Smedley and I then grabbed the lemon bars I had made earlier that day and took off to go see the Castorina family for a family night. We had planned to talk to them about the temple and we had brought the Liahona from October 2010. We showed the pictures inside and talked about what we do in the temple. I told them that before I left on my mission, my favorite part was doing sealing in the temple and feeling the spirit there as families who had already passed on were sealed together forever. After I said that Giorgia says "Me and my mom are preparing to go to the temple this summer, and if my dad is ready, we can go to be sealed as an eternal family." Her dad is awesome, really. He is one of my favorite people actually. He was baptized years ago but is inactive now and smokes and drinks coffee. Her mom is incredible and comes to work when she doesn't have work and just got her patriarchal blessing the week before. I would LOVE it so much if they could go to the temple and me and Sorella Smedley realized it was no accident that we had been inspired to talk about the temple that day. We showed them the pictures of the sealing room and the mirrors on either side of the wall reflecting into eternity. Sorella Castorina grabbed the magazine and showed it to her husband explaining it to him again and asked "don't you want to see me forever too? Just like these mirrors?!" You could tell he was uncomfortable. Not because he didn't believe it or want it, but because he knew he would have to change and he hadn't quite decided yet that he was going to do it. I really hope he does because that family is one of my favorites. We then sang at the end "I love to see the temple" with Giorgia and her brother, Emanuele, and then said a prayer. As there mom prepared dinner, the two kids played JUSTDANCE3. As we watched them play she called me over to the kitchen to ask me a question. All she said was "Did you know that we are preparing to go to the temple?" I said no and when I waited for more, she turned around, smiled at me, and said "No, that was all, I just wanted to know." I think maybe that lesson was exactly what her husband needed. We then ate a really yummy dinner with grilled peppers, finocchio salad, and barbecued meat before she gave us a ride home.
Friday we did our weekly planning in the morning before we had to leave just before 2-o-clock to get to the station by three. As we waited to take a bus to San Gregorio to visit Ingrid, I was feeding the pigeons and at one point I had probably 30 right around my feet. It made me laugh and we made some friends with the people around us, even a couple from Germany. They spoke really broken Italian and had a hard time getting around. But all went well for all for us, especially being the first time I had ever been to San Gregorio and I had no idea what bus to take or anything or how to find Ingrid's house. It went flawless and we even got a ride back into Catania afterwards. But I love Ingrid. She is from Brazil but has lived in Italy for 26 years. Melissa would really like her too. They would get along. Let's just say that when she first got to Catania she was living in Acitrezza which was really traditionally Sicilian. Like the little old women that dress in all black with the veils and everything? Yeah. But she would get out on her skateboard when she was 7 months pregnant and cruise around the town to the horror of all those around her :) So we talked to her for awhile, getting to know her, and then we shared a message about Esther and then she drove us back to the church so that we would be in time for correlation. Of course Emanuele was late and so were the Anziani and the Sorelle. But we eventually started the meeting and talked about our work. By the time the meeting was done it was pretty much time to go home :P Goodbye whole entire night! Oh well, we have to do correlation.
Saturday we had a nice little storm. In fact, it was forecasted to be worse than the storm we had had Wednesday. There were even police officers out on Friday night making people go back inside for their safety. So we had planned to just find things to do inside for most of the day. We did go to the church for a little bit in the morning to type up a themed paper on charity that President Kelly had asked us to write by zone conference. But really, the weather was crazy! We were almost blown over, or into the road, or into the walls . . . and the trees were breaking around us all over the place. It was freaking sweet! But for our own safety, it probably was best we stayed inside. We cut out lots of hearts to do heart attacking of inactive depressed members, did a bit of area book, and then left that night when the wind had died down a bit to go visit Kristiana and Dritan. Dritan's brother, don't know his name . . . let's call him . . . Bob, is there visiting. So we decided to read the story of Joseph Smith and how he prayed to know which church was true, and then how he was instructed to translate the Book of Mormon. For the first time in a little over a week, Dritan wasn't too much of a noodle brain and payed attention to what we were saying instead of making a joke about everything. He felt the spirit really strong and I think I found the secret to him, just talk about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. It makes him cry :)
Sunday the storm had pretty much gone. There was a little bit of rain, but not bad. Thank goodness. Church was good too, even though we had no investigators in church :( Giorgia Castorina did a talk in sacrament meeting and did really well. We had an excellent lesson from Gianluca in Gospel Principles on God our Eternal Father. He asked us each to really think about how we would explain our relationship with our Heavenly Father to someone who didn't know Him. How would we blow them away by the Spirit. It really made me think a lot and I think I have lost a little bit of that. Not a lot, but I don't think I am as dependent as I used to be upon the Spirit and I want to have more of that because that is how you bring others unto Christ. The spirit does it, not us. The Sigonella branch went well too. After church we went home for an hour to eat and to rest a second before going to see Kristiana and Dritan again, but unfortunately Dritan wasn't there. He was still at work (which is why he couldn't come to church) but we ended up talking with Kristiana about the 2,000 stripling warriors in Alma 57 from the Book of Mormon before leaving to go see Sorella Maiori. I love her so much to. She was really excited to see us and she makes it worth going, despite her dog that got muddy pawprints all over my coat haha. We sang a couple songs with her and then talked about Mosiah 2.17 and serving others. We then sang another song at the end before heading home.
Monday we were supposed to have district meeting at 11.00, but the anziani were more than an hour late. So while we waited Sorella Smedley played the piano well I sang song after song after song. But I enjoyed myself. Then the Anziani came and gave us animal stickers as an apology haha. I was happy, I got a sticker of an owl which I put in my planner and wrote "Chancho" under it haha. We then had a good training from our new district leader, Anziano Hansen, about serving and loving people into keeping their commitments. After lunch we went to go see Massimo and had another good lesson with him. We had decided to teach him "follow the Prophet" and we chose a talk from President Monson from the 2009 conference. It was entitled "Be of Good Cheer". If you haven't read it, read it! It is so freakin' good! It was absolutely perfect for this lesson and Massimo even got pretty emotional during it. We then asked him if he felt like President Monson was a prophet. He said "a little bit" so we cleared up some of his concerns and then told him to pray about it. He wasn't quite sure if he thought he could receive an answer so we bore testimony of our relationships with Heavenly Father. My thoughts went right back to the lesson we had had in Sunday School on Sunday about testifying with the spirit more in mind and it made a difference :) You could see it in his eyes when I told him that my Heavenly Father was my best friend. He told us he would pray that night to know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God :) during the lesson though this crazy lady walked passed and said "Maurizio (yes, she messed up on his name) you're studying with the Mormons?! Well, at least there good people, but they don't pray to the Madonna. Will you pray for me? Please? Just a little prayer to the Madonna?" But when I told her I couldn't because I prayed directly to God she got kind of offended and then treated me like a tramp or something like that and walked away. I said "Good night!" with a big smile on my face and she gave me a very sour expression. Massimo just laughed though haha. After that we walked back towards our house and stopped and got a snack at the Lindt restaurant. I got a brownie with yummy chocolate drizzled all over it and Sorella Smedley got pistacchio gelato. Then we went to go see Sorella Catania. She didn't have much time because she had to go to the dentist (they are opened late here) but we talked to her for a little bit before saying a prayer and we headed home. We hadn't had an opportunity to do language study during the day so we did a bit that night translating a story that Sorella Smedley had written and Sorella Giordano got a kick out of helping us translate it. She couldn't think of the right person to help explain to us what "vamp" meant until she thought of Lady Gaga. That cleared things right up haha. No worries, you just had to be there, hahahaha.
Tuesday we had had an appointment with Gianluca in church with Andrea Riolo but before we decided to run past our dear old contact, Melina Platania. We had not gone to see her in forever because she was never home. But we decided to pass by her anyways. I was praying so hard that she would be there and sure enough, she answered. She asked who it was and when I said the missionaries she said that Melina wasn't there and that she would be the next morning at 10.00. Whatever, that was totally her, but we are hoping she will be there the next morning because she sounded really down and I want to see her. Then we went to go see Gianluca in church and both he and Andrea were late. Andrea showed up a half hour late and then I called Gianluca to see if he was coming. Nope, he was stuck at the bank still. Andrea was mad and so we had to sing "Abide with Me" together and then say a prayer. Then we talked about the scriptures for a little bit before he left. Then we had to be in church at 4.00 to meet Simone Fichera for English lessons again because his dad and grandma had called us the day before asking if we could see him. But by 5.00 I didn't want to wait any longer so we took off and went to go see Kristiana. We talked to her a little bit about geneologia and read from the little pamphlet about it before we left. Just after we left we got a phone call from the Anziani telling us that Simone had shown up and that Anziano Hansen was teaching him until we got there. Poor kid, Simone was SO stressed out for his interview on Thursday and it was really good for him to just sit and talk to Anziano Hansen and learn to chill out a little bit. At the end we taught him how to pray and invited him to pray for help to be calm and confident for his interview and then said a prayer with him. I think he felt better afterwards. English course also went well. In my class there was only Vincenzo Sanfilippo (who is 9), his cousin Sofiasole, and Giovanni and Alfredo. We talked about how time and how you ask and tell someone what time it is and then we covered the past tense a couple of times. Wow, English grammar really isn't that hard at all, it's just all irregular so you have to memorize all of the different verbs. But once you've got that down it's not too hard :) After English course we met with Stefania, the girl that also wants some extra help with English and Michelangelo stayed after to talk with us too. We also talked about missionary work with them both and said a prayer at the end. I pretty much am positive that some of my best friends from the mission are English course students :)
So the good work goes on and I love Italy and I love all my little Sicilians and I love all of you :D
Vi voglio TANTISSIMO 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!
