Hi hi! HIIIIIIII!
So Tuesday we had to do some swapping between our P-day and that day so we stayed in and got all of our studies done before writing our letter in the church. Then Dritan was supposed to come at 4 to meet with us but he still wasn't there at 5, we called and turns out he was sleeping. He rushed over and we ended up reading Alma 26 with him and even though it was in Italian he really enjoyed it and said he had gained an even stronger witness of the Book's truthfulness. He also asked us what had happened with Kristiana. Turns out he got back and asked her when we had come over last. But she had an attitude and told him that she told us not to come anymore. After that I guess he yelled at her and said she was being stupid and that "I leave for a week and you throw everything that is important out the window. Those girls love you so much and the moment I leave you ruin everything. And Sorella LeCates leaves in a couple of weeks after she has been here for more than 6 months and you treat her this way?" But he said that it had no effect on Kristiana and she just walked out of the room on him. He apologized greatly for it because I think he understands how much she means to me and he was rather sad by it to. He will be leaving again though, but is doing really well and will be baptized, I have no doubt. While we were teaching him, Simone showed up and was talking to Sorella Giordano. We ended up talking to him afterward and he was FREAKIN' out. He is really concerned about his English for this interview so we worked with him a little bit. We also asked how the Book of Mormon was going and he said great. He is reading it every night and still has not found anything that he disagrees with, and he won't :) He's super sweet, just nervous all the time about this interview. After he left English course started. This week it was just my three kids, Vincenzo, Sofiasole, and Sebastiano. We talked about the past tense with them and then I helped them with their homework. I also promised to make them cookies next week. At the end of the lesson we talked about the Book of Mormon and turns out Sebastiano has one and has read it. So we talked about the story and what it means. They were all silent while I explained it and then their mom's came in. Vincenzo's mom is the bishop's wife, but the other is not a member. I think she likes us a lot and she continually warms up to us. I feel a future for her in the church :) After English course we all talked with a couple of the students from the advanced course, Michelangelo and Stefania. I really gotta say that my favorite people from the mission probably have been from English course haha.
Wednesday morning we met up with Massimo in the morning and we brought an extra edition of the conference from May 2010 to give to him. We had selected a talk from one of the 70 about living the commandments. He actually got quite a kick out of the story at the beginning about two men who go fishing and then crash the plane because they loaded too much weight onto the aircraft. He related it back to the commandments and that there are three reasons we do not follow the commandments. 1) We believe it doesn't apply to us 2) it's not that big of a deal and 3) it's too hard. He grinned at that last one especially. We had a nice little chat about it and then explained what a blessing conference is in our lives and that we need to go with questions we want answered by our Heavenly Father. It was still a battle to get him to commit to coming because he is afraid of the dark and of dogs (he had a bad experience once that involved 40 stitches and several shots . . . ) but he promised he would come because I offered him ice cream :) Okay, actually when I first offered ice cream he said "hey, that's corruption! Do you really think it will mean anything if I only come for the ice cream?" I told him no, but it never hurts to have ice cream. He laughed and said he would come. Good, and he ALWAYS keeps his promises so I was pleased :) After that we met Franchy for lunch and she was eyeing the guy in the bus station that she's in love with who is a pig. I hope she eventually sees the scum bag that is so apparent before our eyes and go for Michelangelo or Massimo haha. But what was the best about that appointment with Franchy is this: Sorella Smedley's sister is getting married and is very modest, so Sorella Smedley always wanted to buy her lingerie before she left, but ended up not having time. Franchy needed to buy some for a ex-missionary who is getting married so we asked her to buy some for Sorella Smedley's sister. Franchy smiled and said we should just come with her. We were both worried about going, not being sure if it was appropriate, but she dragged us to the store anyways. Turns out the stores here are not like Victoria's Secret though, thank-goodness, and we felt perfectly fine, especially since it was Franchy buying it and not us. Pretty sure her sister's gonna flip haha. After that we had to run to the church, which is not close, to get there for another appointment with Simone at 5. He was still nervous and still doesn't understand most things that we say, but the spiritual thought at the end was the best. Really. We asked a little bit about the Book of Mormon at the end and he said that he had not found anything that went against what he had been taught as a child and he believed it all to be true. He said the moment he found something that didn't match up he would let us know. But then for a second he got kind of quiet as he thought for a second before saying "I have been talking to my friends. They say that you guys are different than us, what's the difference between the Catholic Church and yours?" I LOVE that question. It is so fun to answer :) Even though we TECHNICALLY had to go to correlation right as he asked that question, I didn't care. This was more important and the Anziani could wait. So I whipped out my whiteboard marker and explained that the Catholic church believes in an unbroken line of authority from Peter down to the current Pope, that there never was an apostasy and that all the other protestant churches are break offs of the Catholic church over the 2,000 years it has existed. He then told me that he did believe in an apostasy because things HAVE been changed in his church, which opened up perfectly into the next part of the discussion. We explained how after the death of the apostles, the authority of the priesthood was lost and through the years the doctrine has been changed, which is why there are so many churches, which is why Joseph Smith was so confused. It was nice because we had already explained the first vision to him so it made perfect sense. We then explained that because the priesthood didn't exist it needed to be restored with the entire church, and that's what Joseph Smith did, under the direction of the Savior. And being good little missionaries, we then explained the roll of the Book of Mormon, that it is the "fruit" of Joseph Smith to see if he truly was the man he claimed to be. If Simone finds no problems in that book and believes it to be the word of God, it means that it could only have been translated by a man called of God, and a man of God does not claim to be something that he is not. So we encouraged Simone to continue to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and that he WOULDN'T find anything that didn't "va" with what he believed, and if he did, we would gladly explain it to him. He is a pretty legit kid, even though his English is lacking :) Unfortunately the Anziani were getting a little anxious because we were running late, so we immediately got in the car after to go get the other Sorelle to go out to Aci Catena to the house of the Canfarelli family for correlation. Fratello Canfarelli just barely got called as the new ward mission leader, so they invited us to there house for dinner and for the meeting. It was little adventure though because we would have actually been on time, except for one thing, Tom (the GPS) is a dirty liar and it took us on this tiny little road that went around and around and ruined the car. There was ivy growing on the walls on either side of us and it was all rubbing up against the car. No worries, we got a video of it :) Welcome to Sicily! Well we eventually got there and the meeting took forever and by the time it was winding down it was quarter to nine and we hadn't eaten yet. Oh, Sorella Canfarelli was offended as Anziano Hansen ALMOST refused to stay for dinner after she had spent all afternoon making dinner for us. Yes, rules are important, but enough to insult a member? So we ate fast . . . yes, we were still late getting home, but really, Sorella Canfarelli was mad, and in the end president said it was more important keeping her happy than being on time. Gotta love President!
Thursday morning we did house and well . . . that was fun. We had various things yelled at us, but my favorite was "I'm not trying to change your religion so stop trying to change mine!" Mind you, there really are Jehovah's Witnesses EVERYWHERE. It's quite ridiculous. It's no wonder people get upset, I would too if those missionaries came by every Single DAY. Mama Mia! So we get the harshness from it, but they just don't understand that we're different, so it's not technically their fault. After that we did a little bit of language study at a bus stop before going to Sorella Seminara's for lunch. Wow, I got jipped with the pasta. Seriously. I ended up eating almost twice as much as everyone else! So not fair! It was more than 200 grams of pasta and dang . . . I felt HUGE afterwards. I literally thought "no one look at me, I am fat and ugly." I was super bloated, so bad that Sorella Smedley said it was obvious to everyone too. And I hurt so we went home for the last hour of our lunch and I took ibuprofen and slept it off for a half hour before going to meet Simone at the church. Yeah, he didn't end up showing up, but we also had an appointment with Dritan after so we stayed and watched President Monson's talk from the Young Women's broadcast, the first time I have been able to do it my whole mission! And man, his talk was good. But after another half hour, Dritan called us too and couldn't come so we called Sorella Catania and went to go see her. I love her so much! She's just great :) She asked us what we had done recently so we shared with her what we had learned from the conference and that she should come Saturday and Sunday to see the rest. She said she didn't have time :( lame. We also learned that her daughter, who we had met the last time, was a member but isn't interested anymore. She said that she isn't upset with us or with the members, she just doesn't agree with the doctrine anymore. Sad! I don't understand how that happens because I personally thing it is all the greatest stuff ever! But I guess it doesn't just come one day, but it is a process. I really do love Sorella Catania a lot though, she is the best. The perfect little Sicilian woman that just adores us! And I got a picture with her and she said we had to come again so we could eat dinner together. She wanted us to eat with her that night but I recounted our experience at lunch and she laughed and said she would spare me. Thank goodness!
Friday we went to go see Sorella Contandino because she hasn't been doing very well health wise. She has a lot of health problems and it took another dive this last week. Turns out she was busy when we got there and it takes an hour to get there, so we then had to turn around and go back. We did meet some fun people on the buses though haha. You really do meet the best people on public transportation. This time it was a man who . . . okay, I couldn't really understand him because he was trying to be all secretive so he wouldn't tell me directly what he was saying and was using a bunch of words that I couldn't understand. I have narrowed it down to two options though based upon the pictures he showed me in his wallet
a) He is a catholic Cardinal that is in hiding . . . . . . or . . . . . .
b) He just has 5 pictures of himself dressed up as a catholic Cardinal in his wallet . . . .
Not sure which, but it still made me laugh because he would lean in and whisper and look around to make sure no one else was listening haha. I guess I could add a third option . . .
c) He's crazy!
Still pretty great though :) After lunch we had a great lesson with Massimo. We had invited him to the talent show that night but he couldn't come, but he still wanted to hear Sorella Smedley sing. So she gave him a private little concert as she sang and played the piano for us. He LOVED it and video taped it. We then went into another room and explained how missions are organized and how we are called because he read another talk we had assigned him by Elder Rasband about how we are called as missionaries. He liked it a lot as we told him that we were called here to Italy specifically for him and that that is the reason we ask him to do all this stuff, not just to be annoying. He liked it and it went well. After that appointment we went for a little walk to see if we could find people, but no one was around, so instead we left one of the beat up copies of the Book of Mormon from our apartment on a stone wall near a grocery store. Taking advantage of an opportunity we went in to buy the ice cream we had promised Massimo for coming to conference. And just because we have the best luck EVER, the Rochira family was inside and offered us a ride back up to the church for the talent show. Sweet! Stephanie, the Rochira's niece, is awesome and is planning on a mission. Even though she always makes fun of our accents, I love her anyways :) The talent show was great. I got lots of videos of little kids doing dances, skits in Siciliano, Fratello Bruno singing, Sorella Smedley singing :), and Anziano Marengo playing the recorder haha. It was pretty great. We then all went home and slept. Great :)
Saturday morning we did weekly planning and we felt really impressed to try and call Carol but we weren't sure if it was too soon because we had tried two days earlier. So instead we gave Sister Shefchik a call to see if she had heard from her. She had forgotten, but said she would call her right then and give us a call back. Sure enough she called us back and said that Carol was having a hard time and she wasn't sure if she wanted to come to church again because she was no longer sure if she was doing any of this for herself. She specifically said it was nothing we had said, but just her own feelings. But while we were talking to Sister Shefchik, we had gotten a call from Carol. But when we tried to call her back there wasn't an answer. So we went downstairs to a payphone and sent her a text message telling her we love her and that she is our friend, and encouraging her to talk to her Heavenly Father. We hope the best because it has been 2 months since we saw her last. After we sent that text we went to the Bruno family for lunch and surprisingly we didn't eat that much, and we had dinner entertainment. Both of their grandmothers live with them and the one on my side was telling us all that she smelled venom in her pasta and she could feel her mouth burn, so there had to be something in it and she would die. I almost died laughing. The other grandma, across from me, had no problem eating at all, and it actually never ceases to impress me how much she can put down for such a little lady. We also watched all the videos from the Talent Show because Alessia and Sorella Bruno weren't able to come and they wanted to see how Fratello Bruno had sung :) let's just say it was quite hilarious :) After that we shared a Easter Spiritual thought with the Easter eggs with the different items inside (ex: nails, sacrament cup, thorns . . . ) and scriptures about the last week of the Lord's life. They really liked it a lot. We then left to go see Sorella Maiori but she couldn't see us :( so we went up to the church to wait for Massimo. It was good though because he ended up being early and we talked all about the organization of the church with the First Presidency, 12 apostles, Quorum of the 70 (with the area presidencies), stakes, wards . . . and we gave him his ice cream :) And wow, that first session was perfect for Massimo. Really. I received answers FOR him. At the end I asked him if he had received answers and he said no. I laughed and told him he had and he just shrugged, so I asked him if I was right, and he grinned and shrugged again. I do love Massimo a lot!
Sunday morning around 9.00 we got a call from Dritan asking where everyone was. I had tried to explain to him over the phone that we had conference but I guess he didn't understand and came for regular church. But because he is a trooper he said he would hang around until the anziani got there for the Priesthood session at 10.00. Sister Bay then came to get us around 10 and we watched conference with her family and Troy. I loved the talk about being active in the church and in the gospel and also the talk by Elder Eyring. We then had turkey pot pie for lunch with carrot/zucchini bars, and then watched the second session. I loved Elder Scott's talk a lot, and Uchtdorf, Holland . . . they are all just great really. In fact, I just printed off a bunch of them because we never get to see the last session of conference either because it doesn't start until 10.00 at night Sunday night. So we gotta catch up on all of those haha. We also went back to the church at 6.00 to watch the Sunday morning session before all of us going home for the night. I also heard that Dritan rather enjoyed conference, but then we got another surprise when he called us that night saying again that he was on the bus headed for Rome because he couldn't take one more minute of living with his brother-in-law (Kristiana's dad) and he really meant it. He sounded super down on the phone. But what he said to me when I asked if he would still go to church gave me hope. He said "Sorella, haven't you figured it out yet? It doesn't matter where I am in the whole world, if I can find this church, I will be there." That one made me smile :) So not too shabby!
Monday we didn't have district meeting because the next day we had zone conference, but because President Kelly was doing our interviews in our house that afternoon we had to get everything clean and then studied, and then had our interviews with President. Mine was short because there is only me and one other sister dying this transfer so he said we will have plenty of time to talk here in a couple of weeks, and my whole interview was basically about Sorella Smedley. He gave me quite a compliment, he said I did a wonderful job training. Granted, I never have once felt like I was training and Sorella Smedley is a very capable young woman, but when I said that he said "Sorella, not just ANYONE could have trained her. Your job is the most important one in this mission because I can't be everywhere at once. I trusted you and you did great!" I love President a lot! And then we went to go have a lesson with Massimo. That was a fun lesson. We just kept going in circles and I was getting frustrated until the spirit pretty much told me "Shut up. Just stop talking and let your companion teach the rest." So I grinned, folded my arms across my chest and said "Okay, I am done talking. Massimo, she will do the rest." And she did! She did so good too! Granted there was one time I had to answer a question she didn't understand, but it was great! He keeps saying that we can't relate to him because we don't have the same problems he has but it all came down to the fact that yes, our problems are different, but the solution is always the same. It always has been and it always will be. It is Christ and His Atonement. So Sorella Smedley then gave him the assignment to go to the back of the Book of Mormon, to the Scripture guide, and do a study to find his 4 favorite scriptures about the Atonement. He said he would and I am sure he will. High Five to my greenie who isn't a greenie anymore! At this point we had to go back to our apartment though because other Sorelle here in Sicilia would be coming and I needed to draw on the map all of the different bus routes so that Sorella Smedley can start memorizing them so she can teach the city to her new companion.
So this week went better. I am actually really happy I do my letters like this. It is easy to focus all week on the moments that don't go the way you want, or the time that you feel you are wasting, or how much more you could do if you weren't so weak and inadequate. But when I write it all out again, I am reminded of how blessed I am and the help I receive to do this work for others. I am not perfect and I can always do more, but this helps me focus on the good that I do and helps me to see that I do help those around me :)
Love you all a lot!
Vi voglio ben'assai!
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!
