Hewo famawy! How are you all doing? Swell I hope. All goes well here :D
So on wednesday last week we ended up working almost the whole day instead of taking a p-day, because let's face it, we happen to waste too much of the Lord's time right? Not that we do it on purpose, but it doesn't hurt to give a little more of our "free" time to him as well. In the morning we ran past Melina to see if she was there. The day before she had asked us to stop by at 10.00 the next day. We got through the first gate because a car was leaving and we even got into the building because the door was left open as well. So at this point she had no idea we were there just in case she would ignore us. But when we got to her apartment door, no one answered :( sad. We left a little note for her. I know she likes us, so I don't know if she is avoiding us (which makes no sense) or just is never home because something happened in her family . . . Boh. After that we went into Centro to go see Massimo at 12.00. We started out by following up on the Word of Wisdom and how it was going. He said it was still the same even after the blessing. So we asked what was holding him back. Turns out had never directly asked Heavely Father if he should live the Word of Wisdom because he believes that cigarettes are bad for you but still sees no problem with the other things. We told him to pray and we started to talk about real intent and the fact that we need to ask with an intent to act on the response we receive, if we don't than Heavenly Father is much less likely to respond because we will only be condemned by our knowledge. We then read 2 Nephi 31:13 where it talks about having real intent to be baptized. He read that and became really thoughtful so we asked what he felt about baptism, if it was still something he wanted to do. He said he wasn't sure, but it sounded nice. In the end he said, yes, that he would like to be baptized and felt that it was something he needed to do. So we told him that if his real intent was towards being baptized, than he could find the real intent to do all the rest. He seemed to understand and we are still hoping the best. After Massimo we met Franchy at the bus station to have a short lunch with her. We ended up buying a piece of pizza for each of us and she brought some cheese. We had a little talk with her and then shared a scripture before we then went back to the church to meet Simone Finocchiaro to help him out with english before his interview the next day. He did end up being over an hour late, but we were able to finish writing our letters home before he got there. I printed Melissa's letter off about her story up in Salt Lake with the cop and we had Simone read it. It was funny to have him read it in his accent and then when I would have to explain it to him in Italian (because Melissa used a lot of slang). It just made me laugh even harder as I had to re-tell the story hahahahaha. I love Melissa a lot :D Simone started to feel a lot more confident in himself and with his interview the next day. I am sure he will do well and we encouraged him to pray for help from the Lord. After that we went to go see Kristiana and Dritan and we saw the Anziani pull up before we left the church parking lot. They were waiting for an appointment for Angelo so we talked to them for a second before leaving. We caught a bus that luckily pulled up so we got on just as the Anziani called us. Turns out Angelo would not be coming and they wanted to know if we would like them to come to our appointment. Initially I thought no, but as I took a second to really think about it I realized it would probably be a really good idea. Dritan and Kristiana are on such different levels, with age, gender, and . . . everything, that it has become really difficult to teach them because we can't teach them both at the same time but there are only two of us and they are always in the room at the same time. So as I thought about it I told them that it would actually help us a lot so we told them to meet us there. We all started out talking together and we explained the Restoration to their other uncle, Gaz, who has been visiting. Then the Anziani started talking about the Priesthood and how it is the authority and power of God. I took that opportunity to draw Kristiana's attention away because she was sitting between me and Sorella Smedley on the coach. I asked her if she remembered all we had taught her about the priesthood. She started to close up at that because she feels like she knows it all already and does not want to get into the same discussions when she's not ready to accept it. So we delicately asked how she felt about it. She then confided in us the fact that she does not know if we are the only church with the authority because everyone else in her family tells her otherwise, that we are wrong and that she is already baptized. She told us she is very confused. We then brought back Joseph Smith into the picture. We told her she has a testimony of him and the first vision, as well as the Book of Mormon. She nodded to affirm that she did. So we told her she was entitled to the same thing Joseph Smith had done, to ask God. He had only been 14, a year younger than her even, when he was searching trying to find an answer. He found that the answers of men couldn't and wouldn't satisfy him so he asked God instead. We told her to do that. She thought about it for a second before asking "And if God tells me that my baptism was valid?" to which I responded "then that would mean that everything we have ever taught you is wrong and that we are crazy or even liars." She did not like that response at all, nor did she believe it. So she sat and thought for a moment before leaning in and whispering in my ear "when Heavenly Father tells me that you are the only church with the Priesthood, I will be baptized." Okay. I cannot even begin to express the feelings that entered my heart. It was almost as though it had been electrified to the point of stopping. I looked over at my companion and she grabbed my hand and squeezed it. It was then that I realized I was crying. I held Kristiana really close, gave her a really bit kiss on the cheek and almost couldn't let her go. At this point we had drawn the attention of everyone else in the room and they all looked at us like we were crazy. But I just hugged her again and said I just loved her a lot. After we left the appointment Sorella Smedley gave me a huge hug (which she really does not like to be touched, so that meant a lot) and I started to cry again. The Anziani looked at me like I was nuts so we explained what had happened. But all I could say was "you have absolutely no idea what this means to me. You have no idea." And I cannot even explain it. Just the idea, the hope, that she will be baptized brought me more joy than I have ever felt before in my entire life. I love her so much I can't even say. And I just kept crying and I am pretty sure that Anziano Marengo is positive now that I am crazy and Anziano Hansen is learning quickly the same thing. But I don't care. I love her so much and it is going to kill me to have to leave her. We went home and I started crying again as I gave Sorella Giordano a hug and she looked at me as if to ask "what happened!? Are you happy or sad?" I just cried more as I told her what had happened and she gave me a big hug too. But even she does not get it. I don't think they get how much I truly love that silly little girl. It's actually quite ridiculous. But it's true. You could say that I gave a very grateful prayer that night thanking Heavenly Father for that unbelievable blessing that night.
Thursday we went with the Anziani to visit Ike and Prudence but they weren't there. So we went to go see another family of investigators that they have been teaching. One of the daughter's name is Simona, but I didn't quite catch the name of her mom. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and we went around taking turns reading the pamphlet and talking about it. It was an interesting lesson haha. It was just awkward I guess. You know (as far as those of you who have served missions) it always takes a week or two to get a feel for the teaching style of your new companions and it can often make things awkward . . . and they are both just Anziani and they have a tendency to do that. I still got a good laugh out of it. Then we called Ike and Prudence back afterwards and we were able to go and see them. It was the first lesson that Anziani Hansen had ever taught them and Anziano Marengo does not speak English very well so I had to kind of guide that one. We talked to them for a bit at the beginning and Ike told us that he has just lost a little bit of that spirit and desire the last couple of weeks. I asked why and he said he couldn't tell us, that maybe he would in the future, but right now he couldn't. We assured him that we are always there to help them and talk to them when they need and are ready. So after that we read again from the Book of Mormon and Ike even wanted to read another chapter. Prudence, on the other hand still isn't reading. Before we left we asked her if she would and she said she would try. She said she has been saying that for a couple months now but it wasn't changing. She would just try. So I grabbed my pen and held it out to her and asked her to "try" and take it. She of course just took it out of my hand. To that I said "no, I told you to TRY and take it. You took it. Try and take it again." Again she just took it out of my hand. I told her the same thing again, that she needed to TRY and take it, not take it. Ike said "but that's impossible, she either takes it or she doesn't" Exactly. In all reality, trying does not exist because we either do things or we don't. Prudence grinned and said "fine, I will read." Haha, here's hoping! We then got home, ate, did language study, and then went to go see Kristiana. She, unfortunately, was asleep on the couch haha. Her mom grinned and told us to try and wake her up. But when we tried she just yelled at us in Albanian. Then her uncles and brother tried to wake her up. But again she just yelled at them all. Dritan and Klisman ended up leaving so we kept trying to wake her up but she would just yell. So I then asked her if we could at least sing to her. She kind of mumbled so I took that as a yes. We sang a hymn and then eventually, she got up and grinned at us and told us how tired she was. As we recounted what she had been yelling she got embarrassed and said she was sorry. Haha. Silly girl. Her uncle, Gaz, was in the room with us and he is kind of a knuckle head so I didn't want to talk about anything too spirituale or personal, so instead we talked to her a bit about her life and then asked her about her reading and generic things like that. At the end we said a prayer and then we left. We had to make our way to the Rizzo family for a family night. I love that family. Their oldest is Maria Grazia who is 14 and friends with Kristiana. Then there is Francesca who is 12, the older boy I honestly don't remember . . . who is about 9 with a broken arm, and then the little one who is 6 and his name is . . . Salvuccio or something like that. We played Jeapardy with the Plan of Salvation and it was kinda cute how they played. They weren't competitive at all, in fact, it was a whole group thing. They would help each other with the answers, even though they were on different teams :) I quite liked it :) Then at the end they brought out a giant pizza and we ate really well before I brought out the lemon bars I had made for them to try. They really liked them actually, even though Italians generally don't like things that are really sweet and those have about 4 or 5 cups of sugar in them haha. So it all went well. We ended up talking for a little bit afterwards about where I have lived and then they started talking about dialects and how ugly barese is. I laughed and said the few words I knew and they looked at me like I was crazy (everyone things I am crazy . . . what can I say) then they started teaching me phrases in Siciliano. I wasn't very good at it needless to say. We ended up walking all the way home after and we were only 2 minutes late! That's a miracle considering we were on the opposite side of the city and it gets sketch at night.
Friday I woke up with a sore throat. Weird, but I wasn't doing too bad until I got an earrache and then my nose started getting really stuffy. But it is weird because the weather has been beautiful this last week. In the upper 80's probably. And I got a cold? Weird. We planned and also had the Anziani come over to fix our sink. So our kitchen sink has sprayed water since before I got here in September and we have just been too lazy to do anything about it. But it has steadily gotten worse to the point that more water came out of the side that hooked into the dials than came out through the faucet. But we just put a wet rag around it to keep it from spraying us. But that morning, when I happened to be doing the dishes the entire neck of the faucet broke off. And this stuff is metal, but due to the calcium that is heavy duty in the water here, it had eaten away the metal. And a week and a half earlier, that night when it dumped rain on us after our awesome lesson with Massimo, when I was taking a shower, the entire shower-head broke off (again, metal) into my hand and sprayed water all in my face like a hose. Haha. I know, I have got skills. So the Anziani came over with their pliers and got the old faucets off for us so that we could then replace them. So for the first time in more than 6 months I have a functioning faucet in the kitchen! Yay! After planning we went to go see Massimo and he is the greatest! I asked him if he could paint me something and when he walked up to us on Friday he had a bag in his hands with two gifts wrapped. Inside were large stones from a beach north of Catania and he had painted the fountain that is in the Piazza where we always meet to teach him. On the back he also wrote us each a note :) I just like him a lot and I am going to keep that rock forever! After that we went over the baptismal questions with him. I think he realized just how much he did know and just how much he believed. The stickers are still the Word of Wisdom and he still hasn't felt like he has received an answer as to whether or not Thomas S. Monson is a prophet today. He is stuck on the fact that prophets are men who make huge, grand, prophesies of the future to save lives. He also said he needs to learn more about him and read what he has said to "test his fruits" haha. So we told him we could meet him on Monday afternoon in the church and we could watch some of his talks online. He was down :) We then went to the church for correlation which, as always, started late because we were the first ones there and no one else showed up for a half hour :P and then we also had asked Dritan to come to the church at 8.00 so that we could teach him a lesson by himself. But instead he came at 7.30 which was just when we wanted to start correlation. So Sorella Giordano came out with me and we taught them a lesson while I left Sorella Smedley to talk about our work at correlation. Haha, she's a big girl :) even if she hates correlation. We brought Alessia Rochira with us into the clerk's office and we watched Together Forever with them because bad news . . . so Kristiana's dad has been drinking a lot lately and it has gotten bad enough that he is always yelling at Klisman. Klisman, who is almost 20, started to cry because it was so bad the day before that he bought a ticket to go home to Albania and left that morning. Kristiana was pretty heart broken over it so we started to watch this movie to help her feel better. It's cheesy, so it is right up her aisle. And you should have seen her face during it. She always leaves her feelings plain on her face. It was obvious she loved the whole thing. But on a funny note, Sorella Giordano and Alessia were sitting on the table that had the other computer on it while we were watching the movie until CRASH! the whole thing broke and it was loud. A couple people poked their heads in, but you couldn't see the damage, so she told them all was well and that nothing had happened. We then looked closer once the door was shut and found that as long as you didn't lean on the table it still held . . . we will just pretend like nothing happened hahaha. So after the film we started asking them what they thought about it and it was again apparent that Kristiana wasn't in the mood. Poor thing. She wouldn't give us a straight answer to save her life, but it was just because she was tired and emotionally drained. So we kept it short. But before we left we asked Dritan if he would come to church the next Sunday. He said he wasn't sure because Kristiana's dad has been getting so bad that even he wants to leave and he may leave before Sunday. Darn it! :( So we went back into correlation and Sorella Smedley looked like she was about to kill someone and Sorella Perez looked almost as bad. Sorella Smedley gave me the correlation sheet and said they hadn't even gotten to us yet because Anziano Marengo had talked the last hour, continually interrupting Sorella Perez. Oh dear. Well I got that meeting closed really fast because I was dying physically because my earache, sore throat, and lack of ability to breathe was getting pretty bad. And I think I had a low fever. So right after that we walked home. Fun fun.
Saturday morning I still felt pretty gross, but worse. I literally couldn't breath and my whole head felt like a giant zit it was so full of pressure which traveled down into my arms and my legs. Lame. The worse part was I also couldn't hear. I probably had a fourth of my hearing ability and that stinks when you cannot even hear your own voice when you speak. Plus with my nose full of snot I couldn't even pronounce the words clearly either. Unpleasant. So we stayed in most of the day until about 4.30 when we got a phone call from Dritan. Turns out he decided to leave as well and he was leaving that night. He said we had an hour to come see him off so I got right up out of bed, looking really awesome as you can probably imagine, ad we left the house in five minutes. We got there and the mood in the room was a little gloomy. Sad. Kristiana did have her fake energy though. But that is only because she blocks things out by being incredibly happy. We read a chapter in the Book of Mormon together before Dritan left with his brother and Sister to walk to the station where he would take the bus. They asked us to stay with Kristiana a little bit because they weren't sure how she was doing. So we did. We stayed and talked to her for another hour or so. It was good though. We talked about a lot of different things, and baptism came up. She is still really confused though because her family members tell her that she is 100% catholic and that she better die catholic and that she didn't receive an answer to her prayer. We asked her who was more important, God or her family. She said her family was. So we talked more with her about the relationship we can have with a Heavenly Father and that he really should be our best friend and that we need to work our whole lives to gain a true relationship with Him. I don't think she ever really understood that before and the potential we have as His children. She really is such a sweet girl that just needs to be taught the basic truths we have been blessed with our entire lives. Again, I just love her. So we went home around 7.00 and then we took it easy for the night because my head was going to explode. But it was good. We will miss Dritan, but before he left, he took the Albanian Book of Mormon from the house as well as the copy of the Restoration DVD we had given the family. He truly has a testimony and he will continue to progress and learn about the gospel. He's great :)
Sunday we went to go get Kristiana and she was locked in her own house hahahaha but no worries we got her out. And then the Mirabellla family picked us up on the street so we didn't even have to walk the whole way. It was epic. After Sacrament meeting we went outside with Kristiana to do a little lesson with her before she left to go home. Then we went outside during Relief Society because I was pretty sure my head was going to explode and I couldn't stand it one more minute. And we had Sigonella afterwards so I didn't feel too bad skipping out. After more than 6 months with 6 hours of church every Sunday, I think I am good. then Sigonella came and my sinuses were more and more clogged and I literally was going to die. I even had to go outside instead of stay in the chapel because I couldn't see, hear, or breath. Tami came outside to ask if I was okay. She thinks I have allergies. Well that would stink because I have never had allergies before but oh well, I am in Sicily and there are many more plants of which I could be allergic too. Bobbi also is stellar and took one of my packages and should be mailing it this week. She's awesome and I even snuck money in the bag because the box weighed 25 pounds :P So you should be getting that next week. After church we went home to eat before we went back out and I made a couple of phone calls. I called Gianluca and yeah . . . I will not be calling him every again. So I answer and the first thing he asks is if I am more beautiful than the last time he saw me. I was just like . . . uh . . . . uh . . . a apple? And then he asked me what I think of when I look at myself in the mirror. Do I think I am very beautiful, beautiful, ugly, or really ugly. I responded with "Fat". He laughed and said that that could be easily solved but that I am beautiful anyways. Then he asked me when we could go to a cafe together to talk about each other. "I will talk about me and you will talk about you." I informed him that I am not allowed to go anywhere without my companion so that would be impossible. He then said "Oh, so our only moments alone are on the telephone? So these are the only moments when I can give you compliments." I didn't have a response to that one. He continued by wishing my mission would end quickly so that we could have our time together. I told him it would be a while and that I would be going directly home to the states. He asked me if I would give him all of my contact information. I said "probably not" and then he laughed, not really believing me and asking where we were just then. When I said we were at home he said he would come below our balcony and do as Romeo did to his Giuliette and tell me just how much he loved me . . . At this point I really wanted to just hang up the phone, but oh, it gets so much better hahahahaha. He asked me if I had ever been to Verona and when I said no he said he would have to take me, alone. I again said "no, probably not." But the best was when he asked if there was a mirror near by me. I replied that no there wasn't but the closest was in the bathroom. He told me to go there and blow a kiss to myself in the mirror and know that it was from him. Oh gag me. I can feel the bile in the back of my throat still hahahahahaha. So funny though. If he really thinks those lines work on someone more than half his age, or on anyone at all, he is very mistaken and we put him in our phone address book as "Don't Answer. Skeezebag Gianluca" haha. Just so that future Sorelle know not to answer :) So in the end we went to go do a little bit of house around Sorella Catania's house before going to visit her. It was a short visit because she had things to do but she pretty much loves us. A lot. She always laughs at me too, but I love her so much so it's okay :) After that we went home and caught up on area book . . . finally. I am telling you, I don't know when people find time to do that haha.
Monday we had district meeting outside. It was nice :) then we all went to a sandwich shop below the church and came back and ate together. Then Sorella Smedley paid the Anziani to go to McDonald's to get us all milkshakes. I even placed a special order of a strawberry/chocolate swirl and they granted my request, even though Anziano Marengo had to beg for it. In the end he and Anziano Hansen each got one as well. After lunch Massimo came for a lesson where we watched President Monson's talk from the April 2011 conference about the temple. I think he liked it and he said that he can tell he is a good man but he is still stuck on the point that a prophet should do great and wonderful things. We then answered some of his questions about that and about the temple and showed him the pictures online. But he was missing something. Desire. We tried talking to him about it for a while, trying to figure out why he wasn't pushing himself to try harder. Finally we asked if he even had a desire to know if Thomas S Monson was a prophet. He responded that he did, but he only said it half heartily. So I asked if he REALLY wanted to know, or just out of curiosity. He said he didn't know. But then all of a sudden, Sorella Smedley asked him "Massimo, what DO you want?" He stopped and thought for a second and said "I have never asked myself that ever. Actually my object in life is to survive until I die." We kept talking and the conversation got really soft, almost whispers, but it was one of those spiritually intense lessons when you are too afraid to move because you don't want to distract yourself or anyone else. Massimo continued to tell us that most of his friends think that he has become cold and distant, something I have never witnessed. He no longer paints because he loves it, instead he just does it for something to do. He's lost all the passion of living. I asked why and he said it all began 5 years ago, the last time he saw his daughter. Once she left his life all else had little value. It was heartbreaking actually, and explains why we have never seen him distant or cold because in many ways he sees us as his daughters. When he is with us I think he feels that hole filled. But it also explains why he likes the idea of eternal life but why he is not motivated to achieve it. Why strive and sacrifice everything for an eternal family when you don't even have one now? Why talk about baptism so that you can go to the temple when you have lost all that's important to you? That is why he's stopped progressing, reading, and praying. That's why he hasn't stopped smoking. He believes it all but he doesn't want it if it means he will be alone . . . I asked him why he hasn't spoken to his daughter in 5 years. He said it is because he is too afraid to contact his ex-wife after what he did to her. I asked "Not even for you daughter?" to which he didn't respond. Again he said "I'm sorry. I'm just not the right person." I paused for a second and said "you may not be now, but you can be. And you never have to do it alone." We love Massimo so much and we want him to realize just how dear he is to us. I am pretty sure he has an idea, but not the whole picture because he doesn't understand that it's God who loves him even more. After that lesson Sorella Smedley had died emotionally as we talked to Simone who had come to the church to talk to us because he had lost our phone number. We set up a few times with him this week where we could help him with english and then we left to pass by the Meli family. They weren't expecting us because I had called Sorella Meli and she had actually said we couldn't come on Monday . . . but I did it anyways because she loves the missionaries and she can't tell us no. She has not been to church in months so she needed to see us. We got there and her husband, who is super active and the cutest old man, was really excited to see us and we did a family night with them and talked about Alma 23 and the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's. Then she gave us food before we went home to spend another hour on area book. It was a good day, but we were tired for many reasons. \
So the good work goes on and I truly love these people so much. I mess up a lot, I am not the most diligent finder, I cannot drop an investigator to save my life, but I can say if there is one thing I have done right on my mission, it is loving the people. I would do anything for any member or any investigator. I . . . yeah. No other words than that. I love them and I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father has trusted me with these wonderful people that I have had the privileged of teaching.
Love you all so much!
Be good!
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!
