News from Italy

Ok, so the most AMAZING THING EVERY HAPPENED!!! Remember Carmen? Our amazing Sicilian investigator who came to conference and immediately started progressing? We just set a baptism date with her for the 4th of July!!! AHHHH!!!! I know!! Im so happy! She is doing so good mom! After we set the date and talked for a while, she asked if we would like to go talk to her friend! So, we walked on down and talked to her neighbor and her son! She is incredible. The bishops wife invited her to dinner Saturday night and everything is just going so well. So for July we will have a baptism the 4th and then again 11th with Valentina. It is going to be one crazy week that I am so ready for! Everything is just really falling into place. After Zone Conference I felt so pumped for the work and have been an inviting-finding machine and its been wonderful. Today a lady who we gave a card to 4 months ago called us and asked us if we could meet with her! That so rarely ever happens and I cant believe how amazing that is! We are meeting her in church this sunday. The ward members here are way into missionary work too and one family in particular is really helping us out. They are the Fiorenza family and their son has a lot of problems and is struggling. He has a tube in his throat, cant talk and cant walk on his own yet but he is adorable! His physical therapist comes every Friday and the family asked if we could come by Friday morning and talk to her. They feel like she is really ready for the message and of course we jumped right on that! Im really excited. We tried a really cool thing with them. We go to the members house a little bit before the lesson, a day or two, and teach them what we want to teach their friend or referral. That way when we teach the friend or whoever it is, they already know what they are to do and what we are going to do and it goes so much better. I like it a lot. That way they feel more involved. Cool, eh? I like it.

I have AMAZING news though!!! Remember my investigators in Torino? One named Victoria from Nigeria who had a really hard time reading and didnt speak Italian or English very well and what not? Well, she is getting baptised this month!!!! And also, if that isnt great enough, Sebastian, a nine year old in the Diaz-Moreno family we were teaching is also getting baptised!!!! I was really so happy to hear that! Mom! They are making the best changes ever in their lives! I got to see some of the progress and now, things are amazing! I found out this morning. Sorella Pitkin wrote me and told me and I couldnt be happier. Wow. I feel like I really did something in Torino, at least a little bit. I dont know, I know that numbers dont mean all that much and that its not how many baptisms you get, but really, baptisms are the only VISUAL way you can measure progress on the mission. Sad but true. All in all, it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside! I worked really hard in Torino and really tried to help those people and to hear that makes me so happy!
Anyway, so you are going to the MTC this morning, eh? Wow! Flashback! I love that place. I was thinking about it the other day about how strange and wonderful that place is and how I miss it like non other sometimes. I always felt like I was under SO much stress there and that I had so much to do, but now, heck! I would take that amount of stress for anything! If only! he he! Tell Ephraim I love him and that I need his address because there is an Elder here with a load of referrals from him! Anz. Carter lived in New York for a really long time and has a lot of friends there. The work never really ends.

As far as geneology bug, yeah! Im all for that! There is a really good scripture about geneology in D&C 128:15 that I like to use when we teach Geneology. S. Moreno was really into that because hardly any of her family members are members so genology is big. But it says that we cant be saved without our dead, so if we dont do the work for our dead, we cant get into the celestial kingdom either! Its like we have our key and we are standing infront of this huge door. there are tons and tons of locks and in order to get to the other side of this door and enter the kingdom of God we have to unlock all the locks. But, the problem is, we only have one key that unlocks one of the locks. So, we have to go and find the other members of our family with their keys! When we are all together, then we can finally recieve all the joy, rest, peace and happiness that we want so bad! Thats how I like to see it. So go for it girl! Go find our dead! I will be helping you when I get back!

This week, 20 of May:
Our week went really well! We have been outside, teaching and really trying to get to as many appointments as possible. I have been trying really really hard to organize myself better and to make it so we have time for everything and being with Sorella Acerson and DeVocht helped a lot. I went to Milano 3, the east half of the city, Monday night, Tuesday and then we swapped back today. It was like a breath of fresh air! I am right in the center of the city of Milan and in Milano 3 there is SKY AND GRASS!!! I was awestruck! I havent seen so much in so so long. I really missed it. Yeah, me, wanna live in a city for the rest of my days in an apartment and so much sidewalk and buildings that you cant even see the sky, is so out the window! I have absolutely NO desire to live like that after the mission! I want to have a house and a little yard in a smaller city so I can go outside and not see my neighbors on all four sides! Dont get me wrong, I love my area and I love my part of the city, but for when I return to Babylon, I want to take a much different route in life! Thats just ONE of the beautful things I have learned on the mission!

So, guess what I learned to do! I learned how to teach an Italian write off the street! Usually they are a little cold to you when they see your nametag, but I found a way! Here is what you do...you spot one, smile and start waving and say Signora or Signore!! like you know who they are. They will act a little confused, but they will come over and then you shake their hand and jump right into what you are doing here! We placed a BoM that way and it was awesome! I really like it! Wanna know how to soften an Italians heart? Tell them this...when they start going off on how awful the world is and how they just dont see any good, tell them how one time you ate pasta al forno or lasagna or something food related from THEIR part of this country and go off on it! Then they warm right up, ask you how it was and go off on how they make it better than anyone else in the world! Works like a charm. Enthusiasm for wherever they are from, honest enthusiasm is the trick. At least thats what works for me. And to be honest, usually Im fascinated by their parts of the country! I did this with a family we were teaching. They are from Puglia, in the south, and they just werent happy and so I went off on how I loved the food from there and they perked up, asked me about such and such and we started talking and then they told me to come back and we will eat! But, I was only there for one day, so they told me to get their number from the Sorelle there and that I always have a place to stay in Milano! They were so sweet! I so hope that Jarom gets to come serve here or at least have a ton of Italians wherever he gets to serve!

I have a cool quote from President Hinckley! Ready?

"Anyone who imagines that bliss in life is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. the fact is that most putts dont drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Lif eis like on old time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cindrs, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride!"

I agree. And it helps to think about that and just being content and happy where you are. Even if its sweating like a banshee running to an appointment or riding the metro and having no one on board wearing deodorant, but the teenager next to you accepts a pamphlet for the Book of Mormon! I love you mom. I love my mission so much and I love being where I am right now.

I know this is a long blog, but I didn't even share everything!! I just love how her personality comes through :)