4 November 2009
This week was a really good week, we did a lot of work and hopefully we'll start seeing some investigators soon.
We talk to tons of people, all the time. We still haven't quite mastered talking to everyone but we're both getting brave because we're both kind of quiet people. But everytime we walk somewhere we look for somebody to talk to, and on busses and all over the place. It's a lot of fun, people are really interesting even if they don't want to change.
Sorella Palermo has been coming to Sacrament Meeting, we haven't been able to get her to Relief Society or Sunday School yet but she comes to Sacrament Meeting. And the women in the ward come and salute her and talk to her afterwards which is really good, she's getting fellowshipped. She usually sits next to me in Sacrament Meeting. She needs to come more, because she loves to sing but she hates that she doesn't know any of the hymns. This last Sunday Sorella Turtula came to church too! She wasn't able to stay for sacrament which is really sad, but she was able to come for relief society and part of Sunday School, and she was really excited that she got to meet Sorella Lewis' parents. We visited her again yesterday and she's already planning on taking a day off work soon so she can give the lady who watches her mom a day off and then the lady wil be willing to watch her mom some Sunday during church, so it's good to know that she wants to keep coming, and trying to come, and that it wasn't just because she likes the missionaries. Sorella Campo sat with her and talked to her and everyone was excited to see her, it was really cool.
I'm not sure about Clorinda. She wasn't able to come to the GANS (giovani adulti non sposati--young single adults) activity Thursday or English class, and she wasn't in English class last night so we need to call her and invite her for tomorrow so that she can come. She's really a sweet person, hopefully she hasn't disappeared.
So, last week was really really stressful because I did planning on my own and we didn't have many member appointments or anything going on, and so we did a lot of finding work. And we tried walking different ways to get places, which is good, because we were walking down to get to some places that were across and now we've figured out faster ways to get places. And we found a park. And we found an inactive randomly because we were walking a different way. We asked him why there are so many streets named after people with the last name Schinina, he told us that they were famous but he doesn't know why because he's from central Italy originally. Then he told us that he had some bad news, that he used to be associated with the church, and his daughter was baptized and married to a member, but the people in the Branch treated his daughter horribly and they haven't been back, and the daughter is now divorced and Paolo told us that the ex husband abandoned his son. We're not sure the whole story, except that the ex-husband is now in prison. We're going to try and meet with Patricia, the daughter, because she plays piano and Sorella Robb plays viola and she thought maybe they could play together. Hopefully we'll be able to, we called and the mom answered the phone and she wasn't a big fan of her daughter getting baptized in the first place and now she's really not.
WE had a really cool appointment with Sorella Iacono, where we just gave her a list of reasons why she's so great, and then asked her if she could think of anybody to share the gospel with. She said since her husband is kind of anti-social she doesn't have any friends outside of the church, but then she thought of the wife of one of the brothers in the branch who isn't a member, and she's met her before and is just going to try to be friends with her. Sorella Iacono gave the closing prayer and kind of surprised us by praying for all sorts of things having to do with missionary work. It was really cool. One of the coolest things by far was that Fratello Iacono, who has been inactive for most of his time as a member, came to church on Sunday. And he felt the spirit during Sacrament Meeting and the testimonies, it was just really really neat to see him there. He needs to keep coming.
Saturday was cool. We went to Ibla to find a referral we've been working on finding for a while, and she wasn't there but we met her husband and son. We also found a guy in a Trattoria who had been taught a bit by the missionaries before and talked to us for a long time. Anyway, he has a Book of Mormon still so we gave him a reading assignment.
We had an appointment with Sorella Campo, and we were going to talk about the area strategy, Europe's plan for helping members and missionaries work together. So we get ready to start the lesson and she tells us "okay, we need to make some phone calls, there are a lot of sisters that need visiting. I'll call Sorella Vezzuto right now and make an appointment for this week." So cool. She is so ready to work with us, we don't even have to ask. We shared 1 Nephi 13: 37 with her, and applied it to her, and she told us, "no this is you, this is the missionaries, not me". But I told her that wasn't true, because everytime she shares her testimony with someone, or visits an inactive (she's the one who went with the sisters to visit Sorella Palermo and after ages of Slla Palermo ignoring the missionaries she opened the door for Slla Campo), or raising her daughter in the church even though Iolanda's dad won't let her get baptized yet, is helping to build Zion. And it's true, Zion could not be built without regular members who do things that they don't even think are a big deal.
Sunday the Branch President bore his testimony at the end of the meeting, even though it wasn't "his month", and just said that we need each other's testimonies, you don't need to have a big event but we need to hear each other's testimonies because they help us to strengthen each other. It was really cool. We ate pranzo with their family and helped set the table and stuff and talked to Sorella Sorrentino a bit. They're a really cool family. I planned the spiritual thought, we read 1 Nephi 14:14 and talked about how even though the church is small, we aren't alone, we have a lot of strength. And then we asked how they could use their strength to serve other people, and found out that their family plays a game where everyone gets two hands at the beginning of the week, and when you serve someone in the family you leave a hand on their bed and try to have no hands by the end of the week. The person with the most hands at the end of the week has to pick some chore to do, like help with the dishes for the week or something. It was pretty cool.
Lots of cool experiences this week. Sorella Rollo (age 75, mom of sorella cascone) invited a friend whose husband just died to our appointment on Monday night and we were able to teach her a little bit, it was pretty cool. And then Sorella Rollo told us that us being here and having the faith to serve is a huge testimony to the members, that was cool to hear. I think that part of our purpose here is to work with members to get them to learn to do missionary work, because the European missions are shrinking--not because they've given up hope but because they know the members can do the work. And they can. I think part of why we're here though, is to learn how to be members when we get back home. At the end of the year the number of people in our mission will be in the sixties, so the members are going to have to step up, because sixty some missionaries between Malta, Sicilia, the Calabria and the Puglia is not a lot.
Anyway, it's been a really good week. I'm glad you got my plaque, that's cool. I like what you had printed, thanks. :)
Congratulations to Spencer and Sara, that's exciting news.
Well, I love you all, thanks for everything that you do. I hope that things are going great. Good luck as gospel doctrine teacher, I guess since gospel principles will be in relief society next year that they needed you in gospel doctrine to make sure they don't do crazy things. :)
Until next week!!!
Love you!
Eliza
We talk to tons of people, all the time. We still haven't quite mastered talking to everyone but we're both getting brave because we're both kind of quiet people. But everytime we walk somewhere we look for somebody to talk to, and on busses and all over the place. It's a lot of fun, people are really interesting even if they don't want to change.
Sorella Palermo has been coming to Sacrament Meeting, we haven't been able to get her to Relief Society or Sunday School yet but she comes to Sacrament Meeting. And the women in the ward come and salute her and talk to her afterwards which is really good, she's getting fellowshipped. She usually sits next to me in Sacrament Meeting. She needs to come more, because she loves to sing but she hates that she doesn't know any of the hymns. This last Sunday Sorella Turtula came to church too! She wasn't able to stay for sacrament which is really sad, but she was able to come for relief society and part of Sunday School, and she was really excited that she got to meet Sorella Lewis' parents. We visited her again yesterday and she's already planning on taking a day off work soon so she can give the lady who watches her mom a day off and then the lady wil be willing to watch her mom some Sunday during church, so it's good to know that she wants to keep coming, and trying to come, and that it wasn't just because she likes the missionaries. Sorella Campo sat with her and talked to her and everyone was excited to see her, it was really cool.
I'm not sure about Clorinda. She wasn't able to come to the GANS (giovani adulti non sposati--young single adults) activity Thursday or English class, and she wasn't in English class last night so we need to call her and invite her for tomorrow so that she can come. She's really a sweet person, hopefully she hasn't disappeared.
So, last week was really really stressful because I did planning on my own and we didn't have many member appointments or anything going on, and so we did a lot of finding work. And we tried walking different ways to get places, which is good, because we were walking down to get to some places that were across and now we've figured out faster ways to get places. And we found a park. And we found an inactive randomly because we were walking a different way. We asked him why there are so many streets named after people with the last name Schinina, he told us that they were famous but he doesn't know why because he's from central Italy originally. Then he told us that he had some bad news, that he used to be associated with the church, and his daughter was baptized and married to a member, but the people in the Branch treated his daughter horribly and they haven't been back, and the daughter is now divorced and Paolo told us that the ex husband abandoned his son. We're not sure the whole story, except that the ex-husband is now in prison. We're going to try and meet with Patricia, the daughter, because she plays piano and Sorella Robb plays viola and she thought maybe they could play together. Hopefully we'll be able to, we called and the mom answered the phone and she wasn't a big fan of her daughter getting baptized in the first place and now she's really not.
WE had a really cool appointment with Sorella Iacono, where we just gave her a list of reasons why she's so great, and then asked her if she could think of anybody to share the gospel with. She said since her husband is kind of anti-social she doesn't have any friends outside of the church, but then she thought of the wife of one of the brothers in the branch who isn't a member, and she's met her before and is just going to try to be friends with her. Sorella Iacono gave the closing prayer and kind of surprised us by praying for all sorts of things having to do with missionary work. It was really cool. One of the coolest things by far was that Fratello Iacono, who has been inactive for most of his time as a member, came to church on Sunday. And he felt the spirit during Sacrament Meeting and the testimonies, it was just really really neat to see him there. He needs to keep coming.
Saturday was cool. We went to Ibla to find a referral we've been working on finding for a while, and she wasn't there but we met her husband and son. We also found a guy in a Trattoria who had been taught a bit by the missionaries before and talked to us for a long time. Anyway, he has a Book of Mormon still so we gave him a reading assignment.
We had an appointment with Sorella Campo, and we were going to talk about the area strategy, Europe's plan for helping members and missionaries work together. So we get ready to start the lesson and she tells us "okay, we need to make some phone calls, there are a lot of sisters that need visiting. I'll call Sorella Vezzuto right now and make an appointment for this week." So cool. She is so ready to work with us, we don't even have to ask. We shared 1 Nephi 13: 37 with her, and applied it to her, and she told us, "no this is you, this is the missionaries, not me". But I told her that wasn't true, because everytime she shares her testimony with someone, or visits an inactive (she's the one who went with the sisters to visit Sorella Palermo and after ages of Slla Palermo ignoring the missionaries she opened the door for Slla Campo), or raising her daughter in the church even though Iolanda's dad won't let her get baptized yet, is helping to build Zion. And it's true, Zion could not be built without regular members who do things that they don't even think are a big deal.
Sunday the Branch President bore his testimony at the end of the meeting, even though it wasn't "his month", and just said that we need each other's testimonies, you don't need to have a big event but we need to hear each other's testimonies because they help us to strengthen each other. It was really cool. We ate pranzo with their family and helped set the table and stuff and talked to Sorella Sorrentino a bit. They're a really cool family. I planned the spiritual thought, we read 1 Nephi 14:14 and talked about how even though the church is small, we aren't alone, we have a lot of strength. And then we asked how they could use their strength to serve other people, and found out that their family plays a game where everyone gets two hands at the beginning of the week, and when you serve someone in the family you leave a hand on their bed and try to have no hands by the end of the week. The person with the most hands at the end of the week has to pick some chore to do, like help with the dishes for the week or something. It was pretty cool.
Lots of cool experiences this week. Sorella Rollo (age 75, mom of sorella cascone) invited a friend whose husband just died to our appointment on Monday night and we were able to teach her a little bit, it was pretty cool. And then Sorella Rollo told us that us being here and having the faith to serve is a huge testimony to the members, that was cool to hear. I think that part of our purpose here is to work with members to get them to learn to do missionary work, because the European missions are shrinking--not because they've given up hope but because they know the members can do the work. And they can. I think part of why we're here though, is to learn how to be members when we get back home. At the end of the year the number of people in our mission will be in the sixties, so the members are going to have to step up, because sixty some missionaries between Malta, Sicilia, the Calabria and the Puglia is not a lot.
Anyway, it's been a really good week. I'm glad you got my plaque, that's cool. I like what you had printed, thanks. :)
Congratulations to Spencer and Sara, that's exciting news.
Well, I love you all, thanks for everything that you do. I hope that things are going great. Good luck as gospel doctrine teacher, I guess since gospel principles will be in relief society next year that they needed you in gospel doctrine to make sure they don't do crazy things. :)
Until next week!!!
Love you!
Eliza
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