6 October 2010
Hello!!!
Well, I'm tired. We got up to catch a 6,20 bus to Bari that never came :( but I guess at least the one at 7 came so getting up early wasn't a total waste of time.
Let's see what we've done this week. Last Wednesday we went to see Patrizia. I really love that woman, she is great and I wish that the members would get involved with her!!! It's kind of frustrating that they don't. She is definitely making progress, and she wants something in her life to change so I hope that she realizes that the thing she needs to change is that she needs to come back to church! That's what we're working with her on. She has been in England this week to visit her daughter who is going to school there. She'll get home tomorrow night and hopefully she had a good vacation. We probably won't see her this week though because catching up on work is always stressful.
After that we looked for a few people and weren't able to contact them, but in the end it was a good night.
Thursday morning we went to see Sorella Palotta, she's really great. We talked to her about conference, unfortunately I didn't see her at any of the sessions, but then we were upstairs watching in English. There weren't a ton of people who came anyway. :( But we had a good appointment with her, she is really sweet. And then we were going to try and go see Anna LaTagliata because they live in the same palazzo, but S Palotta was going to her mom's and she said usually her sisters all meet up there right before lunch and Slla Jones wanted to meet everyone. So we went there, it was good. The Di Pietro family has 11 kids, big family. The only sister there was Slla Locorotondo, but we talked to Slla Di Pietro and she told us her conversion story and everything (because it was Sorelle that found the family so she likes us) and that was fun.
Then we went to Andrea DiPietro's house for lunch, because his family just moved out of his mother-in-law's house into their own little house, and they invite people to new houses here. They got the house that AnnaRita Chirico was living in before she moved back to Milan. It's pretty nice. So I had warned Slla Jones about how much food we'd have to eat and she didn't believe me at all, and the anziani knew and had skipped breakfast to prepare. They brought Slla Jones this plate full of four kinds of deli meats and three kinds of cheese and she said "this is for everyone, right?" wrong. We all got plates like that. Ha. And then another big plate of meat. It's so ridiculous it's hilarious...oh well. I really don't like meat very much.
After that we went to ward council, there was a discussion about reverence that was pretty fun.
And then we finally started English course!!! I think it will be good. We have a lot of pretty advanced speakers in this city, I think it will be fun to work with them.
Friday we had a "special zone training meeting". They are only doing Zone Conferences once every other transfer nowadays, and interviews only once every other transfer as well. But we still had a meeting because Elder Ballard was in Rome a few weeks ago and they taped his talk to the missionaries for all of us to watch since it's too expensive for us to go to Rome so we never get to do anything fun and they've got this new supplement to Preach My Gospel that they had to go over a little bit, seems interesting, it's officially going to be taught in the MTC next year, but they want to give us a head start. It''s basically just emphasizing certain things in PMV that they think we need to focus on more.
Anyway President pulled me aside and said he's still planning on transferring me and asked if I still feel good about that and I said yes so Saturday I should be getting a phone call. He's a good guy, I really like him a lot.
We were supposed to have an appointment with Fia, the member from Samoa, in the evening but she called and said we couldn't come. So we didn't. Instead we hit the streets and we talked to a whole bunch of people. Anziano Ballard suggested that we tell people that we're far from home because we've got this really important message that adds to the truths that they have but that they don't know about yet. We tried it. We didn't get any phone numbers, but hey.
On Saturday we planned, and we tried to invite people to conference last minute. We saw Grazia and talked to her a bit, she shared her experience with prayer that helped her to know that God exists. She said she wouldn't be able to make it to conference, because she does lives pretty far away, but she said she'd definitely try to watch it online. I need to call her and ask if she did it--she isn't in Taranto this week, her sister is watching the bar for her while she takes a little break.
Then Conferenza Generale! Yay. That was good. We actually went to Lidl, it's this German discount store that's right near the church that is great and way cheap and bought a whole bunch of snacks which was kind of hilarious, but we got some things that looked like donuts because I wanted to keep tradition. :) They tasted like twinkies without cream filling. I loved the Saturday morning session. Anziano Holland's talk was great, although everybody was pretty shocked that he didn't break any boxes (do we even say that in English?). And so was Anziano Uchtdorf's, I loved that "some of you may be thinking, well this is great and all, but what does it have to do with flying the airplane? well I'll tell you." It was a good talk. And so true.
Sunday we stayed in in the morning because I didn't have much of a voice and I just didn't think it would be right to go visit people in that condition. They're a little crazy about colds. Especially since it was fairly warm outside so I wasn't about to wear a scarf and when you have a cold you HAVE to wear a scarf. Anyway. The members brought a TON of food to church so the Anziani called us because they didn't know what to do with it. I don't think that we helped them too much. But a little. The members brought a lasagna and a bunch of focacce for us.
So I don't have my notes from conference but I really enjoyed it. I love that they told us very very clearly to follow the prophet, I loved that they told us to take responsibility for our faith or lack thereof, I love that they reminded us to be grateful. I always love Anziano Scott's talks, they are always amazing. And it was just a really good conference honestly. I don't know what happened in the Sunday Afternoon session, I'm assuming that I won't until I get home because no way we'll have the conference Liahona here that fast. Conference is great. None of our investigators came, but the Statte Anziani's investigator with a baptism date came and said she'd like us to come visit her. It's funny how much more the people love us when we aren't in their ward.
So Monday, then we went to find this girl named Marika and she did not show up. Sad. But we met a couple of other nice people so I guess it turned out okay.
In the afternoon we went to Roccaforzata to try and find Viviana, she wasn't home, so we walked back to San Giorgio and went to contact a referral, who used her baby as an excuse, and so we went to see Anna LaTagliata. Her husband told us nobody was home on the citofono, but I called the house phone and Anna answered and invited us up. Her husband went down the stairs when we were in the elevator. Anna wants to come back. She stopped coming to church because she wanted to keep the peace in her house, but now she feels like she made a mistake, especially when she thinks about how she could have all of her children in the church as well. We're going to try and see her a few times a week, to reteach the lessons from the beginning. She seemed excited about it, and hopeful that it will give her the strength to go to church even though her husband still doesn't like it much. I'm excited that we finally saw her. I really like her.
Yesterday was quite the day!!! In the morning we went to see Slla Quercia in the rest home she's in now...and she talked to us for a few minutes and then lay down on her bed and went to sleep. She looks healthier than she did at home, so that's a good thing.
We also saw Sorella Polignano, who talked to us about a lot of things, and then started telling us her and her husband's story and she got halfway through and then left us in suspense because it was almost 1 and she had to take her medicine. Mamma mia. Haha.
After lunch we went to see Jlenia, some friends of hers were killed in a motorino accident this weekend and she was very upset. She's angry. And we talked to her a little bit about it and prayed with her and I hope that she's feeling a little bit better. I need to call her tonight to see how she's doing.
English course went well. It's always fun when they'd rather talk and learn by talking and listening than by just doing grammar exercises.
Today we went to Matera, it's where they filmed the Passion of the Christ apparently, that film that I don't ever want to see. But we came to Bari and then got a train to Matera, and taught a man on the train on the way over. It was pretty fun, one of the Anziani from Bari Libertà took about 500 pictures, and it was a pretty place in general. We walked up and down a whole lot of stairs. And that was our p-day. We're still in Bari currently, Slla Tinoco is coming back with me tonight to Taranto to do scambi.
That's all for today, I think.
Love you tons!
Eliza
Well, I'm tired. We got up to catch a 6,20 bus to Bari that never came :( but I guess at least the one at 7 came so getting up early wasn't a total waste of time.
Let's see what we've done this week. Last Wednesday we went to see Patrizia. I really love that woman, she is great and I wish that the members would get involved with her!!! It's kind of frustrating that they don't. She is definitely making progress, and she wants something in her life to change so I hope that she realizes that the thing she needs to change is that she needs to come back to church! That's what we're working with her on. She has been in England this week to visit her daughter who is going to school there. She'll get home tomorrow night and hopefully she had a good vacation. We probably won't see her this week though because catching up on work is always stressful.
After that we looked for a few people and weren't able to contact them, but in the end it was a good night.
Thursday morning we went to see Sorella Palotta, she's really great. We talked to her about conference, unfortunately I didn't see her at any of the sessions, but then we were upstairs watching in English. There weren't a ton of people who came anyway. :( But we had a good appointment with her, she is really sweet. And then we were going to try and go see Anna LaTagliata because they live in the same palazzo, but S Palotta was going to her mom's and she said usually her sisters all meet up there right before lunch and Slla Jones wanted to meet everyone. So we went there, it was good. The Di Pietro family has 11 kids, big family. The only sister there was Slla Locorotondo, but we talked to Slla Di Pietro and she told us her conversion story and everything (because it was Sorelle that found the family so she likes us) and that was fun.
Then we went to Andrea DiPietro's house for lunch, because his family just moved out of his mother-in-law's house into their own little house, and they invite people to new houses here. They got the house that AnnaRita Chirico was living in before she moved back to Milan. It's pretty nice. So I had warned Slla Jones about how much food we'd have to eat and she didn't believe me at all, and the anziani knew and had skipped breakfast to prepare. They brought Slla Jones this plate full of four kinds of deli meats and three kinds of cheese and she said "this is for everyone, right?" wrong. We all got plates like that. Ha. And then another big plate of meat. It's so ridiculous it's hilarious...oh well. I really don't like meat very much.
After that we went to ward council, there was a discussion about reverence that was pretty fun.
And then we finally started English course!!! I think it will be good. We have a lot of pretty advanced speakers in this city, I think it will be fun to work with them.
Friday we had a "special zone training meeting". They are only doing Zone Conferences once every other transfer nowadays, and interviews only once every other transfer as well. But we still had a meeting because Elder Ballard was in Rome a few weeks ago and they taped his talk to the missionaries for all of us to watch since it's too expensive for us to go to Rome so we never get to do anything fun and they've got this new supplement to Preach My Gospel that they had to go over a little bit, seems interesting, it's officially going to be taught in the MTC next year, but they want to give us a head start. It''s basically just emphasizing certain things in PMV that they think we need to focus on more.
Anyway President pulled me aside and said he's still planning on transferring me and asked if I still feel good about that and I said yes so Saturday I should be getting a phone call. He's a good guy, I really like him a lot.
We were supposed to have an appointment with Fia, the member from Samoa, in the evening but she called and said we couldn't come. So we didn't. Instead we hit the streets and we talked to a whole bunch of people. Anziano Ballard suggested that we tell people that we're far from home because we've got this really important message that adds to the truths that they have but that they don't know about yet. We tried it. We didn't get any phone numbers, but hey.
On Saturday we planned, and we tried to invite people to conference last minute. We saw Grazia and talked to her a bit, she shared her experience with prayer that helped her to know that God exists. She said she wouldn't be able to make it to conference, because she does lives pretty far away, but she said she'd definitely try to watch it online. I need to call her and ask if she did it--she isn't in Taranto this week, her sister is watching the bar for her while she takes a little break.
Then Conferenza Generale! Yay. That was good. We actually went to Lidl, it's this German discount store that's right near the church that is great and way cheap and bought a whole bunch of snacks which was kind of hilarious, but we got some things that looked like donuts because I wanted to keep tradition. :) They tasted like twinkies without cream filling. I loved the Saturday morning session. Anziano Holland's talk was great, although everybody was pretty shocked that he didn't break any boxes (do we even say that in English?). And so was Anziano Uchtdorf's, I loved that "some of you may be thinking, well this is great and all, but what does it have to do with flying the airplane? well I'll tell you." It was a good talk. And so true.
Sunday we stayed in in the morning because I didn't have much of a voice and I just didn't think it would be right to go visit people in that condition. They're a little crazy about colds. Especially since it was fairly warm outside so I wasn't about to wear a scarf and when you have a cold you HAVE to wear a scarf. Anyway. The members brought a TON of food to church so the Anziani called us because they didn't know what to do with it. I don't think that we helped them too much. But a little. The members brought a lasagna and a bunch of focacce for us.
So I don't have my notes from conference but I really enjoyed it. I love that they told us very very clearly to follow the prophet, I loved that they told us to take responsibility for our faith or lack thereof, I love that they reminded us to be grateful. I always love Anziano Scott's talks, they are always amazing. And it was just a really good conference honestly. I don't know what happened in the Sunday Afternoon session, I'm assuming that I won't until I get home because no way we'll have the conference Liahona here that fast. Conference is great. None of our investigators came, but the Statte Anziani's investigator with a baptism date came and said she'd like us to come visit her. It's funny how much more the people love us when we aren't in their ward.
So Monday, then we went to find this girl named Marika and she did not show up. Sad. But we met a couple of other nice people so I guess it turned out okay.
In the afternoon we went to Roccaforzata to try and find Viviana, she wasn't home, so we walked back to San Giorgio and went to contact a referral, who used her baby as an excuse, and so we went to see Anna LaTagliata. Her husband told us nobody was home on the citofono, but I called the house phone and Anna answered and invited us up. Her husband went down the stairs when we were in the elevator. Anna wants to come back. She stopped coming to church because she wanted to keep the peace in her house, but now she feels like she made a mistake, especially when she thinks about how she could have all of her children in the church as well. We're going to try and see her a few times a week, to reteach the lessons from the beginning. She seemed excited about it, and hopeful that it will give her the strength to go to church even though her husband still doesn't like it much. I'm excited that we finally saw her. I really like her.
Yesterday was quite the day!!! In the morning we went to see Slla Quercia in the rest home she's in now...and she talked to us for a few minutes and then lay down on her bed and went to sleep. She looks healthier than she did at home, so that's a good thing.
We also saw Sorella Polignano, who talked to us about a lot of things, and then started telling us her and her husband's story and she got halfway through and then left us in suspense because it was almost 1 and she had to take her medicine. Mamma mia. Haha.
After lunch we went to see Jlenia, some friends of hers were killed in a motorino accident this weekend and she was very upset. She's angry. And we talked to her a little bit about it and prayed with her and I hope that she's feeling a little bit better. I need to call her tonight to see how she's doing.
English course went well. It's always fun when they'd rather talk and learn by talking and listening than by just doing grammar exercises.
Today we went to Matera, it's where they filmed the Passion of the Christ apparently, that film that I don't ever want to see. But we came to Bari and then got a train to Matera, and taught a man on the train on the way over. It was pretty fun, one of the Anziani from Bari Libertà took about 500 pictures, and it was a pretty place in general. We walked up and down a whole lot of stairs. And that was our p-day. We're still in Bari currently, Slla Tinoco is coming back with me tonight to Taranto to do scambi.
That's all for today, I think.
Love you tons!
Eliza
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