24 November 2010
Mamma mia, che settimana!
But can I please start with today, because today was way cool. Actually, I'll just say the CRAZIEST part of today. So, we were in the Vatican, looking at St. Peter's after having walked up the the cupola and stuff but I'll talk about that later. And I was taking a picture and somebody says "hi Sister" and I looked to see who it was expecting to see some member from the USA because we see them every p-day, and I looked and the face looked very familiar and she said "I'm Sister Beck." !!! Wow. What are the chances. And then she talked to me for a minute--her husband served a mission in Italy 40 years ago (and he speaks Italian VERY well still) and her son-in-law served in Milan about 15 years ago so they were visiting. So cool. She told me to tell my parents thank you for letting me come on a mission. So THANK YOU. What are the chances, going to the Vatican and meeting a general authority who's just on vacation. So awesome.
Okay, anyway, on to the rest of the week. Hehe.
Last week we had dinner at the mission home and left Sorella Williams with her new companion, Sorella Laws. And then the Anziano and Sorella Burt drove us to our appointment with Claudia from Romania. She is AWESOME. She had read 30 pages of the Book of MOrmon and reallyenjoyed it and had a lot of wonderful questions. We taught the first half of the plan of Salvation and she just is very in gamba--I don't know how to say that...Way awesome. She said when she knows it's true she thinks she'll want to get baptized.
So then Thursday morning we went to meet a man who we had met on the metro the day before who had called us and said he wanted to know what our message was. IN the end I think he might be better off with the Anziani, he's one of the many people who like to tell us how dangerous the world is. Our apartment was very cold and we had thought the heating was going to magically turn on but Fratello Marcucci told us that our building isn't central heating. So after looking EVERYWHERE in the house for the button for the heat I finally thought "maybe it's outside with the water heater" and it was. Miracle. Our house is now a sauna, it's beautiful. We don't leave it on all the time, obviously, though.
We had an appointment with Teresa Mele in the afternoon. She is way cool, she just is scared to make a decision even though she definitely knows that it's true, if she didn't know that something would have to change in her life when she asks, she wouldn't be afraid of asking. Sigh. But she's awesome and she feels that when her life has slowed down a little bit, when she finishes school or whatever, that she will want to be baptized.
Then our weekly Italian class with Sharon, and her niece Yesha is so cute. That was fun.
Friday we went and visited a cute less active from Peru in the morning, way sweet girl.
In the afternoon we went to see Patrizia, a referral from a member in Roma 1. She basically sat us down and said "listen, I've been meditating and thinking about this a lot and I think I want to join your church". And went on to tell us that in her church she is just a number and nobody cares if she is there or not. But she came to our church and we are all Sisters and brothers and she loves that. She loves that everybody knows each other and that people were so friendly to her. So now we need to teach her what the church is all about, and see if she'll join it. :)
We went to visit a contact and she didn't answer the citofono, but we met this AWESOME lady named Eugenia. She is amazing, and we are going to try to get back to see her, but she got hit by a car recently and has a lot of doctor appointments these days so she can't see us until next week probably. :(
Then we went to see Fernanda, and had a good lesson with her. She's having problems with her 18 year old currently, but hopefully things will get better soon.
On Saturday we planned, that was good. Finally we had a normal weekly planning. Then we went to the Stake Center to plan something with the Relief Society presidency and then we went home. Lots of traveling involved in everything. But we bought advent calendars that I probably won't finish, but oh well.
We were supposed to go to Stake Conference with Claudia but she ended up not being able to come, so we didn't go either.
Sunday was Stake Conference, it was awesome. I translated the last talk for Sharon and Peter, it was all about getting rid of the extra baggage in your life. It was a really cool conference. And then in the evening...HAHA.
It was raining. We wanted to go to visit a family that's struggling a bit but they live way far away so we took the Anziani with so they could drive us there, they did scambi with the Anziani from Pescara, and we drove out there, wayyy far, and then got lost, and their directions helped not one bit, and we went to turn around to find the house at one point, drove a little off the road to turn around and there was a little hidden ditch that we went into and then up onto a driveway and a big pop...in front of a discoteca...and so the anziani changed the tire and in the end we were too late to see the family. But it was actually quite a funny situation, even though Anziano Shaw felt horrible. (Anziano Shaw is from San Bernardino sort of--he lives in the mountains or something, he's good friends with Brendan Stuart and Matt Stewart).
On Monday...we got stuck in Roma 2 for a while. We were going to do splits and then it didn't end up happening but oh well. Sorella Marcucci is way fun to talk to.
We went to see Sorella Aviles, who is from Peru but her son is Italian (he was born here, he's 10) and I think it's hard for a Peruvian woman to raise an Italian kid--the culture he's used to is just so different. But it was good, she's a sweet lady.
Tuesday morning we went to see Patrizia, she talks SOO much, and we had to take control of the situation. She had read the Joseph Smith pamphlet, and when we talked about that she just brightened up and said that she was so excited when she read that Jesus Christ appeared again. She says that her church doesn't even teach that He is risen, they focus just on the death and they don't even acknowledge the Resurrection, but that she had always imagined herself as Jesus' little sister and that to hear that he has appeared to someone was just so exciting to her. It was so cool. Way cool lesson. Wow. It was cool also to be able to tell her that that is the Spirit, and that is how God answers us, and that we feel the same way whenever we hear the first vision.
And in the evening we saw Claudia, and she is also incredibile. She had read more of the Book of Mormon and also had all kinds of questions about church, we told her she needs to come so she can find out what it's like. She said she will because she is very curious. She's awesome. She feels like it's a good thing that she's doing and she's talked to her sister about it too.
It's such an incredible incredible thing to have investigators. You have no idea what a miracle that is. So amazing.
This morning we went with the Sorelle from Roma 2 to the Catacombs of St. Domitilla. They were awesome. So many graves, mamma mia. We only went 600 meters of 17 kilometers of tunnels. I wish they had an adventure tour where they'd take you to see more, but that was awesome, I'm glad we went. We weren't allowed to take any pictures though. :(
Then we went back to centro, and met up with the Sorelle from Ladispoli to go to San Pietro, but my collega had to buy a card for her camera and so they went ahead and started climbing the stairs without us. When we got in, we saw the Anziani from Ostia and a member from Roma 1, Gianpiero--he's 18, a fairly new convert, and studies art history so he knows EVERYTHING--and Gianpiero gave us the tour. Did you know there are no paintings in there? It's all mosaics. We climbed up the 551 weird stairs to the top and took pictures of course, until the rain became too cold for us and we went back down. We drank the water from the fountain, it's supposed to be some of the best in Rome. And then Sorella Beck found me. Of course we had to tell the other missionaries that we had met her (S Zeller and I were taking pictures and they had walked somewhere else) and then they all wanted to meet her. It ended up being really cool, she talked to Gianpiero for quite a while and then some members from Puerto Rico because she speaks Spanish, and we talked a little bit with her daughter and son in law and husband. All way awesome people. Fratello Beck served in Catania too! That was a very awesome experience. And way cool for Gianpiero because he has done some translating for broadcasts so he got to meet a general authority and one he had translated for. He is a very good tour guide by the way, probably the most entertaining in Rome, luckily he only gives tours for missionaries.
Well, I have to go, we're late, we ended up spending a little more time than we thought we would in the Vatican.
I love you all!!!
Liza
But can I please start with today, because today was way cool. Actually, I'll just say the CRAZIEST part of today. So, we were in the Vatican, looking at St. Peter's after having walked up the the cupola and stuff but I'll talk about that later. And I was taking a picture and somebody says "hi Sister" and I looked to see who it was expecting to see some member from the USA because we see them every p-day, and I looked and the face looked very familiar and she said "I'm Sister Beck." !!! Wow. What are the chances. And then she talked to me for a minute--her husband served a mission in Italy 40 years ago (and he speaks Italian VERY well still) and her son-in-law served in Milan about 15 years ago so they were visiting. So cool. She told me to tell my parents thank you for letting me come on a mission. So THANK YOU. What are the chances, going to the Vatican and meeting a general authority who's just on vacation. So awesome.
Okay, anyway, on to the rest of the week. Hehe.
Last week we had dinner at the mission home and left Sorella Williams with her new companion, Sorella Laws. And then the Anziano and Sorella Burt drove us to our appointment with Claudia from Romania. She is AWESOME. She had read 30 pages of the Book of MOrmon and reallyenjoyed it and had a lot of wonderful questions. We taught the first half of the plan of Salvation and she just is very in gamba--I don't know how to say that...Way awesome. She said when she knows it's true she thinks she'll want to get baptized.
So then Thursday morning we went to meet a man who we had met on the metro the day before who had called us and said he wanted to know what our message was. IN the end I think he might be better off with the Anziani, he's one of the many people who like to tell us how dangerous the world is. Our apartment was very cold and we had thought the heating was going to magically turn on but Fratello Marcucci told us that our building isn't central heating. So after looking EVERYWHERE in the house for the button for the heat I finally thought "maybe it's outside with the water heater" and it was. Miracle. Our house is now a sauna, it's beautiful. We don't leave it on all the time, obviously, though.
We had an appointment with Teresa Mele in the afternoon. She is way cool, she just is scared to make a decision even though she definitely knows that it's true, if she didn't know that something would have to change in her life when she asks, she wouldn't be afraid of asking. Sigh. But she's awesome and she feels that when her life has slowed down a little bit, when she finishes school or whatever, that she will want to be baptized.
Then our weekly Italian class with Sharon, and her niece Yesha is so cute. That was fun.
Friday we went and visited a cute less active from Peru in the morning, way sweet girl.
In the afternoon we went to see Patrizia, a referral from a member in Roma 1. She basically sat us down and said "listen, I've been meditating and thinking about this a lot and I think I want to join your church". And went on to tell us that in her church she is just a number and nobody cares if she is there or not. But she came to our church and we are all Sisters and brothers and she loves that. She loves that everybody knows each other and that people were so friendly to her. So now we need to teach her what the church is all about, and see if she'll join it. :)
We went to visit a contact and she didn't answer the citofono, but we met this AWESOME lady named Eugenia. She is amazing, and we are going to try to get back to see her, but she got hit by a car recently and has a lot of doctor appointments these days so she can't see us until next week probably. :(
Then we went to see Fernanda, and had a good lesson with her. She's having problems with her 18 year old currently, but hopefully things will get better soon.
On Saturday we planned, that was good. Finally we had a normal weekly planning. Then we went to the Stake Center to plan something with the Relief Society presidency and then we went home. Lots of traveling involved in everything. But we bought advent calendars that I probably won't finish, but oh well.
We were supposed to go to Stake Conference with Claudia but she ended up not being able to come, so we didn't go either.
Sunday was Stake Conference, it was awesome. I translated the last talk for Sharon and Peter, it was all about getting rid of the extra baggage in your life. It was a really cool conference. And then in the evening...HAHA.
It was raining. We wanted to go to visit a family that's struggling a bit but they live way far away so we took the Anziani with so they could drive us there, they did scambi with the Anziani from Pescara, and we drove out there, wayyy far, and then got lost, and their directions helped not one bit, and we went to turn around to find the house at one point, drove a little off the road to turn around and there was a little hidden ditch that we went into and then up onto a driveway and a big pop...in front of a discoteca...and so the anziani changed the tire and in the end we were too late to see the family. But it was actually quite a funny situation, even though Anziano Shaw felt horrible. (Anziano Shaw is from San Bernardino sort of--he lives in the mountains or something, he's good friends with Brendan Stuart and Matt Stewart).
On Monday...we got stuck in Roma 2 for a while. We were going to do splits and then it didn't end up happening but oh well. Sorella Marcucci is way fun to talk to.
We went to see Sorella Aviles, who is from Peru but her son is Italian (he was born here, he's 10) and I think it's hard for a Peruvian woman to raise an Italian kid--the culture he's used to is just so different. But it was good, she's a sweet lady.
Tuesday morning we went to see Patrizia, she talks SOO much, and we had to take control of the situation. She had read the Joseph Smith pamphlet, and when we talked about that she just brightened up and said that she was so excited when she read that Jesus Christ appeared again. She says that her church doesn't even teach that He is risen, they focus just on the death and they don't even acknowledge the Resurrection, but that she had always imagined herself as Jesus' little sister and that to hear that he has appeared to someone was just so exciting to her. It was so cool. Way cool lesson. Wow. It was cool also to be able to tell her that that is the Spirit, and that is how God answers us, and that we feel the same way whenever we hear the first vision.
And in the evening we saw Claudia, and she is also incredibile. She had read more of the Book of Mormon and also had all kinds of questions about church, we told her she needs to come so she can find out what it's like. She said she will because she is very curious. She's awesome. She feels like it's a good thing that she's doing and she's talked to her sister about it too.
It's such an incredible incredible thing to have investigators. You have no idea what a miracle that is. So amazing.
This morning we went with the Sorelle from Roma 2 to the Catacombs of St. Domitilla. They were awesome. So many graves, mamma mia. We only went 600 meters of 17 kilometers of tunnels. I wish they had an adventure tour where they'd take you to see more, but that was awesome, I'm glad we went. We weren't allowed to take any pictures though. :(
Then we went back to centro, and met up with the Sorelle from Ladispoli to go to San Pietro, but my collega had to buy a card for her camera and so they went ahead and started climbing the stairs without us. When we got in, we saw the Anziani from Ostia and a member from Roma 1, Gianpiero--he's 18, a fairly new convert, and studies art history so he knows EVERYTHING--and Gianpiero gave us the tour. Did you know there are no paintings in there? It's all mosaics. We climbed up the 551 weird stairs to the top and took pictures of course, until the rain became too cold for us and we went back down. We drank the water from the fountain, it's supposed to be some of the best in Rome. And then Sorella Beck found me. Of course we had to tell the other missionaries that we had met her (S Zeller and I were taking pictures and they had walked somewhere else) and then they all wanted to meet her. It ended up being really cool, she talked to Gianpiero for quite a while and then some members from Puerto Rico because she speaks Spanish, and we talked a little bit with her daughter and son in law and husband. All way awesome people. Fratello Beck served in Catania too! That was a very awesome experience. And way cool for Gianpiero because he has done some translating for broadcasts so he got to meet a general authority and one he had translated for. He is a very good tour guide by the way, probably the most entertaining in Rome, luckily he only gives tours for missionaries.
Well, I have to go, we're late, we ended up spending a little more time than we thought we would in the Vatican.
I love you all!!!
Liza
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