15 December 2010
Oh mamma,
I don't even know what to write about, it's been a whole new week but I don't think I am capable yet of comprehending that this is the last day. Okay, so I am, but I still feel like everything is normal and that I'm going to be here forever except that everytime that I see people I make them cry. miiii
I still hope that by some miracle the camera or at least the memory cards are still returned to me, but there are so many more important things that I just can't be sad about it forever. Luckily I have been blessed with lots of companions who take lots of pictures.
By the way, that's really funny that Tommy is in Anziano Grigg's ward and has been forever. When I met Anz Grigg he said to ask Tommy if he knew his family because he lives in his mission, and I forgot to ever ask. Oops.
So let's see what has happened this week...
On Wednesday we went to the Vittoriano. WOW. It has a terrace, and you have to pay 7 euro to take the elevator up there but it is worth the 7 euro for the view of Rome. You get a 360 view of everything, it's better than the view from the cupola of St. Peter's, and it is SOOO fantastic. Wow. That was gorgeous. And the binoculars were free! Ha. So amazing, my companion took lots of pictures and she's making a dvd today. Woohoo. (she's already made one with a bunch of other pictures)
That was pretty much all we had time for, and then we went to translate for Sharon so that she could get a limited use recommend to go to the temple while she's in the Philippines for Christmas. She was so excited. The bishop did a really good job of explaining things to her too, I thought. He said the temple is the Lord's house, and when you are in it, you are no longer in the world. It's like how there is a Filipino embassy in Rome, and when you go inside you are no longer in Italy, you are in the Philippines. It was cool.
Then we ran to meet with Claudia and we had a really good lesson with her about baptism. She decided to come to church on Sunday for sure 100% and that was a good thing. She thinks she has to learn for months and months before she can make a decision, even though she has already felt the Spirit and told us she knows it's true.
Thursday morning we left bright and early to go to Roma 2 for Anziano Caussé's mission tour. I really like him, he's cool. Very bold, although he was far more easy going in this one than he was in the one in January. Anyway, I think the thing I like most, and even more because I had been trying to do this with investigators for a while, were his comments about baptism. He wrote this sentence "in my mission I..." and asked us to fill in the blank. He had asked the question in January as well, so I knew the answer and after a few people he turned to me and I said "baptize". So he explained how that is our purpose, peope come unto Christ through baptism. And he asked when we should invite people to be baptized. Somebody said "when the Spirit says to" and Anz Caussé said, "well, no, not really. Your purpose is to baptize, should the Spirit have to tell you to fulfill your purpose?" It was cool. It was a really good conference ultimately, I took lots of notes. He told us to use the picture of the Rome temple in proselyting, and tell people that they will be able to go there with their family and be united for eternity.
In the evening we went to see Sharon and Peter and everyone. We talked to Sharon's cousins about the temple, and they really would like to learn but they don't speak a ton of English or Italian, and they would really like some Tagalog speaking missionaries to come and teach them. They are way cool though. Peter made us dinner, we didn't know that was going to happen but in the end it was good because we realized it was going to be my last time seeing them and he would have felt bad if he hadn't done anything I think. Such wonderful people. It was really a cool evening.
On Friday we had an appointment with Galen in the morning. It was good because we found a really quiet bar and were able to sit and teach a good lesson. He is willing to learn.
We planned in the afternoon, and we had correlation in the evening. That's about all. Planning takes a long time.
Saturday we FINALLY saw Teresa. I love that woman, she is so cool. Still working on her husband slowly, trying to help him understand why she wants to get baptized.
Then we saw Elena, and asked if we could see her 3x a week for four weeks and if she's read and pray and come to church every week and she said she couldn't because she's busy, and we asked when she'll be less busy, if she wants to try and know, and she said maybe in April. So that was that.
Then we ran by Teresa Mele, she just needs to pray and stop wasting time.
And then Patrizia, and it was a pretty powerful lesson, although always far too long. She felt the Spirit, but she's in a bad habit of whenever she feels good reminding herself of all the horrible things in her life to try and make her feel bad again. She was set on going to church though. She told me that my eyes shine when I talk about Jesus.
Sunday was amazing! Patrizia unfortunately wimped out on coming to church. Mizzica. But Claudia FINALLY came. And Felix came to pick Teresa up after church, and WE MET HIM!!! We finally met her husband, YES. He seems like a nice guy. He said he would try and go to the ward party on Friday night, I hope he does! So cool.
In the evening there was the Christmas Devotional broadcast, that was cool. We talked to Patrizia and she said maybe she'd come, but then she called back and said she was tired and wanted to sleep. My companion said "I'm taking a nap too, but then I'm getting back up". Anyway, in the end she gave us a definite no "vi prego". So we went to her house and brought her with us anyway. It was good excpet that they didn't announce it in church so there was really nobody there. She needs friends! Aiiia.
That was basically the entire evening.
Monday morning we had consiglio. Then we saw Teresa, and it was her daughter Elizabeth's birthday so we left her a Book of Mormon. Then after a whole lot of cancelled appointments we went to the Magnanti family. Anziano Caussé told us to go to the priesthood leaders, teach a short lesson about the elect and finding them and priesthood authority, and then show them a map and ask them to pray about who it is that we need to find. I think it was a really cool experience for Fratello Magnanti. He told us to look for young Italian families and couples, who will help to grow the church in their homes, who will stay here, and who want something real and solid in their lives. It was neat. We are looking.
Tuesday we talked to a ton of people. It was really cool, I love talking to people on the street, it's fun to just stop them and see what they'll say, if they'll listen, if they have any good questions, and to bear testimony a bunch of times is cool too. We met with Esther from Nigeria who wants to come to church on Sunday and will see us regularly, etc etc. In the afternoon we went by Patrizia, which was good because she had a present for me and she would have been ticked if I hadn't seen her before I left. I wish that the ward would get more involved so she wasn't so attached to me. And then Slla Ferrò who's crazy.
Today I'm packing, we're going to see San Paolo fuori le mura, and seeing Claudia, and Sorella Miller is sleeping at our house tonight and then we'll do a little tour of Rome with Sorella Crawford tomorrow morning and that will be it. I have no idea about flights or anything, except what Dad wrote to me, but that's good to know about the food thing. I'm excited to see Sorella Miller, I haven't seen her for more than a year.
My hands are FREEZING.
Rome is freezing. It's still beautiful but I guess it's a blessing that every time it gets freezing I get to go somewhere less freezing? I dunno.
I'm excited to see you all. It is going to be so weird though to leave this place. It still doesn't even seem real that I could be coming home already.
Just pray that my luggage doesn't get stolen, okay?
I love you tons!
Liza
I don't even know what to write about, it's been a whole new week but I don't think I am capable yet of comprehending that this is the last day. Okay, so I am, but I still feel like everything is normal and that I'm going to be here forever except that everytime that I see people I make them cry. miiii
I still hope that by some miracle the camera or at least the memory cards are still returned to me, but there are so many more important things that I just can't be sad about it forever. Luckily I have been blessed with lots of companions who take lots of pictures.
By the way, that's really funny that Tommy is in Anziano Grigg's ward and has been forever. When I met Anz Grigg he said to ask Tommy if he knew his family because he lives in his mission, and I forgot to ever ask. Oops.
So let's see what has happened this week...
On Wednesday we went to the Vittoriano. WOW. It has a terrace, and you have to pay 7 euro to take the elevator up there but it is worth the 7 euro for the view of Rome. You get a 360 view of everything, it's better than the view from the cupola of St. Peter's, and it is SOOO fantastic. Wow. That was gorgeous. And the binoculars were free! Ha. So amazing, my companion took lots of pictures and she's making a dvd today. Woohoo. (she's already made one with a bunch of other pictures)
That was pretty much all we had time for, and then we went to translate for Sharon so that she could get a limited use recommend to go to the temple while she's in the Philippines for Christmas. She was so excited. The bishop did a really good job of explaining things to her too, I thought. He said the temple is the Lord's house, and when you are in it, you are no longer in the world. It's like how there is a Filipino embassy in Rome, and when you go inside you are no longer in Italy, you are in the Philippines. It was cool.
Then we ran to meet with Claudia and we had a really good lesson with her about baptism. She decided to come to church on Sunday for sure 100% and that was a good thing. She thinks she has to learn for months and months before she can make a decision, even though she has already felt the Spirit and told us she knows it's true.
Thursday morning we left bright and early to go to Roma 2 for Anziano Caussé's mission tour. I really like him, he's cool. Very bold, although he was far more easy going in this one than he was in the one in January. Anyway, I think the thing I like most, and even more because I had been trying to do this with investigators for a while, were his comments about baptism. He wrote this sentence "in my mission I..." and asked us to fill in the blank. He had asked the question in January as well, so I knew the answer and after a few people he turned to me and I said "baptize". So he explained how that is our purpose, peope come unto Christ through baptism. And he asked when we should invite people to be baptized. Somebody said "when the Spirit says to" and Anz Caussé said, "well, no, not really. Your purpose is to baptize, should the Spirit have to tell you to fulfill your purpose?" It was cool. It was a really good conference ultimately, I took lots of notes. He told us to use the picture of the Rome temple in proselyting, and tell people that they will be able to go there with their family and be united for eternity.
In the evening we went to see Sharon and Peter and everyone. We talked to Sharon's cousins about the temple, and they really would like to learn but they don't speak a ton of English or Italian, and they would really like some Tagalog speaking missionaries to come and teach them. They are way cool though. Peter made us dinner, we didn't know that was going to happen but in the end it was good because we realized it was going to be my last time seeing them and he would have felt bad if he hadn't done anything I think. Such wonderful people. It was really a cool evening.
On Friday we had an appointment with Galen in the morning. It was good because we found a really quiet bar and were able to sit and teach a good lesson. He is willing to learn.
We planned in the afternoon, and we had correlation in the evening. That's about all. Planning takes a long time.
Saturday we FINALLY saw Teresa. I love that woman, she is so cool. Still working on her husband slowly, trying to help him understand why she wants to get baptized.
Then we saw Elena, and asked if we could see her 3x a week for four weeks and if she's read and pray and come to church every week and she said she couldn't because she's busy, and we asked when she'll be less busy, if she wants to try and know, and she said maybe in April. So that was that.
Then we ran by Teresa Mele, she just needs to pray and stop wasting time.
And then Patrizia, and it was a pretty powerful lesson, although always far too long. She felt the Spirit, but she's in a bad habit of whenever she feels good reminding herself of all the horrible things in her life to try and make her feel bad again. She was set on going to church though. She told me that my eyes shine when I talk about Jesus.
Sunday was amazing! Patrizia unfortunately wimped out on coming to church. Mizzica. But Claudia FINALLY came. And Felix came to pick Teresa up after church, and WE MET HIM!!! We finally met her husband, YES. He seems like a nice guy. He said he would try and go to the ward party on Friday night, I hope he does! So cool.
In the evening there was the Christmas Devotional broadcast, that was cool. We talked to Patrizia and she said maybe she'd come, but then she called back and said she was tired and wanted to sleep. My companion said "I'm taking a nap too, but then I'm getting back up". Anyway, in the end she gave us a definite no "vi prego". So we went to her house and brought her with us anyway. It was good excpet that they didn't announce it in church so there was really nobody there. She needs friends! Aiiia.
That was basically the entire evening.
Monday morning we had consiglio. Then we saw Teresa, and it was her daughter Elizabeth's birthday so we left her a Book of Mormon. Then after a whole lot of cancelled appointments we went to the Magnanti family. Anziano Caussé told us to go to the priesthood leaders, teach a short lesson about the elect and finding them and priesthood authority, and then show them a map and ask them to pray about who it is that we need to find. I think it was a really cool experience for Fratello Magnanti. He told us to look for young Italian families and couples, who will help to grow the church in their homes, who will stay here, and who want something real and solid in their lives. It was neat. We are looking.
Tuesday we talked to a ton of people. It was really cool, I love talking to people on the street, it's fun to just stop them and see what they'll say, if they'll listen, if they have any good questions, and to bear testimony a bunch of times is cool too. We met with Esther from Nigeria who wants to come to church on Sunday and will see us regularly, etc etc. In the afternoon we went by Patrizia, which was good because she had a present for me and she would have been ticked if I hadn't seen her before I left. I wish that the ward would get more involved so she wasn't so attached to me. And then Slla Ferrò who's crazy.
Today I'm packing, we're going to see San Paolo fuori le mura, and seeing Claudia, and Sorella Miller is sleeping at our house tonight and then we'll do a little tour of Rome with Sorella Crawford tomorrow morning and that will be it. I have no idea about flights or anything, except what Dad wrote to me, but that's good to know about the food thing. I'm excited to see Sorella Miller, I haven't seen her for more than a year.
My hands are FREEZING.
Rome is freezing. It's still beautiful but I guess it's a blessing that every time it gets freezing I get to go somewhere less freezing? I dunno.
I'm excited to see you all. It is going to be so weird though to leave this place. It still doesn't even seem real that I could be coming home already.
Just pray that my luggage doesn't get stolen, okay?
I love you tons!
Liza
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