Rome Training pictures

Stuffed on Turkey day!

This week was a very member filled week. We have eaten more meals at member's houses this week than we have at all in my entire time in the mission. It has been wonderful, but we are all a little bit sick. Just kidding. It has been wonderful. We did a Thanksgiving activity for our English course students and they loved it. One man said that he was grateful to have found another family at this point in his life. I can see very clearly how English course is planting seeds for people and I am grateful to be a part of it. Anziano Kimball found a church for Robert, and he is very excited to go. He leaves for Bangladesh on the 19th and he said the members could call him as early as the 20th. We taught him about the temple, and we gave him a small picture of the Salt Lake temple that my mother sent to me, and he told us that he was excited to tell his family about being sealed together. When we started the lesson, he believed that after we died our spirits wouldn't know each other, and I think that he was very excited to learn that even though he has to be away from his family now, he has the opportunity to spend an eternity with them. I'm sad that I probably won't be able to see him be baptized (since the goal is for him to get baptized in Bangladesh) but I'm so excited that his family will be able to be there and feel the spirit of this covenant.

We did a mostra a few weeks back, and I met a woman named Kanthi from Sri Lanka (It's pronounced Candy but with a sharper T sound.) I was so excited to meet her, and I told her that she had the same name as my mother, she then asked me if my mother was from Sri Lanka, and I explained that it's a fairly common name in the US and that it means caramello (candy in Italian) I'm pretty sure my enthusiasm about her name is the only reason that she gave me her number, but we had our first meeting this week, on a busy piazza where we almost didn't find her. When we finally did find her (well she found us, it's fairly easy to spot a blonde in Italy) she asked if we wanted to go grab a coffee. We finally compromised and went to Burger King. It was really funny, because she insisted on buying us food, then she ordered us more food on top of what we ordered, and then she ordered herself food, which she did not eat, but instead progressively fed to us. So by the end of the lesson, we were stuffed and we had a Thanksgiving dinner with an American family immediately afterwards. Cool because even though we were in a Burger King and she was fairly preoccupied with making sure that these two girls who were so far from their families (family is very very important to her, and all 9 of her children live near by, and call her daily) had enough to eat (I don't think she understood that we receive money monthly because she was also concerned that we didn't have work) and Ke$ha was playing in the background, she still felt the spirit and agreed to meet with us again. Needless to say we will NOT be meeting in a Burger King again.

I am learning to see how the Lord answers my prayers, sometimes in really unexpected long term ways, but I know that he has a hand in our lives, and he is always trying. He literally never gives up, sometimes we sink so low, and if I were in charge of giving second chances, I probably wouldn't give them as generously as the Lord does (I definitely wouldn't), but he does, and when we don't take it he gives another, until we finally accept him in our lives. I am also learning to see why people behave the way that they do sometimes. My mom always said that anger (and also hate but she didn't say that, I'm just beginning to see how the principle applies) is a secondary reaction. It always begins with fear, or loss, or hurt, or even guilt. Those feelings are painful to deal with and so people turn to feelings of hate, and racism, etc. I'm trying to keep myself from ever progressing to hate and see that everyone is a child of kind, and everyone has motives for behaving the way they do, and it's never because they are simply evil.

On another note, I just found out that one of my investigator's from Siracusa is getting baptized! I have to go down to Siracusa for my permesso, and I hope that I can go for his baptism. When I left Siracusa, president told me that my purpose had been fulfilled, and I think that Angelo (the man who is getting baptized) was that purpose. Right before I left he had told us that he didn't really have time to take the lesson's, but when I went to see him the last time (and cry all over his plant stand) I think it pushed him to consider how important this gospel was, so while leaving Siracusa was hands down, the hardest thing I have done in my life I can see how the Lord was working through it.

Here are a few pictures I stole from the mission blog.... I am always so grateful for glimpses of her anyway I can get them!