tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67689043479972388192024-03-13T23:20:50.418-04:00Sorella Spencer's Adventures in Italy A glimpse into the life of my missionary while serving the people of Italy.Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-13020415030729845662015-01-19T15:54:00.000-05:002020-08-15T15:58:43.801-04:00Headed Home from Rome<p style="text-align: center;"> D&C 15:6</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most </p><p style="text-align: center;">worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, </p><p style="text-align: center;">that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them </p><p style="text-align: center;">in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Twenty-five missionaries successfully completed their missions and have returned home to their families where they will face new experiences with new challenges and much more experience to help overcome them. Each of them is unique and has different talents. They came into the mission field as young men and young women. They go home 18 to 24 months older as men and women. It's a marvelous transformation. We have watched them learn and grow, talked them through frustrating moments, held their hands during hard times, shared in their joys, and learned to love them. It's always difficult to see them leave, but their hearts and eyes are facing the future and that's where they should be.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">They will no longer be serving in the Italy Rome Mission, but we will always pray for their success in the Kingdom of God.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z_ZnnJS0y5Ia5e4038eTir6K7B-88iCvBGUAZ-FJzq143Ih-3r5M4zNEn5HBI-GlDjvFTqpaLM4JFVCZ4Da4P32eiXKwHbSJF1ODTCKwXLOBWNMQm-7psLr5l9LJ4Y7QHnAtOk3gpfk/s1600/headed+home.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z_ZnnJS0y5Ia5e4038eTir6K7B-88iCvBGUAZ-FJzq143Ih-3r5M4zNEn5HBI-GlDjvFTqpaLM4JFVCZ4Da4P32eiXKwHbSJF1ODTCKwXLOBWNMQm-7psLr5l9LJ4Y7QHnAtOk3gpfk/s640/headed+home.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb5caM_78ATvuT4Fa59a0e5q53rOjrRVdLkwEmLfG2q-gMLx2Bw9nZCCFf_mfu8BpE9hQAFshqtQbNzY-Z9apPCduM3aeOjZGZrUu_cAwVjVtlrcM54vfjXY8REhM0W_lZpSjdJbiKiKw/s1600/departing+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb5caM_78ATvuT4Fa59a0e5q53rOjrRVdLkwEmLfG2q-gMLx2Bw9nZCCFf_mfu8BpE9hQAFshqtQbNzY-Z9apPCduM3aeOjZGZrUu_cAwVjVtlrcM54vfjXY8REhM0W_lZpSjdJbiKiKw/s640/departing+1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyDsJgVG-CjMjTmZhoL6mn81e9asrZbTxfxAH-Vix3it-dFYxRxREdR3y2xVcQgl0X1RuLPV5XtxtG12hpm-xl8TyFsEZysXZO1x-7MPv7RQz6Iuthjl5d9xwi8-LaJLaEG7YU0kJ8d8/s1600/departing+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyDsJgVG-CjMjTmZhoL6mn81e9asrZbTxfxAH-Vix3it-dFYxRxREdR3y2xVcQgl0X1RuLPV5XtxtG12hpm-xl8TyFsEZysXZO1x-7MPv7RQz6Iuthjl5d9xwi8-LaJLaEG7YU0kJ8d8/s640/departing+2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0_wQpafCdNxm58FRAeNnROxyC31yXJYeq-ed_FLYdJ2DBplmOgDX5ZSrOHjJlsl8E3QR8BYAuSAF5iGJx-Xey9Op2V0dVud2tkMHwYj6tobjqZtcINWEhgn6ZjIcFSk53nVmKzByEhc/s1600/departing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0_wQpafCdNxm58FRAeNnROxyC31yXJYeq-ed_FLYdJ2DBplmOgDX5ZSrOHjJlsl8E3QR8BYAuSAF5iGJx-Xey9Op2V0dVud2tkMHwYj6tobjqZtcINWEhgn6ZjIcFSk53nVmKzByEhc/s640/departing.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-15894504951825701272015-01-05T15:12:00.000-05:002020-08-15T15:14:04.519-04:00Super interesting week!<p><br /></p><p>Dear family and Friends!</p><p>This week has been a super interesting one. I wouldn't say that it has been bad or good, just... I have no idea. Alessandro our golden new convert had a fit becuase he found out that we couldn't ride in the car with him without another female. I think initially he was mad becuase it made him feel like he was untrustworthy, and then mad becuase we never told him it was a rule. He said that we should have told him ALL of our rules from when we started doing the lessons with him. We are considering giving him a white handbook, just so that he can understand how many we have. Then we found a copy of the restoration in Romanian, which should have been a miracle for Ika (our investigator that speaks only romanian) but when we showed it to her, she had a fit because her mother was a very strong baptist, and she wants to get baptized in the LDS church but she doesn't want to say that the baptist church isn't true because she feels like it would be disrespectful to her mother. Also her employer gave her a ton of anti-mormon literature, and talked to her about polygamy which amazingly didn't phase her but somehow she found out about tithing in all of that, which greatly upset her. So she yelled for about an hour about all of this, and I just said her name softly until she calmed down, and told her that we would be back in a few days. So all of that was really really sad to me, and also meant that we couldn't really meet with any of the people that we regularly, so instead we did a lot a lot of finding. We went finding for 6 hours one day which not suprisingly was super exhausting.</p><p>So that was the heaviest part of my week, but it also wasn't terrible. We saw a lot of miracles in finding this week. We have been asking survey questions, and then having people watch the grazie a lui video, to answer it. We have had some really really beautiful experiences while finding, and it's turned out to be a huge blessing for us. It is helping me feel like I'm truly working hard my last few weeks as a missionary, and it's helping sorella winegar lose her fear of finding, and understand how important using your time effectively is. Last night we had a long correlation and we came home to drop some stuff off before going back out and it was 8:15, and we debated going back out, our staying in to do some areabook, pr something like that, and we decided to go back out. We talked to four people in that entire time. A couple who rejected us, and two friends who agreed to meet with us again. It really made us realize how that 45 minutes made a difference. Sometimes we go out and in that 45 minutes no one listens to us, and sometimes we find someone completely prepared to her the gospel. The lesson learned is that it's always important to go out, because you never know if it's going to be the 45 minutes were you are just planting seeds, or the 45 minutes that Heavenly Father has given you the oppertunity to harvest.</p><p>I also love my companion so much. She is so funny, we laugh all the time, and she has such a strong testimony. She is also an amazing communicator. she never lets anyone go to bed angry, and she has taught me that you can literally fix anything. She is the best problem solver I have ever met. She resolves everything from investigator problems to a broken house. I am so grateful to have had three transfers with her.</p><p>So sometimes when things are tough they are also beautiful, and wonderful, and I guess that is what makes us human. </p><p><br /></p><p>Also I have gotten some grief for not having shared more stories with you, so I'm going to fill you in on some of the goofier things that happened this week. So the first was our deep cleaning day, so we stayed in all day to make our house sparkle, and i in the process of 24 hours when we were supposed to be making our house pretty and clean we managed to break almost everything in our apartment. So in itlay we have giant patios and Sorella Winegar locks someone out on these patios at least once a week, so new years eve, it started snowing so sorella Tapia and I went outside to see the snow, and sorella Winegar locked us out in our pj's in the freezing cold! So in Italy they have a thivk wooden blind to keep the sun out during pranzo naps which can be lifted up by a gear on the inside or by two small nobs on the outside, so Sorella Tapia and I were trying to get back in by finding a door that was left open, but we had to open the blinds first. So as we were lifting the blinds Sorella Sartena, who was very much tired of our shinanagins opened one of the doors, and instead of gently lowering the blinds like they are designed to be closed we dropped them and ran to the open door before Sorella Winegar could figure out what was happening. Which pulled the blinds out of their gearing (I don't know what the word I was looking for was but probably not this.) so fatality number one-the blinds to our bedroom. Fatality number two- the giant three hundred lb wardrobe where we keep all of our clothing. Sorella Winegar and sorella Tapia decided to do some basic reorganizing to get us rejuvinated (sp?) which ended up being a great idea, it was a huge help, and one of the things that they decided to move was the two largeish but not unmanageable wardrobes in our bedroom. They planned on doing it by themselves in fifteen minutes by themselves while I was on the phone making scambi arrangements. BUT it turns out that the two largeish wardrobes were actually one three hundred lb wardrobe, so I had to promptly get off the phone to keep it from crushing sorella Tapia, and once it was tilted there was no way to get it back up in the room that we were in because there was no room to move it, so all four of us had to move it into our living room where it was kind of stuck, and to get it there we had to take off two doors that lead to our living room fatalaties three and four . Once we finally got it to the living room we had no idea what to do with it, and Sorella Tapia decided that maybe it was time to call the elders, but I was really really embaressed about our destructive natures and I talked them out of it, so we deconstructed it, but we didn't have tools.. of course, so we used forks and butter knives, and carried it piece by piece into the room where Sorella Tapia and Sorella Winegar had originally intended to put it, and then we slowly reconstructed it. Then we went to bed. The next morning we woke up to the general mayhem we created. I was really insistent on following normal schedule (still embarassed probably) and so during prazo we bought a tool set, and then during our luch and evening breaks we slowly put everything back together, and somehow we did it. No one ever knew, we never got a lecture, and no one's family is going to be charged thousands of dollars in repair. the only lasting evidence are the pictures and photos. Otherwise no one will ever know. I love you all have a great week!</p><p><br /></p><p>ps apologize all typos and spelling errors.</p><div><br /></div>Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-63834990190365939052014-12-29T15:08:00.000-05:002020-08-15T15:11:36.474-04:00Christmas in the Rome Italy mission is kind of tough<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So I don't remember in exactly which email you wrote this to me, but you kind of talked about how you have ben struggling with doing the basics, and it kind of made me smile, becuase I have been kind of having the smile experience this last week. Christmas in the Rome Italy mission is kind of tough as I'm sure it is for every mission in the world becuase everyone and their dog goes out of time, and there is no one left to teach the gospel to. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The big difference between america and Italy however is that Holiday celebrations last well into January so it's even harder. So I had kind of checked out. I had decided that I was going to spend my last few weeks just hanging out with my district and new converts, and that I wasn't going to really try anymore becuase honestly there wasn't any point. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Then I got sick, and I had to get a blessing, and Heavenly Father reminded me that I still have things to do. I only have three weeks, but those three weeks have the power to make a difference for me and those around me. In the blessing special attention was placed on scripture study, which I have been doing but maybe not with the dilligence that I should. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I really realized this weekhow valuable our time is as human beings, and how the only way we can truly become great is through sacrifice. I know the thing that annoyed you the most about me in high school was how hard I pushed myself, and I think that trait has only been accented in my mission. I would rather stand in front of the Lord and tell him that I did evil in my life, than that I did nothing. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I think the most hurtful thing we could do to the Lord is disregard the life that he has given us. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's a crucial part of who I am. Another thing that I have learned as a missionary is that I have to do the things that I want done first everyday first everyday. We are given a missionary schedule in which we generally have an hour to get ready first thing in the morning and then an hour of scripture study. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Because of the fact that we are in four and we have to move things around so that we can all shower I have started cleaning up for about 15 minutes so that I can fell the spirit, studying for an hour, and then getting ready with whatever time is left over. I've seen that the only way to make the gospel my first priority in my life, is to literally make it the first priority in my life, as in the first thing I do every morning. I'm hoping to be able to find a job that starts at about noonish when I get back home, so that I can mantain a similar schedule. Scripture study for an hour, Italian study for an hour, and then work. I'm trying to make these last three weeks just as effective, if not more effective than every other week in my mission. Sorella Winegar is already hating me. :)</span></p>Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-90040283672683999702014-12-25T15:41:00.000-05:002020-08-15T15:43:41.020-04:00Mission Christmas card 2014<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeThJ9W4C3-zlxpPRWS31xAdLzzKjMRHvMuwmWO1uUT630JeYR_UEg_SZqAI5ZB04-vVc21YBpRuPIlpHLPg_Fd5fqMshgHed_4FKH3YP8Mml-mTWsjWaNWDRg3BFiWLYXa6nhQArF8s/s1600/Sardegna+Zone+Christmas+card+2014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1020" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeThJ9W4C3-zlxpPRWS31xAdLzzKjMRHvMuwmWO1uUT630JeYR_UEg_SZqAI5ZB04-vVc21YBpRuPIlpHLPg_Fd5fqMshgHed_4FKH3YP8Mml-mTWsjWaNWDRg3BFiWLYXa6nhQArF8s/s640/Sardegna+Zone+Christmas+card+2014.JPG" width="640" /></a></div> <p></p><p style="text-align: center;">Sardegna Zone</p>Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-68560508939135087812014-12-22T15:04:00.002-05:002020-08-15T15:07:34.629-04:00Giant Nativity<p> <span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I'm still pale and white, they still put up giant nativity scenes in piazza's in Italy. Not much has changed.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_HAeTkC1DjzpAV_OxSphzKNc1WHRSQuAUhlMEM7HZg71wG4W01zmrAZIYumLRROiJXHW5HsUo3KrEid3b580Q5nPhCsWkFm6KWdSuH1142aCBRyahefb890KLp2bFmnjptmP5sMeT64/s853/thumbnail.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_HAeTkC1DjzpAV_OxSphzKNc1WHRSQuAUhlMEM7HZg71wG4W01zmrAZIYumLRROiJXHW5HsUo3KrEid3b580Q5nPhCsWkFm6KWdSuH1142aCBRyahefb890KLp2bFmnjptmP5sMeT64/s640/thumbnail.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"> The only thing that you really need to know about this week is that I sang far far away on Judea's plain over 20 times last night. I may never ever sing that song again. I'm not sure that I have any Christmas Spirit left in me. not even like a few drops. Just kidding I love Christmas, this year has been particularly special. I did my final addestramento this week, and it went really well. The whole zone conference was on testifying of Christ, and I was assigned to talk about hope in Christ, and I spent about two weeks studying Christ, writing down all ideas, weeding through all thoughts, and finally the morning of I ended up with a 15 minute explanation of the enabling power of the atonement, and how through the sacrifice of our Savior we can become more than we ever could have been on our own, and I don't know if it affected anyone else, but it truly changed me. I finally realized that there are no limitations that can be placed on me. I can accomplish anything with the help of my Savior. That being said it's proabably about time to retry Freshman biology.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"> We also did a really cool lesson with three men that my companion met while I was in Cagliari for like a week. We were only supposed to be doing a lesson with one of them, but he ended up bringing two friends with him. It was super startling because I expected him to be like this 60 or 70 year old guy, and he drives up to the church and he like 25, so I had to adjust the whole perspective I had had for the lesson. Needless to say, Sorella Winegar did not do a good job of prepping me. It was really cool because this guy (his name is Christian) doesn't believe in God, and his two friends believe but aren't practicing, and we invitied them to try alma's experiment in Alma 32, and then let us know what happens. It was a super logical discussion. We kind of ended on the note, that if it's true it could potentially change your life, and if it's not what happens. absolutely nothing, you go on with your life, and we go on with ours. It sounds super logical, and kind of agianst the whaole nature of the gospel, but the spirit was super strong.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"> On Sunday IKA CAME TO CHURCH!!!! I think it was actually really hard for her, because she feels super out of place in Italy, but luckily there were two Africans in church that are working with the other sisters and she clung to them a little bit, becuase even if they don't speak the same langauage they both understand what it is like to not understand Italian. Then we went to her house and sang to her in the evening. She lovessss the missionaries, but is still a little overwhelmed by the members. Oh well little by little. We are getting her a skirt for Christmas, so that she feels more comfortable in church.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"> Also Alessandro is doing so well. He blessed the sacrament on Sunday, and it almost made me cry. Then we went to the relief society president's house to carol (always far far away on Judea's plain of course.) and he was doing his home teaching. (I didn't even know he was a home teacher, no one tells me anything dagnabbit) AND in Sunday school On eof the elders was teaching the lesson and he asked how can we show Heavenly Father that we love him, and Alessandro immediately responded obeying the commandments. I know that may not seem lik e a huge deal, but he struggled so much with understanding the commandments. I was so worried when he was baptized, that maybe we had made a mistake and that we were setting him up for failure, but he has literally blossomed in the gospel, and I don't think that it is something that ever would have happened with out the Holy Ghost. Also his mother and brother have started "coming to church" with him. Tilda (his mother) only comes for the "mass" because she isn't a member, and she isn't "obligated" to come all three hours like alessandro, and his brother sits in the foyer and waits for the missionaries to come out and talk to him. I'm pretty sure they think we are Catholic, but we are getting there. piano piano.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"> I think that is the big news for the week. I know this is kind of one of those boring missionary emails, so I will throw in on efunny story just for spice. HAlfway through carloing last night, I got super tired and stopped paying attention for the whole affair, and at the relief society president's house I sang the wrong verse for about half of a verse, and Sorella Tapia got confused and started following me. Then the next song, I kind of started following the alto part accidently which threw the whole Soprano group off, and we all started laughing, and for that song Sorella Tapia was the only soprano singing, but Alessandro thought we did great and that's all that matters. My favarite thing about this ward is that it is full of the biggest variety of people I have ever seen in my life, and we are all crazy and imperfect, but it works, and we love eachather. I pretty much live on the island of misfit toys, and I couldn't be happier. </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"> Love you all </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">Sorella Spencer</div></div><span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><p></p>Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-84165241204622512822014-12-19T15:32:00.000-05:002020-08-15T15:38:23.346-04:00Sardegna Specialized Training - December 2014<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjL3_3_ZItQ4ZPKXs81kKbLJTNFb1ZQGEfmOCzULlmGOxOu-b5oz2aJwHcCliwo44sEZXR9mQylB9fbKaPAZN53mz571GSpuEHYm6khrpQlr3ady7d9z8jmrWxDDkaqCTQwypg9CKT_Wg/s1581/departing+testimony.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1581" data-original-width="1581" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjL3_3_ZItQ4ZPKXs81kKbLJTNFb1ZQGEfmOCzULlmGOxOu-b5oz2aJwHcCliwo44sEZXR9mQylB9fbKaPAZN53mz571GSpuEHYm6khrpQlr3ady7d9z8jmrWxDDkaqCTQwypg9CKT_Wg/s640/departing+testimony.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxlEgfRk8R6HZfN1J9opmjIjZq0kgKwnQB8nOU8aNo_kgmN_de-betO_KLxiuqZdrpoYXvk08rIAlcVPyGhLDY63AP7KeGCf-FQK_PR8sb1zUm4kovDFcB6ZCLKrlxMV51sNfgAH2VjU/s1600/departing+testimony+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxlEgfRk8R6HZfN1J9opmjIjZq0kgKwnQB8nOU8aNo_kgmN_de-betO_KLxiuqZdrpoYXvk08rIAlcVPyGhLDY63AP7KeGCf-FQK_PR8sb1zUm4kovDFcB6ZCLKrlxMV51sNfgAH2VjU/s640/departing+testimony+2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj09NJMFHPgiGgrvKLNblMr4Ev29GRhsFvXPmXFREf_BqzVxtdaepRV02V1V4tanmovkp5hPe-3cTLrdKzLiZuncFeeLqouPousEUecM7QY_Y6NXarhyphenhyphenHLT6pZpqj-20Y8wdpWWkJmJjbE/s1600/IMG_5513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj09NJMFHPgiGgrvKLNblMr4Ev29GRhsFvXPmXFREf_BqzVxtdaepRV02V1V4tanmovkp5hPe-3cTLrdKzLiZuncFeeLqouPousEUecM7QY_Y6NXarhyphenhyphenHLT6pZpqj-20Y8wdpWWkJmJjbE/s640/IMG_5513.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZkUHzHeE11-IDjhQlYDPnkvw9lgun5hgJlkUV-3bhx4j0L41AZ3vZAmx7Glf12l0lGKwLs98rmbCpVU6R9Afl0Gtrt-1Ci5Bjjk4XJA30hn_tN9qKa6I2MFTIyLPiL8sXuYkHHjTXnXY/s1600/IMG_5514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZkUHzHeE11-IDjhQlYDPnkvw9lgun5hgJlkUV-3bhx4j0L41AZ3vZAmx7Glf12l0lGKwLs98rmbCpVU6R9Afl0Gtrt-1Ci5Bjjk4XJA30hn_tN9qKa6I2MFTIyLPiL8sXuYkHHjTXnXY/s640/IMG_5514.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoaoPdCSL6mFbC-Bxlt8rNNQx4lDRxbYO0ldNqw-z26w9zp62s6NtHTIzSJMM-Amcg1I6gRUerGO9omAgMcQnfqsQ-k3NubKP-qVPdLwL1GeXPC5UZM-zX-dH32DiDplghnl90HhTDJ_8/s1600/IMG_5517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1066" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoaoPdCSL6mFbC-Bxlt8rNNQx4lDRxbYO0ldNqw-z26w9zp62s6NtHTIzSJMM-Amcg1I6gRUerGO9omAgMcQnfqsQ-k3NubKP-qVPdLwL1GeXPC5UZM-zX-dH32DiDplghnl90HhTDJ_8/s640/IMG_5517.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPTkaywnpN0qt7mV_Z9e4ko-SVC-wlxXbR8judDCNjCyD0mqM7gS_sXctbsFsJXfBu-AzP8I17pcJbaJwv3bB-o-pBf_YDGJhYYsk428s9iRXEyv9cjtctGiT-H8AsWDAKk2sHzQykGQ/s1600/IMG_5532.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPTkaywnpN0qt7mV_Z9e4ko-SVC-wlxXbR8judDCNjCyD0mqM7gS_sXctbsFsJXfBu-AzP8I17pcJbaJwv3bB-o-pBf_YDGJhYYsk428s9iRXEyv9cjtctGiT-H8AsWDAKk2sHzQykGQ/s640/IMG_5532.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFsHSXnMcOXKXffIv0v6OeIUu2woj0u3_VJaK4CxUyJsASxyyv6WPUGIbXDKQGl0zMfZ6dOTJ5no2Y6NpIJmA86-st0bGsPO_sMkW5d7jfDkqeBCx-Rfhrf8DAlr8c3Aj3T77ZW2cYJ_w/s1600/IMG_5534.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFsHSXnMcOXKXffIv0v6OeIUu2woj0u3_VJaK4CxUyJsASxyyv6WPUGIbXDKQGl0zMfZ6dOTJ5no2Y6NpIJmA86-st0bGsPO_sMkW5d7jfDkqeBCx-Rfhrf8DAlr8c3Aj3T77ZW2cYJ_w/s640/IMG_5534.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtFYb4-pjH9kCcaHEEoLY8eWakWULLtqNnFxyc7tm0GZtydoqaGW70GDxtr9jRra9o2A6fCr0Xni19GPDnll-vvvjtjlbblhlty3j41bpgDhnw7GiIEUGf2HTlTp_O0ZSv7CimprflK8/s1600/IMG_5536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtFYb4-pjH9kCcaHEEoLY8eWakWULLtqNnFxyc7tm0GZtydoqaGW70GDxtr9jRra9o2A6fCr0Xni19GPDnll-vvvjtjlbblhlty3j41bpgDhnw7GiIEUGf2HTlTp_O0ZSv7CimprflK8/s640/IMG_5536.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj322jj0IYmuS12qmG6BDp7QQ6b9yGwEIU2xiZgVEXpoX9vxEctJzLG9t_I8XroGqjtNUWtwz-BAb30PTvqmKueu9OqFWH5pcS8c_WuWDfxQUq8ltkO_wggIxsvgnoqJDl1lqfNTkcJmro/s1600/IMG_5571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1082" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj322jj0IYmuS12qmG6BDp7QQ6b9yGwEIU2xiZgVEXpoX9vxEctJzLG9t_I8XroGqjtNUWtwz-BAb30PTvqmKueu9OqFWH5pcS8c_WuWDfxQUq8ltkO_wggIxsvgnoqJDl1lqfNTkcJmro/s640/IMG_5571.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9r6Jp0ebobKLlJYIUGRmUz5SSqtWDTIFB10NH5H8Mv0lrjPEqYK3lX1MWMMjHwPJG6elSb2EqzpX7Ej1-dROhcb9JD3Dt1GRICWeb3m6wq90gJtVLhSIXWVCTpaYgeq_y73rQEuED5XM/s1600/IMG_5573.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9r6Jp0ebobKLlJYIUGRmUz5SSqtWDTIFB10NH5H8Mv0lrjPEqYK3lX1MWMMjHwPJG6elSb2EqzpX7Ej1-dROhcb9JD3Dt1GRICWeb3m6wq90gJtVLhSIXWVCTpaYgeq_y73rQEuED5XM/s640/IMG_5573.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwccyy0mVliH_EJnj0iKKvDZkrj1ivb7hnQjrP8VTNaBHrqQ7C0NFCpPEmSc-MugdJwYjLYDG82rxasBAxUISDf_T1XksXvHIisDCBLGr0fiS4wUhBUqumvAhJx5iOxHQ2ySuzXK98-Ws/s1600/IMG_5574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1066" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwccyy0mVliH_EJnj0iKKvDZkrj1ivb7hnQjrP8VTNaBHrqQ7C0NFCpPEmSc-MugdJwYjLYDG82rxasBAxUISDf_T1XksXvHIisDCBLGr0fiS4wUhBUqumvAhJx5iOxHQ2ySuzXK98-Ws/s640/IMG_5574.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjScto1jIs_S64iPMgSLg1LgCsONKnWOWmwQ7SA3spTMhrN7BBWsivo5pOOXnk97V7ihd3lsv10eZ4nIpRglciXvv7cJX51E6YIqjGu7A11Wc0pFYWGZKJ_icH3XFqWWOE25Wv9uS_I3GU/s1600/IMG_5590.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjScto1jIs_S64iPMgSLg1LgCsONKnWOWmwQ7SA3spTMhrN7BBWsivo5pOOXnk97V7ihd3lsv10eZ4nIpRglciXvv7cJX51E6YIqjGu7A11Wc0pFYWGZKJ_icH3XFqWWOE25Wv9uS_I3GU/s640/IMG_5590.JPG" width="640" /></a></div> <p></p>Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-90746682673314729912014-12-15T14:57:00.001-05:002020-08-15T15:03:03.311-04:00Christmas time in Italy is so beautiful!<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">wow guys I don't have much to say. It's Christmas time in Italy which is so beautiful, because it's a catholic country and so there is a lot of emphasis on I was out of town for almost two weeks so I don't have a ton to say about the work. I was worried having left the two greenies by themselves, but they did an AMAZING JOB. They set two baptisimal dates for investigators in the other companionship, and found two new investigators.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Right now, our number one investigator is named Ika. She is a beautiful Romanian woman who has lived in Italy for 3 years now. She does not speak even one word of Italian (just kidding she does but it is messy) so teaching her is an adventure. We used google translate (don't worry it was authorized) to translate the baptisimal invite two lessons ago, and she started cying when she read it (we tried to read it, but it turns out that our Romanian is not great). She is super special, and all I want to do is spend every minute of every day with her. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Also I have to teach an Addestramento (my guess is that the english translation is training) in zone conference on finding Hope in Christ next week, so I have been doing a really in depth study of the atonement in every spare minute taht I can find. I feel kind of like a dork becuase I am finishing up my mission and I feel like I'm just starting to understand ehat it means that we are children of God. It makes Christmas a million times mopre meaningful.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I have to go I love you all so much!</span></p>Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-66228606486926580592014-12-01T08:00:00.001-05:002020-08-15T14:55:26.734-04:00I knew exactly how it was going to play out.<br />
So almost a year and a half ago, I left on a mission. I knew exactly how it was going to play out. I was going to learn the language perfectly over night, I was going to have only companions that were my best friends, and all of my investigators were going to progress towards baptism. Then I was going to come back to a picture perfect life, where nothing had changed, and I would be able to fit seamlessly back into it, and I would have a perfect plan of what I was doing. <br />
<br />
I have no idea when and where it all went wrong, but a year and a half later, almost none of that has happened. It has been messy, hard, humbling, and I nearly gave up, a lot of times. I still make dumb Italian errors (the other day in the store I asked the woman for zucchero in cane instead of zucchero di cana. So instead of brown sugar I asked for sugar of dog. I still blame Sorella Winegar, she was distracting me). <br />
<br />
I'm not perfect, but I wouldn't change any of it. It was all raw and human, and is making me the person I am supposed to become. I have learned to forgive myself and others because we are all human, and if I screw up as frequently as I do, how could I ever expect someone else not to. <br />
<br />
I have learned to respond with sympathy instead of anger, or to not respond at all because I will regret the anger later.<br />
<br />
I have learned to laugh, because when you are locked outside of your apartment, without keys, in the rain and you left the two greenies alone with an Italian cell phone, which they broke, because they don't speak Italian, and you don't want to call your district leader because he asked you to please stop doing unplanned scambis without permission and you forgot until the moment where you were standing outside your apartment without the keys the only thing that keeps your from fighting or crying is laughing, and because those moments where everything goes wrong, are actually the most beautiful moments that we experience, and we only get them for so long and then they are over. <br />
<br />
Mortality is short, and I could be wrong but I don't think we get those sort of moments in the next life. Those moments are something purely human, that we have to savor (just for the record the lecture that I received was very very short because I think the elders felt like we had already learned our lesson well enough from the locked out rain part), so mainly I'm rambling, and this wasn't as poetic as I had hoped, but I can't really fix it because it's my turn to buy groceries this week, so I hope it makes at least a little bit of sense. If not, I'm sorry.<br />
<br />
The last thing I want to add is I'm not coming back to the life I had planned when I left. A lot of things have changed, I can't go back to my old major because I don't speak French anymore, and a lot of people have changed their lives in a way that I don't really fit into them anymore, and frankly I don't want what I wanted before, and it's ok, because finally, I'm starting to believe all the promises Heavenly Father has made to me. <br />
<br />
When I was 16 I didn't plan to go to BYU, but He did. When I was 18 I didn't plan to serve a mission, but He did, and I'm so grateful because if I had followed my plan I have no idea where it would have taken me, but I do know that I wouldn't be in Sassari, Italy, sitting next to Sorella Winegar, and I wouldn't change that for anything. <br />
<br />
So no, I have no idea what comes next, absolutely none. I have a few tentative ideas, but frankly 6 months from now, I could be anywhere, and it would not suprise me, and I'm ok with that, because in the end my Heavenly Father does, and I know that what he has planned out for me is so much better than what I have planned out for me. So I'm going to stop this rambling and go buy groceries. I love you all, and I can't wait to see you all after having lived every possible moment of my mission to the fullest.<br />
<br />
Sorella Spencer<br />
<br />
p.s. a little bit of explanation of the photos.<br />
<br />
the random pictures of Sorella Winegar, are all of her firsts as a missionary.<br />
<br />
the one's of me in a purple shirts with hearts was a really fun p-day we did to a castle that was closed so we went on a hike instead. Everything in Sardegnia is surrounded by water, so the hike was on a beach.<br />
<br />
The one of me in a blue shirt is a p-day that I actually hated because we kind of got kidnapped, and I was tired, and I forgot my wallet, and everyone kept insisting on buying me stuff anyway, but I did like the part where we found random sea animals and I got to hold them. I am forever a 6 year old child when it comes to animals.<br />
<br />
The one of me in a green shirt is our thanksgiving lunch after ddm. Sorella Winegar convinced me not to brush my hair which is why I look so dumb. She also convinced us to eat our pumpkin pie with just our faces. Anz. Borner turned out to be particularly skilled. The picture of me with the bowl full of whipped cream is my attempt at pink stuff. It was fruit with whipped cream.... every generation the recipe gets a little simpler. (there is no jello or mini marshmallows in Italy.)<br />
<br />
p.p.s. we also have a really cool investigator named Fiametta who started making a ton of progress this week. She could use a lot of prayers! Also Alessandro is working towards getting the priesthood!!!!!!!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxDh9DP7dK0zXz8V1I_JdMcSKO1K00tdxyNqrjUk-RjYyBq60PgmY7iuyhcchrfrwQ_mC6WG4cqFIom1vYryzYHH86LvSWw4wiQdNIsta7Fo092DsZN1yQUb752TZTeOwYVaRUT_B0GM/s1600/DSCN1664.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxDh9DP7dK0zXz8V1I_JdMcSKO1K00tdxyNqrjUk-RjYyBq60PgmY7iuyhcchrfrwQ_mC6WG4cqFIom1vYryzYHH86LvSWw4wiQdNIsta7Fo092DsZN1yQUb752TZTeOwYVaRUT_B0GM/s400/DSCN1664.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPG_cukMh_u7Jf7dNS3JU5nmfKUNxGtYJylRTnobhFs6DjSNNy9H3IuUFOP-AyX7gQkA6cC7sNhCqB5Ckk5b3PA_uzLKWdG4dsnzB9m-GtVSLgVZVwENIqOYkVuG7fbAHixK2GUsvFL8/s1600/DSCN1666.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPG_cukMh_u7Jf7dNS3JU5nmfKUNxGtYJylRTnobhFs6DjSNNy9H3IuUFOP-AyX7gQkA6cC7sNhCqB5Ckk5b3PA_uzLKWdG4dsnzB9m-GtVSLgVZVwENIqOYkVuG7fbAHixK2GUsvFL8/s400/DSCN1666.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjala6wEiur8aHbyhc2C485tjgeXlufz8WP4MwgaQLWinj9gJva7zCWO7des_mHo5jICpoU-sCPBnDfcBbxklOXHUWhZqraNwAzTbtHsx3XHswN2Aillz4ZKhjfTuFDrV0zWJ0HGrgTxls/s1600/DSCN1757.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjala6wEiur8aHbyhc2C485tjgeXlufz8WP4MwgaQLWinj9gJva7zCWO7des_mHo5jICpoU-sCPBnDfcBbxklOXHUWhZqraNwAzTbtHsx3XHswN2Aillz4ZKhjfTuFDrV0zWJ0HGrgTxls/s400/DSCN1757.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK5WQazkicz5MZo2wlBYgwQ6eabeuleHnvyv6bvQ1-Nn7FhHzy42Do3HLLPs83xYL-p-ZVnDFlXRRs0utFfj71va8ymNe3ncZlS7sslng1i4w-5jiW1A5N62IXu5Bfdpixis9cpF_QfZs/s1600/DSCN1768.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK5WQazkicz5MZo2wlBYgwQ6eabeuleHnvyv6bvQ1-Nn7FhHzy42Do3HLLPs83xYL-p-ZVnDFlXRRs0utFfj71va8ymNe3ncZlS7sslng1i4w-5jiW1A5N62IXu5Bfdpixis9cpF_QfZs/s400/DSCN1768.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ca9LNvkVLJq52gaoAuT2tgLUcS2eofMUmRSMorXUCPX9XBEcegckPpq3JyFRi3GychcCP88GBeF_P4b1dCa7Mszjcmtsq3t1RmOmDDxHcMkfH1VWEkP0AVQSOOK0rsHeBlsptqW9icc/s1600/DSCN1778.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ca9LNvkVLJq52gaoAuT2tgLUcS2eofMUmRSMorXUCPX9XBEcegckPpq3JyFRi3GychcCP88GBeF_P4b1dCa7Mszjcmtsq3t1RmOmDDxHcMkfH1VWEkP0AVQSOOK0rsHeBlsptqW9icc/s400/DSCN1778.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHWkmv3-uB_kyYEKW7CGSJesnFQ8v3tX4OsPZc4CYG86bjdeT-e_zm1nB91-Tzz-YxnnAXZwjXb6x1E7QeDxDGf3SqW2snD6kq6btPT3ToRXsMILqjx0ctQ49FgiXmLi7l2KnVhyU4EOI/s1600/DSCN1786.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHWkmv3-uB_kyYEKW7CGSJesnFQ8v3tX4OsPZc4CYG86bjdeT-e_zm1nB91-Tzz-YxnnAXZwjXb6x1E7QeDxDGf3SqW2snD6kq6btPT3ToRXsMILqjx0ctQ49FgiXmLi7l2KnVhyU4EOI/s400/DSCN1786.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKLWnq2AobXPPUKu3dBzCe_1WyC-fUXvkSXrMUneh8vr-GeHEQUU2NCH1kV4Lzvcb9V49EuK8xwq4yDVgtlJQ0J5UlpbsLulPm44mhmvoA5BUDLWqIqHUHbMOmOpRbvIV4r3313szrzk/s1600/DSCN1790.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKLWnq2AobXPPUKu3dBzCe_1WyC-fUXvkSXrMUneh8vr-GeHEQUU2NCH1kV4Lzvcb9V49EuK8xwq4yDVgtlJQ0J5UlpbsLulPm44mhmvoA5BUDLWqIqHUHbMOmOpRbvIV4r3313szrzk/s400/DSCN1790.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHidXfDsq210i_9k-_RAyI2c2Qqg326KeKwKvX3d5csZC76oPH2FTHxdyo7vJJUg6TImnWp307pTO5ajdlOwvLSj5plY8np3RMedBAiv2eul4fJ-EwaEZnHaVeFOFi4AT9-Hjqqmg7CBI/s1600/DSCN1793.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHidXfDsq210i_9k-_RAyI2c2Qqg326KeKwKvX3d5csZC76oPH2FTHxdyo7vJJUg6TImnWp307pTO5ajdlOwvLSj5plY8np3RMedBAiv2eul4fJ-EwaEZnHaVeFOFi4AT9-Hjqqmg7CBI/s400/DSCN1793.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc2t97z4uK3RzMZpPPiAI7lUlUphrqo2Stn-gd5BTf9ABJ1gJRmqPQfrCXENWO1P56jwhYFG3uyJVRJbAVoz8PGfSvI9fYH9Akpb2AItyfA8VFcQlxOwpP-4OkDccUOnMnVrebEdYGIsE/s1600/DSCN1794.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc2t97z4uK3RzMZpPPiAI7lUlUphrqo2Stn-gd5BTf9ABJ1gJRmqPQfrCXENWO1P56jwhYFG3uyJVRJbAVoz8PGfSvI9fYH9Akpb2AItyfA8VFcQlxOwpP-4OkDccUOnMnVrebEdYGIsE/s400/DSCN1794.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhGCdrUE4SsixUJSVbtGe3_mEZDpLA2mX19s_3k7g7Xm6dLPWV4psZ3XDzMpKtgztiL-AiADu66YRHbczcnhuTNRB1pSOfEEQPYFTPs4UMMXrsOm5jj5xR65-mZqndO6OcMweL6VmNCeE/s1600/DSCN1798.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhGCdrUE4SsixUJSVbtGe3_mEZDpLA2mX19s_3k7g7Xm6dLPWV4psZ3XDzMpKtgztiL-AiADu66YRHbczcnhuTNRB1pSOfEEQPYFTPs4UMMXrsOm5jj5xR65-mZqndO6OcMweL6VmNCeE/s400/DSCN1798.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocUmEcGDSHhOFXDAdouj3BhkH9Ii-AE5Lk7zwjR_YT4pe3XLj3cRsGXstXrS8KpiWV1Ej3-NWQ7Ao2IIC_TNHSjOM7VXSNmkfJUJH-0MHWNAkBDb4pHUr-NoUv1Pk1BouWFliKyHVIWQ/s1600/DSCN1802.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocUmEcGDSHhOFXDAdouj3BhkH9Ii-AE5Lk7zwjR_YT4pe3XLj3cRsGXstXrS8KpiWV1Ej3-NWQ7Ao2IIC_TNHSjOM7VXSNmkfJUJH-0MHWNAkBDb4pHUr-NoUv1Pk1BouWFliKyHVIWQ/s400/DSCN1802.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTga7ONSszDO_jIOCUT_Sw3vftQzRnwCYGoNYUK6m6BKIMASomtiu69OCPiDo82k5U-b-0jRDB87vH5svev2fCIzsWL8SIWON5AnpThI1GkVkHAvzJoPYtaMVYqLbIBc3qur-i2UUJ-Uk/s1600/DSCN1803.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTga7ONSszDO_jIOCUT_Sw3vftQzRnwCYGoNYUK6m6BKIMASomtiu69OCPiDo82k5U-b-0jRDB87vH5svev2fCIzsWL8SIWON5AnpThI1GkVkHAvzJoPYtaMVYqLbIBc3qur-i2UUJ-Uk/s400/DSCN1803.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWm5FQwx8Y0kKFhxIq6Awn5Qmfh_VKw9kLy3AqAW22ghjfVe4LBYMwGzlrOYApXfBJ4x22WVXcWUWnKanbPLGAJfOuGJnq3c_Wp6fko-Nj-tnA9P93mBopCTdN9qT70XEXKea_Xml8jUs/s1600/DSCN1804.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWm5FQwx8Y0kKFhxIq6Awn5Qmfh_VKw9kLy3AqAW22ghjfVe4LBYMwGzlrOYApXfBJ4x22WVXcWUWnKanbPLGAJfOuGJnq3c_Wp6fko-Nj-tnA9P93mBopCTdN9qT70XEXKea_Xml8jUs/s400/DSCN1804.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Pf1QyhpL1TaqecmRE4U0C-ElBMqMRi2e_hNZkjJxwxlkR1ZnUQWCuyTj33PDK6Ee97mSNBa7aqGUTycqLXzp38lXBbJX9t9WauB58O4Td4hsEQp2Zyz28RYUeqSwky36xdiRMPIWb-Q/s1600/DSCN1805.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Pf1QyhpL1TaqecmRE4U0C-ElBMqMRi2e_hNZkjJxwxlkR1ZnUQWCuyTj33PDK6Ee97mSNBa7aqGUTycqLXzp38lXBbJX9t9WauB58O4Td4hsEQp2Zyz28RYUeqSwky36xdiRMPIWb-Q/s400/DSCN1805.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1ZdpDnbjwLHVSoUGwUG30ZYBsQu7BpV5H9zk0ufjpzVL8xEkrBKjXPrvUQ1620ro1tMglejEMaBHLkdLK7A1nnIIzGGadoJPNbHf9Ot5DJWxi6jMb4KRI46EuxCrif6c3_Ua7rhUJiI/s1600/DSCN1815.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1ZdpDnbjwLHVSoUGwUG30ZYBsQu7BpV5H9zk0ufjpzVL8xEkrBKjXPrvUQ1620ro1tMglejEMaBHLkdLK7A1nnIIzGGadoJPNbHf9Ot5DJWxi6jMb4KRI46EuxCrif6c3_Ua7rhUJiI/s400/DSCN1815.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1an8dqxIeauAmq1Mr9VvITel_A0shpP73xCkNijXTfU5nYzuMnahexzHiNeUL2XD8eMqBWHyktodXCSbstXTehJk7E3G9MKZlHuD61PS0_AGiOHnXKyxaIzttlt1gsq_6TdFkSnwtoRI/s1600/P1020785.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1an8dqxIeauAmq1Mr9VvITel_A0shpP73xCkNijXTfU5nYzuMnahexzHiNeUL2XD8eMqBWHyktodXCSbstXTehJk7E3G9MKZlHuD61PS0_AGiOHnXKyxaIzttlt1gsq_6TdFkSnwtoRI/s400/P1020785.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAmCoOFe4lq9SdSpFdbIyJSmFYAiWPDIPkXyKxw-xL5asM_GYXj6KU4XxTJtqEdKFwjpQQd7lxrACJhnPKOPi4V-SUL_IFOicSgv1gO4S60p8AR5My8uAooZI2Grnuo9TdozHN3-zD3O0/s1600/P1020791.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAmCoOFe4lq9SdSpFdbIyJSmFYAiWPDIPkXyKxw-xL5asM_GYXj6KU4XxTJtqEdKFwjpQQd7lxrACJhnPKOPi4V-SUL_IFOicSgv1gO4S60p8AR5My8uAooZI2Grnuo9TdozHN3-zD3O0/s400/P1020791.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Lz0M4XczQ2002qpmHak1gbD-tb_npg3uL4qx7TLhRSDTu-EHe4lc2bazEDt-tURih-Z7y1gE1zJI6b8PhwQ6dvr1p7gFL08ME7tfDYETA_KeDNW9TY8oRAtBurpWQQA8t4bCg0LVMzE/s1600/P1020804.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Lz0M4XczQ2002qpmHak1gbD-tb_npg3uL4qx7TLhRSDTu-EHe4lc2bazEDt-tURih-Z7y1gE1zJI6b8PhwQ6dvr1p7gFL08ME7tfDYETA_KeDNW9TY8oRAtBurpWQQA8t4bCg0LVMzE/s400/P1020804.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCCt2EM-pnNMoy5nfsgXyXHnuBe_trNLmFVwXgb0AwCgnfevZ5Y-4kSOCUPp2-1myTQ1Q6DKg_WkpXP8PlkwFkis5jcQGcQiCygD43IMTVYAY7mMn1CuNvazKT0dFhczsMt0jgbWzWRpg/s1600/P1020848.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCCt2EM-pnNMoy5nfsgXyXHnuBe_trNLmFVwXgb0AwCgnfevZ5Y-4kSOCUPp2-1myTQ1Q6DKg_WkpXP8PlkwFkis5jcQGcQiCygD43IMTVYAY7mMn1CuNvazKT0dFhczsMt0jgbWzWRpg/s400/P1020848.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjcfs5Vbn3ByrMdZKTgw3G8FK3a69YT5j0MygiScCgD_nlIPh9G-H65BOij4tFz-3ggqtVMRVxAEE2qflRytGVFHepK3CVC6qhMMccMy4VvrZaCcuRH-x4jIjCT0CfUsUHrg4XfaeYycc/s1600/Plaque+1.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjcfs5Vbn3ByrMdZKTgw3G8FK3a69YT5j0MygiScCgD_nlIPh9G-H65BOij4tFz-3ggqtVMRVxAEE2qflRytGVFHepK3CVC6qhMMccMy4VvrZaCcuRH-x4jIjCT0CfUsUHrg4XfaeYycc/s400/Plaque+1.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOigc_hvEAAzptuF9AHwTccbKcPQqk9Cqki2R7I2IyZKh4NVkBwyw4q_pRvBSJFCBY2cSkpUHD_Z198YOre7fJurAJvfoueJYLL_UvducyTFtsJqznPkn1Od2eqt7Imd19F9ckT57Qg3A/s1600/Plaque+2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOigc_hvEAAzptuF9AHwTccbKcPQqk9Cqki2R7I2IyZKh4NVkBwyw4q_pRvBSJFCBY2cSkpUHD_Z198YOre7fJurAJvfoueJYLL_UvducyTFtsJqznPkn1Od2eqt7Imd19F9ckT57Qg3A/s400/Plaque+2.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3uF5sjES9xaJlrCX2qVciPJU-DZLam2O-oVJc74kMTOi9lHzc3SIjeOgR5T1PXo4KBtC5WmankpHf0STbCP7VmY6q0qMSA4ZnOG-MSoPiIFWCGFU1WTJAxFw5xzLSmjtMlxQrkEIHxos/s1600/Plaque+3.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3uF5sjES9xaJlrCX2qVciPJU-DZLam2O-oVJc74kMTOi9lHzc3SIjeOgR5T1PXo4KBtC5WmankpHf0STbCP7VmY6q0qMSA4ZnOG-MSoPiIFWCGFU1WTJAxFw5xzLSmjtMlxQrkEIHxos/s400/Plaque+3.JPG" /></a></div><br />
This last photo is my personal favorite of her! Only 49 days left until I can see her in person!!!Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com007100 Sassari SS, Italy40.7259269 8.555682599999954640.629659399999994 8.3943210999999547 40.8221944 8.7170440999999546tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-64251506960241995522014-11-18T15:59:00.001-05:002020-08-15T14:42:14.945-04:00I realized that the Lord has blessed me so much that I have only increased my debtI have no idea how to start this email. I have tried like five different ways, and been unsuccessful every time so I'm giving up on being witty and I'm just going to tell you what happened. We made it to zone conference. I gave an addestramento by myself. I talked about how important it is to treat people individually when inviting people to be baptized. I wrote the conversion story of both of my parents and then had every member of my district write the conversion story of their parents, and then had the missionaries practice inviting that person with their individual needs to be baptized. I'm not sure what kind of affect it had on the other missionaries, but it really, really touched me, to know that what we do has long term affects and that every person has individual needs. <br />
<br />
Then we got into a car with a member from Cagliari and drove really, really fast until we got to Sassari. I almost threw up on poor Sorella Tapia. She handled it really well. Then we got to the baptism 2 minutes before it started, took photos, and sat down. Then I gave a talk, then finally Simona was baptized, and it was flawless, and beautiful and it made every horrible agonizing stress of the whole day worth it. On Saturday there was a ward sports activity, which was very stressful for most of the missionaries, but my activity was canceled so I just walked around socializing with Alessandro and his mother. I really enjoyed it. I was super impressed with the branch at the ward activity. <br />
<br />
Up until this point they have been kind of indifferent to Alessandro, but on Tuesday we had a lesson for him in a plant shop that one of our members owns (it's where all of the ward hangs out so we were able to have two members there!!) and the spirit was really strong. Afterwards we talked to the two members a lot about Alessandro, and they talked to other members about how great he is (people talk a lot in branches!) and on Saturday everyone in the branch did an amazing job of fellowshipping him. I walked in the kitchen at one point to get a glass of water and there were ten members sitting around him watching him eat a piece of Lasagnia, which was really confusing, but they had asked him to be a judge nella gara gastrinomica (food race literally) which made him feel so special. He recognized our pan so he tried to rig it so that we would win, he told me after, which I thought was great.<br />
<br />
The last three or four weeks of my life has been very, very stressful and full of pressure and tiring. Specifically Sundays. This Sunday on the other hand was beautiful and simple and so relaxing. I got to church, and I didn't have to give the lesson, in gospel principles, I was able to just sit and enjoy it. Then I went to Sacrament and found someone sitting with both Alessandro and Simona, which meant that for the first time in months I didn't have to take care of anyone during sacrament. I wasn't pulling a child out from under a chair so that his mom could focus on the speaker (Michaelangelo from Taranto) or explaining to Alessandro the principles of the Sacrament, or showing someone how a hymnal work, I was just sitting and watching and it was beautiful. It was the primary presentation which was hugely irreverent like always, and 3 members were standing up filming it, but I loved every second of it.<br />
<br />
I'm a little worried that Alessandro isn't going to pass the baptismal interview this week. He doesn't have a great grasp on the restoration; more specifically he doesn't care about the restoration. He could not care less if this is the only true church on the earth. He gets that it's the best church, and that he feels the spirit the strongest here, and he has made huge changes in his life to prepare for baptism he even believes that Joseph Smith is a prophet, he just doesn't have a super high level of comprehension when it comes to the restoration. I was talking to Anziano Quaresima about it this week (my district leader) and he challenged me to read a few scriptures to decide for myself if Alessandro is ready. I read the scripture in Mosiah, and I just felt so strongly that I had never met anyone in my whole mission that was more prepared to do those things than Alessandro, so we are going to do our very, very best to make him understand this week, and then we are going to trust the Lord, He could really, really use all of your prayers.<br />
<br />
Also last night during district finding, which is actually apartment finding which we do every Sunday night, we met a man from Senegal and he was speaking to us in French. Sorella Tapia, Sorella Sartena and I all studied French in the past, and he has lived in Italy long enough to understand Italian so he was speaking to us in French and we were answering in Italian, and I understood EVERYTHING! And about half way through the conversation I was able to start answering in a very basic French so it's still in there! I had just been telling Sorella Tapia that the biggest sacrifice of my mission was the fact that I had lost all of my French, and then the next day the Lord gave me an opportunity to realize that I hadn't really sacrificed anything, my mission has only been a blessing, I have only gained from it. When I first started my mission I thought that I was giving so much to the Lord, and now I realized that the Lord has blessed me so much that I have only increased my debt.<br />
<br />
She sent a few pictures this week (Finally!!! I have only been nagging her for months now about this)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPp1_sGezCYqerViqfWsJzS408slNbTgxDwLzPEYp7HIqAfnO2vgfhMdYDga5upDG_6gyv5nyUUep34Zmf2QU-z2XwWMZ7_i8Xe5VQ8th9or6lz3GwctwcbPjl-C6OxLGfoygo-QUNbwo/s1600/Simona+1.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPp1_sGezCYqerViqfWsJzS408slNbTgxDwLzPEYp7HIqAfnO2vgfhMdYDga5upDG_6gyv5nyUUep34Zmf2QU-z2XwWMZ7_i8Xe5VQ8th9or6lz3GwctwcbPjl-C6OxLGfoygo-QUNbwo/s400/Simona+1.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUUpTHdfWzRQIDsvXehl8y8o3sZxqvg7LE3AT88cjs5yYKCbpHwP3FBSiy4y1tuU8Sa8uWCnGF6B99yVmcYEEoZ1NYbEOIXS859CujNG_ybNRT4tC0P9RyV6uU2KGTtMuAy5AyzxDTg5I/s1600/Simona.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUUpTHdfWzRQIDsvXehl8y8o3sZxqvg7LE3AT88cjs5yYKCbpHwP3FBSiy4y1tuU8Sa8uWCnGF6B99yVmcYEEoZ1NYbEOIXS859CujNG_ybNRT4tC0P9RyV6uU2KGTtMuAy5AyzxDTg5I/s400/Simona.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDSNPwT7NFg-fGCizL7kjF-5unAEgVhvy_c2woucRKxZDmN8VDCHpqfBMUHmHrZrAsaSFIPMsz383_JlG3hvA3ek0a5CON4um2nHCmmIBHX5VtztpU3aU6wNFDAqAdBkSEpNt_Isw9hg/s1600/veronica+from+catania.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDSNPwT7NFg-fGCizL7kjF-5unAEgVhvy_c2woucRKxZDmN8VDCHpqfBMUHmHrZrAsaSFIPMsz383_JlG3hvA3ek0a5CON4um2nHCmmIBHX5VtztpU3aU6wNFDAqAdBkSEpNt_Isw9hg/s400/veronica+from+catania.JPG" /></a></div><br />
Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com007100 Sassari Sassari, Italy40.7259269 8.555682599999954640.629659399999994 8.3943210999999547 40.8221944 8.7170440999999546tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-89407684503949031262014-11-14T12:00:00.001-05:002020-08-15T14:38:41.213-04:00Sardegna Zone ConferencePictures from her Zone Conference a few weeks ago.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi561niHTJ8iRtun608lP9jV1uMvUq9zkWjLAtprlNvkoluGNCbAXCZv2QLV-cnFl5rS7Wgmlx_idjx5PPMoaAN7MvxGhooqaN749v7S9yN11Pw1QhZcYg3puGb3GyCFiFOQV0jxK0NktQ/s1600/IMG_1569.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi561niHTJ8iRtun608lP9jV1uMvUq9zkWjLAtprlNvkoluGNCbAXCZv2QLV-cnFl5rS7Wgmlx_idjx5PPMoaAN7MvxGhooqaN749v7S9yN11Pw1QhZcYg3puGb3GyCFiFOQV0jxK0NktQ/s400/IMG_1569.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi79HmYsQq6NDVwcMh7yQPGLj_4eS3d2lQTC4kgTtLcZKM-bghdDIij-qbEoukc20AxCVEQkWn1MkIKYQhc_qpx6UmZGlULinyBbNDsr7ueIhH9RpruboGm1jGz7uivDToEYDxNwyjbr9E/s1600/IMG_1577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi79HmYsQq6NDVwcMh7yQPGLj_4eS3d2lQTC4kgTtLcZKM-bghdDIij-qbEoukc20AxCVEQkWn1MkIKYQhc_qpx6UmZGlULinyBbNDsr7ueIhH9RpruboGm1jGz7uivDToEYDxNwyjbr9E/s400/IMG_1577.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyVzAE1K_hZd2ZhjBo-DZyCHW_ofYIX3qDiXbIHUSZ3GKRHlboHUMcboERk1YCsusLWcqR7xyZeE0Y_kRXqw6-yis277fMM9HSKjzE20uPaDUj_VZm9nlHITFXzeAHG_5E3FhIe5_eA6A/s1600/IMG_1580.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyVzAE1K_hZd2ZhjBo-DZyCHW_ofYIX3qDiXbIHUSZ3GKRHlboHUMcboERk1YCsusLWcqR7xyZeE0Y_kRXqw6-yis277fMM9HSKjzE20uPaDUj_VZm9nlHITFXzeAHG_5E3FhIe5_eA6A/s400/IMG_1580.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxXMZj4trK9lCtBHsF_GdA43TBOOdvJymmrrK3ck7Uf-JsYBKHGBaXTwJI_rkRPVEGjHHOGMY3CjgHbUVVpV-m-NsYkOrWU82dTf2usjlxCM5A1NfidSlQRoOtNVo6cMWbbmQSkuJqrg/s1600/IMG_1581.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxXMZj4trK9lCtBHsF_GdA43TBOOdvJymmrrK3ck7Uf-JsYBKHGBaXTwJI_rkRPVEGjHHOGMY3CjgHbUVVpV-m-NsYkOrWU82dTf2usjlxCM5A1NfidSlQRoOtNVo6cMWbbmQSkuJqrg/s400/IMG_1581.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6xMX2uyHNqJManAuvFPqFD3OjWTwHAKRFKmKuMDkiO84FnfHGdNdvI_wg7fmKcX3T-CCEZalfY3UCPvvGLqFRgOGU_TqTMBRn4A9EqdG30puXcf_pVSx6PYNiOfdjc7BvoNu8gdi0Z4/s1600/IMG_1585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6xMX2uyHNqJManAuvFPqFD3OjWTwHAKRFKmKuMDkiO84FnfHGdNdvI_wg7fmKcX3T-CCEZalfY3UCPvvGLqFRgOGU_TqTMBRn4A9EqdG30puXcf_pVSx6PYNiOfdjc7BvoNu8gdi0Z4/s400/IMG_1585.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Iv2-EKXMKKjPViuHR__TWhjvTCgLTUfrinwCCvnKEbT3gshBSUWz75ydkf8kEfSOwxUJAK9zy_CGAmjdUvXUM0lqYbjYDs2OahYBJ1UiblAYWgQw5bVRKePIyP9fmB8sDLGn7GnOyb8/s1600/IMG_1595.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Iv2-EKXMKKjPViuHR__TWhjvTCgLTUfrinwCCvnKEbT3gshBSUWz75ydkf8kEfSOwxUJAK9zy_CGAmjdUvXUM0lqYbjYDs2OahYBJ1UiblAYWgQw5bVRKePIyP9fmB8sDLGn7GnOyb8/s400/IMG_1595.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQfkl0EwcPEwO1RyQCVMWsvhQvg-eD62I4lqwktJ9CWEuxYMHLQJc8wZ5lLvGcPCDAxBUl1kzgjICw0st1U1EZCyEoR5TSO2qdiqk5YGxVrHa3cpfsC45idxScA4wRQQ5nov02hjRFgy8/s1600/IMG_1606.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQfkl0EwcPEwO1RyQCVMWsvhQvg-eD62I4lqwktJ9CWEuxYMHLQJc8wZ5lLvGcPCDAxBUl1kzgjICw0st1U1EZCyEoR5TSO2qdiqk5YGxVrHa3cpfsC45idxScA4wRQQ5nov02hjRFgy8/s400/IMG_1606.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmS9DOfzj8SJ_gIEJX9mQKo-4E0CCwk1oRYCTUlUNInh_tKpqAUeS5lwdd9CCgZ5SzB9iWclJe_l-3HrftztW0RUzL1BuXXiID0Kp4RTv2h7PamKCh0AvoNbxxaY6DqdIqrNryydjJYw/s1600/IMG_1623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmS9DOfzj8SJ_gIEJX9mQKo-4E0CCwk1oRYCTUlUNInh_tKpqAUeS5lwdd9CCgZ5SzB9iWclJe_l-3HrftztW0RUzL1BuXXiID0Kp4RTv2h7PamKCh0AvoNbxxaY6DqdIqrNryydjJYw/s400/IMG_1623.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6_14bBkXXYmSfuPAEb0N4SiezSFX9JFZlyUgXjOfpf5ZCNejp8nfq2YN7LRBhyQa5nmFz3adwGoa3kkXEwQK1JL_S5msTDH5XWcgP4um96gGGJpyKvt4taLVKWltJFo7R8x90lckn36c/s1600/IMG_1628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6_14bBkXXYmSfuPAEb0N4SiezSFX9JFZlyUgXjOfpf5ZCNejp8nfq2YN7LRBhyQa5nmFz3adwGoa3kkXEwQK1JL_S5msTDH5XWcgP4um96gGGJpyKvt4taLVKWltJFo7R8x90lckn36c/s400/IMG_1628.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbfGeoRRujVBn8b6692liLP1yokQ5WkLAiPIrC2hM2M-9yxLVd6INWpJhG3n-g-D0-BIOgY8ENDB8mIwR3UEBHbdr1RQrDLakKQk_nLmVCdG0Ua1g-SdaxAXGF9AdtHOoi8FpRNWV-IA/s1600/IMG_1645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbfGeoRRujVBn8b6692liLP1yokQ5WkLAiPIrC2hM2M-9yxLVd6INWpJhG3n-g-D0-BIOgY8ENDB8mIwR3UEBHbdr1RQrDLakKQk_nLmVCdG0Ua1g-SdaxAXGF9AdtHOoi8FpRNWV-IA/s400/IMG_1645.JPG" /></a></div>Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com007100 Sassari SS, Italy40.7259269 8.555682599999954640.629659399999994 8.3943210999999547 40.8221944 8.7170440999999546tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-10222682819889551072014-11-03T00:19:00.001-05:002020-08-15T14:38:14.127-04:00Water BalloonsNon voglio fare compito!!!<br />
Ciao cari,<br />
We teach an english course for children and there is a little boy in our course who always says that phrase to us. It means 'I don't want to do homework', and I feel like it is pretty fitting for my life right now. I am tired. I want to crawl up in a ball and sleep for like a year, which I tried to do today seeing as it's p-day, but following the basic pattern that is my life right now, no one let me. The assistants called me thirty minutes into my first nap to tell me the assignment for the addestramento that I will be giving by myself in zone conference because I'm the only stl (sister training leader) in Sardegnia, so I'm really looking forward to that. Instead of sending you a summary of what I did this week I'm going to send you a list of problems that I either was responsible for solving this week or will be responsible for solving the following week.<br />
<br />
1) Every sister in my zone is training and I'm stl which means that I need to make sure that they feel comfortable training. One sister in particular has had a harder time adapting, and not yesterday and the day before she was having a sort of melt down, so I left her greenie with my greenie, took her home and made a list of things that she felt confident doing as a missionary. Then yesterday we went finding in four and I stopped two people, and had a gospel conversation with them to give an example, and then encouraged them to talk to certain people. ( As a side note Sorella Winegar was a huge help with this because she has no fear). was that the right thing to do, I have no idea, probably not because it's technically against the rules to do things in 4, but I felt like the ox was in the mire. <br />
<br />
2) No one wants Simona to get baptized. We set a baptismal date for Simona, she finally decided that she is ready, and now two people have asked us to change the date. So the initial date was for the 15th we invited Simona to be baptized on the 15th and she finally accepted, and then the following week they announced that there was going to be a stake sports activity in the church on the 15th. Our ward mission leader assured us it wouldn't be a problem. He was wrong. Very wrong. So we moved it to the 14th. The following morning the elder's call us and they tell us that the schedule came in for zone conference, and it will be being held.... on the 14th. We called the zone leaders and they asked us to move it. I said no. They told us we probably weren't going to be able to come to zone conference. I said ok, this baptism is more important. They called the assistants, who called president who said we can borrow a car from the mission so we can make it back on time. The irony of this is that my addestramento (the training I have to give in zone conference) is making sure that investigators follow through with their bap dates.<br />
<br />
3) A couple weeks ago one of the elder's investigators Daniela was baptized. The following day when she was supposed to be receiving the gift of the holy ghost she had a melt down, and I spent about two hours kneeling in the grass behind the church trying to convince her to receive the holy ghost. She finally went through with it, but then refused to speak to the elders. Yesterday she came to the tail end of church to talk to the branch president about this "mistake that she made" and we talked for about a half hour. Then she talked to the elders and told them they were still her friends but that she knew that she didn't have a testimony. However, she did agree to meet with us in one religious setting. She and Alessandro (our investigator who is getting baptized on the 22) made a really great connection, and she wants to support him in this choice in his life, and she has agreed to come to lessons with us to teach Alessandro So we will see how that goes.<br />
<br />
I decided last night that being a missionary is kind of like being in front of a burning building with a box of water balloons in front of you, but they aren't all filled with water. Some of the balloons, are full of useful things like water or flour, things that help put out fires, and some are filled with gunpowder and gasoline, both of which feel kind of like water and flour, and the only thing that you can do is grab a water balloon, hope desperately that it is the one that you want, and launch it, and sometimes you are right, and the fire goes down, and sometimes you are desperately wrong, and the fire doubles in size.<br />
<br />
Those are actually my only three problems. They are just kind of exhausting. I did manage to find some solutions to old problems this week.<br />
<br />
1) Alessanddro has had a huge problem grasping gospel principles, and this week we decided to teach him one of the lessons directly from the simplified Book of Mormon, and he loved it. He loved it, and he completely understood everything. So we are going to keep teaching him from there. We could use a lot of prayers that he understands and progresses towards his baptism. He is really excited about getting the priesthood and going to the temple, and he is best friends, and I mean best friends with Anziano Quaresima. It's really nice knowing that I can concentrate on Simona during church and that the two of them are probably hood ratting it around somewhere. <br />
<br />
I guess the thing I sometimes forget about the water balloons, is I'm not throwing them alone. I'm throwing them with a full army. I have my beautiful companion, who can help me. This morning I couldn't, I mean I absolutely could not physically move my body any more and when it was time for companion study, I said Sorella Winegar it's your second transfer today I want you to plan the lesson (I told her it was a way to help her stretch and grow as a missionary, but in reality I was to tired to do it.) and she said the problem is I've never seen anyone teach a lesson on tithing, and I said most people don't in their first transfer, the first time I ever saw someone teach tithing was when it was me, and I was teaching it, and so she planned it, which was really really nice. I have prayer, which means that I can ask someone which balloons are full of what and ask for help to get them where they need to go. So maybe by myself I'm destined to burn the city of Sassari down, but with the help of others and the Lord we can at least keep the fire contained. I'm going to stop with this analogy now, because you can only be so poetic and moving when talking about hypothetical water balloons. I love you all and appreciate your prayers and support.Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com007100 Sassari Sassari, Italy40.7259269 8.555682599999954640.629659399999994 8.3943210999999547 40.8221944 8.7170440999999546tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-66494827886608593622014-10-29T09:56:00.002-04:002020-08-15T14:35:06.381-04:00Don't tell people it's ok to break the law of chastity in the first conversation!!Weekly email<br />
Ciao Cari!<br />
This week in Sassari, has been amazing. I know that every week I just tell you over and over again how wonderful Simona and Alessandro are, but they truly are just tender mercies of the Lord. We invited Simona to baptized on November 15th the second time that we met with her, and she accepted sort of. She told us that she was willing to work towards it as a goal, but that she wanted her husband to be present when she was baptized. Unfortunately her husband is in Longansport Indiana, which makes that kind of difficult. So we set the date knowing that it was kind of shaky, but we took every oppertunity possible to bear testimony to her about the importance of baptism and the Holy Ghost. We hadn't exactly confronted the issue, but were praying desperately that everything would go through. <br />
<br />
On Saturday one of the elder's investigators Daniela was baptized and Simona was able to attend. She had to leave early so I didn't get the chance to talk to her about it. Then the next day in church I was pulled away by about five different people (I literally was in relief society for 15 minutes and I saw one talk in sacrament) so I barely had the chance to talk to her. Finally after church I sat down and had my first face to face conversation with Simona in five days, and I asked her what she thought about the baptism. Then she said one of the most beautiful things I have heard in my entire life. She said I want my husband to be at my baptism, but I saw, and I felt how important baptism is last night, and I want to be baptized here with the missionaries and the members that I love, so I don't think that I can wait to be baptized. So I asked her, Simona do you think that you still want to be baptized on the 15th, and she said yes. Then I hugged her. So she is going to go through with baptism, and I'm so happy. She is truly being converted. She prays so beautifully, and studies the scriptures so intently, and I can see how much the gospel is truly changing her. I feel so blessed to have met her.<br />
<br />
Alessandro also had a beautiful experience at the baptism. We still haven't passed him to the elders. They were super busy with Daniela this week, and we could never make it work. After the baptism he told me that he felt a beautiful feeling that he couldn't understand, and I literally almost screamed that is the Holy Ghost!!!! Instead I calmy and simply explained the role of the Holy Ghost. Also he broke my heart. While Daniela was getting dressed we were all sitting quietly listening to Sorella Winegar playing the piano and he turns to me and says "Sara (He thinks my name is Sara, I have no idea why I think it might have something to do with my accent over the phone when I say Sorella, that or it's a Sardegnian pet name, but he always calls me that) are you going to stay here after January, and I told him no, I have to go back to America, and his face got really serious and he said Oh I thought that you would like it here so much that you would change your mind, which literally almost made me cry. So I told that story to the other missionaries, and now we aren't 100% sure that Sorella Winegar and I should pass him, I will keep you updated. <br />
<br />
Also quick funny story. We had a first lesson with an English course student this week, and we were trying to explain prayer. He felt like God already knew what he needed and felt so there wasn't any point, and so I told him that I am very very close with my mother, and when I went to BYU for the first year she wanted me to call her a lot. She knew what I was going to say, she knew that I felt like classes were hard, and work was hard, and that maybe I didn't get along with my roommate but she wanted to hear from me anyway. Not for the information, but because she loved me, and wanted to hear from me while I was far away. Really beautiful analogy right? Yeah except that I am American and I messed up my Italian a little bit during my beautiful heart melting analogy. So as a I was saying Roommate which translates to la mia compagnia di stanza I paused because I couldn't remember if it was compagnia di stanza or compagnia di casa or collega di stanza because how often does the word roommate come up in conversation anyway?!?! So I said la mia Compagnia and paused, so helpful little Fabio helped me out with my Italian by saying il mio compagnio, so of course like and Idiot I said oh grazie il mio campagnio, and moved on with my analogy, but a little voice in my head was going something in that phrase was wrong, and then I realized that il mio compagnio means more or less live in boyfriend. So I told him that I was living with a man without being married, so I had to retract and repair that very very quickly. It was pretty embarrassing. So basic tip of sharing the gospel, when explaining the gospel don't tell people it's ok to break the law of chastity in the first conversation. That's all for me this week. <br />
<br />
Love you all a lot<br />
<br />
Sorella SpencerCandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com007100 Sassari Sassari, Italy40.7259269 8.555682599999954640.629659399999994 8.3943210999999547 40.8221944 8.7170440999999546tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-36125822527476176942014-10-20T10:52:00.001-04:002020-08-15T14:32:04.919-04:00Things are going really really well in Sassari!!!!!Things are going really really well in Sassari!!!!! Like amazingly well. We are working really hard with two amazing investigators. Simona is a student from English course the lessons for about two or three weeks now, and she is making so much progress. She literally absorbs everything we say to her. She is so hungry for the gospel, she goes on mormon.org all the time, and then comes to lessons asking about temples, and prophets. She is amzing. We usually use 5 or 6 scripture references with her, and she just devours them. Whenever we finish lessons I'm usually super spiritually drained, and I have to tell her that we can't answer all of her questions at once, or I will literally die. She is so prepared. Sometimes I just want to hand her preach my gospel and let her teach herself, because she doesn't really need us at all. <br />
<br />
Then we have Alessandro, who is the exact opposite. He hasn't ever left Sassari, and he didn't finish school so he has a hard time wrapping his head around something new. We started teaching Alessandro and Simona at the same time, and the last lesson that we did with Simona was a very deep study of the atonement. Alessandro on the other hand has been really struggling with the concept of not saying memorized prayers. Before this week we had done two lessons on praying from your heart, and he just could not grasp it. I was starting to feel like there was no way to get through to this man, and that there was no way to help him, so we decided to teach him very very basically about prayer one more time, and as we started the lesson I prayed very intently that he would understand the concept of praying, and I continued to pray silently for the rest of the lesson. About half way through the lesson he said something that made me feel like he had figured it out, so I interrupted the lesson (which by the way was us writing letters to Heavenly Father) and asked him to pray right then, and he did, and he did it perfectly, so we finished the lesson, Sorella Winegar invited him to be baptized on Nov. 22, and he accepted, and I made him pray again just to solidify the concept. It is amazing how differently Simona and Alessandro learn, but how equally prepared they both are, and how much I love both of them. We are passing Alessandro to the Elders, probably tonight actually, but I'm so grateful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to watch him learn something so significant.<br />
<br />
This week I learned that Heavenly Father answers prayers, which in theory I know but I always forget. I know that Heavenly Father answers investigators prayers, but somethimes I feel like there isn't is much at stake with missionary prayers, so he doesn't answer ours. I'm just kidding, but sometimes I forget the power of God. I know that he is here, that he created all of these plans for us. I believe in him, sometimes I just don't believe him, and I find myself being suprised when he answers my prayers. This week there were three times where I was in a situation where I knew that I leterally could not resolve it by myself, and I just said a little silent desperate prayer, and somehow someone else did or said something that resolved the problem for me, and I just sat there thinking, wow Heavenly Father cares about even me, at this dinner table, on an island in the middle of the mediteranian sea, surrounded by sheep. Actually I don't see sheep nearly as much as I thought I would.<br />
<br />
Also guess who is the new primary music director. Me. Being a missionary equals not always being in control of what we want to do. My companion is the only person in the branch who plays the piano even remotely, so she plays the piano during sacrament, and relief society. I have tried to explain to the branch that we can't spend this much time focusing on the piano, because it really isn't our purpose here as missionaries, and no one listened apparently because this week they dropped off the music for the primary presentation, and when Sorella Winegar went to primary she learned that not only are the teachers not very familiar with the music but that they don't know how to conduct music, so I'm doing it now. I've stopped trying to fight it, and I'm trying to embrace it now. As much as I feel like we are spending more time than we should on this, I keep trying to remember the sister missionaries who I met when I was probably 5 or 6. They were the first people who ever asked me if I wanted to serve a mission. I actually remember this conversation really well. I told them no, that I wanted to get married, and they told me that I could do both, and I said yeah but I don't want to be old when I get married. This was probably just a super insignificant annoying conversation that they don't even remember having, but I remember it, and it made a huge impact on me, and I think about those two sister missionaries a lot. So maybe this insignificant thing that we are doing will make an impact on someone else. I'm still probably going to complain about it in these emails, but I'm open to the idea that maybe there is some good behind it.<br />
<br />
I love you all, I hope your lives are going well, I miss you like crazy. I love this country. I'm going to go carve some pumpkins for a birthday party Sorella Winegar and I planned for an English course student (seems like service but mainly I just think Halloween is an awesome holiday and they don't celebrate it here.)<br />
<br />
vi voglio bene.<br />
Sorella SpencerCandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com007100 Sassari Sassari, Italy40.7259269 8.555682599999954640.629659399999994 8.3943210999999547 40.8221944 8.7170440999999546tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-79583872153432737752014-10-17T10:16:00.001-04:002020-08-15T14:29:24.184-04:00Pictures from Zone Conference!<a href="http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/2014/10/sardegna-zone-conference-october-2014.html">Click on this sentence to see tons of pictures from her last Zone Conference!</a><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/2014/10/sardegna-zone-conference-october-2014.html">http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/2014/10/sardegna-zone-conference-october-2014.html</a><br />
<br />
This was easier than trying to post the pictures individually. Enjoy, she looks wonderful! </div><div><br /></div><div>I decided to add some of the pictures so they can be in the book!<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAdmkcohIluHQX90fgO6JZf4PPj1VVxnzzFBkKrKRgMt8-EaoTW0a2PaVzyN8a9RnhDryOd4nI0FVDzXHmLl8adHId2pzMBvp-ApDq0pWDMZQuMRtOKBlC0ikCTBv3CXp47oGhiRseVis/s1600/IMG_3460.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAdmkcohIluHQX90fgO6JZf4PPj1VVxnzzFBkKrKRgMt8-EaoTW0a2PaVzyN8a9RnhDryOd4nI0FVDzXHmLl8adHId2pzMBvp-ApDq0pWDMZQuMRtOKBlC0ikCTBv3CXp47oGhiRseVis/s640/IMG_3460.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-iaFlha3gWJidCV1FT6XQGbCx46dfkt4l4QaxAWaet4Uxlk9jjhnwTI389S8SqRuTQ2i4y5rtRfxpLy2QC2mL-8Z9OOuTBVH9xbuEEcnXgxaMRpp32j5oWZTUZbt21fqP9y5Ymwro_A/s1600/Sardegna+Zone+-+October+2014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-iaFlha3gWJidCV1FT6XQGbCx46dfkt4l4QaxAWaet4Uxlk9jjhnwTI389S8SqRuTQ2i4y5rtRfxpLy2QC2mL-8Z9OOuTBVH9xbuEEcnXgxaMRpp32j5oWZTUZbt21fqP9y5Ymwro_A/s640/Sardegna+Zone+-+October+2014.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXd-KvHprKgyHgU6FTrCIYQfmkqfnSKulGqyME_dHmMHhyphenhyphenlikbjQITlhmxza9einYvmracfL_fr6T3UfLV8XMLSAtoe6yMJZILzovQw7FvEC2SmuIwICgR7gNXEpcwlThZnLgkN38nhGc/s1600/IMG_3405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXd-KvHprKgyHgU6FTrCIYQfmkqfnSKulGqyME_dHmMHhyphenhyphenlikbjQITlhmxza9einYvmracfL_fr6T3UfLV8XMLSAtoe6yMJZILzovQw7FvEC2SmuIwICgR7gNXEpcwlThZnLgkN38nhGc/s640/IMG_3405.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZnghaivJYXC1TfhD-d2xFXJrhsE7enGeEDu-sS2lLahyydB0Xe66YiimdjywUcBJUIGs7a0gN1nCcmqkdZVV-BAY9yBi0nRoT_rsJRy-DyrLfp1RBbNhPWQT3f53nWsWQJKM2xKit9YI/s1600/IMG_3458.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZnghaivJYXC1TfhD-d2xFXJrhsE7enGeEDu-sS2lLahyydB0Xe66YiimdjywUcBJUIGs7a0gN1nCcmqkdZVV-BAY9yBi0nRoT_rsJRy-DyrLfp1RBbNhPWQT3f53nWsWQJKM2xKit9YI/s640/IMG_3458.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzsFQYRDlh_AxDmC-rbrU296MgERWxMzk6kBHeJ2jnZEJh4GhbOROp4H5LngwXuNWxQ9kL92wzT8kHs7L9t8hGK7glhGNmPHZPgUvqA87kryD_TOCmwYYbbKOBK1gEYi1PPwO3SUuDbE/s1600/IMG_3407.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzsFQYRDlh_AxDmC-rbrU296MgERWxMzk6kBHeJ2jnZEJh4GhbOROp4H5LngwXuNWxQ9kL92wzT8kHs7L9t8hGK7glhGNmPHZPgUvqA87kryD_TOCmwYYbbKOBK1gEYi1PPwO3SUuDbE/s640/IMG_3407.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kkKQppz81mBE67JFLkRNYxBs7zefMaD-RC9g2-qRInBTfjzgnOzM1xVQkyGnpm0K-S8-KxQ_9V_fWw_rJTHunvabO1XTkYFRKDccVNhVrYWsJzXepaya2lGPnx71-Du96v5Ssm8vZPo/s1600/IMG_3286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kkKQppz81mBE67JFLkRNYxBs7zefMaD-RC9g2-qRInBTfjzgnOzM1xVQkyGnpm0K-S8-KxQ_9V_fWw_rJTHunvabO1XTkYFRKDccVNhVrYWsJzXepaya2lGPnx71-Du96v5Ssm8vZPo/s640/IMG_3286.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJg7cUipWNOFKCFYH1llHlMlR9v20hjHqxNxLenZYcYZQ3ViwpO-i4-OMAyoDXDuUQTC5SpSzsPxhH1ASm6cPun0rm9Q6R74L9NyDhUPw0JVQNe_1w-PxhPZdJHC7EUG4_cXQaAaZNTV4/s1600/IMG_3347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJg7cUipWNOFKCFYH1llHlMlR9v20hjHqxNxLenZYcYZQ3ViwpO-i4-OMAyoDXDuUQTC5SpSzsPxhH1ASm6cPun0rm9Q6R74L9NyDhUPw0JVQNe_1w-PxhPZdJHC7EUG4_cXQaAaZNTV4/s640/IMG_3347.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzMHzjMGtzkGERXHnbQa6kn35l9RpLgpuZEXjc8BB3rHRJ0G4pZgVTH_HnmMeVUM12zLz_cZCpE0o9qDPcUTgBCG-uuhTs9X1zX4oAta4C-Hoez4cWSjZdnV5YEQUIjl6h2c0YTi84Rd0/s1600/IMG_3412.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzMHzjMGtzkGERXHnbQa6kn35l9RpLgpuZEXjc8BB3rHRJ0G4pZgVTH_HnmMeVUM12zLz_cZCpE0o9qDPcUTgBCG-uuhTs9X1zX4oAta4C-Hoez4cWSjZdnV5YEQUIjl6h2c0YTi84Rd0/s640/IMG_3412.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMz6Cl2F5SuvwYzpHTTHt_Pyyxk-kT5CS431h-XfkBf63-WERmUw5DIDuClRrt5s0MyCHz2pMEPwlg_W1OLlJGkKsdLEzOo5oGbJiIJQCsn9RUjnabygvTCq03E5Ifwc7uG_DcMcANLCs/s1600/IMG_3469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMz6Cl2F5SuvwYzpHTTHt_Pyyxk-kT5CS431h-XfkBf63-WERmUw5DIDuClRrt5s0MyCHz2pMEPwlg_W1OLlJGkKsdLEzOo5oGbJiIJQCsn9RUjnabygvTCq03E5Ifwc7uG_DcMcANLCs/s640/IMG_3469.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8kTCZDgL9z83Kv2mwx27jen9BX9Nsy-szeNJKUd2cZD6JSEm-SLxQZhASx7I3_kQGGRawgGDx7moeMlP5e2EKWUGZ9jMJndXt5-UTxK2E3vlKUyKqy7DMrAGXM_8ISH6RxkA5TbahHw/s1600/IMG_3470.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8kTCZDgL9z83Kv2mwx27jen9BX9Nsy-szeNJKUd2cZD6JSEm-SLxQZhASx7I3_kQGGRawgGDx7moeMlP5e2EKWUGZ9jMJndXt5-UTxK2E3vlKUyKqy7DMrAGXM_8ISH6RxkA5TbahHw/s640/IMG_3470.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPEcZEFsnPwocf9Gw7PZWrmkt0GNGBcUUBBoYetV5mMoAZuGtuw9SZqKgWQ2sp59T_IRB2QDbD6B38LGvrwdKl9FAG5xJZ-btjmapSzf6RWvrqdq1C55O1_Lob8oAvOTu-OwRgYFRG4hg/s1600/IMG_3427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPEcZEFsnPwocf9Gw7PZWrmkt0GNGBcUUBBoYetV5mMoAZuGtuw9SZqKgWQ2sp59T_IRB2QDbD6B38LGvrwdKl9FAG5xJZ-btjmapSzf6RWvrqdq1C55O1_Lob8oAvOTu-OwRgYFRG4hg/s640/IMG_3427.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitlEf1qkobH3epW0-CJHrbXxkbInKt2AO_TFs59i_p7tAV2bmEpRN_sRAYw3OKKg-t-a-Xr8DvlUdEzSqdnH18OjhobvPM6aWgTTU8-n0q2OPuhX4wnhahhA-T3wavT1U8YmGJmHc7rPE/s1600/IMG_3479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitlEf1qkobH3epW0-CJHrbXxkbInKt2AO_TFs59i_p7tAV2bmEpRN_sRAYw3OKKg-t-a-Xr8DvlUdEzSqdnH18OjhobvPM6aWgTTU8-n0q2OPuhX4wnhahhA-T3wavT1U8YmGJmHc7rPE/s640/IMG_3479.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivXEZYsYAOxBO-lKdrZfjLSETKvYf9tYQe-huwdesQS9_4dGfbpS6wdwh_TmdehZRjjFvlWo89japUAiWxNnRr3vdKOQXZlkjaVQDeHswljdNeB8tnZ6aXXQDXDdHTuiU02mlAjlJs-7M/s1600/IMG_3428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivXEZYsYAOxBO-lKdrZfjLSETKvYf9tYQe-huwdesQS9_4dGfbpS6wdwh_TmdehZRjjFvlWo89japUAiWxNnRr3vdKOQXZlkjaVQDeHswljdNeB8tnZ6aXXQDXDdHTuiU02mlAjlJs-7M/s640/IMG_3428.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvLS49GACGA1j1X7cqDcmdWwXVWJS6ZDuU4IhBYFiU4E8Q0gW5RApjX1V1H_TyJ5yHlM9d_WZp0cXzcEiW1kJ_xOa7ZGZMOIWHGTcu1hUSV3W5Z7ZT-iv4cSm4N9qn77gI2uIw1OEFa4/s1600/IMG_3451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvLS49GACGA1j1X7cqDcmdWwXVWJS6ZDuU4IhBYFiU4E8Q0gW5RApjX1V1H_TyJ5yHlM9d_WZp0cXzcEiW1kJ_xOa7ZGZMOIWHGTcu1hUSV3W5Z7ZT-iv4cSm4N9qn77gI2uIw1OEFa4/s640/IMG_3451.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwWUOlLlPlRScANapNw7mXyh-1G64yfwUMBMXWuyvQtYHBtKlz2drLBaAKGb9VLEVC_c4OD29Qa0Y_ddMV25yHIPj1UJS1yRYFT2-pfI1NhOhGuSK05_HioqZLzEUlutyRcYXQrcwVzbg/s1600/IMG_3394.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwWUOlLlPlRScANapNw7mXyh-1G64yfwUMBMXWuyvQtYHBtKlz2drLBaAKGb9VLEVC_c4OD29Qa0Y_ddMV25yHIPj1UJS1yRYFT2-pfI1NhOhGuSK05_HioqZLzEUlutyRcYXQrcwVzbg/s640/IMG_3394.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxRMrinyPX7vSSKUSFJTrg7SOZxPFORSfAwH_yqoHFtUrBpUZZ5gUKNVmMnGQYi7pRYXJUNJRIUMtfKbpbxwY0LNT0p3zU66ovbKcXXPPfWvtIVxGuoZROiMsNSr5bUrkDeU7FnU-ub_0/s1600/IMG_3367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxRMrinyPX7vSSKUSFJTrg7SOZxPFORSfAwH_yqoHFtUrBpUZZ5gUKNVmMnGQYi7pRYXJUNJRIUMtfKbpbxwY0LNT0p3zU66ovbKcXXPPfWvtIVxGuoZROiMsNSr5bUrkDeU7FnU-ub_0/s640/IMG_3367.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div></div>Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0Sardinia, Italy40.1208752 9.012892599999986537.0113312 3.8493185999999868 43.2304192 14.176466599999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-42630364766259336042014-10-13T10:57:00.001-04:002020-08-15T14:17:26.580-04:00A week of miraclesThis week, has been really really full of miracles. We have been doing interviews in English course to gage people's interest in the gospel, and we have been shocked to see how many people are very curious. Also I have also been surprised at how many more women are interested in learning about the gospel than men. We basically do a lesson zero with them, and it definitely gave me a great understanding of how difficult it is to be an elder. <br />
<br />
Before English course on Tuesday this week a woman named Simona stopped me, and asked if she could learn more about the church. We did an amazing lesson zero with her, she opened up so much, and shared such a desire to learn more, and then we invited her to pray about Joseph Smith. We did our next lesson she told us that she had prayed about Joseph Smith and that she had no doubt that he was a prophet, she has accepted a soft baptismal invite already and we are hoping to set a date with her this week. It is amazing how quickly things can change.<br />
<br />
Last week I was pretty sure I was never going to get to teach another lesson in my mission, and that I was literally going to spend the next few months chasing little tiny Sardegnians down the street trying to convince them to listen to me. She came to church on Sunday, even though she works nights and was only able to get two hours of sleep, and she really enjoyed gospel principles. Which is kind of a shock because Sorella Winegar and I taught it on prayer, and we made a really big deal out of how prayer needs to come from your heart, and then I asked a man to read Matthew 6:6 which talks about not praying to been seen by men. It is immediately followed by the Lord's prayer, which is what we spend all of our time trying to get our investigators to stop saying. So instead of just reading verse 6 he goes on to read the Lord's prayer, all while two other missionaries, one member and, I are trying frantically to figure out how to get him to stop reading it. I'm actually surprised no-one picked up on how panicked we were. <br />
<br />
Either way, she loved gospel principles then during sacrament there was a woman sitting behind her who was making negative comments about everyone who got up to bear their testimony, and S....... was pretty angry afterwards. We had a really long talk about how the church is perfect the people are not (thanks for that pep talk growing up mom, I've used it a lot on my mission), and the importance of being a good example. She is determined to help improve the ward through her example. I'm praying desperately that the save of the branch and the attitude of the members won't defer her from what she knows is true. Just for the record, this is an amazing branch, it just is full of human beings just like, every branch, ward, stake, and mission in the church.<br />
<br />
We are still working with Alessandro. He has a very different set of problems. His biggest struggle is comprehension. We have decided to pass him to the elders, because they formed a really great connection with him on Sunday, and we feel like they will be able to better serve him, because they can invite men to the lessons, instead of women. There is a lot of unity in this district and it is bringing a ton of miracles.<br />
<br />
We have also formed a really great connection with a couple from English course. They did a p-day with us and invited us to a family dinner at their house. During dinner the whole family asked a lot of questions about the gospel. After dinner one of the sisters pulled me aside and told me that she isn't fully convinced by the catholic church, but that she feels a light inside of her so she knows that there is a God. We exchanged numbers and she agreed to start taking the lessons. We have decided to officially ask Manlio and Anna to take the lessons as well this week. Sorella Winegar is very nervous about it, because she doesn't want them to feel like we have been using them. I have tried to explain the importance of being bold and our purpose, but I still think she is really nervous. Which I guess is understandable because it is her first transfer. So there is a lot of work, we are excited to see how everything turns out. We are looking forward to zone conference in a few days.<br />
<br />
Thanks for all of your prayers. I have been seeing a lot of miracles recently on my mission, and I think that comes a lot from your faith. I love you all and I hope your October is wonderful. Fall and Halloween are the things that I miss most in Italy. <br />
<br />
Vi voglio BENE!Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com007100 Sassari Sassari, Italy40.7259269 8.555682599999954640.629659399999994 8.3943210999999547 40.8221944 8.7170440999999546tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-77458987327524689552014-10-06T11:09:00.001-04:002020-08-15T14:15:24.468-04:00Valuable life lessonsCari Amici,<br />
Well I'm in Sassari. This is probably my last city, and I have been reflecting back on my mission, and the time right before my mission and everything in my life in general that led me up to this decision. When I was 17 I was accepted into BYU provo, and I had to kind of assess my life to decide what direction I was going in, and what I really wanted, and at that point in my life I decided to make the Savior and his gospel the center of my life. That was a huge defining moment in my life. It changed my whole life. It's the reason I went to BYU, met some of my best friends, decided to go on a mission, learned a second language, and met even more amazing people who are literally my world.<br />
<br />
It's been three years since that happened and I have felt pretty content with where I am, but I'm having kind of a similar experience right now. It's true I am an ok person. I am serving a mission, I follow the rules, I read the scriptures every day, I try to be kind to others, but I kind of feel the way that I did when I was 17, like it's time to step up and decide where my life is going. If I stay the way that I am, I will have a good life. I will magnify callings, I will probably get married in the temple (it's never a good idea to be to sure about that one), and I will probably be happy enough, but I feel like it's time to step up again. I'm trying my hardest to take everything that I have learned ever (more specifically in my mission, but in general) and really make myself happier through it. <br />
<br />
I have always been very concerned with making things appear perfect, even if they aren't even close to ok. I tend to avoid contention at all cost which has turned out to be a huge weakness in my mission, because part of that entails that I avoid contention at all cost. If I don't like something that my companion, or my district leader says or does, I usually choose to just smile through it, even if I am inwardly furious. In my real life this worked ok, because if someone bothered me, I could just not talk to them and then call my mom and tell her what a jerk they were being, but it doesn't work as well in my mission, mostly because president says I can't call my mom. :( But also it has been really destructive to my relationships. It has made me resent people, even if they feel like we are really good friends. It has made me doubt the sincerity of people's kindness, because if I spend so much time in my head silently resenting everything everyone else does, what is going on in their heads? It has made people feel comfortable saying hateful, unkind things to me, because they know that I won't ever stand up for myself. This has been a huge stumbling block in my mission, specifically in my last area. <br />
<br />
When I came to Sassari two things happened a) I decided that even if I had to be an absolute jerk, I was never going to let people treat me that way again, and b) I started training, which put me in a position where no matter how badly I didn't want to correct my companion, I had to because if you do certain things in Italy that are perfectly legal in America, we could get a hundred dollar fine. For example, the verb for leaving and giving birth are similar, and telling my companion that she just asked that member if she was going to give birth after sacrament. So I had to become ok with correcting people, and a lot of my resentment went away, I started feeling more on control of my life. I started getting better at taking criticism, and I started trusting that maybe people do care about me and want to be my friend. So my biggest lesson of being a missionary is communicate, and then forgive I guess. So even though it's hard I'm going to try to incorporate these things, and live my life at a higher level, so that I can be an even greater instrument in the hands of the Lord.<br />
<br />
Random change of topics, I love training, I love seeing a person grow, I love seeing the type of influence that I can have on another person. We have been working on the first lesson, and we were able to teach it together (to an actual investigator!!!!) for the first time yesterday, and I loved hearing her say things that she had heard me say, and knowing that the type of missionary I am now will affect the type of mission that she will have for the next year and a half. It also makes me a better missionary. I want to be a good example, so I do everything to the best of my ability. I am more obedient than I have ever been, and I am better at talking to people on the streets, which has led to some amazing conversations.<br />
<br />
Another random tangent, we have no work, well that's not fair, we have one investigator. His name is Alessandro His first language in Sardo, and he didn't finish school so his Italian is shaky at best. Sometimes he tries to teach me Sardo, because it would be much easier for everyone if I spoke that language, which just makes my life very complicated, because sardo is not a dialect. I can usually figure out dialects, but Sardo is a completely different language, it's not even close to Italian. But all in all Alessandro is pretty cool. He believes that all churches are true, he just is looking for the one that fits him best. He is looking for a church that isn't full of hypocrites, and he is pretty sure that our church is the one that he wants to unite himself with, because he likes the people and how much natural light there is in our church (direct quote, catholic churches are very closed so you can't see very well in them, which I guess could be annoying...) but he is having a very very hard time grasping our doctrine. He is pretty sure that Joseph Smith is a catholic saint, and we wrote him an outline for how to say a prayer and he read it verbatim out loud three times (which in all fairness is how it works in the catholic church) so it is going to be a very gradual process with him. We are considering passing him to the elders but we just kind of want to watch and see how things go for a while first.<br />
<br />
I don't know a graceful way to finish this email, I guess I will just tell you guys all of the wonderful things in my life. I am serving with some of the most amazing people in the world. I love my companion, I love Sorella Clyde, and Sorella Sartena (the other two sisters in our district) and our elders are amazing. One of the elders has seen how much we have been struggling with work these last few weeks, and has been making sure to talk to woman on the street so that he can give us referrals (his name is Anziano Padilla) , and our district leader is amazing he's from North Italy and is doing a great job of making my companion feel important and loved. Also when he speaks english (his english is amazing) he sometimes directly translates italian into english so sometimes he starts off mass texts to the district with dear beautiful missionaries. (way normal in Italian, kind of startling in English), and everyone is so obedient and hard working, so there is no contention there, because we are all on the same page.<br />
<br />
Also I have been reading Jesus the Christ along with the Bible recently (when you don't have investigators you get more freedom in what you study) and I have decided that even from a completely unchristian unbiased view the bible is a beautiful work of literature. Because Christ had to be more candid while talking to the Jews, a lot of doctrinal truths are buried in parables, and passing comments that he made to the apostles. By reading it along with Jesus the Christ I have been able to see just how much foreshadowing, and allusions there are in every few pages, and not just regarding the atonement. Even Lazarus being raised from the dead is foreshadowed. So even if you have zero belief in God, the bible is a beautiful literary work. I love you all miss you like crazy. I love this country, I love these people, I love the language, I love the food. I ate a pig brain the other day, that I did not love. Also I was on the radio. They asked me to do a broadcast about english course. uuummmmm.... I think that's about it.Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com007100 Sassari Sassari, Italy40.7259269 8.555682599999954640.629659399999994 8.3943210999999547 40.8221944 8.7170440999999546tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-51662988809313940752014-09-29T11:31:00.001-04:002020-08-15T14:13:44.174-04:00Rough transitions = tears for mom I'm having a really really really really rough week. This transfer was super hard on me. There is 0 work here. I have been yelled at by so many crazy angry people. We have had like three or four lessons here, and they have all gone terribly. We have had some really scary experiences this week. My companion is super full of energy which is awesome, but I am really struggling to keep up with her, and sometimes I have to call her out on stuff which is really hard on me. I hate correcting people. I miss Taranto a lot. With explaining Italian to a new missionary, I have lost a lot of my ability to speak. I just want to cry right now. I don't know what to do!!!!!! I don't feel any of the love that I should for this city. I have no idea what we are supposed to be doing and I just want to crawl up in a ball in my bed and hide from everything and everybody.<br />
<br />
<b>(All that being said, the following weeks have gotten much better)</b>Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com007100 Sassari Sassari, Italy40.7259269 8.555682599999954640.629659399999994 8.3943210999999547 40.8221944 8.7170440999999546tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-69568605897183165072014-09-22T11:42:00.001-04:002020-08-15T14:12:41.859-04:00TrainingSo they say that the type of trainer you are is a direct reflection of what type of parent you will be, and what type of companion you are is a direct reflection on what type of spouse you will be. If so I am pretty confident in my parenting skills and really nervous about my marriage. I have had a really hard time communicating with my companions because I HATE contention, which has caused a lot of problems in my companionships. I remember that I was ok with telling you things that I didn't like so I'm hoping that it will be a problem that resolves itself in long term situations. (I meant that kind of as a joke, but also kind of to reassure myself. <br />
<br />
Also random funny story we went to correlation last night and I told everyone where I was from Georgia, and he told me that he had only heard ugly things about georgia. It was kind of awkward and I didn't know what to say so I told him that I was from Georgia, so I know that there are some beautiful things from there. I meant it as we have great peaches and beautiful lakes and I know because I have seen them, but everyone took it to mean that I was the beautiful thing. They all laughed and it made me look much more confident than I really am, so I didn't correct them) <br />
<br />
My hardest thing about being trained was feeling like I was just being bossed around and treated like a child all the time, so I'm trying not to do that. I let Sorella Wineger do everything that she feels comfortable doing, and try to offer way more encouragement than correction. I don't know how good of an idea it is. I definitely made fewer mistakes because Sorella Baker was so quick to offer constructive criticism, but Sorella Winegar seems happy, so I think I will keep doing it my way. I remember you said that there was a greenie in our ward when I left and that you felt like he really grew when his companion let him take the lead, so that's what I'm trying to do. We will see how it turns out. She is really great.Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com007100 Sassari Sassari, Italy40.7259269 8.555682599999954640.629659399999994 8.3943210999999547 40.8221944 8.7170440999999546tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-29655091729680167952014-08-11T09:19:00.001-04:002020-08-15T14:12:25.386-04:00The Book of Mormon truly invites the spirit into our lives<br />
It's officially August but the work is still going shockingly well in Taranto. In Italy most people leave their cities for a full month and go to the beach. Thanks to the fact that we have a beach in town most of our members and investigators will still be here. Thursday and Friday are going to be fairly dry but I think we are planning on dedicating those days to putting the area book back in order. <br />
<br />
Things are going really well for the Ernest family. All three of them were in church on Sunday. I went to primary with Michael Angelo so that his mother could concentrate on Relief Society, and he had an amazing experience. They learned about family home evening, and he and I talked to Sorella Ernest (he needed help explaining the basics because he is four) about making it a part of their daily week, and she is more than willing to do so. Her family is hands down the most important thing to her in the world. <br />
<br />
Also I love going to primary so much. It is such a tender mercy that the Lord has allowed me to work with children this much on my mission. My two favorite memories of my mission will forever be when Sebastian in Rome was telling me secrets in his sweet little mix of Italian and Spanish, while eating yogurt, and he ended up getting yogurt all over my hair and face, and when Michael Angelo taught me how to beat box. I have worked with kids for years now, and I have found so much joy in teaching them the gospel, and telling them that they are special to Jesus. I frankly just love children so I go to primary whenever I can find an excuse. <br />
<br />
Also we had a really amazing miracle this week. We challenged the Bonvisuto family to start praying for missionary opportunities when I was with Sorella Knight, and I'm assuming that they did (Our appointment to follow up is on Wednesday) because when I got back from my scambi (exchanges) their niece was in church.<br />
<br />
We saw Martin this week and we had a really interesting experience. I have been teaching him (my companionship) for over a month now, and in that time, he has changed so much. When I first met him he did so much to lash out for attention (he has had a really rough life). He would say things that were mean, or strange just to get us to react, and then he started reading the Book of Mormon. He finished the whole thing in one month, and during that month he changed so much. He wanted to be around the missionaries all the time. He was constantly researching the church online. He stopped being hateful and started being kind. He stopped doing and saying things for attention. He radiated with the light of Christ. When we saw him this week, all of that was gone. He had completely regressed back to his old self. After we talked for a little bit, we brought up the Book of Mormon, and he said that "when he read it he was so happy, and he felt addicted to the church, and as soon as he finished it he wanted to read it again and again, but he didn't and all of those feelings went away, and that God didn't answer his prayers anymore" so we talked about how important reading the scriptures were and read a few verses together, and by the time we were done he was more calm, and peaceful. It was a huge example of how important it is to read the Book of Mormon, how it truly invites the spirit into our lives. Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-90206280071941926982014-08-04T09:12:00.001-04:002020-08-15T14:06:30.761-04:00This week has been a little tougherThis week has been a little tougher. It's really hard killing a missionary (this means being a companion with a missionary who is finishing their mission and getting ready to go home), because it makes you think a lot about home. By the time that I got to Bari, I was completely unmotivated to do anything at all. Except eat focacia, Bari makes some really good pizza. I figured out for me the personal remedy is speaking in Italian outside of the house. When I speak in Italian it turns off the Madyline in my head and turns on the Sorella Spencer, which makes it easier to concentrate on finding, teaching and being a better representative of Christ. I am with Sorella Knight right now, and she is very willing to syl with me which is a great help, and we have seen a lot of huge miracles come from syling. <br />
<br />
Within the first hour that we were together a less active stopped us on the street, and invited us to come see him and his wife. Then later in the evening, on the way back from an appointment with the Ernest family we stopped to talk to a father and his son about coming to church, and he asked us if we were from Canada. We explained that we were American and that we taught an English course. He seemed very interested and as we were talking his wife and three other children came and joined him. All six of them are planning on coming to English course, and we are going to go meet them at a nearby grocery store, so that they can find the church for the first time, because our church is on a really small unknown street that no one knows where is, which means that any time anyone comes the first time, they get super lost, and I spend all sacrament meeting on the phone with them helping them find the church. So we will walk with them the first time. There was a really good feeling about them, and I have a lot of great hopes. So in summary syling brings miracles. It makes me feel more at ease when inviting people to come unto Christ. I really hope that Sorella Pancheri feels the same. (syl means speak your language)<br />
<br />
<br />
Tanya and Tushom came to church on Sunday, and had a wonderful experience at church. Bishop asked Tanya to share her testimony, and it was really beautiful. The ward is completely and utterly in love with her, and she fits in seamlessly with the other youth. She has a huge desire to serve a mission, and I honestly can't believe how much I love her. I'm a little more worried about Tushom. He is best friends with one of our more rowdy deaons, Robert. It's a little ironic but Tushom is turning out to be a great example for Robert. Hopefully they will both be able to help each other in the long run. Also after church Sorella Knight ended up beat-boxing with Robert and Tushom so they adore her. They are trying to teach me, but really I am just not cool enough.<br />
<br />
We are really worried about Martin, he and his mother got in a huge fight, where she broke his phone in half and told him he wasn't allowed to have any reaction with the church ever again. He slid a note under the elders door letting them know what happened, but we haven't heard from him since. We are praying for him, and truly hope that his mothers heart will be softened. Other than that I don't know what we can do other than wait. Since I wrote this Martin called us from a secret number. We are seeing him at five-thirty tonight. We could use a lot of prayers. This kid is amazing and he deserves the gospel in his life.<br />
<br />
The work here is really moving. With all the progress Tanya and Tushom are making the ward is really getting excited about missionary work. My goal here was to see a member referral baptized, and Tanya and Tushom are already moving in that direction. I hope to see a lot more member referrals, because I truly think missionary work is the best way to strengthen a ward. I really do love Taranto.<br />
<br />
Also I have been able to spend the week with Sorella Knight, who is an amazing friend. I am really disappointed she isn't my companion. It's so easy for me to work with her. Our teaching is really fluid, and we make really good decisions together. I guess if it were that easy, it wouldn't bring growth. Che peccato. I love you all a ton, It's always great hearing from you. Have a great week! :)<br />
Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-43355583225941137072014-07-29T08:53:00.001-04:002020-08-15T14:01:59.156-04:00So many miracles!<br />
I have been so excited to write this email for days now. We have seen so many miracles this week, and there are many more to come.<br />
<br />
<br />
Miracle number one is named Martin Manole He is our 16 year old investigator from Hungary who wants desperately to be baptized, but his mother is very very opposed to the gospel. Because Sorella Bair and Anziano Kasper are leaving, she invited us to her home this Sunday for lunch. We were warned before hand not to pray or talk about the gospel by Martin, but before lunch, she invited us to pray, and allowed us to do a brief spiritual thought on gratitude, and leave her home with a prayer. Before we left she told us that her home was open to the missionaries, and that we were free to meet with Martin, whenever we wanted. She still hasn't given him permission to be baptized, but we are heading in that direction. I think she is just afraid of losing her son, I think when she understands that she won't lose her son, but rather have a richer relationship with him after baptism, her attitude will change.<br />
<br />
<br />
Miracle number two sarebbe la famiglia Ernest. They are our beautiful sri lankan family. The oldest daughter Tanya came to church on Sunday, and she blended seamlessly with the girls. We went with her to young women's to help her feel more comfortable, but she ditched us during the second hour. We have been spending a lot of time with teenagers recently, and I have started to realize that I am a lot older and less cool than I had thought. This is a direct quote of a conversation Tanya had with the other young women.<br />
<br />
young woman 1: Imagine a lama, with a horn like a unicorn that shoots unicorn horns out of it's mouth.<br />
<br />
everyone but me laughs<br />
<br />
Me to Tanya: What are they talking about, is this a new thing on youtube?<br />
<br />
Tanya: No it's just a mix of animals.<br />
<br />
Young woman number 2: A panda t-rex mix with a unicorn horn.<br />
<br />
Young woman number 1 pretends to be said panda t-rex unicorn mix.<br />
<br />
Everyone but me laughs really hard:<br />
<br />
Me:I'm really confused how do you all know about this, is it on the internet? Is this the new thing,like gangam style.<br />
<br />
Tanya: to me: No it's just funny.<br />
<br />
At this point I stopped talking because I wouldn't embarrass Tanya<br />
<br />
<br />
We went to the Ernest home for dinner on Sunday night, and they all agreed to be baptized! We will work on setting a date with them and make sure that they are fully prepared this transfer.<br />
<br />
<br />
Miracle number three is named Nicky Spagna He is an english course student, who has been reading the Book of Mormon, and he came to church on Sunday. Sorella Bair and I discussed it, and we decided that if there isn't a significant reason to hold onto a male investigator (like in Martin's case where he does not connect very well with men) we will pass them to the elders, so the elders will be teaching him, but we have formed a great friendship with him, and I hope that the sister's can continue to be a support to him, as he progresses towards baptism.<br />
<br />
<br />
Miracle number four, we went to Stigliano yesterday! Nicky Spagna, and another english course student went with us to do genealogy and finding yesterday. It was a huge day for missionary work in two folds. <br />
<br />
A) we were able to find living members of Sorella Bair's family, who are planning on helping her continue her family history work in December and <br />
<br />
B) we also passed through and stopped in Nicky's home town, which is connected to Stigliano. The city is beautiful, and Nicki comes from an old influential family in that area (that continues to be influential, they asked him to be mayor) , so we were able to meet a handful of people in both cities, because he introduced them to us. It was a really wonderful experience, and it gave the church a very nice image. I'm sure that for the next few weeks Stigliano, and Acetura will be talking about the American Mormons who are parenti of the di bello family, and friends with the Spagna family. I could see missionary work being very successful in both cities (they overlap completely) especially with the help of Nicky and Sorella Bair coming back in December to do genealogy. I wanted to see if Nicky would be cooperative, so I mentioned to him that I was going to tell president about Acetura and Stigliano, and suggest that he put missionaries there. I told him, that it might not happen, and even if it did happen it may not happen for years, but he was very excited, which is amazing for two reasons. <br />
<br />
1) Nicky is excited about doing missionary work, and every person I have seen get baptized on my mission has shared a desire to serve a mission, or share the gospel with their friends right as they start to make the most progress. so it demonstrated that Nicky really is starting his conversion process. 2) If Acetura\ Stigliano area were opened, I think that Nicky would be a huge help with referrals, and getting things started. <br />
<br />
Also Sorella Knight will be coming to Taranto from Friday to Tuesday so that Taranto has sister missionaries, and our investigators don't get neglected. I'm really excited because Sorella Knight is very musically talented and Martin's mother is very passionate about music, and I'm hoping that we can go visit her at least once while Sorella Knight is here. Let Sorella Knight play the piano, invite the spirit into her home, and hopefully hopefully leave her with a prayer and a spiritual thought. Also Sorella Knight is one of my best friends in the whole mission, and I have missed her so much, so it will be really great to have a week with her as my companion. I love what I am doing so much. I can't imagine a life where missionary work isn't the heart of everything I do. I love you all but I may never come back. Just kidding. I miss my dog too much.Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0Taranto Taranto, Italy40.464360600000013 17.24703030000000640.270997600000015 16.924306800000007 40.657723600000011 17.569753800000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-88776950868576497102014-07-21T20:12:00.001-04:002020-08-15T13:54:19.539-04:00What just happened?This week was really crazy. Taranto is such an amazing city that I literally just cannot understand. Sorella Bair and I joke that the theme of our transfer together has been "what just happened?" Literally I go to bed every day trying to process my life. I think it's being in two. It makes you crazy. <br />
<br />
So the three most important things that happened this week. <br />
<br />
1)Martin- We spent all week trying to arrange an FHE (Family Home Evening) with him and the other Hungarian family in our ward, but because of the language barrier, it didn't ever end up working out. The first night Martin could come, and we confirmed with the Kovacs family, but the address in the ward directory was wrong so we never ended up finding their house. The second time Martin came, and Fratello Kovacs agreed to meet us in the church, but no one else in his family came so we ended up finding all of the random extra people in the church and doing an FHE with them. The third night we got to the Kovacs home and Martin's mom said he couldn't come (we met her this week!!!!! Huge miracle) so we ended up having dinner with the Kovacs family, Fratello Kovac's best friend Fratello Miccoli, and their best friends from down stairs.<br />
<br />
2) The best friends from downstairs. They are a beautiful sri lanken family, we watched the restoration together. Unfortunately the tv was broken so we watched it in black and white, with no sound, with english subtitles. So I had to translate it into Italian. I did not to a great job. Despite all of that the spirit was so strong, and they invited us to come teach them on Tuesday, and to eat dinner with them on Saturday, and they are all coming to church on Sunday. It was a huge testimony that the spirit can work through imperfect instruments, and that our human efforts are always enough. He just asks that we try, even if the tv is broken, and your companion is laughing because you chose not to translate the phrase " I am going to fetch some gingerbread, Joseph" because I don't even think they HAVE gingerbread in Italy, and if they do, I do not know the word for it in Italian.<br />
<br />
3) We had a million missionaries in our apartment for zone conference. I did not love it. It was a lot of chaos, and I hid on my balcony for a while. I felt really guilty until I switched balconies and found my companion doing the same thing. The upside was that two of the sisters who came were Sorella Kimball who is one of my best friends in the whole mission, and Sorella Rost who served here in the past, and she invited two of her old investigators to baptism! We didn't even know who they were so it was a huge blessing that she came or they might have gotten forgotten due to the confusion of Sorella Cherrington's emergency transfer.<br />
<br />
Now I am in Bari with Sorella Knight (she was just on an exchange for the day) who is one of my best friends in the whole world, and I couldn't be happier.<br />
<br />
Love <br />
<br />
Sorella SpencerCandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0Bari, Italy41.1171432 16.87187149999999740.9257267 16.549148 41.3085597 17.194594999999996tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-32037805560550182592014-07-16T20:45:00.001-04:002020-08-15T13:46:44.543-04:00Taranto's Zone Conference July 2014 - Random pictures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxtDWr0T51B6C4C2DOoC6aFj0_RB1nTSwLSupytfEz7KOMDJz_D2kyLzcuAJJZ_DOldNV6eGBtBL-mGysr0AeXns29xOMk-nufEVjt2bH8rALzGlJMTj63Ox9NpHjR3_3tqc7_Paf5oAA/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-2+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxtDWr0T51B6C4C2DOoC6aFj0_RB1nTSwLSupytfEz7KOMDJz_D2kyLzcuAJJZ_DOldNV6eGBtBL-mGysr0AeXns29xOMk-nufEVjt2bH8rALzGlJMTj63Ox9NpHjR3_3tqc7_Paf5oAA/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-2+-+Copy.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc3DpM7ZR1s6aTWlVeoU4AKWT2mbZX2pj7eQKa1aXEjVosH98QKjBzcGWjjSgFeoOugc71bhPxM8cBYUJToBWDBk2sG55Jlg874lI2J2lhiW6WB5nJzGauWUSiheOC3w-L_TQ1Mawd3vk/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-3+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc3DpM7ZR1s6aTWlVeoU4AKWT2mbZX2pj7eQKa1aXEjVosH98QKjBzcGWjjSgFeoOugc71bhPxM8cBYUJToBWDBk2sG55Jlg874lI2J2lhiW6WB5nJzGauWUSiheOC3w-L_TQ1Mawd3vk/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-3+-+Copy.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgb0He8DgcpW4AOPzjS2yLqcnxhlQb2JPZizLmt2mi5mvhFcrlor2DN23wZcLAoWEbIKHeH1oVHenUOhP5qQBGIDF7DkRuugf6jeWsffE5bJWQF8CLql1LS9-7o16KZ623zqjVzDkFHg/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-4+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgb0He8DgcpW4AOPzjS2yLqcnxhlQb2JPZizLmt2mi5mvhFcrlor2DN23wZcLAoWEbIKHeH1oVHenUOhP5qQBGIDF7DkRuugf6jeWsffE5bJWQF8CLql1LS9-7o16KZ623zqjVzDkFHg/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-4+-+Copy.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgctci3b8CHO_hJ_RRdmTI4SsBydGqRGMLivfvgxHDSmW-cIe_y5J9Vcx3KlT6Z3qLMiSmvfTWPXJMqERebrOX8RnNw5xiUZre47tZzN-Qv8_XHiY6Q_JD4gLCu1GXmEHGuyKs93yerq2w/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgctci3b8CHO_hJ_RRdmTI4SsBydGqRGMLivfvgxHDSmW-cIe_y5J9Vcx3KlT6Z3qLMiSmvfTWPXJMqERebrOX8RnNw5xiUZre47tZzN-Qv8_XHiY6Q_JD4gLCu1GXmEHGuyKs93yerq2w/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-5.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdl6KJB9wFoZjwewClt-7pA_LkJvoWp1RGRnORpJ-4L5aeCbor-IxrCIR3ojU7rFKiU-1Jpq6np10DIserNiufbeF0i0vITuAqkyXLf4HSU37VHPsreaYE6CV3DQZAeSFdvZqfZLNaE1U/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-6+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdl6KJB9wFoZjwewClt-7pA_LkJvoWp1RGRnORpJ-4L5aeCbor-IxrCIR3ojU7rFKiU-1Jpq6np10DIserNiufbeF0i0vITuAqkyXLf4HSU37VHPsreaYE6CV3DQZAeSFdvZqfZLNaE1U/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-6+-+Copy.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4jlfqiytOJi9oxLKx_As9Pc5CSPcFdNM3nGc7loohXMULmchbawQHUkcNYirqU_2QDMI4cIOP07yyIOVCh7_sFZRKIYvCCsi_8-3_ZDEABZhNWegXtcfE5dIPcY4Qq1i9zt1nkPpy8s/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4jlfqiytOJi9oxLKx_As9Pc5CSPcFdNM3nGc7loohXMULmchbawQHUkcNYirqU_2QDMI4cIOP07yyIOVCh7_sFZRKIYvCCsi_8-3_ZDEABZhNWegXtcfE5dIPcY4Qq1i9zt1nkPpy8s/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-7.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGxIHKopjhEt9d1Audw43uh7Zkmrmed1HkVX_vLrNn5fCgqpaQocyQx5AATYfcewryNmSVmGSWM32oEke5B5J7tHpNqee5I33ZJ9oCYoHzPzaXUD3t-gFJTd_00ObphOd_MMS3UBIaXi8/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGxIHKopjhEt9d1Audw43uh7Zkmrmed1HkVX_vLrNn5fCgqpaQocyQx5AATYfcewryNmSVmGSWM32oEke5B5J7tHpNqee5I33ZJ9oCYoHzPzaXUD3t-gFJTd_00ObphOd_MMS3UBIaXi8/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-8.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Fs93_zGNRPYN4aaqJhcUNzqq8ZqGYKeS7doWLh4dKtgDRBzTZlNIdUHAUVy7_QHRVWpJSM5gxheNnrheUZGaY7rlZDG7KSPC53x-iBdBbDXtBx7sArXY7eQqvg5O_O-ns2hnbwPUq-k/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-9+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Fs93_zGNRPYN4aaqJhcUNzqq8ZqGYKeS7doWLh4dKtgDRBzTZlNIdUHAUVy7_QHRVWpJSM5gxheNnrheUZGaY7rlZDG7KSPC53x-iBdBbDXtBx7sArXY7eQqvg5O_O-ns2hnbwPUq-k/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-9+-+Copy.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLkhHSGc6mbP5ocq2XuadPfJZS4khq4jwsWJ6VUt3fsmUpyRmX4boj6o1xj2Dx4jjWQ7Te7rOJsEc8pHgFmVgjyRxW00f1p_8s00h0g19DCtNgC7J2cwskPjmCoxcG0vK0dCjWwY8ikA/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLkhHSGc6mbP5ocq2XuadPfJZS4khq4jwsWJ6VUt3fsmUpyRmX4boj6o1xj2Dx4jjWQ7Te7rOJsEc8pHgFmVgjyRxW00f1p_8s00h0g19DCtNgC7J2cwskPjmCoxcG0vK0dCjWwY8ikA/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-10.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIOAQC8COcgF-wrr33leOKiNvsYpyH0cug2h8DdICcSb1Tkyc5jmj8pQEE527z8uuAE-4RqEc1t7oSrUK-lj3lAnxtuULJxtjiWjSkA0T6_jS85OsGNJEiIBtw2Y8Z_22orCdOUmfJfsQ/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIOAQC8COcgF-wrr33leOKiNvsYpyH0cug2h8DdICcSb1Tkyc5jmj8pQEE527z8uuAE-4RqEc1t7oSrUK-lj3lAnxtuULJxtjiWjSkA0T6_jS85OsGNJEiIBtw2Y8Z_22orCdOUmfJfsQ/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-11.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRZfHeKJvRX9SnspJ-14NWCG6eKJ6ZJ43VkS-p_DXP9lZd_QirRR02djgAhuktEX2LbEstrVDenMj807QKevQ9ReOKG81b64i0pBYHiFAGZCjPfcb8csmgfsxF_0z8L0d5FeF5LFtdug/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-12.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRZfHeKJvRX9SnspJ-14NWCG6eKJ6ZJ43VkS-p_DXP9lZd_QirRR02djgAhuktEX2LbEstrVDenMj807QKevQ9ReOKG81b64i0pBYHiFAGZCjPfcb8csmgfsxF_0z8L0d5FeF5LFtdug/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-12.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8C7FtbPICi396uprNMKoLBInn8978B0Pq55MZ3HYJGPKOjsZ7g0reK0-G0zAoDlAk1bSzpx7AvPyCt3ApELj5A6obQAR-cCzWQXPD5ZZHo1pvi1cgEA2K1ZF-FoOaC7GvqU5qfmuNsDI/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8C7FtbPICi396uprNMKoLBInn8978B0Pq55MZ3HYJGPKOjsZ7g0reK0-G0zAoDlAk1bSzpx7AvPyCt3ApELj5A6obQAR-cCzWQXPD5ZZHo1pvi1cgEA2K1ZF-FoOaC7GvqU5qfmuNsDI/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-13.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSeROti5ZpxsW6ApE4IVCRLIkLUdDhAy3WAU3jsvuw3rOtnlogl52GOFwa7KF_Xq6_-LPhUhKKMr9ilOYsouR88tWMlngX5OK9JA70bFU0jU_wQj9u1pxBeVXzLsntFn0ZaLzj-S6qFs4/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-14.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSeROti5ZpxsW6ApE4IVCRLIkLUdDhAy3WAU3jsvuw3rOtnlogl52GOFwa7KF_Xq6_-LPhUhKKMr9ilOYsouR88tWMlngX5OK9JA70bFU0jU_wQj9u1pxBeVXzLsntFn0ZaLzj-S6qFs4/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014+-14.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-krMuDaZZlR6wAEER6ZJaHfFmv1EkllqDaVwbfH_uKWnrBexiv35iaMkW6mk2E37lKghpH9VAdNLn6F1-FPEcFCDUkX5_IHVUPMXgqL3hFt60MIAIHQXd8xBvdUreolk31I7tDAIEVkE/s1600/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-krMuDaZZlR6wAEER6ZJaHfFmv1EkllqDaVwbfH_uKWnrBexiv35iaMkW6mk2E37lKghpH9VAdNLn6F1-FPEcFCDUkX5_IHVUPMXgqL3hFt60MIAIHQXd8xBvdUreolk31I7tDAIEVkE/s400/Taranto+Zone+Conference+July+2014.JPG" /></a></div><br />
Pictures lovingly borrowed from <a href="http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-07-25T09:10:00-07:00&max-results=7">The Italy Rome Mission Blog</a>, and <a href="http://mylifeinmusic.typepad.com/my-blog/2014/07/zone-conference.html">Sorella Kimball's blog</a>.Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0Taranto Taranto, Italy40.464360600000013 17.24703030000000640.270997600000015 16.924306800000007 40.657723600000011 17.569753800000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-59067300849914421202014-07-14T19:56:00.001-04:002020-08-15T13:45:48.086-04:00Learning about selfishness This week was really great. We are still struggling to find work. Blow in's are always really hard. We are hitting the ward list really really hard. We saw nine members this week, and we have started doing a really fun spiritual thought. I remember when I was growing up, the biggest reason I didn't help the missionaries do missionary work was because I didn't know how. I honestly thought that the only way to share the gospel with your friends was to wait for them to come up to me and tell me that they wanted to be baptized. I never realized that it was as simple as explaining why we don't drink coffee, Or inviting someone to church with my family. So we have been doing role play to help them bring up the gospel in casual conversations so they feel confident sharing it with their friends. We hope to see fruits come from that. If nothing else we are hoping the members will get excited about sharing the gospel.<br />
<br />
Other good news, really really good exciting news. We have one progressing investigator named Martin He wants desperately to be baptized but his mom is very contrary to the church. So this week we did a lesson on the power of prayer, and encouraged him to pray to soften his mother's heart so that he can come to church, and that evening she invited us to dinner at her house. This is huge progress, and we are so excited. We will be eating with them tonight. <br />
<br />
I am learning to adapt my finding techniques for Taranto. In Siracusa all of our investigators came from English course. In Rome working with the ward list was really succesful. In Catania our biggest challenge was getting people to stop talking and feel the spirit, so we created a survey with questions that stated our doctrine very clearly, and we had great success with that. Here it seems like none of those work to the same degree. From what I have seen the best finding tool there is testifying to people, which requires us to be really bold. One thing that I am going to try to do is find one question of the soul (which are listed in the Book of Mormon section of preach my gospel.) every day to ask people on the bus, during finding etc. and show them the response from the Book of Mormon. Hopefully it brings results.<br />
<br />
If you have any suggestions for what we could do more. Please let us know, being 'blown in' <i>(this means that both missionaries are new to the area, so they are starting from scratch)</i> is really hard, and we are kind of grasping at straws. If there is anyone who served a mission, what worked on your mission? Converts, what made you decide to talk to the missionaries, member's what have missionaries said to you that made you want to share the gospel? I have promised the Lord that I am going to put everything into this city, and I am trying really hard. I have been feeling the spirit a lot more strongly, and I have seen huge obvious blessings in the work here. I truly am grateful for my opportunity to serve here.<br />
<br />
Another huge lesson I have learned in Taranto is about selfishness. It's interesting how our perception of selfishness is very narrow. We think of people who won't share, who want to talk only about themselves etc, but it's a lot more common than that. Self loathing is actually the biggest form of selfishness and pride that I have seen on my mission. It makes people think about themselves constantly, how everything affects them, and when someone hates themselves they cannot love anyone else, because every human flaw becomes a malicious act from someone truly evil. I have been studying it a lot lately, and I'm trying to become less selfish. When ever I do something I try to ask myself what are my motives for doing this. Am I looking for attention, or a number, or am I actually trying to bless someone? Do I want this investigator to get baptized so that I can be known as a missionary who baptizes, or so that this person can draw closer to Christ? Am I being kind to this person because I want them to be happier,or because I want them to like me? What's crazy is the people that master this (like my companion Sorella Bair) are the happiest. They don't spend all of their time imagining that everyone hates them, because it doesn't matter. All that matters is how they can bless others. So far I am making great progress. I have been able to identify how many of my thoughts truly are completely sefish, so now I know where to start. I love you all and I hope that you are having a great week.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Sorella SpencerCandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0Taranto Taranto, Italy40.464360600000013 17.24703030000000640.270997600000015 16.924306800000007 40.657723600000011 17.569753800000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768904347997238819.post-88870541321802138162014-07-07T19:43:00.001-04:002020-08-15T13:41:39.353-04:00I'm just stepping foot into Italy for the first timeThe only word I can think to use to describe Taranto is rich, and rich in the vibrant sense rather than monetary. People are so purely Italian. They communicate more with their hands than with their words sometimes, the food is amazing, people are so emotionally drien <i><b><blockquote>(I am not sure what that word was suppose to be, so use your imagination)</blockquote></b></i>, and everyone hangs out in public squares in the evenings and just chats. I kind of feel like I'm just stepping foot into Italy for the first time, because Sicilia truly is it's own country, and Rome is so universal, but Taranto is Italy. Olive oil, mozzarella, pizza Italy. The ward is amazing. They are so loving and treat each other like family. We didn't have a meal appointment for after church on Sunday (which is totally normal) and one of the members tracked someone down for us to go home with, because missionaries lunching alone on Sunday, non si fa. We have had almost daily contact from the bishop (that NEVER happens, I have had to fight to get an appointment with the bishop in every ward I have served in), we have already gotten a referral!!! and last night a huge portion of the ward came to church in the evening to go less active finding. This ward is gold. The work moves forward in Taranto because the members are helping it, rather than fighting it.<br />
<br />
So last week I was serving with Sorella Cherrington, but unfortunately she had to go home super short notice. So I had to drive up to Rome with our Senior couple, drop of Sorella Cherrington, and then pick up the beautiful Sorella Bair, and then drive back to Taranto. That was 12 hours in the car, just after riding 8 hours in the bus to get from Catania to Taranto. I'm pretty much tired of cars. So we are doing great except that we don't know our area, and we don't know how to get around, but the Lord is blessing us so much. I have never been able to learn a city that I have served in very well at all, but the Lord has blessed me with a huge ability to figure out where I am going. I'm so grateful for all the help he is giving us. :)Candyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16334014247387323564noreply@blogger.com0Taranto Taranto, Italy40.464360600000013 17.24703030000000640.270997600000015 16.924306800000007 40.657723600000011 17.569753800000004