This week has been really amazing!

This week has been really amazing. We were unable to have as many member present lessons as normal, because we just couldn't plan ahead very well. We didn't want to set something with a member just to have to cancel last minute because Sorella Worsham was in a lot of pain. We are really excited to go to to the doctor this evening just to reassure ourselves that everything is fine.

So this week we worked in primarily with three very wonderful people. Lizbeth and Michael are both progressing beautifully towards baptism. It has been wonderful to watch the change that has taken place in Lizbeth. I know that she is going to be such a strong addition to this ward. Also our primary is very rapidly growing which has been so rewarding to watch. Our sacrament meeting is progressively getting noisier! We are also meeting a few times a week with a referral from Lizbeth named Yair\joir\yoir (she uses all 3 and so do we). She is still just very curious, but very open to meet with us, and keep commitments. We talked with her about family history this week and we are trying to schedule an evening in which we can meet with the consultants in church. She has a few apprehensions about coming to church because she has two little babies, and she doesn't think she can handle getting them to church by herself. We have invited a member to come to a lesson with us this Tuesday who has agreed to help her get to church. The last sister who made a lot of progress this week is a less active member named Balbina. She told us that she felt guilty coming to church, but that she wanted to start again this next Sunday. she has a two year old little girl. So we are officially working with three Peruvian families and we couldn't be happier. It's been a little bit slower this week because we are just trying to give Sorella Worsham the rest that she so desperately needs, but there is a lot of work here, and with the Lord's help I feel like it's only going to pick up.

Also we had a really wonderful conference this week. Elder Kearen came through on a mission tour and talked to us. He had a really wonderful teaching style, and I feel like I learned so much from him. It was kind of funny (in sort of an evil way) because the last time we had a general authority came to our mission (Elder Allen who helped direct the district) I was miserably sick, and there wasn't really anything Sorella Worsham could do about it, because we sort of had to be there, and this time Sorella Worsham was really hurting, and miserable, and there wasn't a thing that I could do about. So pretty much we are Charlie Brown and always a mess. Luckily we are going to a doctor this evening and we are hoping for some really good advice. Also he knew the Posey (sp?) family who are currently serving as the temple President and Matron(?) in Atlanta. Mormon world really is small. He talked a lot about learning, and changing from conferences, and church, and personal studies. He said that if all we do is listen to general conference, and read a passage of scripture, and we don't do anything to change ourselves all we will have gained is a few brief moments of happy feelings.

In order to grow in the way the Lord intended we have to pay close attention, record what we have learned and make plans to change. So I have started taking much better notes, and making goals every Friday morning (one so far!) and then following up on them the following Friday (this is a plan and still hasn't happened yet) before we plan. I feel like I have changed so much through my mission, and I hope that I really can become the person the Lord wants me to be. I know that the Lord is working so hard to mold me into something great, I just hope that I can become good enough before my mission is over so that I have a little time to actually help someone. Just kidding I'm doing my best to dedicate myself to the Lord, and as soon as I let go, and allowed him to do the work I have seen soooooo many miracles. I love you al Vi voglio un saco di bene. Mi manchete un po, ma il lavora dell Signora e la lavora piu bella in questo mondo. I bet you probably won't be able to google translate that because my spelling isn't great in any language, so you will just have to guess.

-Sorella Madyline J. Spencer


I borrowed this picture from Sorella Kimball's blog. I'm so thankful someone is getting pictures of her now and then because she never sends me any!!

A Baptismal Date!!

This week Lizbeth set a baptismal date! She will be getting baptized April 26th 2014! That is the day before my birthday, and I think that regardless of if I'm here, or if I have been transferred by that point that might just be the very best birthday present in the whole world. We also received a fantastic referral from Lizbeth. Her name is Joir and she has two little girls and she is very religious. She told us that religion is like when you are sick, you need to go to a lot of doctor's and get a lot of opinions before you can decide what works. I think that sounds exactly like she is searching for something, and I'm really excited to see how this gospel can bless her life.

We also really received a wonderful referral from the mission president. She is a tour guide for the vatican museums, which is super cool. she wants to meet with us in the first week of April because she has a big project that she is working on but we may try to stop by and drop the Book of Mormon off with her before then just to make initial contact.

So Sorella Worsham took a really nasty fall this week going down our hill and is in a lot of pain. She has been trying to truck through it but I finally sat down with her last night and asked to her actually let me know how she is feeling and I think she is in a lot more pain than anyone realizes, and it's been really hard on her. So we have been kind of inhibited by what we can do. However, while she was resting I called every inactive sister on the ward list (we have been working on talking with the members and compiling information on every member on the ward list, and we had finally gathered information on every known member in the ward, so we called every name on the list that no one knew anything about.) Almost every number we called was inactive, but we talked to four sisters who were interested in meeting with us. Two of them hadn't been contacted in 20 years, and one of them said she really wants to help us with missionary work (which she brought up,and it was very confusing to me because usually less actives don't volunteer to help with missionary work within the first 30 seconds of conversation). So on Sunday we had a brief meeting with Sorella Salerno,the relief Society President, where she agreed to get these 4 sisters visiting teachers.

Also we have started having a lot of beautiful experiences with the romanian immigrants who live near our home. We know several of them by name now and they are always excited to see us. Yesterday when we got on the bus this woman Victoria scooted over and invited me to come sit with her. She was so sweet, and we talked about faith for about 15 minutes. she told me that she prays every day, and that she prays that God will remember her sister (who we also know and is wonderful) because she has forgotten her faith. she doesn't attend church (I imagine because she isn't welcomed) but she loves the word of God, and I promised her one in Romanian. We would like to start meeting with her, but we are going to wait till after this Wednesday when we can talk to an elder in our zone who is also working with these immigrants to see how he introduced the idea to the ward. If you all wouldn't mind including these people in your prayers I would really appreciate it, specifically Victoria, Alesseo, and Camren. These three specificaly are prepared to hear the gospel, and I think that if Christ were here he would be sitting with them teaching in their camps.

Loveyou all I hope you have a wonderful St Patrick's day.

Sorella Madyline Spencer

I LOVE ROME!!!

Hey Everybody!!!
This week has been amazing!!! I love Rome. It is amazing to live in a place full of such a variety of people. Sometimes I feel like I have been blessed to serve a mission not only in Rome Italy, but in the Philippines, and Peru as well. Leaving Rome will be really hard for me, because I really feel close to this ward and these people. I know Rome Italy will always feel a little bit like home, whether or not I ever figure out how to fully speak this crazy language.

So this week started with a wonderful Gans (young single adult or YSA) FHE (family home evening) that two of our investigators came to. One of whom is married with two children but we get really flexible on the definition of a gans (YSA) when we are working with investigators. Then we had a wonderful DDM (district meeting which is a meeting where all the missionaries in an area get together to brainstorm about investigators, and working with the members etc.) where Anziano Nickle (our district leader) gave a powerful lesson on finding. So Sorella Worsham and I spent a lot of the week focusing on really doing our best to find people the Lord has prepared for us.

Finding is really hard. It's really easy to slip out of the habit of doing it well. It's interesting the two things that I thought I would be really good at as a missionary are finding and less active work, but those are probably my two weakest areas. We also spent a lot of this week trying to pass by and track down less actives but it seems like they are never home, don't want to see us, or have moved. I have been praying for them and the ability to help them a lot this week, as has the ward but the Lord's timing isn't always our timing. Part of the problem might be that the word for sheep and the word for sinner are really similar in Italian so instead of praying for the sheep that are lost I was praying for the sinners that are lost. Hopefully now that that is cleared up maybe we will have more success.

Our main family that we are working with, agreed to pray for a baptismal date last night. It has been wonderful to see them make this change in their life. Every time I see them in church or hear them bear their testimony it makes every difficult thing that has happened so far worth it. Also Elizabeth has started asking if we know missionaries in Peru that can help her family, because she wants them to have the same tranquility that she has now.

Our English course is on chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon. This Thursday Sorella Worsham had to go to ward council, and so Sorella Ghio and I taught English course on the opposite sides of the room (so we were still in sight and sound) but I was teaching the intermediate class by myself, and we did the spiritual thought over chapter 4, and then I closed and ended class but forgot to assign them to read chapter 5. As they were getting up to leave Jessica, asked me what they were supposed to read this week. I was really excited to see her take that kind of initiative.

I'm also working on memorizing all of the scripture masteries in Italian. I made a calendar for the rest of my mission, and I am making great progress and it's helping me so much with the language. I have the Book of Mormon flash cards from the seminary teacher in Siracusa, but if anyone knew how to get a hold of them for the other books it would be amazing.

I also realized that a huge part of the reason that we serve missions is to help us become better members and build stronger testimonies (I know that is super obvious, but I internalized it this week) and the reason we serve for a year and a half or two years is because we need time to really build these habits. The reason that EFY usually doesn't change people is because it is only a week long, and real change takes time. So if you don't have the opportunity to serve a mission I want to invite you to really make scripture reading a part of your daily life, and I promise it will change you piano piano (little by little) but it will change you.

Bed Rest

First off, more or less I am healthy. Sorella Ansted showed me some photos of myself from zone conference and they are definitely very alarming, but I am much much better now. It took me two solid days of bed rest but I am getting there bit by bit. For the first time in my mission I felt like this cold came not from extreme stress but actually was just something I caught.

Despite being sick zone conference really resonated with me. Elder Allen came to Italy for temple related reasons and decided to come talk to the missionaries in Rome. (He is a general authority related directly to missionary work. He was one of the main people to write preach my gospel) I really felt the desire to improve as a missionary . Sorella Worsham and I have begun watching the district together, as frequently as we can, and we are praying more earnestly to help our investigators. The hard thing is as soon as I started making strives to improve, I felt satan begin working harder to discourage me. Sometimes I feel like a bully when invinting people to be baptized, and I sometimes feel confused about whether or not I'm relly even helping anyone or not. I am trying to draw closer to my Heavenly Father and continue to be a good missionary, and to improve every day, but it's not always easy.

Our investigators are all doing fantastic. They still say that they don't feel ready to be baptized. We watched the restoration together this week, and asked them to pray if Joseph Smith truly was a prophet. I feel really strongly that once they have recieved that spiritual confirmation, they will be ready to make that commitment.

We set a baptismal date with one of our English course students this week. He may be moving to another part of Rome in the very very near future (if he hasn't already then in the next few days) so we will probably be passing him to another set of missionaries. (Sorella Worsham and I give really really great referrals.) He will still be working in our area, and so will still be coming to our English course, but he will attend church close to his home. He has been fantastic because he has asked really inspired questions. He is incredibly knowledgeable in various religions. He knows the bible a million times better than I do, and he often quoted the koran. I think that he has really been searching for the truth , and that is why he is so well educated in various religions. We have taught him some of the basic principles in English course but this week was the first official lesson we have had with him, and he accepted the invitation to be baptized! He is a really great example of someone truly prepared by God.

Also we are working with a ganz aged woman named Silvia who was first introduced to the church when she lived with an LDS family during a foreign exchange program. She is coming to a ganz family home evening tonight, and we are really excited to see how it turns out

Also I am not sure if you remember our Russian friends that have come to church a few times. There is a Russian LDS woman who is very good friends (I don't know exactly what their relationship is) with a non-member Italian man who lives here in Rome. He came with her a few times, just to bring her to church, and then I called him a few times to invite him to come indivisually. Last time he asked me not to call him too often because he lives very far away, but that he would come when he could. This Sunday he came again, by himself without me calling to invite him, and at the end of the service he told me he likes the LDS church more than any other church he has ever gone to.

I have realized that a lot of times we don't get to see the long term results of our actions. I will proabably not be able to see all of the people that I work with baptized. I do know that Heavenly Father has a very long term plan and sometimes we are only a small part of it, but everyone of us is essential.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Thank you for all the support you provide.

Sorella Madyline Spencer

The pictures she mentioned above from their conference.

This week has been fantastic!

Cioa Cari!
This week has been fantastic. Sorella Worsham and I are still together, and still seeing miracles. We have decided that president probably doesn't want to mess with a good thing. We are focusing a lot of our time on Michael and Lizbeth, and it has made the work wonderful. We went to their house on Thursday, and they made us something called tiger's milk. It was in a tall glass and it kind of looked like a pink smoothie. Our big concern was that it was alcoholic, so I took a very cautious drink to check, and it was made out of fish. Which just turned out to be surprising. It was so good, just not what I expected.

We also had a FHE with them and several families in the ward (most of whom were spanish speaking so my Italian is starting to become more and more Spanish sounding every day.) I told Lizbeth on the way out that my favorite thing about the church was the spirit I can feel whenever I go, and my second favorite thing is that no matter where I go, I can always find a little family. She laughed when I said little, and told me that the church was like a huge family. I guess she is right. I am lucky to be a Latter-Day Saint and have you all as my brothers and sisters.

Also we are having a lot of success with our English course. All three of our intermediate students have started reading the Book of Mormon. We ask them to read a chapter during the week, and then we pull the spiritual thought from that chapter. They are truly spiritually progressing, and we are working on getting them all to start taking the lessons. Every now and again we combine advanced and intermediate so the elders can go to ward council, and it is so sweet to see our three students pull out their personal copies (they have all been given one and we have asked them to bring it every class) and explain it to the advanced class. I have great hopes for all of our students.



I just wanted to share something she wrote in another email after I asked her how she was "REALLY" doing.

I am doing well. I am learning a lot from being a missionary. I really am doing well. There are always hard things. Most of the missionaries in my district served together in another city before getting here, so I sometimes feel a little left out, and self conscious about my Italian. Also people keep making me eat a ton of food, but I am happy to report that those are my biggest problems. I am learning and I am growing. I worry about all of my people back home. I worry about you and dad, and Alisha, And BAM, and Dan, but I feel the spirit, and my testimony is growing.

I can't wait to see her and hug her and hear all about her adventures!

Here are a couple of pictures I found.

Another Transfer in Rome!

Ciao!
Well, I am still in Rome for another transfer, and I'm really excited because the work is going really really well, and it would have been a huge disappointment to leave it. We have been teaching a very sweet peruvian family twice a week, and they are really progressing. I am just forever amazed by them. Especially Michael (the husband) he just responds so well to everything we teach. I was told in the MTC (missionary training center), that sometimes teaching people would just be like reminding them of something they had known a long time ago, and that they had simply forgotten, and that is what it is like to teach Micheal. He always tells us that what we are saying makes a lot of sense, and that he thinks it's true. His wife is a little more apprehensive, but still progressing rapidly. She has had a lot of bad experiences with religion and just wants to make sure that it is true before she makes any major commitments. The ward is really really great and they were invited to three separate FHE's (family home evenings).

We also did a three hour read a thon this week with the Silva family. All three sets of missionaries took a shift to read out loud with them for an hour. The goal was to get Janus (18 year old son) all the way through the third book of Nephi. It didn't quite work out that way. With English being their second language (it's still what they like to read in) we had a really hard time helping him understand scriptural terms, and only got through 9 chapters, but it was really great and Sorella Worsham and I found a scripture about unity that we really liked. 3rd Nephi 2:18. We have used it in a handful of spiritual thoughts.

Our children's English course is really picking up, and we now have three families consistently coming. The kids are away too smart for me, and pick up vocabulary and grammar so quickly. They also LOVE the Book of Mormon. Each one of them has their own copy, and they bring it every week, and literally fight over who gets to read. We are learning to pick long scripture passages. They are are 3 little boys who I am sure will serve missions one day. The great thing about English course is it just builds so much trust and plants so many seeds. One third of our baptisms come from English course, so I like to put a lot of focus on it.

So this Sunday was a little chaotic. We met a man earlier this week on the bus who confused us for nuns (that is very very common) and got off the bus sooner than we were able to clarify. He did tell us he wanted to come to our church this week. So as he was getting off the bus we handed him a pass along card. So Sunday morning this 80 ish old man shows up at our bus stop in his sweater vest, and he tells us, that he does not know where this via Bra 34 (the church address) is, so he decided he would come to our bus stop and accompany us to church so that he could find it. So we get to church about an hour early and give him a brief tour and teach him the basic restoration so that he doesn't panic when he realizes we aren't nuns and in fact this is not a catholic church. Then President and Sorella Waddoups show up for a surprise visit. So we send Peitro (our friend in the sweater vest.) to Elders Quorum with President, and we wait for Lizbeth and Michael. When they arrive we drop Francesca off at nursery (she was a champ she just kind of waddled over there by herself.) try to get Sebastain into primary (he really really fought it, and then grab the elders to sit next to Michael into Elder's Quorum. So finally about half way through Relief Society we head in with Lizbeth. During gospel principles 3 more investigators come. So it was just kind of a chaotic day, so beautiful, but very stressful for Sorella Worsham and I. Luckily the ward really stepped in and helped because there is no way that Sorella Worsham, and I could have met everyone's needs alone. The other missionaries also both had investigators in church, so in total there were 8 present. The Rome 1 record (since I have been here) is 9, so we are getting close to breaking it!

Also I had a really beautiful, kind of conflicting experience this week. There is a huge group of Romanian "gypsy" immigrants in Italy right now, and it has turned into a very difficult situation with both groups. The Romanians have developed a reputation as thieves, and have become really dehumanized by almost everyone. We aren't allowed to give people money as missionaries, so for the most part we don't work very heavily with them, but this evening I got on the bus and there were 3 little boys on the bus. The oldest was probably about 11, and was teasing one of the younger boys. The 11 year old called me over and told me that his brother's (?) feet stank (oh 11 year old humor!). At first I was tempted to roll my eyes and walk away, but he called me over again, and I have a very soft spot in my heart for children so I decided to talk to them. Throughout the conversation, I just realized that they are just like any other little boys, and one of them really reminded me of Nathan Stewart (his name was Daniel) This little boy had an accordion so I asked him to play it for me, and he did. He absolutely beamed when I clapped and told him that he was very good. At some point the little boys started hitting each other, and I told them to stop, and that hitting was not ok, and they immediately stopped. It was just a very eye opening experience that these little boys were exactly like the little boys in Augusta Georgia, and that they just wanted praise, and love. I gave them all a piece of candy (actually Anziano Nickel gave them all a piece of candy), and I told them to be good, and that I thought they were really good boys. It was really interesting to see how they responded to that kind of interaction, and I wish that I could do so much more for them. I just realized again in a more deeper sense, that people are people, and that we all feel things the same way, we are all desperate for love (especially children) and that we are children of God.

When it rains in Rome

Cioa Cari!
Well the rain continues. I'm about ready to chuck my boots and umbrella out the window just as an act of faith that maybe one day it will stop raining. However, when the Lord tries you, he also blesses you. Last week (I think I already mentioned this) we found a sweet peruvian family when we took a bus going in the wrong direction. We have now taught this family two lesson's and we invited them to church this week. They called us the night before and assured us that they would be coming. Sunday morning came, and we waited for them in church for a while and relief society started and, elders quorum started, and primary started, and our sweet peruvian family was no where to be found. So we gave them a call, and they told us that their youngest was having some stomach pains and that were having a hard time getting out the door. Usually in missionary speak that translates to we don't really want to come, and we will not be there. So under normal circumstances, Sorella Worsham and I would have gone to class and tried again next week, but we both felt very strongly that we should wait just a bit longer for them.

Fifteen minutes before sacrament meeting, they came. We took their two children to primary. (Seeing the look of shock and excitement on the primary president's face was really wonderful. We only have 6 kids in primary) and went to the last ten minutes of gospel principles. Then ten minutes later we went to pick their children back up, and they had had a wonderful 10 minutes in Primary, their oldest refused to leave, so they promised him he could come back next week. (YES!!!!), and then we went to sacrament.

Literally half of the ward descended on them. Sorella Worsham and I didn't even end up sitting next to them, and at one point one of the sister's in the ward took the kids out into the hall so that their parents could focus on the sacrament. At the end of sacrament the dad told me that he was impressed by how many people in the ward could speak spanish. (Not me, we have spent a lot of time with Spanish speakers these last couple of weeks and so far I have learned to say good evening my slow cat, and where is my goat? neither of which are very useful.) and then he very sincerely thanked us for inviting them. Both the husband and the wife are very open, but I can tell that the father's heart has been incredibly touched since we have started working with them. Also their little girl is a standard two year old, but she loved the music is sacrament meeting. She went completely still and tried to sing along. It was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

They have started an Italian course for the foreigners in the ward who cannot read or write Italian, and we supervised that this Sunday (they need someone to lock the church after course and we contribute a spiritual thought at the end.) It was really funny, because the whole course was specifically designed for a new convert named Awad, and he did not enjoy it at all. The woman teaching it is very very structured, which is not the kind of teaching that Awad responds to. So at one point he left "to go to the bathroom" and about 5 minutes later we noticed that he hadn't come back, so we went to go look for him. We found him in the foyer, playing on his ipad and we told him "awad corso Italiano!" (he only speaks arabic, and he spent about 2 minutes trying to get out of it. He told us "Italiano bad, English good, and please Spencer no italiano, no." Finally he said ok, ok Italiano good. So we sent him back to Italian course, and then went to go get drinks, and two members came and found us to tell us that Awad was in the foyer skipping Italian course. They were upset because I guess they had tried to reason with him, and he had told them no no Italiano bad. So we went back to Italian course, and did kind of a one on one to help him with Italian, but he was miserable the whole time. He will eventually learn to read, and he will be grateful. I hope eventually.

Also I have been studying the old testament this week when I have a little extra time, and it has been really interesting. I have a learned a lot about the priesthood, and about sacrifices. It just makes me understand how great of a teacher our Heavenly Father is. I can imagine how difficult it would be to make people understand the atonement, years before it happened, and he used sacrifices as a teaching tool (for my animal lover friends they also sacrificed a lot of fruit.)

So one thing that I have learned on the mission is that our lives really shape the way we see the world, and it's hard to work with people who see things, and people, and Diety different than you do, but we really can learn something from everyone. Also the way that other people see the world doesn't have to change the way you see it. I spent a lot of time fighting people's opinions at first, but I'm just learning that it only closes their minds more and more. I'm trying to remember that anger and hatred, won't eliminate anger and hatred. I just want all of you to realize that at the core people are the same. We are all children of God, we all hurt, we all love, we all cry. We may do it in Spanish, or Bengali, or English, but at the root it's all the same. I think that sometimes we search for things to make us different, but in the end we are all children of God, he designed this gospel for each and everyone of us, and that makes us more similar than we ever realized. I love you all. I hope the Lord is blessing you in your daily lives, and that you can feel that you are wonderful and important to Him, and to me.

Lo prosimo (till the next time)
Sorella Madyline Spencer

(Also I have learned how to say where in arabic, and hello, and I have good morning written on a piece of paper but whenever I try to say it, I get some very very blank looks.)

A week of Miracles

OK so remember how I am supposed to write this email every week, and I haven't for at least two weeks in a row now? I'm really really sorry about that. So I'm sure you are all very very curious about what winter is like is beautiful Rome, and I'm sure that you would all be very pleasantly surprised to hear that it is very very............wet. It has been an uncharacteristically rainy winter. And I have become very very accustomed to traveling with an umbrella. (which I broke this morning so part of P-day will be spent buying a new umbrella) 

Thanks to the rain most of our appointments fell through this week, because buses stopped running. Rome is designed really really well (thank you Julius Caesar) so flooding is not normally a problem, but this type of perpetual constant rain is really uncommon here and some of the lower parts of Rome have been flooding slightly making it difficult for buses to rain (don't worry I live in Monte Spaccatto which literally translates to mountain, so I am safe).

So we did a little bit of casa a casa (door to door) which we kind of avoid as missionaries, because we don't actually have doors here we just have citofinos (those little metal boxes that you use to buzz to get into people's apartments) and it is really easy for people to just ignore us, so we have very very little success getting into people's homes. HOWEVER, some missionaries try to look for open doors so they can actually literally knock on people's doors.

I have never served with someone who has felt comfortable doing this, and thus I have never done it. Sorella Worsham happens to be a very big fan. So she wanted me to go into this huge, very nice apartment complex, so after explaining to her that I only have one point left on my permesso before I get deported (you start with 16, and you gradually lose them for various offenses. Missing a culture class costs you 15 points and I missed one in the transfer from Sicilia to Roma) and other such grumbling and general apprehension, I followed her into the apartment complex, and I am really grateful that I did. Two people let us in. One of them was a woman named F....., and she has two little girls. She met the missionaries in the past, and then moved (this never happens, people never know who we are) She was very receptive and she told us that she really liked the way that we prayed. She said she felt like it was really direct to God.

The other was a woman named Erica. This story is really great because we hadn't been doing door to door for very long, and I was really skeptical still, and we knocked on this door and a man (maybe about 25) opens the door. As he opened the door this huge dog runs out at us. So he is yelling at the dog, and trying to get him back in the house. There is a little girl (maybe about 3) in the background crying, and I am just standing there thinking how the whole apartment complex specifically this family wants to kill us. So he finally gets the dog and the child calmed down, and he asks us what we want, and we tell him (lets be honest Sorella Worsham tells him) that we have a beautiful message for strengthening the family, and instead of rolling his eyes and shutting the door, he says preggo (which means you are welcome to come in.) I literally responded veramente? (really?) We didn't end up getting to teach them a lesson, because his wife was on her way to a friends house, but we have an appointment for this Friday. Please pray for us!

Also I told you that we have been doing a lot of work with what we call our ancient records book (schedas dating back to 1996) and we have started , meeting with a woman named Silvia, who lived with an LDS family in Ohio for a year and a half. (literally twice in one week where we were able to meet with people who are familiar with Mormons! Crazy.)

OK last miracle. There is a college campus in our area that we wanted to go to do English course advertising. We are really trying to start teaching more YSA (young single adult) aged people and young families, so Wednesday morning (I think) we took a bus to Gimelli to do advertising, and when we got there we could NOT find the campus. It was early morning which is a really bad time for finding so we decided to try to put English course Billotini (pass along cards) in mailboxes while we looked for the campus. At a certain point we ran out of English course Billotini, but we still hadn't found the campus, so we decided to just keep using normal billatini (standard LDS pass along cards). After an hour or so we went back to the bus stop and asked the bus driver where gimelli was and he told us that we had rode the bus in the wrong direction and Gimelli was on the other side on town. So feeling kind of stupid we got back in the bus and went home, but last night we received a text message from a man who lived in this area, telling us that he wanted a copy of our free DVD about Jesus Christ, and our Book of Mormon. So sometimes accidents are inspired by the Lord.

Last thing I have been reading Jeremiah, to try to see what life was like in Jerusalem during the time of Lehi, and I saw something that I really really loved. In the first couple of verses the Lord is telling Jeremiah what his destiny (probably not good word choice, sorry) is and Jeremiah literally says ah (that is the only verbatim thing that I can remember) and then something along the lines of Lord I am just child how can I do that? And maybe the ah wasn't exactly the same as the ughhh Lord, how can I possibly do that. so I didn't explain that very well so everyone go home and read Jeremiah and remember that you can do anything with the help of the Lord.

con amore Sorella Madyline Spencer

Letter to President and other thoughts

Dear President,

This week was great! We had the opportunity to meet with a lot of our investigators, and we have started going through our ancient records area book that dates back to 1996. We are excited to start harvesting seeds and Sorella Worsham and I both feel that the time has come to focus on those who have been found in the past instead of finding brand new investigators.

Not much has changed with our investigators except for Bernice and Naomi. Erica (their mother\aunt) opened up to us and explained that everyone in the family has been struggling with their faith except for Bernice. We have also started working with the girls one on one which has been great for them. Marisa is also very busy and isn't answering our calls but the other sister's were able to contact her, and she said she still wants to meet with us and come to English course, just not for the next couple of weeks.

I have started focusing a lot on the language. I'm now doing my personal study in Italian, which has been great because I pay much better attention. I wanted to thank you for the focus you place on us doing what is right for us individually, and that choice is between us in the Lord. That is something I absolutely needed to learn at this point in my life.

Sinceremente,

Sorella Spencer


The rest is random stuff from several different emails.


* Also I am switching all my personal study over to Italian so I would greatly appreciate general conference talks in Italian.

* Also could you put something on my blog about what can and cannot be sent into Italy? (Please see the contact tab and reference the Postal link. I can only assume that someone has sent something that isn't allowed)

* OK I had to get off of email early to do a survey but I finished the survey and am emailing again! So I love you a ton! The mission is going great. I'm really really happy. It's not always easy but I am praying really hard to overcome the things within my control, like poor self esteem and getting annoyed with people and it's been really great. I love being a missionary. It's a very different labor in Europe than in the US, and I am constantly learning things every day. We spend a lot of time teaching people not to pray to us, which I imagine doesn't happen a lot in the states, but the ward is really passionate about missionary work, and people are really great about coming to church, and it's a normal thing to start a conversation about religion.

A Bonus Picture!!

It feels good to be exhausted in the Lord's work!

Cioa Cari!!!
Well for the first time in my mission we are BEYOND busy. It is only Monday and we have an appointment for every day next week, and up to four on other days (four is kind of our max because of metro.) We were planning last night and we are both kind of stressed (me more so than Sorella Worsham) but Sorella Worsham said something really beautiful that made me feel a lot better. She said "It feels good to be exhausted in the Lord's work." I think she was quoting someone but neither of us could remember who. I hope that I am doing what the Lord wants me to do, and I am really excited about this week. This week was also pretty intense so I will just have to give you some highlights.
So Tuesday we had zone conference in the morning and part of the training was about the best was to find investigators from English course, and that evening Sorella Worsham and I taught our first ever family English course (I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but Sorella Worsham and I teach intermediate English and we have never ever had consistent students so we started an English course specific for parents and children.) and we invited our only two students to start meeting with us and they agreed!!!!
Monday we went and saw a long term investigator, who really has not been making progress, but who has been on our minds a lot recently. He opened up to us and said that he wants to be baptized but he has been hurt by members of the church (he was raised in a part member family.) so it would take time. We asked him to start over with the lessons and pretend he didn't know anything about the church, and then we scheduled an appointment for the following week. Then he showed us his pet falcon, who is chained up inside of a double dead bolted cage. He said the next time he would bring him out so wish me luck!
So we had to go back and fourth to the mission office several times this week for conferences and interviews and we had a lot of chances to contact people in the metro. I'm so sorry I am out of time. Love you lots!!!
-Sorella Spencer

Pictures!!!

Short but Sweet

Well this week Sorella Worsham and I have seen miracles! We have finally figured out the buses. We didn't miss a single appointment this week because of bus problems, and we also didn't end up in the middle of the woods completely surrounded by goats. (it's very interesting how quickly Rome stops being this thriving metropolis, and starts being goat territory.) We had four investigators in church on Sunday, and investigators that I never dreamed would progress are close to accepting baptismal dates. The ward is responding really well to us and we have pranzo appointments for not only this week, but the next! (that has never happened in either of our experiences as missionaries.) Sorella Worsham and I are very different, but our personalities are very very complimentary for missionary work. We teach together very well, and we work together very well. The combined faith of two, is a lot stronger than two people working contrary together.
I don't have a ton of time to write, so it will have to be a short one this week. I love and miss you all. Have a good week!

Home Sweet Rome

Buon Anno cari! Tanti Agguri! (Good year loved ones, good wishes.)

Alright transfer calls came and went, and I will be spending the next six weeks in beautiful Rome,with the wonderful Sorella Worsham. Transfers were actually relatively boring. Sorella Merenda is the only one leaving so it will be my third transfer with Anziano Burnham, and Jimenez, and my fourth with Sorella Williams (we were in the mtc together and we have literally spent more of our mission together than apart. I think that if I serve with anyone from my mtc group, it will probably be her.)

Having six missionaries in the same ward has been great because there are always 5 other people who understand exactly how you are feeling, and who can help you get home when you are lost, but it's also tough because we are all trying to work with the same members, and sometimes a member gets visited three times in one week without us noticing, so we are trying to coordinate a little better this transfer.
Today is the last Holiday in a series of holidays, so starting tomorrow there is no excuse for the buses not to come!!!! We love Christmas, but we love missionary work even more!

So this week..........

Monday, so hopefully as you all remember, we were surprised by Borris in church this last Sunday, and I scheduled an appointment with him for the following evening. He really likes the church,and he wants to get baptized, but he is a full-time student working to put himself through school, and he doesn't always have time to come to church. He comes when he can but he usually has work. We had a very spiritual lesson about the plan of Salvation with him, and at the end we talked about church. He told us that he wanted to come, and in a couple of years when he is done with school he will be able to come to church every Sunday. We asked him to pray about finding another means to come and he agreed to. Then he told us that volere e potere (the desire is power) He didn't make it this Sunday but our entire district is praying for him.

Saturday we went to a member's home for dinner,and they had a friend there. She told us after the meal was over that she had had a strong feeling that she should go visit her friend Christina during the day. We taught her a lesson, and she agreed to learn more. There is a talent show this week, and we are hoping that she can make it. It was really cool to see that kind of miracle and how the Lord works sometimes. On a slightly less spiritual note it was a very interesting evening because Sorella Rosetti is a french African woman married to an Italian man, and she made us a traditional African dish for dinner. It was really delicious, but it had little tiny crustaceans (Sorry Amy and all other vegetarian friends I have one year till I will go back to my vegetarian ways) and Italians aren't very exposed to foods of other cultures so the tiny crabs very much alarmed our investigator, who is probably the most pure Italian woman I have ever met (and thus very blunt) and she refused to eat the main dish. We finally got her to try some of the fish but she never would eat the mini crabs she told us "she couldn't she had fear."

On Friday we visited a member in our ward who has a less active husband. He seems like he has a testimony, but he isn't coming to church. It might be because of work but we aren't sure yet. It was great because Sorella Salerno expressed a desire to help with lessons, which we never would have expected because she has a baby and another little girl. It's been really great to start getting to know members on a more personal level,and see how excited they really are about missionary work. Also Fratello Salerno is hilarious. They don't have fettuccine alfredo in Italy so it's always fun to describe "Italian food" in the US. While we were describing alfredo, Fratello Salerno started joking that it was a six legged beast from America. He said he ordered one off of ebay once and it was delicious.

Also we have a man who is dating a member of the church and thus they have started coming to church together. The catch is she is Russian and doesn't speak Italian or English (and he speaks almost no Russian but they are very happy.) So her whole family came to church on Sunday,and they decided they like me because "lei sembre come un proprio russe" *{editors note - a loose translation "would seem to her as their own Russian"}* (I get that a loooot here.) So I had a very exciting Sunday with the Russians. (if someone could send me some basic phrases in Russian, I would greatly appreciate it) So the way this family is broken up is there are two Russian sisters. One is married to an Italian, and one is dating an Italian. The one who is married speaks perfect Italian, and the other speaks none at all. So on Sunday we tracked down our only Russian speaking sister,and sent the sisters to gospel doctrines with her, and then we went to gospel principles with the boyfriend, and husband. It was really great because the husband used every opportunity he could to bear his testimony. It really invited the spirit. I'm excited to see what comes of our sweet Russians.

When I first got here I was told that the ward was very anti-missionaries, and that they never liked to make appointments, and I just kind of accepted it. Sorella Worsham however, has been very gung ho about working with the members and I am shocked at how well they have responded. The ward is starting to thrive through missionary work.

(You may have noticed that I am a little behind on updating the blog for my missionary. I apologize and am working on getting caught up. Rather than waiting to catch up, I decided to go ahead and post this week and get caught up with the others later. I am still trying to balance going back to work.)

Rome Training pictures

Stuffed on Turkey day!

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

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

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

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

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

Learning to be happy where we are

So missionary work is still hard, I still feel like crying sometimes, but I'm learning to stop focusing on me. I have learned two really important things this week. The first I learned in young womens (their normal interpreter was giving the lesson, and so they asked me to come and interpret for the 3 americans.) and the lesson was on happiness, and they talked about how happiness is created and worked for, it's not just something that some lucky few just discover. What they specifically focused on was not waiting for an event to occur in your life that will make you happy like marriage, college, etc, It is incredibly easy to do this as a greenie (I will be happy\ a good missionary when I can speak the language, when I'm not being trained, when I have more of a say...etc.) and I realized that I am really tired of passively waiting, I will not be happy until I start being happy with where I am, and what I'm doing. I also learned that if your priorities aren't in the right place, missions are terrible. They are difficult regardless, but they only begin to become worthwhile when you are sacrificing everything for someone else. If you are a missionary or planning on serving a mission, just get out there and work. Work if it's raining, work if you are tired. If you don't, the spirit won't be with you and it will be a terrible experience.


This week we taught our investigator Florine (from Romania, stopped the sister's on the street.) He has a lot of questions that he isn't willing to accept simple answers for. I think that he wants to believe in God he just has this desperate fear that he will reach out to Him and find that there is no one there. I know that he wants this and that it will make him happy, but he is too afraid to make the next step. Due to this fear the lesson was very off topic, very long, and didn't really have the spirit. We are hoping to teach him again tonight and try to keep it focused. I think that he needs the base and then he can begin to find, and accept the answers to his questions.
We are working with a less active named Thelma, and she has a great testimony, she even wants to serve a mission, she just doesn't feel comfortable in church, and I think she is afraid to start making the steps to make friends and start becoming part of the LDS culture. One of the young women's counselors is getting ready to serve a mission and she came with us to teach a lesson. She offered to invite Thelma to the next young women's activity.

We had 5 investigators in church this week!!!!! Two were long term investigators (who I still have not met.) But three of them came for the first time!!! Two of them we met while doing a mostra, and they were really receptive. The ward really really reached out to them, and they are excited to learn more. They are the cutest old men ever. One of them asked us for a copy of the Book of Mormon and gospel principles in English so he could make sure he wasn't losing anything in translation. The last investigator was Robert. Robert is the man from Bangladesh that we have been teaching. I have been wanting and praying for him desperately to come to church, but because of work it's seemed like it's not an option, but he works on a boat in the river, and because of all the rain this week (which seemed like such a trial), he was sent home early and instead of going home early, he made the trek across the city to come to the last hour of church, and he asked me twice if we had found a church for him in Bangladesh. I have learned more about love from this man than I have any other person that I have thus far met. He works constantly and he sends all of his money to his family. He is making such a great sacrifice. He sees that we have the truth, and he wants it for him and his family.
We also met women from Egypt this week, and I'm not sure how interested they are in the church. They are really really interested in Christ and in talking to the missionaries but I'm not sure how much they have truly latched onto the idea of the restored gospel. They are trying to become part of the Italian culture (they have both even changed their names to Italian names) and they were so touched that we invited them to a Thanksgiving activity. We spoke more in depth with the brother named Atta/Abramo, and I could actually see desperation in his eyes. He wants desperately to belong in this country, and I hope that he can find that in the church. He gave us flowers when we left. (he works in a flower stand.) I love these people and I feel so honored, that our Heavenly Father trusts me to help these people. I'm not perfect and this is really really hard for me, but I know that this is where my Savior and my Heavenly Father want me to be. I have thought about going home 1,000 times, but I know that leaving will be the hardest thing I ever do, and that my mission will become better and better as my priorities shift.

I love you all dearly, and I pray for you more than you realize. I hope that the holidays are wonderful, and that you are learning and growing from the experiences the Lord is giving you.

I want to be a missionary that does work!

Well everyone missions are hard. There are days when you wonder if there is any point to you being here, if you will ever be able to say anything other than scusi me abbiamo un courso d'inglese gratuito (excuse me we have a free English course) in Italian, and if you have failed completely. This week was full of those days. I finally hit a point where I realized that I have been out for four months, and I have done nothing. I have been very very thoroughly trained in how to be a missionary, but I have yet to really do any work. I have taught a handful of lessons, I have taught a lot of people phrases in English, but I have yet to spend a day where I have completely served my Lord. So I prayed and I asked if Heavenly Father really wanted me to be here, and if it would be better for me to just go home, and I didn't receive an answer.

So I got up the next morning and I started on our daily schedule, and we had our first day where we left the house a little before ten (we are supposed to leave at ten, but sometimes we have to make adjustments because of bus schedules) and we didn't come back till 9:30pm and we did work all day, and not just busy work. We legitimately helped people, and I felt great, and I realized that was my answer. Heavenly Father wants me to be here, but only if I'm doing work. So I'm finishing the end of my second transfer, (so in a week or two, I will no longer be a greenie) and I have decided what kind of missionary I want to be. I want to be a missionary that does work. I want to be a missionary that truly brings people closer to Christ. I am going to spend the next year and a half trying my hardest to be a utensil in the tools of our Lord.

So I had a couple of cool experiences this week with my newfound determination to truly do something with this time. We are teaching a man from Bangladesh named Robert, who doesn't speak great English or Italian. He loves the church, and Jesus Christ, and the Book of Mormon, and he wants to get baptized, but after my first conversation with him that he doesn't realize there is any difference between our church and the Catholic church. (which is the fault only of the language barrier) So we started back from square one and re-taught him the restoration. I think he understands better but he doesn't quite get it. Luckily for us, the church has translated the film "The Restoration" into a number of languages, and we are hoping that he can watch it in his mother language. Also he is going back to Bangladesh for Christmas, and has agreed to meet with members there, and hopefully they will explain it better. I'm hoping that he will be able to be baptized in Bangladesh so his family can be there to see him make that first step. It would be absolutely perfect if president would authorize me to be there but that is unlikely to happen.

Yesterday we did a mostra in a busy part of the city,(a mostra is really just finding with a giant sign that attracts people's attention, making it a little easier to talk to them) and we all received one number, and an agreement for a return appointment. The woman who gave me her number was named Kanthi which is pronounced like Candy with a harder t sound. She was really excited to hear that that was my mom's name too. I was also able to teach the first discussion to a man visiting from Denmark. He was really interested in learning more about the Mormon's because "we seemed so normal, and I don't think that that show sister wives is a very good representation." He had also seen some very well dressed young men in Denmark, and he was "pretty sure they were Mormons too." so I told him that the show sister wives was in fact a poor representative of the church and that we believed that we had the restored gospel, and that we had this great book, which he agreed to read, and I gave him a website where he could find missionaries closer to his home. When I finished I went and told Sorella Williams about the experience, and we were both really excited, until she said "And you had a restoration pamphlet, and Book of Mormon in English? That's awesome!" I did not have a Book of Mormon or a restoration pamphlet in English. Every piece of literature I gave him was in Italian, and neither of us noticed, I hope that he felt the spirit enough that he will visit that website I gave him, and try to find a Book of Mormon in Danish.

vi voglio bene
Sorella Madyline Spencer