Arcangelo

okay so i've told you a bit about arcangelo. his whole family is members but he doesnt want to change. well we had a lesson with him this last week about eternal families and it was SUCH a good lesson. the spirit was so strong and i know he felt the spirit but he'd never admit it (cause that'd mean he'd have to act hah..) but he started tearing up at one point when i was talking about how i knew that my family was going to be together forever and how it meant so much to me to know that and we asked his 7 year old daughter sara if she wanted to be with her dad forever and she said 'sì!' and he couldnt hold it in any longer but then started fanning himself saying it was hot hah... the point is he felt the spirit so strong and we invited him to be baptized but he said he didnt want to have a date. the thing is sara will turn 8 in a little less than a year and i really think she will be the one who will help him the most. because right now he doesnt have a job and is just at home with her all day and we gave her a kids book of mormon and a regular book of mormon for her birthday about a week ago and committed her to read with her dad everyday. (we're so sneaky) anyway... in his time, i know he'll get baptized. just not yet.. he's just not ready so change yet.. but one day! we are going to have a sweet lesson with arcangelo and a convert member tomorrow which will be awesome because i know arcangelo really respects this guy. i'm pumped! 

Trevi Fountain 

paola. so great. haha..... we set a baptismal date with her this last week but.. we'll see with her haha. she is just a little crazy and i think she's on a different level of understanding than most people. after we set the date with her she said that her biggest fear was to be born into another world after she died. (dont worry, we've taught the plan of salvation like 3 times to her) so...... we just need to go over a lot of things before that happens..... but also just make sure she really understands and see if this is something she really wants to do. for herself. not for us. anyway. she's great. she came to church sunday!! but slept through pretty much the whole thing hah...... we're working with her. love her. 

also, we have a dinner appointment tonight with a family referral (mom, dad, kid) so..... its pretty big and is making me pretty nervous. we were practicing teaching this morning and sorella ivory felt like i need to invite them to be baptized. and... then i got really nervous and maybe a little nauseous haha.... nah nah... but really... but it'll be good. im so excited for it and the family seems so prepared! 

The Pantheon

so monday was pretty rough, i wont lie.. sorella ivory and i both had just a little bit of a what we like to call, breakdowns, after district meeting, mostly because we both have this problem of comparing ourselves to other missionaries. and monday was just mostly all around an awful day. 

when it rains, it pours....

but also it means things can only get better. and the best part is that they did. tuesday we went to visit a less active (corada) and when we got to her house she was getting her mail (which never happens) so we got to walk up the stairs with her and she explained that her friend/sister (not sure which) was at her house and she had given her a book of mormon and she said she wanted to learn more so we went in and taught lesson zero to a GOLDEN investagator. seriously. wants to meet with us twice a week. so ready and so open. her name is anna. she is so great and im so pumped to start teaching her.

New haircut

um........ there was a tornado in ladispoli during church on sunday haha... it was POURING rain like i've never seen. of course it only lasted about an hour and was gone... but giorgia got a picture of the tornado (it was on the sea, chill...) 

we went and visited maria, this super old italian lady who is SO funny. she's a member but obviously cant come to church (or get out of bed hah.) she started singing us all these funny italian songs and when we asked her to pray, she said the lord's prayer..(she's like 98)  and her daughter who was watching her busted up laughing so hard. it was the best thing.. so.. monday, worst day, tuesday, best day. seems to be how things go around these parts lately..... 

dont worry, i still love sorella ivory with all my heart. she is the best one and we keep each other in line. but.... we have a good time too haha..... 

miss you all

V.V.B.!

Sorella Sudweeks

Coke Light

what's better than a cold coke light from mcdonalds? thats right. a free cold coke light from mcdonalds.

sorella ivory told some elders i would play piano at their baptism so i told her she owed me one. :)

but the baptism was beautiful! the kid getting baptized was 15. the first in his family and just had such a strong desire to do what is right! his whole family was there and the spirit was so strong. when he came out of the water he hugged the priesthood holder who did the baptism for like 4 minutes. in the water.. just so happy and it was so beautiful. i cried (just a little... okay like a baby...)

thanks for making me take piano lessons, mom.

right after i played the closing hymn we ran out of there before the prayer because we had to catch our bus home (the baptism was in rome) and the last bus we could take home was at 8:30 and the next one wasnt till 9:20 (we have to be home by 9) we ran out of the church PRAYING that we'd make the bus, at probably 8:10, barely caught a bus. then from the place where we get dropped off, sprinted to the next bus staion and barely caught the next bus that would take us to ladispoli. i know heavenly father really was helping us get there but my cheesy lesson of the day (dont kid yourselves, you love cheesy lessons) is that you can pray for something to happen, but you still have to run. still have to do all you can do and then heavenly father will do his part.

thats something im really learning with my investagators too. the ones that really want to know and really put in their effort by coming to church and reading and praying are the ones that get the answers and the help they need to come closer to christ. if they dont do their part, they stay where they are.

this week i had an interesting experience. we went to andreina's house for the first time in a while. we started the lesson and then she started attacking the church from every angle, asking us how we knew that certain things were there, namely the spirit world (her husband died when she ws 27, she's like 84 now.) because she's been talking to jehovah's witnesses and they're telling her there isnt one. and she just started asking all these questions and just tearing us down from every angle and i stopped her and just started testifying with all my heart that i KNOW there is a spirit world because i have felt, within the depths of my soul, the fact that my grandparents are all still living. their bodies are dead, but their spirits are still here, lifting me up and watching over my family. i started crying (anyone seeing a trend?) and for a moment i knew that i had to be on my mission at this time, in this place, for her to know that i KNOW there is a life after this one. and honestly, i think she knows herself, but is scared to admit to anything that would mean she needs to act.. but.... i mean... its her choice. she can believe and do whatever she wants to. im just here to invite.

other random things that happened this week:

sorella ivory ate a worm. now i cant eat nectarine's whole. have to cut them up first.... thanks a lot........

i keep seeing a girl on the street that looks exactly like kaili. trips me out EVERY TIME!!

we started a tiny garden. actually just 2 plants. named Darch (david archuletta) and D. Rose (he's taller...)

im going to make a cat calendar. i know youre all excited about that. :) up for sale, post mish.

i left my camera cord at home so.... pictures next week maybe.....

love and miss you all.

VVB!

sorella sudweeks

OH and sorella ivory and i will be in Ladispoli for the next transfer! (ends oct. 4th i believe) HOLLERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

Gypsies

Zoo

So last P-day we had the bright idea to go fishing. in the sea? no. because we're not allowed. so we picked the second best place. a river by our house. infected with disease and potentially radio-active? yes. we bought nets (fishing poles are too expensive and we found nets for like 2 euro.) and sorella ivory found nasty rain boots in our apartments death closet. and we were on our way. we walk over this bridge about every other day and there is a path that goes down next to it so we decided that it would be the best place to get down to the river. i start walking down the path, sorella ivory following behind, and we get almost to the bottom when we see like 5 or 6 gypsie men, bathing in the river under the bridge, so, naturally, we turn around and start sprinting in the other direction. (dont mess with gypsies. ever.) so our fishing outing was ruined... we still threw corn off the bridge (fish love corn). 

anyway.......

then we went to visit a less active, mariangela, and she was going to cut my hair. (she told me she knew how....) and....... lets just say i had a backward mullet / really intense a-line for a while. haha i just wore my hair up but it was really funny... and.... i got sick of it yesterday so i just chopped off the front myself. (now its even all around. chill. it looks fine...) i'm going to another less-active's house tomorrow for a new hair cut though (dont worry. she does it for a living) so she'll fix it. it was so funny though..... sorella ivory was QUITE amused..... 

a couple days ago we were going to visit an investagator but she wasnt home, but her daughter was outside waiting for one of her friends to come or something so we started talking with her while she waited. we were on the steps of her apt. building and a lady came out and shook out her rug out of the second floor window onto us. and i mean... whatever. we just stayed there and then she came out like 2 minutes later and started yelling at us saying 'why are you just sitting there! are you done CHATTING?!' and suzana (the girl we were with) said, 'no. its only 8pm. and i LIVE here.' and then the lady started threating us, saying she was going to call someone to get us in trouble or something (we literally werent doing anything.) and the lady storms back into her house. then suzana grabs our hands and leads us about 15 feet away. and says, just wait. and a second later the crazy woman pours this giant bowl of water out her window where we were standing and starts yelling at us to come back. haha on my gosh. it was the funniest thing. i couldnt believe it. i guess she does that all of the time...... so funny.

so we got a miracle investagator this week. her name is Carmella. she called us randomly at the beginning of the week and asked if she could meet with us. she said she had known the missionaries a long time ago and had seen some of them getting on the boat to go to sardania and it had reminded her of us. 

New haircut

we went and met with her yesterday and found out she had first met the missionaries in 1990. she had had all the lessons and a few different baptismal dates and she remembered almost everything! it was really crazy. she pulled out all these pictures of her with these missionaries from 20 years ago. it was amazing that she had kept them. and also she pulled out some tapes (she cant read) where the missionaries had recorded themselves reading the book of mormon so she could hear it. it was just so crazy! and also such a testimony to me that there are no wasted motions in this work. and even though people may not accept the first invitation to baptism or to church or whatever youre doing, they remember you and the example you set for them and they carry that with them for their whole lives. i'm so glad those missionaries in the past kept going with her and tried so hard and kept in touch with her post mission so she would want to keep learning more, even if it took her 20 years to pick up the phone and call the missionaries again. 

anyway. we went to the zoo (zoh) today. it was fun but.... less fun without halle hah. miss you baby girl.

shoutoutz:

  fam- THANKS FOR YOUR LETTERS AND THE PACKAGE!!! it seriously made my week, nah, my TRANSFER. i loved reading your letters and thanks mom for the peanut butter. best package ever. 

  rachel- i'm gonna get/send your bracelets today. thanks for the letters. send my love to the true zoniez ;)

VI VOGLIO BENE! 

sorella sudweeks

PS also- next week is a cleaning day or something for like, all italy. so my P-day will be TUESDAY instead of wednesday.

this week, sorella ivory got hit by an indian man on a bike. 

other than that, i have nothing else to write. 

naaaahhhhhh...... just kidding. but this was seriously the most mortifying/hilarious experience thus far on my mission haha. 

well i am just going to start at what we did last p-day. we made our best purchase so far. a dart board. and realized that its probably not the best thing to be putting holes in the wall of our apartment (we're not that good yet.......) so we put up a giant Ladispoli map behind our dart board and long story short (really there just isn't a story..) we came up with a thing called 'dart board finding' where we throw darts at the map and wherever we hit, we have to go do contacting on that street. its probably the best idea we have ever had. haha also makes finding a little more enjoyable, since its not the easiest thing for us to do... 

for service each week we go to a town called Santi Marinella to visit a member's mother who is sick in a creepy catholic hospital. we just go and hangout with her for an hour and help her to eat or do whatever she needs to do. this week we cleaned her dentures and i about puked. (sorry. just not into this kinda stuff haha) but it was good for us to be there for her. she's catholic and since the hospital is run by nuns we arent really allowed to try and teach her but we do bring Liahona magazine and do spiritual thoughts with her. she loves it. hopefully if she ever gets out of the hospital we can really start teaching her.

i dont know if i told you think last week but there is a month long music festival going on in Ladispoli at night and..... its just a little bit awful. have you ever heard an italian try to rap? well......... haha........ anyway..............

alright so we have been teaching this family, Antonella, Salvatore and their three kids, Francesca, Alessandra (twins) and Davide. Davide is almost the exact same age as Halle. he is CRAZY. and francesca and alessandra are 5 i think. so this week we had planned to teach them the plan of salvation and then invite them to be baptized. we had been wanting to do this for a while because antonella is so receptive to the gospel and salvatore's brother is a convert of 6 years (and his whole family) and they have really been pushing them to take the lessons and learn more. okay. so we were stressing about this lesson. we prayed SO MUCH to know the date we should invite them to be baptized on and at what point in the lesson we should invite them. seriously, we have never prepared more for a lesson. we practiced teaching it like 20 times to each other and practiced the baptismal invite. i even drew up a 'plan of salvation' coloring page for the kids to do so their parents could pay attention during the lesson (they're all a little A.D.D.)  and i just cant explain the amount of prayer and preparation that went into this lesson. we even got the bishop and his wife to come to the lesson and we preped them on everything we were going to be teaching and helped them understand the purpose and everything. 

SO- we taught the lesson just like we had practiced a thousand times and when sorella ivory was talking about the celestial kingdom and how you can be with your family forever there, and the spirit was SO strong and i was crying and the bishop's wife was crying. and at the highest spiritual point sorella ivory told them that we have been praying about this and we wanted to invite them to be baptized on the 18th of August. 

RIGHT when she asked them they both started talking really fast and giving us excuse after excuse about why they couldnt be baptized and all these reasons, for like 5 minutes i kid you not and all these distractions came in like davide turned on the tv and it was just the worst thing.. we just were so frustrated and kind of devistated because we really had put our hearts deep into this one...

sad story? a little but yesterday at zone conference, literally it was ALL about inviting people to come to baptism and how that is our purpose here as missionaries and how in the end, even after we do all we can do and prepare and pray and do our very best, people still have their agency. that is something God will never take away from us. the ability to choose. and i think thats something really hard for me to accept but im learning. 

in the end, it was still good that we invited them because now they know what the end goal is for these lessons that we've been having and they still agreed to keep meeting with us. 

im not really sure why i shared that story. i have realized though, that everything in my life, everything i have ever done and experienced and every person i knew or met along the way was put there for a purpose. nothing has happened for a reason. its all part of a plan for me to learn and grow, from others and from myself. i know i am here with sorella ivory for a reason. far beyond anything logical because neither of us speak italian very well or are extremely emotionally stable haha but we do good work here and i know there are people here that only we can touch, not with our words (for they are few!) but with our love and experiences. its great. and even though sometimes its really hard and all i want to do is go home and watch batman (oh man..) i know that this is where i am supposed to be. 

vi voglio bene. 

sorella sudweeks