Training

 I'm so sorry but this is going to be another short email.
Okay, HIGHLIGHTS of the WEEK :
1. Definitely yesterday after relief society when the bishop came in
and laid down the hammer. It was awesome! I wish I could have recorded
it and that it could have been put into the ensign. Anyways, a little
background of the bishop here, he's a two time mission president and
was the temple president of Switzerland temple, he's speaks pretty
good English. And we missionaries love him because whenever he chooses
to say a phrase in English it's like the most powerful phrase like,
"she will be baptized" or something like that. Okay but yesterday he
came into relief society and also priesthood and just brought down the
hammer about how people need to stop worrying about others and worry
about themselves more. Like church isn't about you going and judging
others, it's about you doing your own part to help build the kingdom
of God. He was like just make sure you've got you're own brick down
before you start worrying about the others, and there is no one you
can blame about your lack of spiritual progress other than yourself.
We are all our own agents, and yeeeep

2. Our new investigator from Romania. She just lost her job, she's
been a nurse in Italy for 10 years, and got a job offer in England but
has to work on her English, so she saw an add for our free course and
came, and met vescovo at the door and is now taking the lessons

3. Woman on the bus, says hi, asks us who we are, and then is like
"I've been searching for something more in my life, and I think that
God has sent you to me.

4. And oh yea! Transfer calls and I'm TRAINING this transfer! I'm
going to be a mission mom, hahaha. I'm super stoked and super scared.


Okay well that's about it, for sure for sure, I'll have more time to
write next week!

 District Pescara

8 months?

Wow that's super duper weird that I've been on a mission 8 months now!
This week was pretty good, today we hiked up a mountain to a castle,
so that was cool. Pretty solid work we have going right now. Hmmm yea
that's about it :) the crazies, the miracles, the creepies, and the
great. I'm loving it!

"their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their incomprehensible joy" !

So this week we did have a baptism scheduled for Saturday, it did not
happen. Thursday was a really rough day. Wednesday night our
investigator called, and was like, "I'm not really feeling it". Then
said she wanted to meet with us Thursday, and told us that she didn't
want to do this anymore. It was the weirdest thing, and whenever we
started talking she turned over to her friend for reassurance, and
wouldn't look at us. It was just so weird, every other time we had
seen her she had just been so bubbly and happy, like she's the one who
called and said she wanted to be baptized in the first place we were
really thrown off. Then talking to her she seemed like a completely
different person. After she left we both cried, well we both bawled
and those were honestly the most painful tears I've ever felt. It felt
like a parent or sibling had just died, and I thought that might have
been a dramatic way to word it but later on when my companion was
talking about it she described it the same way so yea that's what it
felt like.
 She called us later that night and invited us to come over the next
day. So we went hoping we could talk about it, help her in some way,
but instead she just seized it as an opportunity to yell about us
about almost every complaint I've ever heard about the church. She was
missing a few, but she laid out a pretty nice list. But like c'mon
man, I've grown up in this church! There's no thought or question that
hasn't run through my own mind, but I've found my answers and I've
received my responses and there was such a big part of me that wanted
to just wanted to throw down a set of scriptures on the table and set
her straight on everything. But we're not here to contend with people,
and that wouldn't have been right. So we listened with love, shared a
short message with her, bore sincere testimony, hugged and left. It
made us really sad to see what a change had happened, and how her
heart got so hard, but in HAPPIER NEWS:

Our little Italian mama read the Book of Mormon and bible one night
for 4 straight hours and found that, hey! It's true! It's really
actually exactly what it says it is, and it is a gift from God for our
days. So she wants to be baptized and share the gospel with all of her
family so we are also teaching her niece and sister now! Valentina
received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday. We were searching for a
less active member one day, and hiked a big hill to find her, she
doesn't live there anymore, and then we missed the bus coming back so
ran to try to catch it, but couldn't because like flats and skirts and
bags. But someone saw two poor girls trying to catch a bus and so they
pulled over to offer us a ride, and it turns out it was exactly the
woman we were looking for! :) So that was great, and we know where she
lives now.
Heavenly Father has just been raining the blessings and miracles down
on Pescara, and it's an awesome time to be a missionary! :)
#laItaliaStaFiorendo

Today for pday we went to the house of a member from Napoli and she's
teaching us how to make Napolitano pizza! And an Abruzzese dolce


Sorella Holiday

#15 When we were checking for that less active and finally made it to the house but she doesn't live there anyways. Haha

 Abruzzo

 Chieti. Cute little city.

P-day

Companion picture

Little Castle

The Pescara 6

Making Pizza. Waiting for the dough to rise.

Making the pizzas

We're seriously put here on an Italian hilltop countryside making

pizza with members, coolest pday

 Now they just need to cook

La mia :)

 DDM Pranzo

Waiting for the bus

Baptism!

Woo! One of our investigators got baptized yesterday, and it was one
of the most beautiful and also stressful days ever! The spirit was so
strong, the church is so true, and it was awesome!

Also, general conference, how great was that? We actually only watched
the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions, because we could just watch
them live those evenings. But I'm excited to read the rest of the
talks. Also, I have to comment on that number that the tabernacle
choir did at the end of the Saturday morning session. They literally
KILLED "Come Thou Font". Not a dry eye in the congregation. It was SO
GOOD.

We did a lot, it was a great week, but I sent a pretty long email last
week so I figure it all balances out with this. :)
Baci!

Sorella Holiday

Here we are with the sister that was baptized yesterday. She is blind and literally one of the coolest people ever.

 The font. Haha, I love this font. It was SO HARD to put it together. It's basically a jacuzzi with a plastic blow up pool liner inside. They used a ladder to get in and out.

 He is also blind. They are the biggest spiritual giants I have ever met.

I made pretzels for lunch and Sorella Anderson made cookies for the baptism.

 Sorella Anderson got her permesso this week! Oh yes and I got my "Sorella Vacanza" nametag at the last zone conference. So I just introduce myself as that for the people that struggle understanding "Holiday" and the people that already know that word in English just laugh, it's a good conversation starter.

Bus selfie :)

 After DDM pranzo

 We got pizza with the Anziani to celebrate

 Arrosticini

Typical Abruzzese specialty. Basically lamb and fat grilled on a stick. Wayyyyy good.

 This is the beautiful view behind our home

 New nametag

Nightly planning

 The tomb, He Lives!

 The Easter mostra we did last weekend

English Course

Sorella Anderson turned 20 on Thursday!

Haha, I forgot to send this one earlier. Sorella Workman and I leaving the island.

Here is a time lapse from last Monday. We bought a giant chocolate Easter egg because that is the tradition of Italian Easter. Opposite from us the chocolate is on the outside and the plastic surprise is on the inside. We got an Iron Man toy and it's pretty awesome. Haha, we laughed at the serious looks on our faces.