Week 1 of the
fortnight …
Monday:
We went shopping, thennnnnn we went to the chapel, emailed, ate pranzo with B,
G, V, A, R, R, E and the Anziani, so that was awesome. After that, me and
Roberts went to get a comp item hahahahah.... for the lols soooo. Then after,
we went to McDonald's for a McFlurry, cus I really wanted gelato, but p-day was
almost over and so we wouldn't have had much time to go get a good gelato, so
we settled with Maccies. It was pretty good though. We got a Nocciola one
(Hazelnut), one of my fave flavours! After that, we headed to the park for the
FHE with the ragazzi and the Anziani (come sempre). We played some awesome
games that Molnar came up with. First we did Chinese whispers, with German,
Spanish and Indian phrases (Molnar, Cabbalero and Aman made them). That was
hilarious!!! Then we played the game where you're like, paired up with someone
from the other team and you have to walk towards and then past each other
without laughing ... but the aim is to make the other person laugh. I explained
that horribly, but it's a typical EFY one :) hahaha. Then Caballero did the
spiritual thought, since he'll be heading to Rome on Thursday. It was a really
awesome thought and I deffs felt the spirit :) Then we finished the day off
with a hot choc after planning. Grazie a voi! :)
Oh,
also an awesome miracle happened today. There was scheduled a huuuuuuuuge
thunderstorm. All day, we were contemplating not doing the FHE, cus we do it at
the park. Anyways, Anz Cab was like 'It won't rain, it won't rain .. let’s do
it' etc and we were all like ‘hmmmmm, but it’s scheduled to be bad’. (This huge
warning went across the whole of Sardegna. Someone even mentioned a tornado,
but I think that part was for a bit of drama). He was all 'I know it won't rain'.
So we did it anyways, at the park .. and I kid you not, it did not rain... For
the whole evening! Literally up until R did
the closing prayer. Then it absolutely tipped it down.
#therecanbemiracleeeeeeeeeeeeees
Also,
this day I read an awesome talk called 'The Abundant Life' by James E Faust.
I
realise that I didn't actually write anything this week other than Monday in my
iPad notes journal. This week was super weird. With DDM one morning, then
collecting Roberts’ permesso, then waiting all morning at the airport, so a lot
of working time was cut most mornings, but we tried our best and still managed
to see miracles. I'm limited on time today, cus we are planning on going to the
local castle with our Anziani and the Anziani from Sassari, before we catch our
flight to Rome later tonight for the Leadership Conference; cus I'm
STL.. Molnar and Purpari are the ZL’s and I need a comp, so Roberts gets a free
ticket to Rome too haha. Lucky duck :)
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| Sending post to friends and family |
Sooo..
Tuesday
we spent the morning picking Roberts’ permesso up. SHE’S LEGAL .. WOO. Then we
made some calls, then saw R, then A. There was a TONNNNNNN of thunder and lightning.
It was beautiful though :) The lightning was just like what you'd see in a
movie; it didn't even look real! Anyways, with R, we spoke about Christ-like
attributes and did the activity from Preach my Gospel with her and then invited
her to choose one to work on :) She was super enthusiastic to do it :) Then
with A, we did the restoration and it was totally d'accordo with everything AND
HE CAME TO THE SATURDAY GENERAL CONF SESSION TOO and loved it!
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| Sorella Roberts collecting her Permesso |
Then
(I've mixed Tuesday and Wednesday up oops) anyways, we had DDM. It was the last
one with Cab and Mic and Jorg. SADTIMES. THEN Fratello C cooked pranzo for us,
so gooood. Thennnn we saw R, made calls, then saw M, who has read like 8
chapters of the Book of Mormon this week and took notes and had a ton of
questions..! He's so awesome! Then we had English course.
Thursday,
we spent most of the day at the airport. Their flight was delayed. We had to be
there to be comps with Hansen, while she waited for her new comp .. so that was
so fun... Anyways, after that we finally got to eat. Then we saw a less active
family who are AWESOME. The mom is actually pretty active and one of her daughters,
but the other daughter who is about 16 isn't. We spoke about how the gospel
blesses our lives and it went really well. They seemed to really like us. They
made us a fruit tea. It was super good. I think it was apple and cinnamon.
Roberts didn't like it though. Then we had English course
We
also had the chance to see B this week. She is incredible. As per!
I
found a new word that I like it is... "ninnanannana". It means
lullaby haha.
Saturday
we saw V, then R, then La Famiglis C. Then we saw the conferences in Italian!
:)
Sunday
we finished 12 weeks. SHE’S NOT A GREENIE ANYMORE. WOOOOO!! Then we had lunch
with the Anziani and some members, then conference. We saw the first one
(listened to, as only the audio would work) in English, then the second one, a
Swiss FAM came (from Ammon's ward). They were AWESOME and they wanted to watch
it in English. They were only showing English in a small room, so we just ended
up watching it in Italian. So yeahhh.
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| I met a family from Reinach (Switzerland) at Church |
So,
this morning I found an awesome talk. It was all about service. I'll copy in
the part which speaks about the blessings of service. It made me realise how
important this is. I feel that in general, service is over looked, like
under rated almost, but it's such a critical aspect in the church. Here it is:
"I
testify that through serving our fellowmen we come to know the Lord.
Service
makes us strong in our faith and useful in His kingdom. Service gives us
purpose and courage in life. It brings us closer to God and helps us refine our
divine nature. It teaches us to love and understand our fellowmen. It helps us forget about our personal
desires, eliminating selfishness, pride, and ingratitude. It teaches us to
think of the needs of others, which allows us to develop the virtues that the
Saviour possesses.
Kindness,
love, patience, understanding and unity will increase as we serve; while
intolerance, jealousy, envy, greed and selfishness decrease or disappear. The
more we give of ourselves, the more our capacity to serve, understand, and love
will grow.
Those
who serve will always seek to please God and live in harmony with Him. They
will be full of peace; they will have a cheerful countenance and a spirit of
kindness.
Those
who serve will strive to ennoble, build and lift their fellowmen; therefore,
they will find the good in others and they will not find reason or have time to
become offended. They develop the virtue of praying for those who criticize.
They don’t expect recognition or reward. They possess the love of Christ.
Those
who serve will always be willing to share what they possess and what they know
at all times, in all places, and with all people.
Those
who serve even in adversity will maintain a living hope of a better future.
They will continue to be firm in the midst of a crisis because their hope is in
Christ.
Those
who serve will accept their assignments with humility, recognizing their
limitations, but convinced that two people can do all things they propose to do
as long as one of the two people is God.
With
divine inspiration, King Benjamin declared, “When ye are in the service of your
fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17). Those
who serve will have greater understanding of the personality and attributes of
God.
Those
who serve with devotion, even when things don’t turn out the way they would
like, are not easily discouraged, fatigued, or frustrated because the promise
of peace of mind and the companionship of the Holy Spirit will never abandon
them."
All
my love,
Sorella
Robertson xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Week 2 of the
fortnight …
Yoooooooooooooo so I’m just gonna go from the
start...
Monday as I already explained... We were going to
go to the castle with our Anziani and the Sassari Anziani.... but we didn't cus
by the time we were ready to go.. there wouldn't have been enough time to get
back home and pack for Rome and be at the airport on time. So, while the
Anziani went, me and Roberts went to McDonalds haha and ate, cus we hadn't
eaten all day. We just emailed some more
and then went home, packed and left for the airport. On the airplane I spoke to
a lady who was next to me. She was awesome and knew the missionaries from years
ago :) When we arrived in Rome, the AP’s and office Elders were there to pick us
up. We went with the office Elders to the mission villa in their car. Well, the
tomtom died and they took a wrong turn and they were stressing out. Anyways, we
FINALLY arrived at the villa. Feels like home! TO BE GREETED BY Sorelle WADDOUPS,
WINEGAR, DIFRANCHI and a few other MTC girls who I love so very much. Then we
ate chips and kebab or as the Americans say 'kei - baaahb'; then chatted and went
to sleeppppp. Hammy wasn't there at this point, cus her train was delayed big
time, but as I was drifting off I heard her voice and I HAD to see her, so I
was like 'Hammy, Hammy, Hammy!!!' and she jumped on my bed and hugged me and we
both nearly cried and it was just the best. GOSH I've missed that girl. Then I
went to sleep for reals.
Tuesday was an early start. Some of the Sorelle set
their alarm waaaaay early, so they could hop in the shower. I figured that
enough were doing that, so I'd be okay to wake up normal time. After all, 6.30
is early enough for me, ha. We all got ready and on time. Then we all had
breakfast downstairs. It was awesome to catch up with some other missionaries
over breakfast too. Ahhhh, this is just like my own circle of friends now and
it is just the best! After that, we headed over to the chapel. I walked over
with Hammy and it reminded me of the good old times when she made me laugh so
much, then we got there and we started some studies/caught up with missionaries
I've served with nel passato. Again! The conference started and it was actually
a super awesome conference. The AP’s began speaking about the importance of
finding eternal families. They even sung a duet, cute. Here are some notes I
took:
We have to put in the spiritual work. The Lord is
working. There is a temple. They are working on it. We need to FILL that temple
with ETERNAL families. Okay, this is all I wrote. I'm really bad at taking
notes. I promise it was good and I learnt a lot. This is just what really stood
out to me, like, something I really liked that they said. Anywaysssss... After
that, President Waddoups spoke about a ton of things.
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| Consiglio - :Leadership Council in Rome |
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| Catching up with Hammy |
After that, the AP’s spoke about how to conduct
scambi properly and the importance of asking inspired questions. Something I
liked that they said was: The things that we learn every single day can
help people. We don't create followers, we create future leaders (sign of a
great leader).
Then Sorella Waddoups spoke about rules. Then President
concluded. It was a really awesome conference and I went away with a really
strong desire to do better. I have so much more to do. I am so far from being
the missionary I want to be, still, but I'm trying! It was awesome. Anyways,
afterwards we had lunch and I got to hang out with my lil Hamster. Love her
millions! After that, I got some stuff from my other suitcase and stuffed it in
my mini one I bought from a Chinese store.. And the one Roberts bought (I
couldn't bring the whole thing, it was overweight), so that one is waiting in
the office and probably will stay there until I come home. It's okay though,
cus I have jumpers and stuff now. Then we set off to fly home. On the way we
passed the Rome Temple, but the flight went well. It's super short! Then we
headed straight to English course. It went well.
Wednesday.. Started making more ex investigator
calls, becauuuuuse years ago there used to be 4 sisters and so we somehow have
like 4 different area books with a TOOOON of ex investigators, so we spent the
beginning of the morning doing that and then we headed over to the chapel for
DDM (we swapped it, cus of Rome). Our new DL is Anziano Haroldson, who was in
our district last transfer. He seems cool. He did a good addestramento about
being responsible, using as a basis - the talk 'If you will be responsible'. One
thing that stuck out to me was actually a comment Anziano Molnar made when he
said 'Be the missionary your mother thinks you are!’ He spoke about our
responsibilities and how everything we do throughout the day should reflect our
responsibilities. He then spoke about 4 points in order to be the ‘great’
rather than the 'good' missionary. These were them: learning our duty, making
decisions, acting accordingly to the knowledge of our duty and accepting the
will of God. After DDM, we all went and got pizza :) After pranzo and Italian
study, we went to see R... WHO PRAYED … YES SHE ACTUALLY HAD VOGLIO AND SAID
THE PRAYER. It was awesome! Then we based the thought on the talk that
President Dieter F Uchtdorf gave at the Women's session of conference, which
was awesomeeeee. She loved it too. After R, we saw B and spoke about more of
the commandments, then went straight to the chapel for a lesson with A. He is
so ready. We watched the Restoration video with him. Just for more
clarification. He loved and understood it. He had a TON of questions. We spoke
about the gospel the whole time. We didn't even have time to teach English and
he didn't even mind! It was just a really really awesome lesson :)
Thursday... We finallyyyyy got to see a less active
member who we have been trying to see since we got here (3+ months ago!!) her
name is AC. She is SO CUTE. She told us a little about her. We got to know her.
She got to know us etc, then we left her with a spiritual thought based on the
talk 'Discovering the divinity within', another talk from this General Conference.
She loved it. We then got onto speaking about the atonement and the importance
of scriptures. She bore a solemn testimony. After that, as we were leaving she
gets this giant bag and fills it with a ton of food and tells us she got it for
us. Like, this stuff could have fed us for a week and she was still trying to
give us more from the cupboards and fridge. Haha. We went away with 2 things of
spaghetti, brie, homemade fig jam, crackers, more crackers, milk, tomato sauce.
Probably more, but this is all I can remember. I stopped her when she got to
the mozzarella, cus we already have some at home. Haha she was ADORABLE. This
woman was just so so kind and so angelic. Gosh, we were so so so happy that we
got to see her! She certainly brightened up our day :) After this, we did area
book!.. Then pranzo and lingua thennnnnnn a lesson with R, who chose knowledge
to study, so we studied that together. She told us how the conference gave her
many answers to her prayers. It was just awesome. I always feel the sweet
presence of the spirit when we go to see her :) I feel like she is someone I
will be friends with outside the mission per sempre. :) After, we saw G :)))
spoke about some more commandments. This girl is incredible. She is incredibly
mature for her age. I've said this before, but I have honestly never met anyone
like her. She is only 14 and she has one of the strongest testimonies I have
ever heard in my life. It blows me away. She's just awesome! After that, we did
English course. This time we did advanced.
Friday... Weekly planning. The zone goal was to be
more specific, so we did and we ran over into lunch time, but it was really
good :) This week will be way better :) We saw R again to finish the discorso.
On the way back, an African preacher from the 'Redeemed Church' started
speaking to us. Initially, because we were clearly foreign and could speak
English. Then he asked about what we do. We barely got the chance to speak, cus
he tried preaching at us. Oh my goodness. He was throwing bible references at
us left right and centre. Not to contradict us at all. I think it was more to
show off. He didn't really have a point, thinking about it. In the end, he was
like 'We are all doing the work of God in the end and I commend you', which was
annoying. We tried explaining the Book of Mormon and he was all 'No, we are
told only one Bible' .. and so we explain that this isn't a Bible. Roberts
pulls the scripture in Ezekiel 37:16 about the stick of Judah and the stick of
Ephraim. I just don't really think he got it, mainly because he wouldn't
listen. Every time we tried explaining something, he'd just change the subject
to something else random, or some other biblical scripture. Anyways, that was
fun..
After him, we went to the church to sort referrals.
Found that we were given a new one too, which we will contact tomorrow. :)
Oh we ended the day with pancakes: bacon and maple
:)
Saturday.. Today we began helping V with her spesa.
:) Then we did a spiritual though about Christ-like attributes :) It went super
well. I love her! Then we contacted our new referral and SHE ACTUALLY WANTS TO
SEE US. We are super excited, cus when I called her, I heard a baby in the
background, soooo it's a family I'm guessing :))))) Then we basically spent the
rest of the day trying to find ex investigators who we don't have a number for
and tried to pop in on a less active. We really struggled this week getting
appointments in general and so it was a little disheartening, but we carried
on. :) Also, received a bidone at the end of the day .. so that wasn't the
best.
Sunday.. Everything is always better on a Sunday.
We were ready to teach Gospel Principles, set off, got to church and I played
the piano for the meetings. Anziano Molnar translated into German, cus there was
a German family visiting (different from last week). The testimonies given were
very simple, to the point and powerful. Many spoke about the temple and General
Conference. After that, we did the Gospel Principles lesson. The lesson went
well. Everybody participated (it was a continuation of the one we did two weeks
ago about Gifts of the Spirit... longest lesson ever). It went well. After that,
we had Relief Society, which was awesomeeee. M CAME TOO :) Then we came
home, ate and studied.
After, we went down to the chapel for correlation,
then made calls for the following week and headed over to A’s. She was great as
usual. Got my laughing, gosh that woman is hilarious hahaha. Then we got to
share with her a spiritual thought about the importance of the sacrament and
she agreed with everything and accepted the invite to keep on coming and to
focus on Christ, as she partakes the sacrament. After that, she made us
potatoes and spicy stew. It was super good, but I think Roberts' throat nearly
got blown off hahah poor lass.
Well, that was my week. In terms of numbers and
lessons and finding new people, it wasn't super great, but we pray that being
more specific in weekly planning will change that. This week is looking good!
Update about our Monday morning too... So we walked
to Eurospin to go get spesa. Then went to the bus stop, as we had a heavy load.
The bus comes, but Sorella Roberts is a little behind me (I had the bags, she
had the cart). I stop the bus (this bus comes every 20/30 mins btw, so it was a
miracle it was there..) I stop it and wait for her to cross the road, but then
I couldn't see her and so I got on the bus to look through the window to beckon
her to come faster... but as soon as I stepped foot onto the bus, he closed the
doors and started driving off. In an absolute fluster, I'm like shouting to get
him to stop and he literally carried on as if I wasn't there, so I bang on the
plastic window that he was behind to get his attention and he still ignored me,
so I was like ‘Okay, let me off, let me off' and he was like 'Non posso' and so
I had to wait for the next stop. Well, this would be the day that there are
road works and so the bus was diverted and the next stop was what would usually
be like the 4th.. one before our house. Anyways, I call the Anziani to ask them
what they suggest. They were not super sure, but in the end we decided that
they were to drive to where I left her and I was to get onto the next bus back
there. Well, the next bus came early (miracle!!!) and as I was on the bus, the
phone rang. It was a member, but when I answered it, to my relief I heard MY
COMPANION’S VOICE. Then I got to the church and we were reunited. I felt awful!
Her side of the story is better, because she
received an answer to a prayer and there was nothing else it could have been
than quite literally .. an answer to a prayer.
Anyways, so that's it for this week haha. Hopefully
I'll get some boots today, as it's been raining quite a bit.
Love you once again!
Sorella Robertson
Xxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxxooxoxxooxoxoxoxoxoxxo
