Two Missionaries, One Purpose: Caserta 18/1/16 - 2/2/16

Well this week has been kinda strange and I haven't had time to write at all in my 'iPad journal' and I wanna make the most of my last pday here, so I'm just gonna share a few of my fave moments from the week. Like I'll take one thing from each day.

I'll start with pday, since it was probably the best one I've ever done. So me and Nelson planned on going to Pompeii, just the two of us and we got to the metro stop in Napoli to go there, then who comes but the Napoli Anziani (our favourites!!) so then it turned out they were heading to Pompeii too, so we ended up going together. As we were waiting we met a kid from England and one from Australia who met while traveling around Europe and just stuck together, like travel buddies, so that was cool, cus we got to explain who we were and the English lad was like 'I never thought we had Mormons in England', so I guess now he knows!

The pday itself was just so much fun. Like Pompeii is super beautiful. The history is super interesting and like yeah, we loved it, but doing it with the Nap Anz was the best part of it. They are literally so fun, so we just had a great time! Anyways, while walking around who did we bump into than the Battipaglia missionaries too! Everyone, without knowing, had chosen that day to do their out of zone p'day and had chosen Pompeii. We didn't hang out with them though, we just took a pic and carried on. Then we all headed back to Napoli, got pizza and chilled at the church kinda emailing, exchanging pics and chatting. Then headed home for some lessons! With the G, A and K.

Pompeii P-Day Photos

On Tuesday we headed over to see M. We decided that we didn't wanna see her cry, at all. So we just tried our best to distract her and make her laugh and smile etc. It went so so so well. Not a tear. We read from the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 18. Then at the end as we left, Sorella Nelson was all 'We are glad that we came and we saw you happy...." And before she could carry on M bursts into hysterical tears and is all 'I'M NOT HAPPY I'M TOO FAT. I CANT DO ANYTHING" and then that was our call to leave.

We also saw Sorella V and S, G, O and A and A. I have it written in my diary how it went, but I just have 0 time to write it on here.

Highlight of Wednesday. Well we weren't able to get ties ourselves, so our wonderful wonderful Napoli Anziani had gone for us, so they gave them to us at DDM. Ammon's, I'll send from home, cus this place sucks for post :( still haven't received the Christmas gift from Ammon. It's probably been stolen. Anyhuuuu.. DDM was good! We had literally no lessons this day, so in a work sense it sucked. The little time to proselyting that we had, nobody could see us. In the evening, there was the worldwide mission conference. That was suuuuuuper awesome. There was an English kid there too for some of the addestramenti. Think his name is EF, so that was cool to hear a fellow Brit accent among 1M American accents hahah. Then la coppia B bought treats for us to eat after. I'll send my notes in another email. I took a lot!

My last DDM

Highlight of Thursday.. Well there weren't really any highlight, but we saw G, S, and O with D (an awesome YSA member/recent-ish convert). The highlight was actually probably the referral we received from the Anziani in Pozzuoli. They had found this really awesome woman called T. The first time round when we went to call her. It was an African man called D. We were soooo confused hahahaha; so after a nice chat with D the investigator, we called the Anziani back all confused and then got the real number. She seemed awesomeeeeee, so we were super excited about her!

Our lesson with G about repentance was my highlight. We did weekly planning at the chapel with the lesson like, part way through we watched the talk 'Free forever to act for themselves' and discussed what it really means to repent and how we go about it. He seemed to understand better. We saw M too, (the one who lives below the Anziani) and she fed us a TON of biscuits hahah. Good job we have been exercising!

Saturday was a great day. We will begin with..

THE FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK: (which happened in the afternoon)

So Sorella Nelson and I had been talking about how we are gonna deal with the creepy men who look at us like we are meat and shout perverted things at us (it's a regular occurrence, like it happens at LEAST once a day). Welcome to Italy! So we had a few ideas and they were all kinda jokes. I was just like, how about we just drop the bap invite, like straight up and if they say no then we're just like 'ALLORA COSA VUOI?!' Then we thought about pretending not to understand, etc.

So with this being said, on Saturday, as we were traveling back from Capua after a lesson with V. About 7 ragazzi (teenage boys) sat a little ahead of us on the train. Then they must have seen my tag as I was kinda facing them and they started shouting "ROBERTSON" "SORELLA" "ROBERTA" "GESÙ CRISTO" "SISTER" and I'm just ignoring them. Then they all come and surround us like literally at least 7 of them, all with their lil ragazzacci nose piercings and the sort and they like ask what our names are.. They were literally like pigeons to a crumb. Then they turn to Nelson and asked her and she is just like talking absolute nonsense to them like "blub. Blubblobblub" meanwhile I was DYING! Like literally, so so close to peeing myself and these ragazzi just looked so confused, so I was just like "lei non parla" (she doesn't speak) HAHAHAHAHAHAH Then they are all like telling me I have beautiful eyes and I'm just like still dying at Sorella Nelson who is still doing that weird thing. Then this one is like "Sorella Robertson, sei carina" all smooth and quiet, like looking at me deeeep in the eye and it was literally THE funniest moment I think I've had with Nelson; like it even beats the olive tree. So funny! #blubblubbbb

ANYWAYS, we had some really awesome lessons. Saturday was actually easily my favourite day of the week. In terms of work and having fun; the balance was just perfect, because it was my fave. I'll talk about it all.

So, first thing in the morning, we went over to see A. She was in, with her 3 beautiful beautiful children. We taught them about the sabbath day and how it is the day of the Lord. In the end, we invited them to, as a family, find a way in which they can, together, observe more closely the day of the Lord. They accepted :) They are just such a wonderful family. The ward would really benefit having them! After, we did some street finding. Then headed over to G for Pranzo with A. SHE IS SO AWESOME. She told us all about how her and B met. I literally love them. Their love story is the cutest thing! Then she was talking about her mission, shared some stories and also gave me 'going home advice'. She's awesome! Then she took us to Subway (we were on the base) to get cookies haha :) After that, we saw V. We did the Plan of Salvation and got a hot choc! It went well! Then the funny story happened. Then we went straight to see G. Okay. This family. We met all her kids, I, M and C. They are ADORABLE. I literally felt so so so at home in their house with them! G is our investigator and we have just wanted to get to teach the whole family all transfer and something has always come up. We met the Dad in the hospital when we visited last wee, cus one of the kids (I) was ill. Then we met the son on Saturday, who is suuuuuper awesome! Literally, ahhhh. I love them. Me and Nelson are just so excited about them. THE CUTEST LITTLE FAMILY. Another family that this ward would really benefit from! Oh another funny story, the Napoli Anz called to tell me all about an English girl they met on the train.

Sunday.. Church. I bore my testimony in Italian in Italy FOR THE LAST TIME WAA. So sad. I said bye to all the members. O and G came! :) It was just great. We ALSO took a new investigator! We had been trying allllll transfer to see this woman and we finally got a hold of her. At the beginning, she was like 'I wanna be honest, I'm a Catholic and I just meet with you guys out of interest...so I don't wanna waste your time", but we obviously just went ahead and taught the restoration anyways and she told us how she tried reading the Book of Mormon before, but it's hard to understand, just like the Bible. Anyways, we bore our testimonies about how we can understand it and know of its truthfulness and then we gave her some references from the Book of Mormon about the after life, cus that was an interest of hers and she committed to read and pray. :) She was suuuuper awesome and she can't wait to see us again! Then we saw A and K!

My last Sunday in Caserta

This week has been a little weird. I have kinda felt at times that I'm 'dying' in a sense that, there are certainly some days where I have needed to pray for the desire to continue strong, you know. I'm getting tired, but we just go for it every day and I'm definitely seeing the pull between Satan trying to make me lazy and the Lord giving me the strength to do my best. It literally feels like a game of tug of war at times, but I am loving every minute of serving. I feel guilty that I need to pray for that, but it works and we have seen so many miracles this week. This whole transfer, I don't think I have ever seen numbers so good. Like, I know you shouldn't measure work on numbers but just, there is something about this area. This companionship too. We literally have so so so much fun, but I love teaching with Nelson. We work so so well together and we help each other! I love it!

Well, I cannot believe that I will be home next week. Oh. My. Goodness. Not really sure if I'll be emailing next week either, cus, like, I'll be in Rome and I probs won't have the iPad? I really don't know, but I'll see you on Tuesday anyways!

Well, that's it for me. Miracles are still happening. The Lord is SO involved in his work. Me too, but only because he helps me! The mission is the best. I'm sad it's coming to an end, but I am so excited to help with the work in my own area now.

I love you all so so much.

Me xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Guys. I don't have much time to say anything. I've had 0 time this week with packing, saying goodbye to people and being in Rome for interviews and the sort, but it's been a week full of emotions. I'm just gonna write a few notes that you probably won't understand.. but I'll explain them within the next few days.

Anyways, notes.

Literally said goodbye to everyone.

Nelson got her transfer call Friday night. She's going to Bari. HAMMY IS GOING TO DIE IN CAGLIARI. WE HAVE 3 CITIES IN COMMON!!!

I packed. Late night. Left it til last last min.

Left early to Napoli. Me and the Napoli Anziani. Anz. Coe bought me strawberries for my trip, cus he remembered the strawberry story about the pandora charm hahaha 😂

Got to Rome. GOT OFF THE TRAIN AND ANZ JACOBS WAS ALL SO excited to tell me that my verdina was going to be getting her very own verdina!!! Roberts is training! SHE IS GOING TO BE INCREDIBLE. Oh my gosh. Literally, her greenie is so so so so soooo lucky! So yeah. Then I saw Roberts and just cried when I saw her. Gosh I have missed her so much.

Then I went to the office to weigh and sort all my suitcases (I was finally reunited with the other one haha). I was 8 lbs over, so I got rid of a ton of clothes and stuff. I'm literally coming home with 2 pairs of shoes haha .. when I left with like 10. They're all so worn out. Then I had my interview with Pres. Yes, it's true.. They talk about marriage. He spoke about continuing with the new good habits I've picked up in the mission and always being worthy for a temple recommend. Standards for who I'd date. What to expect when I come home. Just like a good talk, you know. Then at the end he was like "As President of the Italy Rome Mission I have the keys to speak on behalf of Jesus Christ himself" and just expressed gratitude for the work I've done here and it was just so awesome. Like happy and sad and just strange, but I really loved it and really felt that it was Christ speaking. He just.. Yeah. Spoke about a ton of stuff and I just felt so good after! Asked about college. Told me he gave a really good reference, so he was sure that I'd get my first choice. And yeah. It was awesome!

Anyways, I will see you tomorrow. There is just so much going through my head right now. Still got my finance interview and other stuff to do.

It's gonna be hard to leave this place. I'm totally comprehending the feeling of bitter sweet right now. So for this, this email kinda sucks, cus I really don't know what to do or say, but I know that the moment I see your faces - all the sadness of leaving will vanish for a while. I love you and can't wait to hug you all!

The church is true. This work is the work of the Lord and I'm still gonna be a part of it for the rest of my life.

This week was super awesome! I have loved spending time with the people in Caserta. I have come to love them so much in the period of time I even here, however short it may have been. It's been such a blessing to serve here.

I'll put pics on iCloud, since my iPad is getting given in in like 30 mins I think... So please please save them! I won't have time to put them on a memory card.