Monday night = best lesson ever. At least, one of the best. We went back to Daniela with one of my most favorite members, Sorella Capelli. She and Daniela were a good match. While we were sitting there drinking our tea (or rather, infusions) she asked Sorella Capelli about her conversion story. She said she met the missionaries when she was 15, and now she's 50 - imagine that!
Anyway, we asked Daniela how reading Ether 12 went, and she turned to it to talk about each of the verses she had underlined - verses 4, 6, 27 all of the famous ones. We all turned to each other with these looks on our faces like ''And why isn't she a member yet?'' We then had a super sweet plan of salvation lesson, and Sorella Capelli was able to relate it to real life and how it's blessed her. I think Daniela really connected with it. She's planning on coming to church on sunday, has already talked with her mom who might be interested in receiving us, and inclined her head yes when I asked if she would be baptized. I'm really excited for her!
The work is continuing to progress as well as my faith. About 7 of 9 lessons have fallen through in the past two days, but just as I started to worry, the Lord put us in the path of those we were able to teach first lessons to with return appointments. I really just need to learn to put my trust in Him, which has always been a hard thing for me to do.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
the Sweetest Days
Saturday was just a sweet day. We were going out to proselyte, and I felt like we should switch the zones we had planned on. We're walking towards taking the tram when we see a lady in the park, so we deviate to stop and talk with her. We ended up teaching her all about the Book of Mormon and praying together. She's actually not from Bergamo, but we're going to follow up on her. About ten minutes later, the elders call with an urgent request for us to go and finish filling up the font for a baptism of an 8 year old. We were somewhat bummed, but went back and got our area book to look through while we were waiting. The day before, our washing machine broke, and two days before our phone broke...so these three things gave us the chance to do area book work for the first time in my mission. We ended up calling tons of people, some of whom said some not-so-nice words, but it all was worth it in the end because we found Daniela and Irma.
Irma we set up to meet sunday night. At first we started to get frustrated, because she kept giving us confusing directions. First she wasn't at the address she said, then she sent us further down the street, then said, ''Hey, you're at the pharmacy now, right? Okay, now turn back and come towards the bridge...'' (grumble, grumble) But we finally got to see her at this doener kebab place with her two friends. It was one of the coolest lessons! Her friends kept asking us all these questions about why we were different, what the book of mormon was, why joseph smith is important and why they hadn't heard of him before. The best part was Irma stepping in, and bearing testimony to her friends, and we had just met her! She kept saying things like, ''Yeah, I went to their church once, and it's the best church I've ever been to. They're really united, but from all over...Italians, Ecuadorians, Bolivians, Americans...but they don't let you fall down. If you fall, they pick you right back up.'' She even talked about why it just made sense that Joseph Smith was a prophet who restored Christ's church. It was AMAZING! We then saw her on the bus two days later (coincidence, I think not!) and she said she was talking to her daughter and her daughter said, ''Come on, mom! Can we please go to church with them on Sunday?" Her daughter's 17. So we're meeting up with them before english class sunday to teach them, then we're all going to english class together.
Daniela is 32 ish, Italian, and lives by the old part of town. It had been about 2 years since she had met with the missionaries last. When we walked in, she had her Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlet already out on the table. I asked her why she accepted to see us again when we called, and she said she always felt good and liked it when the missionaries came, and didn't understand why they stopped after just 2 or 3 times. She's super cool, works for the government, and has some interesting ideas about faith. She accepted to read the book of mormon and pray about it. She can't come to church this week, but wants to come the following.
And if that isn't enough, there was English class Sunday where the Italian family that we accidently found when we were knocking doors came up to us and asked if we could come see them again. We have an appointment with them in about an hour. And then if that isn't enough, Rocco, the dad of our other Italian family, came to church on Sunday! It was his first time in church. We couldn't sit by him but our member who's been coming to the lessons jumped right on it, answering his questions afterwards, and the bishop went right up to him, too. It was a sacrament meeting dedicated to seminary, so all of our teenagers were up there talking about it, bearing testimony, etc. He said that he liked it a lot, and needed to bring his wife and daughter the next time. Maybe it isn't the three weeks and then baptism, but they're making progress!
There are so many other stories to tell, but I'll have to cut it short. Needless to say, sometimes the Lord just tests our patience before we can receive the blessings He's prepared for us. There's also something else I wanted to be sure to include that I wrote after reading Elisa's talk as I was writing to Stephanie (so I apologize in advance to Steph when she rereads this):
I have realized just how aware the Lord is of us and our individual needs. He is constantly sending us opportunities for growth...usually disguised as trials...to help us become His sons and daughters. It's just up to us to use our agency and choose to take it in stride, or instead to lament and complain and let those opportunities slide by. I have seen that so clearly here on the mission. There are so many people prepared and ready for the blessings of the restored gospel - but it is and never has been easy. And so you're saddened and may even cry a bit when they choose to settle for less, but there is no greater reason to rejoice when they choose to accept it.
And then the great and wonderful journey begins. A journey full of potholes, delays, mists of darkness, and jeering mobs. Membership in the church is not a guarantee...a pass to happiness or your money back. Just after Moses saw one of the grandest visions of all time, the adversary immediately came to try and take away from that divine experience. Or think of all the trials and tribulations Joseph had to wade through after seeing God the Father and His beloved Son. There were times when even he cried out, "Oh God, where art thou?" Even Moses, one of the greatest prophets of all, "began to fear exceedingly." All of us will have our dark moments, our moments of Gethsemane. At certain times in our lives, we will all cry out "Where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?" But it is what happens next that will distinguish us as true disciples of Christ. Will we allow the mists to overtake us or give in to the jeering, feeling "ashamed" and "following into forbidden paths" after having already partaken of the fruit? Or will we "exert all our powers to call upon God," our loving Heavenly Father, relying upon the merits of His divinely given Son - He who has already descended below all things? I testify with all my being that as we do so, glorious light will fill our lives...Satan will depart...and we too shall hear "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes."
I know this is true. The Savior lives. He will never abandon us, if we will just reach out and call upon him in our times of need, exerting all our efforts to place feelings of negativity, doubt, or despair behind us. I love you all so much!
Irma we set up to meet sunday night. At first we started to get frustrated, because she kept giving us confusing directions. First she wasn't at the address she said, then she sent us further down the street, then said, ''Hey, you're at the pharmacy now, right? Okay, now turn back and come towards the bridge...'' (grumble, grumble) But we finally got to see her at this doener kebab place with her two friends. It was one of the coolest lessons! Her friends kept asking us all these questions about why we were different, what the book of mormon was, why joseph smith is important and why they hadn't heard of him before. The best part was Irma stepping in, and bearing testimony to her friends, and we had just met her! She kept saying things like, ''Yeah, I went to their church once, and it's the best church I've ever been to. They're really united, but from all over...Italians, Ecuadorians, Bolivians, Americans...but they don't let you fall down. If you fall, they pick you right back up.'' She even talked about why it just made sense that Joseph Smith was a prophet who restored Christ's church. It was AMAZING! We then saw her on the bus two days later (coincidence, I think not!) and she said she was talking to her daughter and her daughter said, ''Come on, mom! Can we please go to church with them on Sunday?" Her daughter's 17. So we're meeting up with them before english class sunday to teach them, then we're all going to english class together.
Daniela is 32 ish, Italian, and lives by the old part of town. It had been about 2 years since she had met with the missionaries last. When we walked in, she had her Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlet already out on the table. I asked her why she accepted to see us again when we called, and she said she always felt good and liked it when the missionaries came, and didn't understand why they stopped after just 2 or 3 times. She's super cool, works for the government, and has some interesting ideas about faith. She accepted to read the book of mormon and pray about it. She can't come to church this week, but wants to come the following.
And if that isn't enough, there was English class Sunday where the Italian family that we accidently found when we were knocking doors came up to us and asked if we could come see them again. We have an appointment with them in about an hour. And then if that isn't enough, Rocco, the dad of our other Italian family, came to church on Sunday! It was his first time in church. We couldn't sit by him but our member who's been coming to the lessons jumped right on it, answering his questions afterwards, and the bishop went right up to him, too. It was a sacrament meeting dedicated to seminary, so all of our teenagers were up there talking about it, bearing testimony, etc. He said that he liked it a lot, and needed to bring his wife and daughter the next time. Maybe it isn't the three weeks and then baptism, but they're making progress!
There are so many other stories to tell, but I'll have to cut it short. Needless to say, sometimes the Lord just tests our patience before we can receive the blessings He's prepared for us. There's also something else I wanted to be sure to include that I wrote after reading Elisa's talk as I was writing to Stephanie (so I apologize in advance to Steph when she rereads this):
I have realized just how aware the Lord is of us and our individual needs. He is constantly sending us opportunities for growth...usually disguised as trials...to help us become His sons and daughters. It's just up to us to use our agency and choose to take it in stride, or instead to lament and complain and let those opportunities slide by. I have seen that so clearly here on the mission. There are so many people prepared and ready for the blessings of the restored gospel - but it is and never has been easy. And so you're saddened and may even cry a bit when they choose to settle for less, but there is no greater reason to rejoice when they choose to accept it.
And then the great and wonderful journey begins. A journey full of potholes, delays, mists of darkness, and jeering mobs. Membership in the church is not a guarantee...a pass to happiness or your money back. Just after Moses saw one of the grandest visions of all time, the adversary immediately came to try and take away from that divine experience. Or think of all the trials and tribulations Joseph had to wade through after seeing God the Father and His beloved Son. There were times when even he cried out, "Oh God, where art thou?" Even Moses, one of the greatest prophets of all, "began to fear exceedingly." All of us will have our dark moments, our moments of Gethsemane. At certain times in our lives, we will all cry out "Where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?" But it is what happens next that will distinguish us as true disciples of Christ. Will we allow the mists to overtake us or give in to the jeering, feeling "ashamed" and "following into forbidden paths" after having already partaken of the fruit? Or will we "exert all our powers to call upon God," our loving Heavenly Father, relying upon the merits of His divinely given Son - He who has already descended below all things? I testify with all my being that as we do so, glorious light will fill our lives...Satan will depart...and we too shall hear "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes."
I know this is true. The Savior lives. He will never abandon us, if we will just reach out and call upon him in our times of need, exerting all our efforts to place feelings of negativity, doubt, or despair behind us. I love you all so much!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Happy Heart Day
Sarah and her new companion enjoying the best hot chocolate you can imagine!!
ANNA CHOSE HER BAPTISMAL DATE! Woo hoo! We were having our missionary correlation meeting when we heard her come in, so we slipped out to go say hi. She was absolutely beaming as she said, ''Sisters, I've chosen the date.'' She then turned to the entire relief society and announced that she wants to be baptized the first week in March. Everyone started screaming in our feminine way, and then there were so many hugs going around, you couldn't even tell who you were hugging. Thus, she will have NO problems integrating in the ward, because they already love her. We took another member in addition to her niece the last time, and they are way good friends now. I'm so excited for her. The commandments are not easy - like tithing when you're barely making ends meet - but when I gave her 10 M&Ms and asked for one back, she said, ''I want to give them ALL back to you.'' I bore testimony about mom going back to school, and how we always made it because mom and dad paid tithing first, in addition to all the sacrifices dad made. I know that the blessings far outweigh the cost!
This last week was a bit difficult because of the snow and everyone being sick. We weren't able to see 7 of our investigators, but hopefully we'll be able to see them this week. We were able to meet with Rachel, a new investigator, who had a really powerful conversion story in the Catholic church. At first we were worried, because she said she couldn't believe in the first vision. But then she said it made sense that there would be another testament of Jesus Christ, and she wanted to read the Book of Mormon and find out if it was true. We meet with her again tomorrow. We also met Goldy and were able to talk with her on the street about how this message could bless her family. She kept telling us that she wanted to come to church, so we invited her this sunday. I also met Giovanna on the bus yesterday, who told me about her brother who's had his fourth operation on his heart. I briefly explained that when my mom was in the hospital for heart problems, it was our faith and the power of prayer that helped us overcome our fears. She called me a ''guardian angel'' and said that it was inspired that I sat down and talked with her. She wants to hear more about our message with her husband. So the Lord keeps sending us people, despite the snow and the cold.
Hopefully I'll have more news for you next week. I absolutely love this city, especially the members (one family who we've only been to once gave us a ride last night at 9:30 after we desperately called them from the other part of the city because there were no more buses). My companion is awesome, and the work is just going to continue to grow.
Love you all. Happy Valentine's Day!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
A New Companion
Sarah's last two emails have been late in coming for a good reason - she headed to Milan to pick up a new missionary to train. Lucky for her, Richard is also training a new missionary this transfer so they are enjoying the excitement and miracles training brings. Here is what she wrote:
The miracle of the week was when one Sofia came to church. She is the daugher of my favorite members, who has made some wrong choices. We had dinner with her and her family, and went shopping with her on pday the week before. I was there playing the sacrament him when her mom and I both looked at the back doors, then the mom caught my eye and winked because she had come. It's so easy to stop going, and so hard to stop coming back. But there are so many blessings that come when we do.
We had two cool experiences teaching the Plan of Salvation this week, one with Anna and the other with Rocco and his family. The restored truth of eternal families is one of the most precious truths the gospel has to offer. As we testified of the chance of seeing our deceased loved ones again, the spirit was so strong. The temple really is the goal, not just baptism. Like President Monson said, we have not fully experienced all of the blessings of the gospel until we enter the temple together with our loved ones. How grateful I am that we have the chance to be together for all eternity, and not just for this life.
The miracle of the week was when one Sofia came to church. She is the daugher of my favorite members, who has made some wrong choices. We had dinner with her and her family, and went shopping with her on pday the week before. I was there playing the sacrament him when her mom and I both looked at the back doors, then the mom caught my eye and winked because she had come. It's so easy to stop going, and so hard to stop coming back. But there are so many blessings that come when we do.
We had two cool experiences teaching the Plan of Salvation this week, one with Anna and the other with Rocco and his family. The restored truth of eternal families is one of the most precious truths the gospel has to offer. As we testified of the chance of seeing our deceased loved ones again, the spirit was so strong. The temple really is the goal, not just baptism. Like President Monson said, we have not fully experienced all of the blessings of the gospel until we enter the temple together with our loved ones. How grateful I am that we have the chance to be together for all eternity, and not just for this life.
I have a wonderful new companion, Sorella Bush from Wisconsin. (See picture) Her Italian is already almost better than mine! Her dad served in Southern Italy over 30 years ago, and she took a bit at the Y (but thankfully like me she is not a cougar!) She is a wonderful teacher and willing to try new things. Her dad owns a canoe shop, so she loves the outdoors - hence we get along really well. She has a younger brother that's just finishing his papers, so she'll be like me and Rich. It's super sweet to use my sarcasm again, and I am learning so much from her. She is just what Bergamo needs. Plus, I really love the new 12 week program that gives us more companionship study time to do role plays, etc, so we can immediately put it into practice.
With my new companion, we are seeing miracles. We had a sweet lesson with Rocco, Bruna, and Elena about the Book of Mormon yesterday. They weren't reading, so we read about the seed in Alma 32, and the need to nourish ourselves spiritually every day. They came up with the plan to read together for 10 minutes at dinner every night. They then commented how much prayer has made a difference in their home. Rocco said, ''I even prayed for the Sorelle missionaries, that they would be tranquil, and that that Sorella Pastano would get home safely.'' Please keep praying for them. They would be such a strength to the church here.
Speaking of the church, they are breaking from 2 wards and forming yet another branch. This is the first province to do so. Everyone has started to catch missionary fever and are helping us out a bunch. Last week, we had a member present at every one of our progressing investigators. We also had an inactive young woman call us and tell us that she wants to take the lessons because she wants to come back to church. On sunday, one of our members brought a friend to church who had never been and has never met the missionaries before, and we went to young women's with her. It's so neat to be a part of the growth here in Bergamo. And we have more invitations to members than we can handle, because we need time to see our investigators, too!
It is so humbling how much the Lord is teaching me right now. Training this time is much different than the last. I've had to grow my faith so much more than before, realizing that it is literally impossible without His help. My prayers have become much more fervent, and my desire to serve with all of my heart, might, mind and strength has increased. And the Lord is multiplying our small efforts into many miracles. For example, last week I was worried about making it to 20 lessons when we had 8 to go with only three planned in two days. I learned to hard way to trust in Him completely. That saturday, as we were walking around knocking doors, people didn't even respond on the telephone but we just received ''click'' after ''click'' as they let us in. As we walked up to one door, the lady opened and said, ''Come on in.'' without even an introduction. We were able to teach them about the Book of Mormon. That night I thanked my Heavenly Father for doing that which I could not, as we reached 21 lessons.
I've reflected a lot on the story of Enos. He does his best, putting in the effort to climb the tallest mountain and then molten out 16 stones. Most likely he didn't get all 16 right the first time. And then after all that time and effort, he humbly comes before the Lord, telling Him that it may not be the best plan or course of action, but that it was the best he could come up with. All he expects is for the Lord to touch the stones. But then the Lord blesses him beyond measure, beyond his expections, and he is privelged to see the Lord. Instead of simply receiving the light he was in need of, he saw the Light and Life of the world, our Savior. It can be so with us. As we do our part, doing the best we can and humbly asking the Lord to make up the difference, He will bless us beyond our wildest dreams. After all, we are His children.
-Sorella Jacobson
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