No Greater Happiness

02-March-2012

Yesterday, while we were in the church waiting for our next lesson, it just so happened that Fratello Fichera was there.  He totally reminds me of my dad - seeimingly tough on the outside, but a teddy bear inside.  They both say what they mean, love to cook, and have similar mannerisms.  He gave me a blessing along with Anziano Sciaretta (the new elder who was with me in the MTC).  I don't quite know how to describe it, but as he put his hands on my head, I felt as if it really was MY father standing behind me.  He gave such a tender blessing, telling me how special I am and what an important work I am doing, over and over again.  He mentioned the special love that I have for this zone and these people, and how the Lord sees that.  He encouraged me to keep reading my scriptures and blessed me to heal quickly - I have just been feeling so tired lately.  After he finished, he even placed his hands on my shoulders, just like my dad always does.  The Lord truly is aware of us.

03-March-2012

This was one of the most beautiful baptisms I've ever experienced.  There was such a tender spirit.  I could hardly wait to finish English class, and then we ran down the stairs to find Anna already dressed with Sorella Pastano and her mom!  (How different she is with her southern Italian accent!)  We took pictures...Anna seemed to shine just as much as the white dress she was wearing.  AND THE WARD!  I had not gotten to know Bergamo 2 too much, but so many people came to support her, with hands full of food and flowers.  The whole chapel was filled with bright colors!

     After Monica (her niece) talked aobut baptism, I wqas priveleged to give the talk on the Holy Ghost.  The night before I had been stressing about what to say and couldn't get to sleep.  And then as it often happens, the Lord sent a brief outline into my mind and I fell asleep almost immediately.  I talked aobut how Anna is ''una donna retta'' or ''a righteous woman'' and how she embodies 2 Nefi 31:13 of acting with sincerity, without hypocrisy.  I talked aobut the blessings of the spirit and how Alma found inspiration to counsel his son from the guidance of the spirit - and how it would bless her children.  I did fine until the end when I started crying slightly and my voice cracked as I told her how special she was.  It must have truly been an inspired talk because so many members came up to thank me and tell me how natural it was.  

     And finally the baptism itself.  You could tell by the way she was already holding her nose that she was slightly nervous, but brother Robert Calvagna did excellent.  When she came up, she gave him a bitg hug and was smiling and laughing so wide, you just wouldn't even believe it.  Coming back into the room, she sat next to my companion and said, ''Sono nuova.''  (I'm new.)  She was invited to share her testimony and as she stood at the podium, a strength I've never seen before seemed to enter her frame.  She expressed gratitude to everyone and her new ward ''family.''  She then forcefully declared her desire to do her part to remain worthy of this promise and commitment.  It was so fervent, so sincere, there is no greater feeling as a missionary.  Afterwards, she came up to me and said, ''Non sono mai stata cosi felice nella mia vita.''  ''I've never been so happy in my entire life.''  As my call states, ''Greater blessings and more happiness than you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord is this labor of love among His children.''

There truly is no greater happiness.  I always agreed more with Aaron when Ammon is praising the Lord, that it was a little over the top.  But now I think I finally understand what he was talking about, and what it means to be filled with a joy so great that it exceeds your strength.  I cannot wait to see Anna many years down the road, and see what a tool she has been in converting friends and family, and in serving the Lord.  I cannot believe I was blessed enough to be a part of it!

Sorella Jacobson

Ever Onward

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.

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!

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!

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.

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

The Power of Prayer

The Lord continues to bless us with miracles with our new Italian family who are investigating.  I was able to talk with the mom a bit about her gregorian music (thanks to my music class at BYU).  She's legitamate...she gave us a couple of CDs they had recorded.  We had another great lesson with them about the first part of the plan of salvation.  They kept thanking us for giving them a perspective they have never had.  The mom said, ''In 20 years, you are the only ones to enter our home.''  The dad is super intelligent and very rational, but the thing that pushed him to let us come back was the prayer we had on the doorstep with him the first time we met him.  He now prays every time, and says that although he cannot explain it scientifically, he feels something.  

It's amazing how powerful prayer can be.  It's something we take forgranted, always having known how to pray.  But like the Bible Dictionary says, once we understand our relationship with our Heavenly Father, prayer becomes natural.  This also helped one of our new investigators, Ingrid.  We came to her house for a first lesson, and she mainly just needed to talk, so we left a short message about prayer with the invitation to pray.  She's a single mom whose fiancè passed away, and is always running around trying to make ends meet.  When I called her a few days later, she said, ''Guess what?  I prayed and something amazing happened.  It worked!  It actually worked.  My baby slept through the night for the first time.  I am able to get things done.  I feel so much more tranquil.''  We were able to go back and teach more about the restoration and the book of mormon.  But it was the prayer that changed her heart.

Anna came to church for the second time and talked with the bishop about how she wants to be baptized.  We prayed about a date for her, but felt we should leave it up to her to choose.  When we told her to pray about a date, she was really relieved.  She said, ''I told my niece that I wanted to pick the date.''  I think my companion was inspired to let her choose instead of us choosing for her.  We also have another couple who are preparing to get baptized the end of February.  At first we were just teaching the wife, but then the husband's mother passed away (she was a member) and so he started listening to us too.  He was the one to accept and kept telling his wife in regards to a baptismal date ''Devi pregare'' or ''You need to pray.''  Of course we wish it didn't have to happen, but trials bring us closer to our Heavenly Father.  

I was thinking this week about the roller coaster in Disneyland's California Adventures, and was thinking that the mission is a lot like that roller coaster.  It gently comes around the curve, and then all of the sudden you shoot off at high speeds.  From then on, you don't know whether to laugh or cry, open or shut your eyes, know which way is up or which is down.  There are moments when you wish it would all just end, and then others when you know the end will come all too soon and you wish you could keep going on forever.  But at most, the best you can do is just keep holding on and enjoy it as best you can.  There are many suprises and sudden turns you don't anticipate, but somehow after walking off with shaking legs, slightly nausiated, you get right back in line.  I remember when Richard and I went 6 times in a row.  I guess you could call us crazy, but I'm glad he's sitting alongside me for this wild ride. 


Sorella Jacobson

Update from Sister Jacobson

First off, my apologizes for the lack of posts in recent weeks.  I was locked out of Sarah's account for a bit and couldn't post anything.  But we did talk to her on Christmas and she sounds wonderful.  She is still in Bergamo and does get mail there every so often so please keep writing.  The miracles there continue - here are her latest emails below...

With the new year, the Lord has also brought in new blessings!  Sunday night we were a little discouraged because our investigator pool wasn't very big, plus none of our investigators made it to church.  We were out doing casa for the last hour and a half.  We decided to pray to know where to go, and instead of turning like we had planned to go to a different suburb, I felt like we needed to go straight.  We stopped at a few places without success, and then were in one building where a man said some not-so-kind words and threw us out.  We only had about ten minutes left and were debating what to do when I said, ''What's the worst that can happen, they can tell us to leave as well.''  We walked to the next building to find the door open, and the elevator waiting for us.  Luigi opened the door in his pajamas and talked to us for 20 minutes about the Book of Mormon.  He kept asking us a million questions and at the end we asked if we could pray with him.  He then invited us in where his wife had been on the phone, but hung up to talk with us.  She was even more curious then her husband, asking so many questions that we kept telling them we'd have to come back to answer them.  9:00 passed, then 9:10, then 9:20.  We then told them we absolutely had to leave for safety, but we didn't want to because there was such a spirit and also they were so hilarious that we were laughing almost the entire time.  

And the next miracle?  Another Italian family!  We had run into the father before Christmas, but with the holidays they had been too busy to meet with us.  We finally had an appointment with him again monday with his wife and ten year-old daughter.  They have investigated many different religious groups, and at the end Rocco (the dad) told me that everyone has god, has faith, has prayer, and has scriptures whether it's the Koran, Book of Mormon, Bible, etc.  I don't know where it came from, but I just told him straight up that yes, everyone has those things, but the thing that sets us apart is a modern prophet to lead and guide the children of men who receives direct revelation from God.  I told him that I had studied various religions as well, and scriptural texts are always limited to human interpretation.  However, a church led by God has continual direction and revelation, so there never is confusion or differences in interpretation.  There was a silence for a few seconds after, and it set in that maybe I had been a bit too bold.  Then Rocco quietly said, ''There's a prophet today?''  They then agreed to read Alma 32, pray as a family, and come to FHE - something they had politely refused before.  Rocco then asked his daughter to say the closing prayer, but she didn't want to so my companion said, ''Why don't you show your daughter how to pray.''  Rocco then said a very short but very sincere prayer.  He said that he had never prayed like that before, but that he felt something different as he prayed.  

These are just two examples of the miracles the Lord is blessing us with.  There are so many people He is preparing for this good news!  We are getting so many golden contacts each day, some of which turn into lessons and some of which don't.  For example, yesterday one of our senior couples called us with the number of a woman who wants to be baptized because her brother is a bishop in Ghana.  She had previously taken lessons and come to church, then had to leave for work, and now is back.  I am so excited for how He is blessing the work in Bergamo!

Time is going so fast that I hardly now what to tell you.  We met with one of our Italian families again, Rocco and his family, after seeing them at ice skating.  They also came to the ward family home evening.  Last night one of our members came with us whom they had met at FHE, and we were able to explain more about the restoration.  We then challenged them to baptism and the dad said, ''It would only be logical to be baptised after we received an answer.''  They are so awesome, and very informed.  They've met with Jehovah's Witnesses before, read parts of the Koran and other religious books, etc.  When I said we wanted to read from the Bible they went to their library and came back with about 5 different versions.  The wife had even checked up on the internet and asked us about the word of wisdom, etc.  She studied music at the university and teaches how to sing gregorian chants.  Please pray for them!  The daughter is hilarious, but also gives these one liners that are just so inspired.  I think she will be a great help for her family.  Last night I could tell she wanted her own copy of the Book of Mormon, so I asked if I could leave one for her.  She said, ''I don't really know why, but I just love it when you guys come over.  Hope to see you soon!'' 

Another miracle is the miracle of Anna.  She had come with her niece to one of the baptisms in the other ward, and then stayed for the Relief Society dinner where we got her number.  She was super difficult to contact, and we weren't able to see her during the holidays.  So finally we called her niece who arranged a meeting for us.  When we walked in, she had cooked dinner for us.  We started eating, and my companion asked the niece how she came to know the church.  That started the whole dinner off on a conversation about the gospel.  Instead of talking about other things, like the weather, Anna was talking about her religious background, experiences she had had to know there was a God, how she was Catholic but always felt that something was off, etc.  Meanwhile the niece was sharing stories and bearing testimony about anything from the Word of Wisdom, to young adult activies, etc.  Towards the end, Anna said, ''I want to know everything.  After seeing my niece all these years, I know this is what I need to do.  I want to read the Book of Mormon, and can I come to church sunday?  I also want the missionaries to find my daughter in Bolivia.''  We briefly explained the Book of Mormon, and she accepted to be baptized!  Richard's right, member referrals are the best!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful NEW YEAR!