Sister Anderson Mission Blog: Better Late than Never

I feel like it's been forever since I've actually written a weekly email but better late than never! Here are the 7 highlights of the week:

On Friday we made brownies and decided to take them by the Verduga family, papa Verduga to be exact. There are two Verduga families in the ward and one is the dad and the other is the son. We have been trying to see them for awhile but plans kept falling through and we finally had some time. We were worried because it was already a little late but it was lucky because if it had been any earlier we would have missed them. It was great visiting them and we had a good lesson about how the small things like praying, reading scriptures, and going to church invite peace into your life. They also have a cat. Everyone knows I am not a fan but this cat melted my heart! It was 12 years old and a little chubby but still played and cuddled like a kitten! I wanted to take it home with us!
We saw Marilena... or Marilin again and we were able to talk to her. She stopped talking to us for awhile because there were some things that were holding her back from baptism. She still needs to find her testimony and start reading the Book of Mormon. It was such a relief to see her again though. It had been way too long! We missed her!
Fernando has not moved to Paris yet so we are still waiting for that change. We went over there and taught them but surprise stayed for lunch. They are so funny and I just really love them. I just hope that they will be able to go Paris because that's what they think will be best for their family.
We saw Rita and Danielo on Monday night. It was kind of funny because before the appointment we had established that if they invite us to stay for dinner we say no because we don't have time. LOL. They had done hamburgers especially for us, bought gelato from the gelateria, and had their favorite things from the south for us. How could we say no? So we ended up staying and stuffing our faces. They are such a good family and have so much patience in their hearts. They will be super busy over the next few weeks and over the summer so I don't know how much more we will see of them.
Gaia is so amazing! She saved our butts completely. We had named a karaoke night and the Anziani said they could take care of the equipment. Well, Saturday night arrives and nothing is figured out. Luckily Gaia let us use her phone and we were able to hook that up to a TV and we had a microphone. It was such a hit! I have never been so stressed. At the beginning I really wanted to go hide in a room because I had no idea how it was going to work out. But a lot of Youth came and after we were able to pump them up at the expense of our own dignity, they absolutely loved it!
People can be so random. We were on our way home after being at the church and the Anziani were with us. People just walked up to them and took a picture (the people were drunk of course). They were talking about walking over and getting a picture with the "chicas". They didn't but it was so ridiculous. Then a completely different guy kicked an empty water bottle at Sorella Williams foot while he slowly but surely got on the metro, laughing, and never breaking eye contact. It was so funny we all just busted up laughing.
Mother's Day!! It was so awesome to talk to family! I probably could have taken 3x the time that I did and I swear I remembered everything that I wanted to say after I hung up.

This past few weeks I've been trying to strengthen myself spiritually. Sometimes it's hard for me because I have an idea of where I want to be but not any idea where to start. There are so many little things that need tweaking or maybe I need to make big changes in other aspects. Sometimes it can be hard to keep trying and trying and trying over and over when it is so easy to just fall back to where you were. I found this quote from a talk called "Foundations of Faith."

"Personal foundations, like many worthwhile pursuits, are usually built slowly--one layer, one experience, one challenge, one setback, and one success at a time."

It's hard because usually I want to sprint to the finish line but it's time that turns the little things into habits. You have to take it one step at a time and you can't skip steps. I just love this because it applies to so many aspects of life whether it be growing your faith, repentance aka trying to change, and then you finally succeed. It's a never ending process because there will always be a next step just like in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well I don't know if that all made sense but it made sense in my head.

I love you all and I hope you all have an amazing week!

Gaia and Gabriele.