Ciao Cimiano

We got transfer news this week! It was so nerve racking. Usually you get transfer calls on Saturday but this time President called us on Friday. We missed it and he didn't call us back for 3 hours! It was the most nerve racking 3 hours of my life! Well it turns out I will be going to Ravenna! I will be going with Sorella Hernandez. She is from my group but she is from Rome and so she will be going home a transfer after me because she didn't have to spend the time in the MTC. I'm super excited! The sisters haven't been there for about 6 months so it will be fun to get to know the city with Sorella Hernandez.

That being said, this week was full of goodbyes. It is really hard to say goodbye to these people I've spent 6 months with. I feel like I'm leaving home. They have shown me so much love and I have learned so much from them. Cimiano is such a special place and I feel like I put my whole heart into this area. I know that Ravenna will be amazing and that I'm needed there but it doesn't make it any less hard to leave.

We had lunch with Aydee and she made probably my favorite classic Venezuelan food.

We saw Giuseppe and Rosella. Haha, they crack me up. They are the most Italian people I have ever met. Rosella has a heart of gold too.

We had dinner with Tina and Mahesh. I am going to miss Tina so much. She has done so much for me and she always takes care of us. She would fit right in at home. Even when you say you're stuffed she scoops extra food on your plate. I love helping her cook. She is so humble and is always looking for more she can do. She knows how to love everyone around her even when they may be difficult to deal with and she stands up for them.

We said goodbye to Mama on Saturday. The girls weren't there but at least I was able to see them Sunday. I'm going to miss them so much. We sang some karaoke for good times sake and we had fun visiting with her. I will miss the way she says "Sister..(add a sentence to fit the occasion here) .."

Tuesday we had a karaoke night for Family Home Evening. It was a lot of fun and people had a good time! Gabriele and Patrick came. It was good to see some of the other people that I hadn't said goodbye to yet. I was really hard to say goodbye. I love these people here so much. I wish I could describe how much Cimiano and the people here mean to me but it just wouldn't do it justice. I really feel like I'm leaving home.

Two amazing miracles happened on Tuesday though! We saw Chiara and she said that she was feeling good about the church but hadn't felt like she had received an answer yet. We decided to teach about following the prophet and watched the conference talk "Choices" by our prophet Thomas S. Monson. (Ironically she was thinking of naming the baby Thomas.) But while we were watching the talk, she received an answer and a strong confirmation that getting baptized is the right thing to do. She felt like she needed to put Christ first and follow him. It was such an amazing experience and so we set a baptismal date for September 23rd. She will be leaving for all of August so this will give her time after she gets back to keep preparing herself and it also meaning that she will be receiving the Holy Ghost on her birthday September 24th. The Spirit is everything. I'm so grateful that she was able to recognize the confirmation and receive an answer to her prayer. Then, later that night at FHE, we were talking to the investigator of the Anziani and as we got to talking he expressed a very strong desire to take the steps necessary to be baptized and he wants to bring his children to church as well. He would love for his children to join the church with him. They are 14 and 18. I'm so excited and I feel so immensely blessed to see all these miracles.

Sorella Allen shared a story with us this week about when she and President Allen signed up to be foster parents for a baby for a time period. They were assigned to take care of a preemie. They would take turns going to the hospital and staying with her and showing her love and when it was time for her to leave the hospital they took her everywhere with them. She barely ever opened her eyes. They gave so much to this little baby. The time came when it was time for them to give this little baby to the adopting family. They were so grateful that she had a loving family to go to but after Sorella Allen cried. She went on to ask do we love because we serve or do we serve because we love? In the end it doesn't matter so much because they go hand in hand. I'm so grateful for the time I have had in Cimiano to love and to serve. I know I will cherish these people that I met here forever and I will be leaving a piece of my heart with them.

"We grow to love those whom we serve. And because serving others is serving God, we grow to love Him and our brothers and sisters more deeply. Such love is a manifestation of the spiritual gift of charity, even the pure love of Christ.​​"-Elder David A. Bednar

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

Mama, Jasmine, and Christine. I love them so much! 

Chiara and Rosella

Me and Tina!

Gomez family

Guerrero family. Old ward mission leader. Emmy was so tired.

Anga-Angan family. He was our new Ward Mission Leader this transfer

Picture with Tatiana. Perfectly describes us

A Week Well Done!

We will do just some of the highlights again:

1. We had scambio this week with the sorelle from Alessandria. I was with Sorella Mays and it was a lot of fun! We went to go play soccer and a potential, Monica, came. She has twin boys who like to play soccer and so she brought them as well. Most of the time we just sat off to the side talking to her and we were able to show her the Prince of Peace video. She really liked it and even admitted to searching for us on the internet. She was pleasantly surprised that we don't worship saints. She is now out of town on vacation but hopefully she will be interested when she comes home. 

2. An investigator of the Anziani was baptized. Her name is Chin and she doesn't speak English or Italian. It was cool to see how welcoming the ward was anyways. They did the best they could to communicate with her. Luckily, a member in the ward is from Taiwan. She also gave us skirts and sparkly, pink ponchos. We wore them to church the next day (without the ponchos) and it was worth it for how happy she was to see us in them. 

3. We took Jasmine and Christine (mama's kids) out for gelato. We had fun being with them and it had felt like forever since I had seen them! 

4. We saw Chiara and we taught her the gospel. Rosella was there and it went really well. We asked her to start praying for a baptismal date in September since she's leaving for vacation in August. She's doing well. Their family is being hit with some hard things but for the most part they are staying strong and handling it pretty well.

5. We played Bang for the first time! It's a super fun Italian card game that is similar to the game mafia. 

6. We had some meetings and now we are a lot better organized! Maribel the relief society president is amazing! She works so hard day-in day-out. 

7. Yesterday during FHE, a couple of investigators were there. One investigator was super into the lesson and was giving good input, feeling the Spirit, etc. The other was passed out during the lesson. But we are all paying attention and listening to the lesson. Until we hear Carlos choke on his snore and make a puking sound. I couldn't look at any of the missionaries. I was in the verge of busting up laughing while I was sitting right next to the interested investigator. Sorella Fife couldn't really hold it in and so she runs out faking a cough attack. I just knew all the Anziani were looking at me and it didn't help the laughing situation. I had to excuse myself to "go check on my companion". I was dying laughing.  

Overall great week! A scripture that has helped us this week is Mosiah 4:27. 

27 And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

I think sometimes we forget that it says that we should be diligent. Sometimes it can be better to give 100% to one task instead of 50% to two. It's something that has helped us refocus and become more organized in our missionary work. And it is good to remember that Heavenly Father doesn't expect anything more than you can give but He does expect all that you can give. 

I love you all and I hope you have a good week!

Highlights

Here are the top 7 favorite things of the week!

1.    Someone cancelled on us so hard. Everything kind of fell through. Our scambio was cancelled, so we had to cancel one of our appointments and then the other appointment that we didn't cancel cancelled on us. Everything turned out perfectly fine though because we ended up being able to go and teach Chiara. We taught her the Restoration and it went so well! The spirit was so strong and you can tell her faith is increasing. Before we started the lesson we were talking about something that had happened that week with the father of her baby that made her super anxious but then as soon as we started the lesson she started to feel peace. All those nervous feelings left. She even said that she was starting to think about baptism. We saw her twice this week and the other time her friend Denise was there. I LOVE DENISE! She is so funny and so supportive of Chiara. She expressed that she has been feeling a bit lost lately and they resolved together to come to the next church activity since they were so sad they missed the Picnic we had. 

2.    We had the ward picnic. That morning we were a bit nervous and anxious because we weren't sure what to expect. But then we figured it will turn out fine and no matter what happens the thing that is important is that people feel welcome, make new friendships, and enjoy their time. It was so cool because a man who we usually play soccer with brought his sister and her family. They really enjoyed it. They agreed to come to soccer and that we could show them a little video of Christ there. They were super nice. People are always so interested in what 20 year olds are doing here in Italy for such a long time away from their families. 

3.    We had scambio with Muggiò. I was with Sorella Roloff who is from Salt Lake City too. She is so cute and we had a lot of fun together even with being yelled at by a grumpy lady. That evening we had a really good lesson with Abigail and Edda. It was my last time seeing Edda because she is leaving to Greece for awhile but it was a good lesson to end on. I felt like I was able to be a bit more bold with her and she with us. She has a lot of love in her heart and she truly does want well for everyone. 

4.    We had Zone conference. It went really well! Sorella Fife and I gave a training but my favorite training was from Sorella Allen. She taught us about the sacrament and about how the best time to start preparing to take the sacrament is right after you take it! The sacrament is my favorite part of the week because especially as a missionary, you are always doing things for other people. This is the one thing you get to do for yourself. You get to renew YOUR own covenant. 

5.    We had a concert outside our window this week. It was a Jazz and Blues concert. It was pretty good too! It was fun to listen to it for a while but it didn't stop me from passing out that night. I was way too tired!

6.    We played a good joke on the anziani and dumped some water on them as they were passing under our window. A couple of them expected it of us too much but we got Anziano Harris pretty good! 

7.    We sang the National Anthem with Gabriele from English class. He also brought his GIANT American flag and we hung it up while we discussed the history of America. 

Okay I love you all! I'm all out of time but everything is going well over here in Italy! 

Miss you!