Gesù & Gelato: There's no place like Rome for the holidays

Except I'm in Caserta..... close enough!

Buon Natale! Merry Christmas!🎄 I hope yall have a wonderful week celebrating the birth of our Savior!!

Although most of our investigators are busy during the holidays and haven't been able to meet with us, we witnessed so many Christmas miracles this week, I hope I can remember them all.

I'll start by saying that three of our investigators have committed themselves to prepare for baptism!

First, Stefania. She is one of our english course students that's our same age and is the absolute cutest. Stefania comes to english course with her older brother (Antonio) and her younger brother (Federico) and they are just the best of friends. It makes my heart so happy to see them interact... definitely reminds me of my siblings! We typically teach her before or after english course, but on Friday night we made plans to go visit her alla casa sua! Stefania introduced us to her parents and they were so so nice!! It's just a really high quality family. When we found out Stefania had been consistently reading the Book of Mormon, our topic of conversation immediately turned to baptism because her desire to follow Christ is so apparent. As of present, Stefania and her brother Antonio are going to be baptized on February 4th! She's really hard to understand so I just stick to my norm: smile, nod, bear testimony :) .

Second, Patience. The ward Christmas party was a success on Saturday night, we had the english course students do the nativity for the ward in English and it was hilarious! I love when Italians speak English haha. Before the party, we went with some members and dropped off a ton of groceries and food for one of the less-active members in the ward who can't afford a Christmas. It was amazing to see how happy she was!! She had a friend over named Patience who ended up coming to church on Sunday and is now an investigator! Patience is from Nigeria and is so smart and so sweet. It's amazing the miracles that come from service.

Third, Sofia. She is 21 and is also from Nigeria! We were given her phone number as a referral and have been trying to meet up with her for the past 4 weeks. Well on Thursday it finally happened! The Battipaglia sorelle came up for a scambio on Thursday and so Sorella Barnes and I were together this time.....greenies take on Caserta. It was a struggle and a half but we survived! We went and

visited with a member and she did most of the talking so that was nice :) . So while Sorella Barnes and I are struggling in Italian, our trainers are off teaching Sofia... in English! Not bitter though. I got to meet her briefly and she was so sweet, I can't wait to get to know her and help her develop a relationship with Christ!!

We also experienced several smaller miracles this week, I'll just tell one.

Maria. She is one of our less actives that was just released from the hospital so we visited her twice this week! Just stopped by to say ciao and share a spiritual thought. Her daughter was over the first time we visited and we sang Christmas songs together. Her daughter started crying because the spirit was so strong and we were able to give her one of our wrapped copies of the Book of Mormon. Anyways, Maria has a hard time getting around and couldn't put up Christmas decorations so we took her a little Christmas tree and decorated it together- she loved it! It made my heart so happy to see her happy! Then on Friday, Sorella Hess and I felt like we should go visit Maria again even though we had been to her house 2 times! We made the three mile walk down to her house for a suprise visit and Maria said "I was hoping the Sorelle would visit me today but I didn't think you would since you've already seen me twice this week" !!!!!! I know that as we pray to be led by the Spirit in all things, we will see miracles.

Yesterday was Sorella Hess' birthday so to celebrate we took a district trip to the salon today for pday hahaha. The Anziani all got pedicures, don't worry there's photo evidence. It was a blast, I'm blessed with the best! Companion, district, city, mission, everything. Life is so good! I love being a missionary.

I'm so thankful for this time of year we have to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm so lucky to be spending the Christmas season sharing His love with the people of Caserta! I know that Christ lives and loves every single one of us. I hope that amid the busyness of the season you're able to find time to remember the birth of our Savior and reflect on his beautiful life and example!

Vi voglio bene!
XOXO,
Carley

Sorella Carley Neuberger
Via Caduti Sul Lavoro 3
Caserta CE 81100 Italia