Gesù & Gelato: Stefania came to Church!!!!!!

Ciao a tutti!

That's right, Stefania came to church this week. I would like to say this was our miracle of the week but more amazing things happened, you'll have to keep reading. We had a goal for 1 lesson every day this week and by some miracle we accomplished it! We have been visiting Stefania, a less-active, every single week that I've been here and probably long before that. And we've made plans so many times for her to get to church and they always fall through. So yesterday we called and called and called and she never answered. Then when I saw her head poke into the chapel I had to do a double take! There was a smile on my face the rest of the day, undoubtedly. The members were all very sweet and saluted her, so hopefully this is the start of something really good.

Gift and Stefania

Also at church this week: GIFT! Wonder woman! She is amazing, I don't think I can say it too much. Sometimes I have to take a step back and think about all that she's been through... escaping her country in Africa, seeking refuge in Italy, losing both parents.. and she's only a couple years older than me. Wow. She brought Unity to the lesson (the cutest little african boy that she babysits) and was telling us how he can't go to school here because he doesn't have documents. It's a really long process for them to get those. Just one of the many humbling experiences and encounters we have on a day-to-day basis.

This one's for Chase: yes, spending 5 hours a day or more doing finding is rough, but I can sympathize. We do like 20-30 hours a week. Sometimes it's tough!! Especially a couple days this week when it was raining and there weren't too many people out. In those cases you have to stop everyone, even if you think you know what the outcome will be. On Tuesday we were doing just that and a lady, in the middle of the street, said "Prego!", meaning go ahead, tell me the message!!!!! So we stood there in the middle of the street in the pouring rain, huddled under umbrellas, and bore testimony of the love our Heavenly Father has for His children. Seed planting!! It's experiences like those that you can't be fully prepared for, but that you'll never forget.

We had a scambio with the Cagliari sorelle this week, they came to Sassari again. I was with Sorella Greer, she is in her 3rd transfer and her dad served in the Rome mission back in the day! So we set up a meeting with a lady named Bianca, Sorella Greer's dad was really close with when he served here in Sassari! I was so lucky to be a part of the beautiful reunion of Bianca and Sorella Greer. They were both in shock a little but it was so special to witness. We were with Bianca in Bianca's house, exactly where Sorella Greer's dad came when he served here. They spent a lot of time catching up but we did get to share a spiritual thought from the Book of Mormon! Not sure if Bianca is super interested in the gospel, but now we have that connection with her and she said we are welcome back any time :)

Visited Alghero for our p-day.

Also during the scambio.....Sorella Greer and I were doing casa in casa and got buzzed into a building! We knocked on Tina's door, apparently she had met sorelle on the bus in the past. She was sick and not feeling well at all but let us into her house so she could write down her phone number for us to call her when she gets feeling better!!

This week at english course we decided to "break boxes" (call everyone out) and teach prayer. We read James 1:5 and talked about the importance of prayer and having a relationship with Heavenly Father and not using vain repetitions. Well, I'd like to say it went over really well, but in a 99% catholic country.......haha yeah I'll leave it at that. But our students have been asking us lots of question the past couple weeks just about missionary life in general and then some of our beliefs! It's awesome seeing them want to learn more. One student, Katarina, even gave us a ride home after! We are hoping to get her contact info and meet up sometime outside of english group :)

On Thursday we will be having a festa during english group for "il giorno di ringraziamento", Thanksgiving!! The students love learning about american holidays, and eating.. I'm right there with em! And we invited the members too so hopefully we will get a good turnout and it'll be a great chance for the english course students to create relationships with the members! On Friday we got to go visit a member, Sorella Carboni! She lives out in the country and is just the sweetest. She makes pizza on fridays, so she made us some pizza- che buona!

During the week we also met up with Mario, the english teacher (from a while back) and one of his students! Turns out Mario played basketball for the Sassari Dinamo tanti anni fa and lived in england for 30 years. But it was great to talk with he and his student about our lives as missionaries and why we are here!! Hopefully this will lead to bigger and better things :)

And now..

the biggest miracle of the week!... hopefully I can explain this in a way that makes sense.

On Friday our phone rang, unknown number. It was a lady named Irene, who said she got our number from Maria Chiara (a member of the branch). She wanted us to come over on Saturday. Well we assumed she would want to be taught english or something along those lines since she mentioned that she used to come to english course. When we got to her house on Saturday we were greeted by the cutest lady ever! Irene is a lawyer and works with the branch president, also a lawyer, and knows his family super well. Then she proceeded to tell us all the members she knows! Turns out, Irene used to meet with the sisters in 2015 and came to english course and church rather frequently!! She has a copy of the Book of Mormon, so we read the introduction and Moroni 10:3-5 with her. She said that she really wanted to start meeting with us again which is why she asked for our number from Maria Chiara. We were in complete SHOCK as you can probably imagine. Things like this are so rare but we are SO excited to see what is to come! The only challenge I can see right now is that she lives in Sassari by herself just for work, her parents live outside of the city so she goes to visit them on Sundays. So yes! Meet Irene :)

I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am thankful for my family, friends, for all of your support. I am thankful that I get to be a missionary right now in this beautiful country and work with such amazing people every day! But most importantly, I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and all of us so much that He sent His Son! I am thankful for the gospel and the joy it brings into my life every day.

Happy Thanksgiving! Eat some extra sweet potatoes and brown sugar for me! (neither are a thing in this country...). Love you all!

XOXO