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| Gift came to put me on the train and say goodbye. The hardest goodbye ever! |
Where do I even begin?? I guess I'll start by saying that
leaving Sassari was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It literally feels
as if I've left a piece of my heart in that city and I know that I have. I got
up to give a departing testimony at english course before leaving and I thought
I was going to make it through without crying but right at the end I lost it! Saying goodbye to the people and city I love so much was really difficult but I
am so excited to love my new city even more: STATTE
A full day of travel and I'm here! It's really small, and by
really small I mean that I told the Sassari english course I was going to
Statte and they'd never heard of it hahaha. So I'm near the city of Taranto
right in the heel of the boot of Italy! It just Sorella Johnson and I in our
area which includes the cities of Statte, Massafra, Martina Franca, and Crispiano.
So a huge area! That being said.....we have a car! We are like 1 of the 2
sister areas in the mission with a car. It's really really weird......but also
super normal feeling at the same time (except for the fact that we can't listen
to music in the car.)! Everything is really spread out so we use it a lot. I
don't really even know how to describe Statte, you see I'm trying, but
basically it's not your stereotypical Italian city. We are out in the
countryside and it is so tranquil and so beautiful I absolutely love it.
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| View from our apartment. |
My new companion is Sorella Johnson she is just the greatest
and we work so well together I am excited for everything to come! I have
already learned so much from her. She's from Seattle area, went to BYU before
the mission (lived in heritage building 28 #3106, I lived in building 28
#3107......) but she went a year after me. She was trained by Sorella Barnes
(from my MTC district) and Sorella Barnes is now in our district in Taranto and
is our STL! So basically it's a real small world. Sorella Johnson and I are at
about the same point in the mission so I can already tell I'm going to learn
tons of Italian this transfer and tons about how to improve myself as a
missionary! We really are loving every minute.
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| The church building in Statte, Italy. |
And even though it's only been a few days, we've seen
miracles! The biggest one being our neighbor right across the hall, Ida. She is
about 85 years old so we went to her house one morning to help her clean in
places it was hard for her to do herself. We got to talk with her about the
Restoration and The Book of Mormon (although it's hard for her to read since
she only went to school through 3rd grade). We invited her to church but, not
going to lie, I was pretty doubtful seeing her physical condition, she has some
health restrictions and I'm not sure how often she even leaves her house since
we live on the 3rd floor and there's not an elevator. But, nonetheless, we got
a ride lined up for her and knocked on her door on Sunday morning. Expecting
her to still be asleep and in her pajamas, we found her standing right by the
door in her church clothes, pearl necklace, and lipstick with heels and
everything. I wanted to cry!! It was so amazing she was so excited to go to
church! We helped her get down the stairs, but we left out the fact that church
lasted for 3 hours and that once we got there, the chapel was
upstairs...whoops. I think she really enjoyed it! The members were all so nice
to her and inviting her to more activities it was beautiful to see. She told us
after it was over that 3 hours is too much church for her...can't disagree, but
we are praying for her and know she'll keep coming :) she can't escape us,
she's our neighbor! heheh. Kidding. Anyways we love Ida!!
The ward here in Statte is amazing!!!!! It's a lot smaller
than the ward in Sassari, only about 30 people but they are so loving and I'm
so excited to get to know them! Also I'm the new ward pianist yay :) And the
relief society president and her husband own a pizzeria in Statte, so you know what
that means! Before we even dropped my suitcases off at our house we went to the
pizzeria. Regular pizza, nutella pizza, yum.
Okay well I'm trying to think of what else I want to say in
this email, sorry it's so short.... I know other stuff has happened but I'm
drawing a complete blank. But we have lots of people we are working with and I
am excited to start getting to know them this week!
Thought for the week:
Matthew 6:33 "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Doctrine and Covenants 90:24 "Search diligently, pray
always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your
good." If we seek, search, pray, and believe everything will work
out :) I don't know anything that brings more peace than that knowledge and the
fact that we have a loving Heavenly Father who wants us to learn, grow, and
progress but we can't do that if we don't ask and pray first! I know that as we
strive to do all we can, the Lord will multiply our efforts and we will see
miracles daily. I've witnessed it as a missionary and I love being here in
Italy sharing this message of happiness with everyone we see!
Buona settimana! Vi voglio bene❤
XOXO
Sorella Carley Neuberger
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| One more hug from Gift. |
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| dog food in Italy, Aka pasta. |
