Gesù & Gelato: The HAPPY-est week yet❤

Wow it's time for another life update from your favorite sorella missionaria.
I'll try to keep this short because we're short on time and I'm sure you are too.. (lots of pics at the end)

Skype was great!! So good to see the fam and also weird that it was my last Skype call.

If your happy and you know it, Jump real high!!

First I just have to say that wow island life is the best life. Living on the coast and the weather is so perfect in these days. I don't think I've ever worn sweaters in May....! Not complaining. Especially after seeing that it's in the 90's back home. I'll stick with sunny and 75 in Sicily!

Rita

Rita: She's the only investigator we were really left with when we got blown in and we finally had our first lesson with her (in person, we've had Skype lessons)! She lives outside of Siracusa and can't come to church and rarely comes to Siracusa in general plus her parents don't want her to associate with the church even though she's like 24. But she is golden and I know her time will come!! She has been reading the Book of Mormon and is up to like Jacob 7 by herself so we are really blown away by that. One of her jobs is as a nail tech, so we met up with her at the church and she did our nails while we talked about the plan of salvation! It was so much fun getting to know her and talking to someone that just really gets it. Just sad because she doesn't have much of a say right now but I know one day it'll happen for her.

Carmen: She's our casa in casa miracle. We'd been calling her lots trying to set up a time to meet but it just kept falling through and she always says "I'll call you guys" (which is what everyone says.... only Italy missionaries get this) because she works several jobs especially now that it's summer and the tourist industry is picking up. BUT she called us Thursday afternoon and said "Hey I've got 1 hour if you come over right now" so you better believe we sprinted over to her house and caught our breaths just before ringing her doorbell. She has tons of questions and so we had fun answering them and trying to stay on topic and explain the plan of salvation!! We left her with a copy of the Restoration DVD because she is having a hard time understanding the importance of authority. We read some of the Book of Mormon with her too! She's just so curious and we are praying her work schedule clears up another afternoon this week🤞

Finding miracle of the week= Mirella. After a day full of finding, we were doing English course finding and we met Mirella. Mamma Mia it's like she's had this lifetime desire to learn English! But I have never had a better conversation with someone on the street. I was just giddy because she had so many questions for us and was SO NICE! Wow. Then she was like "so, tell me more about your religion!" Then she said, "well, we need to exchange numbers so we can meet up next Friday, Saturday, or Sunday....or if you want to meet all 3 days that works for me!...not next Friday, THIS friday!" We are so excited to see her again on Friday!!!!!!!! Still can't believe this one even happened. I probably didn't explain it well enough to do it justice but you'll have to take my word for it.

Fish therapy

Valentina. Last pday we went to fish therapy where you put your feet in a bath with these fish that eat your dead skin off and then you have really soft feet! Well we made really good friends with the 2 girls that work there (they are sisters). Last night we walked by and started talking to Valentina and she told us about her husband and her daughter and we just had a great conversation and listened to her. We got to exchange phone numbers and let's just say we'll probably be "casually" walking by there a couple times this week! Cool because it goes to show miracles happen when you open your mouth!!

As always, best for last: Happy❤ where to even begin....
Basically she is our new best friend and I think the feeling is pretty mutual. We went over to her house on Thursday and she made us a big African pranzo, African fried rice and who even know what kind of meat we ate hahaha but it was so good and also I haven't had spicy food in forever! Then we presented the lesson we had prepared, the gospel of Jesus Christ. We were planning on inviting her to be baptized but were kind of scared going into it because she's so religious and we knew she'd probably already been baptized. But you know what? We asked anyways because we are missionaries and that's how our lives go. This time, however, we got a major plot twist. After inviting her to be baptized she said "YES!!!!!!!!!!" Oh my we were in shock but so happy. Tears just came right to my eyes to see how happy she was!!!!!!!! We asked, " how about June 23rd?" That was met with another extra-enthusiastic "YES!!!!!!!!!!", then, "write that down right here so I can tell my husband when he gets home from work". We are seeing miracles every day here in Siracusa.

We were also wondering how were going to break her boxes on prophets because every time we go over she is watching some random YouTube prophets and preachings. So that day when we left I took her phone and typed in "Russell M. Nelson" on YouTube and said "this is the prophet of our church for the whole world! You should watch some of his preachings because they're really good!"

First thing she said when we went back on Saturday: "I watched the teachings of your prophet and I really liked them, he is a very fine preacher". YES.
THEN. Happy, Marvelous, and Purity all came to stake conference yesterday! This might not seem like a big deal but considering stake conference didn't start until 11am and we met at the church at 8:15am to take a 1.5 hour bus ride to Catania...... We couldn't stop smiling. They are the best, most golden family ever. The ward just ate them up, especially their cute 4 month old baby :) yep, it's official, Happy is going to look so good in white ❤

Happy, Marvelous, and baby Purity

And lastly, I read a great talk by Elder Uchtdorf this week called "Of Things that Matter Most" in which he says "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" and counsels us that "we would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most......Strength comes not from frantic activity but from being settled on a firm foundation of truth and light. It comes from placing our attention and efforts on the basics of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It comes from paying attention to the divine things that matter most. Let us simplify our lives a little. Let us make the changes necessary to refocus our lives on the sublime beauty of the simple, humble path of Christian discipleship—the path that leads always toward a life of meaning, gladness, and peace." Love these words! I know that he is called of God and I know that we have a prophet, President Nelson that leads and guides us, I'm so thankful for him, and for the gospel in my life. I love being a missionary. ❤

Pace fuori, vi voglio un sacco di bene!
XOXO

Sorella Carley Neuberger
Le Sorelle Missionarie
Via Polibio, 17
Siracusa, SR 96100
Italia