Gesù & Gelato: Best week of my mission so far (+ we found a family!! or 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

At this point I've probably overused that subject title. Oh well. There's no other way to say it-- this week was incredible! And now that it's September, the ball is rolling. Things have been picking up and we are working harder than ever.

First, I'll give you an update on Stella. (the girl from Greece)

We were sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday, probably a little too zoned out during the talks, and in walks... Stella? I did a double take, then nudged Sorella Decker so hard, we sat there in shock! The best part? She stayed all 3 hours. Wow. After sacrament meeting she said she got chills during the hymns. After all 3 hours she was blown away by how nice everyone was and even the people that didn't speak english came up to introduce themselves! Even better: Veronica (the member that just got back from her mission in England) made best friends with her and invited her to the GANS activities this week!

Remember Gianna from a few weeks ago? We met her at the hospital? Well, we've been going back every Sunday morning to visit with her and bring her a message of hope! She is such cute mom and is patiently waiting for the doctors to find a cure to her rare muscle disorder. Yesterday she reported she had read 10 chapters in The Book of Mormon and loves how she feels when she reads it! She is a woman of great faith and courage and we are so lucky to know her. She tells us she really looks forward to Sunday mornings now and the light we bring to her hopsital room when we come to visit.

the sorella in the Rome West Zone

Remember Evelyn from a few weeks ago? We met Evelyn, Alessandro, Nicholas, and Luca while doing our mini-mietitura. We stopped them to tell them about english group and they were super interested in learning english. Well, we met up on Saturday morning, they came to the church and we planned on teaching them a little english and sharing a spiritual thought. The second they walked in, they bombarded us with questions of every sort! They wanted to know all about our church, how it works, how our missions work, etc! Mamma mia it was absolutely incredible. Evelyn told us "I don't ever stop and talk to people on the street. But I just really trust you girls for some reason. You have such a peace about you and that's why we wanted to meet up today." So we did end up teaching their boys like 2 english words but the rest of our time together was spent explaining the restoration of Christ's gospel in this dispensation! When we presented The Book of Mormon and gifted it to them, they said they'll read it voluntarily! When they left Alessandro told us they'd be kind of busy this week with a house they're trying to buy but he said "don't think that we won't be seeing each other again soon or that we are avoiding you". When they left Sorella Decker and I hugged and cried for a little, just in awe. Heavenly Father has prepared so many people for His gospel, we just have to find them! I have such a strong testimony of that!!

Here's another example, in case you're missing the point I'm trying to make.

There once was a lady named Cindy Rodriguez. Cindy is from the Dominican Republic. Cindy drives by the Italy Rome temple and decides to go inside the information center. She talks with the senior couple that was there. The senior couple gives us Cindy's phone number. We call Cindy and set up an appointment. Turns out Cindy is a member of the church and has been living in Italy for 2 years. She has been less active and didn't know the church (and missionaries) exist here in Rome! She figured everyone was catholic. (so do we.) Now this is where things get good. Cindy has an 11 year old daughter named Marjorie! Marjorie has yet to be baptized and Cindy wants her to learn the lessons and progress towards baptism. Not only does Cindy want that, Marjorie wants it too! She was so excited to get her very own copy of The Book of Mormon! The only problem is that Cindy and Marjorie live far away from the church (like 1.5 hours using public transport). The solution was that....the Zapata family (from Ecuador) gave them a ride! AH it just worked out too beautifully. They had a lovely time in church and met tons of the members, including all of the south american members! It was amazing to see and ah wow. Yesterday was easily the best Sunday of my mission.

with Maria

And another cool experience from this week happened when we decided to venture out to Villa Ada, a park! It was rough at first, we didn't know how to go about talking to people so we just started inviting everyone in sight to the temple information center! After lots of rejection and wanting to go somewhere else, we met Maria!! She had a really cute dog and invited us to walk with her. She really wanted to talk and walk and so we did just that, made great friends with her and just talked about everything under the sun. She was really nice and confident and just has a huge personality. Then her dog got tired so she invited us to come back to her house with her and drop her dog off and go to a different park! While we were waiting for her to come back outside I "read the Book of Mormon" in italian. Meaning I opened to Alma 32 and started reading verse 28 right when Maria came back so that I could ask her the meaning of a word in the verse. To which she responded perfectly "read the whole sentence". I read all of verse 28 hehehe ... furbi siamo. Then she changed the subject. To which I said, "Have you ever seen or heard of this book, The Book of Mormon?" She said no, then changed the subject again. When we got to the other park she told us she had to go back home. So we told her we wanted to gift her this book that has changed our lives. She was touched and told us to write her a dedica inside. I wrote "We know this book will bring you peace...." and she just broke down. Her walls came down and she cried and we just hugged. Maria said "ragazze, I really need peace right now." Then she asked when we could see each other again :)

Y'all, the church is true and the work is SO good. I know that God is looking out for me and that He loves me and YOU. He loves Stella, Gianna, Alessandro, Evelyn, Cindy, Marjorie, and Maria. I know it because I have the special experience to feel that love. What a blessing. In case you didn't know, I love being a missionary.

Yesterday we started the 21 day Book of Mormon challenge! Not to read the whole book in 21 days but to read specific verses for 21 days in a row because after 21 days it'll become habit! I'll attach the pdf for you lovlies and we can do it together! Email me about your experiences! Share the challenge with a friend! It's going to be great!

Love yall!!

XOXO