Buon Natale

Merry Christmas from Caserta, Italy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day with family and friends :)

I got to Skype my family yesterday and it was so good to see them and get to talk with them for a little!! (Hence the short email).

The work has been pretty slow this week, everyone is busy with the holiday season. We endured with faith and.....

We had two HUGE Christmas miracles yesterday. There is a less-active woman we've been working with since I got here. We visit her several times a week and she's never been to church but yesterday she CAME. Sorella Hess and I both got teary-eyed as she walked in. We were so happy!

Right before sacrament meeting started, our investigator Gianfranco came up to us and said he's ready to be baptized as soon as we can do it!!! He's been coming to church for the last year or so but he's in a tricky situation and hasn't been able to get baptized until now. We both cried again right there when he said that!! We are so excited for him. He has the strongest testimony and hasn't missed a week of church since I've been here. Best Christmas gift ever❤️

This week I read about a really awesome experience Thomas S. Monson had when he was little:

“Christmas time had come. We were preparing for the oven a gigantic turkey and anticipating the savory feast that awaited. A neighborhood pal of mine asked a startling question: ‘What does turkey taste like?’ “I responded, ‘Oh, about like chicken tastes.’ “Again a question: ‘What does chicken taste like?’ “It was then that I realized that my friend had never eaten chicken or turkey. I asked what his family was going to have for Christmas dinner. There was no prompt response—just a downcast glance and the comment, ‘I dunno. There’s nothing in the house.’ “I pondered a solution. There was none. I had no turkeys, no chickens, no money. Then I remembered I did have two pet rabbits. Immediately I took my friend by the hand and rushed to the rabbit hutch, placed the rabbits in a box, and handed the box to him with the comment, ‘Here, take these two rabbits. They’re good to eat—just like chicken.’ “He took the box, climbed the fence, and headed for home, a Christmas dinner safely assured. Tears came easily to me as I closed the door to the empty rabbit hutch. But I was not sad. A warmth, a feeling of indescribable joy, filled my heart. It was a memorable Christmas.
“Heavenly Father is ever mindful of those who need, who seek, who trust, who pray, and who listen when He speaks. ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16). God’s gift becomes our blessing. May every heart open wide and welcome him—Christmas day and always.”

I'm so thankful for this Christmas season and the opportunity I have as a missionary to share the gospel with everyone :)

Sorry for the short email, but our pday was jam-packed with craziness that you'll have to wait til next week to hear about!

Love you all and hope you have a happy new year!!

If you have any questions for me about Italy, Caserta, missionary work, or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would love to answer them and I'd love to hear from you :)

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

Christmas Eve spent with our district and an American family on base

Zone Christmas caroling in Napoli

Eels (People eat eels for good luck for the
New Year.  I will stick with black-eyed peas)

Streets of Caserta

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

Bacon anyone?

This is Bob.  A really cool member.

The Strode Family

Streets of Caserta

More Amalfi Coast pics

Sorella Hess at physical therapist

Sorella Hess got a hard to find Dr. Pepper for her b-day

Wayyyy Up I Feel Blessed

Buongiorno tutti!

Living in Italy is like living on cloud 9, there's no other way to put it. I have to keep pinching myself and remembering that I'm in ITALY!! Sorella Hess and I are constantly reminding each other how blessed we are. After every single thing we do or see: "WOW, we're so blessed" or "Italy's the best." È la verità!!

This week, we've been putting an emphasis on spreading the Christmas spirit through the video "Sii Una Luce" (Light the World). Almost every person we show the video to has the same response: "Come Gesù Cristo ha fatto e come noi possiamo fare". Meaning that Jesus Christ helped, loved, and served everyone and we can too :) I know that as we strive to serve others, even if it's just smiling at someone, it will make a difference in their lives and ours!

I recently experienced my first Italian panino (sandwich). It was so yum. The bread here is unbelievable, you would love it Cade. Oh and the cheese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yum. That's the best way I can put it. Some things you just have to experience. Also did I mention that the fruit in Italy is the best I've ever eaten in my whole life?! The pears are so juicy you have to stand over the sink and eat them so they don't drip all over your clothes. And the kiwi is so soft and delicious that you just eat it with a spoon. :) While we were in our fruit store the other day, I thought I heard a familiar sound coming from their radio...we listened for a sec and sure enough-----SAM HUNT singing Take Your Time. Sorella Hess and I were lowkey freaking out oh my goodness it took everything in us to not start singing and dancing around the store. Actually, I think we did. The people working were like, "You guys understand the words of this song?" well yes, the song is in english and we speak english :)

On Wednesday morning at 5 am we woke up to a phone call from the Anziani... apparently they had just gotten a phone call from the police who said: "Is this the Mormons? Your church just got robbed". We were all pretty shaken up by it but decided to throw some clothes on and run down (literally run) to the church and check it out. Sure enough, when we got there all the lights were on and the police were standing outside to inform us that the TV, computer, and a wheelchair had been stolen.... honestly, that's probably all there was to steal. So our district followed the police down to the Questura to fill out an incident report. Somehow they found all of our stolen stuff in a street nearby and associated it with our church?? Still doesn't make sense to any of us. The TV is really broken, but we wheeled all the stuff back to the church in the wheelchair hahaha good times. Don't worry, they changed the locks and installed a camera.

After all this went down, Sorella Hess and I went home and got ready then we had to go BACK to the Questura for my Permesso di soggiorno (permission to stay in Italy) appointment. That was quite the adventure too...we waited for a good three hours before anything actually happened. Then when they called my name, "Eliza", we had no idea they were referring to me so the lady starting yelling at us. I got put in a group with 4 other people to go get fingerprints in a different building and the lady told Sorella Hess she couldn't come with!! Separation anxiety is a real thing. I was gone for about 45 minutes and came back realizing I know ZERO Italian haha. Va bene.

From pranzo Thursday to pranzo Friday I got to go on scambio (exchange/split) to Pozzuoli! Mamma Mia it is SO gorgeous. My temporary companion was Sorella Crandell and we had a blast. (She probably got sick of hearing me say how pretty everything in Pozzuoli is..). We did a little bit of finding during sunset on the Pozzuoli Lungomare (pictures attached) and it felt really unfair that I got to do finding in such a picturesque city. But I enjoyed every minute of it, soaking it all in and taking lots of pictures :) Sorella Crandell and I had a pranzo appointment on Friday with a member of the Pozzuoli ward! My first pranzo appointment and wow it was quite the cultural experience. To start, the family lives right on the ocean with an incredible view. We had fried fish and shrimp which apparently you don't use utensils to eat.... it was actually a lot of fun and the food was incredible. Can't wait to do another scambio in Pozzuoli in a couple weeks!!

Lunch

Pozzuoli, Italy

Sorella Hess and I have discovered our new "favorite" method of transportation, diciamo. Bikes. 2 of the Anziani in our district have bikes so we've been borrowing them to visit people who live far from us but not far enough to take a bus or train. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life we just have so much fun on those things! For starters, they're way too big for us and super ghetto. Then add a skirt into the mix and it's a very interesting combination. On Saturday night I somehow managed to run into a pole and ended up sprawled all over the street with a bunch of Italians looking down on me. I couldn't get up because I couldn't stop laughing. Oh fun times. And I have a cute bruise as a souvenir!

Today for pday we got to go to the Amalfi coast! It was so beautiful. Some pictures attached, the rest will be on my blog sorellacarleyneuberger.blogspot.com :)

Amalfi Coast

As I mentioned in a previous email, our zone set a goal for each companionship to give out one Book of Mormon each day of December. We wrapped and bowed all of ours and it has been so much fun "gifting" the Book of Mormon! When we tell people we have a gift for them they are SO excited. I know that the Book of Mormon truly is a gift that our Heavenly Father has provided us with so we can recieves comfort and revelation through the words of the prophets. I am thankful for the Book of Mormon and that happiness it brings to my life and the happiness that comes from sharing it with others. I love my Savior, I love Caserta, and I love being a missionary.


Hope everyone has a great week! Vi voglio bene!!


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

Amalfi Coast

Christmastime in Caserta

Santa visiting Caserta

Pozzuoli

Pozzouli

View from our apartment

What is your favorite pasta?