A Car Wreck, a Lost Camera, and a Flood

So many things happened this week!

Thursday was the 4th of July! And it was almost as good as being home! I had a cute red white and blue outfit, we bought hamburgers, chips, watermelon, and made apple crisp for pranzo! I was so excited and I was going to get my camera to take a picture...and I couldn't find my camera. I looked everywhere for it! And it was nowhere to be found. I decided that the last place I had it was at the internet point in Rome when we were emailing home. And I either left it there or it got stolen somewhere between there and home. The Rome 1 sisters even went by to see if it was in the lost and found and it wasn't there. But luckily I had my card in a different place, so none of my pictures were lost! But just letting you know I bought a new camera today with the credit card. I am not sure how much it was in dollars, but it was 119 £. So just take some money out of my debit account to pay the bill.

Her companion, Sorella Mitsvotai was sweet and sent this picture since Kaeli didn't have her camera.  :)

Saturday we went and helped one of the members move! And got to wear jeans! Woo!! Sorry I didn't take any pictures! But afterwards we went to another member's house for a Barbecue. We ate lamb! And it was so good! You guys should try some.

Sunday....oh Sunday. So we were have a branch party after church. We planned a member MTC! But before the activity we were all going to eat lunch together as a branch. And we forgot food! And it was fast Sunday! So we took the car home real quick, ate some lunch, then headed back for the activity. And we got in a car accident. But don't worry! We are all fine! Just a little sore and bruised. The other people were fine, one of the men just had a broken arm. We even made it back to the building and did the activity! It went really well and all the members are really excited to be missionaries!

The next day we were pretty sore so we tried to take the day easy. We still haven't watched the missionary devotional, so we went to our Branch Mission leader's house in Monteretondo to watch it. When we came home our door was open. And the first thought in my head was that someone broke into our house. Great! But...we found our neighbors mopping up the floor. Turns out there was a big rain storm while we were gone and our padio drain was clogged and water came in from there and from the bathroom window and flooded the house. Not terribly bad, but it was still lots of water! Again...no pictures sorry!

Afterwards we made some bananna bread and took it to them and we ended up having a great conversation about the gospel!

So to say the least, this week has been eventful. Lots of hard things, but I have learned so much! And I treasure that knowledge more than anything.

I have learned that Italians are the most genuine people in the world. They make your problems their problems, your happiness, their happiness. (plus they are teaching me how to cook!)

I have learned to let the unimportant things out of my mind. If you let something like loosing your camera take over all your thoughts, your going to have less space to thing about the things that really matter.

On that note...

• I have learned not to eat a big lunch at 3:00 when you're planning on going to a member's house for dinner.
• I have learned that trials help you grow closer to those around you.
• I have learned that God shows you your weaknesses when you are ready to take care of them. Not to make you feel bad about yourself, but because he loves you enough to cut you down so that you can blossom even more!
• I have learned that driving in Italy is scarier than I even thought!
• I have learned that the Lord protects his missionaries.
• I have learned that when you are making bananna bread for your neighbors who took care of your flooding apartment while you were out...your need to cook it at 175° not 75°.
• I have learned that even if it doesn't look like it is going to rain...still close the windows! Or else when the tornado-like storm comes...your house will be flooded. (you can even take that motivationally if you want! fun!)
• And last but not least...I have learned that life is crazy! And unexpected things happen all.the.time. Life would be too easy if they didn't. But once they happen, a lot of times there is nothing you can do about it! So the sooner you get over it, the sooner you can be happy!

So even though it's been a hard week... I'm sore, and tired, and still frustrated with not being perfect at Italian...I know that we aren't given anything we can't handle and great things are in store for Rome 5!
Mosiah 24: 12-17

12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

16 And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.

17 And he said unto Alma: Thou shalt go before this people, and I will go with thee and deliver this people out of bondage.

I am grateful for these experiences because now I can testify with even greater strength that there is a God! I can be a witness that he lives and hears our cries. I am a witness that the Lord will strenghthen you to bear up your burdens. I find comfort in my Savior and his Atonement and now I am ready to go before these people of Rome 5 and help deliver them out of bondage! Bring them the great comfort of their Redeemer.

Before I forget! Mom, I got your letter on the Tree of Life and shared it with my companions! We all loved it and we used it for our lesson yesterday with the famiglia Gigante! Alessandra, the daughter, is 19 and getting ready to go on a mission and she took a whole page of notes! So thank you for your inspiration! You are amazing and I talk about you all the time. My companions think you're the most amazing woman in the world! And they aren't wrong!

Let's see...day to day life. Well we wake up in the morning and workout on out padio. Its my favorite part of the day! To walk out of the hot stuffy apartment and do some jumping jacks in the fresh mountain air of Italia! There is a great view of a mountain from our padio...better than watching TV while you work out!

And our neighbor woman is always outside sweeping her padio and we always get a "buon giorno!" from her husband. (We are his "cara mia" "my dears"). Then we eat breakfast, study, get ready, then head out! I haven't been saying lots of people we are teaching only because we only have 1 investigator. Since we are opening up the area we have mostly been doing finding. The other people are just potential investigators and since I can't really understand everything they are saying I don't really know how to give details about them! Plus we meet so many amazing people and I don't know which ones to talk to you about! But our favorite one this week is la famiglia di Ricardo! They are from South America but have lived here about 10 years. 

We met Ricardo a few weeks ago in the park, playing with his son, and we gave him a Book of Mormon, but we didn't ever set a specific time we could come see him. He is at the park a lot and we see him almost every time we got there! So we saw him at the park last week and talked to him for a minute and then we went and talked to some other ladies. (I think it was like Spanish day at the park because they were all speaking Spanish to each other!) And we were talking to this lady and she was really interested in what we had to say. We told her about the Book of Mormon and she said "Ya! I have been reading it! My husband has been reading it more, but I have started it! It is really good!" Turns out she is Ricardo's wife! So we are super excited to start teaching them!

At about 1:30 we come home and eat lunch! Usually pasta and salad. Then we do language study and take a little nap! Then back out we go! The afternoon is the best time for most people to do lessons, but lately we have been going out to other cities nearby to do some finding. We have about 45 cities in our area. This last week we had a lot of potential investigators, but with all of the week's events, we had a hard time visiting them. Also....Italians like to take the whole month of July off for vacation. And the day after the accident, all of our golden potentials told us they were going out of town. But hey, its okay! We will just go and find some more and then by the time they get back we will have double the investigators!

We come back in at 8 or 9...depending on how many people are out and if we have a lesson, or if we have other things we need to do back home. Then we eat some fruit, chat, write in our journal, then go to bed!
In the next emails I will try and do better at giving more details! And I have been wanting to mail some stuff to you, but I think Italy is on stamp strike! We can't find stamps anywhere! Not even the post office! So the letters might be old, but they will eventually come!
Ti Voglio Bene!
Sorella Wiltbank!

Mom I am so sorry about the camera! I know it was expensive... :(
I didn't read your email yet, but I printed them and I am excited to read them! I skimmed a little bit.
I love you Trayser! Thank you for the letter! I will write back soon!
Colten....you are awesome! And cute! I still don't know what is going on in your life! So write me mister!
Oh dad! I miss you so so much! And I wish I could be home helping around the ranch! I hope everything is going well in your calling! Tell grandpa to write me a letter! I don't have his address so I can't write him.