Blast From the Past

First things first
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRAYSER!! 
I am so sad that I am missing the big 18! But I am writing you a letter and hopefully I can get something sent off this week. I am sorry it will be late!

This week has been so great! (i think i say that every week)

It started off with our beautiful Pday. We started our Rome tour! I got a walking Rome book that tells you all of the best places to visit in the city and it will take about 2 transfers to get through! haha but we started off with the Colloseo and the Roman Forum. Rome is officially the most beautiful city in the world. I am in love.

With Sorella O'Connor

We met with Carol quite a few times this week and she is getting really excited for her baptism. She is so amazing! I love her! And I am going to go and visit her in Brazil!

Luca keeps getting better and better! This week we gave him a Book of Mormon on Tuesday and then we met with him on Friday and he had already read 77 pages! What?! He loves it! Also, we always take the bus from the church together (he lives by us) and we ran into this drunk man on the bus and I felt really sad for him. And so Luca and I started talking about alcohol (he knows that we don't drink) and he was saying that he thinks it's okay to drink a little and I told him that I don't like how it takes away your free agency... anyway... he was planning on going to the pub that night to hang out with friends and I made him pinky promise that he wouldn't drink....and I asked him at church (he came for 2 hours wooo) and he said he didn't drink! Sad news is...that he is officially the Anziani's investigator :( It is just better that he is taught by the Elders instead of the sisters. But it still makes me sad.

On Tuesday we had zone conference. It was so.good. It was definitely the best zone conference I have been to. The Waddoups are starting to get comfortable and know what they are doing. The conference was about personal revelation. There were some great trainings done by the leaders and it really was a good motivation to start off the transfer.

On Wednesday we ate our "mexican food"...it was pretty...not good. haha But i can't wait until my package comes with real food! (which hasn't come by the way) (Also I just really do feel like such a needy child and I am so sorry that I still take more money than all of the rest of your kids....but I will try to find a new pair of boots today. I already have my eye on a pair!)

Because this is what the current pair look like...

We also got a new washer!!!!! Ya! Our old washer was so old and broken. I would take out my clothes and they would still be soaking wet and I would have to wring them out in the tub, and the water would come out brown! And we would wash our underwear and socks and they would come out crusty! It was so gross. We told the Steurers and Sorella Steurer just couldn't believe it! So they were nice and spent their Pday buying us a new washer! And I washed all of my clothes and sheets and now they smell good. Best day ever.

On Thursday....I did an exchange...and I went to ROME 5! Ya, my birth city. It was so weird....really weird. To see all of the people and the members. To sleep in the apartment. We went to English Course at Palace Inn. It was cool to see the things that just never changed. But there was also a ton of stuff that did change! I was with Sorella Jackson, she was Sorella Wightman's companion after me, and she is just so cute! We just talked about Sorella Wightman the whole time and about how much we love her. It may have been a little creepy. But it was fun! And also I got to raid the death closet! (the closet where all the sisters going home leave the clothes they don't want to take with them) and so now I have all of Sorella Wightman's wardrobe. Thank you! On the mission you get so.tired of your clothes. And even though they aren't "new clothes" they are new to me!

On Friday me and Sorella Jackson came back to Rome 2 to switch back companions (there was a leadership conference and both our companions are Sister Training Leaders) but also Sorella Bradford is a sister training leader! And I got to see her!!!! I missed her so so so so much! She is really one of my long lost friends and I am pretty sure we were best friends in the spirit world. It was a loud reunion filled with a few tears. And she filled me in on all of the news in Palermo. Also Anziano Di Caro was there. It was so nice. Oh and Sorella Mitsvotai was there!

Anziano Di Caro, Sorella Bradford, Sorella Wiltbank

Sorella Mitsvotai

On Saturday we taught a lesson with the Anziani. They found this girl from Iran! And her name is Shadi (Shawdis like a melody in my head that I can't get out got me singing like...naw naw naw naw everyday, like my ipod stuck on replay)(that song has been stuck in my head all week) but it is cool! She is 20 and moved here to Italy all by herself. And she is really interested in Christianity and has pretty much already told us she wants to get baptized. But she also said "you know that if I become Christian they would kill me in my country"....awkward. ya so we don't really know what we are going to do!

Then yesterday we took Carol to see the CES devotional at the YSA center in Rome 1. And I saw a special person from my Rome 5 days. His name is Awad and he was a friend of Magged! We did a lesson with him, but he only speaks Arabic and it was hard to teach him, but in Rome 1 there is a member from Egypt, so she was able to translate for him. But we passed him over to the Rome 1 sisters. So I went up to talk to him to see if he remembered me. And he gets up and he gets so excited! He just starts saying "Sister! grazie grazie grazie grazie grazie grazie. Me baptized Mormon!! Thank you thank you thank you sister" He was BAPTIZED! And he is so happy now! And he was so grateful. And it was such a beautiful experience! He also went on to say that he has two friends that he brought to church and are getting baptized. Ugh it was so beautiful. I just wanted to cry. I can't tell you how happy he was!!!! I wish you guys could have seen it!

So this week was good! I guess you could say it was a blast from the past! It was so good to see Rome 5 and all of those members, and to see Sorella Bradford and hear about Palermo, and then Awad. But it made me realize that...Rome 2 is where I need to be now. Rome 5 and Palermo were just parts of my mission, but the next part is Rome 2. This is where I belong. And I love it! I love Rome 2!

So this week I have gotten this new energy to do my work! I guess you could say that I kinda let my fire burn out. I wasn't feeling very motivated. But this week started off with a letter from Sorella Wightman. Where she reminded me of my early days when I was crazy and decided that I wanted to see 12 baptisms in my mission -

"why? why does this make me think of you? (Moroni 10:7) well i don't know if you recall as vividly as i do (probably not, since for me it was a game changer and for you it was a normal everyday kind of thing to say...) but remember when you said that you were going to have 12 baptisms? remember how sorella mitsvotai and i reacted. kinda like..."hey yeah cool good luck never gonna happen"? i remember. then i remember watching you after you made that decision. you lit a fire. is it still burning? (i say yes because i read your emails and cry and shake with the spirit from your power...but i think it is a good thing to ask yourself personally every now and again). that fire comes from FAITH! and i love the part that says to not deny the power of god. that is the greatest thing about your faith, sorella. it is fueled and powered by your unshakable sureness in the almighty god (yeah just call me denin or something african...). that doesn't just appear over night. it comes, as a promise, after questioning, asking, searching, seeking, praying, pleading, wondering, fasting, working, and recognizing. so brava! yay!"

And honestly I had forgotten about that! I went to open up my second city in Palermo, and saw that it was STILL hard to have good work. And I kinda let my expectations fall. I made up in my mind that I wasn't going to see that goal happen. But this week I have let myself remember why I am here! And all of the things that happened this week have really motivated me to never let my expectations fall!

I remember my "mission scripture" Alma 36:24:

 "Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the holy ghost." 

It is all about happiness. Sharing what I have so that others can feel the amazing joy of the gospel! And seeing Awad helping me realize that I am fulfilling my purpose. Even if I am not there to see it all.

I love you guys! I am praying for you, and I hope you have a good week!

Sorella Wiltbank