Sorella Wiltbank: Angels with Tags

Sooooo transfer calls!!! I will stay in Messina and my new companion is Sorella Palmer! I loved those pictures from Trayser and Kendall's endowment!! Gosh I miss both of them! They are growing up. Sounds like missionary work is going great in RV! I am so excited to come back and help the sisters!

So this week was good!

Monday I went and got a new camera. It is purple. And it takes pictures. :) And then we did FHE.

Tuesday we went to Reggio Calabria to do DDM. We did it at the senior couple's apartment and they cooked lunch for us! They also gave us a ride to and from the ferry! That is always a plus! Then after DDM we went and saw a new convert and then we did English course. And there are lots of new people showing up everyday!

Wednesday our plans fell through the floor. We were going to go and see P___ who lives far far away. She didn't make her baptismal date for Saturday....and she has been canceling our appointments last minute. :( Anyway we had lots of time. We decided that we were going to start working on going through the ward list and finding less actives. Seeing if they still lived at the written address, checking the phone numbers, ect. And it has actually been really fun exploring the back roads and finding these less actives! Most of the time we stick to the parts of town that are most populated, like shopping centers, piazzas, ect. But we end up talking to lots of people who are more interested in the clothes in the store window than to the missionaries. I learned this week that working on the backroads in so much more productive! Maybe you only talk to 10 people instead of 20, but I would rather talk to 10 people who are wandering around just strolling the street, than 20 distracted people. And doing it along with finding less actives gives us a direction. And I feel like it is easier for the Lord to place people in our path when we tell him exactly where we are going, instead of saying "So Heavenly Father, we are going to go do some finding for 2 hours....place people in our path!"

So I will tell you my favorite story of the week :)
We were finding a less active in the backside of town and we were walking home and we saw this old man sitting on a bench. Not wanting to be prejudice or anything, but old men usually aren't a sister missionary's top priority. But...something told me to stop and talk to him. So we sat down on the bench and starting chatting. Well...he did most of the talking. I could barely understand what he was saying. He had a thick Sicilian accent and had only a few black teeth left. He was even missing an eye! But he started telling us stories about dreams and visions and miracles (maybe a bit exaggerated, like Italian stories can sometimes be) But it was good! He was talking about his faith in Christ. And he just kept talking and talking (I am amazed at how long these Italians can just keep on talking with no response from the other end!). 30 minutes pass and I tell him we better get going and ask him if we can say a prayer together. Sorella Arnold starts praying and he just keeps "amen"ing it up! (he is evangelical). And at the conclusion of the prayer he looks up and is just sobbing. (tears coming out of both eyes, if you were wondering) And he calls us his two angels! He said that he was saying a prayer, asking God to send him someone to talk to. He just wanted to share with someone his feelings. And then he saw two sister missionaries walking down the street who stopped and chatted with him. And he told us that he was crying with joy because he knew that God was aware of him and that He loved him. He said he was just giving up hope, thinking that God had forgotten about this old Sicilian man. And then his two "angels" showed up. And all he needed was someone to talk to. Nothing more! And he felt Gods love. Now he has a restoration pamphlet and we have his phone number. And that is how easy missionary work is! Sometimes it's as easy as sitting down and chatting with someone. Missionary work is all about love. There is a great talk by Elder Scott in this general conference about influencing people by loving and trusting them. When someone can feel love and trust, they receive that confidence that they need to accomplish anything that they put their mind to!

Thursday was an interesting day! We were getting ready in the morning and we heard some arguing outside. We went out to our balcony and watched this huge fight between this family. It was terrible. It was between the in-laws of this young couple. They had two children and I think the young couple was getting divorced. The two families were fighting over money or something like that. And it was getting dirty. I almost had it when the wife was trying to get her husband to just walk away and leave the fight, and he hit is wife! He hit her! And later they ended up getting in the car, and the son in law came and tore her glasses off of her face. And then the fight got going! It was just terrible the woman ended up on the ground and....ugh. I will spare all the details. Little to say the police showed up and seeing as we were the only ones that saw the fight from the beginning to the end, we decided to go down and let the police hear our witness. We go down to tell the police and they could care less what we have to say. We told them how the husband hit his wife and that she eventually ended up passed out on the ground. And the big fat toothless police officer said with his cigarette in his mouth "oh that's nothing. That just something between the husband and the wife". And then he just walked away, smurking about how these two little girls were trying to do the right thing. And I was disgusted! I am still disgusted! By the whole situation. From the way that family was fighting (all the while 2 little boys were watching) and then how the police handled the situation. And I feel a little bit like Nephi in Helaman 5 just praying on the tower and being sad about the wickedness of the people. We came back to our apartment, definitely not feeling the spirit of personal study. I was a little bit weighed down by my calling as a missionary to these people. How am I supposed to walk out onto that street and tell these people that that is not acceptable in the eyes of the Lord! I am definitely not like Nephi or Peter, and I am a little bit lacking in my boldness. So ya...I probably wont be getting on my soap box any time soon. But the answer to all of these problems can always be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. If one truly understand the principles of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end....then we wouldn't have these upside down morals.

So even though I am a short little blonde American who can barely get by with her Italian....I can bear my testimony. And I can teach these people the principles of the gospel! And that is what I will do!
So...I guess you could say it was a good experience...I definitely learned a lot from it!

Friday we had a lesson with A___. (From the day I did a scambio with Sorella O'Connor. She was the one in the magic car). It went SOOOO good! Oh my goodness! We taught the restoration and she was so into it! Gosh I just love moments like that!

Saturday we got transfer calls! Sorella Arnold is going to Rome! And then we went and ate at Namalie and Kushan's! (The Shrilankins) And I am starting to enjoy eating with my hands!

I am eating with my fingers if you can tell.

Sunday was good. We had an amazing lesson about the Atonement with G___!

And here we are again on Monday!
In fact now looking back at my week...this week has been amazing! I love being a missionary. :)
So...I think my problem with pictures isn't the card reader, but it is the computer that I have been using every week. So I will send pictures tonight from the computer in the church! I took lots this week! :)

Thanks for all that you guys do, and for all of the support you give me! I really appreciate all those who take a little bit of time to email or send a letter. It really does mean a lot :)

Have a good week!
Sorella Wiltbank