10 More Weeks! :)

Ciao Famiglia!!

Colten looks like a whole different person! He is so cute :) Tell him good luck! I am going to be sending a letter to him soon! So watch for it! Oh BTW...Last week there was a holiday, so the mail wasn't delivered, but it should get here today.

Ah Trayser! That time waiting to leave is the worst! You know the saying...."idle hands are the devils workshop". Satan works really hard on those waiting missionaries. I hope he has been going to the temple a lot. That will help a lot. Gosh I hope I can see him!

So as for the updates in Crotone!

Monday for Pday
We did our shopping...we went to the church and played some foos ball with the Elders. Just chilled!

Tuesday
So we are teaching a family! They are so cute! They have 6 kids and they are CRAZY! The dad hurt his back a few weeks ago.

Okay so I have to cut my email short this week because....
So we need to go to Bari for zone conference, but all of the trains and buses are full. So president told us to go and rent a car! What the?! So it will be an adventure, but we have to go in a few minutes!
I love you guys so so so much!! You are the best. Have a great week.

Sorry I also didn't take many pictures! So I will have to send some next week.
 BYE!

{an hour later...}

Okay...so the car rental didn't work out. Looks like we are going to NAPOLI for zone conference next week!! Wooo! I finally get to eat a Napoli pizza! :)
so....I will finish my email :)

Tuesday....
The dad hurt his back a few weeks ago and he was having a hard time. So we told them about the power of the priesthood and they asked for a blessing. Also his wife had been feeling bad spirits, and she also wanted a blessing. So we went to their house with the branch president and the Anziani. Even though there were kids running all over the place and it was crazy, the spirit was beautiful. And you could tell that they felt it too. That night they all came to English course and afterwards the wife came up to us and told us that as soon as they stood behind her to give her the blessing she felt their power and that the blessing worked immediately and she didn't feel the bad spirits anymore. Then this weekend was the biggest summer holiday in Italy and EVERYONE goes to the beach. And they told us that Sunday they couldn't come to church. But they surprised us and showed up! I asked why they didn't go to the beach and they said...."we are going to go after! We knew that we needed to come to church today." They had their swimming suits on under their church clothes :)

We have a little African girl that we are teaching. She is almost 8 and is SOOO excited to get baptized. Her mom has this little shop that all of the Africans go to to hang out. And everytime we go we end up teaching a new person and getting a new investigator! Wednesday we met 2 guys that actually came to church on Sunday and they loved it! Then Sunday evening we went to give a Book of Mormon to one of them. He wasn't there....but there were other people. And we taught 3 other lessons. And by the time we were finishing up the last one, the original guy showed up! So then we taught him! We were outside that store for like 3 hours. With the little girl's mom we watched the restoration video. And even though they speak English, sometimes it is hard for them to understand the American accent, so after the part in the video where Joseph Smith goes to the sacred grove I was explaining what happened (the mom has never been interested, but yesterday we told her that her daughter has to watch this video and understand the Restoration before she can get baptized (the mom is really excited for her daughter's baptism too) so she wanted to watch the video so that she could teach her! How cool!) So I was explaining what happened and I told her how this church is the only church on the earth with the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and her daughter was getting baptized in it! How cool right?! And she was blown away! And then I asked her if she would also be baptized and she said "yes, of course!". She loved the restoration video. She watched it 3 times yesterday! And she is so excited to teach her daughter about it. The spirit was so strong. I love teaching the Restoration. It is so powerful. I am going to miss that :)

We also had English course. It was so good! We had lots of fun! I really like the students that we are teaching.

Wednesday
In the morning we had DDM. We have a pretty cool district! There is a greenie that is serving in Catanzaro, a city nearby, and his name is Anziano Slade. And he is from Mesa! Crazy! His aunt is Sue Hall! She was my primary teacher! I asked him if he knew Aunt Cherai and Uncle Doug and he said no....but he might live down the street from Darwin and Judy. Small world isn't it!

In the afternoon we didn't have anything planned so we decided to call some people on the potential investigator's list. There was a guy that Sorella Rost met a few months ago that they were never able to contact, she called him and he told us that he had lost his old phone, so he didn't have our number anymore! He agreed to meet with us 30 minutes later. Because he was a single man we just sat outside and taught him on the street. We talked about the Book of Mormon and about just faith in general. He loved it! We asked him if we could say a prayer and he said "right here? right in the middle of the street? We need to go somewhere more quiet!" So we went inside the front entry of the building where the church is and we said a prayer and afterward we asked him how he felt and he said "I feel so free!". It was so good!! We set up another appointment for the next morning so that he could meet the Anziani.....but he didn't show up :( then we set up another appointment...and he didn't show up again. Ugh. We will just keep calling until he either comes again or tells us hes not interested! :) He was golden!

Then afterward we decided to get some ice cream.... :) And at the ice cream shop there was a guy in there that is an x-investigator. He told me that he loves the Book of Mormon!! So he agreed to have us over to read it with him and his wife...after the summer vacation!

Thursday
We were in the church waiting for our golden contact from the day before....and waiting and waiting. And there was a family that was moving into the 3rd floor of the building (we do church in an apartment building, most wards and branches here don't have real chapels). And so we offered to help! And it was great! They loved it! And they have a little 10 year old girl that fell in love with us! She kept asking me about boys and wanted to know if I had a boyfriend...and when I told her no, she told me to tell her about my x-boyfriends! She wanted to hear all about those American boys with blue eyes! So funny. So I may have made things up to give her a good story.....or maybe to give myself a good love story! hahahaha  Also there was this adorable baby! Maybe 6 months old...and the grandma had to go and do something and so she practically just threw the baby in my arms.....I know I know! It's against the rules....but I was forced! And it was so nice to hold a baby. Awe! I hope there are some babies in our ward when I get home!

Then in the afternoon we had an appointment with these 3 kids that we are teaching. Two are newly baptized and the other isn't. Their grandma is a member, but their parents aren't. While we were waiting I started talking to this guy that came to the church to do geneology. He isn't a member, but he is obsessed with genealogy! He has done over 200 names! So I was talking to him...turns out he doesn't really believe in God....but we have an appointment with him this week :) I also left a Book of Mormon for him to read. Alma 32!

Then in the evening we went and ate at a member's house with our little African girl. She made pizza! So good! Food here in Calabria is spicy, and I am out of practice with spicy food! But it is just preparing me for that Mexican food! The first thing I am going to eat is a chimichanga with green enchilada sauce! yummmm!

Friday
is the biggest holliday of the summer! Ferragosto. And EVERYONE goes to the mountains or the beach. Literally the city is abandonned and all the stores are closed. So that is the day assigned to us to clean our apartment. Deep clean the apartment. And it was good! :)

Saturday
Our goldent investigator stood us up again.....
But in the afternoon we went to see this old lady named Maria. She is so cute! She is very Catholic and she frequently lets us know! But she comes to church every week. Probably for about 5 weeks now! She is the friend of a member. And we went to go and see her. We talked about the gospel here and there...faith, repentance, baptism. She has an amazing faith. So amazing. Her husband passed away when she was 38 and she had 3 small children. And she raised them all by herself. And she just kept saying, "the Lord has always given me the path to follow". She knows our purpose as missionaries and she knows why we come. But she is very serious when she says "I am catholic!" She watches the pope every day! But when she was saying the closing prayer she said the most beautiful thing "God, you know that I am Catholic, but if this is the path you want me to take, illuminate me with your spirit, and I will change" What?! This little 85 year old lady who can barely watch! She is currently our most progressing investigator. Never lose hope my friends.

Sunday
guys....Crotone is EXPLODING! As a total...there were 15 investigators in church on Sunday. What?! For me, I am impressed if I have 1 investigator show up! And we counted and there were more non members in church on Sunday, than members. MIND BLOWN! Seriously, the Lord is doing some amazing things here in Crotone. Everywhere we go we somehow meet someone who is interested in knowing more. And we always find ourselves teaching random people on the street! It is so cool! I have never ever done this much teaching my whole mission. And it feels so good! So good. And I am going to miss this. Like crazy.
I feel so lucky that I get to end my mission here. I don't know what I did to deserve meeting all of these amazing people! Because the work here, is like dream work. I am so grateful for all of the miracles that the Lord is letting me see. Every day my testimony is strengthened in the Lord. Every day I come to know Him a little bit better. I come to feel a little bit more of His love. And I know that He lives!! I KNOW that the Lord knows me personally. Without a doubt in my mind.

And I wish with everything in my heart that everyone could feel that!! I wish there was a way that I could just find a little cord that connects my heart to the hearts of those people who feel sad and lonely. It would change their lives! It would be like charging their battery! And I know my battery is weak....sometimes I let it die....but even if I could give them a little bit of a charge that can hold them over until they can charge it themselves. 10 more weeks! :)

Hey family....I have been thinking about you like crazy this week. I LOVE YOU! The Lord put us all together for a reason, and it is not fun beeing apart! Thanks mom and dad for all you do. Literally, your two are super heros! Thank you.

VI VOGLIO BENE!
Sorella Wiltbank