First of all, THANK YOU ALL who wrote me a birthday letter.
It was much appreciated and much loved. Dont worry, I will continue to accept presents and birthday affection for the next month...Until Christmas, even.
It was much appreciated and much loved. Dont worry, I will continue to accept presents and birthday affection for the next month...Until Christmas, even.
I guess I should have told you to save some of those pictures because I dont have any for you this week.
Greetings from the long lost land of Bari. I have some good updates. The other night I was able to touch my toes for the first time in...ever? I am not sure I have ever touched my toes before.
Second, being senior companion has pretty much
turned me into a nut case.
But I do deep abdominal breathing several times a day when no one is looking and am
learning still more profoundly what it means to rely on the Lord.
Second, being senior companion has pretty much
turned me into a nut case.
But I do deep abdominal breathing several times a day when no one is looking and am
learning still more profoundly what it means to rely on the Lord.
It. is. hot.
Not every day, but its getting up there
and last night all our English course students told us that we will die if we go out in the afternoon when its full on summertime and that we could do what the Chinese tourists do and walk around
with umbrellas to block out the sun.
I am not above that.
And I think I will have to wear the same three outfits for the entire summer because suddenly my wonderful cardigans are useless. But the Anziani wear the same thing everyday anyway.
Not every day, but its getting up there
and last night all our English course students told us that we will die if we go out in the afternoon when its full on summertime and that we could do what the Chinese tourists do and walk around
with umbrellas to block out the sun.
I am not above that.
And I think I will have to wear the same three outfits for the entire summer because suddenly my wonderful cardigans are useless. But the Anziani wear the same thing everyday anyway.
My companion is latose intolerant which means eating gelato and panzarotti has become a lot less fun and she is also one of those whole-wheat kind of girls.
So, between that and walking all over like we have been my health is unfortunately taking a turn for the better.
Morale is low however. ;)
It is amazing also how hard it is to try and explain all of these peoples lives to her, but its good to have a fresh perspective on everything.
So, between that and walking all over like we have been my health is unfortunately taking a turn for the better.
Morale is low however. ;)
It is amazing also how hard it is to try and explain all of these peoples lives to her, but its good to have a fresh perspective on everything.
But there is Massimo and we sat him down and asked if he really wants to know. We have asked him to think and pray about baptism and to read and pray and he does not really seem to have grasped the idea of learning through pray and through the spirit.
He has a lot of faith in Christ and he agrees with all the principles we teach he is just holding back from making that spiritual leap he needs to make. I think he is a little scared, but I dont know why. He always throws the conversation in a different direction with random questions when we start really feeling the Spirit in our lessons.
I pulled out the picture of Jesus knocking on the door without the handle and I told him Christ was just waiting for him to ask where the truth is. He said he would pray and I said when he received an answer what would he do? And he said, first, I would tell you. And then? And then...The Church is here.
So here is to praying that he really does ask in faith so that he gets an answer and that he will overcome laziness and get to church this Sunday.
And not all hope is lost with Antonia who finally is letting people come by again and is happy about it. We taught her the other day with Fllo Curci and she actually wanted to come to church again! Yayyy.
Then we are teaching a Romanian lady, Christina who went to go live with one of the members and now he doesnt really want us to see her? We dont really know what is going on there so we need to figure that one out.
Nella is doing great, the only problem is that her house is always CRAZY with five new people coming and going at all times. So the Spirit is sometimes lacking. But she always kisses us and tells us we are her hope. We just need to get her to go to a members house to teach her so she can talks with us openly, because she kind of shuts down whenever someone comes in, but she told us how she prayed and she heard a voice that said, "Dont cry anymore, its time to act."
We have an appointment with her tonight and her husband
wants to feed us panzarotti again.
We have had some really neat experiences working with members! We went by the Santoros and talked about the Restoration and blessings we have because of it and how they could have missionary experiences just like their son who is on a mission and they told us that he had challenged them to find a family to take to church before the end of the month. They were actually fasting that night when we showed up! Which was total inspiration because I thought of it out of nowhere to go see them.
And Sorella Magno is always asking for another Book of Mormon to give away, she is the best.
Have I told you about the stubborn man in the flowershop who thinks he cant have faith? We are still working on him too.
And we had a beautiful lesson with Slla Puglisi who also thinks there is no faith to be had and we invited her to just pray and ask like King Lamoni did. "O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day."
Domenica we had a "singles ward" with all the youth in the stake. It was great and we got to spend time with all the lovely GANs and sang hymns together and ate meatballs and french fries. etc.
Not to mention a great fireside that included a beautiful reminder that the Lion King is really all about the Plan of Salvation
(I could write a 20 page thesis on it for you).
Francesco was supposed to come but didnt because he drank a cold beer the night before and he had a stomach ache for two days. We were like, "thats why we keep telling you to not drink beer" I should make a list of all the excuses people give us for not coming to things, it is incredible.
Yesterday English Course told us that a tree fell down in Switzerland a couple years ago and cut out ALL the power in Italy, which is sad but also made me laugh really hard, because it just goes to show what one little tree can do.
Thats about that because I am really hungry and we really need to clean our house. I am pretty sure the focaccieria across the street is saying, sorellla, sorelllllla, vieni qua, hurry because I could close at any moment.
Okay, my companion is still typpity typing away so I will tell you another story. So Thursday we had canceled English Course, because the Anziani wanted to try doing it Wednesday and then it didnt really work, so I thought,
"I wonder if people will come anyway"
and then didnt really think about it again, but we showed up anyway because Christina Giullani and Slla Spagnoletti wanted help with a young women song (for some reason they are singing a song in English and none of them know how it goes and once again I am behind the piano even though I shouldnt be) and then some people showed up so we taught the adorable mother and daughter that always come and
talked about families and temples and life.
And then there was this other student guy was there playing some scales on the piano and I then I started practicing the song and started singing it to him and I was like,
"do you know what its talking about? We believe in God and we trust Him." and he was like, "yeah."
And the power of music is powerful. I love playing the hymns as the English Course students walk in because they are always like, "these are great, you are amazing." But its most definitely not me and my one-hand-at-a-time-plunking-out-the-melody piano playing skills.
"A song of the righteous is a prayer unto me."
Love ya,
Sorella Laws
P.s.
I am Sorella Laws and everyone I loved and grew up with is getting married/already married.
He has a lot of faith in Christ and he agrees with all the principles we teach he is just holding back from making that spiritual leap he needs to make. I think he is a little scared, but I dont know why. He always throws the conversation in a different direction with random questions when we start really feeling the Spirit in our lessons.
I pulled out the picture of Jesus knocking on the door without the handle and I told him Christ was just waiting for him to ask where the truth is. He said he would pray and I said when he received an answer what would he do? And he said, first, I would tell you. And then? And then...The Church is here.
So here is to praying that he really does ask in faith so that he gets an answer and that he will overcome laziness and get to church this Sunday.
And not all hope is lost with Antonia who finally is letting people come by again and is happy about it. We taught her the other day with Fllo Curci and she actually wanted to come to church again! Yayyy.
Then we are teaching a Romanian lady, Christina who went to go live with one of the members and now he doesnt really want us to see her? We dont really know what is going on there so we need to figure that one out.
Nella is doing great, the only problem is that her house is always CRAZY with five new people coming and going at all times. So the Spirit is sometimes lacking. But she always kisses us and tells us we are her hope. We just need to get her to go to a members house to teach her so she can talks with us openly, because she kind of shuts down whenever someone comes in, but she told us how she prayed and she heard a voice that said, "Dont cry anymore, its time to act."
We have an appointment with her tonight and her husband
wants to feed us panzarotti again.
We have had some really neat experiences working with members! We went by the Santoros and talked about the Restoration and blessings we have because of it and how they could have missionary experiences just like their son who is on a mission and they told us that he had challenged them to find a family to take to church before the end of the month. They were actually fasting that night when we showed up! Which was total inspiration because I thought of it out of nowhere to go see them.
And Sorella Magno is always asking for another Book of Mormon to give away, she is the best.
Have I told you about the stubborn man in the flowershop who thinks he cant have faith? We are still working on him too.
And we had a beautiful lesson with Slla Puglisi who also thinks there is no faith to be had and we invited her to just pray and ask like King Lamoni did. "O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day."
Domenica we had a "singles ward" with all the youth in the stake. It was great and we got to spend time with all the lovely GANs and sang hymns together and ate meatballs and french fries. etc.
Not to mention a great fireside that included a beautiful reminder that the Lion King is really all about the Plan of Salvation
(I could write a 20 page thesis on it for you).
Francesco was supposed to come but didnt because he drank a cold beer the night before and he had a stomach ache for two days. We were like, "thats why we keep telling you to not drink beer" I should make a list of all the excuses people give us for not coming to things, it is incredible.
Yesterday English Course told us that a tree fell down in Switzerland a couple years ago and cut out ALL the power in Italy, which is sad but also made me laugh really hard, because it just goes to show what one little tree can do.
Thats about that because I am really hungry and we really need to clean our house. I am pretty sure the focaccieria across the street is saying, sorellla, sorelllllla, vieni qua, hurry because I could close at any moment.
Okay, my companion is still typpity typing away so I will tell you another story. So Thursday we had canceled English Course, because the Anziani wanted to try doing it Wednesday and then it didnt really work, so I thought,
"I wonder if people will come anyway"
and then didnt really think about it again, but we showed up anyway because Christina Giullani and Slla Spagnoletti wanted help with a young women song (for some reason they are singing a song in English and none of them know how it goes and once again I am behind the piano even though I shouldnt be) and then some people showed up so we taught the adorable mother and daughter that always come and
talked about families and temples and life.
And then there was this other student guy was there playing some scales on the piano and I then I started practicing the song and started singing it to him and I was like,
"do you know what its talking about? We believe in God and we trust Him." and he was like, "yeah."
And the power of music is powerful. I love playing the hymns as the English Course students walk in because they are always like, "these are great, you are amazing." But its most definitely not me and my one-hand-at-a-time-plunking-out-the-melody piano playing skills.
"A song of the righteous is a prayer unto me."
Love ya,
Sorella Laws
P.s.
I am Sorella Laws and everyone I loved and grew up with is getting married/already married.
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