Halloween

Happy Halloween!!!! How I love it! It is a perfectly gray day here, just right for Halloween. So much has happened this week and I know I say that a LOT but I really mean it this time. I really do. I will have to briefly sum up the wondrous events and hope that my few words sufficeth me. Last Wednesday we taught a lesson with Henry and Jessica using hymns to explain the principles in the restoration. We had a great time singing and feeling the spirit. Henry said it was the most beautiful lesson they have ever had. Which is quite a compliment. At consiglio they brought up the idea to do the musical "my turn on earth" and it was suggested that I direct it and take part. I don't know if that is okay or if I will have time to help a lot, but it would be delightful fun if possible, and I know I could help. Thursday was Anziano Webb's birthday so we made him a cake with a spider web on it I did using honey to make it shiny and I made up some story about how we needed a Spanish Book of Mormon for a woman we found in the area book and stressed him and his companion as they tried to make it home so we could meet them and get a Book of Mormon. When we showed up with a cake, his face was priceless! When he found out it was all a lie, it was even more funny. I know honesty is important, but I think we can be forgiven for lies told to cover birthday surprises. That afternoon Sorella Wolfgramm called to ask if my companion and I could be tour guides for a couple of hours to someone who I know very well...Susan! This wonderful American woman I met a year ago in Firenze was staying with the Wolfgramm's and they were unable to show her around, so we got to do so. We went to the duomo, ate panzerotti, and talked, catching up and reminiscing about Firenze. It was a marvelous miraculous afternoon and I felt so blessed. I am still flabbergasted it worked out like that. Afterwards we met with an inactive woman and her family. Her daughter in law is not a member but was very intent on everything we said and wants to learn more. Her son is an inactive returned missionary and rather cold but I hope we can help them all heal their hearts and come back. It was a beautiful lesson. My companion has been having problems with her velcro shoes and saw a nun walking to the casa di nazareth here and said she wondered where she got HER shoes and if only nuns could get them. I nearly died laughing and my dear Sorella Brown couldn't figure out why. Lei vuole le scarpe da suora. It is HYSTERICAL. Beny had us over and fed us tea and crackers and random things she found in her cupboard. She is adorable and we had an awesome discussion. If we can just overcome her admitted laziness together, she will get baptized, I am certain. Gotta love her. Saturday I felt like walking down into the metro for no reason. It was out of the way, but we went and I saw this woman on her phone and new we had to talk to her, so we followed her. She sat down and I sat next to her and started talking. We followed her onto the metro and kept talking and got her number. We got off the stop after her and headed up because I new we could catch the bus there and there was a man playing the guitar and singing into a microphone there on the street. He was AMAZING. And he was playing my favorite Italian song, "Meraviglioso" by Domenico Modugno. We lingered for a moment because it was just so wonderful and I wish I knew the man's name, but anyway, it was a little personal demonstration that God is mindful of us. He led us to that woman and to the music. Dio ci ama tanto. Sunday I was asked to give a talk in church two minutes before sacrament meeting began, so after translating the first talk I handed the thing to Anziano Webb and headed up with barely an idea of what to say since I had only thought about it for a few minutes during the sacrament. I talked about how God loves us and about repentance and the opportunity we have to feel his love, improve, and share it. My knees were a little weak, but it must have gone alright because a lot of members told me I did well. One sister told me she cried and another hugged me and complimented me on my Italian saying she was amazed I could speak that well and communicate with the spirit. It was one of the nicest compliments I have ever received. I feel like after that, I can do anything. I gave an unprepared talk in Italian to a bunch of Italians and it went well. Thanks to Heavenly Father. Truly. I felt so blessed. We had lunch with the ward and then watched the film the mountain of the Lord together and had a nice time.  My companion and I spent a while talking. I guess I was a little discouraged about how I was doing  as a missionary and she thought I was beginning to feel badly all of the time. I am grateful for her honesty, because it gave me a chance to take a look at myself in another way. She said we do our best and that is good enough. I think I am starting to believe it. I just have this unquenchable thirst to improve. I just should not let that drive make me feel bad when i don't improve fast enough or don't succeed right away. To everything there is a season and we progress exactly as quickly as we should if we keep doing all we can. Monday I took some finger cookies to district meeting to celebrate an early Halloween and they were appalled at how disgusting they were. I told them I did not have time to wash them well, that's why they were dirty. I thought a couple of the anziani were going to faint or be sick as they turned white and green but in the end, they ate them anyway. I am taking them to the Baribieri-xhunga family tonight as well and I am so excited because they love Halloween and they will love them. At district meeting I really took in a lot this time. We had a role play that really helped me focus on helping others make commitments and progress and how to do it boldly and with love and I realized that I am capable of being the missionary I want to be and the missionary I see in so many others. We all struggle with things and we all succeed at things and we are all good missionaries. I learned so much from our anziani and how they work and I was able to also take a look at our work, refocus, and improve and enjoy it again. We have seen so many miracles since. We talked to an old man who did not want to listen but showed as how to get to a bar to buy some water and this bar was inside a fence next to a soccer field and it was not visible at all, but when we got there we met a girl named Farbin and she was super interested in the Book of Mormon. We hardly said anything, just a brief testimony, and she gave us her number and asked if we had one also in tamil for her mom. Miracle! A little old lady named Albina let us into her house and kept telling us the same things and asking us where we lived. She was a little crazy, but we sang for her and she gave us a very ripe banana. Yesterday we were freezing in our house and boiled water for a while to heat our kitchen and then discovered our air conditioner things work for heat as well. Our house was very humid after. A man came today to fix the regular heaters so that is lovely. No more frozen sister missionaries. We taught some awesome lessons and then did  casa last night and were led to a woman who had studied with missionaries before but is going through a seriously difficult time right now. she does not believe god answers her, that he made a mistake creating her, she is very angry and very lonely. She let us in and we were able to pray with her and have a real beautiful lesson talking about the love of God and bearing testimony that he understands and that he answers. We were led right to her, and I really hope it made a difference. We were a part of god's answer and that really is a miracle. I had so much energy last night, I was so happy, just feeling like a missionary and loving the work, I skipped all the way home. I looked like a crazy person, but it was just such a good day and I feel like I have had such a change this week. I feel worry free, more confident, and more capable to transmit Heavenly Father's love and help his children change their lives for the better like he has done for mine. This Gospel is the way back to him and to happiness and I know it. Love you all!!!