WHOOO HOOO BARI IS KEEPING ME FOR ANOTHER 8 WEEKS!
Yes. We got our transfer calls Saturday and Sorella Thorpe is coming here! She is one transfer younger than me and I served with her in Sicily. She is soooo funny and it's going to be a total blast. I am so stoked. We will be the stls (Sister Training Leaders) here in the Bari zone. I am so excited for Christmas in Bari. Literally, it just can't get better than that. Sorella Rackham left last week and was emergency transferred to Batipaglia 10 minutes before Sorella Tapia and I left for Sicily. So sad! She was so great. But she was excited. Sorella Tapia is going to Rome Six and is leaving Bari after serving half of her mission here, 8 months! Everyone is sad to see her go. So am I! The other Sorelle are staying the same :)
It kind of seems like I just wrote because I pretty much did. But I will still write you guys some cool stuff. So after I wrote on Thursday we taught English course for the Sorelle in Sicily because Sorella Embley got emergency transferred to Rome! We saluted her on Thursday and then she left. So we were alone in the Messina house Thursday night which was way weird. It felt like I was serving there again. So strange. Friday morning we had to go home but not before we ate arincini and gelato with brioche for breakfast. Hahah. Also I bought six cannolis so the ward members could eat them at the ward party in Bari Friday night. (They freaked out!) So yeah we took the Pullman all day and then from the station we sprinted to the church for the ward Christmas party. It was fun. We did a nativity. I'll send you a picture. I looked absolutely ridiculous, oh my. The Africans were in it too which was stupendous. This ward is a party.
Saturday morning we had tons of stuff to do for the baptism!!! We printed the programs, which was one my favorite parts of the planning. Normally it's not too exciting but in this case it was because guess who owns a print shop that we always use as missionaries? Stefania’s husband...(the one who took 9 months to say yes to her getting baptized). It was cool printing the programs there, hehe. After printing the programs we ran into a small problem. The font water
wouldn't get hot. Like it was warm, sort of, but more on the cold side. We called the bishop but he couldn't do anything about it. It wouldn't be too bad of a problem except for the fact that Stefania has an immense fear of water. She was already having enough anxiety about the baptism and had asked us to make sure the water was warm enough. Oh man. So we were kind of freaking out but there was nothing we could do about it. We filled up the font and then the baptism started! You guys the spirit was so so so strong at that baptism. The ward members were all
so excited that Stefania could finally be baptized. There was a beautiful musical number and some awesome talks. Stefania’s whole family came. Her son Claudio has been baptized for a year and he baptized her. Her husband, who really is a good guy, came too. So did her 16 year old son who isn't a member but is so cool! (Amanda I had him add you on Facebook, he's so cute and so are you! Add him! Talk to him! (#flirttoconvert) While they were all listening to the talks, before the baptism, Claudio and his mom were crying they were just so happy. Then the time finally came for the baptism!
Stefania entered into the font up to her ankles and stopped. She took a deep breath and continued a little. She looked at us and was like, "Sorelle, it's freezing!" We were so worried. Then her son Claudio came over and said, "It's ok mom, come on." and he helped her into the water. You could hear her breathing and just feel her anxiety. She has
legitimate fear of being immersed in water. Claudio said the baptism prayer then said "pronta?" (ready). Stefania took a deep breath and Claudio baptized her! She came up and was breathing so heavily but she was smiling. She got out of the water and was glowing. She said she just felt so calm and wonderful. Guys this email just isn't even close to describing how wonderful the baptism was. Just know that the spirit was so strong and that Stefania was the happiest woman alive. Sunday she received the gift of the Holy Ghost and became a real member of the church! She hasn't taken the sacrament for the whole 9 months she had been investing the church (as her choice) and Sunday she was finally able to take it for the first time. She was so happy. I have learned so much from her about faith, enduring to the end, and trusting in the Lord. AH I WANT YOU ALL TO MEET HER. So yeah that's pretty much what has happened since I wrote! A baptism!
Also Sunday night we went to go see a new convert named Lonarda. She is the coooolest ever. She's a convert of around 2 years. She tells everyone and their dog about the church. We were talking and I was like, "Hey have you read Jesus the Christ?" (This book is like 500 pages long and super intense). She was like, "of course sorelle." We
looked at her shocked and she said, "You guys have a lot of time left to study about Jesus Christ. I've got much less time than you. I have to study as much as a can." It was so awesome. I hope to grow up to be more like her.
Other than that I'm not sure what happened. I'm just really, really happy. And that's everything.
Keep the faith everyone!!!!!!!!
Vi voglio bene,
Sorella Brunson
Inviato da iPad
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