What a sweet week in Italy.
We have been having the grandest time ever. I wish I could explain to you all how TIRED I am (but in the best way possible). Taking care of two areas is not a small task. For instance, to get from one side of our area to the other side of the combined sorelle’s area would take 4 hours. We try to stay as close to the city as we can so we aren’t traveling that much every day, but even to get to one church from the other is 30 minutes. With miracles and prayer we have been making it work and have been able to teach so many lessons this week. I feel very blessed to be able to teach so many lessons at the end of my mission. I LOVE IT.
So some seriously aweeeesome stuff happened this week. Let me tell you about it.
-Rosa and Lorenzo.
ROSA IS THE COOLEST GIRL. If Kevin married her I would be so happy. I don’t know how it has happened but I’ve been able to work with teenage girls in every city and I love it. Rosa is so great. I called her this week and asked her if she read the Book of Mormon. She said she started it and told me all about the first two chapters. We had a lesson with her and explained the Book of Mormon. It’s such a miracle to see how fast she understand the importance of the scriptures, even though she has never read the Bible in her whole life. When we were explaining the Book of Mormon she was like, "I think it might be a good idea if I read this every night before I go to bed." WHAT. She gets it. Most seminary students born in the church take forever to understand the importance of reading the scriptures, and there Rosa is saying the most PROFOUND stuff the first week of learning about the scriptures. I love her.
-Grazia
Do you guys remember Grazia? She’s the one we were teaching when I first got here. She just started the separation process with her husband, and it’s a really, really hard situation. She was having such a hard time that she stopped responding to us and was just doing everything she could to find work and figure out all the hard stuff. This week though, we called and she answered and said she was doing a little better. She gave us an appointment. We called that morning to confirm but didn’t hear anything from her, so we went anyway. We showed up and the house was a complete disaster. She was trying to clean and do the girls homework and get the breakfast and it was terrible. There was a feeling of contention and stress and it was horrible. We looked at Grazia and said, "Alright, tell us what to do." We started cleaning and sat the girls down (they are 8 and 9). We had them get out their homework and worked on it with them. After a couple hours we had the house under control, breakfast done and homework finished. We sat down the family and testified of Jesus Christ. A light entered the room and a spirit that was indescribable. I have NEVER felt such a strong difference between when there was the spirit in a home, and when there wasn’t. The difference between when we walked in and when we left was so easy to feel. Grazia thanked us with tears in her eyes, and the little girls hugged us. We walked away and were speechless. Finally after a while someone said, "I think that’s the way that Jesus Christ would have spent his morning." We all agreed. That’s why we came on missions. It was beautiful.
-Leonarda
She is the one that lives in Trani. We spent Christmas Eve with her, remember? Well this lady LOVES doing missionary work and she is the only member in her town. She wants so badly to have friends and members of the church that live out in Trani with her so that on Sunday mornings she doesn’t have to travel to church alone. We had found in our apartment a bunch of old information for some people who had investigated the church in Trani in 1996. haha so like....when I was a year old. We decided to maybe try to call some of them or visit them with Leonarda. So we went out there to Trani and started calling these people and guess what? TWO people answered their phones and said they remembered talking to missionaries twenty years ago and wanted us to come back. WHAT a miracle. Leonarda was so excited. So that was cool.
-Remember how whenever I need anything in the mission it’s given to me? My boots fell apart this week and I was like noooooooo. so I tried to get a new pair. I found some that were cute but they were 35 euro, more than I wanted to pay. I decided to get them anyway because I was sick of all this dumb shopping, and guess what? they were on sale for 15 euro. HOLLA
-This week we were having lunch with some members. They were talking about how their daughter has to choose what she is going to study. (Here in Italy they choose what they will study for their whole lives when they are 12 years old....it’s really weird). Anyway, this girl was talking about how some of her friends were going to a certain school, some others to another school, and she couldn’t decide where to go. I was like, "It’s exactly like Joseph Smith!" and everyone just looked at me like I was crazy. Sorella Taylor was like, "Uhhh I think you’ve been in the mission for a little too long." Everything is a metaphor for the gospel these days. Prepare yourselves.
-Someone told me I look like the main character on this show everyone watches here called, "Il segreto." Look it up. It was the BEST compliment ever because that girl’s a babe.
-Pretty much I think that’s it. I mean it’s not it because we did A TON of other stuff but I just can’t write about it all. Those are the main cool things. We are working with some awesome people and seeing cool miracles EVERY DAY. I love it. Other good news is that I get to go back and visit Ladispoli (my first area on the mission) with my companion Sorella Barona before I come home and I’m SO EXCITED. It’s going to be awesome.
One more thought and then I’ll be done for this week.
We have been working with a lot of people who have torn up families. It’s been tough to see. I have learned this week how important the family is, and how important it is to choose someone as a spouse who supports you and loves you. It is so sad how many wives here (and all over the world) are treated badly by their husbands and visa versa. I am so thankful for my family, and for the knowledge that families are FOREVER. And that no matter what family problems may exist, Jesus Christ knows what we are going through and can help us overcome these things.
I hope you all have a STELLAR week. Talk to you real soon.
Love,
Sorella Brunson
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