IT IS HOT HERE. I'm already dying.
This week was
awesome! Last week we went to the Amalfi coast which is this coast
between my city and Napoli and it is BEAUTIFUL!!! There's all these
great colorful houses built on the mountains by the city. Anziano
Sherbel took us on a ride through it all and we stopped in a couple
cities to take pictures. Also the Sherbel's have their son, his wife,
and two kids staying here for the week. It is so fun and weird to be
around American people! Today they took us out to Mount Vesuvius and
Pompeii!! I'll send you those pictures next week!
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| Amalfi coast! |
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| Amalfi coast! |
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| Amalfi coast! |
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| Amalfi coast! |
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| Amalfi coast! |
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| Amalfi coast! |
At the beginning of
the week we had zone conference in Pozzouli and that was really fun.
We have an American Navy base here which for missionaries
means...American food! Which means Peanut butter sandwiches and chips
and all those great, gross American food. It was funny when our Zone
Leader said “And we would like to thank the US Embassy for
providing lunch” haha we are so important here.
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| Zone conference. familiar face! |
This week we
had some cool lessons with
Rosaria. On
Thursday she told us about how that was the anniversary
of
her dad's death date, but then she told us how the other day when we
explained the temple to her, it really hit what we said about
baptisms for the death and she would like to do that for her dad. She
asked all sorts of questions of baptism and the temple and we brought
her this temple magazine and she's really excited. On Sunday, she
wasn't feeling so well and she knew we did blessings so she asked us
if we could bring the Elders over for a blessing. We did and the
spirit was so strong! She just cried the whole time and loved it.
After we got out the calendar and had her chose her date. We really
wanted her to chose it and be committed to it. She chose September
13th!
Which is a bit far away, but I think it will be a good thing. I
remember Emilia in Pescara chosing a date two months away, but all that
time really helped her prepare. Also Rosaria still has a strong
belief in Saints which is something she is going to have to give up
and I think having more time to read and understand everything will
be good.
While we were at
Rosaria's this week...she brought out this brown can from her fridge.
She told us it was called Sangue nacho. Sangue means BLOOD. Basically
pigs are kind of sacred here. They are more expensive and it is NOT
okay to waste a pig. So in an effort to save EVERY part of the
pig...they take it's blood and mix it in chocolate to make a snack.
I'm not kidding PIG BLOOD in chocolate. And I ate it. It actually
wasn't too bad...just tasted like chocolate...but there was this
other taste to it...and I just knew that taste was BLOOD so I
couldn't handle it. Then she made us eat more. So gross. WHO KNEW THEY EAT WEIRD THINGS IN
ITALY? And who knew I would be stupid enough to try them all.
We also
got two more investigators this week! Both are referrals from
Rosaria! Elena is this Romanian who has been baptized three times,
but is interested in reading the BOM. We had a great lesson lesson
with her and her daughter came in (25 years old) and asked us all
these great questions about the church and seemed really interested
in learning the truth. The second is this girl named Giovanna. She is
32 years old, is married, has a 5 year old son, her dad used to meet
with the missionaries in the past and loved them, and it seems like
her whole family is really confused on religion and what is right.
They've studied with a lot of different church, but are still
catholic. It was hard to teach a lesson because she had nonstop
questions, but she wants us to come back this week and teach her and
her husband! We have a cute little family!! I just have the best
feeling about them! They seem like such good people!
These past couple of
weeks, I've actually been really frustrated with my scripture study.
I do love reading the scriptures, but I felt like I wasn't getting a
whole lot out of it and nothing was connecting. It was really
frustrating and I kept praying for help. This week I received it. I
found a BOM manual that you use in church and I've been studying it
along with my reading and it has changed everything for me! (yep...I
study with a manual. The mission has made me do all kind of nerdy
things and I love it) The manual explains everything well, makes lots
of connects that I haven't noticed before, and asks a lot of
questions that really gets me thinking. My testimony has strengthened
so much and I really feel this great love every morning. I'm better
able to share with other people the importance of the scriptures and
help them read better. For example, I found a smaller manual for our
investigator Rosaria and gave it to her. This week she has read and
learned more than the BOM than she ever has. I think the main
difference is the questions; it's really hard to come up with
questions for myself, but having all these questions to answer really
helps me. LOVE the scriptures! Read them they are so awesome!
Especially Alma 33, 34 in Italian. Who knew.
Miracles: This week we
were in this city and we needed to come back to our apartment for
lunch. We waited at the bus stop and the bus came and completely
passed us! It was so strange it did that. Another bus finally came
and I went up to pay my ticket and ended up sitting next to this
girl. While putting my money away I noticed she was starring at me
and I got a big prompting that I needed to talk to her. But before I
could even talk, she asked me if I was American. I said yes. Then she
told me how she has this really good friend who was a missionary in
this city a long time ago, but comes back almost every year to visit.
I asked her what this missionary's name was and she said “Kendra”.
(For a second I was like...that name sounds familiar...didn't they
used to call me that in America?) I said “Non ci credo. Mi chiamo
Kendra” (I don't believe it. My name is Kendra!) I just knew that
this was a coincidence and that God was telling me that I was put in
her path to specially find her. I hurried and got her number and
hopefully we'll be meeting this week!
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| Italy pride |
Also, the world cup
is HUGE here. Every street is covered with flags and banners, it's
fun.
I've been in
Battipaglia for almost six weeks now. TIME GOES BY TOO FAST. Love the
mission!
Ciao! Bacio!
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