Cari Miei,
Okay everyone first things first...I have got to tell you about the most INCREDIBLE thing that happened to us yesterday. So I don't know if you have heard, but the Pope is holding a colloquim (wow that is a hard word to spell) here in Rome, and representatives from different churches will all be speaking on the family and marriage between a man and a woman. President Eyring will be speaking at it, so he and Elder Perry and Bishop Causse are all here in Rome. Yesterday we were so incredibly blessed to have all 3 of them come to our sacrament meeting. I wish I could describe better in words how amazing of an experience it was. First of all it was just so great to be here with the members, and to see how excited they were to have these three men here with them. They cleaned the church for days, everything was exactly in order, and they made sure that everything would be perfect to welcome them to our ward. We were so blessed and we were able to hear each of them speak. Elder Causse read from Romans in the bible, and talked about proclaiming the gospel. He also spoke a little bit on the temple. Elder Perry spoke about the sacredness of the sacrement, and bore the most powerful testimony. I was so touched by what he said, and it made me really think about how I treat the sacrament, and what type of experience I should be having every Sunday. President Eyring addressed multiple topics throught his talk, but I will never forget when he addressed us missionaries. Sorella Argyle and I were sitting near the front, so when he was giving his talk he looked at us directly and bore his testimony that the Lord is preparing people to recieve his gospel. I will never forget when he looked me in the eyes, with tears in his, and said that as we preach the gospel His sheep will recognize His voice - God is speaking to His children through us. I felt the spirit so strongly in that moment, my body couldn't contain it and I instantly broke into tears. I can't believe how blessed we are to have had such an amazing and personal experience, and such an intimite tender mercy from our Heavenly Father.
After sacrament meeting we already began to see miracles. We were speaking with the members when one member, Barbara, beckoned us over. We went to go see her and she said see that woman over there? That's my mom. She is a non-member, so go do missionary work! Haha so sure enough we went to go talk to her! Turns out she is from England, so she came to the meeting because she wanted to hear the messages in English. But she absolutely loved it and she said she felt very peacful as she was listening to the words they said. She said overall she was touched by the amount of love she felt as the men were speaking. We quickly asked if it would be alright if we met another time to explain a little more, and she agreed :)
Incredibly enough, we also got another member referral this week! His name is Leonardo, and he is dating one of the members in our ward. He has a great story - so he has been coming to church for about 3 months. He always dresses up in his suit and is there for all 3 hours. But because he comes so consistently, everyone just always thought he was a member. Then one day Ala (his girlfriend) pulled us aside and told us that he was a nonmember who had a lot of questions, and asked if we could come speak with him. Of course we quickly agreed :) our first lesson with him went really well. He is not a very religious person, in all honestly he is only coming to church to follow Ala. But he has a great desire to find the truth, and has a lot of real intent. I am so excited to work with him. It is the most incredible experience to see someone who is truly searching for something and to know that you can help them. Not to mention we have built in member support, so that is fantastic. We also teach him with the patriarch and his wife, and they are a huge blessing. I honestly can't believe how blessed we are.
Our other investigators are doing well! Greatest news ever - MARIVEL WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED!! She said that she has found the peace and tranquility that she was looking for, and that she wants to become a member of this church. But it is a little bittersweet for us, because she also told us that she will be moving home to peru for the winter. She wants the missionaries to continue to meet with her there so she can be baptized there. Which is absolutely incredible and i am so thrilled for her. But i have to admit i am a bit sad for myself that we dont get to see the process. But we know that she will be okay :)
Unfortunately we didn't get to see Dyanne this week, we have had troubles getting a hold of her. We also didn't get to see Harrison and Mabel because of their work schedules, so we are going to try and figure that out this week. But! This week we had a really neat experience. So I was going through our area book because I wanted to call some of Rachel's old investigators and see if they would let us come visit them. I got a hold of one named Rossana, and when I told her that I was the cousin of Sorella Miles she instantly invited us over. (just goes to show what an incredible missionary rachie was :)) anyway, we got there and i showed her my family pictures, and she just about died when she saw the one of me and rach. she told us all about her wonderful experience with the missionaries and how she will always look back on that time with wonderful feelings. She had some hesitations about being baptized, but that we are always welcome in her home. She even invited us over for dinner on Christmas. Haha but what was really incredible was that while we were there we met her caretaker, Beatrice. She came and listened to our spiritual thought that we shared and was so touched. Before we left she asked for our phone number so we could stay in touch. We asked her if we could teach her more about our church and she said yes! So incredible to see how the Lord works. That through Rachel, and Rossana, now Sorella Argyle and I have the opportunity to teach the gospel to Beatrice :)
One more story then I better wrap this sucker up. SO. another crazy miracle. On Saturday we were had an apporintment with Marivel, then in the afternoon we were supposed to have an appointment with Harrison and Mabel. About 11 in the morning Mabel called and said she wouldnt be able to see us because she had to go to work. We were a little bit bummed, but we tried to think of other things we could do with our time. Then Sorella Argyle remembered that there is a less active member who lives out by Marivel, so we decided that after our lesson we would stop by and see if we could find him. We got done with our lesson, headed over to his house, and rang the bell. All of the sudden this head pops out the window, then popped back in, then out again. haha finally we just yelled at her, and asked if Giovanni was there. She said yes, and asked if we were from the church, so we said yes. then her head pops back in, then back out and she asks again, are you from the church? We said yes, we are here to see Giovanni. Her head pops back in, then a male head pops out. We introduced ourselves and he buzzed us in! We went up to there apartment and they are the sweetest family! They are from Peru, and Giovanni was baptized there. He is now married and they have the two most adorable children. Only Giovanni is a member. His wife is catholic, but she is very open to learning about other religions. As we talked to Giovanni it turns out that he hasnt been to church in about 15 years, and no one from the church has tried to contact him in about 10. (which explains all the confused head popping) But he still loves the church. He reads the Book of Mormon, lives the word of wisdom, and is trying to read the Book of Mormon with his kids. He said he would love to have us over to family home evenings with his wife and children, so we are thrilled about that. Pretty incredible tender mercy :)
Well that about sums it up for the week! Things here are going really well. I also went on my first exchange up to Rome 5 this week, and that was a really great experience. A little nerve wracking, but it was great. I just hope that in the end I was able to help the other sisters. All part of being a missionary! It's crazy work, but I absolutely love it. Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers. I feel so blessed to have the family that I do rooting me on from back where you are. You are all the best. I hope you have a great week and I will talk to you soon!
sorella marsh
Rome 5 Sorelle! After a long days work...dont judge.
fighting the cold
Marivel's niece :)
No comments:
Post a Comment