Capi Conference - January 2015

I love it when I get on Steph's mission president's blog and their is my wonderful Stephanie!  Here are some pictures from her last Leader's Conference.  4 of the zones attended in person, the other 4 via computer.  What a day we live in!   Love our Sorella!

January 26, 2015

Carissimi Miei,

 

So great to hear from you all this week! Thank you so much for taking the time to send all of the updates! Its so good to hear that everyone back home is doing well. This week was a great one for us, and I can't wait to tell you all about it :)

 

So just to give you a quick update, all went well with transfers. Part of being an STL means that we have to help out the sisters in our zone who were being moved, but we got everything all taken care of without any problems! Now we are ready to get started on a new transfer. We have capi conference coming up this week, but we wont have zone conference until the end of the transfer this time around. Which means we will have a bit more time to work on our training, so we will see how that goes! 

 

Things over here are going really well! I honestly feel so blessed to be a missionary here at this time. Our investigators are doing great. Let's start with Leo :) we got to spend a lot of time with that man this week. First we had the grand opportunity to teach him the law of chasity. He had a lot of questions, but the lesson went really well. In the end he understood why it is important and said that he would live it. Then later on in the week we went to clean the church with the Scotchi's and Leonardo came too. It was a great opportunity to just talk to him a little bit and see how things were going. and he told us that as he has been reading in the book of mormon he has felt more peace in his life! bahh! his little testimony is just growing and it is the most wonderful thing to see. Also this week there was a baptism that was held in our building for one of the other wards and Leonardo came to see it. It was an absolutely beautiful service, he loved it. And afterwards he was just making jokes about who would be singing at his baptism, who would be giving a talk, how he probably won't be able to fit through the tiny door that leads to the font. haha but really i dont know what we are going to do about that last one. BUT. little by little we are getting him ready for the 21st :)

 

We also had another investigator come to the baptismal service - alida! She is our investigator who has a niece who is a member of the church in dublin. she loves the church, but it is very hard for her to believe that there is a God. But she loved the baptismal service, and honestly was a bit overwhelmed by the spirit that she felt there. I think it was the first time in her life that she felt something like that, and so powerfully. She said that she needs a bit of time to study and try to understand on her own, but that we can call her and see when we can come visit with her. So we are excited to see the progress she makes this week.

 

Also we actually got a new investigator this week who is very similar to Alida. Her name is Anna and we found her on the train. She was raised in the catholic church, but say that she never really felt the presence of god in her life, and because of that now she doesn't think that there is a god. However, like alida, she would like to believe Him. So we met with her for the first time this week, and the lesson went really well. We just took some time to talk about who god is, how we can feel his presence in our life, and above all that we are his children and he loves us. It was just such an incredible opportunity to bear testimony, and honestly i felt like it was one of the most sincere that i have ever borne. Through trials that i have gone through this week I have become so much closer to my heavenly father and felt his love so strongly in my life, and it was just so incredible to see how through that i was able to become a more effective instrument in his hands to help one of his children. Her entire countenance just completely changed throughout the lesson, it was so beautiful. We are excited to see her again.

 

Our other investigators are doing well! Unfortunately Luca was out of town this week, but now he is back so hopefully we will see him soon. And we started teaching a cute little filipino family this week! Their names are ray, jasmine, and christian, and they are so dang cute. 

 

Our meno attivi are doing fantastic as well! This week we met with la coppia navarro, and we really just wanted to stress the importance of coming to all three hours of church. we have talked about it before, but we just wanted them to understand the importance of it. So we talked about the plan of salvation and how in order to have an eternal family they need to be ready to go to the temple, and to go to the temple they need to come to church. It was hard to be so direct, but we knew it was what they needed. And sure enough the next day they showed up at 9:30 for church :) it was so wonderful! and rosita came too! gosh she is just BEAMING with joy right now because she has been coming back to church. But seriously i dont know if i have ever seen someone so happy. It is incredible to be a part of :)

 

Sorry its a bit jumbled and all over the place but there are the updates for the week! There are so many incredible things going on over here, and I feel so humbled and so grateful to be a part of it. I love you so much and I am so grateful for each of you. Ci sentiamo presto :)

 

 

sorella marsh

January 19, 2015

Carissimi Miei,

 

ciao a tutti! So great to hear from you all this week :) im glad to hear that all went well with all the birthday celebrations! Don't worry, sorella jones and I ate some treats over here for you guys as well! Thanks for all the pictures and videos this week! So fun to see how everyone is growing up. I'm glad to hear that all is well back home!

 

As for me we had another great week over here in Rome! I had the greatest tender mercy this week -  i got to see some of my members from pozzuoli! they were here for a conference on teaching seminary and institute which was held in our church building, and one day we were walking up to the church and i saw them out side and was just like wait a second...those are my people!! I seriously was just on cloud 9 for the rest of the day :) We had some other great highlights including a trip to the questura to get sorella jones's fingerprints taken, so that was exciting. For some reason at the questura here in rome they only let you in the building if you have an appointment, which means sorella jones and i were separated for about 2 hours. I've never felt so out of place in my whole life. Haha so i just found a nice seat and read general conference talks on our phone. We also recieved our transfer calls this weekend and i could not be more thrilled to say that sorella jones and I will both be staying here in rome for another transfer!! We've got so many great things going on right now, and we are so excited to get to work.

 

 Unfortunately this week we didn't get to meet with all of our investigators and less actives, but the ones that we did meet with are making such great progress. First of all I want to tell you all about Leonardo. Gosh my love for the man just grows and grows each week. This week we moved on and started teaching him about the commandments. We decided to start out simple with just read and pray. The lesson went really well. We took some time and talked about why prayer is important. We really just wanted to emphasize the idea that the only way he is going to recieve the answer he is looking for is by asking through prayer. So we asked him if he could ask god one question, what would it be? he responded that he would want to know if there is a life after this one, and what it would be like. We then explained that a great way to recieve answers to our prayers is to read the scriptures. So we opened up to Alma 40 and all read together about the spirit world. It was such a great lesson. Little by little his faith is growing, and it is incredible to watch. At the end of the lesson he offered the prayer without even putting up a fuss, then at church on sunday he happily reported that he has read 15 chapters of 1 Nephi this week :) 

 

We also so some incredible progress with our less active Rosa this week. We went to go visit her this week and we decided that we really just wanted to focus our lesson on letting her know how much God loves her. Rosa is married and has 3 kids, but she is the only member of the church in her family. She wants so badly to teach her children and to help her husband accept the gospel, but a lot of time she just feels alone. She told us an incredible story this week about how God answered one of her prayers through all of these people who reached out to her. We promised her that God would continue to answer her prayers, and that he would help her to be an example to her family. We invited her to come to church and told her we would do anything we could to help. Sure enough sunday morning rolls around and rosa, her husband mauro, and all three kids are in church :) im not exaggerating when i say i literally screamed i was so excited. We still need to talk to Rosa about it a little bit more, but we are hoping to start working with Mauro as soon as possible.

 

Last, but certainly not least, we have la coppia navarro! Gosh they are just the most fantastic people. They have such a great desire to do what is right, and they are so influenced by the spirit. It is beautiful. For the second time now they have took our invite right away from us because they have already felt that it was something they needed to be doing. Vi spiego. This week in our coordination meeting we talked with our ward mission leader and he reported to us that the bishop said inorder for the navarros to recieve a temple recommend they need to be coming to all three hours of church. So we prepared a lesson about keeping the sabbath day holy, intending to invite them to come to all 3 hours of church at the end. We get there and start the lesson, when sorella navarro says that she felt that they need to start making changes in their lives so that they can come to all three hours of church. She said that little by little she wanted to start working their way up to coming to church earlier and earlier. So at that point all we could really do is just read in alma about how by small and simple things great things are brought to pass, and bear testimony that by these small steps they are making they will reach their goal of making it to the temple. So incredible!

 

As for our other investigators they are doing well. Alida was babysitting her grandchildren last week and wasnt able to meet with us, but we have an appointment with her this week. Luca was also out of town but we will be meeting with him again soon. Little by little the work is moving forward, and I am so grateful to be a part of it. I love you each so much and I am so grateful for your love, support, and prayers. Have a great week! Ci sentiamo presto :)

 

 

sorella marsh

January 12, 2015

Carissimi miei,

 

okay everyone buckle up, it was such an incredible week! First things first, Leonardo has a baptismal date!! Get ready for this story. So last week on fast sunday sorella jones and i sat down and talked about what we wanted to fast for. Amongst other things we decided that we wanted to fast for leonardo to feel the spirit more in his life. So on tuesday we get a text from Ala asking us to come over for a lesson on friday. She said there would be news on the part of Leonardo that would be better if he told us himself. Well you know me and my anxiety brain, I was stressing for days and coming up with millions of things that this "news" could be. There were a few sleepless nights with lots of prayers, but finally friday came around. It worked out that on that day we were doing a scambio with the Rome 5 sorelle, so I had sorella Margheritti with me instead of sorella jones. We got into the lesson and the second the opening prayer was over I turned to Leonardo and said okay what is this news?! He turned to me and said that thing that you asked me to do...i want to do it. haha sly little dog. So we talked about it and settled on february 21st! He still says that he doesnt feel like he has a testimony, but he is willing to go forward with baptism as a goal and see how he feels when we get there. So we are moving forward with faith! He is such a great man with a heart of gold. I seriously love him. Ala doesnt let him have treats because of his heart, but while she was preparing the food after the lesson he snuck both of us some coca cola while she wasnt looking. Haha he and dad are long lost brothers. This is going to be such a critical time for him though, now more than ever please remember him in your prayers.

 

We also made great progress with Luca this week! Things have calmed down a bit after the holidays so we were able to meet with him again, and we taught him the gospel of jesus christ. It went so well! We took some time at the beginning to do some follow-up and see where he is at. He told us that he really likes the doctrine of our church. To him it all seems very pure. As we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ he agreed with everything, and finally accepted the invitation to be baptized! He said he still feels like it is too soon to pick a date, but that he would start praying about one. He also came to church yesterday, with enough time to partake of the sacrament. He really enjoyed the church services and said that he wants to come earlier next week to make it to all of the meetings!

 

We also started working with a new investigator this week! I can't remember if i have already told you about her, but her name is Myatt. We found her one day when we were out trying to find less actives. One of the less actives we stopped by was sorella maltese, myatt works for her as her care taker. We sat down and talked a bit and found out that Myatt is from the filipeans (yikes spelling is hard) and she is catholic, but not practicing. So we explained a little bit about who we are as missionaries and asked her if it would be alright if we came and talked to her more about our church. She agreed! So this week we went back and taught the restoration, and it went really well! She was so thrilled to get the book of mormon in tagolog and agreed to start reading! So we are excited to be working with her.

 

Our less actives are also doing well! Sorella jones went to go visit mila while I was at the lesson with leonardo, and she is doing well! She is starting to read in the book of mormon again, so we are thrilled about that. We also met with Rosita this week. She is doing great. She is going through a hard time in her life right now but knows that she can find the peace she is looking for in church. And she came to church again! Little by little she is making her way back into activity :) the navarros are doing great as well. We weren't able to go see them this week, but they are working hard to keep up with their new goals. 

 

Last, but most certainly not least, i want to tell you guys about our other new investigator. Her name is Alida and she is a self-referral. She has nieces and nephews who are members of the church in Dublin, so she went to church with them while she was visiting and absolutely loved it. She was raised in a catholic family, but she isn't catholic herself. In fact at this point in her life she doesn't really believe in god, but she wants to so badly. We went and met with her yesterday after church and it was so so great. She is just so kind and loving and I am so thrilled to be working with her. She had us over for lunch and we just took some time to get to know her better. She loves our church. She says she loves the community that we have and everything like that, but one thing that really hit me that she said was that she loved how happy we were. She turned to us and asked us why we were able to be so happy when there were so many bad things in the world, and it was just such a beatiful moment to testify that happiness comes from loving god and keeping his commandments. From knowing that he is our Father and that He loves us. It is something that is difficult for her to believe right now, but she wants so badly to have that knowledge. So we introduced the Book of Mormon to her and she agreed to start reading! She already wants to come to church and bring her grandchildren with her. Incredible :)

 

That pretty much sums up things for us over here! Lots of wonderful things going on, I'm just so grateful I get to be a part of it. I love being a missionary. Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers. I feel so blessed to have my incredible support system back home. Happy Birthday this week to pappy, I hope it is the best one ever. Love you all so much! Talk to you next week.

 

 

sorella marsh

Birthday Treats and the Roman Forum!

 The Scotchi clan :)

January 5, 2015 (Stephanie's birthday!)

Carissimi Miei,

Thank you all so much for all of the birthday wishes!! I seriously cant believe how lucky i am! It has been the greatest day. The other sorelle have been so good to me. I woke up to signs, balloons, and french toast for breakfast. Then I got to open up my birthday package with all the cute presents from mom! Then i got to talk to all of you, and now we are going to head out and go explore rome! Couldnt ask for a much better birthday :) I am definitely one very blessed sorella. 

It was so great to hear from everyone! I am glad that you are all doing well. Looks like you all had a fun new years! New years as a missionary was a bit different. Haha we did wake up at midnight to blow some whistles though. We could only stay awake for about 10 seconds before we all crawled back to bed, but did celebrate the new year! Then the next day we had our deep cleaning, so that is always exciting.  It has been a really great time of reflection though, especially with me coming up on my year mark so soon. It was a perfect time to look at the progress I've made and evaluate the areas that I still want to improve. So all in all it has been a great time of year!

It was a great week for us over here in Rome! Unfortunately with all of the holidays we haven't been able to see very many of our investigators. The holidays last a bit longer over here because they have an extra holiday called la epifania that is on the 6th of january. A witch comes and gives all the kids candy and its great. So we are hoping that with the holidays officially over this week we will be able to see a few more of our investigators. On top of that Leonardo has been sick so we werent able to meet with him, and luca's mom has been in the hospital so he has been extremely busy as well. We are hoping things will calm down a bit this week though. But that being said we saw TONS of progress with our less actives this week, which we are absolutely thrilled about! 

First off we met with Mila Hernandez. I wrote about her a few weeks ago. She is a less active who left the church because she was offended, but really wants to be coming back. She is the SWEETEST lady. We got to her house and she instantly starts frying up eggs and cheese and making us a salad because she is concerned that we dont eat enough. I assured her that definitely was not a problem, but there was no stopping that woman. So we ate our eggs, then we sat down and taught the restoration to her. It was such a great lesson. We just really wanted to focus on helping her regain her testimony. At the end of the lesson we invited her to read the scriptures everyday and pray to ask for a reconfirmation of her testimony, and see agreed :) so we are excited to follow up on that.

This week we also met with la coppia navarro, and it was the most incredible lesson. We went in prepared to introduce them to geneology becaues we wanted to get them started so that they can have some names to take with them to the temple after the go through for themselves. We started off the lesson by asking them how they were, and sorella navarro just opened up to us about how she was hit so strongly by the spirit in church a few days earlier that they weren't living their lives in order. There was a speaker from the stake high coucil who talked about new years resolutions, and it just hit them so hard that they had lost track of the little things. So we sat down and made a new years resolution list with them. I asked her what she felt were things they needed to work on and she gave the most beautiful response. She said first, we need to be praying as a couple everyday. Second, we need to be reading the Book of Mormon everyday. Third, we need to be holding family home evening. And fourth, we need to be paying our tithing. Such an incredible moment to see that the spirit truly is the teacher, and can testify to each and every one of us the things that we need in our lives. So we quickly made the list and got started on helping them reach their new goals!

This week we were also able to see Rosa. She is a less active who is married and has 3 kids, but i dont think the husband or any of the children are members. She has a sweet testimony though, and wants to be coming to church. She just feels overwhelmed bringing all three kids to church on her own, especially because they are always sick. So we shared a spiritual thought with her about living the gospel joyfully. We read from president uchtdorfs talk from this last womens conference. It was a realy great lesson, and at the end we asked her what she felt like she could do to live the gospel more in her life. She told us that she wanted to start reading her scriptures and praying everyday. She is such a sweet lady and she has a lot of potential to be coming back to church, so we are really excited to be working with her. 

This week we also saw a lot of progress with Thelma. She is 17 years old and has been less active for a few years now. She wants to be living the gospel, she just has a hard time motivating herself a lot of the time. She is so sweet though. We went to go visit her and she runs back to her room, comes back holding her personal progress and says that she has always wanted to do it and asked us if we could help her. So we got started with page one! We read a few scriptures on faith and talked about what it means to have faith and how we can develop more faith in our lives. In the end she agreed to say her prayers everyday this week to see if it helped her faith grow! She's so dang cute. 

And last but surely not least, we were finally able to meet with Rosita again this week, the less active who absolutely adores Rachie. Greatest of all, she came back to church! She could only stay for relief society and sunday school, but she came! She is such a nut, but i love her so much. After church she asked us to help her move houses, so we packed up all her stuff and carried it all across town. While we were on the bus we were able to talk to her about her feelings at church, and she was so happy. She committed to making an appointment with the bishop to get a few other things in order so she can get back into full activity. 

Overall this week I have just been so amazed at the love that our Heavenly Father has for each of his children. It strikes me over and over again as we work with all of these less actives that the Lords never forgets any of His sheep. It has also struck me over and over again as we have been helping these people try to get their lives back on track that it really is the little things that make the difference. It is our daily scripture study, prayers, service to others, and partaking of the sacrament each week that keeps our lives in order. I am so grateful for the simplicity of the gospel, and for the unending love that our Heavenly Father has for us. 

I love you all so much and I hope you have the greatest week! Thank you again for all of  the birthday wishes! It has definitely been a very special one :)

a la prossima!

sorella marsh