February 23, 2015

Carissimi miei,

Buongiorno a tutti! Gosh I can't believe I'm already back here on p-day again. This week just flew by. Thanks so much for all of the pictures and emails this week. Sounds like you're all doing great, which I am happy to hear! Okay everyone we have lot's to talk about this week, so ready or not, here we go!

First things first...Leo's baptism!! Leonardo is officially a member of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, and I honestly couldn't be happier! It has been such an incredible process to see how much he has grown, even in this last week. So we met with him one last time before the baptism to plan it all out and get everything ready, then to do one last lesson with him before his baptism. For his lesson we felt like we just needed to talk to him about what a testimony is and how it grows. The lesson went really well. We just really wanted him to understand that a testimony starts out small, and that it takes a lot of work to strengthen and nourish it. We talked about the parable of the seed and I think it was really helpful for him. He recognized that he had started to see changes in his life since he started meeting with us, and said that he was willing to continue living the gospel until his testimony was strong. 

The baptism was on saturday and it was absolutely beautiful! The stake patriarch spoke, sorella jones sang "I know that my redeemer lives," and I shared my testimony. The actual baptism was perfect. Ala's son Dima performed the ordinance and everything went perfectly. I'll never forget how much joy I felt for him in that moment. The next day in church he recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost and was confirmed a member :) the spirit was so strong. But this is my favorite part - yesterday in church leonardo told us a story. He said that he had gotten to church late that day, so walked into priesthood and just sat in the back. They were about to say the prayer when they decided that they would have the most newly baptized member say the prayer, which would be Leonardo. Praying in front of people is something that is really hard for Leonardo, he is just painfully shy. But he decided to do it. He told us that while he was up there praying he felt like there was someone helping him. Then he looks at sorella jones and says "that's a testimony, right?" Just so incredible to see how he is already becoming more sensitive to the spirit in his life. I love the man!

So it was a pretty incredible day for us. Not to mention that after Leo's baptism there was a ward party - so it was a pretty hectic day. The ward party was a hit though. It was a party for carnevale, which is basically like a mix of a masquerede and an italian version of halloween. all the kids dress up and its tons of fun. The party was a huge success though. The members here are seriously incredible. We basically spent the whole night just meeting their friends and talking to them about the gospel. So that was definitely a highlight for the week!

Our other investigators are doing great as well! This week we met again with Anna, and we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. Her progress is small and slow, but it is pretty incredible. At the end of our lesson she accepted the invite to pray this week. Pretty amazing when you think that three weeks ago she told us she was convinced that there wasn't a God. She is the sweetest lady. In our last lesson she told us before we left that she always feels serenity when we are at her home with her. Honestly that's the best part of it all for me - knowing through that what we say to her she can feel more peace and happiness. 

Also this week we got to meet with Mauro and Rosa! Oh my gosh you guys my obbsession for this little family is real. In our lesson this week we decided to go through and explain the Book of Mormon a little more. We felt like it got rushed over a bit in our first lesson and we wanted them to understand how important it is. Mauro listened so intently to everything that we said, and before we could even get the invite out he says "great I will read it!" So we'll see how that went this week! Rosa is heading back to Equador this week to work on some things for her visa, so we are hoping that we will still be able to work with Mauro while she is gone. Please keep them in your prayers this week. Their family has so much potential. 

This week we also met with our investigator Sixio! I dont know if you remember me telling you about him, but he is from Peru and has a daughter who is 11 years old. They are so dang cute! We brought our ward mission leader Fratello Aranda to our lesson with us this week which was a huge help. Firstly because we found out that Sixio's name is actually Sixto. Haha that awkward moment when you dont even know your own investigators name. Also I'm not sure exactly why, but for some reason Sixto is under the impression that we speak spanish. Haha he will look me straight in the face and speak to me in full blown spanish just assuming i know what he says. I mean I can understand the general idea, but italian is definitely preferred. So fratello aranda was a huge help with that. The lesson went well though! Sixto is super super catholic, but he is opening to listening to what we have to say. And he said he would read in the book of mormon so what more can you ask for!

Okay one quick miracle story and then I promise I'll wrap things up. So last week on p-day sorella jones and i were about to get on the metro when a man stopped us on the street and said that he had met with missionaries like us in sweeden, but when he moved to italy he lost contact with the church. So we got his number and set up a time to meet with him. During our lesson we were asking him questions when we found out that he was actually baptized in sweeden, and didn't know where to find the church in Italy. He said he recognized our nametags and knew he could ask us for help. So that is the story of how we met Moses! So now we have another new convert to be working with here in Rome 1! Isn't that so great? Such a great testimony builder that God really does look out for us and doesn't forget any of his children. 

Well needless to say it was a pretty incredible week for us over here! We've got a lot of exciting things coming up this week as well. Tomorrow we have zone conference, then saturday we will recieve our transfer calls to find out if we are staying or going. Always a pretty nerve-wrecking time, but whatever happens will be what the Lord wants to happen. I'm so grateful to be serving here, and I'm so grateful for all of your love, support, and prayers back home. Have a great week! 

Love you!

sorella marsh

rosa e mauro!

 some of the masks we made for the festa!

 il battesimo di leonardo :)

February 16, 2015

Carissimi miei,

Yay its so great to hear from you all! Talking to you guys is always the highlight of p-day :) Thanks so much for all of the emails and pictures this week. Everyone looks great!

Okay I have lots to tell you about so get ready for it. We had another incredible week over here in Rome :) Sorella Clyde and I headed out to Pescara to do another one of our scambio's and it went really well! Okay time out - before going to pescara we stopped at the office to get mail for the sorelle, and i got my valentines day package from mom! so what do you know it all worked out in the end :) thanks mom! Time in -  I spent the day with sorella Davison, a new missionary from Australia who has been here about 3 weeks. It was such a great day, she is an incredible missionary. I feel like all these sisters just get the short end of the stick - i learn so much more from them than they could ever learn from me. Plus I am just so impressed with these new missionaries coming in. They are so prepared and just so ready to work. What are the teaching at the MTC these days?? Anyway, for our scambio sorella davison and i taught one of their investigators. However this investigator lives in a place where sister missionaries aren't serving, so the pescara sorelle travel there to teach her the lessons. So I was lucky enough to spend the day in Ascoli! Oh my gosh it was absolutely beautiful! I seriously feel so blessed to have the opportunity to work with all of these sisters. We've got some pretty great ones over here :)

But as always it was also really great to get back to Rome and get back to work in our area. I'll start with our investigators :) this week we were able to meet with Anna again, and the lesson went really well. We went into the lesson prepared to talk about faith, but as we were going through it just didnt feel right. She kept bringing up concerns and asking questions about the next life, and when she told us she lost her sister a few years ago we knew we needed to switch gears and teach the plan of salvation. It was such a neat experience. She still has a hard time believing in God, but she said that what we were teaching just made more sense than what she was taught growing up. Once we had finished the lesson she just sat back for a second and said "it's strange...but I feel close to these things. They don't feel unfamiliar to me." Such a powerful moment to bear testimony of the preexistence, and that these things don't seem new because they arent. We have all heard them before. She agreed to start trying to adress God in prayer, which is a miracle in and of itself. Oh i just love her. She is the kindest human being. She would not let us leave the appartment before she had given sorella jones a scarf, a jacket, and a pair of tights to wear because it was FREEZING outside and sorella jones was not well prepared. Haha she's the greatest. 

Another great miracle of the week - we were finally able to meet with Rosa and Mauro!! Oh my gosh they are the CUTEST family and I dont think that I could be more obbsessed with them. Haha so mauro is an ex-investigator, but it has been about 2 years since he had the lessons so we just started from the beginning and taught the restoration. The lesson went really well. We had some member there with us, and theywere able to bear such powerful testimony of how the gospel has strengthened their family and helped them to raise their childen. Which is exactly what Mauro and Rosa want in their family. They agreed to start reading and praying together everyday :) but the greatest part was just the end of the lesson when mauro said the closing prayer. I honestly don't know what it was about it, but he was just so sincere in everything he said that it actually made me cry. He started praying for his wife and his children and I was just so overwhelmed by the spirit and the love that there was in the room. Needless to say we are really excited to be working with them :)

Our other investigators are doing well! Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with ray this week because his wife wasn't home when we set up our appointment so we weren't able to stay. Heartbreaker. We also had some miscommunication with Sixio this week, but we will see both of them soon!

Our less actives are also doing well! This week we were able to meet with La Coppia Navarro, who have also just stolen my heart. They are so eager and excited to be doing the right things, it is the greatest thing to see. This week when we went to their house they said they were said they missed the lesson in sunday school last week, so they decided to study it on their own but didnt understand and wanted us to study it with them. So we took some time and went through the gospel principles manual together, and they were just so stoked to be learning more about the church. Little by little they are making those steps to get ready for the temple. 

And last but most certainly not least, we have Leonardo :) this week we finished off teaching the lessons! He is ready for his baptism! He had the interview yesterday and it is all set! He is a little bit nervous about being infront of all the people, but he says he feels good about his baptism and he is ready to make this next step. So we couldn't be more thrilled! The baptism will be on Saturday, so we've got a lot to do to prepare!

So we've got a pretty full-filled week ahead of us with lots to do, but we wouldnt have it any other way! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this work. Thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers. I am one incredibly blessed missionary :) i love you all and i hope you have a great week!

sorella marsh

Roman forum - shout out to dougie!

 P-day adventures!

 Anna :)

Ascoli with sorella davison :)

 Happy valentines!

February 9, 2015

Carissimi miei,

Buongiorno a tutti! Thanks so much for all the pictures and e-mails this week, the trip to disneyland looked so fun! I was just dying at how cute everyone looked all dressed up in their disney gear. Thanks for sharing! I'm glad you had a good time :)

Alright so its story time. So this one time last p-day we decided we wanted to go climb the stairs to the top of st peters, so after finishing up our internet time we headed out. Once we got over there we walked into the square and it was just absolutely FILLED with nuns. Haha literally the whole square. We started asking around to see what was going on, when we saw some of the anziani. Turns out they had been talking with some of the nuns and apparently it was some catholic holiday (still not quite sure what it was called) and the pope was going to be there to lead the mass. So we hopped in line real quick (actually with some members from Ogden, that was fun) and waited to get in to see! We got into the basilica and all of the sudden they started handing us candles and prayer books, the whole works. We listened to them say some of their prayers and then sure enough, the pope came in! So now we can officially say that we have been to mass lead by the pope. Bucket list: check! 

But of course the real highlights of the week come from our work :) this week we got out to do one of our scambio's. Because the sorelle came into our area last transfer this time we decided to go out to theirs. This week we got to head out to rome 5 to scambio with sorella battezzato and sorella margheriti! They are both such great missionaries, honestly I feel like I learned more than I could have ever taught them. The scambio was a really great experience though! I spent the day with sorella margheriti. She is from a town in northern Italy, close to cinque terre. She is an incredible missionary who works so hard, I am grateful I had the chance to work with her. All in all it was a great experience!

One great thing about scambio's though is that it always makes you feel grateful to be back in your assigned area doing your work. And this week was a great one for us in Rome 1! This week we were able to meet with Ray and his family, and they are doing so great! We are not entirely sure how, but apparently between our lessons Ray got in contact with some other missionaries and watched the restoration and he absolutely LOVED it. He said he loved the story of Joseph Smith, and how each of us can find the truth in these days. So we are still not quite sure how that happened, but we are grateful it did! This week we taught them the plan of salvation, and it was such a great lesson. It was one of the first times I have actually taught the plan of salvation to a family, and it just made it so much more special. Ray and Jasmine were so touched by the idea of having an eternal family, and Christian loved all the pictures that we brought. So they are progressing and doing well!

This week we were also able to see Anna and the lesson with her went really well! This week we taught her the Restoration, and it was such a great lesson. We decided that we wanted to focus on the story of joseph smith and the difficulites he had finding god in each of the churches. But that through scripture study and prayer he was able to recieve an answer to his questions develop a personal relationship with God. She was really touched by the story of Joseph Smith, and said that she felt more open to the idea of prayer. She wasn't willing to say one with us then, but she said she felt more open to the idea. Little by little. it's progress :) But something just needs to be said - i have gained a testimony of a lot of things here in Italy, and one of them is that i will never have a pet. Haha during our lesson with anna her cats were crawling all over us. There was literally a point in the lesson i had to hold back laughter because one of the cats was swishing its tail in sorella jones's face. Gosh i was dying. Then later during the lesson another one came and started chewing on my hair. Haha they're the worst! So turns out I truly am my mothers daughter. 

Anyway, on to more important things. Haha Leonardo is still doing great! This week we finished up teaching him all of the commandments, and he accepted all of them! This week we will finish up the last few lessons with him then he will have his baptismal interview! The baptism got announced in church yesterday and everything :) I had the chance to talk to him about it after sacrament meeting and he is doing well. He feels good and excited about his baptism and we are excited for him as well. He still doesn't feel like he has recieved that confirmation that everything is true, but that he believes it 99%. It was a good opportunity to just talk to him about what a testimony is, and how answers come from the Spirit. We talked about the progress that he has already made, and how if he continues to read, pray, and come to church then his testimony will continue to grow until he does get to the point where he feels 100% sure. He's such a wonderful man. But bless his soul he is just SO shy. The thought of getting baptized in front of everyone just scares him to death. We talked about that for a while as well, and it was really great to be able to relate to him about those things. Heavens knows the social scene hasn't always been one of my strengths, so it was great to be able to talk to him about how when we turn to the Lord he can help us overcome our weaknesses. Love that man :)

I really do feel so blessed to be serving here in this area at this time. Our members here are fantastic. This week a bunch of the peruvian members threw together a family night that we could bring our investigators to and they could bring their friends too. That way we could meet their friends, and they could meet our investigators! It was a hit. All in all I think we had over 30 people there. I just feel so blessed to be working with these people. I learn so much from their example everyday. I love doing this work and I love being a missionary :)

Thanks for all of your love, support, and prayers. I love you each so much and I'll talk to you soon!

sorella marsh

so here is a fun little fact about our area. There are 2 grocery stores we can go to for our shopping. One is little far away and at the top of a hill, but super cheap. The other one is super close, but a bit more expensive. Last week we were going to the cheap one but we didnt want to have to go again this week. So naturally we just bought half of the store. 

 THE ROOTBEER.

 mass at st peters!

 rome 5 sorelle :)

February 2, 2015

Carissimi Miei,

Hello everyone! Buon Febbraio :) what in the world where did January go?! Seriously can't even believe it. Thanks everyone for all of the emails and pictures this week! So great to hear from all of you. I don't think I can ever say it enough, but I am one blessed Sorella. Thank you Thank you.

Okay first things first...I have wonderful news for you all. Last week on P-day we found a blessed little filipino shop that sells ROOTBEER. There is Mug Rootbeer in rome!!! That's when you know that God looks out for his missionaries. Haha it was a great start to a great week! One of the highlights of this week was definitely Capi conference. I always learn so much and it's just so great to get guidance on areas where we can improve. Also President Waddoups spoiled us and let us watch a tid-bit of meet the mormons! So so great. I absolutely loved it. So that was a rare treat for us :)

Alright so here is an update on how things are going over here in my neck of the woodson my side of the pond! The work here is moving forward and we are so excited about it. Right now our main focus is getting Leonardo ready for his baptism! We saw such great progress with him this week. We were a bit concerned that the only reason he was wanting to get baptized was just to make Ala happy, so we decided to do a lesson just on baptism. We wanted to focus on the idea that at baptism we make a covenant with God, so it should be a decision we make between us and Him. The lesson went really well, and Leonardo understood the importance of what we were saying. He is concerned about knowing if he is doing the right thing by being baptized before he feels absolutely certain that what we have taught is true. So we went through and read the baptismal questions with him so he could know what is expected of him and all of that. He was able to respond to all of the questions saying that he believes that it is true, he still just doesn't feel like he has recieved that confirmation. So in our next lesson with him we focused on fasting and how that can be a way he can recieve that confirmation from the Spirit. He agreed to do the fast so we are excited to follow up with him on that. It has been a pretty incredible process to work with him. He still doesn't feel absolutely certain that what we've taught is true, he says that he would like to be able to say "io so" like the rest of us do. But he says that with or without that confirmation he wants to be baptized on the 21st. So we are going to move forward with faith and do all we can to help him recognize and strengthen his testimony. Keep him in your prayers!

Our other investigators are also doing well. We were finally able to see Luca this week, which was great. We taught him about the commandments to read, pray, and come to church. We really just wanted to emphasize that through doing these things he will be able to recieve an answer that what we are teaching him is true. The lesson went really well, and he recommited to reading the book of mormon from the beginning. If anything it was just a really good lesson because it gave us the opportunity to understand what is holding him back a bit more. He is having a hard time understanding why he has to make a choice between the catholic and the LDS church, especially when all of his family is catholic and it means he would have to completely change his lifestyle. In the end he did agree to be more dedicated in his reading and prayers so that he can recieve an answer from God about what he has to do. So we're back on track and moving forward!

We also saw an incredible miracle this week with our less active Rosa. As we were planning for her lesson we got the feeling that we just needed to share a message of encouragement with her. We decided that we wanted to just take a minute and point out all the blessings she has already recieved from her efforts to come back to church, and promise her more blessings if she continues to do so. Before we even start the lesson she says sorelle i have to tell you about all of these things that are happening! Then continues to tell us about all her prayers that God has answered, and how many blessing she has seen in her life lately. So we jumped right in and helped her to make the connection that those blessings are coming from her obedience. It was incredible. We then started talking about her husband, Mauro, who is not a member. We asked her if it would be alright if we started including him in our visits and started teaching him, and she quickly agreed! So this week we will start meeting with the whole family :) 

This we we also got a few new investigators! First I'll tell you about Antonello. One day he just showed up to the church after english course asking about family history. Turns out he has been doing his geneology work for years and absolutely loves it. So we quickly introduced him to the members working in the family history center and got everything set up. We asked him if it would be alright if we explained a little bit about why family history work was important to our church and he quickly agreed! So we taught him the plan of salvation, and he was really interested in it. He isn't an extremely religious person, his main belief is that God is too far away from man for us to be able to understand who He is. But he agreed to meet with us again so we could talk about it more! So we are excited to see what happens there. 

Our other new investigators are a father and daughter, their names are Sixio and Ilenia (no idea how to spell that one) and they are so dang cute! We actually met them on the bus about a month ago, but just between the holidays and conflicting schedules we were never able to meet with them. But just goes to show that persistence pays off as a missionary! Sixio is from Peru. He is Catholic, but very open to hearing about other religions. Ilenia is 11 years old, and she is the sweetest girl I have ever known. She is super shy, but just soaked up every word we were saying during our lesson. We decided to just go through an introduction to the book of mormon with them, and they loved it. They agreed to start reading and we are going to see them this week to see how it went!

I seriously feel so blessed to be serving these people here as a missionary. I feel like I learn more from them than I could ever teach. Thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers. I couldn't be out here doing this work without your guys rooting me on back home. Love you all so much! Have a great week and talk to you soon :)

sorella marsh

 capi conference!

 sunday morning before church :) nothing beats the sabbath day.

 making some brownies with leonardo. but seriously, how can you not love the man?