March 9, 2015

Carissimi miei,

Hello everyone! So great to hear from you all this week. The baptism looked absolutely beautiful! I can't believe how handsome emerson and finlay are! I am so proud of them. Give them an extra hug from me! Thanks for sending all the pictures from the great weekend. I loved every single one of them! 

We had a great week over here in Rome! It was kind of a strange one, but a great one none the less! On Monday we took Sorella Clyde to the office to finish off her mission. I'm so grateful for the opportunityI had to serve with her, she was an incredible missionary. We had to wait a few days for Sorella Frandsen's new companion to come so we spent a few days in a tri-companionship. It was fun to get a little peek into what sonn's life is like these days :) it really was a good experience though.Always great to have another testimony in your lessons, and it was fun to work with the other sorelle's investigators for a few days. 

Things here are going well though! We're kinda going through a bit of a turnover with our work right now. Some investigators aren't really progressing anymore, things like that. But just means there are other people who are ready! We just gotta find them :) We did get to meet with Anna this week though, and the lesson was incredible. Teaching her has been such a learning experience. In the lessons with her we have to rely 100% on the spirit, and I've learned so much about how to recognize the Spirit and then following the promptings we recieve. This week sorella jones and I just had the feeling that we needed to talk to anna. We didnt really understand where she was coming from and we didnt feel like we were on the same page. So we asked her a few questions about why she was meeting with us, if she felt like it had helped her in her life, things like that. In the end what she told us was that when she met us on the train she saw a light and a conviction in our eyes - that we knew the truth and she hoped that she could also have that same conviction. We asked her if she felt our lessons were helping her accomplish that and she said yes! She still cant say she believes in God, but she has a more open mind. You guys she tries to pray everyday. She can't always finish her prayers, but she at least tries to start one. This week she agreed to say a complete prayers asking God if He exists. It has been so incredible to watch her faith grow. Please keep her in your prayers!

Also a cute new converts are still going strong! We met with Moses again this week and talked a bit more about his conversion story. The man has so much faith, it is absolutely incredible. It is really hard for him to read, but he promised to read a verse from the book of mormon everyday. And he came to church this week! We got him introduced to a few members so hopefully he will start feeling included in the ward. Leonardo is doing great as well. This week we had the anziani come with us to teach a lesson about the priesthood and it went really well! He agreed to prepare himself to recieve the aaronic priesthood, so we are thrilled about that :) he is still coming to church and going strong!

This week was also a special one because we got a specialized training from steven b allen. He was in rome to check up on things with the temple and visitors center, so he stopped by the mission office to give us a quick training. He focused on baptismal invites and how we can have more faith and less fear. It was a great training, one of the perks of being a roman missionary :) also this weekend was stake conference for us over here,which was fantastic! Our stake president over here is an incredible man. He spoke to us about the differences between consequences of our actions and trials that we go through in life. Then we also got to hear from Elder Kieren! About his time last year he came around and did the mission tour. I learned so much from him, it was great to listen to him again.

All in all it was a great week for us over here! We are excited to get going with a new transfer. Thank you so much for all your love, support, and prayers. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for you!

Until next week!

sorella marsh

i wish i had the literary talent to describe in words this experience...but it would just not do it justice. Just know it was one of the funniest things that has happened to me on my mission.