April 13, 2015

Carissimi Miei!

Gosh I can't believe it is already time to be writing again! I guess that's what happens when p-day comes a day late, the next week just flys by. But as you all know the big news of the week was transfer calls, so without further ado...I am being transferred to Crotone! I'll be heading back down south! Crotone is a city in "the foot" of Italy in the area of Calabria. Apparently it is pretty small because none of the members here knew where it was when I told them about it. Haha but I'm super excited! My new companion will be Sorella McFarland and she has just finished her first 12 weeks, so I will be follow-up training her. Being transferred is always such a mix of a emotions. I am so excited to get working in my new area, but it breaks my heart to leave Rome. I really have loved serving here. But I know I'm leaving the area in good hands with Sorella Jones.

That being said this week was a crazy one trying to squeeze apointments in to start saying goodbye to everyone. To finish up our exchanges for the transfer we had the Rome 5 sorelle come stay with us and Sorella Margheriti and I spent the day with the other companionship of Sorelle here in Rome. I was with Sorella Cano, the sorella from Colombia. Never would I have ever thought that serving a mission in Italy would make me grow to love hispanic people so much. I felt so blessed to spend the day with Sorella Cano. She is so loving and cares so much about the people she works with, I learned so much from her. I feel so blessed to be able to interact with so many sorelle. The scambio went well though! We were able to do a bit of our work and a bit of theirs as well.

This week we saw a lot of progress with Anna. She really is such an amazing person with the biggest heart. It has been incredible to see the progress she has made. In our lesson this week we went over the talk we left with her last week and she loved it. She loved the simplicty of it and how it was easy to understand. During our lesson we went over the 4 steps that President Uchtdorf gives us to receive a testimony and how they are the same for each and everyone of us. In the end I think that was what was most important for her to hear. That is doesn't matter what backgrounds we come from. Whether we are born in the church, converted from a different church, or even atheist, the steps to receive a testimony are the same for each and every one of us. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have had to work with her. I've learned so much more about God and who He is, but I think I've learned the most about how much he truly does love us. 

Our other investigators are doing well! Unfortunately Sonia and Stefany were really busy this week, they are trying to find a new house so we weren't able to meet with them. So we are hoping to see them in the next few days, as well as Rosa and Mauro. Their poor family got sick this week so we had to reschedule. We did get to see a few of our less actives though! Incredibly enough we actually got a random call from Rosita this week. She had moved for work so we hadn't heard from her for a long time, but she has moved back into the area so we were able to meet with her this week. I was grateful that I was able to say goodbye to her. Tender mercies from the Lord :)

This week we also got to spend some time visiting the members and saying goodbye. There really are some of the most incredible people here, I can't believe how blessed I am that I was able to serve here to work with and learn from each of them. That has been one of my favorite things about Rome 1, working with the members here. These people have such incredible testimonies and I really have grown to love them so much. Which makes leaving hard, but I know there are people waiting for me in Crotone!

So this week we've got a few more appoitments to say goodbye to everyone, then I will be heading down south. I don't know the address of the apartment there yet, but I'll get it to you as soon as I can. So it should be an exciting week! Thanks so much for all of your love, support and prayers. I am so grateful for each of you. 

Ci sentiamo!

sorella marsh

 Barbara Ventura, one of the most rock star members I have met since I have been here.

 The Alabastro Family!  They are SO GREAT!