April 20, 2015

Carissimi Miei,

Okay first thing's first - TANTI AUGURI to Dantzel and Oliver e la bellissima principessa Ginny!!! She seriously is the sweetest most precious little girl, and she is absolutely beautiful! I can feel her sweet spirit all the way over here on the other side of the globe. I am so happy for you and your little family! Can't wait to snuggle her :)

As for me, buongiorno from Crotone! Made it here safe and sound :) Everything went well with transfer day and we are ready to go! So far I absolutely love it here. Crotone is basically the opposite of Rome. It is a small small city, but it is right on the ocean. And surprisingly enough there are actually a ton of people here. There is a beautiful walk right along the beach where we like to do a lot of our finding, which is great. As far as the area goes it actually reminds me a lot of my beloved Pozzuoli. So that has been fun to feel like I am in a similar area again. My new companion is Sorella McFarland and she is from California. She is going into her third transfer so she has lot of energy and excitement about the work. We've got a lot of great things in store!

The church down here is a small branch. On the ward list we have about 60 members, but only about 15-20 come to church regularly. So we've got some work to do to get things growing here! I have only met a few of the members so far, but they seem absolutely fantastic. There are a few returned missionaries who help us out a lot with our work, which is a huge blessing. We are also so blessed to have a senior couple here. Anziano Bullock is the branch president here in Crotone so we work pretty closely with them. They are an incredible couple. 

So that's the low down on things here! In these past few days I have been able to meet some our investigators and less actives, and we even have some new converts as well! So there is a lot of great work going on down here, I am really excited to be a part of it. This weekend was our district conference in Cosenza so I haven't really spent much time in Crotone yet, but I am excited for what is in store. 

So it should be exciting! I have to admit though, my heart was just a little torn to be leaving Rome. I feel so blessed for the opportunity I had to serve those people. They truly just stole my heart. This last week was so hectic trying to say goodbye to everyone, but there was one experience that I wanted to share with you guys. Before I left we were able to have one last lesson with Anna. In our lesson last week she promised us that before I left she would try to say a prayer, so we knew that this lesson we would have to follow up on that. We fasted and prayed to know what to say to help her have the courage to say a prayer and from the minute the day started the opposition was so real. It was insane. Just so many things kept happening throughout the day to both me and Sorella Jones but at the end of the day we finally made it to Anna's house. Even during the lesson there were so many random distractions and disruptions that usually don't happen, always when the spirit was strongest. For our lesson we read together from the book of mormon about king lamoni's experience and how he gained his testimony. From the story we focused on verse 16 of Alma 22, when aaron promised to king lamoni that he can have the hope he desires. We promised Anna that if she prayed that God would respond to her and she could receive more hope that he was there. She agreed to pray, and I wish I could describe in words how beautiful the experience was. The spirit that we felt was so pure and strong. It brought me, sorella jones, and anna to tears. She offered the most sincere and heartfelt prayer, and we all felt Heavenly Father reaching out to her in love as a response. It is one of my most treasured experiences as a missionary. 

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here. I love serving the Lord and bringing this message of joy to other people. Thank you all so much for your love and support. I love you each so much. 

Until next week!

sorella marsh