September 22, 2010

Subject: se non venissi, la mia vita non sarebbe così bella!

 Ciao Ciao! 
 
   Where does the time go, seriously! one minute I am writing a letter to you all, then the next thing I know it's Pday again!
     Well, we are seeing some huge progress here in Ragusa. There is something magical about this city, the work is unbelievable. Maybe its just working hard, and the Lord blessing us for trying to do all we can. But we are seriously seeing some MIRACLES!
   First off I will tell you the first one, and that would be when we had 9 investigators show up at church this week! Ha, yea, I don't even know. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen in my life. For the last year that has been one of the biggest struggles of the mission. How do you get Sicilians to go to church on Sunday in OUR church???? Well, here is who came. Isaac, Rita, Angelo, Angelo's wife Rita, Angelo's sister in-law Rosa, Angelo's daughter Emilia, Emilia's husband, Eunice, an African investigator of ours, and Tina.
    This week we got a Baptismal date set with Tina ! The date is October 9th. Luckily I will still be here to see that! That is also when Rita is scheduled to get baptised, but we have been having a lot of doubts about that lately, so we'll see what happens.... Anyways, for Tina, Baptism had been the obstacle before (when Sorella Smith and I were teaching her months back), but now that we have a date set, she seems to be less fearful regarding baptism. She is finally to the point where she is reading the Book of Mormon by herself, and feeling the Spirit as she reads.The lessons we have with her are always great. There is such a strong spirit there in her home. She is about 55. About 8 years ago she was hit by a car. This caused some serious damage, including them having to remove her pancreas. This brought on diabetes, which has been a serious health issue for her these last few years. She understands the Restoration, and is coming to understand doctrine that for years she was confused about. This week she came to a huge realization of  what our purpose is here in this life. It is a wonderful experience to see her come to receive truth with such joy and excitement, a woman of 50 plus years.
   Of course I am grateful to our ward mission leader who now teaches Sunday school and always has so much patience with the somewhat crazy questions and concerns that get thrown at him during these lessons nowadays with so many investigators coming to Sunday School. Angelo is doing amazing!!! He will get baptised, we will try again this week to get him to set a baptismal date. He always says, piano piano...But he has told us countless times how he knows that it is all true. He loves the person he is becoming. His wife, and everyone around him recognize the changes in him. On Saturday we taught him the Word of Wisdom. He came up with all sorts of ridiculous excuses at first, like "But, if we all quit smoking, there would be thousands of people out of work, and so then people would die..." Of course the whole time it was just him covering up for the fact that he knew God wants him to quit smoking, he just knew it would be hard! He committed sincerely on Saturday, to live the word of Wisdom. We always sit there in a little plaza across the street from his sister in law's bar, and do lessons. His wife Rita, and his sister in law are always in and out of the lessons. They hear the lessons, but they are both noticing how serious he is about this. Since he committed to live the word of wisdom last Saturday, he has yet to touch a cigarette! He has told us that he doesn't even have the urge to smoke anymore, even though he has a wife and many that surround him that are frequently smoking. He loves coming to church. Last week at church he came with the news that his Evangelist preacher buddy had told him the Book of Mormon was full of lies. He was pretty upset, because he loves reading that book. Anna, who was baptised last month, was thrilled to be able to share her testimony with Angelo and help him confront these attacks that Satan is sending to confuse him. I have had to pray and repent many times for the thoughts i have about this Evangelist preacher dude who comes to see Angelo almost without fail, after every time we go teach him. Haha. All he wants to do is rip apart the doctrine in the Book of Mormon. I pray for my enemies!!! Literally he is my enemy!!!!! haha sorry, but its super hard to love people like that. Angelo will come to Isaac's Baptism on Friday, and hopefully he will get the final "OK" on his feelings that he has had from the Spirit thus far. he is amazing!   
    We still havent been able to ever get ahold of the lady, the one that lives below Anna :( Maybe in a few months some other missionary will be able to find her again. I am so so so excited for this Baptism on Friday, Isaac is so ready to be baptised. It has been cool to have been able to see the entire process of him. Beautiful.
   I have still been struggling with Laryngitis. It has been over a month. Super frustrating. I did what the Dr. told me, and tool Ibuprofen for 4 days, it got a little better, then its pretty much in and out. I would love to go get my back looked at eventually too. I have had a lot of back problems since I've been in the mission. I think just from non-stop carrying a heavy bag full of Books of Mormons and Pamphlets all day...My hair is getting soooo long. Definitely the longest its ever been!
   I cannot believe how fast this year has gone. I cant say that i have "not regretted it once" haha because there are OCCASIONAL moments where yea, I would rather just be able to chill on the couch for a minute and watch a movie in my sweatpants or something, but I seriously have loved the last year of my life. I have learned so much, and have honestly changed so much. I feel like I have come to see the person God always wanted me to become, but perhaps I was always just a bit stubborn before. I have learned Patience up the wazoo, and learned to truly rely on God during difficult times. I have had some of the hardest times, felt more alone here in Ragusa, but I feel that in the last few months in Ragusa, thanks to the difficulties and challenges I have had to overcome it has been a period of incredible personal change. I really am feeling like I have so much left to do, in a short amount of time here in the mission. The experiences I have had I wouldn't change for anything, not even a husband. I'm not jealous of my friends who have gotten married. I would never change my year in Sicily with these beautiful people for anything in the world. Sicily really does have a piece of my heart now, and always will. I love everything about it, and I love my Heavenly Father for so directly telling me over and over, that he had a work for me to do here. I truly know that this has been EXACTLY where I have needed to be the last year of my life. Thank you all for your love and prayers.
Vi voglio bene,
MONICA
...Sorella Miller