Buon Ringraziamento! aka. Happy Thanksgiving!
Ciao Famiglia!
Well, today's Pday was filled with cooking for Thanksgiving! My companion Sorella Tinoco has never had a Thanksgiving dinner, so we went to this huge market downtown this morning and I went on the hunt for sweet potatoes (which by the way dontexist here! and neither do cranberries!!! Dang! And all the other things I needed to let her get a taste of an American Thanksgiving! All day long I cooked stuffing, pumpkin pie, and chocolate chip cookies ha ha She loved it, and it was a good thing for us to do together. Tomorrow we will be having a ward activity in which we invited all of our English course students to also. I will be providing all of the American food ha ha it was quite the day of cooking for me, and I have never actually made stuffing in my life, just for when I would sit at the kitchen table and watch Miracle on 34th street and break the bread hahaha but it turned out really good! And, since pumpkin pie doesn't exist here, I bought a pumpkin and did it all from scratch! I was pretty proud of myself!
Anyways, Happy Thanksgiving!! Of course every time I have time to stop and think about how everyone is all together right now, it hurts a little bit, then I try to remind myself that it is a pretty unique experience to be here in Italy, sharing the gospel with people, and I get over it and say ''aright, I have the rest of my life to be in America on Thanksgiving...'' I hope you all have so much fun together. We will do the gratitude chain at the activity, and make some of those turkey things with tracing our hands ha ha It was the best thing I could come up with. but everyone is excited for this so it should be a good time!
I am happy to say that the Gravina family again has a Baptismal date for the 11th of December! It is so cool to see them coming along so well. Giacomo is very sincere. This is a family con a lot of problems, but they are really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have been focusing on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and they truly are coming to see that our guilt can be removed. Their oldest son willingly came and sat in on the Family Home Evening on Monday which was absolutely a miracle! Giacomo told us ''I am really really feeling these 'vibrations' (he refers to the Spirit) and I am arriving to the point where I can say that I am ready and SURE that I want to get Baptised! '' It just shakes me to the core every time. Being a missionary is the coolest thing ever. I love them and really have faith the they will go through with the 11th. Giacomo will be a rock in the gospel. He made comments on Monday in the lesson, that he loves that when he comes to church he sees that it is a church full of families who are united in following Jesus Christ. It is so true. The gospel is about families. progressing together in unity, and having one united purpose- The gospel is the map that leads us back to our Heavenly Father.
For a few weeks we were really struggling because we didn't really have any investigators who were progressing besides the Gravina Family. We did A LOT of proselyting, and a LOT of praying and fasting. We have found a few new investigators in these days, and the Lord is really blessing us. We found a lady named Lina last week on the street. We have seen her twice since in her home, and will do another lesson with her on Saturday. She has a hard time understanding the need for Priesthood Authority, when all churches teach good values and principles. Yes it is true, all churches have bits and pieces of truth, and its great to have people live by good moral standards, but without the authority to do SAVING ORDINANCES, what is it worth? This life is to prepare us for the NEXT. She is about 65 years old, a sweet lady from Napoli who is a widow. She has prayed at the end of each lesson, and every time she sincerely prays that we can help her to clear up her doubts about death. She has lost a lot of family members, and this is something that eats at her, even though she wont admit it. It is sad to see people who have gone so long with unanswered questions, that they come to the point of ''acceptance'' with the fact that truth and answers just are unattainable in this life! It is sad to see, but a perfect opportunity to fill a hole in them that they didn't know was fillable!!
Last Saturday we had The Stake relief Society Conference. There were about 80 sisters. Our stake has 5 wards. It was a really nice evening, and we were so excited to see that Grazia Gravina came. This was the same day that her 18 year old son ran away, and she was absolutely distressed. I feel so blessed to have grown up in the family that I did. HOWEVER, the GOSPEL CHANGES LIVES!!!!! I have witnessed it before my very eyes. What a beautiful experience.
PS- s
We had Zone Conference last week, but unfortunately President and sister Kelly's car broke down when they were about 2 hours outside of Rome, so they couldn't make it down. It was such a let down ha ha Holy Cow. We all look forward to Zone Conference, ESPECIALLY since now it is only every other transfer that they do it. LAME! So we are awaiting our ''interviews'' over the phone sometimes between now and Saturday when we get transfer calls. Speaking of transfer calls, Sorella Tinoco will probably be transferred, and I will be getting a new comp for my last two transfers. President told sorell foote ( who came in the same transfer as sorella Tinoco) that he will only be keeping greenies in their first city for 3 transfers, so if he sticks to his word, she's outta here. We'll see. Next week I'll let you know.
Watched this super inspirational film at zone conference called ''Only a stone cutter'' You should look into trying to find it. It is a story about a guy who worked as a stone cutter on the Salt Lake temple. His name was John Rowe Moyl. Maybe like on YouTube or something...? Its good.
We had a shady stocker man who has been following us for a few weeks. He is an old man who always comes to church and English course and tries to follow us. The Anziani finally talked to him last night and hes not all the way there. Apparently he is ''waiting for a sister missionary to come back to Italy'' who he met 20 years ago....Hmmmm.....kind of a strange explanation... I always get nervous with these kind of things after what happened last year..gotta watch out.
Well, i sure have a lot to be grateful for! I love you all so much! The best things we have in life we totally take for granted. I am trying to take for granted and find things I am grateful for here every day, since I know that the times is just going too too fast. The Lord has blessed me with so much more than I deserve in the last year, I will be ever eternally indebted to him. I love you all. I miss you.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Love,
MONICA
...Sorella Miller
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