Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 9:24 AM
Buon di!
They have lit up the streets and are literally roasting chestnuts in the piazza's here in Genova! There is a HUGE pine tree in the main square and Sorella Nilson just ooh's and aaah's everytime we pass it. The Italian's openly admit that they don't celebrate Christmas...just a Christmas mass and a big lunch Christmas day. In compared to America, (hand circle motion) it's nothing. haha, I hear that a lot. Anyways, at least we have the Ecuadorian families who really know how to celebrate and really know how to eat. All during Thanksgiving I was thinking about the time differences and as I was going to bed I was thinking "Dad's probably making the crab dip about now, the football game is on and the kids are just having a ball"...Can't believe I'll already be home almost 2 months this same time NEXT year...time flies!!
As far as this week goes, we are all starting to get a little panicky around here...NONE of us want to be transferred! Transfers come the week RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS...please pray that we'll stay here. I had a dream that I was transferred and sent to the office...I'm praying not!! I'm really starting to progress in opening my mouth and talking to people...even with the ups and downs.
Mamma mia, this was a weak to laugh at...especially yesterday. After you have such a spiritual high, life hits you and you're done for. Well, not done for because I've been blessed with the ability to laugh when...you really shouldn't...but I do! Not in a sense of being inappropriate, but in situations where you just typically wouldn't laugh at. Truthfully, it makes things easier. For example, we had an AMAZINGLY spiritual lesson with one of our less actives. We received a little letter from the Anziani that THEY found...it was a letter from Heavenly Father to us...we had her read it...and she started weeping during her reading. I can't imagine really actually forgetting that Heavenly Father is there for me and that He loves me. I can't say I've ever felt forgotten...I've just felt beside myself. Here on the mission, you see it in people's eyes and hear it in people's words...that there is NO GOD and that HE doesn't exist or love them. Absolutely incredible. NEVER FORGET that GOD DOES EXIST and HIS PLAN IS FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US!! Oh, simply amazing. So after we, well, if any of you are squeamish...don't read until the next paragraph....I have to say that you find and see things that you NEVER hope to see again...in your life...ever. And I mean it. We were waiting for the bus, and a woman walked by with a dog...a old dog that had the face of a bear. As it walked by, it's rump...was horrible. It was infected and rotting, and if I was that woman, I would have shot it to put it out of it's misery. If Correne and Gramma can remember with the dog down the hill and how he was so miserable 2 summers ago? Yeah, this dog...oh so sad. As we are waiting for the bus, it finally comes and I'm just thinking about our next appointment...and this woman gets on WITH THE DOG...only she had shoved toilet paper into it's little rump hole to stop...I don't know what. As the door closes, I'm working on distracting my companion because she's about to vomit...she's super squeamish...and then I hear this 6 year old boy say "oh puzza" which means that there is a horrid smell. I turn towards the boy and he is like crawling towards the window, covering his nose and mouth while his older brother is trying to get him to calm down. And then...dun dun dun...I smell a smell so putrid, I'd take a flatulant any day. My companion started gagging and we just burst out laughing into our jackets. We couldn't laugh out loud, just trying to breathe into our coats, not through our noses because it burned and not through our mouths because you could taste it. We were trying to get air anyway we could, but that poor dog was..just rotting. I NEVER want to smell that again...I still laugh about it to this day. Let's face it, sometimes you can either laugh or gag or cry...and I chose to laugh. Thankfully she got off the bus a few stops later, but seeing everyone's faces was priceless, and we felt queasy for the rest of the day...but still tried our best.
We were going to another appointment and walked past a hispanic couple. As I passed them, a conversation with them popped into my head...but I kept walking. We got to the bus stop and they were still there...I told my collega that I felt that we needed to talk to them...so I did. As I walked up, OH! it was one of THE RUDEST women I have met on my mission. Basically she was, well, not being Christ-like. Comunque, I wished her a happy evening and left her to her anger. It's sad when people act that way...I hope someday she'll be happier.
This weekend is going to be SO GREAT for SO MANY of our members!! It's a ward temple trip and Claudia gets to go!! SHE is so excited! We gave her a really nice triple and made a dedica inside the cover. She about cried when she received it. Sorella Nilson made her a reall pretty cover and there were pictures of us on the inside. She is so excited to go and is really considering going on a mission sooner than she thought...CALL IN THE REPLACEMENTS!! Miracles miracles miracles.
We met with a new investigator named Nelly today. Her story IS one of those stories you think are fake, like the Mormon legend stories...but it's true. She made us a delicious lunch and gave us a referral AND a new investigator. Tatiana...SHE has been prepared. She has been searching ALL HER LIFE to find which church is true. A LOT of people say here that there has never been a church that has "touched" them. As we sat down, she started saying a lot of "the bible says this..." or "what I have come to know..." at first I was a little tense because I thought she might be an under cover Jehova's Witness or an Evangelist, but I felt inside that I just needed to listen. As I was teaching, and time went on, I just got the impression that she is saying and asking so much because she is hungry and thirsty for knowledge...Throughout the lesson her questions were just PMG straight out of the text. "Where is the true church?" "How can we KNOW and not just THINK that this church is true?" "Why isn't there just one church...we are ALL children of God" Holy moly. We go through the lesson and just explaining piece by precious peace...the Spirit was SO strong...just words flowing in and out! Finally, once we got to the First Vision...everything changed. She had the "locked in" face, and absolutely silent. The hunger appeared and satisfaction was starting to sink in. She looked like it was something SO PRECIOUS...gently she happily accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. I'm telling you, when she put the Book of Mormon and the Bible together, it looked like a hunger within her was being fed....literally, like a answer received after YEARS of searching. When we asked her if SHE had any questions, she looked straight at us and said "Yes, I have one question...When are you coming back to my home?" Miracles. Brings tears to my eyes as to how much we are blessed. Look for them!! They are there!!
With Tatiana, I can't explain the whole situation. But for me, it was a beautifully spiritual experience. I have NEVER seen a hunger placed on someone's face, and how she looked relieved when she put the Bible and the Book of Mormon on top of one another. "You mean to tell me that with these two books, we have everything we need to go back to God?" "Yes...we are missing nothing. The truth is HERE and we are here to teach you!" With that, a reverance settled over her and a peace settled over me with the feeling..."this is what missionaries are for..."
Brothers and sisters, family and friends...I stand before you today as a witness of our Savior Jesus Christ. This gospel is so precious, and how dare I become scared and shut my mouth as to not teach it. Come what may and remember that the Lord will exhalt those who will declare His word. I'm not perfect, and I'll probably shut my mouth again, but the key is that I am still trying and still willing to grow. I know my Savior lives and that Joseph Smith really and truly DID see God the Father and Jesus Christ. Praise to the man, for without his humility, we'd still be in darkness. I am SO grateful to Thomas S. Monson, our prophet, seer, and revelator for us from the Lord. I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, I'm almost half-way through my 3rd time of reading the precious book here in Italy. If all goes well, I'll have completed it 6 times here on my mission...I can never get enough. I love this gospel with all my heart. I know it's true!! Vi lascio questo, nel nome del mio Salvatore Gesu Cristo...Amen!!
Bacci e Abracci,
sorella bowman
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