There's no place like Rome!

What a full week! It is strange how much change can occur over a one week period.

The best word I have to describe my new area is Boiling-lava-hot! Alright, maybe it is not that bad, but I sure miss the sea and that nice constant breeze (even if it did cause a few problems here and there for a girl in a skirt). My new furnace, I mean apartment, is cute and little. If any of you were ever fans of the show Trading Spaces and remember that one designer (Heeldi I think was her name) who was known for covering the walls of the rooms in weird things like card board and fake flowers, yeah I think she also designed this apartment. The walls are covered in cork board, but it isn’t like the really light kind, it is thick and it absorbs heat like nothing else! And it is the first apartment I have seen anywhere in Italy that has carpet. Just a thin layer of dark blue. The best comparison I can think of, which Aubrey is probably the only one who can appreciate, is the little play house that dad built for us in our backyard. The walls were plywood and not cork board, but the heat retention is about the same. Remember when we used it as our meeting house for our club? It is comparable in size too. We are on the top floor of the apartment complex, which is actually a good thing (aside from the fact that heat rises) because we have a huge balcony. It is awesome!

My new companion is from Genova, Italia. Sorella Gabriella Barbiere. She is really nice. I am excited for the work we will do together in these next 6 weeks. I am already seeing the perks of having an Italian companion cause we have had more meal appointments in the last few days then I ever had in Firenze, Livorno and Pescara combined. My companion speaks English pretty well so we don’t have any trouble communicating and I will hopefully improve a lot on my Italian while I am with her.

On Saturday there was a baptism for the wife of our ward mission leader. I don’t know the whole story, but from what I have gathered it has been a baptism in the works for a good 6 years or so. She reminded me a little of Mom the way she was so concerned about making refreshments for all the people she had invited. We helped her prepare the food and I swear it was enough to feed 100 people. Rice and pasta and egg plant mixtures along with fried things that I don’t know how to explain and some meat balls and weird mashed potatoes (potatoes mixed with mayo and tuna) then some cakes and different dessert type things. Mama Mia! There was a good turn out, but as I suspected there was a decent amount of left-overs, which the missionaries were told to take home and eat.

Just from these last few days I can tell that this is definitely an area full of miracles. I have heard some amazing conversion stories and I have listened to powerful testimonies. I am excited to be here and to be apart of this great work. I feel so sad sometimes for the youth here in Italy there are not a lot of youth in the church and I can see the heart ache of their parents as they try to encourage them and bring them up in this world of declining values. At times I wonder why I am so blessed, why I was born with the gospel in my life and in a place with lots of members, and then I think back to my ancestors, those who heard the gospel for the first time, embraced it and then sacrificed so much to live it. Thanks to their sacrifices and there dedication to the gospel I have what I have today and as I see the members here making sacrifices and going through hard times I find myself praying for them, pleading with the lord that they will remain strong so that one day their posterity, like me, will wonder, “why am I so blessed?” The decisions we make today are effecting more than just our own lives. I am so blessed and I am so grateful for these blessings and I hope I can continue on and live the gospel with all my heart so the sacrifices of those that came before me are not in vain.

I am grateful for commandments and the blessings that come from living them. I had an amazing experience in livorno before I left. Wednesday evening we had an appointment with Masamilliano and I don’t remember if I mentioned it or not, but I had been a little concerned with his testimony. I didn’t know if he was feeling the spiritual side of things or just acquiring knowledge. We were holding off on teaching the commandments because it just didn’t feel right yet. If he didn’t have a testimony of the prophet Joseph smith, why would he want to live the commandments we have thanks to his revelations? Anyway at some point during the lesson he let it slip that he’d stopped drinking coffee. Both me and my companion were taken back and asked what? When? He said, “a few weeks ago. Well, you don’t drink coffee do you? I want to find answers. I want to do what I need to do to receive them.” Wow! We had never ever taught him the word of wisdom, in casual conversation I had mentioned that we don’t drink coffee, but we hadn’t explained the commandment further. At that moment I knew without a doubt that he was ready for the commandments. We gain our testimony of commandments as we try to live them. We don’t need to be 100% convinced before we live it. It was a humbling experience for me and I felt like the lord was reminding me the commandments are gateways to blessings, and who am I to deny these blessings to anyone. I should never feel shy or nervous to teach people the commandments of God and I do not need to beat around the bush.

As always you are all in my prayers. Keep enjoying life and doing the best you can to live this gospel! The church is so true! I love it.