arrivederci.

sister jackson and sister wightman at the going away party the ward threw for paige. please notice the faint pencil drawing of paige. via sister jackson blog.

ciao cari miei!

well can you believe it? my how time does fly. i have been thinking about what to write (for about 30 seconds ... my life is a lot of madness right now in this very moment) and all that comes to mind is
the gratitude list.
i am just overflowing with it, more so this week then maybe ever before.
so here it is, why i am full of gratitude for today, last week, the last 18 months, and for all eternity ...

today
i am grateful.
because ...
--we just ran into 3 girls from byu that are headed home after a semester abroad in paris. they eyed us from across the piazza in front of the pantheon and i called them over "hey! you guys are mormons! come over here!" (you think i am kidding). so they did. and we giggled together and they told us about how one of them hates country music but is going to tennesee for her mission starting next week. so we gave them a pile of pass along cards and challenged them to give them all out before they go home (they also may have thought i was kidding).
--we get to see baldo in a few hours and bear our testimonies to him. and we will get to teach him truths, and we will feel the spirit together, and in a few days i will miss that there experience that i have got to enjoy for months now.
--we wandered around rome today and i decided that i need to see more cities in the fall. it is better that way.

last week
i was grateful.
because ...
--rita finally accepted a baptismal date. for january 4th. she invited me via skype. haha!
--rita finally came to chruch yesterday. in a dress and with an american flag purse. and she cried as the babies did their primary program. and she must have remembered that she too is a child of god and that her family can be together forever.
--roma 5 threw me a surprise going away party after church, complete with diana marchetti and the perego fam (minus ugo who is off in sardegna helping clean up the aftermath) and polenta, and a poster with a chinese version of me drawn on it, and a calendar of rome 5, and all of the members and so much love. just ... whoa. so so nice.
--we got a good giggle from the emergency phone call from the mission office telling us to get home asap because a huge storm was about to hit. we ran home and were CONVINCED that it was going to get all filipino up in here. didn't rain a drop. haha! but we read the article that sorella jackson's mom sent her about the 10 sorelle in the storm and prepared for the worst. hey, we will get obedience blessings.
--we were invited to a special missionary meeting with anziano ridd (2nd counselor in general ym prez) and presidente osguthrope (general sunday school prez). it was the greatest meeting ever. no exaggerating. they responded to every single doubt, fear, worry, question and thought that i have had for a while. it was really cool. they talked about doing everything with real intent. talked about desires, decisions, and determination. talked about teaching skills, agency, and so many other goodies. and we were just in heaven afterwards. they wanted to get a volunteer for a role play. i never do this kind of stuff but i titled this week "go big or go home or both" so i volunteered, not knowing beforehand that he would also ask the world's most timid girl to assist me (aka my companion). she knocked it outta the park though. what a baller.
--i saw sorella kimball. i heart her so.
--the anziani called an emergency meeting so we scurried off to their city to meet with them. they had some big revelation about how to work better with the members and how to really get the best out of the work of salvation. and we are SO pumped. and i got about 57819 ideas about how to be a better missionary/person when i return. i love seeing that kind of excitement!
--sorella jackson. just everything about her. i am really grateful for her, this week and always. she shared some really great scriptures during study this week. like this and this.
--amède. he is great. we invited him to be baptized, but he didn't accept. instead he promised to come to church every week and pray about the date. fine by us!
--the malara family. their baby, elena, is the cutest thing that ever happened. she gave me the greatest goodbye. oh man. i love that girl.

the last 18 months
i have been grateful.
because ...
--heavenly father has used me as a tool in his hands while i tried my best to serve him.
--i have come to know my savior as i have testified of his birth, life, ministry, authority, death, atonement, and vital role as our advocate.
--i have a greater appriciation for and understanding of the holy ghost. i know how he communicates with me and i know how to be worthy of his constant companionship.
--there is no doubt that joseph smith was all he was prophecied to become, that he was a prophet, that he restored the chruch in its fullness, and led boldly and righteously.
--the book of mormon has become a guide. i know that "no wicked man could write this book and no good man would, unless it were true and he was commanded of god to do so."
--thomas s. monson holds all of the keys of the priesthood, just like adam, and moses, and noah. and we need him. if you don't agree, come see rome.
--i have been through the highest highs, the lowest lows and all of the in between, and today i can say with all of my heart that know that i am a child of god. i know that i can return to him as long as i follow the savior. i believe in change, for i have witnessed it. i know god is near us, for i have felt it.
--you. because i have had more support than i could ever ask for. i hope you know i have tried to be worthy for all of the thoughts, worries, prayers, emails, letters, packages, and love by working, loving, smiling, and serving with my heart and with my strength.

all eternity
i will always be grateful.
because ...
--i was born in this dispensation.
--i served in the best mission in the world.
--i have made and strive to keep promises with my hevenly father.
--i am part of a forever family, the greatest one.
--i know where i come from, why i am here, and where i am going.
--i know that my redeemer lives and loves me.

and i love you.
see you soon.
sorella wightman

another week has scurried on by.

ciao cari miei!

another week has scurried on by and here we are again. it was a gooooooooooood week, minus the fact that sorella jackson has picked up the coughing, sneezing, runny nose with a headache trend that is going around. poor thing. but she is on the mend ... i hope. we've got things to do this very special week!

so monday i got a haircut by sorella garcia. her three daughters had searched the internet all day long looking for the cut and style that would match me best. let's just say i had to just go with a trim. haha! man i love that family. we also taught baldo everything he needs to know. at the end of the lesson his daughter said "if you don't get an answer after really truly doing all of this then i am leaving the church because there is no way you won't!" haha! it is true! we have given him all we have. ALL! and there has been some serious progress, minus the fact that he decided to not come to all of church yesterday. but i called him and told him i missed him and i know it got to him. haha! so only time will tell what baldo's spiritual fate is. here is to hoping he is really doing it all!!

OH some big things happened to me this week:

1) someone is naming their baby after me.
2) someone offered me their son to marry.

details:
remember vincenza? we are teaching her english and the gospel and she loves the life out of us. we came over for our lesson last week and she told us that she had a miscarrage. i have never seen anyone so content and accepting of such a thing. she said she knows that she will have another baby and when she does she is naming it paige. honor times a million, right. haha!

remember emilia? ....uh no. good i was testing you. i am not teaching anyone with the name emilia, but the sorelle in pescara are and i got the privilege to meet her during exchanges this week. she is 19, has a 3 year old daughter, and lives with her member mom and non-member brothers and a dad that is disturbingly similar to baldo, but in an argentinian kind of way. emilia was baptized last transfer and we came to do the after-baptism lesson: the gospel of jesus christ. we chatted and felt the spirit and testified. i concluded with my testimony and in the car ride on the way back to the train station, emilia's mom told me that the spirit testified to her while i was bearing testimony that i am the "one" for her non-member son. what does one say to that sort of thing? especially when her daughter said that she had the same sensation. well i don't know what one would say but i said "oh." sorella mckenna said she'd give them my info just in case. haha!

fun fact: if you want to boggle an italian, tell them to say "33,000 people think that thursday is their 13th birthday" they will never be able to do it. and they will hate it. th...that is a toughie for my mediterranean loves.

man this email is outta control. welcome to my life right now.

anyway.

wednesday we had district meeting. our district leader decided to teach us about the abrahamic covenant and we district meeting-ed all morning and even into our lunch time. that is good stuff.

thursday we taught our most-likely-to-be-in-the-mafia investigator, roberta. we had a really cool experience together with her and the spirit. poor thing has lost all hope in a better world. and she tells us all about why we should be sad like her. we listen, because i think that is usually the secret to helping people feel loved. but after a while i just couldn't let her be so negative. so i waited for a break and took the dive, bearing her my testimony that though i am fully aware of the darkness that our world contains, i know that christ brings light, that we can reflect that light, and with that knowledge we can do more than hope but KNOW that this time is a time of testing, meant for preparing, guarantees trials, but created for us to find a joy that will be completed in the hereafter. sorella jackson second that, adding her sweet testimony of the book of mormon being the center of that hope and light. and roberta just sat there with a smile. and almost, just almost, she had a flicker of the light spark inside of her. and with that we prayed and left. there cannot exist a better feeling than that! my heart aches just thinking about the day when i am no longer authorized to do that as the lord's missionary.

we had to scurry off to pescara, a 3 hour bus ride from the eternal city, and we arrived a little later than planned. so here we are, a dark pescara night, stuck in the middle of what seemed to be a not very secretive drug deal and other nighttime activities that missionaries shouldn't be involved in. good think sorella jackson had to go to the bathroom so we got out of there and found a little corner of heaven, american heaven. it was a bakery called "white bakery". it paid homage to american diners in the 50s, selling waffles, muffins, cheesecake, red velvet cake, betty crocker cake mixes, canned pumpkin, marshmellow fluff, and was playing elvis as loud of ever. haha! we were in literal heaven. jackson hit the john and we caught the bus just in time. 

our train ride view of the ocean out of a dirty window.

white bakery.

this weird transition hit while in pescara. we meet a lot of people in a day. almost all of these people ask 1) where we are from 2) how long we have been in italy 3) why we would ever leave america to come to italy ... which is where the gospel talk begins. it is fabulous. by now, it is a habit. i have had that same conversation about 29 times a day for the last 18 months. but starting in pescara and following me back to rome was the evil change to question 2. now they are asking ... when are you going back to america? evil.

during the scambio we:
- went tracting at italian dorms. quite the experience.
- invited the most prepared man to be baptized in 2 weeks, in the first lesson. he accepted. and he is almost as perfect as his baby puppy that i couldn't help but covet the whole time we were there.
- ate pescara's traditional dish : arrosticini. lamb kebab type thing. delish.
- saw a shirt that looked like an i heart ny shirt but instead it said i heart yn (you not). haha! either maybe i am getting stupider on my misison but i giggled at that all day. those itlalians are so creative with their american t shirts. it has been my number 1 source of entertainment my whole mission. 

arrosticini.

when i returned from pescara, sorella jackson was as sick as a dog. and she has pretty much been sleeping ever since, besides for a half of a planning session (for a fun evening: try planning for your week with a companion hopped up on night time cold medicine) and church and now. poor thing! and also, i have never been so lonely in my life. while she has been sleeping i have been doing every missionary thing i can do from the indoors, studying, and having my own mini-christmas party with the hidden christmas music i discovered on my ipod. for you seinfeld people: imagine the party elaine throws when she is eating that antique cake then gets caught on camera, like dancing around and laughing and having the time of her life alone. that is what it has been like. me, dancing around, making calls, studying the scriptures, singing christmas music, writing in the area book ... all alone. sad sad day miss paige.

and that is all.

un bacione a tutti,
sorella wightman

pumpkin pie and one sly guy.

zone conference pictures via sister waddoups (THANKS!).

hiiiii! sorry for making everyone think that i was sad last week. i am not not not not! but you know, missions are hard. they are meant to be, but they, just like life, are meant to be enjoyed too, which mine always is!

this week started off great. why? because we made PUMPKIN PIE WITH A REAL PUMPKIN! i have never felt some homemakey. who needs that canned stuff? not i. anyway it wasn't as good as mom's, (what is? ... even though she uses canned pumpkin ...) but it was sufficient. i decided that eating pie for breakfast is one of my favorite things to do. it feels like holiday time. so i did that and got an insta-smile for the rest of the week. PIE!

dad sent me his list of fave hymns last week and it quickly became one of my most prized possessions. fur reelz. i love that guy. so i made one too. i will write the titles, and an explanation my have to come later, like in person, because time is a tickin:

• come come ye saints
• lead kindly light
• more holiness give me
• mandate voci di gioia all'eterno
• all creatures of our god and king
• i know that my redeemer lives
• i am a child of god
• nearer my god to thee
• who's on the lord's side who
• how great thou art
• honorable mentions: the lord is my light, the lord is my shepherd, be still my soul

goodies.

baldo fasted. he never has. but he did this week. loved it. in fact he told us that how we told him to fast (for two consecutive meals) isn't good enough. "a real fast is 24 hours." so next time he is fasting for 24 hours. what a guy.

tuesday was zone conference. i love zone conference. but i prefer when it isn't the last one and i am sad the whole time. haha! i wasn't sad the whole time. i am happy! remember?! but you know, all good things must come to an end so other good things can have a turn. i gave a training on finding that was pretty silly. i hope it helped everyone be more excited! if only everyone could feel what i feel right now about the necessity of the work. it is kind of the worst that right now i feel like i finally have everything under control--the language, the relationships with companions and members and investigators, teaching, studying, the culture, being away from everything i know and love--and now time is up. but that is the beauty of the mission, and life: the learning process. and like i read this morning in my studies, knowledge of divine and spiritual things is essential for eternal life. anyway i was and still am really grateful for the sweet feelings of gratitude that i felt during the conference. extreme gratitude.

teaching "like a baller".

her departing testimony at zone conference.

is this not one of the saddest pictures? poor poor paigey.

i assume this is singing the mission song together. i also assume this is probably paige's last time participating this tradition. 

she's so cute.

we have been teaching this lady named vincenza. it all started with a private english course but it developed into gospel chats. she told us that she read ether 12 and together we just gushed over how beautiful that chapter is. she just opened the book up to that and it responded to her immediate needs. so cool how the book of mormon is still so relevant. and cooler that she got to learn that all by herself this week.

friday we ate more pumpkin pasta and loved life.

one of our other english course students/investigators called us this week from the hospital. she fell in the gap between the metro and the binario ( i can't for the life of me remember what that is really called in english ... probably because i never had to learn it ...) and snapped her leg. eeeeeeeeeek! yeah i just get the heebie jeebies thinking about it too. so we will visit her tomorrow! i'll send pictures haha!

the anziani found this man boppin' around a city called poggio mirteto a few weeks ago. turns out he is a member that just moved into town and was looking for information about where to find the mormon church. and so, wasn't it just a big fat coincident that the lord had the anziani be in his path that day? so he has just won everyone's hearts. he is a gem. he came to the mostra this week and explained the plan of salvation to everyone who passed by. president criscione, who is a camera man and has the hook-ups, got him a job to do voice overs because this guy has that kind of voice that makes you think that you are living in a movie preview when he talks because it is just so perfect. so marco, who felt alone and lost a few weeks ago, found his family here in rome 5.

i got my halloween package and have been on a candy high for days. but i do it in style with awesome socks and crayon pumpkin rings like a baller.

we had a pretty great little lesson with rita valenti this week. she told us about a huge miracle. if you recall, rita has a son who has been pretty against all this mormon stuff from the get go. she expressed some worry about being baptized against his will. she said she would be more comfortable being baptized if he was behind her for it. she told us how they had a chat and she was able to tell him how she feels about what we have taught her, how she has changed, and what she desires. his response: well then i guess you'd better get baptized. he has seen the change in her like everyone else has. so we hopped on that opportunity and told her that we recognize that as an answer to her prayers and invited her to be baptized. we explained that she needs to come to church 2 more times and that we have a few more things to teach her. i told her how much i would like to be a part of her baptism but that i am leaving really soon. she said she wants that too. so she accepted. so PRAY WITH ALL OF YOUR HEART THAT SHE WILL COME TO CHURCH! because she didn't come yesterday. urg. but i have high hopes. and i have never wanted anything more.

yesterday was stake conference. that sly guy president waddoups was inspired by the stake prez who called people at random to bear testimony and called up a handful of missionaries to come up and bear testimony about certain things. so yep, he called me to bear testimony about enduring to the end. what a guy! haha! it was pretty cray but kind of fun too. i also got to see diani marchetti!!!! she just is ... i don't even have the right word. bright. full of light and goodness. she gave me the biggest hug ever and said she loves me and my city. and i just hugged her back and said the same thing. i also saw the perego fam! they got permission from president to "kidnap me" on my last sunday and have me over to dinner. so that should be fun. i love that jenna. i will miss them!

well that is just about every single detail from my entire week besides the disneyland love talk that jackson and i shared, the party at mamma gigante's home yesterday with this crazy spikey version of zucchini, watching 80s church hits (families are forever) and giggling over a pizza, and the delightful rainstorms. but other than that, you know it all.

do you know that i love you?

oh, read this
and this
and now you have it all.

i didn't take many good photos this week, but this is worth it:

love,

sorella wightman

pumpkins and tuna.

right now there is a baby crying so so much behind me, so i am listening to the motab christmas concert with little davie a. what a gem. 

sooooooooo good things must be coming, because there have just been some real silly hoops to jump through and punches in the stomach this week. BUT we chose to be motivated not discouraged. the great thing is that with the low lows there are more high highs. so i will tell you about the highs:

-i got a blessing this week. and the lord, through the mouth of one of his little, weak, humble missionaries, told me to count my blessings. so i have been trying really hard to not a day pass me by without remembering that i really think i have been blessed more than a lot of other people.
-we had homemade pizza with blado and the fam. i have a great picture to show you. it is a sillllllllllllly sight. they made a bunch of different types: 4 cheese, margherita, prosciutto with mozzarella, tuna with onion (whaa??? yeah ... most popular pizza in rome).

-i think i am allergic to tuna fish. bathroom breaks for dayzzz.
-i got the conference ensign in the MAIL! from my MOM! and rome 5 is in it!! when you have a copy in hand, go to that middle part where there is a picture of the slc temple (most beautiful sight ever), in the middle is the general authority pictures, then on the back side there is a bunch of pictures of members around the world. in the top left hand corner there are two ladies smiling hugging. yep, i know them. yep, i ate upside down plum cake by the lady in the yellow at her house just minutes before this picture was taken. i'm famous.
-we started a private english course with a lady named vincenza and her husband and their puppy and their bunny. all true. at the end, vincenza snuck a little bookmark with a quote by her favorite friar in the front and the sweetest little note on the back in my libro di mormon. what a cutie pie.
.we made chili.
-we met a lady named barabara at a paper shop by our house. she wanted to know if we think families should live together forever. uhhh, yeah! we had a nice little chat and she wants IN.
-so there is this everyday nightmare in rome 5/all of italy, called BUSES that just come and go when they please ... or don't come at all. well that was happening one day. finally our bus came. then broke down half way through the voyage. then another bus picked us up. we realized it wasn't the right one. it was so crowded and we couldn't see where we were. but the doors opened and we just decided to get off. off we get. and we were on our street. haha! it was so delightful.
-we have a new african investigator. yay africa! her name is rita and she is a gem in every way. she even wears this great dress that makes me want to trade her all i have for just this one dress. maybe we can work something out.
-we have a new latin-american investigator. yay colombia! her name is anna. and she is a gem in every way. she is in our english class and she is just full of all the right questions. she is evangelist and in love with the anziani.
-a lady in our branch MADE US PUMPKIN PIE FOR HALLOWEEN! and i have never been more pleased. really. you should've seen me. we shared it with anna. she took a bite then pretended like it was so good that she wanted her husband to have a bite but i don't buy it. italians have this thing to be in love with america but they are just so proud of their food that as soon as they know they are eating american food they act like they are eating poison. sillies.
-baldo isn't getting baptized this week. but he did get a hearing aid. why is that a good thing? well it isn't a good thing that our baptismal date fell through with him because he claims that god hasn't responded to any of his prayers. so that is a little bit sad, especially when we KNOW that heavenly father is aware of him, giving him answers, and showing him miracles, but he is choosing to not listen to it. however, it is funny, because he is doing things that are totally out of the norm for him. for example, baldo is really hard of hearing; we have just gotten used to basically yell all of the lessons to him. haha! in fact we are so used to teaching in yell-tone that sometimes other people have to remind us that they aren't baldo. haha! it is really frustrating to him obviously ... that he can't hear. apparently it has been like this for years. well his wife told us that he told her last week that he isn't going to keep coming to all three hours of church because he cant hear anything anyone is saying. he says it is a waste of time to go, looking for answers, then not hear anything. then, out of the blue, this week he bought a hearing aid, something he always says he will do, but after 20 years hasn't ever done. and this week he came, and HEARD everything in church. so he is making the little steps. his actions are speaking louder than words. so keep him in your prayers. and as much as i would like to be the missionary that finally baptizes baldo, i know that the lord is aware of him, aware of the fact that he is a bit testardo (well i can't really remember the english way of saying it in a nice way ... hard headed) and he has a plan. all i want is to help that plan go forward triumphantly. i just want to be what heavenly father needs me to be. that's all.
-we did a mostra this week with chalk. we drew the plan of salvation and we were a HIT! really! everyone wanted to watch us and ask us about it. all the kids came and helped us which forced their parents to stop and chat and feel the spirit. so needless to say, we will be continuing that fun.
-we met the nicest atheist man with a philippine wife and 11 children. weird but atheists intrigue me.
-a nice bus driver offered to take us where we needed to go even if it wasn't the most convenient thing for him. just another case of italians making our problems their problems. luh dem.
-we ate pasta with pumpkin and my life is changed forever.
-baby elena, just one of the most adorable babies i ever did see, after 6 months of practice, finally said my name yesterday. don't worry i got it on film. my work here is a success.

so really all i want to say is that i remember that this was a tough week ... i can't remember specifically why. but i can remember every single and delightful detail of all the good things. because i want to. and you do too. so try. try to remember the good and forget the not so good. because that is what this life is all about; finding joy so that we can have the fullness of joy in the world to come. i know that the only way to that joy is through our savior, who so willingly took upon him every doubt, discouragement, and despair that would ever, is, and will be felt. we don't have to suffer. we get to sometimes, but no ... we don't have to suffer. ever. i know that we are given hoops to jump through so we can jump higher, not so we can fall on our faces for everyone to laugh at us. i am grateful that heavenly father sent me to a tough mission, at a tough time, because i am better because of it. never have i ever wanted my heart to be sealed for the courts above as i do now. if i never struggled, or doubted, or had been discouraged, i wouldn't really have a desire like that. so i will boast my god forever. and i will stop now before everyone starts asking why i am crying just as much as the baby behind me.

i love you all so much. i love my savior and i love that i get to be his representative, now and forever.

sorella wightman

halloween juice and regular fish.

this cat does this every single morning on our patio. WHAT IS HE LOOKING AT?! driving me cray.

ciao.

monday
-mamma gigante and alessandra (our posse ... is that right?) took us to this secret outlet mall, hidden between the hills in a far off land so that i could buy some boots. mainly they wanted us to go there with them so they could buy us burger king. you'd just giggle yourselves silly by how much italians love to bring americans to american fast food restaurants. sadly when we got there we learned that the bk turned into "burger day" but was basically the same thing.

1burger day sells fish sandwiches with "regular fish" haha good times huh mom?

-i got a little hung up on the fact that i couldn't remember the name of my favorite youtube shell with shoes on. sorella jackson thought i made the whole thing up. but then it came to me, in the middle of the night. marcel! mission amnesia ...

-we taught baldo the lesson about how the gospel blesses families and i was feeling some serious wightman pride and gratitude that whole day. holler!
-i bought some great boots. shopping with italian women is a task, i will tell you that. pray that you will have the chance someday ... or don't because it is a process.

me in my new boots by a great gate.

tuesday
-we decided to visit all of the investigators in our city, passo corese; and have a quick message at the door. that way they could feel the spirit in the morning and have it with them, to reflect and enjoy, all day long. it was really a great way to start the morning. man we have some gems in this city.
-remember in elementary school when we would do "kwl" before starting to read something? you would write what you already knew, what you wanted to learn, and then what you did learn. well i have been applying this baby all week in my studies and all i can say is that elementary school just knows where it's at. little did they know that the skills learned in elementary school would be some great mission prep. try it.
-we did some splits with some young women in the branch. we just gave them a nice evening full of knocking on doors and being yelled at. haha! poor things. tough crowd. but it turned out really great because they were able to see first hand that missionary work is ideal when done with members and with their friends and loved ones. i discussed with my 2 hour companion how the missionaries will be led to the prepared in one way or another, but when they can be led to these people through people that love them and can support them, the work goes better and is easier for everyone. the prepared will be found either way ... but it is best done without us having to find them alone. so that was a cool learning experience for us all. and they are STILL wanting to go out with us again, this time to visit friends and neighbors. victory!

wednseday
-there is this sweet family in our branch that is trying to go to the temple and be sealed. we have been working with them for a while and they have just had their fair share of obstacles thrown in their path. illness, problems with their kids, word of wisdom issues, the dad lost his job. most recently, the dad got hired! but for a job in london. so he left the family in italy for a year to get some work in england. so it has been pretty difficult for the wife. we are going over to support the wife and prepare their youngest for his baptism. with them, i am learning more and more that the lord knows us all so well. he knows what we can handle and he knows how we can best become like him. the lord is aware of this family. so he must be aware of mine too!

thursday
-we had a scambio with the sisters in the rome 2 ward because i needed to attend a leadership meeting in rome with one of the sisters. oh man was it good times. i got to see some sisters that i never thought i would see before i left so that was a huge tender mercy. not to mention that we reunited over homemade cafe rio italian style salads at the mission home! i had mentioned a while back to sorella waddoups that i have never seen the upstairs in the villa (the mission home) since the anziani always sleep up there. so they announced that, thanks to the request of a "dying" sister, the sorelle got to sleep upstairs. it is a palace up there. man. you guys should see this place. did i ever tell you that the villa used to be mussolini's home? WHA? way cool.

mission leaders (via sister waddoups).

friday
-we had the conference. they had the mission doctor come and basically qualify us all as doctors. haha! he shared common missionary health problems and simple solutions so that we can help the missionaries in our zone feel great. it was one of the coolest things ever. i could like open a practice now. watch out world.
-after the conference and lots of pictures and lots of goodbyes to some of the greatest people i have ever met and also had the opportunity to serve with ... we returned to our cities. sorella jackson is such a baller. she just handled it all so well. she looked like a new person when i returned. just full of confidence and light! she did so good that while we were out and about doing some street contacting and bumped into a traveling cotton candy booth. i bought her some zucchero filato, then we bumped into the anziani with their silliest investigator of all time.

this is sorella ansted. i love her. and not just because she is serving in taranto right now and gives me the updates and says things like everyone in taranto still remember me and love me. what a sweetie pie.

saturday
-we had district meeting and weekly planning. boring. for you. bundles of fun for me.

sunday
-church was great. especially when they mixed up which anziano was speaking so one of them had to make something up on the spot and the other, with a totally great and prepared talk just sat in the crowd and laughed.
-the branch is just in love with us missionares lately. they really click with all of us. it is a good time to be us.
-we had correlation with our newly called branch mission leader. they prepared the most delicious lasagna of all time and presented us with "succo di halloween" (halloween juice) .... thinking that is was a big american festive treat like eggnog or peeps or something. it was pumpkin juice, i think.

today we are going to make chili because i miss it and i can't handle reading about it my emails any longer. the problem is that i am without the recipe. so imma make it up. pray i don't poison my companion.

love to you all from the happiest place on earth.

xoxo
sorella wightman

mini wolves and sorry cake.

hey guys hey.

how's it?

true story: it has been a tough week. like anti-sorelle week. we have gotten bidoni like nobody's biz and errone on the street was unusually grumpy. BUT there were still some goodies that you deserve to know about ...

my goodies:
i learned that john, christ's apostle, is still alive like the 3 nephites. is it silly that i didn't know that? probs. is it even sillier that an investigator taught that to me? baldo ... what a smartie pants. speaking of baldo, he is doing well. he came to church for all three hours for the second week in a row. he is participating in the lessons, being more reverent, and seems just happier. our ward mission leader is besties with baldo and talked to us about how we can help baldo even more yesterday. he said how baldo says that he does have a great desire to be baptized yet but that he will continue to do what we ask him to. bruno (the ward mission leader...yeah baldo and bruno...) said to him "well it seems like your desires are growing a lot lately with the sorelle. actions speak louder than words." so yeah. time will tell. but as for now, all things go for the 2nd of november.

mamma gigante invited us and the anziani over for the traditional going away party at the end of the tranfer. she made some deliciousness. and introduced me to this odd bean type nut thing that is called lupino, or mini wolf. haha! there is this technique to eating it that everyone seemed to master in the drop of a hat minus me. so i dedicated a solid hour to it. after 3000 tries and 1 inhaled lupino, i did it! then they all dared me to eat a hot dog ( i have become 100% anti hot dog on the mission...even more so than before. fun fact: italians LOVE hot dogs more than anyone and it is almost always included in meals where americans are eating. sad day miss paige) and i did because they said that if i did i would get a baptism before i leave. even if it isn't true, i did it to show heavenly father that i will even eat a gross hot dog for him and his work!

one day (wednesday) was the pits. really. it was the world vs sorella jackson and sorella wightman day. HOWEVER we were seriously LED to these two guys. one was this journalist that met mormons at an even that he reported on 10 years ago. he said he will never forget how he felt when he talked with them. he said he has always been looking for more mormons to see if we are all like that. he said we were. good thing! then he introduced us to the man who is in charge of all the cultural events of the biggest city in our area and he offered a free room in their brand new high tech adorable library for english course. fyi we have been searching for a place to do english course in this city for MONTHS. then it just fell into our laps.

the new anziano came. anziano wortham. he is a hoot. tall, skinny, ginger from georgia that has a rap group and taught words like "to trickle down" and "handle bars" and the phrase"you gotta whip dawg" to our English course. fyi nobody knew (not even the americans) that whip means car in gangster. so everyone learned that i am a true g.

baldo came to english course. and now knows how to say "you gotta whip dawg" and does so frequently.

rita is also doing well. she didn't make it to church this week but she is still reading and praying and progressing beautifully. she read a talk from elder holland called i believe. remember that gem? and she loved the life outta that thing. she is a new holland fan. she expressed some concern about not being "good enough" to be a mormon. she was comparing herself to the people that she has met in church with us and thinks she will never be able to be like them. then this really cool think happened ... heavenly father taught me and rita at the same time. these words were coming out of my mouth that responded to my needs of the day just as much if not more than they responded to hers. and i know that i didn't just think this stuff up ... if i had that information in my head then i wouldn't have been struggling with this principle. so it had to come from god. it is a cool moment when you realize that the spirit is working through you. so it was quite the goodie!

there is this city in the area, fiano romano. we have to go there often but it is a nightmare to get there and back. i have only successfully gotten to and from this city, without assistance of others 2 times. and we go there like three times a week. well we prayed for help then we took the plunge and went thereon saturday (aka the worst day for public transportation in italy). we got some work done and then went to wait for the bus. surprisingly it passed on time and picked us up, without one tear or problem. i was so pleased. then i heard this guy talking to the driver. the convo went like this:

guy: sorry i rang the bell (to get off) too early. i really need to get off at the next stop.
driver: don't worry. happens all of the time.
guy: it has never happened to me. i have lived here my whole life and never made that mistake.
driver: well if you hadn't rung the bell i don't think i would have seen those two girls and i wouldn't have stopped.

so basically this goodie comes in the form of a romanian man that didn't even know that he was used as a tool in the lords hand to answer the prayers of these two random american missionaries. cool right?

sunday was branch conference. president waddoups came. and this great thing happened. right after president walked in, he stopped and talked to us, then this family that i love love love but gave us 1 of the 3091872435 bidoni of the week followed behind him with this giant cake of apology. she came in and hugged and kissed us and told us how much she loves us and gave us the cake and president waddoups saw the whole thing. good timing.

amède is also doing well. he just started university. he just started his last year of university for his second masters in architecture. say what? so he is understandably busy. but he said that he still feels a great desire to read and know and pray more, and he said he doesn't really understand why. i know why. because it is true!!

and with that,
i salute you my loves and dears.

vi voglio un mare di bene,
sorella wightman

nightmares and testimonies.

--lunch time business. not a day goes by without this here salad. dream life.

hi.

weird to pday on monday. no more peev (pday eve ... when we usually celebrate by getting a pizza ... pizza peev). but church is a better way to celebrate anyway. haha!

oooookay. i feel like i don't have much to write. since i feel like i just wrote. but really that was almost kinda a week ago kinda sorta.

this week---
-we focused hard on member referrals this week, because i haven't ever gotten any in rome 5, and we were just shocked by the outcome. we planned out our week so that we would go to the cities that more than one member lived in, for finding. we knocked on all of the member's doors in each city, asked to share a quick thought, a prayer, then we asked for referrals. we had a cool experience with sorella calabrese. she was home and let us come up, mostly because i needed to go to the bathroom ... we visited for a minute, shared a thought, and asked for a referral. she said that she couldn't think of anyone so we invited her to fast and pray for someone then we closed with a prayer. as i finished the prayer, she said that a name ofa friend popped into her head. she lived near by and lost her husband a few years ago. it was just a testimony to me of the power of prayer, offered by missionaries, in the home of a member, pleading with the lord to guide us TOGETHER to find those that he is preparing. the answer came immediately! for the members that weren't home we wrote a quick note with a spiritual thought, gratitude for what they do for us, and asked them to think about those they know that need our message then we dropped them in the mailbox. we had calls for members thanking us and giving us referrals right there over the phone! it was awesome!

- we started english course! my fave thing. we now have two classes. the first class had three students, one of them being our bff/pizza maker named salvatore. we swung by his pizza place before the class and invited him. we do things like this all of the time and only one person in my whole mission just dropped everything right there and came. well, thanks to salvatore, make that 2 people. he was sweeping, then just dropped the broom, told the others that he was going to learn english with us, and left. he told us that we had a terrible stroke like 8 years ago and we in a coma for 4 YEARS! he had to learn how to do everything again: talk, walk, eat, everything. he is the nicest guy ever and says he likes being with us because we speak italian like him ha! anyway he came and was a crack up. man i don't tell you guys enough about him! we see this guy like daily and he is a hoot. i will have to show you the video i took of him as he tried to remember the name for the sport "curling". he acted it out and everything. haha! our other class had one person. the anziani received him as a referral from an rm lady in pulgia. 

-we did my first mostra this week! i actually don't know what this is called in english but it is when you set up a display on the street and spot people. we picked the best day to do it and the BEST spot. we were right in the middle of this huge street festival and there were a million people! it was great! so great in fact we returned last night with the anziani and all of the proselyting goods we had and got rid of EVERYTHING! we found out at the end that the "festival" we were at was an octoberfest event. hahah! perfect spot for the missionaries! 

--we forgot some pieces to the mostra so we got creative.

-rita and baldo are doing great! baldo came to church for all three hours for the first time ever yesterday!! i could have cried with joy but i was too happy to try. ha! rita didn't come to church but we had another really great lesson with her this week. she said that she feels like she is in love with two men and can't pick which one she wants most. haha! such an italian, with these passionate parables. but she is praying and reading and feeling the spirit. now just pray that she will get her answers. even better, get her answers IN CHURCH! 

-we had transfer calls!!!!! i am dying in rome and sorella jackson is killing me! what a relief!! i am SO SO SO SO GRATEFUL to be able to finish my mission in this area. it is like my baby! we have been together since the beginning and, like sorella waddoups said on the phone when she told us the good news, i have to "get it all done" before i leave. WITH PLEASURE! an anziano in our district is going to taranto! i have been telling him all about it and how lucky he is ALL WEEK!!! aka since saturday when we found out. and an anziano that i was in the mtc with and haven't seen since is coming here. goooooood times ahead for all! 

--tita stole my camera after her nutella snack.

-i have been having the silliest of silliest of dreams lately. really. i had 3 dreams in a row that just made me giggle all week. i am writing a letter to the fam about it because i don't have time to go into detail here. but the dreams were mostly about how i went home after the mission and nobody wanted to be my friend (including my family!). so i kept telling sorella jackson about these sillies and she was feeling all bad for me, worrying that there might be some future-telling in said dreams. she jumped for joy when i got a letter from my family. "see they do miss you and they do love and they are excited for you to come home!!!!" i wasn't worried ... until in fast and testimony meeting yesterday, 3 or 4 members stood and talked about dreams and how we should treat them seriously because god uses our dreams to warn and guide us. haha! so i figured i would just be sure ... i still have friends right? my family doesn't want to ship me off to london the same day that i get home right? you guys will want to let me have fun with you when i am home huh? hahah! just kidding. enough home talk.

-that is all.

i love you all and will continue to pray for your health, happiness, and missionary opportunities! don't ever take your tag off of your heart!

i will leave you with a great little italian thought that i learned in gospel principles yesterday ...

"tutti i nostri pensieri, le nostre parole, e le nostre azioni sono influenzati dalle nostre preghiere."

bye.
sorella wightman

cakes, potato jackets, and mexican food.

mamma gigante with her favorite sorelle!!

ciao amori mie! come state???!
guys. what a great week, right? good ol' conference. i miss it already.
let me explain why my week was just a gooooooooooood time.

thursday
-we have this investigator. her life would make a great mafia movie. italians, you know how they do. anyway i will have to tell you why in person ... you never want to toy around with the mafia, even via missionary email.
-we have this other investigator, rita, my favorite. we planned a really simple lesson to invite her to come through the door that leads to eternal life and happiness. we brought a member to come with. so we invited her (actually sorella jackson did ... and it was awesome since she was practicing how to do so in italian all week and then she did it like a champ!) and then it was silent for what felt like 3 days. we just stared at her. she was looking down, shaking her head, she laughed, then cried then looked up, started to answer and then the member said "you don't have to decide right now!!" i could've died. so she agreed and said she didn't have to decide right then. we gathered ourselves (aka i prayed and said sorry for wanting to strangle a child of god) and tried again when the spirit wasn't right. 3 days later the SAME THING HAPPENED! haha! so she didn't ever accept it BUT she said the greatest thing. she said "sorelle don't think that i haven't thought about it. i think about it all of the the time. and i WANT it. i want it like i want to eat a big beautiful delicious cake. it is like you placed this cake right in front of me, but before i eat it i need to know the ingredients." aw! so she has decided to pray about the date and let us know when she would like to "eat the cake." my daycare skills are kicking in and we have planned this great lesson to go along with this parable that she created ... but you are just going to have to wait until next week to see how it goes :)

friday
- we planned and knocked on a lot of doors.
-our neighbors dog died. i was really sad actually. even though it bit sorella wiltbank once, we are quite fond of the ONLY dog that didn't bark at us. our neighbor was devastated. so we went to the florist and bought some flowers. we quickly learned that that is an american thing, buying flowers for those who mourn. ha! everyone was way weirded out by us, but i explained then they loved it. plus we got to talk to them about the gospel ... which is so much better than flowers for sad people.

saturday
-we were invited to pre-conference lunch by a lady in our ward who lived in london. she made us an "italy meets london" lunch. we had a cheese platter, pasta, "jacket potatoes" (which is basically a baked potato with chili on it, but we humored her and pretended we had never seen a thing like it ... not even at wendy's), and a prune upside down cake. haha! good times.
-THEN WE WATCHED CONFERENCE! i made a deal with sorella jackson that if she would stick it out and watch conference with the ward in italian then i would find a way for us to watch it in english on pday. weird that this time around i WANT to watch it in italian. remember last conference when i prayed and worked so hard to baptize a female english speaking person to be my companion during conference so i could watch it in english? times have changed. plus it is kind of fun to hear a member in our branch, the stake president and ugo perego speak at conference haha! we watched the relief society meeting (us foreign folk have to watch it a week late) and i loved president monson's talk. i noticed that they seemed to talk a lot about the sacrament and the word "reassurance". also i cried all through the musical number "more holiness give me" as i realized that the lyrics of the hymn are the word for word explanations for a mission. i will include the lyrics so you can remember how you learned all of those things on your missions too:

More holiness give me,

More strivings within,

More patience in suff'ring,

More sorrow for sin,

More faith in my Savior,

More sense of his care,

More joy in his service,

More purpose in prayer.

More gratitude give me,

More trust in the Lord,

More pride in his glory,

More hope in his word,

More tears for his sorrows,

More pain at his grief,

More meekness in trial,

More praise for relief.

More purity give me,

More strength to o'ercome,

More freedom from earth-stains,

More longing for home.

More fit for the kingdom,

More used would I be,

More blessed and holy--

More, Savior, like thee.

my favorite talk from the morning session was elder dube, a)because he is an awesome african and b) because he responded to some of my fears. and i loved it all. also elder uchtdorf. i wish he could come and be our third mission companion.

sunday
-we watched conference! i really loved elder christofferson's talk since he described what a woman should be and therefore described my mamma (faith, courage, empathy, and refinement. do good and be good). i loved president monson's talk (più vento più forte sono gli alberi). but my favie was probably elder ballard. and not just because we were referenced in his talk! i especially loved the lines:
"it's impossible to fail when we do our best on the lord's errand" and "if every member reaches out to just one person, the blessings will be by the thousands" (or something along that line).

SO i thought i would help us all think of way to "reach out":

1. make religious conversations a normal and comfortable part of your day. nothing weird. just "my day was so good; god must really love us!"
2. when people ask, tell them what you did that weekend, and don't leave out church. go into detail about church just like you would about the movies you saw and the parties you went to and the fun you had.
3. get involved in the community.
4. call the missionaries and ask how you can help!
5. utilize facebook, instagram, blogs, pinterest (is that still a thing?), and other cool techno things that i don't know about (sorella jackson was telling me about some thing called "snap chat" or something that scared me so bad! the real world can be a scary place) as missionary tools. don't be annoying and don't be afraid.
6. keep a book of mormon with your testimony written inside in your car and be ready to give it away.
7. invite people to your house and let them feel the spirit.
8. be worthy of the spirit.
9. be happy ... nobody wants to join a church full of complainers or sad people.
10. PRAY FOR MISSIONARY OPPORTUNITIES! i have already started doing that for you, family. so look for them!

i know that as you look for opportunities to naturally and comfortably share with others the JOY that the gospel has given you, that that joy will grow. i know because it is happening to me. i have never been so happy in my whole life. all thanks to jesus christ.

monday
-we worked our butts off in order to be worthy of all the really nice and REALLY humbling things said about us missionaries in conference. and the blessings just fell from heaven.

tuesday
-remember noel? the man from the congo that we met when mittens and wiltbank and i first arrived? then we lost contact with him? then wiltbank and i found him "by coincidence" knocking on doors one day? so back in the day, noel and his wife brigette weren't really progressing. they let us come over whenever we wanted but they never prayed, or read, or came to church. but we keep being led back to them. now, however, they offer the opening and closing prayers, always asking questions about what they read in the bom or about joseph smith in their prayers. they are way more open minded. they are asking their boss for sundays off. and it is just great. they were all sad because they couldn't make it to conference so we watched a talk on their computer with them. we meant to watch elder uchtdorf's talk.
-we saw baldo. he rocks. and he made us mexican food and offered to take us to the mall to buy italian boots.

today
-our branch president downloaded all of the conference in english for us, to thank us for supporting the ward and sacrificing english conference for them. nice guy. so we will finish up here, go shopping, then just soak up all of the conference goodness. we only got to watch 2 sessions in italian so we have a busy day ahead!

well that is literally every single thing i thought, saw, did, tasted, and experienced. haha! i am a details person. but hey, you deserve to know how perfect italy is.

i LOVE YOU ALL!!!

sorella wightman

scambio, apoclypse, and a puppy.

ciao cari miei!!

WHAT A WEEK! we have just been all over the place this week--laquila, pescara, rome, passo corese and we even witnessed what the end of the world might be like. cray.

the 4-11:

wednesday
- we headed to rome for a sleepover at the rome 2 sister house because we were getting a ride to zone conference in the wee hours of the morning the next day. i had never met these sisters so it was fun getting to know them and to hear their adventures of being "blown in" (they are both new to the area this transfer) ... turns out i am not the only one who gets confused with italian maps and transportation. we shared some stories of the silliness of opening cities and laughed and giggled and all that jazz, plus they had peanut butter so all was well ... besides that i didn't sleep AT ALL for the first time ever in my whole mission i think.

thursday
- ZONE CONFERENCE! the assistants took us (sorella jackson, the anziani and i) to laquila for the party of the transfer. this funny thing happened:
anziano sorrensen (a former uvu student, ballroom dancing, disney loving, smiliest elder ever, in my district) was telling a story about driving the new car that we have received (when i say we i mean the anziani ...). he said what i thought was "i threw up on the street" and, you know me, i got SO SAD for him! AW MAN I AM SO SORRY!! THAT IS THE WORST!!! hahaha! eventually we figured out the error and anziano sorrensen said "i said i DROVE up the street, not THREW up in the street ... but i actually did throw up on the street too." poor kid was sick all day. he even got kicked out of zone conference by sorella waddoups! 

- but the conference was great. we talked about obedience, conversion, and what to do if you get separated from your companion (woo!). it is always a treat to be with so many missionaries! we had interviews then left with the pescara sorelle to begin our exchange. PESCARA is SO PRETTY!! go there.

friday
- SCAMBI! in the morning i went with the wonderful sorella knudsen. she is in her thrid transfer. i did a scambio with her a few transfers ago and was really impressed. the greatness continued. she is great. we talked to about 57410983 muslims and one of them gave us this delicious mango drink. in the afternoon i went with sorella mckenna. she is in her fourth transfer, from georgia and is so silly! we taught a lady some english then, because i always get this extra urge to be super bold on scambio (it's like ... why not?! i will never see these people again, might as well!!) i invited her to get baptized and she accepted. haha! it was awesome! then in the evening i went with sorella patterson. she is in her second transfer and i did a scambio with her last transfer and was equally impressed. she is the master of being her true real self in italian. which is incredible. i think that was the hardest thing to figure out for me on my mission. the lord called ME, not a weird, fake, copy of everyone else version of me. sorella patterson has it figured out and it was awesome to see. helps that she has an italian companion (the best one: mistura!!) but i can tell it was something important to her so it became important to the lord and he helped her out with it. a funny thing that happened with us, continuing in the boldness streak, we ran into some bad boys. side note: the mission is really encouraging us to talk to youth and to not judge them, but find a way to relate to them and be an example for them. so we bump into this group of boys smoking, uh ... something ... that wasn't tobacco. i said, with the biggest sister missionary smile "HI! we are the sister missionaries for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints! who are you? and why are you smoking that?!" sorella patterson got a kick out of it, but she also got three return appointments with three 16 year old young men that each said they admire joseph smith's courage and want to be more like him. bold works. and so does not judging people by their choice of friday night entertainment. 

scambio.

saturday
- we took the nice long bus ride home. but their was an accident on the freeway which doubled our time on the road, but man do we have a beautiful mission! how cool is it that i got to tour it a bit by bus this week?!
-we planned.
-then we had an appointment with our peruvian less active friends, ricardo and anzi. anzi hasn't been showing much progress and we have been pretty bummed by it. she will say things about the church that just aren't true and we try to help her FEEL what is true! we haven't felt super successful with that until saturday. she told us how she was on the train the other day and heard some people talking about the church and different run-ins with the missionaries. let's just say they aren't progressing investigators yet and were pretty angry with the whole church. anzi said that she just started to cry, saying that she knew that everything they were saying was wrong and their words hurt her as if they were hurting a person that she loves. she said that it woke her up a bit and realized that she has done those same things but has known the whole time that the church is true, that it is the only way to find TRUE and LASTING happiness, and she felt bad for people that haven't learned that yet. so we will see what she, with the help of her loving savior, can do together to help her progress!!

sunday
- the primary kids gave me a heart that they cut out. cuties!
- the last time i spoke in church in roma 5, they called me and told me to prepared a talk on the topic of my choice. i chose unity. on that sunday i followed fratello guidara, who also chose to talk about unity. this time, they called, told me to pick a topic of my choice. i chose prophets. this sunday i followed fratello guidara (again) who also chose to talk about prophets. we are so on the same wave length. haha!
- VALENTI CAME TO CHURCH!!! she sang all the songs, even though she had never heard them before (and besides one of them ... neither had i ...), took the sacrament after i explained to her that it is primarily for members but that she can take it to show her desires to be baptized, and cried during a talk about keeping covenants. what a gem!

monday
- we went to rieti to finish my permesso renewal stuff and get sorella jacksons process going. she got a two year one! lucky duck!
- we had a lesson with baldo. we got on the bus in passo corese. it was shiny and happy and bright and warm. the ride was great. we talked to a man about the book of mormon and he talked about his love life ... ha! we stepped off the bus, the sun shining. two minutes later we turn onto baldos street and BAM--end of the world type storm. seriously we were SOAKED and everyone on the street started screaming and crying and yelling "the world is ending!!!" and the lightening has never been so close to sorella jackson and i. it was a solid 5 minutes of complete and utter madness. we got to their house and they were waiting at the door and SO WORRIED! when they saw us, baldo's granddaughters started bawling. haha! it must've been an ugly sight. sorella jackson and i though ... we were loving every minute of it! we laughed for like three days straight. they gave (instead of gave i just wrote gabe and i then thought about gabe and said to myself i love that kid. love you gabe!) us dry clothes and we were looking fly for the most memorable lesson ever. it all started with the granddaughters singing i am a child of god. we taught the plan of salvation. it seems like things weren't really going as planned. the internet didn't work when his daughter wanted to show him a video, the girls were fighting, the son in law got stuck in traffic and couldn't make it to teach his part. then, i got this thought. "none of this really means anything if baldo doesn't have the chance to choose baptism." i said back to this voice "but baldo will never accept a baptismal invite!" the voice said "oh yeah? try me." so then my hands got all sweaty and my voice all cracky and my italian all silly and my stomach felt weird but the words fell out of my mouth. "baldo will you take the first step to spending eternity with your family and be baptized on november 9th?" everyone just stared at him for what seemed like 3 days. he said "penso di si" (i think so)." everyone started crying and clapping and it was like a missionary movie moment. later i remembered a few weeks ago, that his daughter told me about a dream she had of us, teaching baldo the plan of salvation and talking about baptism. she said that the door got blown in by the wind and was banging and there was all kinds of madness but the spirit was there, even though there was every possible obstacle in the way of feeling it. yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.

apocalypse.

yesterday
- we found the unplanned opportunity to serve a struggling family in the branch. and oh was it a sweet experience, and not just because they just bought the most adorable puppy yesterday ... but because charity always wins!

puppy.

well my friends. you have my love! i pray for you and am working my heart out for you and for my savior. see you soon. tooooo soon.
FORZA ITALIA!

vi voglio bene!
sorella wightman

buses, byu and blessings.

wwwwooooo weeeeee time is flying guys! but i am doing my best to keep up and SPRINT!

wednesday ...
-before meeting up with whitney, i showed sorella jackson the trevi fountain. she told me that is what she has wanted to see the most in rome ever since the lizzy mcguire movie. haha! love that girl. and speaking of disney channel hits, that has been the go to giggle fest of our lives this week. we have just been shooting out quotes from even stevens, luck of the irish, jett jackson, that's so raven, phantom of the megaplex, and you can bet your boots that we have had a few HSM tribute concerts on the abandoned italian streets as we walk home for the night. 

-remember alessandro, the boarding school golden boy? well the assistants told us that they would go find him since they would be driving down to napoli for zone conference and had some time to visit him. they found his school after, uh ... a while, but got there too late to see him. heavenly father must have some big miracles up his sleeves for alessandro because it has become mighty hard to see him. but i know that heavenly father has a plan for him which probably includes becoming the stake president of the fourth stake in rome or an area president of africa or something cool like that. first though, he should get baptized ...

thursday ...
-was a treat as it always is when we see our valenti gal. we taught a lesson about inviting christ into our lives. she told us how she has been having strange experiences lately. she first told us how she has always been open to learning about other religions but was and planned to always be catholic. unshaken. but she recalled seeing pass along cards or flyers about events held by our church and she was always drawn to them. so drawn to them that she started to collect them, pick up pass along cards that were thrown to the ground, take fliers about our events, check us out on the internet. but she couldn't figure out why. she says that it continues today. she says that once we started coming she has felt more light and truth in her home (best compliment ever). she is a busy woman. like, always has something to do, whether for work, the community, her kids, her family, or her friends ... but never for herself (reminds me of someone i know ... MOM) but even amongst this madness that is her life, every time she sees the book of mormon she feels a pull towards it. even when she is busy out of her mind, she will pass the book of mormon on her shelf and take a minute to read. she says that she hasn't slept well since her husband died (side note: she never says "died". she used to say "went to heaven" instead but now she says "went to the spirit world" haha), but she started reading the book of mormon before she falls asleep and has slept like an angel ever since. so really i can't be happier! she is being filled with LIGHT and it is the most beautiful thing!!!

friday ...
-alessandra (i don't talk about her enough. she is a 19 year old member in our branch that loves missionaries more than anyone ever before or will be) spent the whole afternoon with us, in appointments, doing finding. it was good times. she was SO nervous! but it was incredible to see her, and my other nervous companion, become these strong, unshakable witnesses of christ as they testified of christ. it was as though i could see their fear melt away and be replaced with faith. if only they could see what i do. if only i could have understood that when i was new, testifying in a new language being full of terror but forced to relay on the spirit. my companion told me these same things but i didn't understand yet. this is the beauty of progress.

saturday ...
-sorella jackson must come from the world's greatest family. i love hearing about their adventures, her job as a cave tour guide, her obsession with london and harry potter, her one on one talks with her very wise dad, and i envy (and can relate with) her relationship with her big brother/hero. rightfully so, she is missing them. she is facing the expected bumps along the road of greenie-ness. we talked about how she can overcome them and we decided that the best way to begin would be with a blessing. she asked an anziano that got here only 6 weeks before her to offer the blessing. it was his first time. and WHOA he was nervous. but then once again i watched as his fear melted away and was filled with faith as he acted as the lord's mouthpiece and pronounced upon the head of my sweet sorella jackson, one of the most beautiful blessings i have ever heard. the priesthood is real, because there were things said that could not have come from this anzianos head. even his vocabulary changed. it was an incredible experience. 

-we have this friend named subbamma. i may have mentioned her before. she shared with wiltbank and i some really personal things about her son and then scarred us for life and totally ruined his cool image for us. haha! this is the same lady that wiltbank shared all of her mothering advice with. we bumped into her the other day and she invited us over for an indian feast. and i was IN HEAVEN! i think i like indian food as much as i like italian food now. we were loving life ... for three days afterwards since she sent us home with ALL of the leftovers. 

subbamma love.

-in honor of the holy war, jacks and i got decked out in our byu gear and listened to a talk entitled "life is a football game" by former byu football player troy dunn. i have never felt so festive. 

byu love.

sunday ...
-great.
-i saw a good friend. ex-president pacini who came to pay me a visit after i received my call. little did i know that night the effect he would have on me. so i thanked him and gave him as much love as i possible could give through a handshake. luh dat guy.

pacini love.

monday ...
-we got on the wrong bus and ended up being lost or on a windy bus ride all morning long. we were both sick sick sick when we finally got home. so what did we do to feel better? eat indian food. fyi: bus sickness + indian food = not a good combo. poor sorella jackson is still facing the consequences.

tuesday ...
-we had an appointment with baldo, who lives with president criscione, who is the son of a family that we worked with in ragusa. italians are like polynesians in the way that they are all related or at least they say that everyone is their aunt. all this to say that when we got to our appointment, the criscione daughters were so excited, saying they have a surprise for me. after the lesson, arrived 2 members from ragusa (one the "aunt" of president criscione--i think she actually really is family but you can never be sure--named sorella micozzi and my favorite relief society teacher sorella gurrieri). and i just love love loved this surprise! those girls. 

ragusa love.

TODAY! we are going to relax a bit since a) we have a crazy week ahead of us b) sorella jackson is still fighting the indian food/bus sickness battle from within (tmi?) and c) i am so insanely tired lately that i will take any opportunity to take a breather so i can continue running my race before me with patience.

in other news ...
-read d&c 90:24 for the secret to happiness. it is really that simple.

-pray for me please. that i can not be so tired. there is no time for sleep in this work. i am getting old. but i have LOTS to do before my time in this chapter of my mission is up.

-pray for my companion.

-be HAPPY! because we have the restored gospel and we get to receive NEW SCRIPTURE next week at conference! 

-know that i love you, pray for you specifically as i feel your prayers strengthen me. it is pretty cool to be on this side of the missionary prayers because i sometimes get specific names of family or friends pop into my head. and i just know it is because that person prays for me. so i get down on my knees and offer all the gratitude i can muster up for YOU! so thank you! my setting apart blessing said that would happen to me and it is happening: the prayer of my family and friends have become a great support to me. i love you. i love this gospel. i know that it has been restored again, just like it has in the past, so that we can find JOY. and this is my JOY--to preach the gospel, the live the gospel, and to have the gospel.

vi voglio un mare di bene.
sorella wightman