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
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