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

goosebumps and picture ties.

1. our international district. anziano birberg (sweden) anz wolzl (austria) anz curzola (italy) anz baer (california) me (taylorsville) slla mitsvotai (manti) slla wiltbank (arizona)

we are still living. though we had more close calls than normal. let's flash back to since we last heard from each other ... wednesday night ... we were still on our high of rome and just loving life. the anziani came to our house to give us the car since we had an appointment with a referral. she hadn't answered our calls all day but we went with faith. and lots of it since we just decided to head over to her house without a practice run of the stick. yike! all went well. and then i got prideful ... until we had to exit the freeway, on a hill, with a stop sign, and i had no idea how i was ever going to get us out of that situation. after about 20 minutes of telling the cars to pass, a few hundred pep talks by my companions/the little angels full of patience and faith in their very incapable companion, and the most dire prayers ever said, we succeeded. we overcame our mountain (<<< literally!). then we got lost. then it was dark. then the gps went crazy. then we had a little gas and less money to get gas. ooooo boy. god is good. that is all i have to say. HOWEVER with lots of prayers and practice and more pep talks by my patient angels, i can drive a stick shift! woo! ha you guys should see me. i am a mess. like so out of control worried every time i get behind the wheel. but then we pray and heavenly father calms our worries. or at least mine ... my companions are probably SOOOO scared still haha! but it is all good. don't worry. i worry enough for all of us combined so i've got it covered.

2. us with our only english course student, giada. she is a member, in fact she is in the restoration pamphlet so she is famous.

saturday we decided to get out of our city and go do some finding in the surrounding cities. it was the first time i saw sorella wiltbank get a tiny bit discouraged. she is so happy and positive and excited all of the time, but "no" after "no" after "no" gets a little old. but THEN we prayed and planned and cheered each other up and the next door opened to our favor. we met a man named giancarlo and he gave us a bunch of referrals. SEE!! heavenly father hears and answers prayers! 

sunday was a precious precious day. we went to church (i told you how we meet in an hotel right? ha it makes me giggle every time i think about it for some reason ... italy isn't utah) and set everything up. we were waiting for the members to show up when a familiar face came walking my way. it was UGO! fyi: back in the day there was this italian man in our stake and he was awesome and my family loved him and they made us love italy and then they moved to rome and so did i ... and his name is ugo and he came to my branch this week! it was so fun! his kids are so old and they have 5 of them. they weren't there but i learned about them while looking at his tie, which was a bunch of pictures of his kids. haha! italian style at its best. it was pretty cool how it all worked out because he, a high priest leader in the rome stake, was scheduled to speak in the rome 2 ward that day but the stake president called him last minute and told him that he was needed in the rome 5 branch instead. so he came to our branch to speak in sacrament meeting. it was SUCH a good talk! i don't know if i forgot how great he is or if he just sounds better in the tongue of angels (aka the italian language) but man ... this guy is good! he spoke about the hope of god's light. i wish i could just have a copy of his whole talk. it was the perfect mix of spiritual, motivational, educational, and funny. he started out however saying how he admired and loved lots of people in the crowd. he talked about our branch president and the things he loved about him. he talked about another member or two in the branch and one of the anziani that just got transferred out of his ward and into our branch. then he said told how 8 years ago he was privileged to live in the valley park stake where he became "molto amico" with the wightman family. and he said all these great things about my city and my stake and my dad and my family. and i could've cried my eyes out but i was too busy smiling and being proud to be from taylorsville and the wightman family and now a missionary surrounded by the greatest people in the world. we also had correlation that night with our branch mission leader who is an mtc teacher so he is by default the most motivational and inspiring person ever. perfect!! monday we went to district meeting in terni again. did i tell you that getting there is like riding the teacups at disneyland ... and NOT in a good way. windiest roads of your life. but we discovered les mis and wicked and disney music IN ITALIAN on one of the anzianos ipods and i was in HEAVEN! heaven i say. that evening we met with a man that sorella wiltbank stopped on the street a while back. he is GOLD! greenie power. his name is stefano and he is great!

wiltbank, me, ugo!

but probably our favorite day of the week was yesterday. in the morning we tried to implement some new fun and creative finding ideas into our normal routine. one of the ideas that we got from our mission leader was to take copies of the book of mormon to the library as a donation then explain it to the librarian. so we did and it was awesome and we want to go check to see if anyone has checked it out yet. we wrote our testimonies inside and marked our favorite scriptures and wrote our number. cool! then that evening we met with maggED. still gold. still progressing beautifully. he is dying to know about families because that is all he wants from life, a family centered on christ. and we couldn't be happier with such great desires! while we were waiting for a bus we started talking to a lady who was giving us the stink eye. i love talking to people like that because i like to watch them change from thinking who are these weirdos to "whoa i love them". we started talking about her family and she was bragging about her really awesome daughter. then she asked why we were in italy. all i said was "we are missionaries for the church of jesus christ" and WHAM she got theeeee biggest goosebumps ever. she was like "whoa" and we were like "whoa" and it was awesome. then we went to the branch president (presidente criscione)s house. they are the perfect italian mormon couple and i want to be them when i grow up. he and his wife are both returned missionaries. they both served in england, different missions. he works for some kind of film studio, in fact the one that is doing the new bible videos for the church. they have the cutest kids and the nicest house and they just GET missionary work. they fed us curry chicken and rice and they spoke english to wiltbank and showed her all this camera gear and she was on cloud nine as a photographer. they told us that we are always welcome to come to their house (to use the bathroom, to eat, to cry, to get some comfort, to talk, to relax) and they just made us feel at home. not everyone has that gift. my mom does. but not everyone. and i want that. a welcoming home filled with a love focused on the savior. nothing better. 

3. this is my man-i-am-about-to-explode-with-love-and-gratitude face after we got home from presidente crisciones house and our neighbors were waiting outside our door so they could give us some cheese they bought for us that day at the store. LOVE!!!

wellllll we gotta get outta hurr. but know that i love you. i am head over heels in love with my mission. like it is out of control. i am still going through this sentimental streak. like the other day we heard the song "there will be miracles if you believe" in italian the other day and i started crying like a wee child because it reminded me of the time the valentine sang that from the pulpit after his baptism, and it reminded me of all the times i have seen miracles on my mission, both in myself and in others. and it reminded me that i have really truly been blessed by the gift of believing. i love my mission. i can't say it enough. complete with the sweat (which is getting worse and worse in these days might i add) the tears, the homesickness, the trials, the saying goodbyes to family and friends both in and out of the mission, the times when you have to say goodbye for now to the worlds greatest mission president and his equally as lovely wife, the times you feel like you will never learn something, the feelings of insecurity and inadequacy ... it is worth every low because the highs are SOOO good! this is the lord's work!! and the shining rays of happiness are proof of that.

love,
sorella wightman

temple walk picture.

how grateful we are for the mtc sunday temple walks.

thanks to leah for the picture.

we found sister marchetti!

look who our friend ugo bumped into today!

sister marchetti! serving on temple square, from rome.