I feel like I blinked this week away. Annnnd I also feel like it's been 3 months since last pday.
I'll tell the cool stuff. Mara Franceschini is the stickler of sticklers people. The queen of the meno attivi. BUT as of this week we are consistently teaching her!!! When we told the branch president he didn't believe us. It's been years since they've even had real contact with her. What a miracle it's been for us to work with her in coming back to church.
We had some really great lessons this week. One with a member named Nadia who is truly in need of the missionaries in her life. It's hard not to feel a little inadequate when people ask you questions that you can't even answer. She's going through a rough time right now and it's difficult for her not to doubt her faith. We shared 1Nephi 17:3 Where the Lord promises to nourish and strengthen those who follow his commandments. The spirit was strong and we created a good friendship with her. When we told the branch ward leader he told us that it was a miracle because she has never ever invited the missionaries to teach her or into her home. Such a miracle!
We set a baptism date for Stefania!!! We taught a whole lesson about the atonement of Jesus Christ and it was great. We talked about the great sacrifice our savior did for us. Without it we would be completely lost. And in return he has only asked us to follow in his example and we will be happier than we ever thought possible. One of those steps in following him is baptism! Her wedding and honeymoon are soon so the date we all agreed on was January 31, her birthday. She wanted to be baptized that day because she wants to be born again on her actual birthday. So sweet. I love her.
I have to tell you guys about Vittoria hahah. She is the best. She is a member and is the definition of a member missionary and it is amazing! She literally shares the gospel with everyone and has been a member her whole life and is in her late 50s. We've gotten a lot of referrals from her in these past couple months. Some work out and some don't haha. There's been the phone salesman guy, the energy drink salesman guy, her friend, her doctor, her dentist, and now the nurse of the old woman across the hall. She called us and told us she had someone for us and to come by her house at noon. So we did, trying to be as attentive to the situation as possible because the thing about Vittoria is she is a schemer. She has these elaborate plans as to what we should say in order to get the person we are meeting with to want to take the lessons. The problem is she never shares these plans with us hahaha. So we usually go into these situations having no idea what to expect. Some days we are apparently looking to buy a new phone or needing a babysitter or donating goods or looking to buy a new health energy drink. You never know with her! Always an adventure! So we go into her apartment and we find the Anziani there receiving a sales pitch from a salesman at her dinner table. We were a little confused, but obviously can't ask what's going on. So we sit with them and talk with the salesman. Well all the sudden my phone starts ringing and I look and Vittoria is calling me...but she's sitting right across the table from me. So I was like "silly Vittoria I'm right here" and hung up. Well she gave me dagger eyes and I realized it was apart of her scheme. Then she called the Anziani who saw none of this and they did the same thing hahahaha. They said "Vittoria you accidentally called us" she wanted to kill us for our stupidity. Then she's says "whoops I spilled something" and is on all fours crawling under the table towards me and starts whisper screaming to me from down there!!! Meanwhile this salesman is in the middle of his pitch and I'm trying to hide the fact that Vittoria is basically in my lap whispering who knows what to me! She then sits back in her seat and is flashing her phone at me with a message she had written out asking me to get his home address, but also that I need to leave so the Anziani can teach him! I have never been so confused in my life. Eventually I just abandoned ship and left the room. Tullis followed and so did Vittoria. She was happy with our subtle way of leaving (uhh..you mean us just getting up and walking out of the room?) and I apologized for not understanding the very detailed plan she had thought we could read from her mind. BUT the story isn't over, it was all a rouge!!! Apparently the whole time she wanted us to leave because now we were supposed to knock on her neighbors door who is...get ready... 98 YEARS OLD so that we can hopefully teach her new full time nurse!!! So we knock and Vittoria is so excited. the door opens and we just say "uhh...hi...we've never seen a 98 year old before...can we see her?" luckily she let us in hahaha. we go in and see the tiniest cutest little lady sitting on the couch watching a dolphin show. I feel like I'm babbling now but the moral of the story was we were able to talk to the nurse a bit and get a return appointment. Whew. Vittoria is such a party.
We got another referral this week named Maria Rosa and we are excited about it. We also met a new cute young girl named Yasmin on the bus and we are teaching her Saturday. We will be seeing Laura again this week and we are stoked for that. Also we started teaching a girl named Romina, hopefully we can see her either this week or the next! Good work here in Brescia!
Yesterday we went to Verona for Zone training and I was SO EXCITED because I got to see my old MTC companion Sorella Seymour for the first time since we parted at the MTC. She is a new missionary because she went home after the MTC, but she finally made it to Italy and is being trained in Bergamo which is in my zone. I am so proud of her, I wanted to cry! It was wonderful to see her! Not only that but Anziano Tilton also from my MTC district is also in my zone so I saw him for the first time since then too! The three of us were just so happy seeing each other again it was the best reunion of my life. I am so blessed to really have made life long friendships out here.
At zone training we talked a lot about consecrating yourself to the work. When you consecrate yourself to something it means to make it sacred. D&C 25:10 talks about laying aside the things of the world for something better and I really love how it is promising us that although some things appear more important, more fun, more easy or comfortable, if we submit our will to the Lord and seek for those things he has asked of us then, no matter what, they ultimately make us our happiest selves. I don't want to forfeit what could make me happiest in the long run for the things that are easier and more desirable now. And the great thing is we never have to do it alone. He's always wanting to help us if we allow him to.
Have a buona settimana!
BACI
Con affetto, Sorella Williams
P.S. I forgot to mention Irene (the blind lady we help) has a gift of being able to have an idea of what people look like, a gift from God she says. she told me It works better on boys because she likes boys haha. She guessed what Anziano Carnahan looked like just from hearing his voice all down to his haircut!! It blew my mind. I asked her to guess me and she thought for a minute and then said "ok Lindy, you have close to black hair. Light skin. You definitely have light eyes. I think green. But they change depending on your mood. Especially if you're sad" she guessed Sorella Tullis too and it was spot on!! Brown hair and brown eyes that never change. How crazy is that?!
P.P.S. When you greet someone here you baci them which is two or three (one extra for good health) kisses on the cheek. But sometimes for the people you really love you hug them and then begin the baci. Me and this member lady hugged and then both went for the same cheek and ended up smackin one right on the lips. That was a fun Sunday surprise! I would be lying if I said this was the first time a kiss has accidentally happened. baci's can be a dangerous and confusing business.
P.P.P.S. we were eating this fruit called kaki which in Italian can also mean poop! i'snt that nice. well of course I don't know that so I'm trying to memorize the word with the DiBenedettos because it sounds really similar to the word for heels, which is tacchi (tah-key). Anywho they were barely holding it together trying to keep from laughing as I kept talking about the kaki, saying how good it was and why I liked it, etc etc. and then I said "ok quindi tacchi come le scarpe e kaki cioè questo nella mia bocca" which I basically said kaki is what I am putting in my mouth, and that did it. They started laughing and couldn't stop for seriously 20 minutes. Then they finally told me what the other meaning of the word kaki was.
Verona Zone
Sorella Seymour & Sorella Williams
Kaki those devils!
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fall in Brescia
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