2017-07-19 Post Mission Predictions

This last week was really cool! We had two lessons with Jelena, who is on date to be baptized on August 19. I told President that I just want to leave Ancona in a good position (the work has a tendency of crashing right before I get transferred out of cities, not for lack of trying to prevent that!!). I know that it is quality over quantity so I knew I probably wouldn't see a baptism during my time here. In that case, I just wanted to leave with someone who would get baptized. Jelena is the one! 

We are also still working with Carla, who progresses, but on HER time haha. Her sister is sick with cancer and has been healing a lot recently. Carla accredits it to the blessing the elders gave her sister. A certain member has also been fasting every. Single. Week until her sister gets healed. Faith is working miracles and lots of people Carla knows have been noticing. Now Carla has had the chance to bear her testimony about the church to them and she's been super happy about that! The big question of the decade is, though: are five years enough to prepare a Carla for baptism, or should we raise our sights to 2018?? Stay tuned.

We also met with Matteo and Tiziana and had a really cool lesson with them. Less-active member heartbreak, finding new potentials, doing service with members, a visit from Presidente Allen to the branch, and district transfer predictions! They all guessed each others' next city and companion but they all turned against me and predicted my dating and marriage future. So even though I'm the only one going home, I did the same to them. Actually for them I think they really liked it but it was too weird for me because I was like, "holy shiz, that actually is the next step." Anyways, apparently I'm going to have one or two serious relationships to get to the right one about two years from now who will be a partially-ethnic man. Don't ask me where that all came from.

Francesca

Apartment has TV.  Now she can catch up on NASCAR!

Weird Italian Parade

2017-07-11 Branch BBQ

Hellooo a tutti!!

So we had a lot of cool miracles last last week and last week we saw
not all of them play out. BUT we are still super blessed with lots
("lots") of work :) we have Lolita who is making progress towards
baptism and we just met a whole family (well, the mom and dad are
'just friends' so I'm not really sure what's going on there) from
Ghana that are super sharp and really liked our message about the Book
of Mormon, even if they thought I said 'The Book of Mohammad' until I
had repeated myself like, 4 times.

So miracles are still totally happening! Sometimes it's not people's
moment and so we find other people! Right now I'm sitting pretty with
an awesome companion, little Dutch waffles in my backpack from Tiger,
going to hike in the Italian "mountains" (large hills) and this
evening we're going to visit our other investigators, Matteo and
Tiziana, who have come to church not one but two times! This weekend
President Allen is coming down to give our members a fireside on
missionary work. They sure have a fire. What else can I say..?

OH!

After three weeks of stress and planning, lots of inviting, some help
from the Pesaro Anziani, and a last-minute purchase of an entire grill
😂...we successfully pulled off our branch barbecue. We had a lot of
people come! Like, five members and a good 20 people total. That's a
lot of potentials!! We're hopefully going to meet with one of them
next week when she's done with her exams (Italian university does
testing totally different) and aside from that we were just glad to
get to hang out with some people and make some good memories together.

We also:

- got adopted by an old Italian woman
- got fed a 5-course meal by Lolita until we both thought food was
gonna start coming out our ears
- made a peach cobbler for our branch president's wife
- played Italian card games with the Anziani and whichever Italian
wanted at a public piazza as a way to get talking to people

Thanks for keeping up with me! You guys are great and I love you all.
Have a good week.

🇮🇹 Transfer 12 with Sorella Hurst 🇮🇹

Last zone conference, where dying testimony was given

MTC Companion at last zone conference

Card playing on train

Got the grill, forgot the spatula

Investigator

"If I read I live more than seven lives"
Apparently Italian cats only get 7 lives.

Awkward moment running into Anziani on P-day

2017-07-04 Brutal Findings

This week has been incredible!! I'm not just saying that because I'm the rainbows and sunshine Sister missionary because even that's not true! I have to sing tomorrow at zone conference so that's definitely not the case!! 

Haha just kidding I'm happy to be able to sing. But I was also serious about all the miracles! In fact, the zone leaders have noticed and the stake president asked our mission president to please keep us four here "forever." If only! I don't have tons of time to write but let me just share a "just hang in there" experience. How many times have I had these experiences?? 

So, we went out with the Anziani and did two hours of brutal finding. Like, two hours and we talked to probably 5 people...one man even cursed us! I've never had such horrible success doing finding. But, anyways. So on the bus ride home I was chatting with the Anziani, telling them that I've always had more success meeting people on the bus than out actively talking to people on the street. Lo and behold, the next lady who I sat down by gave us her number and would like to meet with us, another man from Romania, and then a sad drunk Italian man who has lost his family, has tried rehab in the past to get clean and it didn't take, wants to try again to get ahold of his life and accepted to hear our message. Sooo cool! It always happens like that! 

All that on top of FOUR investigators coming to church (guys, NEVER happens!! Never! We almost had more investigators in the congregation than we had members haha), and other things. Miracles! Miracles miracles.

🇮🇹 Transfer 12 with Sorella Hurst 🇮🇹

Sunflower fields

Finding

Jill and Sorella Hurst

San Marino 

Porto Novo

BUG

Sweetie!