Ciao Famiglia mia!

This week has been great. We walked so much. We met a guy on the train who wanted a book of mormon, he gave us his address in Maccarese. He said his house was pretty close to the station. On the way there we took a bus, so it did not seem so far, the bus just took a detour. We gave him the book and explained the restoration. He was so nice, saying how much he loved animals and how much he loves God and how God is everyone.:) He told us to get back to the station "you just have to walk to the end of the road, turn right and walk until you see it". He said it is right around the corner. Well, it was about 7:30, it was already dark, so we could really see the stars on that country road. We walked and walked and yes the station was around the corner, only five miles down the road! We got home around 10. Oh dear, that was funny! I guess we just have different perceptions of distance. Perhaps this could be applied in a spiritual sense. :)

Yesterday we experienced a miracle, a little one, but a miracle nontheless. We went to see Arcangelo. When we got there it took a while for him to let us in because he was looking for his keys. He could not find them anywhere. So he procured the keys of his daughter to let us in. He was really nervous about losing them because not too many months ago their house was broken into and a lot of their stuff was stolen. He looked for them a little while longer before we started the lesson. We prayed to begin, also for him to find the keys. We read in 1 Nefi 17 and there was a part in the story when Nefi must go to build the boat, he has to ask for the Lord's help to know where to find the tools to build it, just like finding keys, no? Later we talked about him setting a baptismal date as a goal, he said he would choose one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is amazing, I am not sure if he is going to choose it for 2020, hopefully sooner, but he said he would go piano piano. Well, after the lesson he prayed. He just said his little quick prayer and afterward we asked him, well what about the keys. So, he said another prayer and asked for help to find the keys! This was the miracle. Arcangelo asked God a question, he asked him for help. He has never done this before, he always just kind of shrugs off the idea that God can really help him. We left, but asked him to call us when he found the keys. Five minutes later we got a call from him, he found them! That was not the miracle, that they were found, but the miracle was found in the process of the searching, with the prayer he offered.

Have a wonderful week!

I love you all so much!

Love,

Sorella Comollo

Moses and Brooches

Why hello family!

How are Walter and Olga doing? I still cannot get over that there is a new member in our family that I have not met! Crazy! I am sure he is such a cutie:)

Well, this week I got to go see a little more of Rome. We went to see the Moses statue by Michaelangelo. It was striking to see just how perfect he is, the contours of his stone mucsles shone in the two minute offerta lighting. ;)

 In the same church are said to be the chains in which Pietro was bound before being executed in Rome. When I saw the chains it made me think of how he dedicated his whole life, literally until death to preaching the gospel and helping others realize their eternal natures. He did not even have these chains to stop him from spreading the joy that he had in Christ (how great it is to know as well that we get to spread the exact same message:)). It made me think about some of the "chains" I have been faced with during my mission. Be it any of man's devices to detour(is that the word, boh?:)) my faith and joy, such us teenagers spitting on me from balconies, snow balls being thrown (that was last year with the snow in Mistretta), people mocking us, making throw up noises as we pass(thats a favorite;)), or just being mean, even discouraging and negative thoughts. The thing is, these all, like the chains now incased in a cathedral, have no eternal substance and though it seems impossible to shake them off, with Christ it is possible. It makes me think of the story of Nephi in 1 Nephi 7, about his brothers binding him, then he exercising faith, praying and being able to gain the strength to break the bounds. It is a true and sure recipe for us in freeing ourselves from whatever chains we are faced with through the atonement of Christ.

It was so cool, we have been going to see Arcangelo a lot lately, just reading the book of mormon and discussing how we can apply it to our lives. Sorella Buckley and I both felt that we needed to do a repass of the parola di saggezza one of the times we went. Well, we decided to do it on Thursday and guess what chapter we happened to be on that day with Arcangelo, 1Nephi 7. It was perfect applying it to the Word of Wisdom. Also, I am reading through the Doctrine and Covenants for my personal study and that Thursday I just happened to be on D and C 89, which is the revelation about the word of wisdom! Cool! Everything just seemed to fall into place. The lesson went well, of course Arcangelo is just one of those prideful italian men that I love so much, so he did not get as excited about quiting all of his "pleasures" as I had hoped, but piano piano he is drawing nearer to Christ. We ran into his wife the other day and guess what she told us, for the first time Arcangelo said the family prayer sincerely (lately he has been saying the prayers just one sentence and kind of in a sarcastic way), but she said it was long, for him, and so sweet. She looks so happy. I love how she is so thrilled about the little steps he is taking, for that will lead to bigger ones. She is an example to me of patience and love.

Speaking of the word of wisdom. We met a guy named Euro today, I know like the money, funny. When we first saw him he had a bottle of wine three forths full, by the time we left him it was empty, his face red and he was quite tipsy. Euro started to spill his soul, telling us about his childhood, how his dad was part of the war, never home, never showed love to him. How his mom was so sad all the time, always crying. So he went to find love else where, out of the home. He got involved with bad friends and spiraled down. He met a woman who loved him despite his weaknesses and thought everything was great then 8 members of his family died within one year. He stopped praying that year and things just seemed worse. We told him about Christ and a little of the plan of salvation. He asked if we really believed it. Sorella Buckley said, "We know it". He started to cry and grabbed her hand. It was really sweet. I hope we can meet him again. 

English course! Che meraviglia! We are getting so many new investigators and people who are interested in learning more about the gospel. I never realized how great of a finding tool it was. Usually during the spiritual thoughts I like to look for who is paying attention and who takes the stuff that is offered. Then I like to pray about them and it has been totally by the spirit who we have been able to teach. One man invited us to meet his companion and kids after we asked if we could meet him oltre del corso. He also told us that he is reading the Book of Mormon, even before we had a lesson with him (he got it once at the end of an English lesson). He wanted to come to church, but was out of town, so hopefully next week. His companion, unfortunately, does not seem that interested and I think that is one of the reasons why this week he hesitated to meet with us. We will pray lots and do all we can to see him and his family again, for usually the male is the one who hesitates,  but he wants to help his family so much, it is refreshing to see.  

 I love being a missionary! This church really is Christ's, I know it!

I love you all so much! Thanks for being patient and loving with me:)

Have a wonderful week! Happy festa della donna on Friday!

Abbracci!!!!

Sorella Comollo

P.S. I forgot to tell you about the brooches!

Sorella Buckley and I met an old lady with a really cute brooch. It inspired us to want to get matching cameo ones:) And guess what, we found them by the church that holds the moses! Miracle!

AHHHH!!!! 

Welcome to Walter!!!

He is so sweet and cute and I love babies! I am excited to meet him in a few months!

This week has been packed of fun and grand experiences! I went to a Rugby game in the Rome Olympic Stadium! It was cool to hear a bunch of Italians sing there national anthem:) We went to Ostia Antica today and played tag in an ancient necropolis and witnessed an antique ampitheater, it was so gorgeous! However, the most wonderful event happened on Monday. I got to see the Rome Temple for the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The spirit was so strong, I just felt this immense joy feel my whole body when I walked around the coner and saw the sacred marble edifice. It is in the perfect spot. I remember hearing before that it was not that great of a location, far away from the center, around buildings, etc. However, that is what makes it the perfect spot! This temple really is for the Italians, not for the tourists in the center. It is being built close to homes (where italians live) and right by a mall, where the Italians go to shop for their families. It is for them, it is there and will draw more attention to these incredible people of their eternal natures. 

I was thinking about going to visit Arcangelo, an investigator who has a wife and three daughters that are members, more often. We were feeling like he was not making much progress so we decided to not go as much, plus he lives kind of far away. Then in the mission tour when Anziano Richards started talking about daily contact, I felt so strongly that we needed to go and see him everyday, at least for a week or so. After about the third day of going to see him and reading the Book of Mormon, I was thinking maybe it is too much and he is going to get annoyed with us and not want to see us at all. I prayed to know what to do. A couple of hours later we got a phone call from his wife. I was kind of afraid to answer it, thinking she might tell us to stop coming over, but instead she suprised me by expressing utter gratitude for what we were doing and how much it is helping already. That was an answer to a prayer for sure. Sorella Buckley said when she was here before Arcangelo really did not want anything to do with them and he would never pray. Now he is praying and reading the scriptures everyday. If we cannot go see him we call him and he tells us that he read. He is still not sure about baptism. He says he is afraid of making a choice just because his family wants and he is not sure if he feels that this is the right way for him. But I know that he is beginning to change and it is incredible to see, he already seems happier. Now that I have seen the temple I have this huge desire that Arcangelo and his family take part in it. Families can be eternal and it is through the gospel that this promised is realized.

I love you all so much! I am so glad that we have the knowledge that we have of eternal families and as we work hard together and invite Christ into our lives we can really have this heavenly joy here, well at least a taste of it:)

Love you!

Love,

Sorella Comollo 

Hello wonderful family!

This week has been a little dappertutto, all over the place. The primary had a carnivale party. Some of our investigators came with there kids. One family invited  their vicini di casa. I talked to the dad of this family for a lot of the party, while the kids danced around. We talked about God and having faith and I told him about the restoration and Joseph Smith. I love telling about the restoration. He told me that he likes how it is so ovvio that I get such a joy out of these things. It reminded me of a scripture in the new testament that says something about always being ready to share a reason for the hope that is within you. One of the reasons that I love telling the first vision so much is a comment that mamma made to me before my mission, on the night I got set apart. She said that when she would tell it she would always feel the spirit and that the memory of those feelings has bouyed her up through all these years. Another reason why I am realizing more and more how important it is, is that it is the FIRST vision. Have you ever wondered why they call it that? I always thought it was because it was Joseph's first of many, but if you think about it, it is the first recorded time in history where Heavenly Father has come down with his Son to introduce him. That means that it MUST have been an important message. And it was to a 14 year old boy. God knows us individually, he knew Joseph by name and he knew that he had much potential, he saw the prophet in a teenager:) He sees our greatness even in our weakness. I do not know what will happen to that man that I met at the party, we will try to see him, but I know that I felt those wonderful waves of the spirit as I spoke of this majestic occasion in history, this simple story and I know he did too.

Little kids are so cute! There was a little girl at the party who would just be jumping around to the music and all of the sudden sit in the middle of the dance floor and strike a pose, like that of a lady laying on a piano or something. (Sama, her dance reminded me of the "can't find a comfortable position" dance):)

We went to Rome to see a baptism in another ward. The newly baptized guy got up to bear his testimony, I can think of two words to describe him, Purely happy, in every sense of the words.

I have a new companion, her name is Sorella Buckley. She is from Provo and so sweet. She is a hard worker and I know we are going to see lots of miracles this transfer!

I love you all so much, I hope you know that!

Have a good week!

Love,

Sorella Comollo 

Act Don't React

Sorry I did not write yesterday. We had a general Authority come, Kent Richards, in the morning so we had to go to Rome and then when we were coming back to Ladispoli my companion got really sick and threw up a ton, so we had to stay in for the rest of the night. While she was sleeping I started organizing the proslyting materials. They were so disorganized. I spent like an hour sorting through all of the languages of pamphlets and books of mormons and putting them together. I cleaned out the glass shelves and then started putting all the stuff up in order, labeling while I went. As I was putting the last chinese book of mormon on the top shelf the glass cracked and all the materials came shattering down on to the other glass shelf and then that shelf shattered and glass flew everywhere, along with all my painstakingly organized stuff. The reason I tell you this tragedy, for surely it was to me, all that time spent, a huge mess to clean up, my fingers bleeding on some of the stuff, is to let you know of my reaction, anzi, my action. I feel like I am becoming more christlike because of how I acted after this happened. I usually would have gotten frustrated, mad, worried, stressed out. Instead of going directly to the natural man insticts of those negative emotions I thought positively, patiently, calmly. Thank goodness I did not get hurt. I learned a law of physics, that a bunch of heavy books shouldn't go on top. As I picked up the glass, cutting my fingers every once in a while, I thought of how marvalous that I have a body that can heal itself, watching that the blood would stop flowing because of the coagulating properities. I think that as we learn to get closer to the spirit, doing the little things everyday, praying sincerely, really trying to apply what we learn in the scriptures and in church, our growth into becoming who God knows we can become is not infringed by reactions, but instead we are liberated by acting, we choose how we want to face the trial, we do not just allow our human nature to over take us. We have the gift of agency for heaven's sake! It is that important that we learn to use it in the best of ways. Yes, there are times when we think that our human tendencies and urges are stronger than we are, but that is not true! We are children of GOD, do you know what that means, that we have the potential and the power, if we so choose, to overcome and become like him. Plus, he, the all knowing creator, the one that is far more intelligent than we are, wants to help us, he wants to so badly, but he knows that our agency is important, so we have to come to him, to ask him for help and be willing to do what he asks us to do to get that help. Do not get discouraged if you think that you cannot overcome, if you think that you have gone to far. For you have not. There is no place that you can go where Christ cannot find you and his infinite atonement cannot heal you. It is real and it is wonderful. It is a process. I feel like the only reason I acted the way I did is because I have been really trying to pray sincerely daily and apply the scriptures daily, this has gradually helped me to change my character, but I did not realize this change until I was faced with this challenge of shattering glass. Perhaps sometimes we are given these challenges not only to try us, but for us to see our progression. Do not give up my sweet family. I know right now is a time of trial, be patient and loving and cleave to the Lord. Do not fall into the temptation to turn from him, he needs you right now and you need him.

I love you all so much, you have no idea. I pray for you and I know that you are being blessed, even if at times you don't see it. Look for the things in the day, the little things, like mamma always tells us how much she loves color after being in a gray lab all day, see the color, look for it. For a wise man once said, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass". By those little strokes of color incredible paintings are made, by those differing wave lengths of light are sunsets to be seen and rainbows to be enjoyed. I love you and I know Heavenly Father loves you. "Truth exsists beyond belief" This is a truth, that He loves you, whether you believe it or not, so just believe it so you can be happy, because that is what love does, it makes us happy.

With all of my love and my happiness because I have such wonderful people to love,

Sorella Comollo 

Ciao!!!!!

This has been an incredible week!!!!

Thursday: The societa' di soccorso had an activity about music. It was the funniest thing ever. Corrada, a member who has a passion for slide shows made us all read a slide and talk about it. My slide just had womens names and song titles. So I talked about how probably these women were pioneers, having to push hand carts, but singing gave them strength. Turns out the dates on which the women lived came up and they were from the 1950s! Oops;) Also, we watched a music video, diciamo, of Jimmy Osmand on a rock in the forest singing I wonder when he'll come again. It was from the 70's. I had to bite my lip so I would stop laughing! You guys should look it up on You Tube, it is funny:) At least two investigators came to enjoy the specticle:) yay!

Friday: THE BOOK OF MORMON IS SO COOL AND SO TRUE!!!!!! We went to a member's house for cena. The dad is from utah and the mom is from milan and the kids speak english and italian, so cool. Well, the dad is a chef and he not only studied food, but food history, specifically mayan food history. So while eating 3000 year old salsa (the ricetta of course, not the actually salsa) and tipo encheladas from 200 BC, once more not the food, the ricetta, he told us about the mayan culture and the food history and then applied it to understanding the culture of the people in the book of mormon!!! I will give you an example. In the BOM there are a lot of wars, no? Well, there is a pattern of the people having war and then taking a break in certain seasons. Well, he explained about their staple crop, corn and how its growing and harvesting and storing seasons match that of the seasons in which they were at war or on intervals. It is because they had to wait until they could get their supply of food. Cool huh. There were also other things, but I do not have time to explain, no worries I took notes so I can elaborate in about three months(it is weird saying that, bah!). One thing though that was so interesting. He has a book called the annals of the caicchiquels or something like that and it has a part were in the 1500s a spanish translator for the maya wrote that he found some mayan documents to translate but omitted the first part of it when he sent it to spain becasue he said it talked of hereasy (spelling?) because it talked about how Eve was deceived not by a snake, but by and angel of dark disguised by an angel of light. Food for thought, just saying. The maya even had a knowledge of the plan of salvation!

Saturday: We went to visit Corrada, the slide show lover, she gave us her poetry books! while waiting for the bus I had fun translating some of the depressing poems to my companions (we are in three now, yes, this has been a super crazy weird transfer! Which reminds me transfer calls came on saturday too, I am still training sorella Ehorn and we will just be in two)!

Sunday: This really has been a fantastic week! Church was incredible. We were asked to give the Sunday school gospel principles lesson about two seconds before it started. At first I got nervous, because there were many investigators there and I didn't feel very prepared. However, I surely have a testimony ormai of the power of prayer, so I prayed for help and inspiration in the lesson and the coolest thing happened. I felt confidant instead of nervous and ideas of what quotes to read from the manual came to mind, also ideas on what scriptures and stories that we should read and talk about just flowed out, I felt like I did not even have to think, the thoughts just came. I know that the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants is real, about not thinking before hand, just treasuring up the word and then that portion will be given, that is exactly what happened! It was a miracle! Also in church Antonio, the investigator that has stopped seeing us for the past couple of weeks because he has been getting so much pursectution from his family, came and he bore his testimony! He has decided to move out with his companion, girl friend, and really start living what he is learning from the gospel. He is having so many trials, but is so serene through them because his faith is growing so much. We also found an investigator through English course, Anthony. He is already friends with a bunch of members, including the bishop and came to church on Sunday. He said that he would get baptized when he finds out if this is the true church:) He is so cool. I still get studdery when I talk about certain things that are precious to me (my companion is helping me too), anyway, Anthony is helping me as well, the other day he was like "Parla Sorella!" Cioe', spit it out sister! oh dear! I need to just always have confidence, for once I start thinking too much not only does my italian start to go down the drain, but so do all of my thoughts on what to say. Remember, the work confidence has two words in it from Italian, CON=WITH and FEDE=FAITH:)

I am really seeing just how important member participation is, it is in fact essential! 

I am so excited for the conference next week, a general authority is coming:) Kent Richards. 

Monday: We had a lesson with Ignazia, she has a baptismal date for  April and is working hard to quit smoking and drinking coffee. She made us italian hot chocolate and we are going to call each other about what we are reading in Jacob while she is on Vacation in Sardegna.:)

Tuesday: Oh my goodness, Italian Beuracracy (spelling again, ormai you are used to my rotten spelling)! We had to go to the Questura for Sorella Ehorn's permesso di soggiorno.  Well, the main police guy started yelling at me because we came to early to change her appointment, he was totally not making sense, so I kept talking to him and telling him that his logic makes no sense. In the end we figured it out:) I feel like I am getting a lot more bold and more Italian in the sense that they say whatever comes to mind regardless of the feelings of others, so sorry if I come home and seem mean... ;) jk We got to meet Arcangelo, who has such a hidden love for the D and C. He will not get baptized though, he says he was born catholic, so that is what he is. Poi vediamo.

Well, I love you all so much! I hope you had a wonderful week! I am excited that we are getting a new member in our family pretty soon! Crazy! The word for limb in italian is membro, so we are getting a new limb:) another food for thought:)

Vi Voglio un oceano di bene!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Sorella Comollo

PS When is Autumn's wedding!!!!!??? Bah, I am so excited for her!

Also, have you been getting my written letters, I sent some to sam and mom and dad in the last weeks. I am going to write more today:) So I hope you have been getting them!

Ciao famiglia!

We had the opprotunity to attend ward council on Thursday evening. From that experience my testimony of the organization and the structual part of the church has grown so much. These people, who they themselves are going through a rough time both financially and in other aspects, gathered together in the evening after a long day to discuss how they can help other people. They were there probably until about eleven at night,  (we left around ten, by they way we were late coming home that night, oops) discussing and making plans to help certain people not only have help with their physical well being, but overall their spiritual well being. The sweetest spirit just filled my soul as I realized the veracity of this church, in all of its aspects. Yes, there is a lot of cattiveria in the world, but there is a lot of good and we know that by small and simple means are great things brought to pass.

English Course is the best! We are getting so many potentials from it already. We are excited to meet with a lot of them this week and hopefully they will become new investigators. One guy, Antonio, said the closing prayer last time and he asked us for a copy of the finding happiness film. He was also excited that we wanted to meet with him beyond the course. How wonderful!

I had a mental break down or I guess an emotional melt down on Monday. I am crazy, just saying. I received a letter from Sorella Preston, my old campanion who is still in Bari. She sent me a picture of Giovanni's baptism and talked about the work there. When I saw the picture of Giovanni I got so happy I almost started to cry. He looked ecstatic! It was so great to see. Then as I read her letter I just got so sad that I was not there and got frustrated that I got transfered and I just had a bunch of other negative feelings. Then I started to sob! Man, poor sorella Ehorn had to deal with me wailing for like half an hour or longer. I just started feeling so inadequate, thinking that the work was going so well in Bari right after I leave, was it because I was the one hindering it, I also started thinking about how we are supposed to do our best, but I never know what my best is, then I started thinking about how much I miss you all (I usually do not get homesick, so all those feelings then started rushing in). and it just went on and on, me in my little self pity party. After I calmed down I decided the best thing I could do is pray. I always testify to people the importance of prayer, why not apply that power to myself. As I prayed I asked if Heavenly Father was happy with me and if what I am doing is what he wants and I asked him to help me figure out what my best is. Then a miracle happened. A thought of what happened that day came to mind. I lost my cute T key chain from my bag earlier that day, Then on the metro Sorella Ehorn found the exact key chain on the ground! I thought it was cool when it happened, but thinking of that little experience after my prayer and after my negative emotions I realized that that little experience was a miracle to show me that God is consapevole of me and loves me and is happy with me. Also, since that prayer, I have been getting more ideas on what to do during the day, like what I should teach for english course, or during lessons I have more confidence. I feel, like I am doing my best and that my enough is enough.

I think that this episode was brought on by the adversary. For this week has been so wonderful, I found out Giovanni got baptized, I went to ward council, from these things I found a new drive to invite more people to get baptized, to work on making sure the spirit is in the lessons and not get distracted and it really has been a good week, we got rejected just the same, but my attitude and drive to continue remained high. So I think the only way to get me down was to bombard me with these feelings of inadequecy and thinking that I have no purpose. Anyway, now you know that I am crazy, but I know that God loves us, and knows each and everyone of us. Prayer is key! I want to invite all of you to pray this week, for it is the best!

I also have been studying the concept of perfection. I will explain more about it later, for I am running out of time, but I just want to say that I have come to a conclusion. There is variety in perfection and in imperfection. I keep thinking that I am not the quote un quote perfect missionary that I thought was possible to reach, I kept comparing myself to these people I thought had reached that, diciamo perfection in this life, which is still not perfect. But the thing is that I am discovering is that there is more than one way to be perfect or to try to reach perfection. Ok, I have no idea if this is making sense, I think I think too much! But just like we know that God and Christ are different separate beings, yes they are the same in purpose, but they too are different, they have different personalities (I read in Jesus the Cristo that in greek in the bible they use the nuetur form of the word one, when Christ says he is one with the father, that denotes same in purpose, if he used the masculine form of the word it would mean same in personality, but it is not used).

I love you all! Thanks for putting up with me! I love the gospel so much, it helps us to understand our purpose and who God knows that we can become:)

I love love love you!!!!

Love,

Sorella Comollo