I hope that you are all doing well. Everything is being Chrismasified and I love it! We have had 3 days of non-stop rain, which is a bit dreary but people are staying home making it easier to contact our investigators.
Just a quick question for mom: Can you send me the recipe for Grandmas's chrismas rolls. I want to make them for christmas time! Or at least try to :)
This week we were having a hard time seeing Cecilia because of the bad weather. But we asked if we could pass by her store Saturday morning and she said yes. We showed up that morning and saw 3 men at the remnants of a store. We asked for Cecilia and one of the men, her professed husband who has 3 wives, (WHAT HAD NO IDEA SHE WAS MARRIED WHOOPS - also we will figure out the whole 3 wife thing!) said she was across the street at her daughter's store. She and her family apparently have stores all along Via Napoli. We left the 3 men and went to her daughters store.
She sells vintage clothing. It had the feeling on an old wine cellar. Her daughter Angelita is just like Cecilia. She talks crazy fast and jumps between topics making it quite difficult to follow. Cecilia was not there either but we got to know Angelita and say a prayer with her. We had met one of her daughters that Cecilia brought to English course. We found out that Cecilia has 6 kids (we did know this) but I did not know all the names. So with a little snooping Angelita gave us the whole lowdown. Angelita was leaving for lunch and we were gonna call the morning good when we saw Cecilia walking down the street.
Rocking her leopard print pants, apache shirt, weave and camo glasses!! I love her so much. She had gone to do some spesa. We sat in her daughters store and had a quick lesson. It was so good!! She is so intelligent but has some ADD, so we do quick lessons with her. We figured out the husband situation. They are separated. He left 10 years ago, and then just showed up wanting to get to know the kids. She said, "Fine, but you and me are done". I think they are like most couples here in Italy - they separate but never get an official divorce because they are expensive and against the Catholic church. We will have to figure more out about this in the future.
I love Cecilia. She has the best questions. And she listens so well. We planned to talk about the plan of salvation. We did do a quick overview. But we also explained the process of calling a new prophet when one dies, etc. We get this question often in Italy because they have the Conclave that meets to assign a new pope.
I wish I could explain Cecilia better. You just have to meet her. She is trying to get all of her family to come to church with her and introduced us to 2 of her kids that were there and her granddaughter. She is just the best. We needed to push back her baptismal date because we have not been able to see her, but then she turned to us at the end of the lesson and said that she wants to be baptized the beginning of next year because she still has a lot to learn! I know she is going to do great things and is going to be a wonderful member. While we were there everyone kept coming in and saying hi. They are friends with everyone. Cecilia will love everyone no matter their race, their social skills, or their time in the church. She is awesome.
We also saw one of our investigators that has been studying with the missionaries for 2 years. He knows it is all true, but won't be baptized. He says his problem is the law of chastity. We planned to figure this out that night. As we explained it, he just acknowledged that he was not sure that it was from God. As we were talking I almost starting crying and I blurted out "I am so sad because you are losing so much just for sex!" He is a widow, and just got a new girlfriend. He stopped and looked at me and said - "I am confused, what will I lose?" I just started listing off, the Holy Ghost, an eternal family with your wife, salvation, baptism, ect. He just looked shocked. I don't think anyone had clearly explained to him that if we don't keep the commandments everything will not go well. As missionaries we focus a lot on the sunshine and roses and forget to explain that without making certain promises with God, they will not be with their spouse forever, they will not live with God, they will not have salvation. God has laws. He loves us but He will always be JUST!
Don't mean to end on a justice note -but I do think we forget, I forget, all that we give up for just half-living the commandments and half-keeping our covenants! It is not worth it. Not worth sleeping in one day here on the mission, not reading our scriptures today, being too busy to go visit all of our VT\HT families.
I love you all, and I am grateful for your example to me of setting good priorities and always improving. I love you all!
Love,
Sorella Preston
No comments:
Post a Comment