Hello all!! I am so glad that the package arrived :) and right on
time :) Also could you keep the gifts for Algot, Alisha, and Avery for Christmas. They are their Christmas presents and Algot's birthday present.
If they are not coming up for christmas, could you send them their gifts
? It would help me a lot. Today or tomorrow, I am sending all the rest
of your christmas presents!! Yay so expect that in 3 weeks. You cannot
open them till christmas so leave the boxes shut!!! I am not going to
individually wrap each one. Mailing is actually extremely cheap from
Italy. Just three 60cent stamps and then stuff it in the red box :)
Mom thank you for telling me your address. Also thank you and dad
for being such great missionaries still. I knew you were good before my
mission now I understand how rare it is to find members like you.
You found investigators for the missionaries, you give them referrals,
you give away books of Mormon. It is amazing!! We have some families
like that here in Bari. Fratello Antonio Petroni sends his wishes along
with Maddalena Modugno (They are married). He is a great member
missionary. He just asked for 3 BOMs to give to his friends and a few
copies of "Proclamation to the Family". We happily supplied him with
what he asked :)
Dad thank you for your very tender note, I almost started crying in
the internet point .) That talk from Anziano Holland is amazing!! I
have read it 3 times now and we have shared it in at least 3 lessons
and also at English Course. We shared with Sorella Armenise and Sorella
Gallone both 'meno attive' in our ward. They need the call to come back, to
not go back to fishing and what you used to be. We always read the
especially powerful parts such as ( I paraphrase) "If you love him you
will remember that the crowning characteristic of Love is LOYALTY"
or "After an encounter with the living Son of the living God you are
never supposed to be the same" I like being bold with the less-actives
in the ward. My gauge is if I think it is rude or too bold it usually doesn't even bother them. Italians are very loud and rude and bold so if
you are not they DON'T LISTEN. I think I am being mean or harsh, and
they don't see it as harsh at all.:)
It is funny how much people yell here. Grazia Bellomo invited us
over to lunch again :) She and her husband, Raffaele, would yell or roll
their eyes, or he would yell as to why she is taking so long to bring
him food. They yell so loud it almost seems that they hate each other.
Then after dinner and more yelling he stands beside her and they share
how much they LOVE each other. They have been married 70 years. He talks
about how he loves that his wife is feisty and yells! It is hilarious!!
and a big culture difference. Most couples are like that here. They
don't even think they are yelling :) Our relief Society counselor will
stand up there and tell Sorella Calabrese ( The crazy old lady in our
RS) to shut up and no one wants to hear about what she has to say. I sit
there shocked at how mean that is to say to an elderly woman, and
everyone else laughs and chimes in :) Italian culture is strange! BUT I
lOVE IT :)
Do you remember that young man from China that sorella Comollo met
on the bus? She gave him a pass along card, and in broken Italian he
said, " Jesus , I want to learn about Jesus". He is here studying music.
He is an opera singer. His name is Guanxing Gao, but he goes by Gao
because no one can pronounce his name. We met with him twice but then
had to give him to the Poggiofranco missionaries because he lived in
their zone. He is still progressing, AND he moved into our zone !!!!! He
invited us over to lunch this past saturday, us and the PF sorelle, and
he cooked chinese food for us!! :) We met his friend Yao Ming. She is
soo nice and she goes to his same conservatory but she studies piano. We
were talking about food and the fact came up that we don't drink coffee.
Gao asked why and we 4 Sorelle explained. Gao just said in Italian ( we
communicate in Italian because he does not feel comfortable speaking
english), "Okay, that is no problem, I dont drink coffee anyway". Then he
asked us what are some of God's other commandments. We told him about
the rest of the Word of Wisdom and he already keeps it!!! He does not
smoke because he knows it is unhealthy. He does not drink alcohol
because it is bad for your throat and he is a singer. I was so
excited!!! Someone with no word of wisdom problems. Yao heard all this
and she just volunteered and said I am going to stop drinking coffee!
she is not even an investigator but it sounded good to her. She is going
to go from 2 cups a day to 1 cup and continue to taper off. I was
astounded by their faith. When we told our other investigators, they
fought about it, they wanted to know why coffee. Yao and Gao just said
yes and asked what are some of God's other commandments! The other Sorelle then broke the news about switching teachers and Gao was okay. Gao said
about Sorella Comollo and I, "If not for them, I would not know Jesus".
We almost started crying right then and there. That is why I am here in
Italy!! To bring people to Christ, to help them know their Savior better.
I have to run and catch a train back to Bari. We are in Lecce now.
So I will try to send some more pictures at 4 pm. I also have
pictures of my district. We got a new anziano with transfers so we took
some fun pictures this last District meeting. Thank you all so much for
your prayers and love. You all inspire and bless me. Thank you for your
examples to me. I love it and I would not choose to be anywhere else.
Love,
Sorella Rose Preston
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