Serving An 18 Month LDS Mission

In the LDS church, when a girl turns 21 she has the opportunity to choose to serve an 18 month, self-funded mission. I have wanted to go on a mission since I was a little girl. My parents both served a mission in Rome in the 1970's. In 2001-2002, my sister Letty served as a missionary in Hong Kong and my brother Algot in the Philippines. As soon as I turned 21 I submitted my papers. The Prophet and 12 Apostles determine through inspiration which of the more than 300 missions worldwide each missionary will be assigned. I was overjoyed when I opened my mission call and discovered that I was called to Rome, Italy! I feel immensely blessed and I feel that God has been preparing me to serve the Italian people. Each week, while I am on my mission, I will send my sister Letty an email and pictures to post on the blog. I won't see this blog till I come home, so I will be unable to directly respond to your comments until then. However, the sidebar will always have a current street address for me, and I promise I will respond to your letters! If you would rather write via email, just email your letter to my sister and she will print it out and send it me with her weekly snail mail!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Letter #12 and Pictures from Bari, Italy

Hey Everyone!!

Lots of love for all of you! I want to send a ton of pictures so I am just going to write a short message. One of the more exciting things happening this week is a BAPTISM! Giovanni had his baptismal interview and also an interview with the bishop and both the District leader and the Bishop believe he is ready!! He has really changed. He stayed strong and kept to the stop smoking program in this last week and we saw leaps and bounds. He was joyful and could not stop smiling. He stopped and talked with members (He is very quiet so that is amazing) and he tried to serve the members at the activty this Monday!

I am very excited for him and this step he is taking. Baptism will not make all his problems disappear but he will have the strength and the hope to keep going forward. He will have the Gift of the Holy Ghost to truly guide him in his daily life! How amazing a Gift!! We are getting everything planned for the baptism this Saturday! It is crazy. The bishop said a wonderful thing this Sunday after interviewing Giovanni. He had an meeting with him 2 months ago, and Sunday Bishop said that he saw a change, a marked difference. He said Giovanni is more humble and he can see that he is ready for baptism. It was so great to hear that someone else thought that Giovanni was ready like we did. Sorella Diciolla, one of our members, has not stopped praying for him and had a friend put his name on the prayer role at the Bern, Switzerland temple. I am excited to see what the future holds.

Another exciting fact is how the youth in Italy are growing. They have started and EFY here in Italy!! They have their own CD and themes. This will be the 2nd or 3rd year! IT is amaing how strong the church is becoming in Italy!

Dad I love those poems you sent me. I read a few everyday!! I especially love "the boat" and "used". Thank you so much. I cried last Wednesday night as I was reading them. Thank you for your love and your testimony. It truly strengthens me!

I read recently Anziano Holland's talk from the April General Conference! It is wonderful. It is called "Laborers in the Vineyard" I would ask all of you to read it again. One of my favorite points he makes is: Why should we be jealous or compare ourselves when others are blessed? Often we try to compare ourselves, which is a form of envy. When in reality we each have different talents and blessings at different times, so it is impossible to make a truthly comparison. I am learning this on my mission. It is so much more peaceful, as I have been negating as soon as they come any thoughts of comparison whether I rate someone above me or myself above others. I have found that my compliments have become more meaningful and I find joy in the fact that I do the best I can and that is all that matters, and all I can do. I should not pine over the fact that I am not very good at drawing or someone seems to be liked more than me. I should rejoice in their talents and blessings. I have a long way to go but I love this talk and I recommend all to read it again.
Love you all now I will send tons of pictures!! Yay!

Sorella Preston
This is Me and Tonia De Santis. She was Tonia Modugno. She is in one of the pictures mom sent me of a ward picnic they had. She was about 20 yrs old then. Actually she met her now husband at that picnic. This was taken at a luncheon in church. She is in the PF ward. That day she had brought a picture of her and MOM! from the same picnic. Mom looks amazing. She showed the whole ward the picture and everyone was oooing and awing. They said I look like you mom! :)
Marianna, a new convert in the PF ward and her parents invited all the 10 missionaries in the area over for lunch a few weeks and this is all of us!
Back: Pedreira (PF), Larsen, Embree(PF), Hurlburt, Anna (Mar. Mom), and Piccirillo(PF)
Front: Comollo, Me, Wagoner, Marianna, Father


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