Letter #17 from Bari, Italy

Dear family and friends,

 

I know that I will be skyping you tomorrow at 9am your time so today I wanted to attach a ton of pictures. I was all ready to go, but then my computer popped up with a virus warning and I don't want to plug anything into this computer!! So you have to wait a little longer until you get to see pictures of me! But I will send them!

 

Sorella Foster is loving Bari and I am loving showing it to her! And introducing her to all these wonderful people. We get a long very well. We are almost creepily the same person. We have differences, but we like the same books, the same TV shows, the same movies. We drive in the car belting out Guys and Dolls and Oliver. She knows so many musicals and she likes me to tell her all the plots of the ones she doesnt know!!! Or rather she humors me!! But I dont care!! We have so much fun! And we also get work done. She is very kind and very sincere. I love her simplicity and honesty! and it is really easy to make her laugh! In short, she is an agreeable person.

 

Marina, one of our investigators left for Ireland to pass the holidays with her daughter. But before she left she and her husband invited us to their home. It was the same day of transfers and it was crazy. I kept on wanting to cancel but when I called I never could!! So we ended up going at 8:50am and it was good that we did. Because without my knowing they had prepared tons of food for all 4 of us sisters! And if we had not come it would have really hurt their feelings. As it turned out we only had 20 minutes but I am glad we went. We were able to talk more with the husband, Onofrio. He is super kind and quiet like Marina and our goal is to teach them together! 

 

We have been visiting a lot of members, and this Sunday we helped the family we had lunch with form a family mission plan!! I got lots of ideas from an email I got from Letty a few months ago. And Sorella Foster thought of making a 3 week challenge. With a task they need to do every week. This week they are preparing and making a list together of who they want invite to come closer to Christ and to know our church better. The first week they need to bear their testimony about a simple thing to each person on the list. 2nd week they will invite them to their house to play games or eat cena and get to know their family. 3rd week they will invite them again and also invite the missionaries! I think this is going to work a lot of miracles. Because I have learned from my mission - the more specific the goal, the more God can use us as His instruments. He will put people in our path because we have chosen and specified which path we will take and we are committed to take this path! I know God can do anything, but when we make goals and act, it grows us and our testimonies. He could do it without us but He chooses to help others grow their faith and their commitment!

 

I will see you tomorrow!! I love you all so much! I am excited! :)

 

Love,

Sorella preston

Letter #16 from Bari, Italy

Dear Family and Friends,

 

You are never going to believe it! Sorella Mikesell has been transferred in the middle of the transfer to Palermo, right before Christmas. Both our minds are blown. I no longer have any idea of what to do and cannot think straight! President Waddoups did a normal transfer 2 weeks ago, and he felt good about where people were. But then he told us afterwards, God let him know that 8 people needed to be transferred before Christmas! Sorella Mikesell was one! She is excited because she always wanted to serve in Palermo and Napoli, but neither was open to sisters until 2 transfers ago when they opened Palermo!! Whoohoo! 

 

My new collega will be Sorella Foster from Albuquerque New Mexico! This is her 3rd Transfer. I've heard that she is super sweet! She does not know it yet, but she is going to have the best Christmas EVER! I want to help her feel comfortable and happy. Not only is she away from her family, but she just got surprised transferred away from her trainer and all of her member friends in Rome. But the members here in Bari are so loving and they are just going to love her to death!

 

Mikesell leaves Wednesday morning, so tomorrow we are going to have a mini-Christmas, and open presents and such!

 

I am only sad that I don't get to meet Sorella Mikesell's family on skype! For those of you who have served a mission you will understand that one of the highlights is being able to meet your companion's family!!! Oh well I am excited to meet Sorella Foster's parents even though they have NO IDEA who I am :)

 

Mom and Dad I have some notes for you

1) I GOT YOUR PACKAGE WITH THE CD! I love how you both know me soo well. You send me a  Natalie Cole christmas CD. She sings "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" And "The Christmas song" In tribute to her father and Andy Williams!! I have been loving it. I just got it today!

 

2) I asked about Irma Giacolli. I heard from Sorella Magno that she died 2 years ago. I am so sorry that I am the one who has to bear the bad news. Sono l'uccellino della Maledizione. She was inactive before her death so most members do not know who she is. But I am going to ask around and make sure she actually died.

 

3) Dad, Fratello vito Caricola wanted to ask you if you knew Anziano Michael Anderson. He served in Bari around the same time as you and baptized Fratello Caricola. He just wanted to know if you knew him.

 

Now back to relevant things such as Christmas and the miracles we saw this week.

 

I think one of the biggest miracles we saw this week was that we finally contacted one of our investigators after 2 weeks. She would not answer the phone but she finally did. She apologized for being busy and we tried to set up an appoinment. Purtroppo none of our times worked but she promised to come to church. We tried to call her Saturday and remind her but she did not answer. Then she miraculously came to church this sunday. She brought her husband and her son, a new convert of 4 months. They came for Gospel Principles and Sacrament Meeting!!! It was so wonderful!

 

Marina also came to church this sunday! she is progressing so much. She had a few questions about 1 Nefi 4 and why God would command to kill someone. But it gave us a great opportunity to talk about personal revelation and invite her to ask God herself. We have an appointment to go to her house and visit with her and her husband this week. I am so excited.

 

I feel so blessed to be here! Just the other day I was thinking about how cool missionary work is. I heard someone say this Sunday that if God wanted something done, He could just do it! He does not need us, but He allows us to be His hands. He allows us to grow and to serve others. By doing His will, we slowly become more like Him and develop Christ-like attributes. I have been trying to remind myself recently to think less of myself and to focus on "being his Hands."

 

Love you all so much,

 

Sorella Preston

Letter #15 and Pictures from Bari, Italy

Dear Family and friends,

 

This week we had zone conference and one of the kids in the ward got baptized. It was the best. The little boy's name is Christian and I was able to be here last year and see his older sister's baptism! They are a very cute family.

 

The Zone Conference this transfer was shorter because it was a specialized training meeting not a Zone Conference. We had some addestramenti on teaching skills. Which are so important to always study! I have been working my whole mission on listening, asking questions in lessons, and putting others first! It is hard to change human nature but that is why we serve missions. We have this brief time to put others completely before ourselves. I am grateful that God gives us this time to learn and start to form habits.

 

Then our mission president and his wife did a special addestramento, it being Christmas. They had us put on a Christmas pageant. It was like being in Primary again but it was just so much fun because everyone had fun with it. I have great pictures to send you! Sorella Mikesell was the virgin Mary! :) and I was the chorister. It was so much fun. 

 

I had a great experience this week. One of our members in the PF ward is from Honduras. Her husband is 1\2 Italian, 1\2 American who served his mission in Utah. He then went to BYU and they met in Spain! They have the craziest life but they are the sweetest couple. They just had a baby girl named Emma Natalia. We had heard that they needed a new Italian triple combination and that they wanted to frame "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" In italian and Spanish to put in the baby's room. Sorella Mikesell and I realized that these were all relatively easy things for missionaries to obtain, so we brought them as Christmas gifts Saturday.

 

Tesla was opening the triple; a combination of 3 volumes of scripture including the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price; and when she saw it she just started crying! Her husband told us that when they had flown to Italy from Honduras only 5 months earlier they had had to leave all of their scriptures except his quad in English. She had had to leave her scriptures behind. She was so overjoyed from what I would have considered a very humble gift. And with her new-born baby asleep in her arms she sat leafing through the pages. 

 

That moment was one of the best moments on my mission. Tesla taught me so much by her humility and how much she treasured the scriptures!! 

 

Last night the Libertà ward had their primary program. It was stellar!! They had all 5 kids come up and they were all missionaries :) A companionship of elders, and the sisters were in a trio. Then they did a Mostra. (Anyone who has served in Italy will know what THIS is!) I don't know if other missions do it. You go stand in a square and you have a big tripod stand up presentation or boards that talk about certain subjects. Then the missionaries spread out and go and talk to the people around. It is really fun!! And they do it a lot in Italy! 

 

The primary children had made big posterboards and put them on the stand. The primary presidency pretended to be people on the street who asked them questions like, "Who are you?" or "How can I be with my family forever?" "Why do I need to be baptized in your church?"  The children had scripted responses. They would read scriptures to respond. They had poster boards about the Plan of Salvation, Christ's Ministry, the Apostasy, the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, and Families with the Temple!! 

 

They did so good! WHENEVER someone asked a question they would say, "To respond to this question let us sing, 'I am a child of God'." Or they would read a scripture. I was astounded! It was one of the best primary programs I have seen in my life! At the end all the children read their written out testimonies! The message was the need to prepare our children to be future missionaries and that we need to be missionaries all of us, and be the Savior's hands to bring others to Him.

 

There were many other things that happened this week but I cannot write them all. I ate Squid ink pasta for the 1st time on my mission! I have been wanting to eat it my whole mission. They cut open the squid and remove it's ink sack (I think that is what it is called?) and they make a sugo with ink, oil, and pieces of squid. The pasta they use for this dish is Spaghetti. It is called, "Gli spaghetti Neri" It dies your mouth and teeth black. Sorella Mikesell tried a noodle because she is intolerant to all fish and seafood.  I also ate raw squid, roasted fish, and roasted octupus tenticles. All at the same lunch appointment. They also served: A bean and pasta dish, sauages, antipasti of home-pickled tomatoes, artichokes, and melanzane (eggplant), prosciutto crudo, mozzarella balls, roasted chestnuts, and fresh fruit. And we even left before dessert!! Needless to say, I was stuffed and did not feel very well but it was worth it!  Fotos will be sent the next week!!! :) 

 

I love you all,

Sorella Preston

Letter #14 from Bari, Italy

Dear family and friends,

 

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