Climbing Mountains

Santa Polenta... you wrote in Italian to Sorella Fava!!! You actually did an AMAZING job!!! Really... I am so impressed with you / google translate. I absolutely love our members in the ward. The last time we were at Sorella Fava’s house she made us take a nap after lunch. I am not really sure if that is allowed but there was really nothing we could do. Italians are extremely forceful. :) When I tried to protest, she asked "what kind of a grandmother would I be if I didn't let you rest?" :)  She wants to see us at least every week and feed us. Oh I love her!

Okay I absolutely LOVE Kirtland!! It was probably my very favorite session of EFY last summer. I think Kirtland is often overlooked in regards to the history of the church and more people focus on Nauvoo. SOOOO much of the Gospel was restored again in Kirtland, it is INCREDIBLE. For me, I felt a special sense of ... I am not sure of what but it was so amazing! To go to Jerusalem, to study the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then to Kirtland, where the same priesthood powers were restored. WOW!

Update for GENOVA 1 :)

Summer has arrived. :) Along with a TON of bugs and bug bites. I keep discovering them - like one I found on my hand. What? I didn't know bugs likes hands too. Yesterday was pretty stinken hot but I know that this is nothing compared to July. I keep thinking to myself "I can do this! I did 2 years of EFY in JEANS. Right now I can wear skirts." The big difference is that there is really no such thing as Air Conditioning here. Weird huh? Soooooo I need to figure out how to keep myself hydrated. Water, si I am thinking gelato. heheheheheh

So last week we wanted to "climb a mountain" if you will, with our missionary work. Anziano Gibbons, our zone leader, gave a talk last Domenica and said the Sorella could teach 20 lessons in one week if we wanted. (It is our mission goal to teach 15 lessons) We laughed because it is difficult to even get 14 let alone 20 lessons. Sorella Lemos thought about this for a while and finally decided that we could get 20 lessons if we wanted. I replied that we could not do this (lack of faith) because we could barely get 14 or 15 each week. After reciting some scriptures to me, we decided to try. We worked SOOOOO hard last week to try to get 20 lessons and ended up getting about 17. Mama mia... we had 17 lessons last week! This is an incredible miracle for us because it is difficult but we had faith and acted. WAMO - with actions, miracle occur. :) Now... we are tired but we are shooting for 20 lessons every week this transfer. 

A tender miracle I saw this week came through a closing prayer with one of our Meni Attivi. Her daughter has health problems and has been in the hospital for 2 weeks, close to death. This member is a grand example of faith and diligence - if it weren't for her daughter's health, she would come to church every day. We took some time to visit her yesterday in the hospital and saw that her daughter's health has improved immensely. This was a miracle in and of itself. What touched my heart the most was to hear this member give the closing prayer, thanking the Lord for sending the missionaries in the times she has needed it the most. I often question myself, if I am following the Spirit enough to see the people that need us the most or if I am simply planning time for a "lesson". This was an answer to my personal prayers. We are called with the assignment to invite others to come unto Christ and it warms my heart to know that is what we are doing. :)

M is amazing as always. Really... I love her sooooo much!!! We had an incredible lesson with a member on Thursday about the Decima (tithing). The member prayed to know what we were teaching and kept thinking to prepare for the Decima. So she brought 10 chocolate pieces and a STRONG testimony of the legge. By the end of the lesson, M wanted to start paying tithing NOW. She also said that if she needs to stop drinking coffee to be baptized, she will stop drinking it. Her faith is amazing! 

J is wonderful as well. :) We had dinner with them on Friday night and ate some delicious Equadorian food. (Really I eat more foreign food than Italian with the people here. As I am sure you could imagine, I am sooooo happy.) The entire family was with us for dinner and for our message about the Book of Mormon. One of the biggest blessings of being a missionary is to see how the Gospel changes the lives of those around us - especially families. J and her family have more love and unity together and are simply happier. 

I studied that this morning in Preach my Gospel. It said "Family can be the source of our greatest joy"

Vi voglio bene!

Sorella Jameson

Sunday before church

N: she is one of our simpatizzanti and I absolutely LOVE her. She is leaving for the Philippines for 3 months tomorrow. My heart was broken to say goodbye...