Wednesday, March 26, 2014

That is how it should be

Once again we had a fantastic week. Also an emotional one. We are approaching our final days together before Sorella Stewart goes home and it is a little sad. I know that I will be with her again but my goodness... you just get attached to your companions!! I am so blessed that the Lord has given me AMAZING companions and that I have loved every single one of them for THEM.

My fantastic companion!
Presidente Dibb came to our branch on Sunday and shared a short but powerful message about moving the work of the Lord forward. He said that we can do 3 simple things. 1 - PRAY. 2 - Read the Book of Mormon. 3 - Write our testimony in the BOM to give to our friends. I would like to invite you all to do the same thing. As he was talking, he pointed out how Pisa has 2 sets of amazing missionaries, then he mentioned that Sorella Stewart was going home soon. My eyes immediately started to fill up with tears. Managia.

Unfortunately, we did not have any simpatizzanti in church but we had many other amazing miracles, like FINDING one of our simps. M, the African woman, disappeared for almost 2 weeks. We tried visiting, calling, but she seemed to just have vanished. Finally we stopped by on Sunday and found her! She was sooo happy to see us and vice-versa. :) Here is the funniest part. When we were about to walk in, two Jehovah's Witnesses walked out. We stopped, and awkwardly smiled at each other. I think that they are fantastic people who have a lot of faith to do what they believe but my goodness.... At least they help share the word of God!

Last week, our member Michael Israel gave us a family for referrals. This week, we set a baptismal date with Bishop, the father of the family. Michael can baptize his friend too because he has the priesthood. He was explaining to us WHY he wanted his friend to be baptized - he said that he loved Bishop and wanted his life to be blessed. The gospel has CHANGED and blessed Michael so now he is determined to share it with others too. That is how it should be.

The beautiful Sorelle of Florence!
Last little thought. We had a beautiful conference with Presidente on Monday in Firenze. A member of the District Presidency bore his testimony to us about the beauty of the Restored Gospel. Oh my goodness.... it was so powerful. He explained that when he was baptized, he was called to serve in the Military. The only time of the day that he could study his scriptures was at the end of the day, when everyone was showering. He explained that "That which we desire to be, is exactly what we can do and become. " He wanted to be a good and faithful member of the church so that is exactly what he was able to do and become. So he read his scriptures every night, in the midst of men running around, preparing for bed. One night, at 2 in the morning, a fellow soldier woke him up and asked about the church, This soldier was too timid to ask in person so he waited til lights were out. Fratello Yanni (the man giving the testimony) stated "I am not an amazing person. I am only a member of the church with the desire to share the gospel with others." It is so simple and so beautiful.

Sorella Stewart and I in Lucca
We are so blessed to have a prophet today. To have the gospel restored with the blessings that come with it.

Also, we hit 20 lessons last week. :)

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

Sorella Jameson



An ancient brick wall

Jif peanut butter from our American members. YES!!!!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

It feels unreal because of how PERFECT it is!

MAMMA MIA!!!! This week has been so full of miracles and tender mercies. The Lord has blessed the area of Pisa sooo much. We are towards the end of a 40 day fast within the branch for Missionary Work. Every night, we also have a family prayer for missionary work too. The Anziani and us sorelle have been so blessed in finding and teaching new people. We taught 22 lessons last week. Miracle.

We had many miracles this week! This one happened on Monday as we were going to visit simpatizzanti who live FAR away from Pisa. We had planned our day so that we would have 2 hours in Pontederra - a little city about 15 minutes in train from Pisa but we felt we needed to stay there instead of going back to Pisa. (We had an appointment scheduled for the evening in Pontederra) So we called a member who lives in Pontederra and told him that we would be there, then asking if he knows of any friends that we could meet within those 2 hours. Michael Isreal (the member who is also one of the coolest Nigerians ever - literally everyone is friends with him) told us that he cannot think of anyone but told us he would pray to find someone. When we called back on Monday, asking if he thought of anyone. He said yes! So we met up with Michael, who then took us to a FAMILY to teach. It was BEAUTIFUL! To be honest, I did not think anything would happen (oh me of little faith) but I was willing to put a shot in the dark if you will and just TRY. That is what the Lord asks us to do. TRY.

Our biggest miracle of this week started last Wednesday evening. We planned on visiting the Fiorelli family - Presidente Fiorelli is the District President. I have always wanted to meet with them but they are rarely at church (due to travel around to all the other branches in the Firenze district). When we arrived to meet with the family, they informed us that the boyfriend of their less active daughter would be attending dinner with us that evening, thus giving us an opportunity to do some missionary work. :) We taught our lesson and Presidente Fiorelli explained how the feelings that Simone (the boyfriend) felt were from the Spirit. He then turned around to pull out a Book of Mormon from a book shelf full of copies of the Book Of Mormon and gave Simone the copy. We asked if Simone would like to learn more, to which he agreed. Monday evening we held a Serata Familiare with them, taught the Restaurazione and invited him to baptism, to which he also accepted. I have never experienced working with members in the this manner before - it feels unreal because of how PERFECT it is! We have another lesson for Next Monday. :)

I wanted to end my thoughts with the invitation to prepare and invite everyone to see General Conference. We have a living prophet in these modern days and it is BEAUTIFUL. Someone who receives guidance from our Father in Heaven and the Savior Jesus Christ. Someone with the same power of Moses, who parted the Red Sea.

 Just follow this link to General Conference!





VI VOGLIO BENE!!!

Sorella Jameson

Giant chocolate eggs for Easter. We got some for the Anziani. :)


Our District!

Mission shoe woes

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

He will make it happen

Mamma mia! We have had SOOOO many fantastic miracles this past week! The most incredible miracle that I have seen happened yesterday during our double scambio with Montevarchi. First of all, I must say that we learned WAY more from them than they learned from us - these sorelle are incredible! Sorella Yost and I went to find a referral given to us from the Anziani (who had found her in their phone). It took quite the trip to go out and find her but it was worth every kilometer because Lina is ready to accept the gospel. As we taught her, she informed us how she found the Anziani last summer but they could never come because her husband is never around. Finally we came!  Lina explained that she felt as if she almost gave up hope in meeting with us when she received our phone call. She is so excited to learn more! Also, Sorella Yost and I were determined to not only reach but to exceed our "other lessons taught" goal of 4 for the day. We had the miracle mind set and taught 5 lessons together, making our total for the day 7 with the other sorelle. If we go to God in faith, with the sincere desire to do His will, He will make it happen.

Earlier last week, I has a scambio with a verdina (aka very new missionary). Her name is Sorella Richards and she is sooooo adorable. I just remember how much my first scambio impacted me with Sorella Forbes. So I did everything in my power to make it one of the best scambi EVER! And it was fantastic! We saw so many miracles togethers, especially those with the power of the Spirit. OH my goodness... Sorella Richards taught with SOOOO much power as she shared her testimony. She could hardly speak or understand Italian, which reminded me of myself one year ago, but my goodness could she speak and understand with the spirit. On that day we went to visit M, one of our beautiful simps. She is VERY pregnant so we brought our Branch Presidente to give a blessing. It was such a beautiful blessing, guided by the spirit. At one point, a little girl ran into the room and yelled "I made a poo poo!!!" but Presidente Ventura didn't stop. He kept blessing her with the power of God.

Saturday we also had a chance to take a beautiful hike in the hills with the Young Woman (singular) but it was fantastic none the less. Sorella Stewart and I went a little crazy in our jeans. (Which mine are fitting better by the way! All the biking I tell you!)

I love you so much!!!

Sorella Jameson

From my MTC group!

My sawed off bike seat


Wednesday, March 5, 2014

All because we are His children

First of all... I LOVE THE LORD!!!!! 

We had a training on Thursday last week in Bolognia and I got to see all of my favorite little missionaries. It was sooooo wonderful to see how much some of them have grown up in the field and how much their testimony just shown through their eyes. I also met the leaders over the area of Forlì and they told me about the baptism. OH HOW JOYFUL!!!! It made my heart sooooo happy to know that Joshua was baptized!! He is the son of Rosemary (the woman I told you about in my letter) Of my goodness... I love that family soooo very much!! As we returned from our training, I saw that the bike I have been using was missing the seat. Yes... someone SAWED that puppy off. I laughed a lot at first before I realized that I would not be able to ride on it anymore. So we walked home and took it in the next morning. I am also happy to say that I had to take my other bike in yesterday to replace the brakes. Again. :) I have become great friends with a man who works at the shop named Massimo. He told me that he could help me train to be one of those awesome bikers. Maybe I will do it.... :) But really, I love riding bikes, even in a skirt. I also got really good at riding the anziano's bike and boy did my legs get super strong. Tender mercies. (I wanted to attach a picture but the camera is dead)

This is actually a miracle that happened last week with a less active. His name is P T and he is absolutely fantastic! When I first arrived here in Pisa, I was making all the rounds of calls to the members so I could get to know them and try setting up meetings with them. I tried calling a sorella but accidentally called Fratello T instead. We became friends! Every week, I would call him just to see how he was doing and to share a little spiritual thought. Finally we managed to have a dinner set up with the RS President one evening. Afterwards, he promised he would come to church that domenica and he did. When he walked through the doors, my heart leaped with joy. His presence brought so much happiness into the building that day. :)

These last few days have been sooooo fun as we have worked in 3 together. We finally got used to working together right when Sorella Boscia left to Siena again. I want to call her everyday just to talk. :) As March rolls in, so does the rain. Saturday was a little bit like Noah's flood. We got PELTED with rain and by the time we made it to our next appointment, we were all drenched. The sorella gave us clothes to borrow and a blow dryer.  It is amazing feeling the love of our members here. :) 




Final thought. We watched the Prince of Egypt for a family home evening here in the church last Wednesday. It was AMAZING to watch through the eyes of a missionary. All of the sudden the words that we often speak to others came alive. God loves us so He calls prophets. He gives these normal, often weak men, the power of God, or the Priesthood so that they can preform His works. All because we are His children and he wants to bless us. :) 


VI VOLGIO BENE!!!

Sorella Jameson