A call to lead and happiness that trumps sadness

Yes we did receive transfer calls for this week....  They were the most BEAUTIFUL and most joyful calls I have EVER received on my mission. (Especially in comparison with my first call)  We were busy cleaning on Monday when we received a call from Presidente. I have been called to serve in Pisa as a Sister Training Leader with Sorella Stewart who was in Genova right before me! This is exciting but not as exciting as the next part of the call. NOTE: when we receive transfer calls it is either done on Speaker Phone or with the both of us hugging each other so we can hear and give one another support. When Sorella Andromidas started speaking to Presidente, he explained that she would be staying here in Forli to continue the work with a new sorella. Training? No. Better. Drum roll please. Sorella Andromidas will be serving in Forli with SORELLA LEMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IT IS A DREAM COME TRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I heard this I literally screamed and fell to the ground sobbing. Presidente stopped talking due to the scream. Sorella Andromidas said quickly "Sorry! That was my trainers first trainee! We are just really excited!" He paused and said "ooooooooookay...? Well..." I am soooooooooooooo happy! Normally transfers fill me with a little bit of pain and fear - pain to leave the people you love and fear that others will not take care of them well enough. I have no fear whatsoever now! Sorella Andromidas ansd Sorella Lemos are going to TAKE OVER ITALY!!!!!!!!!! I will have to write a letter home to you to explain more. As for me... it is hard to say goodbye. My happiness is trumping the sadness in me right now because my prayers were answered. :)

Some fast stories before I finish. We have one of the most golden and prepared people EVER right now. His name is C. He used to investigate the church YEARS ago but was not able to follow through on the commitment of baptism. Now he said he wants to make up the time he missed and start down the right path. Our branch mission leader invited him to church the other day so he came last week, we set up an appointment and met in Forlimpopoli - a little town outside of Forli. We had to meet inside a mini mall with loud music but (with the prayers in our hearts and the work of the Lord) the Spirit was so strong. We all cried at one point or another throughout this lesson. He wants to follow Jesus sooooo badly and preach the gospel just like us! We asked him to be baptized on the 15th of February and he accepted. Unfortunately I will not be there but I told him to send me a picture of him in white. :) There in an attached photo of him. :)

We had the most BEAUTIFUL sacrament meeting of my entire life this Sunday. The day before my poor companion puttered out and got really sick so we headed home early and missed a lesson with J (the boy with a baptismal date) and an African dinner appointment. She slept in till 10 am the next morning. I had been praying with all my might that she would wake up and feel well enough to go to church. She felt 100% healed (probably because she slept 15 hours... magari! I have only slept about 6 hours ever night this week) We arrived at church in just enough time for sacrament meeting, which is last in Forli. It was AMAZING!!!! There were 4 people we teach in church and 3 of them stood up to bear their testimony - the first being C. Oh my goodness... the spirit was amazing. Not only that but two non members gave an opening and closing prayer. All of the members were just filled with happiness and joy afterwards. :)

God is good. ALWAYS. He has blessed and touched my life in so many ways. I am so grateful to see the many miracles He has provided throughout my life and especially for my mission. I LOVE GOD!!!! :)

Vi voglio bene!!

Sorella Jameson

The time is NOW!

I AM STAYING IN GENOVA!!!!! I am soooooooo happy!!! Sorella Lemos and I were jumping up and down with joy and crying together. (We were both terrified I was leaving) Presidente did not change very many copia this transfer but then again he has only been here for about 4 weeks. Plus that means we get to stay here for M's BAPTISM!!!!!!! It is this FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I am soooooo excited for that and to be here with the people I love soooo much!!! It is amazing but also a huge shock - 4 transfers in the same city! Also, our capi zoni opened my first transfer here and are staying the same next transfer (Anz Hatch and Gibbons) Anz Hatch is dying this transfer (meaning he is finishing) There is so much we want to do together this transfer! YAY!!!

Now for a quick update on my week...

I love Genova! I love Sorella Lemos!!! I love being a missionary!! But I must admit that it was a little hard for me last week for some strange reason. I felt tired. More than just physically tired (which is everyday especially in this heat) but a little spiritually tired. Satan was working hard on my heart and mind last week because I started having thoughts of "well I almost have finished 6 months of a mission. I have done my time" More than anything, my thoughts started turning more inward than outward to the people around me. Why? Well I am human. The thing that I learned from this is the importance of just praying my heart out to my Father in Heaven and to just focus on loving and serving those around me. I talked about this to Sorella Lemos (who I just love so much) and felt so much strength and support from her. Sometimes I try to do things on my own - especially because I feel like I MUST since I am the senior companion and example but we are in copia for a reason. Adesso me sento pu forta! :) PRAY!

Our miracle occured last Friday when we worked with two young women - both 18 years old  It was a beautiful experience to work with these young women who had a fire and zeal for preaching the Gospel. When we arrived at the church to meet up with them, they were excited to get started. I worked with a young woman who was baptized about a year and a half ago whose dream is to serve a mission. We ended up teaching a new simpatizzanti and visiting a meno attivo famiglia. She told how forte this experience was for her and how excited she was to serve her mission in the future! The Lord is preparing the youth for the mission work!!

M is going to be baptized this Friday and she is so excited!! She was so giddy after her baptismal interview last week and is ready for this next step. When her baptism was announced in church on Sunday, the ward gasped with Joy! She has been coming to church for 3 to 4months now and is known and loved by so many members. (Insert emphasis on member work!!!! GET TO KNOW YOUR MISSIONARIES' SIMPATIZZANTI!!!)

To finish I want to share some of my thoughts of the broadcast given, the Work of Salvation. We had a chance to watch it yesterday as a district. Mama mia... it was sooooo good!! The time is NOW to share the gospel. It doesn't mean we need to go out and force our beliefs on others. No, we can share the gospel through service, through friendship, and sopro tutto, through our example. My challenge is to get to know the simpatizzanti of the missionaries and find new ones for them to teach. Make a list of friends, prayerfully selecting names of those you want to share the gospel with. Where can you find these friends? This is how you do your missionary work. Also, visit the less actives in your wards. Don't wait to be told. ACT!!! God loves all of His children and wants us ALL to have happiness in this life. That is through the one, true gospel of Jesus Christ, RESTORED through a Prophet in these latter days.

The church is true. God loves us. Ti voglio bene!

Sorella Jameson

My desk, BEFORE morning study

My desk, AFTER morning study!

Staying in Genoa & Mormon 9

I absolutely love hearing from you every week! Really, it is something I look forward to. I can tell you that I feel 100% different than I was when I walked into the MTC, than when I first arrived here, and when I was asked to be a trainer. It is really interesting actually. Who am I? Sono Sorella Jameson, una missionaria per la Chiesa di Gesu Cristo dei Santa degli Ultimi Giorni. Sono un representanta di Gesu Cristo. Il mio scopo e di invitare le personne a venire a Cristo. That is who I am right now. That is who I want to be for the rest of my life. 

This morning, Sorella Lemos and I woke up at 6 to make breakfast for Sorella Pace because it is her birthday! She is a grand 20 years old! We made crepes and Sorella Lemos made Dulce di Leche. MMMMMMMMmmmmmm... I love having a South American companion. :)

Okay as for an update on my life....

Sorella Lemos and I are staying together!!!! I am so grateful and so excited to continue working with her - we just started to figure out how to work better together. Me = stressing out a little less. Her = being a little more effective with time. We make a brilliant team if I do say so myself. Sorella Pace is being transfered to Savano unfortunately (she came in 6 weeks ago) and Sorella Heupel is going to be a Training Traveling Sister with Sorella Eaton. I am so excited for the adventures to come in this next transfer!! The craziest part is that I cannot believe I have already been in Italy for 3 months! WHAT?! At the end of this transfer I will hit my 6 month mark as a missionary (not that I am counting) It is insane. Speaking of, this week has also flown by so fast. I have discovered when I work hard and do all I can with all of my heart, the days go by faster because my mind is elsewhere and not on myself. 

We saw wonderful miracles last week, especially with our members.  We have amazing members in our ward!! Last week, my companion and I had 9 member present lessons (thanks to the hard work of Sorella Lemos) and one of them included 2 members for our baptismal date.  Yesterday, this baptismal date (M) came to our scheduled lesson in the church with a member, Sorella Fava. Sorella Fava came to our member present lesson last week and is incredibly kind. We ended up arriving about 10 minutes late to our lesson in the church only to discover that M and Sorella Fava were both missing. To our surprise, we found out M had a terrible fever and ended up going home. Here is the beautiful part of the story - Sorella Fava accompanied M all the home to make sure that she would be fine. It was amazing to see how much the members love and care for the simpatizzanti we bring to church. :) On Sunday, Sorella Lemos and I felt full of love for our members. I thought to myself "I can stay here in Genova for the rest of my life" as a missionary of course. :) Really, the people here are incredible and we love working with them so much. 

Friday we went to the hospital to visit a member who had knee surgery. On the way there, I smiled to a man on the bus who smiled back at us, and I continued to talk to a woman sitting next to us. At the prossima fermata, the woman left and the man came over to us, asking where he could find our church. What? That is not a normal question that we receive (mostly it is "Are you American? I am not sure how people can tell so fast...) I was a little confused with his question and responded by telling him that we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After so talking and re-explaining, thanks to the help of my amazing companion, we gave him a pass along card and scheduled to meet him the next day. Saturday we taught him about the Restoration and invited him to church. He came. :) We have another appuntamento with him on Thursday. 

It is amazing how the Lord prepares things for us to be blessed. Not only as missionaries but as children of God. He is all knowing, all powerful, and continues to bless us every day - it is just up to us to receive these blessings. I have been reading Mormon these past few days and have loved learning about the power of God. It surprises me how people believe that God was a God of miracles in the Bible but that he is not capable of doing that today. NO. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He never ceases to do miracles. NEVER. Mormon 9 :) 

Italy is amazing. I love the language, I love the food, and I love the people. Also, I love you!!! Have a wonderful week! 

Vi voglio bene!!!

Sorella Jameson :)

PS: I didn't have a picture to send so I took one just now. This is where we do our internet. :)

PSS: I am slowly but surely reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish now with my companion!

A Wedding and a Trainer!

Soooooo this past week has also been super crazy (as always - I swear there is never a normal mission day!) The biggest thing that has happened is that we went to a wedding and we got our transfer calls. The wedding was BEAUTIFUL!!! The couple getting married are a little older (like 52 and 48) and they wanted us to be at the wedding the ENTIRE time to represent the church. They also asked us to sing a song at the ceremony. In Italy, you have to be married first by law before you can go to the temple to be sealed, so we had the ceremony in the chapel at the church in Genova 2 (I am in Genova 1 with a church in an apartment building) We sang the children's song :Where Love Is: Mama mia... it was beautiful!! They were so grateful for us and for the spirit we brought to the wedding. We wanted to sing this song because it talks about the love of God. Where Love is, there God is also.

Lyrics

1. Where love is, there God is also.
   Where love is, we want to be.
   Guide us, his truths to follow
   Help us obey him faithfully
2. Where love is, there God is also.
   We think of him rev'rently.
   Teach us to pray, to talk with him above
   And know that he will guide us with his love.
3. The comfort of loving arms around us,
   A song that makes us want to sing,
   The happiness we feel when love has found us,
   'Tis love we get when love we bring.
4. Where love is, there God is also.
   And with him we want to be.
   Show us the way and guide us tenderly
   That we may dwell with him eternally.

After the ceremony we went to a luncheon where we talked to many people and ate a 5 course meal. Yep... 5 course. Don't worry, I took pictures. :) They are now married for eternity! Their temple sealing was in the temple yesterday in Switzerland.

The entire time we were all waiting for the transfer calls. If we get a call on Monday, this is normally a big transfer done by the presidente or the assistente. If we dont get a call Lunedi, we get a call Martedi by our Zone Leaders telling us we are staying the same. All the missionaries were together for the wedding so we were all on the alert. Right before the 4th course, our phone rang. Presidente was calling. We ran outside to answer the phone call. Sorella Gomez began by asking what she could do to help and just kept saying :Okay: Then I heard her say :Verona?! Okay: My heart was pounding this entire time, especially when I knew she was leaving me. She grabbed me and hugged me as I began to comprehend that she would leave and I would be getting a new companion. This was hard to imagine. I love her sooooo much and we had so many big plans for this next transfer.  Sorella Gomez has been transfered to Verona to be a traveling sister. She is going to be with Sorella Bush, her dream companion (I am sooooo excited and happy for her!) Then she handed the phone over to me. Here is the conversation...

Me:Ciao President!

Pres: Ciao Sorella Jameson! Come sta?

Me: I am doing just great! How are you?

Pres: I am doing great! Thank you! Sorella Jameson, as you heard, Sorella Gomez is going to be leaving to Verona. 

Me: Uh-huh... *gulp*

Pres: You began your 12 week training with Sorella Gomez but she will be leaving you next transfer. So I am going to ask you to begin the 12 week program again this next transfer okay?

Me: Okay (here I am thinking - sweet! I get to be trained again!)

Pres: I want you to train this transfer a new sister that will be arriving this week and begin the 12 week training program with her. 

Me: ........ oh uhhhhhh ummmm okay. *gulp* 

At this point Sorella Gomez came over to me and just held me while I tried to recover from the shock of the new assignment. I knew it was a possibility - I heard that we might have to train at 6 weeks, definitely at 12 but I didn't think it was going to happen to me. I can barely speak the language and get lost sooooo easily (you know what I am talking about!) Presidente explained that he knew I was ready for this and so did the Lord. By the time I said goodbye, I was crying. My body was experiencing sooooo many different emotions. Sorella Gomez was leaving, I was training, I was scared, sad, a little excited. Mostly, I was scared. My zone leaders came out and immediately began sharing their excitement for me and told me they would be here for me 100%. The funniest thing is that almost everyone saw what was happening at the wedding because there were big glass windows. The members understood, especially the RM's. 

Adesso, I feel peaceful and a little excited. It is going to hard but I know I can do it with the help of the Lord. Please pray for me. I will need it. Tomorrow I will be getting a new companion fresh from the USA and it will be an adventure. I just want to love her a lot and serve her. Recently, I have read a lot about believing in God and Jesus Christ (2 ne 25 and Mormon 9) We have a God of Miracle. This is exactly what I need. :)

I love you!!! Thank you for your support!!

Vi voglio bene!!!

Sorella Jameson