First, thanks for your e-mails, I'm sitting here giggling away and I'm sure everyone else is slightly bemused. Glad life is rolling on and all is well in the promised land.
This week flew by, for which I was kind of grateful, the first few days being a little slow and really hard, but I feel quite settled into my life here. I'm understanding more and more and becoming, pian piano, braver in speaking, expecially thanks to the members who really are incredible, and are so patient with me. Sorella Jacobson has been kind of shocked at how much they've really taken us in since I got here, not that they haven't always been great, but several families that had tried and tried to meet with and never really responded came up to her my first Sunday and set up appointments and it's just taken off from there. I think I really am understanding a bit better everyday and maybe one day I won't speak so obviously like an American.
First story is about our stellar investigator Anna, who picked her baptismal date and annonced it on Sunday. She meets with the other ward, but since she's an older single woman we teach her. We had had a lesson Friday night and she had left us hanging about her date again but we heard her come in Sunday morning and she was helping everything get all set up in the Relief Society room and we went up to greet her and she told us and all the other ladies in the room that she had decided on the first weekend of March.
Well, everyone shrieked and was hugging and kissing and Anna was beaming. Our lesson with her Friday was the first time I had met her, the Sorelle had taught her 4 times before, but I could still tell that there was just this joy radiating from her because she understands what it means to be baptized and be a member of this church and it was just incredible.
Next, Jonathan. He's one of our recent converts and is 11 and he is a future leader of men, my goodness. He's Bolivian and his older siblings aren't members but his mom is, she's usually busy working to provide for the family to come to church so he comes by himself. We had a lesson with him on the Priesthood Sunday evening to help him prepare himself and I was just blown away by how thoughtful he was and how well he responded to our questions. Sorella Jacobson said that there was a week when he said he hadn't been reading the Book of Mormon and the was confused by their questions and lacked his usual energy and excitement, but this week when we were reading together he hustled to his room to get his scriptures from his desk where he had been studying. Seriously, such a stellar kid.
Life continues to become more and more normal. This city is incredible. We're in the middle of some of the coldest weather they've seen in 30 years, but we're promised Spring will come soon. Last Wednesday we went up to Città Alta, the old walled city, to see their duomo and old winding streets and it was snowing and felt like some sort of magical land. I talked to our mission president on the phone the other day and he told me the problem with starting missionaries out in Bergamo is they're disappointed with everywhere else. Ha.
I'm still working on not being so scared to talk to people doing strada or casa when we're out looking for new peeps to teach. Pian piano. I decided to start trying to take a bit of time to study the atonement more, because there's a line in Preach my Gospel that talks about how when have a greater understanding of the atonement we'll want to share it with everyone. For me right now that means that as I really process and learn about what Christ has done for us I'll feel like it's more important for me to share this message than worry about how people will respond when I stumble along in their language.
I have one request, that you send me some music. I really failed there and am craving some better music. Maybs the Amelie soundtrack? Anything you else you think is missionary appropriate.
Also, I'm learning to navigate my way through which Italian dudes I should try and talk to about the gospel (like this rad kid named Andrew from Nigeria we stopped by the cemetery), and which ones will just creepily say something about how beautiful I am/we are as we walk by. It's kind of hilarious and feels like I'm living in some sort of bad made-for-TV movie on the Lifetime Channel.
Usually we just crack up, but there was this one seemingly respectible old man smoking a pipe. I said salve to him as we walked by, and the said the creepiest ciaaaooo bellllllaaa I've ever heard. Sorella Jacobson was dying of laughter, and I told her we needed to go home so I could take a shower. Ha.
I love you all! I love being here and I have no doubt this is exactly where I should be right now.
xoxoxoxo
Sorella Bush
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