Cookie delivery. Italians shoes & floral Friday :)
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Fuori Servizio
Reason for the title: The entire day of Thursday was FUORI SERVIZIO...
Let me explain:
It started off Wednesday night, we were both feeling sad and in need
of a good cry so we ended up crying ourselves to sleep. Anyway,
Thursday morning we still felt sad, but we just tried to go about our
day and be normal, so we do studies. In personal study, I was in
Mosiah 3, which talks about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Verse 9
caught my attention:
"And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the
children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all
this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and
shall scourge him, and shall crucify him."
Jesus Christ. He did everything for us. He gave His entire life so
that I could be happy. Why am I not happy right now? I still couldn't
understand. I have a family, I'm a missionary, I'm companions with my
twin (not literally but almost), life couldn't get any better. I still
felt sad. Then I read a general conference talk, "Obtaining Help From
the Lord".
"Help from the Lord generally comes in increments. He can immediately
cure serious illnesses or disabilities or even allow the dead to be
raised. But the general pattern is that improvement comes in
sequential steps. That plan gives us an opportunity to discover what
the Lord expects us to learn. It requires our patience to recognize
His timetable. It provides growth from our efforts and trust in Him
and the opportunity to express gratitude for the help given.
Often we have difficulty mastering lessons the Lord wants us to learn
when things are going too well in our lives. When there is suffering
or pain, we ask ourselves a lot of questions. Some of them ought to
be: What does the Lord want me to learn from this experience? What do
I need to do? What do I need to change? Whom do I need to serve? Or
what characteristic must I improve? Pondering and prayer will help us
understand what we are to learn from the challenges we are asked to
overcome."
It goes on to talk about how not all of our prayers are answered
exactly the way we want them to be answered. I pondered this and
decided to kneel down and pray to know what God wanted me to learn
from this experience. I finished my prayer, waited and nothing.
We had an appointment with an investigator and the Spirit was so
strong, I felt prompted to ask her to be baptized: I got shut down.
But we challenged her to read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon
was true and she said she would. (Follow-up on that will come next
email.)
After the lesson, we got a call from Utah (My companion has had iPad
problems that we've been trying to fix) and had to get to WiFi to do
something so we ran to La Romana and I started to sync my area book
while Bacher talked to the tech dude. I don't know what happened, but
when I was syncing, it deleted all of the data I had put in for the
last 2 weeks... Great. Then we ran to catch a bus that was FUORI
SERVIZIO (Out of service) and ended up waiting 20 minutes for the next
one.
As we sat on the bench and waited, I looked through my emails. The
first one I read was from a friend saying that I and been an answer to
a long sought prayer... I saw there just reading it over and over. For
the first time in a long time, I felt needed.
Then I saw that I had received an email from my mom with a single quote:
"God gives us difficulties to bring out the best in us."
As I read that, I had an overwhelming feeling of peace. God knows me.
He knows exactly how I feel in this very moment. All the feelings of
sadness and failure didn't go away, but there was a greater feeling of
love and assurance knowing that I would get through this and that
there was someone that went through and overcame exactly what I am
dealing with now. Jesus Christ. As a missionary, I get rejected all
day long. I feel like I should be immune to sadness and rejection,
because I am in Italy sharing the greatest message in the world. But
here I am, trying my best and giving my all and being rejected. Jesus
Christ felt it all and He didn't deserve any of it. I'm a
representative of Him, so I deserve to feel some of the pain that He
felt.
I guess the message I want to share is that Satan is real and that no
feeling or trial goes unnoticed. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we
are facing, but so does Satan. They both know our weaknesses and our
strengths. The difference is that Heavenly Father wants us to humble
ourselves and come to Him so that we can make our weaknesses into
strengths (Ether 12:27), but Satan wants us to dwell in sadness and
failure. He doesn't want us to get back up when we fall down, but
that's exactly what we need to do. We need to get up every time and
keep going. If we go to Heavenly Father in prayer, He will guide our
footsteps and comfort us. It may not be immediately, but the answer
will come, if we truly search for it. Read the Book of Mormon. Say
your prayers. God will bless you. He loves you.
Con amore,
Sorella Meager
Let me explain:
It started off Wednesday night, we were both feeling sad and in need
of a good cry so we ended up crying ourselves to sleep. Anyway,
Thursday morning we still felt sad, but we just tried to go about our
day and be normal, so we do studies. In personal study, I was in
Mosiah 3, which talks about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Verse 9
caught my attention:
"And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the
children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all
this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and
shall scourge him, and shall crucify him."
Jesus Christ. He did everything for us. He gave His entire life so
that I could be happy. Why am I not happy right now? I still couldn't
understand. I have a family, I'm a missionary, I'm companions with my
twin (not literally but almost), life couldn't get any better. I still
felt sad. Then I read a general conference talk, "Obtaining Help From
the Lord".
"Help from the Lord generally comes in increments. He can immediately
cure serious illnesses or disabilities or even allow the dead to be
raised. But the general pattern is that improvement comes in
sequential steps. That plan gives us an opportunity to discover what
the Lord expects us to learn. It requires our patience to recognize
His timetable. It provides growth from our efforts and trust in Him
and the opportunity to express gratitude for the help given.
Often we have difficulty mastering lessons the Lord wants us to learn
when things are going too well in our lives. When there is suffering
or pain, we ask ourselves a lot of questions. Some of them ought to
be: What does the Lord want me to learn from this experience? What do
I need to do? What do I need to change? Whom do I need to serve? Or
what characteristic must I improve? Pondering and prayer will help us
understand what we are to learn from the challenges we are asked to
overcome."
It goes on to talk about how not all of our prayers are answered
exactly the way we want them to be answered. I pondered this and
decided to kneel down and pray to know what God wanted me to learn
from this experience. I finished my prayer, waited and nothing.
We had an appointment with an investigator and the Spirit was so
strong, I felt prompted to ask her to be baptized: I got shut down.
But we challenged her to read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon
was true and she said she would. (Follow-up on that will come next
email.)
After the lesson, we got a call from Utah (My companion has had iPad
problems that we've been trying to fix) and had to get to WiFi to do
something so we ran to La Romana and I started to sync my area book
while Bacher talked to the tech dude. I don't know what happened, but
when I was syncing, it deleted all of the data I had put in for the
last 2 weeks... Great. Then we ran to catch a bus that was FUORI
SERVIZIO (Out of service) and ended up waiting 20 minutes for the next
one.
As we sat on the bench and waited, I looked through my emails. The
first one I read was from a friend saying that I and been an answer to
a long sought prayer... I saw there just reading it over and over. For
the first time in a long time, I felt needed.
Then I saw that I had received an email from my mom with a single quote:
"God gives us difficulties to bring out the best in us."
As I read that, I had an overwhelming feeling of peace. God knows me.
He knows exactly how I feel in this very moment. All the feelings of
sadness and failure didn't go away, but there was a greater feeling of
love and assurance knowing that I would get through this and that
there was someone that went through and overcame exactly what I am
dealing with now. Jesus Christ. As a missionary, I get rejected all
day long. I feel like I should be immune to sadness and rejection,
because I am in Italy sharing the greatest message in the world. But
here I am, trying my best and giving my all and being rejected. Jesus
Christ felt it all and He didn't deserve any of it. I'm a
representative of Him, so I deserve to feel some of the pain that He
felt.
I guess the message I want to share is that Satan is real and that no
feeling or trial goes unnoticed. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we
are facing, but so does Satan. They both know our weaknesses and our
strengths. The difference is that Heavenly Father wants us to humble
ourselves and come to Him so that we can make our weaknesses into
strengths (Ether 12:27), but Satan wants us to dwell in sadness and
failure. He doesn't want us to get back up when we fall down, but
that's exactly what we need to do. We need to get up every time and
keep going. If we go to Heavenly Father in prayer, He will guide our
footsteps and comfort us. It may not be immediately, but the answer
will come, if we truly search for it. Read the Book of Mormon. Say
your prayers. God will bless you. He loves you.
Con amore,
Sorella Meager
Don't Worry, Be Happy
Saturday night I was sleep singing "Don't worry, be happy" to my
companion :) I wonder if I was worried while I was sleeping??
Last week, my companion and I had the munchies, so I made chocolate
covered bananas and when I was putting it in the freezer a waterbottle
fell directly on it and everything came crashing down... I ended up on
the floor with a broken plate and broken heart (We were able to save 3
and they all had pieces of broken plate in them.)
My companion and I almost got hit by a speeding car while walking
across the street and our first reflex was to hug... Guess if one of
us gets hit, we're in it together ?
The electricity in our apartment went out... Twice. I guess we can't
have the oven and microwave on at the same time. Whoops
Guess who came out and danced BEFORE the lesson even started with
Silvana? Matteo. Props. My companion had to pay for Gelato this time
#score But anyway, the lesson was really good. We talked about eternal
marriage and how important families are to our Father in Heaven and we
read part of The Family: A Proclamation to the World. It was so
wonderful. I love teaching about marriage and families because family
is the most important thing in the world to me. Even though I'm a half
of a world away from mine right now, they are always in my heart.
I just want to share a quote from a talk centered on families:
"The entire theology of our restored gospel centers on families and on
the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. In The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe in a premortal life where we
all lived as literal spirit children of God our Heavenly Father. We
believe that we were, and still are, members of His family.
We believe that marriage and family ties can continue beyond the
grave--that marriages performed by those who have the proper authority
in His temples will continue to be valid in the world to come. Our
marriage ceremonies eliminate the words “till death do us part” and
instead say, “for time and for all eternity.”"
I'm so grateful that I am sealed to my family for eternity and that I
will have the chance to be sealed to my future family for all of
eternity. The gospel is so good. God is so good. The Book of Mormon is
so good. Life is so good.
Love y'all,
Sorella Meager
Friday, March 10, 2017
"Davide is pumped. The bus driver is texting. The bus doors are possessed. And I just want chocolate salami." -Sorella Rindlisbacher
There is a gelateria (Delizia) dangerously close to our apartment and
we may or may not have gone there everyday last week... The owner's
name is Augustin and we are his regulars :) He'll be closing up shop,
but when he sees us, he stops everything and gets us Gelato and then
continues closing up. I'd say we have a pretty good relationship. In
fact, Saturday night we brought him cookies in exchange for our
Gelato. Tuesday night, we brought him the Restoration pamphlet and he
talked about how much he hated the Catholic Church. Next time:
Restoration discussion.
A friend gave us these sponges of soy (looks like giant fish food
pebbles). The directions were to soak them in water for an hour and
then put whatever seasoning we want on it... I soaked them and then
tried it and it literally tasted like big, soggy fish food and I threw
them up.
My companion and I are the same person. Like no joke. We say the same
things at the same time and we both have all the same favorite things.
We have southern hearts. We prefer cone over cup for Gelato. We are
the only daughter to serve a mission. Our first pet was a yellow lab.
Okay, I'm sure you're probably thinking that these are just
coincidences, but we've started making a list of all the things we
have in common and it's ridiculously long now. I'm not even surprised
anymore at everything we have in common. Your dad's family has a
history of high blood pressure and high cholesterol? So does mine.
Your mom forgets where she hides Christmas presents? Same. You started
liking running in college, but now you hate it? Doesn't surprise me.
Okay I could go on and on about all the things we have in common but
then I might freak you out so I'll leave it with this. More updates
will come in later emails.
Sunday night was one of the weirdest nights of my mission. We went to
a friend's church and I thought I was at a concert the whole time. I
also never knew when we were praying, but suddenly everyone's eyes
were closed and they were whispering things so then I'd close my eyes.
But the whole time, the guitarist was playing and then he start
singing randomly... Idk it was fun, but it definitely didn't feel like
church. It was like a small concert. Then we had to run to catch the
bus... Missed it twice. After 20 minutes of waiting and wandering, we
got on a bus and the bus driver was texting the entire time and then
the bus doors opened randomly and the driver couldn't get them to
shut. He was so done with the doors when they opened back up the 4th
time. Lol. But yeah, the entire time we were just craving chocolate
salami. (Italian dessert. Not actually salami. Just chocolate)
We have District meeting (a meeting with all the missionaries in the
area to discuss how the work is going) every Tuesday morning and let
me just tell y'all. There's never a dull moment... We always end up
each telling stories and these people are the most interesting story
tellers I've ever met. Harris: never finishes the story. Beaujeu: no
comment. Kiwi: has so many hand movements. Odeh: leaves out all
details. Rindlisbacher: laughs hysterically when she's scared. What in
the heck. I love them though.
We had Sorella Miele come to the lesson with Silvana again and y'all,
she never looks at the road when she drives and it scares me. Also, I
don't think she knows how to use the blinkers, so she throws on the
emergency lights every roundabout. Help. BUT we always get Gelato
afterwards, because we've made it through a car ride with her :)
Unfortunately, I had to pay last night because Matteo (Silvana's
husband) didn't come out and dance in the middle of the lesson. (My
companion and I make bets every Tuesday)
We went and visited our Italian grandparents again and they are just
as cute and sweet as ever :) We shared the Plan of Salvation with them
and they were super happy because they lost their son 3 years ago and
they kept telling us that they feel so much peace and serenity when
we're in their home. I love them.
I love being a missionary and serving the Lord here in Italy. I love
this city and these people too much. I feel like this is the only life
I know... In fact, I had a dream last week that I was home and I had
to go to the grocery store by myself and I woke up in a sweat.
Needless to say, I am not ready to go home or be alone. From mission
comp to eternal comp real quick.
Love y'all,
Sorella Meager
"We must remember how much our Heavenly Father and His Son love us.
They will neither abandon us, nor will They allow us to be overcome if
we seek Their help."
we may or may not have gone there everyday last week... The owner's
name is Augustin and we are his regulars :) He'll be closing up shop,
but when he sees us, he stops everything and gets us Gelato and then
continues closing up. I'd say we have a pretty good relationship. In
fact, Saturday night we brought him cookies in exchange for our
Gelato. Tuesday night, we brought him the Restoration pamphlet and he
talked about how much he hated the Catholic Church. Next time:
Restoration discussion.
A friend gave us these sponges of soy (looks like giant fish food
pebbles). The directions were to soak them in water for an hour and
then put whatever seasoning we want on it... I soaked them and then
tried it and it literally tasted like big, soggy fish food and I threw
them up.
My companion and I are the same person. Like no joke. We say the same
things at the same time and we both have all the same favorite things.
We have southern hearts. We prefer cone over cup for Gelato. We are
the only daughter to serve a mission. Our first pet was a yellow lab.
Okay, I'm sure you're probably thinking that these are just
coincidences, but we've started making a list of all the things we
have in common and it's ridiculously long now. I'm not even surprised
anymore at everything we have in common. Your dad's family has a
history of high blood pressure and high cholesterol? So does mine.
Your mom forgets where she hides Christmas presents? Same. You started
liking running in college, but now you hate it? Doesn't surprise me.
Okay I could go on and on about all the things we have in common but
then I might freak you out so I'll leave it with this. More updates
will come in later emails.
Sunday night was one of the weirdest nights of my mission. We went to
a friend's church and I thought I was at a concert the whole time. I
also never knew when we were praying, but suddenly everyone's eyes
were closed and they were whispering things so then I'd close my eyes.
But the whole time, the guitarist was playing and then he start
singing randomly... Idk it was fun, but it definitely didn't feel like
church. It was like a small concert. Then we had to run to catch the
bus... Missed it twice. After 20 minutes of waiting and wandering, we
got on a bus and the bus driver was texting the entire time and then
the bus doors opened randomly and the driver couldn't get them to
shut. He was so done with the doors when they opened back up the 4th
time. Lol. But yeah, the entire time we were just craving chocolate
salami. (Italian dessert. Not actually salami. Just chocolate)
We have District meeting (a meeting with all the missionaries in the
area to discuss how the work is going) every Tuesday morning and let
me just tell y'all. There's never a dull moment... We always end up
each telling stories and these people are the most interesting story
tellers I've ever met. Harris: never finishes the story. Beaujeu: no
comment. Kiwi: has so many hand movements. Odeh: leaves out all
details. Rindlisbacher: laughs hysterically when she's scared. What in
the heck. I love them though.
We had Sorella Miele come to the lesson with Silvana again and y'all,
she never looks at the road when she drives and it scares me. Also, I
don't think she knows how to use the blinkers, so she throws on the
emergency lights every roundabout. Help. BUT we always get Gelato
afterwards, because we've made it through a car ride with her :)
Unfortunately, I had to pay last night because Matteo (Silvana's
husband) didn't come out and dance in the middle of the lesson. (My
companion and I make bets every Tuesday)
We went and visited our Italian grandparents again and they are just
as cute and sweet as ever :) We shared the Plan of Salvation with them
and they were super happy because they lost their son 3 years ago and
they kept telling us that they feel so much peace and serenity when
we're in their home. I love them.
I love being a missionary and serving the Lord here in Italy. I love
this city and these people too much. I feel like this is the only life
I know... In fact, I had a dream last week that I was home and I had
to go to the grocery store by myself and I woke up in a sweat.
Needless to say, I am not ready to go home or be alone. From mission
comp to eternal comp real quick.
Love y'all,
Sorella Meager
"We must remember how much our Heavenly Father and His Son love us.
They will neither abandon us, nor will They allow us to be overcome if
we seek Their help."
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Happy Baby?
Everyone kept coming up to me and saying "Happy Baby"?? I guess
because I could have a baby by the time I finish the mission...
Because I have 9 months left. I'm not sure, but HAPPY BABY Y'ALL.
Where the heck did the time go? I don't understand how this happened.
I feel like I've been here for 2 weeks but at the same time I cannot
remember life before the mission. I feels like a blur. It's just like
a bunch of memories and stories that I can't quite put together. But
anyways, here is a list of things that I've learned in the past 9
months.
Things I've learned so far on my mission:
• I cannot do anything without the help of the Savior
• Heavenly Father truly has a plan for each one of us, we usually
don't understand it and sometimes life is hard, but everything works
out in the end
• God qualifies those whom He calls
• The importance of daily prayer and scripture study
• The reality of the Atonement
• How to embrace awkwardness
• Christ's Atonement was not a group project, He would do it over
again just for you
• When faced with a big decision, pray about it and He will guide
your footsteps and know that you will ALWAYS learn from whatever the
ooutcome
• There is something to be learned from every situation
• Look unto God in every thought.
• Never take a moment for granted
• Usually when you get an impression from the Spirit, immediately
after, you will get a feeling of doubt from Satan
• God has a perfect plan for our llife
• Put God first, and everything else will fall into pplace
• If you go to Heavenly Father in prayer, He will answer and guide you
A little about the week:
We saw a guy with a puppy wolf while we were walking home from church
on Sunday so I had to stop and pet it. Let me just tell y'all, wolves
nibble just like puppies, but their teeth are super sharp and I'm
afraid for when Kira grows up and keeps nibbling on people's hands.
"So Sunday night, pretty much what happened is we gave cookies to
random people in our apartment and then got doctrinated by a Catholic
man about Jesus setting up tents on a mountain?" Yup
Monday night I met my Italian grandparents and they are seriously so cute
We brought a member to an appointment with a woman and they became
best friends in 2 seconds and talked about crocheting. Then in the
middle of the lesson while Sorella R was talking, the member looked at
the investigator and said "Capisce quella che dice?" All of us started
dying laughing cause Sorella Miele never understands Sorella R :)
The crosswalk is green for us at the same time that it's green for the
cars turning onto the street we're walking on... I don't understand
and I almost get hit by a car at least twice a day.
Also, I dreamed about spilling Cheerios last night. What is that
supposed to mean?
Love y'all,
Sorella Meager
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.
-Thomas Paine
because I could have a baby by the time I finish the mission...
Because I have 9 months left. I'm not sure, but HAPPY BABY Y'ALL.
Where the heck did the time go? I don't understand how this happened.
I feel like I've been here for 2 weeks but at the same time I cannot
remember life before the mission. I feels like a blur. It's just like
a bunch of memories and stories that I can't quite put together. But
anyways, here is a list of things that I've learned in the past 9
months.
Things I've learned so far on my mission:
• I cannot do anything without the help of the Savior
• Heavenly Father truly has a plan for each one of us, we usually
don't understand it and sometimes life is hard, but everything works
out in the end
• God qualifies those whom He calls
• The importance of daily prayer and scripture study
• The reality of the Atonement
• How to embrace awkwardness
• Christ's Atonement was not a group project, He would do it over
again just for you
• When faced with a big decision, pray about it and He will guide
your footsteps and know that you will ALWAYS learn from whatever the
ooutcome
• There is something to be learned from every situation
• Look unto God in every thought.
• Never take a moment for granted
• Usually when you get an impression from the Spirit, immediately
after, you will get a feeling of doubt from Satan
• God has a perfect plan for our llife
• Put God first, and everything else will fall into pplace
• If you go to Heavenly Father in prayer, He will answer and guide you
A little about the week:
We saw a guy with a puppy wolf while we were walking home from church
on Sunday so I had to stop and pet it. Let me just tell y'all, wolves
nibble just like puppies, but their teeth are super sharp and I'm
afraid for when Kira grows up and keeps nibbling on people's hands.
"So Sunday night, pretty much what happened is we gave cookies to
random people in our apartment and then got doctrinated by a Catholic
man about Jesus setting up tents on a mountain?" Yup
Monday night I met my Italian grandparents and they are seriously so cute
We brought a member to an appointment with a woman and they became
best friends in 2 seconds and talked about crocheting. Then in the
middle of the lesson while Sorella R was talking, the member looked at
the investigator and said "Capisce quella che dice?" All of us started
dying laughing cause Sorella Miele never understands Sorella R :)
The crosswalk is green for us at the same time that it's green for the
cars turning onto the street we're walking on... I don't understand
and I almost get hit by a car at least twice a day.
Also, I dreamed about spilling Cheerios last night. What is that
supposed to mean?
Love y'all,
Sorella Meager
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.
-Thomas Paine
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