A Prayer on the Train

Ciao tutti!

So if you're wondering why you all just got two emails from me it's because last week I didn't even have time to finish writing my christmas email because our p-day was combined with christmas and it made everything kind of crazy! And now I'm writing rather prematurely for this week because Wednesday is New Years and our day got filled with lots of member appointments where we'll be eating, getting referrals, and teaching investigators! So basically we're doing all of our p-day stuff today instead. 

First of all, it was so great to get to talk to all of you on Wednesday!! It doesn't seem like that long ago and there's not actually a lot to update you on since then. The day ended up great. We had an Italian Christmas eve, a Brazilian Christmas day, and a Peruvian Christmas evening. I'm getting my share of cultural experiences! This Wednesday we're adding African into the mix! I'm excited about that one- I haven't had real African food before in the mission!

So besides all of the fun christmasy stuff we were able to have two scambios (exchanges) this week with the sorelle of Bergamo 1 and the sorelle of Verona 1. Both went super well. I've figured out that I've done a total of six scambios in Bergamo and will probably be doing more (if I don't get transferred!!). I feel like I practically serve there! On the way to the scambio we talked to this awesome guy on the train- well actually, I was sort of sitting across from him and noticed him eyeing me. I wasn't sure if he was doing it creepily or if he acutally wanted to talk about religion so to play it safe I pulled out a restoration pamphlet and started reading it. A few seconds later he spoke up and asked "Siete di Gesù?" (Are you from Jesus?) I told him who we were, that we were mormons, and then guess what? He pulled a Book of Mormon right out of his backpack! It looked like he had been carrying it around everywhere he went because it was all bendy and water-damaged, but hey, at least that meant that he had probably been reading it! It turns out he is one of the anziani's investigators in Bergamo and that he's known the church for about seven months now. We had a really good conversation where we read half of Alma 34 (rather, he read it to us), he told us he wanted to be baptized, and then at the end we said a prayer. I love saying prayers with random people because it helps you make a connection with them through the spirit and then that's usually what they remember most about the whole conversation. It's brought us a lot of success in our finding work! 

Speaking of finding work, we've been doing a lot of that lately. I feel like this transfer has been one of those transfers where we just find, find, and find some more. But the cool thing is I've been seeing just as many fruits from it and have been feeling about just as busy as any other point in my mission. I think it all has to do with the attitude- that you keep yourself busy because you want to have success and you make every activity a meaningful one. We may not always see the fruits but I do know that God is blessing us and answering our prayers in very real ways. That's what happens when you show faith and have a good attitude! 

Well, I hope you all have a very happy new year, and don't forget to make those new years resolutions! Vi voglio tanto tanto bene.

Love,

Sorella Lyman