Post-Babel Has Its Good Points

Buon giorno a tutti! 

Another week come and gone. We just keep plugging away, going out and talking to new people every day, striving to maintain and help all our investigators progress, and help the work move forward here in Verona. You know, one thing I just love is how many people I am able to meet each day. We're doing a lot of finding work right now, hence we meet people from all over the spectrum. And it just always amazes me that there are new people everywhere you go with different experiences and different ways you can relate to them. It definitely keeps the days interesting. 

One thing we're really trying to do is help our investigators progress. We're kind of seeing a cycle where we teach them the first lesson and have a wonderful experience on the first meeting, but then the return appointment usually ends up falling through. One way we are trying to counter this is by simply passing by at random times, hoping and praying that they are at home so that we can teach them! It's actually worked out pretty well this past week. We were able to see two of our investigators from Romania who it turns out both read the pamphlet we left them with and are still really excited about coming to church! It was actually miracle because we were about to give up on them but decided to try one more time this past Sunday night and they were at home! Next time we're definitely going to try and get a member to come with us who can speak spanish because they're Italian is a little limited but they actually lived in Spain for about five years! By the way, another thing that amazes me is how many Romanians I have met in Verona. They are all so elect and prepared for the gospel! 

We were also able to pass by our Indian family this past Monday, and they are doing well. We were a little bummed on Friday when our appointment with them fell through, but thankfully they are still just as willing to learn as they were when we met them for the first time! The wife really wants a copy of the Book of Mormon in Hindi so that she can understand what we are talking about. If only we could all just speak the same language! Although I have to say, all these different languages are pretty cool- I don't know if I could pick just one for everyone to speak! 

Well, that's about it for this week. I guess my little thought for you all is just to pray- and more importantly to pray specifically. It shows your faith and that's when you are really able to see the blessings and the answers to your prayers, which will surely come! 

Vi voglio un sacco di bene... buone settimana!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

Lights in Tunnels

Ciaoooo tutti!!!

Wow, che settimana! We saw so much success this past week, we're basically on cloud 9 right now! The biggest thing is that we got six new investigators!!! Four of them are a beautiful family we found doing casa who are from INDIA and they are so cute!! There's actually five of them, but the dad wasn't able to be there the entire time. It was a miracle right from the start. We knocked on their door, the wife opened up who doesn't speak any Italian, so we started talking to the dad who basically invited us in right away. Everyone in the family came into the living room to listen to us and we had such a great lesson with them! It turns out that they actually already had a Book of Mormon in Hindi because the dad had met the missionaries before! They are very interested in Christianity and learning more about our message! They have three kids, all boys, ages about 10 to 24ish. I'm so excited to keep teaching them! Let me just say, I want to learn about three different languages right now- Hindi, Romanian, Spanish- I just want to be able to communicate with all these people! 

The other major success/miracle story happened this past Sunday in church. Do you all remember the story of the guy who we met by knocking on his door and he told us he had basically been waiting for us to show up and he had goosebumps all over his arms? Well, he's been coming to church for the past two weeks (he's being taught by the anziani) and this past week he brought his cousin who just got here from Romania a week ago. She is 23, just like me, and left her family (a husband and a four year old daughter) to come here to find work. It was a miracle to see her in church, after just a week of being in a foreign country, and even more of a miracle to see how all the members reached out to her and helped her feel welcome and happy. In fact, right after church, we got an invite from one of our members to have her, her cousin, and us over at their house for lunch and a lesson. Perfetto! The very next day we went to go see her again and had one of the most beautiful lessons I've had on my mission. It was so natural to just sit there with her and talk about the gospel, get to know her better, and promise amazing blessings specifically to her needs. We actually were even able to set a baptismal date with her for the 16th of February! Sorella Willis and I both love her so much- she was an answer to both of our prayers and I am so excited to see her progress towards baptism! 

I am loving the work right now in Verona. Well, I love it all the time, but right now it really just seems to be hopping. I'm so grateful that God has blessed me with all these beautiful people to teach. It's truly a wonder to think of all the people you meet and talk to in a year and a half span of time as a missionary. It never ceases to amaze me the blessings and people God has in store for each one of us! Just one other thing- don't forget that when you're facing a lot of opposition, having a bad day, whatever it is, that is when God is about to bless you the most if you remain faithful and keep doing what you're supposed to do. I've seen it too many times to count in the past year and a half. We can overcome anything when God is on our side! 

Ti voglio un sacco di bene, e buona settimana a tutti!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

(The pictures are from Castelvecchio, a beautiful castle/bridge in the center of Verona.)

Frozen Verona!

My two babies, Sorella Haslem and Sorella Hoffmann!

Buongiorno tutti!!

Well, the cold has finally hit in Verona. It's actually been pretty nice up until about two days ago when it rained and the temperature plummeted pretty dramatically. I'm just wondering if it will manage to snow this year- the last time I saw snow was last year in Milano! What I can't believe is that I am now in my 11th transfer, which means next transfer is my last. I'm not really sure what to think about that. Isn't it weird how time passes so quickly? I really realized that I'm an old missionary this week when I had both of my babies (my trainees... I call them my babies ) in Verona with me at the same time!! Sorella Hoffman had to come here because Sorella Acerson had to come back to Verona to get her permesso. I didn't even know they were coming until the day of! What really blows my mind is that Sorella Hoffman is in her 5th transfer! That was the transfer when I trained Sorella Haslem!! Mamma mia, my babies are all grown up. :o

This week we were able to see two people that we've been bending over backwards to try and see since before the holidays! It was truly a miracle. The first was a less active family who we went to see on Monday. The parents are members and they have two sons who are not. One of them was there to sit in on the lesson along with a family friend who is usually there when we go to see them. Both of them, the son and their friend are really trying to find the truth in their lives! There are just a couple of things that are inhibiting them. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and it was actually the first time in a while that I've taught that lesson. One of the things I like the most about the Plan of Salvation is that God gave us the choice to accept the plan, and everyone who is here on the earth made that choice. That means that everyone has the capacity to accept the gospel and return to God one day because they've already made the choice once before! I love agency! It gives so much more purpose to this life to think that we chose to come here and that we didn't just pop onto the earth happenstance. And I love it when I'm teaching and I can see that the message is resonating in the person through the way they listen and the look they have in their eyes. What made me so happy about this lesson is that at the end we asked them what they thought they could do more to return to God. We then talked about church and why we go, and they gave us a solid commitment that they would come in two weeks! Success! I don't think it would've happened if they hadn't have felt the spirit so strongly in the lesson.

We were also able to see an investigator yesterday who right now is taking her time to decide to get baptized. It was a miracle that we were able to finally see her and we were able to talk with her heart to heart about everything. She really reminds me of myself in a lot of ways
because she really wants a testimony but just doesn't want to make any moves until she's received a sure answer and has a true desire. Hmm, that sounds a lot like me deciding to go on a mission! But we also talked to her a lot about the plan of salvation, bascially just bearing our testimonies and telling her how much we love her. The relationships you have with people as a missionary aren't quite like anything else. There is a certain trust and a certain power that enables you reach out specifically to them in the way that they need. It's a feeling that I'll treasure forever!

I hope you all have a wonderful wonderful week. Remember who you are, where you came from, and the potential that you have! (to return to Heavenly Father and become like him!)

Love,

Sorella Lyman

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

Christmas #2

BUON NATALE!!!!!!

Hi everyone! I know I'll be talking with a lot of you all later, but that won't stop me from still sending out an email! This week has just been a blast! I am having so much fun in Verona. I can honestly say this is one of the best Christmases I've ever had- so full of happiness, Italian food (specifically pandoro), singing, violin playing, and wonderful Italian people!! Today we are headed over to two members' houses- one for Christmas lunch and the other later on this evening to do google chat and probably dinner too. And THEN last night all the missionaries got invited over to our ward mission leader's house with his wife and adorable baby girl for Christmas eve with their family. We had a delicious turkey dinner complete with pandoro and grilled pineapple and then sang songs together afterwards. Just like home! Sunday was pretty great too. Our ward did an awesome Christmas program where practically everyone in each of the auxiliaries was involved in a musical number. All the missionaries, including our senior couple, sang an a capella version of Joy to the world, which went pretty well. My favorite was Far, Far away on Judea's plain sung by the priesthood. They had half the men blasting out the walking bass line so that you could hardly hear anything else and they were singing it with such gusto! I was so pleased. And then on Friday we had an AMAZING Christmas ward activity which was basically a musical talent night. They asked me to play a number on the violin so I played O Holy Night with Sorella Reichert, and there was a lot of other great musical numbers done by missionaries and ward members alike. (It was Verona 1 and 2 combined) What was even better is that one of our investigators, the one that Mom also taught, came with her nephew!! She loved every minute of it. My favorite part was when they did a reenactment of La Befana with one of our cute ward members playing the part of La Befana along with a whole cast of characters. They even had the three kings with very elaborate costumes and a really cool soundtrack! It was definitely a cultural experience. 

Well, that's about all I'm going to right because I'll talk to most of yall later and I don't have much time at the computer this week! Vi voglio un sacco di bene e buone feste!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

Lake Garda, Christmas Caroling, and a Scambio with Sorella Reni

Ciao a tutti!!

Well, today I am kinda crunched for time because we went to lake garda and the bus going back to Verona was later than we thought it would be. So I'll try to condense an amazing week into poche parole. 

So yeah, this week was just so great! First of all, on Sunday we went Christmas caroling with out ward to a retirement home and it was SO FUN!!! Italians sure know how to party it up and celebrate Christmas. There was even a super cool acapella version of Jingle bell rock sung by a family in our ward who is basically thebomb.com, and it was SO GOOD!!! this ward is so musically talented. And then people started dancing around during all the songs and it was just one of those "I love being in Italy" moments. Espescially at Christmas time in this awesome ward in Verona!!! 

The next day I had a scambio with Sorella Reni who is a new sister in the mission. We saw so many miracles and it was one of the best scambios I've had. She and Sorella Seare (my fellow violinist in the mission who also knows Jocelyn!!) came here to Verona, and we were able to have the entire day as opposed to just a limited amount of time which is unfortunately what tends to happen a lot on scambios. But anyway, later on in the evening we were out doing casa. We were getting towards the end when we knocked on this one door. A lady opened up and asked us if we had been out and about all day long doing this. We responded in the affirmative and then she said a missionary's favorite words: "Come in!" She made us herbal tea and set up a cute little table with biscotti, and we were able to talk to her and her son and have a beautiful lesson filled with the spirit. I'm so happy there are still people in the world who are openly generous care for everyone. She is true christian, and she's gonna get baptized! 

I love you SO much!! Have a very merry Christmas and I can't wait to see and talk to you next week!!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

Goosebumps

Buon giorno a tutti!!!!!

Wow, I am in awe at all the awesome things yall are doing. Especially the fact that Katherine is on the MIT Indian Dance team??! THAT IS SO COOL!!!! Indian dance is so fun. I'm very happy here in Italy because there's lots of Indian culture that pops up everywhere- to the extent where sometimes I feel like I'm in the Indian/the middle east instead of in Italy. I love it!

Well, this p-day has been super fun and interesting. First of all, this morning I was able to play the violin which was loaned to one of the senior couples by a member for me to use, which I'll be playing on for zone conference and the sacrament meeting before christmas. I found a pretty good arrangement of O Holy Night with the piano, and it was so fun to whip out the old instrument and play on it this morning! It's actually a pretty good violin too. I'm so grateful and excited to share my talents! I've been able to do it a lot more than I was ever expecting to. Later on, we got to go into the arena here in Verona, which is basically like the Colosseo in Rome. It was SO COOL!!!! I took a million pictures. We were able to get a really good view of the city including the beautiful piazza below with all the stands they have up for the christmas market going on right now. Speaking of the market, we spent about an hour and a half there just wandering around and found a lot of really cool Italian things! Verona is just so awesome and diverse. 

Besides all the wonderful sights and cultural experiences, we've also had a great week of missionary work! :) We saw some really cool miracles. Last Saturday, I think it was, we were doing some finding work in an area where we go pretty often. But this time we shook it up a little bit by carrying around a white board that had the question "What makes you happy at Christmastime?" on it. We got some pretty good results out of it and met people on all different sides of the spectrum. One experience in particular stood out among all the others. We were walking along on the sidewalk and decided to stop a lady who was walking past. We asked her the question that was on the board and her response was a little unexpected. She said that Christmas always makes her cry. It was never really clear why exactly that was, but we did discover that this woman had recently gone through a very trying physical experience and was really seeking the comfort of God in her life. We asked if we could offer a prayer with her and she readily agreed. As I was praying that she would be able to recover completely, regain her memory and her strength, etc. she continued to say "Amen" after every phrase. At the end she was in tears and we each gave her a huge hug. It was an experience never to forget. We were able to go see her again at her home yesterday, and I can say that I really feel true charity for her. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to offer my love and the love of God to people who are in need!  

Verona is just full of Christmas cheer. I say it at the beginning of all my journal entries and I'll say it again here. I feel pretty dang lucky to be able to spend two Christmases in Italy!! That experience that I related was one of many this week where we were able to come in contact with someone who is truly prepared for the gospel. On another occasion we were knocking on doors and a man opened up who, when we said we were missionaries, he stopped us, pointed to his arm which had goosebumps all over it, and basically said he had been waiting for us. All these experiences have reinforced to me that God answers prayers because at the beginning of last week I was praying so earnestly that we would be able to find someone in this city who needed the gospel in their lives and was prepared to receive it. And we found a sackful of them! (un sacco!) 

Vi voglio un SACCO di bene, tutti quanti. Continue finding the joy in life, especially during this Christmas season. :)

Buona settimana!

Love,

Sorella Lyman