Week 49: Sicily, Napoli, Rome, Oh My..

This week has been the craziest of my mission. I was in all three of my past areas in three days. Buckle in.

It started out with our Monday night transfer call. This is the lesson I learned: "Man makes plans, and Heavenly Father laughs". I had fully planned on staying in Messina, but Heavenly Father had a different plan for me. I was transfered to Caserta as STL! So what does this mean?

1. I'm back in the Napoli Zone. The Zone of my dreams. We've got pizza. We've got the Amalfi Coast. We've got Vesuvius. Stepping of the train, I felt like I was coming home after a six month scambio.

2. I'm in one of my mom's old cities! Granted I'm sure a lot has changed in these years but I'm so excited to be walking the same streets that my mom did when she was a missionary! 

3. There's a Military Base in our ward, which means for the first time in 11 months I heard the sacrament prayers in English. And for the first time in 11 months I had a fridge that was fully stocked with cheddar cheese, honey ham, and lunchables. It's basically a little America with Napoli pizza and gelato. 

 Leaving Messina was hard because the people there are so close to my heart. Heavenly Father really blessed us in that city, and I was able to get to know so many amazing people. But I guess I was only needed there for 3 months, and now I have a work in Caserta. 

So I took the 8 hour train ride up to Napoli. I met my cute new comp, Sorella Larsen, and after eating the pizza that I've been missing for 6 months, we went to Caserta. The second we got off the train, it started raining. Not just lightly raining, I'm talking torrential rainstorm. The streets were flooded, taking any old Italian men out doing there evening walk with it. And there were the two sister missionaries dragging luggage through several inches of water, while all the Italians watched from the shops. I was lucky because thanks to my grandma's suggestion, I got hard case luggage so nothing got too wet. The contents of my backpack were not so lucky... but Andiamo avanti. We Then headed over to English course looking like we had just taken a shower. 

The next morning I left for the Mission Leadership Conference in Rome. I had to leave my companion behind, which means I was on a sort of 48 hour split with the Zone Leaders. I was constantly thinking I had left my companion behind, only to realize that she was back in the Napoli Zone... Anyway. The mission conference went great. We had the first part of the conference at the temple, discussing the beauty of the building but how the dedication and the people were missing. We talked about covenants and our opportunity to learn more about our Heavenly Father in the temple. Then President gave us 10 minutes to just ponder. I looked at the temple and the thought that kept coming back to my head was "I am so grateful for eternal families." The Italy Rome Temple and temples around the world are amazing because the are centered on the family. I feel so blessed to be serving in Rome at this time, and that we can start preparing people for the temple. If we truly live the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can learn how to become like our Heavenly Father. Faith, repentence, baptism, receiving the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. It seems so simple, but it's an eternal pattern that will bring us indescribable joy!!

I love you all!

Sorella Maxfield

Almond Pistachio Milk

Caserta Palace

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Pouring Rain in Caserta

Week 48: Teachin' and Preachin'

And thanks to that (and a cold that destroyed me a bit), I've completely lost my voice. But andiamo avanti.

September has always been my favorite month. One, because birthday month, two first month of fall, and now I have a third reason: September seems with be the month of teaching. I. Love. Teaching. So this week I don't have many funny experiences finding (except the guy who told me the planets made an orbit in between the sun and the moon.) So here are my favorite teaching moments:

Evangelists and TJs: We have encountered a lot of TJs and Evangelists in these transfers together, and this week we had an appointment with two cute evangelist. It didn't go as we expected. I was interested to hear about what they believed in, and then I felt like sharing a scripture from the Book of Mormon with them to add to the things they were sharing. You would have thought I pulled out a weapon of mass destruction from the way they reacted to me opening the Book of Mormon. For ten minutes they refused to let me read the one verse, talking over one and other and saying how her mother's cousin had once read the Book and didn't like it, and therefore they knew what I was going to share was not applicable. Finally, I asked for permission to speak and read the verse. We invited them to read, and though they refused, I realized that as missionaries we are here to invite everyone to learn more about the gospel. Not to shy away, not to take the Book of Mormon and force into unwilling hands, but to invite. 

Priesthood Blessings are real: While doing some bus finding, Sorella Muçe felt like we should get off and visit a less active woman. We went to her house and her daughter opened the door. After talking for a minute, the daughter opened up with us and asked if the Anziani could come give her a blessing. The next day we all went over and the Anziani gave blessings to both the member and her daughter. The spirit was tangible. I know that Heavenly Father has restored His priesthood to the earth. 

21 Days Book of Mormon: In Europe right now there is a great challenge going on about read from the Book of Mormon everyday for 21 days straight. It's a great challenge. This week we challenged our investigator who was being taught in Korea. First of all, she's amazing. Her fiance is living in Korea currently, and she told us that they having matching shirts, shoes, socks, pajamas, and phones. Anyway, back to the Book of Mormon. We challenged her to read for the next 21 days, and now she is texting us everyday asking for the daily verses. I know this Book is a book written by God's prophets. I know that the things written in the Book of Mormon will teach us to come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Gospel of Jesus Christ: last night we had a lesson with a family of a new convert. There journey has been full or trials, but I have seen such a growth in them in my short time here. We can sum it up in the prayer of the 12 year old son when he said "Heavenly Father, thank you for blessing us. We have food to eat now, we have a house, I have my mom and my dad, and we're seeing your blessings. Thank you." Another lesson that finished with a tangible spirit.

Here's my favorite quote for the week, and invite to you all to continue to living and learning the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

"My declaration is that this is precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us, especially in times of need. There is help. There is happiness. There really is light at the end of the tunnel. It is the Light of the World, the Bright and Morning Star, the “light that is endless, that can never be darkened.” It is the very Son of God Himself. In loving praise far beyond Romeo’s reach, we say, “What light through yonder window breaks?” It is the return of hope, and Jesus is the Sun. To any who may be struggling to see that light and find that hope, I say: Hold on. Keep trying. God loves you. Things will improve. Christ comes to you in His “more excellent ministry” with a future of “better promises.” He is your “high priest of good things to come.”

I love you all!

Sorella Maxfield

Week 47: Giulia, Giulia, and Giulia

talians are a very traditional people. You can see it how they cook, how they interact with one another, and in many of their beliefs. The most apparent, to me at least, has been how traditional they are in their names. If you want to guess someone's name here in Messina, you have about a 60% chance of guessing right if you say Maria, 20% if you say Giulia, and 10% if you say Francesca. This is nice when you have to try to remember the names of people you talked to randomly on the street, but tricky when Heavenly Father leads you to 3 separate new people to teach, all named Giulia, and you have to keep them all straight. 

They're all great, and Heavenly Father really did bless us this week with people who were interested in hearing our message about Jesus Christ. We made it through the hot and slow month of August, and finally now in September we're seeing some fruits from our labors. I love it. I really feel God's hands in our work and I'm still trying to figure out what we did to deserve the blessings he's been giving us.

This week we had a lot of opportunities to teach and find. Some of our most memorable finding experiences of the week include:

1. The newly wed woman on her way to pick up her wedding photos. We talked on the tram, and then as we got off she asked if we could all take a selfie together so she could post it on Facebook. 

2. The girl without pants. We introduced ourselves, asked if we could show her a video about Jesus Christ, all before realizing she was standing outside her front door wearing only a large t shirt. She looked at us, then down at herself, then back at us, and said "well. I'm half naked and this situation is already probably one of the weirdest in my life, but sure, why not?" 

3. The Russian woman who's heart was softened thanks to my amazing companion who speaks Russian. (And Italian, Albanian, English, French, and German. She's basically amazing) the Russian woman didn't give us any means of contacting her, but she did give us her exact address is Russia so that if we ever want to visit Russia we can stay at her house. 

4. The TJ man who told that I had "incorrect logic" because I said that the trials in this life are part of God's plan for us to grow. Good times. 

We taught someone this week from Vietnam who had no Christian background. I loved studying for that lesson because I really had to study the basics of who Jesus Christ is. And let me tell you what an amazing study that was. He is our brother, our mediator, our salvation. He lived a perfect life. He willingly sacrificed himself for each of us so we have the chance to repent and change. He rose from the grave. And He lives now. He gives us power through His atoning sacrifice. 

I am beyond grateful for Heavenly Father's plan for us, and His son who gives us infinite chances to come back to Him. 

"[God] has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man [or woman] in the world” - C.S. Lewis [Mere Christianity]

I love you all!

Sorella Maxfield

Week 46: Tunnel Vision

More than a year ago, I was sitting in my physical for my mission papers with my mom waiting to get my blood drawn. She told the nurse something "Listen, she has the tendency to get a little queasy at doctors appointments, she might pass out. So I'll just stand here and hold her hand" to which I responded "Come on mom, I'm almost 19, I don't need you to hold my hand." Sure enough, about thirty seconds later, while nurse was putting a sugary sucker in my mouth while the other was asking me to not throw up on the carpet. Somehow me fainting in doctor's offices is inevitable. Which turned out to be a problem, because this week while visiting a family in hostpial, I was hit again by a near-fainting spell. The doctor came into to change the bottle containing the painkillers connected to the patient's IV. We'll just leave it at the fact that I took one look at that IV, and the tunnel vision came. Luckily, I didn't lose consciousness, but I think I may have freaked out the family a little bit. 

This week was filled with spiritual experiences, including zone conference! I'll include some of the cool things, then share some of my notes from Zone Conference at the end. 

Tim from England came up to me at a gesso we were doing and said he was doing a research project about religions. He asked if he could record us answering a few questions about what we believed for his research. He recorded us teaching the restoration and then asked us some questions about the way we lived our religion. At the end he expressed how one of the reasons he was doing this research proect was because he was searching for his own answers about religion. We didn't get to exchange information, but I believe Heavenly Father led him to us that evening.

Then, Sunday night Heavenly Father allowed us to teach the most spiritually in tune 14 year old girls I've ever met. She was a referral from a member, and after the lesson she expressed how she felt so much joy that there was a heat she could feel coming from her heart. Then immediately after that, she started reading from the Book of Mormon as we helped prepare dinner. It was so incredible

We had the opportunity this week to teach the family of a new convert. We invited them to read the scriptures together as a family every day. As I promised them how much it would bless their family unity, I felt the spirit so strongly. I could feel how true this has been for my family. My parents were so persistent that we read our scriptures together even if it was 6 am and I was pretending not to be asleep while Emma had already given up and was wrapped in a blanket with her head on the table. We would read even if Charlie was on an energy high and sat through the whole study playing the drums with his belly. We were definitely not perfect, but my parents diligence in insisting that we try, made it something that has a firm place in the foundation of my testimony. 

I know that Heavenly Father has given us families to bless our lives. More importantly, he's given us a way to return to live again with them forever. 

I love you all!

Sorella Maxfield