Week 54: All in a day's work

Maren Irene Maxfield	10:40 AM (9 hours ago)
to me

For the second time in my mission, I blew out of a city in Napoli, to go train in Rome opening up a new companionship. Though the first time was with an italian who left me a week later, I was feeling some real dejà vù as I headed up on the train. This time however, when I got off the train there was not a single missionary. I stepped out into the huge Termini station with my bright red suitcases and I was completely alone. Sometimes all I've wanted was just a couple minutes to myself, but this time I was actually pretty stressed. I felt like the guy from The Other Side of Heaven who just gets dropped off some place and hangs out until someone comes to find him. So I just dragged my luggage around Termini until I finally spotted those white shirts and ties. For anyone who's a missionary right now let me just tell you: we're incredibly easy to spot. 

When I made it over there, I finally met my new companion, Sorella Brooks! She's from Colorado, but comes from a military family that moved around a lot. The best part is that she wants to be in the Air Force. So that means "Six months to Healthy Living" [trademark President Pickerd] is off to a killer start. Former cadet Brooks is kicking us all into high gear over here in the Rome 2 house. And by all of us, I mean my companionship and the other Rome 2 sister, because I finally got my mission dream of living in a four sister house! It's a "all that and a bag of rats" as my companion said. 

Our fee days here in Rome have been busy, interesting, and adventurous all at the same time. On Saturday, we were planning on meeting a potential of the other sisters in the church so we got everything set up and headed over. Once we got there, we realized that the Rome 5 ward was already using the church for a baptism that evening. So we just decided to surprise attack this potential by having her first lesson be at a baptism. Then, about 20 minutes before the baptism started, another one of the other sisters potentials walked into wanting to see the baptism. So on Sorella Brooks first day we took two women who we had never met before to the baptism of someone we didn't know from a ward that wasn't even our own. Then we walked home in the pouring rain, and Sorella Brooks said "well, I don't know what I thought the mission was when I signed up, but it definitely wasn't that. Are things always that unorganized and last minute?" Yep. Pretty much. 

My spiritual thought this week comes from a part of preach my gospel that I was reading the other day. It says “When conversion takes place, it is through the power of the Spirit. In order to succeed in missionary work, these three things must occur:“We must understand what [a person] must feel in order to receive conversion.We must understand how a missionary must feel in order to teach with the converting power of the Spirit.And then we must understand how a member must feel to succeed in participating in the conversion experience”

The spirit is the only thing that can convert someone. We are not here as missionaries, or as members, to push or pull or drag people into the church. It is something totally guided by the spirit. We are the tools thst can bring the spirit, and present our beliefs in a way that will help people better understand our message, but the converting process is not a process that we can force by our own strengths. Missionaries can't "convert" anyone, in the same way a mother can't force her testimony onto any one of her children. I love the fact that Heavenly Father already has the perfect method of converting people through the Spirit, and that we are here as the instruments to help in that effort. I'm so grateful to Him! I love my mission, and I love the chance I have to serve the Italian people. 

I love you all!

Sorella Maxfield

Week 53: Siete Gemelle?

Every single day this week we have had at least one person ask us if we were twins. Every. Single. Week. And on Saturday we both wore our hair in braids and people called us Heidi. Good times.

For those of you who just read the first lines of missionary emails, I'll give you a brief update of the events of this week: We had incredible pizza, Julianne got baptized, and I'm being transferred to Rome 2, training. For more information, see below. 

Incredible Pizza: the incredible couple that we're teaching invited us over to a great pranzo. We went over and Gianluca was just finishing up the pizza. Obviously, I asked for the recipe but after finding out that it was a 6 hour process I decided that making a Napoli pizza as a missionary probably wouldn't be a possibility. So we ate and talked and had a great old time. After the pranzo, we talked with them about the Plan of Salvation. They loved it and then told us that they had read the Family Proclamation to their son the night before. Then. Michela told us, almost in passing, that they had a friend from work who was interested in learning about our church who they would bring to meet us next week! They're amazing. 

Transfers: this morning we recieved our transfer calls, and Sorella Pickerd told me I was going to be asked to do two things; first, continue as STL, and second, train a new sister. I was so stoked. Then she said "actually wait... three new things. We also want you to come to Rome... wait is that right? PRESIDENT PICKERD I can't read Sorella Maxfield's sheet, is she staying or leaving?" And the conversation continued like this for a couple minutes until President Pickerd finally confirmed that I was being transfered to Rome 2. SO: in the end, I did a 5 week transfer in Caserta and now I'm headed up to Rome 2! AND THE TEMPLE IS IN MY AREA. 

Julianne's Baptism: It went so well. We went into the chapel on base, and started getting everything ready. (Side note: there was no piano for our musical number, so I had to learn how to play the organ and figure out how to change the settings so it didn't sound like I was the phantom of the opera.) Her whole family came, and the spirit was so strong. The best part was hearing the testimony of her father, who hadn't come to church for a long time before we started teaching Julianne. He just bore a very simple testimony on the importance of baptism, and you could see how proud he was of his daughter for making that choice. I'm so grateful that our Heavenly Father restored His priesthood to the earth so that we have the opportunity to make these promises with Him.

 

To sum up this week, it was incredible. I love Heavenly Father and I'm grateful for His guidance and care for each one of His children. I'm so excited to continue serving Him as a missionary! 

I love you all!

Sorella Maxfield

Week 52: 525,600 minutes later

And I still feel like I'm a new missionary. I have no idea how a year has passed already. This week I had to hide our calendar because I got so stressed seeing it in our study room. But, more on those reflections later. 

Here in Caserta we rely heavily on trains and member's cars to get us around to various appointments. Which is great, because it means we have members present at many of our lessons, but is the pits when you can't find anyone to give you a ride. It happened this week that we had to figure out a way to get to an appointment with Julianne, and all of our ride options fell through. So we had the great idea to call up the Elders and borrow their bikes. And it. Was. Amazing. We pinned our skirts, through our purses behind our backs, and got going. It was the first time I've ridden a bike in a year and I loved it. We made it to the lesson, and just as the cherry on top, Julianne had an incredible mock baptismal interview. We're so excited for her and it's been amazing to watch not only her progression and excitement, but also the progression and excitement of her family. It was so good, we decided to take a victory loop around La Reggia di Caserta on our bikes before English course while it was all lit up. Probably my favorite mission memory thus far. 

We miraculously ran into the cute couple that we're teaching while they were stopped in a traffic jam. They just yelled out their window for us, and we had a great conversation that ended in them inviting us over for lunch on Tuesday. First time I've ever been thankful for Italian traffic jams. 

Other than that, our week was filled with some finding, member work, potential appointments, planning, and for me in particular, a lot of reflecting. Specifically on the question: How in the world has it already been a year? I swear I was just barely getting dressed up to "go downtown" even though the only stop was cheesecake factory. And wasn't I just barely talking with my grandma about how red suitcases would ward off anyone trying to steal my luggage? Didn't I just barely graduate?? 

But then the more I think about it, the more I realize how much this year has changed me, though it's been the fastest of my life. I've realized how much growth has taken place. 

I can hold a conversation comfortably in Italian, when last year I knew how to say "bungiorno", "dov'è il bagno", and "dammi un baccio" (thanks mom for teaching me such valuable missionary phrases)

I've gained an embarrassing amount of weight in just pizza and gelato, when last year I was telling myself "I'll be walking all day, I can't gain THAT much"

I've learned how to be disciplined and commit myself to a schedule, when last year waking up any earlier than 8.50 was a huge burden. 

I read from the scriptures daily and I see the effect they have on how I perceive the world and myself, when last year I just knew in theory the effect it could have. 

I understand the importance of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ and what that means for us today, when last year I could hardly explain what a restoration was. 

I know my Savior, Jesus Christ, and feel closer to Him than I ever have in my life. I know He lives. I know that he suffered for my sins, my pains, my shortcomings, just as He did for all of you. I know that He has a such a perfect empathy for us that we will never be able to fully comprehend just how much He can support us through our difficulties. 

And I know all this because I've spent the last year trying my hardest to put His Atonement into effect in my life. And I'm completely convinced that that is why it has been the most rewarding, the most satisfying, the most uplifting year of my life. 

I love this gospel and I love our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. 

Vi voglio tantissimo bene 

Sorella Maxfield

Week 51: It's no wonder Napoli rhymes with Miracoli

Because this is seriously the zone of miracles. I wish I could adequately describe my love for this little part of world, but I'll just give you a little glimpse as to why: As we were leaving a lesson with a new member of the church, we stopped into a pastry shop to buy some cookies. We got talking with the cute old shop owner, and he started letting us try his different cookie specialities. After we ordered, he put them in a bag, set the bag on the counter, and told us to get going, that this one was on him. So we got a free bag of cookies and a new friend. And this is why I love Napoli. 

As far as the miracoli go, this week we had an amazing miracle with a woman I found doing some area book while Sorella Larsen was sick. I texted her and she immediately said she'd love to meet with us, and from that day on, she would call us everyday to check up on how we were doing and to try to set up an appointment. When we went over there for the first time, she introduced us to her cute 3 month old son, and after a couple minutes of chatting said "ok, what lesson have you brought for me today?" (Maybe this sounds like a lame miracle, but let me tell you how rarely this happens: about as rare as finding a sixth grader from 2011 who didn't own any Sillybandz. Super. Rare.) So we invited her to start the Book of Mormon challenge, and then we came back 4 days later and taught her together with her husband, and at the end they invited us over again, for a pranzo appointment. THEN. As we read a little further into her area book information, we realized she was a referral from another phone flush done in another city in March. Which city, you might ask? Battipaglia. Who was serving there in March? SORELLA BARNES AND I. We started teaching someone from a phone flush that Sorella Barnes and I had done back in March. It was so amazing to see the work I had done months ago, finally come to fruition. Heavenly Father works in the most mysterious, but most incredible ways. 

Our cute little Julianne is progressing amazingly towards baptism, and we are scheduled to hold her baptism on the 20th of this month! Woohoo!

Finally, one of my favorite messages from this conference came from Elder Ulysses Soares. It is so important that we are unified as followers of Christ. We can't create separations among ourselves, especially when the world's standards are becoming increasingly more different from our own. We have to stick together and build each other up and encourage each other to continue following Christ. When we are together, we are strong. When we are together in Christ, we are invincible. 

I love you all!

Sorella Maxfield 

Week 50 - Zone Conference

One thing I love about missionary work is that it always keeps you on your toes. Things change faster than Italians can blow through stop lights, and there is never enough time to get everything done in the day. This week, in particular, was a great example of that. 

It started out with my birthday! Which was great, I love birthdays. (Thanks for all the cute birthday wishes, I really appreciated them!) My cute comp hung up a poster and even had a confetti cannon that she fired off that morning. Then later that day, she got sick. Super sick. So sick that we were quarantined in our house for two days, leaving me frantically cleaning, planning, studying, making a lot calls, baking cinnamon rolls, and trying to feel like I was still being productive with my day. See, here's the weird thing about mission brain: the fear of wasting time is always rolling in the back of your mind. To the point where, even when you know your need to stay inside to heal, you start thinking things like "Is studying really the best thing I could be doing with my time?? Or should I be trying to call out to the people on the street and teach them through the window??" 

Our first day out of quarantine was the day of zone conference. Which would have been great, had it not been for the fact that it was 1) my first time giving the training as the STL and I didn't have time to practice the Zone Leaders and 2) I was accompanying two musical numbers for which not only had we never practiced, but I hadn't even seen the music yet. It was the most stressed I've been since my physics teacher told me we'd be taking a practice AP E&M test that would determine our grade. Despite all the stress and hair loss, zone conference was great. Thanks to a lot of prayer, things ran smoothly and we were able to get through the musical numbers and our training, without any big problems. 

We took the hype of zone conference right into the weekend, and we had a great lesson with the cute 9 year old we're teaching and ended it by inviting her to be baptised. AND SHE SAID YES. It was so awesome. It was strange for me teaching someone so young, but it really stretched me to just focus on the plain and simple truths of the gospel. 

1. Jesus Christ is the Son of God

2. He paid the price for our sins

3. We can repent and because of Him, our past sins will literally be forgotten. 

How amazing is that. This idea of purification was actually the theme of our Zone Conference. Here's my favorite quote from what we shared.

"When prophets come crying repentance, it “throws cold water on the party.” But in reality the prophetic call should be received with joy. Without repentance, there is no real progress or improvement in life. . . . Only repentance leads to the sunlit uplands of a better life. And, of course, only through repentance do we gain access to the atoning grace of Jesus Christ and salvation. Repentance is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it. It points us to freedom, confidence, and peace. Rather than interrupting the celebration, the gift of repentance is the cause for true celebration."

We are so blessed to have the gift of repentance through the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

I love you all so much!

Sorella Maxfield