Week 77: Festival of Religions

Every year my family participates in the Festival of Trees for Christmas. Whether Grammy Barb is working the information stand or we're the only 40 people keeping the cinnamon roll guy in business, it's always a fun way to get to know our community a little bit better. (and to eat some real good cinnamon roll with 0 guilt.) Heavenly Father probably knew that I was pretty bummed about missing it two years in a row, so He just sent a Festival of Religions to Rome! We had our own booth set up with a big model of the temple and a bunch of copies of the Book of Mormon. (no cinnamon rolls though...) It was a great way to make ourselves a bit more publically known in Rome and interact with some people from other faiths. We invited a bunch of people to the Visitors Center and got invited to participate in another religions festival at a local college! (Also just like the Festival of Trees there was some free entertainment including; a chinese christian group that worships through dance, the hindu man who led us all in meditation, and a woman who read from her book "The Myths and Magic of Plants")

Besides our participation in the Festival of Religions, things at the Visitors Center are going great and we're just starting to understand our role a little bit better. I never thought that I would be the witness to so many people being touched by the spirit in one confined space. But really, as people walk on to the temple grounds, they feel something different. There's a peace and a stillness that comes from being in such close vicinity to the Lord's house. We've met people from all over the world with all sorts of different religious backgrounds. This week we spoke with a couple from Georgia. He was Catholic, she was a member of the Church, but they both talked about how they found common ground in Christ. I know that that's what draws people to the temple. It's a place where people feel closer to Christ and where they can find a common ground. 

I hope you all had the chance to watch Conference this weekend. I absolutely loved that talks that were given! My personal favorite was the one given by Tad R. Callistar. I encourage you to go read it! As good as it is, that's not what I want to write my spiritual thought on. Instead, I wanted to talk about my testimony of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. His Gospel. While we were building up for Conference, there were so many rumors going around the mission about what the next big policy change would be; Missions shortened to a year? Dress Standards changed to jeans and a T-shirt? One hour church?? It was all anyone could talk about. I thought a lot about how important it is that we have our testimonies rooted in what's most important: Jesus Christ. We can't have root in the social atmosphere of the church, though it is something that we can enjoy. We can't have root in a certain policy or tradition because ultimately, that's not what's important. 

What's important is Jesus Christ. Faith in Him is important. Repentence through Him is important. Baptism in His name is important. Receiving the Holy Ghost through His authority is important. Enduring to the end with Him is important. When we keep our focus on Him, we will be less worried about what minor policy change or disruption to our tradition may come. We can instead focus on our personal relationship with Him and on our personal journey to exhaltation. 

I know that our Savior lives. I love Him with all my heart. 

Buona Settimana a tutti!

Sorella Maxfield

Week 76: Ciao Aprile

The Easter season is officially upon us and let me just say that Italians have taken the whole ''Easter Egg'' thing to another level. Their idea of an Easter egg is the flimsy little plastic shell that you find some m&ms in. Their Easter eggs are made completely from chocolate and range in size from 6 inches tall to 3 feet. I might be leaving Italy in a chocolate coma by the end of this transfer, but I'm pretty sure it will all be worth it.

We had zone conference this past week which meant that 1) we planned and studied and planned and studied for the training the zone leadership would give, 2) we consumed many said Easter eggs in the process of planning, and 3) we got together with all the Zone for a big finding activity. Sorella Waddell and I were assigned to go referral finding (which is something I've only ever been able to do in Rome. Thank you, Open House). We went to stop by a referral that they had yet to find at home, and yet again, she wasn't at home. But, we wrote her a note and left it in her mailbox. As we were leaving the apartment complex, another woman was walking in. We told her the name of the person we were looking for and asked if she knew when she would be home, and to our surprise she said ''Well she just walked in, so I guess I'm home now.'' Heavenly Father ALWAYS provides a way. Every single time. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and told her how much joy we had found in reading it. It was a huge testimony to me that Heavenly Father can truly guide us and put us in the places that we need to be in.

Zone Conference was very spiritually uplifting. There's something about being in a room with a whole bunch of 18-21 year-olds for six hours, where the primary focus is on helping others come unto Christ. It's such unique atmosphere. The training that we gave was primarily focused on aligning our will with the will of God. I learned so much in preparing for this training. My favorite quote that we shared comes from Lorenzo Snow “When things come up that require an exertion on our part, we should bring our wills into subjection to the will of the Father, and feel to say, what is the will of our Father, whom we are here in the world to serve? Then every act that we perform will be a success. We may not see its success today or tomorrow, nevertheless it will result in success” I know that this is true. When we align our wills, our desires, and our goals with those of our Father in Heaven we will be successful. Period. Punto. Basta. He knows what is best for us and we can access those blessings if we have the faith to follow His plan. I'm so grateful for the power of personal revelation, the commandments, and living prophets because through these sources I can better align my will with His. I can bring myself closer to Him. I hope you all take the opportunity to watch general conference this weekend, because I know that those men are called of God. I've listened to their teachings and prayed about them. I heard them and met them during the Temple Dedication and Open House. I have a firm testimony that they are the Apostles of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful that we get the chance to hear from them this weekend.

I love you all!

Sorella Maxfield