Week 3: A Week of Miracles

Monday October 21, 2019

***This might be a bit long, but stick with me there is really good stuff towards the end!!***

Monday after Pday was over we went to a lesson and taught about the Restoration. I was actually able to contribute to the lesson in Italian. I recited the First Vision and I felt the spirit so strong as I was reciting it and as I testified of Joseph Smith. It was the first time that I have ever felt the spirit that strong while talking about the First Vision. I don't know if it was for me or for the lady we were teaching, but I loved the feeling that I had and it was exactly what I needed in the moment and I hope it was what she needed as well. I know that it was a blessing from the Lord. After that we started our scambio, which is exchanges, I was with a different Sorella from an area about 2 hours away.  We went to do some finding and some contacting and we found a couple people on the street and handed out English Course cards. We were also able to get in contact with a less active and ask him to come to church and he said he would come.
Tuesday was the last part of our scambio, and we decided that we wanted to go to Monreale, which is literally the prettiest place I have ever seen in Italy so far. We went and had a talk with a girl named Kav, who is from Pakistan, that the Anziane (Elders) are teaching. We were going to share the Book of Mormon video with her and talk about the Book of Mormon but when she showed up she had a lot of things she wanted to talk about. She is alone here without her family or any friends and she doesn't speak much Italian so it has been a really hard time for her to be here. So, we just talked with her and she opened up so much and told us about all these experiences that she has had in her life and how her faith has grown and been tested. She really opened up to us which we were shocked about since it was the first time we had ever met with her. We were just trying so hard to let her feel of our love. Afterwards, she called and asked to talk to me. She asked me not to tell anyone else because she has never told anyone that stuff and she didn't know why she had opened up so much to us. She said it has been something that she has pushed down for a lot of her life and she's not really sure why she shared it.  I just told her that as Missionaries we are called of God and we are given the ability to get a glimpse of the love that He has. I told her that we love her so much and that her Savior loves her so very much.  I felt very blessed to have that experience with her; to feel that love for her and to get a glimpse of the love that Heavenly Father has for her as well. Once we ended the scambio, Sorella Johnson and I had another lesson where we taught the Restoration again. Then we came home and did some studies and then had English Course, which is always super fun. On our way out of English Course I was just being silly and I smacked my elbow on the side of a door frame and I cut it open and it started bleeding. So that's how our day ended, lol.  Other than that, I felt very blessed for my experiences that day.
Wednesday morning, we had District Council. We talked about how we could feel the Spirit and how important personal revelation is. It made me think about how last week I was really down on myself, but how I needed to look more at the blessings in my life. Then I started to think about how I had to come home from the Mission and how actually, as I look back on it, even though it was super hard I'm grateful for the time that I had home. Because my mental state of being now is so much better than it was before. I know that now the Spirit can be with me a lot more and he can work through me, so I'm grateful for that time I had to change. We then had two good lessons and I realized that finding little things each day to be happy about is helping me a lot.
Thursday we had to go to the questura again to see if we could change my fingerprint appointment and on our way back we met the sweetest lady, she's from Romania. She has worked here for four years and speaks a little bit of Italian. She told us that she has never really been interested in religion or any other churches that try to meet with her, but our church is the only one she has ever been curious about.  So, we brought her a Book of Mormon in Romanian and we shared with her the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it could bless her life. As we were at that lesson and then again as we were leaving, she kept telling my companion, Sorella Johnson, "Wow, your companion looks so pure and innocent; so gentle. She just smiles and is so intent to the conversation even when she can't understand and she just looks so pure."  That was really sweet and it meant a lot to me. After that we met with a less active member in the evening and she shared her conversion story with us and told us that even when we get discouraged to not give up and to just keep going. Because even if we don't see the fruits of our labors right now, the things that we are teaching people are going to help them in their life eventually. Just maybe right now it's not the right timing and maybe they need to wait in their life until something hard happens and they're going to reflect back on the lessons that we taught them and it's going to help them. So, to not become discouraged because that's what happened with her. Then as we were leaving from that lesson, she also told my companion that I just looked so sweet and pure. That was the second time that was said in the span of about four hours. It really got me thinking. Inside, when my companion told me that those things were said of me, I was thinking pshh. . .I don't know why they would even think that.  I'm definitely not innocent and I've had a rough past, but then I had the thought "Wow! The Atonement is so amazing and it is so real. No matter how broken or unclean we are; Christ can heal us and make us white as snow. And even though I can't speak the language, the people can see the light of Christ in me and that's enough. Because of Christ, because of the Atonement, I can be made pure." That really just strengthened my testimony a lot more and it was another answer to my prayers because these people were able to see my love and my light even though I couldn't say much. I think this Gospel is so wonderful and I am so grateful for the little things every single day.
Friday was a day of weekly planning and studies. We were in the house for a while getting those things done. After that we had a lesson and then we did some contacting on our way back home. Today, I was really striving to work on patience. Not being able to be independent and speak the language is really hard but I know that right now is a time for me to be refined and molded so I can reach the potential that Heavenly Father has for me, so I need to be patient.  I am so grateful for the time that I have to do personal study. I have been studying a lot of conference talks and reading scriptures. I love how no matter where I turn during personal study, it always has a part that answers my questions or strengthens my testimony for that day.
Saturday morning we had a senior couple come over and do house checks and they brought us some stuff from the Military Base that we've missed from America. Since I'm so new to Italy, I didn't know what I've been missing so I just got some cinnamon Life cereal. Then we went to a lesson with a woman from Nigeria who is just so incredible and so cute.  In this lesson she was telling us that she loves church and she wants to come to church but she has work and she's made a commitment to this elderly lady that's really sick, that she will be there to take care of her.  She's made a promise to her that she won't leave her.  She knows it's bad that she's not coming to church but she's made this commitment to this lady. I just felt that I needed to share my feelings with her on that. I told her that Heavenly Father understands and that the greatest thing we are on this earth to learn is how to become like Christ. When He was on the earth, during His earthly ministry, He attended to the sick and the afflicted and that's what she was doing. I told her that Heavenly Father was proud of her and that He loved her for serving one of His children. For the first time ever, I felt so much immense love for someone I barely knew. I experienced how it feels to feel the love that God has for them through me and through the things that I was saying to them. I was overwhelmed with emotion and almost started crying. That was a really neat experience. Later that day we went to a member's house and made a lot of baked goods with her and shared a spiritual thought with her. Then we did some finding. I just realized that sometimes, all the time actually, finding can be difficult and a lot of times when you first start finding the first handful of people you talk to are really, really hard. But as you keep pushing through and keep going, that's when you start to see the miracles. It's kind of like God seeing how willing you are and how diligent you're going to be and then that's when he puts those people in your path that are ready to hear His word.
Sunday was a really good day. We went to church and let me just tell you, Sunday walks to church are so beautiful. The streets are so empty and so peaceful and everything just seems so calm. I LOVE walking to church on a Sunday morning. Church was great, I sat next to one of our English Course students who is not a member. After church we were talking with a couple of the Italian members and one of the guys asked me, "Did you dance when you were younger?" I told him I did, actually. Then he said "Wow, I can tell by the way that you stand and you move." That was kinda cool and then we just kept talking and he also said, "You seem a little Italian, do you have ancestors that are Italian?" I said "Oh my gosh, wow, ya I do actually and they are actually from here in Palermo." That was really neat. I have had three people now tell me that I seem or look a little Italian. I have no idea how, I don't see it at all, but somehow they see that. Then we came home, had pranzo, and did studies. Afterwards, we went to a family's house to teach the Restoration and this family is soo wild, the kids are insane. They just scream and laugh and run around all the time and it's really hard to get through a lesson. This time we felt that we should share a video with them; the movie of the Restoration that is 19 minutes long. We had the parents sit and watch it on the phone while we kept the kids quiet, drawing pictures with them. It was a really spiritual experience, that we were able to calm the kids down enough to where the mother of the home could feel of the Spirit. We could tell that she was feeling the Spirit as she was watching the Restoration video. Afterwards we were going to go do some finding in the area but the husband of the family kept insisting that he drive us to the tram station. We kept trying to say "No, No it's fine. We can just walk."  But he was insisting on taking us. We wanted them to feel appreciated so even though it wasn't in our plans, we decided to just go ahead and let him drive us to the station. We got on the tram and went back to our area.  Once we got back to our area, Sorella Johnson prayed that we would have some successful finding for this last hour before we needed to be home. And that we would be lead.  After we prayed she had me close my eyes and picture a door in my head. She asked me what the size was, what the color was, what the handles looked like. In my mind, I pictured a big brown door with big brass round doorknobs on it. So we just started walking down a street and once we saw a door that fit that description we were going to knock on it. We were just trying to find something to make finding fun. We found the door that looked like the one I had pictured and so we went up to it and we buzzed a couple people and they weren't interested. We almost left that door because we had already been turned down twice and there were people going in and out of the door so it was a bit awkward. But we decided to stay and buzz one more person. We told them that we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ and that we were here to share a message about Jesus Christ and how the Gospel has been restored to the earth in our day.  And they actually listened!!  We taught them a quick principle of the restoration through the intercom down by the door. And then we asked if we could return.  They said that right now they were needing a boost of faith in their life and they were willing to listen to anything about Jesus Christ, so we set a date to come back on Wednesday.  As we were walking away I had goosebumps through my whole body, even though it was hot outside I had so many goosebumps. Because we literally just had experienced a miracle. If anything had been different, if the husband hadn't insisted on driving us to the tram station instead of finding in his area or if we had left that door because it was awkward with people walking in and out, we wouldn't have found them. That miracle was amazing! We just realized that once you put your trust and your faith in God, He really can bring about miracles.
This week was really amazing!  I am so grateful for the Savior; for Him realizing what I need in my life and placing things in this week to strengthen my testimony and to help me feel His love and His concern for me. I know that as we put our faith and our trust in Him that He can make anything possible. He loves us so much and we wants us to be happy. But we have to work hard and we have to put our faith and our trust in Him.  I want to share something from conference that I really liked. It was from the Sunday afternoon session from President Eyring's talk. It says;
"Greater holiness will not come simply by asking for it. It will come by doing what is needed for God to change us.
President Russell M. Nelson has given what seems to me the best counsel of how to move along the covenant path to greater holiness. He pointed the way when he urged:
'Experience the strengthening power of daily repentance-of doing and being a little better each day. When we choose to repent, we choose to change! We allow the Savior to transform us into the best version of ourselves. We choose to grow spiritually and receive joy-the joy of redemption in Him. When we choose to repent, we choose to become more like Jesus Christ!'
President Nelson went on to give us this encouragement in our efforts to become holier:
'The Lord does not expect perfection from us at this point. . . But He does expect us to become increasingly pure. Daily repentance is the pathway to purity.'"
I loved that because as we become more pure and gain greater holiness we really do find more happiness. That is my goal for this week is to find ways to become increasingly pure and gain greater holiness.

Ciao, Ciao, Ciao

Sorella Acton

Blessings from the American Military Base

A Beautiful Cathedral in Palermo

A crazy kid, we teach his family

Ficchi D'India (cactus fruit)

First Briosce

Fountain in Palermo

My Desk

New shoes that I bought, haha

When we walked through a really dark

park and were super scared!!

Week 2 in Palermo

Monday, October 14, 2019

Fun fact that I learned this week is that people here have wolves as pets; like a dog but it's a wolf. So that's different. It's kind of cool but it's scary because it is a wolf and they like eat people.

Tuesday we got up and went to the post office to start my permesso process. Then we went over and had a lesson where we shared the Book of Mormon video and talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon. After that we had District Council and to prepare for District Council we read a talk called "Return and Receive" by Elder Ballard. It was a super good talk; I recommend reading it. It talked about goals; how to make goals and the importance of goals.  Goals are the broad thing you want to have happen or accomplish and then the plans are the ways you are going to make that happen. After District Council we had some studies and another lesson.
Wednesday we got up and went to ask if we could change the date to get my fingerprint appointment for my permesso because it was on the same date as Zone Conference. But I wasn't in the system yet so were weren't able to change it. Afterwards we came back to the apartment and had studies and pranzo and then we went and did some finding.  We also went and tried to visit some less active members. That night we went and had a lesson with Anase. (We were going to be on exchanges with some Sorelle from another district but one of the girls was feeling sick so we didn't end up having exchanges.) We had a really good lesson about sacrifice and tithing with her.  We put her on date for baptism and she said that if her son agreed to go to the baptism, then she would be baptized. We went and prayed super hard that, if it was the Lord's will, her son would say "yes" and that she would be baptized.
Thursday we had ward correlation and we went and talked about the people that we are teaching and who we are working with.  Then we went to go and visit some members who are less active but they had moved so we just did some finding.
Friday we got up and went to do some finding with Sorella Cara, who is a lady in the ward. She is amazing! She is very bold with her finding and her testimony of the Book of Mormon. That day I was feeling really down on myself; finding is really hard for me. We're in parks and on the street and I get really nervous to go up and talk to people. And so I was really nervous to do that and the language barrier was really affecting me that day.  I want to talk to the people so bad but I can't because I don't know the language yet. It was making me really sad. I just broke down and was feeling really inadequate to be a missionary.  I don't know the language, I don't know how to understand, I don't know how to teach. I was just feeling really inadequate and unprepared. I cried for two hours, straight. My companion had me read from "adjusting to missionary life" and my patriarchal blessing but nothing was really helping. I went to lay down and as I laid down, I was in my room by myself in the dark. I just laid there not being able to sleep because of a headache from crying. I was just praying; Heavenly Father please comfort me and please forgive me for my weaknesses.  I knew that anything is possible through Him and that He knows everything that we go through and every pain that we have. I prayed really hard to have His comfort. After half an hour I went out to eat lunch and I was feeling better. I was really relying on the Lord to help me through the rest of the day. Then we went out and did a couple lessons and then we had the Ward party. At the ward party there was a big dinner and Sorella Cara is the one that cooked dinner for us. This is the most I food I have ever eaten in my entire life, all at one time. First this guy came around and gave us pizza, so I ate a slice of pizza and then Sorella Cara put on a full plate of pasta; which was with red sauce and sausage. Then when we were done eating that she put on another plate of a different kind of pasta, which had eggplant and zucchini in it. Then when we were done with that she gave us potatoes and chicken. And then after that another ward member came up and gave us some more potatoes and chicken; that was more of a curry looking dish. So we ate that. And then after that Sorella Cara's husband offered us some melon, they always eat fruit after their meals here, and so we ate that as well.  I have NEVER ate that much food before, I thought I was going to die! But we made it. Then there was a group of women that performed for us on drums and an accordion and one of the ladies sang.
Saturday we did weekly planning, did some finding and had a few lessons. I wasn't feeling good that day but I tried my best to put on a good face and work as hard as I could.
Sunday was Fast Sunday and it was much needed. I was able to bear my testimony in Sacrament meeting.  I was praying that I would be able to remember all the things that I wanted to say in my testimony and. . .  I was able to.  I feel like it went pretty well. Then we went and had some more lessons after church.  The language is still super hard for me; I still can't understand much at all and I can barely speak. But I just decided that I'm going to have a good attitude and that it's important that I learn the language of love before I master the Italian language. People can really feel when you love them and when you are genuine so even though there is a language barrier, I can still be a good missionary if I work hard and show my love for the people.
Today was P-day and we played soccer. It was super hot and humid but it was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went and ate as a Zone at a hamburger place.  Tonight we are going to do exchanges.

I know that Christ can strengthen us through anything.  He really loves us and He knows our talents and our gifts; we just need to trust Him and put our faith in Him and we can accomplish anything. I am so grateful to be here on the mission and be able to share the Gospel to these people in Palermo, Sicily. I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Ciao, Ciao, Ciao!

First Arancine; only made in Sicilia

First Canoli in Sicily

I had to pee in an alley by this Catholic Church

Study time-we get so distracted some times

Pasta at the Ward Party

Other Food Dishes at the Ward Party

Ward Party

Performance at the Ward Party

Ran home after the Ward Party

Back to Italy!!

Monday October 7, 2019

On Monday, September 30th I woke up at 3:30am and got ready, went to the airport, said goodbye to my family-which was really hard-and got on an airplane. I flew from Seattle to Atlanta, GA and then from Atlanta to Rome.  I was on the plane for 13 hours.  I arrived in Rome at 7:45 in the morning on October 1st.  Once in Rome I went to pick up my luggage and then walked out to where there is usually someone to pick us up, either one of the senior couples or the Mission President, but no one was there.  I walked around trying to see if someone was there to pick us up and I couldn't find anyone. Then another missionary came up to me and was like "Oh my gosh, another missionary!  It's so good to see you!  Do you know if there's someone here to pick us up?" He had been there since 6:30 in the morning, so by this time it had been an hour since he had arrived at the airport and he was by himself and no one was there to pick us up. Luckily, I had my mission phone this time and so I facebook messengered my Mission President's wife.  She said that they were told the wrong time and that they thought we were arriving at 11:50. So we waited for an hour for them to get there.
Once they came and picked us up we went to the Mission Home, dropped off our luggage and had our interviews with our Mission President where he gets to know us so he can decide where to send us and what companions to give us. After that we ate lunch. We had pasta, chicken, and potatoes. Then the AP's and the Mission President and his wife took us on il giro, which is a tour, around Rome. We went and saw the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Ruins, the Vatican, and then St. Peter.  It was a very long walk around the city and my feet were killing me by the end of the day.  When we got back we had dinner, which was pizza, and then we went and got Gelato. Then we went back to the mission home, showered, and went to sleep. That day I was overwhelmed with gratitude to be back in the Mission.  I had worked super hard to be here and to actually be back here touring around Rome filled me with a lot of happiness. I was also able to make some new friends with the other Missionaries that came from the MTC.
The next morning was Wednesday, we woke up and had breakfast and then went over to the Visitor's Center to have training. Stepping back into the Visitor Center for the first time literally made me cry. We went in there and had training and then ate lunch and then had more training. We were done by 5:00.  We were able to be introduced more to our Mission President and his wife and to learn more about their lives and their hobbies. We also were able to learn more about the Mission.  Then we went back to the Mission Home, which we call the Villa, and we had lasagna for dinner. After dinner we had what everyone calls the "Golden Envelope Ceremony".  This is where we find out where we are going to be sent and who our companions are going to be.  For the ceremony, we stand up by a map by our President and he hands us our envelope and everyone starts clapping while we open our envelope (kind of like a drum roll). We open our envelope and find out where we go.  I went up there, opened my envelope, looked at my card and it said you will be being sent to Palermo and your companion will be Sorella Johnson. I looked at my Mission President and I told him I was going to start crying, right after I said that the tears just started coming.  I turned away from everyone and was trying to stop crying.  Sorella Smith, the Mission President's wife, asked why I was crying and I told her that it was just very special that I was going to be sent to Palermo because that is a place where I have ancestors.  And I had just taken one of my ancestor's from Palermo through the temple with my Mom and Dad right before I left.  That moment was very special to me and so I was crying. After everyone had found out where they were going we went to sleep.
The next morning I got up and got on a train for 14 hours on my way down to Palermo.  Our train had to go on a ferry across the water and then it reconnected and we went down to Palermo, which is kind of on the other side of Sicily. By then it was about 10:00 at night, so we just went to the Sorella's apartment that was there by the train station and went to sleep.
Friday we woke up and went to our apartment so I could put my stuff away. Then we had to go quickly meet up with a member who wanted to do some finding with us. She was super cute, she had written her testimony in a Book of Mormon and wanted to give it away. Her testimony was so sweet that even though I couldn't understand what she was saying; I teared up because it was just so tender. Unfortunately it rained super, super, super hard that morning and we weren't able to do much.  So she left because she had to go home.  Then we went and renewed our bus passes and then we got to go do service at a center for those with disabilities. It was so sweet, the spirit was strong in there.  The people there were so welcoming and kind. We were able to help them learn how to do small motor movements by peeling sticky paper off of fabric.  Then they told us they would feed us pronzo, which is the big meal at 1:00. They brought out three different things to eat.  It was the first time I had eaten pronzo since being back in Italy and it was A LOT of food! It took all my effort to eat all that food without throwing up, but it was really yummy.  And then after that we actually went and got gelato, but it was fine because gelato just fills in the cracks so I was okay, haha.  After that we went back and did some studies, which I am so grateful for the time I have to study again. After studies we went and did casa a casa, which is a phrase that means door to door.  We didn't really have any luck with ringing people at their houses.  Here it's really cool, like in the movies, where they live in apartments which are stacked on top of each other, kind of like what a hotel looks like. So, you buzz the little box down on the gate and they talk and either say they aren't interested or let you in. And then you go through the gate and up the stairs to their apartment.  We didn't really have much luck with that but when we rounded the corner we bumped into the sweetest lady who told us that she had a lot of hard things in her life and she had lost her faith. But now she was trying to find it again. She was so cute. I couldn't understand much about what she was saying but I just loved the spirit about her. Then we went to a lesson where the lady could speak English and I was able to share why I chose to go on a mission and how I gained my testimony.  We also answered some of her questions. She is very amazing, she just has some doctrinal things she needs to figure out before she decides if she wants to get baptized. I realized that I am really going to LOVE doing missionary work!! Especially when I get to know the language.
Saturday, I was having a little bit of a hard day because I was really frustrated that I can't understand the language. But I'm trying to tell myself that I need to be patient because it's going to take some time. I'm not going to be fluent in a week or even in 2 or 3 or maybe even 4 months or even longer.  So, I need to be patient. We woke up that morning and had a little work out and then study time and then my companion had MLC, which took four hours-it's Mission Leadership Conference. She is an STL, which means she is over the girls in our area to make sure they are doing well and that they are healthy and that their stress levels are all right. She had training so I just sat and studied for that time. After that we went and visited the sweetest soul, she has such an amazing spirit. Her name is Rita and she is from Nigeria and she loves God.  She speaks English and she is taking the lessons from us.  Because she speaks English my companion told me that she wanted me to try leading the lesson. I was really nervous, I didn't know how lessons went.  It was a little bit choppy but it went pretty good. We were able to talk to her about some of the commandments and why it is important that we obey. It was amazing to see that even when we feel inadequate, the spirit can be there and carry us. After that we were walking over to conference and we met another really sweet lady, whose name was Marcella. She talked to us on the street. Everyone that stops and talks to us is so fun and so vibrant. They tell us that we are beautiful Americans. I just love the people here and I really wish that I could have a conversation with them. I hope that I can radiate my love for them through
my actions since I can't speak right now. After that we went to conference at the church and it was very good. It talked a lot about joy and putting Christ in the center of our lives; that joy really does come through Christ and having faith and trust in Him. I really believe in that, I have had to have a lot of faith and trust throughout coming home and returning back to the mission. I know that finding true joy really does come through Christ.  On our way back home we were walking up the stairs and we saw a member who lives down at the bottom of the building where we live.  We helped her with her groceries and then we went and talked with her for a while and she was very sweet. She talked with my companion for a while.  I really wish that I could speak the language, I really feel like I am going to love missionary work once I am able to communicate.  I love it already and its only been a week and I can't speak the language. So, I just know that it's going to be amazing once I can speak the language. My companion is very sweet and helpful and I just pray that we can both have patience while I learn how to be a missionary.
The next day was Sunday, it was another day of General Conference and it was amazing! We watched the Women's Session and I love hearing from the Prophets and the Apostles and to feel the love that they have for us and the love that Christ has for us through the words they share. I loved how they talked about the importance of the temple and that following our covenants is what draws us closer to the Lord. After that we had a little lesson with the lady that we had talked to Saturday night. We went and shared one of the Book of Mormon videos with her. I LOVE the Book of Mormon videos!  They are so amazing and you can really feel the truth of the videos as you watch them. We watched one video with her and then I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon in Italian; it was short and simple but I did the best I could and I feel that the spirit was there. The people here are literally so sweet and so fun. Of course you run into people that are not, but for the most part they are very, very loving. Then on our way back to our apartment we met the member who rents us the apartment.  He lives right down the stairs from us. He was very kind and funny and gave us chocolate and honey. He was trying to make sure that we felt welcome; we had a good conversation with him. Then we came back and got ready for bed, so that finished up the week.
This morning, we had P-day. We got up and cleaned the house, we had breakfast and then went shopping and got our groceries.  Then we went back to the apartment to wait for my visa mission card to show up in the mail. While we were waiting we had personal study. I was reading in the Book of Mormon and read in Helaman 5:6-7 which reads;
"Behold my sons, I desire that ye should remember to keep the commandments of God; and I would that ye should declare unto the people these words. Behold, I have given unto you the name of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them; and when ye remember them ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they were good.
Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good, that it may be said of you, and also written, even as it has been said and written of them."
This scripture really stood out to me because my Mom named all of us after people in the scriptures. And I thought about how I am named after Rebekah in the Bible and she was a very faithful woman and that just as this scripture says; when I remember my name and where it comes from I can remember her and try to be like her. I want to be a faithful woman as she was. I really liked that scripture.  After that my mission card arrived and we went to the Palermo Catacombs with the other Sorelle around us here. Then we went to a pizzeria where I had my first pizza here and it was pretty delicious. Then we got caught in a very big rainstorm; we got really wet and soaked so we ran back to the apartment to get dry and finish up emails.
That pretty much sums up this week.
I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be back on a mission. I know the only reason why I am here is because of Jesus Christ and through His Atonement. I am so grateful for Him and for the power and healing that He has given me. I am very excited to be able to share that with the people here in Italy.
I love all of you and hope that you have a wonderful week!
 Ciao, ciao, ciao
Sorella Acton