Sorella Sobeck in Rome: "IT'S THE TJ'S!!!"

Ciao tutti!

I have been in Italy 2 weeks already and I guess I could say that I already feel like a different person and forgot what life is like in America. It's kind of funny, and it's a good thing. I really like Italy so far, especially the food :) On Sunday we went to luch at the bishops house and the food is sooooo good. I have a feeling that every Sunday lunch appointment (everyweek a family has the missionaries over for lunch without fail...they love us!) is going to be a painful experience. Example: there are multiple dishes in every lunch here. The first dish is pasta. A big plate full of delicious pasta. I eat that and it is normally what I would eat in America for a meal. I feel comfortably full already. But then it's just getting started. Then the meat comes out. With potatoes and bread and cheese and salad and lots of other little dishes. Then it's the fruit. And then the dessert. Oh my heavens. It is sooooooo much food. I feel like I'm going to explode after this meal and all I want to do is sleep hahahaha. It's awesome. Eventually my stomach will get stretched out and I'll be able to handle it better. This is a smallish meal too...some people have twice as many dishes hahaha!!! This week I also ate fish (a whole fish on my plate...it reminded me of my experience in Galilee eating talapia last year about this time) at a member's home for dinner, along with lots of other things. Last night my companion and I had an appointment fall through after English course, and it had been a really long day that hadn't really gone according to plan so we went and got pizza the last half hour of the day. Sometimes you just need that, and it was fun. Pizza here is good! It's so different from American pizza though - I like both kinds :) So lots of interesting food. The gelato is also fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Won't ever get enough of that!

I got my permesso stuff taken care of last week (so I can be legal in the country and they don't kick me out...that's important) but it took a lot of time and a lot of time away from working. It was necessary though. This week we visited several inactive families and the great thing was that they ALL came to church on Sunday!!!!! It were disappointed in the amount of investigators who came to church (only 1 came :( ) but then all these inactive people came and we were so happy about it!!! It's so important to work with inactive members and new converts...just as important as working with investigators. Because it doesn't mean anything if someone is baptized but then doesn't go to church and endure to the end. This is a lesson that I have learned and I'm sure will continue to learn.

Our 2 people who got baptized my first Sunday, Angelo and Marinella, were confirmed this past week and it is so cool to see the difference in them once they receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It really is an amazing thing that we are able to witness. ANGELO IS A WONDERFUL MISSIONARY!!! He has so many friends and he isn't scared about telling people about his membership in the church and he has the most amazing spirit. He always wants to come out with the missionaries and we love having him with us becuase he is so enthusiastic and people really listen to him. Members can be the best missionaries. I hope after my mission that I will have courage and continue to be a member missionary. Angelo is a wonderful example to me! A really cool thing he said this week: we met with him and Marinella last week and Sorella Ashman read a scripture in Romans 6:4 about being buried with Christ and when we're baptized it's symbolic of being reborn. He said the cutest thing. "I didn't even die and I feel like I went to heaven." OH MY GOSH!!! Talk about a Golden investigator/member. I'm so glad I have the opportunity to work with him at this time and see his testimony grow.

Everything is so much better when it is said in an accent. It is true. An Italian English accent is so fun. At the bishops for lunch on sunday they were talking about Kellogg's frosted flakes but they called them Frosty's in English. Hahahaha I love when they talk in English! IT's so funny!

I love my companion, Sorella Ashman. We get along really well and she's so funny. Today while we were waiting for the bus the funniest thing happened. Here's the background: So there are tons of Testimone di Geova (Jehovah's Witnesses) here in Bari and they really make our work difficult because everyone thinks we're TJ's. Sorella Ashman loves talking to them for some reason. They put these pink stickers up on the palazzo's where they've tracted so the other TJ's know. I may have taken off one of two of them...hmmmm. Anyways, so this morning at the bus stop 2 of them were about to walk by us. And Sorella Ashman really wanted them to talk to us. She looks at me and says "It's the TJ's! I want them to talk to us. Look like we're searching for God!! Aiutami Signore (looking heavenward)!!!!!" HAHAHAHA oh my heavens. I was busting up so bad. But then they didn't even talk to us, they completely ignored us! Mamma mia. Good times.

I'm continuing to study hard and hope that my understanding will increase. It is already getting better than it was when I first got here 2 weeks ago. So that is a relief. I'm grateful for advice people have given me. I know the language will just take time and that eventually I'll be able to speak what I want! :) In the meantime, i'm still enjoying myself and the fact that I am a missionary in Italy. There is so much to love about the culture here. It is SO different than America. I'm learning to love the differences and love the people and who they are. They are really wonderful. I'm so grateful to be here. I'm grateful for the hard experiences that I have everyday because I know that I am becoming a stronger person and missionary because of it! Heavenly Father doesn't give us more than we can handle. I really believe that.

Ok I have some more time, so I'm going to tell a really cool story that happened this week. So it is a really good idea to have members in lessons with investigators. Here that can sometimes make it difficult for the missionaries to teach because they will talk so much, but the overall purpose is great. So we had Sorella Spagnoletti (my favorite!!! she's is 67 and has so much energy and i want to be JUST LIKE HERE and i'm so serious) with us and we were going to go to a guy's house for the first time to teach him. That didn't end up working out. So we were wondering where we should go with Sor. Spagnoletti, and she said "Let's go to my house!" Last week she had given us a referrel...her own husband. Sorella has been a member for 34 years and her husband, Franco, never was interested in the church and apparently doesn't believe in God. So we were excited to meet him! We went over and he was really nice to us right away - they both looked at our photo albums and then she cooked dinner for us (this is where we ate the fish) and the conversation was really good and then we asked if we could share a spiritual thought. So we started talking about prayer, and this is where we found out he was athiest and has never prayed and believes in nature and all that fun stuff. He listened to us though. We talked about how we can receive answers from Heavenly Father when we really want to know an answer to something. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon, asked him to read 2 Nephi 2 and to pray about whether it was true and to listen for an answer after he prayed. HE AGREED TO DO IT! We were so excited that he made the commitment! Sorella Spagnoletti walked us out afterwards and she gave us the biggest hugs. She said that in the 34 years she's been a member of the church, she has tried to get her husband interested. He has NEVER listened to any missionaries or members before. We were the first that he even listened to and he was so nice to us. It was an incredible experience. She was so grateful to us. I can't wait for WHEN he receives his answer, because I know he will if he really asks with intent.

This was a great experience on Monday night. I'm so grateful for the SPirit and that Heavenly Father really does prepare people to hear His message of His gospel. Even if people don't get baptized, we can help change their lives by making the spirit available and for them to feel it for the first time and really recognize it. If nothing further happens with Franco, we know that he felt the spirit and if he does his part he will receive an answer. Missionary work is so cooL!!!!

Ok, I gotta go with I love you all! Pray for the missionaries in all the world! We all need them and I know that prayer works. I pray for you as well. I hope you are happy and life is treating you well. :) I love being a missionary. I have a testimony of this work and I know that I'm supposed to be here right now!

Love, Sorella Sobeck