It is 4:54,
we just finished with a lesson, the bus should be coming any minute
now... When BAM. There it is: the massive M1B bus headed towards the
stop. And we are booking it- full on sprint, hair flying everywhere,
mission skirt picked up to keep from tripping (or looking less foolish).
Whether its for buses, trains or getting to english course on time, we
are usually running. Oh mission life...
We had a really great, productive week. We taught some great
lessons. Gennaro, (old man) one of our investigators who has been taking
the lessons were 6 months now refuses to come to church because needs
to walk his dogs, but he claims he is reading and praying. We decided to
start the lessons over with him, so we taught a great lesson on the
Restoration. The Spirit was really strong, he agreed to really pray and
find out for himself. He offered a powerful pray on his knees and then
he told us that he couldnt come to the church for lessons anymore. And
told us: "Its not you, its me." and broke up with us... dangit. Well, it
needed to happen anyway, wer are just glad that we didnt have to do it.
One day Gennaro, one day.
We also taught Peppe. He is this old short man with the biggest beer
belly. He has been taking the lessons for a while and almost got
baptized but his family refuses to let him because of the law of
tithing. We still share spiritual thoughts with him. Well this last week
we met him in Campi Flegrei outside on a bench. The three of us sat
there and talked about the gospel. He had been a bit angry because we
arrived late yet again because there was a strike that had delayed all
the trains. But, he pulled out red wrapped gifts of chocolates for each
of us. This is perfect, old, beer belly man gifting us with Christmas
gifts= SANTA.
We saw wonderful Amaglia again! Amaglia is absolutely golden! This
time we shared the Restoration with her. It was a powerful lesson as she
just listened and took everything in. Then she ended the lesson with
the prayer as we all knelt. It is amazing how strong the Spirit is when
we share the story of Joseph Smith and to see the light of Christ touch
them. We will meet with her again tomorrow! Sorella Viazzo and I just "floated" out of the lesson; we were so happy! We even did our jump up and down "clyde" huddle.
Pina, another long time investigator, has not been progressing. She
reads and comes to church every so often but she is not progressing
towards baptism. We did a great lesson on the Restoration with her and
her husband. When baptism came up, she said that she wants to wait for
her husband. It was a drop lesson with her but it went really well. We
ended the lesson with a prayer on our knees. It was really powerful. As
we left her house that day she really opened up to us and just cried
over the frustration she has with her sick husband. I hugged her and
just had this sudden amount of Christ like love for her. We were able to
tell her that God loves her and knows her. She was so touched. The more
I am on my mission and the more comfortable I am teaching Italian, the
more I see the influence of the Holy Ghost in our teaching. Its really
cool!
As we were waiting for the bus, we had a crazy African man ask us:
"I want to serve God, I only need a white wife- can you help me??" And
bam the bus was there within 10 seconds, we hopped on and were safe. SO
MANY BLESSINGS!
We were given a referral for an African woman, Maria. We then got 3
referrals from her. We taught her and her friend, Benjamin. They agreed
to be baptized when they receive an answer from God. So good.
The work is so surprising every day, but it is so good. Love you all and praying for you!
Sorella Clyde
Monday, March 17, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
go women.
We made a last minute stop via airplane to Catania for four days....in
other words, had a four day vacation....so didnt get much work done as
we would have hoped. But the good news is that it was in fact Womens Day
last week. Woohoo my first womens day!! People were handing out flowers
all day long. In fact, while Sorella Viazzo and I were BOOKING it for
the bus, a lady sticks out a hand full of flowers to us. "What makes you
think we want some weeds at a time like this!?" (yes, they were
weed-like and we thought they were selling them to us) She may have been
giving them out probably whoops:)
Church in the Flegreo branch means all four missionaires translating all three hours. Last week was fast and testimony meeting, so one of the Africans, Mercy got up to bear his with one of the Anziani translating. Well lets just say that he didnt exactly put as much passion into the translation as Mercy was putting into it. HAhaha he was so passionate and full of emtion and hand gestures, while this Anziano just flatly traslate with absolutely NO emotion. So painful and funny to watch!
We saw Gianfranco last week who greeted us with bellies full of homemade lasagna! YUM and then he pulled out the biscotti (cookies). We were dying already, but I can always go for some biscotti. First bite said it alll... rum filled cookies. I carefully, casually and gently wiped my mouth with a napkin (thus spitting the bite out at the same time teehee). Then carefully shovig the rest of the cookie into the napkin as well. Sorella Viazzo totally commented on it afterwards... Missionaries know all the secret tricks. hahhaa
While in catania I bought a Peppa the Pig notebook, solely for the stickers that came with it. When the cashier man rang it up, he said that it costs more bcause of the stickers and that I could get one without. Sorella BAir explained, that I was buying the book FOR the stickers. HAHAHA this 22 yr old girl. He just responded, "Che ci vuole, ci vuole"
What it takes, it takes. HAHAHA so great.
So many miracles this week with buses!!! So so grateful everyday.
We didnt see Amaglia this week, but we plan to this coming week.
We had a great training with Brother Bonner at coordination. He talked about the different layers of parables and how many different meanings there can be. I worked on Lehis dream parable from the view of doing missionary work this morning. The fruit from the tree is the joy that comes from doing the work. While the iron rod is the pathway to that joy through inviting. Many of us invite and get rejected and fall off the path because of fear. Then there are those in the Great and Spacious building. These are the members who have not yet experienced the joy of doing missionary work. They are content with the way their life is now. Although they are not wicked, terrible people, they are not progressing and sharing the good word of God. There is SO MUCH more joy ahead of us when we are sharing the gospel. 1 Nephi 8:12
Gots togo! The work is really good. I am learning and growing so much as a missionary. I love you all and are praying for you and your missionary opps!
HAve a beautiful week!
Sorella Clyde
Church in the Flegreo branch means all four missionaires translating all three hours. Last week was fast and testimony meeting, so one of the Africans, Mercy got up to bear his with one of the Anziani translating. Well lets just say that he didnt exactly put as much passion into the translation as Mercy was putting into it. HAhaha he was so passionate and full of emtion and hand gestures, while this Anziano just flatly traslate with absolutely NO emotion. So painful and funny to watch!
We saw Gianfranco last week who greeted us with bellies full of homemade lasagna! YUM and then he pulled out the biscotti (cookies). We were dying already, but I can always go for some biscotti. First bite said it alll... rum filled cookies. I carefully, casually and gently wiped my mouth with a napkin (thus spitting the bite out at the same time teehee). Then carefully shovig the rest of the cookie into the napkin as well. Sorella Viazzo totally commented on it afterwards... Missionaries know all the secret tricks. hahhaa
While in catania I bought a Peppa the Pig notebook, solely for the stickers that came with it. When the cashier man rang it up, he said that it costs more bcause of the stickers and that I could get one without. Sorella BAir explained, that I was buying the book FOR the stickers. HAHAHA this 22 yr old girl. He just responded, "Che ci vuole, ci vuole"
What it takes, it takes. HAHAHA so great.
So many miracles this week with buses!!! So so grateful everyday.
We didnt see Amaglia this week, but we plan to this coming week.
We had a great training with Brother Bonner at coordination. He talked about the different layers of parables and how many different meanings there can be. I worked on Lehis dream parable from the view of doing missionary work this morning. The fruit from the tree is the joy that comes from doing the work. While the iron rod is the pathway to that joy through inviting. Many of us invite and get rejected and fall off the path because of fear. Then there are those in the Great and Spacious building. These are the members who have not yet experienced the joy of doing missionary work. They are content with the way their life is now. Although they are not wicked, terrible people, they are not progressing and sharing the good word of God. There is SO MUCH more joy ahead of us when we are sharing the gospel. 1 Nephi 8:12
Gots togo! The work is really good. I am learning and growing so much as a missionary. I love you all and are praying for you and your missionary opps!
HAve a beautiful week!
Sorella Clyde
Monday, March 3, 2014
back to the island....
Stew, ken, spence, that subject line is for you. Whenever people refer
to Sicily as "the island", I always think of LOST and get an anxious
feeling haha.
Yep. Today I am back in Sicily...there was a mistake and I was tranferred back to Catania. Dangit.
PSYCH. Sor Viazzo and I are back in town for two days to take care of permesso stuff. So we took a flight at like 5am this morning. EW. But we are back in good ole catania and plan to go see Taormina again with the whole catania district! HAhA its so weird to be back!
Great week. There is a LOT of work here in Pozzuoli. I am shocked! People have baptismal dates- they exist! Haha. Last week we saw Roselyn, the sweet wonderful african woman and taught her a post baptism lesson. She is an amazing, inspiring woman! Wow really. She shared some terrible stories of her past in Africa with us and it was definitely an emotional experience. I am so amazed by the great faith that she has! She is already giving us referrals and she has been baptized for two weeks.
We had an old lady party with Sorella Tempesta. She invited us over for pranzo and to teach her friend, Anna. We ended up teaching Titi eating some yummy pesto pasta mm mmm and some other courses and then took the trip over to Annas house where sorella Viazzo helped three old ladies pick fruit from big lemon and orange trees for like 45 minutes. The funniest part was that the old ladies were the ones carrying and climbing the ladder (they refused to let us do so). So the pulled the fruits and we caught them. Years of softball definitely came in handy:)
Sorella Viazzo and I translated for a marriage counseling session last night. It was ridiculous and really uncomfortable. HAh! I felt like I was in this italian soap opera...wanting to stay completely neutral to the situation! I did no want to show ANY sign of agreement with both sides. I am a missionary, okay!
We went to a last minute conference in Rome last week where Elder Steven B Allen spoke. It was fantastic and inspirng! He totally gave us the slap down for all the missionaires and started out by asking us "Do you truly believe you found and taught every person ready for baptism last month?" (the total for the mission last month was 16). It definitely got everything thinking! Wow, there is a lot more that I could have done!
He really talked about the WHY of the gospel. IT was awesome! He said that we should go into our lessons EXPECTING to invite them to baptism (unless the Spirit directs otherwise).
We received a referral from some elders in Caserta of a woman named Amaglia. We didnt know anything about this woman. She picked us up from the bus stop and drove back to her house (which was a bit of a sketchy part of town). Turns out, her house was really nice and she was just this kind, gentle, middle aged woman. She really opened up to us and shared some hard things of her past. It was clear that she was in search of some hope. We shared the Plan of Salvation with her and she just ate it up. It was clear she was feeling the Spirit. It was going really well and we planned to take Elder Allens advice. Baptism. It was definitely feeling right and so Sorella Viazzo went for it. She agreed to be baptized April 19. Wow, this is good to be true! She seems golden and just asked what she needs to do to make it happen. She closed the lesson with a prayer the Spirit was definitely present. There is just something about having an investigator pray in their own words (for possibly the first time), that really brings the Spirit! We were so excited all night and obviously it is important to keep a level head as a missionary:)
Had an awesome training with Brother Bonner again. He talked about d&c 100:4-5 about the meaning of the effectual door. He talked about how there are souls being prepared by other souls on the other side, so that their ordinances can get done! It was such an interesting perspective! It is encouraged that we bring family names, only to the temple, so wouldnt it make sense to prepare posterity still living on the earth. Then she shared a quote from Lorenzo Snow who was one of the first missionaries of Italy who had promised that ancestors would prepare people for the gospel by appearing to them in their dreams. Then he challenged us: if all else fails when finding people and inviting them to hear the gospel, ask them if they had ever had dreams of their ancestors. So cool.
Love you all!!! Service is happiness.
Sorella Clyde
Yep. Today I am back in Sicily...there was a mistake and I was tranferred back to Catania. Dangit.
PSYCH. Sor Viazzo and I are back in town for two days to take care of permesso stuff. So we took a flight at like 5am this morning. EW. But we are back in good ole catania and plan to go see Taormina again with the whole catania district! HAhA its so weird to be back!
Great week. There is a LOT of work here in Pozzuoli. I am shocked! People have baptismal dates- they exist! Haha. Last week we saw Roselyn, the sweet wonderful african woman and taught her a post baptism lesson. She is an amazing, inspiring woman! Wow really. She shared some terrible stories of her past in Africa with us and it was definitely an emotional experience. I am so amazed by the great faith that she has! She is already giving us referrals and she has been baptized for two weeks.
We had an old lady party with Sorella Tempesta. She invited us over for pranzo and to teach her friend, Anna. We ended up teaching Titi eating some yummy pesto pasta mm mmm and some other courses and then took the trip over to Annas house where sorella Viazzo helped three old ladies pick fruit from big lemon and orange trees for like 45 minutes. The funniest part was that the old ladies were the ones carrying and climbing the ladder (they refused to let us do so). So the pulled the fruits and we caught them. Years of softball definitely came in handy:)
Sorella Viazzo and I translated for a marriage counseling session last night. It was ridiculous and really uncomfortable. HAh! I felt like I was in this italian soap opera...wanting to stay completely neutral to the situation! I did no want to show ANY sign of agreement with both sides. I am a missionary, okay!
We went to a last minute conference in Rome last week where Elder Steven B Allen spoke. It was fantastic and inspirng! He totally gave us the slap down for all the missionaires and started out by asking us "Do you truly believe you found and taught every person ready for baptism last month?" (the total for the mission last month was 16). It definitely got everything thinking! Wow, there is a lot more that I could have done!
He really talked about the WHY of the gospel. IT was awesome! He said that we should go into our lessons EXPECTING to invite them to baptism (unless the Spirit directs otherwise).
We received a referral from some elders in Caserta of a woman named Amaglia. We didnt know anything about this woman. She picked us up from the bus stop and drove back to her house (which was a bit of a sketchy part of town). Turns out, her house was really nice and she was just this kind, gentle, middle aged woman. She really opened up to us and shared some hard things of her past. It was clear that she was in search of some hope. We shared the Plan of Salvation with her and she just ate it up. It was clear she was feeling the Spirit. It was going really well and we planned to take Elder Allens advice. Baptism. It was definitely feeling right and so Sorella Viazzo went for it. She agreed to be baptized April 19. Wow, this is good to be true! She seems golden and just asked what she needs to do to make it happen. She closed the lesson with a prayer the Spirit was definitely present. There is just something about having an investigator pray in their own words (for possibly the first time), that really brings the Spirit! We were so excited all night and obviously it is important to keep a level head as a missionary:)
Had an awesome training with Brother Bonner again. He talked about d&c 100:4-5 about the meaning of the effectual door. He talked about how there are souls being prepared by other souls on the other side, so that their ordinances can get done! It was such an interesting perspective! It is encouraged that we bring family names, only to the temple, so wouldnt it make sense to prepare posterity still living on the earth. Then she shared a quote from Lorenzo Snow who was one of the first missionaries of Italy who had promised that ancestors would prepare people for the gospel by appearing to them in their dreams. Then he challenged us: if all else fails when finding people and inviting them to hear the gospel, ask them if they had ever had dreams of their ancestors. So cool.
Love you all!!! Service is happiness.
Sorella Clyde
Monday, February 24, 2014
NAPOLI
Its true. Catania is far far away in a whole other land. Its like a
dream. It is so weird to leave a city. BUT IT IS SO GREAT. I feel so
free and ready to conquer the world! Oh man. I have been on a such a
high these last four days.
First of all. Last week I had my last pday in catania. You know what that means. MT ETNA (the famous volcano of Sicily) I finally made it there. Sorella Bair and I went with three italian men. It was great. We went crater jumping and stuff.
We had my last lesson with Luigi Sinatra. He gave me gifts of Italian cds, chocoaltes, a note written in italian with googled english translation, AND cannoli! YUM. It was a dream come true. Luigi is my bestie. He didnt accept our baptismal invite. BUT ONE DAY HE TOTALLY WILL.
I toook the 7 hour train up to Naples with two Anziani. Best trip ever, I know. I LOVE Pozzuoli. I absolutely love it here. The people are SO open. We went finding the other day and have been able to do so on the metro and people are so willing to listen, its amazing. On our way to naples today, a man asked us if we were nuns on the train and we struck up a conversation...eventually turning into the Restoration. We (two little american girls) had three italians listening to recount the story of Joseph Smith. It was a cool moment.
Pozzuoli is right by the sea!! It is so cute and quaint. The apartment is like a house! There are only two sisters living there, so more time to focus on the work. Sorella Viazzo is like a dream come true companion. She loves missionary work. We have set some awesome goals and plans for this transfer. We are both so excited!
There is a branch here in Pozzuoli with..... italians....americans (because there is ANOTHER military base nearby)......AND AFRICANs. There have been a ton of african baptisms lately. There is a whole african community nearby, so we have all these african investigators. So we teach about half and half in english and italian. Its so weird. The AFricans are such GOOD, spiritual people. I am in AWE. HAha we have this new covert, Roselyn and she is the cutest most wonderful woman. We taught her the other day and I just kept thinking to myself "this is too good to be true". Whenever we ask the Africans if we meet with them they ALWAYS respond "yes. BY THE GRACE OF GOD"
So lots of english means LOTS OF TRANSLATION. It is a bit scary, but fun. Actually there is an american in the branch presidency hahah. He wanted to say something to president the other day, so I translated for them. Interesting!
Napoli is real and ghetto. And I just had a pie. yes a whole pie of the BEST pizza in the world. LIterally. There are not even words that can describe how beautiful the experience was. It is like this soupy mozzarella heaven in your mouth. WOW.
Naples is BEAUTIFUL! We have an awesome ward mission leader who is american and he gives amazing trainings...like blow your mind! WOW.
I have only been here for 4 days and I feel like it is really changing my mission and the way I view the Lords work. Wow! It is so so good! I am so grateful for Sorella Viazzo. I love that we are totally on the same page!
Matthew 10:39. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Love you all!
Sorella Clyde
GREATEST DISTRICT.
SASSIEST SICILIAN WOMAN
annnnnnd
GREATEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD. Literally. only in Naples.
First of all. Last week I had my last pday in catania. You know what that means. MT ETNA (the famous volcano of Sicily) I finally made it there. Sorella Bair and I went with three italian men. It was great. We went crater jumping and stuff.
We had my last lesson with Luigi Sinatra. He gave me gifts of Italian cds, chocoaltes, a note written in italian with googled english translation, AND cannoli! YUM. It was a dream come true. Luigi is my bestie. He didnt accept our baptismal invite. BUT ONE DAY HE TOTALLY WILL.
I toook the 7 hour train up to Naples with two Anziani. Best trip ever, I know. I LOVE Pozzuoli. I absolutely love it here. The people are SO open. We went finding the other day and have been able to do so on the metro and people are so willing to listen, its amazing. On our way to naples today, a man asked us if we were nuns on the train and we struck up a conversation...eventually turning into the Restoration. We (two little american girls) had three italians listening to recount the story of Joseph Smith. It was a cool moment.
Pozzuoli is right by the sea!! It is so cute and quaint. The apartment is like a house! There are only two sisters living there, so more time to focus on the work. Sorella Viazzo is like a dream come true companion. She loves missionary work. We have set some awesome goals and plans for this transfer. We are both so excited!
There is a branch here in Pozzuoli with..... italians....americans (because there is ANOTHER military base nearby)......AND AFRICANs. There have been a ton of african baptisms lately. There is a whole african community nearby, so we have all these african investigators. So we teach about half and half in english and italian. Its so weird. The AFricans are such GOOD, spiritual people. I am in AWE. HAha we have this new covert, Roselyn and she is the cutest most wonderful woman. We taught her the other day and I just kept thinking to myself "this is too good to be true". Whenever we ask the Africans if we meet with them they ALWAYS respond "yes. BY THE GRACE OF GOD"
So lots of english means LOTS OF TRANSLATION. It is a bit scary, but fun. Actually there is an american in the branch presidency hahah. He wanted to say something to president the other day, so I translated for them. Interesting!
Napoli is real and ghetto. And I just had a pie. yes a whole pie of the BEST pizza in the world. LIterally. There are not even words that can describe how beautiful the experience was. It is like this soupy mozzarella heaven in your mouth. WOW.
Naples is BEAUTIFUL! We have an awesome ward mission leader who is american and he gives amazing trainings...like blow your mind! WOW.
I have only been here for 4 days and I feel like it is really changing my mission and the way I view the Lords work. Wow! It is so so good! I am so grateful for Sorella Viazzo. I love that we are totally on the same page!
Matthew 10:39. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Love you all!
Sorella Clyde
GREATEST DISTRICT.
SASSIEST SICILIAN WOMAN
annnnnnd
GREATEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD. Literally. only in Naples.
Monday, February 17, 2014
NEWS
Sorella Bair and I awaited this day all week long...the dreaded-exciting
TRANSFER CALL DAY. We had a lesson with Luigi Sinatra that morning. On
the long beautiful walk there, (yes, beautiful. It is the middle of
february and probably about 70 degrees and sunny out.) we realized we
only had 1 bar of battery left on our phone. OH NO and we would be gone
away from the house all day long with appointments! Such a nightmare.
We did the only thing we could...prayed and avoided all the phone calls we got from Sorella Amato. We met at Savia, the cutest little restaurant in Catania and took a seat with Luigi and Sorella Amato. We sat at a cute little restaurant table oustide the restaurant with the sun shining and the waiter asking for our orders. It felt just a like a scene out of movie (like that Inception scene, but with an italian feel). Well we were talking with them when we noticed a missed call from the mission presidents wife!!! Thats it. Thats the call. We focused our minds and waited the whole lesson to receive the news. I wasnt as anxious as Sorella BAir, because I was 99% positive that I would remain in Catania and she would be transferred. She has done 4 transfers, while I have only done 3 here.
As soon as the appoitment ended, we ran down beautiful Via Etnea to catch our bus in time to the Mirabellas, meanwhile calling Sister Waddoups back before the phone went dead. I went first, while Sorella Bair stood 20 feet behind me to avoid any ruined surprises. We joked about the phone dying in the middle of the call....well guess what happened. The phone died in the middle of my call. HAha
LUCKILY a miracle happeend and we could call her back. Well, looks like our predictions were TOTALLY wrong. I am MOVIN ON!!!! I am being tranferred to Pozzouli (a city right outside of Naples) I AM GOING TO NAPLES!! HAHA. I get to spread my wings and fly! I AM SO EXCITED!!
Napoli (NAples) is definitely a coveted spot to serve. Okay it is not exactly the center of NAples (because its too dangerous for sisters), but there are only 2 cities right outside of NAples for sisters to serve in. That means only 4 sisters serve there at a time. Also these two areas were JUST barely opened last spring.
Besides the fact that it known for being a dangerous area with a lot of theft, I am only heard GREAT things. Sorella Fossa served there and how non-stop raved about the city, about the members. ABOUT THE PIZZA. Napoletana pizza is known for being the best in all of Italy. Hahah its like a dream.
Oh and the coolest thing is...my companion will be Sorella Viazzo! Rebecca Viazzo from my singles ward in Dublin, CA. HAhah we totally knew each other from before the mission. She is so cute and fun!
It was a great week. We had a lesson with Luigi earlier on in the week that went really well! We really think he is going to get baptized! He agreed to pray and specifically ask God, "God is this the way for me?" He is so golden and happy.
At english course that night, I gave the spiritual thought and so I shared Moroni 7:48. It ends the chapter, so the last word is Amen. As soon as I finished readin the scripture, EVERY student in the room agreed with their AMENs as well. HAhaha it was great.
We had a lesson with a man that loves Sorella Bair. I totally felt like a third wheel the whole appoitnment and whenever I tried to talk to him, he IGNORED me. When we asked him to pray to know if the book of mormon is true, he said "Oh I already know it is true." Hmmm. He was really happy though!
Friday night, the other sisters threw an AWESOME Ward Valentines Day party. It went so well! There was a cute photo booth, music, food. It was fun to have an excuse to listen to some American music :) The best part was, I bought a cake to bring to the party. These are famous cakes that are sold in a box. Well when we opened the box, we found a lovely bottle of WINE to go along with it. YEP. I bought alcohol, with no ID, as A MISSIONARY. Whoops.
Yesterday, I gave my parting testimony in Catania and Sigonella. Sorella Bair totally filmed my Catania italian one. (only in an italian ward, would that be okay) HAHA. I shared a scripture that I recently found that has really touched me and will definitely help me through life.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
Sorry for the disorganized email. I love and pray for all of you!
Love,
Sorella Clyde
pictures of the Rome temple being built!
We did the only thing we could...prayed and avoided all the phone calls we got from Sorella Amato. We met at Savia, the cutest little restaurant in Catania and took a seat with Luigi and Sorella Amato. We sat at a cute little restaurant table oustide the restaurant with the sun shining and the waiter asking for our orders. It felt just a like a scene out of movie (like that Inception scene, but with an italian feel). Well we were talking with them when we noticed a missed call from the mission presidents wife!!! Thats it. Thats the call. We focused our minds and waited the whole lesson to receive the news. I wasnt as anxious as Sorella BAir, because I was 99% positive that I would remain in Catania and she would be transferred. She has done 4 transfers, while I have only done 3 here.
As soon as the appoitment ended, we ran down beautiful Via Etnea to catch our bus in time to the Mirabellas, meanwhile calling Sister Waddoups back before the phone went dead. I went first, while Sorella Bair stood 20 feet behind me to avoid any ruined surprises. We joked about the phone dying in the middle of the call....well guess what happened. The phone died in the middle of my call. HAha
LUCKILY a miracle happeend and we could call her back. Well, looks like our predictions were TOTALLY wrong. I am MOVIN ON!!!! I am being tranferred to Pozzouli (a city right outside of Naples) I AM GOING TO NAPLES!! HAHA. I get to spread my wings and fly! I AM SO EXCITED!!
Napoli (NAples) is definitely a coveted spot to serve. Okay it is not exactly the center of NAples (because its too dangerous for sisters), but there are only 2 cities right outside of NAples for sisters to serve in. That means only 4 sisters serve there at a time. Also these two areas were JUST barely opened last spring.
Besides the fact that it known for being a dangerous area with a lot of theft, I am only heard GREAT things. Sorella Fossa served there and how non-stop raved about the city, about the members. ABOUT THE PIZZA. Napoletana pizza is known for being the best in all of Italy. Hahah its like a dream.
Oh and the coolest thing is...my companion will be Sorella Viazzo! Rebecca Viazzo from my singles ward in Dublin, CA. HAhah we totally knew each other from before the mission. She is so cute and fun!
It was a great week. We had a lesson with Luigi earlier on in the week that went really well! We really think he is going to get baptized! He agreed to pray and specifically ask God, "God is this the way for me?" He is so golden and happy.
At english course that night, I gave the spiritual thought and so I shared Moroni 7:48. It ends the chapter, so the last word is Amen. As soon as I finished readin the scripture, EVERY student in the room agreed with their AMENs as well. HAhaha it was great.
We had a lesson with a man that loves Sorella Bair. I totally felt like a third wheel the whole appoitnment and whenever I tried to talk to him, he IGNORED me. When we asked him to pray to know if the book of mormon is true, he said "Oh I already know it is true." Hmmm. He was really happy though!
Friday night, the other sisters threw an AWESOME Ward Valentines Day party. It went so well! There was a cute photo booth, music, food. It was fun to have an excuse to listen to some American music :) The best part was, I bought a cake to bring to the party. These are famous cakes that are sold in a box. Well when we opened the box, we found a lovely bottle of WINE to go along with it. YEP. I bought alcohol, with no ID, as A MISSIONARY. Whoops.
Yesterday, I gave my parting testimony in Catania and Sigonella. Sorella Bair totally filmed my Catania italian one. (only in an italian ward, would that be okay) HAHA. I shared a scripture that I recently found that has really touched me and will definitely help me through life.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
Sorry for the disorganized email. I love and pray for all of you!
Love,
Sorella Clyde
pictures of the Rome temple being built!
Monday, February 10, 2014
lecca lecca
Terms of endearment:
Cara=dear
gioia=joy
I just had a life changing week. So many miracles! Wow!
Last week was zone conference so that meant all the cities needed to come into town (Catania) for interviews the day before. TEN SORELLE in the Catania household! Crazy. Enna is a small, beautiful city in our zone with NO WORK. It is not even a branch yet, so the elders there organized a Zone Blitz where the whole zone drove out there the day before interviews to basically swarm the city with the gospel! It was so cool! We did a couple exchanges and everyone just did finding all day long. It was the cutest, most typical little italian city I have seen. Oh man I loved it. In the afternoon I got paired with Sorella Price hahaha how cool! We finally were able to do real missionary work together...none of this fake mtc stuff. Haha we had a really sweet, miraculous experience. We were doing Casa (knocking doors/ringing citofonos) and not expecting much success (because I have NEVER had success when knocking doors). We only had 45 minutes or so til we needed to be back. We took turns ringing doorbells. AFter a little hilwe, I randomly decided to hit one in particular. This one did not have a citofono. It was just a doorbell, so the person would have direct eye contact with us (rather than just a voice box). Then it happened, we heard someone coming. BUTTERFLIES. "Someones coming!" I franticly whispered! Both of us, really nervous definitely not used to this. The door swung open.... "Buona sera. Siamo missionaire per la chiesa di Gesu Cristo. Abbiamo un messagio sulla fede per voi. Avete 5 minuti??" (the most basic door approach). Then it happened. Totally expecting rejection...the sweet middle aged woman responded, "Si." and the door opened for us to enter. WHHHHAAAT? Ok. WE GOT THIS.
We then delivered a short message of the Restoration and Joseph Smith. She and her daughter just listened. They were so kind and sweet. Having never heard of the mormon church before, she was excited to learn more. It almost feels like a dream haha. It was jus this little Hansel and Gretel cottage styled apartment of the most typical ijtalian neighborhood you could ever imagine- that was tucked away in this little maze of apartment homes. As we were ringing bells, it seriouslyfelt like we were going deeper and deeper into the maze.
This woman and her daughter listened to the message of the restored gospel of Christ for the first time. There was definitely a special Spirit in the room that I will never forget. Wow. It was definitely a life changing experience to understand that God is preparing His children! They ARE out there, we just need to be prayerful and be looking. We gave her a book of mormon and she agreed to read. Sorella Price nd I left feeling like we were on cloud 9! This is real wonderful joyous missionary work!
I had an interview with President Waddoups last week and he challenged specifically me to teach the Joseph Smith story 10 more times before the end of the transfer (about 10 days). Ive got 7 more to go. One of the experiences was really special. As we were riding the buses to the center of the city, we exchanged buses at Piazza Sanzio and a woman I made eye contact. She asked how I was doing and where I was going. She then hopped on the same bus as me and asked me to sit near her. I definitely jumped at that opportunity! We started a conversation and then I asked her about her religious beliefs and was able to go into the Restoration. It was really cool. Her name is Lily and she is SO golden and interested. It was just a funny life experience. Sorella Bair sat in the back of the bus and noticed that there were two or three other women sitting nearby listening to me teach this woman. She said it was definitely a picture moment. Anyway, we are teaching her later this evening. The work is good and it is everywhere! We just need to pray for opportunities to come!
Sorella BAir and I went to the American base commisary grocery store this week. It was like heaven. Peanut Butter capn crunch and garden salsa sun chips, dont mind if I do:)
Love you all! Keep sharing the word and recognizing miracles!!
Sister Clyde
Cara=dear
gioia=joy
I just had a life changing week. So many miracles! Wow!
Last week was zone conference so that meant all the cities needed to come into town (Catania) for interviews the day before. TEN SORELLE in the Catania household! Crazy. Enna is a small, beautiful city in our zone with NO WORK. It is not even a branch yet, so the elders there organized a Zone Blitz where the whole zone drove out there the day before interviews to basically swarm the city with the gospel! It was so cool! We did a couple exchanges and everyone just did finding all day long. It was the cutest, most typical little italian city I have seen. Oh man I loved it. In the afternoon I got paired with Sorella Price hahaha how cool! We finally were able to do real missionary work together...none of this fake mtc stuff. Haha we had a really sweet, miraculous experience. We were doing Casa (knocking doors/ringing citofonos) and not expecting much success (because I have NEVER had success when knocking doors). We only had 45 minutes or so til we needed to be back. We took turns ringing doorbells. AFter a little hilwe, I randomly decided to hit one in particular. This one did not have a citofono. It was just a doorbell, so the person would have direct eye contact with us (rather than just a voice box). Then it happened, we heard someone coming. BUTTERFLIES. "Someones coming!" I franticly whispered! Both of us, really nervous definitely not used to this. The door swung open.... "Buona sera. Siamo missionaire per la chiesa di Gesu Cristo. Abbiamo un messagio sulla fede per voi. Avete 5 minuti??" (the most basic door approach). Then it happened. Totally expecting rejection...the sweet middle aged woman responded, "Si." and the door opened for us to enter. WHHHHAAAT? Ok. WE GOT THIS.
We then delivered a short message of the Restoration and Joseph Smith. She and her daughter just listened. They were so kind and sweet. Having never heard of the mormon church before, she was excited to learn more. It almost feels like a dream haha. It was jus this little Hansel and Gretel cottage styled apartment of the most typical ijtalian neighborhood you could ever imagine- that was tucked away in this little maze of apartment homes. As we were ringing bells, it seriouslyfelt like we were going deeper and deeper into the maze.
This woman and her daughter listened to the message of the restored gospel of Christ for the first time. There was definitely a special Spirit in the room that I will never forget. Wow. It was definitely a life changing experience to understand that God is preparing His children! They ARE out there, we just need to be prayerful and be looking. We gave her a book of mormon and she agreed to read. Sorella Price nd I left feeling like we were on cloud 9! This is real wonderful joyous missionary work!
I had an interview with President Waddoups last week and he challenged specifically me to teach the Joseph Smith story 10 more times before the end of the transfer (about 10 days). Ive got 7 more to go. One of the experiences was really special. As we were riding the buses to the center of the city, we exchanged buses at Piazza Sanzio and a woman I made eye contact. She asked how I was doing and where I was going. She then hopped on the same bus as me and asked me to sit near her. I definitely jumped at that opportunity! We started a conversation and then I asked her about her religious beliefs and was able to go into the Restoration. It was really cool. Her name is Lily and she is SO golden and interested. It was just a funny life experience. Sorella Bair sat in the back of the bus and noticed that there were two or three other women sitting nearby listening to me teach this woman. She said it was definitely a picture moment. Anyway, we are teaching her later this evening. The work is good and it is everywhere! We just need to pray for opportunities to come!
Sorella BAir and I went to the American base commisary grocery store this week. It was like heaven. Peanut Butter capn crunch and garden salsa sun chips, dont mind if I do:)
Love you all! Keep sharing the word and recognizing miracles!!
Sister Clyde
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Happy st agata slash groundhogs day
We had a lesson with Luigi last week and it went really well. I was on splits with Sorella Rossell, so I was pretty much leading out on everything. We did a review of the Restoration. After explaining the last two paragraphs to the introduction to the Book of Mormon, sorella rossell asked "So do you believe that this book could be true?" He immediately answered with a big smile on his face, "Non lo so. Devi chiedere Dio" (he said pointing towards the ceiling) (I dont know. You have to ask God) YES, he got it. It was so perfect and Sorella Rossell and I gave each other "the look"...he is ready for the baptismal invite. I did it. My FIRST ONE. It went well. Well, he said no but he is excited to read the book and he agreed to pray to know the truth. He is so golden. He closed the lesson with a beautiful and sincere prayer. The Lord is preparing His children to hear the gospel. I know it! I know that it was not a coincidence that we found him at a bus stop that one day.
It is sometimes discouraging to not see success with our investigators or to have no progressing investigators for the week, but it is cool to think about later down the road when these people finally decide to take the step and be baptized. Sometimes (a lot of the time) it takes time. We dont know everything, but God does. God is placing us where we need to be! Missionaries, members, people. God comprehends all things.
Love you all. 6 more weeks of winter or what? What did Puxatoney Phil say?
love,
sister sam
sister sam
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