Rome 5 | week 19

8.11.2014

This week a lot of awesome stuff happened. On Thursday morning we went to termini to pick up Sorella Pattersons greenie (Sorella Decker) and we also got to meet all the other new greenies who looked awesome. I was so fun asking them where they were going and who their trainers are. President chose the best missionaries to train this transfer and stuff is going to happen. That is for sure. Anyways, Sorella Patterson and I both had to go to Rieti to renew our permessos, so the 4 of us all went up together. After we finished that, we pulled a bomb greenie prank on Sorella Decker. We have a friend in Rieti named Cammellia who we are really good friends with, and we got her to take us out for a snack and she ordered us all orzo cappucinos. It smells and tastes exactly like coffee, but its totally not. We were all just like, "sometimes you just have to in certain situations. Its really just cultural." And then we all downed it, and she was so confused, haha. 

We had another funny experience last night. We told Lorenzo a while ago that the next time we ate with him, we would finish early and do all the dishes. We ate with him last night, but it was to late again and he was telling us to just stop making excuses and get out. When we were walking out the door and he was still on the 2nd floor and we shouted up "ciao bellino!" which he hates (bye little beautiful). He came sprinting down and chased us out of his apt and down the road like 200m and we totally passed a park with like 20 kids and a bunch of moms who saw the whole thing go down. Funny times. We love Lorenzo so much. 

Earlier in the week we were able to see our Nigerian friends Raymond and Latif. We found out that Latifs dad died 4 days before and Raymonds best friend moved to Germany the day before. We didnt have any special lesson prepared, we just wanted to see them and read a little from the Book of Mormon, but it ended up being one of the most spiritual lessons of my mission. It wasnt because of Anziano Blair or me at all, but it was because God was aware of their situation and knew they needed to feel his love for them. It reminded me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon. "I will ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders...so that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and they ye may know of a s urety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." Raymond and Latif are awesome, and we were so grateful to offer some comfort during a hard time. 

We also got to see our friend Francesco two times this week. Once for a BBQ and a lesson at his place and the other in church on Sunday! It seemed to be a great experience and he got to meet some of our awesome members. We also started a geneology course Thursday night that two people came to, and hopefully members will come to that when they get home from vacation. They are seriously the key to helping our work go forward. Overall, this week was awesome, and its looking like it will only get better this transfer. Im really excited for the next 5 weeks here because they will probably be my last here in Rome. We shall see. Have a good week everyone. 

Anziano Smith