MTC - where it all began
LIVORNO
ORISTANO
ROMA
ARRIVEDERCI
ORISTANO
ROMA
ARRIVEDERCI
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Alla Prossima, Italia!
One chapter ends and another one begins. Here's the last tribute to bella Italia and the people, places, and adventures of my mission.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
2 April 2008
Hello for the last time from Italy!
This week has been amazing and has been the best ending to a mission possible!
Last Wednesday we had a really fun p-day! We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch as a district! I'd never been to one before so it was my first experience at a Hard Rock! We had expensive hamburgers and fries. I guess that will help me get back into the American way a little bit. I also got our cell phone stolen on the way, so that was a major pain that we had to take care of this week. We had to use the Elders phone a bunch to set up appointments and had to make a couple trips to the police station (luckily it's right by the church) to file a stolen phone, and we had to go into the mission office to pick up a new one! It was a pain but everything's all worked out now luckily. We had English class like usual Wednesday night and helped the Anziani with their class. Yana was there, she started coming to English class a while back.
Thursday we taught Yana some commandments in preparation for her baptism and did some finding work.
Friday was planning for the week and another lesson with Yana teaching her more commandments. We were talking about the baptism and making sure her mom that works could come. We had scheduled the baptism for the 5th of April right? Well, turns out that her mom couldn't make it that day and so we moved the baptism to a day she could make it and that day was April 1st! Yesterday! I'll tell you all about it when I get to telling about Tuesday. Luckily we had a new phone by then and so we started making calls and getting everything all ready for the baptism.
Saturday we met with Nancy again. She's doing fine and just having problems with work and stuff. Visits with her are always humbling and amazing to see that she has soo much faith. Saturday afternoon we met in the church for Yana's baptismal interview. We had prepared her for the questions and she was ready! After the interview there was a RS activity in church where all the different sisters represented their countries and talked about what RS was like where they came from (we have lots of countries represented in our ward.). Yana and her mom were there and it was a fun night.
Sunday was great. We went to church and then had an appointment with a member and then went and did chalk in the piazza.
Monday we had a few appointments including one with Concetta. She's not really progressing but it was the first time we've seen her in a while so it was nice to see her again. Monday night we had a family night with Yana and her mom. We did last preparations for the baptism and then watched finding faith in Christ together. Yana is amazing and whenever her mom would talk during the movie she would pause it and tell her mom to be quiet because she couldn't hear what was happening. There's a point in the film where John the Baptist is baptizing someone before Christ comes to be baptized and when she saw that part she rewinded it and watched it over and over 3 different times and said, is that what it's going to be like for me? and we said Yep! She has such a strong testimony and it's been incredible to see it grow.
Tuesday we had our district meeting in the church. We pretty much stayed in the church all day. We ate lunch there as the font was filling up. For the last baptism of Ivan, it took 6 hours to fill up because the hot water pressure is soo slow! So we started the water before district meeting and at the end had to turn on full blast cold water to fill it up enough! The baptism was held at 6pm. It was really incredible and Yana was so happy. There were lots of members there to support her. The talks were good. Then she got baptized by one of the Elders, Anziano Zeller (who's actually going home with me next week! What a way to end his mission huh!) She had a dress on and it took 3 dunks before all of the fabric went under the water! Haha. There were some laughs and she had to eventually tuck the dress in between her legs! The rest of the program went well and afterward everyone came up to congratulate her. It was one of the best nights ever and I'm so happy for Yana.
I really can't believe my mission is coming to an end. It has been one of the most incredible experiences ever and I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for giving me this once in a lifetime experience. My testimony has been strengthened and there's no doubt that this is the Lords work and that it's all true.
Thanks everyone for all of your support and prayers. I love you all and will see you soon!
Love Sorella Boynton
Enjoy General Conference!
This week has been amazing and has been the best ending to a mission possible!
Last Wednesday we had a really fun p-day! We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch as a district! I'd never been to one before so it was my first experience at a Hard Rock! We had expensive hamburgers and fries. I guess that will help me get back into the American way a little bit. I also got our cell phone stolen on the way, so that was a major pain that we had to take care of this week. We had to use the Elders phone a bunch to set up appointments and had to make a couple trips to the police station (luckily it's right by the church) to file a stolen phone, and we had to go into the mission office to pick up a new one! It was a pain but everything's all worked out now luckily. We had English class like usual Wednesday night and helped the Anziani with their class. Yana was there, she started coming to English class a while back.
Thursday we taught Yana some commandments in preparation for her baptism and did some finding work.
Friday was planning for the week and another lesson with Yana teaching her more commandments. We were talking about the baptism and making sure her mom that works could come. We had scheduled the baptism for the 5th of April right? Well, turns out that her mom couldn't make it that day and so we moved the baptism to a day she could make it and that day was April 1st! Yesterday! I'll tell you all about it when I get to telling about Tuesday. Luckily we had a new phone by then and so we started making calls and getting everything all ready for the baptism.
Saturday we met with Nancy again. She's doing fine and just having problems with work and stuff. Visits with her are always humbling and amazing to see that she has soo much faith. Saturday afternoon we met in the church for Yana's baptismal interview. We had prepared her for the questions and she was ready! After the interview there was a RS activity in church where all the different sisters represented their countries and talked about what RS was like where they came from (we have lots of countries represented in our ward.). Yana and her mom were there and it was a fun night.
Sunday was great. We went to church and then had an appointment with a member and then went and did chalk in the piazza.
Monday we had a few appointments including one with Concetta. She's not really progressing but it was the first time we've seen her in a while so it was nice to see her again. Monday night we had a family night with Yana and her mom. We did last preparations for the baptism and then watched finding faith in Christ together. Yana is amazing and whenever her mom would talk during the movie she would pause it and tell her mom to be quiet because she couldn't hear what was happening. There's a point in the film where John the Baptist is baptizing someone before Christ comes to be baptized and when she saw that part she rewinded it and watched it over and over 3 different times and said, is that what it's going to be like for me? and we said Yep! She has such a strong testimony and it's been incredible to see it grow.
Tuesday we had our district meeting in the church. We pretty much stayed in the church all day. We ate lunch there as the font was filling up. For the last baptism of Ivan, it took 6 hours to fill up because the hot water pressure is soo slow! So we started the water before district meeting and at the end had to turn on full blast cold water to fill it up enough! The baptism was held at 6pm. It was really incredible and Yana was so happy. There were lots of members there to support her. The talks were good. Then she got baptized by one of the Elders, Anziano Zeller (who's actually going home with me next week! What a way to end his mission huh!) She had a dress on and it took 3 dunks before all of the fabric went under the water! Haha. There were some laughs and she had to eventually tuck the dress in between her legs! The rest of the program went well and afterward everyone came up to congratulate her. It was one of the best nights ever and I'm so happy for Yana.
I really can't believe my mission is coming to an end. It has been one of the most incredible experiences ever and I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for giving me this once in a lifetime experience. My testimony has been strengthened and there's no doubt that this is the Lords work and that it's all true.
Thanks everyone for all of your support and prayers. I love you all and will see you soon!
Love Sorella Boynton
Enjoy General Conference!
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
25 March 2008
Ciao a tutti ancora una volta!
Time's ticking but miracles just keep on happening. This week has been really incredible.
Last wednesday we had fun playing in the park with our district and some members. We played some soccer and some american football. We could tell that we were all out of shape because the next day we were all aching and sore! It was sunny and beautiful and that was the last day that it actually WAS sunny and beautiful because ever since then it has been cold and rainy! I'm one who likes the rain but when you have to be out in it all day it gets a little tiring!
Thursday we had interviews with president Acerson, good as always, and then did finding work. We also found this inactive lady that no one has been able to find and are excited to go back and start working with her. It's amazing how we found her because we didn't have a house number but we decided to walk down the street anyway. We checked some palazzi for her last name and didn't see it and so we kept on walking not knowing how long the street would go. Then I looked up in the air and saw this big billboard thing over a building advertising a company. The company had the same last name of this women. So jokingly I told my comp to look at that name on the billboard. We both laughed but walked over there nonetheless and found that her name WAS on the citof and that she lives there! Pretty crazy story. It's these little crazy "coincidences" that always show me how much Heavenly Father loves everyone and how he's using us to reach out to them.
Friday was planning and more finding work. We met a really cool lady that night on the street who we gave a Book of Mormon too and hope to visit with her again.
Saturday was kind of crazy. Here's a really long story made short... hopefully. The Elders somehow invited our investigator Yana to an appointment that they were having with Ivan, a recent convert. They mentioned they were having this appointment and invited us to come. Obviously we wanted to come, hello, she's our investigator! They taught a first lesson which was really good for Yana to hear again and then theytotally sprung an invite to be baptized on the 12 of April. It was good and all but we were just totally suprised because they hadn't mentioned anything to us! Anyways, Yana said she'd think about it and it was kinda left like that. We talked to the anziani and told them it was cool and all what they did but that it would have been cooler if they would have at least checked with us first! What they didn't know is that we were already planning on inviting her to be baptized the next monday! to be continued... Sunday was Easter! Church was great and Yana was there all 3 hours. It was funny because by the end of church there were only about 20 people left because they had all left to go to friends and families houses for easter. We got invited to go eat with a sister, sorella Capuano. She's awesome and one of the couselors in the RS. We had some good pasta and meat and then ate some traditional Colomba, an italian bread/cake thing that they eat for easter. After the appointment, for some reason we didn't have umbrellas and we were going home and we got totally drenched! When we left Sorella Capuano's house it wasn't raining but then 2 minutes after it downpoared! We tried to find shelter but there wasn't much and so we look like a pair of wet dogs. : ) We had planned to go do some chalk as a district but it was rainy. We decided to go sing to inactives as a district instead so that was fun and they enjoyed it.
Monday was crazy. We had our weekly district meeting in the morning and had a really good training by one of the younger elders. It was really good. Then we had to go out and had some time to do some finding work before our appointment with Yana. The Monday after easter sunday in Italy is another holiday where everyone goes out as families or stays at home. It was still raining and so that limited our options for finding. We decided to try to do some house even though we knew people might not be too happy about it. We started ringing people's bells outside and while we were doing that a family was exiting the building. Like I've done NUMBERLESS times on my mission we took advantage of the open door (all missionaries know it's better to talk to people face to face at the door!) and went in to get to people's front doors. We were heading up the stairs and this mom of the family that had exited came charging in was chasing us up the stairs! She was saying, "where are you going, you are trying to escape!," and she was saying it as if we were robbers or something. I poked my head into the stairwell and said, "look lady, we are missionaries!" Then she went spouting off in Italian so quick that the only word I could pick out was "carabinieri." Yikes, that's when I got really scared. She was threating to call the cops on us! We had all our documents and stuff so we knew that if they were to come they couldn't do anything so that's where we found our comfort. We could hear the lady oustide freaking out and were just praying that the carabinieri wouldn't come. We didn't want to go out and face her because we knew we would just totally get chewn out (i don't thin "chewn" is a word but i think you'll understand.lol). So we just said a prayer and continued to knock the rest of the doors. When we got to the bottom the family was gone and we went on our way to our appointment with Yana! Phew, there was a brief moment where we thought we might be going to jail there! haha.
And the most exciting part of the week....if you can believe it... it does get better than the house experience! YANA IS GETTING BAPTIZED! Yay. We had a really good appointment with her mom and her on Monday night. We got there and asked how things were going and then Yana started to cry and her mom explained to us how her friends were pestering her about her belief in the church and God etc. Yana was really upset and it made us sooo sad to see this. It's so amazing to see how the adversary works so hard to get these people who are finding the truth to have doubts and fall away. We reassured her that everything would be all right. Her Mom, Tanya is amazing and was just bearing her testimony of faith and how our faith and testimonies help us against situations like that. We started in with the lesson and at the beginning didn't know if the baptismal invite was going to work but the lesson was inspired and we had planned to talk about faith. We read together in Alma and helped her understand. Baptism eventually came up and she wanted to know what being a member of the church entailed. We explained a little and when we explained about the commandments she ran upstairs and got a pen and paper and wanted to right them all down! We told her we'd eventually teach her all of them, although a lot of the she already knows thanks to her mom. At the end of the lesson we told her we thought she was ready to be baptized at an earlier date than the elders had told her and that we had prayed and felt good about her being baptized on the 5th of April! We told her that she had to make the choice and feel good about it as well. She said the closing prayer and told Heavenly Father that if he wanted her to be baptized on the 5 of april that she would do it! After the prayer we all just sat in silence for a bit and then asked her how she felt and she said she wanted to be baptized on the 5th! We expressed our excitment and now we've got a baptism to prepare!
This work is amazing and the miracles never stop coming. Thanks for all your prayers and love!
Love ya,
Sorella Boynton
Time's ticking but miracles just keep on happening. This week has been really incredible.
Last wednesday we had fun playing in the park with our district and some members. We played some soccer and some american football. We could tell that we were all out of shape because the next day we were all aching and sore! It was sunny and beautiful and that was the last day that it actually WAS sunny and beautiful because ever since then it has been cold and rainy! I'm one who likes the rain but when you have to be out in it all day it gets a little tiring!
Thursday we had interviews with president Acerson, good as always, and then did finding work. We also found this inactive lady that no one has been able to find and are excited to go back and start working with her. It's amazing how we found her because we didn't have a house number but we decided to walk down the street anyway. We checked some palazzi for her last name and didn't see it and so we kept on walking not knowing how long the street would go. Then I looked up in the air and saw this big billboard thing over a building advertising a company. The company had the same last name of this women. So jokingly I told my comp to look at that name on the billboard. We both laughed but walked over there nonetheless and found that her name WAS on the citof and that she lives there! Pretty crazy story. It's these little crazy "coincidences" that always show me how much Heavenly Father loves everyone and how he's using us to reach out to them.
Friday was planning and more finding work. We met a really cool lady that night on the street who we gave a Book of Mormon too and hope to visit with her again.
Saturday was kind of crazy. Here's a really long story made short... hopefully. The Elders somehow invited our investigator Yana to an appointment that they were having with Ivan, a recent convert. They mentioned they were having this appointment and invited us to come. Obviously we wanted to come, hello, she's our investigator! They taught a first lesson which was really good for Yana to hear again and then theytotally sprung an invite to be baptized on the 12 of April. It was good and all but we were just totally suprised because they hadn't mentioned anything to us! Anyways, Yana said she'd think about it and it was kinda left like that. We talked to the anziani and told them it was cool and all what they did but that it would have been cooler if they would have at least checked with us first! What they didn't know is that we were already planning on inviting her to be baptized the next monday! to be continued... Sunday was Easter! Church was great and Yana was there all 3 hours. It was funny because by the end of church there were only about 20 people left because they had all left to go to friends and families houses for easter. We got invited to go eat with a sister, sorella Capuano. She's awesome and one of the couselors in the RS. We had some good pasta and meat and then ate some traditional Colomba, an italian bread/cake thing that they eat for easter. After the appointment, for some reason we didn't have umbrellas and we were going home and we got totally drenched! When we left Sorella Capuano's house it wasn't raining but then 2 minutes after it downpoared! We tried to find shelter but there wasn't much and so we look like a pair of wet dogs. : ) We had planned to go do some chalk as a district but it was rainy. We decided to go sing to inactives as a district instead so that was fun and they enjoyed it.
Monday was crazy. We had our weekly district meeting in the morning and had a really good training by one of the younger elders. It was really good. Then we had to go out and had some time to do some finding work before our appointment with Yana. The Monday after easter sunday in Italy is another holiday where everyone goes out as families or stays at home. It was still raining and so that limited our options for finding. We decided to try to do some house even though we knew people might not be too happy about it. We started ringing people's bells outside and while we were doing that a family was exiting the building. Like I've done NUMBERLESS times on my mission we took advantage of the open door (all missionaries know it's better to talk to people face to face at the door!) and went in to get to people's front doors. We were heading up the stairs and this mom of the family that had exited came charging in was chasing us up the stairs! She was saying, "where are you going, you are trying to escape!," and she was saying it as if we were robbers or something. I poked my head into the stairwell and said, "look lady, we are missionaries!" Then she went spouting off in Italian so quick that the only word I could pick out was "carabinieri." Yikes, that's when I got really scared. She was threating to call the cops on us! We had all our documents and stuff so we knew that if they were to come they couldn't do anything so that's where we found our comfort. We could hear the lady oustide freaking out and were just praying that the carabinieri wouldn't come. We didn't want to go out and face her because we knew we would just totally get chewn out (i don't thin "chewn" is a word but i think you'll understand.lol). So we just said a prayer and continued to knock the rest of the doors. When we got to the bottom the family was gone and we went on our way to our appointment with Yana! Phew, there was a brief moment where we thought we might be going to jail there! haha.
And the most exciting part of the week....if you can believe it... it does get better than the house experience! YANA IS GETTING BAPTIZED! Yay. We had a really good appointment with her mom and her on Monday night. We got there and asked how things were going and then Yana started to cry and her mom explained to us how her friends were pestering her about her belief in the church and God etc. Yana was really upset and it made us sooo sad to see this. It's so amazing to see how the adversary works so hard to get these people who are finding the truth to have doubts and fall away. We reassured her that everything would be all right. Her Mom, Tanya is amazing and was just bearing her testimony of faith and how our faith and testimonies help us against situations like that. We started in with the lesson and at the beginning didn't know if the baptismal invite was going to work but the lesson was inspired and we had planned to talk about faith. We read together in Alma and helped her understand. Baptism eventually came up and she wanted to know what being a member of the church entailed. We explained a little and when we explained about the commandments she ran upstairs and got a pen and paper and wanted to right them all down! We told her we'd eventually teach her all of them, although a lot of the she already knows thanks to her mom. At the end of the lesson we told her we thought she was ready to be baptized at an earlier date than the elders had told her and that we had prayed and felt good about her being baptized on the 5th of April! We told her that she had to make the choice and feel good about it as well. She said the closing prayer and told Heavenly Father that if he wanted her to be baptized on the 5 of april that she would do it! After the prayer we all just sat in silence for a bit and then asked her how she felt and she said she wanted to be baptized on the 5th! We expressed our excitment and now we've got a baptism to prepare!
This work is amazing and the miracles never stop coming. Thanks for all your prayers and love!
Love ya,
Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
19 March 2008
Happy Easter! Hope everyone has a good one!
As bad as it is, I don't really feel an obligation to write because I'm not hearing much from anyone else these days! I guess we all just figure we can talk in about 3 weeks!
Anyways, for those interested...
We had a great week with some great appointments.
We continue to visit Nancy, the recent convert, every other week. She hasn't been to church the whole time I've been here in Rome because she works everyday until late and is just so tired. Her faith is incredible though and we're praying that she'll find new work that isn't so taxing. These poor stranieri here just work to live and barely get by. The other week we met this woman on the street named Elisabetta. She had spoken with missionaries before but wanted us to come talk about the Book of Mormon with her. We did and it was a really neat lesson all about likening the scriptures to us and finding out where the real power from the Book of Mormon comes. She told us she doesn't want to get baptized or anything but we'll see what we can do! We finally got to meet with Zohra again. We hadn't been back to see her since the first time she let us in the house. We met with her and her daughter that is our age and watched the Restoration video together. It was really neat and they still seem pretty interested. They keep telling us they'll come to church but haven't yet.
On sunday we had this huge family from america in church visiting and so all of us missionaries took a row and translated for them. We also had a lunch invite that went far too long but we were kind of stuck because the only way out was a ride home from the member who fed us. I think I've probably gained 5 pounds here in Rome. We get fed more often then I ever have on my mission. Yesterday we had an appointment and I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my life! A HUGE plate of pasta, then potatoes and just a plain old hambuger pattie, bread, and then a couple oranges! I still haven't eaten anything since yesterday! One thing I can't wait for is to get back in shape that's for sure. I took a funny picture after the appointment with my stomach stuck out to capacity so I'll have to send that out! It's pretty funny.
The highlight of the week was our appointment with Yana. Remember last week how she wouldn't pray? Well, we got there and as we were starting the lesson, she told us that she was going to say the closing prayer! We had an awesome lesson on the plan of salvation. Yana was so happy to learn about it and gain all this new knowledge. Then at the end, she said the prayer perfectly! It was so awesome and we both got up and hugged her after the prayer! She's progressing slowly but surely. We really want to set a baptismal date with her soon so we're hoping for that!
Everythings great and the weather is warming up. We're going to go play soccer in the park today so I'm excited about that! Alla prossima!
Love Sorella Boynton
As bad as it is, I don't really feel an obligation to write because I'm not hearing much from anyone else these days! I guess we all just figure we can talk in about 3 weeks!
Anyways, for those interested...
We had a great week with some great appointments.
We continue to visit Nancy, the recent convert, every other week. She hasn't been to church the whole time I've been here in Rome because she works everyday until late and is just so tired. Her faith is incredible though and we're praying that she'll find new work that isn't so taxing. These poor stranieri here just work to live and barely get by. The other week we met this woman on the street named Elisabetta. She had spoken with missionaries before but wanted us to come talk about the Book of Mormon with her. We did and it was a really neat lesson all about likening the scriptures to us and finding out where the real power from the Book of Mormon comes. She told us she doesn't want to get baptized or anything but we'll see what we can do! We finally got to meet with Zohra again. We hadn't been back to see her since the first time she let us in the house. We met with her and her daughter that is our age and watched the Restoration video together. It was really neat and they still seem pretty interested. They keep telling us they'll come to church but haven't yet.
On sunday we had this huge family from america in church visiting and so all of us missionaries took a row and translated for them. We also had a lunch invite that went far too long but we were kind of stuck because the only way out was a ride home from the member who fed us. I think I've probably gained 5 pounds here in Rome. We get fed more often then I ever have on my mission. Yesterday we had an appointment and I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my life! A HUGE plate of pasta, then potatoes and just a plain old hambuger pattie, bread, and then a couple oranges! I still haven't eaten anything since yesterday! One thing I can't wait for is to get back in shape that's for sure. I took a funny picture after the appointment with my stomach stuck out to capacity so I'll have to send that out! It's pretty funny.
The highlight of the week was our appointment with Yana. Remember last week how she wouldn't pray? Well, we got there and as we were starting the lesson, she told us that she was going to say the closing prayer! We had an awesome lesson on the plan of salvation. Yana was so happy to learn about it and gain all this new knowledge. Then at the end, she said the prayer perfectly! It was so awesome and we both got up and hugged her after the prayer! She's progressing slowly but surely. We really want to set a baptismal date with her soon so we're hoping for that!
Everythings great and the weather is warming up. We're going to go play soccer in the park today so I'm excited about that! Alla prossima!
Love Sorella Boynton
Friday, March 14, 2008
12 MARCH 2008
Ciao tutti,
Nothing too out of the ordinary to talk about this week. It's been a pretty normal, great week.
Probably the craziest thing that happened is that Monday was my last zone conference in the mission! I can hardly believe that! The departing missionaries always stand and give their "dying testimony" so I had the opportunity to do that along with 3 other elders in the zone who are going home the same time I am. It was hard to stand and try to express all my feelings about my mission to everyone. But it was a good experience to stand and bear my testimony to the other missionaries. Zone conference was really good. The assistants always do an amazing training and this time they talked all about testimony and how important it is that we are able to express our conviction of the truthfulness of the gospel with power so that investigators are able to feel the spirit and make commitments. I learned a lot and am working hard to be able to do this with the people we work with. I also really liked President and Sister Acerson's trainings. Sister Acerson walked us through the Book of Mormon and we read together many of the "dying testimonies" of fathers in the Book of Mormon to their sons. Really powerful testimonies and a good study for all of us to do. It was an inspiring conference!
We are still doing lots of finding work in hope to find new investigators. Saturday we did an exchange with two girls in the ward. I went with a member my age from Thailand, her name's Shane. She's been a member for a couple years and is planning on going on a mission sometime soon. So I went with her and we did some park and house. It was fun. My comp went with another girl and they did finding work in another part of Rome. It's awesome to work with members and be able to set up these exchanges! Each companionship took about 15 pamphlets on Joseph Smith, the family proc. and English class fliers, and then a Book of Mormon and we challenged ourselves to give it all away in the hour and a half that we had. We were able to give it all away and to teach some good lessons. Also on sunday we got to go sing in piazza del popolo. It was so fun to see my "kid" again, Sister Call. I trained her up in Livorno and now she's down here in Rome. It was cool to hear all the updates of people back in Livorno, like about how Jantina is doing so great and visiting teaching etc. (If any of you remember her!) I also got to talk to lots of neat people. I got a phone number so hopefully that will turn into something.
We had an appointment last night with Yana and her mom. We focused the whole thing on prayer with our invite to have her pray with us on the spot. We planned out a really good lesson on why we pray and how we pray, trying to put into practice everything we learned at zone conference. We bore testimony of the power of prayer and then at the end, after having explained how we pray, handed her a paper with a few examples of what to thank heavenly father for and what to ask him for, knelt down and asked her to say the closing prayer. She totally got so scared and we kept encouraging her and telling her she could do it! But in the end she just wouldn't do it! Anyways, we invited her and her mom to pray together that night and she said she would pray the next time. Mamma mia, it's like pulling teeth here!
Anyways, things are awesome and I love this work.
Love ya,
Sorella Boynton
Nothing too out of the ordinary to talk about this week. It's been a pretty normal, great week.
Probably the craziest thing that happened is that Monday was my last zone conference in the mission! I can hardly believe that! The departing missionaries always stand and give their "dying testimony" so I had the opportunity to do that along with 3 other elders in the zone who are going home the same time I am. It was hard to stand and try to express all my feelings about my mission to everyone. But it was a good experience to stand and bear my testimony to the other missionaries. Zone conference was really good. The assistants always do an amazing training and this time they talked all about testimony and how important it is that we are able to express our conviction of the truthfulness of the gospel with power so that investigators are able to feel the spirit and make commitments. I learned a lot and am working hard to be able to do this with the people we work with. I also really liked President and Sister Acerson's trainings. Sister Acerson walked us through the Book of Mormon and we read together many of the "dying testimonies" of fathers in the Book of Mormon to their sons. Really powerful testimonies and a good study for all of us to do. It was an inspiring conference!
We are still doing lots of finding work in hope to find new investigators. Saturday we did an exchange with two girls in the ward. I went with a member my age from Thailand, her name's Shane. She's been a member for a couple years and is planning on going on a mission sometime soon. So I went with her and we did some park and house. It was fun. My comp went with another girl and they did finding work in another part of Rome. It's awesome to work with members and be able to set up these exchanges! Each companionship took about 15 pamphlets on Joseph Smith, the family proc. and English class fliers, and then a Book of Mormon and we challenged ourselves to give it all away in the hour and a half that we had. We were able to give it all away and to teach some good lessons. Also on sunday we got to go sing in piazza del popolo. It was so fun to see my "kid" again, Sister Call. I trained her up in Livorno and now she's down here in Rome. It was cool to hear all the updates of people back in Livorno, like about how Jantina is doing so great and visiting teaching etc. (If any of you remember her!) I also got to talk to lots of neat people. I got a phone number so hopefully that will turn into something.
We had an appointment last night with Yana and her mom. We focused the whole thing on prayer with our invite to have her pray with us on the spot. We planned out a really good lesson on why we pray and how we pray, trying to put into practice everything we learned at zone conference. We bore testimony of the power of prayer and then at the end, after having explained how we pray, handed her a paper with a few examples of what to thank heavenly father for and what to ask him for, knelt down and asked her to say the closing prayer. She totally got so scared and we kept encouraging her and telling her she could do it! But in the end she just wouldn't do it! Anyways, we invited her and her mom to pray together that night and she said she would pray the next time. Mamma mia, it's like pulling teeth here!
Anyways, things are awesome and I love this work.
Love ya,
Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
5 MAR 2008
Happy March!
It has been warming up here in Rome and we've been able to leave the apartment without wearing coats! Spring is coming! It's the first week of the new transfer and I'm soo excited for this transfer, it's going to be the best! We had our district meeting on Monday, as usual, and made some good goals as a district that are really going to make us work hard, better ourselves, and baptize! We have a really awesome district leader and we're excited to see what happens. We set a district goal of 4 baptisms so we'll see what we can do with our efforts and help from Heavenly Father!
We met with a woman from Mexico this week for the first time named Lorena. She is from Mexico and is working here. We taught her a first lesson and it went really well. Hopefully she can be one of the baptisms this transfer! She's the only one here from her family and I know the gospel would help her so much and also her family back home. As far as other investigators go....we met again this week with Yana. We are hoping that she will set a baptismal date as well. She came to church again with her mom. There's probably a little bit of nudging on the part of the mom but maybe that's what she needs! She still has lots to learn and needs to understand the significance of the restoration so we're going to keep working with her.
We had a couple neat lessons with members this week. It's been one of the highlights of my mission to be able to work with the members here in Italy. I've learned a lot from them. We met with an older sister, this week who just got released as the RS pres. She lived in New Jersey when she was 30 for 6 years and has a pretty funny accent when she speaks in English! We had a nice lesson with her and her Russian daughter-in-law who's also a member. Last night we went a little bit outside of Rome and had an appointment with another member who hasn't been coming to church. But she's amazing and has a strong testimony. She told us stories of her mission in the Dominican Republic, it was a fun appointment. Okay, hope you all have a great week.
Love Sorella Boynton
It has been warming up here in Rome and we've been able to leave the apartment without wearing coats! Spring is coming! It's the first week of the new transfer and I'm soo excited for this transfer, it's going to be the best! We had our district meeting on Monday, as usual, and made some good goals as a district that are really going to make us work hard, better ourselves, and baptize! We have a really awesome district leader and we're excited to see what happens. We set a district goal of 4 baptisms so we'll see what we can do with our efforts and help from Heavenly Father!
We met with a woman from Mexico this week for the first time named Lorena. She is from Mexico and is working here. We taught her a first lesson and it went really well. Hopefully she can be one of the baptisms this transfer! She's the only one here from her family and I know the gospel would help her so much and also her family back home. As far as other investigators go....we met again this week with Yana. We are hoping that she will set a baptismal date as well. She came to church again with her mom. There's probably a little bit of nudging on the part of the mom but maybe that's what she needs! She still has lots to learn and needs to understand the significance of the restoration so we're going to keep working with her.
We had a couple neat lessons with members this week. It's been one of the highlights of my mission to be able to work with the members here in Italy. I've learned a lot from them. We met with an older sister, this week who just got released as the RS pres. She lived in New Jersey when she was 30 for 6 years and has a pretty funny accent when she speaks in English! We had a nice lesson with her and her Russian daughter-in-law who's also a member. Last night we went a little bit outside of Rome and had an appointment with another member who hasn't been coming to church. But she's amazing and has a strong testimony. She told us stories of her mission in the Dominican Republic, it was a fun appointment. Okay, hope you all have a great week.
Love Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
27 FEB 2008
Hi from Rome!
Happy Birthday to all the birthday's....Paul and others!
These weeks are flying and already another transfer is ending! We got our transfer calls and we get our wish and are staying together! Yea! We're happy and I'm glad I get to end with such a cool companion.
This week....
Thursday was a day full of finding work. It's just been really hard to get appointments lately with all of our contacts, they are either working or out of Rome for work or sick! But, I always enjoy doing finding work so it's all good. We got a few phone numbers from people with whom we spoke so we'll see what comes of them.
Friday morning we had to go to the other side of Rome to finally get my permesso, my permit to be in the country. After more than a year it finally came through! Haha, so that took all morning. We had a funny time waiting in line with all these different foreigners. I talked with a lady from some African country by Ethiopia. Interesting. Then I got fingerprinted and handprinted. At the end she said, okay, we'll see you back here in about 6 months....haha, I just smiled and nodded. Poor Italian government struggles! Friday night we had a good lesson with Yana. We talked more about the restoration and gave her the invite to be baptized when she knew that what we were teaching was true.
Saturday morning we met with new convert Nancy and her 7 year old cute little boy. We had a lesson all planned for Nancy but had to change it on the spot so that her son could listen to. It was impromptu but went well, talking about the 2000 warriors of Helaman and how the mothers knew it etc etc etc. We had exchanges set up for Saturday afternoon but unfortunately, they fell through. A member who's my age, Andrea and I were going to go to an appointment with our investigator Rita while my comp and another member our age were going to go do some finding. But Andrea called and said she was sick, then Rita called and cancelled. So, it was going to be cool but I guess we'll have to do it another time.
Sunday was church. The man who got baptized, Ivan, received the Holy Ghost in Sacrament meeting and then the aaronic priesthood too! He even chopped of his long hair! He's soo cool and now a member of the ward! Then we headed into Centro to sing with all of the other missionaries in Piazza Navona.
Monday...district meeting like always and then we had an appointment with Concetta again. She totally doesn't understand the plan of salvation so we're going to plan a good lesson for next time. She's so nice and we really want for her to be able to come to church again.
Yesterday we tried to stop by Claudio and Maria's in the morning. We are getting sort of sad about this situation because we go and ring the door and we can hear them looking through the peep-hole that all Italian doors have, and then they just don't open! So we don't know if they're interested anymore. We'll see. Then in the evening we went out to Cave again to visit with a member, Maria Ramos, and her son and then her non-member husband. Her husband has been to church the past 3 Sundays so she wanted us to come and have a lesson with the whole family. We found out that he doesn't like church at all. He was raised in an orphanage type place that was very strict and orderly and doesn't like how on Sunday we have relief society and priesthood separated and then everyone goes to Sunday school, and then everyone moves again for sacrament meeting. And he was complaining about all the men looking the same wearing white shirts and ties. Absolutely just doesn't like the orderliness of it all. Oh brother! That's the first time I've heard complaints about that aspect of the church. I've always marveled at the incredible organization of the church. He's nice though, just an intellectual and introvert.
And that brings me to today. We are having a relaxed day... just doing the shopping and hopefully writing some letters! Thanks for the package Jenn and Jack! And mom, the package you sent got stuck in customs and I have to pay 6 Euro to get it just fyi, no problem though.
Okay, sorry, I feel like this is a boring email but it'll be better next week because miracles will happen!
Love you all,
Sorella Boynton
Happy Birthday to all the birthday's....Paul and others!
These weeks are flying and already another transfer is ending! We got our transfer calls and we get our wish and are staying together! Yea! We're happy and I'm glad I get to end with such a cool companion.
This week....
Thursday was a day full of finding work. It's just been really hard to get appointments lately with all of our contacts, they are either working or out of Rome for work or sick! But, I always enjoy doing finding work so it's all good. We got a few phone numbers from people with whom we spoke so we'll see what comes of them.
Friday morning we had to go to the other side of Rome to finally get my permesso, my permit to be in the country. After more than a year it finally came through! Haha, so that took all morning. We had a funny time waiting in line with all these different foreigners. I talked with a lady from some African country by Ethiopia. Interesting. Then I got fingerprinted and handprinted. At the end she said, okay, we'll see you back here in about 6 months....haha, I just smiled and nodded. Poor Italian government struggles! Friday night we had a good lesson with Yana. We talked more about the restoration and gave her the invite to be baptized when she knew that what we were teaching was true.
Saturday morning we met with new convert Nancy and her 7 year old cute little boy. We had a lesson all planned for Nancy but had to change it on the spot so that her son could listen to. It was impromptu but went well, talking about the 2000 warriors of Helaman and how the mothers knew it etc etc etc. We had exchanges set up for Saturday afternoon but unfortunately, they fell through. A member who's my age, Andrea and I were going to go to an appointment with our investigator Rita while my comp and another member our age were going to go do some finding. But Andrea called and said she was sick, then Rita called and cancelled. So, it was going to be cool but I guess we'll have to do it another time.
Sunday was church. The man who got baptized, Ivan, received the Holy Ghost in Sacrament meeting and then the aaronic priesthood too! He even chopped of his long hair! He's soo cool and now a member of the ward! Then we headed into Centro to sing with all of the other missionaries in Piazza Navona.
Monday...district meeting like always and then we had an appointment with Concetta again. She totally doesn't understand the plan of salvation so we're going to plan a good lesson for next time. She's so nice and we really want for her to be able to come to church again.
Yesterday we tried to stop by Claudio and Maria's in the morning. We are getting sort of sad about this situation because we go and ring the door and we can hear them looking through the peep-hole that all Italian doors have, and then they just don't open! So we don't know if they're interested anymore. We'll see. Then in the evening we went out to Cave again to visit with a member, Maria Ramos, and her son and then her non-member husband. Her husband has been to church the past 3 Sundays so she wanted us to come and have a lesson with the whole family. We found out that he doesn't like church at all. He was raised in an orphanage type place that was very strict and orderly and doesn't like how on Sunday we have relief society and priesthood separated and then everyone goes to Sunday school, and then everyone moves again for sacrament meeting. And he was complaining about all the men looking the same wearing white shirts and ties. Absolutely just doesn't like the orderliness of it all. Oh brother! That's the first time I've heard complaints about that aspect of the church. I've always marveled at the incredible organization of the church. He's nice though, just an intellectual and introvert.
And that brings me to today. We are having a relaxed day... just doing the shopping and hopefully writing some letters! Thanks for the package Jenn and Jack! And mom, the package you sent got stuck in customs and I have to pay 6 Euro to get it just fyi, no problem though.
Okay, sorry, I feel like this is a boring email but it'll be better next week because miracles will happen!
Love you all,
Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
20 FEB 2008
Ciao ancora una volta!
First of all a shout out to my bosom bud.......JENN.......Have a wonderful wedding! Congrats my friend!!! I'll be thinking of you Friday!
This week as really flown by, it's seems like things are getting busier and busier.
Thursday we had a Zone Blitz where all the missionaries in our Zone got together and did some exchanges and just did finding work all morning. It was fun and we taught a good amount of lessons and invited people to come to our english class. It's a good way to get all the wild ragazzi here to at least think about church things! We also stopped by Rita, one of the new investigators and she is just crazy busy! We brought her some cookies and she said for sure we'll met for a lesson this week...speriamo bene.
Friday we did weekly programming in the morning and tried so hard to get an appointment with Claudio and Maria, the other new investigators but they just weren't answering the phone. So we decided just to go drop by their house and left a Book of Mormon in Romanian outside the door for Maria. Hopefully we can see them this week.
We also met with an old investigator who was nice but not really ready to commit. Then we decided to do some house. We choose a palazzo to knock and started ringing the citofono. The second one we rang let us in. We walked up the stairs and saw this lady welcoming us in. This has happened a number of times on my mission and it's always a little scary because you don't know whether they are going to be crazy like that one hypnotizing lady in Oristano or golden like others. This one is pretty golden! Her name is Zohra and she's from Tunisia but has lived in Italy for over 15 years. She told us how right before we rang she had been in her room praying for a sign and that's right when we rang. She said to us, " you said you have a message of Jesus Christ, so let's hear it!" We got to teach her a brief first lesson and she was very interested and said she believed all of it! She said she wanted to come to church but she was sick and so wasn't able to make it on Sunday but really wants to come this sunday! She is a cristian and has so much faith in Jesus Christ. She's had her fair share of trials, like her 26 year old daughter passing away while giving birth to her second son. We are so excited about her and know that the gospel can really help her. So cool to see Heavenly Father's hand in guiding us to her that night.
Saturday morning we went with our Elders, some members and contacts to play volleyball. It was fun and reminded me of when I was in Milano and went to play volleyball with those missionaries. That night we had an appointment with Elena, that lady I met with that one Sunday night we were singing in the Piazza. We talked to her for a while and she's just not ready, she said, to be spiritual right now when there are no material things for her. Va beh.
Sunday was great and we had two investigators in church. Marilena and then the daughter of Tawna, a member. The talks were amazingly perfect for them and now we are beginning to teach Tawna's daughter, Yana. We had a family home evening with them on Monday night and hope that we can continue to teach her. She's 18 and just really with it, kind of a fireball but awesome.
Yesterday there was a baptism so that was neat to go to. Our Elders have been teaching this Romanian guy named Ivan. He's awesome and so it was his baptism yesterday. We tried so hard to invite our investigators to come but eveyone is just so darn busy that none came!
Today we went to the Zoo here in Rome with all the other Rome missionaries. It was beautiful weather and we had lots of fun. This week is week 5 of the transfer which means we get transfer calls yet again next Monday. I'm obviously staying here in Rome and we are hoping that we get to stay together but we'll see.
Life is so good as a missionary and I just have to treasure every minute because I know time is going to fly this next month!
Thanks for your emails and love, support, and prayers!
Love you all,
Sorella Boynton
First of all a shout out to my bosom bud.......JENN.......Have a wonderful wedding! Congrats my friend!!! I'll be thinking of you Friday!
This week as really flown by, it's seems like things are getting busier and busier.
Thursday we had a Zone Blitz where all the missionaries in our Zone got together and did some exchanges and just did finding work all morning. It was fun and we taught a good amount of lessons and invited people to come to our english class. It's a good way to get all the wild ragazzi here to at least think about church things! We also stopped by Rita, one of the new investigators and she is just crazy busy! We brought her some cookies and she said for sure we'll met for a lesson this week...speriamo bene.
Friday we did weekly programming in the morning and tried so hard to get an appointment with Claudio and Maria, the other new investigators but they just weren't answering the phone. So we decided just to go drop by their house and left a Book of Mormon in Romanian outside the door for Maria. Hopefully we can see them this week.
We also met with an old investigator who was nice but not really ready to commit. Then we decided to do some house. We choose a palazzo to knock and started ringing the citofono. The second one we rang let us in. We walked up the stairs and saw this lady welcoming us in. This has happened a number of times on my mission and it's always a little scary because you don't know whether they are going to be crazy like that one hypnotizing lady in Oristano or golden like others. This one is pretty golden! Her name is Zohra and she's from Tunisia but has lived in Italy for over 15 years. She told us how right before we rang she had been in her room praying for a sign and that's right when we rang. She said to us, " you said you have a message of Jesus Christ, so let's hear it!" We got to teach her a brief first lesson and she was very interested and said she believed all of it! She said she wanted to come to church but she was sick and so wasn't able to make it on Sunday but really wants to come this sunday! She is a cristian and has so much faith in Jesus Christ. She's had her fair share of trials, like her 26 year old daughter passing away while giving birth to her second son. We are so excited about her and know that the gospel can really help her. So cool to see Heavenly Father's hand in guiding us to her that night.
Saturday morning we went with our Elders, some members and contacts to play volleyball. It was fun and reminded me of when I was in Milano and went to play volleyball with those missionaries. That night we had an appointment with Elena, that lady I met with that one Sunday night we were singing in the Piazza. We talked to her for a while and she's just not ready, she said, to be spiritual right now when there are no material things for her. Va beh.
Sunday was great and we had two investigators in church. Marilena and then the daughter of Tawna, a member. The talks were amazingly perfect for them and now we are beginning to teach Tawna's daughter, Yana. We had a family home evening with them on Monday night and hope that we can continue to teach her. She's 18 and just really with it, kind of a fireball but awesome.
Yesterday there was a baptism so that was neat to go to. Our Elders have been teaching this Romanian guy named Ivan. He's awesome and so it was his baptism yesterday. We tried so hard to invite our investigators to come but eveyone is just so darn busy that none came!
Today we went to the Zoo here in Rome with all the other Rome missionaries. It was beautiful weather and we had lots of fun. This week is week 5 of the transfer which means we get transfer calls yet again next Monday. I'm obviously staying here in Rome and we are hoping that we get to stay together but we'll see.
Life is so good as a missionary and I just have to treasure every minute because I know time is going to fly this next month!
Thanks for your emails and love, support, and prayers!
Love you all,
Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
13 FEB 2008
Whoa it's already mid-February, I can't believe how fast time is flying these days! I wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!
This week had been incredible, filled with many many miracles! Last week after doing email we hurried to an appointment with a lady we had never met named Rita. She was a referral from the elders. She was expecting us to come and when she opened the door she was so suprised that we were so young! I think she was expecting older women but she invited us in and we sat at her kitchen table and talked to her. She told us a little bit about her past...marriages and divorces and how she is just barely getting by these days as a single parent of 3. Tears flowed from her and like so many other times on my mission I had to try to keep back the tears as well. It's hard seeing these people just trying to hang in there! We told her that our message would help her and then went in to teaching her a first lesson about the restoration. She listened intently to the Joseph Smith story and we left her with the invite to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and pray to know what we taught her was true. The spirit was strong and as we left after having said a prayer she said "I was crying when you first came and now as you leave I'm happy and feel good." Anyway, it was a really neat experience and she's a new investigator. Hopefully we'll see her again tomorrow.
Thursday we met with another investigator, Asia Rhina. She is probably nearly 60 and comes from Santo Domingo. She is great but due to her work can never come to church which is an obstacle. We'll continue teaching her and praying that some way she can come to church. Thursday evening we did an exchange with the Rome 2 sisters. I stayed here in Rome 3 and an Italian sister, Sister Mura, came here and we worked together that afternoon and evening. We did some finding work in the park and then we had an appointment with another lady we had never met, Carmen, also from Santo Domingo (wierd huh!). She's probably 50 and has heard about missionaries before. There was nowhere to go because she's in the middle of leaving her husband so she didn't want to go have the lesson at home. We sat in a little park in the middle of a piazza and taught her a first lesson until we were all freezing. It was really neat to be with an Italian and teach with sister Mura! It was a good lesson and we'll meet again with Carmen next week because she's out of town now.
Friday we had one of the most amazing lessons, maybe of my whole misison. The sister before I got here met a couple doing street. We finally got a hold of them and set up the appointment for Friday. We got to their apartment and met them. Claudio is Italian and Maria is from Romania. They've been married for like 3 years and have 2 little kids. We got to know them a little bit and talked a little about what they believed etc., normal intro stuff, and then we told them we wanted to share our message and told them how much it could help them. This was one of the most incredible lessons ever. It was a first lesson aimed at the family because, obviously, they're a family. Everything that was said came out perfect, one of those "open your mouth and it will be filled" lessons. The spirit was amazingly strong and they were all listening intently. We pointed out the spirit and asked them how they felt. We left them with the invite to read and pray together and promised them they could find more happiness with this message. When Sister Steensen and I got out of that lesson we were smiling from ear to ear and sooo excited! These people are amazing and the spirit had taught the lesson! We are going back this week! So this past week we got 4 new investigators and now the work is exploding! We are so excited for these people and pray that they can progress in the gospel!
Saturday we got to watch the broadcast of the worldwide training meeting. I liked it a lot! What an emphasis on the family. Thanks mom and dad for all that you did and do for our family!
Sunday was a great day too. We went to church as usual and then had zone singing that evening. We all met in Piazza del Popolo and sang the hymns and talked to people that stopped to listen. I had been singing for a while and was praying that someone would stop so I could teach them. I saw this lady stop and went out to talk to her. She was from Romania and told me she was here alone working. I could tell she was lonely and needed to know that she was a daughter of Heavenly Father who loved her. I told her that He loved her and she started crying. She asked me if it was true and I assured her that it was. I told her our message could bring her happiness and she continued to recount how she was living under the stairs in some building. Anyways, we probably talked for a good half an hour. She wouldn't except a Book of Mormon but she gave me her number so hopefully we can call her and get her one in Romanian. It was a neat experience.
Monday was great too. We had interviews at the mission home in the morning. President Acerson is amazing as usual and I thanked him for his work and he thanked me for mine. The Acersons are amazing and I love them a lot. That night we had an appointment with a girl named Marilena. She's an investigator of many years and just can't quite commit to things. But she called us and wanted to meet so we did. She's the cutest girl ever and really searching for answers. We met on the Spanish Steps (who has lessons on the Spanish Steps! only the porsche-a girl I guess!) and tried to help her as best we could. We'll see how it goes with her.
Yesterday we had a member appointment and did some finding work. So it's been a pretty busy week and FULL of miracles. We are so exciting to be here working together. Sorella Steensen is awesome and we have lots of fun laughing and working together. I couldn't be happier!
Hope you all have a wonderful week.
Love Sorella Boynton
This week had been incredible, filled with many many miracles! Last week after doing email we hurried to an appointment with a lady we had never met named Rita. She was a referral from the elders. She was expecting us to come and when she opened the door she was so suprised that we were so young! I think she was expecting older women but she invited us in and we sat at her kitchen table and talked to her. She told us a little bit about her past...marriages and divorces and how she is just barely getting by these days as a single parent of 3. Tears flowed from her and like so many other times on my mission I had to try to keep back the tears as well. It's hard seeing these people just trying to hang in there! We told her that our message would help her and then went in to teaching her a first lesson about the restoration. She listened intently to the Joseph Smith story and we left her with the invite to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and pray to know what we taught her was true. The spirit was strong and as we left after having said a prayer she said "I was crying when you first came and now as you leave I'm happy and feel good." Anyway, it was a really neat experience and she's a new investigator. Hopefully we'll see her again tomorrow.
Thursday we met with another investigator, Asia Rhina. She is probably nearly 60 and comes from Santo Domingo. She is great but due to her work can never come to church which is an obstacle. We'll continue teaching her and praying that some way she can come to church. Thursday evening we did an exchange with the Rome 2 sisters. I stayed here in Rome 3 and an Italian sister, Sister Mura, came here and we worked together that afternoon and evening. We did some finding work in the park and then we had an appointment with another lady we had never met, Carmen, also from Santo Domingo (wierd huh!). She's probably 50 and has heard about missionaries before. There was nowhere to go because she's in the middle of leaving her husband so she didn't want to go have the lesson at home. We sat in a little park in the middle of a piazza and taught her a first lesson until we were all freezing. It was really neat to be with an Italian and teach with sister Mura! It was a good lesson and we'll meet again with Carmen next week because she's out of town now.
Friday we had one of the most amazing lessons, maybe of my whole misison. The sister before I got here met a couple doing street. We finally got a hold of them and set up the appointment for Friday. We got to their apartment and met them. Claudio is Italian and Maria is from Romania. They've been married for like 3 years and have 2 little kids. We got to know them a little bit and talked a little about what they believed etc., normal intro stuff, and then we told them we wanted to share our message and told them how much it could help them. This was one of the most incredible lessons ever. It was a first lesson aimed at the family because, obviously, they're a family. Everything that was said came out perfect, one of those "open your mouth and it will be filled" lessons. The spirit was amazingly strong and they were all listening intently. We pointed out the spirit and asked them how they felt. We left them with the invite to read and pray together and promised them they could find more happiness with this message. When Sister Steensen and I got out of that lesson we were smiling from ear to ear and sooo excited! These people are amazing and the spirit had taught the lesson! We are going back this week! So this past week we got 4 new investigators and now the work is exploding! We are so excited for these people and pray that they can progress in the gospel!
Saturday we got to watch the broadcast of the worldwide training meeting. I liked it a lot! What an emphasis on the family. Thanks mom and dad for all that you did and do for our family!
Sunday was a great day too. We went to church as usual and then had zone singing that evening. We all met in Piazza del Popolo and sang the hymns and talked to people that stopped to listen. I had been singing for a while and was praying that someone would stop so I could teach them. I saw this lady stop and went out to talk to her. She was from Romania and told me she was here alone working. I could tell she was lonely and needed to know that she was a daughter of Heavenly Father who loved her. I told her that He loved her and she started crying. She asked me if it was true and I assured her that it was. I told her our message could bring her happiness and she continued to recount how she was living under the stairs in some building. Anyways, we probably talked for a good half an hour. She wouldn't except a Book of Mormon but she gave me her number so hopefully we can call her and get her one in Romanian. It was a neat experience.
Monday was great too. We had interviews at the mission home in the morning. President Acerson is amazing as usual and I thanked him for his work and he thanked me for mine. The Acersons are amazing and I love them a lot. That night we had an appointment with a girl named Marilena. She's an investigator of many years and just can't quite commit to things. But she called us and wanted to meet so we did. She's the cutest girl ever and really searching for answers. We met on the Spanish Steps (who has lessons on the Spanish Steps! only the porsche-a girl I guess!) and tried to help her as best we could. We'll see how it goes with her.
Yesterday we had a member appointment and did some finding work. So it's been a pretty busy week and FULL of miracles. We are so exciting to be here working together. Sorella Steensen is awesome and we have lots of fun laughing and working together. I couldn't be happier!
Hope you all have a wonderful week.
Love Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
6 Feb 2008
First of all, HAPPY WEDDING TO AUBREE this week, getting hitched on the 9th, whoop whoop! Congrats my friend!
Today for p-day we went to the Vatican museums! We went with a bunch of other Rome missionaries and it was quite amazing. I'm wishing more and more after every p-day that I knew more about the amazing history of Rome! But it was really exciting to be able to see the famous Sistine Chapel! Incredible. This next part is especially for Tom and Andy but anybody else who knows what a neck-o is might get a kick out of his: As I was looking up at the painting on the ceiling I then dropped my head and looked at everyone else looking up. I looked around me and saw all of these bare necks and they were all just yelling..."come give me a neck-o!" haha. So, I decided one of the things I want to do before I die is come back to the Sistine Chapel and run through it giving everybody huge neck-o's!!! Tell me what you think about that! Anyways, on to more important things.....
This week was great. On Thursday we met with an inactive lady that we found, Concetta. She's a really nice lady but just lost contact with members of the church and felt sort of abbandoned (I can't spell anymore, sorry!). We had a good lesson with her and hopefully we can slowly get her back. One of our members got in a car accident last week so we were able to stop by the hospital and give her some flowers. I'm glad we stopped by because no one from the ward had stopped by yet! She was happy to see us and it's nice to be able to just go about doing good.
Saturday we had an appointment with a member, Sorella Franca. She's older and can't read so we went and she likes to have us read her a little bit from the gospel principles manual with her. She's really amazing and her husband is less active. She was so happy because for the first time in all of their marriage (they've almost been married for 50 years!) he prayed with her! He's never done that before so she was so grateful for that. We ate a huge lunch with them! Saturday night we were able to go to the church and watch President Hinckley's funeral. It was great. I enjoyed it a lot.
Sunday was pretty normal. We went to church and then spent the afternoon doing finding work. It was raining hard to our plan to go talk to people in the park was sort of ruined so we just did some house. I'm lucky and really don't mind doing house. Ever since that amazing experience with Rossella in Prato and her letting us in doing house, I have faith that we can find another "Rosella!"
Monday we had DDM as usual. I gave the addestramento, probably not one of most exciting ones I've ever done but hopefully someone got something out of it. I always learn a lot preparing them so I enjoyed it!
Yesterday we met with a daughter of a Peruvian member in the ward. She got here to Italy like two months ago and is trying to learn Italian etc and just get situated so it was fun to get to know her and hopefully we can help integrate her into the ward.
Well, times up. We have to run to an appointment with a potential investigator so hopefully things go well!
Thanks for everything! Got your packages Ell and Shirley! Thanks a million. Until next week...
Love,
Sorella Boynton
Today for p-day we went to the Vatican museums! We went with a bunch of other Rome missionaries and it was quite amazing. I'm wishing more and more after every p-day that I knew more about the amazing history of Rome! But it was really exciting to be able to see the famous Sistine Chapel! Incredible. This next part is especially for Tom and Andy but anybody else who knows what a neck-o is might get a kick out of his: As I was looking up at the painting on the ceiling I then dropped my head and looked at everyone else looking up. I looked around me and saw all of these bare necks and they were all just yelling..."come give me a neck-o!" haha. So, I decided one of the things I want to do before I die is come back to the Sistine Chapel and run through it giving everybody huge neck-o's!!! Tell me what you think about that! Anyways, on to more important things.....
This week was great. On Thursday we met with an inactive lady that we found, Concetta. She's a really nice lady but just lost contact with members of the church and felt sort of abbandoned (I can't spell anymore, sorry!). We had a good lesson with her and hopefully we can slowly get her back. One of our members got in a car accident last week so we were able to stop by the hospital and give her some flowers. I'm glad we stopped by because no one from the ward had stopped by yet! She was happy to see us and it's nice to be able to just go about doing good.
Saturday we had an appointment with a member, Sorella Franca. She's older and can't read so we went and she likes to have us read her a little bit from the gospel principles manual with her. She's really amazing and her husband is less active. She was so happy because for the first time in all of their marriage (they've almost been married for 50 years!) he prayed with her! He's never done that before so she was so grateful for that. We ate a huge lunch with them! Saturday night we were able to go to the church and watch President Hinckley's funeral. It was great. I enjoyed it a lot.
Sunday was pretty normal. We went to church and then spent the afternoon doing finding work. It was raining hard to our plan to go talk to people in the park was sort of ruined so we just did some house. I'm lucky and really don't mind doing house. Ever since that amazing experience with Rossella in Prato and her letting us in doing house, I have faith that we can find another "Rosella!"
Monday we had DDM as usual. I gave the addestramento, probably not one of most exciting ones I've ever done but hopefully someone got something out of it. I always learn a lot preparing them so I enjoyed it!
Yesterday we met with a daughter of a Peruvian member in the ward. She got here to Italy like two months ago and is trying to learn Italian etc and just get situated so it was fun to get to know her and hopefully we can help integrate her into the ward.
Well, times up. We have to run to an appointment with a potential investigator so hopefully things go well!
Thanks for everything! Got your packages Ell and Shirley! Thanks a million. Until next week...
Love,
Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
30 Jan 2008
Ciao tutti,
This week has flown by, I feel like I was just here writing you all last week! After email last week we headed off and saw some of the famous sights of Rome, the Colosseum, the ruins by it, and then the pantheon! So fun to see all the history!
Thursday and Friday, my companion had her 3 month conference. This is my 3rd companion who has had 3 month conference! So we went to the villa (mission home) and dropped her off. Then for the afternoon I did an exchange with one of the other Rome sisters. We did some finding work and then had English class that night. Friday morning we went to an appointment that took 2 hours to get to. It was with this cool lady from Moldovia who lives a bit out in the country. We ate with her and then gave her a Book of Mormon. She seems like a really good investigator for the Rome 2 sisters. Then we headed back to the villa to pick up my comp and headed back to our apartment. Oh yeah, for the first time since I've been here someone tried to take something out of my backpack!
I was walking quickly down some stairs in the metro and felt someone totally un-zip my bag! So I swung my bag around and saw it open and saw these two little gypsy girls, one of them quickly taking their hand away. I said, "scusate eh!," excuse me! They totally acted like they didn't do anything. Oh brother. You have to be careful here!
Saturday we did our weekly programming and then did some finding work and searched for a couple inactive ladies. Sunday we had church and then that night we got to go to Piazza Navona with our zone and sing in the piazza. It was a ton of fun and we were able to teach of lot of lessons and introduce a lot of people to the church. We taught a good number of toursits but the majority are Italians who stop to hear our singing.
Monday we had zone conference. It was incredible as always. At the beginning Sister Acerson got up and gave a little tribute to president Hinckley. She shared with us a little of his talk that he gave a couple conferences ago titled, "the things I know." I remembered loving that talk when he gave it because it was so simple yet covered all of the most important truths of the restored gospel. His death is something we all knew would happen but I was still quite sad to hear the news. I'm so grateful for everything he did for the church. One of my favorite one-liners of his comes from a conference talk he gave maybe a year ago. He said, " I will continue to give my best to the task at hand." I don't know why that has always stuck with me but it has. To me it shows that he really gave everything he had and served with all his heart all the way to the very end! What an incredible friend and example. He'll be greatly missed!
The mission is really putting an emphasis on baptism. The assistants gave an incredible training on baptism and how we need to have faith, let go of mind-sets, and focus on finding and teaching with baptism in mind. It was great and we are all really excited to put their council into practice. President and Sister Acerson always give really good talks. President talked about self-mastery and Sister Acerson about obedience. It was a great conference.
In the past two days we've had two dinner appointments. Monday night with a less-active family, the Ramos family. They are amazing and it was fun getting to meet them. Yesterday we stopped by the African girl who let us in last week. We brought her an English Book of Mormon and she was so happy to have it. She didn't have time for us to teach her right then but we are going back on Thursday and hope to be able to teach her a more thorough first lesson. That evening we had a member appointment with one of the sisters in the ward, Sorella Capuano. She's way cool and made us some good food. She's been a member for a while but is the only member in her immediate family. Her sister is a member though and lives in Arizona. We shared a spiritual thought with her and talked a little bit about the blessing of having a living prophet on the earth. She was also sad about president Hinckley but we are all excited to support and sustain the new prophet. I love meeting with and getting to know the wonderful members here.
Today we are meeting up with the Rome 2 sisters and going to see some stuff. We aren't exactly sure but I'm sure it'll be fun. We have quite a few appointments in the next couple days so the work is going on here!
Thanks for everything as always and I'll try to get a couple letters written here soon!
Love you all,
Sorella Boynton
This week has flown by, I feel like I was just here writing you all last week! After email last week we headed off and saw some of the famous sights of Rome, the Colosseum, the ruins by it, and then the pantheon! So fun to see all the history!
Thursday and Friday, my companion had her 3 month conference. This is my 3rd companion who has had 3 month conference! So we went to the villa (mission home) and dropped her off. Then for the afternoon I did an exchange with one of the other Rome sisters. We did some finding work and then had English class that night. Friday morning we went to an appointment that took 2 hours to get to. It was with this cool lady from Moldovia who lives a bit out in the country. We ate with her and then gave her a Book of Mormon. She seems like a really good investigator for the Rome 2 sisters. Then we headed back to the villa to pick up my comp and headed back to our apartment. Oh yeah, for the first time since I've been here someone tried to take something out of my backpack!
I was walking quickly down some stairs in the metro and felt someone totally un-zip my bag! So I swung my bag around and saw it open and saw these two little gypsy girls, one of them quickly taking their hand away. I said, "scusate eh!," excuse me! They totally acted like they didn't do anything. Oh brother. You have to be careful here!
Saturday we did our weekly programming and then did some finding work and searched for a couple inactive ladies. Sunday we had church and then that night we got to go to Piazza Navona with our zone and sing in the piazza. It was a ton of fun and we were able to teach of lot of lessons and introduce a lot of people to the church. We taught a good number of toursits but the majority are Italians who stop to hear our singing.
Monday we had zone conference. It was incredible as always. At the beginning Sister Acerson got up and gave a little tribute to president Hinckley. She shared with us a little of his talk that he gave a couple conferences ago titled, "the things I know." I remembered loving that talk when he gave it because it was so simple yet covered all of the most important truths of the restored gospel. His death is something we all knew would happen but I was still quite sad to hear the news. I'm so grateful for everything he did for the church. One of my favorite one-liners of his comes from a conference talk he gave maybe a year ago. He said, " I will continue to give my best to the task at hand." I don't know why that has always stuck with me but it has. To me it shows that he really gave everything he had and served with all his heart all the way to the very end! What an incredible friend and example. He'll be greatly missed!
The mission is really putting an emphasis on baptism. The assistants gave an incredible training on baptism and how we need to have faith, let go of mind-sets, and focus on finding and teaching with baptism in mind. It was great and we are all really excited to put their council into practice. President and Sister Acerson always give really good talks. President talked about self-mastery and Sister Acerson about obedience. It was a great conference.
In the past two days we've had two dinner appointments. Monday night with a less-active family, the Ramos family. They are amazing and it was fun getting to meet them. Yesterday we stopped by the African girl who let us in last week. We brought her an English Book of Mormon and she was so happy to have it. She didn't have time for us to teach her right then but we are going back on Thursday and hope to be able to teach her a more thorough first lesson. That evening we had a member appointment with one of the sisters in the ward, Sorella Capuano. She's way cool and made us some good food. She's been a member for a while but is the only member in her immediate family. Her sister is a member though and lives in Arizona. We shared a spiritual thought with her and talked a little bit about the blessing of having a living prophet on the earth. She was also sad about president Hinckley but we are all excited to support and sustain the new prophet. I love meeting with and getting to know the wonderful members here.
Today we are meeting up with the Rome 2 sisters and going to see some stuff. We aren't exactly sure but I'm sure it'll be fun. We have quite a few appointments in the next couple days so the work is going on here!
Thanks for everything as always and I'll try to get a couple letters written here soon!
Love you all,
Sorella Boynton
Thursday, January 24, 2008
23 JAN 2008
Buon giorno a tutti!
I realized yesterday as I was writing in my journal for the 5th time, or however long it has been since I've been here, that they have all started off the same way. They all start of with, "I LOVE ROME!" I've waited my whole mission for this chance to serve in Rome and I'm counting my lucky stars and many blessings to be able to finish in Rome!
I'm still trying to adjust to the shock of going from probably the smallest city in the mission, Oristano, to the huge, monsterous Rome! It's enormous! I was used to being able to walk from one side of Oristano to the other in 30 minutes and now it takes at least 30 minutes to get anywhere here! Crazy! I love just being in Rome and walking around the streets and seeing old ruins just sitting there. So much history! I can't really explain how much I love it! I don't remember if I explained but I'm serving in Rome 3....which covers the "ghetto" part of Rome. I'll be kind of specific for those of you who are interested and might look it up on google earth or something....our area covers pretty much everything south-east of the termini train station. The three main streets that go through our area are the Tuscolana, the Casilina, and the Prenestina. We live right by the street Viale Alessandrino. This area is pretty much just lots of palazzi (apartment buildings). We get around on bus and by metro. It just reminds me of being in Milano again and London..Yay!!!
So, a little about the rest of the week. I got here on Thursday and we did a lot of finding work along big streets and in parks. I would say that the people here, the Romans, are generally more open and friendly, especially than those in tuscany. It's fun being back able to teach more. In Oristano I feel like my teaching skills went down because hardly anybody would stop for more than 2 seconds to listen to us. But here we are able to talk to people they at least listen and have a conversation with us. I also love the fact that we are using pub. transportation because you can talk to more people on the buses and metro. We were taking the metro the other day and I got to talk to this lady. She was so nice and I left her with a family proc. She probably won't call us but, man, I just missed this in Oristano cause we were just walking all the time!
Sunday was great. I got to meet all the members and introduced myself and bore my testimony. Whenever I do that, someone always comes up to me afterword and says, "oh, the daughter of Pres. Boynton?" So this time it was someone named Fratello Conforte, he said he knows you dad, so he says hi! To answer your question mom, the Milano 3 ward is a lot bigger than the Rome 3 ward. There are probably about 70 to 80 active members, so this ward is bigger than the branch I was in in Prato and maybe around the same size as the branch in Livorno, (obviously bigger than the 7 member branch in Oristano!). Can't wait to work more with the members and get to know them.
We've had only a couple appointments since I've been here. One with a recent convert, Nancy, from peru. She's awesome and has a little son. Then we had quite the adventure yesterday morning because we were asked by the anziani to bring a book of mormon in english to this lady they met on the street. We called her and set up an appointment with her. She is from canada but has lived all over the world and finally settled in Rome and has lived here for 30 years now! She's a socialogist and a little quirky but she invited us in and we got to have a visit with her and introduce her to the Book of Mormon. She doesn't want to take the lessons but she decided that if there's a mormon running for president she wants to know what the mormon's are all about. So she's not really an investigator but who knows if she'll get hooked... we hope so! We've set a goal this transfer to get many new nvestigators and little miracles have been happening all week...there's about 4 potential investigators that we have to check back on! We were walking down the street and only had about 20 minutes until we had to catch the bus home. We saw a lady standing on the street, probably moms age, and we talked to her. She was listening intently and we were able to leave a book of mormon and also to get her number so that we can call and set up an appointment! We also were doing house this week and this girl from nigeria let us in. We were able to teach her a brief 1st lesson and we'll go back to give her an english book of mormon later this week. Miracles!
My new companion is awesome. Her name is Sorella Steensen and we are having lots of fun together. She's from Oregon. She's in her 3rd transfer and these next few days will be going to her 3 month conference at the Villa (mission home) so I'll be doing some activity with the other missionaries.
If you can't tell, I'm loving life as a missionary in Rome and I'm so excited to work hard and finish the mission off strong! We are going to go see some sights today with the elders so that should be fun. For those who have been to rome, I'm open to suggestions on what I need to see and do here on p-days! (besides the obvious stuff like the vatican, trevi fountains etc.).
I pray for all of you always and know that your prayers help me out a ton. Lots of love,
Sorella Boynton
I realized yesterday as I was writing in my journal for the 5th time, or however long it has been since I've been here, that they have all started off the same way. They all start of with, "I LOVE ROME!" I've waited my whole mission for this chance to serve in Rome and I'm counting my lucky stars and many blessings to be able to finish in Rome!
I'm still trying to adjust to the shock of going from probably the smallest city in the mission, Oristano, to the huge, monsterous Rome! It's enormous! I was used to being able to walk from one side of Oristano to the other in 30 minutes and now it takes at least 30 minutes to get anywhere here! Crazy! I love just being in Rome and walking around the streets and seeing old ruins just sitting there. So much history! I can't really explain how much I love it! I don't remember if I explained but I'm serving in Rome 3....which covers the "ghetto" part of Rome. I'll be kind of specific for those of you who are interested and might look it up on google earth or something....our area covers pretty much everything south-east of the termini train station. The three main streets that go through our area are the Tuscolana, the Casilina, and the Prenestina. We live right by the street Viale Alessandrino. This area is pretty much just lots of palazzi (apartment buildings). We get around on bus and by metro. It just reminds me of being in Milano again and London..Yay!!!
So, a little about the rest of the week. I got here on Thursday and we did a lot of finding work along big streets and in parks. I would say that the people here, the Romans, are generally more open and friendly, especially than those in tuscany. It's fun being back able to teach more. In Oristano I feel like my teaching skills went down because hardly anybody would stop for more than 2 seconds to listen to us. But here we are able to talk to people they at least listen and have a conversation with us. I also love the fact that we are using pub. transportation because you can talk to more people on the buses and metro. We were taking the metro the other day and I got to talk to this lady. She was so nice and I left her with a family proc. She probably won't call us but, man, I just missed this in Oristano cause we were just walking all the time!
Sunday was great. I got to meet all the members and introduced myself and bore my testimony. Whenever I do that, someone always comes up to me afterword and says, "oh, the daughter of Pres. Boynton?" So this time it was someone named Fratello Conforte, he said he knows you dad, so he says hi! To answer your question mom, the Milano 3 ward is a lot bigger than the Rome 3 ward. There are probably about 70 to 80 active members, so this ward is bigger than the branch I was in in Prato and maybe around the same size as the branch in Livorno, (obviously bigger than the 7 member branch in Oristano!). Can't wait to work more with the members and get to know them.
We've had only a couple appointments since I've been here. One with a recent convert, Nancy, from peru. She's awesome and has a little son. Then we had quite the adventure yesterday morning because we were asked by the anziani to bring a book of mormon in english to this lady they met on the street. We called her and set up an appointment with her. She is from canada but has lived all over the world and finally settled in Rome and has lived here for 30 years now! She's a socialogist and a little quirky but she invited us in and we got to have a visit with her and introduce her to the Book of Mormon. She doesn't want to take the lessons but she decided that if there's a mormon running for president she wants to know what the mormon's are all about. So she's not really an investigator but who knows if she'll get hooked... we hope so! We've set a goal this transfer to get many new nvestigators and little miracles have been happening all week...there's about 4 potential investigators that we have to check back on! We were walking down the street and only had about 20 minutes until we had to catch the bus home. We saw a lady standing on the street, probably moms age, and we talked to her. She was listening intently and we were able to leave a book of mormon and also to get her number so that we can call and set up an appointment! We also were doing house this week and this girl from nigeria let us in. We were able to teach her a brief 1st lesson and we'll go back to give her an english book of mormon later this week. Miracles!
My new companion is awesome. Her name is Sorella Steensen and we are having lots of fun together. She's from Oregon. She's in her 3rd transfer and these next few days will be going to her 3 month conference at the Villa (mission home) so I'll be doing some activity with the other missionaries.
If you can't tell, I'm loving life as a missionary in Rome and I'm so excited to work hard and finish the mission off strong! We are going to go see some sights today with the elders so that should be fun. For those who have been to rome, I'm open to suggestions on what I need to see and do here on p-days! (besides the obvious stuff like the vatican, trevi fountains etc.).
I pray for all of you always and know that your prayers help me out a ton. Lots of love,
Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
16 JAN 2008
Hahahahha,
I just have to start of the email laughing because I know everyone (especially Ell, Marg, and Mom) are going to tell me that I really am the "I wanna Porshe girl." I don't know what I do to be so lucky but I'll hey, I'll take it and run. I'M GOING TO ROME to finish my mission!!! Transfer calls came from President Acerson on Monday and he said that I'm being transferred and will serve in Rome 3! Man, I could have jumped out of my seat on to the table and done a tarzan yell and beat my chest, but decided to restrain myself and maybe will do that as I take the boat tonight back to the mainland! Am I surprised? Not really... Sorella Harvey and I knew that it was really likely for one of us to be transferred. So she's going to hold down the fort here in Oristano while I go to Rome and follow-up train a newer missionary.
I have very mixed feelings about going. The past couple transfers here in Oristano have been some of the hardest of my mission. Our faith, patience, charity, and just about every other thing has been tried. I will ALWAYS be ever grateful for Pres. Acerson and Heavenly Father for giving me the opportunity to serve in this city. We came in thinking with high hopes and talked about how we wanted to help grow this branch. We got many emails from friends and family with stories of how other branches around the world grew within months. They inspired us and helped us to do our best here to help people return to church and find new people who wanted to learn more. The branch is pretty much the same now as when I left.
On the outside it can seem like not much was done but this morning as Sister Harvey and I listed the small miracles that we've seen during these past two transfers... it really is amazing how involved the Lord is in this most important work. I think a big part of being here was to refine me. On the way I got to meet and help some incredible people. The inactive women are at least starting to read their Books of Mormon and re-discover their testimonies. It was fun seeing them all yesterday and saying goodbye. I'm convinced that we, as sisters, were sent here at this time especially for Maiken. She has been golden the whole time. We taught her last night for the last time. She's beginning to read the Book of Mormon and has read up until 1 Nephi 7. I asked her how she liked it and expressed my excitment that she's starting and understanding my favorite book on earth! About 5 minutes after the appointment she called and asked me if she had to wait until April when I finish my mission to communicate with me... haha... she also asked if she had to wait till April to know my first name! haha. She's definitely a person I'll keep in touch with and she'll probably come out to visit in Utah before long! I think it's a good thing for me to be leaving her because she's a little attached and it'll be good for her to recognize that the good feelings of the spirit that she's felt with us come from the spirit and learning about the gospel and not me! Phew....that's a lot of detail from Sis. Boynton I know! Whoa! Imagine that.
Anyway, this last week in Oristano has been great. We had interviews with President Acerson. He's the best as always and always helps me a lot. Also got a lot of mail so thanks for writing everybody! With it brought more news of yet ANOTHER wedding of my bosom bud Jennie Proctor!! Now when I get home, both my twins will be married and I'll have to beg their husbands to let us have a girls night out when I get home! Crazy!
I said goodbye to all the people who I've come to know and love yesterday. We pretty much saw everyone in one day! That's little Oristano for ya!
I had a cold over the weekend but that kind of hit it's climax on sunday and has been getting better. I should be able to get some more rest as we take the boat tonight. I'm all packed up and I leave Oristano today around 3 and will travel with some other sisters and we'll get to Rome on Thursday morning to start the next adventure! Until next week..when I'll have more info on life in Rome!
If you haven't heard it enough... I LOVE being a missionary and I'm so blessed thanks to all of your prayers. Thanks everyone!
Love,
Sorella Boynton
I just have to start of the email laughing because I know everyone (especially Ell, Marg, and Mom) are going to tell me that I really am the "I wanna Porshe girl." I don't know what I do to be so lucky but I'll hey, I'll take it and run. I'M GOING TO ROME to finish my mission!!! Transfer calls came from President Acerson on Monday and he said that I'm being transferred and will serve in Rome 3! Man, I could have jumped out of my seat on to the table and done a tarzan yell and beat my chest, but decided to restrain myself and maybe will do that as I take the boat tonight back to the mainland! Am I surprised? Not really... Sorella Harvey and I knew that it was really likely for one of us to be transferred. So she's going to hold down the fort here in Oristano while I go to Rome and follow-up train a newer missionary.
I have very mixed feelings about going. The past couple transfers here in Oristano have been some of the hardest of my mission. Our faith, patience, charity, and just about every other thing has been tried. I will ALWAYS be ever grateful for Pres. Acerson and Heavenly Father for giving me the opportunity to serve in this city. We came in thinking with high hopes and talked about how we wanted to help grow this branch. We got many emails from friends and family with stories of how other branches around the world grew within months. They inspired us and helped us to do our best here to help people return to church and find new people who wanted to learn more. The branch is pretty much the same now as when I left.
On the outside it can seem like not much was done but this morning as Sister Harvey and I listed the small miracles that we've seen during these past two transfers... it really is amazing how involved the Lord is in this most important work. I think a big part of being here was to refine me. On the way I got to meet and help some incredible people. The inactive women are at least starting to read their Books of Mormon and re-discover their testimonies. It was fun seeing them all yesterday and saying goodbye. I'm convinced that we, as sisters, were sent here at this time especially for Maiken. She has been golden the whole time. We taught her last night for the last time. She's beginning to read the Book of Mormon and has read up until 1 Nephi 7. I asked her how she liked it and expressed my excitment that she's starting and understanding my favorite book on earth! About 5 minutes after the appointment she called and asked me if she had to wait until April when I finish my mission to communicate with me... haha... she also asked if she had to wait till April to know my first name! haha. She's definitely a person I'll keep in touch with and she'll probably come out to visit in Utah before long! I think it's a good thing for me to be leaving her because she's a little attached and it'll be good for her to recognize that the good feelings of the spirit that she's felt with us come from the spirit and learning about the gospel and not me! Phew....that's a lot of detail from Sis. Boynton I know! Whoa! Imagine that.
Anyway, this last week in Oristano has been great. We had interviews with President Acerson. He's the best as always and always helps me a lot. Also got a lot of mail so thanks for writing everybody! With it brought more news of yet ANOTHER wedding of my bosom bud Jennie Proctor!! Now when I get home, both my twins will be married and I'll have to beg their husbands to let us have a girls night out when I get home! Crazy!
I said goodbye to all the people who I've come to know and love yesterday. We pretty much saw everyone in one day! That's little Oristano for ya!
I had a cold over the weekend but that kind of hit it's climax on sunday and has been getting better. I should be able to get some more rest as we take the boat tonight. I'm all packed up and I leave Oristano today around 3 and will travel with some other sisters and we'll get to Rome on Thursday morning to start the next adventure! Until next week..when I'll have more info on life in Rome!
If you haven't heard it enough... I LOVE being a missionary and I'm so blessed thanks to all of your prayers. Thanks everyone!
Love,
Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
JAN 9 2008
Hey all,
Good week... in a nutshell...
Thursday we had a record number of appointments for Oristano... 3! We met with a couple inactives and then with Useni, one of the Africans who has set his baptismal date as the 2 of Feb. This will be about the 3rd baptismal date that we've set with him so we are hoping 3rd time's the charm. His only problem is that he smokes and he told us yesterday that he's slowly decreasing the number of sticks he smokes so we are excited for him. We continue teaching our English class every Thursday as well although there have not been as many students during the holiday season...they should start coming back though... we'll see tomorrow I guess.
Saturday we had another appointment with Maiken and taught some more commandments. She understands everything, as always. We asked her about setting a baptismal date, if she had thought about it anymore. So here's the summary of what she said... she said that she wants to get baptized on a special day. She doesn't want to get baptized in January or February because they are the "sad" months. Her beloved grandmother's birthday is on the 4th of april and that's when she wants to get baptized. Whoa, that's kind of a long time but we said, okay, we can set it for the 4th of april. I don't really know what's going to happen with that but we'll see. We are meeting with her again today.
Monday we had our district meeting in Cagliari like always. We had transfer predictions. Everybody thinks that I'm going to be leaving Oristano, seeing as I have only 2 transfers left and seeing also as Sister Harvey only spent 2 transfers in her first city. But who knows what in the world will happen. I could spend the rest of my mission in Oristano! Next Monday we get calls from President so I'll let you know next email if I'm going or staying!
Yesterday we tried to find some old investigators. We found a couple of them that were really nice and invited us back but don't have any interest in the church. We also took a train in the afternoon to a little city called Marrubiu just a little south of Oristano to find this referral from the elders. We went and found the street and house but the name was different. We talked to practically everyone on the tiny street and they all had never heard of the name before. We decided to do some house with the little extra time we had before taking the train back to Oristano. Sorella Harvey and I both really liked spending an afternoon oustide of Oristano!
Today we came down here to Cagliari (we're doing email in cagliari). We did this hour long hike with the sisters down here. It was really beautiful and overlooked the coast and Cagliari! So beautiful and refreshing! Now we'll head back up to Oristano and continue on with the work!
I love this work and am so grateful everyday for this choice opportunity to be a missionary. I realized the other day that the year 2007 for me will always be one of the best because I spent that whole year as a missionary!
Thanks for everything and I love you all! Alla prossima!
Amore,
Sorella Boynton
Good week... in a nutshell...
Thursday we had a record number of appointments for Oristano... 3! We met with a couple inactives and then with Useni, one of the Africans who has set his baptismal date as the 2 of Feb. This will be about the 3rd baptismal date that we've set with him so we are hoping 3rd time's the charm. His only problem is that he smokes and he told us yesterday that he's slowly decreasing the number of sticks he smokes so we are excited for him. We continue teaching our English class every Thursday as well although there have not been as many students during the holiday season...they should start coming back though... we'll see tomorrow I guess.
Saturday we had another appointment with Maiken and taught some more commandments. She understands everything, as always. We asked her about setting a baptismal date, if she had thought about it anymore. So here's the summary of what she said... she said that she wants to get baptized on a special day. She doesn't want to get baptized in January or February because they are the "sad" months. Her beloved grandmother's birthday is on the 4th of april and that's when she wants to get baptized. Whoa, that's kind of a long time but we said, okay, we can set it for the 4th of april. I don't really know what's going to happen with that but we'll see. We are meeting with her again today.
Monday we had our district meeting in Cagliari like always. We had transfer predictions. Everybody thinks that I'm going to be leaving Oristano, seeing as I have only 2 transfers left and seeing also as Sister Harvey only spent 2 transfers in her first city. But who knows what in the world will happen. I could spend the rest of my mission in Oristano! Next Monday we get calls from President so I'll let you know next email if I'm going or staying!
Yesterday we tried to find some old investigators. We found a couple of them that were really nice and invited us back but don't have any interest in the church. We also took a train in the afternoon to a little city called Marrubiu just a little south of Oristano to find this referral from the elders. We went and found the street and house but the name was different. We talked to practically everyone on the tiny street and they all had never heard of the name before. We decided to do some house with the little extra time we had before taking the train back to Oristano. Sorella Harvey and I both really liked spending an afternoon oustide of Oristano!
Today we came down here to Cagliari (we're doing email in cagliari). We did this hour long hike with the sisters down here. It was really beautiful and overlooked the coast and Cagliari! So beautiful and refreshing! Now we'll head back up to Oristano and continue on with the work!
I love this work and am so grateful everyday for this choice opportunity to be a missionary. I realized the other day that the year 2007 for me will always be one of the best because I spent that whole year as a missionary!
Thanks for everything and I love you all! Alla prossima!
Amore,
Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!
Happy New Year everyone!
It's 2008! Exactly one year ago today, the 2nd of January, I arrived as a new little missionary in Italy! I can't believe how fast time is flying!
Since I last wrote we have had 2 lessons with Maiken. On Saturday we taught her a 3rd lesson and invited her to be baptized. She looked a little scared and in fact she told us that she was a little scared. We told her that there is no rush and that we could set a date and work towards that date. She agreed to that and so we are still waiting for her to pick a specific date. She told us that she feels good in this church but that she just wants to continue to learn more about what becoming a member of the church entails. She wants to be baptized before either Sister Harvey or I leave (which could be possible, or we both might stay another transfer) which would be within the next couple weeks. We met with her again on New Years Eve and taught her about two commandments that she already knew and follows... the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. She's awesome and just understand everything so well. She came to church on Sunday again....4th time in a row! Incredible!
Also on Sunday there were two visitors in church... always a pleasure! It was a young married couple from the states who are currently living in Norway for a year while he goes to school. They decided to come to the island just to visit for a week and happened to be in Oristano for sunday so they came to church. We translated for them and they were amazed at how small the branch is. They invited us to come and eat with them after church so we did and had a fun time talking. Oh yeah, there was also this creepy guy that came to church on sunday. We had been out doing house earlier in the week and he stopped us from his car and said that he knew the mormons. He said "you are sent from heaven, especially you (pointing to me.)" and then told us he was going to come to church Sunday. Yikes. We found his scheda in the area book and he was a past investigator of the elders. So he showed up at sacrament meeting and I tried to stay as far away from him as I could. Yikes, scary Italian men... hope we don't see him again!
Monday we were in Cagliari like usual for our district meeting... that means an hour or more on the train down and the same for the ride back. We had to be in our houses by 6pm. Sorella Harvey and I made a nacho dip that was really good and invited in the new year that way! haha. Tuesday...new years day we had to stay in all day and deep clean our whole apartment, the mission calls it "festa di lavoro." We can't proselyte on this holiday so we started in the morning and finished by 3 or 4 cleaning from ceiling to floor in our apartment. Now it is spick and span.
And that brings me to today...p-day...we'll just do our regular shopping and letter writing.
Have a great week!
Amore,
Sorella Boynton
It's 2008! Exactly one year ago today, the 2nd of January, I arrived as a new little missionary in Italy! I can't believe how fast time is flying!
Since I last wrote we have had 2 lessons with Maiken. On Saturday we taught her a 3rd lesson and invited her to be baptized. She looked a little scared and in fact she told us that she was a little scared. We told her that there is no rush and that we could set a date and work towards that date. She agreed to that and so we are still waiting for her to pick a specific date. She told us that she feels good in this church but that she just wants to continue to learn more about what becoming a member of the church entails. She wants to be baptized before either Sister Harvey or I leave (which could be possible, or we both might stay another transfer) which would be within the next couple weeks. We met with her again on New Years Eve and taught her about two commandments that she already knew and follows... the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. She's awesome and just understand everything so well. She came to church on Sunday again....4th time in a row! Incredible!
Also on Sunday there were two visitors in church... always a pleasure! It was a young married couple from the states who are currently living in Norway for a year while he goes to school. They decided to come to the island just to visit for a week and happened to be in Oristano for sunday so they came to church. We translated for them and they were amazed at how small the branch is. They invited us to come and eat with them after church so we did and had a fun time talking. Oh yeah, there was also this creepy guy that came to church on sunday. We had been out doing house earlier in the week and he stopped us from his car and said that he knew the mormons. He said "you are sent from heaven, especially you (pointing to me.)" and then told us he was going to come to church Sunday. Yikes. We found his scheda in the area book and he was a past investigator of the elders. So he showed up at sacrament meeting and I tried to stay as far away from him as I could. Yikes, scary Italian men... hope we don't see him again!
Monday we were in Cagliari like usual for our district meeting... that means an hour or more on the train down and the same for the ride back. We had to be in our houses by 6pm. Sorella Harvey and I made a nacho dip that was really good and invited in the new year that way! haha. Tuesday...new years day we had to stay in all day and deep clean our whole apartment, the mission calls it "festa di lavoro." We can't proselyte on this holiday so we started in the morning and finished by 3 or 4 cleaning from ceiling to floor in our apartment. Now it is spick and span.
And that brings me to today...p-day...we'll just do our regular shopping and letter writing.
Have a great week!
Amore,
Sorella Boynton
Friday, December 28, 2007
27 Dec 2007
Christmas!!!
The highlight of mine was definitely... sleeping in! Haha just kidding... of course it was talking to the fam!! I got to talk to Mom, Dad, Tom, Andy, Ell, Paul, even little Cash (okay maybe I just heard him breath into the phone : ) , Marg, heard Nate speak some great Italian ; ) , and cute little Maura and Cameron! It was great to hear all of your voices! It always seems a little surreal the next day because now we are back to email... but thanks all and next time I talk to you will be face to face at the airport in April! Yikes!
Here's a quick update on the week...
Last week was great. We had an English class party on Thursday. We had our students watch Mr. Kruegers Christmas in English! haha. I really wish we could have watched a different one but, hey, we're missionaries and our movie collection is limited! People brought food and it was a lot of fun. Some students gave us some nice gifts... this one guys gave us a bottle each of olive oil that he made and that had been sitting since 2003! Yum... I'm currently thinking of a way I could possibly save it and bring it home with me! Vediamo...
Friday was had a couple inactive appointments and shared a nice Christmas message with them. Saturday morning we had another appointment with our golden investigator Maiken. We taught her the end of the second lesson and then also watched the restoration movie with her. At the end we left her with the invite to pray. We also asked her if she wanted to say the closing prayer to end the lesson. She was really shy about it and was scared. It's something I've noticed a lot on my mission!... that people don't just grow up like I did praying all the time and then when they see and hear the missionaries praying all the time they are kind of intimidated to pray in front of us. We explained to her how to pray and she finallydid! She got kinda stuck at the end and forgot how to end it so she looked at me I I just said... "good! now just end 'in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.'" So that was a little miracle. It's so neat to teach people how to pray! Something so simple that we sometimes overlook but also one of the most important things to do... pray and have a relationship with Heavenly Father!
Sunday we had great meetings! Maiken came to all 3 hours of church! She is so awesome and is sooo humble and teachable and WANTS to learn as much as she can. I taught the Gospel Principles class and talked about one of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon... King Benjamin's address and how the people had a change of heart. Sacrament meeting consisted of all the members, including sister Harvey and I, bearing a testimony of Christmas and Christ. We also did a musical number! haha. Imagine me in a trio singing "angels we have heard on high!" Good times that only happen in Oristano! I love it! Sunday afternoon we headed down to Cagliari to sing carols with all the Cagliari missionaries. We spent the night with the sisters and then woke up and went to our Christmas Eve district meeting together. It was great fun. We had a lasagna lunch together and then had a fun little white elephant exchange. Harvey and I then headed back to Oristano for the night. We had to be in our appartments by 6. So we waited till 8:30 and then went to our Christmas Eve dinner apt with the Angius and their whole family!
We ate a ton of really really good food...tortellini with tartufa (some really expensive mushroom broth stuff....(i know the cooks are laughing) and veggies and meat...the whole italian deal. Half the family was drunk on wine so you can imagine when we tried to share our spiritual thought, which included playing a song on the cd player, the crazyness that arose! The mom and sister just started belting out "silent night" in Italian and so pretty much that was that and our thought fizzled! haha. It was actually pretty hilarious. Sister Angius was just rolling her eyes and laughing at her poor crazy family! We finally got out of there by 11:30. Chrismtas morning we woke up at 9:00 (president gave us to sleep in of course!) and then opened gifts. We got ready for the day, did some studies, and then headed over to the church for the phone calls home! We got to watch "the nativity story" as well. Fun day.
Yesterday was p-day and also a holiday here in Italy so everything was closed (ecco perche the mission is emailing today!). But it was also Sister Harvey's b-day. We spent the day up the coast in a city called Bosa. We went with Maiken and her friend Severina. They are so cool and so nice to us. They are about the skinniest people ever because they are really into physical activity. That's fun for me though because we talk all about running and they are training for a marathon! They ask for tips and all I tell them is that it's do-able but pain is required! We had a little picnic on the beach by the mare. It was a beautiful day, really warm and sunny! So that was a blast. While we were walking, I was talking to Maiken. She told me that she had read a little more of Mosiah (what I taught on Sunday) and that if she were to get baptized that she would want to get baptized in our church! I was like freakin out and and she kept talking and I said okay, you can get baptized here in Oristano! Then she was like, but I want to get baptized in YOUR church. I was like, what do you mean MY church. And she say, in Utah! And I was like, what? She has done a lot of research on Utah and really wants to go there. So, I told her she doesn't have to wait and that she can get baptized here. oh brother! We are just going to take things really slow with her... no rush whatsoever. So anyways, she's incredible and there is no doubt that she will get baptized soon. We'll try to set a date with her this week to be baptized in a couple months! It has been such a miracle to see this all unfold. While we have been so concentrated on finding a family, it has been crazy to notice the small things that have led up to Maiken meeting us sisters and being able to be taught. We still search for a family to bless this branch but that fact that sisters were sent here at this time, right when Maiken was starting english class is just incredible. This is Heavenly Father's work and he really leads those who are looking for the truth to us. Well, now starts the after holiday diet. I really think I've gained a couple pounds throughout the last week so I'm starting the "Harvey" diet and will be eating like her for the next while!
Hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you and thank you for your many prayers and great examples!
Love Always,
Sorella Boynton
The highlight of mine was definitely... sleeping in! Haha just kidding... of course it was talking to the fam!! I got to talk to Mom, Dad, Tom, Andy, Ell, Paul, even little Cash (okay maybe I just heard him breath into the phone : ) , Marg, heard Nate speak some great Italian ; ) , and cute little Maura and Cameron! It was great to hear all of your voices! It always seems a little surreal the next day because now we are back to email... but thanks all and next time I talk to you will be face to face at the airport in April! Yikes!
Here's a quick update on the week...
Last week was great. We had an English class party on Thursday. We had our students watch Mr. Kruegers Christmas in English! haha. I really wish we could have watched a different one but, hey, we're missionaries and our movie collection is limited! People brought food and it was a lot of fun. Some students gave us some nice gifts... this one guys gave us a bottle each of olive oil that he made and that had been sitting since 2003! Yum... I'm currently thinking of a way I could possibly save it and bring it home with me! Vediamo...
Friday was had a couple inactive appointments and shared a nice Christmas message with them. Saturday morning we had another appointment with our golden investigator Maiken. We taught her the end of the second lesson and then also watched the restoration movie with her. At the end we left her with the invite to pray. We also asked her if she wanted to say the closing prayer to end the lesson. She was really shy about it and was scared. It's something I've noticed a lot on my mission!... that people don't just grow up like I did praying all the time and then when they see and hear the missionaries praying all the time they are kind of intimidated to pray in front of us. We explained to her how to pray and she finallydid! She got kinda stuck at the end and forgot how to end it so she looked at me I I just said... "good! now just end 'in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.'" So that was a little miracle. It's so neat to teach people how to pray! Something so simple that we sometimes overlook but also one of the most important things to do... pray and have a relationship with Heavenly Father!
Sunday we had great meetings! Maiken came to all 3 hours of church! She is so awesome and is sooo humble and teachable and WANTS to learn as much as she can. I taught the Gospel Principles class and talked about one of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon... King Benjamin's address and how the people had a change of heart. Sacrament meeting consisted of all the members, including sister Harvey and I, bearing a testimony of Christmas and Christ. We also did a musical number! haha. Imagine me in a trio singing "angels we have heard on high!" Good times that only happen in Oristano! I love it! Sunday afternoon we headed down to Cagliari to sing carols with all the Cagliari missionaries. We spent the night with the sisters and then woke up and went to our Christmas Eve district meeting together. It was great fun. We had a lasagna lunch together and then had a fun little white elephant exchange. Harvey and I then headed back to Oristano for the night. We had to be in our appartments by 6. So we waited till 8:30 and then went to our Christmas Eve dinner apt with the Angius and their whole family!
We ate a ton of really really good food...tortellini with tartufa (some really expensive mushroom broth stuff....(i know the cooks are laughing) and veggies and meat...the whole italian deal. Half the family was drunk on wine so you can imagine when we tried to share our spiritual thought, which included playing a song on the cd player, the crazyness that arose! The mom and sister just started belting out "silent night" in Italian and so pretty much that was that and our thought fizzled! haha. It was actually pretty hilarious. Sister Angius was just rolling her eyes and laughing at her poor crazy family! We finally got out of there by 11:30. Chrismtas morning we woke up at 9:00 (president gave us to sleep in of course!) and then opened gifts. We got ready for the day, did some studies, and then headed over to the church for the phone calls home! We got to watch "the nativity story" as well. Fun day.
Yesterday was p-day and also a holiday here in Italy so everything was closed (ecco perche the mission is emailing today!). But it was also Sister Harvey's b-day. We spent the day up the coast in a city called Bosa. We went with Maiken and her friend Severina. They are so cool and so nice to us. They are about the skinniest people ever because they are really into physical activity. That's fun for me though because we talk all about running and they are training for a marathon! They ask for tips and all I tell them is that it's do-able but pain is required! We had a little picnic on the beach by the mare. It was a beautiful day, really warm and sunny! So that was a blast. While we were walking, I was talking to Maiken. She told me that she had read a little more of Mosiah (what I taught on Sunday) and that if she were to get baptized that she would want to get baptized in our church! I was like freakin out and and she kept talking and I said okay, you can get baptized here in Oristano! Then she was like, but I want to get baptized in YOUR church. I was like, what do you mean MY church. And she say, in Utah! And I was like, what? She has done a lot of research on Utah and really wants to go there. So, I told her she doesn't have to wait and that she can get baptized here. oh brother! We are just going to take things really slow with her... no rush whatsoever. So anyways, she's incredible and there is no doubt that she will get baptized soon. We'll try to set a date with her this week to be baptized in a couple months! It has been such a miracle to see this all unfold. While we have been so concentrated on finding a family, it has been crazy to notice the small things that have led up to Maiken meeting us sisters and being able to be taught. We still search for a family to bless this branch but that fact that sisters were sent here at this time, right when Maiken was starting english class is just incredible. This is Heavenly Father's work and he really leads those who are looking for the truth to us. Well, now starts the after holiday diet. I really think I've gained a couple pounds throughout the last week so I'm starting the "Harvey" diet and will be eating like her for the next while!
Hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you and thank you for your many prayers and great examples!
Love Always,
Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Merry Christmas 2007
What a great week it has been...chuck full of incredible miracles... get ready...
Last Wednesday after we finished emailing you we went out to a historical site about 20 minutes away from here called San Giovanni. It's right on the coast. We went because we got invited by our English class friend who I told you about last week, Maiken. We were gone for about 2 hours and during that time we had the chance to talk a little bit about the church. Maiken had been to the church website and knew a lot about the church. She said she had read a story about an Italian who had come to know the church through English class and was eventually baptized. We talked about the word of wisdom, the law of chastity... she just seemed to have read it all. She also read that the missionaries go around teaching lessons to people who want to know more. We told her yep, that's what we are here for! So that was Wednesday. On Thursday we had English class. She came as always. After class she was asking us about the "those lessons" that the missionaries teach and wanted to know if she could hear them! We were like... um OF COURSE! It's not everyday that we have someone ASK US for an appointment. So that's how it's been going with her. Up until now we have taught her the first 2 lessons. She keeps all of her commitments, always reads the chapter we leave etc. She came to church for the second time on Sunday and even brought a friend. Church was amazing because the only talk that was given was by our branch President, President Angius. He said he had felt inspired to share the message out of the liahona....the one elder hales gave on faith in Jesus Christ. He gave an amazing talk and said many things that touched Maiken a lot, even to the point where tears were coming down her cheek. I don't know where it will end up...of course my hope is that she will decide to get baptized... but she is just incredible and definitely one that you could call "a golden investigator." I feel blessed because we have such a good friendship. She loves running and so we talk about that a lot! We'll continue teaching her and let you know how it goes. We joke that by the way things have worked out up until now... she will be the one asking us when she can get baptized!
Another miracle this week was getting down to Cagliari for our weekly district meeting. Due to bad weather the trains were all 2 hrs in ritardo (late) and all the sudden out of no where a miracle train showed up and we were able to go! Yay for tender mercies of the Lord. I've come to know more and more on my mission that these tender mercies happen every day... we just have to recognize them!
Going back in time now....Zone conference was on Friday and was really fun. President and Sorella Acerson gave some trainings and then the Cagliari members made us a good lunch. After that we had a little Christmas program where all of the missionaries did dumb skits or sang or something. Sister Harvey and I made our "Top 10 reasons why we are excited to be serving in Oristano for Christmas" and shared it with everyone.
So here it is....
10. Our Christmas eating appointment comes fully equipped not only with food that Sis. Harvey can eat, but also with slippers, sweaters, and an invite to take a nap on the branch president and his wife's king size bed....WITH his wife! (haha, yes that really happened!)
9. We are probably the only ones in the mission who can spend Christmas day weight lifting and then using the baptismal font in our back patio as a jacuzzi!
8. We don't have to be concerned about public transportation no running on Christmas...(What? Oristano has public transportation?)
7. Forget midnight mass at the Vatican in Rome, we can out-do any practicing catholic by attending part of the Christmas mass in all of the 17 catholic churches in Oristano in 1 night!
6. We don't have to fight over the the phones for Christmas because there's only 2 of us. We might have to beat each other up to see who gets to talk first!
5. Struggling to figure out how you're going to make Christmas Cards for your whole branch? No problem for us seeing as how our branch list fits on less than 1 page!
4. (not funny and I don't have time to write it)
3. Between the lack of dinner appointments and sister Harvery's food allergies, we are in no danger of gaining the holiday 5!
2. At least one time during the holiday our dream of filling the chapel with people will come true... at the English class Chrismtas party! Maybe we can even get a special performance by our branch choir which consists of Sister Boynton and Sister Angius singing and Sister Harvey playing the organ!
1. Perche Dio Ci AMA! (Because God loves us!)
I realize that this might not be funny to you guys but it's hilarious to us!
Okay, love you all and hope you have the best Christmas ever!
Love ya,
care
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
12 Dec 2007
Transfer number 9 starting right up and already flying by.
It's been a pretty busy week. We were let in doing house a couple more times this week. All very nice people I just hope we can go back and actually get some new investigators out of the visits. The people here are generally more open and willing to let you in... it's then just getting a return appointment and really teaching them that's the hard part!
We visited S.lla Medda this week again...I don't know if I've ever mentioned her yet. She's here from Firenze staying and taking care of her aging mother. She used to be the RS pres in Firenze and since there's really no one here we go and visit her and bring her a spiritual message because she isn't really able to make it to church either because of her mom. She's amazing though. She was one of the first members in Oristano...too bad she moved to Firenze because we need a good member like her here!
Saturday was probably the longest day of my entire mission. Despite our efforts to get any appointment, we did finding work the ENTIRE day. We knocked doors all morning in the freezing wind, came in for lunch and studies, and then took a giant suck-it-up pill and went back out and knocked until we finally had an appointment with an inative in the evening. We taught some people and hopefully can re-visit them.
Sunday was a rather busy day. I had been asked to teach the relief society lesson. No big deal because RS consists of my comp and I, Sorella Angius, and then the africans, Patricia and Zuma. So I taught that for the first hour... then I was also asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting. It went rather well, I talked about the importance of the sacrament. The cool thing is that there was one of our English class students there... Maiken (i might have mentioned her earlier.) She's probably like 30 something and is from Denmark. She seems pretty interested but we haven't actually began teaching her yet. After my talk that lasted prob like 15 minutes, one of the africans, Aminu, gave his talk... in English... so I had to get back up and as he gave his talk in English, I translated it into Italian! Kind of difficult and makes me realize that I still have a lot to learn in the language! Just takes some experiences like this to humble you a little!
Monday, like all mondays, we went to DDM in Cagliari. The Cagliari missionaries were all talking about things they had to do to get ready for branch christmas activities etc and me and sister harvery just looked at each other and tried not to cry! We are pretty darn isolated up here and we just have to not compare with what other missionaries around the mission are doing or else we get lost in self-pity!
We are excited for this new transfer and are hoping we can do lots of great work. Thanks for all of your prayers and support. They help tons!
Marg, your paperless card was adorable... loved it.
We'll have Zone Conference on Friday so that should be great fun.
Love ya all,
have a great week and keep warm!
Sorella Boynton
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
5 Dec 2007
Happy December everybody!
I love December and everyone is preparing for Christmas.....I realized that out of the last 4 Christmas's, 3 of them will have been spent in Italy! I'm lucky, I know. : ) Although there will be no skiing in the alps this year...I look forward to it! We sing Christmas songs every comp study, share christmas traditions and are slowly decorating the apartment! Heard you've got some snow there in Utah? It doesn't snow in Oristano but looks like we might be having a "white christmas" (haha) anyways because one of the africans, Useni, has set the goal to be baptized on the 22nd. He just needs to stop smoking still and then he'll be set!
So yeah, we had transfer calls on Monday. I talked to President Acerson and he said "how's it going sister Boynton? How's Oristano." I said, "great president, we're just keepin on keepin on!" Then he said, "okay, well I'm going to ask you to keep on keepin on then and have you stay in Oristano." Big surprise....next transfer starts next week and Sorella Harvery and I will continue to work here in Oristano! We're excited.
We had a great week. We meet with some inactives and had some really good lessons with them. We got to teach an inactives husband who is a non-member. He's pretty catholic. He's from Hungry and is huge! He also has longer hair and a beard and mustache. After the appointment both Sister Harvery and I agreed that he looked like Jesus! Haha! Pretty funny to look over and be teaching him about how Jesus Christ set up his church on the earth!
We had a Reflief Society night on Saturday. Sorella Angius (the pres.) invited her mother, sister, and her sister's friend to come. The topic she had chosen was "the second coming" yeah, not really the best topic to talk about with investigators. The discussion got pretty heated because we were talking about one of the signs being the restoration of the church and to explain that you have to explain the apostasy. So finally the friend made the connection that her baptism in the catholic church wasn't valid, which is always kind of a blow to people. Anyways, crazy times! We ended with a nice refreshment and all went happily on our way.
On monday I also heard some really great news. I don't know if you remember but when I was in Livorno we were working with an excommunicated women named Marlene. Sister Bruno and I were working with her and the other sister and I continued working with her always with the hope that she would be re-baptized. So on Monday at our district meeting, Sister Bruno and I freaked out with joy when we heard that Marlene in Livorno was going to be re-baptized in a week! That was the best news I heard all week! Marlene is getting baptized! I love that woman! I hope to hear more about how that goes!
Yesterday we saw some small miracles.....we finally were able to teach crazy inactive Maria Boeri. We've visited with her a number of times and she would never let us share anything spiritual. So this time we decided to bring the restoration video. She had been a little sick so I said great. "just stay on the couch and we'll tranquilly (whoa, that's italian coming out!) watch this video." So we did and it was great. The spirit was there and we were able to bare testimony of the restoration of the church through Joseph Smith. Awesome. We left subito after so she could just be left with the spirit.
We also were doing house yesterday and this women who must have had a stroke earlier in life, (one side of her body couldn't really move, including her mouth,) answered the door. She said she didn't want to hear our message but let us in anyway. We just talked and then she got curious and asked us what we made us different...of course a missionaries favorite question to answer! We were able to teach a whole first lesson. It was awsome and we left her with a Book of Mormon. She wasn't sure about a return visit but hopefully we can at least go check back with her.
Cool things are happening and I'm so grateful to be a missionary at this time in my life. I know that there's nothing better that I could be doing with my time during this short year and a half. I can't believe I only have 3 transfers left so that means I have to take it up a notch and really give it my all!
Here's a little shoutout to Mom... I was reading this talk this morning and read..."She was small in stature, yet I stand on her shoulders everyday. Her influence will ever be with me. I cannot honor her properly by what I say but only how I live." It was Richard Hinckley talking about his mom, sister hinckley! May 2006 ensign!
Love you all, you're the best.
Sorella Boynton
I love December and everyone is preparing for Christmas.....I realized that out of the last 4 Christmas's, 3 of them will have been spent in Italy! I'm lucky, I know. : ) Although there will be no skiing in the alps this year...I look forward to it! We sing Christmas songs every comp study, share christmas traditions and are slowly decorating the apartment! Heard you've got some snow there in Utah? It doesn't snow in Oristano but looks like we might be having a "white christmas" (haha) anyways because one of the africans, Useni, has set the goal to be baptized on the 22nd. He just needs to stop smoking still and then he'll be set!
So yeah, we had transfer calls on Monday. I talked to President Acerson and he said "how's it going sister Boynton? How's Oristano." I said, "great president, we're just keepin on keepin on!" Then he said, "okay, well I'm going to ask you to keep on keepin on then and have you stay in Oristano." Big surprise....next transfer starts next week and Sorella Harvery and I will continue to work here in Oristano! We're excited.
We had a great week. We meet with some inactives and had some really good lessons with them. We got to teach an inactives husband who is a non-member. He's pretty catholic. He's from Hungry and is huge! He also has longer hair and a beard and mustache. After the appointment both Sister Harvery and I agreed that he looked like Jesus! Haha! Pretty funny to look over and be teaching him about how Jesus Christ set up his church on the earth!
We had a Reflief Society night on Saturday. Sorella Angius (the pres.) invited her mother, sister, and her sister's friend to come. The topic she had chosen was "the second coming" yeah, not really the best topic to talk about with investigators. The discussion got pretty heated because we were talking about one of the signs being the restoration of the church and to explain that you have to explain the apostasy. So finally the friend made the connection that her baptism in the catholic church wasn't valid, which is always kind of a blow to people. Anyways, crazy times! We ended with a nice refreshment and all went happily on our way.
On monday I also heard some really great news. I don't know if you remember but when I was in Livorno we were working with an excommunicated women named Marlene. Sister Bruno and I were working with her and the other sister and I continued working with her always with the hope that she would be re-baptized. So on Monday at our district meeting, Sister Bruno and I freaked out with joy when we heard that Marlene in Livorno was going to be re-baptized in a week! That was the best news I heard all week! Marlene is getting baptized! I love that woman! I hope to hear more about how that goes!
Yesterday we saw some small miracles.....we finally were able to teach crazy inactive Maria Boeri. We've visited with her a number of times and she would never let us share anything spiritual. So this time we decided to bring the restoration video. She had been a little sick so I said great. "just stay on the couch and we'll tranquilly (whoa, that's italian coming out!) watch this video." So we did and it was great. The spirit was there and we were able to bare testimony of the restoration of the church through Joseph Smith. Awesome. We left subito after so she could just be left with the spirit.
We also were doing house yesterday and this women who must have had a stroke earlier in life, (one side of her body couldn't really move, including her mouth,) answered the door. She said she didn't want to hear our message but let us in anyway. We just talked and then she got curious and asked us what we made us different...of course a missionaries favorite question to answer! We were able to teach a whole first lesson. It was awsome and we left her with a Book of Mormon. She wasn't sure about a return visit but hopefully we can at least go check back with her.
Cool things are happening and I'm so grateful to be a missionary at this time in my life. I know that there's nothing better that I could be doing with my time during this short year and a half. I can't believe I only have 3 transfers left so that means I have to take it up a notch and really give it my all!
Here's a little shoutout to Mom... I was reading this talk this morning and read..."She was small in stature, yet I stand on her shoulders everyday. Her influence will ever be with me. I cannot honor her properly by what I say but only how I live." It was Richard Hinckley talking about his mom, sister hinckley! May 2006 ensign!
Love you all, you're the best.
Sorella Boynton
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)