I don't know why, but i'm really struggling to write this email right now! I've probably started it about 5 times...haha. I don't want to have to repent later for saying anything bad, but siblings, i've only recieved letters from Mom in the past 3 weeks and we'll just leave it at that. I love you all and I need your letters! I'm sure you all remember on your missions how much they mean. Okay, now i'm really done. On to the good stuff!
Yay! Marcelo is baptized! He was baptized on the 4th of July...all the fireworks were really in recognition of Marcelo. The service was really great. I put together a musical number with all the missionaries in our district (there are 11...yeah, it's really big) and it was really beautiful. The spirit was strong througout the whole service. Afterwards we gave marcelo a scripture case with a triple combination and BOM in Spanish. I also found a CTR ring that I had and gave it to him (he and Rosita wanted to buy them together, but they don't have any money!) We also gave him some old missionary clothes that were left over from when some Elders went home that were his size so he could have a white shirt to wear to church. We also found some other clothes that we're going to give to him. He still hasn't been able to get into his old apartment to get his stuff, so we're trying to help him out as much as we can. The new apartment didn't work out, and it was another huge trial of his faith. We're kind of a little bit more than upset because the members gave the apartment they had promised him to another member and now Marcelo literally faces the idea of living on the street this Saturday. He would have been searching for one, but he thought that they had it all worked out, even though he hadn't asked for help. He's going through an incredible amount of hard things, but we call him and he says he's reading the Book of Mormon that we gave him often to try and stay happy and have hope. When we found out about the apartment, we went home to our apartment to pray, and neither of us could barely talk. I started praying, and I felt I needed to pray for a miracle, but then I thought, no...we can pray for miracles! Then I felt prompted again and again to do so. I didn't tell my companion this, and the next day she felt prompted to do the same thing. We'll see what happens! I know prayers are answered, and God wants the right thing to happen with Marcelo. All we can do is help him as much as we can to stay strong in the gospel, and keep praying for him.
We had a great appointment with our investigator Valentina last night. We went over to her apartment and made dinner together, and watched the Testaments while we ate. She really liked it, and had a lot of questions. She is so accepting of everything we teach her, but we are trying to get her to start to make commitments. The food we ate was sooo good. We cooked these gnocchiolini (which are just really small potato gnocchi) and fried in olive oil. some chopped up eggplant with garlic and smeck (this type of cured ham it Italy...they love cured ham here). Then we added the gnocci to the fried stuff, took out the garlic, and added this sweet provologne cheese. YUUUUUUUUM. There's definitely a reason why I feel like i'm gaining weight! haha. Then for dessert I made brownies with white chocolate, and we heaped on the ice cream, whipped cream and other toppings to make a brownie sunday. The italians loved it, but they think americans are crazy. We really do eat a lot of sweets and fat in america!
Let's see, in other miraculous news...we were going to visit an inactive sister that lives about 2 hours away from us, so we had to leave super early Saturday morning, and just as we were about to get on the train, a sister from our ward called and asked what we were doing, and if she could come along with us. It turns out that she was reading her scriptures, and she felt prompted to call us. It was really a miracle, because both she and the inactive sister have children with mental disabilties, and the inactive sister has been upset with the church because no one has been out to visit her. She was overwhelmed with joy when we showed up with the other sister. It was seriously a miraculous appointment. I've really learned how incredibly important visiting and home teaching are for this church. If you haven't done it this month...repent! haha I'm not even kidding. This church needs it. You don't even realize what a difference it makes in the lives of members and helping them to stay active.I love you all even though you haven't written to me. (I'm probably going to have to repent for that later...)
baci e ambracci!
Jenessa
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