March 27, 2013 Update

Buona Pasqua a Tutti!

Well, last Thursday, I met Sorella Pace, my great new companion from Holladay, Utah. She came with a great sense of missionary work and we are getting along really well together. It has been so interesting to see the Italian missionary life through her eyes. Her first pizza, first double kiss greeting, first time going to someone's house and realizing that, no, they aren't in the middle of an argument, that's just how they talk with one another. Also, to see how much the mission becomes a part of you and how much I have changed. The other day, we were walking to the metro, when I saw it coming and automatically started running. After arriving, she said that her initial thought was wondering I was running because someone was about to shoot us. We laughed a bit, but let's say that sprinting skills are an asset in a mission with no set transportation schedule and buses that may or may not pass every half-hour. A fun twist, her dad actually served his mission in Argentina and her grandparents were mission presidents there. At their time, all Argentina and Chile were one mission. How times change! I may learn some Argentinian food, so we'll see how it goes. 

One thought I had from this week came from reading over D&C 88, which talks about light. The verses describe the Christ as the light that is in us. It is a light that shines into the darkness and the darkness does not understand it. For my whole mission, I have looked to understand what it means to let your light shine. It comes steady and constant, so matter what is around you. Whether those around are dark or light. When it is dark, it may take more courage to allow your light to shine, yet it in of itself is enough. It's source: your testimony of Jesus Christ and all that his gospel entails. 

Everyone keeps asking us what we think about the new pope. He seems like a good man that will do good. However, I know that nothing is more than having a living prophet,  President Thomas S. Monson, of whom I have the humble honor of representing for 18 months of my life.

I love this work. I love all of you. Your photos in the package were lovely!

Sorella Lovell

March 20, 2013 Update

Hey Everyone,

Ok. I enjoy rain as much as the next person and have some great memories of getting completely soaked. This has not been one of those weeks. Ostia is beautiful, but is not known for it's draining. Yet some adventure can be added to any day by making it an obstacle course to get to the next lesson. And it's all done in a skirt.

This past week we had the chance to see a the hand of the Lord in the hand of a special family's life. Two small boys, Matteo and Federico Bachini, were baptized by their father. Their sister Micaela has been the force in their family for the past three years and it all came to this. She is going to be a great misssionary and is a sweet friend. As I saw their father walk with them into the baptismal font, I was hit by the events that I have missed in my own family. You mean so much to me. Yet I felt in the same spirit a feeling that this is why I am in my mission. It was a seasoned and, perhaps somewhat battle-scarred, feeling. Yet I felt the joy of having fulfilled the call of the Lord to serve a mission. For this time, I was to be here for this dear family.

A transfer is ending and I am going to miss my companion, S.lla Caramia. I have learned a lot about being yourself, whatever that sponataneously may be. Oh, and P.S. I have been called to train next transfer. The new missionaries have arrived and I will meet my new sister tomorrow. I'm excited to be able to serve and help a new sister. Here goes nothing. I need to be myself more than ever.

Love you all,

Erica

March 13, 2013 Update

As the flood continues to run down the streets, I'm sitting happy and dry in our local internet spot. We've had a bit of a cold spell. A fashion tip from Italy: The eight foot long scarves are not just for fashion. Wrapping it around 3...4...5 times makes them really warm. For space, I had to leave mind at Rome 1 when I moved, but it was nice to have for the worst of the winter.

 

Living in Italy, patience comes in a special sort of way. If comes in seeing the slow progress daily. Noticing the small miracles manifesting the hand of the Lord. Work comes, and work goes, like no one suddenly answering your phone calls... Yet we keep smiling, singing, working and hoping.

 

I can't say how much I love our morning study. When we have to skip it for travelling, etc, it feels like I have lost my powerboost for the day and I catch whatever I can on whichever metro or bus we take. This week, I had an epiphany. In Matthew, the Pharisees judge the apostles because they begin to harvest corn and eat it on the Sabbath day. Christ response said simply that if they understood that the phrase: "He desires mercy more than sacrifice" (something like that) then they would not judge those without fault. In looking further, the Savior was refering to Hosea 6:6 "For I desired mercy, not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." In the original Hebrew, mercy was denoted as kindess or charity. I know that we have rules and laws. Yet in the same section, the Lord declared himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath. His followers were hungrey and so he allowed them to eat. This needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but as I have gone through the mission, I have learned that we as missionaries are not here to fulfill the rules. In considering the spirit of the law, they are here to protect and bless the missionaries and those who they serve. Yet we are also given the spirit to know how to apply them. There are moments that it is wiser to apply charity and kindness that throwing the book at one in need.

 

This past week, we met Mario. He has lost four members of his family in the past eight year. Coming from Sardenia, it's an adventure with his dialect, yet he has felt touched in our lessons and we look forward to continue teaching him. He is one from whom I have learned we all need someone to just listen.

 

Well, I love Italy, I love my crazy, amazing, wonderful companion - S.lla Caramia, and family, I love each of you.

 

Un baccione!

 

Sorella Lovell

 

 

P.S. I heard from my Grandma that she has been asked to sing at the Relief Society dinner in her ward in the small Lost River Valley, Idaho. It's a small world, because I have been asked to sing this weekend at the Stake Relief Society birthday celebration for the Rome Stake. I got it all from her. What can I say, I have great "genes". :) Good luck Grandma, I sure that you will be lovely. Give a hug to Grandpa and Rachelle for me.

March 6, 2013 Update

Ciao a tutti,

News for the week starts with the baptism of Franceso and Matteo Banchini next Thursday! They are young brothers, 9 and 11, whose sister Micaela, has been taking them to church for years. Their interview is tomorrow evening, so we'll have the next week to get everything set.

On Monday, I gave the training in our DDM. It put together some thoughts I've had or learned from most of my mission, so here it is, the main points at least. I chose to focus on the affect of having a vision and how we work together with the Holy Ghost to create a vision.

"The setting of goals is not nearly so important as setting a vision for indiviuals and organizations. Wisefully selected goas are immediate mile posts that mark our course. Vision on the other hand is far more reaching and exceeds the goal in importance. A vision is like a lighthouse, which illuminates rather than limits, gives direction rather than destination. Almost all successful individuals and organizations have one thing in common: the power and depth of their vision. A positive, meaningful vision of the future, supported by compelling goals provides purpose and direction in the present." - James J. Mapes

Many examples in the scriputures illustrate this point, perhaps the strongest of which is Job. His story lends itself well to endurance, yet it was his knowledge that, "though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." (Job 19:26)

We have a clear mission vision, the main point of which is: Fill the temple of Rome with the children of God.

Goals function as the actions, or stepping stones, that allow us to realize our vision. We set goals yearly (March isn't too far from January..), monthly (or transfers) and daily. On the importance of goals, President Monson has said, "It is necessary to prepare and to plan so that we don't fritter away our lives. Without a goal there can be no real success. One of the best definitions of success I have ever heard goes something like this: Success is the realization of a worthy ideal. Someone has said the trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never cross the goal line."

Ok. I don't have a lot of time left, so here are the rest of the scriptures and quotes and I'll leave it to you to imagine what happened inbetween:

Preach my gospel (in italian) - page 146 - key indicators

Role of the Holy Ghost

Preach my gospel (also italian)- 156 - goals

Where do we come in?:

Alma 29:4, D&C 58:26-28

"God is the author of all good and yet if you rightly understood yourself, you would not directly attribute every good act you perform to our Father in Heaven, nor His Son, Jesus Christ, nor the Holy Ghost. Neither will you attribute every evil act of man or woman to the devil or His spirits of influence. For man is organized by His creator to act perfectly, independently of all influences there are above or beneath. Those influences are always attending Him and they are always ready to dictate and to directò to lead him unto truth or to lead Him unto destruction. But is He always guided by those influences in every act? He is not. It is ordained of God that we should act independently in and of ourselves and the good is present when we need it. If we will ask for it, it is with us." - President Brigham Young.

I know this church is true. I love seeing the light come on when people understand and feel that there is something more. I know that each of us have the power to create a vision for ourselves, our families, and our missions, all the same in the end result of our desire to return home with our families to our Father in Heaven and help as many others as we can on our war.. This sustains us and provides a strength for us to rely and keep walking. I invite you to do all you can to help other to be able to have this vision for themselves.

Vi voglio bene.

Sorella Lovell

Photos

1. Ostia Relief Society

2. Ostia Antica! Picture Pompei, only sediment from the Tiber river instead of volcanic ash. It is amazing. That was an old theater, which was great fun. It also has a Roman bath converted Christian basilica from about 160 AD.

3. Emiglia with her costume from Carnevale. They were everywhere.

 

 

February 27, 2013 Update

Dear Family, Friends, and whoever else happens to read this,

Where to start? Our area continues to go forward as seek to strengthen the members and work with the leaders to help them form a united ward. I can't say enough of how much difference it makes to have a welcoming ward for when we bring investigatrors, etc. At this point, there are amazing individuals, and we are working to help them see and be aware of that in each other.

One of these amazing members is Tina Frau. She is a 74 year old Sardanian with a will like few I have ever known. Her husband left her and her five children over thirty-five years ago, leaving her to provide for them along. It was after this that she met the missionaries. She remains the one source of income in her home, which still includes children and grandchildren. Yet her I will never forget her behavior this last Monday at our family home evening. Her home is open to all, including her ex-husband and his companion. After talking of the celestial kingdom, she shared her testimony that it is true and invited them to meet with the missionaries so that they can receive the blessings of this happiness. The evening then ended as she danced to the closing hymn. It truly is amazing what power the gospel brings into our lives and allows us to extend the same blessings to those around us no matter the circumstances.

As for me, I am still learning daily and learning to live each moment to the fullest without hurrying on to the next. With the new sisters, Slla Caramia and I will probably only be together for one transfer, as there is a good chance both of us will be training this next transfer or the following. In other words, we are living and learning from each other as much as we can. At the end of the transfer, twenty missionaries are returning home, including half of my companions and most of the Elders with whom I have served. Last week, we received notice that as of July, our mission will be under the direction of Michael and Anna Waddoups, from West Jordan, Utah. A lot of change coming. Such is a part of life.

Tanto amore e un abbraccio forte,

Sorella Lovell