Salve!
Honestly, this week (after last P-Day) started out hard. Last Wednesday through Saturday was the hottest part of the year. On top of that, Sorella Hoffman and I ate some bad food-- if you ever have the chance to eat kebap, don't take it, but I think it might actually be illegal in the US-- on Thursday and were sick from Thursday until Monday. We still did work on Thursday and Friday, but on Saturday we stayed in bed all day and vomited all night haha. I was excited for Sunday because the church does a break-the-fast every Fast Sunday, but we were too weak from the day before, so we slept and stayed in bed all day again. Same with Monday.
😅 We had our appointment with the Jehovah's Witnesses on Friday at a park near where we live. Sorella Hoffman and I studied their pamphlet to prepare. We think they used the internet to prepare hahaha. They were very nice, though. They wanted to talk about the church's views on war, because the JWs don't believe in participating in war at all, which is a bit different than us. They pulled out Alma 26:32 and a bunch of bible scriptures. We talked about war for like 20 minutes, and I didn't really see that we were edifying each other in any way. So when there was a lull in the conversation, I asked if it would be alright if we shared our purpose as missionaries with them, and they said yes. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism/covenants, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end), the Atonement, and the strength that we feel from the gospel. I felt the Spirit a lot stronger when we were talking about Christ than when we were trying to prove each other wrong. They still didn't want our copies of the Book of Mormon at the end, but one of them might come to our English class.
😅
😀 On Monday night we had Serata Familiare (Family Home Evening) at the church building, and Slla. Hoffman and I went. It was our first time out of the house in three days straight. I forgot in those three days how wonderful Italy is... it was good to be reminded again.
Last Wednesday we had a lesson with an investigator who is our age and has been taking the missionary discussions for a while. She speaks great English, speaks even better Italian, and her first language is Russian-- we have our lessons in Italian, though. She is very knowledgable in the gospel and she reads the scriptures and prays, but she hasn't come to church in like 34 weeks (not 3-4, but 34). So it's been a while. Anyway, Sorella Hoffman and I had a lesson with her and it went very well. She said she would ask her parents if she could come to church, but they've always said no in the past, so she told us she might not be able to. Then! Yesterday! We found out she came to church! While we were puking our guts out, she was at church. It made me so happy. And she had a great time.
Funny story: if you have ever heard that the elevators in Italy are sketchy... this is true. A couple days ago we were in the elevator in our building and it stopped between floors, and the doors opened to a cement wall. It was creepy. But we just pressed our button again and it worked. (That wasn't the funny story, sorry haha) Yesterday two ladies actually got stuck in the elevator on our floor. There's a small window on the door and the lights in the elevator shut off. If you can imagine two Italian ladies freaking out, yelling "Mamma mia!" and such, that is exactly what it was like. It was hilarious. We had to call someone to come fix the elevator and they were fine. Sorry if that didn't up being as funny as any of you thought.
😂 Today for P-Day we took a funivia (cablecar) in northern Bergamo and rode up to Selvino, a place way up in the mountains. The weather is perfect and the views are super beautiful. We walked through the town a little bit and then took a ski lift up higher in the trees. Once we were there, we went to an "adventure park" and did a bunch of roped obstacle courses in the trees. It was fun! I will attach some pictures of the views from Selvino and might have some pics from the adventure park next week.
Alma 26:27 "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." I know the Lord helps us bear our burdens and will always comfort us in our times of need. We just have to let him.
I'm attaching a picture of Slla. Hoffman and I from last week up at La Città Alta, some pictures we took when we were sick, and some pictures from today's p-day. I hope everyone has a great week!
Con amore,
Sorella Johnson
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