Counting Miracles

Ciao Family :) hi hi hi hi

Just writing from a little internet point with church bells ringing in the background. I absolutely LOVE serving in Rome. We are always SUPER busy and there are so many people to talk to. I still miss Sardegna a lot, but I'm loving serving here in Rome. 

We have done SO much this last week that I don't know where to start. I wish I had time to write EVERYTHING... but I guess I need to save SOME stuff for later or no one will want to listen to my mission stories when I get home. 

SO.

Miracles for the week: 

I got W.O.K. for lunch last week. Who knew curry would be such a treasure when there are 12 pizza places that make up the food court at the mall here in Rome? (I had to buy more clothes because they couldn't bring my other suitcase over from Sardegna at the conference like they thought they would... no complaints here.) 

We got 2 new investigators!  One of them is Muslim, so we had to get special permission to teach her.  She comes from Morocco and she is the coolest.  Her name is Zara.. so we get along real well. (ZARA is also the name of a popular clothing store).  

We are teaching her English and then we teach the gospel after our lessons.  The other investigator is a daughter of a lady who is getting baptized tomorrow! (double miracle)  

Anna is an investigator the previous sisters were teaching, so Sorella Foster and I have been teaching her with the elders (to make the transition easier because she already knows them), and she got the okay go to get baptized this Thursday!  SO we are way excited about that. We are also teaching her daughter, Giorgia, and now the other daughter, Elaina. 

Miracle:  I got to do a scambi with Sorella Fossa who is from Pordenone and her parents know Paige!  How cool is that?!  

Sorelle:  Bennett, Fossa and O'Connor

It was really fun having an Italian companion for the day. She served here in Rome 2 her first transfer so she really helped show me around and know more about the members and some investigators and just where everything is. 

Pajama Time
Side Story:  So for my birthday, Paige sent me this pink floral nightgown which apparently is really popular where she was serving.   They sell nightgowns everywhere in Italy.. like they have whole stores just for pajamas.  

Anyway, Paige sent me one for my birthday because she has a matching one.   I had it on to go to bed and Sorella Fossa says "No way.. where did you get that?"   

I told her Paige sent it to me and she goes, "I have the same one!  I just didn't bring it with me because I was too embarrassed to wear it in front of people."  So I thought that was funny.  Famous Nightgowns of Pordenone. 

Paige and the other Pordenone Sorelle

Hypnotized
Also, we've finally been able to meet with some of the other investigators that we had before.  A big challenge we have working with investigators is teaching them a different way to pray. We have one investigator who seriously becomes hypnotized.  

We'll be teaching and a word we say will remind her of a certain prayer and her eyes will glaze over and she'll start reciting the prayer and then turn back to normal.  So yeah, we are working on teaching more about prayer. 

Political Party
Also another investigator told us that she thinks that God should just destroy all the wicked people now. She also thinks that God TOLD Obama to send a bomb to Syria. 

(By the way... are we in a war or something?  I know you want to keep me sheltered from world news, but I would like A LITTLE political update if our country goes to war or sends bombs from the base here in Italy. ??  ...at least that's what they say on the streets) So it's always a party. 

They Come at the End
Miracle:  I'm trying to teach Sorella Foster how to do park finding and we found this BEAUTIFUL park called "Villa Ada."  

So we get there and we sit on the bench for a minute because I wanted her to practice talking to me first.  

Then this girl sits next to us and is like, "Hey can I sit here?"

and I'm thinking "YES YES YES!"

...Everyone else runs away from us.  We ended up teaching her the whole first lesson!  It was just a small miracle because she didn't accept our offer to know more, but it was a sweet little teaching opportunity. 

So anyway, we decided to make a goal of how many people we are going to stop.  I had already stopped all my people and Sorella Foster had 3 left:  two immediate shut-downs and then when she goes to stop the last lady,  Guess What?  

We got to take a bus back to the metro with her as she is reading the Book of Mormon and we get her phone number.  So cool.  Miracles always come at the end... after we've exercised all our faith and talked to everyone in the park.. 

the miracle is always the last one. 

Keeping us Busy
Miracle:  Monday we had one lesson scheduled and planned to do a couple hours of finding afterwards.  Then we get a call from the new bishop. 

(Our ward was just split in two, and we still don't know which one we will be a part of... but one of the bishops is the husband of the cute family that is the Italian version of Taza from "Rockstar Diaries."  seriously, the cutest couple ever. I want to be them.  Sorella Foster and I have the biggest crush on their family... anyways.) 

So he calls and is like, "Hey sisters, do you have an appointment tonight?"  

We tell him that we are free after 18:00 (6 pm), and he says 

"Want to come over for FHE?  I have a co-worker coming over and I want you guys to be there.   Then we can invite him to stay for a spiritual thought."  

Sorella Foster and I were dancing in our seats on the bus.  

THEN the 1st counselor from the OTHER ward calls and says, "Hey, so we have been talking to the mission president and we are basically begging him to assign the sisters to OUR ward..."   

So I thought that was funny because we have 8 elders and only 2 sisters.  

Then on Sunday, the members were saying to us, "Hey so we have this friend we want you to come see."  

and we are like, "YES!  EVERYONE IS GIVING US REFERRALS." 

Don't tell the anziani.  Everyone asks them to do the service projects and then they give all their referrals to us.  it's cool. 

Kaitlin with a member.  The Rome Temple is to the left--under the big crane in the skyline.

ANYWAYS.  We love it here in Rome.  Lots of work to do, but we are happy and we are working hard. 

Thanks for all the updates from home, Mom.  I love getting those letters.  You can send everything to the office because I get it right away (perks).  So, thank you.  Also, can you send me a pic from my baptism?  Thanks. 

With love from Rome,

Sorella O'Connor 

Also:  the bishop's wife asked me to take family photos for them as a service.  She also said I get to pick the location and her clothes. dreams really do come true. 

(Email Sent - September 25, 2013)