Wednesday, June 12: The Art of Choosing Happiness
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
This week I fell in love with missionary work.
I
feel like I've discovered my purpose here, and even more importantly,
God's purpose for me, here in this beautiful city of Catania and I am
just bursting with gratitude and amazement at the mercy, grace, and
goodness of God. This week a song Sorella Pike and I kept going back to
and playing is "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty"
Verse 3. Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy way and defend thee.
Surely his goodness and mercy shall ever attend thee.
Ponder anew
What the Almighty can do,
Who with his love doth befriend thee
I usually try to keep my emails quick (you're welcome 
)
but this week I want to try to give you all even the smallest glimpse
into the miracles we missionaries see everyday. This week was packed
full of them and my testimony is stronger than ever that Jesus Christ
and His angels are going forth with us.
)
but this week I want to try to give you all even the smallest glimpse
into the miracles we missionaries see everyday. This week was packed
full of them and my testimony is stronger than ever that Jesus Christ
and His angels are going forth with us. AJ, Courtney, and Haddie
I don't think I have ever met a better missionary than this guy. I am so inspired.
The
official start of summer also means the start of tourist season and
though it makes it pretty hard to street contact in centro haha, church
is so so fun meeting people from all over who are visiting!! One of
these families was AJ, Courtney, and their daughter Haddie. They are
fellow Idahoans (
)
and were here visiting for Haddie's senior trip and because AJ served
his mission here tanti anni fa! They are amazing and on Sunday helped a
new friend who came to church get hooked on family search and
discovering her grandpa!! Then on Monday night Sorella Pike and I were
just sitting at the table around 9:30pm when the phone rang. It was AJ!
He said "Sisters I'm here in downtown Catania and I've got 2 families
here for you we just met, they're super interested in the church and
English course. I'm going to hand the phone to them, you're going to
explain your purpose and then get their number and you're golden. Ok
ready?" THESE 2 FAMILIES ARE ABSOLUTELY ELECT YOU GUYS. They live by us
and the church. They are searching for a new church. The wife is from
America, the husband from italy. They have the sweetest daughter in a
wheelchair named Annie. And they absolutely love us and the fact we
speak English and Italian. This family is going to be sealed in the
temple one day. As AJ said: "Dream that stuff out loud- it can happen".
The next day we got another call- AJ again!!! He said they had just
spent all day in Palermo with this family, taught them about prophets,
the plan of salvation, and the BOM, told them we would give them a copy.
He gave us tons of advice for moving forward.
)
and were here visiting for Haddie's senior trip and because AJ served
his mission here tanti anni fa! They are amazing and on Sunday helped a
new friend who came to church get hooked on family search and
discovering her grandpa!! Then on Monday night Sorella Pike and I were
just sitting at the table around 9:30pm when the phone rang. It was AJ!
He said "Sisters I'm here in downtown Catania and I've got 2 families
here for you we just met, they're super interested in the church and
English course. I'm going to hand the phone to them, you're going to
explain your purpose and then get their number and you're golden. Ok
ready?" THESE 2 FAMILIES ARE ABSOLUTELY ELECT YOU GUYS. They live by us
and the church. They are searching for a new church. The wife is from
America, the husband from italy. They have the sweetest daughter in a
wheelchair named Annie. And they absolutely love us and the fact we
speak English and Italian. This family is going to be sealed in the
temple one day. As AJ said: "Dream that stuff out loud- it can happen".
The next day we got another call- AJ again!!! He said they had just
spent all day in Palermo with this family, taught them about prophets,
the plan of salvation, and the BOM, told them we would give them a copy.
He gave us tons of advice for moving forward. I
am so inspired by this man. He's probably in his 40s, 20+ years later
after his mission, still worthy and willing to allow Heavenly Father to
guide his paths and make him an instrument in His hands. I want to be
like this. He has so much passion for the work and said he just wants to
move back here and do missionary work all day haha. He's the ward
mission leader in his ward and has missionary lessons every Sunday in
his home. And get this haha last night he texts us "Hey can I get the
number of the Sorelle in Palermo?" I think he found more people for the
Palermo sorelle hahahah LEGEND.
Alice
Alice
came to church on Sunday!!! It was fast and testimony Sunday for us
this week. Sorella Pike had to go sit by another friend during the
meeting and I was a little worried because I would need to answer all
her questions on her own and my Italian is still coming. As the
testimonies began tears started streaming down Alice's face and I gave
her a hug. After the meeting she said that every single testimony was an
answer to her prayers. And the other huge miracle: I'm not even kidding
you guys- I understood every word of those testimonies. Including a
woman with a very thick accent who 2 weeks ago I had no clue what she
was talking about. I was able to talk to Alice about it and answer her
questions. Miracle.
Also Alice's dad is an underwater photographer- just got to add that cause it's soooo cool his photos are beautiful!!
Antonella
One
of my favorite personalities ever. We have been worried she just likes
meeting with us because she wants to stay at our house when she comes to
America and because we help teach her english...but one night this week
she randomly called us and asked if we could say a prayer and share a
scripture with her. Sorella Pike opened to a random page in the Book of
Mormon and it was Lehi's vision of the tree of life. She LOVED it and
said how she went to a magnolia tree farm that morning and was pondering
and praying under the tree and felt super connected to God and it was
no coincidence that we shared the story. The next day we called again
and she said "I can't stop thinking about this story!" She had the
biggest smile and was happier than I've ever seen her. She also said "I
feel something growing in my heart, I think it's my faith" It was so
amazing!!!! We talked about other parables in the Bible and Book of
Mormon too! She said the most tender closing prayer: hard to translate
directly from Italian but somewhere along the lines of: "thank you for
sending me my angels to be my guides"
Clelia
Got
gelato with a young adult aged girl who is so cute, fun, and prepared
to learn about the gospel. She asked about why the name of the church is
what it is and after we explained, said "wow, that's just so
beautiful." We got her the Book of Mormon app on her phone and are
meeting with her again! ;)
Woman on bus
Talked
to a lady on the bus about her bag and who I was and then the convo
ended. 3 minutes later she turned around suddenly and said:
"I actually really want to learn english, would you be able to help me?" UM YES!!
Maria Amato
A
member who is an absolute fireball. Curly hair, big personality, and
Italian through and through haha. At the ward pranzo on Sunday she let
out the biggest "BOH" i've heard in my life and sorella pike and I died
laughing. (Boh is a way to say I don't know/whatever.) She also just has
the sweetest heart. We went to go help her pack because she's moving
and afterward she said "Grazie per lo spirito che avete portato mi sono
sentita amata. Buonanotte" So sweet.
Sara
Drove
about 45 minutes to visit Sara. The drive there was absolutely
INCREDIBLE alongside the ocean and the view of Mt Etna all green for the
summer and the wildflowers and architecture and windy roads wow wow
wow. One of those times I definitely catch myself thinking wait am I on
vacation or a mission haha. I am one lucky girl to live here. Sara has a
type of autism and because her parents passed away she is living in a
type of community for those with mental disabilities. It made me a
little nervous going in at first I won't lie because there were some
people acting crazy and I wasn't sure the situation but then I started
thinking about Jesus. Jesus did not minister to the whole. He walked
among the sick and afflicted. And in a real way I got to do that this
week. Sara is so prepared, so so smart, and ready to learn!!!
Some other things that happened this week and brought me happiness!!
️ -Tried
Siciliano almond milk- SO GOOD. For context there is more sugar in it
than almond hahaha but it is yumm good. Kind of like horchata but almond
flavored.
-Bought the olive oil of my LIFE from a little farmers market stand in centro. It's from trees made at the base of mt etna 
Sorella Pike and I are obsessed.
Sorella Pike and I are obsessed. -Had
just the best chats and laughs with Sorella Pike this week. I love her.
It hasn't been an easy training for the trainer or the trainee haha but
I have learned so much from her that Heavenly Father knew I couldn't
have learned from anyone else. I am so truly grateful for her!!
-Saw a wedding downtown and it made my whole entire day. Heavenly Father knew I was missing my rom coms 
Who can you smile at today??
Sorella McCune
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