Wednesday, December 4: Alessio's baptism ❄️
Wednesday, December 4, 2024: Alessio's baptism ❄️
This week might've been the best week of my mission so far! I'm not one
to do day by day but this one deserves it so hang in there haha 
On
Wednesday they set up the Christmas markets in centro! They're sooo
cute and festive, each little stand with garland and lights and selling
fun homemade nativities and treats. Christmastime in Italy might just be
my favorite thing ever. Sorella Briscoe and I shopped all morning, got
pizza, and then did a turkey bowl with the District and ZLs.
Thursday - Thanksgiving!!!
This
Thanksgiving was one of my favorite yet. It was so special, even being
in a country that doesn't celebrate it haha. We woke up at the crack of
dawn to finish making our pumpkin pie from scratch--#momsintraining--which
actually turned out so good! We started the morning off with a big
blitz in centro and were able to give out some Books of Mormon and get
tons of numbers for English course! Then us and the anziani went to our
favorite family's house: the Felt's!! We had a giant Thanksgiving dinner
(complete with Sweet potato casserole like my mom's :)) with them and a
new convert Lambert, who is from the Ivory Coast and is the coolest
ever. I can never say just how grateful I am for the Felt family. Not
only are they incredible member missionaries but also never fail to make
me feel at home. It was so much fun eating and playing games and
talking and laughing and even cleaning up and doing the dishes together.
Seriously just what my heart needed <3. At the end Lambert had us
all hold hands and he said a prayer in French that was soooo cool and
powerful.
Thennn we sprinted over to our second
Thanksgiving dinner of the night at English course! Everyone was sooo
excited to celebrate Thanksgiving hahah. We told the story of
Thanksgiving (all of us had to reach wayy back to 2nd grade history
class lol), talked about what we're grateful for and then ate together!
English course is the best, one of my favorite things in every area I go
to!
Saturday was MY
FIRST BAPTISM OF MY MISSION LETS GOOOOO!!!! Yeah the work is hard in
Italy and yeah it's kinda crazy it took me 10 months to have a baptism
BUT it has really helped me to learn what makes a successful missionary.
Being a successful missionary is not determined by the amount of people
you teach or help bring to baptism, it is determined by your desire and commitment to your missionary purpose!
Alessio
was on cloud 9 the whole day and planning the baptism and helping him
enter into his first covenant with God was so special. I played a
musical number on the piano and we had 7 non-members come!! Alessio is
already such a great member missionary- he invited 4 of his friends to
come and then out of the blue started speaking Spanish and invited our
friends from Colombia to come to his confirmation the next day in
church! Alessio's story is a huge miracle and God's hand is in every
part of it. What started as a prompting to share the plan of salvation
on a plane over a year ago turned into Alessio (and hopefully his family
soon!) accepting the message of the gospel.
On
Sunday our new friend, Manuela, who was a referral from a member came
to church! She was a little shy and unsure but loved it by the end.
After church I experienced the most intense choir practice of my life
hahaha. I was playing the piano and the choir director, who is
Napoletano, kept yelling at me to play louder! faster! more joyful! If
any of you want to come hear the best Joy to the World performance of
your life you're all invited December 22nd 9:30am;) The anziani made us a
surprise lunch for the ward pranzo which ended up being some strange
looking sausage and potatoes which actually slapped. Maybe because it
was fast sunday but either way that was a win haha.
Monday
was transfer calls! Sorella Briscoe and I will be staying together and
getting after it for another 6 weeks!! I'm super excited to serve in
Pescara with her during the Christmas season and see what miracles God
has in store for us. We listened to Christmas music and decorated our
cute lil appartment with as many Christmas decorations as we could find
and it made me soooo happy. I love Christmastime. 
The
highlight of Tuesday was our friend Giuseppe who is like our grandpa
bringing us pizza and reading scriptures together before English course.
Then at English course a student brought his portable electric guitar
and performed some songs for us which was so sick. He finished off with
Somewhere over the Rainbow and that just about made my whole week cause I
love that song:)
Today
we rented bikes and rode into the mountains until one of the anziani's
pedals broke lol. So we called it a day and bought pizza
.
.I
love you all! I invite you to read, study, and ponder Ether chapter 12
in the Book of Mormon- sooo good. Studying this chapter has helped me to
see how God is refining me into the woman He needs me to be and that
His grace is sufficient. I promise you can feel that too as you read!
Sorella McCune
Comments
Post a Comment