Highlight of my week -- A lot of things happened so I'll just talk and we'll see how the questions go. The highlight of my week was probably zone conference. We had zone conference this week and it was super awesome. Oh, wait. I'll just got through the week.
Monday after P-Day we made panzarotti with Bishop's wife and daughter after we went shopping with them and it was literally SO FUN! It was so fun! And now I know how to make panzarotti. And then sent us with the masa (the dough) to make them at home and so we wanted to but we couldn't the first day so we made little pizzati (?). We tried but they weren't very good. We really just put butter and cinnamon sugar on it and gave it to the anziani. Hahaha! We tried to do it again but they had a weird schedule so we said we would make them that night (Wednesday night) with the sorellae because they were down. So they were making some posters also for zone conference because usually on Friday we have interviews so everyone comes and sleeps and then in the night people are done with interviews so you go and do a big activity as a zone. So we were like, "hey, can we do one regarding genealogy?" because we're starting this genealogy course on Monday and they were like, "yeah", and so they were making posters. We were doing an activity, kind of -- we had some whiteboards saying "discover who you are" and we had some maps with little sticky notes and "where are your ancestors from?" and then they would put the sticky on. So they push pinned those into corkboards. And so I was making panzarotti in the kitchen. I finished putting the inside part in the panzarotti and folded up the panzarotti and they were ready to be fried. Because we were supposed to go to the Jacobs', I had the other tool in the other room and so I had to go get it and so I went to go get it. We don't have a light in our entry but that's where they were doing posters and obviously stuff was on the floor so they had the little push pins in a box but I didn't see them and I was being stupid and I just wanted to make panzarotti and had hot oil ready on the stove....so on my way back to the kitchen I accidentally kicked the little box of pins and somehow stepped on the box of pins or something (I couldn't see it) and was like, "Ugh! That kind of hurt! What was that?" and I thought it was just a plastic something. I picked up the bottom of my foot and looked at it and there were a bunch of round, colorful dots on my sock and I was wearing a black and white sock so it was kind of cute. So I was like, "ehhhhhhhhhh" and Sorella V was sitting close to me so I said, "Sorella V, help!" She said "What do you want me to do?" and I said "get them out of my foot!" so she was pulling the pins out of my foot and I'm doing really well about breathing -- I was like, "I know I'm going to pass out so I'm going to breathe through it and I won't pass out"...so then she got the pins out of my foot and it didn't hurt that bad, and I'm like, "Ok, you need to help me sit down. I need to sit down because I get very queasy. Can you help me sit down?" so she helped me sit down in the seat and then after a minute or two and I was doing very good at breathing....and I'll let Sorella take over the story from here:
"She just started randomly twitching a little bit, like her arm and then her leg, and we were like, "We're going to call the nurse!" (Brie: "Because I was saying I did NOT want to get a tetanus shot, but call Sorella M (the nurse) because I need to know if I need to get a tetanus shot!") So we were talking on the phone with Sorella M and then her (Brie's) whole body started shaking and she made a noise and then her head was completely back and her body just relaxed, and she was out. And we were freaking out. We were on the phone with Sorella M, like "oh my gosh, she's shaking! Oh my gosh, what?!?!?!?!?!") and we had to lay her down on the floor and then she got very relaxed and like the started talking to Sorella M and Sorella M asked her questions and she would just be like "my pillow's on the floor!" "This is a new pillowcase!"
And now Brie takes back over the story: "And so then I just laid on the floor for a little bit and my dear companion fried our panzarotti and dear Sorella V took of my bloody sock and cleaned my foot extensively for me and then we at panzarotti. They were pretty good. They weren't as good as Sorella A's but they were pretty good. So that's a fun adventure." I don't know why I wanted to tell that story....oh, because I talked about panzarotti. So I just took us full circle on the panzarotti story.
Next, genealogy. We did a lot, trying to put together the stuff for a genealogy course and also an English course. We were able to figure out the English classes, English connect, one night a week. We have a lot that's about to start and I'm going to be on permesso travel so that's awkward. My poor companion! Then we're also starting a genealogy course on Tuesday so we've been doing work for that, getting posters, contacting people, etc. And so we've been doing that. And then after zone conference on Friday we did a zone activity. We divided into groups and talked to people and I think we're going to have a good number of people. And guess what zone conference is about? Genealogy and President wants us to really focus our work on genealogy and become, basically, experts in genealogy and that's what we need to approach in terms of going finding -- we go genealogy finding, we talk about genealogy. President talked a lot about the prophecy in Malachi, that if we don't do this work the whole purpose of the earth is frustrated, so what are we doing? It's interesting because he's very much like, "The prophets and apostles tell us it is the same work -- genealogy work and missionary work" and it's really cool. So we're going to focus on doing genealogy work a lot and he's like, "This might not feel like missionary work but it is and we're laying the foundation for a great work. This is the future of missionary work in Italy!" And we're like, "OK! Sweet!"
Questions....
1. What was the highlight of your week?
Those were some highlights, I guess. Zone conference was really SO awesome!
2. Tell me about a miracle or tender mercy you experienced this week.
So on Sunday we had four people in church! That's a miracle. One of is R, who we've been working with, and L (her son) came also. Then this random couple -- I met him on the train. We were shocked that he came because when we talked to them he was more liking speaking English with me and I was like, "what....? He just wants us to come over" and he was like "Yeah" -- he works in hotels and they hotel out their house, basically. When I texted him he said he would come to meet us sometime, maybe on Sunday, and I asked what time and he said 9:30 and we were, like, that's not a coincidence! But when I tried to bring up religion he said he was Catholic but they came to church and he sent us a text yesterday and said "Hi! I don't want to call you sorellae because I consider you more like daughters. You are wonderful and lovely. Today we've experienced something new and we need to get integrated into something new. Our doors are open whenever you want, even as guests. Thank you so much." And we're like, "WOW!" So that's a huge tender mercy. And also we had two really good lessons. We did one about genealogy with a less active and then we had another with the anziani where we taught the restoration to this guy that we're trying to pass off to the anziani. He is really awesome! He texted us today and said "I want to be happy like you!" and we are like, "YES!"
3. What was the funniest thing that happened this week?
I would say pins in my foot. Also it was really hard to walk, I'm not going to lie. I'm ok now but it hurt!
4. What was the best thing you ate this week?
Panzarotti! Sorella P....oh my gosh, they were so good!
5. What did you learn at church this week?
OK, this is something that really stood out to me and I actually remember, so you know it's real. It was ward conference and one of the stake presidency counsellors was talking about the atonement and he was like, "If you don't think that you can get through something, you're doubting the whole point and existence of the atonement. If you're saying you can't improve or if you say you can't repent, then why would Jesus Christ have suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane? He would not have gone through that and He would not have bled from every pore if you couldn't overcome this." And that really stuck out to me.
6. Do you know how much I love you?
Yes.
7. How has someone shown love to you this week?
There are so many. Always the V family. Oh, this is so cute -- we were doing technology -- I just love the V family -- that should be one of the questions every week: How are the V's doing? We were trying to get all of this technology stuff finished and we were supposed to be in the church for a meeting with Bishop that got cancelled after choir practice which got cancelled, and we were like, ok, whatever, let's work on this poster, but the computer we have is so bad and they were like, "Hey, do you want us to wait? Will you need a ride?" And we said know, it's ok, but they said they would wait. So they waited for us for like so long to finish our technology, and also Sorella V helped us figure it out, how to get on PAF, how to do this, how to do that. Then we were driving home and they asked if we had seen the beach and we said no, so they said "Let's go see the beach!" So they drove us down to a beach and it was cold outside so we stayed out for maybe a few minutes, but they were just so sweet to take us down to the beach and walk us over to the only beach in Bari. Also, just everyone has been so nice. Also, I felt so much love from President in my interview at zone conference. I have that hard head and how he talked with me about things was exactly what I needed. I needed someone to be direct and blunt and he did that with love. I'm just super grateful. I'm grateful that I have this time left to work on these things. I know when I go home I won't be fixed, I won't have everything down, I'm not going to be perfect like I thought I would be when I went home, but I'll have a start. One thing he said to me is, "If you came on your mission just to learn that perfectionism is an issue you need to work through, your entire mission would have been worth it." It's hard because that's what leads me to be successful in a lot of things. By the world's standard that's a good thing, you know? And I've seen a lot of success in a lot of the ways I thought that way, like there's a reason why I was able to play lacrosse at BYU, there's a reason I was on a full scholarship, there's a reason why I did all of these things in high school, there's a reason why this, this, and this....". There's a reason I was supervising a pool company at 19 years old. There's just reasons -- and it's all my perfectionism and super high expectations that things aren't good enough unless they're perfect, and even when they're perfect I don't know if I accept them. And it's just something he explained to me, that if I continue to think like that I will never think anything is good enough. So there are things I'm trying to learn and I'm praying a lot to understand things and the Spirit's been teaching me a lot and I've been able to come to some conclusions. But it's something I'm working on and something that I want to work on and that I want to figure out because I know that if I want to be happy I have to stop having this perfectionist attitude. I need to focus on serving and loving others and prioritizing that over everything being perfect.
8. What can we pray for for you and your companion in your missionary work?
Our work is finally starting to pick up and I'm really excited! One thing you can do to help -- this is for everyone -- send me information about family history, stories, maybe pictures, because that is going to be our focus in missionary work here so we can help people feel the Spirit through the Spirit of Elijah.
There was also a really cutie fireside Saturday night with all of Bari and the family history experts at the Visitor's Center that came down and gave this fireside to them all and it was so awesome. President is very inspired and I'm so grateful that I get to be part of this mission. I feel like in my mission I've kind of gotten all the phases -- I got that finder grinder, I got to teach a lot of people in Palermo, we did a lot of member work here in Bari and now we get to do a lot of genealogy work. And so I'm super grateful for that.
Anyways, that's my week in a nutshell. I love you!
Ciao, ciao!
Sorella Gisseman
We cover our feet when we go in someone's home so we don't track dirt in.
Learning to make panzarotti (and yes, that is Barilla pasta in the blue package -- turns out it really is Italian!)
The filling
Our kitchen sink isn't working so I was trying to wash the dishes in our bathroom sink, which doesn't work that well.
So.....I passed out....
My cutie companion fried the panzarotti for me after I passed out.
Ouch!
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