So yeah....ok....updates from the beginning. On maybe Tuesday we got the text saying that church is cancelled, all group activities are cancelled -- so our English group is cancelled, genealogy course is cancelled -- then we got other messages. Milan went into code red this week so a lot of their cities you can't leave or enter. They've been on quarantine already for a few weeks. We are not on quarantine but the Italian government released a law that we can't be within one meter of people, so we can't touch other people, we can't salute other people. I accidentally shook someone's hand today in centro because we saw someone we know. Oops. We can't....I don't know. Anyways, we were going to do a scambio in Foggia and we were literally on the train when we got a message that we couldn't use public transit, and we're like....ummmmmm...... We were already on the train so Foggia. Sorella H was supposed to go back to Bari with me to do the scambio and then we were going to go back the other day but then we were like, ummmmm, guess not! So then we just stayed in Foggia and went back that night. There were a lot of people wearing masks today. The bishop of the other sorellae asked them to go into quarantine. We don't have to be quarantined but a lot of the members are quarantining themselves. And so it's a little bit crazy.
So we didn't have church on Sunday but we were able to take the sacrament. It was super, super, super awesome! We all went over to the J's house and we had a sacrament meeting and it was just....it was really incredible. The Spirit was so strong. We were sitting in the second row, the Anziani in the first row, and I'm literally within touching distance of my district leader who then kneels to bless the sacrament and I just felt very grateful for the priesthood and for worthy priesthood holders in that moment. And then we watched Spiritual Treasures by Pres. Nelson. I was just super grateful for the priesthood. So we did that and then we watched a few other talks as well and then we all ate together and had a big potluck so it was cutie. It's getting to be spring here. I think it's kind of been spring for a while. I don't really know what spring is but it's not freezing. It's cold some day, not cold some day. For P-Day today it's Sorella T's birthday! She loves to run so this morning I was like, ok, we can do it! And so we went and did a run and ran a really long time. We ran all the way to the beach and then we ran back home. We were running for like an hour. And obviously we stopped on the beach and then I got a cramp, so 40 minutes in I was like, "Can we take another break? Can I walk to the the end of the street" and she said yes. It was...ooooohhhh....I was like, "OK, let's go run to the lamare (?)" and we reached the lamara and we see the ocean, right, and we've done this run before but it was on a normal day so we didn't have time to keep running and we had just turned around and gone back. But she kept running and I guess she was waiting for me to say something and I was like, well, it's her birthday so I'm not going to say anything. And so I look at the place and I'm like, ok, I can do it! And so we're like 10 minutes down and I'm like, I can do it! So we get to the beach and she keeps running. And I'm like, "where are you going??? I can't run anymore! We have to run this whole distance back -- I can't add anymore!" She's like, "Oh, I was just waiting for you to say something" and I was like "I was just waiting for you to say something!" So it was funny. Then we walked around on the beach a little bit and then ran back home. It was cutie. And then we went to FlowerBurger which is her favorite restaurant. It's a vegan burger place and now we're back at the beach and we're just hanging out because we're not allowed to be in big groups so we were going to have a big party but it didn't really happen because the law prohibits it.
Questions....
1. What was the best thing you ate this week?
What did we eat this week.....I don't know. Oooohhhhhhhh....we had an appointment with a less active. I've literally been trying to meet with her for so long! She's SO sweet! So sweet! So cutie! Her and her family come to activities but they don't come to church and it was so sad because she was like, "Dang it!" because we told her that church was cancelled. She was like, "Dang it! I wanted to come tomorrow!" And we were like, "Argh -- Satan!" But we made panzarotti with her and it was so fun and also one of her friends came and so we were able to make friends with her friend and it was super fun and the panzarotti were SO good! We did one with Nutella -- it was SO much! Also we ate with another family this week and it was super good but it was Oh. My. Gosh. SO much food. Like it's very big in the Italian culture -- you finish all of the food. And there was literally so much rice. I probably got fed a serving as big as my hand of rice, like four times. And then there was chicken and salad and this soup thing. Super, super good. The food was SO good. But oh my gosh -- after I was like, "I can't walk!" But it was so good -- so fun!
2. How is coronavirus changing things in Bari?
I kind of explained that already. It's just hard kind of because we're just "Let's do normal work" but then it's like people are kind of scared and you don't want to make people scared, you know? And it's just hard and we have dropped everyone. Satan is just working really hard here in Bari. And I guess in Italy. We kind of dropped basically everyone in the last two weeks. So it's hard because it's not like, "Oh, let's just do video calls with our people!" It's like, "We need to be finding people!" but I don't know how to find people in this way so we'll see what we do this week. We're going to try to use technology more, we're just going to work like we're used to. Because here's the thing -- if people don't want to talk to me on the street then they don't have to talk to me on the street. But the elect are the elect and, like, I'm standing a meter a way so they're going to be safe.
3. Have you had more time to work on family history?
No. We tried to do genealogy.... Oh my gosh, this was a fun morning. So this is the same morning we got all the coronavirus information and we're like, oh my gosh... So we tried to go to the church to do My Plan and the missionary portal was down so I couldn't even do that. And we're like, ok, we're already in the church, let's try to do something else. So we said let's try to do geneaology. We'll do some indexing because that's one thing we're supposed to be doing. So there's a big Italian batch that we're supposed to be working on so we said ok and picked one. And I don't even understand -- it was so hard to read and it wasn't clear what it was. We think it was a marriage certificate but on the very crappy old computer we just couldn't. So we tried to return the batch but couldn't return the batch, so then we just opened another one because we just need to learn to index and it was a fun one. It was an easy one. We got three out of five pages through and then it just stopped working. Family Search just stopped working.
4. Tell me about a time you felt peace and comfort this week.
Hmmmm.... I think definitely during the sacrament this week. It was just so awesome and it was so peaceful and also so joyful.
5. Do you know how much I love you?
Of course.
6. What have you learned about yourself over the past few weeks?
I'm not sure. I'll get back to you on that. I've learned a lot about how my brain works. That's a side note, but I've been trying to be more cognitive of my thoughts and it's very interesting.
7. Tell me about a lesson you taught this week, a contact experience, or another experience working with people.
Sorry -- I'm just telling the bad ones because they're funny. So we had a lesson with a person we've been working with. So we decided to go and see what's up. So we go and she's like happy to see us and we started talking and at the end she said she needed to call the pharmacist and so she does that and the pharmacist asked her who was going to go pick things up and she said who was going to pick it up. And the pharmacist said good, it's really important at an advanced age really take precautions so it's better to stay in the house. So she hangs up the phone and then she's like, "That is so rude! How dare she speak to me like that! You don't say that! That's not proper!" And we're like, "Do you watch what's going on about the coronavirus? It's true! They're telling older people not to go outside because coronavirus is dangerous!" And she said, "Are you kidding me? That's rude!" And we said "No, it's really not! It's serious!" and she's going off and she started complaining about someone had offered to do a favor for her and then had forgotten. So she asked them like a month later and they were like, "I'm so sorry! I totally forgot about it! I'll try to figure something out". She had asked for someone to do something for her and they forgot and she was so offended. She thinks everyone is out to get her and that when people make mistakes it's because they're evil. And so I was like "They probably had other things going on. We don't know the situation. We can't be so quick to judge them, maybe it was a really hard month, maybe they were having trouble with their kids. We don't know." And she started going off on me on how I always justify the other person and how I never care about how she feels. I said, "No, that's absolutely not true! But if you pay attention to the negative... I'm saying these things because I love you and I want you to have more peace of mind and when we see the world as evil we don't have that peace of mind." And she just keeps going, going...even Sorella T tried to talk to her and calm her down and she keeps trying to interrupt and finally we asked her if she wanted us to leave since we made her feel so bad, and she said "no, no, no, no, no!" And she keeps going off about it. And so we just said, "OK, we're going to go" and she was still talking and I was like, "I'm sorry, I don't know what else to say!" so as we left she asked when we were coming back... It was such a mess! But yeah, that was such a mess!
8. Have you been able to teach English class?
No. I'm thinking that maybe we can start trying to do it over Skype but we'll see.
9. What made you smile or laugh this week?
Everything. I just smile and laugh all the time.
10. What can we pray for specifically for you and your companion?
I think right now I'm a little worried about being blocked in the country. I'm not going to lie. Only because I wasn't worried and President isn't worried, but Sorella V's daughter called us and said to tell President to get us out of here as soon as he can because we're going to get blocked in the country. So.....yeah.....if you could just pray for that!
11. How did someone serve you this week?
I think the J family for letting us come over to have church there and they also cooked us a lot. And my cutie companion is so good at serving.
12. How did you serve someone else this week?
This is another cool story. So we finished with the one sister and in the same zone there's this less active but she's just less active because she's too old. And so we decided to pass by her since we had a little time. So we pass by her and walked in and she just started crying, like sobbing, and obviously it's hard to be old (I guess -- that's one thing I've learned in my mission!). So she starts crying and it was really interesting because we've kind of had her on our list of people we should go visit but it just hadn't happened until that moment and we were able to be there when she really needed us. We were able to just listen to her and comfort her a little bit, and so it was really awesome. It was awesome to see that, notwithstanding all the circumstances, God was still able to put us in the right place at the right time.
I'm trying to think if there are any other big things. We ate so much this week! Oh my gosh, we ate so much. Things are crazy but we're going to find some new ways to do some missionary work this week. It's such a crazy way to end my mission, but why not just go out with the weirdest thing you could ever think of -- am I right?!?!?! Yes!
I will talk to you soon. I love you all!
Ciao, ciao!
Last P-day at the beach
Our ukeleles
So much food!
I sneak attacked her with my tag that morning and she didn't notice
21st birthday run to the beach
I've always wanted to buy the cheese that hangs so I did.
Flower Burger
This guy kept circling our blanket at the beach
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