When in Rome: Ostia Week 6

Adventures in Italy

This week has been wonderful! On Monday we went to the bone church. It was cool, but creepy. Defiantly worth the experience. We had extra time so we stopped by the Colesseum. It was raining so there were not as many people out. That was nice. We tried to visit a less active who came to church on Sunday. First we got on the wrong bus, then the bus that we wanted never came.

Tuesday after DDM I had my second scambio. This time I stayed in Ostia and Sorella Bray left. My companion for the day was Sorella Fuller. We had a good time. We went to visit a simpatizzanti named Victoria. We ended up being an hour early so we sat outside and role played our lesson. Half an hour later she walks up so we started our lesson early. This was actually a really good thing because the anziani needed us to start corso. We didn't want to wait for the bus so we walked to the metro station, and we beat the bus! As we got up to the platform the metro pulled in! It was perfect! After corso we had a lesson with Giuliana and Leonardo. We read Alma 32 with them and talked about faith. It was a great lesson!

Trevi Fountain

On Wednesday we were supposed to have a private English lesson but that fell through so we ended up putting up posters for corso around town. I discovered that Italians are very stubborn, especially when it comes to food. We had a meal appointment and had arranged to end our scambio in time for the appointment, but she changed the time last minute. Then the metro was running late. There was also some confusion about the meeting spot. When we finally met up, there was no way we would make it back on time, so we tried calling to reschedule, but she said she would wait for us.

Afterwards we had to go directly to our lesson with Laura. That was a fantastic lesson. It was defiantly a break through lesson. She is shy, and she finally really opened up to us.

Thursday we went to visit the less active that we had tried to see on Monday. This time we had better directions and realized that we could just walk. That was really nice. She is from South America. She had not been to church since before she came to Italy, but she decided to find it and go. She wants to take the lessons. Then she invited us to stay for pranzo. She made a four course meal for us! It was all delicious!

We had a private English lesson with Elena. She had just been proposed to the night before so she was a little distracted. We always do a spiritual thought at the end of every English lesson. The one we had decided to do was on how God has a plan for each one of us, and we can turn to Him when we need help or guidance in our lives. It was perfect for her. The Spirit was so strong. It went really well.

We went and heart attacked Laura and Clara. We left them brownies and a Book of Mormon.

Saturday was an Italian holiday. Anziano Kennedy is half Italian and has lived in Italy most of his life, so we asked him about the holiday. He doesn't know if there is a reason for the holiday, it is just an excuse for everyone to go the the beach. This means cleaning day for all of the missionaries. We also had a lesson with Giuliana and Leonardo. Lessons with them are really progressing.

We were on our way to get some gelato when we met a very nice family. The dad is from England, and the daughter is currently learning English so we told them about corso. Then the father also asked what a missionary was. It was an awesome experience. I really hope that they decide to come to corso.

Prayer

All of our lessons this week talked about prayer. Why is it important to pray? Prayer is a two way conversation with God. You don't just pray and get an immediate answer to your pray. It takes time, pondering and listening.

One thing that a lot of Italians believe is that God is like a genie in a lamp. You pray to Him, tell him what you want, and then He gives it to you. God is our loving Heavenly Father and he wants to hear from you. Imagine you have a friend that lives far away. You still love them and want to communicate with them. That is how God feels. He wants us to communicate with him regularly. There is a quote by Ian S. Ardern that I really like. He says "let us be as quick to kneel as we are to text."*

We have a divine being who loves us and wants to hear from us. He has all the answers we could ever need. When we pray and ask Him, He will always respond. It may take time and practice to know how He responds, but He does always respond. Prayer is important for each one of us. We receive so many blessing when we pray. God loves us and want to hear from us. He wants us to sincerely pray and talk to Him.

This week I would like you to try praying twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night. If you already do this, I would like you to think of and apply ways that you can improve the quality of your prayers.