Ostia Week 12

Italian companion for a day

Tuesday we went to Rome for DDM, and afterwards we had a potluck with the office missionaries and most of our zone. We had another scambio, and it was my turn to stay in Ostia. Sorella Sanchez came with me, she does not speak a lot of English, so I was scared at first but it was actually really easy! We were going to go to visit Clara and Laura, but our phone died last week and we didn't have her number in our new phone, so we could not call to confirm. We had corso in the evening. Sorella Sanchez is learning English so I was in charge of teaching. The next day we went to visit a past investigator who had called us and wanted us to stop by. It took us an hour to find her house. After our lesson with her we went to the meeting spot to end our scambio. We desired to meet at easily for lunch. It was a lot of fun to sit and talk with them. That evening we had a "lesson" with a "referral," it was actually Sorella Bray's new convert from Sassari!  It was a surprise for Sorella Bray! She was so happy!

On Thursday Sorella Bray was starting to feel a little sick, so she rested as much as she could. By the next day she was feeling better except for her eye. We went and visited Humphrey and his family. We have set an official baptismal date with them. It is so exciting! When we got home Sorella Bray's eye was really starting to bug her. By the end of the night her eye was swollen and red. My companion has pink eye. We have been in the house all week end.

On Saturday we got transfer calls! I am going to Cosenza!!! I will be in a tripanionship (I will have two companions). The nice thing about Sorella Bray's pink eye is it has given me time to pack.

This week I have been thinking a lot about what the gospel is. Before my mission I didn't really understand what it was. I thought it was kind of this nebulous compilation of doctrines and what we believed. Since I have been on my mission I have learned that it is actually a very simple thing. The gospel is faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. The thing about the gospel is that it is not just a one time thing. Because we are supposed to endure to the end, the gospel is a continuous loop, for every person, no matter how long you have been in the church. As a missionary, it is my  responsibility to teach others about the gospel. No matter whether they are non-members, not attending church, or church going members. For people who are not members you could be at the point where you are working on having faith in Christ, but you are still in the loop. If you are a member, you might be working on strengthening your faith. The gospel of Christ is simple. This week, try to identify where you are in this loop and see what you can do to move forward.

Have a great week! Miss you all! Next week I will be emailing you from Cosenza!

Letter dated September 28, 2015

You can currently send Victoria letters at:
Sorella Victoria Pinnegar
Missione Italiana de Roma
Piazza Carnaro 20
IT-00141 ROME RM
ITALY

Ostia Week 11

Trials and trees

Good morning! I hope you all are doing well. I know life is busier now that school has started and summer is over. I have had a lot of fun adventures this week! Things are going great here!

We went to the Vatican museum for P-day this week. It was beautiful! They had a lot of neat things in it. The Sistine Chapel is amazing. It looks three dimensional! It was so packed with people. We waited in line outside for two hours! If any of you ever go, you should make a safety plan for in case you get separated. We accidentally got separated.

On Thursday it was Sorella Bray's one year mark! To celebrate we went to the church for pranzo. We bought arancini  and cannoli for lunch. At the church we watched all of the addiction recovery videos. Those are so intense! The church did a really good job on them. I really liked them because you get to see the strength of the repentance process in the lives of people who thought they were beyond saving. They are very powerful.

When we visited Humphrey and his family, this week, we asked them to pray and ask if what we were teaching them was true, and if baptism was the right thing for them to do. About an hour later we got a call from Divine (Humphrey's wife), she told us that she knew the church was true and that she wants to get baptized!!!

We had a lesson this week with a less active, we talked about courage with her. It is sad, because she is so focused on all of the trials that she has had throughout her life that she is unable to see the blessings in her life. I have been thinking about how everyone has trials in their lives. Trials come in all shapes and sizes, they are individual to each person. They can be hard and scary. What is the point of having trials? They help us to learn and grow. They push us forward and as we over come our trials we become stronger. There is a story about a man who Heavenly Father told, every day, to go and move this giant boulder. He tried, every day he went out and pushed and pushed with all of his might. One day he got frustrated, he cried out "Why? Why do I need to move this boulder! I cannot move it, it is to big! Why do you ask me to move this boulder when you know I can't?" Heavenly Father answered and said "look at your arms. Look at how much stronger you are know! Every day you went out and pushed against this boulder with all of your might, because you did this, now you are strong." We can come out of a trial so much stronger than we were before. Sometimes we become so obsessed with our trials that it becomes all that we can see. It is like a big tree in front of us blocking our view of the forest. Yet, if we just take a few steps back we can see a bigger picture. We still cannot see the whole forest, but we can trust that Heavenly Father can. We just need to put our faith in Him and trust that there is a greater purpose in our life. The forest can be beautiful if we just step back and see the blessings in our lives even while we are going through our difficult trials.

Have a great week!

Letter dated September 21, 2015.

You can currently send Victoria letters at:
Sorella Victoria Pinnegar
Missione Italiana de Roma
Piazza Carnaro 20
IT-00141 ROME RM
ITALY

Ostia Week 10

Missionary Moments

This has been a great week! I have had a lot of new experiences and a lot of fun!

On Monday we went to porta di Roma. It is the closest thing Italy has to a shopping mall. It is right across the street from the Rome Temple, so we got to see the temple! It is looking great! All of the scaffolding is down! They have made a lot of progress since I last saw it.

Rome Temple

Tuesday we had DDM! I had the spiritual thought, and I had to do it in Italian. I decided to talk about walking by faith and not by sight. The Lord blesses our lives daily, sometimes we do not have the faith to see them.

After DDM we had a scambio. I stayed in Rome with Sorella Roberts. We went to their apartment and had lunch and did our studies. We made brownies for a less active family and ended up talking with them for a while. We tried to go see another less active, but she was not home. We went to the apartment for the night. There are four missionaries living in the same apartment. It was fun to go back and tell the other missionaries about what we had done, and hear there stories from the day.

In the morning we got ready and tried to go and visit a less active. She was not home. I did casa to casa for the first time. That was different. We also went and put up some corso posters. One of the girls we talked to lives near Ostia, and we told her there was a corso in Ostia. She said that she would rather just take the metro and go to Rome.

We all met back up to end the scambio. We decided to have lunch together. We went to a Filipino restaurant it was really tasty. We decided to try a dessert that looked interesting. It was really weird. It had all sorts of things in it, corn, beans, sweet potatoes, to name a few.

Filipino dessert

After we split up, Sorella Bray and I went to visit one of the less actives we have been working with. We talked to her about how Heavenly Father can make weak things strong for us (Ether 12:27). Then we had a lesson with Giuliana.

Friday we saw Humfrey and his family. They had a ton of questions for us, so we spent the whole time answering them.

This weekend we had Stake Conference. The stake is so wide spread that they do it over video broadcast! I worked really hard to pay attention. During the Sunday session on of the speakers mentioned sacrifice. In life we have to make sacrifices to achieve the things we want. He was talking about sacrifice in regards to temples. It reminded me of a quote by President Monson which states,

"My brothers and sisters, temples are more than stones and mortar. They are filled with faith and fasting. They are built of trials and testimonies. They are sanctified by sacrifice and service." (From The Holy Temple -- a Beacon to the World, April 2011)

Sorella Pinnegar & Sorella Bray at the Rome Temple

 Sorella Bray once modified it to say "My brothers and sisters, we are more than flesh and bones. We are filled with faith and fasting. We are built of trials and testimonies. We are sanctified by sacrifice and service." Why is sacrifice so important? I believe sacrifice is important, because it helps us to show what we truly want in life and what we are willing to do to get there. For one example, we sacrifice time and money for a good education. It is the same thing in the gospel. We are asked to sacrifice things to show the Lord how much we truly love him. When we make sacrifices we often cannot see the end result from the beginning. We must have the faith that we are doing the right thing. It can be very difficult, but the Lord will help us. He will give us the strength we need to make the sacrifices he asks for. He will make our weak places strong. Because of the sacrifices we make we are sanctified.

I have had a great week! My week has been full of fun new adventures. I hope you all have a great week!

Letter dated September 14, 2015.

You can currently send Victoria letters at:
Sorella Victoria Pinnegar
Missione Italiana de Roma
Piazza Carnaro 20
IT-00141 ROME RM
ITALY

Ostia Week 9

A wonderful week

This has been a great week full of exciting things. We kicked off the week by visiting the last church that Micheal Angelo built. It was stunning!! On Tuesday we were able to go and visit Laura. Lately we have been able to only see her once a week because her mom works most evenings. We should be able to start visiting with her twice a week again which is really nice. Our corso is also really starting to grow. We have one corso student who is from Egypt and when he went to visit, he brought us back a gift. He brought each of the missionaries a hand painted papyri scroll. They are all beautiful!

We got a referral this week for a family. We went and visited them on Wednesday. They were very nice and we loved visiting with them. Sadly they do not live in our area, but we got them in contact with the Sorelle near where they live. Saturday we went and visited Humphry and his family.

Friday was a great day! We had Personalized Training in the morning. Personalized Training is like Zone Conference except shorter. It was really good. I really liked the adestramental (training) that the Mission President did. He based his on over coming fears. This is actually something that I have been reading a lot about in my personal study. It is by our faith that we over come our fears. When we fear, we are not focusing on our faith. Every person experiences fear. We all can over come our fears. It is through our faith that we gain the courage to overcome our worst fears. Identify at least one fear and try to think ways that you can do to grow your faith and overcome your fears this week.

This has been a great week for me. I hope all of you have a wonderful week!

Letter dated September 7, 2015.

You can currently send Victoria letters at:
Sorella Victoria Pinnegar
Missione Italiana de Roma
Piazza Carnaro 20
IT-00141 ROME RM
ITALY

Ostia Week 8

A small but strong week

On Monday we went and saw a cool church. It had statues of all the apostles and how they died. It was super interesting. In the evening we had a meeting with the anziani to go through our less active list and see who would visit who this transfer.

On Tuesday we went to visit a family that came to church on Sunday. They are not members, a friend invited them and they want to learn more. They wanted both us and the Anziani to come so that they could feed us. They are from Nigeria, and they made us fufu and gelof rice. It was really good. The lesson when really well.

Wednesday we had DDM. There are now two Sorelle in our district who don't speak English, so Now we do DDM all in Italian. That was fun. It helps you realize how much you actually understand of the language.  We talked about the importance of members in missionary work, and having a good relationship with the members.

Our corso is really starting to grow!! Both Tuesday and Thursday we had seven people there!!  The Anziani have been doing a lot of advertising got it. Also, summer is almost over, so everyone is returning home.

On Friday we went and saw Laura. We taught her about tithing. Normally her family is around when we teach. We prayed that they wouldn't be around for this lesson. Right after we got there, everyone left, and once we finished, everyone returned. It was wonderful!

We went back to visit the family again Saturday. This time it was just Sorella Bray and I. The family is super nice. It is a family of four girls. We taught them the plan of salvation. It went super well.

On a train ride to a new investigator's house.

On Sunday we went to church. It was great! Almost all of our investigators came to church! Church is so important. At church we have the opportunity to help strengthen each others do come closer to Christ. The most important part about going to church is the opportunity to take the Sacrament. During the sacrament we think of Christ and remember His atoning sacrifice for us. We also renew the covenants we made with Heavenly Father at baptism. The Sacrament is a sacred time to reflect on how we are currently doing and how we can become better. My invite to you all this week is to go to church. If you already attend regularly thing of how you can make the sacrament a more important part of your church attendance.

Letter dated August 31, 2015.

You can currently send Victoria letters at:
Sorella Victoria Pinnegar
Missione Italiana de Roma
Piazza Carnaro 20
IT-00141 ROME RM
ITALY

Ostia Rome

This is a reference post in progress.

Letters from this area:
Transfer 1
Rome Ostia Week 1
Rome Ostia Week 2
Rome Ostia Week 2 Photos from the Pantheon
Rome Ostia Week 2 More Photos from P-Day
Rome Ostia Week 3
Rome Ostia Week 4
Rome Ostia Week 5
Rome Ostia Week 5 More Pictures of St. Paul's Basilica
Rome Ostia Week 5 More Photos from August 3
Rome Ostia Week 6

Transfer 2
Rome Ostia Week 7
Rome Ostia Week 8
Rome Ostia Week 9
Rome Ostia Week 10
Rome Ostia Week 11
Rome Ostia Week 12

Companion: Sorella Bray

Elders served with: 

• Anziano Kennedy (helped get V's promesso stuff taken care of)

Went on scambios with:
Sorella Rossi (Week 4, went to Ladispoli) and Sorella Sanchez (went to Ostia w/Sorella Bray)(both native Italians)
Sorella Roberts (Week 10, stayed in Rome)
Sorella Sanchez (Week 12, stayed in Rome)

Ostia Week 7

A week of work

We chose to relax p-day instead of going to Rome. We decided to take a break from running around everywhere, so we did a spa day instead. It was really fun and enjoyable. Especially because we are going to be doing a lot of running around today. It is always good to take a break, to relax and refresh. In the evening we tried to visit a less active but we got on the wrong bus. It is really amusing because we did the same thing last week trying to visit a different less active member.

On Tuesday we were able to go and visit the less active we had tried to visit Monday. It was actually really good because her daughter was there, and she is also less active. It all worked out really well. When we got back to Ostia it was time for corso. Everyone was advanced so we just did advanced grammar. Afterwards we had a lesson with Leonardo and Giuliana. They are doing great.

On Wednesday it was pouring rain and cold. One of the things about Italians it that they think your body is extremely dependent on the weather. When it rains it makes them "weak," this means that they can not do anything or see any one. Luckily by the afternoon the sun was shining, so we were able to visit some people. It was really good.

I have survived my first transfer. We have a new Anziano in Ostia. He took the place of Anziano Kennedy. His name is Anziano Blockered. We met him right before corso . He has a lot of good ideas for the city. It will definitely be a good change for Ostia.

Leonardo and Giuliana came to corso!!! That was really exciting. They had asked about it a little on Tuesday, and we invited them to come.

We went to visit Laura after pranzo on Friday. We taught her about temples. The lesson went wonderfully. All the youth went on a temple trip a week ago, so she already knew a lot about temples. Thing are going really well with her.

We met up with the anziani to make goals for Ostia this transfer. It went really well. We worked out what areas we want to focus on and what we want to improve. Afterwards we had a lesson with Giuliana and Leonardo. When we asked them if they had been reading the Book of Mormon, he told us he had read nine chapters! We sat and talked about it with him for a while. He really liked what he was reading.

Reading the Book of Mormon is a crucial part of our religion. The Book of Mormon is a book of scripture that goes with the Bible in testifying of Christ. We can receive so much personal revelation through reading the Book of Mormon. Even thought it was written thousands of years ago, it is pertinent to us today. It can answer any question and resolve any concern. It helps to strengthen our relationship with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. When we pray and read the Book of Mormon our faith is strengthened and we find the answers to questions. Questions that we may have had for a long time or questions that we never knew we had.

I challenge you this week to pray and read the Book of Mormon. As you do this your faith in Jesus Christ will grow and you will find greater peace in your life.

Sunday we had a group of girls from England in church. Sorella Bray and another sorella in the ward translated for them. It was a lot of fun to get to know them a little. I helped in Primary. I played Come Follow Me on the piano for them. The nice thing about small groups of primary children is they don't care how badly you play. Every fourth Sunday the missionaries are in charge of a musical number. The girls from England loved singing, so we got them to sing with us. It was really good!

Everything here is going great! I have had a great week and am having fun!

Have a great week!

Letter dated August 24, 2015.

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.

Letter dated August 17, 2105.
*quote from Elder Ian S. Ardern's conference talk in 2011, A Time to Prepare.

Trevi Fountain

Convento dei Cappuccini

Ostia Week 5

We went to Saint Paul's Basilica on Monday. It is stunning! It is so beautiful. The sad part is that even though it is a church, it doesn't feel holy. It reminds me of how I feel when I go to a museum or a library. It is awe striking and wonderful, but you do not really feel the Holy Ghost. Another interesting thing was that they have a giant statue of Saint Paul, and right in front of him is a tiny statue of Jesus.

We also visited the Leonardo da Vinci Museum. It was neat. He was an incredibly intelligent man. He had lots of very interesting, very fascinating ideas. It was a fun experience.

Tuesday we had a pot luck after DDM in Rome. We were going to make a fruit salad, but the fruit in Rome is very expensive, so instead we brought watermelon. It was still really good. It was fun to be able to sit and talk with everyone. All of the food was all really good.

We taught a private English lesson on Wednesday morning. The girl we taught was really nice, and it was really fun to teach her. It was also sad, because she grew up believing that looks are the most important thing. That is how she got attention, and now her world revolves around looks. It is really sad.

I have slowly been learning the importance of goals. Every Friday we plan for the next week. Part of that is we set goals, personal and companionship. At first I really did not like this part, it was really hard for me to find good goals. This week was the first week I have liked and been happy with my goals. We should all have goals in our lives to help us to improve and have fun. A goal should help give you motivation to improve. Without good goals how will we ever stretch ourselves and find what we are truly capable of. To set a SMART goal, it needs to be:

• Specific, if it is some abstract idea, how will you be able to know when you have reached it and how far you have improved? 
• Measurable, if you do not have a way to measure your progress it will be easier to give up because you are unable to feel you have improved. 
• Attainable, if you know can not attain it at the time, you will never have the drive to improve. 
• Relevant, if it is not relevant to your life, it will not help you to improve your life. 
• Time-Bound, if it doesn't have a due date, it will be easier to push it back and procrastinate. 

Goals are to help you in your life. They help you to reach your full potential. There is a quote from Elder M. Russell Ballard that says

"I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life."

Today I would like to challenge you to pick something in your life that you would like to change or improve and make a goal to get you there.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to conduct the music in Sacrament Meeting. This was because the chorister was out of town, and I was the only one of the four missionaries who knows how to do it. It was a good experience. The wards and branches here depend on the missionaries for the musical talent a lot here. Sorella Bray and Anziano Kennedy did a musical number. They got asked Saturday night if they could do it. They sounded amazing!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Letter dated August 10, 2015
*Elder M. Russell Ballard's quote is from a talk given to young adults in Salt Lake City on 18 October 1981. You can find articles based on this talk in Go For It! and Do Things That Make a Difference, both written by M. Russell Ballard.

Ostia Week 5: More Pictures of Saint Paul's Basilica

Visited on Preparation Day, August 3, 2015