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