Ladispoli

Week 25

(Written on 1 August, 2016)

Buongiorno cari!

This week has been lovely here in Ladispoli!

Except for the heat. Half the time I don't know if we're just sweating
or if we're actually melting haha. So hot. But that's what gelato's
for, right? Meno male.

Anyways, back to the loveliness.

This week I had a couple of neat experiences I wanted to share with y'all.
The first was on Friday. We went to Civitavechia, a city outside of
Ladispoli but still in our area. We had never been and had no idea
what it was like (perks of a blow in ;)) so our plan was to go and get
an idea of the area and do some ricerca before the next train. This
city has a LOT of potential, and we are excited to start working there
more in the future.
On the way back to the train station, we passed a large family of
Africans also heading back in that direction. They were all speaking
English really well, but as we passed, one of the girls looks at me
and asks, "Stazione...?!" and points in the direction of the station.
I laughed and said, "Yeah, it's straight ahead!" She then said, "Oh!
You speak English!" We laughed some more and as we continued walking
we got to talking. This family was from New York (when I told her I
was from Florida she was like "USA!" and gave me a huge high five
hahaha) and were here on vacation. They had seen Elders (boy
missionaries) in their city before, but never Sorelle, and thought
that was really cool! I explained who we are and what we do as
missionaries, shared with them a little card for a video on
Mormon.org, invited them to watch it, and we parted ways. I love
situations like these 1) because I get a chance to share the gospel in
English (as much as I love Italian...it'll always be a little bit
easier in my native language!) and 2) though we might not see the
fruits of that experience, who knows what will happen the next time
they see Elders or Sisters in New York. I hope and pray they'll have
the opportunity, and remember the American girl and her Italian
companion that helped them find the train station in a little bitty
city in Italy.
Following that awesome experience we got to the train station and
there's this other family freaking out because their train is about to
leave and they can't figure out how to stamp their ticket to verify
it. They were all in a fluster and the woman spoke poco English but we
were able to help them figure it out...then we RAN because we were
about to miss our train too. Turns out we were on the same train haha!
This family was from Saudi Arabia (!!!) and was ALSO here on
vacation, and we talked about our missionary purpose and what we do
with the daughters who were sitting across from us. Again, just
another really fulfilling experience. The world is small when you're
in Rome. :)

(((Side story: we forgot to stamp our tickets after we rushed to buy
them and by the time we got to the train we had NO time the turn back.
Sorella Cueva was like "You tell the train ticket guy that we didn't
have time and ask if it's okay in English...he'll be more
understanding! And at first I didn't want to but then I did and he
laughs and goes "Don' worry. Can on the train!" Sorella Cueva was
right. Funny thing is later we talked to him in Italian so we kind of
broke our tourist-cover ;)))

Then Saturday I had a Scambio in Rome with Sorella Holiday. In the
evening we had an appointment with a meno attivo and her friend who
just came to live with her from Peru. (Did I already say that the
world is small in Rome?) Anyways, the friend only speaks Spanish and
so as we talked and explained things her friend would sometimes have
to stop and translate. (I haven't heard Spanish since high school...so
it was kinda weird to hear that after having learned some Italian...)
At the end we gave the friend a copy of the Book of Mormon in Spanish
and invited her to read it. She also said the closing prayer, and THAT
was awesome. She prayed in Spanish, and both Sorella Holiday and I
could understand most of it. The spirit filled the room as she said
this humble, from the heart prayer.

Summary: The world is small, the spirit knows no language barriers,
and we are ALL sons and daughters of one amorevole Father in Heaven,
together going through the same mortal journey.

SO. This Wednesday I hit my six months mark as a missionary, or a
third of the mission. This has made me think a LOT about how much I've
learned and grown in the past six months and how much I can still
learn and grow in the coming year. It's also made me realize how fast
time is going.

Sometimes in life we often think, "Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll start that,
tomorrow I'll change this, tomorrow I'll be the person I want to be."
I'm definitely guilty of this. In our last zone conference, our APs
told us to not put of to tomorrow the things that can be done today.
I.E. Becoming the missionaries we want to, need to, and can be. Today.

I read a talk this week, "This Day" by President Henry B. Eyring, that
tied this all together.

"The God who gives us each day as a treasure will require an
accounting. We will weep, and He will weep, if we have intended to
repent and to serve Him in tomorrows which never came or have dreamt
of yesterdays where the opportunity to act was past. This day is a
precious gift of God. The thought “Someday I will” can be a thief of
the opportunities of time and the blessings of eternity."

He goes on to talk about how sometimes our circumstances and our
trials cause us to have these feelings of "someday"...or even of
despair about the "lack" of our ability to do some thing today. This
is something I'm working on a lot... All too often I think things
like, "When I speak the language better..." Or "When I have a comp
that does this..." Or "When the moment is perfect I'll open my
mouth..." It's a day by day process of improving, but we can't wait to
get started. Today is the day. I love how President Eyring finishes
his talk:

"Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you
choose to serve the Lord this day with your whole heart. Your
circumstances may not be improved in all the ways which you desire.
But you will have been given new strength to carry your burdens and
new confidence that when your burdens become too heavy, the Lord, whom
you have served, will carry what you cannot. He knows how. He prepared
long ago. He suffered your infirmities and your sorrows when He was in
the flesh so that He would know how to succor you."

Let us choose to serve today. Let us use the enabling power of the
Atonement of Jesus Christ to help us on the way. He stands ready to
help. This is his work!

I've got six months behind me but a whole lot of "todays" ahead that
I'm so grateful and excited for. I know that this is l'opera del
Signore and that he stands at the head of this Church. His way is the
way that leads to happiness, peace, and contentment in this life and
in the life to come.

Please excuse this extremely long, jumbled up mess of an email/testimony... 

Sending love to you all,
Sorella Kaitlin Carver

P.S.I invite you all to finish the talk because it's that good.
There's also a Mormon message made from it called "Choose this Day" that
is amazing.

P.P.S No fun pictures this week... Sorry :( I've only got a video from
our balcony of a karaoke singer from a bar down the street from us
that was PROPRIO TERRIBLE and made us laugh a lot. But no one wants to
listen to that haha. Really. I promise.