Working with members

Oh my gosh!!!!! I absolutely LOVED the story of daddy and Jarom seeing each other in the airport!!! (Jarom flew to Japan on Monday but his flight was delayed. His new flight had him fly out the exact same time as his Dad. Their gates were A3 and A4. It was indeed a beautiful tender mercy! For the complete story, visit Jarom's blog. A link is on the left side of this page.)

As for my time left here in Genova... I really do feel like it is coming to a close. I would LOVE to stay here one more transfer with Sorella Lemos. So many things are happening with our ward, our simpatizzanti, and our members. Also the weather has been soooo beautiful lately, I am falling in love with Genova again. Time will time.

This past week we had amazing opportunities to work with the leaders in our church. We have amazing members and amazing leaders that are here to help us and the help the ward. On Saturday we went to the Bishops house up the mountains (where there are single houses instead of apartments) and we brought M to his request.

M and Codi

We felt a little nervous about going because of some training that we received (soon to be explained in a letter) but it ended up being an INCREDIBLE experience. M felt totally loved by the Bishop and his family and the trip out of Genova city was absolutely refreshing for all of us.

We had a tender and  beautiful miracle Domenica sera with one of our members. We received a text message from her, asking if we would like a ride to go visit another member in the hospital due to pregnancy issues. It was a wonderful experience for us to work together in the service of the Lord for another sorella. By the end of the visit, we all felt edified and strengthened. We sent Sorella Deborah Polinelli, the member who came with us, a text message of our gratitude and thanks for all she does to help us and the members in the ward. She then sent us a text thanking us for our work as well and for the opportunity to serve together. It is amazing to work with members, especially since they are so willing and ready to take the opportunity to help those around them. :)

Allora, I hope you enjoy the pictures!!! There are a LOT more to send. :) I love you sooooo much!!! Thank you so much for the support and the love. It has been amazing to see the blessing of in our family while Jarom and I have been out serving the Lord. This is one of the comforting blessings we as missionaries are promised while we are away from our families. Thank you for letting me have this opportunity mama!

VI VOGLIO BENE!!!!

Sorella Jameson

Look how happy she is to receive a stuffed envelope from home!

PS: THANK  YOU AGAIN FOR THE AMAZING ENVELOPE YOU SENT!!!!!!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED IT!!!! I was actually looking at my mint stock and saw that there were only 2 left last Monday. My heart was very sad to see this and thought about when I could have more. God does answer prayers! :)

Love, Italian Shwarma, and the Psalm of Nephi

Okay... I am sorry my letters have been short. These past few weeks have been so incredibly insane and yet at the same time I don't know what has happened. You know that feeling? When it just goes by way too fast to even comprehend anything? As for the pictures... we have't taken any. Literally my last pictures are at M's baptism. Why? Well first of all I really have no idea but I think it has to with us running around like crazy with no thought of savoring the beauty around us. BUT I promise to send you pictures next week - we are planning on visiting a castle today.

AHHHHH I am sooooo excited for Jarom to fly out!!! (Codi's brother, Jarom, is leaving the MTC and flying to Japan on Monday) I sent him a letter with all of my recommendations for traveling to a foreign country. Really, it is an amazing experience to go outside of the US and live in another world. Poor guy... that is an EARLY flight (They leave the MTC at 2:30 am) but it should help with the jet lag if he does what he is supposed to.

UPDATE on our week.....

We have been taking the time to visit our members, especially the older women who are either widowed or single. It is amazing how incredibly strong they appear in church and how much faith they have to keep going. We have discovered how hard it can be to be an older, single person in the church - to have no support and to feel so alone. As we have taken the time to meet with these members, they have expressed their faith and love for the Savior and his church. They are part of the great foundation in our wards. Because we have visited, we have been asked to return for a lunch appointment for a sister and her non member daughter. Our love for the members has grown and has given us a greater desire to serve. :)

Funny story. We planned on going shopping for P-day last week because the SALES were coming to a close and we thought "why not take a day for ourselves and do a little shopping." So we began by eating a Kabab which is another form of Shwarma that I had in Jerusalem (oh how it made me happy) and made our way to Centro Genova for shopping. I had a MUG root beer that I bought at an ethnic food store (didn't realize how much I missed that either) and just laughed with Sorella Lemos is the rain. About 20 minutes later, we got a call or rather 5 from a simpatizzanti and her mother in law. Her mother in law was on her way to the airport the day before to travel to the United States when someone stole her passport out of her purse. SOOOO they needed my help to fill out American documents to reapply for a visa into the States - the form was all in English. Sorella Lemos and I quickly went to help her and as we all know, these legal documents take a very long time. Fast forward 4 hours and we are heading to English Class. P-day over. Although we lost this time for ourselves, we gave it up to serve another, who was so very grateful for all we did. We felt tired and missed this break that we had but in the end our hearts were full with this service we performed. When we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of God.

Do you remember how we started teaching the son of one of our investigators? K? He is so incredible and his mother wants him to do everything with us and with the church. Last week we took him to the Famiglia Herrera for a lesson and for him to get to know other youth in the church. When we met up with him and his mother, she was so excited to send him off with us. It was a great experience. Then on Sunday, the famiglia Herrera took K home for lunch because his mother was working!!! The young men took care of him during church and even watched the Restoration film with him. He has been such a miracle and blessing for us to meet with and teach him. K and his mother, A have been reading the scriptures together and praying everyday and just glow with the light of Christ. :)

As for some other news, Otto received a calling in the Stake for the Single Adults - he is in charge of organizing activities and other events for GANS. He gave a talk on Sunday about how the Gospel has changed his life for the better and how happy he is. Tears came to my eyes as he spoke. I am sooooo happy for him. His growth in the faith brings me sooooo much happiness and joy. One of the many blessing of being a missionary. :)

To finish, I want to share with you some of the insights I have received while reading the BOM (thank you thank you THANK YOU for the challenge. I love it!!!)  I recently read 2 Nephi 4 - the psalm of Nephi, one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. In verse 17 he explains that the more he learns of the gospel, the more he realizes just how imperfect he is. This shows the importance of coming to know God and his Word through diligent study. There are times that we beat down on ourselves for the imperfections that we have but what we must do is not grovel but rather awake and remember who we trust like Nephi. Repent, change, and grow closer to God because He is with us.
 17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.

 18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.

 19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.

 20 My God hath been my asupport; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

 21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.

 27 And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?

 28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.

 29 Do not aanger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.

 30 Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation

I love you so very much! It is incredible how fast time is going by. Jarom will be going to Japan. You started School. Brenna is going into her JR year. WHAT?!  Time is precious. We must do all we can to prepare to meet God.

Vi voglio bene!!

Sorella Jameson

Obedience is key to blessings

This letter is also going to be a little short because I have a TON of emails to write others. We have amazing simpatizzanti and amazing members. We have seen so many little miracles throughout the week but we have also had the opportunity to see the fruit of our labors. On Domenica morning, we had planned to meet with one our meni attivi to help bring her and her family to church. As we were gathering all the little ones, I had a prayer in my heart that some of our simpatizzanti and meno attivi could come because I did not have time to send them all reminder text messages. While we were sitting in church, waiting for somebody to show up, the doors opened and in came 2 simpatizzanti with baptismal dates, 2 other simpatizzanti, 3 meno attivi, and our new convert. It filled my heart with soooo much joy to see them walk through the doors and enjoy the spirit of the sacrament meeting.

Another one of our simpatizzanti, Ad, brought her 16 year old son to a lesson yesterday. K has been here for only 11 days from Equador. His mother has encouraged him to come to church to get to know the youth here (because there are a TON from Equador) and to learn of Christ! WAY to go!!! She also explains how much peace and tranquility she feels when she meets with us. The Holy Ghost is amazing. :)

Also, we have been receiving a lot of guidance from our president with new rules and regulations. Most of them made a lot of sense but we received one that was a little hard for me to understand completely. Part of me thought, well I can half way follow this rule and still do my work just fine. As I thought about it more and studied obedience, I came to realize that obedience is key to blessings, happiness, protection, and trust from the Lord. It is a little strange for me to live according to the ways and life style that I did not necessarily choose (as in, what I did with my time etc before in college) and to follow without question EVERY rule. As a missionary,  as a representative of Christ, I am expected to follow my mission president. Then I started to think about life outside the mission and just how important it is to live by 100% obedience, even when we don't agree with the rules or think we follow 50 or 75%. Really, we can learn to have so much more happiness and faith in others if we are obedient. We have seen so many blessings as we have followed these new rules established by our mission president.

I love you all sooooo much!! Thank you for your comfort and for your words of love. This is something that is very much needed for all missionaries as we work away from our families.

Vi voglio bene!!!

Sorella Jameson :)

I have been a missionary for 6 months!

I don't have a ton of time to respond because I was playing on store.lds.org. To answer your question, yes. Yes we are cooking. It is amazing how gross we can get in just a short time outside. Bahahahaha oh well... everyone is gross too. :)

I absolutely love reading about Jarom and Brenna!!! It makes me sooooo happy to see how much Jarom is growning  - this is why I was so excited for him to go on a mission. All of the sudden all the things that were once important as a youth become silly and obsolete. Then the things that have real, ETERNAL importance come to light. Like the Gospel and God's love for us as He set forth His plan of Happiness. :)

Here is a quick little update for the week...

Are you ready for this...? I hit my 6th month mark YESTERDAY. Woah... I have been a missionary for 6 months already which means I only have a year left. Can you believe that? I can't. At times it feels really long but then by the time we reach the end of the week, we look back and see how fast each day went by. In about 2 weeks I will also be in Italy for 5 months. Sometimes I wonder what America used to look like... Italy just feels so normal to me now.

This week has been a little crazy with our members and with our simpatizzanti but we have still been able to see so many tender mercies of the Lord. Yesterday I felt a personal miracle come when Sorella Lemos and I set a baptismal date with our simpatizzanti J. We have been working with her since my first day here in Genova, or rather my first day as a missionary in the field. She has a beautiful family and has been making slow but steady progress towards baptism and yet it has been all in a continuous cycle without true progression. After praying fervently, I felt impressed to set a date with her and her family for late September. As we were trying to set this date, there was a lot of doubt, distractions, and fear but I felt strength to help me keep pushing for a goal in mind for them. In the end we were able to set this date and now we can start working towards baptism. :)

I love you sooooo much!!! Thank you so much for all that you do for me, in the past and now. Continue with faith and PRAY with all your heart, might, mind, and strength.

Vi voglio bene!!!

Sorella Jameson

PS: No new pictures for today... mi dispiace!!!