This week!
To put you in the shoes of a missionary, we have a very tense day every six weeks when we receive a call from the mission president about if we will stay in our area or leave for another. It's always a wild guess because even if the mission president indicates we might stay or go, the decision can always change at the last minute.
So Saturday comes and we were both playing it cool, since we never get transfer calls before 2 pm. But come 9:30 am the phone rings and to our immense surprise it's our mission president. He had called to tell us he had received permission from the stake president (a local Italian church leader) to open a new group in our area, Sant'Agata. He said with this change, I was guaranteed to stay, but Sorella C. (my companion) might stay or go. Several hours later we got the official call that we would both stay in Mistretta to start building this new group in Sant'Agata.
It works like this -- Sant'Agata is an hour away from Mistretta, but much larger and more central to the other big cities on the island (as opposed to Mistretta which is up in the mountains). While missionary work goes forward in Mistretta, it's hard to teach people in Sant'Agata and ask them to come to church every week an hour away, especially when they are just starting to investigate the church and aren't committed to it yet. Lately we've been seeing more potential to grow in Sant'Agata and, while the church would remain in Mistretta, we proposed opening a "group" in Sant'Agata. This means that the church will rent a building where we can hold church services (at least sacrament meeting), our free English course, activities, etc. The stake president agreed and decided to do a trial run of six months -- if we see growth and progress in the area after six months, the church will make something more permanent in Sant'Agata.
We're super pumped for this and started doing a flurry of work in Sant'Agata right after we got the news. What's awesome is that this "group" was an idea my old companion and HER companion had about six months ago. Although they aren't here to see it realized, I know that it was their work that is making this possible.
I'm learning that change is slow and hard, especially here, but it does happen. I know that change doesn't come easily to a lot of people, but I know that when we are open to change is when we grow the most. I've met some real examples here in Italy -- people that make far more sacrifices and work when the conditions are much more adverse. I'm told that when the first Mormon pioneers came to Salt Lake City, Brigham Young said it was a "Good place to raise up strong saints" because it was such a hard land to work (that's a parphrase).
Strong, brave, impressive people aren't made in soft, easy conditions. If we are to fulfill our full potential, it has to be hard. And I think Mistretta is like that, both as a member of the church and as a missionary. I know that this is a hard area to work in and I'm tired. It's hard when it's a small town, where everyone knows everyone and is afraid to change. It's hard that there's not large groups of people we can talk to, but we have to walk along empty streets until we come across one person who (hopefully) will want to talk to us. It's hard for the members that they don't have a church building in their own town where they can hold activities and church. Instead, they have to spend gas money they don't have to a church building they have a half-hour away.
But I also know that I have all the more respect for these church members and people we're teaching because of what they will give up. These are people I will never forget. And I know that I'm here in this area to learn things about myself and from them. I hope to be able to help those around me here as well. And hope to be stronger (than yesterday). Or in the words of my companion, "If you want to meet awesome people, you have to do awesome things."
Anyway, in the end, life is good in Mistretta! Even if I can't see the distant scene, I've seen enough of the Lord's miracles to know that the small work I'm doing now will eventually have a larger impact on the future. Just like Grandmother WIllow said to Pocahontas: it's all a ripple effect, every action!
Love you all! Watch Pocahontas if you can, as I cannot.
Peace,
Sorella Fuller
To put you in the shoes of a missionary, we have a very tense day every six weeks when we receive a call from the mission president about if we will stay in our area or leave for another. It's always a wild guess because even if the mission president indicates we might stay or go, the decision can always change at the last minute.
So Saturday comes and we were both playing it cool, since we never get transfer calls before 2 pm. But come 9:30 am the phone rings and to our immense surprise it's our mission president. He had called to tell us he had received permission from the stake president (a local Italian church leader) to open a new group in our area, Sant'Agata. He said with this change, I was guaranteed to stay, but Sorella C. (my companion) might stay or go. Several hours later we got the official call that we would both stay in Mistretta to start building this new group in Sant'Agata.
It works like this -- Sant'Agata is an hour away from Mistretta, but much larger and more central to the other big cities on the island (as opposed to Mistretta which is up in the mountains). While missionary work goes forward in Mistretta, it's hard to teach people in Sant'Agata and ask them to come to church every week an hour away, especially when they are just starting to investigate the church and aren't committed to it yet. Lately we've been seeing more potential to grow in Sant'Agata and, while the church would remain in Mistretta, we proposed opening a "group" in Sant'Agata. This means that the church will rent a building where we can hold church services (at least sacrament meeting), our free English course, activities, etc. The stake president agreed and decided to do a trial run of six months -- if we see growth and progress in the area after six months, the church will make something more permanent in Sant'Agata.
We're super pumped for this and started doing a flurry of work in Sant'Agata right after we got the news. What's awesome is that this "group" was an idea my old companion and HER companion had about six months ago. Although they aren't here to see it realized, I know that it was their work that is making this possible.
I'm learning that change is slow and hard, especially here, but it does happen. I know that change doesn't come easily to a lot of people, but I know that when we are open to change is when we grow the most. I've met some real examples here in Italy -- people that make far more sacrifices and work when the conditions are much more adverse. I'm told that when the first Mormon pioneers came to Salt Lake City, Brigham Young said it was a "Good place to raise up strong saints" because it was such a hard land to work (that's a parphrase).
Strong, brave, impressive people aren't made in soft, easy conditions. If we are to fulfill our full potential, it has to be hard. And I think Mistretta is like that, both as a member of the church and as a missionary. I know that this is a hard area to work in and I'm tired. It's hard when it's a small town, where everyone knows everyone and is afraid to change. It's hard that there's not large groups of people we can talk to, but we have to walk along empty streets until we come across one person who (hopefully) will want to talk to us. It's hard for the members that they don't have a church building in their own town where they can hold activities and church. Instead, they have to spend gas money they don't have to a church building they have a half-hour away.
But I also know that I have all the more respect for these church members and people we're teaching because of what they will give up. These are people I will never forget. And I know that I'm here in this area to learn things about myself and from them. I hope to be able to help those around me here as well. And hope to be stronger (than yesterday). Or in the words of my companion, "If you want to meet awesome people, you have to do awesome things."
Anyway, in the end, life is good in Mistretta! Even if I can't see the distant scene, I've seen enough of the Lord's miracles to know that the small work I'm doing now will eventually have a larger impact on the future. Just like Grandmother WIllow said to Pocahontas: it's all a ripple effect, every action!
Love you all! Watch Pocahontas if you can, as I cannot.
Peace,
Sorella Fuller
No comments:
Post a Comment