I had really wanted to go to church here in Italy and on Sunday morning I was almost convinced that it would be too hard to get there because I didn't not speak the language well and I also did not/do not know the Roman Bus System. My roommate woke up early to go to Pompeii and instead of going back to bed, I could not go back to sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about going to church. I knew that it was one of my goals and one of things that I had really wanted to do while I was here.
Long story short - I made it!
here is the email:
"today was so great.
I'm going to bed soon so I'll write a lil' email now.
Basically i woke up early and all I could think about was "I need to make it to church".
So I took the address to the front desk man and he told me I could get on a bus. Bus 90. Bus 90? Ah. So I knocked on Elena's door and we put on dresses and walked to the bus stop.
Thank goodness I had written this address on a piece of paper because that's what we kept showing people.
we were guided by so many guardian angels today!
After we had shown one woman our address she went and asked the bus driver if the address was one of the stops. And another woman overheard our conversation and worries and she warned us that our stop was coming. We then walked about 5-10 mins down the street, stopped in a cafe to ask if we were going the right way and guess what? WE WERE. And then when we got to the piazza, we stopped an old lady "dove e' la chiesa?" (where is the church?) and the sweet old woman goes "la chiesa mormoni??" and pointed to the left.
Mom. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY AS WHEN SHE SAID THOSE WORDS. We looked to the right and the brown building had the name of our church on it!!!!! We were there in time for Sunday School and they have Sacrament Meeting last. My FAVORITE part was singing the hymns in Italian. I remember we sang "Oh, My Father" and "Where Can I Turn For Peace?" The youth speaker was this really sweet girl and the theme of sacrament meeting was adversity. it was perfect. One of the speakers shared my favorite scripture!!!!! i totally knew that was exactly where I needed to be - and Heavenly Father helped me get there. I was so glad Elena came with me. She said she really like it and it was the least intimidating church experience she has ever had. SOOOOOOOOO cool. and the missionaires spoke English! they had 4 sets of missionaries in that ward - 2 elders, 1 sisters and a couple from Lake Arrowhead. The couple missionaries were so nice! They said they are serving until the temple is complete, which could be 3 years -- wowza. It was awesome. It was like experiencing a baby mission.
I'm going to bed soon so I'll write a lil' email now.
Basically i woke up early and all I could think about was "I need to make it to church".
So I took the address to the front desk man and he told me I could get on a bus. Bus 90. Bus 90? Ah. So I knocked on Elena's door and we put on dresses and walked to the bus stop.
Thank goodness I had written this address on a piece of paper because that's what we kept showing people.
we were guided by so many guardian angels today!
After we had shown one woman our address she went and asked the bus driver if the address was one of the stops. And another woman overheard our conversation and worries and she warned us that our stop was coming. We then walked about 5-10 mins down the street, stopped in a cafe to ask if we were going the right way and guess what? WE WERE. And then when we got to the piazza, we stopped an old lady "dove e' la chiesa?" (where is the church?) and the sweet old woman goes "la chiesa mormoni??" and pointed to the left.
Mom. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY AS WHEN SHE SAID THOSE WORDS. We looked to the right and the brown building had the name of our church on it!!!!! We were there in time for Sunday School and they have Sacrament Meeting last. My FAVORITE part was singing the hymns in Italian. I remember we sang "Oh, My Father" and "Where Can I Turn For Peace?" The youth speaker was this really sweet girl and the theme of sacrament meeting was adversity. it was perfect. One of the speakers shared my favorite scripture!!!!! i totally knew that was exactly where I needed to be - and Heavenly Father helped me get there. I was so glad Elena came with me. She said she really like it and it was the least intimidating church experience she has ever had. SOOOOOOOOO cool. and the missionaires spoke English! they had 4 sets of missionaries in that ward - 2 elders, 1 sisters and a couple from Lake Arrowhead. The couple missionaries were so nice! They said they are serving until the temple is complete, which could be 3 years -- wowza. It was awesome. It was like experiencing a baby mission.
Traveling internationally always blows my mind. Heavenly Father has so so so many children - but he knows every one of them, personally. How cool? But how crazy. So many different languages in this world. Lots of love. Love it. GREAT DAY. And we had chinese food for dinner :) hehe"
the end
I cannot describe the greatness of this day in words. Only in feeling. The Spirit was there. And I made it. I accomplished the thing which the Lord has commanded me and he prepared a way for me to accomplish it. Moments like this one are the building blocks to my growing testimony of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Heavenly Father knows and loves all of us. He knows what we can become. If we follow spiritual promptings and keep high standards our lives will be filled with the most joy.
