From an Apostle's Visit to a Robbery...all in a Day's Work!

Cari Tutti!

This week was pretty exciting :)! The conference with Anziano Bednar was AMAZING!! Simply amazing. I learned so much and the spirit was so strong. He truly is an apostle of God. He started out the conference saying, "Today is not about Ipads" and then just wanted us to give our thoughts and reactions to that. Then he based the rest of the conference off of what was said pretty much. And even though iPads were mentioned, it really wasn't about the iPads. It was about us. Who we are and who we are becoming. It was about being a disciple of Jesus Christ and always staying strong in the gospel. It was about understanding and agency. It was about teaching with the spirit and learning from the spirit. It was about going from a full-time missionary to a life-long missionary after our missions. My brain was seriously spinning will all the insights and thoughts I was having. I really felt like Lehi and wanted to cast myself on the bed because I was overcome with the spirit. The most powerful part- when Anziano Bednar bore his testimony at the end and bore witness of Christ, the restored gospel, and Joseph Smith. Being in the same room as an apostle, just a few rows from him as he bore his testimony, is truly an amazing experience I will never forget. 

One of my favorite quotes that he said was "If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always gotten." How true is that? I love it. I also love how this is a gospel of change, and we really can change and get different results and become different and better people by choosing to be. We can also use different tools and ways for missionary work. Like technology! So even though it wasn't about iPads, we still talked about them. We learned a lot about technology and how to use it effectively and for missionary work. We will each be getting our own iPad in about 2 weeks! Pretty much just whenever they get here! President and Sister Dibb are excited about it. They gave us apples as we left. The kind you eat :) 

Getting "Apples" from the Mission President

They also talked about different things that the church will be doing with technology. It's amazing how much the work can hasten through technology! One thing they will be doing is training people, online, the day after they get their call. There will be trainers online to teach the language and other materials so missionaries will have a head start when they enter the MTC. How neat is that? And who will be the trainers? US!! When we return! I will be able to continue the work and teach new missionaries when I go home! We talked about blessings of iPads, and how to stay a disciple with the iPad. It was a great training. 

"Conference with Elder Bednar. There wasn't time for photos
with him, because he was on his way to Rome."

"This is how close we were"

A room full of missionaries!

So after the conference Sorella Nedelkov and I returned to Lampugnano and started to go to work! We were able to talk to lots of people and see miracles! We had a FHE with a family that went really well then we went home. We were having a great conversation about the conference that day and other insights we were still having about it. We walked in our house and we both noticed our closet door open at the end of the hall. I asked her if she had swept or something, and she was wondering if I left it open. Then I looked to my right and the door to our balcony was open and our tapereli was up about 2 feet. (the tapereli is a metal thing over the windows for security that you can lift and lower from inside the house). We were both kind of in shock. Someone had been in our house!!

"How the closet door looked when we walked in"

"Our broken door"

"Footprints"

"The open door and tapereli up"

 We always close the tapereli to every window before we leave, and this time was no different. We both went immediately to our passports and amazingly they were both there. But all of our stuff was everywhere. It was just what people say or what you see in movies when someone is robbed! Stuff everywhere, drawers opened, cupboards opened, etc. Crazy stuff. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And of course it was the ONLY day that Sorella Nedelkov left her wallet at home. We came home from the conference and just took everything out of our bags, but she forgot to put that back in. So her Mission debit card and metro pass were taken. Luckily not her personal card or permesso di soggiorno. And her jacket was taken. We called President Dibb, and now we're staying at the apartment above the mission office. Which is super nice. But it's about an hour metro ride back to our area. Or a four hour bus ride. We figured that one out yesterday when we got to the metro station and it was CLOSED because there was a sciopero. Or strike. Those are actually really common here... but usually it just means the metros just don't come as often. This time it was closed. So we had to take buses. and 4 hours later we were home! We had lots of time to talk to people though!  We'll be staying there for a few days until they get the window/door fixed. 

A pretty disappointing sight to two sister missionaries to see the
Metro closed for the day.

This meant a 4 hour bus ride home...

Quite the experience! It's actually really neat though because we've gotten to know the office elders pretty well as well as President and Sister Dibb! This morning they took us to the metro because they were headed that way and we got to talk with them for quite a while in the car! They are amazing people :)

So things are pretty exciting here :) We truly are protected and watched over though. So many little miracles occurred with the conference and with the robbery. We know God's hand is in our lives! 

Well, have a great week!

Vi Voglio Bene!

Love,

Sorella Dixon