Sorella Carter: First Christmas spent away from home!

Christmas this year was wonderful. I am so grateful that I will able to spend this Christmas in Como. The Saturday before Christmas we had our ward Christmas Party. It was so fun to watch the cute little primary children do the nativity and sing christmas songs. We were able to go Christmas caroling with the GANS or Young Single Adults which was fun to visit the members in both of the Como wards.

Christmas Eve we had a Peruvian dinner with a member in our ward that was delicious. It was so much fun being with this member because she is a little bit older than us. She was trying to cut the turkey but it was her first time, so she just looked at us and asked if we wanted to cut it..hah.. But then she decided to just cut it herself.

Chrsitmas day we went to two different families. During the morning we went to this young married couples home and had pancakes for breakfast with their whole family. After we went to one of our new converts home for Pranzo where there was so much food that I thought my stomach was going to explode. Soo much food in only two meals. It was so great to be with these Italian families because it made me feel at home this Christmas. It was pouring the whole day on Christmas and was a beautiful day.

I was able to skype with my family which was wonderful. It was so good to see everyone and to hear their voices. All of my nieces and nephews looked so much bigger but everyone was still themselves. It was such a blessing to talk to my family. I am so grateful for them all and the examples they are for me. I defintely appreciate them a lot more now that I am here in Italy. We also were able to watch one disney movie that night so we watched "The Lion King". Christmas was a day that I will never forget and was focused on our savior Gesù Cristo.

Before Christmas I wanted to finish the New Testament and I did. It was a pleasure to read the New Testament and made me realize how grateful I am for our Savior Jesus Christ. It was also a testament to me of how we truly can use the Bible and The Book of Mormon together. So now I just started reading the Doctrine and Covenants which is filled of missionary work. I love it already and I am grateful to be able to read the scriptures every morning.

I am so grateful for everyone that thought of me during the Christmas season and I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas this year.

There are always some funny things that happen when we do casa. We were doing casa recently and we rang the doorbell which was by the gate all of the sudden we see this little dog come and run towards the closed gate. It literally looked like a black bat which rabies. Luckily the gate was closed..meno male..

Then we rang another door and an elderly woman came out and said she would be right back. Through her clear door she slipt a euro coin through the crack of the door..ha We had to tell this sweet old woman that we don't collect money from people and all we wanted to do was share our message with her..casa

Last casa story. We went to ring this old looking house. No one was answering. Finally a light turned on and the door is unlocked. So I poke my head in and said hello. I look to the left side of the room and all I can see is firewood. Then a very old man walks down this huge staircase very slowly. For some reason all that was popping into my mind was the story of Hansel and Gretel. Then I started thinking about instead of feeding us with candy he would just feed us Italian food: pasta, pane, pannetone, pizza, gelato and etc. But this man just told us no one lived there so we left smiling ear to ear thinking about the Italian Hansel and Gretel. shesh. too good.

This week it seems like there have been many experiences where we talk to people who just want to argue. But almost everytime I noticed that in these situations that when I would bear my testimony there was silence and the person would stop and listen instead of talking over us. It was a cool experience because this happened to a man we were talking to from Yugoslavia (I keep finding these people..ha) and this happened. As soon as I bore my testimony to him he stopped and listened to me.

It is amazing that it is now 2014. We were able to have breakfast this morning with one of our new converts.. American pancakes. It was such a great morning to talk about the blessing that have happened in 2013. They told us that they wrote down all of their blessings for that year and I now want to do that because there have defintely have been plently this past year. I am so grateful for them because they have strengthened my testimony of obedience these last 7 months here in Como. Next week is transfers so we will be finding out the news. I am so grateful for them and all of the members in Como that have touched my life.

I know 2014 will be a good year and that there are many good things to come with the new year. I love you all! Enjoy this time of year with new goals. I am going to have some spiritual goals for the new year that I want to incorporate everyday.

Love you all,

Sorella Rebecca Carter