The World May Be Broken, But Hope is Not Crazy

Hello lovely people!! 

This week was really something!! As you know there was an earthquake in Lazio, which is the region of Rome and right next to Abruzzo, where I was last serving in Pescara. Luckily I don't think much damage was done to actual Pescara, but to some old buildings around it in outlying towns. I think and hope! Haha. But it has the Italians quite shaken by it. But all the missionaries are fine! 

It's strange though. Because despite the tragedy, or maybe because of it, God has been blessing us with so many miracles in our work!! We are so so excited for this transfer. Heavenly Father knew what he was doing putting us two blondes together :) even though we stick out a lot and there is a lot of attention our way, we have been using it as a tool to spread the gospel more. Or at least trying to haha. 

One miracle was we were visiting our simp Gaetana at her store after visiting our other simp Rosalia, and there was a woman there named Anastasia, who owns a gym near by and is super buff and also wants to learn English. So we met with her the next day and during our incontro we showed ber the video "Grazie a lui" for the spiritual thought at the end.. And then she just started crying and talking about how she wants to change her life for the better and she wants to have a fresh start, and grazie a Lui talks about just that. It was so so awesome. God really does prepare people to hear his gospel! In his way and his time, and sometimes we even get to catch a glimpse of how it turns out. So awesome. 

Another miracle the biggest miracle of my mission actually, is that we met a mom and two daughters at a gesso the other night and we ended up teaching them and all 3 have bap dates and we are seeing them Wednesday again. Literally it was the coolest lesson of my entire mission. Let's pray they turn out to be as golden as we hope for them to be! 

I think one thing I've been realizing I need more of lately is to recognize how incredible Heavenly Father's love for us is. He loves his children regardless whether they choose to believe in him or accept his love. He loves us like no one ever has. And his son, Jesus Christ, has a love for us that is crafted out of the most perfect of loves. Pure and perfect love can only be found in Christ and in doing our best each day to become like him. And to trust that he can heal us and the imperfections in our lives, and this is the greatest thing we can hope for. 

I loved how President Monson said in last conference that our greatest weapon against Satan is real faith. Real faith in something or someone has so much power! But that does not mean it is going to be tested oh so much! I have found my faith being tried every day here, even just by the mere temptation to give into exhaustion, mentally and physically. But when we hold on and let go of our expectations and let God be recognized for the heavy lifting he is doing, we can truly find peace in our lives. We can being to recognize where true happiness comes from. 

21 ¶Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.- Matthew 7:21 

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. -Thomas S. Monson.

I love you all!!! 

Vi voglio bene!!! 

Sorella Jarnagin 

Sorella Hannah Jarnagin 

Piazza Monte Gemma 9 

00141 Roma, Italia 

The world may be broken, but hope is not crazy. - John green 

Weekly planning swag

Cutest luana 

All Missionaries Safe

To the Dear Families of the Great Italy Rome Mission;

Last night a significant earthquake struck an area of central Italy by the town of Norcia. We can report that all our missionaries have been contacted and are safe and accounted for.

Our prayers are with those affected by this tragedy.

With love and gratitude,

President & Sister Pickerd

And With His Stripes We Are Healed.

Ciao beautiful humans,

How is everything? I hope good! It is true I have been transferred to.... CASERTA!!! Its a city about an hour out of Napoli! (Naples) with Sorella Hess who I met back in January before the mission! She is only one transfer ahead of me. And it's a seven week transfer... So pray for us! Haha. We are going to have to work really hard with the language and with knowing where everything is... But it is gonna be awesome! We have already gotten 2 new simps since I arrive Thursday so we are planning on killing it.

This transfer is gonna be awesome and hopefully a lot less stressful and crazy than the last!! Haha but honestly Napoli is awesome! It's a lot different than the north and the accent and dialect is legitimately real.. But it's super cool. We have some really solid people here and I am so psyched to keep working here!!!

Something I have been studying a lot these past few weeks has been faith. Faith in Christ, really. I've been thinking a lot about the woman with the issue of blood in the bible, and she had so much faith that Christ could heal her, so she acted on that faith, and she touched the edge of his clothes. And in that small and simple act of faith, Christ felt her desire to be healed and he acknowledged her efforts and he healed her. And the thing is, that is all it takes to be healed. Obviously it may not happen in a split second or by Christ physically being next to you, but it is as easy as reaching out to Christ, and knowing that he is the source of all good. The source of all healing. And he already died for us. He already suffered. We can't take that for granted. It was not a small price to pay. It was the greatest price that was ever payed, and it was all so that we could be successful and feel joy and not just be trapped in misery forever. 

And I was reading a talk this morning about grief, and how it is a godly emotion. And grief is a by part of love. It is when we love someone and when they are gone or have passed on, we feel grief. And if we never felt grief we know we never felt love, because they are connected. And I think Christ feels that for us when we have fallen from him or we pull ourselves farther away from him. He feels so much grief and sorrow for us because he loves us so much. And all we have to do to begin to be healed is to reach out to him and faith that he can make us clean again. Because HE can. He is the only one who can. 

4 ¶Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. - Isaiah 53:4-5 

I love you all and I know Christ does too. Beyond our imagination and beyond our very low human comprehension. He loves us each for our flaws and our strengths. And he wants you to know it. So come back. Keep trying to be as close to him as you can. He can heal you, if you let him. Ask him, on your knees in prayer or in your heart if that is all you can muster in those moments that you feel too weak to even speak and utter his name. But just ask. And I know he will. He will take it away. He will lift you up. He will send angels to your aid. It's not just some story we tell or a fairytale or only a historical figure. He is a real man. He lives. His love is more real than anyone's love has ever been. And it can never be matched or truly understood. And I know that he will listen. He will be there. Even if maybe you don't think anyone else will or can be or wants to be. He will and he can and he wants to, be there for you. He loves you, and that matters. 

Vi voglio un mondo di bene, 

Sorella Jarnagin 

My ghetto drawing... :( 

Ciao carissimi, 

Come state? 

This week was probably the hardest week of my mission thus far. Because I was in a city I didn't know with a comp I didn't know and I didn't know how or when or why I was there for. But I learned a lot. I was humbled incredibly every day. And I'm really grateful for days that bring new beginnings. 

So I am back in Rome right now in a trio with Rome 6, because my companion Sorella Workman had to return to America as of this morning because her stomach pain was getting worse and literally all the Italian doctors are on ferragosto :( which is basically a made up holiday so that they don't have to work for the whole month of August. So today we deep cleaned all day because nothing is open and no one is here. Rome feels empty and it is pretty eerie. But I was very sad to leave my beloved Sorella workman, but hopefully she will be able to get actual medical help in America. 

Also I got my luggage back which means I got to read my scriptures this morning! Woot woot! You never know how much you love things until they are gone. And then you are gratefully reunited :) 

One cool experience we had this week was visiting this member in Ostia. And she is really old and got an infection in her foot. And her husband doesn't like the Sorelle so he never lets them come to their house, but we were able to visit her for a short while because of her foot. It was incredibly humbling experience, because here she is up making Pranzo for her husband who hates the missionaries while her foot is huge and swollen and blue, and she is crying because she is feeling the spirit so much. We talked about the atonement with her and I felt prompted to share Mosiah 24:14 with her. That scripture has really brought peace to me on my mission, and I saw that it brought peace to her. Because even though she has a thousand things to be bitter about, she is still following the Lord and accepting whatever his will is for her with faith, even though it is hard. I can't really describe it, but it had been a hard day and once we visited her, we came out realizing how fortunate we are. Fortunate that we have the opportunity to help these people who have such hard circumstances, especially with their families, keep holding strong to the rod and putting their faith in Christ. I wanted to share a quote that I read this morning that helped me have more peace of mind. Proving to me more how much God knows us, and how much his Son knows us, because he suffered everything we suffered and bore everything we have borne, and will bear. 

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who sees from the beginning to the end, knew very well the road He would travel to Gethsemane and Golgotha when He proclaimed, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). In the sight of the Lord, it is not so much what we have done or where we have been but much more where we are willing to go.- Elder Edward Dube "look ahead and believe" 

I know that to be so true! Where we have been and who we were does not define our future. Every day we can decided to be someone different that who we were yesterday. We don't have to keep doing the same things or getting stuck in the same ruts. But instead, we have the chance to try our very best to be our very best, each and every day, without letting tomorrow or yesterday affect that opportunity to be new. That is the greatest aspect of the atonement, in my opinion. The fact that we get so many new, fresh starts. And I think that is why we have so much change in life. Because God likes to give us second chances. He likes to help us mold into who we are supposed to be, by smoothing out the edges and encouraging us to break free of the things we used to be. He lets us start over so many times, and I love him with all my heart for that. Because sometimes we do not think we can move on, or time will pass, or the pain or the grief will leave us. But it does and it will. Because the Lord wants a future for us. And that future isn't just going to come by doing the same things and expecting different results. We have to have change in order to have growth! We cannot forget to thank him for the fresh starts, though, even when they seem disguised as bitter endings. 

I have found for myself this week that it isn't where you are, it is who you are with. But more than that, it is who is with you. If the Lord is, if you let him in, he will guide you, he will answer those pleading prayers for peace and he will dry the tears you have cried as you ask him why. But maybe it's not about the why anymore. Maybe it's about the how. How can we endure well? How can we forget what we had in mind and let the Lord glorify all those wants we had and all our needs beyond our own meager comprehension? How can we do this, when it seems entirely unfeasible? We can't do it. That is the thing, without the Lord, we can't do it. But He can. 

Vi voglio bene, 

Sorella Jarnagin 

Last selfie as comps 

Tree in the road... What?!??!! 

Nightly planning in Whoville. 

Love her 

A bit dark, but hey, a castle!!! 

But Wait, There's More!

I love life and the fact that God reminds me every
day that he is in charge! So I am getting emergency transferred to
Ostia today!!! And we have been in Rome for the past week because
Sorella Workman needs to get her galbladder out soon! So it's been the
most insane week of my life. We have had six Sorelle in one apartment
and two staying with the senior couple upstairs...

 I got emergency transferred without my luggage. I have four outfits some garments and a
tooth brush because we came to Rome a few days ago.I don't know how long I will be here or when I can get my luggage. I didn't even get to bring my scriptures!

Scream PLOT TWIST When This Happens...

Ciao tutti, 

This is a crazy day so I can say much. But I am getting emergency transferred to Ostia because my comp is really sick! And has to stay in Rome. And we've been staying in Rome for about a week now. So Pescara is shut down as of right now! So it's been pretty insane. And I have a solid four outfits to last me until who knows when. But this is the part where we walk by faith and not by sight! 

"The world is in commotion, but in His “only true and living Church,” there is faith and no fear."-Gerrit W. Gong 

Have a great week! 

Sorella Jarnagin

My New Comp, Sorella Moro of Costa Rica. She speaks perfect Italian! 

I have this one at home! 

Let God (August 1st)

Ciao tutti, 

This week sure has been something!!! I'd say it's been quite the most eventful week as in there were really no events and yet a lot of events happened. My comp has been ill and is getting progressively sicker, so prayers for her would not be turned away! But we were still able to have scambio this week because Slla Workman is a mad trooper. And it was super duper fun!! It was cool to see a greenie and realize that I have grown. And we ate pizza so one can never be mad about that!!  

But this week I've been realizing more and more that I have to let go, and Let God. I have to let him do the things that he needs to be done, and I have to be willing to do those things that he wants. It's hard to let go of how we had things all planned out in our heads, where our lives will go, who we think we need to be, but it's worth it because his plan is better. He wants us to have what we want, just in the best way possible. He wants us to be truly happy, and to have lasting joy. And only through showing our love for him by keeping his commandments and aligning our will with his can we truly obtain pure joy. I know it is something that only comes from God and the gospel. Without the gospel, there is no good news!!! 

Speaking of good news, I sat by a woman on the bus the other day and she was holding her little son who was maybe eight months old. And we asked what his name was, and she said it was Good News. And so, it's true! Good news still exists! It is alive and well, just like that adorable little boy. And God gives it to us in the least expected places, when we are grateful and we are willing to do the things he asks us to do. Because really, God's sole purpose is to bless us and help us have eternal life. He is not here to make us miserable, but to be able to tell the difference between joy and misery, so one day, we can become like him. He is kind. He is loving. He is our Father. He never lets us down. Even when it seems like it, he always has something wonderful in store. 

I love you all and I love being a missionary. I am not the same. My heart has forever been changed and is continuing to be changed. And although growth can be exquisitely painful sometimes, 

It is sooooo worth it. 

Have the greatest week and keep being the greatest people. 

23 And now Father, I pray unto thee for them, and also for all those who shall believe on their words, that they may believe in me, that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one.-3 Nephi 19:23 

Vi voglio bene, 

Sorella Jarnagin 

Sorry I don't have any good pictures this week. But I love ya!