I'll Be ROME For Christmas

Ciao cari, 

I know it's a little early to be talking about Christmas, but it's almost thanksgiving, which means it's almost Christmas. And since thanksgiving is an American holiday....

See my point? Okay. Allora. Christmas!!! I love this time of year because it's all sparkly and pretty, especially here in ROMA.Did I mention I live here now? It's true. I live in the most magical city in the world! And I'm still pinching myself! I never thought I'd be one to serve in proprio Roma, and look at me now! Dreams do come true.

When I got my transfer call last Monday night I was a bit worried as we got blown in here, which means we are both new to the city and the ward and the work here. But things have been going pretty smoothly, and we have an adventure every day!! 

I've been thinking about how God puts us exactly where we need to be, with who we need to be with. And how it all just makes sense. Not at first, but looking back, I can see how it was all working together, leading up to something greater. And it is still is leading up to something wonderful, and I know that when it's all over I will be able to look back and see how wonderfully perfect everything fit into place. Of course, it is nothing like I imagined for myself. And I am so glad. God has a lot prettier imagination than me- for which I am very very grateful. 

And I think it's hard for all of us to see, or more, to trust the future he has in store for us. The things we can become when we let him take care of the rest. When we let him carry us through the parts he has already walked, and knows we cannot. And maybe that's why it is so hard to be happy sometimes. Because we expected things to be different than they are. But in the end, we come to realize it was better this way. If we did not know this great pain or these great trials, how could we ever know great triumph, or great joy? 

I love how in the Mormon message the Refiner's Fire, the woman talks about how when you feel deep tragedy, or have great pain, you are then more able to truly feel joy, and to have more happiness and appreciate when things are at their prime. I think that is so true. It is like Newton's law, like she says. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. 

It is like in Alma 36 when Alma the Younger describes how great his pain was, but then how exceeding his joy. I thought it was cool when in verse fourteen he says:

14 Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.

But then, he comes to have a complete change of heart. He asks for mercy. And then he repents. And he says:

22 Yea, methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.

And first, he was filled with horror at the thought of having to stand before God and tell him all the wrong he had done. But then, he thought of seeing his God, and he longed to be there. I think this is a sign of true repentance. When we go from not wanting to let God see our flaws, to asking for mercy, repenting, and moving on to the point where we are able to want to be with him. Where we know that we are good enough, we have tried hard enough, and we have enough faith that he will keep his promises to us. And we will see him again. And we will live with Him. Because he is so proud of us. 

And I was reading in Mosiah this morning about how Ammon sees himself as an unworthy serving to help the people because members of the church. And I just had the thought. Stop underestimating how God sees you. Because I think somewhere down the line, it is easy to get into our heads that he sees us as sinners. As our past, or as everything we aren't. And it is true he sees our weaknesses perfectly clear, but that is all he sees them as. They are not who we are. He sees us for our divine potential. As souls who have the capacity to become like him. As people who have such a bright, wonderful future. And if we can just see ourselves as even a fraction of how he sees us, as how far we have come, and how much we have already done, then maybe we would have more confidence in our ability to change. More capacity to love others, and to develop true charity. To see them as their potential and their ability to change.

Sorry that was so long. But I love this gospel. I don't ever want to let any of these things I've felt here go. Miracles still happen. God is still real. He has a plan for you, and it is beyond your wildest dreams. He is merciful. He is kind. Ask him to take this from you, and he will. But you must ask, because he cannot interrupt your agency. But if you allow him to take it, he will take it. And not just some. But all of it. So let him. Don't leave yourself to your own strength. Use his grace. Use it in every moment. 

I love you all. Have the best week, happy thanksgiving, and eat some pumpkin pie for me 

Vi voglio un sacco di bene,

Sorella Jarny 

Sorella Hannah Jarnagin 

Piazza Monte Gemma 9 

00141 Roma, Italia 

Italia Roma Missione 🇮🇹

Last Napoli pizza :( 

The One Where the Happiest Human is Baptized! (11/13)

Guess what??? 

This week was a crazy rollercoaster of emotions and insanity and wonderful things and sad things. 

But the brightest thing that happened was a true sign that Heavenly Father prepares a specific and personal plan for each of us in our lives. And sometimes it is not exactly what we think it is going to be, and the things we think are forever turn out to be bittersweet endings, cut too short too soon. Or we don't get the answer we wanted to something we have always thought we wanted. And it's hard to be okay with who Heavenly Father wants us to be and how he expects us to get there. And it's also, really really incredibly difficult to realize how much we matter to Him. How much he knows our hearts. How much he cares if we feel joy, and how much he mourns we mourn. He is the epitome of charitable, the most perfect empathizer and the greatest    example of perfect love. 

And because of this perfect love, he sent us here. Not because he wants to see us fail, but because he wants to see us succeed. His purpose is that. To help us find our way, whichever way. To guide us. To love us. To support us. To worry about us. To bless us. And to give us time when we need it, and coincidences and tender mercies when we need them most. 

And he sure has given me a tender mercy this past transfer. Her name is Veronica. And she walked into church the day after I turned 20. And she started asking questions. And at first we thought she was some kind of religious critic. But it turns out she was the most humble, intelligent, penitent seeker of happiness I have ever known. And away we went. 

And yesterday she chose to come back to Christ. She chose to take upon her the name of her dear sweet savior and she was baptized. 

And I don't think I can explain the joy that filled my heart when during her confirmation she was declared a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I think that is the first time in my life I've ever felt true joy. Seeing someone else realize what they were missing out on--the purest love to ever exist-- and to be able to recognize that, and be brave enough to want it and to do whatever it took to get it. That is the type of faith I think we all need to remember to have. To let go, of everything we were and what we used to know and who we used to be, and to let God, make us into who we were meant to be. Into the right person. So we can have true joy. 

And I know it all comes in due time. And we each have a time frame and a path. But we also have a choice. To make it the easy way or the hard way. We can choose to be guided through daylight, or we can chose to be drug along through the darkness until we finally find our way again. 

And the easy way, it does seem to always turn out to be the hardest way. The path not usually taken. But I mean it the easy way because it is the way that is actually worth it. 

"Some turn away from God in anger, and others allow their suffering to bring them closer to God. Like you, I have experienced pain myself. Pain is a gauge of the healing process. It often teaches us patience. Perhaps that is why we use the term patient in referring to the sick.

The Savior is not a silent observer. He Himself knows personally and infinitely the pain we face.

As I pondered, I came to understand that during His mortal life Christ chose to experience pains and afflictions in order to understand us. Perhaps we also need to experience the depths of mortality in order to understand Him and our eternal purposes.

      President Henry B. Eyring taught: “It will comfort us when we must wait in distress for the Savior’s promised relief that He knows, from experience, how to heal and help us. … And faith in that power will give us patience as we pray and work and wait for help. He could have known how to succor us simply by revelation, but He chose to learn by His own personal experience.” "- "The Atonement Covers All Pain by Kent F. Richards, April 2011 

I was studying this talk a few weeks ago, but it keeps staying with me. I think sometimes we forget that the Savior is for us. He did the atonement for us, and he felt everything we would feel. Which means he knows us, better than anyone. He knows our pain, because he has felt it. But he also knew how much we would hurt. And how important that would be to us. And because he loves us completely, or perfectly, he chose to feel all that we feel. Because he loves us enough to want to understand us better than anyone else. 

I know every pain we feel is for a reason. It is all for something bigger. And I know that our trials are to help us learn. To become someone with more value than we ever thought we had, more than we on our own could recognize. 

Vi voglio bene 

Sorella Jarnagin 

Sorella Hannah Jarnagin 

Piazza Monte Gemma 9 

00141 Roma, Italia 

Italia Roma Missione 🇮🇹

Sometimes Stop and Smell The Roses

Ciao tesori miei, 

It has been a long, wonderful week! We started out with a scambio in Battipaglia and then we came back and had the Pozzuoli sorelle here with us and we tore it up!! We taught a woman in a store named Anna and showed her grazie a lui and she started crying and said it was just a really difficult time right now... and she wouldn't accept il libro di Mormon but she did accept the opuscolo of the Restoration. So we plan to go back there and teach her and hopefully she will have her heart softened so she can see how much the gospel truly can heal hearts and change lives and give us chances we never knew we could have. 

Another miracle we saw during scambi is first we were trying to see our cute investigator Alina but the train never came. So that was a bummer. So we decided to go visit a less active, but I kept getting us lost, walking down super random streets and in completely the wrong direction the whole night, and I kept getting frustrated. But then we started heading down this street I knew was wrong, but I just felt like we needed to go that way, so we went that way and decided we would stop by Gaetana, our other investigator, whose store is close. But then she was too busy talking with a ton of people so we told her we would come back in a minute. So then I asked Sorella Hunter if she was hungry and she said no, just a little thirsty. So I said alright. We kept walking a little bit. Then we saw Conad, a grocery store, and I said let's go get a drink! Because you have thirst! (Haha) and so we crossed the street and went in. And five seconds after we walk, we see Anastasia, the friend of Gaetana who we met with once and she started crying because she said she just wanted to change her life, and live better basically. She is super cool, a personal trainer, and awesome. And we hadn't been able to get in contact with her for weeks she had been dodging us. But I ran up to her and shouted her name which probably freaked her out but it was fine. And then she botched me and went to go pay for her salad. But Sorella hunter and I just stood there with our juice, completely dumbfounded!!! Well at least I was!! Because Heavenly Father really does lead us to the people who need us. He really does help us see the things other people can't and he puts us right in their path when they need it most, even when they cannot see it right away. 

And sometimes he puts people in right in our path who are golden. And her name is Veronica and she is getting baptized this Saturday!!!!! 

So there's that. We are excited!!! She is literally the most prepared human I have ever met! She

 LO️VES the GOSPEL and she LOVES Gesù!!!!! She is soooo coool. We are so lucky to know her and be a tiny piece of her beautiful conversion story. 

I can't even describe the joy I feel when I see someone finally begin to want to understand, to comprehend, to feel the love their father in Heaven has for them. It is almost magical, the way it sets things off. And pretty soon, their entire life, their entire purpose and future is completely changed. It's amazing. 

And I've been thinking about change today. About how it is so possible to change. It takes a decision to change. Then it takes a goal. Then a plan on how to achieve the goal. And then it takes tasks. Things, little things, you must consistently do to keep yourself on course, to keep correcting, to achieve the change. But most of all, it takes commitment. It takes a deeper desire to want something better, for yourself and for those around you. And then it takes consistency to keep that commitment burning strong. 

And I know this is something I need to work on more. Being more consistent with my commitment to the Lord. I like how in Preach My Gospel it basically says that your success as a missionary is dependent only upon how committed you are to the lord. Because if you are committed to him, you will not want to let him down. Or disappoint him. And I know I don't want to disappoint my Heavenly Father. I want to make him smile. I want to make him proud. So I will do whatever it takes to make him happy. To make his children happy. 

I also know that change is real and I know that it doesn't not come easily, but with a high cost. But luckily, that cost has already been paid with the grace of the atonement of Jesus Christ. So we don't have to pay. We don't have to suffer uselessly. All of the sufferings and pains we experience in this life are for something bigger. They are for our learning, our growth, our realization that our strength is not our own. And that us against the world with only our own strength is asking for failure. But if we turn to him who has already overcame the world, we can triumph. We can win. We can better. We can find joy. 

I know God is real. I know he is our father. And I know that he lives. And through his son Jesus Christ, we can overcome anything. 

Be of good cheer, the future is as bright as your faith. -President Thomas S. Monson

Vi voglio bene! 

Sorella Jarnagin 

Sorella Hannah Jarnagin 

Piazza Monte Gemma 9 

00141 Roma, Italia 

Italia Roma Missione 🇮🇹

È Una vita meravigliosa (10/31 ~ Halloween)

Ciao belli, 

HAPPY halloween!!! 

This week was fantastic and right Now I am writing from the Amalfi coast so I will keep it short. But guess what? Dreams really do come true. More on that next week, but in the mean time, let me just say GREAT THINGS are happening in the city of my heart Caserta. These past few months here have been jam packed with miracles and we are finalmente seeing precious fruits from our Labors and we are super lucky to even be seeing them!!! I am so pumped to keep the fire here burning. 

Lately I've been contemplated why we think we need so much to be happy. Why we think our circumstances has anything to do with happiness. Why how much money or success we have determines how much felicità we will have in this life. When really, happiness truly is about embracing the tiny moments. The little slivers of joy we can find in each day, and those are what build up to an eternal stock of true happiness. 

It reminds me of the Mormon message "Flecks of Gold" and how the man is so mad that they promised him he would find gold, and then he only finds a few flecks. And it takes a more seasoned gold finder to point out to him that it is those flecks that over time become very very costly and priceless. But that doesn't mean the profit takes time to find. Just like happiness. Maybe we can't declare ourselves truly happy today, because we are only seeing the flecks are just flecks. But when we take the time to put them all together, to count them and cherish them, we realize how much they have all added up. And how maybe, all this time, we have had all this happiness right under our nose, we just haven't recognized it as such. 

And I think that seasoned gold finder is our brother and our best friend Jesus Christ. He is our Savior, and he is magnificent. But more, he is the one who knows our hearts. He knows how it feels to be frustrated over flecks because we are expecting bars of gold to just magically wash up to our feet within an easy distance for us to pick up. And so he provides us with grace because he understands, above all, how we feel. He understands what it is like to feel like we have no one, or to feel like we are no one. And we aren't. We are someone. We are souls. We have always existed and we always will exist. Whether we choose to spend our days in misery or in joy. We know how to live in both ways. It is only a matter of which we choose. 

I love being a missionary and I'm so grateful for all the prayers and the support! And everyone is fine from the earthquakes. Tutto bene :) they were near my last city, all of them, but we were hardly affected here. We saw our light fixture swinging back and forth but other than that we are all good. 

      President Gordon B. Hinckley said: “If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God. … The Lord will not forsake us.”

Our family motto doesn’t say, “It will all work out now.” It speaks of our hope in the eternal outcome--not necessarily of present results. Scripture says, “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good.” This doesn’t mean all things are good, but for the meek and faithful, things--both positive and negative--work together for good, and the timing is the Lord’s. We wait on Him, sometimes like Job in his suffering, knowing that God “maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.” A meek heart accepts the trial and the waiting for that time of healing and wholeness to come. -Neil F. Marriott 

Thanks for listening and I hope you all have the best week!!! 

VVB 

Sorella Hannah Jarnagin 

Piazza Monte Gemma 9 

00141 Roma, Italia 

Italia Roma Missione 🇮🇹