BLOG for June 26, 2012

The Pageant is coming soon! I'm so excited. A little nervous with how many people will be here. It is not the same as "City of Joseph", as far as I know. But I've heard so much good about that play. I guess Pageant is different. Yeah, crowds here are growing. Lots of youth groups, who are my favorite, or YSA's.

 

Mom! I received a letter from a Minister who I talked with here at the VC. I honestly thought he was a member of our church. He dressed like it and seemed like it. We talked for a while and I committed him to read the Book of Mormon and look up a church near by his home. And he IS reading my blog! Can you believe it?! That blog is actually a tool for missionary work. So keep it up! Here is part of the letter from him. "I want to take this opportunity to thank you and your sister missionaries for the blessings I received on my recent trip to Nauvoo. There is a something very special about that place. I felt a very sweet Spirit during my time in Nauvoo and was greatly moved by my experiences there. I continue to reflect on all that I saw and all that I heard. First, I thank you for taking time to visit with me in the VC. Your testimony is very strong and you have a gift for sharing your faith. You've been blessed with a natural enthusiasm and charisma that will certainly help you reach others. I want to let you know that as a result of our conversation I did get a copy of the Book of Mormon and plan on reading it again. I have also made several visits to Mormon.org and managed to find the blogs of several missionaries (including yours which is how I got this address). I will continue to read more about your faith."

How great is that?! Because you and Dad had me born with "natural enthusiasm and charisma", I am able to touch the lives of others, and with help from the Spirit of the Lord, bring them to Christ.

 We do calling on referrals here in Nauvoo. That is part of our mission. We ask for referrals from visitors and when they refer someone to the missionary program, it is our job as the young sister missionaries to call that friend and see if they'd like to have missionaries come over and visit them. Or teach them over the phone or email until they feel ready to have missionaries come over. Ha! It's an adventure each time. Calling is REALLY hard; they can't see my face, they don't know who I am, they've never heard of Nauvoo, they don't understand why I'm calling in behalf of their friend. So it can be awkward and difficult, but the more I do it, the more I learn. Last Wednesday I called a Rosemarie Stien. She is 65 and Catholic, well basically she loves all religions. We talked about the gospel and I was able to share scriptures and things from The Proclaimation on the Family that really helped her. She said I called at the right time, and told me to "Tell your mother I said you did a good job". :) so I told ya. I'll be calling her again soon to stay in touch. Not all phone calls go like that. Actually, very few I think. Most people don't answer the phone, or it is just an awkward call. But every contact with the church for each person in the world is important.

I got transferred to Carthage Jail! It's about 30 min away from Nauvoo, so I live like 2 blocks from the Jail in a beautiful house. I have a new companion and I am SO happy to be back with Sister Brown, my MTC Companion, again. I don't feel any judgment from her. We live in an apartment with all the necessary things. It is just us two and the place is way too big for our needs. Big difference. I went from 13 sisters, to 1.

At first, I was nervous, well terrified, and sad to be leaving Nauvoo and my sisters. (Sister Streeter especially. I love her with my whole heart.) I feel immensely blessed though. Carthage Jail made me nervous as I said last email, but now I love it! (But I still get nervous giving tours). I feel so blessed to be here. There are 4 other sisters in Carthage who live in a different apt. and we have a few senior couples. It feels like home, a little family. There are Carthage miracles that happen every day. Relying on the Spirit is of key importance. I'm going to start doing tours on my own tomorrow. And tomorrow is actually the day Joseph and Hyrum were shot 168 years ago. We are having a commemoration at 5pm (which is when the attack happened). It is going to be incredible. I honor those two men for sealing their testimony with their blood; their lives. I know they did so because they believed in Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God and that because of Him, they would live again. The Savior redeems. That is his job. Repentance is not payment, it is accepting the payment.

I hope all is well!

Your sister in the Gospel

Sister Zibetti