Wow first of all let me apologize for my last email. Looking back it was quite dramatic. But you have to understand that when missionary work is what you do all day everyday, not seeing any success or feeling like you're not doing enough is the hardest thing in the world. But its so great being out here in Italy. You are literally at the heart of the battle and I'm having that made more clear to me everyday. I feel like a real missionary.
This week was absolutely crazy so I will give as many highlights as I can.
Thursday we took a train to Firenze (Florence) to do scambio with our STL ( sister training leaders) On the train we met this woman and we talked to her for most of the way there. We talked a lot about the gospel but she kept bringing the conversation back to John Bon Jovi hahaha. She literally is obsessed with bon jovi and keeps a picture of him in her wallet. I was dying. She had me translate one of his songs to her and she was so happy to actually know what he was saying now..She wasn't too interested in the gospel but it was an entertaining train ride that's for sure.
When we got there I was so excited because my STL (Sister Training Leader) is Sorella Taylor whose sister lives with my sister in Salt Lake. I love her sister Kim and have heard tons about Sorella Taylor. It was so nice to finally meet her in person. When we got to Florence, me, Sorella Taylor, Sorella Rowe and Hogan all had lunch proprio italian sandwiches while sitting under the Duomo which is worth all the hype. It is seriously the most beautiful building I have ever seen. I didn't know what to do with myself except stare at it. Florence is a lot more overwhelming to me coming from Siena because it is jam packed with tourists, but the work seems to be going good there so I'm happy for them.
Taylor and I hopped in her car and went to go have a lesson with some guy and his family in some strange city. we had to take the freeway and we spent most of the car ride freaking out because Italian drivers are psychotic. Taylor was so nervous and I was her life coach getting her through it all praying we wouldn't crash haha. We pull up to this random town and start walking to find this family's house and we asked this old lady where it was. She said we were in the wrong town by almost 5 Kilometers! by the time we got back to the car we called John and told him we would be late and he was like "late? what are you talking about I'm not even home" WHAT THE HECK JOHN NICE. So we had a good chuckle and went back to Firenze and decided to go finding. We were walking down the side walk and the FIRST women we stop seemed interested in our message I couldn't believe it. I kept thinking in my head oh my gosh it has been 30 seconds and they are still talking to us, oh my gosh it has been 3 minutes and they are still talking to us, etc. We taught them most of the restoration minus the Book of Mormon. The spirit prompted me to bring up how Jesus came to the ancient inhabitants of America after his resurrection and so I did and I was so scared I would say it wrong, but I did it and it was awesome. They looked at each other smiling almost as if they have been waiting for something like this for a long time. I wanted to do the happy dance right then and there. Their names are Jamie and Belen and they're from South America, aka the best people you can talk to here. They loved me and Sorella Taylor and agreed to hear more about our message. They were so disappointed when I told them I wouldn't be there the next time though and so was I. I asked them if they had any friends in Siena and they said no. I was so sad. They really loved me and tried to figure out in their schedule if they could meet with us in the morning before I had to go back to Siena. They agreed to go to church this Sunday as well. It was the best finding experience I have had. When me and Sorella Taylor left and turned the next corner we did the happy dance and were freaking out at how unbelievable it was. She told me that was the strongest she has felt the spirit finding throughout her entire mission. She told me it was a MIRACLE GREENIE hahaha. That night we taught English class and I had the best reunion ever with Elder Harris! I was so happy to see him and I'm so grateful he is in my zone. I'm going back to Firenze in two weeks for zone conference so I get to see all these guys again.
The next morning we went and taught Julia, who is a recent convert. She is the sweetest Peruvian woman and I love her. She fed us rice and lentils and I was in heaven. They were weirdly so delicious. While we were there she started getting all these phone calls from work and in no time she was having a full on argument with who ever was on the other line. It is hard to find work in Italy. There is a high population of retired folk so EVERYONE works in old folk homes or for individual clients. Julia told me that the woman she works for is not very nice and never lets her have a day off work. She was arguing to get Sundays off so she could go to church. Italians never quit their jobs either because it is near to impossible to get a new one. There is a huge population of unemployed people here it is so sad. Anyways Julia starts crying and is freaking out because she doesn't know what to do. Me and Taylor were a little overwhelmed because it was Taylors first time meeting this woman too. Eventually the woman called her back and more yelling occurred. Julia quit her job right then and there and hung up and was a mess as you could imagine. We comforted her as best we could and told her that through her faith in God he can deliver you out of any impossible situation. I may or may not have also threatened the woman and told Julia that if she wanted me to I could go and beat her up. Julia laughed and felt a lot better after we left.
The next day in Siena we taught the Natale family in a town called Poggibonsi outside of Siena. They are less active but have their grand kids living with them who are 8 and 13 and they are not members. Rowe warned me a lot about this family and how it can be very intimidating and hard to talk to them because they are stubborn. Well I went over there and met my match Franco. Man he is a stubborn sarcastic man. In my small Italian vocabulary I did my best to not seem intimidated. By the end of the night we were best friends. He sassed me a lot and I sassed him right back and he could not figure me out. We want them to start coming back to church. They were converted years ago by missionaries who knocked at their door and I told them to tell me what they remember from their baptism day and how they felt. Franco got a little choked up and you could see that he still has his testimony. We asked if we could teach the grand kids and they agreed. The kids are so cute and they like the missionaries. Everyone here always asks what my name is and I tell them Sorella Williams and they say NO YOUR REAL NAME. I tell them I am a missionary and this is my real name but they still insist. Well Franco and his wife did this to me and when I told him Lindsay he said EH? LINDA? i said no Lindsay! and his wife said LISTEN TO HER SHE SAID LINDSAY. Anyway next thing I know Franco and his wife are in full yelling argument about how to properly pronounce my own name (they could have just asked me I was sitting right there) I was laughing so hard as throughout their whole house you could hear them yelling LINDSAY WILLIAMS ITS LINDA WEEELLLEEEAAMMMMMSS ITS LINNDDDAAZZZZZEYYYY EEEELLLEEEAAMMMMMSSS.Keep in mind everything is in rapid Italian. It was pretty entertaining. They ended up not going to church (even though I told Franco I need more friends at church and he could sit by me and he seemed to like that a lot). But we plan on seeing them again this week and I'm anxious to start teaching the family all together.
Another time this week we were doing casa (door to door knocking) and this woman let us up to her apartment (remember that all people answer their doors by their windows) we were shocked. You almost never get invited up (SONO CATOLICA . IO HO GESU CRISTO. CREDE IN MADONNA). So we walk into this woman's house and its decked out in catholic everything. We sat and shared the restoration with her and we shared a video with her as well from lds.org. We asked her such great questions like "if this scriptures says we must follow exactly the church that Jesus Christ restored then why do you think different churches baptize differently" and lots and lots more. This woman was perfect. She asked questions like "Well it says right here that we need prophets in the Bible so who is our prophet?" I thought she was going to say papa francesco but she didn't! She also said she didn't believe that babies needed to be baptized and she said that she has prayed to know if her church is correct but she never has gotten an answer. Golden right? nope. We gave her all the answers she asked us, backed up by scripture, but she was soooo closed off. She just was not feeling that she needed to look into it any further because she "has always been catholic" and she basically said it doesn't matter what the correct church is because we all pray to one God and he hears each of our prayers so why does it matter what church we are in. We had such great responses and I even felt the spirit. I recited to her the first vision but still she was very closed off. Hopefully one day down the road she will re think our message to her.
Yesterday we went finding in the most beautiful park. We had a lesson with an atheist woman who has been through a lot in her life. we asked her if she has ever prayed to know if God is there for her or if he exists. She said no and that she wasn't planning on it because she is content believing there is no God. We taught her most of the restoration but she just didn't want to try. Sad. Then we had another lesson with a woman (THROUGH HER DOG YES I KNEW IT) and she was so sweet and we talked to her a while about the gospel and the differences in what she and we believed in. My companion gave her a pass along card and we were about to walk away but I asked her if we could meet with her again about our message and she said YES. I was so happy. So we got her contact info and we are planning on meeting with her sometime this week. Then we had another lesson with an atheist. But of all the people we talked to that day for whatever reason I felt God's love pouring out to this woman specifically. It was the strangest feeling. She listened intently to everything we said and almost insisted we take her number. The only problem is she lives and hour and a half away and only comes to Siena to play bass guitar so hopefully we can work something out with her. I bore my testimony to her and she was glued to what we were saying. Such a great feeling.
Then we were doing casa and this young woman in her mid twenties let us up (WHAT). It was her and a man also mid twenties (Simona and Davide) who listened to the restoration of the gospel on their doorstep and I KNOW that they felt the spirit. They were so interested in what we were saying (young people to listen to us is also a miracle) and I could have died of happiness I swear. We got their information and they said we could come back again. WHAT WHAT HOOOOLLLAAAAAAAA. Me and Rowe did the happy dance for a solid 20 after that one. The spirit was strong and I felt that they were no coincidence for us.
All week we also have been calling potentials (those who gave their numbers to missionaries in the past but were never contacted) and this woman Sandra was really sweet on the phone and agreed to meet us at a bus stop up the road from us today! I'm really excited about that. We got one or two other potentials who said we could call them back in a week and we could set something up. We also teach other less actives throughout the week and ones name is Daniela and she is really sweet but she lives in the old nunnery outside of Siena, which is a strange place. Old nunneries are common places for immigrants to live or for those who are trying to get their feet on the ground.
Everyday here is so crazy because you literally just have no clue if you are in the right place at the right time until someone agrees to listen to you. Every time we teach I feel the spirit bearing witness to me over and over how true this message is and I feel like I become a new convert everyday. Even just typing this and remembering all these different lessons I get the happiest feeling. I'm so excited that some of those we talked to weren't closed off and that the spirit was able to touch their hearts and tell them to continue meeting with us. I feel like a true missionary. I get denied 230952 times a day but it is the best work in the world and I feel like a true disciple of Christ. You can feel God's love for these people. The language will come and for now I can only say a bit and act out the rest. I have faith that God wanted me here for a reason and he will help me with the language as long as I try every single day.
I have been reading my scriptures every morning and am almost done with the Book of Mormon. This is sad of me to admit, but this is the first time I've ever truly read the scriptures all the way through without stopping. I have learned more than I thought I would and it gives me the biggest boost every morning to go put on my big girl missionary pants (skirt) and talk to these people everyday. I love my scriptures. It doesn't matter how bad you are at reading or how little you know about them, even if its just a verse a day, they are here for you to help you in this life. Take advantage of what I am trying so hard to show and give to people everyday here on the streets of Siena! I have such a greater appreciation of them.
oh p.s. it was my two month mark yesterday which is pathetic because I feel like I have been a missionary for 46 years and weird because I feel like I can remember going into the MTC like it was yesterday. meno male!
love Sorella LEEEEENNNNNDDDDDAAAAAAA WEEEEEEEELLLLLLLEEEEEEEUUUUUUU
Florence
Beautiful Siena!
Sorella Taylor and Sorella Williams in Florence
Sorella Rowe and Sorella Williams in Siena
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