Sorella Williams: Un mese in Italia!

First and foremost congratulations Leonardo you did it. It was a long up hill battle but we made it everyone #oscars.

     This week my umbrella was my best friend. Today the sun is out so I am happy, but also not because there are gross stupid pigeons everywhere. I swear they are starting to follow me. please send help.

     I hope everyone's week was swell. Sorella Rowe and I did a lot of finding, talking, walking, and she shows it because today she is sick as a dog. I tried feeding her pizza but she didn't like the help.

     Thursday our little branch and us fasted for missionary work. We pray continuously for more investigators. The members of the Siena branch are truly such dedicated, and hard working people to this gospel and it makes me want to find people so much more just for their sake! They are the best.

     We went to a little countryside town called Sovicile outside Siena to visit a less active member named Lucia. I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful Toscana views before! Miles and miles of green hills and Italian villas and farms. I wish so badly you all could see what I see. Well it took an hour of walking all over this town and being stared down by nuns and other locals who aren't used to seeing missionaries walking around their sidewalks to find out she had moved to another city. We tried talking to some locals in the city, but none were too eager to listen in the rain.

     Friday we went to Doris' in Roccastrada and I got to meet her husband and he is the BEST. Whenever people hear me talk with such a thick American accent they get so excited and try talking to me in English so they can practice (or maybe impress me haha). The small English they know and how they phrase it is so funny I can't help but laugh sometimes. I may not be an expert at Italian yet, but I am an expert at thick Italian accented English. So there's my golden star of the week. He was really excited because his cousin lives in Texas and sent him a Texas ranger sheriff badge with his name on it (one of those things you could get at like a gas station or something). He was excited to show me his American souvenir. I hope as we continue meeting with Doris he will be interested in hearing our message as well.

We planned to meet Eunice afterwards, but she stood us up. But we are meeting with her this upcoming week so I'm excited about that. Later that day we tried this thing where we left a Book of Mormon with a restoration pamphlet inside with all our information in it on a bus stop bench and then we sat across the street and casually acted like James Bond as we watched several people pick it up. We would get so excited thinking someone was about to take it and then they would put it back down! We do so much finding most days so we thought it would be fun to change it up, especially because I think two missionaries talking to people can be pretty intimidating to them, but a book just sitting on a bench is harmless! Eventually one guy with his mom and sister did pick it up and got on the bus so maybe one day we will get a phone call from them.

We visited Tina on Saturday, always an interesting time with that one. She did come to church on Sunday again which was great! Mostly because I told her if she wanted a new CTR ring she would need to come to church to get it from me, but hey she came so who cares! When we left Tina's Saturday, we met this cute lady named Irma while waiting at the bus stop. And I love her! Seriously. She moved to Italy about 14 years ago from Bolivia. We started talking about the church and asked if we could meet with her again and she said perchè no? I was so excited. We had a plan to meet with her at the same bus stop yesterday but she never ended up showing, she said she got caught up in centro but we are trying to make another meeting with her for this week. I get a good feeling about that Irma. She is a gem.

     We also got to have another lesson with the Natales and we had a miracle! A woman named Bianka who used to live in Siena and go to our branch and now lives in Milan, was in town and called us asking if she could help with any lessons we might have that day. We NEVER get members present lessons so we were pretty stoked. We met her at the train station and rode to Poggibonsi. I have never been more grateful to have someone with us in a lesson. The kids absolutely LOVE Bianka and when they saw her they lost their minds because they haven't seen her since she moved and the one or two times they ever went to church she really made an impression on them. They sat in on the lesson with us and learned all about following Jesus, it was great. I'm hoping next time we have a lesson with them it won't be like pulling teeth to have the kids join us now that they know the lessons can be fun. Team Bianka.

     Sunday & Monday we were in Florence for new missionary conference and zone conference and it was fun to see everyone again. Our branch president gave us a ride to Florence after church Sunday because it's on the way to Prato which is where he lives. I have never been more scared on a freeway in my life. Italian drivers are absolutely insane. We didn't get to stay the night in Florence so we took the hour and a half train back to Siena Sunday night only to turn around Monday morning and go back. Well the stupid bus was so late and when we finally got to the train station the ticket thing wasn't working. We were running around like crazy, but alas, us and the Anziani missed the train to Florence. Nice first impression on the zone huh haha. But it was pretty cool because when we finally got onto the later train, we sat by a woman named Daniela and talked to her the entire train ride and we were able to teach her the whole restoration. She seemed genuinely interested and Sorella Rowe and I were given multiple opportunities to bare testimony of the restoration and of this gospel. When it came to us getting her number so we could talk more another time she was super hesitant and didn't want to, so we gave her ours and hopefully one day she will call us.

     The conference itself was fun, but pretty overwhelming to be one of 4 greenies in a room with so many old and experienced missionaries! After conference the bus was crazy late (I don't know what it was about Mondays and late buses) so we got a lot of time to just hang out with everyone outside before we all parted ways again and it was really fun. Finally the stupid bus came and me and my comp booked it from the bus to a famous leather shop by the train station. After we were done at the shop we had only a couple minutes until the train to Siena was leaving since we were so late getting there because of the late bus. And so two sister missionaries in dresses ran like Usain Bolt across downtown Florence at night in the rain and all throughout the giant train station only to make our train at the last minute. It could have been in a movie I swear. We were jumping over things and hurdling babies. Something I won't soon forget haha. We didn't get a chance to talk to anyone on the train home, however a man did persistently hit on me even after I kept telling him I was a missionary. He was very persistent for my number so eventually I gave him the Anzianis number. That will be an interesting phone call haha. Hope he likes talking about the gospel!

     I truly love the Italian people. You won't find nicer people I can promise you that. Even on our roughest days of finding we are still treated, for the most part, with respect and kindness. You meet the funniest people here. They are so passionate and traditional it's hard not to fall in love with them. You get these little experiences that happen all the time that make the night worth it. For instance, this one older man we found while doing casa wasn't interested in our message, but he was interested in making us laugh. He loved getting attention from two 20 year old girls and didn't waste time. When we told him we had to go he held onto my hand and kept trying to kiss it but he didn't realize I had a glove on so he got a mouth full of cotton. He was not happy about it.

     I feel like I am already so different than just a month ago when I first got here and I know I will continue to learn and grow with time. At the conference I was reminded of something, "We are not here to do easy things, we are here to serve the Lord". I think the reason why life can seem near to impossible at times is simply because it's the only way we could ever understand a small fraction of what our Savior went through. I hope all of you spend some time to think of Him and what He did for you individually and pull strength from it. He loves you. I love you.

Con il mio cuore! Sorella Williams