Conference am I right?! I Hope you all got a chance to watch it and if you didn't you need to. It's absolutely incredible how strong you can feel the spirit when listening to the words of one of God's apostles here on the earth saying what He needs us to know. My companion said "the devil checks under HIS bed for Elder Holland before he goes to sleep at night". I think that's pretty accurate.
Thursday we went to Roccastrada and visited Doris & Luciano. Luciano had to leave early for work which was disappointing but we still had a good lesson with Doris. We talked mostly about conference and challenged her to ask God, in prayer, a question before she watches Conference and promised her that she would receive an answer. We could tell something was on her mind and she finally asked us if God doesn't answer questions to those who are unworthy of receiving one. My heart broke. We got the impression that she has been praying for a while about something and feels like she hasn't gotten an answer. We bore testimony to her that God loves all his children no matter their current "spiritual status" and that He is constantly reaching toward us, we just have to turn toward Him. We comforted her and prayed with her and I'm anxious to go back to hear if she watched conference on her computer.
Friday we went to Pisa for zone training which was fun! I got to see the tower and 828484889 tourists all doing the exact same pose hahaha. At the training they told us that all American missionaries will be allowed to vote in the upcoming presidential election!!! They told us to do what we need to, to be educated in the candidates so we can chose who to vote for. I was so surprised!!! And pumped. Finally I get to vote and I'm halfway across the world to do it!
Saturday we went to Tina's and taught her. I feel bad because I haven't given an update on Tina for a while! She's a great girl and it's awesome because we have almost re-activated her! She comes to church often and it's so wonderful!! Sorella Rowe said she has worked her whole mission to reactivate people and it's near impossible. It's a big deal with Tina because missionaries have been working to get her to church for years.
Then we went and met Irma at the bus stop and guess what, she didn't stand us up!! That Irma:) we went to a cafe and taught her the restoration and the spirit was there. She is perfect. She apparently has been praying to find a true church and asked us so many great questions. She really liked everything we said and we were on cloud 9. But don't worry it didn't last long. We had our Book of Mormon sitting on the table and we saw many looks towards it and one lady eventually came to our table and started talking to Irma. I didn't think much of it, but Sorella Rowe whispered to me "j-dub". Sorella Rowe is an expert at spotting the Jehovah Witnesses. The lady left and sat at the table with her version of a companion and one other guy and they stared at us the rest of the time we were there. As we got up to leave Irma told us goodbye and lingered behind and we saw through the window that she had pulled a chair up to their table and began talking to them. We were so scared that they would shovel her full of false anti Mormon crap. Well LOW AND BEHOLD later that day we were on a bus and Irma got on! We said hi and she sat a couple seats in front of us and pulled out a weird looking pamphlet and started reading it. Sorella Rowe and I did some serious yoga moves and were able to peer through the crack of the chair and see that she was reading a J dub pamphlet. I wanted to run over and SNATCH IT out of her hands, but instead I prayed that she would be able to tell the difference between our lessons and the Jehovah Witness lessons by the presence of the spirit.
General conference for us started at 6 pm and we watched it with the elders at the church. Our few members live far away so we weren't surprised when no one showed up. But That was OK because I got to watch it in English Over the next 3 days we watched random sessions when we could so I just finished the last session of conference yesterday.
Monday we went to Montepulciano and taught the Gori's. They fed us pasta and I've never been so full in my life. We told them on our way over that this crazy creepy guy had stopped us at the station and kept trying to give us a ride in his "taxi" um yeah don't think so buddy. Well the Gori's were not pleased about this so they sent their rugby playing, edgy looking daughter Chiara to walk us back to the train station hahaha. Even though I could have taken him, I accepted the body guard. I love Chiara she's hilarious and probably the sweetest person I've ever met.
Tuesday we saw Eunice and Adriano in Roccastrada and we were super nervy because the last time we saw Adriano was when he did his financial pitch to our branch president. It's hard to write everything that happened, but we had to quick change our lesson and taught the gospel. Adriano just does not get it. He is so sick of hearing that the solution to everything is faith and prayer. Italians are THE MOST STUBBORN PEOPLE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. But we gave him a Book of Mormon and bore the strongest testimonies we possibly could of its truthfulness and told him to stop talking and put it to the test. I have so much hope for his sweet little family. I'm praying for a miracle with them.
I really loved what Elder Holland said in conference, "The great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don't always succeed." So everyone calm down and know that you're not expected to be perfect. I have to tell myself this everyday. Each morning when I get my butt out of bed at 6:30 am I know that He is happy with me. Try everyday to be better and you will see the blessings pour into your life. And if you fail try again because I promise He will give you the strength to do it.
Have a great week!! Pace Fuori cool cats.
love sorella williams
p.s Sorella Rowe and I literally almost got hit by a car last night after English class and we screamed bloody murder and ran arms flailing and continued running even when we got onto the side walk because of the adrenaline. It was probably one of the scariest and funniest things ever and we laughed for approximately 30 minutes afterward. We looked like total idiots.
Leaning tower of Pisa
Siena District visits Pisa
The Elders posing like the Sisters at Pisa Zone Training
My daughter Sorella Perkins will be in Italy serving with you this month! I love reading about your amazing service for the Lord!
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