Parma in Parma

Ciaoooo

This week was nuts with good and not good!

     Thursday we went to the CUTEST mountain city called Lumezzane  to find some less actives. It felt like Colorado which made me so happy. Lots of old buildings and hills. It reminded me of a ski town in the summer. You could tell they've never had a tourist because we were stared at soooooo much. Eventually I just started waving back. Our efforts to find the less actives were in vain BUT we taught this woman on the bus and it was incredible. She is a widow named Olga which is ironic because the less active we tried to visit had just recently lost her husband too (that was the funeral we went to a couple weeks back). Olga said "so, you're going to visit a widow? To comfort her?" And we said yes. And you could tell she was curious but didn't want to show it. She said "so how would you comfort a widow like her?" We shared with her the message we were going to share with the less active member. It was all about the eternal family and getting through difficult times. We were so blessed to have had a prepared message specifically for a widow. It really touched her as she's never really recovered from her husbands passing. I hope something good can come from that.

     Friday we went to Lago D'Iseo to meet a woman whose number we randomly found in our phone. She apparently met with the missionaries once about two years ago but went to Mexico for a while for an internship and the missionaries lost touch with her. We met her at a cafe and she's the BEST. she's 28 and super cute. We taught her the restoration and it went really well. She had a lot of great questions. She goes to Catholic Church but doesn't understand at this time in her life how she can increase her faith. It was great talking with her. Afterward we walked on the boardwalk, it's so beautiful there. We are seeing her again Friday.

     Saturday we went to the DiCriscito's house. We see this family at church every now and then and until recently haven't really gotten on a first name basis. They have two kids, Maria who comes to church and their son who wants nothing to do with the church and had his name taken off the records. The mother was converted when she was 17 because she LOVED the Osmonds and listened to their music all the time, read that they were Mormon and found missionaries to figure out what that even meant and then was converted herself a short time later. Thank you Osmonds am I right? Anywho we were sitting on the bus on Friday night and just had the impression to call them and see if we could visit them. So I did and Maria answered the phone. Before I could even say anything she said "sorella devo sapere qualcosa" and I said what and she asked what are you doing tomorrow for lunch? We were just about to call you guys and invite you over. We were so pumped! Clearly it was meant to be! We went and it was so perfect. I love them. They are hilarious and remind me a lot of my family. We had a really great conversation about how we, as members, are always told to perseverare sino alle fine but how? What does that even mean? We talked of how important the little things are in our life that we sometimes forget to do; scriptures, church, prayer, tithing. Do we really think God gives us these things to do in life for his benefit? Of course not he doesn't need anything, he gives us these things solely for our benefit. They help us to enjoy life and endure to the end. He wants us to be happy in this life. The spirit was so strong and it was no coincidence that they needed this message at this time. What a cool experience for me to be apart of.

     That evening we took a bus, the right one this time, to a city called Bedizzole AND yet again no one wanted to see us. This guy literally used the excuse that at some point that night he had to take a shower so he couldn't even open the door just for us to introduce ourselves. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh man. But this other guy walked passed us while we were standing by this less active's citofono and said in perfect English "hey guys". Hahaha we were both so stunned we didn't even respond. He turned the corner and was gone and I looked at Tullis and asked her if she heard English like I did! She said yes and we were so confused because he wasn't a tourist, he was this less active man's neighbor. So naturally and quite awkwardly we started following him hahaha  I was so confused how he spoke perfect English, no accent or anything. But then we lost him in a park and there was only a lady and her dog there. So I asked her "this is so weird but did you see a man walk by a minute ago?" And she said yes, "but I didn't see where he went, why?" And I started laughing and told this woman the only reason I could give why we wanted to follow him "because I think he can speak English" hahaha. She was like "ok?" So I explained that we are Americans and always get excited when we think someone can speak English. We then started talking to her. Her name is Lucrecia and she is maybe 26. Super sweet and cute. She is Catholic but explained to us that lately she doesn't understand faith and how she's supposed to act upon it. We taught her the entire restoration and it was SO great. We talked for at least an hour in the park. When we finally left we realized we had probably missed our bus (worth it). When we got to the bus stop the tiny sign saying bus times was so confusing so I asked this little teenage girl for help. She was fascinated by my "bellissima" accent and I told her I was American and she FREAKED OUT. she kept saying WHY ARE YOU HERE IN BEDIZZOLE I'VE NEVER MET AN AMERICAN BEFORE. she was the cutest and absolutely fascinated by our lives. She caused quite the scene because soon we had 8 young teenage girls huddled around us asking about American boys, high school, if prom really exists like the movies, Justin bieber, Zac Efron (of course they assume we know them personally), music, and movies. It was the best. I was in heaven with a bunch of cute little middle school kids dreaming of America. I told them "you know most Americans dream is to one day come to Italy" and they couldn't believe me haha. Unfortunately the bus never came that night and we emergency called the Anziani who came with Patrizia all the way from Brescia to pick us up. Francesco, Patrizias husband, would have come too but he said "I love the Sorelle, but the Napoli game is on" hahaha. Crazy night. Also had the best gelato of my life while we waited for the non existent bus.

     Sunday we found out that Giada, our investigator who is getting baptized, will have to push her baptism date back a week so that her family can come. We were happy to do it, but to be honest pretty devastated because October 8th is after transfers so we don't know if we will be here to see her baptized. It's sad because I've really grown so close to her as we have taught her this gospel and I just pray that by some miracle we can see her baptized.

     We did some finding Sunday afternoon by a mall called freccia rossa. We started talking to these cute ladies. At first they were not having it but we started asking them about their church and they are Evangelical Catholics. They told us that all communication with God ceased after Jesus Christ and it's written in their book. We taught
them the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ and how modern revelation hasn't stopped and never will and that God loves us today just as much as he loved his children during the time of Jesus Christ. All of us can receive answers to prayers as personal revelation but we also have modern prophets who lead and guide the church of
Jesus Christ just like in bible with prophets like Abraham, Moses, Noah, etc. it was something they had never even thought of before. They asked so many great questions. We are giving them book of Mormons  Sunday so they can read and pray to know if it's true. Super exciting.

     We taught the Garatti family Sunday night and it was hilarious because the parents just got back from their vacation to America and the minute we walked into their house my mouth dropped because every inch of their fridge was covered in tourist magnets of Vegas, California, Arizona, Nevada, etc. it was so funny. They were absolutely fascinated with Styrofoam cups and brought some home to show the kids hahahah! The were also fascinated with skittles and jaw breakers and showed us their bottle of peanut butter. They were so excited hahah. Oh America.

     Monday we mete with the Dibenedetto's. His non active daughter came with her husband and their other daughter as well who wants nothing to do with the church. They stayed all of dinner and even through the spiritual thought.
Ilaria said she never stays for the message at the end but because it was us and she liked us she would. We were so happy and She said she's coming next week too!!

     Tuesday we met with Stefania, Samuele, and Manuella and it went so well. stefania made me laugh so hard I literally almost peed my pants. We shared a message about humility (by their request) and as I studied it I learned that it's something I want to try to use more into my life. Humility is not a sign of weakness but of spiritual strength. I know when we follow what God has asked us to do and thank Him for this sometimes hard but great life he can more abundantly pour out his blessings upon us.

     TODAY FOR PDAY WE WENT TO PARMA ITALIA AS IN THE CITY WHERE PARMESAN CHEESE WAS FOUNDED. needless to say I bought myself some cheese and prosciutto crudo and we had ourselves quite the time. I can now say I have eaten Parma in Parma and I think I've made it you know?

Anyway wow sorry for this actual novel I wrote. But I'm so excited about these new people!

Ok have a great week. Vi voglio un amarena gelato di bene

Love Sorella Williams



Yuuuummmm Parma in Parma


Believe it or not we were already sitting here like this, we just smiled when Tullis took the picture haha


Parma Duomo


Sorella Tullis and Sorella Williams in Parma


Parmesan cheese in Parma, where it was created!


Giada & Sorella Williams


Took the wrong bus and ended up at this lake. Lose, win situation.

Half way mark & Elder Holland

Ciao!

This week was crazy. I'm so tired.

     Thursday was our mission wide "deep clean the apartment" day. But we had to cut it short to walk with Irene and make it to the DiGiuda's. Stefania made lasagna which was to die for and then Massimo (her husband) heard I hadn't had a Florentine steak in all my time in Toscana so he bought one and made it for me. It was the best food in the world I'm telling you. They ended up bringing two neighbors to dinner with us and we were able to teach all four of them. Massimo still has stubbornness about the gospel (he's not a member but Stefania is). But slowly and surely he has been opening up and he really loves the Sorelle and having us over which in itself is major progress.

     Friday I hit my half way mark and Sorella Tullis was a doll and made me crepes. We were really just running around all that day trying to see people and get ready for our big America party which was a success! The party was Saturday and we had a good turn out including 6 new potential investigators which was exciting. We ate burgers and played games and listened to beach boys and Johnny cash so even if no one else was happy I sure was.

     We walked Irene and Logan (her dog)  in an actual down pour tsunami flood. Irene is blind and couldn't see that everyone else was hiding under buildings so she was like "ah I'm sure it's fine" well it was not fine people. She insisted we went out.There I was looking like I just jumped into a pool walking this sad wet dog. It was seriously the funniest thing
ever we looked like idiots. The minute Irene felt the rain she took off running and screaming "why why whyyyyyyyy?!" And then a few other choice words hahahah. So that was a fun and unexpected mid day shower.

      The next day on Sunday we took the train to Milan and attended a special conference where Elder Holland of the quorum of the twelve apostles came and spoke to us. The entire mission was invited and it was so crazy to see people again that I haven't seen in months! Elder Holland took the time to shake all of our hands and ask where we are from and then spoke to us about this sacred work that we are lucky to be apart of. It was so cool to have an apostle of the lord literally standing 3 feet from me. He said that we are in the business of saving lives and that we do not realize how big of a deal that is. But more than that, he talked about the fact that if we aren't willing
to give our all to this work (which is the most important work) for this small period of time, embrace the missionary lifestyle and just do it, then "I don't know what you can do it for". I loved being reminded why I came out here. It was such an incredible experience.

     As I watched Elder Holland, I realized how much of a normal man he is. He gets mad at dumb people and he gets hungry and he kneels to pray and he loves his wife and he studies his scriptures everyday and pays tithing and gets jet lag and takes the sacrament and repents. Do we believe that they somehow are invincible because they are apostles? We shouldn't. We should all be doing the little things in life that increase our testimonies just like the apostles must do every day. I want to better that in myself.

     I love you and hope you all have a great week!! And don't think that dark thing on your neck is a piece of lint from your sweater because it might actually be an earwig Or at least that's what it was in my case. Needless to say I luckily won that battle, but I'm still mentally recovering from it.

Love Sorella Williams


Waiting at the bus stop at the church


Missionaries from Siena back together


Mummy wraps at the America party


MTC missionaries reunited


Always preaching the Gospel

Call me the wedding singer

Ciao this week was kewl!

     We have a new investigator her name is Caro and she is a self referral! She was online trying to find a bible and found an ad for a free one and it was the lds.org site. So we brought it to her and a Book of Mormon and taught the restoration! It was great. She's coming to our party this weekend.

     Speaking of which I forgot to say that for the past couple weeks we have been planning a big "America Party" hosted by the missionaries this Saturday! I'm so excited I can hardly wait. Hamburgers and hotdogs and minute to win it games and the beach boys album and I've got a red banana that is just waitin to be worn. We have been inviting people left and right and I hope all turns out well. I only have to make 8284483929 brownies for it so wish me luck. Italians go crazy for brownies.

     Giada's wedding was Saturday and it was SO lovely. Purple and white flowers in every which crevice. We sang and all went well (phew). I gave Giada a big hug afterwards and she was beaming. I asked her how she felt and she said "amazing I am so happy, but to tell you the truth, I'm more excited for my baptism than anything" I almost had to lay down after that comment, could she be anymore ready?! She knows and has felt God's love in this time absolutely wrap around her and it's given her confirmation after confirmation that this is the right next step for her after marriage. I love her. But she is a princess and when we told her the hot water was broken in the baptismal font she gave me the "look". She doesn't like water at all, much less cold water. So Tuesday morning we called a water guy to come and fix it and when we met the water guy at the church to open the gate there were two little goats just standing in the parking lot hahahahah? It was the funniest thing. Here in the middle of the city, two goats. I pet them once and suddenly I was their mother they followed me EVERYWHERE and they cried when I left!! Turns out they were a neighbor's that lives down the street. All is well now. Still don't have a clue how they got in, but I would not be opposed to hanging out with Clive and MariaRosa Francesca again at the church let's just put it at that.

     We got some sad news yesterday that a man from the branch had passed away. I never met him, he was a less active whose house I had never passed by. But the members here in Brescia are very heart broken and I feel so sad for his family. We were asked to attend the funeral tomorrow and I hope that we might be able to give some comfort to his family members.

     Elder Holland is coming to the Milan mission Sunday and I am so excited. He is giving a special conference to the missionaries and the entire mission gets to go!!! So I am excited to see him and also see friends who I haven't seen since the MTC! It's like Christmas.

     Today for pday we went to Desenzano which is a small lake city close by. Lago di Garda is BEAUTIFUL and we happily sipped on granite and spent time by the water and in the town. It's an old old city with cobblestone roads and a big castle right at the top of it all. I am so lucky to be serving in Brescia!

     We are teaching some great people right now and I really love them. The work in Brescia is going well. Still waiting for it to get cooler but whatever we can't win them all. In two days I will hit my halfway mark in the mission (nine months) and I don't know how I feel about it. But I've got the darkest ugly missionary shoe tan lines, 54 mosquito bites, and permanently frizzed hair from humidity to prove my time here. I'm just grateful the lord let me come out here. I really love being a missionary. It's so hard but so good and worth it.

I hope you all have great weeks!

Love Sorella Willi (that's been the new one people like to call me this week I guess)

Giada's Wedding!

My fave goats, Clive and MariaRosa Francesca

My favorite girl in the world, Sonia!

CIAO from Brescia!

Ciao!

Ok this week was long and crazy so I will give the highlights because I have zero time to write this email. 

     We decorated an entire apartment building for a wedding of our friend Illaria. If you think I'm kidding about the entire building part..I'm not. So there we were hanging tiny little paper hearts in every which crevice outside when cop cars pull up and start searching the building and all the surrounding cars. It was just so funny because they were being so thorough and serious and there we were two sister missionaries hanging pink paper hearts right in the middle of it all haha. All was well don't worry. Just Italians over reacting as per usual. I tried joking with the cop and it was not reciprocated to say the least. 

     I had my head in my ipad the other day walking down the sidewalk trying to find an impossible address and managed somehow to walk past two construction fences and a line of orange cones right into a giant pile of cement. How nice is that? At least all the cracks in my shoes are now repaired. 

     We went and had a lesson con la famiglia di DiGiuda. Her husband is slowly but surely coming around and I think he's hilarious. He has a weird obsession with Kentucky and did me a favor and took care of the creeper who has been calling our number 20 times everyday. Such an awesome family I love them. 

     I walked my fave dog Logan for our blind friend Irene. We met Irene at a wedding reception party a couple weeks back and turns out she desperately needs someone to help her by walking her guide dog Logan during her lunch break so he can go to the bathroom. There is no one better for this job than me. Tullis walks Irene and I walk Logan. It's such a win win. She said she has known the church for a long time (because of the family Garatti) but never has felt as much love than us walking around with her and her dog twice a week. Serving others can be so simple and it means more to them than we can possibly imagine. 

     I ate the best homemade flan from a woman in our ward from Spain. I cannot even write about it. 

     Sometimes I wonder if missionaries double as personal therapists hahah. I got a frantic call from a very frazzled woman yelling that she was "MOVING THAT'S IT I AM MOVING" and she needed our help finding a new apartment because the one she lives in now doesn't have enough walking room for her cat...if I could describe italians in a couple words that would sum up my week it would be loud and completely over dramatic. They are so funny to me. I got stuck in the kitchen this week of a family in the middle of a big fight. They blocked off the door so I was trapped in the middle of their unnecessary soap opera. So I helped myself to their fridge and sat in the corner and ate a panino and waited for the storm to roll over. Don't worry they're fine. Took like 45 minutes and they were back laughing.who knew I would be the calm one? everyone always told me I am so dramatic, but here I am nothing compared to the Italians.

     Giada's wedding is this Saturday and we are all excited for that! At church on Sunday we showed her the baptismal font and she asked if it was ok that she invited some of her friends and family even though they aren't members! I said "ummm let me think about that..yes". hahah she is so golden I love her and I am so excited for her family and these two big steps they are taking together with marriage and baptism.  

     I wish I had time to write about the random completely weird and hilarious things that happen to us each and every day. For whatever reason it was especially random and hilarious this week. I'm just grateful for this time to be a missionary and see how much the Lord loves his Italians.

vi voglio un panino di bene

Sorella Williams

Sorella Williams & Sorella Tullis

Castello di Brescia