Sorella Williams: 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