Another busy week in Brescia!

Ciao tutti e buon Mercoledì

Well this week was great! 

     We have been blessed so much in Brescia. We have 7 progressing investigators! Which may not seem like a lot, but in this area it's huge! We love the people here so much. 

     We met a girl named Yasmin at the park by our house. She is 20 years old and is the best. Right now she feels like she's hit a complete wall in life and can't figure out what she should do or where she should go. She has a lot of questions about God and faith. She told us we had a light about us and wants to know how she can have that too. We talked with her and told her the only way she can know if there is a God or if He cares is if she prays. She couldn't believe it! She had never been asked to do that before!

     We also met with a woman named Maria Rossa who was a referral from a member who lives in Pavia. Maria Rossa's husband of 49 years just passed away 20 days ago! She is truly heart broken and has to pick up all the pieces and start over again. The day of the funeral she had called into a TV program so they would play a song she likes, the telephone operator was the member who lives in Pavia named Gladis! She confided in Gladis and told her it was the day of her husband's funeral. They began talking and naturally Gladis started talking about the after life and that they will see each other again. Maria Rossa loved what she said and they have spoken on the phone every day since! Gladys called us and told us to meet with her. She lives in Castelcovati aka no mans land and just getting there was QUITE the process. We couldn't find her and no one ever has a car of course and there were confusing bus stops and we don't have wifi to check google maps. It was so frustrating and we were lost. We had to make the decision to turn around and try and get home and try another day. We walked forever and finally found a bus stop (we weren't even sure it was the right bus we just needed to get to the Chiari train Station). The next bus wasn't for 40 minutes so we sure had a good time sitting there. All the sudden this lady on a bike stops right in front of us and says "Are you the young girls who are looking for me". We weren't sure what was going on. I thought "there's no way this is Maria" because we had walked far from our original waiting place. Turns out it WAS her! What a miracle. She believes talking to Gladis that day was no coincidence and we believe we can challenge her to baptism the next lesson we have. 

     We ate well this week. We went to Stefania DiGiuda's house. I don't know if I have ever mentioned it but her husband Massimo who is not a member is obsessed with some guy named Turtle man who I guess lives in Kentucky and has a tv show? He believes Turtle man has got the right idea on how to live your life. He bought a Kentucky flag and keeps it in their room hahha. They also bought a parrot which was suuuper fun because it would land on our heads as we were trying to teach the lesson hahah! I love that family they are awesome. 

     We taught another family named the Scala's. She is meno attiva and he is not a member and hasn't shown much interest. As we explained the apostasy however he became very intrigued and I believe he knows what we said was true because the spirit is undeniable. I'm excited to see what happens with him. 

     We taught Laura!!! She's been way busy lately but we were able to go up to the lake and teach her the plan of salvation e andata BELLISSIMA. We are so excited for her. 

     Things are going well for us and we are working so soo hard. I really love Brescia. 

     Today for Pday we went to a place on the lake called Sirmione. You all need to google it right now it is absolutely gorgeous. There's an ancient castle that sits on the tiny sliver of that land on the lake and it is incredible! We went to their gelataria there and asked for two. We accidentally got the TWO BIGGEST GELATOS YOU HAVE EVER SEEN. We didn't know we ordered haha!! It was ridiculous. My arm actually hurt from holding it. I will attach pictures. 

vi voglio bene!!!

Sorella Williams

Travagliato

Cristina wanted to be me!

The big gelato culprits

Don't worry, I didn't finish it

Buona mercoledì

Buona mercoledì i miei carissimi

I feel like I blinked this week away. Annnnd I also feel like it's been 3 months since last pday.

     I'll tell the cool stuff. Mara Franceschini is the stickler of sticklers people. The queen of the meno attivi. BUT as of this week we are consistently teaching her!!! When we told the branch president he didn't believe us. It's been years since they've even had real contact with her. What a miracle it's been for us to work with her in coming back to church.

     We had some really great lessons this week. One with a member named Nadia who is truly in need of the missionaries in her life. It's hard not to feel a little inadequate when people ask you questions that you can't even answer. She's going through a rough time right now and it's difficult for her not to doubt her faith. We shared 1Nephi 17:3 Where the Lord promises to nourish and strengthen those who follow his commandments. The spirit was strong and we created a good friendship with her. When we told the branch ward leader he told us that it was a miracle because she has never ever invited the missionaries to teach her or into her home. Such a miracle!

     We set a baptism date for Stefania!!! We taught a whole lesson about the atonement of Jesus Christ and it was great. We talked about the great sacrifice our savior did for us. Without it we would be completely lost. And in return he has only asked us to follow in his example and we will be happier than we ever thought possible. One of those steps in following him is baptism! Her wedding and honeymoon are soon so the date we all agreed on was January 31, her birthday. She wanted to be baptized that day because she wants to be born again on her actual birthday. So sweet. I love her.

     I have to tell you guys about Vittoria hahah. She is the best. She is a member and is the definition of a member missionary and it is amazing! She literally shares the gospel with everyone and has been a member her whole life and is in her late 50s. We've gotten a lot of referrals from her in these past couple months. Some work out and some don't haha. There's been the phone salesman guy, the energy drink salesman guy, her friend, her doctor, her dentist, and now the nurse of the old woman across the hall. She called us and told us she had someone for us and to come by her house at noon. So we did, trying to be as attentive to the situation as possible because the thing about Vittoria is she is a schemer. She has these elaborate plans as to what we should say in order to get the person we are meeting with to want to take the lessons. The problem is she never shares these plans with us hahaha. So we usually go into these situations having no idea what to expect. Some days we are apparently looking to buy a new phone or needing a babysitter or donating goods or looking to buy a new health energy drink. You never know with her! Always an adventure! So we go into her apartment and we find the Anziani there receiving a sales pitch from a salesman at her dinner table. We were a little confused, but obviously can't ask what's going on. So we sit with them and talk with the salesman. Well all the sudden my phone starts ringing and I look and Vittoria is calling me...but she's sitting right across the table from me. So I was like "silly Vittoria I'm right here" and hung up. Well she gave me dagger eyes and I realized it was apart of her scheme. Then she called the Anziani who saw none of this and they did the same thing hahahaha. They said "Vittoria you accidentally called us" she wanted to kill us for our stupidity. Then she's says "whoops I spilled something" and is on all fours crawling under the table towards me and starts whisper screaming to me from down there!!! Meanwhile this salesman is in the middle of his pitch and I'm trying to hide the fact that Vittoria is basically in my lap whispering who knows what to me! She then sits back in her seat and is flashing her phone at me with a message she had written out asking me to get his home address, but also that I need to leave so the Anziani can teach him! I have never been so confused in my life. Eventually I just abandoned ship and left the room. Tullis followed and so did Vittoria. She was happy with our subtle way of leaving (uhh..you mean us just getting up and walking out of the room?) and I apologized for not understanding the very detailed plan she had thought we could read from her mind. BUT the story isn't over, it was all a rouge!!! Apparently the whole time she wanted us to leave because now we were supposed to knock on her neighbors door who is...get ready... 98 YEARS OLD so that we can hopefully teach her new full time nurse!!! So we knock and Vittoria is so excited. the door opens and we just say "uhh...hi...we've never seen a 98 year old before...can we see her?" luckily she let us in hahaha. we go in and see the tiniest cutest little lady sitting on the couch watching a dolphin show. I feel like I'm babbling now but the moral of the story was we were able to talk to the nurse a bit and get a return appointment. Whew. Vittoria is such a party.

     We got another referral this week named Maria Rosa and we are excited about it. We also met a new cute young girl named Yasmin on the bus and we are teaching her Saturday. We will be seeing Laura again this week and we are stoked for that. Also we started teaching a girl named Romina, hopefully we can see her either this week or the next! Good work here in Brescia!

     Yesterday we went to Verona for Zone training and I was SO EXCITED because I got to see my old MTC companion Sorella Seymour for the first time since we parted at the MTC. She is a new missionary because she went home after the MTC, but she finally made it to Italy and is being trained in Bergamo which is in my zone. I am so proud of her, I wanted to cry!  It was wonderful to see her! Not only that but Anziano Tilton also from my MTC district is also in my zone so I saw him for the first time since then too! The three of us were just so happy seeing each other again it was the best reunion of my life. I am so blessed to really have made life long friendships out here.

     At zone training we talked a lot about consecrating yourself to the work. When you consecrate yourself to something it means to make it sacred. D&C 25:10 talks about laying aside the things of the world for something better and I really love how it is promising us that although some things appear more important, more fun, more easy or comfortable, if we submit our will to the Lord  and seek for those things he has asked of us then, no matter what, they ultimately make us our happiest selves. I don't want to forfeit what could make me happiest in the long run for the things that are easier and more desirable now. And the great thing is we never have to do it alone. He's always wanting to help us if we allow him to.

Have a buona settimana!

BACI

Con affetto, Sorella Williams

P.S. I forgot to mention Irene (the blind lady we help) has a gift of being able to have an idea of what people look like, a gift from God she says. she told me It works better on boys because she likes boys haha. She guessed what Anziano Carnahan looked like just from hearing his voice all down to his haircut!! It blew my mind. I asked her to guess me and she thought for a minute and then said "ok Lindy, you have close to black hair. Light skin. You definitely have light eyes. I think green. But they change depending on your mood. Especially if you're sad" she guessed Sorella Tullis too and it was spot on!! Brown hair and brown eyes that never change. How crazy is that?!

P.P.S. When you greet someone here you baci them which is two or three (one extra for good health) kisses on the cheek. But sometimes for the people you really love you hug them and then begin the baci. Me and this member lady hugged and then both went for the same cheek and ended up smackin one right on the lips. That was a fun Sunday surprise! I would be lying if I said this was the first time a kiss has accidentally happened. baci's can be a dangerous and confusing business. 

P.P.P.S. we were eating this fruit called kaki which in Italian can also mean poop! i'snt that nice. well of course I don't know that so I'm trying to memorize the word with the DiBenedettos because it sounds really similar to the word for heels, which is tacchi (tah-key). Anywho they were barely holding it together trying to keep from laughing as I kept talking about the kaki, saying how good it was and why I liked it, etc etc. and then I said "ok quindi tacchi come le scarpe e kaki cioè questo nella mia bocca" which I basically said kaki is what I am putting in my mouth, and that did it. They started laughing and couldn't stop for seriously 20 minutes. Then they finally told me what the other meaning of the word kaki was. 




Verona Zone


Sorella Seymour & Sorella Williams

Kaki those devils!

fall in Brescia

Giadas baptism!!

     I'll start off with the best part. Saturday Giada was baptized!!! She was absolutely beaming, and a little nervous. She has a fear of water but she said right as Bishop Mangano, who baptized her, said 'amen' she felt at peace and went right into the water with no problems. Sorella Tullis and I sang Bisogno ho di Te and Davide and Rosella gave talks on Baptism and lo spirito santo. We also showed a church video of Jesus's life and his baptism which I'm glad we did because there were several non members there supporting her who did not know that Jesus was baptized by full immersion into the water. We talked with them and even gave out some Books of Mormon. It was such a great night. The next day in church she was given a blessing by the laying on of hands where she received the holy spirit and was confirmed a member of the church.

     We went to a little town called Travagliato and found 2 less actives. It was a miracle because one of them we ran smack into on the sidewalk. Miracle! We also taught the Garatti's like always. Massimo pulled a prank on me and told me that the roasted chestnuts he bought were cooked baby turtles. I've seen weirder food here in Italy so I had no reason not to believe him haha. And in my defense they kinda looked like baby turtles too!! I'm trying to think of how I can get back at him. 

     We went to this SUPER old couple's house named the Genolini's. They are a little crazy with old age, but still super cute. We decided it would be best to just sing them a hymn. So we began to sing and Giovanni decided to join us as well hahha. So he began to sing but his wife decided she needed coke and she needed it that very moment. So in the middle of us singing they both started making this huge ruckus about trying to find some coke for her and I busted out laughing and could not for the life of me stop. He began singing again but this time it was only him because  Sorella Tullis and I were just shaking trying to keep from laughing. We couldn't even finish the song. Tears were streaming. I don't know what made it so funny it just was. 

     Monday was a little crazy. We had special permission from president to leave our boundaries and go to a small city outside Milan called Saronno with Irene (the blind woman we help each week) so she could attend the funeral of her best friend Fabio. Fabio was diagnosed with cancer in January and passed over the weekend. He was only 29 years old. Irene was absolutely devastated and needed our help because the place where he lived does not allow dogs so she needed us to go so one of us could stay with her guide dog Logan outside and the other one of us could guide her in to where his open casket was. I was grateful we were able to help her and be with her as she grieved. We really love Irene. After the open casket we went to the funeral service at the super old big Saronno Catholic Chapel with half the town there.They did the mass service as well and the priest (who was so nice) spoke about Fabio. Irene told us the next day that several people contacted her telling her to thank us missionaries for making our presence at the funeral and to thank us for our prayers even though we are not of the same faith.


     In other news we were fed a massive bowl of cow stomach yesterday. I've never had to focus so hard while eating in my life. Sorella Tullis and I mentally and emotionally supported each other through it all. It was Manuella's grandmother's recipe and it is her pride and joy so we thought throwing it up on the table probably would have been a little offensive. After that meal from heaven, we taught Stefania and Samuele how they can better study the scriptures and truly find answers to their prayers. We studied 1 Nephi chapter 13 all together which is an explanation about why it is crucial we have the Book of Mormon as well as the Bible and also the preparing of the world for the restoration of Christ's church. We are so lucky to have two testaments of Jesus Christ and his gospel in our lives that can bring us further answers and peace together. After the lesson I went to the bathroom and on my way I tripped over the most devilishly TINY step at the door way and totally ate it face first into the dog's bed. It was the loudest crash that old apartment building has ever heard. Everyone ran around the corner and died laughing as I tried to roll myself off of the dog bed. I took a picture of this step for everyone to witness how sneaky and unnecessary it is!!! *find picture below* 

     Maria Scala came to church this past Sunday, which is SO exciting. She is a meno attiva and we have been trying to get her to church since we got to Brescia. She loved it and wants to come again next week. 

     We taught a lot this week about God's love. And as I studied and tried to better understand it myself, I realized something very simple but for some reason had really never struck me as hard before. The best way to understand just a small portion of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us is by simply looking at a family. There is a father and mother who love their children, they provide, teach, nourish, council, laugh, and love them. They have unique and individual relationships with each child. Each child has his or her own characteristics, personalities, weaknesses, passions, imperfections, and quirks. The father and the mother love this about that child and encourage them to strengthen these qualities to bring them happiness by giving guidance throughout their life. The relationship between the parents and the child grow and change and mature in natural ways as the child gets older. The parents continue to be as much apart of the child's life as they can. They allow the child to leave home to gain life experience with school or a job or just living on their own. It is difficult, but worth it so the child can understand their potential and, ultimately, become parents themselves one day and be as happy as the mother and father are. Of all the things in heaven, God gave us the most sacred gift he has, which is family. It's such an incredible thing. He really does love us.

Vi voglio bene spero che abbiate una bella settimana con le risa e abbracci 

BACIO xx

con amore, Sorella Lindy (the name Irene gave me. Close enough)


Giada's baptism! It was beautiful, the spirit was so strong!!


Filling up the water at the baptismal font




The sneaky and unnecessary step!!

We're staying in Brescia!!!

     Well transfer calls came and my prayers were answered! I am staying in Brescia...with Sorella Tullis!! We were so relieved. We are both so soooo happy because this means that we will be here for Giada's baptism this Saturday!!! We have taught and loved Giada for many weeks now so it's such a tender mercy that we were allowed to stay together for it which is not common because usually you only stay with your trainers/ greenie for 2 transfers. We are losing Anziano Greaves though which makes me so sad, but the new guy is coming tomorrow and we will defintely be pranking him...but what...i'm not sure yet. 

     We taught a lot of great people this week, but the one I want to talk about is Mara. Missionaries and members have been trying to get her back to church for years. She is a less active who doesn't open the door or answer the phone for ANYONE. we have been going to her house and ringing the citofono since we first got to Brescia. One day we decided to try again and a confused neighbor buzzed us into the apartment complex. We went through each floor trying to find Mara's door, but couldn't find it so we made our way back down the stairs when we saw a woman walking up the stairs and we asked her if she knew where mara lived and she said "Well, I'm Mara". CONTACT HAS BEEN MADE PEOPLE. We made an appointment with her to come back another day and when we did she didn't answer. dang it. Then one morning we were in town and we saw her walking down the street so we ran over and walked with her over to the post office! We reminded her that we had had an appointment and she said we could come again. So we went back another day and she buzzed us in! We were so relieved. We had an incredible lesson with her. She suffers from depression and anxiety and has an extreme fear about coming back to church. We felt the spirit the entire lesson and were able to tell her exactly the things we were both prompted to say. I told her that the Lord loves her and that it's time for her to come back and not to fear or hide and that the help she so desperately wants is waiting for her if she accepts it. We then committed her to come to church with us this Sunday and she started to cry and said YES. I could not believe it. She is truly such a kind woman who has been through a lot in her life and I'm so grateful she is allowing us to help her. 

     We watched as much conference as we could this weekend with the Italian members. Due to the time difference it is impossible to watch it all in one weekend so to be honest I haven't yet, BUT I learned so much in the messages I was able to hear. Some of my favorites from the sessions I was able to watch were President Uchtdorf, President Nelson, Carol Mckonckie, and Elder Stevenson. I loved them! We are reminded to never take these precious truths for granted and to have joy in them as we share them with others. I love how Sister Mckonkie said "A loving God is as close as a prayer". I have felt the true love of God around me this week with so many little miracles reminding me he is so aware of all his children. I also loved how Elder Stevenson said "Do you know the Book of Mormon was written for your day?" Of course I knew this before, but it never really hit me until then. These ancient prophets were writing and carefully persevering these plates solely for our day. Sometimes we think the scriptures aren't relate-able to our lives today when in reality each piece of revelation God gave these people was specifically for us with the trials he knew we would go through in these days. How great is that? I have found such a love for my scriptures. Every time I read them I don't feel an earthquake, receive revelation, or an answer to my prayers, but I certainly feel the truthfulness of them. My faith grows as I read of these people and prophets giving all they could to what they knew to be true. Even if it's just one verse a day we must read our scriptures every single day. Just like our bodies need to eat everyday, our spirits need food too. I love conference it is like Christmas.

     Everyone make sure you tell my sister happy birthday. If you don't we are not friends anymore. It's October 8 and she loves puppies, ice cream cake, pizza, grilled zucchini, and burts bees chap stick. she especially loves when people call and sing to her happy birthday rriiiigghhhttt at midnight:)

ok vi voglio bene buona settimana a doppo peeps

Love Sorella Williams

Dinner with my favorite famiglia ever DiBenedetto


Patrizia. I love her so much. She's my mission mom


My Italian boyfriend Logan


Watching conference


Gelato after a loooooong day