Miracles in Milan!

Hiiii

     This week went by really fast. Everyone and their dog is sick right now which makes meeting with people 10x harder. BUT we saw some awesome miracles.

     The biggest miracle for me this week is the Guastella family. I love them so much. I went with Sorella Smedley on scambio and we were going to talk about three commandments; read scriptures, pray often, and come to church/keep the sabbath holy. When we walked in they were so excited to tell us that they had been reading the Book of Mormon as a family and you could ALREADY see the difference. When we make small goals and commitments the Lord really does strengthen us and our testimonies. We challenged them to come to church this Sunday and they accepted! I can't explain how big of a deal this is. They have been through a lot, but know that it's time to come back. She said to us "a couple weeks ago when you guys first came, I allowed it because I thought it would a least bring the spirit into our home a little bit. I had no idea the effect it would have on us. When you leave, the spirit leaves with you and we want that back in our house. The Lord is pushing us to come back to him" it was amazing.

     We went to institute with our investigator Cleyde and she loved it. Especially because there was pizza after. The only obstacle is her insane work schedule. But she is progressing and we are excited about that.

     We taught an atheist named Chiara. We had to teach in a whole different way than we usually would. It's crazy when people say they don't believe in God, but have never tried to. We challenged her to pray that night and talk to him truly like a father who loves her so much. I'm grateful for my faith in God and that he knows each of us so
perfectly.

     We had so many things happen this week where our plans would fall through so we would try something else...and then that wouldn't work either. So we would try something else and we would end up in the perfect place. A member's father had just passed away that morning and the only thing she prayed for were the missionaries. Low and behold there we were sitting on the metro bench waiting for the train right after our appointment had cancelled. She literally ran to us crying. It is amazing to see how  WE  think we are doing the missionary work, but truly it's just God placing us where he needs us to be. I love being his instrument!

     I got to talk to EUNICE two days ago my old investigator from Siena. I was so excited. She called the old Brescia phone apparently just so confused saying "Williams?...Williams?....Williams?" Hahah luckily Sorella Tullis is still there and knows of Eunice so she was able to transfer the call to me in Milan. Turns out Eunice is pregnant and due in one week! Which is also a miracle because thanks to this baby her move was postponed so I'm hoping that I will be able to see her still after the mission when I go back to Tuscany.

     We had to go to the US embassy so Castro could get a temporary visa for after the mission and I was so disappointed  because they didn't even have a chick fil a,  But It was a party waiting in line because everyone was asking me where the best places are to go in New York and asking me about America and stuff. Lolz I've never even been to New York.

     Today for pday we went to this amazing museum called Pinacoteca di Brera. It was amazing!! It honestly blows my mind how old this country is and how the very streets I walk down were the center of the renaissance. It's beautiful!

Vi voglio bene!

In Mahesh's store

Milan

Sorella Williams & Sorella Castro

In the Pinacoteca di Brera Museum

A busy week in Milan!

This week was so fast!!!

     Ok so we met of course with Fernanda and Eglayda! They fed us the best food....the best. Anyway we wanted to be really clear with them about the steps they need to take for them to be sealed in the temple which they have told us is their ultimate goal. We drew on a piece of paper a little stair case leading to the Rome temple and had them write on each stair the "step" required to get there. 1. faith 2. marriage 3. baptism 4. receive holy ghost 5. obey commandments/prepare 6. temple. It went really really well. We talked about marriage and told them that if they have the faith, which we know they do, marriage is the next step and it shouldn't be something delayed so that they can receive those eternal blessings in the temple. 

     We did a bunch of scambi and let me tell you it was just a week of crazy finding, the most random people, getting yelled at by atheists, yummy pizza, a bunch of JWs trying to confound us, running for EVERY train, freezing cold, a pigeon hit my face, finding the actual ghetto of Milan aka little Romania, teaching like crazy, helping people move, insane gypsy's, lots of meetings, the best hot chocolate, and meeting some cool new people. 

     We met a lady named Nancy and taught her and her daughter the restoration and it was amazing. The spirit was really strong and they want us to come back. they promised to read the book of Mormon. The Guastella family has my heart. They are the best people in the world and close to coming back to church. We taught the gospel and told each one of them (2 kids, the mom, and the less active boyfriend) that each of them are at different spots in the gospel as far as progress goes. Whether that's getting baptized, receiving the priesthood, or obeying the commandments and repenting. They really love us and trust us and that alone is a huge miracle given their relationship with missionaries in the past. We met and taught Mercedes, a less active, but a happy little surprise was that her daughter in law came and joined the lesson and now she wants a book of mormon to read. We are excited about meeting up with both of them again. Another big miracle was that we were let in to the house of a less active who hasn't let the missionaries in for YEARS. In fact just the other day the anziani (Elders) tried to pass by her house, when she answered the citofono and they announced they were the missionaries she quietly hung up the phone hahha. so they counted to five and called up to her again and the same thing happened again! Anyway, we went by and she LET US IN. Her care taker was not happy about us coming in, I think she thought we were JWs (unfortunately we all look identical) The less active is mad at God. She has had a very hard life and is practically handicap hence the care taker being there. Her husband died a few years ago and she really hasn't recovered since. We talked a lot about God and His existence to which she says she doesn't believe anymore. I know she felt the spirit and so did the care taker- it was undeniable. They invited us to come back and we are really excited about that. 

     Last of all I really want to talk about Cleyde. She was a referral from an Anziano way long ago because she works at steak and shake (yum) and they started talking about the church. the sorella (Sisters) here at the time tried calling her, but nothing ever happened. This anziano when he went home from his mission still felt really strongly that the sorelle needed to try again to reach out to her. SO they did......nothing. fast forward to now and our anziani went to steak and shake to eat and she was their waitress and they started talking and gave us her number as a referral to call. coincidence? I THINK NOT. Not only that, but one of them gave her a book of mormon and that night when she went home she had it on her bed and her mom came in the room and said "why did you take my book from my room?" she said "this is my book, the missionaries gave it to me" and the mom said "oh, the missionaries gave it to me too a while back, and your grandparents have it too." The Lord has been working on this family for a long time and we are not letting her go! Sorella Castro and the scambio sorella taught her and they said it went really well and I'm excited because we are teaching her at the church tonight in like 30 min. 

I love Italy. I love the church. I love the cimiano members. Have a great week!

vi voglio bene!

Sorella Williams 

Cimiano District!

Where's the castle?

Set Backs and Miracles

Salve!

     I hope everyone had a good week! This week for me was all over the place. We definitely saw miracles and blessings, but I'm not going to lie it was tough.

     First, I'll start with a miracle. Thursday we had English class and a random lady walked in and it was...VITA. Vita is a lady I found at the metro while I was on scambio with another Sorella probably a month ago who never returned my phone calls! It was so cool I was really excited to see her. I talked to her before the class started and then we taught English and she talked to Anziano Chapman for a bit after the class ended. I talked to her after he did and she just kept looking at me and I asked her if everything was ok. She said "something is different here, that boy over there I just talked to has the same light you have. It's amazing. Why is that?" I told her we believe in what we are doing because we know it is true. I told her we would like to teach her more about what we believe and she said yes. We have an appointment with her tomorrow.

     We had a lot of set backs with our investigators this week. We are in a really difficult spot and it's been hard to stay faithful and positive. We went to Giuseppe's house even though he cancelled his appointment with us haha. He was actually really happy to see us. I've never been so blunt and bold with someone on my entire mission than I have been with Giuseppe and it's like he just doesn't get it and I don't know why. As we were talking to him he confided in us and shared some of his deeper issues that 100% can be worked on and fixed. If only he had the courage or desire to change. In fact, he even told us he could continue taking the lessons and never be baptized and he would still be happy because we just bring peace into his life and that's what he wants and needs. It was heart breaking. We are praying fasting and planning as to what we should do for him or what he still needs.

     Fernando and Eglayda are of course amazing and honestly probably my favorite people ever. They spoke with the Bishop onSunday and it went really well. I love Italy, but there are two things I don't like at all about this culture 1. Crazy mother in laws who never can let go of their sons/mamma's boys 2. Engagements/planning a wedding can take YEARS. They expressed that they are not married right now due to the fact that they don't want to create problems with his parents. But that in the future they would like to be baptized and eventually sealed. Well that's all great and fine..but when? We can teach them 100 lessons a week but it doesn't mean anything if they are not progressing. We are trying to figure out how to help them understand the importance of being baptized so that it can hurry up the wedding process. It's a bit of a set back not having some type of idea of a time frame (for when
the wedding would be) so we can best teach and plan for them. They feel zero rush. We love them so much and want to help them progress in the gospel and receive those blessings.

     Fernanda has been out of town and we are PRAYING that she has been reading the scriptures. we have been texting to her everyday so that she can gain a testimony of the scriptures and progress. Janet broke our hearts and left to Bolivia for two-three months. We are hoping she is going to the church in Bolivia though!

     We have really been working and working and working and working so to see all these set backs this past week was honestly just devastating for the both of us. It's hard when you love and pray for and fast for these people only to have them just "not get it". But we still have the faith that we can see a baptism this transfer, that was the mission president's goal for us. It's just going to take a miracle!

     We taught the family Guastella and for me, they are probably some of the most important people we teach. She is a return missionary who got married, had two kids, got divorced, fell away from the church, and started dating another less active. We went to her house and both her and her boyfriend and the kids were there. That day was especially hard for me and right before we got to her house, I couldn't help it I just started to cry because of everything that's been going on and wondering if it was my fault, maybe I wasn't doing something right or
teaching right. I just prayed and prayed that I could teach by the spirit and feel like I was doing a good job and help this family come back. Well my prayers were answered. We had an amazing lesson and the spirit was undeniable. They both were in tears as they bore their testimonies. They know this church is true, they just lack courage. This is the first time they have allowed missionaries in their home in a long long time and it's a miracle to see the friendship we have been able to make with them. She has a 13 year old and a 11 year old and the 11 year old is not baptized yet. We are hoping to get the mom back to church so that this cute girl can get baptized. But I'm telling you, it's going to take a lot of courage to get this lady back in church. She has been through a lot and I love her so much.

     I really have faith that something will change this week. We are trying our best and doing all we can to help strengthen these people. Even on the FREEZING and miserable and sad days that sometimes happen where no one wants to talk to you and your investigators decide to stomp on your heart, I love this work and I believe in it 100%. Heavenly Father still shows us little miracles each day and I know if we have the faith we will be able to reach our goal this transfer. I know this church is true!

Mosiah 24:12-15

Love Sorella Williams

P.S  I redid my permesso this week and it was the strangest when I was told I have 5 months left...what? Also I "accidentally" kicked a pigeon this week. Also google maps told me a meno attivos house that we walked to for an hour in the FREEZING COLD was....in a parking lot. It felt like that office episode where Michael drives into the lake because he is told by the navigation that he is supposed to drive straight. Also we did 3 scambi this week...wowowow. Also panzerotti are drops of celestial kingdom on this earth.

Scambio

Milan

The Milan Castle

Some of English class

Buon Anno!

Buon Anno happy new yearrrrr!!!!

     I hope everyone had a great new year! We did, it was such a party. President had all of us home by 7 for safety reasons and we were not to leave the apartment. We got a lot of things done around the house with area book and cleaning and we got to get out of our skirts sooner so all was well. Every time someone asked us what we did for the new year and we told them we were home by 7 they laughed and asked us what we really did....we were really home by 7 haha. 

     New Year's here is crazy because they don't just celebrate it on the first, but also the second, and the third, and the fourth. Pretty much the entire first week of the month aka stores are never open, people are never home, and the metro and buses are all kinds of weird. Oh Italy. 

     We have been putting in a lot of work with our less actives and investigators this week. We had a surprise birthday party for Fernando which was the best. We ate pizza and laughed so much. I love them. We taught them a lesson about eternal families and then he surprised us by asking us to set up an appointment with them and the bishop because they want to talk to him about making the steps towards marriage, baptism, and (they even said) the end goal is being sealed in the temple!! We were so excited and we have a lesson with the bishop Sunday. 

     Giuseppe has been hard. He knows this church is true. His wife is a recent convert, he reads the scriptures and goes to church every week, he has amazing comments with us during lessons and also in classes at church, but something is just not there. We couldn't have been more blunt with him last lesson. I looked him straight in the face and said "Giuseppe I know that you know this is true, so what are you waiting for" we challenged him to baptism on the 21st of January, which is the date we planned and prayed and we felt was right for him. He told me that he doesn't need to rush and that he is waiting to be a better more Christlike person. I told him that none of us are perfect and that waiting would never change that. Heavenly Father is only one able to give him those special blessings and confirmations he's waiting for when he makes that first promise with him. "I the Lord am bound when you do what I say". We must follow his commandments in order to see the fruit, and baptism is a commandment. I felt the spirit and I know the spirit told him what we said was true I have no doubt in my mind. He told me he agrees with the fact that we avoid substances that are bad for our bodies which in turn hurt our spiritual relationship with God as our bodies are a gift from Him, but asked "what's wrong with having just a glass of wine at dinner with my father? I'm not an alcoholic, I just want a glass." To be honest that's a question that has always been hard for me to explain. There is no perfect way of answering that. It's as simple as this: alcohol is never a good thing, it's something negative for the body, like other substances in which we need to be smart with the consumption we take in, for example ice cream or soda. However, neither of those, if abused, would make me drunk. Heavenly father trusts us to be smart. There are a couple parts of the word of wisdom that are black and white: coffee, tea, alcohol. drugs. And ultimately we have to ask ourselves if we truly believe that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. If the answer is yes than we must believe that the word of wisdom came directly from God. It is not just a helpful happy guideline, it is a standard of health we willingly choose to live so that we can receive those blessings from baptism or temple attendance. It is not always an easy thing, but Heavenly Father knows that and he knows us perfectly. Pray to him for help and truly put it to the test. You just feel happier when you know you're following the commandments God has given us.

     We invited Giuseppe to fast with us this weekend and we testified if he did it with an open heart, actively seeking to find his answer of whether or not he should be baptized January 21st, Heavenly Father would confirm to him yes. 

     I know this is Christ's church on the earth. We are seeing miracles and praying for them fervently! Make New Year goals and bring yourself closer to Christ. The beautiful thing about the atonement is you have an infinite number of times to start from scratch and have a fresh start, you don't have to just wait for every new year.

vi voglio un sacco di bene

Sorella Williams

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Consiglio for all Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leader

The Repoyo's, they are my fam.