Pass the ball to the Italians.....Actually the American!

Ciao!!

This week was a roller coaster my word.

     We dealt with 18389283 people and all their problems. I think sometimes people get missionary confused with the word therapist.

     This week we got all the new anziani. There's now six of us which is great. This is a big ward who needs the help.

     We saw Marilena again which was fantastic. It was kind of crazy. She said after our last lesson, where we had invited her to baptism and she couldn't accept because she lives with her boyfriend, she went home and cried. Which honestly isn't surprising. When people see what they could have and the goodness of this gospel, and can't have it, yeah that would be hard. Also there's nothing wrong with feeling a little pain and hurt because that's what pushes change and repentance. She's dealing with a few problems and doesn't have the means to live alone right now. She came to church Sunday and we taught  the gospel principles class about service. We asked everyone to share an experience where someone had done an act of service for them personally. Marilena shared the experience where a stranger on a train saw her crying and put her arm around her and asked if she was ok. She got emotional talking about how I had been an answer to the prayer she had been saying in her head that very minute. It was so sweet. I've got my hopes way high for Marilena. She's my bestie.

     I don't know if I've mentioned Gaia before, but she's an English class student. She's 19 and her older less active sister was the one who introduced her to the course. Her sister Ellie called us last week and asked if there were still activities throughout the week that we do because it would be good for her sister Gaia. We were so pumped!! Of course!  So Saturday we played soccer with Gaia, Dimitri, and a bunch of other members at Lampagnano. Let me start by saying, I was unaware that I was born to play soccer. Who knew of my secret gift?  Not I.  We were the dream team. There was so much trash talk it was hilarious. I scored 8 GOALS AGAINST ALL THE ITALIANS AYYYYOOOO. I felt like that movie kicking and screaming where they say "PASS IT TO THE ITALIANS" except they were all screaming to pass it to the American!!!   We were in it to win it and that's all I'll say about that. We were talking to Gaia and she mentioned that she stayed in Utah for a of couple weeks many years ago with her sister's husband's family (Ellie married an American missionary who had served in Italy, both are less active, but his family still lives in America in Utah). She is thinking about going to BYU and admitted to us that the only reason she started coming to English class was because she was curious about our religion, but didn't know how to learn about it....are you kidding me?! Sorella Anderson and I kept our poker face, but we were flipping out inside. We told her this is exactly what missionaries do and that we would be happy teaching her some of the principles of what we believe. So we took a break from the soccer game and went out onto the grass and taught her the restoration right then and there. It was awesome. We committed her to reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church the next day. She did both! Sunday came around and I was way nervous because both Marilena and Gaia were coming and we just wanted to make sure everyone had buddies and felt good so I called a million members Sunday morning and told them they better say hi and offer to sit with them in the classes or else. It went perfectly! Marilena had her gal pals and us of course and Gaia had a couple youth and us as well. That was Gaia's first time in church and she loved it. Not only that, but her sister Ellie randomly showed up for relief society class which shocked me. She tried to quickly peace out after  class, but Ellie was stopped a million times by all of the members (she used to be relief society president, Sorella Guastella made the joke that being the relief society president is a curse because they all go inactive because she used to be the president too hah)

     After church we met with a new investigator named Karina and ate dinner with her. All went well and normal. Then we went to the Lastra house which was heavy. We got to the bottom of some of the real reasons Foretell Lastra is inactive and his wife was just in tears saying how hard it is to be the one pulling the family along being the only one who believes. After that lesson we got a text from Gaia saying that she is grateful for all the time, but that she needs to take it slow and that she'll just see us Wednesday for English class instead of seeing us at our planned lesson on Tuesday. Well that was a wrench in the heart, but I think it's normal to be scared. And we are confident that with soccer, English class and church she has truly seen and felt the light this gospel has and she can't forget about it. So we will see what happens. We are hoping to pick things back up with her soon.

     We had consiglio (leadership conference) Monday, which was great to get on the same page with President and prepare ourselves for this next upcoming transfer. The dang APs asked Sorella Anderson and I to sing. They did it on purpose. They think they are sooooo funny -_-   President talked about harnessing our talents in the work. Go to the park and play ping pong and take members and meet people there. Host a sports night in a field. Plan cultural activities. Take a member who plays the guitar and go to a mostra. Don't just settle for hours of casa and strada when we all know there are more effective ways to do the work. We all love President Allen so much he is amazing and inspired.

     I got my SECOND permesso today. That means I've officially lived in Italy a gooooood while now. It doesn't feel real to me. The missionaries just a transfer ahead of me gave their 'dying' testimonies at consiglio and that was hard because I've served with them my whole mission.

HAPPY CONFERENCE WEEK

con amore Sorella Williams


Making Arancini with the Guastella family

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I made this!


Consiglio

















Tanning our legs. The tights are officially gone and the whiteness is real


Thanks to my Francis 1st ward for the package! They knew to guard the package with the Madonna.

We're staying in Cimiano!!

Ciaoooo

     Our prayers were answered!!! We are both staying in Cimiano!!! When president called we were screaming we were so happy. We have a lot of good goals for this transfer and I'm really excited about it. And I just love Sorella Anderson. We laugh..a lot.

     Anziano Johnson is leaving to go capo in Como and another copia of anziani is opening. So we will again have 4 elders and me and my companion as the sisters. Not to mention that one of the new elders is my bestie Anziano Greaves who I served with in Brescia!! He will be training a new missionary here. I am the only missionary who has been here longer than one transfer, so I'm glad I'm staying for that as well because it takes times to know a big Milan ward like this. I have so much more respect for Utah missionaries who have like 2847822 wards for one copia of missionaries.

     We finished up the last of our scambi last week. All went well. At one point Sorella Hoffman  and I were trapped/lost inside the basement of an apartment building trying to get to a lady named Lussy's apartment. The problem was there was a big black out so no lights worked nor citofono (hence us breaking in through the basement) which long story short, led us to get help from a guy we met down in the basement who was very nice and showed us the way up and out of the basement (I fell down a flight of stairs in the complete dark in the process hahahah). We get to Lussy's apt. who asked about they guy who helped us and what he looked like. Turns out he is the "garibaldi drug lord" and is involved in the mafia and all sorts of great things like that. Who knew! Fun stuff in Milan!

     We got a referral and went to go find her because they only left an address. Well, we show up to the palazzo...and it's the sketchiest apartment/refugee type place I've seen so far. We could just feel the stares walking through the place. We were careful of course and asked a normal looking lady if she knew the referral. We ended up talking for a while and she invited us into her house to explain who we were and what we believe. We taught her and her husband the restoration. It was a casa miracle!

     Another cool miracle is a girl  named Gaia, who has been coming to English class (she found out about English class because her older sister is a less active member of the church)  mentioned that she wants to be part of the activities more and seems open to taking the lessons! We jumped on it and invited her to play soccer with some of us on Saturday and she said yes!! We are hoping to fellowship her with some other members and help her feel comfortable coming to church.

     We met with Sorella Suffardi who is sick and alone in the hospital and SO sweet when we come and visit. We ate il bistec del polbre with Dimitri..yum. Blessing came to church!! (Did I mention her in my last email? She is a less active of 10 years, was baptized in Nigeria as a little girl and has decided to rejoin the church) we are in search of her church records and hopefully will be finding all that tomorrow.

     I am seriously getting so excited for general conference. We have been inviting everyone to think of a question. Any question at all. It could be about work, friends, school, a personal weakness, a doubt in the church, struggle in the family, ANYTHING. think on the question or however many you have and pray about them. Go into conference with these questions in your hearts, listen to each talk, and I can promise you that you will receive an answer. How lucky are we to have the very mouth piece of our Heavenly Father every six month tell us the very things that we are in need of to hear, at this specific time, so as to better our journey back to Him!

Vi voglio bene

Sorella Guadalupe Williams (I've got 7 people right now truly believing that is my first name)


One last P-day before saying goodbye to the missionaries transferring


In the most expensive and fancy part of Milan called Garibaldi


A fancy apartment complex where many pro soccer players live

Spring break in San Remo

Buona giornata carissimi miei

So this week was crazy. But we saw miracles.

     We were on the metro headed to the hospital to visit an old member lady. A couple of people our age sat across from us and very obviously and quickly began to talk and laugh about us and mock us. This isn't the first time by any means, but it was just so dumb and obvious that they were making fun of us. I usually just ignore people like that, but I could see they started to google our name tags to see who we were. I just wanted a chance to say "Yes, I am a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ" and end the questions or debates. But I wasn't sure how to get over to them without making a fool out of myself and make a scene on the train. So I prayed and said "ok if you would like me to introduce myself and the church to these losers I will, but please move the lady next to them at the next stop so I can sit down and do it" sure enough!!!!! The second I ended my prayer the lady stood up and left. And we weren't even at a stop yet. What bigger sign could you get. So I took a deep breath and went over and sat down in the middle of them and the guy next to me got so squirmy. Sorella Anderson was just smiling at me as she realized what I was doing haha. So I looked at the guy next to me (the most obvious one who was laughing at us) and said politely and nicely "I saw you were looking at my name tag, I wear it because I am a missionary" before I could say another word he got VERY embarrassed and annoyed that I had spoken to him and told me to shut up and "shooed" me with his hand. All his friends were silent because they were surprised I said anything at all. I felt stupid honestly. But wanted him to feel a little bad for treating me like trash so after a while I said "sorry, I just wanted to ask if you knew where the hospital was in this area, I have a friend there I'm trying to visit today" he just stared at me. You could tell he felt bad. Soon his friends were trying to give me directions to the hospital. When the stop came I said thank you and Sorella Anderson and I stood and turned and vogue walked away. All jokes aside though I thought about why Heavenly Father provided a way for me to sit next to them if they were just going to shut me down so hard, but then I realized that he knew I would feel bad if I had gotten off the train and not said anything to them. So he let me try. And I felt good about trying. Plus you never know what could happen. And double plus, I knew for sure how to get to the hospital haha.

     We finally were able to go to the hospital . We've been trying for a couple of days to visit this member lady who has been there for a good bit of time. She was the CUTEST. she loves the missionaries. She was one of the first Peruvian members in our ward. We brought her something to read and a little spiritual message.  Turns out her nurse was listening in the whole time because she called us later that day saying he told her that he wanted to come to church with us Sunday!!!

     After the hospital we took a couple of trains to get over to San Remo!! It's an old old beach city right on the coast next to France and it is BEAUTIFUL! I fell in love with it. You could see the ocean from sorella missionaries  balcony.  The entire time we were with the Sorelle in San Remo, we did finding because that's what they need help with right now. I said a prayer before we went out just asking for some good people to stop for us so that the sorelle can get excited for the work again. Nearly every person we stopped had a conversation with us!!! We found a lady who had even read the Book of Mormon before. We found another lady who started asking where her dad was who had just passed away two weeks ago. She was in tears and so grateful when we promised and bore testimony that she will be with him again.  So much so, that she gave me her necklace hahaha. We also penny boarded on the board walk with some KEWL YOUTHS.  In the morning, before we left to go back to Milano, we went on a run to the beach and watched the sunrise over the sea. It was fantastic. Sorella Anderson and I pretended it was our spring break since it is right now over at Utah State haha.

     Once Sorella Anderson and I  got back to our city, we saw Aydee and Fanny and the Scotto family and a lot of other people. It's definitely hard being on scambio so often because you have to plan really well who can be seen when you're separated and who needs to be seen when you're together because sometimes the members or investigators feel like they can't tell us how they are doing personally if there's a stranger there. They don't open up as much. But it's nice to get so much work done. Double the help. But also hard to double book the city so many times.

     Sunday was stake conference which was great. We all met at the Lampagnano building and it was the best seeing president Allen and all the Cimiano members sitting together. I love them!! Afterward we ate the best Peruvian food with the Costa's. They made my new favorite drink called Ciccia made from black corn, cinnamon, and some sugar. I think I drank 3 gallons alone. That night we went on scambio with  the Savona sisters.  We went all the way out to Egypt to find this self referral named Blessing. She lived so far my word. But blessing was the blessing of my day:) she's from Nigeria and has lived in Italy for 10 years. Luckily she speaks Italian because that means she can talk to the members and understand when she comes to church. That's always a struggle because many Africans only speak English. She was baptized in Nigeria when she was young, but lost the church and now wants to come back! We retaught her what the Book of Mormon was and it's significance. We also learned that we can't teach for ANYTHING in English. She was so sweet and I just wanted to hug her and take her home with me in my purse.

     The next day Sorella Anderson and her scambio sorella went to appointments, but me and my Sorella just had one  pass by to do and then finding. So on the way to the pass by, Laura's house, we started talking about the mission and how to work and trust in the Lord and how to just forget yourself and do it. When we got to the doorstep to the less active pass by, I felt like we would spend our time more wisely just finding the whole morning, which is always hard because nobody really wants to do finding over an appointment. But it just seemed like the right thing, especially for this Sorella to gain more confidence and see miracles happen from it. So I said a prayer in my head asking for Laura to not answer the door when we rang the doorbell. I've never prayed for that before. Laura has 7 people that live at her house with her, so one of them is always home, especially because half of them don't work. So I rang the doorbell...and no one answered. My prayer was answered! So we went to the castle and did finding and talked to tons of people and it was awesome. We met a lady named Ornella who confided in us and told us she was on her way to the hospital to be with her brother for his first round of Chemo. They only found the cancer a month ago. She cried talking about it. We promised her that we had a message that brings families together and we exchanged numbers and promised to see each other again!

     We also saw Francesca! The 19 year old girl who loved our accents on the train a while back and coincidentally got off at the same metro stop as us after I was panicking we would never see her again!!  We met with her  yesterday and shared a video called Padre terreno padre Celeste and a little bit of the restoration. She's a cutie. She said she would come to church and some of the youth activities so we are excited about that.

     Today for p day we went to Bellagio!! Which is the famous city right on lake Como. It's where George Clooney's house is:) it was absolutely beautiful. You have to take a bus out on this tiny little lakeside curvy road and then the actual city is very small but amazing. Pizza was enjoyed.

     The anziani have the baptism of Ernesto (finally) tonight in Navigli so that will be great!

     Saturday is transfer calls and I'm freaking out. I would like to stay in Cimiano with Sorella Anderson. But we'll see what the Lord wants I guess.

     I have a testimony that God sends tender mercies in the shape of small beagle puppies after the end of a long, hard, great and exhausting week. I saw this little guy on the road and didn't even ask permission, just sat down right next to him in my skirt in the road, named him Rusty and had the time of my life. The owner was so confused
haha.

Vi voglio bene

Sorella Williams


Bellagio


Lake Como

Bellagio-Lake Como

San Remo



Springgggg Breakkkkk OR scambio in San Remo

Beautiful Sun Rise in San Remo on the Italian Riviera

Scambio with the Savona Sorelle

Rachele was Bapized!!!

This week was crazy!!

     Thursday we met with Marilena. We challenged her to baptism Marzo 18. She told us she wanted to accept and knows this is the truth...but that she is living with someone and has been for sometime now. So she would need to get married to him. Which she is more than happy to do...only that she is still legally married to her 'ex' husband. Who apparently for years refused to sign divorce documents. And either way it doesn't matter because he is in a coma in Honduras and can't even sign the document if he wanted to! So it's just a can of problems. After that lesson we thought a lot about what we should do. When someone is baptized it means they have a converted heart, meaning they follow the commandments willingly and happily, even the hard ones. Ultimately this has nothing to do with her husband unable to sign a paper, but more so what she is willing to sacrifice for something she knows is right, even if it means separating from her boyfriend for a little bit. UGH EVERYONE JUST NEEDS TO GET MARRIED FIRST PLEASE MY WORD. Seems like we battle with the law of chastity everyday.

     Thursday night we went to Genova! I went on scambio with Sorella Kopischke! I love her so much. She's my favorite German in the world. And hilarious. Well our appointment stood us up so we decided to pass by a couple less active houses. We were on our third house with zero luck. We suon'd the citofono and they buzzed us in. We didn't get too excited because usually when people automatically open the door it's because they think we are the pizza guy or something and then when they see who we really are they kick us out. We walked up all the stairs and see this lady peering out her door looking really confused to see us. We introduced ourselves and told her that we were looking for Maria and she said that she bought the apartment from that lady and that she moved 4 years ago! So we started talking to this new lady and tried to just keep the conversation going aka I was just trying to crack as many jokes as possible which got the husband and the son's attention because then they came over to the door and with some effort we were eventually let into their apartment!!! I can't tell you how rare it has been for me on my mission (and everyone else's here in Italy) to actually get let in during casa!!! I was freaking out inside. Long story short we spent over an hour with them in their house just talking and laughing! At the end we shared a video of Jesus Christ and some of the basic principles that we believe and we all prayed together, then the little boy shared with me his break dance moves and asked if I was single hahahah. It was the best miracle ever we were so excited and they want to continue meeting with missionaries. We were on cloud 9.

     The next day we ate at a super good Peruvian restaurant and we ended up talking for a while with the owner and he committed to accepting a Book of Mormon. It's too fun telling South Americans that there's a book about Jesus Christ visiting their ancestors!

     Saturday RACHELE WAS BAPTIIIIIIZZZZZEEEEEEEDDDDDDD. man oh man what a day. We woke up and just weren't in the mood for our normal routine, Sorry but it's true. So we took 3 Book of Mormons and headed to the duomo in the pouring rain to talk and give them out to people. To our pleasant surprise people were still celebrating carnival (their version of Halloween minus the candy, they just throw confetti stuff) we saw a bunch of cute kids in costumes and we were able to talk to some pretty cool people and we handed out all of the book of Mormons we had with us even though it was raining!

     We headed over to the church to start setting up for the baptism and by 5 everyone started showing up. Sorella Guastella's family came up from Sicilia and Bari and her brother who lives in Germany came down. Fernando's non member relatives came from the other side of Milan as well. Rachele was a cutie and just beaming. There were several people from the ward there to support and honestly everyone was just so so happy. You can't even look at this family without wanting to cry, they have come so far. Everything went really well.  Anziano Simkins and I sang a child's prayer and then the actual baptism happened. Rachele was in tears getting into the water as was the entire family. The spirit was so strong. She had a big smile coming out of the water. At the end of it all the Bishop left a couple minutes for any testimonies. Eleonora (Sorella Guastella) and Fernando both bore their testimonies and truly everyone was in tears. They know this church is true. They kept saying over and over again how grateful they were to the sorelle. "You brought the spirit into our hearts again and we will never forget it, thank you infinitely for that". Sorella Guastella shared a story I had never heard before where the very day Sorella Castro and I went by her house she had been praying just earlier that SAME day for help to do the right thing and find a way to come back to Him. It's so humbling to know how the Lord uses his missionaries. I am just so SO beyond grateful to be apart of it. I love Eleonora like I love my own sister. They asked me to say the closing prayer and I could barely even get through it! I will never forget the spirit we all felt that night. Such a tender mercy to see the fruits of so so so so much work and prayers for one little family.

     They invited us to a pizzeria with them that night, just us and the family, and it was the best. So hilarious because GianLuca was just in the sassiest mood and hated every pizza he tried. It was great. And then we all walked home together.  Sunday Rachele was confirmed as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and was given the gift of the Holy Ghost

     Sunday after church, Tina and Mahesh invited us over to eat Philippine and Nepal food. Ok I have to explain something. Ever since I arrived in Cimiano, Tina has been taunting me with Balut. Balut is a Philippine thing. It's a big egg and inside there is a baby duck still in its embryo...and they eat it whole, bones, beak and all. She kept saying she was going to make it for me and I would say "don't bother spending the money" every time she invites us over she acts like she has it, but really doesn't. Well this time she really did. She made this awesome food and then said, ok now dessert! And brought out the eggs. Well it was horrendous, but I ate it and that's all I want to say about that.

     Right after dinner we ran to the train station to pick up the other sorelle for a scambio. Sorella McCormick and I went to visit the Lastra family and the miracle is that the dad was finally there and very participative with the lesson which was great. The next day we saw Cristina Parma a less active with Genisis and then we visited a less active, super ill, atheist lady. It was a crazy morning. After the scambio was over the next day we went to the Castro's house for Papusas (the best food in the world) and it was awesome because they brought their non member friend and we were able to teach him!

     Today we are pretty happy to be women because it's national women's day which means nothing, but all the museums are free for us!!! WHOOOOO so we went to a couple museums and hung out down town all day because there were a couple strikes which means no buses or trains until 6...

     Tomorrow we are headed to a beach city by the border of France called San Remo for a scambio. We hope to really help their area because it's struggling. We are working really hard and have never felt this kind of exhaustion. We keep thinking we hit the peak, and then the next day comes haha. But we are grateful for the work and grateful to be missionaries.

     I just want to quickly say, a growth in faith comes when you live that principle. Many times people want to feel something when they read their scriptures or create a good feeling when they go to church and yet forget that it requires an active participation. Pray before you read, and then read each day until you feel something. Pray before you go to church, and take the sacrament with the savior in mind. Actively wish to feel a peace of the spirit and you will. It is my promise!

Vi voglio bene!

Sorella Williams

Rachele's baptism!

The Guastella family

The family dinner after the baptism

Sorella Anderson, Sorella Williams, and Rachele

The carnivale!

Christopher Columbus' house in Genova

Scambio with Sorella Kopischke in Genova

Genova!