Well something fantastic happened this week. We met with Marilena Thursday and had a lesson about the ten commandments. We got to "do not commit adultery" to which she said "well....we all know this is the one I'm not following" and we said "......yep. How do we change that?" We talked a while about it and she was saying how she has faith that God will provide the way for her to leave him or get another apartment and such. which honestly whenever people say stuff like that to me I just roll my eyes. I'm sorry, but its a load of crap. That's like me saying "I really want a gelato, I'm just going to sit here and wait for God to deliver that to me". Living the commandments, if you are not living them now, will never be a comfortable transition. It will be hard and maybe you don't even see the significance of it. But he doesn't have a set of commandments for me and a set for Sorella Anderson and a set for Marilena based on our needs and diverse situation. All of us have the same commandments for a reason and we are asked to live them. Her waiting until its comfortable to live them is an excuse. And we talked with her about that. We bore testimony that she is the one who makes the steps in this and that God will support and uplift her in all of it. She cried a bit which made me a little sad, but it needed to be said and its time for her to make the change because she desires it and wants true happiness in her life.
We saw her the next day and followed up on what we had said the day before. We bore testimony that there is no coincidence in her meeting the missionaries at this time in her life and with scripture reading, praying, coming to church, and actively living the commandments, she will be ready for baptism. We invited her for baptism April 29th which was a date we had previously prayed for and felt good about. The spirit hit all of us like a wall and Marilena just began to cry and hug me and she knew it was the right thing to do. She said yes! We are so excited for her.
Afterward Sorella Anderson and I were just running through the streets and metro like "SHE SAID YES! SHE SAID YES" hahahaha. We hope she has the courage to take the steps she needs to before the baptism so that she can really be baptized on that date. It has been a special experience for me to have been able to meet her, literally find her on the metro, teach her and have her potentially baptized all in the time that I have been here in Cimiano with her. its a big blessing.
We met a WAY normal couple who have a normal house and a normal dog and normal life and they are married and have the cutest little down syndrome boy named Tommaso. We have been to their very normal house twice now and Sorella Anderson and I are just like "you want us to come back?....what's wrong with you...what's the catch.." hahahah. It's just not usual for us to not get denied 4334523 times and then have to low key stalk people in order to get some interest in our message. WHOOT
Gaia played soccer with us Saturday morning again with the other members. Unfortunately, me being good at soccer was just a one day thing. I was not on my A game. It didn't help that there was a funeral going on inside the church and we had to whisper play. BUT she asked if she could speak with us privately before we all went back to the church to watch conference. She wanted to explain to us her situation. I didn't realize how bad it really was. She felt like she owed us an explanation about having said she wanted to take it slow. She wanted us to know that it was for a reason. I won't include every detail, but basically she comes from a torn apart home and has been through things I couldn't even believe. It was one of the strongest times on my whole mission were I felt so strongly directed in what needed to be said to her. Both Sorella Anderson and I figured out some solutions to some of her problems. But moreover we just told her how amazing and great and special she is and how much we love her and more importantly how much heavenly father loves her. she told us no one has ever told her that before. We told her this gospel gives her the second chance she needs. A new beginning, starting with baptism. She said that was exactly how she has been thinking. She wants so badly to start again. We told her we know that this is that start and that she (with learning with us, church, scriptures, and prayer) can be ready for baptism in May. She didn't say yes and she didn't say no. But she felt the spirit very strong because it was undeniable. It was such a good conversation.
The next day (Sunday) Gia had a rugby game and said she wouldn't be able to come to conference with us. But then in the afternoon she surprised us by coming anyway right after her game ended. She was sweaty and in her rugby clothes and came anyway. It was the best. I love that girl so much. I am just so hoping she takes these steps and is baptized. It would bless her life.
In other news, we got the number of some guy who makes good Papusas and it basically felt like a drug deal hahaha. We had a meet up spot and we had no description of what each other looked like, so Anderson and I were just standing there and finally this el salvadorian pulls up on his motorcycle with the papusas strapped in on the back. We gave him the money he gave us the food and we were off running through the metro with the biggest bag of papusas for district meeting hahahaha. The guy was SO confused about how we had gotten his number because he lives out of Milan and makes them with his family in his house so when two american girls show up on the sidewalk to get them..needless to say he was confused. Don't worry we are working on converting his family.
I would say some cool things about conference...but we haven't had much time to truly watch it. We watched two sessions in Chinese for this cute girl who just walked into church saying in the little Italian that she knew, that she was Christian. It was a whole good 2 hours communicating solely through google translate haha. It was obvious we have the gift of tongues.....for one language (Italian). We watched the other sessions in Italian, which were of course great, but we were running around dealing with problems and there was just so much to do! But I'm excited to read them in English. I feel like I will get a deeper meaning out of it. I hope you all had a chance to watch and feel inspired in some questions or help you might have or need.
vi voglio bene!
Sorella Williams
Right after Marilena agreed to be baptized!
While watching conference I turned around and saw this bunny! He was just trying to listen and be spiritually uplifted
A picnic and volleyball in the Milano Castle park for Pday!
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