My Last Zone Conference

Salve,

     Last Thursday was officially my last zone conference. It was nice to be together with the two Milano zones. One, because most of my best friends are in those zones and two, it's always nice to be with President and Sorella Allen and hear their counsel. I bore my last testimony and we huddled and sang the mission hymn (for me) the last time.

     We had a scambio that night with the Genova sisters. Sorella McCormick and I went to the Scotto house and taught the word of wisdom. It is not an easy thing for them. I don't think it is for anyone if we don't already make it a habit and we don't try to justify different parts of it based on what we feel it should include or not include. BUT her and her kids came to church that Sunday and it was a success! Finally!!!

     We also saw Milagros and then Fernando and Eglayda that Friday. Their baby Grace is getting so dang big. I got here when she was just a bundle, now she's walking around and yelling at everyone, it's the best. They are moving to Paris soon and we are stoked for them. It's what's right for their family.

     Saturday was a crazy day. We saw a less active, Giovana (who came to church Sunday!!!) then saw Fanny and Aydee like always. A miracle happened in Muggio and a family Sorella Anderson had taught while she was there were finally getting baptized so we got permission to go to the baptisms. Muggio is very close to Milano. It was so special for Sorella Anderson and Sorella Orr! And I liked running around just being the helping hand. Plus the guy who baptized them was hilarious and was so proud of himself that he had his OWN photo shoot in his white clothes by himself before the service which I was more than happy to be his photographer (pictures attached).

     Then Dimitri picked us up and took us to our favorite Peruvian restaurant he has been dying to take us to again before he moves to Pavia. Those Peruvians know what they are doing. While we were eating we got a phone call that Sorella Tullis's companion Sorella Lo Russo broke her ankle while playing soccer in Navigli. Sorella Tullis needed to go into a trio with us while they figured out Lo Russo's situation. Which was so sad for her and her ankle....but i would be lying if I say it hasn't always been my secret fantasy being in a trio companionship with my two fav people. All three of us went to church the next day and it was nice having an extra person to help. We usually just run around frantic all of church to get everything done, but her being there was the best. Sorella Tullis just has a way at making everything better!

      After church we went to a tower in Garibaldi that is only free on Sunday. Tina and George have been asking to take us to it forever. It was so cool! You take the FASTEST elevator. 40 floors in 25 seconds. You can see ALL of Milan from the top. It was amazing. When we left we were stopped by police in the road. It was blocked off because the tour of Italy bike race was happening right then and there! So all these bikers were flying by which was way cool to see. Then we went straight to the hospital to see Sorella Lo Russo. She was such a trooper because let me say I cannot handle Italian hospitals. They are absolutely ridiculous. It's an absolute sauna in there, it's a system where if you leave your bed you basically lose your spot in the hospital (it's like a weird waiting game), and they come and see you when they can. Not to mention that there are other people all in her room. Most of which are stark naked because it's SO DANG HOT. But she was optimistic and every time we would wheel her down the hallway she would be like "hey Francesco, lookin good! Hey Maria how's the elbow! Ciao Flavio keep on trying don't give up!" We were like how the heck did you get to know all these people so fast hahaha?

     Monday we took Sorella Tullis to the hospital and dropped her off with Lo Russo. Sorella Anderson and I went to talk to some Comune people about service projects. This nice lady named Giovana told me she knew I was American and not English the second she saw me because I'm a hand talker. Then we got some sandwiches and brought them back to the hospital for them. We stayed as long as we could until we had to go to art class. Gaia was back in town from Modena yay! So we got to see her. Then we went directly over to Giuseppe and Rosella's house. Rosella is the only member in their family. They have two kids, Stefano is 30 and Chiara who is 22. Chiara is the sweetest, but has never had much interest in the church. Chiara called us because she just found out she's pregnant and needed us to come over and talk with her about it all. So we went and she had her friend Denise there (who was the best). We had a really good conversation and she felt much better. She asked us to come again so we are happy about that.

     Tuesday we went to see Blessing WAY out there where she lives, but she wasn't home and I felt bad because I was the one who said we should go even though we hadn't heard back from her. But Sorella Anderson said it just means there's someone else. And she was right! We met this lady named Elena on the bus and then we all walked together to the metro. We taught the WHOLE restoration on the crazy loud metro and it was such a cool experience. I've never been able to share with someone the first version on a metro before.

     Today for pday we went to a place called Varenna! It is beautiful.Then we took a boat to Bellagio.  It was so fun...and hot. We ended up talking to so many Italian store owners because everyone was fascinated at how we were American but could speak italian (because it's such a tourist area). We taught the restoration and shared with a painter the first vision with her in her store. Then we bought these random art paintings from her...then had a bit of buyers remorse..then missed the bus...then camped out in Bellagio for another 3 hours because we were stuck there..then had an awkward encounter with half naked grown men swimmers..but all is well now and we are safely back in Milan meno male.

     I had a boost of faith this week and was reminded that at any minute someone around me could be perfectly placed by the lord in order to her the gospel. I'm grateful for the mission.

     Vi voglio bene


4 companions in one conference!


My last zone conference




At the hospital to visit Sorella Lo Russo

Milano

Tour de Italia bike race



The Italian man doing the baptisms!

Time is flying!

Ciao!  This week went by very very fast.

     We went to a ward party to say goodbye to Susana who has been my bestie in the ward since November. She is going on a mission to Toronto Canada. I'm so excited for her, but it was hard to say goodbye to someone who has been with me my entire time here in Milan!  At the party we took time to let anyone who wanted to say some words to Susana. There were a lot of tears and a lot of love! We brought Gaia with us and she was shocked. She leaned over to me and said "my survival mode is breaking down" She has said 'survival mode' to us several times explaining her home situation and how expressing how you feel or feeling love at home just isn't a thing. She grew up in very difficult situations and for that reason shut herself down to letting herself feel much emotion. Church is becoming her safe refuge and it is so good to see that in her. 

     We had a scambio and I did mine with Sorella Roseno, who is the best. She is from Wyoming and has the most incredible conversion story. She grew up baptist and was preached to all her life about how Joseph Smith was a fraud. She had a friend who was a member and was eventually challenged to read the book of mormon to know if it was true. So she began reading it to prove her friend why it wasn't true. She was baptized a month later. Her parents were very against it, and of course shocked when soon after baptism she decided to serve a mission. She is a very strong girl and we taught some great lessons together! The buses were cancelled Sunday so we had a surprise VERY long walk back to the metro haha.

     We introduced Gaia Monday to the baptismal interview questions before having her interview this Friday with Anziano Simkins. Afterward we talked for a long time. She said how it now just seems so official and questioned if she was ready. We talked to her a little bit about her transformation in these past couple months/weeks. There is no denial that this was a heaven sent intervention in her life at exactly the right time. The spirit was strong and she bore testimony so strong of the gospel and of God and the truthfulness of it all. We were all in tears. Sorella Anderson said "Gaia, you just bore your testimony!" and she said ".............I did?" she bore her first testimony and had no idea she had! The gospel is so real and if you allow it to, it will change your life. 

    At ONE DAY'S NOTICE (thanks a lot Anziano Brooks) we found out we needed to go to Alessandria and participate in the Torino zone and Genova zones conference and do a training. It was such a good conference and I knew it was no coincidence that I was there because I felt like I received a lot of answers to some of the prayers I have been having lately. They asked me to share my testimony at the end of the conference since I'm finishing my mission (which I also was not prepared for because usually they don't have you do that if it's not technically your zone). It's very rare I get through it without tearing up! I'm just so grateful to have been able to serve. We have the Milano est and milano ovest conference this Thursday and we are doing a training at that one as well. I will again bare my leaving testimony at the end of it. It's like a spiritual and emotional roller coaster my word! They are killing me!!

     I got some really terrible news this week that a boy in my Sunday school class who I had grown up with in Colorado passed away. It really shook me up honestly. My heart completely goes out to his family. They have always been so good to me and my family and are undeserving of this kind of heart break, but I also know there is a different mourning process for people who have an understanding of the plan of salvation. It doesn't make it hurt less, but it gives you hope and an assured faith that all families sealed will always be together. 

     Today for pday I bought a shirt, and ate pizza. Hope you have a great week!

     Love, Sorella Williams

The Torino zones and Genova zones 




Art class!

Buona Festa Della Mamma!

Hi

     Buona festa della mamma! Happy Mother's Day! I got to talk to my family which was great. It was easier saying goodbye this time knowing I only have 4 weeks left...which is blowing my mind. But at the same time bitter sweet. I really love the mission.

     Also buon anniversario to my parents! They have been married 26 years. So grateful for my family!

     This week was good! We met a lady named Pina who is recovering in the same hospital room as a member we went to visit. One thing led to another and we were able to teach the entire restoration! We swapped information and she's excited to learn more.

      Contact has been made with Marilena!!! Whooooooo! We called her and finally she answered sounding defeated saying "ciao Williams" hahaha she knew exactly who it was. We met and she explained that she got nervous about baptism, felt embarrassed, and avoided us. She knows this is the true church and has a testimony, but needs a little more time to be worthy. Nothing wrong with that. There will never be a time where it is comfortable beginning to live a commandment if you've never had to live it before. It takes work and faith. We reassured her we loved her and then ate gelato, so all was well.

     We had our ward karaoke party!!!!  It was so successful, tons of people came. Some being people we had never met before and a few came to church the next day!  At first everyone was a little awkward and we had stupid wifi problems, but we did our best to get people excited and it worked. Which included me singing a borderline inappropriate duet with Fabian to Greece's "you're the one that I want" to get things going. Let's just say we all took one for the team. It was so fun to see people start to get into it and everyone had a good time. We've already been getting asked when the next one is.

     Gaia has a super sweet black eye from a rugby game and is doing great:)

     It has officially gotten hot and the fan has already made its way 10 inches from my face at night in bed. Oh Italian summers.

     Today for pday we went to a little mountain town called Morbegno near lake Como. It was fantastic. We hiked right in the alps!  We followed a trail to a tiny town wayyy high up. It was a harder hike, but so beautiful. We laughed because right as we made it, completely out of breath and SO tired, a bus passed by us. Apparently the whole time we could have taken a bus straight up to where we were going hahaha. It's ok, it was worth it.

Vi voglio bene


Me and my fave summer Italian flowers that smell like fart. Me and my fart flowers.


1/3 of the Cimiano Karaoke party


Morbegno. Tiny mountain-top cities.

    

Last Consiglio

CIAO

This week went really fast. 

     We saw our investigators and a lot of less active this week which was great. We met a couple of new potential people, all through soccer and a couple of member referrals. We ate some good food with funny people. 

     We went to the Castro family's house (I love them). We brought Gaia with us and it was a blast. We ate papusas:) In the end we taught about the word of wisdom and why we choose to respect our bodies knowing that they are gifts from God and we treat them as temples. There are parts of the word of wisdom that can seem small or unimportant on the scale of things, but we willingly choose to follow because we don't let the little things keep us from receiving greater blessings. It went really well!

     Sunday we ate with Tina after church!  We had a small message about forgiveness which apparently was something she needed because she began to cry and we didn't know why. She explained that some people in her life have done her wrong and it has been near to impossible to forgive them or to get past it. It broke my heart. We talked about what forgiveness means and why it is possible to clean and heal us because of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the peace He gives to us. 

     We had consiglio Monday with all the capi and STLs. I had the BEST reunion ever with Sorella Tullis who is now STL in Navigli!! So fun to talk about the past 4 transfers and all that has happened to us in that time apart! We received such amazing counsel from President about the power of our calling and how that translates into missionary work. In the past 4 to 5 months we have set records for our mission in baptisms per month. We will accomplish our mission wide goal of 300 baptisms before the completion of the Temple. It is so exciting! It is because of high expectations and high love. As missionaries all of us really are united and love each other so much. We are all working towards common goals and trying our best. We are being blessed because of our efforts and because we love the Italian people!

     I was asked to bare my testimony at the end of the meeting as my "twinkling" testimony since it is my last transfer and last time at the meeting. That was a little surreal! I just always remember older missionaries doing the same and thinking that would never actually be me. I am just so grateful for this time to be a missionary and for all the things I've learned and been able to be apart of. I know this is the true church on the earth today. And I love this mission. 

     Also a lady tried to perform an exorcism on me over the phone because she is convinced I am possessed! Neat!

And a scary drunk guy came into the church when Sorella Anderson and I were there alone and freaked us out a bit, demanded to see the Padre of the church, yelled, smashed an umbrella in half, and then left!  fun stuff! 

     Today for pday I had a weirdly delicious orange and walnut spaghetti with sorella Tullis by the Duomo. So I would say it was a pday well spent We only live classy here in Milan. 

vi voglio bene


The umbrella after the crazy drunk guys smashed it


Consiglio on Monday


Sorella Allen


Reunited with Sorella Tullis!

I'll get baptized!

Ciao a tutti!

     This has easily been one of the best weeks of my mission.

     I'll start by saying that we received transfer news Saturday. My FERVENT prayers have been answered and I will be finishing my mission in Milano❤

     I have never been so nervous waiting for a transfer call.  There is still so much to do here and I would have been more than heart broken having to say goodbye to all the people and work we have been doing here just to do 6 weeks somewhere else. I am so soooo grateful. And to top it off I will be staying with my soul sista Sorella Anderson. This makes 3 companions that I will have done 3 transfers with! It's the best. I definitely know why I was called to the Italy Milan mission! This city has my heart forever.

     And might I also add, it's more than surreal to receive your last transfer call *throw up*

     The other best part is we received transfer calls while playing soccer with all our buds in the park so everyone was right there to celebrate the news of all 6 of us missionaries staying in Cimiano! Gaia nearly tackled me.

     We prayed for Gaia all week to know what was best for her. We still felt SO strongly that she is ready for baptism and the only way to move on with life is to put all her worries and problems in the Lord's hands and accept his help by following his commandments and being baptized. After soccer we taught her about prayer, daily scripture study, and taking the sacrament. In the end we invited her for baptism on June 10th. She said she didn't know. She explained to us that this week had been different though, that she has been realizing that only through Him can she feel healing and have a new start. She said she used to look at baptism as something far away, but now she doesn't feel that way. We invited her to pray for June 10th and receive the confirmation we did about that date.

     The next day, Sunday, we fasted for her to feel some sort of confirmation. Sacrament went well and then we went with her to the GANS class instead of principi evangelici. During the third hour we emergency taught the restoration to a cute Chinese girl named Elena who we have only been able to communicate with through google translate until, by miracle, the very day she came to church again, an ex missionary from Utah who served in the Taiwan mission who was on a backpacking trip through Italy and found the Cimiano ward by asking random Chinese people on the street where it was, was willing to translate for us the restoration!! It was such a miracle. For the first time we all understood each other and gave her a Chinese Book of Mormon. It was the first time I have taught the restoration in English since the one time I taught a couple of Africans in Siena and Sorella Anderson and I were both so tongue tied! Other than that we saw the Lastra family that night and it was a normal Sunday. Oh and we babysat a bunny.

     Monday started off the worst because it was raining like crazy and everyone bidone'd us. Later that day we had art class and then we made plans with Gaia to make some food afterward together and have a lesson. So I'm just drawing away, improving my talents and such, and Gaia keeps drawing these smiley faces on my paper, so I would tell on her to the teacher (Anziano Simkins) haha. Then she said "williams, I have a secret message" and I said "no go away!!" And she said "just let me write it!!!" So I said ok and she wrote something on my paper. I spun it around to look at it and I saw "I'll get baptized" She even wrote it in English. I read it like 8 times. Then I looked at her and she was just beaming at me. I asked if she was being serious, she said yes. She had to confirm that 'yes' about 5 more times before I believed her. I showed Sorella  Anderson and neither of us knew what to say hahah. So I just gave her the biggest hug I could. I nearly cried! Later, while we were making pasta, the three of us talked about everything. She explained that Sunday had been a normal Sunday for her too, but that she just couldn't stop feeling the spirit for the rest of the day for some reason. She kept thinking about our invitation for baptism. She prayed and read her scriptures, 2 Nephi 31 and she found her confirmation. She knows she is making the right next step. She talked to her family about it already as well. Of course I'm chalking up this whole story very fast, but it was truly just an incredible thing to hear. It is true conversion. And I feel so unbelievably blessed to have been able to be apart and see this transformation right in front of me of someone who I love SO much. So June 10th it is!!

     Fernando got a job in Paris! Kind of crazy, but it all fell together and they are certain God is guiding them in order to be a family and get married and be independent of his parents.  Best part..he is leaving in a couple days to check out some apartments and it just so happens to be the days of the Paris temple open house. His work office is literally down the street from the temple. Anziano Aglaure got his family in France involved and they will be taking Fernando to the open house next week!!! We celebrated with karaoke.

     To top off all that, we taught a lesson to a lady this week who had come to church Sunday. We taught her about faith in Jesus Christ. She asked to speak with me alone afterward and she told me that I was possessed by an evil spirit and that when she looked into my eyes she could only see "malvagità". I told her I had no clue!

     For pday President Allen asked us to help the brand new, off the plane, greenie missionaries to do finding by the Duomo. They were so scared!! But it all ended well. I've just never been followed so close behind in my life!

     I'm learning the only way to find peace and happiness is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course we can have fun and love hobbies and pizza and movies and music and camping and hiking etc. but real happiness is truly found in only one way. And we already have the ticket to go down that path, it's already been paid for, we just have to use it!

     Vi voglio bene sorry for this novel, there was just a lot to say.

Sorella Williams

P.s mozzarella lady gave me her number! Gospel conversations happen through cheese purchases.


We visited Sorella Suffardi in the old folks home and they were having a little concert! We also met her daughter too.


Our first bunny :) I'm not kidding, we babysat Aydee's bunny.


Teaching the new greenies how to find, they just got off the plane!


THE message


My mozzarella bag and the mozzarella lady's number:) two good things in one bag