"Pass the ball to the Italians"

On Thursday we got to see Marilena which was really awesome because it had been awhile since we had been able to see her. We honestly just talked for a lot of the time. It was good to get on the same page as her and figure out what was going on in her life. We were able to teach her about obedience and why we have commandments here on the earth. The lesson went super well and she has made some good friends in the ward!

We saw Rosella and Giuseppe this week which was nice! It had been a really long time. Their daughter just got her license and so they have been super nervous with her being on the road.

On Saturday we went to go play soccer with some members from Cimiano, Lampugnano. It was so much fun! Gaia came too even though she had gotten a bit hurt playing rugby that week. We all had a really good time! It was fun to get to develop relationships with some of the youth and break down barriers. And I'm not going to lie, I very much enjoyed playing sports again. It had been way too long! Gaia told us that she was interested about knowing more as well! We were able to teach her the restoration after we were finished playing. She thought it was really cool! I'm honestly so excited to start working with her. She is such a great girl.

Gaia and Marilena came to church! Along with somebody new! The new person was from China and did not speak Italian or English but I really hope she comes back because she was so sweet. The members were super good at welcoming them and everything at church went great! It was super busy because our ward mission leader wasn't there so we ended up teaching gospel principles. To finish church we had one more miracle: Gaia has a sister who is less active and she came!! Everyone was so excited to see her! Overall, a successful day at church.

That day we met with Karina. She is a new investigator and she has 3 kids. One of them is a cute little 2 year old who has heart problems. He has already had to have 2 open heart surgeries and they are waiting for him to have the 3rd. She was super nice and welcoming. We saw the Lastra family too. They are adorable! I will have to take a picture next time because these kids kill me! We were able to really have a good lesson about Joseph Smith and receiving answers.

Monday we had consiglio so it was spent mostly at that. We got to hear from Presidente, which I loved! He talked a lot about finding in different ways. The motto was: "Find your own basketball court". It was really cool to talk with everyone about different ways they can involve people with different talents they have.

We got to meet the mom of the Scotto family who isn't a member and she is the sweetest thing! She absolutely loves the missionaries. She made us a good soup to eat and she is just enjoying the time she has here with her grandkids because she is from Napoli.

This week I read this story in the Bible from Luke 10:25–28:
25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

I really liked this story because this lawyer was very well informed of the law and the commandments. He already knew what he needed to do to have eternal life. But Christ highlights the difference between knowing and doing. "This do and though shalt live." When we apply the things that we know to be right, we find our lives and our potential. We find eternal life. We come to know our Savior and our loving Heavenly Father. When we understand who they are and what they have done for us, what they continue to do for us, we find eternal life.

"3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." John 17:3

I love you all and I hope that everything is going well for you guys! Miss you!

 Sorellanza !!

Sorella Perkins, Smedley, and Lo Russo

  

Blessings on Blessings

We got transfer calls this week. We were so anxious and nervous because we really wanted to stay together. Well we got the call from our President because he needed to call to talk to us about some work that was going on in Cimiano and he told us that we would be staying together in Cimiano!!! We were so excited. We just screamed and started celebrating right then and there while he was on the phone. So we are very happy for that!

Last Pday we went to Bellagio. Bellagio is a little town on Lake Como. It's the point where two really pretty lakes, Como and Lecco, come together. Also, it’s a spot where Star Wars was filmed. We went with Sorella Smedley and Orr too. It was quite the adventure. It was the perfect Pday because shortly after that we went to a baptism that the anziani had. Pretty great day!

We had our biannual cleaning day this week. So we got down and deep cleaned our apartment. But even better that day we had a scambio. I got to be with Sorella Fife from the MTC and it was so good to see her! We were going to see the Scotto family but they forgot and thank goodness because we had a miracle. We decided to do a pass by and then just do some finding on our way home because it was already getting late. We decided to do some citofono on this one apartment. A.K.A door to door but instead it's on an intercom. When someone randomly let us in the complex as they often do on accident. So we just started at the top of the complex to start searching for the person who let us in. Instead, we knocked on a door and a lady walked out asking how she could help us. We explained that we were looking for someone but that we were missionaries. The most surprising part was when she responded that she knew exactly who we were and invited us into her house! She had met with the missionaries 15 years ago in Napoli. She was about to have guests over so we couldn't share a message with her but we are excited to go back. It was so amazing. We were so stoked and it turned out to be a blessing that the Scotto family forgot.

We were able to go see Blessing again this week and she came to church! She is so great. I was so happy to see her in church and right now we are working on getting her records transferred over from Nigeria. After our lesson with her, she showed us pictures of her family. She comes from a family of 8 kids too! We got all the names memorized so we were feeling pretty good about ourselves haha.

We went out to dinner with Demetri to a Peruvian restaurant to say goodbye to Anziano Johnson because he will get transferred. I'm sure you all wouldn't believe in but I ate a spoonful of a straight blazin pepper sauce. It was impossible to hide how hot it was behind my poker face when my face was literally turning red.

We also got to see Sorella Suffardi in the hospital and bring her some church magazines. I am always happy to go see her because she lives for our visits.

Fernando and Eglyda are good. Fernando had a job interview and we really hope that he gets the job even though it up and means that they have to move to another city. It would be good for their little family and for them to get a little independence.

We saw the Lastra family. This family seriously has me wrapped around their fingers. There are two little girls who are 5 and 2. They are so adorable. They were drawing on my little notepad the whole time. They're just funny too! Then their older brother is such a good kid. He is so adult like spiritually and its nuts. He is always completely involved in the lesson, even to the point where he is asking us to send the family little scripture texts. I love it.

And another quick miracle story because it was a casa type of week. We had gotten a referral and so we went to this apartment complex looking for this woman. We didn’t have any of her information besides her address. So we did what we always do, started from the top. Well as we worked our way down we asked people if they knew of her or if they knew of anyone who we could talk to that might. We ended up talking to a lady from Romania for quite some time and eventually she invited us into her house. She had seen the missionaries walking down the street 20 years ago. Anywho, we were able to teach her about the Restoration. It was such a miracle even though she didn't believe everything we said. Hopefully, we will get a chance to see her again!

I have started reading the Book of Mormon again and this week I read 1 Nephi 4:6

6 And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.

So Nephi was commanded to get the brass plates from a powerful man named Laban. They thought they had tried everything to get these plates, but nothing worked. Nephi knew it was a commandment and so he went back to the city where Laban was to get these plates. This was an act of faith knowing that he would be guided. Even when we feel like we have absolutely no idea what we will do, it's important we put ourselves in situations where the spirit will guide us. I have no doubt that Heavenly Father guides us more than we think. It's when we think we have done everything possible that we have to take yet another step of faith and He won't fail to help us.

I love you and I hope you had just as good of a week as we did!

Bellagio Pday with 

Sorella Smedley and Sorella Orr

Lake Como

 Anziano Johnson is transferred so we get to eat 

at Peruvian restaurant to say goodbye

Something, Something

Exciting things happened this week!! We went to San Remo for a scambio to help the Sorelle there out. We did some finding and it was really great! A quick description about San Remo: a beautiful beach city near the border of France, a perfect tourist place because it is not known among anyone except Europeans. It was so beautiful. We could see the beach from the apartment of the Sorelle and did some finding near the beach. We were able to talk to some awesome people. Probably my favorite was the old man named Santo. Meeting him went like this: "Bet you have never met a saint before! Watch out you are about to see a miracle!" Great guy. We were able to exchange numbers and so that was really good. Also, in San Remo we were able to do our morning exercise by the beach with the sun rising casually in the background. Tends to make you happier to wake up.

We met Sorella Suffardi this week. She has been in the hospital for a long time and she was so happy to see us! She has been so lonely in the hospital and the hospital is kind of far away so it was nice that we were able to go see her. She even invited her physical therapist to come to church so we were able to call him and invite him.

On Saturday we had our lunch appointment with Aydee and Fanny like usual. That day we were seriously so exhausted. So how this appointment goes down is that Fanny makes us lunch and we eat with her and share a little message with her before she has to run to work. Then we do dishes while we wait for Aydee to get home so we can teach her.

We ate dinner with the Costa family on Sunday and they made my favorite Peruvian dish! Then we saw Martha and were able to visit with her a bit before we met with Blessing who was such a blessing for us. She is from Nigeria but has been living here in Italy for 10 years. She was baptized when she was 12 but has been less active and she started searching for a church. She went online and ordered a Book of Mormon and that's how we found her! She so cute and fun. It was one of those experiences that within 5 minutes of being with her she just really has your entire heart. There's something special and different about her.

We had another scambio with the Sorelle from Savona so I was able to meet Sorella Deem and she is so cute! We had some fun doing some finding together. We met Massi by our apartment and he seemed pretty interested. It was awesome being able to explain to him exactly why a Restoration, not a reformation, of the church of Christ was needed. I'm praying that we are able to meet him again. Then we also met with a 19 year old girl named Francesca. She is seriously in love with America. She is so cute and so I really hope that we are able to continue to meet with her!

Did I forget to mention that Stake Conference was this week and so I was able to see all my peeps from Muggiò?? It was so fun to be able to see them all! I felt like it was home. I really miss them all. But hey I will see them around since they are close.

This week I have been thinking a lot about the questions I have for General Conference so I can prepare myself to receive answers. But I also have been reading conference talks. I came across this quote while studying and I really liked it:

Love demands action if it is to be continuing. Love is a process. Love is not a declaration. Love is not an announcement. Love is not a passing fancy. Love is not an expediency. Love is not a convenience. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” and “If ye love me feed my sheep” are God-given proclamations that should remind us we can often best show our love through the processes of feeding and keeping.

A lot of people are always amazed at the love that missionaries have for the people they serve. To be honest, it's to be expected. If you truly serve someone with a Willing heart, it is almost impossible for Your love not to grow for them. This goes for anything from humanitarian trips to mowing your neighbor’s lawn. It doesn't all come at once but when it does, it completely fills you. It makes you happier than any gelato ever could.

I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Sorella Causse!

San Remo - Italian Riviera 

Exercise by the beach - Makes you happy to wake up!

You can see the Mediterranean from the Sorelle's apartment

The San Remo District.