Miracle Moments

We celebrated Thanksgiving with our English class. Aka three other people but it was really fun. I made some gravy, mashed potatoes, attempted at stuffing, and some chicken. With the little chicken we bought two, one was made at the store and then I made one. The one I made was better... just sayin. It was fun having a little bit of Thanksgiving though and getting to know people from our English class better and it turn they got to know us a little better too!

Thursday was seriously a miracle day. It was just so good. We had some conference so it was like Christmas getting all our mail. But for the lunch, the senior couple made a nice turkey dinner for us. It was like a way better redo of Thanksgiving. They had everything and it was all so good! It reminded me of the nice Christmas Eve dinner that we always do. The tables were all decorated for Christmas, we had real plates instead of paper, and it was just beautiful. The food was way better than the stuff I made the night before too.

Then we had President and Sorella Allen come to a lesson with us. They came to visit Juana and Claudio with us. (First Sorella Allen had to come use our bathroom in our apartment though. Thank goodness we cleaned!) The lesson with Claudio and Juana was amazing. Juana was very touched by the spirit and Claudio just seemed so content. He just seemed happy. I think it's interesting though because he described a time where he knew he felt the spirit and it was the same how a few other people in the ward described how they felt it for the first time. I just think it's interesting that they were so similar. We talked about the Restoration and how opposition always comes before something great. We read the example of the First Vision but there are about a million of other examples in the scriptures too.

Do you ever have those weeks where you just feel so blessed by the Lord and you know everything that happens is thanks to Him? Well, that was me this week because after the amazing lesson with Juana and Claudio on Thursday night, on Friday morning we met Francesca. We found her from the old church referral systems. She was a referral from about a year ago that we found but it didn't say that she was contacted or anything so we decided to give it a try. It turns out that she was an investigator but stopped taking the lessons for some reason. But she has a testimony and she said she reads the scriptures every day. She wants to be committed to the church! The crazy thing is though is how she came to know the church. There's a video that a ton of Italians have seen. It was on TV and for some reason because of it everyone thinks Mormons are Amish. Anyways she saw this video and wanted to find out more. She got on the internet and searched for us and then referred herself. How amazing! A video that gives so many people false information on the church actually lead her right to it!

We were able to do finding and I absolutely loved it surprisingly. Not a whole lot of people listened but I really didn't care. With the people who we did talk to, it was interesting to talk to them about who Christ is for them. There was one guy we're talked to who was atheist and he said that Christmas doesn't really mean anything for him. And I guess we can all take a step back and ask ourselves what Christmas really means for us. Is Christmas another fun tradition for us or does it actually mean something? The Pharisees in the Bible were always good about following the rules and the traditions but they lacked allowing the reasons behind the traditions to change their hearts or actions. They couldn't see clearly. It's a great time for presents, food, and all the fun things about Christmas but do we really recognize What we are celebrating?

We have another new investigator! Her name is Roberta and she's Fratello Ponce's sister in law. I don't know if she had an accident or if she has a sickness but she's bed ridden. Because of her accident she's lost her faith. She wants to find that faith again! She's a miracle in itself and I already just love her! The Spirit was so strong when we were teaching her about the First Vision and it those moments that you just want to last forever. I wouldn't trade these moments for anything.

Tuesday we had a combined district meeting with Merate and ate lots and lots of sweets. I made cookies and the Anziani made some chocolate coconut bars with some pizza on top we were full to the max. Nothing too exciting for the rest of the day except that we did some passbys and had correlation meeting.

We read this quote in zone conference:

"If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else" -Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra

For all of you who don't know Yogi Berra, he was a catcher for the Yankees. I'm going to rant for a little bit because I love baseball and softball. But a catcher's job (one of the many jobs actually) is to call the pitches. I can remember in softball how important it was that our catcher position her glove just right so that our pitcher would know where she needed to throw the ball and to have a destination in mind. And a lot of the times, if she didn't focus on that catcher's glove, the ball would definitely not be in the strike zone. I just love this analogy for our life and I'm grateful for the gospel so I can set my sights on where I want to go.

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Thanksgiving Dinner for English Class

Juana and Claudio and Pres. & Sorella Allen

Yeah - Christmas Packages Arrived !

Spiritual Route/River Route

Star Wars - We have a type of Force

Remember November

We had Scambio this week from Wednesday to Thursday and it was such a good Scambio! Our STLs are Sorella Castro and Sorella Williams. Sorella Castro is from Colombia and she's so awesome! I love her. She's full of love for the work and she's just an inspiring person. Sorella Williams is from Colorado and she went to Utah State. Funny thing because we would have lived right by each other when I was up at Utah State because she had an apartment in the same complex as me but she sold her contract to go on a mission. Sorella Williams is hilarious. She's one of those people who just has a natural talent to tell stories and make you laugh. 

After Scambio we went to visit a sister from the ward in the hospital. It took us forever to find her room but we were finally able to see her. She's so sweet and it was good to see her. A lot of our plans fell through on Friday. But we did a lot of pass bys and a miracle happened! So we were looking for this apartment building but couldn't find it anywhere and we were completely exhausted. So we took a break and sat down for a second and ate a brownie that we were going to take to someone before they cancelled on us. Good thing we took that break because after we ran into someone walking into the apartment building. We got to talking and we were able to teach him a lesson in his apartment with his wife. I don't know how happy his wife was that we were there but we were there anyways! 

We were able to see the Tacunans this week too. Ah I just love them so much! Adriana will be baptized on the 10th. Maria, the mom, is so amazing. She works so hard to support her two girls and she's an amazing mother. They were asking what Black Friday was really like haha. 

Sunday we ate lunch with a couple of elderly ladies from the ward. It was way fun to sit and talk with them. One of them is quite the talker and I just love her! It's hilarious. So here's a little side note. Ward temple trips here in Italy last at least 24 hours. They usually take a bus together or rent a few vans to drive the five hours to the temple. Then they go to the temple and spend the night in a little lodging where you can reserve a room. (I'm assuming this lodging is church owned... I don't really know). Each room is filled with bunk beds. And they spend the entire day at the temple. It's awesome. But one of these old ladies was telling us all about the little drama and confrontations she had on this temple trip. Haha. You just nod and smile and remind her that we ALL have weaknesses haha. They're great. I love the ladies in our ward. 

Then we were able to meet with Joy again. She's from Nigeria and is currently living in a refugee camp. She's so sweet and nice. I'm excited to continue teaching her. She was so excited when we told her about the ward Christmas party. 

Monday we went to go visit Corrado (aka gelato man). It was nice talking to him and he introduced us to his nephew. It was pretty funny because his nephew was asking if we went out on the weekend and whatnot, but then Corrado told him off for us saying "would you go up to a nun and ask her that?!". Haha it was quite entertaining. And we met the Seclen family too. They are a family from Peru and they shared some chicha with us. It's a Peruvian drink and it's so good. They are such a great family! They just aren't able to come to church because they have car problems. 

It's been a pretty great week I have to say. 

"Too often we pray to have patience, but we want it right now! As a young man, President David O. McKay prayed for a witness of the truthfulness of the gospel. Many years later, while he was serving his mission in Scotland, that witness finally came. Later he wrote, “It was an assurance to me that sincere prayer is answered ‘sometime, somewhere.’”

We may not know when or how the Lord’s answers will be given, but in His time and His way, I testify, His answers will come. For some answers we may have to wait until the hereafter. This may be true for some promises in our patriarchal blessings and for some blessings for family members. Let us not give up on the Lord. His blessings are eternal, not temporary."  ("Waiting Upon the Lord: Thy Will Be Done" by Robert D. Hales) 

I found this quote this week and it was one of the moments where I read it specifically because one of my investigators needed it. I think I needed it too. Our prayer will be answered someday, somewhere. We will have answers but during this time while we wait, we need to search for the Lord's will and what can be even harder, submit ourselves to His will. 

I love you all un Sacco! I miss you! 

Happy Thanksgiving

Thursday was a great day! We got to see the Tacunan's and teach them about the Word of Wisdom. They were absolutely adorable. Adrianna, the 9 year old, ran into the kitchen, grabbed a juice box and desperately asked "can I still drink this??". Haha then I felt bad because the kids definitely threw Maria under the bus and ratted her out for drinking coffee. They're a great family.

But we also had another miracle! We stopped to get a gelato while we were doing pass-bys. You need some comfort when you search for 3 addresses and none of them are there. The guy who owns the gelateria started talking to us and we ended up teaching him the Restoration. He wanted a Book of Mormon and he was going to try to buy one off the internet but we told him not to fret because we have 20 at our apartment! 

On Friday we had dinner with the Ferranti family and they had a friend staying with them who had been baptized in Muggiò. Her family had been in an accident and so it's a miracle that she's alive. Her husband passed away though and she was left with her one year old son. She's incredibly strong and has a great love for the people around her. 

Saturday we met with Livia and Guido! They are so sweet. So Guido absolutely loves American history. He talked to me about that and his ideal place to travel is to Virginia so he can see Gettysburg. They bought us a pizza and they gave us books from their library as gifts haha. We told them thank you for the pizza and they were like "are you kidding me?!" They're just those kind of people. It was awesome because we were able to have them pray and the end of this lesson. Livia is catholic but as she prayed she thanked Heavenly Father that we had reminded her of the importance of prayer and even Guido, who isn't religious, prayed. You know there are some people who you feel like are prepared to hear the message of the Restored Gospel and I feel like it's them. 

Sunday we had lunch with Maria Nante and her son. They're members but haven't been to church in awhile. It was fun getting to know them better and talking with them. They are so loving and open. Maria made us some delicious cheese wrapped in bacon. Haha and I'm not joking. It was delicious! Then we finished doing some paperwork finally before the new transfer started! 

Monday was rainy all day. We were able to visit Grace and Massimo. Massimo is 14 and he's so shy. We are trying to build a relationship with him and to help him break out of his shell a bit. Then we saw Sorella Bassi. She's a cute little old lady who I love. Okay she's really not that old. But she has this habit when she says something funny or exciting she sticks out her tongue a bit. It's hard to describe but it's not weird. I love it! Then we passed by Corrado, the man who owns the gelateria. I think us meeting him just goes to show why it's important that missionaries stop to get gelato! We had a really good lesson with him and explained more about the Book of Mormon. He's another one who I feel like is prepared to hear our message. It was a really good lesson and I think just the introduction of the Book of Mormon hit him. 

Tuesday was another rainy day. The past couple nights we've been arriving home completely soaked! But hey it's rain, so I guess it means it's not too cold! The Alvarado's unexpectedly fed us which was super nice! They're the sweetest! I love them. 

Today we are in Milan and we are going to see a castle. We will see what happens. We are kind of just going where the wind takes us! 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing Thanksgiving! 

Doesn't the train station look grand?

A cool church we walked by

The castle we visited today!