Hello again beautiful people!

Two of my favorite Sorelle at Zone Conference!

Hello again beautiful people! This week was without a doubt one of the craziest of my entire life, and I loved every single second of it!

Thursday morning during our study time, two of our lessons called to reschedule. We then spent an hour moving everything around so we could still meet with both of them and all of our other appointments. We ended up having an emergency weekly planning session that morning because we had to have an appointment during planning time. Let me just tell you, I know I should not get joy from seeing my companion stressed out, but I most definitely do. She's hilarious. I can't even handle it! 

OH MY GOODNESS! We had a combined zone-conference on Friday. What does this mean exactly? Well, it means that from 11-5 I was in the company of Sorella Holloway AND Sorella Bollwinkel! Was this my favorite day ever? Yes, yes it was. Let me just set this story up for you. I walk into the church and see Anziano Ostergar, of course I'm excited to see him and go up to shake his hand. Mid-conversation and hand-shake I see Winks. I forget I'm talking to Ostergar and I run to her. She screams. Very loudly. Poor Anziano Heaton almost had a heart attack. Seriously was the best moment ever. We were both crying and hugging; then Sorella Holloway came in and joined us in both. I love these girls with all of my heart! We finally got to tell each other about all of the crazy things that have happened to us. After lunch I sang Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy. Explain to me why the Zone leaders thought the time to have me sing was right after we ate. Oh well, the day was just absolutely phenomenal. We learned so many new and wonderful things. Days like that really make the whole mission easier. Also, we got all of our mail. Yay! Complete with a huge box of starbursts. Really, it's probably the most you can buy at once for personal use. Thank you mother dearest!

Saturday we met with our sweet Onela. She speaks English so yay! However, she couldn't find the church. We had to go search for her in the streets of Milan. Luckily she was only one street over, but it took us a half-an-hour to find the poor girl. I feel for her, I would hate to be lost in Milan and not speak any Italian. Thank goodness I have a fluent companion. Onela agreed to be baptized during the first lesson! Some of these people are truly incredible. I love how they just feel the spirit and then act on it 100%.

Monday was a very weird day because the transportation department was on strike -so no metro, no buses, no way to get anywhere we normally need to go. So, we stayed around our area. We ended up finding like 8 less-active members who live super close to us. Definitely a blessing. 

Yesterday was incredible. Guess what? I can speak Italian! Ok, admittedly I still don't speak it very well, but yesterday in all of our lessons, my companion and I were equal partners. Meaning I talked... a lot! In each lesson people complimented me on how much I've learned and how easy it is to speak to me. I think they're mostly just being nice, but still. We had a great family home evening at a member’s house. The bishopric was there as well as families we are teaching and a potential investigator. It was incredible. I was able to talk to all of them, and during our lesson, I shared how I now view prayer in a much more personal way. I'm away from home and I miss my mom, but every week I can write her a letter. I write everything, because I love her and I want her to be a part of my life, but she's not with me. Also, I am far away from my Father in Heaven, but each day I can talk to Him and tell Him everything. This helps me to be close to Him, even though I can't see Him right now. Let me point out one more time, this was shared in ITALIAN! I can't even believe it happened. The best part of the lesson, though, was how the members really opened up and shared. They taught and bore testimony. I'm so grateful for my incredible ward. They are truly amazing. 

I want you all to know how much I appreciate you. I can feel your prayers supporting me, and I want you to know I pray for you daily. You give me such strength. Thank you for your letters and emails. I love hearing from you all. 

Vi Voglio Bene

-Sorella Ellen Rose Ervin