More Miracles, More Friends, More Love

I have so much I want to tell you all this week, and not nearly enough time to do it all justice. 

My sweet girls from the MTC.
Sorella Hallum, Sorella Holloway, and Sorella Roth (and me)

Last Wednesday we had a huge turnout for English course and Family Home Evening. Tons of our members showed up and brought friends! Yay! They also brought a large supply of food. When I thanked the newly called Relief Society president for her help, she replied that it's her job and she'll always be there for us. Sweetest woman ever!

Thursday morning we went to have lunch with the Torres Family. They live in Vigevano, which is a 30-minute train ride from Milano. Was it worth it? Absolutely. This incredible family is so full of love. Their sweet daughters are incredible. The best part is being able to talk with them. Obviously I'm not fluent in Italian, but I can have conversations! It's so nice to be able to really communicate with these sweet people, because I love them so much. Oh, their nickname for me is Sorella Leona, because I remind the oldest daughter of Leona Lewis. They made me sing for them, which was fun. Also, Sorella Torres made tiramisu, so go ahead and be jealous. Just kidding, don't be jealous, just go find yourself some tiramisu.

Vigevano is gorgeous. I didn't take my camera, but I wish I did. It's definitely one of the prettiest places I've ever been. Also, there is a shoe museum there. Will I be going back someday for p-day? Don't mind if I do...

Sometimes my comp likes to take pictures
during meetings - not sure why

Let me just tell you, promptings are by far the coolest part of being on a mission. After we came back to Milano, we were waiting for the bus to go back home. I thought maybe we should go to the church first and then go finding from there. We started walking towards the church and past a man on a bench. We walked a little ways away, and I got the feeling we needed to go talk to him. So we did! Always awkward when you turn around to talk to someone, but he was really nice. He set up an appointment with us for Saturday and we gave him a Book of Mormon. Jumping ahead, we went to see him Saturday, but we didn't have his citofono . . . whoops. So no lesson. He has our number though, so hopefully we hear from him soon. Regardless, I feel so grateful to receive promptings.

Back to Thursday; I had a short sad moment that night. Even though we had seen a lot of miracles, it was a hard day. On our way home, I asked God for just one more miracle. We had one Book of Mormon left, and I asked him to help me find someone who needed and wanted it. On the bus I smiled at this sweet older man. He beamed back and then asked me what book I was holding. Well, I told him it would change his life. We gave him the book and realized we didn't get his number. Luckily though, God has our back and makes up for our mistakes, because we saw him again Monday night. He told us he's been reading and he loves it. He couldn't remember his number, but he told us he'd call us the next morning at 10. He called at exactly 10 a.m. God answers prayers and he makes up for our falling short. I'm so grateful for this knowledge because it makes life so much easier.

Anziano Garner

We went to Monica's for lunch on Saturday. Oh my goodness, I will never get over how fantastic her children are. At one point, Alex played with my hair for a good 15 minutes. I've never seen the child so tranquil. Also, I've never eaten so much food in my life. It is true; your stomach grows while you serve in Italy. If it didn't I'd never even be able to eat half of what people feed us. 

Anziano Malzone

Anziano Garner and Anziano Malzone had a baptism Saturday night. Miguel is a sweet man who had been a former investigator. He has three beautiful children, and the ward has really gone out of their way to make them feel welcome. It's beautiful to see. When I walked in, Miguel was really excited. Later, I was told he'd been asking all day if Sorella Pavoratti was coming. Oh my goodness, I could not have been more flattered. We also talked about my favorite composer, Verdi. If you don't know the story of Va Pensiero [chorus of the Hebrew Slaves] from his opera Nabucco [Nebuchadnezzar], look it up, it's incredible. Also, Va Pensiero is in the Italian hymnbook, so that's just about the best. I will never get tired of this country. Miguel had actually stayed up until two in the morning reading the hymnbook one night so he could pick two hymns. He picked an Italian hymn that's not in the English book. Anziano Garner and I had to learn it before the baptism, but it's beautiful. 

We went to the Angiulli's this Sunday for lunch. Again, we were fed more food than people can eat if they aren't Italian. Again, somehow we managed it. I kept expecting them to stop bringing in a new course. It happened about an hour after I expected it. Then we had a short lesson with them. Then, Sorella Angiulli brought us brownies and gelato. I don't know how I haven't gained 50lbs. But thank goodness I haven't. They are truly such wonderful people, and I loved getting to know them better. Our ward is truly fantastic. 

Refectory of the Convent of
Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan.

Later, we got a call from Elvira saying she had set up an appointment for us with a man she met in the park. We came and had a beautiful lesson about the restoration. The next day, before our next lesson with him, he asked us when he could get baptized. He's getting baptized July 27th! He is so excited; he kept trying to get us to let him get baptized this week. We finally got him to realize we had to have a little more time than that. He has a little bit more of a process than some people because he's been Muslim his whole life. He has to go through an interview with the Mission President to make sure he'll be safe if he's baptized. It is a testament of the truthfulness of our church that safety is the first priority. I'm so grateful for that because it shows how much God loves us.

We had 16 lessons last week. That's absolutely crazy for us! We actually met or exceeded our goals in all but two categories - also crazy for us. I really saw the Lorrd's hand in my life this last week. This is His work ,and when you rely on Him, it goes so much better.

Did we just see The Last Supper?
Yes, yes we did.

Yesterday my companion and I went to see L'ultima Cena. You know what that is? Yes, THE LAST SUPPER. It was incredible. The spirit in that church is incredible strong. I know God has preserved that painting. It's survived so much, even most of the church being destroyed during a war. He preserved it for a reason, and when I was in that room I truly understood. This painting has touched so many people's lives. How blessed I feel to have been able to see it in person. 

This week was crazy, and hopefully next week is just as insane. I love how busy we were! There's nothing better than having so much to do. Especially when what you're doing means so much. I love you all!

My girls at zone conference.

Train ride to Genova.

This explains pretty much our life. Notice how
Sorella Hallum is serious? Always.

Best awkward family photo ever? Yes.

Luini's

icicle . . . favorite thing ever

Sometimes when you order pizza in Italy, it shows up
with fries on it - awkward.

Italy is pretty much
the prettiest place in the world

Weirdest Week of My Life

This without a doubt has been the weirdest week of my life. I don't even know how to explain some of the things that have happened. Really, it was ridiculous, but I loved every minute of it. Well, almost every minute.

Last P-day was really hard for me. Lets just say something really weird happened and that I was having a hard time letting go of it. So, I got a blessing! The Priesthood is great - true story. I do realize that I've had three blessings since I've been in Italy and I've only been here for 3 months. I am not ashamed. After English Course and FHE on Wednesday, Sorella Stewart, Anziano Garner, Anziano Malzone, and I went into an empty room. Anziano Garner asked if Anziano Malzone could give the blessing. Of course! Anziano Malzone was really nervous about it. I don't think he'd ever given a blessing of comfort before, at least not in English. I'm not going to go into too much detail here, suffice it to say, this was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. We are an incredibly lucky people and I pray that we are ever grateful that we have God's authority on the earth today. How blessed we are to have been born in a time where we can receive priesthood blessings and receive specific information we need, directly from God. 

Sorella McNamara -
one of my favorite people ever.

Thursday is where the week got really weird. For all my friends who have served or are currently serving missions, I defy you to have a better scambio (exchange) then I had this day. By better, I mean weirder, of course. It started out normally; Sorella Stewart and I went to meet Sorellle Santoro and McNamara at the metro. When we meet them, it turns out I get to spend the day with Sorella McNamara again. YES! She's one of my all time favorite people, it kills me this is her last transfer. We went to la mia casa and did our normal studies and then had lunch because we had to leave early to get to our appointment in Corsico. We went out to Romana's again to teach about the Gospel of Christ. Other than the three hours of travel, this lesson was pretty normal. It was actually quite wonderful and beautiful. Then of course, we had to travel back into the city. We get off the metro and start walking towards the exit. There is a small group of people standing looking outside. Why? Because it's raining. Not a big deal, because I'm from Washington, right? False. Big deal. A man walks in from outside, looking like he just got out of the shower, in all of his clothes. He left mini puddles everywhere he stepped and had huge pieces of hail on his shoulders. Well, we were not looking forward to going outside and put it off as long as we possibly could. We start running to Janet's house. We're outside for less than 30 seconds, and all of our clothes are completely soaked. We run past this weird bike covered in leopard print fur. This bike also had a tail. (This is just extra weird information; it's not really important.) We get to Janet's house and teach her and Gustavo a short lesson. As always they were wonderful, and the spirit was incredibly strong. Then we had to leave again, in the rain. We head to the church because we have to let Anziani Malzone and Garner use our phone. Why? They ran out of minutes . . . great.

Water damage at the church.

We get to the church, and I open the door. There are ceiling tiles on the ground, and water is everywhere. Yes, the roof was leaking, and our entire church was flooded. I called the Anziani; they were 20ish minutes away. Great. I called Kamau our archivista. Yes, I understand this seems like a strange person to call when the church is flooded, but he speaks English, and I don't know how to describe a flood in Italian. He said he'd call the bishop for us and see what they could do. So we start cleaning. We put buckets everywhere, and then start mopping up water. Really, we had to put the mop down and squeeze out the water. The Anziani showed up, and for three hours we cleaned the church. The Bishop called us; there wasn't going to be anyone coming to help us clean. That's ok, because we got it done. It really was insane though. One room had 2ish inches of water in it.  

More water damage.

Friday was a fairly unexciting day. We taught a really great family home evening at church though. The best part of the day was when Anziano Payne showed up to the church with Anziano Malzone. He pulls an envelope out of his backpack and hands it to me. He and Anziano Heaton drew me pictures! I will be keeping them forever. Because they're wonderful! Life is good.

On Sunday, we met President and Sorella Dibb. They're adorable! True story. They got up to share their testimonies with the ward. Sorella Dibb had written out her entire testimony in Italian so she could share it. It was the sweetest thing! After them, I sang "Anima Mia" (Be Still My Soul) for the ward. I'll be honest, I wasn't looking forward to singing. It's so obvious to me that I haven't practiced in three months that I don't really like hearing my voice. However, after we sat down, Fratello Angiulli (1st counselor to the bishop) got up. He said he had no words, because the spirit was so strong. Of course, that doesn't mean much for Italians so he continued speaking for 15 minutes, but it was a truly beautiful moment. Guess what? He likes me now! Not that he disliked me before, but Fratello Angiulli doesn't get super close to the missionaries. He always shakes our hands and then continues on our way. Now he loves us! He and his wife invited us over for lunch this Sunday. I never thought that would ever happen! The whole ward was very sweet after sacrament meeting on Sunday. Almost every member came up to me and told me I have the voice of an angel. I know this is not true, but I appreciate it anyway. They are just all so sweet. I wish I could introduce you all to them; they are without a doubt some of the most incredible people I have ever met. 

Monday night, our appointment cancelled on us. It was very sad, but it turned into a miracle! We went up to Parco Basiliche to do some finding. I'm going to be honest, like most missionaries, I don't like finding. It's not usually effective, because the best way to find people to teach really is through the members. I wasn't feeling the most optimistic, and when my companion asked me which direction I wanted to walk I just kind of shrugged my shoulders. But then I saw a sweet old man sitting by himself on a park bench. I said hello, and he immediately asked us to sit down. This man is awesome; his name is Peter, and he's the sweetest. Sorella Stewart described him as the 80 year-old man version of me, but I don't think I'll ever be that wonderful. This man loves everyone! We taught a lesson, and the spirit was incredibly strong. At the end we asked him to pray. He wasn't sure at first, but he went ahead and offered one of the most beautiful prayers I've ever heard. He asked the Lord to bless me and my companion with love in marriage and in children after our missions. This one phrase was so incredible to me, because he told us this is something he's never had. He wants every single person to be able to have love in their life though. It is truly an example of turning outwards. 

Tuesday we taught five lessons! It was the longest day of my life. The best part of the day though was ward council. Well, we had been told it was ward council, but really it was a training meeting. I had been talking with Kamau, and my headache was getting a little too strong to handle so I took a pain killer. He freaked. He hates pills, so much. He told Fratello Angiulli we had a problem. Fratello Angiulli asks us if we need money and hands Kamau 20£. He then asks me if I need shoes and takes off his shoes. (See, he likes me enough to have a conversation with me, a hilarious one at that.) Kamau tells him that I take too many pills. His answer is, "Oh well, she has a beautiful voice." He then laughs and walks into training. Kamau proceeds to laugh and tells me he thinks I'm a drug addict. Not true, don't worry. We go sit down in the training. What are we talking about, dependency. Yes, so the Fratello from the stake starts talking about drugs. Kamau just turns and looks at me. So did everyone else in the meeting. Most uncomfortable moment of my life; please remind me to never take ibuprofen in front of anyone. Ever. 

That's all for this week. I'm sorry it's not more spiritually uplifting. I promise, there were spiritual moments, many actually. I love you all so very much. Thanks for being wonderful. 

Miracles

Oh my dear family and friends! I love you all so much. I look so forward to every Wednesday when I'm able to hear from you and write to you. It's the best! This week, I truly witnessed some incredible miracles. I feel so blessed to be serving in this area, with these truly exceptional people.

We moved English Course and Family Home Evening to Wednesday nights. So basically Wednesday is always full and wonderful. Yay! Last week we had multiple people invite and bring their non-member friends. This is unheard of for us! It was exceptional! For FHE, we taught a short lesson on obedience. We then played Simone Dice. Yes, we played Simon Says, in Italian. Once again, Italians love these games they've never heard of before. I didn't know it could be quite this much fun. Granted, I don't speak Italian, so I never had any idea what was going on. 

We teach mostly new converts and less-actives. Unfortunately we don't have a lot of investigators right now. However, the people we teach are 100% incredible. We recently started teaching an in-active member of 30 years named Maria. Her daughter came to visit about a month ago and brought her to church. A couple of weeks later Maria showed up at church again by herself. After, she asked us if we would come teach her. Of course! Here's the great part, without telling us first, she invited a friend to her second lesson. So we show up and it turns out we're mostly teaching her friend. Maria proceeded to share on of the most beautiful testimonies I have ever heard in my life. (We all want to know where she hid it for those 30 years.) The friend, Mercy, was really interested. Throughout the lesson, she would ask us questions. Every time, I saw in her eyes the moment she realized what the answer was. A moment later when we would answer, you could tell it was what the Spirit had testified to her just before. It was such a beautiful lesson, and I feel so grateful to have been a part of it.

We had another activity at the church Friday night. Truthfully, we weren't expecting more than two people to show up. The Sunday before everyone told us it was too early and they were all too busy. Well, over twenty-people showed. This is a huge deal for us! Two of our investigators came, as did a friend of Elvira. The activity was really wonderful; we took a tour of the church, and in each room the heads of the auxiliaries explained their programs and answered any questions. It was supposed to take around a half-an-hour, but everyone had so much they wanted to say, it ended up lasting an extra hour. We then, as we do at everything in Italy, ate a large amount of wonderful food. I think all of the missionaries in our ward were very grateful the members came out to support us. Several members later told us they had people they wanted to invite to the next activity, so now we're planning that. Yay!

Little miracle - I fixed our air conditioning. We've been living in Milan without air conditioning or fans! It's been like 30°C [86°F]. I don't know what that converts to, but it's too hot! So now we can sleep at night and don't hate coming home. 

I know last week I told you I had the wonderful opportunity to say goodbye to the Wolfgramm's. Here's what I forgot: they're in our ward! Since it was their last Sunday, of course they came to Milano Navigli. I was able to say goodbye to them again - actually about 15 times because Sorella Wolfgramm would hug us, say goodbye, talk to someone else while we translated, and then hug us again. This process lasted the entire three hours. I'm not complaining. I actually had the opportunity to share something that means a lot to me with them. I am very aware of the love the Prophet, Apostles, and General Authorities have for us. So much so, that I believe you can feel this love before you see the person. I have several examples of this throughout my life; let me share a short one. After we sang in the Tabernacle last year and we were walking downstairs to get ready and leave, I felt this overwhelming sensation of love and peace. A couple seconds later, the elevator opened and Elder Ballard walked out. The Wolfgramm's radiate love in the exact same way. Several times on my mission, I have felt this same feeling of love. A few moments later, the Wolfgramm's walked into the room. I love these two beautiful people and am so grateful for them. I saw them again yesterday because we had our district meeting at the same time they were training new missionaries. I feel so blessed to have had them as a part of my mission, and they have forever changed my life.

After church on Sunday, we went to have lunch with the Albello's. They are always so kind to us and feed us so much food! They are from the Philippines, and I always look forward to what they are going to feed us, because it's usually something I've never tried before. After we ate, we shared a short message with the entire family. It was wonderful! Both Fratello and Sorella Albello were involved and shared some beautiful experiences with us. After, Fratello Albello asked me to sing "How Great Thou Art" for them. Sorella Stewart played the piano and I sang. The family took tons of pictures of us; it was very sweet. Then, he asked if he and Sorella Albello could sing "Because I Have Been Given Much" with me. It was so much fun. Frat. A took charge and told us when to sing what and we ended up with a beautiful arrangement. It reminded me how much I love music and sharing music with people. I'm so grateful for that time to revel in the beauty of music. I'm also grateful I'm singing in church next week, so I have a few opportunities this week to practice and prepare. It's the best!

Also on Sunday, we met a really nice man named Jimmy and his friend Vincenzo. We were on the bus and I was holding the Book of Mormon. Jimmy practically leaned out of his seat to see what I had, and then Vincenzo held out his hand and asked for the book. We talked to them for a while and exchanged numbers. Jimmy's coming to church this Sunday, and we're hoping to set up a lesson with them as well. 

I am once again grateful to be surrounded by wonderful anziani. They are truly the best. In fact, they're probably my biggest blessing serving in Milano. We were followed off the bus, again; actually, we were followed from the time we got onto the bus until we got to the church. Thank goodness the assistants were able to meet us at the church. At first, I don't think Anziano Young believed us when we said we were being followed. We sat inside the front doors while they stood outside, and they couldn't see the guy for like 5 minutes. Suddenly Anz. Young looked at me and asked if the guy had a black stripe on his shirt. Yes, yes he did. He had just turned the corner and was looking for us. I'm not quite sure why Anz. Young would think I would make a thing like that up, but at last now he knows this actually happens. Don't worry though. I'm always safe, always protected. We just get lots of opportunities to be reminded how wonderful our anziani are. I'm actually grateful for that.

I love you all! Thanks again for all of your support. It's always appreciated, and you are always prayed for. I promise.

-Sorella Ervin