Week 7 in Palermo

Monday November 18, 2019

This week everyone was traveling to their new transfer area, so we had a lot going on with that; a lot of people coming and going. We had one girl show up who didn't have her bags with her and so she had to stay the night with us at our apartment. Her bags just showed up today.
We had a couple of good lessons this week. My companion and I have been trying to do SYL (study your language) a bit more and up our studies, well at least on my part. She has been helping me a lot so that has been really nice. I was able to feel like I could add a little more and feel a bit more confident during the lessons. The language is coming and I have a lot of goals this transfer with my language and with my teaching skills. But it's definitely a slow process and I think it's that way for a reason. I think that we need to learn patience and humility and to rely on the Lord because that is what we are going to be teaching people. The Lord wants us to learn first so we can then teach those principles to others.
We've seen some miracles this week with a new person to teach. We had a really good lesson planned for her but as life goes it didn't happen as perfectly as we wanted it to. But we have hope for her. Then one night, things didn't happen as we planned them. . . again. So we decided to go visit Geovanna. We went and rang her house and she said that we could come up and visit her for a couple minutes. We went up and had a cute little conversation with them and they actually told us that they wanted to come to church some time with us. They couldn't this Sunday because they already had plans but they were asking what time church started and where we met because they wanted to come. That was a little miracle that we saw; it was not our plan at all to go over and visit them but it just happened that way. It's just crazy how the Lord works and how He can make anything into a good situation if we allow it. That was really awesome.
We visited a less active and a member this week that was struggling. It was nice to serve them and love them.
We also had a meal appointment with our ward mission leader and his family. It was fun to be around his family and the kids and just feel like home a bit; that home atmosphere. And also I talked to him a little bit about family history work here that I can do and he is willing to help me with that. So, that is really exciting as well.
I realized that next week I will have been here for 2 months; that's insane. In those 2 months I have learned a lot about how important prayer and scripture study are. Sometimes it is hard for us to realize the importance of it and to fit it into our day but it really does make a big difference. God is so willing to help us if we just ask Him. His arms are open ready to help us, but we need to take that step and go to Him.
Also, we have Mission Tour this week and we had a lot of scriptures that we had to study for it. So I wanted to share some because they are so good.
The first one is in D&C 6:33-37 it says;
"Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward. Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail. Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you. Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not. Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven."
That scripture just really stuck out to me because it is so true that what we sow, we will reap those rewards. We need to sow good. Also, I loved the verse that said "Fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail." I really loved that because it is so true, if we build our foundation on Christ nothing can prevail against us. It is really easy to look around in the world today and to have fear but if we have faith in Christ and keep His commandments and build our foundation upon Him then we have no reason to fear. I really loved that.
There are two more that I liked; one is in John 14:18; "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." and then also one in Psalms 118:6 that says; "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?" I also really loved these two scriptures as well because it's true; God will not leave us comfortless. He will come to us, we just have to allow Him to and also that the Lord is on our side. We have no reason to fear if we are choosing the right, we have the Lord on our side. I loved that because sometimes it is really hard on the mission when you get rejected and people make fun of you, but I've realized that when someone turns you down or laughs or persecutes you in any way to not get discouraged or to feel sad but to think of it as an honor. Because we are experiencing a little bit of what Christ experienced and we are doing it for Him, so it really is an honor to be able to serve Him and to experience a little bit of what He had to experience while He was on the earth.

All my love,

Sorella Acton

P.S. On Tuesday I ate pane di miles, which is a sandwich with spleen; it wasn't disgusting but it definitely wasn't delicious.

My District and the # of the transfer we had just finished

A typical street

French Fries with Pasta Sauce

Drinking Pickle Juice

One day we were so hungry that on

the way home we bought a loaf of

bread and ate it with a jar of pasta sauce

we had been given.

Week 6 New Transfer

Monday November 11, 2019

This week was pretty good, it was a week that we learned how to be more selfless.  A lot of the plans that we had and the ideas we had did not go as we had planned them. It was also a transfer week; Sorella Johnson and I get to stay together here in Palermo.

Tuesday was P-day and we went bowling, to a lego store, ate lunch, went to a tide cave and then we went back to the church and played fuseball. We were all together as a District so that made everything a lot of fun.  After that we had English course. After English course we had a meal appointment with two ladies from our ward that we love so much, and one of their daughters as well. It was at 8:00 at night and we were there until late. . .like 10:00. And guess what? We ate risotto, an Italian rice, with mushrooms in it-a whole plate. And then we had a whole plate of Lasagna, then salad and then they brought out dolce. It was so much food that I literally went home and weighed myself and it was 4 pounds of food inside of me. That was really fun to have a meal appointment with them they are just the cutest.
Wednesday we had play practice for the play/comedy we were doing with all of the missionaries from Palermo. It's called Il Verdino, The Greenie. Sorella Johnson and my part was to help out through out the play and then at the end to explain the Book of Mormon and to bear our testimony and to invite them to take Books of Mormon. That evening we had a gesso to spread the word about the comedy. We all met together and handed out cards for the play. I decided that I was going to have a good attitude about finding this time. So, I went with a good attitude and I actually handed out a good amount of cards and talked to a lot of people by myself, which felt really awesome. I realized that finding with a purpose is a lot easier than going out without one. I just realized that I need to be brave. And then that night we performed the play.  One of the Anziani in our District, actually one of the Zone Leaders, dressed up as a woman because he was playing the mom of the "greenie" that was opening up his mission call and coming to Italy and it was hilarious! The play went really well and it was really funny and the audience loved it. There was a good amount of people that wanted to be taught after watching it, the less actives loved it, and the members loved it so it was really awesome and fun. It was a just a good way to show people that we are normal, that we know how to have fun and we are silly in our daily lives but that we also do preach the Gospel. It was super fun! The night before we had some other sister missionaries over that were needing some help. That's one of the reasons we were needing to be selfless this week because we were attending to their needs and we were able to help them and show them that we loved them. My companion is the STL (Sister Training Leader) so she gets the honor of dealing with everyone's problems. Anyways because of that situation we weren't able to get our studies in but we did do some finding and then we had correlation. Our new ward mission leader is incredible!
Thursday we woke up and had really good plans for the day but after Sorella Johnson took a shower she had me check her hair and she had LICE! So, the whole morning and afternoon we were taking care of that; washing all of our clothes and bedding and washing our hair. First we washed it with a  lice shampoo and then drenched it in some hair oil and then put it up in little buns. And then we combed through our hair. It literally took us 4 and a half hours. We did our studies while waiting. After that we went and had a lesson about the Book of Mormon with one of the ladies we are teaching and it was amazing. There was a moment in the lesson where we were reading the Book of Mormon together and it just went quiet and she just read a little bit by herself and the spirit was really strong, so that was awesome. After that we went to institute with a new person we found to teach. Then afterwards as we were walking home, there was a man who we have met once or twice before who likes to walk around with his pitbull. He just watches us and one time he asked to walk us home and we told him "No" we were going to go and meet up with some other people. But this night he turned around and started to follow us, so we called the Zone Leaders and they came and walked us home. He was still on our street walking, but once he saw that they were with us he left. That was the eventful part of the week. But everything is just fine it's Italy, it happens.
Friday, God showed us that we should never lack faith. We had weekly planning and studies so we didn't get out of the house until evening time. Before we left we had a little bit of tension, we were going out to heart attack an MA but as we were walking we didn't think we had enough time before the mostra that night with our Zone. We decided to change our plans and go casa a casa on a street that we had planned to do weeks ago. On the way there I was just praying that God would forgive me for being a little gremlin and that He would bless us with a miracle. We got to the street and it was really funny because there was only one house on the whole street and it was a little tiny street. We were like "Are you serious? This is what we get." But right as we were walking away from the door a lady walked up to go inside and we had a good conversation with her. She said that she was willing to meet with us again. It just showed us that God really does turn any situation into a miracle if we just have faith and trust in Him. And even sometimes when we don't, He is just so good.
Sunday was a really good day. We got up and went to church and it was fast and testimony meeting. After church we went to the Bishop's house and it was so fun. They fed us a lot of food. We had pasta, potatoes & chicken, bread, salad and he gave us cheese. He just kept bringing stuff out from the cupboard or the fridge. It was so hilarious, he just kept feeding us. He was so excited for us to try some of his favorite things. It was exactly what I needed, it was so fun. They knew that I was new and that I didn't know Italian very well but they still payed attention to me and joked around. I was actually in a meal appointment where I had fun and was involved in the conversations. It was just what I needed that day. We found out that our Bishop is hilarious, he is so much different than he is in church. It reminded me a lot of my grandparents and it was exactly what we needed, it was so much fun. After that we went over to his sister's house. She has a cute little family and we were able to share a spiritual thought with them, they aren't members of The Church. After that we headed home and did studies.
Something that I really liked from what I studied this last week; I wanted to study more about what it meant to endure to the end. I looked up what enduring to the end meant, and it means remaining faithful to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel of Christ throughout our lives. Enduring to the end is not just a matter of passively tolerating life's difficult circumstances or just hanging in there. It's an active religion helping God's children along the strait and narrow path to develop their full potential during this life and return to Him one day. Enduring to the end is a process filling every moment of our life, every hour of every day from sunrise to sunrise, it is accomplished through personal discipline following the commandments of God. Enduring to the end implies patient continuance in well doing, striving to keep the commandments and do the works of righteousness. It requires sacrifice and hard work. To endure to the end we need to trust our Father in Heaven and make wise choices including paying our tithing, tithes and offerings, honoring our temple covenants, serving the Lord and one another willingly and faithfully in our church callings and responsibilities. It means strength of character, selflessness and humility, it means integrity and honesty to the Lord and our fellow men, it means making our homes and families strong and a refuge against the world. Enduring to the end is definitely not a "Do It Yourself" project. First it requires the Savior's redemptive power. Second, enduring to the end requires the Holy Ghost who will both guide and sanctify us. To endure to the end we need to be eager to please God and worship Him.
One last thing, I read a little quote about the Book of Mormon from the prophet and he said; "When I think of the Book of Mormon, I think of the word power. The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls."
I really really liked that because I've never read the Book of Mormon more than I do on my mission and I have found so much love for it and it really does do those things. It really does heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls.

Love you all,

Sorella Acton

I got my Book of Mormon

rebound in Italian Leather

Beautiful night at the gesso

Sorella Johnson and I the 

night of the gesso 

 The day we got lice

Beautiful Opera House in Palermo

the 3rd largest in Europe

Week 5 Halloween & Zone Conference

Tuesday November 5, 2019

This week has been a bit of a slower week and I don't have my journal so I don't remember what happened every day. It was a little bit of a hard week because a lot of our investigators and people we're teaching are showing that they're not interested or they won't meet with us, so we are going to be trying to find a lot of new people to teach this week.
Thursday was Halloween and we did studies, did a little bit of contacting, tried to go and visit somebody, and did some weekly planning. We were going to have a scambio (exchanges) that weekend and then it was going to be Zone Conference interviews on Sunday so we were doing our weekly planning early. We had french fries in the shapes of pumpkins and ghosts and for lunch we had pasta that was in the shape of Halloween things. Later we had correlation and then that evening we had a "festa" where we invited ward members, less actives and investigators. There were also missionaries, members, and people from the Palermo II area so basically it was a combined ward activity. That was fun, they had ping pong, fuse ball, musical chairs, karaoke, and another game gaga ball. You tie a bunch of tables together so they won't move and then you stand inside the circle and hit the ball with your hand and whoever gets hit from the waist down is out.  And the object is to try and stay in as long as you can. My companion and I made chocolate chip pumpkin cake for that and everyone loved it so that was a good idea.  It turned out really yummy.
Friday, we had a meal appointment and ate soooo much food. The first weekend in November was "festa" and so a lot of people were at their houses and they make a lot of food. We went over to a member's house for a meal appointment and we had pasta forno, which is like pasta in rings and they put some different meats in it and sauce and this one had eggplant in it as well. It was super yummy. We had a big plate of that and then after that they went and cooked sausage for us and then we also had some bread. After that we had salad, tuna rolls, and they also brought out pastries. I was super, super full after that meal appointment. But it was really good. We taught them the ward mission plan, what it means to be a shepherd, and how in callings (because some of them are ward missionaries) that they have a responsibility to look after the sheep that they are put in charge of.  After that we did a scambio, so Sorella Johnson went to Palermo II and I stayed here in Palermo I. That night Sorella Stutts and I did some finding and contacting. Then Saturday we woke up, did studies and some more finding and contacting. Then we met at 4:30 and Sorella Johnson and I bought some stuff that we're suppose to have for the weekend to prepare for Zone Conference. Saturday night we had a "gesso", that's were we go down to the busiest part of town and try to hand out flyers for a comedy/play thing we are putting on next Thursday.
Sunday was Stake Conference, all of the Missionaries were together because it was also Zone Conference interviews. After Conference we had interviews and I was able to talk with my Mission President and his wife. It was just what I needed because the week was a little bit hard and so it was really good to have them as parent figures and to talk with them and be encouraged. I was just having a bit of a rough time and putting myself down a little bit. The Mission President told me that he sees a lot of potential in me and that one day I'm going to be grateful for all of the hard experiences that I have had on my mission. I really appreciated that and know it to be true. They are amazing! They have so much love and they are just what this Mission needs right now.
Monday we had Zone Conference. We got up and went to the church in Palermo II and started Zone Conference. I did my "birth testimony" or my first testimony at a Zone Conference and it went pretty well. I was told I did a really good job but I knew I could have done better. I also had to travel to go get my premesso so Sorella Johnson came with me. It was frustrating though because the workers wanted to go home since it was still the three days of "festa" and so we got rescheduled to come back on the 19th of November. So, I missed the rest of my first Zone Conference for nothing. But it's okay.
Tuesday was our P-day and we went bowling together as a District and then went and had lunch together. We went to a store with hundreds of ties and then went to the church and played fuse ball together, it was a lot of fun.
I studied a lot about conversion this week and why it is so important.  Conversion includes a change in behavior, but it goes beyond behavior; it is a change in our very nature. In Mosiah 27:25-26 it reads:
"And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his son and daughters;
And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God."
Conversion is a process, not an event. Conversion comes as a result of righteousness and our efforts to follow the Savior. Conversion is a quiet miracle. Angelic visitations and other spectacular occurrences do not bring conversion. It's changing one's beliefs, heart & life to accept God's will. Complete conversion comes after many trials and much testing. Conversion includes a conscious decision to give up one's former ways and change to become a disciple of Christ.
To testify is to know and to declare; to be converted is to do and to become.
Charity, the pure love of Christ, is not an act but a condition or state of being. Charity is attained through a succession of acts that result in a conversion. Charity is something one becomes.
I think it is important to ask ourselves from time to time how converted are we.

I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Sorella Acton

 Roasted Chestnuts with my comp, 

Sorella Johnson. They are so yummy!

Trying to eat healthy and be

kind to our tummies

Halloween Pasta

Halloween French Fries

Ready for the combined ward Halloween "festa"

Week 4 in Palermo

Monday October 28, 2019

This week was a little crazy, things did not go as we had planned them. Actually, nothing really went as planned. I noticed that the Lord works in so many crazy, wonderful ways and I love seeing His hand in my life everyday. And I love reading the Book of Mormon everyday and learning more about the Gospel. I love feeling the spirit and of the love God has for His children. I felt like this week I needed to work harder and be more diligent and I want to reach the potential that God has for me. I have worked so hard to be here and I want to work hard while I am here.

Tuesday not very much happened. We had English course, which is always fun.

Wednesday was a crazy day. We got up and had studies and then went to go meet somebody we had found during "casa a casa" but she was not there unfortunately. So we changed our plans and we went to gardin d'iglese with the Anziani (Elders) and did some finding for about an hour. We stopped and talked to two women and we had really good conversations with both of them. They were very sweet and cute and they were interested. We got the number for one of them and the other one we just gave her our card because she was trying to get back to work.  After that we went and had a little quick gelato stop, because you just have to do that sometimes. Afterwards, on our way walking home we ran into two members of the church, they were going to get ingredients for lunch and they invited us over. We were trying to go off gluten this week to see how our tummies would feel, but you can't tell an Italian "no" when they are inviting you over for lunch, no matter how hard you try. So we went over there and had carbonara and we were there for a while just trying to show them our love and meet their needs. Later that night we had to go back home because a guy was coming to fix our toilet seat and after that we went and did a little bit of finding.
Thursday we had what I call a sit and serve day. We got up in the morning and we went to go do service at Casa de Mina, which is a special needs home. We went there for two hours and sat with them and did crafts and went around and introduced ourselves. We just got to know them and loved them and made them feel special. That was really fun. I really enjoyed that because they can't speak the language very clearly for us to understand and I can't speak so it was a really good opportunity to be able to just show love and not worry about having to speak. It was an awesome experience! They were just the cutest and so precious. They drew some pictures and told us they wanted us to have them, so we took them home. On our way home we went to go top by the lady from Wednesday that we weren't able to meet with. We went to her bar and she was there, so we started to have a little lesson with her. Then her husband, daughter, and grandson came in and we started talking with them as well. They invited us to stay for pranzo and we tried to say "no, no, no, it's okay we will just go home" but again you can't say "no", you can't get out of eating with an Italian. So, we stayed there for pranzo and they made us pasta with lentils, which was actually really yummy. We were there for a while. Then after that we had to go to correlation to talk about the missionary work and then we headed home to do some studies and then went to English course. That night there was a big thunderstorm which was super awesome, probably the loudest thunder and lightning storm that I have been in. That was really fun.  Today I realized that I have still a lot to improve on, especially my attitude. I need to be more patient and diligent and not get discouraged and let that affect my whole mood.
Friday we did weekly planning and then we went and got blessings from the Zone Leaders. My companion needed a blessing of health and I needed one for comfort. It was really amazing to be able to utilize the priesthood in our lives and be able to get a blessing from them. We were then going to go catch a tram to get to an appointment and it started raining super hard so we got caught in the rain. Right as we were getting to the tram Sorella Johnson, my companion, pushed the button to open the door and the tram took off, we missed it. That night we were going to go do exchanges, which meant we didn't have time to catch another tram to get to our appointment so we just did some contacting. Then we went to the train station and we switched, my companion went to the Palermo II district and one of the Palermo II Sorelle came here to be with me. That means Saturday I got to run the area since I know the way around which I was really excited about.
Saturday was the scambio, or exchanges, and we did a lot of finding. It didn't go as planned but we did our best. We went out and "heart attacked" Giovanna's door that we had pranzo with on Thursday and she really appreciated that. We had made cookies to send with her as well. That night we had a mostra, that is when we go down to main center of town and all the missionaries in the Palermo area get together and do some finding.  We had a sheet with a bucket on it, filled with Books of Mormon, pamphlets, and candy.  If the people would stop and read a scripture with us then we would give them some candy. That went pretty well, we had a couple people that stopped and talked with us. We did a lot of finding that night.  Today was a blessing because I was able to lead the area. It was a blessing for me because I was able to do something that I was good at and feel useful.  It's been hard to feel a little bit useless since I can't speak the language, so it was really nice to have the opportunity to be able to run the area.
Sunday we went to church and my companion gave a talk. We were both feeling sick so we had a little bit of a slower day. We made some good plans for the upcoming week to try and make it so we feel better.
A couple things that I wanted to share this week were some things that I studied. I studied a conference talk by Ulisses Soares this week which is entitled "Take Up Our Cross" and really liked the following ideas:
Taking upon yourselves your crosses and following the Savior means continuing with faith on the Lord's path and not indulging in worldly habits. The Savior's gift of grace is not necessarily limited to after all we can do. We may receive His grace before, during and after the time when we expound our own efforts.
I really liked this talk because it talked about how because we are human we are going to have those worldly desires but to take up our cross is to realize that we love the Savior and that we want to follow Him. So we take up those crosses and follow the Lord instead of giving into our worldly desires. I really, really liked that talk.
I also read a talk by the prophet, Russell M. Nelson and he said; "Individual worthiness requires a total conversion of mind and heart to be more like the Lord." I liked that quote a lot.
Some scriptures that I liked as I was studying this week were:
3 Nephi 9:13 ". . .will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?"  As I read this scripture, a thought popped into my mind; "How often do I turn to the Savior and let Him heal me?" And then as it continues in verse 14 . . ."behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive. . ." I really liked this scripture as well because it's saying His arm of mercy is extended towards us and whosever will come, no matter who you are or what things in your life might have happened, he will receive us. And He's waiting, His arms are open wide ready to receive us. And another popped into my head that "sometimes we feel like we've gone too far, past the reach of our Savior or that we don't qualify for His Atonement or for His love. But I realized this week that by going to the Lord and using His Atonement and letting Him heal us is showing Him our love for Him. Because He atoned for our sins, he atoned for all of our mistakes, all of our sadnesses and pains and afflictions; He suffered for all of them. Everyone, individually for us, so as we go to Him and utilize His Atonement we are showing our gratitude towards Him for suffering for us. I really loved that because I am so grateful for my Savior and all that He has done in my life.
Love,
Sorella Acton

 "Heart Attacking" Giovanna's Door

P-day in Monreale

A beautiful cathedral that we visited

It was finally cold enough for Hot Cocoa

(their cocoa is thick almost like pudding)

Week 3: A Week of Miracles

Monday October 21, 2019

***This might be a bit long, but stick with me there is really good stuff towards the end!!***

Monday after Pday was over we went to a lesson and taught about the Restoration. I was actually able to contribute to the lesson in Italian. I recited the First Vision and I felt the spirit so strong as I was reciting it and as I testified of Joseph Smith. It was the first time that I have ever felt the spirit that strong while talking about the First Vision. I don't know if it was for me or for the lady we were teaching, but I loved the feeling that I had and it was exactly what I needed in the moment and I hope it was what she needed as well. I know that it was a blessing from the Lord. After that we started our scambio, which is exchanges, I was with a different Sorella from an area about 2 hours away.  We went to do some finding and some contacting and we found a couple people on the street and handed out English Course cards. We were also able to get in contact with a less active and ask him to come to church and he said he would come.
Tuesday was the last part of our scambio, and we decided that we wanted to go to Monreale, which is literally the prettiest place I have ever seen in Italy so far. We went and had a talk with a girl named Kav, who is from Pakistan, that the Anziane (Elders) are teaching. We were going to share the Book of Mormon video with her and talk about the Book of Mormon but when she showed up she had a lot of things she wanted to talk about. She is alone here without her family or any friends and she doesn't speak much Italian so it has been a really hard time for her to be here. So, we just talked with her and she opened up so much and told us about all these experiences that she has had in her life and how her faith has grown and been tested. She really opened up to us which we were shocked about since it was the first time we had ever met with her. We were just trying so hard to let her feel of our love. Afterwards, she called and asked to talk to me. She asked me not to tell anyone else because she has never told anyone that stuff and she didn't know why she had opened up so much to us. She said it has been something that she has pushed down for a lot of her life and she's not really sure why she shared it.  I just told her that as Missionaries we are called of God and we are given the ability to get a glimpse of the love that He has. I told her that we love her so much and that her Savior loves her so very much.  I felt very blessed to have that experience with her; to feel that love for her and to get a glimpse of the love that Heavenly Father has for her as well. Once we ended the scambio, Sorella Johnson and I had another lesson where we taught the Restoration again. Then we came home and did some studies and then had English Course, which is always super fun. On our way out of English Course I was just being silly and I smacked my elbow on the side of a door frame and I cut it open and it started bleeding. So that's how our day ended, lol.  Other than that, I felt very blessed for my experiences that day.
Wednesday morning, we had District Council. We talked about how we could feel the Spirit and how important personal revelation is. It made me think about how last week I was really down on myself, but how I needed to look more at the blessings in my life. Then I started to think about how I had to come home from the Mission and how actually, as I look back on it, even though it was super hard I'm grateful for the time that I had home. Because my mental state of being now is so much better than it was before. I know that now the Spirit can be with me a lot more and he can work through me, so I'm grateful for that time I had to change. We then had two good lessons and I realized that finding little things each day to be happy about is helping me a lot.
Thursday we had to go to the questura again to see if we could change my fingerprint appointment and on our way back we met the sweetest lady, she's from Romania. She has worked here for four years and speaks a little bit of Italian. She told us that she has never really been interested in religion or any other churches that try to meet with her, but our church is the only one she has ever been curious about.  So, we brought her a Book of Mormon in Romanian and we shared with her the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it could bless her life. As we were at that lesson and then again as we were leaving, she kept telling my companion, Sorella Johnson, "Wow, your companion looks so pure and innocent; so gentle. She just smiles and is so intent to the conversation even when she can't understand and she just looks so pure."  That was really sweet and it meant a lot to me. After that we met with a less active member in the evening and she shared her conversion story with us and told us that even when we get discouraged to not give up and to just keep going. Because even if we don't see the fruits of our labors right now, the things that we are teaching people are going to help them in their life eventually. Just maybe right now it's not the right timing and maybe they need to wait in their life until something hard happens and they're going to reflect back on the lessons that we taught them and it's going to help them. So, to not become discouraged because that's what happened with her. Then as we were leaving from that lesson, she also told my companion that I just looked so sweet and pure. That was the second time that was said in the span of about four hours. It really got me thinking. Inside, when my companion told me that those things were said of me, I was thinking pshh. . .I don't know why they would even think that.  I'm definitely not innocent and I've had a rough past, but then I had the thought "Wow! The Atonement is so amazing and it is so real. No matter how broken or unclean we are; Christ can heal us and make us white as snow. And even though I can't speak the language, the people can see the light of Christ in me and that's enough. Because of Christ, because of the Atonement, I can be made pure." That really just strengthened my testimony a lot more and it was another answer to my prayers because these people were able to see my love and my light even though I couldn't say much. I think this Gospel is so wonderful and I am so grateful for the little things every single day.
Friday was a day of weekly planning and studies. We were in the house for a while getting those things done. After that we had a lesson and then we did some contacting on our way back home. Today, I was really striving to work on patience. Not being able to be independent and speak the language is really hard but I know that right now is a time for me to be refined and molded so I can reach the potential that Heavenly Father has for me, so I need to be patient.  I am so grateful for the time that I have to do personal study. I have been studying a lot of conference talks and reading scriptures. I love how no matter where I turn during personal study, it always has a part that answers my questions or strengthens my testimony for that day.
Saturday morning we had a senior couple come over and do house checks and they brought us some stuff from the Military Base that we've missed from America. Since I'm so new to Italy, I didn't know what I've been missing so I just got some cinnamon Life cereal. Then we went to a lesson with a woman from Nigeria who is just so incredible and so cute.  In this lesson she was telling us that she loves church and she wants to come to church but she has work and she's made a commitment to this elderly lady that's really sick, that she will be there to take care of her.  She's made a promise to her that she won't leave her.  She knows it's bad that she's not coming to church but she's made this commitment to this lady. I just felt that I needed to share my feelings with her on that. I told her that Heavenly Father understands and that the greatest thing we are on this earth to learn is how to become like Christ. When He was on the earth, during His earthly ministry, He attended to the sick and the afflicted and that's what she was doing. I told her that Heavenly Father was proud of her and that He loved her for serving one of His children. For the first time ever, I felt so much immense love for someone I barely knew. I experienced how it feels to feel the love that God has for them through me and through the things that I was saying to them. I was overwhelmed with emotion and almost started crying. That was a really neat experience. Later that day we went to a member's house and made a lot of baked goods with her and shared a spiritual thought with her. Then we did some finding. I just realized that sometimes, all the time actually, finding can be difficult and a lot of times when you first start finding the first handful of people you talk to are really, really hard. But as you keep pushing through and keep going, that's when you start to see the miracles. It's kind of like God seeing how willing you are and how diligent you're going to be and then that's when he puts those people in your path that are ready to hear His word.
Sunday was a really good day. We went to church and let me just tell you, Sunday walks to church are so beautiful. The streets are so empty and so peaceful and everything just seems so calm. I LOVE walking to church on a Sunday morning. Church was great, I sat next to one of our English Course students who is not a member. After church we were talking with a couple of the Italian members and one of the guys asked me, "Did you dance when you were younger?" I told him I did, actually. Then he said "Wow, I can tell by the way that you stand and you move." That was kinda cool and then we just kept talking and he also said, "You seem a little Italian, do you have ancestors that are Italian?" I said "Oh my gosh, wow, ya I do actually and they are actually from here in Palermo." That was really neat. I have had three people now tell me that I seem or look a little Italian. I have no idea how, I don't see it at all, but somehow they see that. Then we came home, had pranzo, and did studies. Afterwards, we went to a family's house to teach the Restoration and this family is soo wild, the kids are insane. They just scream and laugh and run around all the time and it's really hard to get through a lesson. This time we felt that we should share a video with them; the movie of the Restoration that is 19 minutes long. We had the parents sit and watch it on the phone while we kept the kids quiet, drawing pictures with them. It was a really spiritual experience, that we were able to calm the kids down enough to where the mother of the home could feel of the Spirit. We could tell that she was feeling the Spirit as she was watching the Restoration video. Afterwards we were going to go do some finding in the area but the husband of the family kept insisting that he drive us to the tram station. We kept trying to say "No, No it's fine. We can just walk."  But he was insisting on taking us. We wanted them to feel appreciated so even though it wasn't in our plans, we decided to just go ahead and let him drive us to the station. We got on the tram and went back to our area.  Once we got back to our area, Sorella Johnson prayed that we would have some successful finding for this last hour before we needed to be home. And that we would be lead.  After we prayed she had me close my eyes and picture a door in my head. She asked me what the size was, what the color was, what the handles looked like. In my mind, I pictured a big brown door with big brass round doorknobs on it. So we just started walking down a street and once we saw a door that fit that description we were going to knock on it. We were just trying to find something to make finding fun. We found the door that looked like the one I had pictured and so we went up to it and we buzzed a couple people and they weren't interested. We almost left that door because we had already been turned down twice and there were people going in and out of the door so it was a bit awkward. But we decided to stay and buzz one more person. We told them that we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ and that we were here to share a message about Jesus Christ and how the Gospel has been restored to the earth in our day.  And they actually listened!!  We taught them a quick principle of the restoration through the intercom down by the door. And then we asked if we could return.  They said that right now they were needing a boost of faith in their life and they were willing to listen to anything about Jesus Christ, so we set a date to come back on Wednesday.  As we were walking away I had goosebumps through my whole body, even though it was hot outside I had so many goosebumps. Because we literally just had experienced a miracle. If anything had been different, if the husband hadn't insisted on driving us to the tram station instead of finding in his area or if we had left that door because it was awkward with people walking in and out, we wouldn't have found them. That miracle was amazing! We just realized that once you put your trust and your faith in God, He really can bring about miracles.
This week was really amazing!  I am so grateful for the Savior; for Him realizing what I need in my life and placing things in this week to strengthen my testimony and to help me feel His love and His concern for me. I know that as we put our faith and our trust in Him that He can make anything possible. He loves us so much and we wants us to be happy. But we have to work hard and we have to put our faith and our trust in Him.  I want to share something from conference that I really liked. It was from the Sunday afternoon session from President Eyring's talk. It says;
"Greater holiness will not come simply by asking for it. It will come by doing what is needed for God to change us.
President Russell M. Nelson has given what seems to me the best counsel of how to move along the covenant path to greater holiness. He pointed the way when he urged:
'Experience the strengthening power of daily repentance-of doing and being a little better each day. When we choose to repent, we choose to change! We allow the Savior to transform us into the best version of ourselves. We choose to grow spiritually and receive joy-the joy of redemption in Him. When we choose to repent, we choose to become more like Jesus Christ!'
President Nelson went on to give us this encouragement in our efforts to become holier:
'The Lord does not expect perfection from us at this point. . . But He does expect us to become increasingly pure. Daily repentance is the pathway to purity.'"
I loved that because as we become more pure and gain greater holiness we really do find more happiness. That is my goal for this week is to find ways to become increasingly pure and gain greater holiness.

Ciao, Ciao, Ciao

Sorella Acton

Blessings from the American Military Base

A Beautiful Cathedral in Palermo

A crazy kid, we teach his family

Ficchi D'India (cactus fruit)

First Briosce

Fountain in Palermo

My Desk

New shoes that I bought, haha

When we walked through a really dark

park and were super scared!!

Week 2 in Palermo

Monday, October 14, 2019

Fun fact that I learned this week is that people here have wolves as pets; like a dog but it's a wolf. So that's different. It's kind of cool but it's scary because it is a wolf and they like eat people.

Tuesday we got up and went to the post office to start my permesso process. Then we went over and had a lesson where we shared the Book of Mormon video and talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon. After that we had District Council and to prepare for District Council we read a talk called "Return and Receive" by Elder Ballard. It was a super good talk; I recommend reading it. It talked about goals; how to make goals and the importance of goals.  Goals are the broad thing you want to have happen or accomplish and then the plans are the ways you are going to make that happen. After District Council we had some studies and another lesson.
Wednesday we got up and went to ask if we could change the date to get my fingerprint appointment for my permesso because it was on the same date as Zone Conference. But I wasn't in the system yet so were weren't able to change it. Afterwards we came back to the apartment and had studies and pranzo and then we went and did some finding.  We also went and tried to visit some less active members. That night we went and had a lesson with Anase. (We were going to be on exchanges with some Sorelle from another district but one of the girls was feeling sick so we didn't end up having exchanges.) We had a really good lesson about sacrifice and tithing with her.  We put her on date for baptism and she said that if her son agreed to go to the baptism, then she would be baptized. We went and prayed super hard that, if it was the Lord's will, her son would say "yes" and that she would be baptized.
Thursday we had ward correlation and we went and talked about the people that we are teaching and who we are working with.  Then we went to go and visit some members who are less active but they had moved so we just did some finding.
Friday we got up and went to do some finding with Sorella Cara, who is a lady in the ward. She is amazing! She is very bold with her finding and her testimony of the Book of Mormon. That day I was feeling really down on myself; finding is really hard for me. We're in parks and on the street and I get really nervous to go up and talk to people. And so I was really nervous to do that and the language barrier was really affecting me that day.  I want to talk to the people so bad but I can't because I don't know the language yet. It was making me really sad. I just broke down and was feeling really inadequate to be a missionary.  I don't know the language, I don't know how to understand, I don't know how to teach. I was just feeling really inadequate and unprepared. I cried for two hours, straight. My companion had me read from "adjusting to missionary life" and my patriarchal blessing but nothing was really helping. I went to lay down and as I laid down, I was in my room by myself in the dark. I just laid there not being able to sleep because of a headache from crying. I was just praying; Heavenly Father please comfort me and please forgive me for my weaknesses.  I knew that anything is possible through Him and that He knows everything that we go through and every pain that we have. I prayed really hard to have His comfort. After half an hour I went out to eat lunch and I was feeling better. I was really relying on the Lord to help me through the rest of the day. Then we went out and did a couple lessons and then we had the Ward party. At the ward party there was a big dinner and Sorella Cara is the one that cooked dinner for us. This is the most I food I have ever eaten in my entire life, all at one time. First this guy came around and gave us pizza, so I ate a slice of pizza and then Sorella Cara put on a full plate of pasta; which was with red sauce and sausage. Then when we were done eating that she put on another plate of a different kind of pasta, which had eggplant and zucchini in it. Then when we were done with that she gave us potatoes and chicken. And then after that another ward member came up and gave us some more potatoes and chicken; that was more of a curry looking dish. So we ate that. And then after that Sorella Cara's husband offered us some melon, they always eat fruit after their meals here, and so we ate that as well.  I have NEVER ate that much food before, I thought I was going to die! But we made it. Then there was a group of women that performed for us on drums and an accordion and one of the ladies sang.
Saturday we did weekly planning, did some finding and had a few lessons. I wasn't feeling good that day but I tried my best to put on a good face and work as hard as I could.
Sunday was Fast Sunday and it was much needed. I was able to bear my testimony in Sacrament meeting.  I was praying that I would be able to remember all the things that I wanted to say in my testimony and. . .  I was able to.  I feel like it went pretty well. Then we went and had some more lessons after church.  The language is still super hard for me; I still can't understand much at all and I can barely speak. But I just decided that I'm going to have a good attitude and that it's important that I learn the language of love before I master the Italian language. People can really feel when you love them and when you are genuine so even though there is a language barrier, I can still be a good missionary if I work hard and show my love for the people.
Today was P-day and we played soccer. It was super hot and humid but it was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went and ate as a Zone at a hamburger place.  Tonight we are going to do exchanges.

I know that Christ can strengthen us through anything.  He really loves us and He knows our talents and our gifts; we just need to trust Him and put our faith in Him and we can accomplish anything. I am so grateful to be here on the mission and be able to share the Gospel to these people in Palermo, Sicily. I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Ciao, Ciao, Ciao!

First Arancine; only made in Sicilia

First Canoli in Sicily

I had to pee in an alley by this Catholic Church

Study time-we get so distracted some times

Pasta at the Ward Party

Other Food Dishes at the Ward Party

Ward Party

Performance at the Ward Party

Ran home after the Ward Party