A Muggle In Milan: Chapter 27: This Isn't Burger King (and other wise words from an apostle)

Ciao loved ones💌

It was another week of awesome adventures and miracles (The most of which was the HOLLAND CONFERENCE, the least of which being that I stopped the small kitchen fire from turning into an actual fire... lol I promise i can somewhat "adult" properly haha😅)

Thursday was amazing! We had an appointment scheduled with Rocio Gonzalez, a less active, and the only member in her family. But we showed up and she was like "yeah, I want you guys to start teaching my 11 year old, and my husband says that if she can give him a good reason, he's cool with her being baptized." Ummmm ok! We started slow, wanting her to understand what we were teaching, but she seriously just got it! I mean, we were talking about the apostasy and she was like "well, I guess they just have to wait until God calls a new prophet." Um, yes!😳👏🏼 And then as we were talking about Joseph Smith, and how he was confused by the other churches, because they were all good, but he wanted to find the true one, she was like "oh, because none of them had the Priesthood, right?" Holy frick this girl knows more than most adults!! This kind of stuff just kept happening throughout the whole lesson! After recounting the story of the First Vision, we stopped and asked her how she was feeling, and then identified those feelings as being the Spirit. At the end, she said the prayer and thanked God for helping her to understand the truth, and asked Him to let her see us again so she can feel the spirit at least one more time. I just about died💔 this girl is so adorable I want to just die! Her mom was super happy about how it went, so we're now essentially part of the family😂 we've now received multiple invites to swim meets, birthday parties, and soccer games haha I just love them!!

Friday, we got another new investigator! So a couple members from the American ward have been taking cooking lessons from this 50 year old Italian named Francesca. Well, Sister Leveille has become very close with her. She talked with Francesca about the gospel and gave her a Book of Mormon, and Francesca wanted to know more! So we went over for dinner with her, the Leveilles, and the Bushmans (Brother Bushman served in Italy, so he pitched in on the lesson). TBH it was one of the craziest lessons I'd ever taught, because there were so many people and languages ha but it was truly amazing! The spirit was so strong and everyone was crying. Idk, as missionaries, we are always told that there are some people who the Lord has prepared to receive the gospel, and I've truly never met anyone more prepared than Francesca. Honestly, I think she already knows it's true. Now it's just going through the rest of the lessons with her❤️

Saturday was about fifty shades less exciting than than the previous two days of new investigators and amazing lessons, but it was still a blast🎉 Aaaalll our appointments either cancelled on us or didn't show up, so we did a few solid "pass by"s and called it a day.

SUNDAY was way too exciting and amazing so I just gotta save that for last #sorrynotsorry✌🏼️

Monday, we had an appointment with Maria! She's progressing so well! She's praying and reading the Book of Mormon! So right now, our main goal for her is to start coming to church. She's understanding the lessons and whatnot really well, and she's committed to be baptized after we've taught everything!

Tuesday, we had district meeting, and then went out to do some finding. Lol, it's always a funny experience... didn't find many interested people, but we partied in the rain ☔️ and explored our city a bit whilst sharing the gospel, so it doesn't really get much better than that! Then that night, we had English class. And I'm realizing now, I'm equally bad at both English and Italian, haha fun times fun times😬

Today for P day, we decided to just kind of have a chill day for a few reasons. 1) The senior couple was doing apartment inspections 2) my poor comp is very accustomed to Sicilian weather, so the weather dropping from literal hades to about 65 degrees Fahrenheit made her sick 😷 3) its really not fair for y'all if I send home pictures of fantastic Italian adventures EVERY week, right? Ha comunque, today was a napping, pizza ordering day.

Yes, the pizza man does know our names and address by memory.

No, I don't sit at the door waiting (rather like an obsessed girlfriend) for said pizza man to show up.

Oh wait, yes I do. And sometimes I sing depressing romance songs whilst waiting just for kicks and giggles.

My poor comp, lol.

Ok, now for the highlight of this already-awesome week: SUNDAY! It was the Holland conference! Things we're said. Notes were written. Friends were seen. Tears were shed. And there was much rejoicing for the missionaries of Milan. Here are a few highlights!

I got to take a train to Milano! Gosh dang it I love trains.

Saw my AMAZING MTC group again #sorellanza and I legit almost cried. Gosh, those girls are my family. And yay cuz we're not greenies anymore!💁🏼

I GOT TO SEE MAMMA SMITH which is extremely happy, especially since idk if I'll get to see her again before I come home! We got to sit together for the conference and talk and hug and bond and it was just precious❤️❤️❤️

I got to see my mission dad too! Well, both of them lol (long story), Yee and England🤗

I saw aaaalllll my precious missionaries! McHardy and Arndt and Lau and Wilson and Rogers and McIver and Sanchez and literally every missionary and it was seriously just toooooo goooood.

I shook Elder Holland's hand!

And hugged his wife!

"We see manna every day in this mission!" -Sister Allen

"Seeing you all here is like a little slice of the celestial kingdom!" -Sister Allen

"Dear, you're gonna make your mascara look funny..." -President Allen as he hugged an emotional Sister Allen. Holy frick these two are too cute😂❤️

"The Atonement is certainly beyond my comprehension, but a Son heard His Father, and then He endured to the end." -President Allen

"Translate that into Italian!" -President Allen, sassing the translators

"It's a marvelous thing you do- in fact, its a miracle to do what you do!" -President Allen

"President Allen will probably argue with me, but we'll duke it out in the parking lot."-Elder Holland

"The most important thing you can do in this world is to participate in the salvation of the human soul!"-Elder Holland

"If you can't muster it for this, you can't do it for ANYTHING!"-Elder Holland

"The good days, the bad days- it doesn't matter! They're all the Lord's days!"-Elder Holland

"The offer is: do you want to do this, or don't you? And if you don't, you can leave. But if you stay, you stay to the end!"-Elder Holland

"Don't do it your way- this isn't Burger King!"-Elder Holland

"For this one moment, you get to be what I am. You get to be apostolic."-Elder Holland

"The STUPIDIST answer that has ever been given in the history of the gospel. In time or eternity, there is no dumber answer a person could give, than verse 4". -Elder Holland, and his angst towards Nicodemus

"All you've got are spirit-driven, love-filled words." -Elder Holland

"Christ died of a broken heart, and He died bearing the sins of the world, and He died feeling the contrition of everybody's sin and sorrows since Adam and Eve. Well, you're invited to feel a little of that." -Elder Holland

"Well, if you're disciples of Christ, you'd better be prepared to walk where He walked, and feel what He felt, and shed some of the tears that He shed." -Elder Holland

Ah, what a fun and spiritual day! I was beyond excited to see all my mission friends, and hearing from Elder Holland and the Allens was amazing!! That morning, I had written down a couple of questions to think about throughout the conference, and literally every one was directly answered! Isn't that great that God answers our prayers, many times, through other people🤗

Have the best week ever, you lovely humans🎈

xoxo

Smeds💌