Chapter 50:" I Was Having 12% of a Moment"

We're at week 50... oh gosh... whale, this week's title comes from a really in-depth convo I had with Anziano Wilkinson on the way back home from zone conference yesterday about The Avengers and all things Marvel. I only miss it a little bit😅 ah that reminds me, I haven't said much about our Anziani this transfer! They're the zone leaders for our zone and they're totally awesome. We've got Anziano Wilkinson who served with my dear trainer Sorella Smith (and he's technically my uncle in the mission?), and then Anziano Farneman from my bottlebreaker Sorella McHardy's group. So yep, that's them, good old Farn-man and Uncle Willy lol. Also, they have a car and take pity on us sometimes so we don't have to walk home through sketchy areas at night. And they occasionally make us brownies. Or buy us medicine. They're pretty great.

Anyways, we are taking a chill Pday today 1) because we've been so busy and we're just tired 2) we're semi sick from literally running through the rain to catch buses and trains... but there is literally so much goin on in Muggiò rn that we can't afford to be sick 😷 soooo lazy day happened! As for this past week, miracles happened!😛

Thursday was pretty stellar! We headed out to have a lesson with Sandra, an old investigator from a year or so ago. Well, like always, we got kind of lost taking the buses and trains haha. But we've come to the conclusion that maybe God has come to terms with the fact that we're kind of stupid and has decided to just use it to His advantage, because we got to meet Miriam. So while waiting at the millionth bus stop, we started talking with these two people, Luca and Miriam. Miriam is this cute little South American woman, and Sorella Orr and I both felt immediately drawn to her. Luca is these creepy guy... and that's it. Well, we board the bus and Orr takes one for the team and starts talking to Luca so I can talk with Miriam without interruptions from creepy guy😂 it went so awesome! And as we went to get off the bus, we exchanged phone numbers and are meeting later this week! Also, Luca offered to buy us pizza someday. He's still creepy, but I appreciate the pizza offer. Also, we found an Avengers wall, and took pictures by it. A couple driving past started laughing at us... gotta love that... Back to the interaction with Miriam and Luca, I'm so grateful to be so mentally synced with my comp! Makes the work easier! Also, very convenient when you're waiting at a bus stop and low-key wanna go into the Sicilian shop and get arancini and cannoli... and you don't even need to discuss it, it just happens😂😋 then we had interviews with President and an appointment with the Huapaya family❤

Friday was beyond awesome! Well, it started off with some pretty sad emotional stuff, but we just threw ourselves into the work and were seriously blessed for it. After completing weekly planning, we went to an appointment with the Alvarado family. They work constantly, so it's hard to meet with them and even harder for them to make it to church. We had a great appointment with them though! We talked about the restoration and they seriously bore such beautiful testimonies of this true gospel! And Fratello Alvarado was able to make it to church this week, so it was just awesome🎉 Then that night, we had an appointment with the Cabezas! I absolutely adore them! Better yet, their daughter Carly was there, plus her two daughters Valeria (age 10) and Adriana (9 months). They aren't members, but stayed for the lesson. Guys, it was seriously so awesome! I've never felt so comfortable with a group of people so fast! We were laughing and crying and it was seriously just perfect! At the end of the lesson, I felt prompted to ask Valeria if she'd like to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and she said yes! Carly was like "that'd be perfect! Maybe you can be a 'sorella' one day, Valeria!"😂❤❤ we have an appointment with them tomorrow, and I'm just so stoked for this family! They are so prepared for this gospel! 

Saturday we met with the Mascambroni fam, a young couple from Argentina, and Fratello Mascambroni's non-member sister. Slight bummer, because the sister has zero interest whatsoever in the church, but we had a good lesson anyways! Plus an awesome Argentinian meal and just a fun time🤗 Then that evening, we helped the Anziani with the baptism for their investigator Paul. Paul is my favorite lololol, and he was sooooo stoked to be baptized!

Sunday was awesome! I seriously just love spending time with our ward! Carly had work and couldn't come to church, but Valeria came to church with her grandparents! We were also stoked because our investigator Alfredo came as well! Background on him- he was found by Orr and Anderson and they had one lesson with him. We had decided to call him up and see if he was free to meet this week, and on a whim brought up that we had church. He readily agreed to coming for all three hours and then doing a lil lesson afterwards. Sure enough, he was at church for all three hours! Afterwards we discussed his questions and what things he liked. He told us, "I'm gonna reflect on these things over the week and if the thoughts and feelings stick with me, I'll be back next Sunday."😳 um, alright, that's perfect!

Monday we passed by Sorella Rea, a less active with a ton of health problems. And also a dog🐶 Anyways, we've started reading the Book of Mormon with her, because she has a hard time coming to church and reading on her own. Totally love her and love that we get to help her in this way! That night, we had an appt with our investigators Juana and Claudio and their kids Victoria and John P. I love them so much. They seriously are absolutely ready for baptism- we just have to overcome a few word of wisdom struggles with Juana. We had an awesome Brazilian meal together and a stellar lesson, so it was all in all an awesome night! Besides having to literally sprint through the rain to not miss our train home...⛈ ah whale. Mission adventures are fun.

Yesterday was Zone Conference!! It was sooooo fun seeing Presidente, the APs, and all the other missionaries! Got to see 2/3 of my mission kids, Sorella Richards and Anziano Jones! Plus my buds Anziano Rogers and Anziano McIver, Sorella Anderson and Sorella Williams, and Anziano Thompson who was in a trio with Sorella Fife and I when we went to the Duomo on our first day! Our mission has the coolest missionaries, just saying. Anyways, we had some awesome trainings and it was just a great conference! I really liked something Presidente Allen shared about true missionary work. He said: 

Conversion is the aim

Love is the motive.

Doctrine is the key.

The spirit is the teacher.

We learn and teach to gain salvation.

There was also a quote shared that I really love. I'd heard it first from Sorella Richards during our first transfer together, and then again yesterday at zone conference.

Our Deepest Fear

Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness

That mist frightens us.

We ask ourselves,

Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking

So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,

As children do.

We were born to make manifest 

The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;

It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we're liberated from our own fear,

Our presence automatically liberates others.

Have a killer, fearless week🎈

XOXO

Sorella Smedley 

1&2- Avengers wall!! 3-Huapaya and Cabezas 4-love these little ones! 5-Paul’s Baptism

6&7- John P  8-19 Zone Conference

  

   

  

     

Chapter 49: The DUFF: Starring S'morr

This week's title comes as a result of two things from this week:

1- We realized the other day that the comp name for Smedley and Orr is obviously s'morr (like 's'more', but with more 'Orr' lol) which is pretty dope 

2- It's Fashion Week. Today in centro Milano, there were models and photographers everywhere. Yep, I'm living in the fashion capitol of the world, during fashion week... aaaaand I look like I'm Amish. Lolololol jokes. Although Orr and I couldn't help muttering "We. Are. Potatoes. We are the DUFFs" as we shopped through Milano lol. Got to meet up with the Lampugnano sorelle for lunch though, meaning I got a few hours with my perfect greenie Sorella Richards❤❤❤❤ We were pretty content. Aside from fashion week, we had a lot of other crazy adventures!

Last Thursday we finished up in Cimiano. I had such a blast doing exchanges with Sorella Anderson, reliving the MTC days! Then we headed back to Muggiò for an appointment with the Huapayas, an adorable Peruvian family! That's one of the really fun things about this area: it's an awesome mix of Italians, Africans, and South Americans! Makes lessons interesting at times, when it's a random combo of Spanish and Italian, or maybe even Portuguese... buuut luckily the gift of tongues is a thing😂 it was also my comp's birthday🎉🎁🎈 you'd best believe we had some stellar pizza and cake to celebrate!!

Friday we had an appointment with Chirico, who is basically the coolest lady ever! She served a mission in Rome, but was super tight with the mission president and ended up serving for 25 months! Literally over 2 years, what a champ! And she's currently working as a CSI, so that's pretty dope🕵🏽‍♀️👩🏽‍🔬. And she made us some killer lasagna, which was a life saver since we weren't going to have time for lunch that day!❤ we also met with the Ponce family. They are from Ecuador, and are currently trying to get their son here. Seriously breaks my heart, but also inspires me to see how strong these people are despite INSANE challenges and trials💕

Saturday we met with our nine-year-old new convert and her family! She's seriously adorable, and totally knows her stuff! Plus not gonna lie, Sorella Orr and I loved being greeted at the door by hugs from all the kids!❣️ we also got to meet with Sorella Bassi, a stellar old woman with a life full of surprises! One minute she was showing us her cross-stitch projects, while the next minute we were looking through her books from law school! So cool! Plus, we've started reteaching the missionary lessons with all of our members and less actives. It's so cool- there's always more we can learn and more we can to do be converted!

Sunday was amazing as usual! Love love LOVE our ward! Only downside was the Relief Society president  came and asked us not to pass by or visit members and less actives...? And she was pretty dang condescending about it, and you know how well that works with me😑 lol jokes, we were nice. But you'd best believe we went straight to the Bishop after to see if this was legit. It most certainly was not, and the Bishop said "Well.., if that were true... missionary work would go down the toilet" true. "Plus, we honestly can't tell you what to do... we aren't your mission President..." also true. So we did some passbys Sunday night just to spite her.

Er, I mean to share the gospel...

Monday was a day of finding. Always fun but kinda rough. We took a break at one point to ride the pony things in the park. And we watched an awkward couple and provided commentary. Also, observed a squirrel swan dive into the lake... a mistake on his part, given that it's totally freezing. But whatevs... Breaks are much needed sometimes. We met with Sorella Sacco too. The lesson was a success. Well, minus the fact that she kept telling her 30 year old son that he needed our message more than her, and that he was stupid. Also, she said she couldn't read the Book of Mormon cuz her leg hurt...🙃

Tuesday was District Meeting, correlation, and ward council. In between, we were able to visit Vanja, an amazing woman with a rough life! She talks your ear off, which is rough cuz her couch is really comfortable and the desire to nap is so real. Seriously, she's amazing though and it was a great lesson🤗

We had some solid finding this week, both on its own and in between our appointments. No new investigators, but had some funny and solid experiences, including but not limited to:

- Finding a million and one cute couples and having super cool convos about life. Also, we did not feel trunky at all...😅

- Trying to stop this girl and talk to her, and instead of rejecting us or talking with us, she literally froze mid walk😳😳 legit just froze on the spot...? Awkward.

- Meeting a Muslim guy who claims to believe in all religions. He was unimpressed that we didn't know specific details regarding how Abraham, Christ, and Moses were born (apparently all occurred under a tree that still stands today...?). He informed us kindly that it was cute of us to try to teach people, but that we knew nothing lol. It took a lot for Sorella Orr and I to not just completely shut this guy down haha but when you're a missionary, that's not in the job description😂 so we thanked him and promised to study instead of teaching people🙄 he said we were welcome to come to his mosque anytime...

Wanna know a cool thing? Ok, so most of us have heard the story of Christ feeding the 5000. 🍞🐟He's out teaching and everything is going swimmingly until everyone starts getting hangry. We're talking the people, the disciples, EVERYONE! And at some point, the disciples realize there are no kebab joints in sight, and the pizza delivery guy only accepts cash (sound familiar, Italian missionary friends?!). Well, the disciples ask Jesus what they're supposed to do, and He tells them to go figure out the food situation. So then the disciples go around asking if anyone has any granola bars or beef jerky or other road-trippin snacks lying around. They find only 5 loaves of bread and two fishes (ew) so they come bring it to Jesus, probably feeling a lovely mix of discouragement, embarrassment, and hunger. What does the Master do? He thanks God, blessed the meal, and then asks the disciples to start passing it out. Miraculously, the entire crowd of 5000 is fed (plus leftovers!), aaand not a soul complains about the fact that it's literally fish and bread lol. This story teaches us of the reality of miracles, but it also provides insight on something a little greater. 

Let's take a second and analyze what just happened here. You've got, like, five steps that led to the miracle after the initial problem was addressed:

1- Christ asks His disciples to feed the multitude, a near impossible task. Had they gone into town and purchased food for the multitude, it would've cost nearly eight months' worth of wages. Truly, this task was beyond the disciples' present ability.

2- The Savior asks instead, "ok, well what can you provide?", at which point the disciples find the loaves and the fishes.

3- The Savior instructs them to bring the loaves and fishes unto Him.

4- The disciples give Him that which they have.

5- The Savior blesses and multiplies that which the disciples were able to provide, and miraculously meets and surpasses what was originally needed.

Cool lil miracle, kinda like His infinite Atonement and grace. Although with each of us, it's an internal miracle rather than an external one, the same steps are followed:

1- During our mortal existence, we are asked to do a variety of difficult tasks. Obeying the commandments, persevering during trials, and fulfilling God's will for us are not impossible tasks. However, there may be things that are literally beyond our current ability to do.

2- The Savior asks us instead, "ok, well what can you provide?"

3- He asks us to give Him all we have. All our efforts. All our faith. All we can do.

4- We use our agency to offer Him all that we have.

5- On our own, we fall far too short. However, the abundant power and grace of His Atonement more than compensates for our shortcomings.

Elder Holland said, "Don’t worry about Christ running out of ability to help you. His grace is sufficient. That is the spiritual, eternal lesson of the feeding of the 5,000". 

Like, wow- the miracle of feeding the 5,000 is pretty dang cool🍞🐟

But it's nothing compared to the miraculous nature of His grace, which cleanses us and makes us whole.

xoxo

Sorella Smeds 

1&2- Exchanges with Williams & Anderson  3-Sorella Orr’s Bday pizza! 4- Tiramisu 

5-7 Our favorite place for Finding 8-9 Playing with Micaela  10-11 Fashion Week featuring the real potatoes of Milano

   

  

   

Chapter 48: Galentines💕

Well friends, it's been a crazy great week! Started out pretty sad,

saying goodbye to Savona and the amazing Sorella Carter! Also,

traveling alone with all your luggage sucks lol! However, I LOVE

Muggiò so far!! In Milano, the days are either 100% grey and gloomy,

or it's clear blue skies. Absolutely love it! There's about 3x the

work here compared to my past cities, and it's such a blast! The ward

and investigators are so great! Still a ton of people I need to meet,

but I've honestly looooved everyone so far! My companion Sorella Orr

is amazing!❤❤❤ We have so much in common, and it's great to just be

working so hard while also having the best time ever!! Plus, it was

Valentine's Day, so here's the obligatory love-themed group email💁🏼

enjoy.

I ❤ Italian Transportation (kind of...)

- To get to Muggiò on Thursday, I took a three hour train. You would

think that'd be an awesome experience. However, it was one of those

lovely trains that has assigned seats. And my seat was on the opposite end

of the train. Which meant going back and forth with each suitcase

through eight train cars. It took 45 minutes. I got a lot of weird

looks. Idk why, I mean what's so weird about a girl essentially

dressed like a pioneer moving three bags through a crowded

train?🤷🏼‍♀️ I did become friends with the train conductor though. He

was a Jehovah's Witness, so that made for interesting conversation...

then I got to change trains at Milano Centrale, still with all my

luggage. Somehow I made it to my new city... I deserve a medal or

something honestly🙄

- All of Italy uses public transportation, but I've never seen it

utilized as much as in Milano. In one given day, we use the metro,

trains, a million and one buses, and the trams. We are only slightly

confused and only get lost a couple of times a day😅

I ❤ Italian Food... In Moderation

- Sorella Orr and I baked pretzel bread during weekly planning. We are

so domestic🙄😂

- FHE with the Ferranti family, was as carb-filled as it was

spirit-filled. We're talking 3 types of focaccia, 2 types of pizza, 3

types of bread, farinata, and 2 other bread-ish items I'd never had

before. Literally our plates were filled and it was nothing but

bread😂😭 the voyage home was 100% spent trying not to hurl

- I ate a whole fish, completely raw this week🐟 I honestly wanted to die.

- Gotta love how even if you aren't having a meal appointment at

someone's home, they feel obligated to feed you something. Which is

great until your days are filled with appointments... eh, guess that's

why Orr and I have started doing planking contests in the morning💪🏼

I ❤ Italians

- Literally every appointment we went to left me with such a full

heart! The people in this city are so amazing!! I never would've

thought I would be so at home sitting in a kitchen talking in

Italian with a beautiful group of people living in essentially a whole

separate world from me! It's seriously the best!

- Church was a dream. Literally it was like I was in an American ward-

so many people and they're all so strong! I seriously love them

already!

- Our investigators are awesome! And we have two families we are

teaching! Gosh, this work brings me so much joy!

- We also met with a few less-active families, and I seriously just love it!

I ❤ Funny Moments

- "Your mother and your father made you, and so you are full of sin!"

    Pastor Emmanuel, an African we met on the train

- Getting Frozen temporary tattoos for Valentine's Day

- That awkward moment when you're praying before ringing the citofono

to an apartment building& someone walks into the apartment and

treats you like you're a jehova's witness or something

- "He'll come back for us- we're basically Amish" -us making

commentary as people stare at us.

- "Well... they're temporary tattoos... so... they're technically not

against the white handbook... right...?" -me

-  The Cattaneos wiping us down after a powdered sugar explosion.

Also, the fact that the mother has short-term memory loss, which makes

lessons interesting lol

- "We are West of the hospital!" -Sorella Orr, using her new compass

-*random dance parties to high school musical whilst getting ready*

- "So sorry, so so so so sorry" -Orr and I, daily

I ❤ My Companion

- Yeah, I seriously lucked out. It's only been a week and yet I feel

like Sorella Orr and I have known each other for forever!

- Seriously, so many deep convos, dance parties, etc. We're laughing 24/7

- She's such a hard worker! It's so easy to teach together, and we've

made a lot of good plans for our area!

- We had the best ever Galentines Day❤ Which included a fancy meal +

gelato! And almost throwing up but then not! Also, too many laughs😂

I ❤ Italy

- I could have like 284649264 bullet points for his one, but for

time's sake we'll just talk about Pday! Sorella Orr and I met up with

Sorella Williams and my bff Sorella Anderson to go to the Milano

Duomo! And by "go to", I really mean "go on top". It was pretty much

the best ever! Brought back so many memories of my first day in Italy,

when we crazy greenies were released outside the duomo to attempt to

proselyte. Although, today was a tad different given that I didn't

nearly fall on my face walking up to the duomo this time, and I know

how to say more than "ciao" lol.

Well, I already gave my spiritual spiel on love last week, but here's

a couple fun valentines-themed gems I found during studies🤗

- 1 John 4:19 "We love Him, because He first loved us." I remember my

MTC group coming across this scripture together, and I've loved it

ever since. Pretty self-explanatory, pretty awesome💕

- When it talks in the Bible about Christ healing the lepers, there's

something pretty neat. Like, it's already pretty cool that Christ was

able to use the power of the priesthood to heal them. However, an

interesting point to recognize is how much that must have meant to

these people. I mean, the healing obviously meant the world to them-

it changed their treatment by society, and honestly completely changed

their lives! However, it's also interesting to note that because of

society's fear and disgust towards those with leprosy, and due to

guidelines in the Mosaic law, these people would've been subject to a

ton of awful stuff. The loneliness, the pain, but more than that, they

would've gone a loooong time without the comforts of physical touch.

And what does Christ do? Like always, He puts the people above all. He

was moved with such compassion towards them, and He placed His hands

on them and healed them. Isn't it just lovely to realize that along

with being our savior and redeemer, Christ is also our loving brother.

This is so beautiful to me, because truly through His loving

sacrifice, we receive the physical and spiritual healing that we all

desire and need❤

Buy some chocolates. Tell someone you love them. Take yourself on a

date to the movies. Until next time💋

xoxoxoxoxo

Sorella Smeds💌💝❣️💕💋🎀❤

1-3 Enjoying Muggio & Sorella Orr  4-6Valentines Day!

7- 23   The beautiful Milano Duomo