Chapter 13: Don't Mind Me Chillin Above Italy

Hey peeps! Hope you're all having the happiest of summer days! I’m kinda freaking out cuz tomorrow is my three month mission mark😁
seriously idk why mission time is so weird. It feels like it's been an eternity since I first got here but other times I'm like "wait am I
even a missionary yet?" Lol idk man. But it was a fab week, and WE GOT A NEW INVESTIGATOR so you could say I'm pretty much the happiest
camper in all of Italy, and possibly the whole world!

Thursday, we had zone training in Torino! It was super good and I learned a ton from our awesome zone leaders! We also got to hear the
dying testimonies of two anziani in our zone. We then got to hear from President and Sorella Dibb, since at the end of this transfer, we'll
get our new mission president. I'm really sad to see them go! They are so amazing- I've learned a lot from the Dibbs, and they have such a
love for the missionaries and people of Italy!

After zone training, we stopped by Tamara's house to give her back her umbrella (she's the one from our flood miracle last week). She was so
excited to see us, and invited us in to visit. I love that woman! When it was time to leave, she told us to keep her umbrella for a bit, and
to come visit her again very very soon! We are still trying to figure out a way to introduce our message with her. We've had a lot of solid
religious conversations, and I really think she might be ready. I want this for her so bad! Then, we got to go over to the anziani apartment
with the landlord to get some stuff fixed. Not very exciting, but it had to be done lol.

Friday and Saturday, we had scambio with the STLs in Milano. I went with Sorella Fuller, and Sorella Smith went with Sorella Jones. I
learned so much from Sorella Fuller! Our appointment Friday night fell through, so we went out to do finding for a few hours. Fuller is
outstanding when it comes to finding. She's so great at going up and talking to EVERYONE! I learned so much from her! Then the APs called
us and challenged us to find a new investigator... And we totes did! It was like 15 minutes before we had to be home, and we found this
little old lady feeding ducks. Literally, she had at least 5 loaves of bread she was feeding to these birds lol. She was precious though, and
we had a good lesson with her! Then that night, Fuller and Jones read in the New Testament about when Christ washed His disciples' feet.
They then insisted on giving us pedicures, saying that we, too, are disciples of Christ doing His work. Aww they're just precious!

Saturday, Fuller an I had an appointment with a less active who is a literal cat lady. She has ten cats, and all her dishes and everything
had cats on them. Lol, she gave us Orso, which essentially has the taste of coffee, but it has a barley base rather than a coffee bean
base, and no caffeine. Essentially Mormon coffee. And it was nasty😂 I went to put sugar and milk in it but then one of her cats that was
chilling on the table at the time knocked the milk over. Ugh. Then in the middle of the lesson, the lady asks me to fix her printer... And
let's keep in mind that a) I really don't know much about printers b) I still don't know a ton of Italian c) I certainly don't know printer
words in Italian lol. So she's giving me instructions and getting mad that I don't understand lol and I look at Fuller and she doesn't
understand either😂 And like wow, when I thought about what mission life would be like, I certainly didn't picture myself trying to fix a
printer whilst being yelled at in Italian all while cats are climbing over me, but va bene lol.

Sunday was super stellar. We had stake conference in Alessandria which meant I GOT TO SEE MY PERKINS! Lol we had to leave our house by like
6am to catch the train. It was cool cuz the stake conference was held in like a theater #comfyseats so yay! Sad day though cuz our ward's
bishop is gonna be in the stake presidency now. But we got to hear from them and from President Dibb and from Elder Kearon (who spoke at
the most recent session of general conference.) It was so awesome! Afterward, it was fun to talk to the members, and to the two zones'
worth of missionaries who were there. Then, we had lunch with Sorella Bastian and Sorella Perkins which was a rather fun time because I
adore them both so dang much! Then Smith and I caught our train. On our way back home, we called one of our referrals we'd received, and ended
up meeting him at a bar lol... Then we walked over to a park and began teaching him. So....

We got ourselves a new investigator!!

And he is seriously GOLDEN!

His name is Machi. He's actually from Tanzania, so he speaks Swahilian, English, and Italian. He's lived in Italy for a few years,
because he married an Italian. They have a two year old daughter. Machi has been meeting with lawyers, because he wants to get a
separation from his wife, and take his daughter back to Tanzania. His wife drinks and uses marijuana, and he doesn't want that life for his
daughter. He wants religion in his life, mainly because he wants the best for his daughter. He's investigated pretty much every church
there is, but hasn't felt like any of them were true. Hmmm...

We talked with him about God's love for us, and the importance of families. We taught about Christ's ministry, and the apostasy
following His death. Basic 1st lesson stuff, pretty much. And then we talked about the Restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith. This
was my first time teaching the story of the restoration to someone who'd never heard it before. And it was a seriously beautiful experience.

We told Machi of how back in 18 a young boy named Joseph smith wondered, like him, which church was true. How this boy had, like
Machi, looked into many other religions, but none seemed right. Then reading James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him”. And then, acting on what he read, went into a secluded place and
asked God which church was true. And Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared before Joseph Smith, telling him that none of the churches on
the earth at that time were true.

And thus began the restoration of the true church on the earth.

It was absolutely amazing to share this glorious, true story with someone who had never heard it before! The spirit was soooo there and
Machi really seemed to feel it! He just was eating up everything we told him. The Lord has definitely prepared him to receive this truth.
It was so neat for him to see the similarities between him and Joseph Smith (both searching for God's true church, both investigating
various religions, etc). And wow, this guy is the most humble guy ever! Many people upon hearing the story of Joseph smith scoff at how
improbable it sounds. Not Machi. He was essentially like "wow that’s awesome. And it makes sense. God is all-powerful, and he loves us. So
it makes sense that He would do that." And we're like "yes yes it does." And we start telling him about the Book of Mormon and he's like
"Yes that makes sense that Christ would visit ALL of God's children after His resurrection, not just the Jews." And we're like "yes yes it
does." And before we can say another word, Machi says "I need you to bring me this book to our next meeting" and we're like "why yes, yes we can”.

1st Lesson ✔️
Book of Mormon invite ✔️
Return appointment ✔️

He's seriously so solid. Talking to him was absolutely great. We have an appointment with him this weekend, and we're gonna try and set a
baptism date with him! It's so exciting! The rest of this week has been spent with meetings and contacting referrals, and it's just so
great to be a part of this great work!

Today for pday, we went to the Torino Mole, which was quite the adventure. I essentially got to chill above Italy for the small price
of 7€😁 We went with the Torino Sorelle so it was even more of a party cuz they're my favs. It was fascinating chillin in the completely
glass elevator as we headed to the top, and even cooler stepping out and seeing such a beautiful view of this place I love so much!

I'm awkward and don't really know how to end this random, jumbled email lol. But I'm grateful to have spent another blessed week in
beautiful Italia. Much love to all you dearest humans of mine❤️

xoxo
Sorella Smedley

1. Zone training  2-3. Anziani Apartment 

4-5. Scampi fun with Sorella Fuller & Jones!

6-7. Stake Conference in Alessandria  8-10. With Sorella Perkins & Bastian at Stake Conf.

11-18 P-day at the Torino Mole (ft. my new $10 oxfords and the Torino Sorelle & Smith)    

 

  

  

  

  

 

Chapter 12 A "Floody" Miracle lol

I'm gonna apologize in advance for the length of this email, but it's simply because this has probs been one of the best weeks of my mission so far! This week was "21 Lesson Week", which is when you try to get 21 lessons or more that week. Basically everyone I talked to here said getting the 21 lessons was basically impossible, but that it pushed you, and you usually ended up with more lessons than usual, so I was excited! My comp and I set up a ton of appointments and set aside time every day to go do finding. However, almost everything fell through, & it kept on raining, so there weren't many people for us to find and teach☹ needless to say, we didn't get our miracle 21 lessons. However, it was def a week of miracles for us, & I feel so blessed🤗

Thursday, we met with Barbara. I adore her family so much. Cute Zachariah is my lil buddy- he always offers his hand to "help" me out of the car😂He and Omar have this stuffed dog named Dan (lol perfect dog name, right?) & basically I'm just always laughing with these precious kids! Anyways, we really felt like we wanted to talk with Barbara about the atonement. During personal study, I found some stuff that I felt really might apply to her needs. However, we didn't want the lesson to be too crazily long so I just picked one. As we were doing the lesson, I felt like I still needed to share both of the things I'd found. She really reacted well to both of them, & I was glad I'd followed the prompting to share them. Always a good reminder to me that when we feel prompted to do/share something, we need to do it. We typically have no clue why, but we need to be faithful & go for it. I can't even count how many times I've gotten an email or something from one of you that was something I needed to hear, or gave me an idea of what to teach a specific person! You never know when you may be the answer to someone else's prayer❤️Barbara fed us (What a gem!) & dropped us off at the church. We finished our stuff there, & we got ready to leave. Buutt there was a car full of people just chillin outside the church gate... kinda freaked us out, cuz our church is out in the middle of nowhere. Like legit in a field lol. And they've been having problems lately with people breaking in. We called our zone leaders & bishop, & kinda just waited it out. After almost two hours, they finally left. Def a weird day...

Friday, was weekly planning. Then, the day was spent with appointments falling through, & a ton of rain. Oh joy. Luckily, we had English class that night still, so it didn't feel like a total waste lol.

Saturday was probs one of the craziest days of my life! Or at least of my mission lol! We'd lined up a ton of stuff for Saturday, to try and meet our goals. It was a miracle day, but not in the way we'd expected...That morning, we did some service for Barbara. Then we had an appointment with the Vicedominis in Rivoli, my favorite part of our area! Barbara was kind enough to drive us there❤️ now lemme explain a bit about the Vicedominis. Fratello Vicedomini is super strong in the church. Sorella Vicedomini is darling and amazing, but doesn't come to church anymore... Why? Cuz she's into voodoo... Literally it's her job. Her apartment has all the curtains & candles & all of that. And yet, it's not cuz of the voodoo stuff that she doesn't come to church (although obvi our church doesn't believe in that kind of stuff). Nope-she felt like the members were judging her for her career. Kind of broke my heart to hear that. Cuz I realize that I'm kinda a judgy person... I mean, we all are to an extent! But I certainly don't wanna be the reason someone doesn't come to church! I def don't wanna be what stands in the way of someone coming closer to Christ! We had a super solid lesson with her, & I loved getting to know this lovely, crazy lady!

On an unrelated note, she made us hot chocolate... Hot chocolate in Italy is different. They typically use milk & other ingredients, giving it a thicker consistency, kinda like pudding or something. Whale, she starts making us this hot chocolate & she brings out like boxed milk and all these random ingredients. She takes a sip & was like "ugh this tastes too sweet" & of course we're like "duh don't even worry I'm sure it's awesome"... Holy heck, this was probs the nastiest hot chocolate I'd ever had in my life. I legit wanted to vomit. She said it tasted too sweet... But it was so bitter & weird! My comp and I decided afterwards that it kinda tasted like wheat... Well anyways, we both forced it all down lol... And ya know what? It was nasty but I def will not judge her for it and make her not come to church bc of it. So let's not judge people, yeah? 😂Even if they are into voodoo & hot chocolate/wheat drink things. My new life motto, basically.

When we left, we started walking through Rivoli. We were gonna take the bus to see Berta, our investigator. Whelp, as per usual, Satan made it rain on us. I didn't mind at first, cuz it wasn't too hard & it made the streets look super pretty. Then it got a little harder. Side note: I'm weird & awkward & sometimes just have little mental prayers/convos with God lol. Well I was having one as we were walking, & it kinda went something like this: "Ok Heavenly Father... It's raining, & I wanna throw up my lil hot chocolate thing. But I promise we'll still go over & see Berta if you help us out a little" And so I felt pleased with this little arrangement, & kept going, ignoring the fact that I felt like I needed to vomit. (Don't worry- I didn't! It's not one of those kinds of stories lol) But I think Satan was annoyed at this little mental promise I'd made, cuz then he made it rain harder... Like legit, the streets were flooded. We see our bus and hop on super fast. My comp sits down and is like "yeah, we're not gonna see Berta today. This is crazy and probs not safe." And I'm over here like oh crap, but I already made a mental promise with God... So this is gonna be awkward. And I wait a bit as we drive and then I'm like "uhhhhh Sorel... Don't hate me... But I really think we need to go see Berta..." And she just kinda looks out the window and is like "fine. But we're going home and getting umbrellas first." A reasonable request obvi. But then I felt a crazy prompting that we needed to go right away. And agin, I'm just sitting there like are you kidding me? Ugh this sucks lol. So I wait a sec, and then am like "uh yeah... I kinda think we need to go straight to her house...". And she turns to me and is like "you're really feeling like we need to go there now, it can't wait?" And I can tell she's annoyed- I don't blame her, this seems like an awful idea😂 and I'm like "ummm... Yeah..."

Utter silence till we get to our stop. We get out and still had to walk a ways, and we are literally soaked. There were oceans in my shoes pretty much & I don't think it's possible for us to have been wetter... And I hear my comp yell through the rain "you'd better be right about this!" And I'm just like oh shoot I really hope I'm right on this lol. And we can't even see anything, & my comp goes & leans against an apartment and I go by her and I can tell she's just done. And I just kinda look up & start doing a verbal prayer/convo (cuz the rain and thunder was too loud for anyone else to hear me) & I legit start yelling "okay God! You brought us out here! And I'm wet! And cold! And the hot chocolate is making me sick! And we're lost. And I really need you to do something like now... Cuz if not, my comp is gonna kill me... And I'm gonna cry or something... So I'm not asking for anything insane, but just for a little miracle! Please please please please!"

And then I hear someone yell at us..

My first thought was "God, is that you?" Lolololol😂😂😂 my second thought was that it was probs someone telling us to go away or something. 

And then we hear the voice again... It's a lady...

We look up, & there's this older lady on her balcony smoking in the rainstorm, cuz why not? Lol. And she's yelling "are you guys ok?" & I'm like lolol nope. & she says "do you need to dry off?" And we're like "umm" 

And then she buzzed us in. We sat on the stairs inside, just grateful to be out of the rain for a minute. Then we hear a door open upstairs, & the lady starts calling for us to come inside. And we're like "oh that's ok, we're super wet" but she insisted that we came inside. She sits us on her couch, despite the fact that we are literally gushing water everywhere. Her adorable dog comes & plays with us, & she gets us some frizzante. Her name is Tamara, & she's gotta be one of the nicest people I've ever met. She starts asking us about ourselves, & asks if we're students. We reply that no, we are missionaries for our church. She starts telling us about how she was raised Catholic & how she loves Catholicism cuz it reminds her of her mom who passed away.

Then her daughter Ariana shows up. They both start asking us all these questions about what we do as missionaries. When they found out I was 19, they were freaking out cuz they thought I was essentially a baby. Why wasn't I at home? Why would I choose to come out here? Were we getting paid? Tons of questions. They also brought this really expensive, delicious gelato for us. We were there for an hour! Then, the rain slowed a lil bit, & we got up to go. We gave them some info, including stuff for our English class that they were both interested in. As we were leaving, I decided to play my "adorable, innocent, 19-year old" card & asked if we could leave them with a prayer out of gratitude for their kindness. They thought that was adorable lol. So I prayed for them specifically. They hugged us as we left. Both Tamara and Ariana were fascinated my hair, and just kept calling me their beautiful little girl. I just adore them. Then as we were leaving, Tamara made us take her umbrella with us, saying we could just bring it back next week & visit her😁 YAYAYAY! As soon as we got home, I threw my sopping wet self onto my knees, so thankful to God for leading us where we needed to go. It was one of those beautiful moments of being in the right place, at the right time!

Sunday was another special day. It was the Western Europe conference, and our whole ward was so excited to see the broadcast. As we were walking home, the darling Quaresimas saw us and offered us a ride. During the drive home, they gave us a miracle referral! A woman with 4 kids who is interested in learning more about the church! Best of all, the Quaresimas want to help us with this family, and even offered to make us dinner when we go teach them! Their family is such an amazing example to me! They go out of their way to help the missionaries, and to bring all family members and friends to the gospel of Jesus Christ! Needless to say, we're pretty excited!

This week has been uneventful so far cuz my comp & I are both sick from being out in the rain😂 

So 21 lesson week could be seen as a failure week or a week of success, but I prefer to view it as our miracle week. We definitely did not get our 21 lesson goal, but it was beautiful for us to see how God blessed us for our work. I can honestly say we worked harder and prepared more (and prayed more) this week than we ever had before. And as a result, we got more lessons this week than we ever have, had our miracle with Tamara and Ariana, and got our new referral! And I feel super achy and tired and sick as I write this, but I've also never been happier. I will gladly feel sick and face literal floods and drink nasty wheat hot chocolate EVERY DAY for the rest of my life if that's what's necessary to bring these souls back unto Christ❤️

Alma 29:9

9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

Have a lovely week, my dear humans❤️

XoxoXOXO 

Sorella Smedley

1- 5 Omar, Zacariah, Barbara, and Dan the dog having lessons and making pizza❤️

6-10 Rivoli (Before the flood) 

11- Our "we just survived a flood and a miracle and just tried blow-drying ourselves” selfie

12-Victory gelato for making it through 21 lesson week!

  

     

    

Chapter 11: I Really Hate Goodbyes...And Seafood...

Whelp, I've officially finished my first of twelve transfers here in this beautiful place called Italy! I love it here more and more each day! This week has been a week of appointments falling through,

because there have been street-race things going on (don't ask… I don't understand either...) and a freak ton of rainstorms with more thunder and lightning than I've ever experienced!

Last Thursday, we had an appointment with one of our less-actives, Barbara, and it went really well! Her husband isn't a member and doesn't want us there when he's there. Barbara, however, loves us. 

She's been inviting us over about every week now and we've gotten to teach her and her kids, and lately they've been coming to church and sitting with us. Later that day, we had correlation meeting with our
ward mission leader Gabriele. It's kinda an interesting meeting, because Gabriele doesn't really come to church anymore... Buuuut he does love us missionaries and loves to help us! So correlation
definitely benefits us,and we try to help him regain his testimony at the same time. Definitely an interesting situation though lol.

Friday we TRIED to visit a less-active in our ward. It's a struggle because to get to her, we have to take the bus, take the metro, and take another bus. Well we were waiting for that last bus for a while.
This random old dude came and sat by us. He wanted to read us our horoscopes, and then talk to us all about Area 51 and all his conspiracy theories... During this crazy convo, we asked someone when
this bus was supposed to come. The answer: not for another 3 hours. Yeah, that wasn't going to work... So my comp faked that we were getting a phone call, and we left.

Saturday, a big chunk of the day was used for weekly planning, because this week is transfer week and we needed to plan for our various appointments and whatnot. We were also supposed to have an appointment
with our investigator Berta and her sons. However, it fell through. That afternoon, we got some super sad news: they're closing down the Collegno anziani! There's a big group of anziani going home this
transfer, and only one coming in. So they need to temporarily close down some of the companionships. We were pretty sad! We also found out about some of the people in our zone who were gonna be transferred as
well. Definitely put a damper on the afternoon! So then we had to meet the anziani at the church and spend the rest of the day figuring out their area book stuff and getting info about their investigator. Now
my comp and I have 5 area books... Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us lol...

Sunday we had church as usual. Anziano Rogers and Yee were asked to bear their testimonies and say goodbye, which was super sad. After church, a guy in our ward had us stay in the building so he could make
us a "last supper". Super nice, and we were gonna have an activity that evening as well, so we just stayed. Remember how last week I mentioned my issues with vegetables? Let me also add that I have even
more of a problem eating sea food lol... I don't blame any of you for judging my pickiness hardcore right now haha. Whelp, our meal was a blend of rice, peppers, peas, fish chunks, shrimp, and oyster things.
Shoot dang. A huge heaping bowl. I wanted to die😂 but be proud of me- I forced ALL OF IT down! Well, except for a couple of the oyster things cuz A. Rogers eagerly took those from me lol #whatabro. But
yeah... I'm probs gonna come home much less picky lol... Sorry not sorry I always talk about food lol! After that, we had a game night with our ward's youth and a couple of youth leaders. It was super fun-
we had darts and ping-pong and foosball and it was a blast! It also gave me good practice with the language, cuz our youth are super awesome kids, and they're really helpful and patient.

Monday was a crazy day. We had district mtg in Torino that morning after studies. It was a longer meeting than usual, because we also signed dedicas and said goodbyes. Half the district is leaving! Rogers
and Yee are getting transferred, and Blazzard and Harris are going home! So it was super fun but also super sad! I freaking hate goodbyes! We also had my fingerprinting appointment for my permesso.
So we had to kinda stick around in Torino. We ate lunch and then headed to the office. Super sketchy part of town, I might add lol. But all went well there! However, we totally got lost trying to find our
way back to the metro, so that was an adventure.

Tuesday, we took a train to our appointment. Any guesses on what happened once we were there? Yup, the appointment fell through. Oh joy. I brought up the idea that we could just go finding in this city.
So we did. Lots of rejection as usual. However, we got a lesson in, and had some solid gospel convos, so it worked out! We aren't seeing a ton of results lately, but what matters is that we're working and
trying. We also found this random forest thing too which was pretty neat lol.

We were having a bit of a hard time with Doina (the one Romanian lady I found on our way back from scambi). She seemed super interested in our message. However, we'd been having a hard time getting in contact
with her. At one point when we were at a bus stop on Tuesday, I felt prompted that we should call her. We did, and she answered (we’d caught her on her lunch break, luckily!) She talked with us for a bit-
she's just darling and I love her! However, we weren't able to set up an appointment with her, because she works everyday until 9pm! So… We don't really know what to do at this point. I really feel like
she's ready for our message, and I want to make sure she has every possible opportunity to receive the restored gospel. So any prayers/thoughts/ideas from y'all would be very much appreciated.

Today for Pday, we went to Juventus soccer stadium! We got to go on a tour of the stadium, and it was pretty freaking cool, especially since they're such a winnin team! Obviously I had to get a shirt since
Juventus is playing in the Europe cup this summer💁🏼 gotta represent my city, lol!

My comp shared this poem with me (idk who it's by #sorry)

“Father, where shall I work today?”
And my love flowed warm and free.
Then He pointed out a tiny spot
And said, “Tend that for me.”
I answered quickly, “Oh no; not that!
Why, no one would ever see,
No matter how well my work was done;
Not that little place for me.”
And the word He spoke, it was not stern;
He answered me tenderly:
Ah, little one, search that heart of thine.
Art thou working for them or for me?
Nazareth was a little place,
And so was Galilee.”

We don't get to choose what part we get to play in Gods plan. Sometimes our part seems too demanding and overwhelming; other times
it seems we've been given an insignificant role. I 100% have felt both these sides (and every place in between) during my short 1st transfer
here in Italy, and I'm sure it's something we can all relate to in life in general. However, we must remember WHO it is we're working for
(It's God, if you haven't figured it out) and we need to remember that we don't see the full plan- He does! We just gotta have faith and go for it!

Love you guys more than Voldemort loves power... And making
horcruxes... And snakes...? Sorry, I'm bad at analogies lol😅

Xoxo
Sorella Smedley

1 & 2- Admiring plants on the way to church (yes, there are palm trees!)   3. Youth Activity

4- It’s always raining  5- My first cannoli 6-8. The things we find while tracking in Alpignouno

9&10-- Goodbye Anziano Yee and Anziano Rodgers :(  11.-District meeting(Rogers,Yee,Blazzard,Sanchez,Smith,me,Harris,Arndt) One chair for every transfer you have left. 12- Gonna miss these goons!

13-Goodbye Anziano Mclver 14-16 Random Italy pics to make you all jealous! 15-19 Juventus stadium