He dun chop fufu

Ciao a tutti!!! Happy late Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that you're now getting in the Christmas spirit. I had the best Thanksgiving ever because I got to eat with the Brazilians who are the best and the Americans brought American food and I wanted to die of joy. But now I'm ready for December! I've been listening to Christmas music since July so I am very excited. Also today is my 1 year mark in Italy! It's crazy to think that I arrived an entire year ago, and I'm glad I still have more time left in this amazing country and as a missionary. 

So this week we had some cool experiences. We set a baptismal date for January 19 with one of our new friends, Francisco! He's so solid and to us just seems super prepared for the Gospel! The hardest thing is meeting with him, but hopefully we can meet his wife and we can start teaching them together. We've only taught him 1 lesson so far, so we'll just keep an eye on things and see how it goes!

Other big news this week: a less active woman we've been working with, Evelyn, has really been struggling with he testimony and inactivity for the past 30 years, basically since she was baptized at 18. Well after some confusing conversations with her and some research, turns out Evelyn was never registered as a member of this Church because she never received the gift of the Holy Ghost! This was a big shock to us and she still doesn't know yet, but we are working on figuring out the situation and hopefully we can bring her back and baptize her again! Also she brought a friend to our last lesson named Yoconda, and it was so cool to teach them together but also a little stressful considering Evelyn doesn't have a testimony anymore but still thinks she's a member... So hopefully we can get this all sorted out with her by next week!

We also ran into some cool people doing finding on Monday, and they wanted our contact information! So after them calling us 3 times during new missionary training yesterday, they sent us an email with their plans to unite all Christian churches into one belief by merging all the ideas and churches together (kinda like how the great apostasy got started) based on current scientific and psychological ideas. And they want us to give this thesis paper to the Prophet... That is definitely not happening and I'm pretty sure we won't be talking to this crazy couple again...

Oh also can't forget to mention that I made fufu (this really weird african food that you just swallow and aren't supposed to chew) for President Allen! And Sorella Allen ate it too!! It was hilarious and they hated it but I know President is secretly proud of himself. 

Next week marks the start of the Light the World campaign! Don't miss out! Go to mormon.org and check out the service advent calendar and get started! Christmas is an amazing time that we can think more of Christ by serving and helping others. So I'm inviting you all to participate and share your experiences with me via email or fb messenger. I'm excited to hear about how you all light the world this Christmas season (:

Vi voglio un sacco di bene! Have a great week everybody!

Sorella Henderson 

Baking for Thanksgiving

Cecilia at Thanksgiving

Sorella Morris and Sorella Henderson

Thanksgiving with the Brazilians

Lights!

Making fufu for President Allen

The Allens try fufu

Learned to make Lasagna

Last photo with Sorella Dawson

New missionary training meeting for the new missionaries and their trainers 11/28/18

The week where it got FREEZING COLD

Ciao tutti! Well this week it has been SO COLD here in Lodi. Temperatures have dropped to about 4 degrees (Celsius, don't freak out) and the big coats and gloves and scarves are on. Luckily our heater is finally working so we finally have hot air! Hahaha we were wearing gloves in the apartment for a bit but now we good fam.

Well this last Sunday I hit my 13-month mark! So that's crazy because I feel like I just hit my year mark last week. We also had scambio that day in Cimiano, and my companion was Sorella Merl! She is Austrian and she was my first scambio as an STL last April, so it was so fun to serve with her again. We did a lot of finding which was good because we tried some new ways of finding, like family history finding, which worked surprisingly well! We tried to do it in a graveyard but we got kinda creeped out and there weren't many people there so we bounced.

We also got a dope family this week! So my first week with Sorella Button here in Lodi, we talked to this Nigerian man named Osas who said he was interested in learning more about our church. And we saw him on Saturday! We didn't get to teach him much because he took us to an African market in Lodi and we got to meet all his friends and look at African stuff, which I'm obsessed with. We are going back today because on Tuesday I am making fufu for President!!! (don't worry pictures and videos will be attached next week) Fufu is that African food that everyone hates (reference my very first email for pictures of banku, its close cousin). And anyway Osas invited us over to chop pepe soup with him and his family and teach them the first lesson!!!!! So hopefully that will happen on Saturday.

We also got to go bowling again with all the youth, which was a blast. And we got to see some cool families in our ward and yeah we're just enjoying life right now! Lodi is such a great place, and we have some dope stuff planned for Decmeber! Hopefully it can help move the work along a little bit!

I've been studying a lot about patience in my personal study and trying to develop more patience in general. Alma 26:27 is a verse that really helped me this week:

"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

If we are just patient with the Lord and have faith in Him and His promises, we will always come out successful in the end if we are doing His will! He loves us and wants us to succeed, just in the way that He knows is best for us, not in the way that we always want. I love this Gospel and I love being a missionary! Vi voglio un sacco di bene! Have a great week!

Sorella Henderson

P.S. My p day next week will be on Thursday!

Lecco pday trip from Nov. 15

graffiti on the railings

Padre Pio

Foggy streets right outside the sorelle apartment on November 21, 2018

Bowling with the youth for pday Nov. 21st

Mission Tour and a Baptismal date!!

Ciao tutti! Well this week has been an insane week full of miracles and also exhaustion. We did a lot of work this week seeing so many less actives, members, and also setting a baptismal date with one of our new investigators, Simon! He is from Nigeria and has a really strong desire to serve God. We set a date with him for February 23rd last Saturday. Then last night we did a pass-lesson with the Anziani because it's just better for them to teach the men. And 2 other men ended up participating in the lesson with us! It was a great discussion and I just love Africans so much!!! I've missed teaching them.

Other highlights of the week: We got to go to out to lunch with our Senior couple, the Gales, after they did our apartment cleaning check, and they are just the best and I love them! I also made my first tiramisù on Friday for the activity with the youth, which we did at the Barbone's house and Fratello Barbone taught me how to play chess! It was fun and I love our youth.

Spiritual highlight: We've been focusing on following the Spirit a lot in our companionship and in our studies and stuff, so on Friday we were trying to find with the Spirit with just the short hour that we had. And we did and the people we felt prompted to talk to weren't interested. But then I saw a woman walking on the other side of the park and knew that we had to talk to her (who knows if this was the Spirit or just my desire to speak with Africans but it was a good thought so I went for it) and her name is Patricia, and she was meeting with the Sorelle in the past but stopped because she moved and lost touch! It was dope to meet her because I had seen her name in the Area Book and tried calling but the calls never went through. So I was stoked and we set up an appointment for the next day. But the day came and she never answered the phone and she still isn't.... So it was a good story until the end but oh well! It was still a cool miracle.

Yesterday we had Mission Conference with half the mission! Other than seeing a bunch of cool peeps, I felt like I received a lot of personal revelation through the inspired words of Elder and Sister Tunnicliffe (He's a member of the Quorum of the Seventy). My favorite part was not even really a part of their whole training, but just a comment that Elder Tunnicliffe made. He said "You are not just a cog in the machine of God's work. You ARE His work." I just loved that and the Spirit really hit me in that moment. I honestly can't really comprehend His love for me as an individual and His love for all the people that I teach and meet every day, but just the small parts of it that I do feel are really amazing. I know He's there and that He watches over this work and that He loves each and every one of you! So turn to Him in prayer! Get to know Him! Don't be a stranger to your Father in Heaven. Life is better when you know Him.

So that was my week, basically! It was some good times and it flew by but also seemed like a lot happened haha. That's just how the mission is! And I will talk to you all next week because today we are going to Lecco!!!! Peace out homies ️

Sorella Henderson

Youth game night

Mission Conference with Elder and Sister Tunnicliffe (this is half of the mission)

with some of the group from the MTC

Manul, the contact that got baptized

Make it RAIN

Che RAIN! It has rained every day off and on for the last week and let me just say I'm so sick of the rain. And the weather forecast says even more rain for the next few days!!! It's already cold!

This week has flown and been a super awesome week for our work!! After our combined district meeting on Thursday, I had a really new resolve for finding and Sorella Morris and I set some good, realistic goals for us and we started doing some different types of finding that we had never tried before (OK Sorella Morris hasn't tried most types of finding yet haha she's still new). And we have seen so many cool results! We have given out so many Books of Mormon and have found 2 new people to teach this week that we are so excited about! So we are so pumped and one of them is from Santo Domingo so I can speak Spanish!!!!!

Other notable events of the week: Sorella Morris and I finally got to be Office Sorelle!!!! So the Anziani had to do car stuff in Milano yesterday after district meeting and they had no one to cover them in the office, so Sorella Morris and I got to cover for them!!! And unfortunately no missionaries called that I could convince that there were sorelle in the office now (throwback to when Sorella Button did that) so it was actually pretty boring. But then we got official Office Sorella stickers for our nametags so that was a lit tripping moment.

This week Sorella Morris and I felt that we should call a less active woman in our ward. We easily got an appointment and planned a basic lesson without knowing anything about her, and it was probably one of the most powerful yet simple lessons I've taught in my entire mission. My companion and Sorella Guaman both were sobbing and I shed some tears as well. I know that that sister needed us that day and it felt so good to be able to help someone and be an instrument in God's hands in that way.

November is already flying by! It's crazy how fast time is flying so I am just trying to live up every minute of every day. I love my mission and I love Italy! Vi voglio bene!

Sorella Henderson

a cool book found in a book exchange store

Lodi

Lodi centro