Bella Bologna

Ciao tutti!! Come state??? Bologna is great and definitely the best city in the world. We have some amazing members here!! One family from Nigeria invited a whole family to church, and the wife came and brought her adorable but crazy children!! And this was the first time that Sorella Mitchell and I had had a potential or a simp in church for at least a month, so we were over the moon. We are seeing them tomorrow to teach a lesson and we're so excited to finally teach a lesson! This same family has also given us some other referrals that we have been trying to contact, but Africans work a lot so it's been really hard to see them.

We have gotten a lot of bidoni this week from people not showing up to appointments. So yesterday we had to do a bunch of finding and found 0 people so we were super depressed. But then today we had a lesson with our simps who have been simps for a while and they are praying about baptism!!! So we are so excited and have high hopes for them. The Spirit was so strong during the lesson and Samuel finally said he knows that our church is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet. So that was an awesome lesson.

The work here is kinda slow right now for all the Sorelle so I don't have much else to update. I love this work tho! It can be so hard at times but the members make my life. To be able to have so much love for these people and experience what Christ did just a little bit is awesome. Obviously I'm not as good as Christ was as a missionary but I try to improve every day and it can be done through Christ! That's so cool. Anyway love you all and hope you're all doing great and not freezing to death like me! Ciao until next week!!

Pic 1: mostra on the Book of Mormon ft. Beautiful chalk art by Sorella Ewing

Pic 2: beautiful foooood!!!!

Pic 3: matching pic

Pic 4: Italian gelato!!!

Pic 1: this building used to be a prison lol

Pic 2: Inside the old Bologna University where all the graduating members' family crests got painted on the wall

Pic 3: found the hidden Bologna canals!

Pic 4: window to the canals

I'm running out of cool subject lines

Ciao tutti!! It's been another amazing week here in Bologna! I still can't get over that I live here in this city! Bologna is home to the oldest university in the world (or so the Italians tell me), the Universita di Bologna!! And we literally have 3 Zaras!!! One is just for girls; they don't even let boys in hahaha it's amazing. And 2 H&Ms, Bata, 2 big Kikos, which is Italian makeup.... I'm loving it!!! And right now is saldi, which is the big Italian sales that last for a whole month, so we've just been shopping every week for p-day. It's been so great and so terrible at the same time.

Hahahaha one of the funny things that happened this week was we were on our way to go FHE that we have every Friday at Friday's house, an African family in our ward. And they are neighbors to our investigators, so they are always there too. And we were on the bus, and there were 3 ragazzacci on the bus standing by us (ragazzacci means like bad boys kinda....but like less lame) and they were with this littler kid who looked like 14 years old. And they were vaping and just filling the bus with smoke. And they get off the bus, and as the little fat kid walks past me he goes, "Hai degli belli occhi" and then runs off the bus. So that means "You have some beautiful eyes." for all of you that don't speak Italian. Sorella Mitchell and I just looked at each other and started dying hahahaha it was the most random thing and the whole situation was just very funny.

Then at Friday's house, I had to chomp banku again. But this time I was very fast at swallowing it, and they didn't even make fun of me! And we played this African card game called Whot, and they were super worried about if we would understand the game, being foreigners and all. But then I beat all the Africans every time we played, so they were all just going nuts hahaha. I don't know if any of you have been in a room with 8 Africans and 4 missionaries, but it was so loud and after that night of banku and cards I was lovingly accepted into the African community. Needless to say, I was very pleased.

Other things we did this week was play calcio (soccer) with some of the wardies and our potentials. It was fun, but freezing! And we taught one of our new investigators, Giuseppe, the first lesson yesterday during scambio with Sorella Blandford, which was good. He is the husband of a less active member, and he has taken the lessons before many years ago. But we are gonna start over with him and see where it goes! We also got another new investigator yesterday from Nigeria named Vivian. It is very difficult to teach her because she lives far away (technically in another missionaries' zone but we are working on figuring it all out), so we can only teach her on facebook. But she's funny! We're not sure if she's as interested in the church as having "American friends," so we will see. 

Life is good and living here in Italy is amazing! I am so grateful to be a missionary and to know some amazing people and have these amazing experiences. There is so much joy that comes from sharing this Gospel, and also getting to know people and their stories. I love you all and wish you well! Vi voglio un sacco di bene! Ciao!
2 Nefi 29:7

Sorella Henderson

Neptune's Fountain

Bologna's twin towers

3 MONTHS (almost)!!!!

Ciao tutti! Well it's been another week here in Bologna, which means it was a great one! The weeks are flying by here, for sure. And the mission is going so fast. I will have been on my mission for 3 months tomorrow! That's crazy. It is going too fast already! 

Last P-Day, we did a bunch of shopping. So this month in Italy there is something called saldi, which means sales. So Italian government regulates sales so that stores can't do them all year, but all month of January everything is like 50% off. So we went ham last week buying Italian clothes!!! Haha and we will probalby do some more shopping today as well, but I hope not as much as last week because I had never been as exhausted on the mission as I was after saldi shopping.

We also had transfers this week. Nothing happened with me or the Sorelle that I live with, but we have a new zone leader/district leader, as well as some other missionaries that are new to our zone. And a new Sister straight out of the MTC so I'm not the youngest anymore! Yay! Haha it feels so good to not be freaking out all the time anymore.

Okay a cool miracle from this week that I would like to share with you involves dentistry (sorry Mom)! So on Friday morning, I was eating sticky candy, and the crown on one of my teeth came out. So we didn't really have anything planned for that morning, so we called President Allen, who is a dentist, and he told us to just go walk into a dentist office. So we were about to go, when our phone broke! And it was just doing the weirdest thing! So we had to go to the library to get internet to get a hold of the office to fix it, so we weren't able to go to the dentist. And then the phone was magically fixed again just a couple hours later. So we couldn't go to the dentist until Saturday. So we get there, explain the isssue (really tested my Italian skills, you guys), and we got in to see the dentist. And while the dentist is cementing my crown back on, Sorella Mitchell is explaining the Restoration. And the dentist totally dug it! We gave him a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet and he is coming to church this Sunday! Woohoo! That was a pretty expensive potential investigator, but the Lord works in mysterious ways, and I love it!

That experience definitely taught me something about always being prepared to share the Gospel when the opportunity arises. Maybe for members that aren't full-time missionaries, it's not part of your day-to-day activities to go knock doors or ask for referrals, but it's evident that God places peope in our path all the time who are prepared. Not just the missonaries, but everyone. And after that experience, I just started kicking myself for not carrying Books of Mormon with me or pamphlets or something becuase I definitely have had conversations or opportunities in the past to do it, and will for the rest of my life. So like why have I never done that before?! It was really a wake-up call for me. Well, the entire mission has just been a really big wake-up call, I'd say. Haha in a good way, for sure.

Well the work is going in Bologna! Our mission has some high goals. We want 300 baptisms this year! And in Bologna, we want 20! So it's gonna be hard, but we're very excited. And even though Sorella Mitchell and I combined don't have the experience of a missionary less than halfway through their mission, we have a lot of fire and a lot of desire and we are working so hard! And it is so nice to have amazing members in our ward that want to help. But I learned today in combined district meeting that 70% of baptisms come from member referrals, 23% from English class, 3% from self-referrals, 2% from media, and only 1% from finding!!!! I was like what in the world why did I always think that missionary work is all about knocking doors?!! So I would just encourage y'all to get involved in missonary work in your ward and to pray for missionary opportunities or knowledge on how to help missionaries because it's THE BEST! hehe. Comunqs, I love you all! You're all awesome and I'm doing good and I hope you are all good too! Chowdy!!!

Bologna's twin towers in background

It was the best of times and the worst of times....

Ciao tutti! Well I think it would probably be pretty accurate to say that this was the best and worst week of my life so far. It seemed like every other day was either a day full of miracles or of bawling our eyes out on buses. That's missionary work I guess! I wish that I could explain all of it, but that would take too long, so I'm gonna give y'all the highlight reel.

Let's start with the worst. So if you remember Anna and Margherita, they were our 2 young students that we have been working with who were progressing amazingly well, loved the Church, and were working towards setting a date for baptism. Well unfortunately this week, we showed up to our lesson, where Margherita sat us down and told us that she does not want to continue to learn anymore about the Church. That was so heartbreaking to hear, but it was definitely strange in that moment when I was praying so hard for the words to say to change her mind, and all I felt was a peace and a feeling that this needed to happen. We don't know why, but we are sure that they will come back to the Gospel someday. And we made her promise to keep praying and reading the scriptures every day, and she said yes! I know that even though they don't want to be baptized, we helped 2 young atheist girls recognize the love of God in their lives and want to be better people. So that to me is success!

So that feeling of peace that I talked about definitely didn't last long. After that lesson, we booked it to FHE at Friday's house and our other investigators. We cried the whole bus ride there. Luckily, I had tissues in my backpack. Then that lesson was full of Friday, an African member, and our investigator Samuel bible-bashing for a straight hour. I kid you not. Then Friday basically took a half an hour recounting the entire story of how his parents met, which I could not even comprehend. It involved arranged marriage, poison, tobacco, heart attacks, murder, magic water, and spirits. It was an interesting lesson, to say the least. Always a pleasure to go to Friday's.

Okay so now onto the good stuff! Last Thursday for P-Day we did an amazing hike in Reggio-Emilia! I will include pictures! It was gorgeous. We also met some amazing people. President did a little 321 challenge for us on Monday to have 3 conversations about our purpose, get 2 contact informations, and give out 1 Book of Mormon on Monday, and we had to text him when we were done. Then he said that he would publish the first 5 coppie that finished. And we tied for fourth! It took us only an hour. And we actually got more than was required! We have made appointments with most of these people for the coming week, and we were so hyped on finding this Monday. We also were able to teach a first lesson with one of them via Skype, but she lives in Padova, so we will have to refer her there. We also got Indian food and tried to teach a first lesson with another person that we met this week, but he might not be super interested in the Gospel so we are gonna give him to the Anziani lol.

Well also transfers is happening! Everyone leaves today. Anziano Cuthbert is being transferred to the Milano Zone, so we will be getting a new Zone Leader here in Bologna. And all the Sorelle are staying the same, which means I don't have to worry about roommate dynamics changing! Yay! Well, I think that is all the highlights from this week. It was definitely an interesting one. 

My thought for the week is 1 Nefi 17:50-51. It says, "And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should [insert anything you ever need to do in your life here]." Haha well as you can see, I definitely changed the ending in that scripture a little bit. But I know this is true! Heavenly Father can help us do anything if we have faith. "Faith is a principle of power. But that power usually comes in response to faith." - Elder Uchtdorf. I know that He can help us with anything if we have the faith and we ask in accordance with His will. It's so cool! I have learned so much being a missionary. Anyway vi voglio bene! Have a fantastic week! Ciao!

BUON ANNO!

Ciao tutti!!! Well it's already been another wonderful week living in Italy. I am still so amazed by the fact that I live here and the things I get to see and eat and the people that I get to meet. Even though this week was super difficult due to everyone and their dog being gone for the holidays, it was a good time. Sorella Mitchell and I always find little things to laugh about together in spite of the working being a little slow this time of year.

This week we hiked in the rain for P-day with one of the Anziani's simps who is from Nazareth. It was a pretty lame hike and the road up the mountain made all of us super carsick, but it was definitely an interesting experience that I am glad that we did haha. We also had a lot of member lessons, and I just love my ward! I think a lot of the reason why I am in Bologna right now is for the members and the less actives here. I have loved working with them (and being fed by them hehe). So even though we didn't get to teach any investigators this week, we had a lot of member lessons which was awesome. Also, the Sorelle baptized Ife and Lucas on Saturday! It was so fun to see the ward come together and celebrate the addition of 2 new members and also to be able to see how happy Ife and Lucas were to be baptized.

New Year's Eve, we had to be inside pretty early. But we did some finding during the day, which actually turned out to be pretty effective. We also got to be close to some university students who started letting off firecrackers. That's what happens when you proselyte near campus on a holiday lol. I wish that I had more cool stories for you all. But we did find some promising potentials this week that we are excited to meet with in the next couple of days! Also yesterday we had new missionary training, and it was a blast to see my old MTC friends and be all together one last time. It sort of made me miss the MTC but also not at all haha. 

I am sure that most of you have heard about the recent passing of our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. I just want to testify about the reality of living prophets and how grateful I am for them. Even though it's sad that President Monson has passed on, I am so grateful for the other apostles and the fact that we will soon have another prophet on the Earth! We should all try to remember everything that we have learned from President Monson during his service and pray for his loved ones at this time, as well as all of the Apostles. Thank you all for your love and your examples for me.  You're the best!!!! Until next week!

lol half these pics are blurry sorry i'm the worst photographer

Inside Bologna Duomo

(new missionary training photos taken from the mission blog)