From Milan to....

Ciao tutti! Well remember how in my last email I told you all that transfer calls were last Friday and Saturday? Well I am being transferred again ): It was really sad to hear at first but I know that the Lord has a special purpose for me in LODI. And I bet none of you know where that is because it's a little town! Which kind of gives me anxiety because I've been living in a big city for my whole mission, but that's okay. It's about 30 minutes south of Milano. I can get there with my bus pass. Lol. And the ward that I'm going to serve in used to be a part of the Navigli ward before they split, so I'm basically not even leaving Navigli hahaha. And I will be in the ward with the Office Elders instead of the APs. So that'll be cool. My companion will be Sorella Button from my MTC group! Which will be lit! And we'll have our very own car!! 1 of only 2 cities in the mission where the Sorelle get a car! I'm so excited to drive again! I've missed it so much! 

Well our 2 most solid people we are teaching, Karem and Nancy, are still doing really good! Nancy is getting prepared to be baptized on the 25th of August and Karem is striving to live the Word of Wisdom, even though we haven't even taught her that yet! She just heard about it and wants to try to live it! Which is so cool! I had to say goodbye to them, as well as my new converts and the members yesterday, and it was really sad. But I love these people and I know that I will come back to visit them! I really have had a special opportunity to be able to serve here.

Last p day we went to the top of the Duomo, which was SO HOT! NEVER AGAIN. Holy Milano is sort of miserable right now so everyone is fleeing for vacation. We have almost no people in the English conversation class and about half of the members in church each week. This is Italian culture. But I can't wait for September when everyone gets back haha. 

In a couple hours, I will head down to Lodi (in a car!). And that will be a new adventure for me. And next week I will let you all know how that goes! I love to hear from you all! Shoot me a quick email if you have time. (: Vi voglio bene!

Sorella Henderson

Anna Maria

Investigator Nancy

Last meal with Cristian, Paola, and Cindy

Cook-key

John

Saying goodbyes to members and investigators 

new member Rosa

Rosa's daughter

Sorella Henson, Sorella Henderson, Sorella Tafur, Sorella Stolk

Navigli District

Jada, the bishop's daughter

Investigator Karem

Octavia

Tired and waiting in the metro

Open Your Mouths

Ciao tutti! MIRACLE WEEK! (aka average week here in Milano) While our simp Maria has yet to show up to an appointment since her fight with her sister and hasn't agreed to a new baptismal date yet, we were able to set a baptismal date with our simp Nancy, who is amazing! She has 7 kids, who are all members. 4 served missions. She has wanted to wait for a long time to be baptized, and we just met her a couple weeks ago. But now she finally feels ready. She will be baptized on August 25th!!!!!! I hope that I will be here for it since transfer calls are this Saturday and I could be leaving, but either way, I am so excited for her. Nancy only speaks Spanish, but luckily the gift of tongues exists and I have been so blessed to be able to understand and teach her in her language and feel the love that our Father in Heaven has for Nancy. She really is amazing!

Another miracle! About 3 weeks ago, I talked to a husband and wife on the bus. They were really cool and had seen us while doing a mostra before, and we had a good conversation with them and gave them a pamphlet, but nothing else came of it. But this last Sunday, during our mostra, the husband saw us again, and this time he approached us. He took a Book of Mormon, we talked for a while, and we got their phone number and address. The only (maybe) bummer is that he has been studying with the Jehovah's Witnesses for 38 years. But he was really cool still and said we could come over this week! Just goes to show that any little conversation we have about the Gospel could stick in someone's mind and make the difference in the future.

Well Friday and Saturday are transfer call days! I am a little nervous about this one, but always ready to go/stay where the Lord calls me. I know that He is guiding us this work, and see His hand in it every day! He is always guiding us to the right people, and when we open our mouths, it is easy to find those who are prepared. Vi voglio bene! Have a great week everyone!

Sorella Henderson

District Lunch

 July 26 Pday trip to Villa del Balbianello on Lake Como at Lenno

Gardens at Villa del Balbianello overlooking Lake Como

The Loggia Durini at the beautiful Villa del Balbianello was featured in some famous films including 
Stars Wars II Attack of the Clones and Casino Royale.

Beautiful views from the gardens at Balbianello

How can we raise our personal spirituality?

Ciao tutti! This week was kinda crazy! We definitely had some ups and downs as well as preparing our training for zone conference and doing a scambio, but that is the life of an STL! Yesterday was zone conference, and the theme was about raising our individual spirituality. We gave our training about prayer, and luckily it went really well. This weekend we had a scambio with the Sorelle in Como, and I got to meet some Protestant missionaries doing a mostra! They invited me to do a prayer circle with them, which was very interesting but also very spiritual at the same time. Not at all reverent or how I think Christ set the example for us to pray but it was still cool to do once haha. 

So María is supposed to get baptized this Saturday, but unfortunately her and our new convert, Mily, got in a big fight about their jobs and money and now María's daughter doesn't want her to get baptized and María didn't come to church because of it and hasn't met with us since. So that's been hard because they keep calling us to complain about the other twin and we are just stuck in the middle but can't really do anything but tell them to read their scriptures and pray. But Mily said she received so many answers in church this Sunday and that things are better, and we have an appointment with María for tomorrow. So hopefully we can set a new baptismal date with her! 

Last p day we did some shopping and went to an art museum in Milano. There was so much famous artwork! It was so cool. I'll attach a picture of the most famous, called "The Kiss." It's supposed to be Romeo and Juliet and apparently it's super famous but I dont know anything about art history so I took Sorella Reeder's word on everything.

To finish I just wanted to include a quotation that we used yesterday in our training from True to the Faith:

If you have a difficult task before you, Heavenly Father is pleased when you get on your knees and ask for help and then get on your feet and go to work. He will help you in all your righteous pursuits, but He seldom will do something for you that you can do yourself.

I have found this to be so true in my mission! I know this mission is to bless others, but as I have come to learn, I am also a part of this crop that I am trying to reap. My personal testimony is important to God as well, just as much as the people that I am teaching. And I know that I wouldn't grow nearly as much if the mission was easy. He will always guide us in our righteous pursuits, but He will not do anything for us that we can do alone. If He did, we would never learn.

Vi voglio bene! Have a great week everyone and enjoy the fact that you're not living in humidity as thick as jello

Sorella Henderson

Brera Art Gallery

At the Art Gallery 

The Kiss by Francesco Hayez

pday tacos

Evidence photo that Mom's halfway mark celebration package arrived!

Milano Ovest Zone Conference July 25

 Sorelle - Stimpson, Reeder, Pearson, Nelson, Roderer, Boome, (Sorella Allen) Mason, Henderson (STL), Taufe (STL), Stolk, Henson, Peterson

Anziani - Montalto (AP) Rios, McKinstry, Traeden, Ochs (ZL), Christensen (ZL), (President Allen)

Blom, Russbuelt, Heidemann, Laudert (AP) Tumblin, Llerena

I'm halfway there...

Ciao tutti! Well, as you can see by the subject line of my email, today is my 9 month mission mark!!!! I'm officially half way done, which is kind of scary and doesn't seem at all real. This week has been really busy again, and therefore really great. Maria's baptismal date has been pushed to the 28th so that she can be better prepared for her interview. Also because June 28th is the Independence Day of Peru and she wants to be able to remember the day forever. So we are glad because this way she will be a lot more prepared!

We did a practice baptismal interview this week with Maria, and it went well except for a few questions. But besides that, Maria brought her 23 year old daughter with her 2 year old daugther to our lesson this week! Her name is Caty, and she just got to Italy. And then all 3 came to church this last Sunday. Caty has been asking us some questions, and we are really hopeful that we will get to work with her too!

So we have this investigator named Karem, and she has never really seen us that often or wanted to do much in the sense of read the scriptures and come to church. But this week we had a scambio with the Sorelle of Busto Arsizio, and Sorella Reeder from my MTC group and I taught Karem a POWERFUL Restoration. When Sorella Reeder was reciting the First Vision, the Spirit was one of the strongest I have ever felt it in my life! Karem told us this time that she knows that she hasn't been commited and that she is going to commit this time to everything that we have asked her to do. She also basically said that she believes that the Church is true, so now the next steps are just preparing her for baptism.

This week, Sorella Tafur and I have been studying and talking a lot about prayer and how it works basically. I studied this a lot at the beginning of my mission, but now I have learned that God is not going to do anything for you that you can do for yourself. He will support you and help you in all your righteous tasks, but He will leave the majority of it up to you. He does this out of love for us because He wants us to grow. Just like how good parents don't spoil their children and they let them make their own decisions, God leaves us to make personal decisions and work things out on our own. And then He will support our righteous choices. I know that prayer works and that God hears every single one of them and answers those that are asked in faith and according to His will.

Vi voglio bene! Until next week!

Sorella Henderson

Highlight of the week was getting to be in a car!

Cousin Maddy Clawson was visiting Milan and had a meet up with Sorella Henderson.

Mom's package safely in hand thanks to Maddy!

Italian Heat Melts American Missionary

Ciao tutti! Well this week has been straight up AWESOME and really busy. Which is good. We had combined district meeting yesterday with the entire zone, and Sorella Tafur and I had to give our training on language skills and using the formal you form... not my favorite thing ever but it's okay. And my Spanish has been improving! I can now have conversations and teach lessons in Spanish! And I had my first dream in Italian this week as well. Probably because I never get to speak English. 

We saw some awesome miracles this week! Learning Spanish has been so helpful in starting conversations with people on the street or in the metro, and we have found a lot of potentials from it. MIRACLE STORY! So yesterday we had about 30 minutes before English class started and we decided to go out and do a little bit of finding before class. We got almost to the church when I realized we forgot the Anziani's box of Book of Mormons that we needed to bring them. So we turn back and I'm walking back to the church holding this massive box. And we're almost to the church again, and Sorella Tafur tells me, "I have a feeling we need to talk to the people behind us, but I don't know what to do!" So I said, "ci penso io" and dropped the box to the ground. Then I picked it back up, and the lady was passing by us at the perfect time. So we started talking to her, and she is interested in learning more! Always follow the promptings of the Spirit! She said that we can meet with her next week.

I am loving my mission! I can't believe that it is almost halfway over. Time is flying, and I am just trying to use every minute of it up and work as hard as I can. Life is good in the roasting hot, Italian humid climate.  until next week! Vi voglio bene!

Sorella Henderson

Peruvian meal with new member Mily (from Peru) and Sorella Tafur (born in Peru)

The missionaries get to have two cultural days a year.  This week they went to see the opera Fidelio at La Scala Theater.

ward members

"the millionth gelato"

district dinner

Navigli Sorelle elevator pic