Buooooooooooooongiorno!!!!!!!!!
It is the last week of June. June 27th is today. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!?!? I was just barely coming to terms with the fact that it's 2012, and now you're telling me the year is HALF OVER??? Mamma mia. It also means that Sor Walton is going home in like two weeks. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!
We had a leadership training meeting on Monday which meant that I finally got all my mail that got sent to Savona. Yeah, there were WAY more that got sent to Savona than got sent to Milano!!! Also, I got a present in zone mail that I think came from the RS president in Savona (there was no name on it) - a hand-made, fabric notebook cover with my initials and birthdate stitched on it! I also got something crazy like 25 letters in zone mail. All the Anziani were freaking out "dang! That's so many letters!" poor things. SO. Shout outs for this week!!!!!!! (ahem): Wendi Lucchesi, Aretha Whaley, the Beckwiths, Jennifer Davis, Sue (foleysfriend), Marfy!, the Kruegers, the Buskirks, Ginger Burke, the Benders, Donna Gabriel, Sis Cherie Scott, Debbie Hall, Auntie Kim, Jenny Lando, Mary Ellen May, Jessica Schumauch, Penny Wadham, the Curds, the Sparks, the Faggiolis, Bishop and Sis Stevens, Jo Kaufman (mamajo), Nurse Jady, Alexis Redmond, the McKeens, the Trevinos, the Baileys, Lu from NC, Stacey Lokovic, the Moultons, Christy Riggs, Brenda Molina, Memaw2wm aka Cheryl, Di aka HIDI1234, the Thompsons, Nana and Opa, Audrey (my only remaining friend from BYU, apparently) and last but not least, Mama and Papa Walton (and family)!!!!!! WHEW!!! Thanks everyone from writing to me and sending me birthday cards!!! You all are crazy and I love it! Thank you so much! You definitely helped brighten this missionary's day :) You are the BEST!!!!
Our leadership training on Monday was really good. It was just the Milano and Como zones (not Torino). And for some reason the sisters from Rimini were there, so I got to see my fellow hapa haole sister, Sorella Arume! Maybe one day we'll actually get to be real friends...although she only has one transfer left after this one (which ends in two weeks). We learned about this contacting approach called "Teach to Find". Basically we just learned how to cut out everything we say to people that has nothing to do with the message of the restored gospel (i.e. "hey, where are you from?", "boy, it sure is hot out here!") and just jump straight into teaching gospel truths so that the Spirit can testify to the person from the first second that you talk to them. It's crazy. But it works! Here's an example of what goes down: We walk up to someone walking their dog and I say "Hi! God is our Heavenly Father and we are His children. Have you ever seen the hand of God in your life?". Then they either say no/turn us away/ignore us OR answer and we keep saying short statements of doctrine (truths), bearing testimony and asking questions. Then we maybe flash the Book of Mormon at them and try to set up an appointment to give them a copy. The goal is that we can immediately invite the Spirit to testify of the truth, and therefore get them to remember who they are as children of God and that they accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ long before they ever came to the earth. But yeah. It's kinda awkward. Okay, kinda really awkward. But let's be real, missionaries ARE awkward. "Missionary" is like a euphemism for "awkward". But I'm here to talk to people about the gospel of Jesus Christ, so might as well just cut to the chase.
I had a thought the other day about fanny packs, and I'd just like to say to all those people who say that they want to bring back the fanny pack: you've clearly never been to Italy. You can't bring back what has never been gone. Sorry to crush your dreams of impacting the fashion world/pop culture, but you're gonna have to be a little bit more creative than a fanny pack. Just so ya know.
Oh, mini shout out to Sorella Williams! I got your letter this week and I really liked that devo you sent. I plan on writing you today. But by all means, keep on stalkin'! :)
Milano is such an incredible, dynamic city. The people seem to be much more friendly here than they were in Torino, but I think part of that is because 1) it's not winter and 2) there's a lot more diversity here because it's such a big city. When I got here, my companion told me that there are 400 inactive members of our ward. FOUR HUNDRED. In one ward!!!!!!!!!!!! That's NUTZ!!! What's really crazy is that we've actually ended up contacting a few less active members on the Metro. We ask "have you ever seen missionaries like us before?" and they say "yeah...I'm actually a member of your church..." and then we freak out and ask for their number and if we can go visit them. It's actually only happened twice - once with a woman who is a member and another time with a woman whose husband is a member. Totally crazy.
I think I'm getting slower at typing because my time is up and I feel like I've hardly written anything. Oh well. I love you all. Thank you for the birthday cards and thank you even more for the prayers. There are some days when I honestly don't understand how in the world my feet keep moving me forward, because, of my own strength, I am completely incapable of taking another step. But somehow I always find that I've gotten to where we're headed, and I know that it's because of the sustaining hand of the Lord in my life thanks to the "prayers of the faithful". So thank you. Thank you so much. I love you!!!
Tons and tons of AMORE from MILANO,
Sorella Soh aka the really tall, new sister missionary in Milano 2nd Ward
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