Buongiorno carissimi miei!
Well, it's that time of the transfer again! And...we're staying the same! And this time I mean it! Sor Silva and I are in for another transfer together here in Milano. BUT. Big news. I'm going to be a grandma!!!!! Translation: Sorella Bunker is TRAINING!!!!! That poor thing, I'm sure she's freaking out right now, but she's gonna do great! It also means that Sorella Walton is going to be a great-grandma! Yikes! There is only one sister coming in this transfer, so Sor S and I are going to go meet up with all the new missionaries at the Duomo today so we can do contacting with this new sister, otherwise she'll be all alone with a bunch of Elders! Non va bene. I'm actually the one that called the zone leaders (who then called the Assistants to the President) and asked what they were going to do, if they were going to leave this poor new sister all alone or make her do contacting with the Anziani. Apparently the AP was like "oh, we didn't even think about that. Good thinking, Sorella Soh!" Haha. So we're going to go do that later on today.
Shout out this week to the Storz family in Germany who sent me a postcard this week! Thanks! Love you!
There's a thing in Italy called "Ferragosto". Basically it means that the month of August is vacation time, and pretty much everyone leaves the cities and goes on vacation to the beach and stuff. For the whole month. It also means that two of our progressing investigators, Alicia and Nathaly, (mom and daughter) are going on a month and a half long vacation home to Ecuador. Dangit! We met with them for the last time yesterday. They will get baptized. And if they go to church in Ecuador (like they said they would), they'll be able to get baptized pretty much right after they get back from vacation, so pray that they'll keep reading the BoM and go to church in Ecuador!
So remember how in the MTC all I could talk about was the gift of tongues and how it was so cool that all my missionary friends were learning Italian so well? Well I'm here to testify to you all today that just as real as the gift of tongues is the interpretation of tongues. Our ward here is primarily consisted of South Americans. Even my companion is South American. We have a miracle investigator, Karla, who is from Peru. We met her two Sundays ago when she just showed up in church. She took the lessons from the Elders in Peru, was about to get baptized, but then moved to Italy. And she just showed up in church and told Sor S that she wants to get baptized. Yeah. What? Miracle. Anyway, she's only been in Italy for about two months. Which means she speaks hardly any Italian. When we teach her, we teach in Spanish! Well...at least Sor S and Karla speak Spanish to each other. I've attempted to slap together a few sentances in Spanish - "Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial y nosotros somos sus hijos" - but I hardly remember anything (which makes me wonder, what on earth was I doing all those three years when I took Spanish in high school?!?). But the gift of interpretation of tongues is real. SO REAL. When I speak in Italian to Karla, she understands me, at least the majority of what I say (Sor S does have to translate a few words here and there), and when Karla speaks to me, I understand her completely. Maybe not necessarily all the words she says, but I understand what she's saying (if that makes sense). It's bizarre and wonderful. Oh, and she's getting baptized on July 28th, so happy birthday Squeaky!
Last Sunday we had 6 investigators in church! That's a lot! I've never had that many investigators in church before, and that's not even counting the number of investigators the Anziani had in church. Super exciting! In fact, the church is growing so much here in Milano that in September they are splitting the Stake!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!?!? I'm so excited that there has been enough growth here to merit a new Stake. And down in Rome they are creating another ward - the Rome 5th ward! We're just outgrowin' our britches!
I've been reading in "Jesus the Christ" lately, and I was recently blown away by the comparison made between the Word of Wisdom and the Fall of Adam and Eve. We know that commandments are eternal, but people always seem to ask "well, didn't Jesus drink wine?". But think about it. Has there ever been another time when God has commanded man to NOT partake of a particular substance? Oh right. The forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Hm. Weird. Funny how the transgression of that commandment brought an irreparable change upon the bodies of man thenceforth, how breaking that commandment was what brought about the Fall. I'd never, ever thought about it that way before.
Anyway, out of time this week. I love you all buckets and buckets! Here's to the next 6 transfers of my mission!
LOVE LOVE LOVE,
Sorella Soh
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