lavoro missionario alla milanese

Salve a tutti!

Well it's week two of my second transfer in Milano! The past week has been a bit crazy because we had zone conference really early this transfer - on Friday! The sisters in Pordenone had to come to Milano for a doctor's appt, and so they stayed the night with us on Thursday and then we all went to zone conference on Friday. It was the Milano and Como zones, so I got to see Sorella Bush for the first time in several months (who is currently serving in Varese). It's still weird to think that she knows the Allens...that's what you get for being a Wisconsinite! I was excited for zone conference because I thought we would finally get our Liahonas from the office, and we did! Except we got the June Liahona, not May!!! That means that I'm STILL without the general conference Liahona!! And I never got to watch the last session of conference!! 

Dad, I didn't get a letter from you last week. Instead, I got two letters from you this week! The letter that you sent from work on the 10th got here yesterday...and the letter you sent on the 16th got here Monday. Oh Italian post... But I can tell that you're really excited about your jalapenos because you've written to me about your cream cheese and pork stuffed peppers about every other week. They must be really yummy!

Shout out this week to the former Sorella Thurston who I met as she was casually traipsing about Milano with her parents this past week. And the next time you see Sorella Swenson, tell her that I say hello and I am excited for her to be a mamma!

At zone conference we were asked to pick a new finding strategy (from a list which they presented) and then put it into practice when we got back to our area. We choose to do "whiteboard". Basically what you do is get a portable dry-erase board, write a yes or no question on it, and then carry it around with you and ask people to vote. Of course you then follow up with "why?". It's crazy! It feels kinda weird at first, but we talked to more people in our hour of finding than we would have doing anything else. The first time we did it our question was "Can families be together for eternity?" and most people said yes. Then the second time we did it our question was "Are there miracles today?" and there were 18 people that said yes (or "I hope so") and 24 that said no. It's such an interesting way to find people to talk to, and kinda sad to see that people don't believe that there are miracles. So the next time you see some nutheads walking around with a dry-erase board, who knows, it could be missionaries! 

A cool thing happened while we were on the train to go see Karla this week. Sor S was making some phone calls, so I decided to talk to the woman sitting across from me. She was wearing a wooden crucifix, so I said "I like your necklace, is it handmade?" and she responded by saying (in italian) "uh, I don't speak italian very well". So I asked her where she was from and she said she was from Russia. So I said the only Russian I know: "ochen harashov" which means...um...I don't remember. It means "really good" or something like that. I learned it from the Russian missionaries in the MTC. But it was so funny because she was like "wow, you speak Russian really well!" and all I could think was, "um, I don't speak Russian at all!!!". But after I said "ochen harashov" a few times, a huge smile spread across her face. And then I remembered that I had put a Russian Restoration pamphlet in my bag a few days before, so I pulled it out and showed it to her. She saw it and said "I understand this!" and was so happy and excited. I didn't get to talk to her for very long because our stop came up, but she kept saying "mi hai fatto tanto piacere / you've made me really happy" and couldn't stop smiling. And when we were off the train and on the platform, I turned around to look back at the train and she was waving at me. Her name is Giulia, and I know that God loves her. Loves her enough to make me remember two words in Russian so that I could make her smile.

Well, that's all I've got time for this week, folks. I'm attaching two pictures, the first is of me and Karla. She is getting baptized after church THIS SUNDAY!!! She is really excited, and we're excited for her. The second picture is the four generation training picture! Sor Lofley, Sor Bunker, me, and Sor Walton. I have such a cute mission family!!!

Have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love,

Sorella Soh