Ciao everyone!
It. Is. August. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AUGUST?!?!?!? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN???? Yesterday marked my 11 month anniversary of having a spiffy black nametag. ELEVEN MONTHS. It doesn't even seem possible. Yaow-za.
I have to add my testimony of the likeness between me and Michelle, mom, because yesterday I showed my little family picture book to a guy in our ward and he saw the pages of Michelle and said "wow! It's like looking at pictures of Sorella Soh's childhood!". And that was after he saw our 2010 Christmas card picture and pointed to Michelle and said "is this a picture of you when you were little??" I tried not to think about how ridiculous it would be to send a childhood picture of me on our Christmas card picture, but I refrained because they don't do Christmas cards here, really. Eh. Oh well. The funny thing is, though, that when they see our 2011 family picure, people ALWAYS say that dad and Alex are the ones that look most alike. They always say dad and Alex are "uguale / the same".
It's gotten hotter again these past few days, but we should be getting closer to the end of the insane heat because it's already August! Yikies. On Friday we had a member come to a lesson with us, and after the lesson the three of us walked together to the metro stop by our house because she was going home and we had another appointment. As we were walking down the steps to the stop, she stopped and said "do you guys want some gelato?" and of course we happily accepted. So we turned around and went to a really yummy gelateria (accent on the i, mom, ge-lah-teh-REE-uh ;) ) and it was so good and so nice because it was so hot. I got two flavors: fig and peach.
There was another funny/cool story from this week that I send to President in my email:
"Last week we were on the metro and I saw a woman I wanted to talk to. The only problem was that she was sitting down and I was standing up and there were people awkwardly placed between us so I couldn't talk to her. I could tell she was looking at me and my nametag and we kept catching each other looking at each other. When we got to our stop, I prayed in my heart "please get off the train, please get off the train!" but she didn't get up. I was trying to figure out what to do - stay on the train and talk to her and be late to our appointment, or let the situation slide (neither option being a particularly good one) - when we got to the stop and lo and behold, she got up at the last second and got off the train! After that I knew it was game-on and I was almost taking people down trying to follow this woman. I finally got her to slow down by making some dumb comment about what stop we were at, but as soon as I talked to her, she kept telling us about how she had seen me on the metro and liked me because I had been smiling and whistling and happy. She had wanted to talk to me, too. So, don't forget to be happy - people notice!" Her name is Hilda, and we got her number and are still trying to find a time when she can see us.
Oh, S.lla Williams or S.lla Walton, can one of you (or both) send me a copy of that "sacred missionary" talk? The one that talks about social missionaries, honorable missionaries and sacred missionaries? I welcome your comments on it, as well. Thanks, GEMs! Also, you both and my cousin Sarah should all listen to a song for me because it keeps getting stuck in my head: "Soldiers without an Army" by Everybody Else (album First Class). Kgreatthanks.
About a week and a half ago we were teaching a 16 yr old girl named Laura. Usually we teach her and her 11 yr old sister, Rebecca, but Rebecca wasn't there. Since they're both underage, we can't go in their house if there isn't an adult woman with us, and since their mom is usually always at work, we just sit on the steps of the stairwell by their front door and teach there. Anyway, we had read the first few verses of Enos with Laura and were talking about prayer and stuff and I don't know what happened, but the lesson turned into me just trying to figure out how Laura was doing, like how she was really doing. It came out that she was having a really hard time feeling Heavenly Father's love for her. I don't know how it happened, but the whole lesson I felt like I was back at the MTC, focused 100000% on helping this person feel God's love without any lines from Preach my Gospel or Zone Trainings all mixed up in my head with people telling me what it means to be a good missionary and what I have to do in order to fulfill my calling and everything I do wrong. In that moment all I saw was a daughter of God who needed to feel the love of her Father in Heaven. And before I knew it, I was opening my mouth and making promises to her and I have no idea why or where they came from. I promised her that if she would kneel down and ask God the big question "why?", that He would answer her and she would feel His love for her. She said she'd do it. After the lesson I was a little bit dumbfounded because I couldn't really explain what had just happened. Anyway, we went back a few days ago and, with a little bit of hesitation, not knowing what to expect, I asked Laura if she had prayed like I asked her to. Her response? Yes, she had prayed. "And...?" She told me that she had prayed, and that night, she had a dream. She dreamt that she was with her Grandfather, who passed away a while ago. She said she was really, really happy. And then so I asked her "do you know that God loves you?" and she said "Yes."
Well, I still have a few minutes left, but my companion is done and wants to go. She's waiting for me by the door already We are going out to eat pizza with Sorelle Forbes and Bishop, who are in the Milano 3rd ward. I'll try to remember to take pictures. I often bring my camera when we go out on Pday, but I don't always remember to use it...
I love you all tons and tons and tons! I'm still waiting on your letter this week, Dad, but I guess I'll just have to wait. Happy late Birthday, Squeaky! I love you so much and I can't believe you are 12 years old! I'm glad you had fun at girls' camp!
AMORE,
Sorella Soh
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