La volontà di Dio

This week was a little bit slower. In the sense that I don't have much to tell you are, but the week flew by.

I had a scambio (exchange) this week where Sorella Holmes came to Rome three!! Unfortunately we weren't able to teach any lessons because the two we had scheduled were cancelled so we did lots of finding. And got shut in the closing doors of a metro haha. That one was my fault because I jumped in and she didn't have time to so she had like one leg and one arm in the door and I didn't know what to do so I pulled the doors open and jumped out haha. That was a funny experience. She really helped me to refocus on my work and also helped me to have a greater ability to talk to people.

We also had a ward party saying goodbye to one of our members that is moving to Puglia. We had two people come to the party that we weren't expecting. Our investigator Magdona was progressing and we finally got her a Book of Mormon in Hungarian!! The only bummer was that she was pretty firm on saying that when we die, we are buried and our bodies turn to dust and that's it. Our spirits don't go anywhere else. We are hoping to really have a great plan of salvation lesson and help her see that there is hope after we die and we will all be resurrected and get the chance to live with Heavenly Father!!!

We also met with a member who is from the Philippines. Her name is Sharon and she is here with her two children. She does a really great job of doing member missionary work. Her son is 17 years old and her daughter is 14 and she has raised them well!! We had a great discussion with them about James 1:5 and her son bore his testimony to us about how he gained his testimony. They are very shy and it was such a miracle to get him to open up to us. He said the whole thing in Tagalog because he doesn't like speaking English and his mom translated it for us into English. Languages are the coolest things ever!!

The highlight of the week was zone conference!!! The closer I get to the end of my mission, the harder it is to get through zone conferences. It is such a special experience, I can't really describe. But basically I don't have any family here in Italy and my mission President and his wife and the missionaries that surround me have become like my parents and my brothers and sisters. Zone conference
always brings everything into perspective because it makes the hard times in the missions seem like precious learning moments and the good times seem like the best times ever. Our theme of zone conference was given in a talk from April 1979 titled "Forward and Upward" where we discussed about how sometimes we have paused on some plateaus for too long. We also discussed a lot about the will of God. As I was studying this topic I really was hit by how much of a CHOICE it is. When we take upon ourselves the will of God, that is a choice we are making. And by making that choice Heavenly Father will lift us up and edify us and help us grow into the people that we need to become.

My sister grace sent me in an email one time this quote that I really love, "we shouldn't count how many prayers we say, but how many prayers we answer." And I really love that. I feel like that goes along with the will of God. It could be the best thing that ever happened to us, but it all depends on the perspective that we have of it.

I was also able to play my violin at zone conference. I accompanied an elder who sang, "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul". He has an incredible voice and I thing everyone was able to really feel the spirit. It is really cool for me to be able to play because that was a song I wasn't able to play before my mission, but now without practicing I am able to play it. Which doesn't make sense logically, but with the help of the Lord He can transform us into ANYTHING to help us bless the lives of others!!

Sorry if this email is a little boring haha....

Also happy Fourth of July tomorrow!!! Eat lots of yummy food and watch
some cool fireworks for me!!

Sincerely,

Sorella G ❤🇮🇹