Happiness is like a butterfly

I never know how to start these emails, but I guess I'll just start by saying ciao like I always do...sorry if it's getting old. (Also this was an exciting week haha so this email might be kind of long, beware)

Tuesday, was probably one of the craziest days in the mission due to the fact that nothing really went according to plan, unfortunately. Midway through the day, Anziano Cutler says, "hey have you guys ever planned everything out perfectly in the morning and then had it go exactly as planned?.....because I haven't." 

We had an MLC meeting that we were going to be on time to, then we missed the street the church is on, we forgot we don't have the church keys (because we needed to go to Bari Poggio Franco's church), and there were some men doing road work on the street and they were blocking the church parking lot with their big truck while they painted lines on the street. We decided to drive down a little bit where there were no cones, more parking spots, and other cars parked. There was this little sign that said something like "lavori cominciano" in English it would be, "works starting." I was like "oh ok we're fine they're just telling us they're going to start working on the road" well little did I know that in Italian that means basically "we starting to work on this road and if you are in the way  of anything we want to do on this road we will happily remove your car from the premises" I also neglected to see the tiny little picture of a car being towed. I bet you can see where this is going. 

So we go inside to do this skype meeting and lo and behold our microphone wasn't working so might as well not even have Bari in the call!!!! Just kidding. The meeting went alright. We were trying to set goals for the month of September as a mission and we in Bari (the zone leaders and I) felt that it should be a little bit lower than the whole rest of the mission was thinking. It was a little frustrating because there were two missionaries that raised their hands to comment, one said something along the lines of "we have to have faith in Christ that we will be able to accomplish our goals" and the other said, "we need to always remember who's team we're on." Ouch. So I don't have enough faith and now apparently I'm on Satan's team haha. Just kidding, but I actually
felt kind of hurt. We said a prayer as a council and then voted on the goals and we were unanimous. I felt a lot better about it, but my mind couldn't help thinking of Levi Savage. He is my hero. If you haven't watched 17 miracles, watch it and then you will understand the reference. Then we had DDM which went alright. 

We left our phone in the zone leader's car so after the meeting, we went to fetch it and the car was gone. Yes, it was towed. Haha. So we ran home and quickly ate lunch, carrots and some cous cous, Sorella James ate a potato haha.  Then we jumped on a bus to ride into a sketchy part of town where the towed car was. We got on the right bus going the wrong direction so we walked back to the station and got on the right bus going the right direction. It was a lot less than I was expecting to pay to get the car out of the towed lot, whew.  We drove home, made the zone leaders cookies to apologize for NOT READING THE SIGN CORRECTLY (apparently I need to go back to Italian first grade and learn how to read) then we quickly went to English course. Lots of lessons learned on Tuesday haha.

The newspaper of Bari is called "La Gazzetta di Bari" this week some guy decided to do a story on the Mormon church and interviewed a less active member who does not have a positive view of the church. He basically talks about how the Mormons are racist, they don't treat women how they are supposed to, women are for making children and cleaning, etc, etc, etc. well everybody in Bari basically reads this newspaper and we had a ward council meeting where bishop talked about how we should respond to it and so forth. I actually was kind of happy and grateful for this article because it gives our members the opportunity to show their friends how they live the gospel and who they truly are!! This guy probably thought he was going to destroy the
Mormons in Bari, but instead he's publicizing us. I will send the article and you guys can see if you can translate it haha. It's actually pretty funny.

Also, the rainy season has started!!! The weather is starting to get a lot cooler. Last night I was actually cold in my skirt and short sleeve shirt. The days are getting shorter and fall is arriving!

Yesterday in church there was this old man member who fainted during fast and testimony meeting! It was so scary. Everyone thought he was going to die. Apparently, this has happened to him before so they called the ambulance and he's fine, I just have never had that experience before. It was cool to see them all come together so quickly though and give him a blessing. 

We also had a meal appointment with some members who incited their less active daughter and her boyfriend and it was so cool!!! On the bus ride home, however, there was this 52-year-old Italian man that sat across from me and Sorella James. This was the conversation we had on a 20-minute bus ride:

Him: you guys are beautiful (thumbs up haha)
Me: thanks
Him: how old are you?
Me: we're 20
Him: I'm 52
Him: Are you married?
Us: no
Him: I would like to have you as my girlfriend, or you (pointing to
Sorella James) or you (pointing to me)
Me: sorry, but you're way too old for us, plus we're missionaries
(they don't get that terminology so to make it clearer for him I told
him we're like nuns haha)
Then he patted Sorella James' hand and was about to pat my leg, but I
grabbed his hand and shook it
Him (leaning in): mi dai un bacio? (give me a kiss)
Me: No. I'm a nun.
Him: scusa ho sbagliato io (sorry I was wrong)

Hahahahaha Italian men. Gotta love them. 
Speaking of....quotes of the week from Leonardo, 

Leonardo: "La bellezza salverà il mondo" (translates to- her beauty will save the world)
Speaking to Anziano Wilkey with me standing right there: "quando ride, illumina tutta la piazza" (translates to - when she laughs, it illuminates the whole square)
This just made everyone feel uncomfortable

Updates on Silvia and Rosa?
Silvia said she couldn't come to church last week because she was sick
and she went out of town this weekend so we weren't able to meet with
her.
Cristian is the elder's investigator now
Rosa said she would let us know if we could meet with her and never
did and said this week that it's her birthday so she's busy haha.
Domenico was referred to the Anziani

So we're still looking for new people to teach!!!

Best food I ate this week? Una lasagna bianca which consists of lasagna noodles, ham, mozzarella, grated cheese, zucchini, and lots of cream

New really good gelato combo:
Fragola, fior di latte, and nocciola (Strawberry, flower of milk, and hazelnut)


Ok, now I want to share a quote with you that I learned this week about happiness. I am so happy here on my mission, but as you can see from this email, you wouldn't exactly try to get your car towed, attract a lot of old Italian men, or have people write a false article about you in the newspaper to make you happy.

And that's just it. We find happiness when we aren't seeking it. 
Henry David Thoreau said,

"Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder."

I know that we can be happy in any circumstance. I know that if we try to do things to make us happy, we won't succeed. We were created to be happy and it's something we have to constantly seek. I know that when we lose ourselves in the service (or attempt to serve others even when you have days like Tuesday) we are happy.

Sinceramente,

Your newest ZIA (translates to AUNT)

Sorella Gochnour ♥️🇮🇹