When in Rome...Sorella Gochnour: BE WHERE YOUR FEET ARE

This week was probably one of the best weeks I have ever had in my life....

Ok that might be exaggerating a little bit, but it was an incredible week.

Sorella Baielli ate a green bean!!! I cooked like onions, mushrooms, green beans, and some chicken and made her try a green bean and she said to me this morning, “I think I’m going to buy green beans this week.” WHAT?? She didn’t end up doing so, but that is a big step considering that the first thing she said to me was, “I don’t like vegetables and if you try to make me eat them I will get mad. And I don’t want to get mad so please don’t make me eat them.”

The best part of our week started off with the Halloween party we had. It was so much FUN! We made a lot of cute little Halloween treats and taught them a bunch of scary vocabulary haha they actually didn’t like that, but we played some games and scared some people!! With the mystery boxes that were “brains” but really just cooked spaghetti. We had lots of fun. Then when we got home we got scared out of our MINDS by the other Sorelle. They had been waiting at home and had taken out my suitcase and acted like someone went through it. Chairs were knocked over and boxes were on the ground and we didn’t know what to do. We heard one of our balcony doors slam and started freaking out. We went into the hallway and called the Anziani and the Sorelle jumped out and yelled, “Happy Halloween!!” IT WAS SO SCARY. Sorella Baielli started crying haha.

Then we took a lovely trip to Roma. We took this bus that drove us past all of the beautiful countryside, which is one of my most favorite things about Italy and we also stopped in Napoli......so we were able to get a pizza.......and it was the best pizza I have ever eaten in my life.

Then the conference came and when I saw Sorella Demann I ran to her and she started crying and it was the best hug I have had in a long time. I love her so much and we just kept hugging because it was like it wasn’t real haha. I have been waiting for 9 months to see her!!! We were visited by Elder Enjbeow (I think I am spelling it wrong, but I don’t know how to spell it) anyway he was called as a general authority in this past general conference and there were a lot of things that really stuck out to me. The assistants said something that I loved which was, “be where your feet are.” And I think that applies to everyone everywhere. But Elder Engbjerg said, “sometimes you have to go a long way to save someone.” I loved that because to Heavenly Father, we are all His children who He loves. He cares for His children one by one and it’s up to us as rescuers to bring His children home, one by one.

We also had MLC and it was a very neat experience. It was more of a counsel setting and they gave us some time to meditate upon a couple of questions. One of which was, “what have I learned from President and Sister Pickerd that I know I am going to be remembering and do for the rest of my life?” The first thought that came to my head was, “seek ye first the kingdom of God.” Just like all of the great leaders in the church they sacrifice health, family, and personal comforts to serve their fellow men. They have so much charity and are filled with the spirit. They also teach us doctrine and then let us govern ourselves which, in my opinion, is the healthiest way to help someone learn.

On Saturday we had a lesson with Nunzia. She will not be able to be baptized before I get home, but we had a great discussion about the plan of salvation. She said, “I didn’t really expect for you guys to come tonight, but it was as if God himself came here tonight to tell me these things.” She is so awesome I wish I could explain it. She also told us she was going to come to church in Bitonto on Sunday! And so we told her we would come. We walked into church and she texts us telling us that she can’t come haha. But that’s ok.

There were some other funny things that happened this week, but this email is already very long so I will just leave you with one last thing.

At the mission tour, I had the opportunity to bear my last testimony to the missionaries (meno male it’s not my last testimony ever) and it was a little difficult to pick something to bear my testimony because there are obviously A LOT of things that I have gained a testimony of. But I thought the most important thing for me to share with them was the testimony I have gained of the law of sacrifice. I didn’t find true happiness on my mission until I learned how to give up myself. I needed to understand a little bit more the principle of grace and accepting the will of God. I thought that going on a mission would be a way for me to tell Heavenly Father thank you for all of the blessings that He has given me in my life. But going on a mission was not a sacrifice for me. It’s never a sacrifice when you get back more than you give.

Love,

Sorella G ♥️🇮🇹