THE FOURTH WATCH

This is not a picture that goes with this email - it was from an earlier gathering.

Hello everyone. Time is short so like always I'm just going to give a few highlights and leave the rest for funny stories when I get home haha. Also I'm sorry if I have already written an email titled like this before, but I relearned this concept this week so that is why.

New missionary interaction of the week:
Sorella Wood: "why is this cheese soooooo good?"
Me: because it's real mozzarella cheese haha

Sorella Wood: "American cheese pizza is lame. That's what I've learned."
Me: (laughing) "I'm glad that in two and a half weeks of missionary
work you've learned that American cheese pizza is lame hahahaha

Highlights:

• we had a lesson with a member and we were teaching her about giving a Book of Mormon to someone. At the end we invited her to do so and she says, "you know as you guys were talking I was thinking about all of the people I could possibly give a Book of Mormon to and this lady's name popped into my head. I have no idea why because she is super cattiva (direct translation is like evil but we don't really describe people in English as being evil and I don't remember what word you use so we're just going to use the Italian one) but I will pray about it and see what it is that Heavenly Father wants me to do." Ok coolest experience ever!!!

• Saga made us Finnish pancakes because she is going back to Finland to go through all of her mom's stuff. (We will probably take a break teaching her because she doesn't really have intentions to be baptized and I don't think she has as open of a mind as she says she does)

• We had a scambio with Sorella Wise and she is so funny haha she says to me "I'm done praying for charity or patience because every time I do Heavenly Father gives me EVERY opportunity to develop that characteristic. Don't do it!!" Haha she was joking obviously but it was super funny!

• Saturday, we had the miracle of all miracles. There is this less active family that I have called since February (when I got here). I call them every week. Sometimes multiple times a week and no answer. But this week he answered and set up an appointment with us Saturday. I was really skeptical that it was going to happen so on Friday I called to confirm and it was confirmed. So Saturday, we leave our house at 3:30pm to get there. Well long story short our appointment was at 5pm and we got there at 6pm!!!! Haha oh man. The struggle. And when we got there they had prepared dinner and he had left work early to be there, their 14 year old son didn't go to tutoring to be there and the wife didn't work so she could be there. They are from Peru and all have really strong testimonies, they just work literally 24/7 so they can never come to church. They invited us back for a FHE on Monday and it will be awesome! Finally a breakthrough!!! Prayers are answered people!!

• Sunday, we got a call from a less active family I have never even heard of. They called our phone 8 times during church and we got out and called them and they said "can you guys come visit us?" YES!!!!!! That has NEVER happened to me before.

• There also was this Chinese man who went and sat next to Sorella Wood on the metro and doesn't speak Italian or English really. Just Chinese and he was telling us how he is Christian so in our limited communication we managed to set up an appointment with him so we'll see how that goes. I'm still trying to figure out how to teach someone when you don't speak the same language but we'll figure it out!

The title comes from something really crucial that I learned this week.

I wish I could explain it in more detail but basically 
WE WORSHIP A FOURTH WATCH GOD. Meaning that God will always come, but it will be in the fourth and last watch of the night after we have rowed the equivalent of 75 football fields against the wind. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the 48th watch and He's never coming, BUT Brad Wilcox allowed me to learn otherwise. He says, "We worship a. Fourth watch God. So when the trials aren't over and the blessings don't come, don't assume that Ne is not there or He is not listening, or He doesn't care, or you're not worthy. ALWAYS ASSUME you have NOT YET REACHED the fourth watch."

I know that we worship a loving and merciful God. He loves us and He wants to help us grow. He is ALWAYS watching us and He is ALWAYS listening. He will calm the storms of our lives.

"Be still and know that I AM GOD."

Have a great week and always remember that when you're like almost drowning, you haven't yet reached the fourth watch, so HANG IN THERE
until the Savior comes to your rescue!!!

Con amore,

Sorella G 🎈🇮🇹

I Often Go Walking.....

Adriano chillin at the park

Ciao carissimi!!!

First of all. Family. I love you all so much. Seeing your faces and hearing your voices makes me so happy. I miss being with you all. I felt like a proud family member when we discovered that four members of the family were wearing duke gear, three members of the family were in church clothes, and the other two are in Italy!!! THAT'S WHAT I CALL A FAMILY!!!

This week I don't have very many exciting stories to tell. I will tell you that I have never had so many cancelled appointments in my whole mission!! What is with these people???? We make appointments and then we get there......nothing. Sorella Wood and I were kind of laughing because we were going to be SO BUSY Friday and Saturday and Sunday and actually every single appointment we had cancelled haha. So at least we got weekly planning done!! We also made sugar cookies for all of the mothers in our ward and we had some extras so we were handing them out to all of these mothers on the bus and in the streets that we saw and they were so happy. We also gave them to all of our neighbors and I don't think I have ever made so many people smile. Successful missionary moment. Making people smile is the best!!

New missionary quote of the week: "feeling discouraged?" After she watched me get shut down for about two hours of finding haha Also I really walk too fast I think. Poor sorella wood always asks me, "why are you walking so fast?" I blame it on you mom and dad!!!

Sometimes when all of your appointments get cancelled you get a little discouraged. I think it's pretty natural so I'm not too worried about it. Or I guess I'm like the worst planner in the history of the world. I am such an imperfect missionary. Last night was particularly bad however, and I was a little bit at a loss of what to do. Well Heavenly Father blessed me with a little tender mercy and a little lady from Columbia named Betta. We were at a bus stop (the second one because after waiting for forty minutes of the bus not coming we decided to take the bus that brings us within walking distance of our apartment)
and she asked us if we knew when the bus came. We started talking and I was able to testify to her that someday she will be able to see her son (who passed away) again and explain some of the things we believe in and where our church is and talk to her about what she believes in. She said she works for an old lady who doesn't let people come over and so she can't really meet with us, but for me just to be able to speak to someone who wanted to listen in Italian and to hear testimony and to testify of the things we believe in was such a tender mercy. Heavenly Father loves His children!!!

This week I was studying in chapter nine of preach my gospel (how to find new investigators) and I was highlighting the things I need to do, and the things Heavenly Father will do in return if I do those things. I was looking for a goal for this transfer and I cam across this sentence

If you will look for opportunities to love, serve, and teach, the bishop and ward members will be more likely to trust you with their family members and friends.

Sorella Gochnour needs to LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES to LOVE, SERVE, and TEACH

In return: the bishop and ward members WILL BE MORE LIKELY to trust you with their family members and friends.

I made this my transfer goal and as a weekly goal to help me accomplish this transfer goal I want to have a family home evening with one member family every week and as a daily goal I want to call a member every single day and talk to them and just ask them how they are doing and offer service to them. I think this will help them to feel like they are more loved by us and they will be MORE LIKELY it's not a guarantee to trust us with their family and friends. But I am confident in the promises of God and know that if He makes a promise, He will fulfill that promise.

As I was contemplating how grateful I am for mothers this week I had a couple of thoughts. There are some incredible talks given by general authorities and prophets about mothers but the thing that really sticks out to me is the connection between the love of the Savior and the love of a mother. It is a divine love. Elder Holland says, "Maternal love has to be divine. There is no other explanation to it." Thanks mom for being a savior on mount Zion. Thank you for shaping souls and for demonstrating the pure love of Christ. There's a primary song that comes to my mind whenever I think of you and it goes like
this

I often go walking in meadows of clover,

 and I gather armfuls of blossoms of blue.

I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over;

Dear mother all flowers remind me of you.

O mother, I give you my love with each flower

To give forth sweet fragrance a whole lifetime through

For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking,

I learned how to love them, dear mother, from you.

I hope all of you mothers know how much I love and look up to you!!!
Especially you JBG!!!

Love

Sorella G ❤️🇮🇹

Mother's Day call SLC NYC LAKE COMO AND ROME

cookies we made for Mother's Day and then extras we passed out to our neighbors and people on the bus - missionary miracle, we got smiles and thank you's 

BAMBINA 2

Hellllloooooooo......

So I bet you're all dying to hear where I am......(or not) either way, I'm still here in Rome 3 and will be for the next two transfers because I'm training!!! I did not expect that at all actually. There are about 26 sisters that come to our mission, but they come next transfer, and then the transfer after that so I thought I would be training then, not now, but Heavenly Father knows best!

My new companion's name is Sorella Wood. She is from Oregon and is the youngest of her family and the first sister missionary in her family!
She is super kind and I am excited to be able to work with her. I have only spent three days with her so I don't know her very well yet. Sorella Bicchierri got transferred to Taranto which is where she was born and she has a ton of extended family there which is crazy! But she was so excited.

This week we saw Vanessa and Nino in church!! They came, they were only an hour late and missed all of sacrament meeting, but they still came! I was so happy. The ward members did a really great job of helping them feel welcomed and they liked it I think. We are really trying hard to set a baptismal date with them this week. So speriamo bene!!

Sorella Bicchierri and I also had a lesson with an ex investigator and it was the strangest lesson I have ever been a part of. The investigator said a prayer to open and then Sorella Bicchierri said a prayer and then I said a prayer. And then she asked us to pray for her health because she's going to die in two years? She also had four Book of Mormons? I'm not sure exactly why. Anyway. Her name is Lucy haha. Perfect. We'll see where things go with her.

From picking Sorella Wood up on Thursday and Sunday we have been doing
A LOT of finding and talking with people and we haven't really seen any success. It is kind of funny some of the questions she has asked in these first three days. For example, "Does anyone ever want to listen to are message?" "The one guy that we talked to tried to kiss me." She also just speaks in English to everyone she sees and it's super funny haha. She sat down on a bus next to this old lady who had her feet on the chair and Sorella wood told her, "you're fine you can
keep your feet there" haha as if the lady could somehow understand her. I asked her about it after and she said, "Yeah I didn't know how to say that in Italian so I just said it in English." Haha. She's super awesome and helpful. She has a good memory and is very mature.

We also had a funny experience this week. We were talking to this lady and she was being sooo kind. She was this old little grandma and she was telling me how much she admired us and how much of a devoted catholic she was and I asked her if she would like to add to her knowledge and listen to the message that we share with people and she kindly said no, but after I was like ok well we have to go, but what's your name? She says, "guess! It's the most beautiful name in the world!!" I said, "Maria!!!" And she practically tackle hugged/kissed
me haha. It was funny. I guess I guessed correctly.

I am so excited to be able to train again. There is a lot of responsibility and stress however that comes with it. I love and have found inspiration in a talk given in this past general conference given by Elder Palmer titled "The Jesus Beholding Him Loved Him." I have found great comfort in his closing remarks which are, "My dear brothers and sisters, now anytime you feel you are being asked to do something hard....think of the Lord beholding you, loving you, and
inviting you to let it go and follow Him. And thank Him for loving you enough to invite you to do more."

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. It may seem sometimes like we never really get a break, but I am trying to change my perspective and think about how anytime I have been asked to do something hard, I need to think about how much Heavenly Father loves me and thank Him for LOVING me ENOUGH to invite me to do more.

B E C O M I N G. It's a process. And if we submit our will to that of the Father, He will help us to become the people we are destined to be.

I love you all and am sending you lots of love from la Bella città di Roma!!!!

Con amore

Sorella g ❤️🇮🇹

I DID NOT COME HERE TO FAIL

Ciao cari mieiiiii..............

Pasta pasta pasta pasta BASTA WITH THE PASTA!! Oh my goodness I have eaten so much pasta this week. I can't take it anymore! My body is starting to refuse it so that is how I feel about pasta right now. Am I sick of the taste? Not in the slightest. Do I want the carbs? NO. 

So transfers are tonight and I have no idea of what is going to happen, but I know that Sorella bicchierri and I will no longer be companions. It will be sad not being able to be with her. I really love her and she is such a great example to me of charity and of selfless love. This transfer I picked a "good, better, best" to work on and that was loving my companion. I love her and really you can kind of get along with a person pretty easily, but I wasn't loving her as I should have. I really have a testimony of divine help. I feel that as I have strived to do my best to love sorella Bicchierri and to see her as Christ sees her, our relationship has grown. There were a couple of little things that bugged me really bad and it was super frustrating for me because I didn't want them to bug me, they just did. And the worst part is they are stupid little things that really don't matter. But it wasn't until I sought divine help that I was able to move past those things and love and serve her the way I should I am really grateful for Sorella bicchierri. She is one of my best friends. I have learned so much from her and she will be one of my best friends for the rest of my life. I am so grateful for the divine love and help that I received from Heavenly Father and have a testimony that PUNTO 13 of weekly planning is very inspired haha. I am no where near perfect, but it has been really great to see a difference in our relationship. 

Also guess who we saw this week!!?!? Vanessa and Nino!! Woot woot! They are really so awesome. Every time we go over there I become more and more convinced that they are already members just not baptized. They are so faithful and would be such an incredible blessing to Rome 3. We will do our best to help them continue on the right path!

Another highlight of the week was an FHE we had with the cutest member family. They are so awesome and are really such a good example of what I want my own family to be like some day. I mentioned something to them thanking them for their example of living IN the world but not OF it and how scared sorella Bicchierri and I are to return to "non-missionary life" (even though I still have a solid seven months don't worry I'm not trunky I promise). And fratello Bosco says, "fate bene fate bene" haha which basically means "yeah good job don't think about it it's scary and you don't want to return to the world" haha. Thanks for the advice! He also speaks perfect English and was joking with us how in the premortal world he was like really wanting to go to America and was headed on his way and then he tripped and fell in Italy haha. They have such strong testimonies and their children are so sweet. They are also really trying to do member missionary work which is the best thing ever!!

On a more spiritual note this week I read a talk given by Elder Nelson about how we can prepare the world for the millennial reign of the Savior. He brought up a point that I really like. He counsels us to study the lives of the 16 prophets of this dispensation and then goes on to share an experience he had with President Joseph F. Smith. President Smith in a meeting expressed love and confidence and a sincere desire to help the leaders of the church instead of telling them what they should be doing and what to change. After the meeti he was complimented on his remarks that he gave and his response was, "I did not come here to fail." 

We can learn so much from this phrase but the first thing that came to my mind was the beautiful plan the Heavenly Father created for us. He didn't send us here to earth for us to fail, but to have success. And more than that, to find joy in the process. So that is exactly what I am trying to work on.

I'll let you know next week if I remain in Roma 3 number 1 or if I am transferred somewhere else!!!

Have a great week!

Sorella G 🇮🇹

pasta that Sister B and I Made !!

favorite flower peony - free

Boh non lo so come intitolare questo email quindi......AVANTI ANDIAMO

Well...this week seemed to pass by quite slow and I'm not exactly quite sure if I can remember what we did so I'll do my best here....

Updates on Vanessa??? We saw her and then we were not able to see her again so she will not be ready for baptism on the 29th but hopefully next month! We had a great lesson with her and her husband. He spoke a lot more than she and knows the Bible really well and had some questions about the church that we were able to clear up. He said, "wow!! Thank you so much. I now can tell everybody I know that this is how it actually is." I really hope that we can help them to get ready to be baptized as a family!!

We also had a great lesson with Saga. I don't know if you remember her, but she's the one from Finland. She's very knowledgeable and she went to Finland to go visit her mother who was sick and actually passed away. Well she returned this week and wanted to meet with us again!! She was interested in the Book of Mormon. I am pretty sure she has read everything bad about Joseph smith and our church, but the thing I love is her desire to learn the truth. She is so open and wants to understand all of the things that we believe in. We had a great discussion about faith, and testimonies, and the Book of Mormon. Hopefully she will read and pray. She really sees the difference

between members of our church and everybody else so let's hope she can act on her curiosity!!

On Saturday, we had a ward activity!!! Can you believe it!! And there were quite a few people there. We had lots of singers, a couple of guitarists, a member taught us how to make food from where she's from (somewhere in the north by Rimini s/o sorella roloff!!), a violinist (me), and a few people who forgot their lines while reciting poetry. We had to kind of tell people to stop because there is a member who sang a song, and then everybody else went and he sang another song, and then another one haha. But it was the classic Italian talent show.
I think the members and non members really loved doing it and it was something our ward needed.

Yesterday in church I played the song "We are all enlisted" while the congregation sang and it was really a fun experience that I have never had before. The bishopric member got up and said, "that reminded me of when the pioneers were traveling across the plains and they didn't have a piano, but were able to sing hymns while people played the violin."

I love the last verse of the hymn that goes like this:

Fighting for a kingdom, and the world is our foe;
Happy are we! Happy are we!
Glad to join the army, we will sing as we go;
We shall gain the vict’ry by and by.
Dangers may gather--why should we fear?
Jesus, our Leader, ever is near.
He will protect us, comfort, and cheer.
We’re joyfully, joyfully marching to our home.

I love that we are all enlisted. I'm sorry that this week wasn't that very exciting, but that's ok. I am grateful for the mediocre weeks because they make the incredible weeks that much better. I hope you all know that I know Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He restored the church of Jesus Christ back on the earth.

Ciaooooooooo

❤🇮🇹Sorella Gochnour

Come posso diventare un membro della vostra chiesa??

Ok hi!!! 

This was probably one of the best weeks of my mission. I have now almost made it all of the four seasons of the year in Italy and spring is by far my favorite. I absolutely love it and feel so blessed every morning to wake up and be outside in the beautiful world that was created for us. And especially at Easter!!

I had a scambio this week with Sorella Crandell in Rome 1 and it was probably the most miracle filled scambio I have ever been on. Right when we got off of the metro we were talking about how we need to except miracles and here was a man that said, "excuse me, can you tell me how to become a member of your church?" Sorella Crandell and I were a little caught off guard haha. Long story short we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and took his number to give to the Anziani to teach so I really hope something good will come from that! We also were able to share the Easter video with quite a few people in the park. Rome 1 has some beautiful parks and we were able to give out another Book of Mormon to a GANS (YSA) who was really interested to know more about what the Book of Mormon is. Sorella Crandell also helped me to understand how I can change to love my companion more and to find new ways to serve her. Service doesn't always have to be something you can see. 

Sorella Bicchierri and I also were blessed to receive two referrals who are both progressing investigators! One is named Jenny and the other Carmela. I have yet to meet them, but am looking forward to it in the future. And we have another investigator with a BAPTISMAL DATE!! W H A T?? She is a former investigator named Vanessa that we weren't able to contact or see for about two months and on Saturday I just said, "let's try calling Vanessa" so we did and she was at home and said to come over. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ because she has already been taught the restoration and the plan of salvation. She has such a strong testimony and when we invited her to be baptized she said, "ok at what time?" The date we set is for April 29which is quite soon, but I have faith that she can be prepared for that day. She has a very strong testimony and desire to be baptized. Of course if she is not prepared by that day and is too soon, we will move it. But for now we will work our hardest to follow the spirit and do the will of the Father. 

After the lesson I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face. I asked Sorella Bicchierri if we could just stop and say a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for allowing us to be a part of that miracle. It was something I will never forget. The joy you feel when you witness others experience the joy that the gospel brings is a joy that cannot be described. Easter was a beautiful and calm day. As I sat in church on Sunday during the sacrament and the whole three hours of church I just sat and pondered. I thought about the mothers in the rows ahead of me and how someday that will be me, doing anything to get my children to just sit still, but I just thought how much I am going to miss these sacrament meetings some day. Gathering with the faithful saints of Italy on the beautiful Easter Sunday. 

I hope you all had a happy Easter!!!

Con affetto e con amore 

Sorella Gochnour 

HONOR YOUR NAME

Hello!!!

First off I wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to Jake for getting his mission call to CAMBODIA!! You're going to do incredible things in that country.

Here are some "first's" that I experienced this week:

• First gochnour in Asia!!!! (Besides dad)
• I taught my first relief society lesson!!
• First run in with an American that I know (tourist season is in full swing) we were walking and someone says "hi missionaries!!" And I turn and there were Ellery Howarth's parents!!
• First time at an Italian university. We are trying to focus on the18-30 generation so what better place to go put yourself out there than a college campus?? Although I do have to say it kind of gave me anxiety thinking that I'm going back to college after my mission
• First time attending a baptism where it was just the missionaries and the man getting baptized haha so Sorella Bicchierri and I went right outside the church and invited everyone on the street if they wanted to come to a baptism, no one wanted to. We still have a lot of work todo here!!!
• And I got proposed to by a 60 year old Italian lawyer in park. It was probably the most awkward thing I have ever experienced. He asked me if someone who is so young like me would ever marry him. I said, "I personally would never do it, but I'm sure someone might." Then he said well let's get married after your mission. Me: no thanks. And then the conversation basically ended and we walked (ran) away.

This week was jam packed with a lot of stuff. So I will try to cover all of the important things.....

Sorella Bicchierri and I had the honor of being invited to this award ceremony for an Italian government official that the church gave to him. It was for the valori della famiglia so something to do with his family and the way he tries to help the community of Rome to support family values. It was in the library right by the pantheon and it was very cool. The only not so cool thing was that Sorella Bicchierri and I somehow didn't time everything correctly so we had about 45 minutes to make an hour and a half walk to get there on time. I would have preferred to be early, but you know how things a lot of the time don't
exactly work out as planned. We basically ran from the Villa (mission home) into downtown Rome and switched metros haha and showed up only five minutes late! Luckily the man was late so it hadn't started, but we showed up dripping sweat. It was not my most proud moment that's for sure. Here come the Sorelle representing all the missionaries and they're five minutes late and dripping sweat like they just ran a marathon!!! Oh man haha maybe next time. It worked out well in the
end.

We also had an incredible zone conference. We were able to watch the video of the angel Moroni being put on the temple and it was so cool. It's such a big step in such an incredible process. We also talked a lot about good, better, best. Often times we find ourselves with too much to do and not enough time. Well maybe we are filling up all of our time with good things and maybe not the best things. I think it's always good to be repenting and changing and learning from our mistakes and doing our best to become the best we can be!! IF IT'S GOING TO BE, IT'S UP TO ME. And then the AP's gave a great lesson about the Book of Mormon and how we can use it more in our missionary work. I can't believe I have spent all of this time on my missions and haven't been opening it for them to read, but just telling them about it. The power comes when we feel the spirit touch our hearts through the words!! So I'm looking forward to using the Book of Mormon more in my work.

Speaking of work, Sorella Bicchierri and I were able to find 4 new investigators this week!!!! And even teach a couple of lessons!! The unfortunate thing is that we have not been able to contact any of them since those couple of first lessons, so we'll keep looking this week! We saw so many miracles I wish I could write them all down but time is just not really my friend right now.

As you all know yesterday was Palm Sunday and I thought it was really cool because the Catholic Church handed out to everyone little branches of olive trees. It was cool to see everyone thinking of Christ and his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Next Sunday is also Easter and I just wanted you all to think for a second and think about the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. As a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I have taken the name of Jesus Christ upon me through the ordinance of baptism. As a missionary I represent Him and wear His name on my chest every single day. I can't begin to express what an honor it is to have the opportunity to do so. I hope this Easter and really hope all the time, not just Easter and Christmas, that you all will be able to remember and use the powerful gift of the Atonement that Jesus Christ gave to us. I hope that if you have taken His name upon you, that you will HONOR that name. And help others to come to know Him.


Buona Pasqua!!!

Sorella G ❤🇮🇹