5th Letter from Cuneo

Dear Family,

This week has flown by, and I have loved every minute of it. Even though there have been moments when I have felt guilty for making mistakes, the Lord has picked me up and told me that it is okay. There is repentance through the power of His son. He loves us so much, and wants us to move forward and be better each day. I have come to learn that a perfect mission does not mean being an excellent teacher right off the bat. It means to make a lot of mistakes, and to learn, to grow, to trust the Lord and to pray a lot. This is why our hard experiences become so beautiful to us. We grow so much in the process!

This week we have had a few priceless experiences that have strengthened our companionship soo much! For example, a broken water heater and a flat bike tire. These are two things which could very easily cause us to get frustrated and whiny, but once again, my optimistic companion has turned these situations sunny side up. We have been trying to get a hold of the man in our ward who is responsible for helping us with repairs, but in the meantime, we take turns heating large pots of water on the stove to do the dishes and take showers.

A few days ago, while leaving the apartment to go to church we discovered that my companion's front bike tire was flat. There was no way that we could be to church on time if we walked so we concluded that our only option was to share my bike. She sat behind me, tightly wrapped her arms around my torso and said, "I have full trust in you! Let's go, we can do it!"

We headed off, and I will never forget it. This is one of the highlights of my mission thus far. If I end up counseling with couples as a profession after my mission, I might consider having them do this exercise! There is no way that you can be contentious when riding a bike together, especially when there is only one seat. We laughed the whole way there and received many smiles. The moment that people saw us, they could not help but crack a smile. I am sure we must have looked like quite a spectacle, with our helmets and skirts, passing by them, one mile an hour up the hill. Success!!

My companion yelled words of encouragement when I was getting sore and tired. "You are so strong! Keep going, keep it up." She trusted me, and even though it was a little bit frightening when we went over the bumps, we were balancing together. I loved it! This is a simple example of how the "flat tires" in our life can turn out to really strengthen the unity of our relationships as we try our best to work through them. We can turn hard experiences into great adventures that we will cherish afterwards. We made it to church on time and had a wonderful Sunday.

This past week, I had a day that really strengthened my testimony of the power of prayer and fasting. The night before, as I looked over our scheduled lessons for the next day, I felt a little overwhelmed. Each one of our investigators seemed to have some huge obstacle that kept them from progressing. I decided to fast the next morning and to take more time to pray earnestly for help. Wow, the Lord blessed us with miracle after miracle that day. First lesson... it is usually really hard to have the Spirit present, let alone to have a conversation with this investigator because her two little boys are very wild. The lesson prior to that, they had been running around without any clothes on, and I was not really looking forward to trying to teach them again. This day was our first time coming in the morning. To our surprise, her boys were very calm. They colored quietly while we taught their mom. The spirit was peaceful and it was a beautiful meeting. It dawned on me- why haven't we been teaching her in the mornings? It makes so much sense, rather than coming at the end of the day when her kids are tired and wound up from being inside all day. We set our return appointments for this time, and felt relieved that one obstacle had been removed.

Lesson/tender mercy number two: one of our young, golden investigators wants to be baptized, but her mother is not interested in meeting with us. We are worried about upsetting her by setting a baptismal date or teaching her daughter if she is not okay with it. We made some brownies and prayed that this mom's heart would be softened and that we would get to meet her. After our lesson with the girl, in the presence of a family in our ward, they invited her over and we were able to talk with her. I think that the brownies made a big difference and she was very open to talking with us and wants to come to church another time. She was very happy to meet us and we knew that the Lord had helped her to soften her heart.

We taught two other miraculous lessons, and our investigators really progressed. I know that when I humble myself and admit to the Lord that I do not know what to do, it is okay. He is there to make up for the rest, if I kneel in prayer and dedicate myself to do His will. My desire and work are important, but above all, He is in control, and this is His work.

Love,

Sorella Quincy Oakes

4th Letter from Cuneo

Dear Family,

I love you sooo much! Here is part of the letter to my mission president this week. I wrote good letters that I will send in the mail today. The others should be arriving soon.

1. GEM: Describe one thing your companion did for you this last week that made you want to be a better missionary: One of my favorite things about my companion is her ability to be enthusiastic and excited about everything! When we are tired in the middle of the day she literally waves her hands up in the air and yells, "Yay, we get to go teach so and so!" or "I am so excited to...". She makes missionary work more fun. She is a great example of what it means to endure to the end-- enduring to the end with gusto and joy in this marvelous work. When I feel tired or discouraged, she makes me laugh. No matter what the situation, she focuses on the postive and has a plan for how we can improve next time.

I have one small, insignificant experience with her this week that occupies my mind. We were bundling up before we went out into the cold. She cannot stand the cold, but I remember her sighing, and then laughing and exclaiming, "I love the winter because I get to wear my beautiful scarves! I am so excited to go outside, I am!" While she was simply trying to encourage herself to do something she did not want to do, this made a big impression on me.

Her positive attitude prompts me to wake myself up, physically or emotionally, shake the dust off my feet and to "give it my all". She has taught me a lot about how we can "act for ourselves and not be acted upon". If we give our best to the Lord and then look up we will recognize his miracles and tender mercies that surround us. When we have this attitude of gratitude, the Lord is pleased with our hearts. At the end of a long day we feel a warm feeling of contentment that it was indeed another successful day.

2 MIRACLE: Describe one miracle that occurred this past week; something that increased your awareness that God is directing your work:

This week we taught our first lesson with a brilliant little girl who is nine years old. Brilliant meaning she has a radiant spirit! Although her parents are separated and her mother physically abuses her, she is strong and is drawn to the truth of the gospel. She is next door neighbors with an inactive family in our ward. When we went to go visit this family, we were not expected to get such a golden referral. This little girl wanted to bear her testimony on her first Sunday in church, and volunteered to give a talk in the Primary presentation this upcoming week. As we taught her in their home, I was amazed by her comprehension of the things that we taught her about Heavenly Father and the Restoration.

My testimony was especially strengthened concerning two things: the elect openly accept the truth because of their faith and works before this life, and the influence that one of these noble sons or daughters of God can have on so many others! This girl has already had so much influence on reactivating an entire family with six children because she wants to go to church. They have taken her under their wing and now are attending church with her. I have a testimony that Heavenly Father sends some children to help their parents come to Christ. This is the case with this noble spirit. We pray that her mom will eventually be open to listening to our message as well and that she can experience the peace that only comes through the Atonement of Christ.

Through this experience with this young person, I witnessed that Heavenly Father is over all! He provided a way for one of His suffering children to receive the Gospel, to be surrounded by a family that loves her, and in turn for that family to be strengthened in their testimonies as well.

Love,

Sorella Oakes

3rd Letter from Cuneo (including pictures!)

This week Quincy wrote mostly brief, personal letters to each family member. She spent most of the time uploading pictures to forward to us.

The following are descriptions of some of the pictures with a little story. I'm still learning how to add the pictures, so I cannot figure out how to resize some of them after I uploaded them to her blog. If I could change it, the picture of her with the other missionaries in the piaza would be larger, and the parking lot would be smaller. She entitled the picture of herself on the bike (with helmet) "So Stylish!" It is darling, really!

Our apartment is huge and really nice, even though our water heater is broken, and half of our showers are cold, tutto bene! All is well. It is a beautiful apartment. In the past two or three companionships lived in it when more missionaries were assigned to Cuneo. However, less than a year ago they opened it up only for one companionship of sorelle at a time. We have it all to ourselves! Three bedrooms...one for drying clothes and pamphlets and Books of Mormon, another to sleep and study in, and the other with all our clothes. I get two huge closets. We love it!

The Bertone family without her husband. She is the best member missionary ever! She gives us great referrals and goes with us during lessons. We have found that this makes all the difference to have members with us during lessons. They can really fellowship and connect with our investigators, especially since they are older and have experience with marriage and family. They are also all converts so they have that perspective as well. As Elder Ballard said, even though less than ten percent of investigators are found through referrals through members, about half of these referrals are baptized and remain active in the church! Even though Cuneo is small, Sorella Ryan says that out of all the wards she has been in, they are not as racist (concerning Africans especially), and almost every member is really open to coming to lessons with us! Such a blessing. Our greatest successes continue to be when we have member present lessons. Great tip, W for the near future.

This is our balcony view. Last week we moved our mattresses and slept under the stars. It was wonderful! It is getting too cold to do it again but great memory.

2nd Letter from Cuneo

Dear Family,

What an incredible week. Time and time again we see how the Lord blesses us with miracles right after we push through great obstacles. It is truly a pattern! I will tell you about a few of the many people we are working with, a little about my companion, and a little about Cuneo and Italian culture.

1 There's an inactive man who attends our English class on Fridays. He's very kind, very educated. He just recently overcame cancer and lives alone with his tiny, adorable dog, a chihuahua, named Olivia. She is his constant companion, and he takes her everywhere. She is so small, still and quiet that you would hardly even noticed that she exists. Hahaha, it sounds like I was describing the Holy Ghost. Comunque, anyways, this dear man knows that the church is true and that he needs to keep his baptismal covenants by continuing to read the scriptures and by coming to church. But, he refuses to come because he cannot bring sweet, innocent little Olivia. He gets defensive, sometimes angry when we tell him that he needs to come to church. He says that everyone judges him and that he cannot leave her alone. He cannot leave her in the car for a few hours, trust anyone enough to babysit her, etc. Finally, we felt the Spirit prompt us to say to him, "You know, we think that Heavenly Father cares more about you being in church and partaking of His blessings than you staying home just because of this problem. It would be fine for you to come for a few weeks and bring Olivia with you on your lap. Let us come together, and we can talk to our Branch President in church." He came up with more excuses. The point is this...all of us have little things in our lives that we hold on to, and we do not want to let go of them. Tiny things that maybe are not necessarily bad, but distract us, or keep us from doing the things that we should. We deny ourselves the blessings that Heavenly Father is anxiously awaiting to give us. They seem huge to us, but in reality, they are insignificant and are holding us back from progressing. Little things do make a great difference! What is the "Olivia" in our personal lives? Is it a cellphone, Facebook, or maybe choosing to hold a grudge against someone who offended us. Heavenly Father does not justify in commiting a little sin. As Prophet Monson powerfully stated "The commandments are not suggestions, they are commandments." I have been trying my best to let go of the little things that I do each day that hold me back from being exactly obedient to my covenants or promises with God, and I know that He has poured out his blessings on me, my companionship with Sorella Ryan, and in the success in the work!

Yesterday was probably the best day of the mission thus far!!! The day before was hard. We did all we could. We prayed, followed the Spirit, opened our mouths and poured out our souls to invite people to receive the Savior into their lives, but they would not listen. This happens every day, and it is incredible how we move on, and continue to trust in the Lord and rejoice in his work. While it is devastating to see unhappy people not accepting the joy and hope of the Savior, we realize that many do not recognize us as His servants right off the bat, so they do not realize what they are missing out on. Sometimes it is pretty funny to see the looks people will give us. I am sure we seem very different and strange, approaching them with skirts, helmets and a huge grin, "Hi!!! How are you?". A few nights ago, we had a lesson that did not go very well with a woman who has been an investigator off and on with missionary for eight years. It is complicated. Everyone has a story...anyway, after a day of cancellations, rejections and this lesson, we were pretty discouraged. But we trusted the Lord will lead us to prepared people if we press forward and do not mumbled.

And then the morning came! Wow, what a day. We were completely obedient, and had our hearts set on doing the will of the Lord. In the morning we stopped a beautiful Nigerian woman on the street with her two young children. She was incredibly humble and kind. She gladly accepted our testimonies about the plan of Salvation and Jesus, said she would read the Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment. It was as smooth as molasses. The most golden contact thus far! I am so excited to teach her family. Her husband, her and three children. It has been a personal dream/goal of mine to baptize at least one family on my mission. We find many Africans who are willing to meet with us, and are very devoted to Jesus, but she was especially interested and...I cannot describe the feeling. The Spirit was sweet and we knew that we had found someone. In fact, we found out last night at the church that one of our best friends, a new Ghanan convert, knows her. Coincidence? I think not. We continued our work throughout the rest of the day. It really dragged. Not very fruitful at all, until the evening came! We found a young man who was very humble and willing to talk to with us and said that he is good friends with a young couple in our church. Again, we knew it was a tender mercy that the Lord had placed this guy in our path. There are hardly any members in our area, so it is extremely rare for someone to even know what our church is. So many people do not want to talk to us because they think we are Jehovah Witness. We set up an appointment at these members' house. He studied religion a few years ago, and wanted to be a priest...long story short, he did not become one. We can see how the Lord has been preparing people to receive the word.

Then, two minutes later, we bumped into an incredible family. An Italian family in fact! Most Italians are a little harder to crack, but they asked us who we were, what do we believe? They listened to our words so intently, their countenances were so eager as if they were drinking water for the first time in years. I do not have time to tell how incredible our experience was. But I love them so much and am so excited to teach them. Two families in one day! Truly, we have tried to convince people to learn more about the gospel, people who drag their feet and do not want to change. Yesterday I witnessed the miracles that if we do what the Lord wants us to do, He will prepare a way. To paraphrase, If ye being wicked know how to give good gifts unto your children, then how much more will your Father in heaven give to them that ask.

The Lord blessed us with people who are ready to accept the word with full heart. It was relatively easy to talk with them, and they understood the Spirit.

My companion loves to sing! Sorella Ryan studied voice at BYU-Idaho. She is from Canada. We sing all the time together and it has been so effective in touching and opening hearts to receive the word. We were placed together for a reason and we are so grateful for each other. We laugh while we work, and rejoice in the Lord!!! He is all knowing, and loves us so much! He listens to our prayers, and counts all the little things we do each day. He sees when we smile at someone in hopes to brighten their day. He is grateful when we look out for each other.

Cuneo- probably more like down town Los Angeles, but apparently it is considered a small town in Italy. We are surrounded by tons of beautiful green mountains. We are super close to the French border. We talk with a large varitety of people each day. People who speak French, Romanian, Ukrainian, Spanish, Italian, and Arabic. There are a lot of Muslims and Catholics and very few Evangelists. We have Books of Mormon in all sorts of languages. I will try to get pics, this computer will not accept mine....sad.

Sorella Oakes (O-ah-kes)

1st Letter from Cuneo, Italy

Carissimo famiglia,

So much to tell! I only have half an hour...let us just say there have been quite a few obstacles this morn to connect to this site. it will be better in the future, hopefully. The flight was long, but i loved it. i spoke to an atheist, austrian man on the flight from chicago to frankfurt. He was really sincere and nice and i had a chance to bear my testimony to him that even tho he does not know God, Heavenly Father knows him perfectly and loves him. When I looked in his eyes, I was calm and confident, and I think it touched his heart because he could tell I knew it was true, without any doubts. It was good for him to see that mormons are normal and respectable people. He was impressed with the Anziani and Sorelle...the food was really plush and the airplane was huge! Two stories high, three big aisles wide. Luckily he knew how to speak english very well.

On the flight to Italy, I sat next to a real Italian man. He was a bit older and we talked in Italian the whole flight. It was amazing- I understood most everything he said and I was able to talk much faster, calmer and smoothly than ever. I felt the Spirit really stronger and I think he did too. He was humble, and the conversation quickly turned to religion. He said that he was Catholic but not practicing. This is the case with almost every catholic I meet. There are certain things that do not make sense to him about the church and he does not believe its true. Therefore, he does not believe in God. Also, very common here, especially with the youth. But I would consider many people more agnostic than atheist per se. They are looking for the truth but do not know where to find it. This is where the servants of the Lord come in. If they will listen to our message, the humble will feel the Spirit, and experience hope in the word than they can know for themselves, with surety that there is a Heavenly Father in heaven who loves them, and that He has restored His truth and authority to the earth once more to guide us. We need not be in the dark anymore. What a great and exciting word we have to spread!!! We need to rejoice and lift our voices so that all can hear...so that those who are searching for hope and truth of Christ can have it in its fulness!!!

Anyways, he was very open and sincere and I taught him about the apostasy, restoration and recited the first vision for him. He seemed to understand with his mind and his heart. I looked in his eyes with confidence and joy and he seemed to be touched by the Spirit. I asked for his info. He gave me his and his sons number and address. Hopefully the Anziani in Pavia will teach him. He said that he would like for them to come teach him. I explained to him about hte Book of Mormon, read part of the intro, invitation in Moroni 10ç3 through five. Haha, these keyboards are a little different. And he held it in his hand like it was atreasure. He kept reading different parts. I told him that I would give it to him if he promised to read it and ask in prayer if it was true. He paused, and said he could not because they were my nicer ones...I did not have enough room to pack a spare in italian in the airport. He said that I needed them to teach, they were marked...but I said that if he promised to read them I would give it to him. He looked seriously in my eyes, shook his head and said with commitment yes. Little did I know how precious a response like this would be. Haha. I felt good about it like he really would read it. He said, I will promise to read it all, but I wil not promise to believe. I will pray and try. I explained what it meant to pray with real intent and made some promises. Really good first experience with Italians. In retrosect, it was a great tender mercy of the Lord right before I flew into Milan.

We were greeted by our President Wolfgramm, Sorella W, the Aps and some Sorelle that work in the main office. So warm and friendly!!!! They greeted us like family and I felt at home. We had a few initial meetings that day at the mission home and dinner that night with them at their home. They are wonderful, incredible people and inspired....I could not ask for a better group of missoinaries or mission president. So uplifting, positive, and inspiring. We need to have that kind of attitude here in Italy. There are friendly people, but there are also many miserable people. They think we are really weird, maybe even crazy because how happy we are. I admit, we are not always the most fashionable people. Haha. This morn sorella Ryan and I road our bikes back from the grocery store, full with bags, skirts and helmets. Wow, I love riding my bike here! Let us just say that it is an adventure here...Grandpa Garner should not come here because I know he would have a heart attack. I am so glad that I rode my bike soo much before I left...really good practice.

Every person that I have met, esp catholics completely agree that the bible has been changed by wicked men and that the truth of God is not complete or on the earth. Whenever we explain this part, they all shake their heads in agreement. It is hard for them to believe in a living prophet. In fact, many people laugh out loud at the idea and think we are crazy. Every person struggles with the idea that we can know for a surety that God exists and if...anything, any moral and principle is true in this life. They say, only God knows these things and all we can do is hope, believe and find out in the next life. I am so grateful for the security that I have. I know, because the Spirit has borne testimony me everyday when I feel peace in my heart, when I am filled with confidence and happiness even though there are wicked things in the world.

Ah...I have some pictures but there is no one available to help right now...i do not know how to because everything is in italian...i promise next time to send some good ones.

Sorella Ryan is the best!!!! Really, i am amazed with how blessed am I. Better than my mtc comps...i do not know how that is possible, but we are best friends. She is from Van couver Canada, a voice major...i would best describe her personality as the girl on tangled!!! Super positive, energetic and driven, but also very experienced and wise. She has been out for a little longer than a year and speaks italian really well. There have been miracles in meeting and teaching people this week in Cuneo. French people, africans, italians....I love it. It is hard but I have the best comp. Greatest miracle is I am so calm. My comp is surprised with how well i have adjusted to all the changes and so am I. It is a complete fulfillment of the promises in my setting apart and I am doing all that I can by having faith to help the Lord make His promises come to pass. I feel at home here. We are the only missionaries in this area. It is a huge area, but we try to do mainly tracting in the street and in the park is best. Casa per casa is not very good so we do not do that often. There are only fourty people who attend church so we are trying to focus on strenghtening the ward. It was fun going to church! Loud, especially in relief society, hahaha. Everyone interrupts each other...very different from the sweet sisters in Provo utah, but this is the culture here. The food is wonderful...so much fresh bread. It is very expensive though so we cannot buy a lot. We do not have many dinner appts so i definately do not have to worry here about gaining weight. Good thing huh!

All my love,

Sorella Oakes