6th Letter from Cuneo

We have hot water, as of Monday, so nice! We got our bike fixed last week. Luckily Cuneo is really small so it only took a half hour to walk to the shop. We have been having some wonderful lessons this week. We have a baptismal date with Osagie, a humble Nigerian. We have had a date for a month, but I wanted to wait closer to his baptism to let you know because there are many baptismal dates that fall through. I have been learning so much about how our joy does not depend on other people's agency.

This week Sorella Ryan and I have worked hard, struggled and suffered through some hard times. After a time, the Lord gave us some tender mercies that we had taken granted before. In these moments, I feel greater joy than I have ever experienced in my life. Discouragement is our worst enemy, and Satan is trying his hardest to get us down. But as Sorella Ryan says, "Let's get out there and kick satan's trash!" Haha. A little crude, but it is a pick up when we feel rotten.

My companion wants to be "the best trainer ever"and is trying her utmost to help me as a new missionary. She even wrote a list to herself a while ago entitled, "What I need to do better next time I train." She does not realize how incredible she really is. Here is a short list of my own that describes only a few of the ways that she GEMS me. It can be compared to the advice the President Hinckley gave concerning the three things that every new convert needs to remain strong in the church:

What every new missionary needs to remain active in the work-

1. A calling/responsibility- my trainer allows me to play an active part in finding work, making phone calls and teaching lessons, no matter "how important" these investigators are. Even though I make a lot of mistakes, especially in speaking the language, she gives me a soft and patient smile that encourages me and lets me know that I am doing just fine. It makes me feel valued and trusted when she does not stress about me "wasting time" during the lessons. My language skills have accelerated by doing this, and now we are able to teach much more smoothly together. Now the work can really pick up, because we are going at the same pace.

2. Nourished by the good word of God- yesterday during our companionship study, I felt discouraged as we were talking about the results of this transfer. We had worked so hard, but a few of our baptismal dates fell through, ending up in 0 baptisms. At times it feels like all of our effort can be compared to building a sandcastle. No matter how tall, or intricate you create it, it just crumbles and melts into a pile of muck when the next wave comes in and washes over it. After it falls, it seems hopeless to rebuild it again. When I told my companion about how deeply disappointed I felt she turned to inspiring quotes from Preach My Gospel, from President Wolfgramm, and from letters of encouragement she had received. I cannot describe how much we bonded in that half hour. My testimony grew so much about what it means to be a successful missionary. My desire to keep working and improving as a missionary skyrocketed as a result of that experience. She was a minister of the words of Christ for me in that moment.

3. A friend- I love how she does not treat me as a greeny. She does not cling to her personal doctrine as an experienced misionary, but supports ideas and desires that I have in our work. Hugs and backrubs when my back is tight from stress makes all the difference. She lets me know her weaknesses and asks for my help and advice. This makes me truly feel like her equal and I feel good because she allows me opportunities to serve her as well.

Here is something that Sorella Ryan wrote in her email to Pres. this week. I love it.

I am so excited to tell you a little more about my adventures in Cuneo this week! I am glad that you got my letters, you are more than welcome to share them with each other since I do not have nearly enough time to write all of the things I want to the both of you.

My companion has been teaching me how to sprint. We go running in the mornings even though we are both tired and cold because it really makes a difference in our day. The one problem is that I am a long distance runner, and she is a sprinter and she's really good! We love getting a good work out, and usually on the way back home she looks at me at a certain point and says, "Ok Sorella, are you ready for a little sprint?" The first time she asked me I thought she was crazy! I was already so tired I didn't think I could hardly make it to the end without falling over! I told her this and then she explained that sprinting is good to work out different muscles and is important when you want a good work out. So we did it. We sprinted even though my legs were on fire and I thought I might fall over,... and it felt GREAT! Now we work in a couple sprints every morning. And there's a certain point when we see home that we automatically look at each other and say, "Ok Sorella, ARE YOU READY?" and then we run as hard as we can. The thing I love about my companion is that she always stays right beside me. She always says, "I really want to sprint, but I'm going only as fast as you go!" This pushes me to work hard for her but also to have unity. I have had other companions that would rather run a few blocks ahead of me because they dont want to wait for me, which is understandable, but I really feel the love from Sorella Oakes when she stays right beside me pushing me the whole time.
President, this is just like how we do our missionary work! I LOVE training because I love being with brand new missionaries who want to sprint their WHOLE mission. They have so much energy and faith and a great work ethic! Sorella Oakes IS this brand new missionary. I, on the other hand, am quite the opposite. I am a little tired, as much as I hate to admit it. Sometimes I feel like I might fall over. But Sorella Oakes wants to sprint so bad and knows that it is so good for us. She pushes me so lovingly and says "Ok Sorella Ryan, its time to sprint, but I'm only going as fast as you go!" We will sprint to the end together!

This is a long letter!!!! I am sorry.

All my love,

Sorella Oakes