Dear Family,
Recently I have been learning so much more about how to love the people I associate with and serve. Anziano Barnes was called to be assistant to the President this transfer. Wow, he was born to be a leader. While we had interviews with President Wolfgramm we had a training meeting with the assistants about "seeing things as they really are". In Preach My Gospel, repentance is defined as changing our vision about God, ourselves and others. I was so inspired by the things that they said, as well as the Spirit that accompanied their words. It is one thing to be a good missionary, but it truly is another to be able to be an example to all the other missionaries. We are so blessed to have such an inspired and spiritual mission president and mission leaders.
I have been trying to become a more personal, in-tune "teacher"/missionary. I do not know how to describe it. For example, when I meet people on the street, I am accustomed to asking the usual questions, then barging in with an invite to hear and about the gospel. As you can imagine, not many people are interested in learning more...because they know nothing about the gospel, and they do not know how it can relate to their lives. Now that I have been trying harder to really care about the individual, their desires in life, the difficulties they are dealing with...tutto quanto, etc, it has made a big difference. People really feel the spirit and are more likely to respond when they feel that someone first cares about them. They trust us as messengers of a loving and personal Heavenly Father, rather than solicitors. I love what one missionary said to me- anyone can walk around the streets and throw out pass along cards and give a charismatic invite...but it is different than sacred missionaries who have the stewardship to receive inspiration from the Spirit concerning where to go, who to talk to and what to say...to people whom we don't know at all. But, God does.
Thus, I have learned a lot about my own nothingness, the great need to rely solely on the Spirit, to humble myself and to open my heart to loving people enough to ask them questions....to ask them about THEM. My desire has skyrocketed this week to do this work. I love it so much more when I focus on loving each individual, enjoying each moment in which I am living. I am grateful for the miracles that the Lord allows me to witness each day and realizing that I barely played any part in it. I am trying to humble myself enough to allow time for silence during the lessons, rather than responding immediately and robotically to people's questions or comments. It takes a lot more work than I thought, but when my companion and I wait upon the Lord, wait upon the promptings of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit works through us and we are able to meet people's needs. And once their needs are met, they begin to truly progress in the gospel. That is the goal. Haha, how ironic, you love the work when you love the people. You'd think I would have figured that out by now, huh? I think that it's something that we can always deepen and something that I need to continually remind myself of. Why do I want them to be baptized? What are my motives for the things I do?
Now it is time to relate a few beautiful experiences! Sunday was amazing. Marta and Alexander came to church. They missed their bus, walked for an hour, and then got lost. Somehow, one of our ward members, Marlene (who has come to a few lessons with us!) felt a prompting to take a different bus to church than usual...and viola, she was on the same bus as Marta and Alexander and helped them get to church. On that same bus, there was a man who randomly pulled out a pass along card, who happened to ask them "do you know where this church is?" and he came to church as well... They loved every minute of it and want to come back again. They have some friends coming over on Sunday, so we are praying that they will still commit to come to church.
Another miracle--Friday night, as Sorella Walton and I were taking the elevator up to our apartment, we met a cute 17 year old girl named Janella. When she got off at the 3rd floor, we paused... popped out of the elevator and asked her if we could teach her in her house. It was awkward, but that is our calling, right?! To our surprise and joy she smiled and said, "Sure, come on in". It was a beautiful lesson, she said she'd come to church! Turns out that her family went out dancing for her mom's birthday saturday night, arrived home at 4 in the morning. But she came to church anyways, at 9 in the morning! She loved young women's (which consisted of 22 year old young woman President Diletta), another one of our investigators named Malina and me. She loves learning about how much her Heavenly Father loves her. She also comes from Equador but has been in Italy for four years. She has some amazing potential.
I have written some letters for y'all. I will send them today.
All my love,
Sorella Oakes
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