13th Letter from Varese

Ciaody Family!

   Hello from cloud nine here in Varese! Sorella Walton is in a three some in Pordenone by Slovenia. I pray she is doing well.  Sorella Mcnamara is my amazing comp! She comes from Provo Utah and attended Timpview High School. We did not know each other in high school but we were at all the games together- I was playing in the pep band and she was a cheerleader. She wants to say hello to Allie Edgington from the Miss Provo pageant! She studied three years of art history at the Y. Sorella Mcnamara is absolutely gorgeous, intelligent, driven, and tells me that we need to laugh more. Any tips? I have not realized it before now, but I take myself too seriously sometimes. Sorella Mcnamara said something I really liked, "I want to be 100% obedient to the mission rules and work hard...but if we are not having fun we are not doing this right."   So my question for y'all is how does one laugh more?  Haha, I have actually started praying for that ability. I never felt like I lacked before my mission, but I want to get better at it now. Our faith skyrockets when we are super enthusiastic in our work.

   Well I am just learning so much from Sorella Mcnamara. I even learned how to pronounce her name right, in Italian and in English!  Wow, I had noooo idea how much I would learn training. I have absolutely no time to think about myself. It is great. I am constantly thinking about assisting and teaching my companion, obeying all the rules, being optimistic about the work, speaking the language as best I can...she copies EVERYTHING I do. We are coming closer and closer to sharing equal responsibilities and working together as she becomes more comfortable with talking during our lessons, contacting people on the street and updating the area book.

     Let me tell ya'll, the work is exploding! I have never had so much success or seen so many miracles here in Varese as I have within the past few days. We teach 5 to 7 quality lessons a day, and have some awesome new investigators. Sorella Mcnamara has so much enthusiasm and faith. She cannot get over the beauty of the buildings, the snow capped swiss mountains, the Italian style of clothing. She is also very sincere and loving when it comes to our investigators. She is on the mission for the right reasons and it is very easy to be her companion. The thing that I appreciate the most about her is how she humbly accepts correction regarding Italian things. She studied two semesters at the Y, and so she knows quite a bit, but she is very timid. As we plan out our lessons, we decide who is going to teach each point, and when...in this way we teach together and she feels a lot more prepared and confident in teaching. All I can say is that I am grateful for the tips of Preach my Gospel and the new 12 week training program. It is super helpful for her as well as me. So, I will be here in Varese for two more transfers, and chances are I will then go to a new city.

   As far as the work goes, Sander is progressing a lot. We gave him the Book of Mormon book with the immages for children last week, and when we returned four days later he had read about 60 pages! He loves it, and has an amazing capacity to remember all that he read. He recounts to us the stories as if he memorized them. He and his mom and little sisters are attending church and we are looking forward to his baptism May 5.

  Yesterday's miracle... we found this man sitting on a bench named Marco. He was very open to talking to us from the get go. He said, "You guys are Mormon aren't you? I met two other young men in a bus in my hometown in Iceland."  Iceland! What the?! He pulled out some pamphlets from some different religions from his bag. He continued to say, "Actually, I am here visitng my parents, and today I have just been walking around and reading these materials about Christ. I am so frustrated! They do not make any sense to me, they contradict one another. Why are the things of God so complex? I am Catholic by birth, but I do not know if I believe in my religion. I have so many questions that I want answered."  Sorella Mcnamara and I were blown away by his electness! We exclaimed with joy, "We can answer your questions! God loves us so much that he has revealed his simple truths. Have you ever heard about the Book of Mormon?..."  The Spirit bore testimony to him as we explained about the Book of Mormon and he read Moroni 10:3-5. We asked him how he felt. He responded, "I feel kind of relieved when this verse talks about the role of the Holy Ghost. There are so many men who try to convince me through their own knowledge and words, but I need to feel in my heart the truth. Only the answers come from God." He then asked, "Do I pay you to get this book?" We laughed and said, "It's yours!" Usually we wait to give contacts the Book of Mormon at our return appointment but he was clinging on to it like gold and he wanted to read it. We set up an appointment at the church and left him a chapter to read and pray about.
   
   I cannot describe the joy Sorella Mcnamara and I felt as we talked with him. After he walked away we ran behind a building, huddled together and said a heartfelt prayer of gratitude. We hugged and jumped for joy! I cannot deny that the Lord places people in our path in the right place and at the right time. I am so grateful to Him for these wonderful experiences he allows us to have on Earth while on a mission. That little bench in busy Centro Varese will always be a sacred place for us.

  Love you all so much!
   Sorella Oakes

12th Letter from Varese

Dear Family,

I am going to train!!!! Soo excited. President told me that there are two new sorelle coming in and from what he read about them they are both "dynamite." I can just feel that she is going to be an outstanding missionary. I am going to learn so much these next two transfers. I want to be the best I can for her and help her be the best missionary the Milan mission has ever seen. Too bad it's not appropriate to jump and dance in the Internet cafe, because I would like to right now.

Wow, Sorella Walton and I have become soo close. I feel like she really is my blood sister. She is going to Pordenone (I think that's how it's spelled), in a threesome. She is a bit nervous about having to coordinate with two companions, but I know both of her comps fairly well and they are awesome. I think they'll be able to figure out how to divide the lessons up and be patient with one another.

Sorella Walton and I have done so much together here--we figured out the bus system; after months of scrubbing, the tub has gone from black to almost white; we met and taught some incredible people whom we will always love. I feel like we have done what we needed to do together, and she has left Varese better than she found it. I am soo grateful to have lived and worked and learned from her. She was a wonderful missionary two transfers ago, now she is even more powerful. I am grateful that we learned how to be completely open with each other, and to push ourselves to make goals and to overcome our personal weaknesses. I have learned a lot with her about strict obedience, about speaking Italian and being 100% missionary (Sorella Oakes) rather than Quincy, and I have learned the power of heartfelt prayers. Sorella Walton has really blessed my life.

Okay, it is time to relate some miracles! First off, about all of our weekly numbers were higher than they ever have been here in Varese. President Wolfgramm has told us that the numbers are a reflection of our work. And behind all those numbers, there are people who are progressing in the gospel. People we care about.

Remember Gabrielle? He is a member in our ward who has been coming with us to the lessons every week since we have been here. He has recently been helping us translate and type up our ward mission plan. It is a very simple plan that encourages members to extend a gospel invite each week. As I talked about a few weeks ago, Gabrielle has experienced an incredible change of heart through our experiences with him. He has given us four awesome referrals--his best friends. They trust him so much that they are a lot more interested in learning about the gospel.

The other evening, after a lesson, Gabrielle asked if we could find a place to talk. It seemed as though he was sad. After we found a secluded bench in the train station, he opened up his heart. He said, "I feel so close to my Savior. These lessons that we have been teaching have been so spiritual, and I find myself beginning to recognize the spirit, prompting me when I should bear testimony. I seek to be in tune to say what the Savior would say, rather than my own words. As I have been taking your challenge to read the Book of Mormon more and do this ward mission project, my testimony has grown a lot. My thoughts are constantly about Jesus Christ, and I am happy and I am bursting to share my testimony with my friends. As I was talking with my best friend in the car the other night, I freely bore my testimony and told him that he needed to be baptized. My friend felt the spirit so strongly that he became speechless." He bore his testimony for us for ten minutes. The Spirit was so abundant and our hearts were full to the brim.

Sorella Walton and I have witnessed him change from the inside out. We have a firm testimony of the principle taught in Preach My Gospel, "Strengthening their (the ward members') understanding of the doctrine of Christ will do more to increase their trust in you and to build their excitement to do missionary work than anything else you can do."

We are excited to light up the missionary work/member work here in Varese. By having spiritual experiences with our branch members, there will be more people baptized that will remain active and magnify callings in the years to come. Building the members' trust in the missionaries is extremely important. I know the Lord has played a marvelous part in preparing all of our hearts and minds to do this work in His way. He is sending His spirit to help us all (full-time and member missionaries) be more couragious, to get out of our comfort zones and improve our missionary skills.

Well fam, I pray for you more fervently each day. I care about you so much.

Love,

Sorella Oakes

Late Journal Entry

This is Lisa. Sorry about the late entry, my Internet access was blocked for a few days over Spring Break. Now that I'm back to work you may read her wonderful news!

Lisa

11th Letter from Varese

Dear Family,

What a lovely week it has been. It's pouring rain, our apartment is spotless because our landlord is passing by and everything is just peaceful today. I cut off abou 11 inches of hair. Sorella Walton helped me cut the back. It is about three inches below my ears, with lots of layers, kind of like a bob- I love it. I know Gushy will be really sad, but I have a year to grow it out again.

The Lord has been pouring out his blessings this week. Sorella Walton and I feel an abbundance of the Spirit, our investigators are progressing. Sander and Piero are reading and praying and changing a lot. It is beautiful. The Lord really has been blessing us. He has heard my prayers. I have started the Book of Mormon again. I noticed something that I had not before- how many times Lehi gives prayers, offerings or sacrifices to the Lord in thanks. As I read that it hit me that I need to sacrifice something to the Lord as a sign of my gratitude. I usually think of fasting or sacrificing something to God when I want something, or I need help. It kind of goes in line with Anziano Oaks' talk.

I just want to say that I know that Heavenly Father's plan of salvation is real. As Sorella Walton and I met this faithful elderly couple last night, I felt so much peace. Even though they have many health problems, they love the Savior and they continue to seek to live the gospel. When we were in their home it was like being in the temple. The spirit was so sweet, and I know that they will enter into the Celestial Kingdom. I see my own grandparents on both sides in the same light. I feel so much love for you and joy for your examples to me, for the lives you live, for your goodness. I pray you will all feel peace even as you face hardships.

I know that the Lord always keeps his covenants and promises to us if we hold on and do our part. After we have done our very best, He blesses us, He makes up the rest. He loves us beyond measure. After we pass through the other side of the veil, I am sure that it will be more beautiful than we can imagine. The resurrection will be so wonderful!!!

Well, this is a short letter, but I just want to let you know how much I love each one of you all. I am doing well, and I pray that you are happy.

Love,

Sorella Oakes

10th Letter from Varese

Dear Family,

We set a solid baptismal date with Sander!!!!! Yesterday morning we fasted and prayed and the Lord poured out His power and blessings. During the appointment, Sander and his mom (Dominga) were present. We asked him right at the beginning if he had prayed if our message was true. He smiled and timidly lowered his head and mumbled, "Yes. I had a dream." Sorella Walton asked, "What was in your dream?" He responded, "There was a great light and there was a man dressed in white who showed me a piece of paper with a scripture written on it. When I read it, the man said that it was true."

Dominga glowed and she listened to her son. We asked Sander to be baptized. He was too shy to respond. His mom lovingly said to him, "Sander, when you are baptized, you will have the most wonderful feeling. It is the best experience you will have in your entire life. It is only through baptism that you can enter into the kingdom of God and live with Jesus. Do you understand how important this is, son?" Sorella Walton and I were blown away! We were expecting Dominga to be hesitant about allowing him to be baptized since she has been inactive for years. We were also worried that she would say that he is too young to make this decision.

With the support and sincere testimony of his mother, Sander looked up and beamed and said, "Yes, I this is what I want." He will be baptized April 22!

It is beautiful working with part-member families, especially inactive members, because as their loved ones are baptized, they are strengthened and reactivated. Now our little branch will have another family coming to church. Dominga has been bringing her mother and her two baby girls to church as well. Now we can start a primary, whereas there has only been one baby in church until now. The Lord is pouring out His blessings and I am filled with love and gratitude to Him!

Another fantastic miracle! Remember Janella? She is the 17 year old girl we met in the elevator in our apartment. After teaching her for a while, she was not very interested in applying the gospel in her life, so we stopped teaching her and left a note to the missionaries for future reference. But while we had been teaching her, her mom's boyfriend always listened in on our lessons. He would pretend to fix the t.v. for 45 minutes, or stand close by in the kitchen cleaning or something. When we would finish and walk out the door, he would always shake our hand and say, "You guys are welcome here anytime. Janella really needs this. The youth these days need to be educated about this religious stuff because it keeps them out of trouble."

Anyway, after we had stopped visiting them for a while, we started to bump into Piero and Janella's mom all the time! On the street, on the bus, etc. The other day we were returning home from an appointment in a neighboring city, and we Piero, Janella's "stepdad"/mom's companion was on the bus. He immediately opened up to us about how he has lost all faith and hope for a better life. Between the challenges of blended famillies, past divorces and paying the bills he is quite discouraged. Sorella Walton and I followed the Spirit in sharing scriptures and bearing testimony about how Christ can help him with these temporal problems. He listened, but then would refuse to believe any of it. When we invited him to pray he said, "I do not pray". We responded, "well then we will pray for you". He was taken aback, and it really touched him that someone cared about him. As we got off the bus he casually said, "If you ever want to come by and talk, you are welcome to". We set an appointment, and even though he acted like he did not care, you could tell he did.

When we came to his house for our appointment, Janella joined us in the lesson. Gabriele came with us- his experience and testimony was perfect for Piero. At the end of our little lesson, Piero said, "Alright, I am going to give this a try. I am going to pray tonight for the first time in ...20 years." When we asked him to pray with us he said, "How? I do not remember any of the prayers?" He was incredibly humble when we helped him pray with his own words. He was very sincere and had real intent. It is really incredible participating with grown people saying (perhaps their first) personal prayer with God. It is very special. I am so grateful for the things I learned in primary.

I am grateful for the beauty and simplicity of the gospel. I am especially grateful for repentance. I cannot describe exactly how it all works, but I know that it is real. I know the Savior is our mediator to communing with our Heavenly Father. I know that all the things that last come from God. I am grateful for the words of our Prophet and apostles! Wasn't conference incredible! I especially loved Elder Eyring and Elder Nelson's talks. It was so interesting, Sorella Walton and I had a long conversion that morning about how we would raise a child with special needs. And then there were two people who addressed it in conference! That was cool.

Well, this letter has been a bit random. Just wanted to let you know about how wonderful Varese is.

Situation and question: Let's say Sorella Walton and I have two minutes in the bus to tell someone about their purpose in life, and relation to God. Would/how would we present it differently to men versus women? Make sense? Hope so.

Love you,

Sorella Oakes