5th Week in Genoa

Dear Family,

Sorella McFadden is a big Gem! She places a sticky note and a chocolate on my desk every morning. On the note she has written a simple compliment that builds me up, such as, "You follow the Spirit." or "You are a teacher." Throughout the day she serves me in a lot of other thoughtful ways. I am so grateful for her love for me and for her selflessness.

Member referral/finding miracle:

 Right after hopping on the last bus home, a beautiful woman turned her head and smiled at us. Immediately we began talking to her about her greatest desires and bore testimony of the restored gospel. Within two minutes we had talked, set up an appointment at her home and exchanged contact information. The bus halted to a stop in front of our home and we got off just in time. I felt really excited to meet Nataly again. Though we had not talked for long, there was something special about her.

Upon teaching her and her husband at their house, we discovered how much the Lord had prepared them to be interested in the restored gospel. There was no doubt that He had prepared a way for us to meet on the bus. Her husband Stalin met us at the door and gave us a warm welcome. We brought an amazing sister in our ward who has recently returned home from her mission. She made all the difference in befriending, bearing personal testimony, and making this couple feel comfortable to talk to us.
   
As we talked with Stalin and Nataly they told us about the friends and family they know who are church members. His cousin served a mission, and her best friend is a member in our ward...click! Sorella McFadden said, "Oh my goodness! You are THAT Nataly. Giovanna (the member in our ward) always wanted us to meet you but she was always too busy to show us where you lived. She just moved two weeks ago and I thought we had lost that opportunity to contact you. This is amazing!"

We were all happy because we knew that the Lord had wanted us to meet, and even though Giovanna had moved and never given us that referral, we met Nataly anyway. Both Stalin and Nataly expressed their desire to become closer to Christ and to fill a spiritual gap they feel in their lives. Stalin already has a copy of the Book of Mormon which a former missionary gave to him. When we challenged them to read the Book of Mormon for 15 minutes every day Stalin said, "No I can't do that..I want to read more so that I can understand it." Sorella McFadden and I laughed because we were happy and said, "Then go ahead and read more, by all means."

Needless to say, this beautiful couple has a lot of potential. The Lord has done much to guide them to Him thus far, and will continue to bless them according to their commitment and desire. They are amazing new investigators!

Yesterday we had interviews with President Wolfgramm and were instructed by our mission leaders. I especially loved the teachings of President and Sorella Wolfgramm. They told us that their personal desire/theme is to help, "...have the mission go through us" rather than to go through the motions of missionary work-- to let the principles we learn become a part of us. The outcome: to let our efforts purify and sanctify us forever. Sorella Wolfgramm talked about a principle taught by Steven Covey- letting our inner core be focused on Christ. As we strive to become like Him, to think about Him, our motivation to serve and work will grow. When we do the things we do every day with the purpose to follow Christ, we become more proactive, positive and confident. Anway, their words were so inspiring and changed my life.

Love, Sorella Oakes

4th Week in Genoa

Carissima Famiglia,

  This week was hard. Boo hoo woa is me, that's enough. But I will say that we worked harder than I ever have in my entire mission. Even though we were physically, emotionally and spiritually tired, we kept walking, talking to everyone, praying. We are working together and I am super grateful for Sorella McFadden's commitment. I know that our work will pay off. I learned a lot about humility and the sustaining power of being grateful. So I guess it was a successful week! Though we had some disappointments, we still saw our fair share of miracles!

Gioia is progessing well towards her baptism for 25th of September. She is soo sweet and her one year old son, Wisdom, is adorable! During one of the lessons he was tackling two other 5 year old kids. I was blown away with how strong he is. Haha, one miracle was when we prayed before our last lesson for Wisdom to be calm so we could have the spirit when we taught Gioia. When we arrived he was half asleep and Gioia put him in the other room and we had a peaceful quiet lesson. :)

Oh yeah! I have not told you yet..at the beginning of my mission, I did an exchange here in Genova with Sorella Simpkins. We talked to a young girl on the bus, I still remember our experience. Sorella Simpkins and her companion ended up teaching and baptizing her and her mother that transfer! Now they are new converts in our ward and I love them!!! The young girl, 17 years old, Keyla taught her mom's friend all about church and the restoration. We taught her friend twice last week and she is very interested in the church! It's amazing how much difference members make in awakening a desire in their elect friends. We are excited to see how Gloria, their friend, progresses in her Book of Mormon reading.

 Miracle from Scambio in Savonna- Sorella Jones taught me much about the value of asking inspired questions and listening to others. She asked me many questions about myself, and my desires, and she lovingly listened to me. From that I experienced what it feels like to be one of her investigators.
Her skills came in handy during a lesson with one of their progressing investigators. After we had finished teaching a lesson about the Word of Wisdom, Sorella Jones paused and asked, "Is there anything else? Do you have any questions or comments? How are you feeling?" This shy woman did not respond immediately, but after waiting for another 30 seconds she said hesitantly, "My brother does not like that I am coming to the Mormon church." After she had opened up to us and told us about that hardship, I bore testimony about how reading the Book of Mormon every day would strengthen her testimony and courage to stand up for herself. Then Sorella Jones asked another wise question. She said, "What can you do to help him understand? What do you think you should do?" I loved that question because it helped that investigator to think for herself what she could to do be a free-agent rather than to simply be acted upon. As she thought about what she could personally do to deal with the situation, she was probably more committed to follow through with it.

  I am grateful that Sorella Jones was so patient and loving with her investigator that she was sensitive enough to heed the promptings of the Spirit. Most, if not all the people with whom we work face problems that we as missionaries are not aware of. If we do not know what these obstacles are, we cannot help them solve their problems and continue to progress towards faith, repentance and baptism.

 I know that the Holy Ghost guides our work by prompting us to ask the right questions and to patiently listen to others. In this way they are able to feel our love and will open up to us and let us know how we can help.

I love you all! Shout out to Anziano Dean, I read your email! I will pray for Giorgio. Thanks for sharing that miracle.

 Sorella Oakes

3rd Week in Genoa

Dear Family,

We tried something that Anziano Barnes and Ibba did a few weeks ago- visualizing seven new investigators that we would find for the upcoming week. During weekly programming, we took a little extra time to think about their spiritual and temporal needs, their physical and spiritual characteristics.

 After lunch, we headed out to the park. After a half hour we found number one on our list. She met the following pre-inspired description- yellow shirt, single african woman who would readily understand the need for the Book of Mormon. Check. She was more than happy to set up an appointment at her house for that week. Fast forward a week, she has come to church and has a baptismal date!

Okay, let's go back to our finding experience at the park last Friday...after an hour, we saw a man sitting on a bench without shoes. We did not know why, but in planning the night before we knew we needed to find someone without shoes. As we approached and began a conversation with him, we were a bit confused because he was not making sense. It seemed as if he was high on drugs. After wrapping that up, we turned around and flash, Darwin walked towards us. We shook his hand and delivered our pre-planned power statement- "This life is an opportunity to change and become a better person." He immediately asked us to sit down with him on a vacant bench. Darwin opened up and said, "For a month I have not wanted to talk to anyone about this, but since I do not know you two I feel more comfortable talking about it. My wife and son left me because I have not treated them well. After they left, I've started to turn to God. I want to change and repent so badly." As he talked and cried you could feel his sorrow, and great desire to come to Christ....

I will not relate our entire experience but Darwin fit the perfect description of our second investigator on our list. As expected, he was a 35 year old man who needed the power of the Atonement in his life. We had a powerful lesson with him and a family in our ward yesterday.

These miracles bear testimony to me of the blessings that come from planning prayerfully and specifically. Heavenly Father is capable of guiding us when we were first show our desire to be prepared for who he places in our path. There is no doubt that He is guiding our planning and our work. He is helping Sorella McFadden and I to know His children on a deeper level.

Lots of love!
 
Sorella Oakes

2nd Week in Genoa

Family!!!

 I could not possibly express how much I love it here in Genova. The work is exploding. At the beginning of last week we were worrying about how we were going to teach lessons, get investigators and we had lots of time to do finding work. As of yesterday, the rest of this week up until monday is completely full! Full with appointments with beautiful families, elect potential investigators that we have found. We have been talking to soo many people, everyone that we can, and it has been worth it. It's like a miracle tide is growing and building up, about to crash on the Genova beach!

  Our zone and district leaders have given us some awesome training and encouragement about how we can teach and find investigators in a more effective and efficient manner. I really enjoyed an activity that we did in district meeting monday. Each one of us pretended to be normal people sitting on the bus. We took turns playing different roles pre-written on sticky notes while one companionship went around contacting us. The goal was to take 30 seconds to talk to each person, teaching and asking a question and getting their contact info. It was hard, but really fun to practice. As we have been applying this principle we have been able to talk to more people and find those who are interested in our message. Our planners are so full of phone numbers and addresses...

 Anyway, I guess that getting a lot of phone numbers and appointments..."being busy" does not necessarily mean that we are successful. Let me tell you about a few of these amazing children of God.

We have started a new finding approach. We carry around a whiteboard with a yes-or-no question written on it, like "Is there a purpose to life?" People enjoy having their say, and it's a great way to quickly spark up a conversation, bear testimony and get people talking.  Although we are not very experienced in "whiteboarding", it has brought much success! One young man named Jonathan approached us, and told us that he had wanted to attend our english course in the past, but had lost our contact information. He was in a hurry, but was very willing to set up an appointment with us for the following day.
     
    Thanks to the testimony and fellowship of an awesome returned missionary in our ward, the lesson went really well. Jonathan felt very open to ask questions and talk about his desires to develop a closer relationship with Christ. The Spirit was abundant as we taught him and watched the Restoration film. He expressed how he felt much like Joseph Smith, having attended and studied with four different faiths, yet feeling confused about which doctrines were true. Kyoto, our member, explained to Jonathan that he too could ask God in prayer to receive a sure answer. He bore testimony about the power of having real intent by making promises with God in prayer. His testimony was the perfect segway into a soft baptismal invite.  Jonathan accepted and then offered a beautiful, humble prayer. He is still coming to English class, but I think he's even more excited to attend church on Sunday. :)

  My favorite person we have met this week was Claudia! While walking to Institute last night we still held up the whiteboard. This beautiful woman passed us, and seemed  taken aback when she read the question we had written, "Is there life after death?" My first impression of her was that she would ignore us and walk away. But when we asked her, "What do you think?" She just looked at me, and then to my surprise, she began to cry. I put my hand on her shoulder and asked what had happened. She said, "I am going through a really hard time". We bore testimony of the plan of salvation and she smiled and said, "I know this can help me". She was just as happy to have met us, as we were to meet her. We set up an appointment. She is going to get baptized, I just know it!

Well, these are just a few of the amazing things we have seen. I pray that you are working hard and enjoying the blessings of the Lord as well. He loves us so much!

Love,
Sorella Oakes

1st Week in Genoa

Dear Mom, Dad, Elder Oakes and Beloved Grandparents,

  I cannot express how much I have changed in the last few days. This has no doubt been the most intense AND most rewarding week of my mission. To synthesize my experience in a few words, relationships are hard! Due to stress and fatique, Sorella McFadden has been feeling down. For three days I poured all my heart and energy into loving and building her up, trying to crack stupid jokes and be positive. After remaining patient and loving all through the day, she was still having a hard time. It was difficult for us to love and have patience for each other.

 There was a point when for the first time on my mission, I really wondered if I was capable, physically and spiritually of continuing forward. My heart was full of sorrow and I felt this incredible burden weighing on my shoulders. I knelt down by my bed and prayed more intensely than I ever have before. I pleaded for strength, understanding, charity and patience. As I prayed I knew that the Savior had atoned for my sorrows, sins and personal weaknesses. I felt Him close to me, bearing me up. The only thing keeping me going was the testimony that I had that the Lord never calls us to fail. He has confidence in us to grow into and fulfill our callings and to overcome challenges.

Because I turned and completely relied on my Savior, I received sustaining peace and hope as I read the scriptures. The next day I kept smiling, being positive and working hard. At some point, things began to get better between Sorella McFadden and me. Our friendship began to bloom, and we felt sincere appreciation and charity for each other. By the end of Friday night, Sorella McFadden was smiling and laughing, and we were rejoicing in all the miracles that the Lord had blessed us with that day. I was on cloud nine! My heart was filled with love and this incredible good feeling. I had changed and she has changed so much too!  I am deeply impressed with Sorella McFadden's faith to change. She has overcome difficult things and that is a powerful example to me.

I have never felt so much pure love and closeness to a missionary companion as I do now with Sorella McFadden. I feel so much satisfaction every time that she smiles and laughs, every time she casts her fear aside and approaches someone on the bus. Oh I cannot express how much I love her. I love the Savior so much as well. It is ONLY through Him, that we could have progressed to where we are now. The atonement is the most powerful source of help that we can receive.

 At zone conference, President and Sorella Wolfgramm and our other leaders talked about the very things that we are learning now. I want to bear personal testimony that perfect love does cast out all fear and discouragement. God is love. Do you want to hear about the miracles and success stories that we have been seeing in Genova recently? I'll tell you, there are a lot!!  And regarding Sorella McFadden and me, we ARE awesome!!!  We are sacred missionaries.

  Mom, Anziano Barnes is my district leader! He is an amazing missionary and leader. I am so grateful for his support and example. We are going to see so many miracles in our district this transfer! Tell his parents that he is blessing so many lives over here, including the missionaries. But they already know that, of course.

To tell you all a bit about Genova...there are about 70, 80 people who attend church. I love this ward soo much! I thought that Varese was the best branch, but now I feel like Genova 2 is the best! We receive referrals from the members, and there are lot of people who want to come teach with us. Right now we just need to find some investigators.

It is beautiful here! Genova is a big city, the buses are already packed. The ocean is my favorite part!

Love you all so much,
 
Sorella Oakes

24th Letter from Varese

Dear ones,

I am getting transferred to Genova!!!!!!!!!!!!!! with Sorella Mcfadden. So excited.

Miracle for the week-

As we were returning home, the tune of a hymn graced my thoughts. The words perfectly summed up a principle that I had learned from our investigator, Luca. "Be thou humble in thy calling, and the Lord thy God shall teach thee to serve his children gladly with a pure and gentle love..."

  We had discussed Baptism and Confirmation with Luca. After months of covering all the lessons, answering his numerous doctrinal questions, Sorella McNamara and I have taught him about all that we know. So today we had full-intent to make this meeting especially spiritual. After having learned the basic doctrines, we want to help Luca to understand with his heart. As we began with a prayer, I pleaded with the Lord to help me be humble enough to rely on the Spirit to bear testimony beyond my own capacity.

  Sorella McNamara and I asked Luca about his reading in the Book of Mormon. He began to talk, and this time, I feel like I truly tried to LISTEN. I tried to seek to understand his point of view, his questions, his heart. Within a few minutes my eyes swelled with tears and I was overcome with the Spirit. Sorella McNamara interrupted him and asked me, "Sorella Oakes, what's wrong?" I expressed that I was filled with joy because I knew that Luca would receive a spiritual confirmation of the truth. I bore humble testimony to Luca that the Holy Ghost will bear testimony to his heart in a way that he won't be able to deny or forget.

Luca seemed very touched and responded, "I trust you both and I care about you as good friends. Thank you."  I felt pure Christlike love for him as well, like a brother. The entire lesson was very spiritual and uplifting,all thanks to the power of the Spirit. I am so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know that it enriches our lives and reassures us of spiritual truths. I do not know the future, but I trust in the Spirit, that Luca will receive that confirmation to his prayers that the Book of Mormon is true, and that this is the restored and complete church of Jesus Christ.

I looked up the rest of the words to the hymn, "Be thou Humble" while getting ready for bed. They say, "   Be thou humble in thy weakness, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee, Shall lead thee by the hand and give thee answer to thy prayers. Be thou humble in thy pleading, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee...with a sweet and calm assurance that he cares."

Love,

Sorella Oakes

23rd Letter from Varese

Dear Loved Ones,
 
  President has reviewed that we are to send emails only to immediate family members so sadly I will not be emailing Grandparents Garner and Oakes anymore...but if you could forward them my emails they can read them. Mom also posts things on my blog and they can look there. I will be better at sending letters to Grandparents. But know that I love you soo very much, I just need to be obedient to the white hand book.

 We have two fans in our apartment. I have heard that here in Varese it will start to be cooling down around August. I have been sleeping much better at night. Thank you for everyone's concern!

 As far as the work goes, we have a couple of wonderful progressing investigators. Luca (Gabriele's friend) is so so close to receiving an answer to his prayers concerning the validity of the Book of Mormon. He had a baptismal date for a few weeks ago, but he did not feel completely ready. He has a deeper knowledge of the doctrine of the gospel and organization of the church than anyone I have ever taught. He is very rational and thorough, but also spiritually sensitive...so even though he is taking a little longer to be baptized, when he makes that step he will be solid. He is going to be a stake president someday or something. He is a pleasure to teach. He respects us and takes our lessons seriously. He studies the Book of Mormon as if he were going to take an exam on it. Sometimes he will call us to say that he has already arranged an appointment with another member, and he will text us our train times. Wow, we are so spoiled to teach him! I will probably get transferred within a few weeks, and I won't be there for his baptism, but I am filled with joy for him and his future.

 I have got to tell you about our new investigator Wilfredo! Sorella McNamara and I were talking to people at the Comune gardens last Saturday evening. There was this teenage boy sitting alone on a bench, "too cool for school". Spiked hair, big sunglasses, big headphones in. I felt the prompting to talk to him, but it seemed like it would be a struggle to get his attention. As we walked towards him he gave us a big smile, pulled off his shades and headphones and motioned for us to sit down next to him! He turned out to be a completely different person than I had expected. He was very respectful and sweet, humble and open. The gift of tongues helped us to understand his spanish, haha. We immediately began talking about restored truths of the gospel, and he bore testimony of how God has assisted him in his life. He talked about his experience preaching the word of Christ in the hospital in El Salvador with others from his church. As he spoke, his face shone with the light of Christ. From those first moments that we talked, there was no doubt that he is elect.

  Some of his "friends," rather, acquaintances, walked by us. One of the two young boys laughed and spoke to Wilfredo in slang Spanish. Even though we did not understand every thing he said, it was apparent he was saying some vulgar things about us. Wilfredo boldly said to them, "Go away. We are talking about the word of God." The boy was taken aback and became silent. He tried to keep his cool and laugh at Wilfredo but he seemed very embarrassed. They walked away and Wilfredo turned to us and apologized. "I know it is weird, but I like being alone. I do not like hanging out with other people like them too much. I am sorry for how they behaved."  Sorella McNamara and I were impressed by his maturity and respect for us and for God.

  Through going with him to church and teaching him a lesson, we have continued to realize how pure and faithful he is. Despite being surrounded by family and friends who are involved in the sins of the world, he has received revelation and comfort from reading the bible and attending church. He is disgusted by drugs, tobacco and other addictive substances.

 I know that the Lord guided us to find each other. Wilfredo has kept himself unspotted from the world, and the Lord has prepared him to receive the restored gospel. He will be getting baptized. I already love him like a brother. I am so grateful the Lord has allowed me to serve a mission and to know people like this. I cannot even describe how blessed I feel. Heavenly Father loves each and every one of His children so much. I know that our message changes our lives. It brings lasting happiness and peace in this life.

All my affetto,
Sorella Oakes