Verona 1 - Transfer 8 - Week 4

November 30, 2011


Dear Family and Friends,

Once again, not much time, but I wanted to share a beautiful miracle that we saw last week!  We have a great member family who hasn't come to church in a while.  They are friends of our family who's preparing for baptism.  We called them last week to set up an appointment, and then had to cancel last minute because my companion was feeling worse.  I felt inspired to invite them to church (even though I was planning on giving them a lesson first), and they CAME!!!!  When they walked in, I didn't even recognize them, but our investigator saw her and gave her a big hug!  It was SO good to see both of them so happy with each other in the house of the Lord.  :)  I hope that they continue this friendship.  It's great to have a friend to live the gospel with.  It's SO important to have friends that build you up.  

I've been so blessed to have great friends in the past, and now I'm enjoying spending time with wonderful companions! You all built me up before the mission. They build me up now.  Living here on Earth would be lonely if we didn't have someone helping us along the way.

I read a great article in an Ensign from 2006, I think.  It was a talk by Elder Ballard (I think) on the Light of Christ.  It was beautiful because EVERYONE is born with this Light of Christ, like a conscience, that helps us choose right from wrong.  As we act on these impressions, we are happier - automatically.  And as we are baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we can have a constant companion or comforter to help us to feel peace in any situation (as long as we are living worthily).  It's all so simple, but I learn it more clearly every day.  I think I'm finally understanding how to recognize promptings, repent daily to be worthy of them, and then act when I'm prompted.  I'm far from perfect at it, and I have to keep working at it every minute to develop the capacity.  But I'm at least starting to understand how it works.

Yes, my companion has still been down this week, so I have read LOTS of Ensigns, Isaiah, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants.  I just love the scriptures!  They're written for our day!  

We were teaching a lady last night who teaches catechism... I think that's how it's spelled in English.  She said, "You can interpret the Bible so many different ways... I just teach the kids to keep the commandments."  I wanted to say, "Well, that's why we need the Book of Mormon and living prophets," but we had almost used up the 5 minutes she gave us.  It was beautiful, though, to see the Spirit working on her.  As we left her with Alma 32, she said, "You know, if your church could join up with my church, we could really make the world a better place."  She was smiling, and you could tell she really felt the Spirit - even though she did most of the talking. I'm humbled by the mantle of my calling.  I am an imperfect servant, but the missionary mantle really does carry a Spirit that can light up people's lives.

Everyone has agency.  That's the hard thing.  But of course, that's also wonderful.  We can all CHOOSE eternal life and accept those little promptings that the Spirit gives us.  Following them, even little promptings, always makes us happier.

I love you all, and I continue to pray for you!

Keep the faith!

-Sorella Willey

--
Sorella Willey

elizabeth.willey@myldsmail.net

Sorella Elizabeth Willey

Missione Italiana di Milano

Via Gramsci, 13/4

20090 Opera MI

ITALIA

Verona 1 - Transfer 8 - Week 3

November 23, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Ok, please don't hate me!  I have only 2 minutes left.  I just want to let you all know that I'm alive, well, happy, seeing miracles, and I just sent an awfully long letter to my president.  My poor companion is still sick, so I was updating him on everything.

I love you all, and I pray for you daily!

I'd recommend the talk on "Choosing Eternal Life" from this month's Ensign.  We got them a couple of days ago, and I absolutely LOVED being able to finally read the Sunday Afternoon session!  We don't get to watch that broadcast because it's too late.  

Anywho, I will send more next week.  I promise.

Happy Thanksgiving and keep the faith!

Love always,

-Sorella Willey

Verona 1 - Transfer 8 - Week 2

November 16, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

I got a TON of letters this week!  WOW!!!  How fun!  Sorella Hanks and I have had a pretty down week... She was REALLY sick, and we literally would leave the house, teach a lesson, then come back so she could rest more, then not leave the house again until we had another lesson.  So on Sunday at church, when Capo Distretto brought us our HUGE stack of mail, we were pretty excited!  Thank you all for your love and letters!  I hope I can respond to you all... may take a while. :)  But it was great, and not too distracting. ;)

This week we saw a fun miracle.  We were pretty much stuck indoors, Slla Hanks was sleeping, and I was studying.  I kept getting random phonecalls from people I didn't know.  They'd say, "Who is this?"  I'd introduce myself, and ask if they wanted to learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ, and they'd say, "Sure, but how did you get this phone?"  One girl called back about 6 times that day, and kept saying, "Sorry, I meant to call someone else."  I thought it was kind of strange, but was happy for the referrals.  Then Charles, one of our new converts said, "All of my friends tried to call me on Thursday, and somehow they were automatically transfered to you!"  Apparently when everyone talked to him the next day, they asked him why Sister Willey had his phone.  It was so funny!  I told him that it's a sign, and he needs to bring all of them to church.  :)  

Another sad thing that happened this week... a new convert has stopped reading the Book of Mormon every day.  Ok, that sounds like maybe a little thing, right?  But 3 weeks ago we asked him, "Could you ever lose your testimony?" And he said, "That's impossible!  I know it's all true!  I so much love reading the Book of Mormon!"  And this week he missed church and told us he stopped reading the Book of Mormon every day.  He seemed really sad, almost like a different person, and had a lot of questions about doctrine that he had understood before.  He also said that he felt his testimony was strong in that moment, but during the week he had a lot of questions.  He said, "All the churches are true."  And when we said, "Ok, they all have truth, but which church has a true and living prophet who speaks for Jesus Christ?"  He said, "The Bible says that lots of false prophets will rise up in the last days."  It made me realize just how tender and precious is a testimony!  Obviously when someone is new in the church, it's even more tender.  But as we talked to him, the only thing that really changed was that he wasn't reading the Book of Mormon every day.  He wouldn't even commit to reading every day.  He said he would if he felt like it.  AHHH!!!!  We came home practically in tears.

So, what do we need to do to keep our testimonies strong?  Well, Alma said that we have to nourish it.  If we let it alone, it will die.  I have been giving everyone Alma 32 this week to read, and I'd also recommend it to all of you.  I used to think of it as mostly a chapter for those who want to start a testimony.  But now I realize that it's just as important to nourish a testimony that is already grown.  If we stop reading, stop praying, stop coming to church, attending the temple, etc, etc, then our testimony won't be getting that important nourishment that it needs daily and weekly.  Just like if we have a yummy tomato plant or fruit tree that we stop allowing sunshine, watering, and weeding.  

The other chapter that came to mind, was the 1 Nephi 8, tree of life vision of Lehi.  If we are not holding to the rod of iron (the word of God), we will never be able to enjoy the fruit (peace, joy, happiness - fruits of the love of God).  And in 1 Nephi 11:22-23, Nephi explains that it is the most desirable and sweet above all the other fruits.  These are such simple doctrines, but so powerful!  I always knew and understood that these things were important, but now I am seeing just HOW important, and how delicate our testimony actually can be.

I keep learning so much, and I hope that I can retain it all!  I am so grateful to be here at this time!

Take care of yourselves, and thank you for your prayers, support, and everything!

Keep the faith!

Love always,

-Sorella Willey

--
Sorella Willey

elizabeth.willey@myldsmail.net

Sorella Elizabeth Willey

Missione Italiana di Milano

Via Gramsci, 13/4

20090 Opera MI

ITALIA

Verona 1 - Transfer 8 - Week 1

November 9, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

My poor companion is sick now!  I'm pretty much better now.  In fact we've really switched places.  Now I study all day while she sleeps.  It's great!!!  I mean, the studying, that is.  It's not great that she's not doing well.  But we started teaching a little 8-year-old this week.  Her mom is a member, but her dad isn't.  In fact, he didn't know she was a member for most of their marriage.  She's so cute!  She's already read all of 1 Nephi, and she just wants to get baptized as soon as her dad gets back from his business trip.  One of our members, the bishop's mom, actually, picks us up from the train station and drives us to all the lessons.  Her mom and aunt may actually be reactivated too...  That would be AWESOME!!!  They are from Brazil, but the dad is Italian.  He apparently is trying to find a church to go to in Ireland too.  He seems to be interested... :)  

We also met a man last week.  He has a wife and 2 daughters.  His name is Michelangelo Martini, and he really challenged our Bible knowledge with a bunch of questions, but he said that he will read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true.  We have the follow-up lesson tonight, and I believe that one of our awesome members is coming too!  I have been studying up on all the answers for him, but I'm going to just write them on a paper for him to look up and read after we leave.  We've told him the way to know truth is to read and pray.  And this week hopefully he'll come to church too!  

Pray for our Meneghini family!  They're so close to getting baptized, but they are having a hard time getting to church because he has to work some Sundays.  We're all praying that he won't have to work this Sunday... And they are all sick too.  It's just going around.  I'm glad I got it over with already and I'm back to normal.

Let's see, there's so much more I could say, but I'm running a little short on time again.  But I hope you all are having a good winter!  We've been getting lots of rain.  No snow yet, but I hear we'll be getting some. :)

Yesterday I did a big research on "Who is Jesus Christ?"  (one of Michelangelo's questions).  I came up with a few scriptures, and I'd like to recommend all of them...  I guess I'll just type them up, and if y'all are interested, you can go do a scripture search.  It's actually quite lovely to just read a bunch of scriptures on the same topic.  I learned a ton!!!

-Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 25:8-9; 44:22; 50:6;  53:2-12
-Ezechiele 37:12-14
-Zaccaria 9:9; 11:13; 13:6
-Matthew 1:21
-Mark 9:12
-Luck 4:16-22
-John 18:33-37
1 Nephi 19:8-9
2 Nephi 10:3; 25:13, 19
Mosiah 13:33-35
Alma 7:10-13

Oh, and some of the references are in Italian... but I don't remember them in English right now.  And there are SO many more!   I just love reading about Jesus Christ in the scriptures, because he's on every page.  I know that the scriptures are true, and that he is our Savior.  I'm so grateful that he's directing this work, and that I have the opportunity to be here and feel of the love he has for everyone I teach.

I love you all!  Thank you for everything!

Love,
-Sorella Willey

-- 
Sorella Willey

elizabeth.willey@myldsmail.net

Sorella Elizabeth Willey

Missione Italiana di Milano

Via Gramsci, 13/4

20090 Opera MI

ITALIA

Verona 1 - Transfer 7 - Week 6

November 2, 2011


Dear Family and Friends,

Thanks for the photos this week!  It was fun to see camping and stuff!  I'm starting to feel much better now, and we have been going crazy this week teaching people!  We had Stake Conference this Sunday, and it was really fun to see all those people there from all over!  It was especially fun to see people from Modena there, and it made me miss my old city a little.  But at the same time I keep falling more and more in love with Verona!  I am SO excited to be able to spend another transfer here with my dear Sorella Hanks!  We have been having a great time, and she is learning Italian SO well!  She studied at school a couple of years ago, so she already spoke pretty well, but pretty soon I'll bet she passes me up!

This week I had an interesting experience.  After Stake Conference, we met a man at the bus stop.  I was asking him for directions, and he said, "I was once a Mormon too."  We talked for a while.  He had converted to Islam when he married a woman from Tunisia.  I asked him why he left the Church.  He said, "I feel that all religions are the same.  We all worship the same God, teach the same principles, and have basically the same beliefs.  It's only the name that's different. I just made a choice."  I bore my testimony that I knew that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and he said, "We're all sons and daughters of God."  He wanted to argue, so all I could do was give him a Book of Mormon, tell him to read a chapter that came to mind and pray about it, and then I bore my testimony that I knew that it was true.  He said he would read, and I hope he will.  (We can only be truly converted if we are daily studying the scriptures, the true word of God.)

I left the bus stop feeling kind of strange inside.  I know that what he said was true, in many ways.  We all do worship God.  We do use different names for Him.  We are all children of a Heavenly Father.  It bothered me that what he said made sense, because I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  I know that's it's true, so I had to figure out why I felt like crying. What I discovered as I thought about all that on the way home, was that there is something very important that he didn't understand.  

We can't get back to God alone.  

Because He is perfect, we can't "dwell with God" (1 Nephi 10:21) without being cleansed from sin.  The ONLY way that we can be cleansed from sin, is for there to be an "infinite and eternal sacrifice" (Alma 34:10-14) and then for us to have faith, repent, be baptized, be sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and endure in "faithfulness unto the end" (3 Nephi 27:19-21).  Therefore, we cannot "merit anything" of ourselves (Alma 22:12-14) and "if Christ had not come . . . there could have been no resurrection" and we must have been dead forever (Mosiah 16:6-8).

But Christ DID come.  He DID atone for our sins.  I did a 2 hour study of the Atonement yesterday for a lesson with an investigator, and EVERY act in the atonement was necessary.  One of my zone leaders reminded me that even the betrayal and forgiving were absolutely essential to this great and last sacrifice.  The difference between our church and other churches (among many), is that we KNOW that Christ is the head of the Church. We know that He lives and directs a living prophet.  The Book of Mormon is the only proof that we (those who are priesthood holders) hold the priesthood of God.  It is the only proof that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet. 

My favorite verse this week is also from Mosiah 16:9

"He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death."  I know this is true.  I know the Book of Mormon is true.  I'm grateful more and more every day for this opportunity to share this with others, and I can't believe how much my testimony has grown as I've been here.   I'm not perfect.  I make mistakes all the time, and God shows me that He is in charge, and helps to overcome all my difficulties.  

Ok, one last scripture...

Alma 58:10-12.

This is the one I'm recommending for you all to look up and read.  But it shows the need for prayer, faith, courage, and acting.  God wants to help us, but we must first ask in faith, act in courage, and then he will direct us and help us conquer.

Thank you all for your friendship and love!  And your prayers!!!!!

I love you all.

Keep the faith!

-Sorella Willey

--
Sorella Willey

elizabeth.willey@myldsmail.net

Sorella Elizabeth Willey

Missione Italiana di Milano

Via Gramsci, 13/4

20090 Opera MI

ITALIA