The Third Companion

Ciao tutti!!!

How are you all doing? Is everyone getting excited for Easter? I'm not sure what we're doing yet but I'm sure it will include a lot of colombo (sort of like panetone) and a lot of other food in general. I'll let you know how it goes! This week has been filled with a lot of great and exciting things. First of all, I got a new companion! Sorella Stewart!! Thursday was transfer day, so we all headed to the central train station in Milan which is where everyone meets up who will be changing companions for the transfer. It was there that I said goodbye to Sorella Soh (who is now a week-old return missionary!!!!) and picked up my new companion! Sorella Stewart is so great! It is so fun to be with her again and be reminded of all the good times we had in the MTC!

We have had a lot of great experiences this week, including two new investigators, a wonderful member lesson on Monday with the Friolos, and a great lesson yesterday with our investigator that we're teaching named Alberto along with one of our awesome members named Renata who is a return missionary from Rome. It makes such a difference to have members at lessons. They are really able to connect with the investigators on a different level and bear amazing testimony! Alberto is making such great progress. He has read up to the book of Jacob in just three weeks!

Well, I don't know how my time always runs out like this. It has been so great to be with Sorella Stewart and to really be able to work together with her to carry on the Lord's work here in Milano! She is such a great support and I am really excited for all the miracles we are going to see this transfer! I have really seen this week how much I have grown as a missionary, thanks to the companions I have had and all the valuable things I have learned from them. I LOVE being a missionary!!! It is the most beautiful experience in the world. I love you all so much , and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

Transfers!

Hello Everyone!!

Come state? Everything is great (and crazy!) here in Milano! It's crazy because this week is transfer week and Sorella Soh is going home! Right now she is in the process of packing all of her bags, and then tomorrow we will head to the train station, switch companions, and she will head over to the mission home with all the other departing missionaries! I will then come home with my new companion who will be... Sorella Stewart!! Yep, the same Sorella Stewart who was with me in the MTC! She will be coming here to Milano after spending the last three transfers in Genova. So that means I will be going on my fourth transfer here! I am so excited to be with Sorella Stewart. It's going to be so fun to be companions with someone who was with me in the MTC since we will both be at the same level of experience. It's going to be a time of a lot of learning, growing, and miracles!

Besides transfers this past week has been pretty full. On Thursday we had a conference for all the sisters in the mission which lasted basically all day. It was so cool to see all the sisters gathered together, some who I hadn't seen in a long time, and some who I'd never met but had heard a lot about. The atmosphere was just filled with so much love and overall sorella power! Sorella Soh gave her dying testimony, which is what every missionary has to give on their last transfer in the mission, talking about all the different things they've learned and any advice they want to pass on to other missionaries. Everyone loved it, including me!

The past couple of days we have just been going from appointment to appointment, trying to teach and say goodbye to everyone before Sorella Soh leaves. Yesterday we went to eat lunch with Sorella Crista, our new convert's mom, and we had a delicious dish from El Salvador called pupusas (sp?). It's basically a corn based soft tortilla with different fillings of meat, beans, and zucchini which you fry on the stove, sort of like empanadas. It was sooo good. I had seven! I was completely stuffed. Then later on in the day we went to our other new convert's house, Mishell, and her mom served us Papa alla huanquayina (sp?) which is a baked potato with a delicious cheesy sauce, along with some yummy fried rice. Our members our so good to us!

Today was pretty packed too, because along with it being p-day we went to welcome in the new sisters who just arrived today from the MTC! There are eleven of them total, plus all the elders. Guess who I met? Sorella Seare!! She is super nice. The first thing I asked her was "Do you know Jocelyn Francis?" because I know they had been in a quartet together at BYU-I! I was so excited to meet her. She said that Jocelyn was the only one that actually guess right on her mission call, because that's where her sister is serving! :) It has been a fun and packed week, and it's just going to get more exciting!

I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week ahead. I'm glad to hear spring time is on it's way over there. Right now it's still pretty yucky in Milano, but it should start warming up soon! Vi voglio tantissimo bene!! Alla prossima!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

Visiting Varese and Como

Hello Everyone!!

First off, I have some exciting news! They have recently changed the policy for missionaries worldwide so that we are now able to write also to friends\new converts via email, as well as our families and the mission president. That means that I now have an extra thiry minutes on the computer to have more time to respond all these new emails. Woohoo! Communication is now going to be much easier and faster. Apart from that, it's been a pretty fun week. On Thursday I got to do a scambio with Sorella Vardeu in Varese, a small little city about an hour outside of Milano in the mountains. Sorella Vardeu is the sister that Sorella Soh and I got to host on her first night here in the mission. She is a native Italian from Rome and is so awesome! We taught three lessons- one to an investigator who is really interested in geneology, one to a 12-year-old new convert, and then one to a man from Romania who we taught the Plan of Salvation (who I actually got to see again at Stake Conference this Sunday). It was really fun to be in a new area outside of Milan, and made me realize once again just how big and vast Milan is! It was interesting getting off the train from Varese, and then back down into the metropolitana and the normal urban life I'm used to, with tons of people everywhere I go!

This Sunday we had Stake conference in the Milano Lampugnano ward. It was so cool to be there with the entire Milano Ovest (West) stake- Milano actually has two stakes now. It's so cool to see how much the church has grown, and also to see just how packed it was on Sunday! There were a lot of great speakers, and a lot of great talks on missionary work, including a talk from President Wolfgramm. I loved meeting people from all the other wards (including two awesome return sister missionaries from Milano 3) and being able to talk and mingle with everyone afterwards. The next day we got to go to Como again for our second zone training of the transfer. We arrived about an hour early right in centro, and had to walk around by Lake Como and around the duomo to find tickets for the bus we were supposed to take. It was definitely a great excuse to get to see some of the absolutely breathtaking sights of the city! At some points I thought I was walking in Fantasyland, except so much better becase it was actually real life! Como is such a beautiful city. I can't wait to be able to see more of Italy in the future!

Well, time's about up again. I hope you're all doing well, and I look forward to all those letters that I hear are being sent by all the siblings! :) Have a wonderful, wonderful week and look for opportunities to serve! Vi voglio un SACCO di bene!!

Love,
Sorella Lyman

Wonderful Investigators

Ciao tutti!

Wow, it's Wednesday once again! How is everyone doing?? I see that the snow is starting to melt a little bit! It's turning into springtime here in Milano, even though everyone still goes outside in their full out winter gear. That's just the way Italians do it, even if it's really fairly nice weather outside! I think I prefer it that way, actually. I never, ever go outside without my hat, scarf, and gloves! Also just wrapping up here in Milano is Carnevale. It actually ended a couple of weeks ago, as a start to Lent, and I just forgot to write about it. All the little kids were running around in costumes and painted faces and there was chiarchiere (basically a fried, sugary cracker) in the windows of every single pasticceria. There's also tons of confetti everywhere on the ground, sort of like all the fake plastic grass at easter which never goes away. So there's your cultural low-down for the week. :)

This week has been full of happy, wonderful experiences, and ones that I can learn from as well. Yesterday, on a scambio with Sorella Brown, we had two really great lessons with Alberto, and one of our part member families who we've been teaching since my first transfer. I have really grown to love that family so much. They have three kids, two that are not baptized, along with the dad, and a cat named Trilli who I think is the most hilarious and cute little animal I have ever seen. When we saw them for the first time, they had not been coming to church quite as much, but as soon as we started teaching them they began showing up in church and really forming a desire to make the gospel a center of their lives. Right now we are really working with them to make the next step towards baptism and it has been beautiful to see the progress that they have made so far. Alberto is one of the most elect people I have ever met. Sorella Brown and I met him in the park a couple of weeks ago and yesterday we were able to teach him the restoration, after he came to church on Sunday and loved every minute of it. He has such a sincere desire to find the truth and recognizes something different and special about this church.

My testimony has grown so much since being here is Milano, and I am so grateful that I get to share it with people every single day to help them be able to come closer to Christ. It is so amazing to see how far I have come since my first transfer with teaching, the language, talking with people, making decisions, and how all of that affects the people that I am teaching. I am so excited for everything ahead. And also really sad that Sorella Soh is going home in two weeks. :( The time has gone by too fast! Vi voglio un sacco di bene! Buona settimana!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

Looking for New Opportunities

Ciao, cara famiglia!

 

Unfortunately I don't have much time to write this week, so I'll just hit some of the major things that happened. First off, we had a baptism on Sunday!! Yep, the second one in two weeks! This one was for our nine-year-old, Mishell. Everything went so beautifully, and I am just so happy that she has chosen to make this big step in her life. I'll have to send you some pictures when I have more time. Hmm, what else? Yesterday we had a mini little miracle as we were getting onto the bus to head to one of our appointments. Do you remember the man I told you about that we met at the bank (I guess about a month ago now), and then two weeks later he showed up at church. Well, right after we got on the bus we saw a man sitting in the seat right in front of us reading a newspaper, and lo and behold it was Antonio from the bank! It was definitely not a coincedence. Those are some of my favorite kinds of miracles when we just run into people who we've met previously, who have had interest but have been hard to contact for one reason or another. The Lord works in mysterious, but marvelous ways! After our two baptisms, we now find ourselves having to start a little from scratch again, but still this week we got one new investigator! The work just keeps moving forward, and especially with all the new sorelle coming in next transfer, I'm just trying to prepare the best I can to be able to carry on the work here in Milano (I think I'll be staying here, but I guess there's really no telling!) Well I love you all so much! Keep on the look out for missionary experiences wherever you go, and have a wonderful fantastic week!!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

Jennifer's Baptism

Ciao tutti!! Come state?

Wow, sounds like it's been an exciting week for everyone! That's so awesome that Katherine got into Harvard! Things have been pretty exciting here in Milan too. I love all the little miracles that happen during the week! Yesterday I was on a scambio with Sorella Brown from the Milano 1 zone. We were down in the metro and I saw a man leaning against the wall that I sort of recognized. I came up to him and said "Ci conosciamo?" and he recognized me too! I had talked to him on the bus in December right before he was about to return back to his country (Peru). We wrote down his number and gave him a pass-along card, not expecting to see him again. Little did I know I would see him two months later after he had come back to Italy! He said he was really interested in the message (I think more than the first time I talked to him) so it was really cool that we were able to run into each other again! The Lord really does put us in the exact right place at the right time! 

Another great experience this week comes from the missionary night we had on Friday in the church. We texted a lot of people about it, telling them to invite their friends and be prepared for a message and a little game afterwards. The turn-out wasn't quite as many as we were hoping for, but there was a member family who brought along one of their friends from work, along with another part member couple. We started off by giving a message about the importance of family which everyone seemd to really enjoy. And then afterwards we decided to play the newspaper game (a fun little circle game, sort of like signs). It ended up being so hilarious that everyone was practically dying of laughter. At first we thought that the night might be kind of a drag, but everyone loved it so much and was getting so into it! It was definitely the most I've laughed in a long time. Activities like that are such a good way to get people more involved with the church! 

Oh, and I musn't forget Jennifer's baptism!! Hooray!!! It was such a wonderful experience to see her taking that step. I think even more powerful was the next day when she was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. I felt the spirit so strongly! I am so, so happy for her. I love being a missionary, and I love learning new things every day about the gospel and how it applies when you are talking to real people in the real world. It is so beautiful seeing people change and helping them come unto Christ! I love you all so much. Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

Exciting Work in the Ward

Buon giorno a tutti!! Come state? 

It's another P-day once again, and the first week of the new transer! ...My third! I'm so glad to be staying here in Milano with Sorella Soh. We have so many great things coming up including two baptisms and a lot of other wonderful investigators and members we're working with. I love the ward here so much. On Sunday we did a special missionary sacrament meeting where all the missionaries in the ward gave short little talks, along with President Wolfgramm, and we did a special musical number of I need the every hour. Sorella Soh and Anziano Herrington sang, I played violin, and Sorella Lynch played piano. Afterwards we had a swarm of members come up to us wanting us to come visit them this week along with the ward mission leader and one of our part member families wanting to set up appointments. It was crazy, but definitely a great success! It was such a great opportunity to bear testimony to the ward and become closer with them. 

We're staying busy this week with Jennifer's baptism on Saturday along training meetings, member appointments, seeing other investigators, plus finding work. Yesterday we went to see one of our part member families who we talked to about prayer and learning how to recognize answers from the Holy Ghost. It was such a powerful lesson and we were really able to see how we can continue helping their whole family come unto Christ and be more united in the gospel. I love being a part of that process by sharing my testimony and learning others' testimonies and experiences as well! I espeically love hearing all the testimonies of people in the ward. On Sunday we went to have lunch with a family who's sister is becoming more interested in learning about the church. She had a lot of questions which we were all trying to answer, but what really brough it home is when one of the members just bore her testimony about when she was converted to the gospel and how she has never had any doubts since. It gives me so much more respect and understanding for people when I am able to hear their experiences about the gospel! 

This week I am reading the part in Alma about the conversion of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis. I continue to be amazed at what a humble and powerful missionary Ammon is. He preaches the gospel to an entire nation of Lamanites who all become converted and still gives all of his thanks and praise to God. He is one of the biggest examples to me of the right reasons for doing missionary work-to help people experience the same joy and love of God that we can feel from the gospel! 

Well, I hope you're all staying warm on the Iceburg! And congratulations to Ceci for getting to quarter finals in the debate tounament! That's awesome! Did she get my picture with the can of ceci beans? :) Well, alla prossima settimana! Vi voglio tanto tanto bene!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

Pictures at La Scala: