Mamma mia!

Buon giorno la mia cara famiglia e amici!!

I am so happy that Katherine's going to Harvard!! That is so exciting. And Carolyn looks sooo darling. You all just look so happy and beautiful!

What a wonderful week it has been! We ventured a little farther out of our city this week to go make some stops in Pinerolo, a city about 40 minutes away on the train. We had lunch with a member family who the dad is actually from Idaho and served his mission here in Italy, and they made us sloppy joes! It was so fun, and a little strange to be talking in English and eating American food! Later in the day we actually ran into a family at the train station who were visiting from Utah and were there in the Pinerolo area doing geneology! It was so crazy to run into them since that was our first time really ever being in that area. I basically just felt like I was in America all day long! The other part to that story is that the anziani in our distrect ran into the same family the very next day in the metro in Torino! What a crazy coincedence!

That whole day was really just a miracle because everything worked exactly according to plan and we taught some really great lessons. It's so wonderful when things actually work out the way you planned for them to! I had another "I'm in Italy" moment this weekend as we were in Rivoli teaching one of our investigators. She is basically the most Italian you can get. The first thing that happened was that she looked down and noticed the shoes I was wearing (the sole is pretty much halfway off). She would have none of that and had me try on two of her pairs of shoes, both of which fit perfectly and she insisted that I keep them. Afterwards she fed us a humungous meal because she also insisted that we each fatten up and sent us home with a pandoro from easter time and leftovers from the meal. Mamma mia! How I love Italians.

Something that I've been learning a lot about this week is being sincere with people. Sometimes I feel like I sound like a broken record and the words aren't always coming from the heart. I was able to notice this contrast in a lesson we had on Saturday with a member, to a lesson we were having the next day with a new investigator. The second lesson went so much better than the first, not because we had prepared better or anything like that but because we had really focused on his needs and the committment we wanted to leave him with- that of helping him have the desire to read the Book of Mormon. It was a little different than any first lesson I've had with an investigator because we made sure to take a step back and address his needs. And in so doing we were able to bear powerful testimony that came staight from the heart!

Well about time to sign off. I love you all so much! If you want a really good pick me up, go read Dieter F. Uchdorf's talk to the general relief society from the November 2011 conference entitled "Forget me not." It's amazing!! Vi voglio tanto tanto tanto bene!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

P.S. A picture of the elect detector- a nameless book of mormon in our house that helps us find all the elect people! 

Companion Twins

Buon giorno a tutti!!

Another week come and gone! I can't believe how fast they all go. The months go by even faster! Almost a month ago today I was picking up my companion, Sorella Hoffman in Milano to start her first trasfer in Italy. The time has really flown by, and it's because so many great things have happened! We are both determined to "keep the Collegno fire burning" as Sorella Hoffman likes to say. I can really tell that we are related on the Lyman side. One guy on the bus even asked us if we were twins! We don't really look alike, just the same eyes, but anyway it started a conversation!

Well, onto some miracles. This week we've been having to deal a lot with things pertaining to Sorella Hoffman's permesso, and on Friday we had to go back to Torino (we're there everyday, practically) to provide some more documentation. We went a little grudgingly, considering the circumstances, but as always the Lord was able to reveal a bigger, more important purpose for being there. As we were walking to the questura I saw three people who I was pretty sure were from Peru walking in front of us. I thought it would be so great if we could talk to them. As we were walking into the questura, they popped up in front of us again! Fancy that! After we sat down to wait for our number I noticed that they were sitting down directly behind us- I knew right then that we needed to talk to them. So we got up, made our way nonchalantly over to where they were and sat down next to them. Immediately they noticed our nametags and asked if we were mormon. It turns out one of them is a less active who was baptized in Peru many years ago, another is a non-member who's entire family is Mormon, and the other is an ex-investigator that the sisters had been teaching a year ago in Milano but he had to stop the lessons because he moved to Torino. But he had read the entire Book of Mormon and loved it. Needless to say, it was definitely not a coincidence that we had to go back to the questura on that day!! Even better, they all live in our zone! I will keep you updated on all of them. :)

Friday, the day we went to the questura, was probably the best day of the week, in fact. We got so many people's contact information, many of them for Torino, and it just seemed like everyone wanted to talk to us! As we were going to get lunch at a Kebap place (it's a really good Turkish food-they have it everywhere in Italy) we sat down at the table and Sorella Hoffman had laid out all of her pamphlets and things on the table to organize them better. A guy got up from the other table and asked if he could have one to read! A couple of minutes later, he got up and asked for another one! We will definitely be making our pamphlets more visible from now on. :) It was such a great day. We'd acutally like to attribute to the "elect detector", a Book of Mormon in our apartment without any title on the cover, but with all the words and everything still inside. Apparantly it works best for Torino.

 Another amazing, wonderful blessing right now is our investigator who we recently found through a less active pass-by that I told you about last week. It is a miracle how we found her, and it is a miracle to teach her. She is really, truly one of those elect people. If I'm here for anyone in collegno, it's her! I love it when I meet people in my mission that I knew I came here to Italy specifically to meet. This is definitely one of those experiences. As we hav begun to teach her, her less active son who she loves dearly has expressed so much excitement and enthusiasm about us coming and is now meeting with the missionaries in Torino, hopefully to become reactivated! Her other son has been a little more opposed to religion, and she has been praying so hard for his heart to be softened. In our last lesson she told us that her prayer had been answered. About a week ago her son was over at her house and started asking about the lessons she was having with us. Then he started reading the pamphlets that she had laying out on the table and the Book of Mormon. What a beautiful, and quick answer to a prayer from Heavenly Father. It has been one of the most amazing things for me to witness in my mission, seeing how the gospel can reunite a family and bring them closer together.

I love you all soooo much!! I am so so grateful for all that you do and for all the support you give me! Here's a little thought from Sister Beck, the former relief society president: "You're doing better than you think you are, but you can do better." That's so important to remember! It's comforting, but pushing at the same time! Vi voglio TANTO bene. Have a grrrreat week!!! :)

Love,

Sorella Lyman

Preparing for Ferragosto

Ciao tutti!!

Well we have reached the month of August, which means everyone's gone on vacation and gearing up for Ferragosto! (August 15th) It's basically just a glorified Italian lunch from what I can tell. All the markets and grocery stores were packed this morning. I guess you could call it an Italian version of Thanksgiving.

We've just been bustling around this week, getting everything in order with Sorella Hoffman's permesso, and trying to get a new phone because I lost ours! This week has been particularly spacey for me, unfortunately. :( But we just keep pressing along and have seen a lot of miracles despite it all!

First miracle- I don't know if I talked about this last week, but on our ward list we found a man who had been inactive for a very long time and I had been wanting to go visit him. But I couldn't find his address anywhere on the map. One day a couple of weeks ago I was looking at the map just happenstance and I happened to spot his street. We decided immediately to go and pass by. He wasn't there when we rang the citofono, but his mom was and let us right in! Two minutes into the conversation with her she started crying and pouring out her heart to us. I sat there wondering how on earth people would feel comfortable doing that with random strangers if it weren't for the fact that we are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were able to bear our testimonies to her, lift her up and get an appointment to come back the next week. All because we decided to pass by that less active on the ward list! I have such a testimony of bringing ALL the lost sheep back into the fold, because you never know where you are going to find people that are ready and waiting to hear our message. It turns out the less active son was so happy we came to pass by his mom and wants to come back to church as well. Bellissimo! Next part of the story is that this past week we invited her to church with a member, and miracle of miracles, she came! She fits in so well with the ward and they all love her. Practically a member already!

Another nice little miracle was yesterday on the bus as we were going to take care of Sorella Hoffman's permesso. There was only one other woman on the bus and I decided to give her a little "Buon giorno!" She said hi right back and we were able to start a conversation. She was from Romania and was feeling very weighed down about life. At first I wasn't sure quite how to respond. It's hard to know what to say when someone feels so dejected like that. But we started talking about the plan of salvation and how our trials in this life are just a part of God's plan. Then we gave her a pamphlet and got her number. As we were getting off the bus she sincerely thanked us with a smile on her face and kissed us both goodbye. How many times does that kind of thing happen, if not on a mission? Those are the kinds of experiences that I will always treasure as a missionary. Sharing the gospel is the best!

Well, I love you all. Go look for opportunities to cheer someone up, and always make the situation you are in better than you found it. :)

Alla prossima! Vi voglio bene!

Love,
DaNece

Teaching About the Atonement

Cara famiglia e amici,

Come state?! Com'é andata la vostra settimana?

It's been such an amazing week! We've seen a lot of miracles. After Pietro's baptism we hit kind of a slump, but to make up for it we found five new investigators! We actually found all of them in the span of two days and there was a lot that lead up to it. But first we had a lesson with a man in the park who we had met the week before on the bus and actually called us a few days later. It was such a spiritual lesson and we invited him to baptism with a date! Later in the evening we went to a member's house in Rivoli to meet with another lady who has actually met with a lot of other missionaries in the past. She is now starting up again after about a nine month break. The next day we decided to pass by a man who we had met on the bus a few weeks before who we weren't able to get a hold of by phone, and we were able to teach a lesson to him, his wife, and his grand-daughter. She was especially interested and practically snatched the Book of Mormon right out of our hands. It was definitely 24 hours packed with miracles. Now we just have to maintain them all and help them progress!

It's amazing how the Lord is in this work. Especially with the man we taught in the park. We feel that he really needs the gospel in his life right now. When we presented him with a baptismal date, he flipped it around by asking why we talked to him on the bus in the first place. Sorella Hoffman simply said that it was because we felt like he needed to hear this message. I think it really rang true with him.

Something I've noticed in my mission is that my mind will focus on specific things about the gospel that I feel really strongly are exactly what all of the people we teach need to hear. Right now I feel like it's the atonement. Before it's been the Book of Mormon, or the three pillars of reading, praying, coming to church, or having Christ as our foundation, but right now I feel like the atonement is what everyone really needs to hear about. It's the glue that holds it all together. It's the reason we do everything in the church and the reason we have for continuing with good cheer in this life. We have such a precious knowledge of this gift which enables us to live, learn, progress, and have a family here and in the eternities! As President Wolfgramm said at a zone conference once, everyone with this knowledge needs to fall on their knees and thank God that they have it. And then we need to accept and apply it in our lives! What a blessing to know and believe that Christ is our savior!

Along with the beauty of the gospel, we've also seen some beautiful sights this week in our cute little town of Rivoli! Collegno is full of so many hidden gems, besides having the best ward ever! I love it here so much!

You're all beautiful, and baby Carolyn is so precious in her cute little blessing dress. Sounds like it was a big party in Rexburg this past week with southern style barbecue and all! (the REAL kind of barbecue!) :p Vi voglio tutti tantissimo bene.

Con tantotantotanto amore,

Sorella Lyman

P.S. here's a good little passage I read this week: Alma 31:31-38

Some more pictures from last week!

 This is Chiusa di San Michele, the really old castle in the alps from the 900s! 

This picture is from when Dad came to visit! We went to a little restaurant in Collegno and had a great time together! 

Another picture of the castle (Chiusa di San Michele)

 And another picture from the castle. You can see the alps in the background of the picture!

  

 This is me at the cute little restaurant (La Filanda) in Bardonecchia

Pietro's Baptism

Ciao!!!!!

Baby Carolyn is SOOO CUTE!!!!!! I am so happy that everything went well and that Carolyn is happy and healthy. Someone hold her a good long time, just for me. :)

Biggest news from this week- I got a new companion!! Her name is Sorella Hoffman and she's from Dallas, Texas. This is her first transfer, which means I'm training again! We actually found out when we first met last Thursday that we're distantly related because her Grandma's a Lyman traced back to Amasa Lyman! Can someone tell me how we're related to him again? Anyway, Sorella Hoffman is amazing and already has a much better idea what she's doing than I definitely did in my first transfer! She's already taught me so much.

The other big highlight from the week is that we had a baptism!!!! Hooray!!!! It was the best baptism ever. The ward loves Pietro, and he loves them right back. As the bishop was doing the welcome to the ward after the ceremony he actually walked off the podium to give Pietro a huge hug (which Italians don't normally do) and then went back up to finish what he had to say. Pietro also prepared a little talk to give and it was so heartfelt and beautiful. I absolutely loved seeing him coming out of the water completely spiritually reborn. It's the best feeling ever!

Our focus right now is that we're really trying to find new people to teach. We're running a little low at the moment and so we're really trying to fill up our investigator pool. It's amazing still, how many miracles we've seen. It always seems like the greatest miracles come with the very last ounce of effort that we have. For the past few days we've been talking to lots of people and have not had lots of success, but both on Sunday and Monday at the very end of the day before we got to our apartment was when we were actually able to receive the numbers of people who were interested! I guess that's the miracle fence (a mission term)- when you've worked so hard for such a long amount of time and the real miracle doesn't come until you think you've given your all. That's when you need to give even more!

We're about to enter the month of August when most everyone will be going on vacation to escape the heat, but that won't stop us from going out and doing the Lord's work!

Vi voglio tantISSSIMO bene. Tanti tanti auguri to Tom and Jocelyn! Have an amazing week!!

Love,

Sorella Lyman

A picture of Pietro's baptism. Pietro is in the middle.

Transfer News!

Ciao dall'Italia!! 

Ahhh!!!! I can't believe Jocelyn's in the hospital!!! She could be having the baby right now as I'm writing! Let me know as SOON as it's happening!!! She looks so great, so beautiful, and so huge! From the size of her, I'm guessing the baby will be 8 pounds, 5 ounces. I hope she's coming presto!!

Well the biggest piece of news is that I found out about transfers!! I really didn't know what to expect this time around since both Sorella Haslem and I have been here for the same amount of time and I just got finished training her. But it turns out that I will be staying in Collegno and Sorella Haslem is getting transfered to Milano to be with her MTC companion, Sorella Holloway! Neither of us were expecting that one. I know she is going to be so great!! We started this journey together here in Collegno and I am amazed at how much she's grown and taught me! I don't know who my companion will be yet because I'll be training again! I think it might start with an "H" though, because president was about to tell me on the phone but then remembered that I wasn't supposed to find out yet. :) I am so excited to stay here, especially since we have Pietro's baptism this Saturday! He was really sad when we told him that Sorella Haslem wouldn't be there because she was getting transfered. It took a while to console him about it, but now I think he's okay. :) It's just all in the Lord's hands and a testimony that he always knows best!

Other happenings from the week... We had a first lesson with a man named Cesare on Sunday and I think it was one of the more spiritual lessons I've had on my mission. Well, they've all been spiritual, but this one was particularly so. It was reall happenstance how we met him in the first place. We were just hurrying to do our email on P-day and he stopped us on the way because I guess he had seen our name tags. He had a lot of deep questions about life, and we ended up getting his number and the number of his friend who joined him later (who we also taught and is really elect). As we were sitting with him in the park on Sunday I could recognize that he had such a tender spirit, but very deep at the same time. He was so interested in our message about the restoration and had never heard anything like it before. It just seemed like the perfect atmosphere with the perfect spirit and I felt like I was able to freely bear my testimony to him. 

We also met a lady named Rosi who is kind of a miracle because she actually had met with missionaries almost thirty years ago with her husband before he passed away, and I guess hadn't had any contact with the church until we met with her. She still has her Book of Mormon and remembers the spirit of peace that the missionaries brought into her house all the years ago. she is such a kind and tender-hearted lady! I just know that every single person we meet and talk to is not a coincedence! It's amazing how many people in Collegno have met with the missionaries once or twice before, or who just happen to have a Book of Mormon. We have definitely made our mark here, and it's not done yet! I'm so excited to still be a part of the work in this city and be an instrument in the Lord's hands. We're here to witness miracles! 

Vi voglio tantissississimo bene. I'm looking forward to being an aunt in just a few short hours!!!!

Love,

Sorella Lyman