August 8, 2012 Vacanza!

Every one has left. Okay, exaggeration, but not so much. The beginning of August has brought the "great migration." Every body is going to the mountains or to the sea or to the south. It's made finding new investigators tricky. We can't get return appointments because every body is leaving. So when September comes, We'll have too many people we won't know what to do!

I can't believe we are already in week 4 of this transfer... wow how time flies. Milano is still crazy. But each place has its own special things.

One special thing the ward here in Milano 3 has is Sorella Cano. She is the relief society president. Ah! I just love her. She just looks like a woman who loves everyone around her and does her best to live a righteous life. She had us over for lunch on Sunday. She's from Columbia. It was delicious! She has like this really cool deeper accent and I just love listening to her talk. She is so strong! She has a very difficult family situation that has basically left her alone, but that has not brought her down. She still serves with all her heart and eminates a light that is so strong. I love Sorella Cano!

Friday night they had a GANS activity at Milano 1 (YSA). We took Nickel. It was a talent night. They announce someone was going to do some hip hop dancing and I was all excited. He gets up... wait... he looks familiar... It was Mario!!! My friend from Club Style my freshman year. He is from Spain, but just finished his mission in April and is engaged to a girl that lives in Milano so lives here now. CRAZY! I was blown away. Small world. We talked about all of our dear friends from the club. He took a picture and said he was putting it on facebook... ha. But it was so fun! Sorella Soh played the Mission hymn on the ukelele, Anziano Rodriguez beat boxed, and the rest of us missionaries (6 others) sang the mission hymn. It was so fun. I really needed it.

Today we are heading to Varese for a scambio blitz! I will be paired with Sorella McNamara, a fellow BYU Art History major! Small world! Again. And Sorella Bishop will be with Sorella Bush. I'm so excited. So we'll take the train at 5,30 and be there till tomorrow at 5,15. Happiness. I love scambio! And I hear Varese is beautiful. It's up by como.

NEXT WEEK p day will be on Thursday. Don't be alarmed when you don't get an email from me on Wednesday. We have interviews with President Wednesday. 

So Stephen and Nickel are doing good. Nickel brought his brother and niece to church on Sunday! And they loved it. They live in Malta, so hopefully the missionaries will find them there. But Nickel is doing pretty good. We're probably going to have to push back his date because his soccer schedule is keeping him super busy and we can't see him very often. And as for Stephen, he is going to go live with his family in Los Angeles at the end of this month, so we're going to have to see if he'll get baptized here or there. But they are both so great and so forte. 

We had an interesting lesson with our muslim investigator yesterday. Mannan from Bangladesh. He is reading the Book of Mormon in Bengali! And he is SO sensitive to the spirit, it scares him. Every lesson with him he kind of panics at the end and rushes out. Yesterday we taught him the plan of salvation and he started kind of panicking again so we asked him to describe what he's feeling. He described the feelings of the spirit and that he had never felt it before. He sat down and looked so confused. All of a sudden he said he felt something dark coming over him. Something prompted me to read the scriptures so I opened up to the first one I could think of, Moroni 9:25-26. After we did that he had calmed down but it was weird. He accepted a date for September because he really wants to do what is right, but he still needs to pray and get a confirmation. He is so sweet and just so sensitive to spiritual things. I felt prompted to warn him that he is going to face difficult times while he is searching to know if this is true and that it will be hard, but that if he has faith and relies on his Savior He will help him. So we're praying that darkness stays away! It was weird!

Yesterday we had a lesson with that less active I talked to on the bus a few weeks ago. She has been away from the church for a long time. She now has a 4 year old son. She suggested we start out singing "I am a Child of God" for the lesson. It was so sweet. Her son kind of hummed/sung along. Then we taught the plan of salvation. Something her son had never heard before and something she had forgotten. It was such a special lesson. She's coming to church on Sunday!!!

I'm doing good! Hope everyone is fine at home. Thanks for the emails and letters! Mi mancate un sacco! Buona settimana!

Sorella Forbes