June 15, 2013 Being Released as a Missionary is hard to do...

     Here we are with our Sorella the morning she was released as a missionary.  It was really hard for her to take her missionary badge off.  We are so proud of her and she gave a beautiful report to President Henry of our Stake Presidency.  

Well done Sorella Forbes, well done!!

June 14, 2012, 8:29 PM...Sorella Forbes is HOME!

The Greatest Moment!!!!!

Sorella Forbes with all her siblings and her Mamma...

Pops had gone to get the bags!

     We are having so much fun getting reacquainted and hearing all about Sorella Forbes great adventures.  We are so proud of her and so grateful for her safe return from her beloved Italy and grateful that she was so willing to be a full-time disciple.

WE LOVE YOU SORELLA FORBES!!

Here is the whole family together for one day!  

June 14, 2013 SHE IS ON HER WAY HOME!!!

Yes!!  It is true!!!  This girl is on her way home!!!

We know she will miss her beloved Italy, but we can't wait to see her!!!

June 12, 2012 lo di vico che non posso dire la minima parte di quanto provo

Mamma mia. I don't really know what this email will consist of. Vediamo.

It's really weird. It has arrived. The end of this crazy incredible difficult wonderful joyous amazing 19 month adventure. 

Granted, I hope to continue being a missionary the rest of my life, but we all know it's a lot different from what just happened to me. 

What just happened to me? It's weird looking back. Time is weird. It has flown yet I feel like there was nothing before this. This is my life. It seems it always has been my life. Like it always will be. 

Like the title of this email says, I don't really know how to describe what I am feeling. 

President Wolfgramm once said "If you want to arrive at the last day of your mission and have no regrets, you better have regrets every day. That's repentance." I think I'm there. No, I know I am. I know I was not the perfect missionary. There were things I could have done better every day. But the Lord has been merciful and has allowed me to better myself continually. I have no regrets.

I feel blessed. Above everything else, I am blessed. So incredibly blessed and the Lord has been so incredibly merciful with me. I had to bear a "dying testimony" at our zone meeting on Friday. I had no idea what I wanted to say, but the think that came out as what I've learned and my advice to other missionaries was "Let Him change you." Mamma mia, how the Lord has changed me. I will never be the same. My life will never be the same. It will not be what it was before. Most of you might not recognize me when I come home this week. The changes that have happened to me on the mission are deep. They are eternal. And I am so grateful.

If all the success and miracles I have seen on my mission had not happened. They were the means through which the Lord has changed me. If I have left nothing else here in Italy, there is something so incredibly great that I am taking with me. I have learned what it truly means to be a disciple of Christ, to feel His love for me and others, to see others as He sees them, to desire for their happiness and joy and salvation as He does. I will always be a disciple of Christ. And that is what I am taking with me into the rest of my life from this experience. 

I have lived as a true authorized representative of Jesus Christ for these last 19 months. I have invited people to come unto Him and repent to be able to enjoy the blessings that come from forgiveness. They are real. They are many. I myself have truly learned that repentance is NEVER a punishment, but one of the greatest blessings God has given us. The means by which we become more like Him and our Savior. They love us so much and desire for everyone to enjoy the peace and happiness and complete joy that comes from true and lasting repentance. A repentance that is only possible through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. If you're not living it now, I invite you to do it. Do it NOW. The adversary laughs at your misery that comes from disobedience to the commandments of God. Repent. If you don't know how, call the missionaries. They can help you. If you are not living in harmony with God's plan, you can never feel of his lasting peace. Make the changes necessary now to be in complete harmony with His will. He will shower the blessings down upon you. 

I love this gospel. I took it for granted for most of my life. But now it is my life. It is true. It is real. It is the only way for us to return to live with God and have an eternal state of happiness. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true and living church upon the face of the earth. It is guided by Christ himself through His living prophet, President Thomas Monson. The Book of Mormon is the convincing evidence of these truths and the word of God. God is your Heavenly Father. He loves you. Christ is His son and knows you perfectly and what you are suffering in this very moment. Trust in Him. Come unto Him. He will make your burden light. He will heal you.

I really don't know what else I could or want to say. I was reading this morning in Alma 26. I love this chapter so much with all of my heart and found myself in it as I was reading it this morning. So I just want to share some of Ammon's words with you. I will skip around and change some things... bear with me. It's the only thing I can do to express what I feel. 

"Behold I say unto you, how great reason have I to rejoice; for could I have supposed when I started from the land of Utah (ha) that God would have granted unto me such great blessings? And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon me? Can ye tell?
Blessed be the name of my God; let me sing to his praise, yea, let me give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever. 
I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for  in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles I have wrought in this land, for which I will praise his name forever. 
Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and I have been an instrument in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work. Therefore let me glory, yea, I will glory in the Lord; yea I will rejoice, for my joy is full; yea, I will praise my God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of me? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.
Now when my heart was depressed, and I was about to turn back, behold the Lord comforted me, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Italians, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success. 
And I have entered into their houses and taught them, and I have taught them in their streets; yea, and I have taught them upon their hills; and I have also entered into their parks and piazze and taught them; and I have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and doors slammed in my face; and I have been chased out and taken by the arm, escorted to the elevator, had the police called on me; and through the power and wisdom of God I have been delivered again.
And I have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps I might be the means of saving some soul; and I supposed that my joy would be full if perhaps I could be the means of saving some.
Now have I not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never was a woman that had so great reason to rejoice as me, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name. Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of me, wanderer in a strange land.
Now, my family and friends, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen."


Vi voglio bene tutti. 

Sorella Forbes

Pictures: Me and Sorella Padula in Siena and with our Branch mission leader's family.

June 5, 2013 GEMS!

GEMS! Grow Every Missionary! That is the battle cry of the Italy Milan Mission. I wanted to write a little bit about it in this, my second to last missionary email (thanks for all the "death" emails, peeps... sheesh) because this principle has changed my life. No, my eternity.

What is a GEM? Okay, well this email might just be an ode to Sorella Padula. The biggest GEM in the world. Let me tell you why.

A GEM is someone who makes you want to be better. Someone who makes you feel you are the most important thing in the world. Someone who makes you realize your real potential, but then makes you want to do everything possible in the world to reach it. And does everything in their power to help you. A GEM is someone that is full of charity and love, not only for you as their companion but for everyone around them, and desires so much to make them better. To help them realize their potential as children of God and to make them want to reach that potential. Someone who causes a change in everyone with whom they make contact. A change for the better. A visible change. A GEM is someone who leaves everything they touch better than they found it. A GEM is someone who strives to develop the Christlike Attributes, and puts them into practice every hour of every day, blessing the lives of everyone around them.

Well, I just described my companion. Sorella Padula has done that for me. I love her so much. How incredible she is I could never describe or explain to anyone. I hope that all of you get to meet her someday. She will change you. As she has for me. I love her so much! Mamma mia che amore!

That's a GEM. It's an eternal principle that has changed my eternity and will bless my life forever.

Sorella Padula got really sick on Thursday, so not much is happening in Firenze 2. But that's okay! I think this is the first time in her mission she's ever been taken out by sickness. Which means she's been real sick. But we've had a lot of time to continue to learn from each other and seeing miracles still. We've decided this last week that we were the best of friends in the pre-earth life, just practicing our role plays, talking about this calling we would have as Sister Training Leaders, etc. etc. Craziness. It's odd how much I'm pretty sure that is true. We've known each other forever. I love her.

This is the miracle I wrote to President this week:

This last week on scambio in Reggio-Emilia we had quite a great miracle. We were going to a park for a lesson but the person we were supposed to meet couldn't make it. While we were walking, we saw a potential investigator that had been lost when the sorelle had lost their phone. But apparently he was really fantastic. Sorella Stephens asked if he had time right then to talk and he said yeah! We taught a beautiful blueprint lesson and he accepted a baptismal date. After we were leaving the park and he said "I feel tranquillo!" I said "That's the spirit!" He asked how long that would last and I said "When you are with us, when you read the Book ofMormonn, when you come to church, etc. you can feel that. But after your baptism you will be confirmed with the Holy Ghost and you can carry thta with you always." He was really blown away. But he said "But I see that you want to change me." We just said "If you accept this message and act on those feelings you receive from the spirit, you will have  a desire to make those changes. We don't want to change you, but we are inviting you to change so that you can live in stricter harmony with the will of God. We know it will make you happy." He was so touched and the spirit was so strong. Just while we were there walking on the street leaving the park. He is willing and ready to make the necessary changes. He wants to follow Christ and recognized us as His representatives. President, it was wonderful. We have to be bold! We are trying to convey that with the Sorelle with whom we work. It makes such a big difference in the work, and all it really takes is knowing bold statements from Preach my Gospel. They are so handy and they give the spirit something to work with when we really study them and get them in our heart.

So we were in Modena on Thursday, Reggio on Friday (I worked in Parma with Sorella Stephens), Firenze Saturday, Sunday, Milano Monday, Siena yesterday (we set 2 baptismal dates there! One with a man we found in the park that was super elect! We were super bold in helping him identify the spirit and he said "Yes, I believe Joseph Smith had this vision. I feel it" It was beautiful). I love my life. We are traveling like crazy. We are going to Genova tomorrow if Sorella Padula feels better. And then after that we are done with these blitzes. I don't think we'll be having baptisms next week. But that's okay. We're setting some great people up for next transfer. Sorella Padula will take great care of them. 

It's weird how time is just flying. AH! But I feel good. I'm going to leave it all here. There will be nothing left in me when I leave next week. I'm dreading it, but I feel at peace. I feel good. I feel, finally, that I've learned what I needed to learn and that my time has arrived. As much as I hate it, (I could do this for the rest of my life...) I know that it is right. The Lord is blessing me with those small confirmations from the spirit every time I think about it.

Vi voglio un sacco di bene, cari miei. (I want a lot of good, my dear.)

Buona settimana.  (Have a great week.)

Sorella Forbes

Sorella Padula and Sorella Forbes...friends forever!

Our P-day to Piazza Michelangelo and San Miniato al monte.

President and Sorella Wolfgramm with the Italy Milan Training Sisters.

Sorella Forbes and Sorella Bush!  The redheads!  

They went out together and they will return together