Sorella Gisseman: Week 59 -- All the Miracles!

Hello to all! I'm sorry I didn't e-mail last week. I just didn't want to. It was honestly a conscious choice and I would like to apologize, but here I am so you're welcome! THis week was zone conference and it was super, super awesome and super fun. Basically Tuesday we had normal things, obviously, and then we had interviews and then we were supposed to have a mostra in the night and I don't know what everyone else was doing but they were just, like, at the church waiting for things to finish up. So Sorella N and I showed up on time and then we didn't do the mostra. Whatever! LOL And it was President's birthday so that evening we all went out to get Mexican food because there's this Mexican restaurant here (the one where I crushed the tomatillo sauce....). My interview with President was really good. He gave me the analogy of running a marathon -- you know you can finish in two hours but no one that you're with can finish in less than four hours. Are you just going to run the marathon in two hours and wait at the finish line for your friends? They probably aren't going to want to be your friends after that and it won't be fun for any of you. Yeah, that's true. I'm trying to figure that out because my problem is that I'm just "go, go, go, go!" and the way I described it to Sorella Smith is that sometimes I'm just a little too anxious about being anxiously involved. If I feel like I'm wasting time then I beat up on myself and feel like I'm the worst. Or if I don't do something then it's wrong, like we have to be anxiously engaged. Sorella Smith read to me a scripture and she invited me to memorize it. It's Jacob 4:18 and it talks about how, if we're too anxious about things, then we're shaken from our firmness in the Spirit, like we don't have the same firmness that we would have otherwise. So I'm trying to learn and I'm trying to take these things into account. They were really good. My interview with Sorella Smith was exactly what I needed to hear. She's incredible. I'm super grateful for them. They're a lot different from the Pickerds (who I super love!) but I feel like it's things that I need to learn right now, you know?

We were getting home late from Mexican food because it took a long time to get 20 missionaries Mexican food and then we gave President Smith a cake because it was his birthday and sang to him. So we were going home late. We had some sorellae at our house and the others needed to go get their stuff from the zone leaders' car but we didn't need to. Usually we would wait, but we felt like we should go home so we did. We kind of got lost getting to the bus but we finally got to the bus and I walked on the bus and I was kind of surveying the bus to see if there's anyone I feel like I need to talk to, you know, or anyone that I could talk to, and I see this man reading a book and thought maybe I could talk to him, like "You like reading -- cool -- we have this book!" So I walked past him a little bit and I looked over at the book he's reading and I was, like, WHAT??? Are you reading the Book of Mormon??? And he said yeah, and so we got to sit down and talk to him. It's a very interesting story -- it was a huge miracle that night for sure because everything kind of lined up, you know? His name is M and he told us he used to meet with the missionaries and had been thinking about the baptism thing again and that he just wasn't sure....and we're like, whoa! So we got to talk to him and he has a lot of questions. He's really into yoga and he said he doesn't undertand why he needs to pray when he can get revelation when he meditates. And we're like, that's true, but prayer is our way for us to communicate with God. Yes, God responds in different ways...I've rarely gotten an answer directly from God exactly at the moment when I'm praying but I'm opening up my heart to Him and trying to listen to the Spirit and align my will with His and learn. I'm asking for things and I know that He'll give them to me but I have to ask first. So then we had another lesson with him and it was so interesting. He talks a lot and asks a lot of interesting questions. He said something about it's like there's one street of Christianity and and a lot of times it takes you there to the end and it's the fastest way to get there, but there's another street where you get to try everything and do all of this stuff and it gets you there, too. And I'm like, "yoga doesn't have to negate Christianity in any way, I don't understand what you're talking about. You can do yoga and be Christian! And he was like, no, you don't understand. Sometimes you just get so far in and you have to be strong enough to pull yousrelf out. And we're like, what???? And then he told a story about how he had to go to the hospital and they thought he was crazy but he just felt like he had to deliver a message for God. None of us really understood what he was saying, like we understood the idea generally, but I wasn't sure I really understood because that's a little whack, you know? And he looks at us and is like, "what do you think?" I said "I didn't understand. Can you explain?" and so he said it again. It was just strange. Iconic line from the lesson -- he's like, "we baptize ourselves". Yeah....that was interesting.

Also, we finally got to do a lesson withour number one progressing friend that we teach, her name is E and she's incredible. She's actually dating a member in our ward and she came with all these questions and she loves reading the scriptures. She's like, "I'm almost done with 1 Nephi and I'm so excited to start 2 Nephi! It's so incredible! I'm so excited!" Our invitation to her last time, because she wants to make sure she's doing this for her, was to pray about Joseph Smith to know if he's a prophet and she did and she's like, "yeah, I actually realized he's not just the founder of this church, he's an actual prophet!" And we're like, "YES!" Sorella N had a really good impressiom during the lesson to invite her to write out her testimony and so that was our invitation to her. She has a testimony -- we all have testimonies -- jut a lot of times we don't realize it because we don't think about it and we don't sit there and ponder, you know? And so we invited her to do that and so I'm super excited. Also we got to meet with a super cutie older lady. We went to visit her with a member to do a little bit of service. Her name is L. There's a couple that was baptized like a year ago who have a gelateria here and they're friends with L, and L used to come to their gelato/bakery shop and then one day she didn't come and they were worried, obviously, and it turned out she had fallen in her house. She's in a little house and doesn't have kids, but the members are on vacation in Canada and so all these other ward members are pitching in and helping to go visit her. So we got to do two things with her because we went to visit her with a member, Sorella B, and also had a member appointment with another family and we were waiting for them to arrive at the house and we saw that they had a Nona with them and we wondered who it was, and it was L! And she's super cute. She likes to sing.

We met this super lit lady. Sorry -- we just had all the miracles this week! So we met this lady on the bus. We had gone finding that day in a park and we had that member appointment so we were coming home and we sat down on the bus. We were both kind of beat and it was such a tender mercy -- we definitely didn't deserve it. We sat down next to a little cutie girl so we talked to her but weren't actively trying to find on the bus. We talked to her and got her number and she had questions about the Plan of Salvation so we got to talk about that with her. Then I was getting carsick so I moved seats to sit by Sorella N so this lady got on the bus and sat where I had been sitting and her hair was in a braided bun on her head and I told her it was so cute. Her name is P. She's from Iraq and we basically taught the whole restoration to her, and she was obviously born in a Muslim country, and she was like "I believe in Christianity" and we're just like, what?!?! And then there was a Jehovah's Witness who kept saying that Joseph Smith was a false prophet and Sorella N distracted that lady and I kept talking to P about the restoration and Christianity and it was just such an incredible conversation. We talked about the Book of Mormon and gave her one and she said she would read it and asked if our phone number was in the book and we said yes, but we can also exchange numbers. I am so excited!

OK, answering the questions...

1. How was church?

It was good. I had to lead the music. It was rough. But that's ok.

2. What made you laugh this week?

During the lesson with M when he said some...interesting things...we apparently had physical reactions and we talked about it after. I kind of stumbled back in my chair, Sorella N just covered her mouth trying not to laugh, Anziano A just looked at the floor with really wide eyes, and Anziano P was like, "Can you come to church this week?" It was so funny.

3. Tell me about a tender mercy you experienced this week.

Already done.

4. What is the best thing you ate this week? Did you try any new foods this week?

I did try a new food! Today we ate something that looks like a ravioli and it kind of is but the outside is like a pastry and the inside is cheese. We made those today and they were good. The best thing I ate, though, was zone conference fake Cafe Rio taco salads. SO good!

5. How do the people in Cagliari differ from people in your previous areas?

The people here a different because the're just on it and they can name signs of the apostasy and they're actually interested in what we have to say. It's incredible.

6. What have you learned to do that you didn’t know how to do before your mission?

I've learned to study. Wow -- I was horrible at studying! I feel like I've learned to be genuine. Also I feel like I've learned to cook ok. I've learned a lot of things.

7. What is the name of your mission song and what are the words?

"Hymn of Rome" (obviously in Italian, though). The words are in Italian. I can translate them for you. One time we sang this in Catania outside and we were all like, "are you sure those are the words?" The chorus is about having faith, doing His work with strength, we bring back souls to God, we'll save the world, faith in our mission, with honor we serve Him. That's just the chorus. (Note -- she was translating on the go....)

8. How did someone serve you this week?

We've been alternating foods with the other sorella in our house. They'll cook one day and we'll cook one day and we've got a good system going so we get to serve each other.

9. Have you seen any dachshunds in Italy?

Yes! Actually, I was petting one this week when we were waiting to go to an appointment with someone named R. I talked to the dachshund's owner about how Sadie had back problems and we talked about dachshunds and it was cute.

10. What have you learned in your studies this week?

I'm reading in Isaiah. One thing I have been studying is self worth and I'm trying to go through things and learn about it. I feel like I kind of ignored that before. It wasn't that it wasn't presented to me but I just kind of ignored it. And I tend to base my worth on the things I do, the things that I can do, but that's not where you get your worth. That's your own pride, you know? And so I've been working on recognizing my worth from God because I'm his daughter and I'm doing His work. I've also been studying my patriarchal blessing. I'm learning!

11. Do you know how much I love you?

Yes, I do!

12. Now that you’ve listened to all of the conference sessions, what talk(s) stood out to you the most?

Literally all of them. I'm going through and rereading and I'm like, dang, this is awesome! This week I read a talk by the general authority from the South and it was really good. I can go through themes. It was so good! I loved all of the talks.

Basically that was my week. Thanks for listening to my ramblings. I'm super grateful for this week. I'm super grateful for Cagliari and to be with Sorella N because I am learning a lot. And I'm super grateful for the interviews I had with President and Sorella Smith. I'm trying to learn things even when it's hard, and I think the thing I'm learning the most right now is that the thing that's most important is charity, and it's love. Sometimes that's the thing that's on the back of my mind that I don't really care about because I want to play off of my own strengths because I know I'm working hard, I'm being obedient, but the gospel isn't about check boxes. It's about really being genuine in everything you do and doing it because you love God and you love those around you. So I'm working on it. It seems to be working!

She found a Bob Ross!