I Belong in Africa - Bergamo, Italy

Ciao tutti! 

It's been another good one here in Bergamo. Quite honestly, this week has been pretty ho-hum with us just getting things all in place for the baptism of {A} in 3 days (yay!). On Thursday we had a big long meeting with our ward mission leader at his house so we could clarify details for the baptism. One unique thing about Bergamo and our ward here is that every person is somehow related to one another. So {A}who is getting baptized is the nephew of the mission presidents first counsellor, the brother in law of our relief society president, the husband of a RS teacher, and the cousin of Marco, our ward mission leader who is helping put together this baptism. Needless to say, our entire ward is somehow invested in some way or another to this baptism and they have been so helpful and for that I am grateful. On Saturday night we went to teach a final lesson to {A}and some of his extended family was there as well, and we found that they themselves have already found white baptismal clothes, picked out people to speak and sing for the program, figure out all the last details and all they asked us to do was fill the font. This city is a missionary dream. 

I also ate cow skin this week and I do not recommend it. We ate dinner with our African investigator {F}, and she made us an array of food including these little glossy, rubbery balls of cow skin. She and her member friend Kingsley insisted I try one. As soon as you pop this thing in your mouth it hits your gag reflex so hard that you have to force yourself to keep chewing. My companion spit hers out and the only way I got mine down was swallowing it like a pill with a glass of orange juice. {F} and Kingsley laughed and applauded and said that I belong in Africa with them. 

{F} is doing well though, and we taught her three times this week. One lesson on the book of Mormon, and then 2 on the plan of salvation. The spirit has really been helping sorella snow and I to know at what pace we should be taking this and is helping us to answer{F} 's questions. 

Another cool thing about this week was that (under the approval of our mission leaders) I got to Skype my brother Elder McConkie in the Preston MTC! It was so fun to talk with him for a minute and it made me even more excited to be a missionary. He's doing so awesome and has such a better grasp on missionary life and purpose than I did in the MTC. At the end of our call he and I swapped favorite missionary scriptures and this is the one he read to me in Alma 26:12 - 

12 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 we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

As a result of my chat with Wilson, I have reflected a lot on this scripture. He and I talked about the fact that within missionary work (and life might I add), we can work as hard as we can but it amounts to nothing if we lack the Spirit. I know that every great miracle that I have seen throughout my mission has had little to nothing to do with me. It is God working in his own timing and his own mysterious way. During our final lesson with Andrea, I reflected on how it really was the Spirit who converted this man. The missionaries and even his member family are not the reason why he is getting baptized. He is getting baptized because he has faith in God that has developed to such a point that he has a sincere desire to CHANGE. 

Anyway, that about wraps it up. I love you all immensely and let me know if you need anything. Buona settimana! 

Sorella McConkie 

One Thing Led to Another - Bergamo, Italy

 Buongiorno! 

This week started off with last pday being a trip up to Città Alta with our senior couple and some of their family they had visiting. Città Alta is this amazing city in Bergamo that was built on one of the hills and is full of some of the prettiest streets and cobblestone and looks over the whole main city and it was a fun opportunity to roam around a truly Italian town. That same day we also had interviews with President Allen, and I always love getting to chat with him. He takes his call seriously and remembers the lives of missionaries very well. We talked about some of our investigators needs, but he finished my interview reminding me that I wasn't alone in the mission and that helped me a lot to know that he has planned a lot of my mission to be the way it is for some specific reasons. President Allen is THE BEST. 

On Thursday we spent the entiiiiire day getting to Verona and back for a combined district meeting. It took so long that our 4 Anziani had to miss English class that same night and so Sorella snow and I taught a combined English class with our base and advanced students, with the latter of those groups being fascinated with American swear words. It was interesting. The funniest part of class was when one of the advanced students looks at me and goes, "It's such a pity you're blonde. You're too smart for that." 

Friday was ROUGH. We taught a lesson to our investigator {S} that night, and she had just finished reading chapter 4 of 1st Nephi where Laban gets killed and she was highly disturbed. The worst though was at the end of the lesson when we were trying to invite her to come to church and she kept trying to avoid the subject or make some weak excuse as to why she couldn't make it yet again. Finally, after pushing and pushing we asked, "{S}, is there any chance that you would ever leave your church to come to our church?" And she answered that no, there was absolutely no chance that she could ever believe what we were trying to teach and she saw it only as something interesting to learn about, something along the lines of a captivating philosophy worth reading about. She said she would never be baptized and never be willing to change and a lot of other things that basically ripped our hearts out. I remember my mom telling me before my mission that sometimes it would feel like investigators were breaking up with us and that's how this lesson felt. The worst part is that {S} LOVES the missionaries and always calls us her family and will be devastated when we say we can't meet with her anymore. We sat on a street corner and cried for a minute after our lesson and just kind of caught out breath and talked about our game plan for next time. Sorella snow and I talked about how it's God's promise in this time that "the field is white and ready to harvest." At thst exact moment sitting on our street corner not 10 minutes after {S} had left, a man named Gian Franco walked up to us, pointed at our tags and asked if we were Mormons. We talked with him and found that he had tons of interest in the church and we got his number and sent it to the Sorelle in Bologna where he lives. It was am incredible moment and sorella snow and I both knew in that moment that the field IS white and we need to be out there talking more to those kinds of people rather than wasting time with people who aren't interested. It was a really cool 10 minutes of my week. 

On Saturday, we did some service with our Anziani and then went to visit out investigator {P} who lives up in the mountains and who would be baptized right now if it wasn't for her smoking habits. She's such a sweet soul and wants to be baptized so badly, and so we talked about how overcoming addictions is hard and showed the "Continue with Patience" Mormon message where the kids have to wait to eat the marshmallows. Some of my favorite Book of Mormon verses are Mosiah 24:14-15, where God lifts the burdens placed on the backs of Alma and his people, and gives them patience to hear through their afflictions. We gave {P} the promise that as she continues to change little by little and is patient, everything will go well. 

I loved church this week, and the best part was that our brand new investigator {F} came to church again and we had a little lesson with her during second hour. The spirit was so thick and strong and Sorella Snow and I had already prayed about a baptismal date, so we decided to extend it to her in that moment and SHE SAID YES. So we now have 2 scheduled baptisms for before the end of the transfers and we are so flipping pumped but also if you are reading this then please pray for us because 2 baptisms in a 3 week period is more than any at one time than I've ever had and we want everything to be peachy.

Monday...was an adventure. I'm not sure what other missions are like, but in Italy we have so much space and so few missionaries that our areas that 1 set of missionaries cover is huge. For us, it takes us more than 2 hours on a bus to get to the edge of our area which is high up in the mountains, and it's also where {F} happens to live. We went to try and visit her and, well, one thing led to another and before we knew if we were stranded at the top of a mountain. It took us almost 5 hours at that point to get home and we had to take a loooong hike down the snake and mosquito filled mountain to get to civilization and a bus stop. It was honestly hilarious and we felt like we were in the set of the sound of music. 

The rest of the week was pretty normal, but I was just grateful for happy experiences and mistakes that turn into learning experiences and adventure. I've also been particularly mindful this week of the wonderful missionary examples to me from back home, specifically my brother Wilson who went off to England, my cousin Dallin who is about to go to Argentina and his brother Ethan who just got back from 2 years in Tahiti. It's a good time to be disciples of Christ. 

LOVE YOU ALL 

Love, Sorella McConkie 

Pictures:
Combined district meeting in Verona, meeting with our cute English student Katya, and adventuring through mountains.  

Sorella Snow & Sorella McConkie

Katya, Sorella Snow, Sorella McConkie

Buon Ferragosto 🎉💃👌 - Bergamo, Italy

Ciao tutti!

It's been such a crazy last 2 weeks and it's gone by fast. Transfers were last Wednesday and I sent brave Sorella Ashcraft off to Modena where she is about to do some amazing work for the people there.

Good-bye Sorella Ashcraft!

 I'm happy to be staying in my fresh mountain town and that I got to welcome in Sorella Snow! She's been in the mission for almost 6 months and is one of the best Sorelle I've served with. Hardworking and hilarious and it's been an amazing week.

Sorella Snow and Sorella McConkie

Our investigators are doing so well even though it's the month of August and Italy is pretty vacant. Our new person from this week is a girl named {F} who came to church for the first time and is trying to find a house in Italy right now but is honestly such a sweetheart. We taught her a lesson in McDonald's and ate some fries and I just got to think about the little collection of new friends I'm making on my mission. 

Sorry for the terrible email this week's folks...but here's a scripture I love to finish it off strong: 

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." 

Classic, right? I love this scripture and it rings true over and over again. Hope in things to get better, and do the things necessary to have greater faith, and all will be well. 

VVB

Sorella McConkie