Homecoming #2 - Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Homecoming #1 - Prague, Czech Republic

 

Saluti - Pordenone, Italy (Last letter from Italy)

Buongiorno a tutti,

This week has been one of the best of my mission. First off, I'm so grateful that I got to be in Italy for 2 Christmases. They are my favorite. This week we kept doing as many Christ-centered things as we could.

We conducted our combined district meeting on Thursday and my companions and I talked about the covenant of salt talked about in the scriptures and how we, as missionaries, can accentuate the lives of the people we serve just like salt accents the flavours of food.

We went and helped out at giglio on Friday morning and walked around with the disabled adults and took them to a darling Christmas concert, and watched as they sang along to Italian Christmas songs and I loved it.

My final Sunday in church was very bittersweet, and I found myself getting teary as I listened to the sacrament prayers in Italian as a missionary for the last time. I know the sacrament is something so powerful and important and it's an area where my testimony had grown immensely during my time here. I also got to bear my final testimony in the Italian ward and I felt so much gratitude as I looked at all the faces in front of me that I've gotten to know and love so much.

I soaked up every minute of Christmas Eve and Christmas day, and many people were so kind to us. On Christmas Eve morning we went out on the streets and tried sharing a Christmas message with some people who were out and about. My favorite encounter was with this old man we stopped and before we could say much he looks at us and goes "ciao belle! Prendete! prendete!" And opens up a sack of freshly harvested raw purple potatoes and makes us take some haha. To prove to us they weren't bad or anything he took my potato and bit a huge chunk out of it. Yuck. We left laughing with a handful of potatoes and an invitation to go back and visit him.

We had member appointments the evenings of Christmas eve and day, and I love this time of year and that it truly does bring people from all over together. Even people from both our American and Italian wards were celebrating together.

These next couple days will be filled with as many investigator appointments ad we can fill our time with, just so we can see many of them and I can give them a squeeze and tell them that they are in good hands with my 2 capable companions.

Sorry this is such a long group email this week, I just keep writing things because I don't want to admit that this is another "last" of my mission that I'm about to finish. Makes me kind of sad. But I truly am so grateful for my mission. I love Italy. I love the culture and the food and the life and the people and the passion they have for all parts of their lives. They have taught me how to love more fully, worship more deeply, and how to develop more honestly into who God wants me to be. I know God lives and that He loves His children. It has been a blessing for me to see and be a part of bits and pieces of their lives and I know that the best thing we could EVER do this life is exactly what we were told at the beginning, to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind [and] love thy neighbour as thyself."

The mission is the BEST and I can't wait to talk everyone's ear off about it real soon!

Con affetto,
Sorella McConkie

My potato from the old man

 last Sunday at church with my trio

today's pday in Venice 

Buone Feste! 🎄

Ciao a tutti, 

This week was transfers and it was craziness. We hit the ground running back here in pordenone and it's been so fun here with my two new sorelle. 

Fun fact for the day: I finished Reading the Book of Mormon and then read an article in the Ensign that says that of the 6,607 verses in the Book of Mormon, 3,925 of them refer to the name of Christ. That is every 1.7 verses. It truly is a book about Jesus Christ! I have such a huge testimony of that an I'm so grateful for that book in my life. 

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone! Buone feste!! 🎄💕

Con affetto, 

Sorella McConkie

Here we go again! - Pordenone, Italy

Ciao!

It's transfers once more and the final round for me here. I'm getting 2 new companions today, Sorella Larson and Sorella Parker, who will take over Pordenone in 3 weeks when I leave. It's been a crazy week. I love the people in this little place. We taught our investigator {V} this week the restoration and it went so well. She was so open to the things we were explaining and especially loved when we shared the first vision. She is a special person who is very prepared to hear what we are teaching. 

It's been a long transfer day so I'm sorry for the shortness, but I love you all! 

Con affetto, 
Sorella McConkie 

our district Polaroid of how many transfers we have

puppy Eevee who is my twin haha

- Pordenone, Italy

Ciao!

It's such a great time of the year and I love that we're getting closer to  Christmas! Less than 3 weeks!! 

This week was fun! We had zone conference and sorella Johnson and I presented our training on the Book of Mormon. It went well and I felt the spirit strongly as we taught. I also got to bear a final mission testimony at the end of the zone conference along with others going home and it was a powerful chance to get to reflect back on my mission and see how much has happened to me. I'm grateful for God and change and that he loves us enough to help mold us to become more like him.

Saturday we found a new investigator!! 🎉Her name is {G} and we found her information on our area book. She was a referral from 6 months ago but there's no record to if the sorelle in the summertime ever went and visited her. We had no idea who she was and so we just decided to pass by. She's a young university student, around our age, and immediately let us in and said she was happy to have us. Turns out that one of her best friends is a girl named Elisa who is a member from our ward who is currently serving her mission on temple square. Before leaving, she gave a copy of the Book of Mormon to {G} with her name engraved on the front and a super sweet photo and note inside. {G} has obviously been treasuring the book for awhile, even if she hasn't read from it much. We sat down and read 2 Nephi 32 with her and talked about prayer and staying close to God. It was a brief appointment, but she agreed to let us come back and we're so excited!! 

I'll attach some more photos of fun things, but please know that I love you all and that God does too! It's a fantastic time to be a part of his church! 

Con affetto, 

Sorella McConkie

Photos! - Pordenone, Italy

It Would Be A Tragedy - Pordenone, Italy

Ciao tutti!

What a week and what a time to be a missionary. I haven't written for a couple weeks now so I'll sum up some other highlights from the last little while. First, last week was awesome because we got to have a member of the 70 come visit our mission! Elder Tunnicliffe is from York and he and his wife spoke to our half of the mission on Thursday in Bologna. It took us a while to travel there from Pordenone, but the conference was amazing and I soaked up every single second. He talked about humility and submitting ourselves to God and what success looks like as a missionary. I took pages of notes and have been reflecting often on things that he said. I also loved that the day after the conference, Sorella Johnson and I went up to Milano where Elder Tunnicliffe talked with the zone leaders and stls of the mission for the day. That was also a stellar conference and something that Anziano Tunnicliffe said at the end had been running through my mind a lot lately. He said: 

"If this mission was your peak (and it's pretty great), then that would be a tragedy."

What a face punch. He basically was telling us, "your missions are great and go and do great things, but just remember that they are preparing you for something bigger and more important." That really struck me as something I need to remember. 

We had Thanksgiving! With Americans!! It was the best. I forgot how much I MISS cranberry sauce and pie and Apple cider. Basically just all the sweet things haha. Sister Riding and her toddler from our ward had us over and we shared a message on gratitude (classic) and had a great time together. 

I've gotten to do more exchanges these past weeks and I adore them. I'm pretty sure the sisters from our Zone teach me way more than I could ever teach them though. Such stellar missionaries. 

We've been going tracting more frequently, and found 3 new people this week!! We've had a dry spell in our finding lately and have been finding almost no one, so we were super grateful to actually get to talk to people. The funniest was when we had a conversation go well on the porch with a woman named Monique, who lives up in aviano. After our discussion we offered to exchange numbers and she ran inside to get her phone and Sorella Johnson looks up at heaven and does the classic Italian thing where you put your fingertips to your lips and kiss the sky (poorly explained but just watch what people in Italian movies do after they eat a good pizza). It basically explained how I felt in the moment that God is good and is so kind to sprinkle us with little miracles. 

Have a great first week of December everyone! They just put up markets and a tree and ice skating rink in the main piazza here and I'm remembering why Europe is my favorite place ever. 

Lots of love, 

Sorella McConkie 

Yay for Fall! - Pordenone, Italy

Ciao a tutti! 

It's been a fun week here!! I love Pordenone. The people here have been so kind and thoughtful and I adore them all so so much.  Here are a couple speedy highlights from the week: 

1. Finding a darling new potential named {E} during tracting! 

2. Making a paper gratitude pizza where we put something we're grateful for on a topping every day. 

3. Seeing our investigator {I} at a baptism that was on Saturday! She brought her little brother and they really enjoyed it. We showed them the "He Lives" video another time this week and she started to tear up watching it. We're so happy to see her sweet spirit expanding and growing closer to Heavenly Father. 

I've attached a couple photos of the pretty leaves starting to change color and me outside the one semi-famous building here in Pordenone. 

Lots of love! And happy November!!!! 

Sorella McConkie 

Short and sweet - Pordenone, Italy

Hello everyone, 

Happy Halloween! I'm just going to attach a few photos today from a ward trunk or treat party and some on the go photos with Sorella Johnson including one from mission leadership council, but I just want to let you all know how grateful I am for the opportunity to be a missionary in such an exciting time. I know that God lives and that he cares about and knows us perfectly. He answers prayers and sends tender mercies. I'm so grateful I get to serve his children right now and love them a whole lot. 

Have a lovely week! 
Con affetto, 
Sorella McConkie 

The Mission told us to... - Pordenone, Italy

Buongiorno!! 

Transfers come quickly, do they not? This one is pretty anticlimactic though because both sorella Johnson and I are staying in Pordenone to do a second together. Yay! 

This week has been good, nothing crazy happening but some exciting stuff in the works. We visited with our investigator Iqra who is from Pakistan and talked to her more about the plan of salvation. It's been like a 3 part lesson trying to teach her about it and we finally finished it and she also agreed to pray for the first time at the end of the lesson and it really warmed our heart to see her making progress. She's so sweet and honestly trying to be good and do the right thing. 

The mission office told us to get flu shots this week which turned into an interesting adventure. Apparently when you go to a pharmacy in this country they are not allowed to administer a flu shot to you, but they are allowed to sell you the packaged needle. So. Sorella Johnson being the medical professional she is administered the flu shot to our whole district in the church kitchen. We felt better finding out later that the rest the mission had to also DIY the process of getting flu shots, but we still hope no one was peeking in the church windows. 

We had a few really awesome member appointments in the evenings this week, one with a new convert family that are from Chile. They were baptized earlier on in the year and are some of the most faithful people I've ever met. It's a single mom and her daughters and live in humble circumstances but are doing their best to follow the teachings of the church. For all new missionaries coming into Pordenone, they have a dinner where they just fire hose us about details from out lives. By the end of getting interrogated I felt so much closer to these new converts and loved getting to know them as well. We chatted about conference and how they had been strengthened by it. 

I invite you all to go ask more questions this week:) through questioning is how we receive answers. We asked questions to Iqra and that's how she finally understood the plan of salvation. The Olivares family asked me a bunch of questions and now I feel so much love for them. And when you decide to ask God questions in humble prayer, "it shall be opened unto you." 

Vi voglio un mondo di bene! 

❤Sorella McConkie 

 Eating lunch on exchanges with le sorelle di Vicenza, a gorgeous sunset from the other night, driving with our Zone Leaders, and a district photo (the number of chairs represents number of transfers we've done. We were an OLD district of 14, 11, 11, 10, 10, and 8 transfers). 

ITITIT - Pordenone, Italy

Ciao a tutti!

I hope you're all doing well. I love you all lots and am excited to share some events from the week!

A lot of this week was dedicated towards finding and doing more tracting. We found a woman named {M} from Colombia and another named {M} from here in Pordenone who lost her husband 4 years ago about a week after her baby girl was born. She asked us straight up to explain where her husband was and we planned a visit to go back. We are also visiting with a woman who had her first 3 children pass away and ALSO wants to hear more about the plan of salvation. Miracles.

Friday we did weekly planning and then went to interviews in a city named Mestre with President and Sorella Allen. I really lucked out on a mission president. Every interview I've had with him my whole mission is just filled with love and kindness and some good solid life advice. He gave both Sorella Johnson and I such good things to think about in terms of how to balance missionary work and preparing to re-enter the real world and how it's still important to remember that there WILL BE a life after and we can't ignore that.

Sunday and Monday consisted of a scambio that we did with the Sorelle from Treviso! They came here and I got to be companions with Sorella Graver for 24 hours and it just about made my entire life. For those of you who don't know, Sorella Graver was my companion about 4 months ago in Torino:) She is now training in our zone and we were so excited to go on splits with them. They came in Sunday night and we went straight to an American ward activity and dinner that we were helping at, and the next day I got to take her around to a couple appointments. She made me laugh so hard and it was a reminder to me of the fact that missions bless lives with some pretty deep friendships and I'm so grateful for that.

Another highlight of my week was reading the Book of Mormon in the way president Nelson directed during Conference. That is, beginning to end by January first while marking the name of Christ each time you read it. Elder Gay of the 70 gave this quote in one of my favorite articles in the Ensign about Christ that I wanted to share as well:

"The night of the Lord’s Atonement began with the Savior commanding the disciples to make and renew a covenant to always remember and honor His sacrifice. Then, as described in the Gospel of John, He knelt and washed the feet of those who would in a few short hours betray Him, deny Him, or fall asleep in His most needed hour. He exhorted them to be one with Him, to forgive, to wash the feet of others, and to love each other as He loved them. He asked that they raise their vision to His vision. Can you see that the great charge of the Atonement of Christ is to love as He loved? To love those who betray, who offend, who fall asleep, who deny, who doubt, who are overzealous and cut off an ear with a sword or wound a heart with a harsh word or deed? To be long-suffering with those who will not hear and who will not love back?"

This hit me so hard. As I have been marking the name of Christ in the Book of Mormon the biggest thing that I'm realizing is that Christ truly does love us. He loves everyone. But what composed his Christlike character is that he loved everyone with the knowledge that not everyone would love him BACK. It's hard when we love people or serve people that do not reciprocate or, worse, mock us for trying. On a mission it is hard to understand why some people reject you so hard when you're trying to love and serve them so much. But just as Christ's character directs, I know that our loyalty to him lies in our reaction of these things, and how we respond to them.

I love my mission and this challenge from President Nelson. It's been the best.

I love you all and BUONA SETTIMANA

Sorella McConkie

Sorella Graver - Eating my sour patch kids in comp study

Scambio (exchange) with Sorella Graver

Pretty boats from Venice last week:)

Keep smiling - Pordenone, Italy

Ciao cari! Come state? 

What a week. The fact that it is already October 10th is freaking me out. 

This week on Thursday we taught Italian class and designed/ordered English class flyers and by the time we were finished I almost want to pull my hair out. The logistical stuff of missionary work isn't always my favorite. 

On Friday we went to do service! There is a placed named "il Giglio" here in Pordenone and my goodness I adore getting to go there every other week. We go for a couple hours where there is a  group of adults with disabilities, and we each take a buddy and walk around with them for a couple hours and take them as a group to walk around the city and get a little slice of pizza. This week I got to walk with a little woman named Federica who is probably around 45 years old but doesn't seem a day over 7. She was so smiley and friendly and my favorite was when I noticed that she had been memorizing names of people around the city. So she would shout, "ciao Katerina!" Or "Mary Lou come stai Bella!" And all sorts of things to friends she had met around the city during previous walks. I told Sorella Johnson that Federica would make a great missionary because if she didn't know someone, she would just look at them and give a huge grin and go, "Ciao! Come stai?" And ask their name. She was good at making friends wherever she went. 

We had a bit of a weird dinner appointment later that night where our spiritual thought on prophets and conference suddenly switched to them asking questions about why people struggling with same gender attraction are allowed to come on missions. Thanks to the spirit and a lot of the gift of tongues we were able to sufficiently answer their questions and it turned into a really good spiritual discussion. 

Saturday and Sunday were the absolute best and conference is such a blessing mamma Mia. How does everyone feel about 2 hour church? I think it's going to be such a cool adjustment to our church and home lives. I love that the church is focusing on intertwining the gospel into our everyday actions and not just being a "Sunday church." I also think that the adjustment is a blessing in lives of missionaries because 2 hour church seems much less intimidating to a new investigator. I'm so excited!!! 

My favorite talk was by Robert C. Gay of the 70. That and the talk by Elder Holland. What was your favorite? I'd love to hear what stood out to anyone else. 

Monday was an amazing day and thank you to everyone who reached out to wish me happy birthday. I was flooded with love from all of you and from my companion and some special new friends here in Pordenone and I was so grateful for all of it! That night we had our favorite Portuguese family invite us over and they made a banana cake and sang to me in English, Italian and Portuguese. Mission birthdays are strange but oh so fun. 

I hope you all have the loveliest of weeks and I'll send along some photos as well. 

The church is true and God loves YOU

love, Sorella McConkie 

Federica

My birthday cake

Finding in the rain while eating fresh grapes