Transfersssss - Bergamo, Italy

Buongiorno!! 

What a week it has been. All of our time and energy was spent into pouring love and confidence into {F} as she prepared for her baptism on Saturday. We spent Thursday and Friday going to Verona for scambio with our stl's, and then ran home after that to meet with her one last time to figure out clothes and share with her the "Because of Him" video to serve as a reminder that at the center of all we do is Jesus Christ and the Atonement. 

Saturday itself was very busy, and we were stressed about the fact that no one, not even our bishop who was supposed to baptized her, had come to the church within minutes of the meeting starting. But right at the last second multiple families and friends walked in and we had a nice little crowd help participate in {F}'s baptism! 

The last thing of significance is that (drumroll please) we had transfer calls once again and I will be leaving beautiful Bergamo to go to a city called Pordenone. And I'm very excited because I will be going back to my very first zone in the mission! I get to go back to Venice and see a lot of people dear to my heart in that little zone. Transfers always tend to rip my heart out though to some extent or another, and the past couple days I've been trying to stay positive and remember that change is normal. In the mission life or not. 

I love you all tons and tons. Buona settimana! 

Love, Sorella McConkie Love, Sorella McConkie 

visiting Bishop Locatelli and his wife

Gorgeous food spread from members house
where we went to dinner last week.

{F}'s baptism

{F}'s baptism

Small and Simple Things - Bergamo, Italy

Ciaooooo tutti! 

It's been another wonderful week. Thursday was full of travelling back and forth between Bergamo and Verona for zone conference. Mamma Mia trains are the worst sometimes. BUT good news is on the way back I sat across from a woman named Luisa and she and I chatted and I found out that she is a professional printmaker. For any of you who know me well, you'll know that that is a very big deal. I got very excited and we talked for the next hour about pictures of her work and the church and we exchanged numbers and she invited me to come see her show if I ever find myself in Brescia! It was awesome. 

Friday and Saturday were composed of a lot of appointments with a lot of the Africans we work with right now. I also ate fufu for the 1st time so that's an achievement. For those of you who don't know, fufu is a typical African dish composed of a slick, dense dough that you use your hands to dip in a vegetable meat sauce, and then swallow the whole little glob without chewing. Imagine swallowing a ball of cookie dough but it's not sweet and if you chew it they get offended. It's a fun time. 

We taught a couple more lessons to {F} this week, and she is doing well! We finished teaching her all the lessons and we are on track for her baptism this Saturday. At the end of our lesson we asked her why she wanted to be baptized. Her answer was simple and I felt the spirit very strong as she was talking. She told us in about 2 sentences that she wants to follow God and be closer to him. It was such a simple thing to say but the Spirit hit our hearts in the silence afterward and we felt good about it. It was a good reminder to me that through small and simple moments and experiences, we can slowly grow our faith and testimony and God loves growth even if it's slow. 

The church is also working very hard on this "21 day Book of Mormon Challenge" and it's starting to become more popular in our area. The challenge itself has been extended to the just the Europe area, and had a question correlating to each day where you read a passage of the Book of Mormon to answer the question posed. For example, day 2's question is "how can I find joy?". I recommend everyone go read Mosiah 4 and go figure it out

This week is transfers calls so wish us luck! Vi voglio bene come sempre 

sorella McConkie 

Our district at zone conference (the ties were just for the photo).

A cute watermelon sign

Hiking up to a church in a cave today for pday

Visiting {K}and {F} who I promise are happy people
but just don't like to smile in photos apparently

Eating fufu for the first time

A not so subtle note we left to an investigator who's been avoiding us.

No time but yay miracles! - Bergamo, Italy

Hi friends and fam! 

I don't have tons of time today but here are attached some photos of the amazing baptism we had for {A} on Saturday. Thank you for all prayers for the missionaries. They're working! 

Lots of love, Sorella McConkie 

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 

Un anno ☝️ - Bergamo, Italy

Ciao everyone! 

Can anyone else believe that we are almost done with July?? A YEAR ago tomorrow I entered the MTC for the first time!! It's been a year of wearing skirts and walking lots and loving Italian people and this beautiful culture with my whole heart. I LOVE THIS PLACE. 

This week I've been thinking a lot about the promptings of the spirit. We had a lesson with one of our investigators and his wife who is member and she said something that was really impactful to me. She said that the times when the spirit has spoken to her most in her life are times when it would be easiest to pass off as coincidence. 

This week as a companionship, Sorella Ashcraft and I decided to work on humility together. It has pushed me to see "coincidences" as this woman said not just as such, but as real manifestations of God's love and power and the answers that he gives us everyday to our sincere questions. 

I got a lot of simple, quiet answers to a lot of questions and prayers this week and I was SO grateful. Our week started off wonderfully with a family on the street from El Salvador, and we taught them on Saturday and they want to learn more!! It truly was a miracle to have them just walk up to us and we are grateful for the opportunity to teach someone new in this time of year when so many people are deciding to leave for summer. 

Vi vvoglio bene and happy week! 

Love, 

Sorella McConkie 

A Skype lesson with our investigator {P} and the sorelle in Milano

where she is moving (#ilovetechnology)

Me and Sorella Ashcraft

This may be the best photo I've taken of my entire mission.

All 3 sets of senior couples that I've served in districts with came to

Bergamo to visit and it has been THE BEST PDAY EVER