heyyyy

Buongiorno a tutti! It is a very cold morning here in Italia. Literally so very much cold and rain and wind and yah..just cold! It is going to be one of those nice in the house relaxing type of pdays for us, but we are happy about it! a good rest is very needed every once and a while! We have had another good week full of good solid just hard work and we have never been happier. I am just amazed with this transfer and the amount of pure joy I feel each day...just pure joy to be exactly where I am at doing exactly what I am doing. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else at this point in my life. The time I have out here is sacred. It is precious. And every moment counts. Just like every moment counts in a soccer game or in baking a cake...and also in life. I am really seeing the vital importance of literally just LOVING every moment and rejoicing because The Lord is SO very good to us. It amazes me, the goodness of The Lord. Day after day, week after week...He continues to pour His love upon us and showers us with blessings. This life is a time for us to not only find the joy but to BE joyful. Not only to be joyful ourselves but to SHARE that joy with everyone and anyone! We have been given so much. We too must give so much.

One beautiful human that the Lord put into our path this week was a woman named G.. We were doing some last minute, somewhat late night finding near our favorite park by our house and we stopped this woman. She was not like most people. She was absolutely thrilled to be stopped by us as she told us that we just glowed with joy and she wanted to be uplifted. We had a beautiful conversation with one of God's children, who knows who she is. She has zero doubt in her mind and she lives her religion as a part of her. She told us how her day was altered for the better because she met us and as we walked away we could not help but just smile soooo large. She had edified us, in an incredible way. It is amazing to see the incredible people that walk among us and the way that they have been touched in their lives by the power of the Lord.

C. is progressing beautifully. We were able to see her this week and she has such a real desire to be baptized and to follow Christ. She had some really good questions this week about baptism that we were able to answer and she has such a willing heart and mind! She told us that she knows that she will be baptized. The spirit touches her heart in such a special way, it is amazing to be apart of this 'journey' as she always calls it. She knows that this is the truth and she is willing to do whatever it takes to continue her journey towards the truth.

We also have a new beautiful investigator named C.. We found her on the street a few weeks ago and we were finally able to meet with her..She is from the Philippines and has really just had a hard life. We had a nice Restoration lesson with her and she was just very touched by the spirit. She too recognizes the good in our message and is willing to experiment upon the word and to find the truth. I love seeing the gospel enter people's lives for the first time, it is really a sacred experience to see how they change because of it!

In other news....I ate an entire fish this week...head and all. It doesn't sound that cool but for me it was like a milestone! I actually enjoyed it too! I took some pics on my camera I will try and send those! Mom, you would be so proud. I actually like fish now! Transfers are next week so I will be sure to let you all know what happens! I really don't have a guess, so it'll be interesting!

The guy in this pic is a new convert. He used to be Catholic priest - coolest story ever!

Early morning exercise selfies - ohhh ya don't we look good?

Look Mom - I like fish :)

I love you alllllllll. have a good week!
Sorella Burt

let's hope this one won't delete

heyyyyooo world! I am back and happier then ever! Sorry still for last week and the fact that I didn't get a group email out...I think that might have been the first time! Darn it...streak broken. Once you mess up once it is always easier to mess up again...so lets hope this isn't something that continues from here! Yeah I don't think it will but you never know I guess! HA. but yeah wifi is like my biggest enemy but I think that today we will finally conquer the beast...the solution? going to the church. it is the solution for everything..#amiright? But, anyways....we had a WONDERFUL week this week! seriously it flew by though. woah, shocks me.

One thing that happened that was particularly beautiful happened with our investigator, C.! I have written about her before but not for a while because this was our first time seeing her since she returned from vacation and we just had a wonderful experience with her. We had planned to teach her about The Gospel of Jesus Christ and then invite her to baptism and give her a date because last time we saw her we did the "soft" invite, but this time we wanted to give her a date! During studies we were discussing what she needed and I felt impressed that we should study a bit about courage because I felt like she might have need of that in this moment. We wrote a scripture, Joshua 1:9 on a little sticky note and took it with us. In the lesson she expressed to us her fear of telling her mother that she wants to switch religions and how she wants to tell her but she feels so much fear. She was raised in a very catholic home and she is afraid that her mother will be very disappointed when she hears that she wants to change from what she has always been taught. But C. is amazingly prepared and she knows that this is the true church. The spirit was amazingly strong and when we handed her that scripture on the sticky note and with tears in her eyes she asked us "when did you write this??" we told her that we had written it that morning and she told us that was the EXACT thing that she needed in that exact moment. Man, it was amazing the spirit was amazingly strong and I KNOW that she felt the love that her Father in Heaven has for her individually. It was a truly amazing moment. Another one of our investigators, A., is 15 years old and has been investigating for quite a while. I don't know if I have written about her, but she is getting really close to baptism! her sister is only one year older and is a new convert but the only problem is that A. is very shy and has some doubts and fears about baptism. We were able to have two very beautiful spiritual lessons with them this week and answer some questions that they have and help A. overcome these fears and doubts that she has. It is amazing to see how the spirit works in teaching. when the spirit is there, the whole atmosphere is just special and that is how answers come and that is how the doubts and the fears vanish. A. is on date for baptism so we are hoping to be able to continue to help her progress towards that date!

This week I had the opportunity to go on an exchange to a small city near Milano called Lodi, it is close to Pavia. I am always very happy to go to new areas and help the sisters there and get a new perspective on things. All of the appointments that they had planned fell through so we were able to see many finding miracles! the sister I was with had a fear, I guess you could call it, of talking to people on the street. she was used to just talking in parks, but for some reason, the street gave her fear. I have this method called, if you have a fear of something, you just have to DO it, that is how I overcame my fear of talking to people at the beginning of the mission. So we were able to just DO a lot of strada (street) finding and we found many new people that were willing to listen to us! It was
beautiful to once again help someone overcome a fear. With all of this talk of fears and what not that we have been having with our investigators lately, interestingly enough at the mission leadership meeting that we had this week we talked a lot about fears and the scripture "have no fear I am with thee." It is by no chance that this was the topic of our meeting because this is exactly the thing we have been having to face a lot lately! I was amazed. When we have faith and courage, it doesn't mean that the fear is gone. Fear is something we all have to work through and overcome little by little. When we are close with our Savior and when we love Him with all our hearts, the fear leaves and we can accomplish anything. "Perfect Love casteth out all fear." When we trust in Him and have faith, these fears that we each have can be cast out and we can be full of faith. I am grateful for the fears I have been able to overcome on my mission, for the strength that my savior provides me! It is so comforting to know that no matter what we have to do, we will have someone right by our side, rooting us on and whispering, "have no fear, I am with thee."

Some cool news is that Bonnie Oscarson and Linda K Burton are coming to do a "tour" of our mission next month! They are doing some conferences with the members and missionaries including one for JUST the sister missionaries! I am super excited for that! they are amazing women!

That is about all I have for today! it is getting cooler here in Milano and we are as happy as ever. I am grateful for the love and support that each one of you show me. the prayers are felt and appreciated.

Till next time,
Sorella Burt

Good Companions Make the World of Difference

We didn't receive an email from Sorella Burt this week because she had typed it up and then lost it right before PDay was over. We got a few cute pics though. :)

last pday we went to this wanna-be Texas Roadhouse type place that was
just super cute and they tried to make american food and it just
wasn't the same but they sure tried their best...it was sure cute
though. #pioneers

under the Duomo...just gettin' artsy

Recharged by the Sweet Spirit

Buon giorno a tutti!

We have had another wonderful week of miracles and beautiful experiences and have seen the hand of The Lord working directly in our lives. The work is sweet and the field is white! By far my favorite thing of the week however was the mission conference that took place towards the beginning of the week. We had the special opportunity to have President Patrick Kearon, a member of the first quorom of the 70 and the president of the Europe area come and visit our mission! On thursday, we had the conference here in Milano. A little bit before the meeting began they asked all of the ZL's and STL's to go to the back room and meet with President Kearon for a minute. We all stood in a little room and had the opportunity to shake his hand talk with him for a bit. He is an amazing man of God, holy cow. I cannot describe the spirit that was in that room and the things that i felt. He is so humble and you can just feel his love and gratitude like radiating from him! This special spirit that we felt in that little room is the same spirit that was felt throughout the rest of that day and into the next day when we were given the opportunity to have a special leadership meeting with him. The spirit was incredible and honestly taught me so many things. It spoke to my soul and helped me to realize many things that i personally can and need to improve in. A few things that stuck out to me were that we as missionaries must be happy and courageous but MINUS the worry. Worry is a thing that often effects soooo many missionaries. we worry about so many things and something i learned from the conference is that this worry is a self-inflicted wound...it is something that we do to ourselves but just like every other type of suffering we can be healed from this worry through the power of the Atonement. The atonement is what heals all wounds, self-inflicted, wounds from others, wounds that just happen as a part of life....all wounds. The atonement is a gift that has been given to all of us, but it is a gift that we must ACCEPT, EMBRACE in order for it to have any effect at all in our lives. It is like if mom wrapped up a nice big package and put it on the fireplace and told you that it was for you...i know that i personally would be very curious about what that gift was, knowing that it is especially for me. But i cannot enjoy the gift until i walk over to the fireplace, pick it up, open it, and accept it into my life. Before i make that action of walking over there...the gift has no part in my life...yes the knowledge of it is there, but i don't get to bask in the blessings of it. That was something that i really loved and learned from the conference. There were obviously many other things that i learned, but that was the one that remained with me the most.

We are continuing to work hard and see miracles! The Lord is blessing us more and more each day. It is amazing how much a happy attitude makes the difference. I am also learning how much setting worthy goals helps to grow our faith. When we set goals that stretch us and then do everything we can to accomplish them, exercising our little particle of faith...when we actually accomplish that goal our faith has grown and we see how much the Lord wants to help us in our lives and especially in this work. I love you all so very much! I pray that you will have a beautiful week and act on the faith you have.
Con tanto amore,
Sorella Burt