tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78418829940826260532024-03-13T10:11:21.332-07:00Adventures in MilanMission of Sorella Karli BurtAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-20891498341003143662016-02-03T15:01:00.001-08:002016-02-03T15:03:01.859-08:00Time is Marching On...Ciao!<br />
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Well it is pretty crazy that this day has actually come. I currently feel so weird and anxious and tired and excited and nervous and hungry and happy and stressed and just pretty much all the emotions that you could possibly imagine which results in shaky hands and many thoughts in the brain. We will see where this email goes...<br />
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Today and this whole week has probably been the most stressful of my entire life. Saturday is the day that our lives got completely crazier then we were imagining. We got the phone call telling us about the transfer news and we were just thinking that things would be normal and happy and Sorella Taylor would simply be told her who new companion was going to be and we could just continue on with our normal lives. But instead...the Lord likes to teach us some lessons and throw curve balls our way. When Sorella Taylor received the phone call from President Dibb, we knew something crazy was coming our way. We found out that our area was going to be what we call, "white-washed"... where both current sisters leave and two new ones come in. Sorella Taylor is being transferred to Florence! This is definitely not something we expected and preparing for the both of us to leave the city has been quite an ordeal. I was quite sad when we found out that our city was getting white-washed. Our work is going really well right now and normally this only happens when cities are struggling! We just have a LOT of people that we are working with and a huge city to cover which is going to make things really difficult on the new sisters. We had to do our best to make it as easy on them as possible by writing down ALL the information about the house, the area, and EVERY person we see. I know how it feels to whitewash a city because I did it my very first transfer as a missionary and it is definitely not an easy thing. The more information left behind the better. Our lives have just been really busy...between visiting people, packing, cleaning, preparing for a baptism, updating the area books and writing down every important piece of information that we can think of. Our pday today consisted of straight packing and cleaning and now we are doing email in the church while the font fills up! Both of the new sisters are actually arriving tonight and will hopefully make it in time for the baptism. Man...so many things going on!<br />
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But...yes! One of the happiest things that could ever happen is going down in about two hours and that is called the baptism of our wonderful T.!! It is all just perfect time and I could not be more grateful to the Lord for the perfect ending to a wonderful mission. It is literally a miracle that everything has worked out so perfect and that I can witness this beautiful moment right before I head home. My words can not even express the amount of gratitude that I have for this moment. T. is so ready and she is so very excited for this moment. We met with her on Monday and she was already just really anxious and said that she can hardly sleep because she is so excited! She understands that she is making a very important step in her life and I could not be more proud of her. It has been a really beautiful experience working with T.. When Sorella Taylor and I became companions they had very recently started teaching T. and she wasn't really progressing. A few years back, T. was in a coma for about two weeks but she made it through and is alive to tell the tale. She to this day, however, suffers from some minor brain problems so she has a hard time remembering things. From the beginning, we have focused on making our lessons simple, bold, and very clear...repeating things many times and doing a lot of review, and we have seen a drastic change in her. She is probably one of the most driven people I know and she studies like no one I have ever known. As a result of her huge desire and never failing will power, she has learned and grown and gained a testimony. It has been absolutely amazing for us to be a part of this changing experience and I am more then stoked to witness her fulfill her dreams in just a few short hours. Man, the Lord literally works miracles in the lives of His children.<br />
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Trying to summarize or describe the current state of my heart is nearly impossible. It still does not feel completely real to me that this chapter of my life is coming to a fast end. I remember very clearly in my mind the day I stepped foot on Italian soil for the first time and took in a big breath of that smoggy Milano air. I had no clue what was ahead of me, but I was ready to give it my all. That is one of the greatest goals that I had heading into my mission. I wanted to give the Lord my very best so that when it was all said and done I would have no regrets. As a new missionary, you feel like your best just doesn't cut it and that you will simply never arrive at the point where you actually feel like you are doing something for the Lord. I remember at the beginning of my mission...maybe first or second transfer...the moment that I really realized why I am out here. I was struggling with all of the normal things that new missionaries struggle with...new country, strange language, being far from home, not having any clue how to be a missionary, etc...I remember clearly one day during my studies I was feeling very down, thinking about all of the things that were weighing me down. Then the thought came to my mind..."this is not about you". In that moment I realized that this mission had nothing to do with me and that if I wanted to be happy and successful I needed to forget about myself and serve the people around me in the best way I could. That was the moment that everything changed. From that moment on I did my very best to put my own problems and struggles aside and put all of my strength and effort into helping other people with their own.<br />
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During the course of my mission, I have seen the promise found in Matthew 16:25, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." When we put our own problems and worries and struggles and weaknesses aside for the sake of the Lord, we find ourselves. We find who we really are and who the Lord wants and needs us to become. This is one of the greatest things that I am taking away from my mission; a knowledge of who I REALLY am. When we thrust in our sickle with ALL our might, the Lord provides us with an abundance of fruit in many differences shapes and sizes. The Lord has molded and shaped me into the person that I am today, but only because I gave myself to Him. I know that the Lord knows me, with my entire being and soul, I know that! He has carefully prepared and crafted this year and a half to be the exact thing that I needed. This is a huge testament to me of the fact that He knows us perfectly because we were with Him before this life and He wants SO badly for us to return back to Him. I am in awe every time I think or teach about the beautiful and flawless Plan of Salvation. It is so perfect and we each have our own specific role that we are meant to play. I know that the Lord's biggest desire is for His children to be happy and during my mission I have learned about the recipe that we each need to follow if we want this true happiness. It starts and ends with exact obedience to the Lord's commandments. When we are exactly obedient to all of the things that the Lord asks of us, He POURS out His blessings of happiness upon us. Obedience is an act of love. It is an act of humility. It is an act of us giving up our will to follow His.<br />
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I could literally write for weeks about the things I have learned and the ways I have grown during this year and a half. It is something that I will never forget and forever hold very dear to my heart. I realize that time is marching on, a new time is ahead, and that the Lord has prepared many more wonderful things for my future. I feel content with where I am at and what I have done. I know that things must end and change must occur so that we might continue to progress on our path to become more like our Savior. I am more then grateful to my Savior and that He makes change possible. He changes our hearts as we come unto Him, little by little each and every day. I will strive to forever have His name written on my heart and His name on my lips so that I am forever ready to testify to the world that HE LIVES.<br />
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I am more then excited to see you all! I want to thank you all so very much for the incredible support and love that you have shown me throughout the course of my mission. The prayers were felt and were most definitely needed. May the Lord bless you for all that you do and continue to do to follow Him!<br />
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Vi voglio TANTO bene!<br />
A presto,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-10831151447253290312016-01-27T20:05:00.003-08:002016-01-27T20:06:44.264-08:00Creation If I could use one word to describe this week it would be: Exhausting.<br />
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My body is literally just done. I am tired and sore in a way that I have never been before. It is unreal, I literally feel like an old person. With even the slightest of movements, so many things crack and my back feel like it is going to break in half. But that is okay, I guess that is what happens after a year and a half of nonstop working! It is the most satisfying tired though I think that you could ever be!I get home at night and just crash but at least we are satisfied with what we accomplished. I am ready to just sleep for a solid uninterrupted 2 weeks!<br />
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Sorry that paragraph was quite complainy...I promise I really am happy! We had another great week and honestly it just flew by. I cannot believe that I am writing emails again. We are still just crazy busy and running from one side of the city to the other and just trying to keep going! We saw lots of people this week and many small but significant miracles along the way. Two of these small but beautiful experiences happened on Thursday. The morning and early afternoon were full of appointments. After a lesson with our investigator, C., we took the bus that takes us from one church to the other. While I was standing on the bus, I noticed a really cute little family that looked like they were from South America. It was a mom and two of her small children. I immediately had the feeling that I should talk to them, so I positioned myself in a good place and waited until the moment was right. I started talking to this cute mom and it turns out that she is from Ecuador! I always get excited when I meet people from Ecuador and tell them that my dad LIVED there for two years of his life as a missionary. She was just super cute and as we got talking, she told me that they actually had missionaries that would come over to there house only about 6 months ago, but they moved and so the missionaries lost track of them or something! It was so great and I asked if we could come over and visit them and she very willingly agreed. It was wonderful and I was so grateful that I followed that prompting to talk with her. We have an appointment set up this coming Friday and I am really excited!<br />
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The beauty continued as we got to the church and made a few phone calls, and then we had about 20 minutes until our ward correlation meeting. We decided to go out and do some finding work! We said a prayer outside the church and asked for direction and to be able to find someone that was searching. Not even 5 minutes later, we stop a lady named G. We get talking to her and after a few minutes, she looks at me and says..wait you have talked to me before! I then remembered that I had stopped her in front of the church about 3 months ago and had a wonderful conversation with her. It was amazing! As we got talking, she told us that she had lost her faith and is searching for it again. She just looked very sad and looked as though she had lost all hope. We taught her and testified of how she can find her faith again and that the message that we bring is how she can find that faith again the spirit was very strong and we prayed and she cried and when I asked if we could have her number, she said no. I was heartbroken. She needs this so bad, and I know that she felt something...this time, and last time Heavenly Father put her in my path. I walked away feeling sad but grateful to the Lord for having placed her in my path again and allowing me to testify to her once again and help her to feel of the spirit. I know that this is just another step in her accepting the truth and I was grateful for this experience. It is experiences like this that I will truly miss. The Lord guides us. He answers our prayers. He puts people in our paths and He puts the words in our mouths.<br />
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It was a wonderful week full of way too many beautiful experiences to write them all so I guess I will just leave this email simple. I am so grateful for what the Lord does for me each and every day. He is so very good to me and is my greatest supporter. I want to leave you with a quote that I read this week that really touched me: “God left the world unfinished for man to work his skill upon. He left the electricity in the cloud, the oil in the earth. He left the rivers unbridged and the forests unfelled and the cities unbuilt. God gives to man the challenge of raw materials, not the ease of finished things. He leaves the pictures unpainted and the music unsung and the problems unsolved, that man might know the joys and glories of creation.” -President Thomas S. Monson<br />
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He gives us talents and skill and knowledge so that we might create, imagine, and dream. He is the master creator and if we want to become like Him, we too must experience the joy and satisfaction of creation. Each day we can create. We can keep trying. We can turn to Him, and He makes us greater then we could ever be on our own. He doesn't give us every thing already perfectly figured out, but gives us the opportunity to discover and to learn on our own. He wants us to grow and as we follow Him, a natural consequence is personal growth. I am so grateful for my own personal growth that I have seen during the course of my life and I know that I have a long way to go. But as I continue to turn to Him as I create my life, everything will work out and He will make me great!<br />
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I love you all! Have a wonderful week :)<br />
Love,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-36905117824108914402016-01-24T18:35:00.000-08:002016-01-24T19:42:54.003-08:00Another Week....Hello Everyone!<br />
Welp another week has come and gone and holy cow this was a fast one! It think that the weeks are flying by because we are just so busy, which makes it really nice! We were full of appointments and just running from one place to another that the days just end so quickly! We were able to see all of our investigators this week, including all 5 of the new ones that we found last week and that was a great accomplishment and a huge blessing. We are keeping really busy and happy and things are going great! We are helping T. prepare for her baptism that is coming up on the 3rd of February. She is very excited and we still have a few more things to teach her but I think that she will be ready! She had an interview this week and we got some things cleared up and so everything is going well. I have never had an investigator so excited to get baptized! She is wonderful and has a real desire to change. We are so excited! She came to a baptism this week of a little boy in the ward and the whole time she was asking us questions about her own program and who is going to do what and what she will wear...ha she is just so excited! We were also able to set two new baptismal dates with two of our investigators this week! One with L., we had to move her date back, but she feels that she will be able to be ready for this new date. She is wonderful and really making progress! We were able to have a wonderful lesson with her yesterday about courage because she hasn't even told her parents of<br />
her meeting with us and her desire to be baptized. But after we talked about Esther and the courage she showed in talking to the King, she committed that she would do it! She is just full of faith. The other baptismal date that we set this week is with our new investigator named J. She is a referral from some of our other investigators and she is just great! She is reading the Book of Mormon and has come to church three weeks in a row! She accepted her baptismal date without any problems and we are very excited to continue to help her progress.<br />
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One cool miracle we saw this week happened the other night pretty late, it was about time to go inside but we had a few minutes, so we decided to do a little walk around where we live. There weren't many people out but I knew we would find someone. We walked over to a certain side of the street where I felt guided to and the first people I stopped were a couple that had just come out of a door. We stopped them and started talking with them and we ended up having a really wonderful conversation with them. they were very amazed by us and the fact that we leave everything to serve the Lord and to help others. At one point the man asked, why do you do it? What is it that motivates you to come out here just to get rejected all the time?? It was a neat question that we were able to answer, bearing testimony of the Savior and what He means for us. They were very touched by what we said and you could just tell that they could feel something different in us. The prayer touched them especially and they said that they had never tried to pray in that way before. They had interest in meeting with us again and we got both of their phone numbers. It was just a really neat encounter and I know we were supposed to meet them. It has happened time and time again, but I know that the Lord places people in our paths, as long as we are obedient, follow promptings, and give Him our very best.<br />
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This week I really saw the importance of effective planning and I definitely have a testimony of it! We had a few days where the appointments that we had scheduled were very close together and with travel time in between, it seemed that we would be cutting it very close to get to all the places in time. But we planned everything out, and prayed a lot, and the Lord literally made everything work out perfectly! For example, yesterday...we had three appointments back to back but in different areas of the city. We had exactly how much time we could spend at each appointment planned out and how long it would take us to get to the next thing. At one point we were walking swiftly/ running to try and catch a bus to get to our next appointment and we had to cross the street, and the bus that we had to catch waited and let us cross, making it possible for us to catch the bus! I am sure that that sentence didn't make any sense but just know that the Lord made it happen and He was leading us and guiding us! He is in the small details and my testimony was strengthened in that yesterday. If it is important to us, it is important to the Lord and He can make it happen according to His will. He is so good to us and literally showers His blessings and peace upon us as we strive to follow Him in all we do and be diligent to the things that He has asked us.<br />
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We had many good experiences this week in teaching and finding and just helping and serving. Each day I feel exhausted knowing that I gave my all to the Lord. It is the best feeling in the world, knowing that you are doing exactly what the Lord asks. We are not perfect but we are trying and the Lord makes us so much greater then we could ever be on our own. I know that this experience is going to serve me for the rest of my life and I know that the Lord has great things in store for me. He is a God of love and He will do anything to help us to be happy. I have received a lot of comfort through prayer these past few days and I know that He is aware of me and all my mixed emotions and<br />
feelings. He is giving me the strength to push forward and I couldn't be more grateful for how my mission experience is ending. I am still very happy to be here and for each moment that the Lord gives me to try and lift someone else that stands in need. My little part that I give each day is enough in His eyes and I know that He is aware of me.<br />
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I love you all and I hope you have another splendid week!<br />
love,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cool book stands like this line the streets of Torino. Dad and Hailey would be in heaven.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the building the Torino is known for - it's called the Mole (Mol-ay)</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-11095614491983274432016-01-14T20:37:00.000-08:002016-01-14T20:39:01.297-08:00On the Lord's ErrandCiao!<br />
This week was wonderful! We are working really hard and are finally seeing some of the fruits of our labor so as far as getting new investigators is concerned. We have been having a really hard time getting new investigators lately and it has really been bothering me and I really haven't been able to figure out why we were having such a hard time finding new people to teach. For our scambio that we had this week, I set the goal to get a new investigator during the course of the scambio. We worked SO hard during the scambio and I really tried to consecrate myself and give the work my FULL effort. We talked to EVERYONE, on the street, in the bus...it was just a wonderful scambio and there was just a great sprit and vibe that was with us throughout the full 24 hours. The Lord blessed us with miracles and with wonderful experiences!<br />
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A couple of the appointments that we had set were cancelled or the time was changed and at one point we were left with a little bit of time before an appointment. We were in an area where we had met a potential lady about a week ago and we saw her go into a house nearby. I had the idea that we should go do some casa in casa (knock on the doors..) and on our way there, we met a lady that I KNOW we were supposed to meet. She knew the church because she was from Peru and was very kind. We testified of the power of the Savior and I KNOW that she felt the spirit. In the end she wouldn't give us her information and wasn't interested in seeing us again but I know that we were just<br />
one more step on her road to conversion. After that we started ringing the doorbells of this apartment complex and we got into the apartment because someone was leaving. I was thinking that we should leave because we were going to be late to the appointment but Sorella Smith was like, no let's just try the first door. So we tried the first door and the girl on the other side was super cool and open and didn't even slam her door on us! She said she was busy but she wanted to know more so said we could pass by another time. It was sure a miracle and I learned from the faith of Sorella Smith following that prompting from the spirit. We were SO close to getting new investigators during the scambio multiple times but at the end, we weren't able to set any return appointments with the people that we met. I was a little bit disappointed but I knew that I had given the Lord my all and I knew that He was aware of my efforts. Boy was He aware. He blessed us with 5 new investigators in the space of two days...all of which are incredible people that truly want to know more and progress. It was a miracle and I know that the Lord blessed us for our consecrated work in behalf of His children.<br />
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One neat experience that we had with one of these new investigators, C., happened on Sunday after church. We looked at our phone while waiting for the bus to return home for lunch and saw that we had two missed calls from C. We quickly called her back and she said that she wanted to meet us right then, she needed someone to talk to. We immediately took the bus to the other church on the other side of Torino and met C. there. We sat down and it was very clear that she was really struggling with something. The look of despair was just written across her face. We started with a prayer and she started to tell us some of her feelings and her overall desire to find peace and to let go of her sins, repent and find a better life for herself and her son. We had a really spiritual experience with her as we testified of Chirst and the power that His gospel can have in her life. We explained what we do as missionaries and how this message can change her, if she chooses to accept it. It was an amazing experience and the spirit was so strong. In the end she asked what she needed to do next and is just so willing to change and to act. She is in desperate need of comfort and relief. I don't know as I sat in that room and felt of that sweet spirit, I was just overcome with gratitude. This is why we are here as missionaries. It just felt so real in that moment. The Savior literally heals souls and brings joy and hope into the lives of those that choose to accept it and it was amazing to actually be able to help someone that really WANTED that help and so desperately needed it. We so often talk to people that think they have no need for our message and that don't understand the impact that it can truly have in their lives, it was just really refreshing to be able to bring it to someone who really cared and who really needed it.<br />
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As far as our other investigators are concerned...T. is still doing well and is on track for her February 3rd date. We taught her about the Word of Wisdom and she committed to stop drinking coffee and tea. She is doing great and still just super stoked to get baptized. We struggled again in seeing L. this week as much as we would like due to some family problems so she will probably not be ready for her 23rd of January date. But she still has a great desire and is progressing well! She came to church and it was great because we actually had to give last minute talks about the plan of salvation! So it was perfect to have her there. S. is another investigator that we have that unfortunately is a bit frustrating. I won't go into details for times sake, but we taught her about authority this week and as clear and straightforward as we were, she still thinks that any good person in the world can receive the priesthood..ya. And E., the cute grandma that is the mom of a member, really opened up to us yesterday about her feelings and some of her really personal fears about baptism and what not. It was wonderful to hear and just the fact that she trusts us so much.<br />
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It was just a great week all around and we are just happy and things are going well. The work is moving forward and the Lord is with us every step of the way. I couldn't be happier to be able to take part in this splendid work and I know that our Savior lives and guides this church. I also know that Thomas S. Monson is indeed a true prophet called of God. We watched the movie about him, 'On the Lord's Errand' last night and it literally changed me and I felt the spirit in such an incredible and overwhelming way. I am so grateful to be on the Lord's errand I pray that I might be able to give Him everything that I am.<br />
I love you all so much and I hope that you know it!<br />
Love,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Il Duomo di Torino</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our scambio with the Collegno sisters! </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorella Smith found my blog and emailed me before she came to Italia</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We found this really cute place that makes delicious herbal tea</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Candles lit in a Catholic Church</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture of the Holy Shroud</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how the Italians do the Nativity...just super big and elaborate!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another biiiiiig Nativity in a Catholic Church</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how we do groceries...you lug SUPER heavy bags and water all the way home and almost die.</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-16557879443673932652016-01-11T19:47:00.002-08:002016-01-11T19:48:17.856-08:00It's Gonna Be a Good Year!!Heyyyyyyy all.<br />
<br />
We had a nice little week...some days more exciting then others but overall I am not complaining about anything! It is really beautiful because I just feel really happy right now. This is probably one of the happiest transfers I have ever had and I am not exactly sure why it is so happy! I know that my companion has a lot to do with it. We have really clicked these past few weeks and we just have so much fun together. I have honestly never laughed so much with a companion! It is great we just make jokes that are really dumb but we have the same sense of humor so we just die laughing and it just makes life so much more fun! Life is just better when it is enjoyed! We are just really choosing to find joy in the work and not get caught up in the disappointments or the grind of the work. It is neat because this 'joy' was the thing that I really wanted to have for my last transfer as a missionary. Going into this transfer I just prayed for a joyful experience where I didn't stress but rather got lost in the pure joy of serving the Lord. He has most definitely given me that experience and I could not be more grateful!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finding JOY with Sorella Taylor</td></tr>
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Last week for pday we went to a classy art museum of the famous painter, Monet. His art is on display for a limited time here in Torino so we had to go check it out. Apparently everyone and their dog had the same idea and we ended up waiting in line for quite a while but in the end it was worth it and I really enjoyed the beauty of his art. So many things in this world are so beautifully captured by talented humans putting paint on paper. It is incredible the talents that we have each been given!<br />
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The next day was New Year's Eve and we had to be home at 7. New Year's Eve was a wonderful day. it was one of those special days where there were just good vibes all around and we were especially happy! We talked with so many people and just had such a beautiful day. With our spare time at home we were able to get some work done with the area book and then after planning we had a really great time ringing in the New Year. It was beautifully simple, we just chatted about our feelings of the last year and really pondered and discussed the things that we felt like we learned. We talked about what we want to do with our new year, the clean slate, the new opportunity and it was just<br />
really nice. I spent some time in studies that morning to really reflect on 2015, my full year as a missionary and the things I learned and the person I have become. It was a really moving and spiritual experience for me to think about the ways the Lord has shaped me and what things I still lack. I am determined to take control of this new year and not just make goals that are quickly forgotten. It is up to us. If we are really committed and have the right intentions...our goals will not be forgotten halfway through the year, but they will become a part of each day! To cap off our great little 2015 and ring in the new year, we stayed up til midnight and then went onto our porch to see the neighbor's fireworks. We got quite the show right in front of our house of huge fireworks and it was just really fun! Everyone was just out on their balconies wishing one another a good new year and it was just a good time!<br />
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As far as our investigators are concerned this week...we were not able to see L. at all, so that was really sad. She was busy with the holiday and what not, but we are seeing her today! We saw T. last week and gave her her baptismal calendar and laid out clearly the things she still needs to learn before she can be baptized. Apparently she got up in church on Sunday during fast and testimony meeting(we weren't there because we go to the other ward) and announced her baptism and invited everyone to come! Let's just say she is very excited. Hopefully she can continue to keep her commitments and understand the real reasons that she needs to do it! she is progressing though and we are happy! What a special person, oh T! Haha :)<br />
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We went to Milano this week for my last Mission Counsel meeting and that was pretty weird...just that it was the last one. It was great though, just as they always are. We got some new instruction about how we are supposed to do exchanges and some things will be changing with that. it was fun to see everyone, I will attach some photos. Tomorrow is our Zone Training and I will be giving my 'Commencement Testimony' normally it is called a dying testimony but president doesn't like that because we aren't dying, we are just beginning the rest of our lives...ha either way it is weird that it is my turn to do so.<br />
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Another really crazy thing happened to us this week, but I think that one is most definitely better of saved to be told in person! It is a great story, remind me to tell you!<br />
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That's about all I have for you all! I hope you have a great week and are having a happy new year!<br />
<br />
It's gonna be a good year!<br />
Love<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorella Hawks...awhhhhh. I adore her.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the missionaries from my group that were at Consigilo...<br />
that's 4/9 Sorelle that are going home. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> We took this one in honor of our dear ol' Presidente Dibb...his reaction was...<br />
"Oh you look so happy, that is very cool." Ha</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-26610483623301143392016-01-04T19:01:00.000-08:002016-01-04T19:01:28.249-08:00Life PonderingHello everyone!<br />
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It feels like we just talked and I just told you all about my life...oh wait we did do that! Man, that was just so great. We'll see if I can still whip out a few more details I didn't manage to include during our wonderful little skype call. Talking to you all just reminds me how incredibly blessed I am with a wonderful family. Thank you for all you do in your personal lives to make yourselves better people and in turn strengthen each member of the family. There is a reason that the family is the central unit and essential to the plan of God. We need each other, and the Lord knows that. He gives us the exact humans to call our family members that we need and that need us during the course of our lives and throughout eternity. If you think about it, it is a pretty amazing concept! But yeah anyways after that little missionary rant...I just mean that I love you.<br />
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SO yeahhhhh like everyone surely knows this week was Christmas! Yay for Christmas. I will be completely honest and say that I am not super sad that Christmas is over...(actually it is apparently not over until the new year...Italians still sing Christmas songs after Christmas and continue to say AUGURI to everyone they come in contact with) but I am kind of glad that all the parties and food appointments are over because I can say with complete honesty that I gained so much pasta weight this week it is ridiculous. I have never eaten so much food...but especially pasta...in one week in my entire existence. Every meal was huge and every meal consists of exactly what you would think...pasta, bread, oil, meat, cheese....in large amounts and prepared in every way you could possibly imagine. They always say...if you don't like it don't eat it...but then they continuously tell you, "There's more Sorella, EAT EAT!!!" And so it continues for about 2 hours and you start going into a small food coma. Italians take their holidays seriously in the food department. It is like straight eating. You think you are done and your stomach is satisfied and then they bring out a thousand more courses and you think that you are literally going to die. We learn what it means to Endure to the End for real in this mission. You just keep going and in the end it is satisfying because you get to stop. Ha plus I never threw up so that is a miracle.<br />
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Besides all the eating, our Christmas was quite a simple one. I was really striving to focus on the purpose and just concentrate my heart on that and this year I feel like I was really able to do that. It was a special Christmas for me and for that I will forever be grateful.<br />
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Our work is going well, it is a bit rough during the Christmas and New Year season because everyone is busy with all of their parties so it makes it a bit hard to see people. But we were able to see a few people and that was good! We saw L. a couple times this week and that was wonderful. She is doing great and is progressing beautifully.<br />
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I have been doing a lot of life pondering lately...seeing as it is that time of year. It is really neat for me to think about that the year 2015 will forever be the year that I was a missionary. It will forever be a very special year where I was able to just give myself to the Lord and see what comes of it. The blessings I have seen in my life this year are way to many to count and I just feel overwhelmed with the ways that the Lord has taught me, shaped me, and blessed me in every way. I feel like this is my biggest growing year I have ever had. I don't feel like the same person I was when I started the year...that is a lie, I am the same person just a refined version. I have realized that the mission truly helps you find yourself. you learn more about yourself..about your true character, personality, flaws, quirks, weaknesses, strengthens...then you ever could any other way. You learn who you want to be and how to trust in the Lord to help you get there. It is truly an amazing feeling and I will forever be grateful to the Lord for this beautiful year that I have spent in His service!<br />
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I invite you all to ponder your life and to see what you can see!<br />
I love you all and I hope you have a very happy New Years!<br />
Love,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keeping the cinnamon roll tradition alive! I make them from scratch!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Christmas tree</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Us half asleep on Christmas morning!</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-29551384269727826562015-12-28T20:39:00.003-08:002015-12-28T20:39:53.326-08:00BUON NATALE A TUTTIHello Everyone!<br />
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This will probably be a quick one because we will SEE each other and have so much time to chat in like two days. Plus I don't have tonnnns of time or exciting things to say so I will probs just send a bunch of photos! This week was super great, everything is just going well. We have been having so much fun celebrating the Christmas season and enjoying the JOY that it brings. Being able to testify of Christ each and every day is literally the best way to spend a Christmas season...I recommend it to you all! The people here are much more open to talk to us about Christ during this time of year and it has yielded many wonderful miracles and experiences. We all have so many differences-religiously, culturally, physically, emotionally, family-wise, but at the end of the day we all have one thing in common and that is the fact that we have a Savior. He was born for ALL of us. I love that about this culture, they are for the most part Christians, so even if they are not super interested in learning about the Restoration, you can almost always have a really nice conversation about the Savior and what He means for us in our lives. It is interesting because as we talk with people, a lot of them don't have a really great grasp on the WHY behind the Savior or how He really helps us each and every day. This is why we are here, to invite people to discover the difference that He makes in our everyday lives, IF we truly let Him in and accept the gift that He has given us.<br />
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This week we went to a few Christmas parties and were able to go caroling down in centro and we have just been passing out the Christmas pass a long cards like CRAZY. We have soooo many and we really want to give them ALL out before Christmas. Both of the Torino wards had their Christmas parties this last Saturday and we went to a little bit of both of the parties! The luxuries of working in two wards :) The parties were really fun and at the one in Torino 2, there were a TON of non-members! It ruled, we were able to meet so many people and just had a really great time. The party was more of like a big talent show with TONS of food, so it was really entertaining! at the end, Santa came out with 6 big bags and they called the missionaries up to the front and gave us these huge bags full of food! It was super nice of them and we were laughing because in the bags it was literally ALL pasta, tomato sauce, olive oil, and cookies.....classics Italian. The other special Christmas moment we had this week was on Monday night. A sister in our ward had talked to us about a month ago about a little idea that she has been wanting to do for about 4 years now and she really wanted our help with it. She has been wanting to throw a little Christmas get together for all of the little old ladies and people that live in her apartment complex! So we helped her by practicing and performing a little Christmas concert where we sang spiritual and also fun Christmas songs with Santa hats and taking turns playing the piano. It was super fun and just a really great experience! I cannot really explain it super well but it was just really fun and all the people that came really enjoyed it! After the singing part we showed all of them E nato un Salvatore and we were able to bear our testimonies of the Savior and it was just really neat! They were all super impressed with how it all turned out and were really curious about who we were and why we are here! It was a really neat opportunity and just really brought the true Christmas spirit! I will send some photos!<br />
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That is about all I have for now! I am so excited to see all of your cute faces. Talk to you soon!<br />
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BUON NATALE A TUTTI!<br />
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Love,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A place called Eataly that we went to on Pday.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><pre style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web Regular', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Helvetica Neue', 'BBAlpha Sans', 'S60 Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.3px; text-align: start; white-space: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">Us looking slightly crazy about all the food we received.</span></pre>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorella Taylor and I.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Us with the hostess of the party.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little taco/crepe place downtown.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas party.</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-74689308995663873422015-12-17T21:04:00.002-08:002015-12-17T21:05:16.934-08:00HelloHELLO<br />
This week has been really crazy with transfers and everything we have had going on. Now that we are over both areas in Torino, our work has gotten very busy and we are just trying to stay on top of it all! But at least it is only 2 wards, not 12, like some missionaries have to do in the states, so I think we will be okay! We are learning the importance of really good and detailed planning and trying to stay on top of everything. Also it is important to try and discern from the spirit which people need this message at this point especially in their lives. So far things are going really well! It is fun to have new people to teach and to get to work in another area. The other side of Torino is much different then the area I have been working in. But both areas are good and fun for their own reasons and the Lord prepares people everywhere. We have been really good about not getting lost, thank goodness for Google maps and iPads! A miracle for us this week was that we were able to set a baptismal date with the girl I told you about last week, L.! She accepted a date for the 23rd of January and was exctied! She said that she would do her very best to be ready for that day. it was Sorella Nedelkov's last day and so it was a wonderful way for her to end her mission. She gave L. her CTR ring and L. was just SO excited and actually close to tears. She is so very prepared and is truly searching for the truth. She told us about how she had prayed during the week about the Book of Mormon and the church and she tried to explain to us this strange feeling that she had in her heart. We told her that it was the spirit and she told us another story of when she felt like that in her life. She is really starting to recognize the spirit and how it speaks to her specifically. She is wonderful and is making great progress!<br />
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This week we also went to Milano for Consiglio- and that is always an adventure! I love going to those meetings and just learning and basking in the beautiful spirit that is there. I learned so much and it was just really great to see old friends after a while. We then had our Christmas Zone Training meeting yesterday and we were in charge of a training on Christlike attributes. It went really well and we also had a section where we did Christmas celebration! There was a special musical number, we sang carols, and we acted out the Nativity scene! We asked President and Sorella Dibb to be Joseph and Mary and it was just super cute and fun. It was a great way to enjoy the Christmas season.<br />
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I don't really have anything else super exciting to report! Just trying to stay sane and not stress out about all of the things that there are to do. It is a beautiful time of year and I am just really trying to bask in the beauty of it. It really has been so wonderful to share the Savior is Born video with everyone and to just really be able to ponder on what that really means for me. The world without a Savior would be nothing. The birth of Christ for me is so significant. It means rebirth, for each of us. Not only when we are baptized or when we partake of the sacrament...but our Savior made it possible for us to repent and change and have a rebirth or a new start every moment of every day. Each day we can decide that we want to follow our Savior and do something a little bit more to align our life with His and to follow in His footsteps. He makes joy possible. He Is the reason for our hope.<br />
I love you all! Have a great week!<br />
Love,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zone Conference</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My BFF</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fun to see my MTC companion</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I LOVE Sorella Nedelkov!!!</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-36339499121424055222015-12-14T09:20:00.000-08:002015-12-14T09:22:09.543-08:00His HandCiao tutti!<br />
This week the miracle continues with L., the wonderful girl from Peru that I wrote about last week. This miracle was wonderful and truly strengthened my testimony of the power of our faith. So it was Wednesday and pday had just ended. We were at our house making some calls. Last week when we saw L., we had set up an appointment for Wednesday at 7 but during the week we had tried to contact her and she hadn't been responding to our messages or calls all week. We didn't know what was going on or if she was going to come to our appointment because we couldn't get a hold of her. We were trying to figure out if we should go all the way to the church when we didn't know if she would be there or if there would be a better way to spend our time. As we were sitting there, I kept thinking, maybe we should go to the church...but then just kept making phone calls. Finally I had the very distinct impression from the spirit that said "Go to the church." I immediately told my companion that we needed to go to the church and that L. was going to be there. We quickly went to the church and when we got there, she wasn't there, but for some reason I just had so much faith and I KNEW that she was going to come. It was weird, I guess but I just felt such a sure faith. Without a doubt she was going to be there. Not even five minutes after we got to the church, we hear the doors open and close and there was L.! SHE CAME! I was like jumping up and down with so much joy! It was a huge miracle. I couldn't believe it. She actually came. The Lord truly works miracles according to our faith! It is so real. I was amazed and I know that the Lord made that possible. It may not seem like a huge miracle but for me it really taught me LOT. It was a real life example of receiving promptings from the spirit, acting on them and then seeing the miracles that come to pass. We were able to teach her a beautiful lesson on the Plan of Salvation and she accepted a soft baptismal invite. We were just so joyful and I know that it was the will of the Lord! The Lord is so very good and His hand is in every detail.<br />
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Another little miracle story happened a couple days after Pday. We had some extra time in the morning before lunch without any appointments planned. During nightly planning the night before, my companion and I both thought of the same member lady that we thought could use a visit. We decided to give her a call and see if we could stop by. We tried calling her but she didn't answer. We decided that we would pass by anyways. Getting there that morning was a little bit slow because first, we got our transfer call and that was bit distracting, then we missed our stop on the bus and had to walk a long way. But in the end we make it to this lady's street. As we are about to turn onto her street, she walks right in front of us, leaving her house on the way to the market! The Lord literally made it possible so our paths would cross. We were able to talk with her there on the street and she shared with us some personal family problems she has been having and she just really needed comfort in that exact moment that we met her. She told us that she wasn't going to come to church for a little while just to let things calm down and we were able to talk with her about how going to church is the thing that will help her the very most in this moment! It was a beautiful moment that the Lord gave us and taught me that He truly cares about each one of His children. She told us that she had left the house earlier but decided to go back up to grab an umbrella and if she hadn't done that, we wouldn't have met! It was truly the hand of the Lord and He truly put this struggling sister in our path.<br />
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This week was quite interesting because we spent most of it without a phone! When we went to bed on Friday night, we plugged in our working phone and then when we woke up on Saturday it was no longer working. Doesn't even turn on, nothing...just a black screen. So yeahhhhh we have been phone-less for quite a few days which makes missionary work quite difficult. We have been having to borrow the other Sorelle's phone when they are home but during the day we are just out of luck. It is making me really grateful for technology and also I am learning the importance of keeping our records updated! Because now that our phone is gone so are all of our numbers! It has made life interesting, that is for sure.<br />
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In other news...we got our transfer call this week! Let's just say that I was a bit surprised but I also kind of thought it would happen. Due to the lack of new sisters coming into the mission and the large amount of sisters going home this transfer, the mission had to close three companionships of sisters. One of these three companionships is the other Torino ward. So they took away that companionship and now I will be with Sorella Taylor, one of the sisters that was serving in the other ward. The other sister in the closed companionship is going to another city and Sorella Nedelkov is headed home. So that means that Sorella Taylor and I will be over both wards, which is going to make things a little bit crazy! We are going to focus more on the work here in our ward because there are 4 other anziani in the other ward but we will still work with all of their investigators and less actives and do some member work. It should make things quite exciting and busy but I am excited for the change! It is the exact thing I needed for my last transfer, I think. Just like that little drive and push and a little bit of a change! It will be good and I am excited to see how it will all work out!<br />
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That is about all I have for today! You are all the greatest and wish you the happiest week during this beautiful Christmas season!<br />
love,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">yaaaaaaaaay for Christmas!! #ènatounSalvatore</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-72058589627904506392015-12-06T18:54:00.001-08:002015-12-06T18:55:03.622-08:00HiFAMILY I LOVE.<br />
Thanks for being the greatest. I love you allllllllll. This week was good! it was a little bit super busy with scambios, zone conference, stake conference and what not! We spent a lot of time on trains going to scambio but it was still really good! It is freezing cold now but don't worry i now wear two coats so i am nice and warm. I still need to find some gloves though!<br />
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This week, our greatest miracle was with a new Investigator named L.! She is actually the friend of a member. This member has been bringing her friend to church on and off for a little bit now but L. has been a little bit too timid to meet with us until now. We were finally able to set up an appointment with her. Unfortunately, her friend moved back to Peru, but she still met with us! We were able to teach a wonderful Restoration lesson to L. and really get to know her and her story. It turns out that since she was little she has been in contact with many members of the church-missionaries and also just friends of hers that have been members-in Peru and also here in Italy. We were amazed as she told us about all of the friends and encounters she has had with members because she has literally been prepared, step by step, little by little over the years! One of her Mormon friends told her to meet with us and so now she feels like she is ready! She is amazing and honestly has a real desire to learn. She told us that she really wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon and begged her friends for like 2 months before they finally gave her one! She had already started reading by the time we met with her but she wants to start over from the beginning now that she knows the story of the Restoration. She is 19 years old and really searching for the truth. She has a firm belief in God and in the fact that He will answer her prayers. It was a beautiful miracle to find someone that prepared. We were very excited and hope that all goes well! We have started doing the publicity for the new Christmas film #ÈnatounSalvatore and that has been really fun! we got the cute new pass along cards that i just love and have so far already seen some good success in the past few days. I am so excited to just go crazy this Christmas season and truly help everything JOY in the birth of our Savior.<br />
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Yesterday i had a beautiful moment when we were out doing some finding. I was on scambio with a sister from Argentina and we were with a 15 year old member that is just amazing and wants to serve a mission. We were talking to a Romanian lady named O. that was sitting on a bench. We had showed her the new video and i had born my testimony of the Savior and who He is for me. I turned to Sorella Sirena and as i listened to her bear her powerful and simple testimony and then as G. did the same thing, the spirit hit me with such a great and simple power. In that moment i felt the joy of what we are doing. I felt so much peace and i was just in awe at the fact that we testify of our Savior all day everyday. I realized that every moment is precious and the spirit witnessed to me that our little part is making a difference. O. felt the spirit yesterday and in that moment i felt a renewed sense of just absolute love for my Savior and for the opportunity that i have to take part in this marvelous work. It was a simple but very special moment for me. Each moment is precious and i feel so much gratitude for each one i have as a representative of the Lord.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanksgiving Day Zone Conference</td></tr>
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I love you all! we had a nice Thanksgiving, all is going well! We are just continuing to push forth and trust 100% in the Lord. Have a great week!<br />
Love,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-51980883834156833952015-12-06T18:34:00.000-08:002015-12-06T18:35:28.134-08:00Another WeekHello ALL!<br />
Well we had another week. man it is amazing to me how we just keep having more pdays and more pdays! they just sneak right up on us and they just keep passing. We had a pretty good week this week, nothing super exciting or new happened...i feel like i say that every week...i guess that's just how it is! But i feel currently really content with things. it was another pretty up and down week and we had our fair share of strange days for a large variety of reasons, but the Lord is comforting us and giving us the strength to move forward. This week i was pondering quite a bit on what it is that motivates me to continue to go outside day after day and try to talk to people...because if you think about it for a second it is pretty strange that we just keep doing the same thing day after day, day after day...without seeing tons of success from it. What motivates me? what is it that keeps me going? I have decided that it is a few things and also those things change from day to day. Some days it is a sense of Duty...to the Lord, to my family, to myself. I go out because i know i need to. Because it is what i have committed myself to do. Other days it is out of pure desire to help someone in need. Other days it is out of a desire to share with someone something i read in studies or maybe it is the pure hope and faith i have that one day we will find someone that is searching for the truth. It is a lot of things put together i guess. But in the end, i know why i am here and overall my love for my Savior is the thing that keeps me going. It is that simple. He is the reason i am here and the reason i continue in faith each and every day. Trusting that my small part truly is making a difference.<br />
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One experience i want to share from this week happened on scambio. We have been trying to do more work with members and there is this super cute member from Ecuador that has a huge desire to come out and do finding work with us once a week. I was with Sorella Taylor, who had never done finding with members before so it was a great opportunity for her to see how beautiful it is! We went out for about an hour and this member is just a great little missionary with a great faith and fire burning to bring the gospel to the world! During the hour, our goal was to find three people that we could teach and we reached hour goal right as the hour ended! We found people that, although they weren't particularly interested in our message in this moment, we found them in their time of need. One old man had just dropped his keys into the sewer and was really worried and needed a comforting word that we were able to give. Another two ladies were visiting from Sicilia and were stressed with documents and things and they were worried about their children that they left behind. We were able to leave them smiling in their moment of need as well. It was just a wonderful experience to be able to help God's children in a very literal way. I have a testimony of member work and also of the fact that the Lord places His children in need into our path. I say that over and over<br />
again, but my testimony keeps being strengthened of it! The Lord puts the people in our path.<br />
<br />
We are really focusing on increasing our faith that the field really is white, already to harvest. These past few weeks have been rough and i think that we have been able to see our faith diminishing. We realized it this week and are going to make steps to increase it again. I know that the Lord has a plan for His work here and i know that if we continue to do our part, He will ALWAYS do His. I am learning that instead of stressing out that we aren't doing enough, we just need to do our part, and leave room for Him to do the rest. I am the type of missionary that just really has to do do do do and if i am not doing everything or if i forget something, i feel bad and i feel like i am not doing enough. But i realized that if i go crazy and stress myself out to do too much, then i am not leaving space for the the Lord to His part. I cannot do it all. I cannot do anything on my own. We need to figure out what our small part is and then worry about that, not about doing everything at once.<br />
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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we are blessed to be able to spend it at Zone Conference with our wonderful mission president and His wife! they are cooking us an american Thanksgiving feast! i am excited, it should be a very well-timed much needed conference and i am very excited to see what they will teach us.<br />
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I am grateful for all of the people i love out there in the world! thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you do and have done for me. You are in my heart forever!<br />
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Love,<br />
Sorella BurtAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-38908273956384622202015-11-23T20:45:00.002-08:002015-11-23T20:48:31.566-08:00CiaoCiao a tutti!<br />
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We had a good week this week! Sorry again that last week I sent like the worst email on the face of the planet. I learned my lesson and am starting with the main email this week! This we started a new transfer, the weather got super cold, we saw a guy got robbed on the bus, I made a drastic decision that I still can't decide if I regret, we saw miracles, we met with some great member families, we did some finding with one of our members, and handed out SO many fliers for the new "Conosci I Mormoni" film or "Meet the Mormons" that is finally in Italian! It was a good good week. Most importantly, I feel like we laughed a lot. Things didn't go perfectly but we were just happy and that made all the difference.<br />
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I'll start off with one miracle that I would like to share with you from our week. This was one of those beautiful pre-weekly planning finding miracle! I have truly gained a testimony of that 30-60 minutes of finding that we are asked to do before planning because we have truly seen miracles. We went out to a certain street that we had previously thought of and as we were walking down the street, we see two men up ahead standing at a bus stop. Since we have been trying especially hard to be super brave and talk to everrrrrrrrry person no matter if they are men, they didn't scare us a single bit! Without discussing what we would do, as we approached the men, Sorella Nedelkov started talking to the man to her right and I started talking with the other man. It turns out that these two men were both super bravi and we both had really great conversations with them! The man I was talking to told me that he has been wanting to go to church but hasn't because he doesn't know anyone and doesn't know where to go. I explained that he is welcome to come to our church and that there we are as a large family with many friends waiting to be made! He was excited to come and to learn more and at the end when I asked if there was something I could pray for in his life, he told me that he really really wants to quit smoking. I bore my testimony on how I know that through the help of the Savior we can overcome anything. It was a really neat moment and I got his phone number and he said that next week he will come to church. Sorella Nedelkov had a really great conversation as well and we walked away from those two men knowing without doubt that we were supposed to meet them in that short amount of time that we had. The Lord literally placed them in our paths. I love The Lord! I say it time and time again, but He literally makes us instruments in His hands.<br />
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Two quick funny/crazy stories from the week: first, as I mentioned above we witnessed a little robbery first hand on the bus and it was some intense stuff! two teenage gangster boys stole a guys phone out of his pocket and when the bus stopped, they got off but luckily the guy noticed and got off and started yelling and shoving these two boys. Another courageous bystander jumps in to assist the man in getting his phone back and tells the bus driver not to drive away. Meanwhile everyone on the bus is just freaking out/shaking their heads/mumbling under their breaths things like "what is this world coming to." The man gets the phone back and hops back on the bus to face an entire bus pretty much just in straight awe at what had happened, treating this man like he had just saved the world. We all clutched our bags a little tighter after this and it was a good reminder that there are silly people that do silly things. hahaha but yeah it was just an intense little moment. second story happened the other day as we were trying to get to the church for correlation...we were running late but we had to run home to grab our one and only bike to take it to the church because the ward is going to fix up that one along with the new one they are giving us. We live about a 45 minute walk away from the church, a 15 minute bike ride and like a 20 minute bus ride. Having to take the bike but only having one, we tried to have one ride on the back but that didn't work...feeling desperate I had the brilliant idea of having one ride the bike and the other jog along side it all the way to the church, switching off when the runner got tired. Keep in mind we are sister missionaries so we are wearing skirts and boots and just not the best running gear in the world....we did this all the way to the church, run, switch, ride, run, switch ride, and we were just suuuuuuper tired by the time we got there. We make it literally only one minute late and then we look at the phone to see that the correlation was cancelled...naturally. Everything cancels on us, even correlation! We ran all the way to the church for nothing...but at least we got a good laugh and a good exercise out of it!<br />
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Other then that this week...we have really been trying to hand out as many "Conosci i Mormoni" cards as we can because it is free to watch it in Italian only until the end of the week. That has been a really cool opportunity for us to try and help people understand who mormons really are! Everyone thinks that we are the ones with lots of wives or without technology but we are here to show the world who we really are! We have had some really good experiences with it! We have also been visiting more member families lately in effort to really strive to strengthen our ward and get them excited about the work. We have had some really good experiences with that and we feel the ward coming together a little bit more and getting excited about the work! One of our cute little members from Ecuador came out and did some finding with us for like an hour the other day and it was just the greatest experience, for her and for us! Members make all the difference!<br />
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And last but not least, I made a drastic decision this week in the evening when one of the girls we live with just really wanted to cut my hair and give me bangs...idk if it was just a weak moment or if I am just getting careless about somethings but I agreed, honestly without thinking too much about it. so yup that is that. I have bangs and I like literally think I hate myself for it. but whatev I guess I learned that we have to live with the consequences of our actions! I will send pics. don't judge. or hate. ha<br />
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Kay well I love you all so very much! I hope you have a great week and remember that Jesus Loves YOU!!!!<br />
Alma 37:36-37<br />
Con tanto amore,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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This is the adorable Sammaccica family! I literally adore them so<br />
much! Mom, they want Laura's husbands information so that they can<br />
write to him :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the adorable Sammaccica family! Our good friend's husband (Jim Korth) baptized him over 30 years ago.</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-57791649406009776052015-11-11T20:37:00.000-08:002015-11-11T20:37:42.381-08:00HiiiiiiFAM!<br />
Hello I am super sorry I don't know where all my time went but it is pretty much gone so this is going to be super short this week! SORRY. next will be better I promise. I don't know why I saved this one to the end. so silly.<br />
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I gave a talk in sacrament meeting last week and I thought it went well. I really felt like I was guided by the spirit and that I was able to say what they needed to hear. The spirit was very present and many members thanked me for it. There was a special spirit in the meeting in general so it was really a good experience! we are doing follow up because I also invited the members to pray to find a friend that they can introduce to us and we are hoping that we will see some good things!<br />
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THIS WEEK WE:<br />
-went to Milano to get my permesso! I got to see Sorella Hibo one last time and it was just super happy!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorella Hibo goes home tomorrow - CRAZY!</td></tr>
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-ate at one of like the 3 Subways in all of Italy! it was a little slice of home and just made me suuuuuuuper happy! it literally was just like the subway in america and made me think loads of my amazing family. I will send pics of it next week.<br />
-Got transfer news! we are staying together for the next 4 weeks! I am Sorella Nedelkov's last comp and that means that I will end my mission here in Torino. crazzzzy.<br />
-saw the cute family C. and A. and it was greattttt! He accepted a baptismal date and they are progressing nicely!<br />
-A BUNCH of less actives and new people came to church and it was just a super happy missionary Sunday. the spirit of missionary work was SUPER present and it was just super happy.<br />
-We WORKED hard. laughed. cried. saw miracles. are just loving life!<br />
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I am seriously sorry this is so short but yes. I still am alive and everything is going well!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Congrats Hailey on earning your YW medallion!! I wore mine today in honor of YOU!</td></tr>
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Have a splendid week and know that I LOVE YOU ALL.<br />
Love,<br />
Sorella BurtAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-5050829699793962812015-11-06T21:43:00.005-08:002015-11-06T21:43:41.659-08:00Finding Joy in the Small ThingsCIAO!<br />
My purpose in writing this email is finding joy when things are rough. This week was one of those weeks where you just feel a thousand emotions and things go wrong and you just don't really know what to do. So then I had the thought/impression that I should write a list of the positive things that happened throughout the week and dwell on those things rather then the problems. As I followed this impression, I realized that the Lord really was working with us this week and it was really not as bad as I thought it was in the moment. I would like to share this list with you all as we all learn together the vital importance of looking for the joyful things in life and recognizing the hand of the Lord in our lives each day!<br />
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-For Pday last week we decided to go up to the large catholic church on the hill called Superga. You can see it from pretty much anywhere in Torino and when you are the top you can see the whole city. The other Sorelle that we live with had the brilliant idea called taking pumpkins up with us to this mountain and carving them up there. And that we did. It just turned out to be probably the worst weather for doing so. We got up there and the fog was so thick that we couldn't even see the massive church while standing right in front of it. We carved pumpkins in the rain and just had a supppppper great time enjoying the beauty of the mountains in the fog.<br />
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-After we got over the disappointment of the stolen bike last week, one of our wonderful members called us and said that they have an old bike at their house that they don't use anymore. They are going to fix it up as a mutual activity and then donate it to the sisters! We were so grateful and so happy to receive such a loving and thoughtful phone call.<br />
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-I finished my second full mission journal and it brought me so much joy to look back through the pages and remember the amazing experiences that have made up my mission. Each day recorded is so very special.<br />
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-We passed by the work of this potential African lady named J. this week and it turns out that they work out of this small little garage FULL to the top of old clothes. They receive old clothes and then send them to the people in Ghana that need them. I cannot really describe the experience that we had there...they are just joyful people that LOVE life and love Jesus and just love to laugh with new people. Unfortunately they are not interested in our message, but they are wonderful people and we had a joyful 30 minutes of our lives spent with people that enjoy life.<br />
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-We had an appointment set up with an american member of our ward named S. We went over and showed her the bible video of the Lost Sheep and talked about how we need to look after those around us and search after those that our lost. The spirit was there and we had a nice discussion, but the beautiful moment came when, with tears in her eyes, she told us a story about a girl near her hometown in Texas was recently killed and how much it has effected her. This girl was preparing to serve a mission and just had the biggest heart and loved to serve others. S. cried as she told us how much she just wants to carry on her legacy by serving others and doing the small acts each day and how our message came at the exact time she needed. We were joyful that the Lord made us instruments in His hands to comfort His daughter.<br />
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-We were doing some finding near the church and the only person near was a woman named R. sitting on a bench. As we talked with her and got to know her she shared with us how she had recently lost her "very special husband" and how alone she felt. We testified to her of the reality of God's plan and how she never needs to feel alone. She had tears in her eyes as she told us that we had lifted her soul and gave her the hope she needed.<br />
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-We did a ward-wide fast for the sake of the missionary work in our ward and during fast and testimony meeting many members got up and bore powerful testimony of the ways missionary work has blessed their lives. I felt a beautiful spirit in church this week. It was the exact spiritual re-charge that my soul needed and i received answers and just learned MANY good things about the plan of salvation and how beautifully perfect it is.<br />
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-I found a less active lady on the bus! I just told her that i liked her scarf and then she said thanks, I am a member of your church! I was stoooooked and we had a great little chat and I got her phone number. It taught me that nobody falls through the cracks. The Lord put her in my path.<br />
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My list was longer then this and I honestly could go on and on...but it is already super long so I will stop there. All I know is that I learned a powerful lesson this week...The Lord is in the fine details. When we feel like everything is going wrong, all we need to do is take a step back and realize how much is going right! I am so grateful for all the things that I am learning and for the Lord's plan for me. It is personalized, He knows what Sorella Burt needs in every moment. He knows because He is my Father. And I witness that this is true! I love being a missionary. It brings me so much joy.<br />
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Con tanto afetto,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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ps in other news i got a call this week saying that I can go to Milano<br />
to pick up my permesso!! (this is my second one because I had to renew<br />
the first one) we are going tomorrow and i am just so happpppppppy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-61587683733317153272015-10-31T17:20:00.002-07:002015-10-31T17:22:04.687-07:00LEARNINGHELLO PEEPS.<br />
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Well to start off I guess I will tell you about the saddest thing that happened this week and then work up from there to happier more positive things. It all started and ended I guess on monday. We rode our bikes to District Meeting at the church and that was good and normal. The meeting ends and we grab our helmets to return back home to eat lunch and as we walk out the door I look over to where we had previously locked our bikes and to my total and utter dismay and disappointment I saw that instead of having two bikes locked to the pole we now just had one. Yup. It happened. We were robbed of the thing that brought us so much joy. The weirdest thing about it is that we made sure that we locked them up good and we had one of those super thick locks and I honestly have no clue how they stole it. So yeah we were just like totally devastated and still are and it kind of put a damper on our monday but we figure that Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways and he gives us our trials for a reason. Maybe He really needs us to find someone special on the bus or something...we still have hope that we will find the missing bike somewhere around town, our eyes are peeled, and we literally have been just inspecting each bike that we see. So yeah that was super sad and my dream of being in a bike city has come to an end. It was fun while it lasted and I guess all good things have to come to an end...often we don't understand things, but The Lord has a much greater plan for us!<br />
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The most beautiful part of the week was last wednesday when we went to Milano for the conference with Sister Burton and Sister Oscarson- the General Young Women and General Relief Society Presidents! We got to meet them individually and their wonderful husbands and it was just a special experience. Their husbands are just as amazing and spiritually forte as they are...literally I could not stand the cuteness of the Burton's they are just such a beautiful couple! I had the opportunity to translate for some of the conference, not all of it because there were a few other people also asked to help with the translation, including Sorella Hibo! It was so great to see her again before she finishes her mission in like 2 weeks. I was suuuuuper nervous for the translating but it was an amazing experience. It was one of those moments where Ii just felt extremely inadequate but I literally felt the Lord sustain me and qualify me for what He had asked me to do. He trusted me and He helped me. The gift of tongues is a real thing, I testify of that. It was just all around a beautiful conference. One of my favorite parts was actually during lunch time. I sat at the table with Sister Burton and her husband - a bunch of us sisters that were sitting there just sat there in awe as she spoke about her experiences as a general authority...a normal day, her experiences with the apostles and so many more beautiful things. She sat there and everything she said was just accompanied by such a strong spirit. I cannot explain it, but she is truly called of God, they all are. All of the sisters in the mission was there and it was just a neat experience where I truly felt how special our role as sisters truly is and exactly what the Lord needs us to be and how we can help Him in this work. We are enough. The things we do are enough. And He sees each and every one of them!<br />
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Other then that we had a pretty normal week! We did two exchanges with our sisters and they both went incredibly well. I had the chance to exchange with two younger sisters in the mission and I was seriously so very impressed by their amazing level of knowledge and passion for the work. They are just on a different playing field, they came out here already knowing how to be missionaries. They already know their purpose and what it means to fulfill it. I found so much joy in laboring with them and just seeing so many miracles and blessings and learning together. Going to the sister conference and just seeing soooooo many sisters that I have gotten to know throughout the course of my mission just made my heart so incredibly happy. I have had the amazing opportunity to get to know and serve with so many amazing souls and have made so many dear friends that I will have forever. The Lord is so very good to me. I am learning so much and I feel myself coming closer to my Savior each and every day. I know that this is His work, His gospel, His church, and that He knows us each individually. I cannot even begin to describe on this screen or in words my deep and abiding love for Him. I wish I could share with you all of my thoughts and feelings and all the things I am learning through the spirit and through these experiences. I feel myself becoming who I am supposed to become...I am still a long way but the progression is there. Persistence=Progression. In life, in overcoming weaknesses, in talking to people on the streets, in relationships, in general. I am so grateful that my Father in Heaven knows me so well to teach me the things I am learning.<br />
Have a wonderful week!<br />
I love you so much!<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-45201034429875340602015-10-26T08:03:00.003-07:002015-10-26T08:03:42.850-07:00Guided by the LordBuon giorno a tutti i miei cari! Vi voglio un sacco di bene a spero che abbiate avuto una bella settimana!<br />
This week we had some beautiful experiences and miracles and things that just really strengthened my testimony and made me realize once again the infinite power of the Lord and how much of a HUGE part He plays in His grande opera. Last Thursday morning we had an appointment set up with an ex-investigator that we found in our area book. We went to her house and when we rang the intercom thing she told us that we couldn't come up because she had to leave. We were momentarily bummed but then a member of the church that just happens to be the custodian or cleaner lady of that exact building came out of a room and said hello sorelle! Would you like to come in! We gladly accepted and went in and had a beautiful little visit with this recently returning from inactivity little sister. She was wonderful and told us all about how she met the missionaries as we drank some tesana and ate cookies. As we were talking the phone rang and it was someone telling her that the sister-in-law of another sister in the ward was in a coma. We shortly after
that, wrapped up our message and headed out the door.<br />
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The night before in planning we had planned to do some finding work off this certain metro stop that we had never been before. We went to this place and
started talking to people as they walked up and down the streets. We quickly saw that no one was particularly interested in talking to two young girls on their way to do the groceries or to go to work. I just had this really strong desire to find someone that was lost/alone/or in need of comfort, inspired by an email that someone had sent me the day before. I just wanted to find that ONE person that we could help.. Slightly lost and not knowing what to do, we did the only logical thing to do..we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to direct us to this person that needed our help. After the prayer we kept walking, taking
a few turns here and there, not feeling particularly guided...and we end up on this random street that runs next to a large busy market. Pausing in the middle of the street, trying to decide what to do, my
companion says...wait a member lives here, let's call her and see if we can stop by and say hi! So we call this member and it just happens to be this sister that has the sister-in-law in a coma. We were amazed
and she invited us in. This poor sister was so heartbroken and just desperately sad. We were able to comfort her in her very moment of need and share an inspired message that was the EXACT thing she needed
to hear. We were SO very grateful that The Lord led us right to our house and allowed us to be instruments in His hands to help a struggling sister. Wanting to find someone lost or alone that needed to feel God's love, I thought it would be someone on the street that we didn't know, but it turned out to be our sweet member that really needed the Lord's comfort in that very moment. It was a very wonderful moment. We often don't feel like we are being guided, but when we ask the Lord to help us and then go out and act, He makes that miracle happen at the end...no matter what street we take.<br />
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This week we were able to have an appointment with a girl named G. who is 16 years old and a member referral who has been coming to church for a few months now. We went over to her house and had a lesson with her and her member friend that lives next door. G. is just so very wonderful and already very involved with the ward and already knows quite a bit about the church. She is excited to learn more and was very excited that we came over and that we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon that she could keep and read herself! She is a wonderful girl and has already seen how the church has blessed her life seeing as she has been coming to church with her friend for quite a few months. She said that at first she came for friendship but she has seen the change and how the things that she learns at church help her to be a better person. It was a wonderful lesson and we are looking to give her a baptismal date this coming week, we already have another appointment set up! She is a huge miracle for us and I really think that she could be baptized in the next month or so. We are very excited to be working with her. She is just pure and willing to learn.<br />
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Another neat new investigator find came through one of our less actives, A.! She is only 19 years old but has a husband and a little baby. We had a lesson with her and her husband and baby both
came! we were able to teach them twice this week, actually, and her husband is our new investigator. They are from Peru and literally just the cutest little family you will ever see. A. is trying to work out things to come back to church and is a really good influence on her husband! We asked him if he would be interested in learning more and he was very open to it. We are really excited to help them to become an eternal family because literally they are just sooooooo very cute.
Another similar little story to the one I shared earlier also happened this week! We were doing some finding work around the church before our lesson with A. and we didn't really know where to go. After we said a prayer to ask for guidance, we felt impressed to go down this certain street. There was like one lady on that street and we stopped her and she turned out to be a ex-member of the church. It was
really a big blessing to be able to run into her and talk with her for about 20 minutes. It was like good but also sad to hear about some of the things that happen in people's lives and cause them to fall away.
This lady used to be the Relief Society President and held callings in the stake and everything...she said that she was a church fanatic...and then things changed. It just made me realize hardcore how important it is to hold firm to our testimonies and turn to The Lord in times of difficulty. No one is "safe". Enduring to the end is not easy. And the Lord is aware of us but we MUST follow His commandments to receive the full blessings and happiness available! We were grateful that The Lord placed her in our path, it shows me that
He still loves her and that He truly searches after the One. That was about all for the week! It was a great one and we are just happy and working hard each day. Tomorrow we go to Milano for the conference with Bonnie Oscarson and Linda K. Burton and we are very excited about that!<br />
Have a wonderful week, I love you all!<br />
Tante belle cose, Sorella Burt<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-58302192064856304302015-10-18T10:23:00.001-07:002015-10-18T10:24:22.336-07:00WE ARE BIKING SORELLEHello everyone!<br />
I am so glad that you guys were able to have a killer time at Moab together this week! It looks like it was nice and warm and that you were able to have some enjoyable time together. We had a decent week this week...it definitely is not in the running for one of the best weeks I've ever had but hey that is life and things go on! The definite highlight of the week was kind of given away in the title of this email but...we are officially BIKING SORELLE. yay. literally it is the happiest thing! we were able to get the long lost bikes from the anziani and it turns out that they are in really good condition. they just needed a little air in the tires and they were ready to hit the road. we don't ride them everywhere we go because it is quite a large city and sometimes it is just better to take the bus...but for the times that we are going to the church or doing pass-bys around our area the bikes work great and actually save us tons of time! it is literally just so much fun to bike around. it puts such a fun different little feeling to missionary work which has been really good for me. we are still able to talk to lots of people though because we have been planning time in to walk places or park the bikes so that we can still have lots of opportunities to meet new people and spread this glorious message. it is a tinsy bit sketchy at times to ride bikes in this country..I am not sure where these people learned to drive... they are a little bit crazy but we are extra cautious and ride mostly on the nice sidewalks provided for bikers.<br />
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On the morning before we had interviews with President this Monday, we had some time to go out and do some finding on the way there. We had planned to go to a certain area and do some strada and then parco before we jumped on the bus to head to the church. We had a wonderful experience as we did strada and were able to stop a Philippine lady, G.,with her 18 year old son, W. We showed them Grazie a Lui in Tagolig and then talked with them about Chirst and how His restored church is on the earth again today. It was a beautiful experience and they had a lot of interest in seeing us again! We were able to set up another appointment so they both became new investigators! We were so excited to find a family that we can teach :) Right after that we found another man named J. in the park. We stopped him in such a natural manner and right from the start he was just so sweet, just like a nice old grandpa that treated us like his grandchildren! He had such a good heart and we had a wonderful lesson with him that brought him comfort in his time of struggle. We taught another woman on the bus and we were excited to be able to get three lessons already in the morning using three different methods! that was definitely one of the beautiful parts of the week..it doesn't sound like it was much but I really appreciated it and it brought joy to my heart. This week we did a scambio with the Collegno sorelle and I went there with Sorella Hastings. She is a wonderful sister that is one transfer ahead of me. We had a wonderful scambio and although there weren't many appointments planned, we were able to teach 6 lessons in just one afternoon/evening! It was a beautiful time and The Lord literally placed so many truly good people into our path. We were very happy and felt like we were truly instruments in the Lord's hands especially because Collegno is a small town that has been struggling for quite some time. but we were able to find some really good potentials and i feel like restore some much needed hope back into the city that a lot of people think is dead.<br />
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That is about all I have to say about this week. sorry it wasn't much but I guess there isn't much to say! we have been working really hard and have been having quite a few little trials of our faith. we are just trying to stay positive and trust in the fact that things will get better and that we just need to keep plugging along. He blesses us according to our faith and our obedience and I know that we will be blessed and things will start to change around here.<br />
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I love you all so very much.<br />
love you,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I bought a new sciarpa today...small joys</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our district leader made this trophy for companionship of the week and HOLLA...we won it! YAY!</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-43525594188228371132015-10-08T20:01:00.002-07:002015-10-08T20:05:56.671-07:00Torino...Greetings from TORINO.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few of the Sorella at transfer circles - I got to see Sorella Hawks again!! Yay!!</td></tr>
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It is honestly so weird to be in a new city. I think that I am having a hard time accepting the fact that this is not Milano and that time is over! But slowly but surely I think I will get used to being in a new place! It is another big city, Torino! But I think that it is prettier then Milano..everyone says that there are just SO many things to see here and just a lot of history in this city. We live in the nice part of Torino..apparently there is a nice part and a sketchy part. Our apartment is quite large because we share it with another companionship of sisters that are in the other ward. It is definitely a different experience, living with four of us! The first time in my mission for sure. But at least we have 2 bathrooms so that isn't an issue! both of the other sisters are super cute though and we all get along really well! We live right next to this super cute market that happens every morning and so this morning we went there to by fruits and vegetables for the week! I was like dying it was just so fun and I felt so Italian. It is a part of the Italian culture to go to the little markets or small little shops in the morning to buy your daily food. I have always wanted to do it and now we can! dream fulfilled. ha . It is a good city though, nice and large! We have been using mostly buses and our legs to get around but yesterday we made a discovery that there are BIKES hiding somewhere under the elders apartment and I just about had a heart attack. we are probs going to go and get them so we can start riding them around and fulfill yet another mission dream.<br />
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The work here is not doing super well...we have a couple investigators that aren't making much progress but it sounds like we do a lot of less active work. I have just been super excited to get out and find new people to teach so we can get the work going strong and so far we have had some good success! One miracle we saw was the other day in between conference sessions we decided to go out and do some finding work near the church. We prayed to know where to go and both felt like left was the right way to go. So we turned left and the first lady we stopped was super nice and it turns out that she had already met the anziani in Vercelli and has been to the church there and stuff but has recently moved here to Torino. We were able to talk with her and get her information and she is very willing to meet with us and to learn more! We were very excited about this simple miracle and that the Lord placed her in our path and guided us through His spirit to know which direction she would be in. We also got let into a house the other day while we were knocking some doors and found a Romanian lady that was actually pretty interested! yesterday morning we were able to find a new woman named R. that just had a beautiful spirit about her and was actually interested in seeing us again and learning more! Also we found a cute little lady from the Philippines yesterday that was also a really great find! She said we could see her on Sunday and is very interested in seeing how the gospel can bless her cute family! Soooo yeah, in short we are working hard and have some really solid goals to just make this a really grrrrrreat transfer of miracles and changes in the work. I am excited to be working with Sorella Nedelkov again and to see how much we have changed in the year that we have been apart. It has been fun to do some reminiscing about the good ol' days in Trieste and to catch up on the rest of the mission. I think that we will see some good things this transfer and I am very excited to see it!<br />
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Conference, of course, was absolutely wonderful! This was my first time watching all the sessions in Italian so that was a fun experience! I really received so many answers and the all the exact comfort I needed in the exact ways that i needed it. It was beautiful. I definitely want to go through and watch them all again because I did really miss hearing the voices of all the cute apostles and what not. It is a good thing that we have wifi in our new apartment so I can download any talk at any time! holla. no more wifi problems! The Lord blesses us after our struggles. A couple major things that stood out to me in the conference...the beautiful simplicity of the gospel. I was just overcome with that beautiful truth that the gospel is so simple. Especially when President Monson was speaking, it really hit me. He wasn't saying anything crazy new or special...just the simple truths of the gospel. Sometimes as members and especially as missionaries we really try to complicate things when in reality the gospel of Jesus Christ is so beautifully simple. I went into the conference with the question of how I can align my will with the will of the Lord's and I have found some beautiful answers to that...both in conference and in the study of the scriptures. I loved how much The Savior was talked about and how coming closer to Him is the key to aligning or will with the Lord's. I loved when Sister McConkie said that we each have a cause and that cause is to become ONE with the Lord. We always hear that we are here on earth to become like our Father...which is true, but this week I learned that it is more then that, we are striving to become one with Him. That includes our will, our desires, our character...we must become one in purpose, in mind in heart. That is the ultimate goal. And step by step we can make that happen but only with His help.<br />
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Another cool thing that our mission is doing is a Book of Mormon reading challenge. We are reading the whole Book of Mormon starting October 1st and ending on Christmas as our Gift to Christ. As a mission we are studying it and looking for all the passages that talk about Christ, His attributes and His ministry. It has beeen absolutely BEAUTIFUL so far and i am learning sooooo very much. The Book of Mormon is true, I can testify of that!<br />
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Welp that's about all I have for you all today! I love you bunches. hope you have a great week!<br />
Love,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sorelle of the Mission Leadership Council</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-14001866672008003772015-10-06T07:56:00.003-07:002015-10-06T07:56:57.002-07:00This picture was posted on the mission blog this week. It is a picture of Karli and her companion participating in a "role play" with President Kearon (president of the Europe Area Presidency) - he recently visited their mission.<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">President Kearon sharing a "Role Play" with the Mission Leadership Council.</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-82937572363330367692015-10-05T20:29:00.003-07:002015-10-06T07:57:52.029-07:00Another New Start<br />
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Ciao!<br />
I don't have a ton of time today so I will probably keep this one a little bit on the shorter side!<br />
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MIRACLE: This week our miracle would be with our new investigator named P. She is 33 and from Peru. We found her in the area book, she was an old potential that the sorelle found about two years ago and she agreed to meet with us. We met her at a bus stop near the church and as we walked to the church she told us all about her life and some of the hard experiences that she has had to face. She told us that she has been searching for her path and has tried many different churches but none of them feel right. She just really felt that she should accept the invitation to meet us and said that she doesn't believe in coincidences. We were able to teach her a beautiful restoration lesson with a member that turns out to live right by her like on the same street! She was amazing and the spirit was very strong as we told her about the first vision and after, the room was quiet and she softly said...this means I need to ask God too, huh? It was a beautiful moment and she really just understood what we were teaching. Before the lesson she said that all she wanted in her life was to feel at peace and to feel calm and at the end of the lesson we asked her how she felt and she couldn't help but smiling while saying that she felt so much peace! We testified that that was the spirit and she was just thrilled, saying that she didn't feel like we were trying to convince her of anything as she has felt in some of the other churches. She accepted the commitment to read and to pray and to come to General Conference this weekend with a question in her mind and she just seems very sincere and determined to figure out for herself if it is true! man, it was just a beautiful experience and we were left in amazement that The Lord has been preparing this woman for years to accept the truth.<br />
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SCAMBIO: This week we did a scambio with the beautiful sorelle from Reggio Emilia! We met them at a train station in the middle of our two cities, switched companions and then got on the train to head back and start the exchange...about 20 minutes into the train ride we get a call from the other sisters saying that they took the wrong train and were headed back to the same city we were going to, on the same train! So we decided to just all four work in Reggio Emilia and it ended up to be a really wonderful experience! I was with Sorella Bradshaw and she is just an amazing missionary with a wonderful missionary spirit. We went out and saw miracles, met our goals and just had a wonderful<br />
time learning from each other. I love seeing new little cities, meeting new people and having the chance to learn from each and every person I come in contact with.<br />
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NEWS: We also got transfer calls this week...on Saturday during lunch bringing the very sad news that I am getting transferred. I kind of felt like it was my time to leave but it was still really sad. I am getting transferred to Torino...another pretty large city more on the west. And my new companion is actually not a new companion...I have already served with her! Sorella Nedelkov, was my 2nd companion in the mission and now we are going to work together again! I am excited because I love her and we are both a lot older in the mission now so it will be fun to see the difference in the work and to be able to catch up and learn more from each other! I go tomorrow and I am excited to see what it has in store for me.<br />
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I would just like to end with my testimony that I know that Heavenly Father knows us and He knows what we need. It may sound simple but the reality of it was truly felt in my life this week. His power is greater then any other and He truly comprehends all things. I am so grateful for the peace we can find through our Savior and for the opportunity we are given daily to follow Him. I love you all have a wonderful week!<br />
love,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saying goodbye to Milano</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were able to attend the World Fair Expo again - for free this time! :)</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-26533224117215019912015-09-24T19:46:00.000-07:002015-09-24T19:47:57.885-07:00heyyyyBuongiorno 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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!<br />
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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!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The guy in this pic is a new convert. He used to be Catholic priest - coolest story ever!</td></tr>
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I love you alllllllll. have a good week!<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-23331310010232984752015-09-17T20:22:00.003-07:002015-09-17T20:24:12.751-07:00let's hope this one won't deleteheyyyyooo 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.<br />
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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!<br />
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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<br />
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."<br />
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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!<br />
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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.<br />
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Till next time,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-4432284842604343962015-09-12T23:34:00.002-07:002015-09-12T23:34:43.814-07:00Good Companions Make the World of DifferenceWe 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. :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><pre style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web Regular', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Helvetica Neue', 'BBAlpha Sans', 'S60 Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.2999992370605px; text-align: start; white-space: normal;">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</pre>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-48875987679279696432015-09-05T09:53:00.000-07:002015-09-05T09:53:59.843-07:00Recharged by the Sweet SpiritBuon giorno a tutti!<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
Con tanto amore,<br />
Sorella Burt<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7841882994082626053.post-9591736711459894362015-08-26T17:32:00.000-07:002015-08-26T17:36:36.325-07:00HeyHeyyyyy everyone! I have just been so very excited to write you guys this week and share with you some of the INCREDIBLE experiences that have been this week. Ah. Literally i do not have the words for how wonderful this week has been. The Lord has been pouring out his blessings and miracles and just beautiful experiences down upon us.<br />
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It all starts with my incredible new companion, Sorella Hibo. She got here on Thursday and from that very day we have been seeing so many beautiful things happen. So just a little bit about her, she was born in Ivory Coast and moved to Italy when she was 5 years old. French is her first language, Italian her second, and she is also fluent in english. She is 23 years old and has been on her mission for two more transfers then me. She is a mission hero...just one of those missionaries that everyone knows and everyone loves because she is literally just incredible. She knows the Bible and the scriptures and just the gospel like the back of her hand and is an amazing teacher and just has a way with people. We clicked from day one and literally are just a wonderful companionship. I love her so verrrrrrry much and we haven't even been together for a week. I love her because she knows how to do missionary work...how to do it efficiently and with her heart. I don't know, we just have the same vision for the work and it is just a huuuuuge blessing. I cannot really describe it but since she got here there has just been a fire in our work. an excitement, a great energy! We are working hard together and Heavenly Father is blessing us so very much. I have realized and learned a lot this week, one being that there are no excuses in missionary work. none. zero. the fact that everyone is gone out of town? yeah it really doesn't matter. The amount of people that we taught and found this week is amazing. Yes, we didn't have like lotttttts of scheduled appointments...but we went out and just talked to so many wonderful people and found so many potentials and beautiful miracles.<br />
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One of the first miracles that we saw this week was when we went to visit one of our members and her less active daughter. We get to their house and just as we finish praying before going upstairs, she calls us and says that we cannot come up because they have to leave. We told her we were already there, but she just tells us that we have to come back another day. We were kind of bummed, but stood there for a moment trying to decide what to do. Like 3 minutes later, she calls us back and tells us that we can come up. So we go upstairs and low and behold..SHE HAS A FRIEND OVER...what. we were like so stoked. Her name is P. and we just sat down and went right into the Restoration. It went beautifully and P. was so wonderful and very interested. She is from Ecuador and had already met with missionaries in her country and was just very wonderful and open to our message. We got her phone number and set up a date that we could come to her house and start teaching her!!! We were walking on air after that appointment and this excitement that we felt just continued and continued.<br />
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The key is literally just talking to everyone. We live in the most wonderful city for doing that. There are alwaaaaaays people around...Milan is just huge and full of so many wonderful people that are actually willing to listen to us and accept our message. I am growing such a real and deep love for this city and for the amazing potential and beauty that it has in store. Another day we had an appointment set with a Philippine lady so that morning we had gotten out a Book of Mormon in her language and had it on the table all ready to go. She cancelled the appointment a little bit before so we had some time to go out and do finding. We decided to grab the Book of Mormon and Sorella Hibo was like, we will find a Philippine person that needs it. We went to the park near our house and literally the first person we talked to was a Philippine lady that loves reading religious books and has heard about our church and wants to know more. Coincidence? I think not. Heavenly Father Literally has been PLACING so many people into our path it is incredible.<br />
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One of my favorite parts of the week was sunday...We called Sorella Dibb (Our mission president's wife) to see if she wanted to come and do some proselyting work with us on sunday afternoon. She agreed and we had a few appointments set and we were really excited for it! As we were walking to the church to meet her, one of our appointments gets cancelled and it is also raining so I was like a little bit worried about what we would do with Sorella Dibb. But Sorella Hibo was just her calm and cool self and said, don't worry it will be alright. We parked the car and got out in an area that we had selected, said a prayer and started finding. We had about 2 hours and we told Sorella Dibb that we wanted to teach 6 lessons on the street before our appointment and then we just started talking to people. I cannot really describe that two hours but lets just say that it was the best sunday i have ever had on the mission. It was such a special opportunity to be able to do missionary work with Sorella Dibb, her bearing her simple, but powerful testimony on the family and seeing how it touched people's hearts. We were happy and we saw miracles and by the end of that two hours we had met our goal. It was an edifying experience. We saw that prayer touches lives as we prayed for a man that was sick with cancer and tears rolled down his face. We saw that Heavenly Father helps us reach worthy goals. We saw that missionary work is the happiest thing on the planet. Man, i could go on for ages.<br />
Literally there have just been too many amazing experiences to count...maybe one day I will tell you all of them...but this week i really learned how it really feels to give your heart to the Lord. He requires our heart and a willing mind ( D&C 64:34) and we are imperfect instruments in His hands and He uses us to orchestrate His perfect work. I could not be happier and I know that the power of prayer is real. The gospel is the only thing that can truly change the world...and we are changing it, one person at a time.<br />
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As a side note...Sorella Hibo knows the Motyer family!! When they lived here in Italy, they went to her ward and they are just suuuuuper close with her family! We were like freaking out when we made that connection. It is such a small world.<br />
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As another side note...i started this email in the church and then we had to leave to buy some cream for Sorella Hibo's cool hair and we were like rushing to catch a bus so we could hurry home and finish email before pday ended and i like TOTALLY biffed it on the side walk. Like a straight face plant, shopping bags in hand...straight on my face. I was like crying but laughing and just like overwhelmed and we missed the bus and there was a suuuuper cute little old lady that was just so worried for me and giving me candy and so many people were watching and it was just one of those experiences...yup.<br />
Have a happy week! I love you all so very much. thank you from my heart for all the love that you show me.<br />
Con TANTO amore,<br />
Sorella BurtAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16483022099206455616noreply@blogger.com0