Another week

[Email from 9/28/11]

Ciao tutti,

So we are starving right now, so this may not be as long as the others
usually are, but I will try to explain everything.

Yes, there are still mosquitos here. They are nasty things.

We had 6 investigators at church this last Sunday. It was great. Giusy
did not make it to church yet though....it's crazy how some people
seem so promising, but it never turns out simple. I am learning
patience here, for sure. I wish she would just come to church. We
finally heard from Rita, and she is sick and so can't meet. Kind of
sounds like she doesn't want to meet with us anymore. SO we are giving
her a break right now and pray for her.

Elisa has also been sick this whole last week and half and so we
hadn't seen her for awhile. But we met with her last night and she is
progressing, but not as quickly as we would like. She still smokes.
SHe also has had a really rough life, so her trusting in people is a
difficult thing. But she says that she has never felt like there was
meaning to life until now. So that is a great sign. And...she lives
with a less active member who has 4 kids and is single. Elisa says she
needs to come back to the church because she is not happy and not
getting anywhere in life without the church. She even asked us to pray
for the less-active. She's being such a great example and isn't even a
member yet. SInce she was sick, we might have to postpone her baptism.
But we'll see. SHe is not the 16 year old mom...ELisa is in her 50s.

Last week we met with ROsaria and finished the plan of salvation and
talked about the celestial kingdom. I told her that the only was to
get there is through baptism and invited her to be baptized for 22
OCtober. She accepted! She is the 16 year old whose parents both come
from Ghana but she was born in Italy. She is mature for her age and
growing a ton. I love teaching her.

Raffaella is struggling because Satan is working on her because she
wants to get baptized. Her boyfriend who she lives with doesn't want
to get married and she does. So she has to make some big decisions in
her life. She wants it, but has to fix things first. I know she will
get baptized...she's just got to have the courage to act and change
things even when it is difficult. She also agreed to teach me to make
lasagna.

At english class last night, I was teaching ( i teach advanced, so we
just have conversations the whole time) and they were asking me what I
did that day. I talked about how we went to the hospice to visit
francesca who is dying from cancer and related to how there is hope
and no need to fear death because there is a plan and life after this
one. I said I know this because of the BOM and a living prophet. Then
at the end of class, this 18 year old girl from Ukraine came up to me
and asked if she could have a BOM. She explained how her sister died 5
years ago because she was crossing thr train tracks and one hit her.
She said she had faith in God before that, but after, she lost her
faith, but wants to have more again. So I asked if we could meet with
her and teach her about our message and she agreed. SHe is super
excited. We are meeting with her tomorrow. She gave me a huge hug
before she left and looked very happy. I went to bed happy because of
that opportunity to brighten someone's life.

So I was just asking Sorella Foote if there was anything I forgot to
mention or if I needed anything from home...all she said was, "ya,
have your mom send me something..." Ha then she said she was kidding,
but next package you send mom, if it comes before she goes home, send
something for her too. But she is lactose intollerant, so keep that in
mind. But she LOVES chocolate. And I miss Sour Patch Watermelons and
Reece's Cups. I told her about my giant one from Christmas and she was
pretty jealous. Haha And there are no elders in my area mom. Just
Sorella Foote and me. ANd today for p-day, a member from the ward in
Ostia where some elders in our district are, gave us a tour of some
hidden treasures in Rome. I got some beautiful pictures. I couldn't
understand much of what he said, but it was cool to see everything.
Like watching travel channel, but actually being there this time.

Okay, that is about it for this week. Love you all and thanks for everything.

Love always,
Sorella Heiner

Email from 9/21/11

Hello everyone,

So transfer calls came on Saturday....Slla. Foote and I are both
staying in Ladispoli. She's going home at the end of this
transfer...pretty crazy. Not going to lie, I'm somehwat jealous of
her. But she said she felt that way too at first and now she says she
is jealous of me that I get to stay out for so much more time.

Schieffer is home now AND Chris!!!! Oh my goodness!! I can't believe
everyone is coming home. If you see them again, give them huge hugs
again. I miss them a ton. And I know Braden is in his last transfer.
It's kind of freaking me out a little bit. If you would like to go to
the airport, that would be greatly appreciated. Give him a hug from me
and tell his family hi for me. Sure miss my friends. It's hard because
I miss the family of course, but I know you all will be around when I
get home. But my friends make it super tough to be out here because
their lives are continuing without me and who knows who will be around
or remember me when I get home. Oh well...I guess life goes on.

I also got the package with the mosquito stuff. I got it yesterday. We
were gone in Rome all day yesterday and came home late at night and
the package was at our door inside instead of outside the palazzo door
like usual. It was weird. And then this morning our neighbors all
asked if we got our package. It was cute. THey like all treat us like
their own kids, but they don't have any interest in our message. But
they sure love us and tell us how great we are all the time. Haha
people are funny here. But no, I haven't gotten the camera cord yet.
I'll look out for it though. THanks. I still haven't gotten any
brownies recipes or salsa resipe from you. Did you forget or are they
coming?

And I got Dad's letter. Thanks dad! It was really interesting and
great. I like the hear about everything going on. It gives me a piece
of home away from home.

Answers to your questions mom: Pranzo is like Spanish Siesta. They all
close everything down and Eat and nap and rest for however long they
want, but it's usually for a couple hours. We still haven't been able
to get ahold of Rita. It's super sad. I don't like how people just
disappear like that and we don't even run into them or anything. Pray
for her.

And Giusy said her husband is loosening up slowly. So we'll meet him
when she feels ready, but for now she is doing great and progressing.
She has read so much of the book of mormon already. It makes me super
excited. We were talking about the prophet and conference and Giusy
said she wants to come to America to see him speak in Utah. Ha we said
that is great and we can find a place for her to stay and she can come
to our houses. She wants to take her daughter to Disneyland too. It
was cool how she loves the idea of a prophet. Most people don't
realize how amazing of a thing that is.

Baptisms coming up...for us we have one date for October 8th with
Elisa. She's the one who had the dream about Brother Joseph and the
"book". That's still on. There was a baptism in our ward for a little
boy this last Saturday and that was cool. It was in the Ocean and we
had three investigators there. It was so cute because the dad really
dunked his son in the water and it was sunset so kind of cold and as
soon as he could breath again, he yelled "Che Freddo!!!" It was funny.
But our investigators really liked it.

No one has taught us how to make pasta yet. We've been getting fed by
members more often lately though, which has been fun. Except Monday
night we ate with a member and she made this yummy pasta dish and then
this eggplant thing with mozzarella and it was NASTY. And she gave us
like a huge blob of it. I was praying for strength to keep it down
with every bite. Haha. Luckily I finished it.

Two girls in our ward here received their mission calls this week! One
of them is from Uruguay and her family moved to Italy a couple years
ago. Her name is Marianna. And she is going back to Uruguay for her
mission. Super exciting! She leaves in January for the Brazil MTC. And
the other is Diana. She is Italian and got called to the Temple Square
mission and reports to the Provo MTC February 14th. We keep telling
her all about Salt Lake City and she's super pumped. We also told her
that we will come find her and visit her there because BYU is really
close. There is a third girl in our ward from Ukraine her name is
Natalia, and she just met with the stake president last night for her
papers. The ward gets so excited about their members going on
missions. It's a really cool thing to see them get so excited. More
than we do in America.

Rafaella is one of our investigators and she actually got freaked out
a while ago by some older missionaries and gave back the book of
mormon. So they waited awhile and regave her the book of mormon. She's
kept it since. We've been teaching her slowly, being careful and she
is growing a ton now. She keeps mentioning baptism in all our lessons
and she came to the little boy's baptism on saturday and loved it.
Then she came to church this sunday for her third time and she was
their even before us. She was so excited. We invited her to be
baptized 22nd of October and she isn't sure yet because of her family
and her boyfriend who she lives with. So she said she's pray about it,
but instead of getting scared, she seemed really happy. Hopefully
she'll accept it soon. But she is growing leaps and bounds and the
ward is really welcoming her.

Monday, Slla foote woke up with a dream of us going to district
meeting on the bus like always and we got in this really bad accident
and a line in her setting apart came to mind to about being safe if
she follows spiritual promptings. So we avoided the bus all day on
monday. We ended up getting so lost getting to district meeting and
being half hour late, but we are still safe and alive. She was
panicking about us being lost, and I was pretty chill about it. I
looked at it as a fun adventure. We also met this guy at the train
station who was really curious about our church. He saw the movie on
tv about Omish people which they called the Mormons. So we had to
explain to him that we are normal and not Omish. Then he was intrigued
about the Book of Mormon and how we read the whole bible. We offered
him the BOM but he said to bring it to him later when he's not
outside. We think he's embarrassed to carry it around. Ha but oh well.
We are meeting with him Friday and he called us to remind us to bring
"that one book" for him.

Tuesday we went to visit Francesca in the hispice and she is so weak
and forgetful now. It's sad. But she's getting alot kinder. She told
us to make sure to come back because she doesn't like ever being
alone. It's so sad. She literally just a skeleton and skin now.
Tuesday afternoon the Assistants picked us up from the strain station
in Rome to take us to a dr. appt for slla foote. She hurt her foot
when I first got here and it's been hurting worse so i convinced her
to call slla. kelly and she told her to go to the doctor. We went and
they x-rayed it and said it's just really swollen on the tendons or
something like that. Then we went home and started English Class
again. They were maybe like 13 there and 3 came for spanish class
which a member in the ward is teaching. I like teaching english
because it's something I actually know how to do. Saturday we are
dividing them into basic and advanced and I will teach advanced. So
basically it's an opportunity for them to just practice speaking. I'm
excited. I also learn more italian that way. We also have 3 new people
that said they might be interested in learning more about our
religion. Wahoo! Maybe 3 new investigators. We brought brownies for
them and they were devoured instantly! Always so popular here, it's
funny. We never get to eat any for ourselves because they get eaten so
fast.

Tonight we are teaching Rosaria and going to invite her to be baptized
for October 22nd. Let's pray she accepts! She's so great and the ward
already loves her. Besides, they need more girls for young womens and
she is 16. Maybe her 10 year old sister will want to be baptized also.
She's so cute.

Well gotta go because we are hungry and are going to take a nap today
for p-day! Yay!!!

Love always,
Sorella Heiner

P.S. Family, if you could send me some CDs, that would be great. I am
really missing the Reflections of Christ one, Vocal Point and
InsideOut stuff that is religious, and maybe some of the Prince of
Egypt stuff. The guideline here for music is it needs to bring the
spirit and be uplifting. So if there are others you know of that would
be great, then send them. Oh some EFY music is good to. K thanks for
everything. You all are amazing! And tell Amira she's a "sneaky
chapter" and give her a hug and kiss. And don't forget to write me!!

Italian Lesson

[Addendum from 9/15/11]

So Parker requests Italian lessons...and Francesca shared this cute
thing with us. So you can do the work to translate to understand it,
but here it is.



Non è Compito Mio

Questa è la storia di 4 persone chiamate, OGNUNO, QUALCUNO, CIASCUNO, NESSUNO.
C'era un lavoro importante da fare. é OGNUNO era sicuro che QUALCUNO
lo avrebbe fatto. CIASCUNO, avrebbe potuto farlo ma NESSUNO lo fece.
Fini che CIASCUNO, incolpo, QUALCUNO perchè NESSUNO avrebbe potuto farlo.

Enjoy!

Still so so hot!

[Email from 9/15/11. Photos sent 9/15/11.]





Ciao,

Sorry this is a day late. The one functioning internet point in all of
Ladispoli wasn't functioning yesterday. It definitely made me realize
how important hearing from everyone back home is. I was quite ticked
and angry because we couldn't do internet. But we just decided to come
today during pranzo.

Last p-day was super fun. We went to Rome with some sisters in Ostia
(in our same district). One of them is Sorella Dall actually. ANd we
saw the Spanish steps, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and Parthenon. It
was pretty cool. And we did all of this within 3 hours. I couldn't
believe how close those sights all are. And it's weird because you'll
be walking down a little street with shops and everything normal then
all of a sudden there one of them is. Surrounded by shops and
everything like it isn't a big deal at all. Kind of cool because I
never knew when to expect it. P-days wear me out so bad though.
Sometimes I wish I was serving in a mission where there isn't so much
to do and see so I could just rest. I know I could do that, but if I
did, I'd pretty much be wasting this opportunity. And who knows, this
could be the only transfer I live near Rome. Transfew calls are
Saturday and Transfers are this wednesday. Sorella Foote and I think
we'll stay where we are, but who knows. It makes me nervous thinking
about it.

Rita we haven't been able to get ahold of again. We think she went
into crisis mode again and is avoiding us. We just pray to run into
her again like last time. I'm really worried for her. I hope she's
okay.

So we have an investigator Giusy. She has the 3 year old girl. And she
is so great. She loves how the gospel can bless her family and help
her learn to be a better parent and help her and her husband raise a
good family together. Her husband is very apprehensive that she meets
with us though because he just met us at the train station and now we
come to her house. But she meets with us anyway still. He's never seen
or met us, so that's probably why. I wonder if he knows we are only 21
and 22 year old girls. Ha ha. I think we look pretty harmless. But
Giusy is so good. We taught her a couple days ago, and in like 3 days
she read from the introduction of the Book of mormon to 1 Nephi 14.
Crazy huh!? She reads it on the train on her way to work. She wanted
to go to church this last sunday but couldn't because her husband was
kind of giving her a hard time about it. She said she is going to try
again this week.

Francesca: This poor lady is in a hospice dying of cancer. She is
sometimes mean and bossy but other times really funny. She taught us
how to draw trees and so we each drew our own trees and colored them.
She even made us label them with our names, date, and "Mio Albero". We
also took pictures together. She had to put on her lipstick and put on
a sweater and then wanted to do all these posing/action pictures. LIke
of us singing a hymn together or reading or something funny like that.
She always makes us eat lunch with her too. She's a less-active
member, but good thing she's a member because every day there is at
least one person from the ward who comes and visits her. She's pretty
much never alone. It's pretty amazing to see ward members taking care
of people like her...despite how mean she can be, they keep coming.
Her favorite thing is the sing hymns together though. She smiles huge
for that.

Sunday we did Mostra after church. Which is when we set up huge signs
at a piazza and spread out and just stop everyone that comes by. It is
intimidating I think. We had some ward members there to help us. I
stopped this one old man and he was curious where our church came
from, so i explained the Restoration briefly and gave him the
pamphlet. He left then came back an hour later and said he's read it
and didn't see any originality in it. So I broke things down and he
was in accordance completely (so he said), with like an apostasy and
prophet restoring with the priesthood and the need for the Book of
Mormon, but then still said he didn't see originality. Then he walked
away. Frustrating to me, but oh well.

We had 6 people at church this last sunday too!! that was pretty
awesome. Well short on time, so gotta go, but thanks for everything.
You all are great.

Love you,
Sorella Heiner

P.S. It is still deathly hot here and I feel like I am going to melt.
I'm also getter super sweet tan lines from my watch, shirts, and
skirt. It's real attractive....Not!

Oh and yesterday, for P-day we went to a city nearby to see this
castle thing we had seen from afar once. So we went to check it out.
Went closer and it definitely was just made to look like a castle on
the outside but wasn't anything great. It was right by the Port though
and those cruise ships are MASSIVE. It's kind of freaky. We also went
right by the ocean. But we didn't go swimming, don't worry. THough it
was slightly tempting. We ended up walking through a huge market and
the fish/meat market thing was crazy. Then we ate lunch at a little
restaurant and I got lasagna. It was SOO good! Best thing I have
eating on my mission thus far. Yum!

That night we had dinner with a less active family and she made
Peruvian food. It was yummy. Potatoes with this creamy sauce stuff and
chicken and fried rice. And she surprised us with this stuff called
Inka Cola. Which some elders showed us and I love it. It's yellow with
a blue label. It smells like bubble gum and is yummy. Everyone should
try it. I think you might be able to find it in America. It's from
Peru. Well that's about it. Now I gotta go. Love you!

"Ya! We have a light, we're no longer living in darkness!!" --Patience (from Nigeria)

[Email from 9/7/11]

Ciao!

Okay, first of all...to explain my subject from last week. When we do
house or do finding door to door, so many of the people respond by
saying they can't listen because they are taking a shower. It doesn't
exactly make sense to me because they aren't in the shower and if they
were taking a shower, why would they come to the door. I don'tknow.
I've just found that alot of the people here are too wimpy to flat out
say they aren't interested so they make up all these stories. Pretty
interesting and funny.

Mom, I got the package with the Australian Licorice. Not the other
one. It was good though. Slla. Foote and I already ate them all gone.
Pretty gross of us, but we just snack while we are planning and
studying. Ha I'm probably going to come home fat by the end of my
mission. I'm always hungry, but always eating. But thanks for the
package mom. I'm excitedly awaiting the next one.

I'm jealous you all got to go to the farm. I love the farm. I hope
grandpa is okay. I hope you sent them my love.

Shout out: Happy Birthday Eric Nicholas Anderson!! Don't party too hard!

Has BYU started already? If so, how's it going for my wonderful BYU friends?

Okay so this week...

We went to visit this 12 year old girl Giorgia. Her mom is a
less-active and her dad is Catholic. She isn't a member because her
dad doesn't want her to get baptized. It's sad because she is so ready
for it and wants it. She has a testimony and is working on the
Personal progress program, reads the scriptures and prays and is such
a good girl. But she respects her dad's wishes. Her mom doesn't come
to church becuase the husband intentionally plans family activities on
sundays to make the mom choose between her family or the lord. I've
found that there are alot of not so great men here. They make me
really want to make sure I marry someone who will support me and has
the same desire to follow Christ as me. So depressing.

We also made brownies for Giorgia and she scarfed them! She loves them
so much. But they don't have them here. So pretty much Italians love
the American missionaries because we make them brownies. If you could
maybe send boxes of brownies or a recipe for making them from scratch,
that would be great. Also I would like the recipe for Butterscotch
Bisquits. THanks!

Rita didn't come to church. She said she could only come if her
husband was gone because he wouldn't let her come to church. Another
selfish husband. I don't like that at all. So we assume her husband
didn't leave the house.

Clement: He is a less-active from Nigeria. His wife is also a
less-active, but she doesn't really have a testimony of much. But he
does, and he loves having us over and studying with us. They also have
a 17 year old son who the wife had baptized in the Catholic church
when he was little. So we went to visit Clement and decided to teach
him about the Apostasy. So we had two scriptures from the Bible chosen
and two from the BOM. We start talking to him about it and reading the
scriptures and one of them was 1 Nephi 13:28-29 which talks about the
Bible having some plain and precious truths removed. And Clement asked
us where in the scriptures does it talk about baptism by immersion. So
we showed him the scriptures about that and talk about that. He was
writing down the scriptures and we were a little curious but kept
talking about it. Then he told us that he really wants to sit down
with his son and talk to him about baptism by immersion into our
church. He said he had been wanting to talk to his son about it for
awhile but didn't know where the "evidence" was. So he was so happy
and excited that we could help him with that. He also came to church
on Sunday. Let's pray things go well with him and his son. It's
amazing how much the Lord directs us when we don't even realize it.

Sunday was pretty much a day of miracles for us. We went to church in
the morning and none of our investigators were showing up. At all. And
then this "eternal investigator" came. And then in walks this lady who
I had never seen before. Sorella Foote knew her though but didn't get
a chance to tell me who this lady was. But she came an hour into
church. Sat through Gospel Principles class and then walked out front
of the church. We were worried she would leave, but she was talking to
a ward member. Then he pulls us out of the chapel and explains to us
that this lady, Elisa, wants to get baptized and is curious how she
can go about doing that. So he told her that we were here just for
that. So she came and sat with us during sacrament meeting and right
after we met in a classroom and gave her "lesson 0" which is like a
summary of what we do. And we invited her to be baptized on October
8th and she accepted. She said it wouldn't make sense to not have a
goal for something like this. We then met with her again on Monday and
taught her about the Restoration. She isn't a very open person but you
could tell she felt the spirit. It was a very powerful lesson because
Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon are the reason Elisa knows about
the church.

So background on Elisa. Sorella Foote told me that in like May or so,
her and her companion were visiting a less acitive and in walks Elisa.
And she sits in during the lesson and Slla. Foote said she felt like
something was being held in by these two women. So then the
less-active comes out and tells Elisa that she needs to tell the
missionaries what happened. So Elisa did. Elisa said she had a dream
of a young man named Fratello Joseph. And he kept telling her that she
needed to read this book. And he handed her a black book with gold
writing on the spine. And she she took the book and couldn't open it,
so she gave it to her friend (the less-active) and she could open it
and read it. Elisa didn't know at the time that her friend was a
mormon nor did she know anything about the Mormon church. So after she
told Slla foote and her companion this dream, they showed her a
picture of joseph smith and she said that was him. And they showed her
their triple combination book (which is black with gold writing) and
she said that is the exact book he gave her in the dream. But then
after this lesson, Elisa disappeared and the less-active wouldn't give
the missionaries her phone number or anything. She was gone...until
this last Sunday. And she came to church all by herself because she
woke up and said she felt prompted to come to church. And now she is
on date to be baptized! It's amazing. Seriously, all that the
missionaries did was pray and have faith that the Lord would lead her
back to the missionaries. And that's exactly what happened. The Lord
is so great!

That same Sunday, we got the opportunity to visit a less-active
member. She hasn't let the missionaries visit or talk with her for a
long long while, but for some reason, she let us come that day. We
went over and had a good conversation about anything and everything
and she just really started to love us. She even told us that she
knows how to make burritos and wants to make them for us sometime, We
shared one little verse with her and ended with a prayer and that was
the extent of our "lesson" because we wanted to build the friendship
and trust before preaching to her, especially given the background.
But now she is more open with us and willing to meet with us again.
She's so great and sweet, I have no idea why she would fall from the
church, but who knows. We'll reactivate her. But once again, the Lord
is so great in working on people's hearts to they will come back to
the gospel and as missionaries we get to see all of the first hand and
be involved. It's great priviledge.

Monday we had district meeting and then had lunch alltogether at a
chinese restaurant. It was actually really yummy. Definitely a rare
gem in Italy. But after that, we visited this lady Giusy for the first
time. We found her on the train and she is so great. She is our newest
investigator. She has a 3 year old daughter and just got married in
March because she said she felt wrong having a child and not being
married, so they got married. And now she said she feels like she is
still missing something in her life. She doesn't like to say she is
Catholic because she thinks alot of the things they do are wrong like
praying to the Saints. She also studied with the TJs and liked it but
they were still missing alot of things too. I love when people
recognize things like that. We are meeting with Giusy again tomorrow
and she seems to be one of the Elect. She even said she would like to
come to church this Sunday and she likes that she can bring her
daughter with her to church. Her daughter kept asking if they could go
to church right then. It was cute. Now I hope the husband is as
willing and ready too.

Now yesterday, Tuesday. Well Monday night I wasn't feeling good at
all. I was burning up and pretty week and dizzy. But we had
appoinments so we kept going. I woke up Tuesday morning feeling not
good at all. So I went back to bed. We were supposed to go to Rome to
visit Francesca in the hospital (she has cancer), but I was sick so we
called her and had to cancel. She said that's good because there is a
strike going on and so none of the public transportation things are
going. Apparently it's normal for Italy. So that was a huge blessing
and made me feel better about needing to stay in bed. Then we didn't
have any appointments planned for that afternoon until correlation
with the ward missionaries at 6:30. So there was another blessing.
After sleeping all day I felt better. We went to correlation and it
ended quite late. We were walking to a nearby pizza place for dinner
and ran into an investigator we hadn't seen for awhile. He is super
shy but super kind. He asked to treat us to dinner so we sad down and
ate with him. He said he walked past the church that night and saw it
was open and wnated to see if we were there but was too scared of
interrupting so he just kept walking about. He said seeing us and
eating with us that night really brightened up his whole day. It's so
great having experiences like that.

I'm still pretty tired after sleeping almost 24 hours straight, but I
feel alot better than I did before. At 3 we are going to see the
Trevi fountain and the Spansih steps. Pretty excited!

To explain my subject: Matthew and Patience moved to a new apartment.
Their old one didn't have any light bulbs and we would teach them by
the ligth of their TV. It was funny. So their new place has lightbulbs
and we teach in real light. So we commented on that and the subject is
Patience's response in her thick Nigerian accent and African attitude.
So funny!

It's still hot and I am still being eaten alive by mosquitos.

Love you all and thanks for your love and prayers,
Sorella Heiner

Sorry, I'm taking a shower...

[Email from 8/31/11]

Ciao Tutti,

So another week has passed. It's still pretty hot. We have had a few
days that weren't as hot, but today is pretty hot again. I can't wait
for it to be cooler. My headaches are still here, but Sorella Kelly
was at Ikea and bought me a pillow like the one I have at home. She
said it is my pillow and I should bring it with me wherever I get
transferred. Hopefully that will help. She also gave me some more
medicine, so you don't need to worry about that mom.

We had zone conference on Thursday. It was pretty good. We practiced
this thing called 'lesson 0' and we just meet with people at first and
ask them what they expect of us and then we explain why we are here
and ask them to be baptized and ask for referrals and try to set up a
weekly schedule of when we can meet with them and end with a kneeling
prayer. It's a way to sort out those who are really interested in the
gospel and those who are not. It's actually been pretty good for us,
especially with a new investigator from India, Rimpi. And she was
found doing house. She is so sweet and humble and we came back to
teach her and she couldn't find her book of mormon. She said her
husband was reading it with his friend and they really liked it and
told her she needs to read it. so she called her husband and he said
his friend took it to keep reading it. So we got that man's number and
I am excited the call him and meet with him because he's already
engaged in the book of mormon. Also, we gave Rimpi lesson '0' and when
we brought up baptism and showed a picture she got excited and asked
if she could do that. Pretty exciting for us. So she aleady wants to
be baptized. I can't wait to meet with her again. She talks about all
the trials she has in her life, but she still is so sweet and loving.
I know that trials are given to us so we can be humble and that is
when the Lord works with us to help us grow and become better than we
could ever imagine. We then ended with a kneeling prayer all
together...the dad too. He got a cloth and covered his head with it
and took of his shoes. SUper respectful. SHe said she wants to make us
some Curry some time too. :)

So on Friday we were doing some house and had no luck. But then we
were waiting by the train station for a member to go teach with us and
we ran into one of our investigators (Rita) who we haven't heard from
in almost two weeks. She started telling us of all these family trials
she is having and that she doesn't want to meet with us anymore
because she doesn't feel like praying or reading scriptures or seeing
anyone. We told her that this is the time she needs those things the
most. So we told her that no matter what happens, she needs to meet
with us at least one more time so she said okay and agreed for
Saturday at 6. Then we met with her Saturday and read the talk from
Elder Cook, Hope you know, we had a Hard Time. She really liked it and
agreed with it. We also gave her a stack of 7 envelopes, each labled
for each day for the next week. And inside each envelope we wrote a
scripture, testimony for that topic and gave her a commitment such as
something specific to read and then pray for. The final one is for
this Saturday to get her to come to church. She texted us the next day
and said she feels so much happier and can't wait to meet with us
again. The Lord just put her in our path so he wouldn't lose one of
his daughters. It was a miracle we encountered her and were able to
help her.

We also taught a lesson with this 84 year old lady (Andreina) who is
an artist. Really good actually. I may ask to buy one of her pictures.
But she has so many questions because she studied with the TJ's. She
reads everything and loves to learn. But she never would say a prayer
out loud with us. That morning, we were practicing teaching someone to
pray (not knowing we'd use it that same day) but when Andreina didn't
want to pray, I knew exactly what to say. So in my broken Italian, I
did it, and she agreed. She prayed out loud and it was a huge step for
her. Next step...church!

We were walking to go to house somewhere and this group of teenagers
was along out path. And one of the girls jumped up and started running
towards us. Kind of freaky. She asked if we were famous....WEIRD! We
said no, and she asked if we were sure. We said we were normal
americans here to teach people about Jesus. And she was kind of
disappointed and said she wanted to get out autographs. Haha. Another
girl was this 12 year old (Martina), she asked if we could come to her
house and teach her family. And the others kept asking us questions
and Martina was getting impatient. So we finally went to her house and
her mom was not happy with her. We figured that would happen so we
left and Martina still wanted us to teach her. So we did and she was
just crazy and funny. She kept talking about how WW3 has started and
ended and will start again. Not sure where that came from but it was
funny. She was cute. And asked for one of each of our pamphlets so she
could read them.

Matthew and Patience, from Nigeria, moved to a new appartment. We've
been praying with them to find a new one for awhile. They found one
earlier, but the day they were supposed to move in, the owner turned
them away because they were black. So sad, but they found another
place and we will teach them there tonight.

Last that I have time for is a less-active from Argentina, Ruth. She
has lived in Ladispoli for 4 years and has a 3 year old son and she
has muscular dystrophy. She has to use a walked to get around in the
house and an electric scooter chair when outside. Her family back in
Argentina is really solid in the church, like stake president and
stuff. She was baptized when she was 8 and grew up in the church but
married a catholic man and hasn't been able to get in church because
she can't go up stairs. And no one had her records. We couldn't find
them so no one knew she existed but slla. foote and her old companion
found Ruth at a local pizza place. So this visit we got Ruth's
information so we can find her church records and get her visiting and
home teachers. We also told our ward mission leader that we need to
make a ramp for her to get to church and she needs help getting there.
But she said the opening prayer and it was so sweet and heartfelt, she
just said amen in tears and said she hasn't prayed like that in a
really long time and forgot how good it feels. It was incredible to
hear her talking about growing up in the church. She loved it and
still does, but doesn't know how to share the gospel with her husband.
So we are going to practice with her on that but for now she needs to
be praying and reading every day. Even if it is on her own. It's
amazing how someone can be so lost. It reminds me of the hymn, Dear To
The Heart of the Shepherd. THat hymn is the reason I am out on this
mission. Because the Lord has sheep, lost out there, lonely and
helpless and He needs us to find them--whether they are already
members or know nothing of christ. He wants them all back to him. It
was a really great experience to witness someone talking with her
father in heaven again and immediately feeling his love. I love it!

Dad, why were you in so much pain? That does not sound fun! Please
take care of yourself. ANd we shouldn't bribe people with
materialistic things to read the BOM, only blessings.

Mom, I can't believe Scot and Kevin are dating within the ward and so
quickly. Ha that is funny. Is Schiefer home yet?? Give him a hug for
me. And Chad Foulger should be coming home in September some time I
think. Watch for him and tell him hi for me.

Well that is it for now I think. Oh ya, I got my first letter in the
mail from grandma and grandpa heiner. Tell them thanks and send them
my love. As soon as I find time to buy stamps, I will write them back.
Everyone else, get to writing me! Ha

Okay. Love you all so much. Thanks for the love and the prayers.

Love always,
Sorella Heiner

P.S. Mom, can you send me the recipe for Sister Saunders' salsa? We
made tacos and want to make more mexican food because slla foote's mom
sent her taco mix. Tacos aren't the same without salsa and it doesn't
really exist here. It's more tomato paste.

Honey, Where's my picture book?!

[Sorry I've been slacking.. Here's Chelsea's email from 9/24/11]

Hey everyone,

So last week we went to the Sistine chapel for p-day. It was really
cool, well fascinating, but really hot. The last two week since I've
been here have been terrible. We a dripping in sweat every day.
Hopefully it starts cooling down soon, because it makes me really not
want to be here. TOday for p-day we decided to stay in Ladispoli where
we have the cool ocean breeze and can avoid public transportation
because I get super motion sick on the buses and the trains. No bueno
because we use them alot. So we went shopping for some sandels for me
this morning. I haven't found any yet, but I found a cute light-weight
skirt and some really cute heels for only 10 €, so I got them. I'm
either going to send them home or leave them in the mission home until
the end of my mission. Haven't decided yet. Right now all the shops
are closed because of Pranzo, so we will get me some sandals after
this.

Okay, to answer questions. The headaches aren't as bad, but I have
basically just started ignoring them. Mom, remember when I got
headaches really bad frequently my freshman year of college? It's like
that all over again. I don't remember what we did to get them to go
away, but it's happening again. And the mosquitos...we still get
attacked. My legs now are covered in huge bumps or scabs. Gross!! I
seriously don't look attractive at all. I look diseased or something.
Some days they are worse than others. We have this plug in thing that
is supposed to keep them away at night, but during the day and
evenings when we are out, I get eaten alive. And it's like only my
legs. Maybe a couple on my arms, but my legs for sure.

So this week: We have a baptisimal date! It's for October 1st. This 15
year old girl Eleonora. We invited her to be baptized and she was a
little timid about it, but her older sister who is not a very good
influence usually was there and told her that if she feels like it is
true then she doesn't need to wait. She should do it. So she agreed.
We told her she needs to ask her parents though. So in walks her mom
and she asks her right there. Her mom wasn't very fond of the idea.
She told her that if she gets baptized, then she won't be catholic
anymore and Eleonora responded, PUNTO! It was funny. But it was cool
because Eleonora shared a really powerful testimony to her mom right
there about how she feels so much happier in our church and it has a
different spirit and when we ask her to do something, we explain the
reasoning and the blessings and let her choose whereas in the catholic
church they just make her do things and she doesn't like it. But mom
and dad aren't happy about the baptism but we are invited to continue
teaching her and doing everything we have been, but baptism is a no.
The date is still on though and we are going to teach Eleonora about
fasting and do a fast with her this September. She's going to get a
great opportunity to see how powerful God is. Let's pray her parents
feel the spirit and change their minds. She also asked bishop if she
could speak in church, so this last sunday she gave a talk. Used the
BOM and everything. It was great. No one could believe that she wasn't
a member.

Matthew and Patience and living together, unmarried but want to get
baptized. They are from Nigeria. They were going to move to thise
other apartment this last week and when they went, the owner turned
them away because they were black. How sad?! Apparently some Italians
are still racist. So now they are looking for another place. Patience
has been coming to church the last two weeks and Matthew said he'll
come with her this time. Let's hope. They are funny. Patience made us
rice with cow stomach a couple days ago. It was super spicy and a
nasty texture. I ate some of it, but couldn't handle it. Yuck! She
said this Friday she is going to make us fried rice with liver. I
don't know why she keeps feeding us these freaky things. Sorella Foote
hasn't eaten anything gross her whole mission until I got here and now
it's all we get fed. I am cursed. But Matthew isn't a very good reader
and so we got him the Book of Mormon story book to read also and it's
so funny. He loves it. He calls it his 'picture book'. And every
picture and sentence he interprets for us and gets so deep with
metaphors. So great. Ha. Very slow learners, but they definitely have
a testimony of God and Jesus Christ. They always say, "by the grace of
god..." and then say something they will do like go to church. ANd
we're trying to teach them that God will help them with anything, but
they need to make the efforts too. If they want to go to church, they
need to go themselves.

So last week we found this lady walking down the street and we gave
her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and got her phone number. Then the
next day, she called us asking for help because she needed a place to
stay for the next month before she could move into her new apartment.
She offered to pay rent and everything. So we talked to the Ward and
this girl said her and her mom could let this lady (Giusy) stay with
them. This girl is a convert of 5 years and her mom isn't a member at
all. So we meet up with Giusy to take her to meet the girl in the
ward, Natalia. And Natalia is running late, so Giusy takes us to get
some food (pizza as usual), and we talk and eat for a little bit.
Giusy tells us that like 2 days before we met her, she was talking to
a friend by the beach and a passalong card with Christ on it blows
onto her foot, so she looks at it and kisses it. He friend told her to
throw it away bcuz it is someone else's church, but she ignores her
and keeps it. And the night after she met us, she was looking at the
pamphlet and noticed that and the card were the same church. She just
was so shocked. And she was saying how she thinks we are two angels
who came to help her and guide her. And Natalia told us that her and
her mom were struggling financially and couldn't figure out how to
make ends meet and that the amount Giusy offered to pay them was the
exact amount they needed. It is so amazing how the Lord uses other
people in the most intricate ways to bless people's lives. Giusy has
been so busy lately, so we haven't gotten to teach her, but we are
excited to teach her because she has already gotten a taste of what
the Lord can do. Pretty amazing.

Last night, Sorella Foote almost died. She put her huge 2 Liter water
bottle in the freezer during the day and we came home and were getting
ready to do nightly planning and she opened the bottle and was trying
to crush the ice because it was barely harder than slush. And as she
was pressing it in on the sides, water started pouring out the top so
she put her mouth over it to catch the water. And as she kept doing
that, this huge chunk of ice launched into her throat and she started
choaking. I like started hitting her back so she could breath again
and after like 45 seconds she could breath again. It was so scary but
so funny (mom and slla. foote's mom: don't think I am insensitive for
thinking it's funny). She says her throat still hurts cuz the ice like
sliced it. But now when we think about it, we laugh. But it was pretty
scary. She really couldn't breath at all for a good chunk of time.
Everything on her desk got covered in water too. Oh man...what an
eventful night that was.

Well that's about it. THis is hard work. Right now, I wish I was back
home. I miss everyone and everything. I think the heat is what is
making me the most unhappy, but I will continue to press on. I know I
really need to be here to learn how to rely on the Lord more and
really put my life in His hands to He can mold me to the person He
knows I can become. It sure is tough though.

I miss you all and love you so much,
Sorella Heiner