Saturday, November 30, 2013

Como For Christmas!


Well I found out last night that I will be staying in COMO FOR CHRISTMAS. I never thought I would be here in Como for this long. I feel very blessed to still be here in Como.
 
Before I found out I was staying I thought that Sorella Stephens was staying so I started packing my bags..but then we found out she was leaving although I have already been in Como for 4 transfers. So I had to un pack my suitcases which is always awkward. hah. I was so excited to get the news that I would be staying, although sad because Sorella Stephens is leaving. I am going to miss her so much! She was great and we were just ourselves with one another which was great. She is going to Mestre to be a sister training leader and I know that she will be amazing there. It is funny because she is going to be companions with sorella McCann's trainer. ha Pretty cool.
 
This transfer will be very funny to say the least because my new companion is Sorella Carter..I am not joking..It is the truth. ha. I knew it was inevitable  because there are a ton of Carter's here now in the mission. Finding is going to be hilarious because everyday people are going to ask us if we are sisters and I know that our ward members are going to laugh and make jokes about it. shesh! But who knows maybe we actually are related? That would be pretty cool. This will be great. Plus now I am going to be the senior companion....I am a little bit nervous because a lot of the weight will be put on my shoulders. I know this transfer is going to push me a lot in a good way. Plus I will probably be speaking more Italian than I already was..So I am sure that my Italian will improve as well.
 
There is now snow in the mountains...There are Christmas decorations coming up..Gingerbread houses set up in Piazza Cavour. It seems more like Christmas each and everyday. I am so excited to spend Christmas time with the people I love here in Como. This will be a very special Christmas here in Como that I am sure dimenticarĂ² mai. AH! There are so many great things that around the corner I can't wait.
 
Today we had a Thanksgiving feast since we have transfers tomorrow. Which was full of american thanksgiving food that Sorella Stephens mom sent her.
 
During studies today I finished a book called "Our Search for Happiness" by Elder Ballard. This book is so simple. I loved it. As I read the basic principles of the gospel I began to realize how I can to have a testimony of these things and why these principle are important for me. It is interesting because there are so many people who are trying to find happiness. I have seen that the greatest joy and happiness that I have had in my life is through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am more and more grateful for the gospel, principles and commandments because they have helped me to have this happiness in life. I hope that this week you will all try and think what brings you happiness and if you haven't found it yet, I want to invite you to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. This book has been a source of happiness to me and I am very greatful for the things I can learn from this meraviglioso book.
 
I am excited to still be here but I know it is about to get harder because I am going to be the senior companion but luckily I am never alone and the Lord will be here to help me.
 
I love you all! Enjoy that delicious Thanksgiving food for me in America!
 
Love,
Sorella Carter


Grating cheese Napolitano style


Learning how to make pizza and lasagna



Snow in the mountains


It was cold so the rain froze on the car


Cachi..a winter fruit here in Italy...maybe dad remembers this fruit


Thanksgiving



 

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Little Miracles Continue...


So this last week Sorella Stephens and I really wanted to work hard to reach our missions standard of excellence and have 15 lessons. So the whole week we worked and continued to work. We did pretty much every type of missionary work. It was a neat experience because our mission president wants us to do all types of missionary work:finding, stata, casa, member work, and etc. So this week we applied that as well and we saw many miracles happen. We met a woman while we were doing casa and she said to come back the next week so we did. We taught her the first lesson.
   
After we planned to do strata..It was raining and we saw this woman without an umbrella so we started to talked to this woman and she replied back in english.. So we began talking to her about who we are. She told us that she had met with the missionaries three years ago and has the Book of Mormon and like it. So Sorella Stephens asked her if we could walk with her back to her house and talk about our message.. The woman said yes! So we had a lesson with her. This week we had many little miracles this week and we met our goal and reached the standard of excellence and had 16 lesson last week. This week continued to strengthen my testimony of obedience and doing all type of missionary work to find new people to teach.
 
This week we had a zone training in Milano and after we had to leave right away because we had a lesson planned in como. As we were sitting on the train two woman sat across from us and as soon as they sat down I knew we needed to talk to them. So we talked with them for a little bit to ask where they were going and so forth. Then the moment of truth came...I just said the words to them and started talking about the church. I asked them if we could teach them a little bit about our church and they said "Si..Siete simpatico..". It took me a moment to process the words. So I paused for a second and started teaching. It was a great experience to talk to these two women who have never heard of our church. They dont live in como but they have our information if they ever want to learn more about the church.
 
It is still raining here in Como and it is pretty hilarious trying to do finding work in the rain. ha! But everyday I am here I become more and more grateful that I can be here.
 
Today in the Book of Mormon I read Enos which is a beautiful chapter about repentance and having faith. It is great to see this burden and guilt lifted off of Enos. He even asks the Lord,"How is this possible?" basically and wnats to know why his burdens and pains are gone. The Lord tell him because of his faith. That his faith has made him whole..I know this is true that through our faith in Jesus Christ we can become whole and pure. I hope you can read this beautiful chapter this week. I feel very grateful to know that we can be made pure through Christ's atonement.
 
Next week we will be finding out the news for transfers. I think that I will be leaving Como because I have been here for almost 6 months. I love these people. Up until now this has been my mission. I am grateful for all that I have learned from these great people. Whatever the news will be I am ready to do what the Lord  wants me to do.
 
I love you all. Thank you for all of your support and love. I am grateful for you all. Have a good week!
 
love,
Sorella Carter
Today we are learning to make Italian food from a member in Como 2 

Wearing my Christmas colors 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Still Learning


Well it seems like everyday I am learning something new. Last week we had Zone Conference in Milano which was amazing! We had one of the area seventy come and speak to us. It was very good and made me revaluate everything that I am doing as a missionary and realized certain things I need to be better at doing.
 
Let's just say waking up in the morning has never been an easy thing for me to do. I have done very well with waking up on time at6:30 am but for some reason last transfer it seemed inpossible to wake up on time because of the cold, being tired, and etc. After zone conference I told myself that I was going to wake up on time to be obedient to the schedule that we have. So that next morning I hear Sorella Stephens alarm first and I sprung out of bed..haha It probably seemed like a crazy person but ever since that day I have woken (is that a word?) up on time. From this small experience I have seen the blessings of obedience and I have a strong testimony of being obedient. I have had more energy in the day and the spirit has been stronger. I am very grateful for the rules that we have as missionaries because they truely are inspired by God.
 
Another main topic mentioned at zone conference was having the prayer of faith. One of the points that I loved was praying to have the spirit to know what to say when you dont know what to say. I had an experience that night where someone we were teaching just dropped some sad news. In that moment I had absolutely no clue what to say. All I could do was pray to be able to have the spirit so I could know what I needed to say to this person. After I prayed I began to speak and bore testimony to help this person. I dont remember what I said but I know it was what that person needed to hear in that moment. It was a great experience to see how the spirit can help us to know what to say when we dont know what to say. It was interetsing because similiar situations happened with two of our other investigators and the same thing happened. I prayed to have the spirit help me know what I needed to say and the words came to me in that moment.
 
This sunday we had our ward primary program. I loved it! It was so sweet to see all of the primary children sing and testify of the things they know to be true. That is something I love about children. They have such faith and trust in God. Although they are young they don't doubt the things they know to be true. I am grateful for these little bambini here in como because they truely strengthened my testimony and helped me to have the faith that they have.
 
This week was the week of learning and hearing about others trials which made me realized how are trials are so fine tuned for us. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we can handle and what we need to experince in order for us to grow the most. Although the trials we have aren't the ones we want or expected to have in our lives..But they are the trials that God knows we can overcome and become the person he has in mind. One story that was shared in Zone conference I loved was a talk from General Conference I believe. It was a talk about a current bush and a shade tree. Heavenly Father at times will cut us down and we may wonder why these trials are happening to us. But he knows so perfectly what we need. He has the big picture. He knows our potential and what we can become. I am grateful for trials so I can be cut down at times, so I can become the person the Lord knows I can become.
 
Here is the talk "The Currant Bush" By Elder Hugh B. Brown"Hugh B. Brown was born in Granger, Utah, and grew up in Alberta, Canada. From 1961 to 1970, he served as a counselor in the First Presidency to David O. McKay, ninth President of the Church. He was a powerful speaker and teacher with a great love for and understanding of the youth of the Church.
You sometimes wonder whether the Lord really knows what He ought to do with you. You sometimes wonder if you know better than He does about what you ought to do and ought to become. I am wondering if I may tell you a story. It has to do with an incident in my life when God showed me that He knew best.
I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet (two meters) high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and clipped it back until there was nothing left but stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying. I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it and smiled and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush say this:
“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”
That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’”
Years passed, and I found myself in England. I was in command of a cavalry unit in the Canadian army. I held the rank of field officer in the British Canadian army. I was proud of my position. And there was an opportunity for me to become a general. I had taken all the examinations. I had the seniority. The one man between me and the office of general in the British army became a casualty, and I received a telegram from London. It said: “Be in my office tomorrow morning at 10:00,” signed by General Turner.
I went up to London. I walked smartly into the office of the general, and I saluted him smartly, and he gave me the same kind of a salute a senior officer usually gives—a sort of “Get out of the way, worm!” He said, “Sit down, Brown.” Then he said, “I’m sorry I cannot make the appointment. You are entitled to it. You have passed all the examinations. You have the seniority. You’ve been a good officer, but I can’t make the appointment. You are to return to Canada and become a training officer and a transport officer.” That for which I had been hoping and praying for 10 years suddenly slipped out of my fingers.
Then he went into the other room to answer the telephone, and on his desk, I saw my personal history sheet. Right across the bottom of it was written, “THIS MAN IS A MORMON.” We were not very well liked in those days. When I saw that, I knew why I had not been appointed. He came back and said, “That’s all, Brown.” I saluted him again, but not quite as smartly, and went out.
I got on the train and started back to my town, 120 miles (190 kilometers) away, with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. And every click of the wheels on the rails seemed to say, “You are a failure.” When I got to my tent, I was so bitter that I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, “How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?” I was as bitter as gall.
And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, “I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.” The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness and my bitterness. While kneeling there I heard a song being sung in an adjoining tent. A number of Mormon boys met regularly every Tuesday night. I usually met with them. We would sit on the floor and have Mutual. As I was kneeling there, praying for forgiveness, I heard their singing:
But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I’ll go where you want me to go.
(Hymns, number 270)
I arose from my knees a humble man. And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to Him and say, “Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.” I see now that it was wise that I should not become a general at that time, because if I had I would have been senior officer of all western Canada, with a lifelong, handsome salary, a place to live, and a pension, but I would have raised my six daughters and two sons in army barracks. They would no doubt have married out of the Church, and I think I would not have amounted to anything. I haven’t amounted to very much as it is, but I have done better than I would have done if the Lord had let me go the way I wanted to go.
Many of you are going to have very difficult experiences: disappointment, heartbreak, bereavement, defeat. You are going to be tested and tried. I just want you to know that if you don’t get what you think you ought to get, remember, God is the gardener here. He knows what He wants you to be. Submit yourselves to His will. Be worthy of His blessings, and you will get His blessings."
 
I know that this to be true. it is hard to be cut down and face trials and opposition but another part of this life was for us to have joy and to find the joy. I am grateful for the trials that I do have because they helpe me learn each and everyday.
 
Today I finished Phillippians in the New Testament and I loved this scripture. It says," I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Phil 4:13. I know that the Lord truely strenthens us during those trials and hard times we face in life. I am grateful for Jesus Christ because he has truely suffered every pain and affliction for us. I hope you all will remember that although we may get cut down like the current bush we will be strenthened by the Lord.
 
I am grateful to be here. Although it is cold and windy here the spirit keeps me warm and we continue doing missionary work.
 
Love you all,
Sorella Carter
 


Our District


Baptism for a little boy in our ward


(My nephew, Nathan)


Six Months


Novembre 1.....

I hit my six month mark on the mission which is completely ridiculous. I can't believe I have been gone for this long already. Today I wanted to write the six things that I have learned and realized in the past six months.
 
1. Although I am far from home, I have two things that I can always turn to to make me feel at home: the book of mormon and prayer. I have had moments where I have missed home and family but with these two tools I have felt at home during the mission.
2. How the gospel truely blesses the family. I have been able to see how much this church has blessed my family and how it also has blessed the lives of other families. I am grateful for this gospel because I can clearly see how it has brought my family more unity and peace in our home.
3. Heavenly father loves all of his children. I have felt that love as I have taught complete strangers. He has helped me to have that charity for his children even in the moments when I have been mocked by others or have heard an unkind word towards us, he hs helped me to see them as his sons and daughters. Which has helped me to have that love for them.
4. How the trials that we face are so perefectly fine tuned for us. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need and when we need it. I have seen that here many times. There have been many things that I have had to deal with that have put me into the refiners fire that have pushed me to grow.
5. My testimony of the power of prayer has been strengthened during thes past months and I have seen how my prayers have been answered. Although sometimes the answer has come later or not the answer I wanted to have..but it came. I know that God answers our prayers and is so very much aware of each and everyone of us.
6. Everyday I realize how challenging life is by talking to other people and it make me realize how the gospel can help us as we face those trials or hardships. I am grateful for trials and opposition in life because the joy and happiness in life is so much sweeter.
 
I am growing in so many ways here in the mission: spiritually, mentally and physically (sadly. not to happy about that one..hah). I have learned so much in this short amount of time and it makes me so excited to see what I will learn in the next part of my mission.
 
This week has been pretty good. We have had many cancelled appointments so we have been doing lots and lots of casa which is always very entertaining. I am so amazed to think that I just go up to people o the street and start talking to them. Who would have ever thought that I would be able to do that! ha not me!
 
My favorite thing that happened this week was when we started talking to this woman about the church..But her face looked as if she was in utter fear. It was actually pretty ridiculous because we just look like normal human beings. hah It reminded me of the woman from the target snl skit. It was funny to say the least.
 
We were trying to find an investigators home but it took us such a long time to find it. Along the way we made friends that were trying to help us find the persons home in the rain. Which all of this reminded me of the wizard of oz. Well..the persons home didnt exist. ha note to self: always ask the person before to make sure you have the right address 
 
I love my ward here in como. We had serata famigliare yesterday and we playd two gameswhich were basically italian tongue twisters..which was the funniest hing to watch. for example: we had to say tre limone tre limone otto limone.. and another one was saying a vegetable three times with you mouth closed such as cipolla cipolla cipolla. I love these people. Ah! Como will always be my second home!
 
Who knew that some Italians celebrate halloween!ha
 
The past six months I have learned so much and I am so excited for what the rest of my mission will hold.
 
love you all,
 
sorella rebecca carter




Como Hooligans







I finally found it...haha