These are the days...

To talk to everyone and have crazy amounts of lessons. Seriously, we walked out the door yesterday morning and had almost 5 lessons before coming home for lunch. We actually had the coolest lesson i think i have ever had on my mission. So about three months ago this woman from Ghana starts talking to us first and says shes sorry she missed our appt... so we are thinking what in the world..we have never met you.. 

So a month later we finally have a lesson with her and invite her to be baptized.. She says yes and then we never see her again because she got a job.. Cool thing is, is that we asked Heavenly Father to help her find work that first lesson and that next week she got work.. 

So after countless times we try to see her and she never can meet with us tell yesterday. We buzz her and she doesnt answer.. I call her three times, and she still doesnt answer and then all of a sudden the door pops open... So Sorella Gillespie says okay, lets go knock on her door. We walk up all the flights of stairs trying to find her name on the door and finally find her. I think shes not home and then she just opens the door. We end up teaching her the resto again and reinvite her to baptisim.. Right as we are inviting her she raises her hand and says 'oh, pick me.. im ready to join you people'. We then ask her is she knows the Book of Mormon was true.. she says 'i know its true.. i feel it with my spirit..its all true. i am so happy when i am with you people, and when i am reading this book.. i know its true' Seriously, i cannot explain how happy i was yesterday. Heavenly Father has literally prepared so many people.. Dorothy is just one of many. She was just so genuine.. And get this.. she then asks if she has to make some kind of conribution to the church.. Usually we dont teach tithing tell later, but she asked so we explained it.. after she about jumps out of her chair and says

'ill do it... ill do whatever i have to do to join you...i want to go to Heaven!'

People we meet every day are ready. They are just looking for the answers and we have them. You can just see it in them... Its like the long hunt and journey is over. This gospel satisfys every hunger that a person has. The light that it brings lights every dark corner in everyone of our lives. It is lighting Dorthys world. One of the coolest things to see is a persons faith in our Savior. To literally see them almost shake because they are so happy and filled with joy... and its nothing in this world that brings them this happiness that i saw yesterday... It is only the gospel..It is only Jesus Christ. 

To see her jump up and down with happiness yesterday saying 'im goin to church Sunday' There is nothing sweeter than that.

Love Sorella Woods

Transfer #6..

Half way point is coming folks... That is crazy... Beyond crazy. Fastest

time of my life. I live 6 weeks and it feels like a day. So i have been
here in good old Bergamo for 2 transfers and i thought i might be leaving
because Jones just got here... but nope.. I was wrong.. im always the one
left in the city and she is leaving me!! So here comes my 8th new little
companion.. and im bottle breaking her. What? First of all, i barely know
how to be a missionary and now i am supposed to be senior comp.. how does
that even work.. This transfer has definetly humbled me.. It has probably
been one of the more difficult ones but it has allowed my heart to be
softened, and it has allowed Heavenly Father to teach me.. I am thinking
that more or less that once i lost the pride i obviously had, that Heavenly
Father was like.. 'oh good, she is ready for responsibility now..' and then
He probably is just laughing at whatever He has next planned... but at
least He has the plan.. So once again HAPPPY MOTHERS DAY MOMSSSS... like
mom, and grandma, and nana.. i hope it was special and that someone made
you cakes.. i would have if i were there. Talking to my family was probably
the greatest!!!... Actually i felt like a fish in a fishbowl and it didnt
help that on the way there the weather went crazy and hail the size of
eyeballs (weird comparison..i know..its all i could think of) came from the
sky.. so i was already looking like a wet dog.. But it was so great to see
everyone... Especially Candice and her huge stomache!! BABIES!! I am so
stoked to be an aunt.. So we couldnt have a day without some kind of
problem or mishap... We ended skype a little late so we actually missed our
bus... We then had to run for 20 minutes through sketch town Bergamo to try
and get to the station to catch our tram.. that whole run i was praying out
loud for Heavenly Father to give us a miracle.. We get the the station and
the tram is gone.. So we start running to try and find a bus.. nothing,
niente.... great. So finally our neighbor Monicas name pops in my head and
i think to call her. Her daughter just so happened to have her phone and
they were in the car right then fairly close by.. So they came and grabbed
us and we got home about 2 minutes before ten... MIRACLE!! prayer
answered.. Thank you Heavenly Father! But seriously.. that would have been
like a 2 hour walk home. SO that made that day even more memorabile.. Im
not going to lie... when things happen that are not suppposed to, it adds
to the adventure and fun of it all. Other than that things have been fairly
normal.. had a conversation about Lord of the Rings with and English man..
he is part of the tolkien society.. Pretty legit guy.. and just teaching
these people here. Pray for them, and pray for us that we might know how to
help them. I love YOU!!!
Love Sorella Woods

Family History...are you doing it?

I hope if you know the family history song that it is now stuck in your head allll day long. So we had an amazing zone conference yesterday in Verona.. The church historian Anziano Snow came and spake as well as another histoy guy named Fratello Nelson, and Anziano Kerione from the area seventies. Seriously, sooo good. I have never really thought about all the work that goes into keeping the history of our church.. Its amazing. Each of them really just spoke so boldly, especially about Joesph Smith. These historians have the opprotunity to go through every journal entry, every news paper, or every piece of information in regards to our church history.. I just sat there thinking those lucky dogs... i want to be the church historian. They talked a lot about section 135 in D&C which you should probably all go read. Super good. Probably the coolest thing they all said was dont look at the tiny little things in church history that could allow you to doubt.. you have to look at the whole beautiful picture.. This church is run by imperfect mortals.. but the people or their actions are not the church.. And they all bore their witness of Joseph Smith.. amazing, especially them being the ones that have all his history, and all his experiences at the tip of their fingers. There is a cool project going on.. go to Josephsmithpapers.org. We are almost to the end of this transfer. Its over next week and i dont know whats going to happen...obviously... which sucks because we were able to set 6 bap dates this past week.. AMAZING!!! that i want to be here for. We are finding families and it is such a blessing. But in the end, it doesnt matter who is here, just that they are bapitzed..But we will see. I hope mothers day is just great!. Thank you for everything mom, especially for raising me and putting up with me!! I love you!

Love Sorella Woods

Rain...rain...and more rain...

Sun for one day, rain for three.. Sun again!!! and than rain for another
three.. And all the while, we are still finding people!! I love Bergamo. I
miss Sanremo every day. I feel like the love that i have for all of them
just keeps getting bigger as the time goes by.. So we were on the tram a
couple days ago and this man kept looking at us. Finally, the seat next to
me frees and he sits next to me and asks me how i can help someone like him
who doesnt believe in God.. We talked for awhile, and than i told him right
there that i could show him how to pray and we could pray together.. He was
almost shoked that we could pray right there but he said, alright, thats
super cool.. So i prayed for him. This was probably the strongest i have
ever felt the spirit praying for someone else. I pray a lot during the day,
but during that prayer for him i realized that this man genuinely needed
and wants to know. It became almost a plea to Heavenly Father. Instantly
with that thought, my faith was strengthened and i was filled with love.. I
genuinely asked Heavenly Father to bless him and every aspect of his life.
When we finished he just humbly thanked me and said we will meet again and
we left.. and that was it, but a moment i will never forget. I sometimes
really think about what we do as missionaries.. We ask random strangers
every day if we can pray for them or teach them.. We go into strangers
houses, and find people who will listen. Its strange... We are very strange
from an outsiders view.. But this work really works and its only because it
is realy. This is Heavenly Fathers work.. There is no way in the world that
we could do what we do if there wasnt Him behind it all. Being a missionary
has been the greatest adventure and blessing of my life. We were doing casa
a couple days ago because of the rain and it was like 8ish and we rang this
old mans door.. He came out yelling at us and his little old wife sticks
her head out the window saying.. MAI MAI!!! Dont ever do this again!!! soo
late at night.. He then asked if we were married, and than told us to go
home... soo strange.. But you got to love the elderly.. Well thats about
the most exciting thing on this side of the world as of now, but more will
be sure to follow... like when a strange man gave us a free tour for about
an hour.. he was really cool.. and than he just left us.. real nice guy...
maybe he was one of the three nephites.. we will never know.. haha. !! LOve
you!!
Love Sorella Woods