"...is this the secret church"

Ohmigosh, the news about Zoe!?
Tell her she has to date him for at least a year to be sure
(and so I can be at the wedding)
and then tell her to email me and tell me all about it.
And then tell her that when you meet an RM who likes the same things as you for the first time it always feels like love.
And THEN tell her if she gets married while I am gone I will kill her.
Sorry, but there are some places I just cant make exceptions.


Also, is someone going to send me an announcement for Ukiah and Abby? Or you could even just email me pictures if there are any on facebook or whatnot. I need to see evidence of these things to actually believe them (oops, thats the opposite of what I tell people all day).


Wedding announcements on the mission are always sort of surreal, you assume nothing changes while you are gone and then all the sudden people are grown up and married and you are like, "what?" Slla. Foote just got one from her cousin who is marrying the son of one of the 70s (his last name has an I and an x in it, I think) and she was like,
"shes wearing make-up and jewelry and marrying someone legit?
She used to wear tie-dye and date every boy in the ward."
It was funny.

Where do I start, there have been so many good stories this week. Every day has just been like,
"I love being a missionary, this is the best ever, my life is the best.
I am doing the best thing with my life."

After email last week we went to visit Slla Magno (who is legit and even has a facebook if you want to look her up Rosa Magno, and I showed her how to put pictures up so theres one of us on there) and we brought her flowers and she made us soup with homemade broth and it was delicious and then we hardly walk home. But she is the most legit (ok, for whatever reason I use that word all the time now) person ever. When she isnt visiting people/doing missionary work she is doing indexing for geneology work or going to church activities. Oh, and this is all when shes not doing chemo. Yeah. I am going to say it again, legit.
And she can cook. I love the people here.

But before that someone knocks on OUR door.
Yeah, we were on our way out. And then, we taught this man, Nino, on our doorstep. No one lets us teach them on their doorstep, but then they come to us. We even said a prayer.

Saturday we were doing house. I'll be honest. I really didnt like house. Its so hard when people either just dont answer or immediately shut the door. But then I remember that we are bringing them the greatest thing ever and it is completely free and we are bringing it to their doorsteps and they should be infintely grateful, and if they shut the door at least we tried.


So we get to this building where we know one of Antonias friends live (because she told us she wasnt interested in having us over but then told us her address and exactly how to get there). Only problem, we dont know her last name and there are like four buildings with 10 stories. And so we think, "Okay, lets find her" and we start knocking doors. No one answers.


One man answers and asks who we are he was like, "Oh yeah, I had missionaries over here for dinner once, we talked about Smith." and we were like, "really?" and he says, "yeah, but Im Catholic, no thanks." Okay, so we move on, and on. and then we knock a door and they ask who it is "Were the Sorelle" and then the door opens and its her. AnaMaria "Figlie mie!" (my daughters) she says and invites us in. Next thing we know we are on a tour of the house and shes showing us old photos.

But it gets better.


We head back and its like 2oclock (usually we go in for lunch at 1.30) and I see this girl who looks exactly like someone I know, and I know shes not, but she walks by and I smile and she smiles and then I turn around and go, "sei americana?" and she says, "No Im French" and all the sudden we are talking in English about life and the gospel and she is SO cute (but leaving to go back home in 3 weeks) and she asks who the prophet is and Sorella Foote whips out a picture of Thomas S Monson

and then...out of nowhere...comes what I have wished for everyday since I got called to Southern Itay...

Chilotam.

An African man comes up to us.

"Okay, so, um, are you speaking English? What are you talking about?"

"Jesus. And a prophet."

"Okay, so what do you want me to believe about this man?"

"That he is a prophet of God."

"Mmm. Okay. and this man, has he prophesised anything that has come true?"

Meanwhile Pia (the French girl): "Um, I am going to go."

So we set up a time to meet with him and here are some highlights.

"Okay, so this man Mormon. I have never heard about this man my whole life. Does he have a family? Where are they now?"

"Do you have the book of God with you?"
(neither of us happened to have our Bibles on us)

"Let me tell you something, if you are going to go preaching about this man Mormon, you need to have the word of God with you."

"I do not think they have this church in Nigeria." We explained that it is. "No, because I have never heard about this church...
Is this a secret church?"

Um, no, we go around telling people about it all day.

We showed him a picture of Joseph Smiths First Vision

"Um, okay, so who was there to witness this."

No one. We know about it because he wrote about it.

"No, who was there...Who took this picture."

Its not a photo its a painting

"No, no, that is a photo, who took it?"

We told him the Book of Mormon was written by prophets who prophesied of Christ before he came...

"No, young lady, you are mistaken, Christ was the first man. He and God created the earth. There was no one before Jesus Christ"

Yes, but they were born on the earth before Christ.

"Yes. yes."

"Okay, can you talk to this prophet?
I want you to ask him exactly how old I am and where I am from and then I will believe that this man is a prophet" Then Sorella Foote whips out the scripture that says not to ask for a sign.

"How much are they paying you to work for this man?"

We explained we actually pay to be here because it makes us happy.

"Do you have a DVD of this man that I can watch at home so I can hear the words of this man?"

It all ended up well though as my companion smoothly asked if he would pray and accept feelings in his heart as a sign that there is a prophet on the earth. He said yes.

Me and Sorella Foote just laugh about everything. Every day we get into situations that could be overwhelming but instead they are a joy. Like, when we have investigators that are 14 and 11 and the 14 year old sleeps through our appointment (which was 5 oclock at night, a time when no one should be asleep) and the 11 year old says, "I dont know, we are really busy this week" She is 11. And the same 14 year old doesnt come to church because she is hanging out with her friend (who is a member) just outside the church.


Or that we can get 5 investigators to a talent show,
but only one to church.


Oh and our 72 year old is currently praying that she wont say so many swear words when she gets mad. Or how our ward mission leader always calls us angels and tells everyone within hearing how we are "angelette" and "brave" and goes on and on. And he was like,
"why didnt you answer my call, were you in heaven?"
or he will comment on my name and say that
I am the master of the laws of heaven.

I dont even know, people love us way more than they should. ha.

Or how even our service project bidonned us. We were going to help a sister in the ward move and got called because they didnt need us anymore.

And how every single day we have the oppurtunity to talk to someone who is wondering if there is purpose in their life. We had a new student in English Course and he was waiting for his bus and we just talked about life, or just a minute ago we went and got focaccia where the missionaries always go after (or before) internet and the girl goes,
"Okay, who are you guys with these tags?"
and next thing we know we are explaining
the plan of salvation and she is crying.

This work is real.
I have never felt more worthwhile in my life.
Even when we get rejected or caught in the rain and even if there is always something wrong with my body. This is real. Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for us. All he asks is that we trust him. Trust that the commandments will make us happy even when we dont understand them. Trust that we can pray for everything, that he will be comforted. Come unto him and repent and be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. Even when the world says that religion is silly or
just an excuse for people who cant find answers.

We have all the answers.
Its logical.
But more than that, it is what our very spirits yearn for.

And it is real. And anyone can know.
Heavenly Father wants so much more for us than we think we can have. Just because we always try and do it our own way instead of His.

I love you all.
Send me Easter candy
(no, just kidding, but I just remembered how GOOD Easter candy is...those sour jelly bean gummy things? and the marshmallow things?
Oh man. But they have this really good stuff here that they make for Carnivale which has lasted like a month which is nice, but soon its over and then everyone just gives stuff up...but its like deep fried dough and covered in powdered sugar, I dont know, but its good--
(I promise Im not getting that fat)

Anyway, I love you.

Be happy. It really is a matter of choice.
God has given us this gift of agency so that we can be happy even when the whole world is turned against us.

tutto l'amore nel mio cuore,

Sorella Laws

Picture explanations:

So my boots that I got entirely for the intent to keep me dry got a hole in them so now I have to rig them up all ghettoly with plastic bags.
We went to SHANG HAI today (the chinese IPERSTORE)
so I could find new ones. And well, I didnt, but I did find everything else I could ever want in this life.
Including a sweet jacket and an argyle sweater.
And somethings that are very much not missionary appropriate
but will be very fun to wear at home.

Ludo. Her baptism doesnt "count" for us, because shes 8.
But it definitely counts for her.
She is awesome and we love her.

We finally got to ride in a tiny car.
Sorella Footes dream come true.

We got caught in a huge storm.
Tons of rain and wind and broken umbrellas.
That was yesterday. Today we didnt even need coats.

Welcome to March in Bari!