Are you there?

Ciao Tutti!!!!!!

 

My dear friends and family, I love you all so much!!! This week I would like to share with you an experience that I had on Sunday. We got a referal from the office elders for a woman names Patricia that lives in Opera. Opera is about an hour and a half away from where we live and we take the metro, 2 buses, and a tram to get there. We got out of church late and we were going to be very late to this appointment. I thought is it even worth going? We tried to call Patricia but no answer. But however, we decided to go anyway.

 

We made it there and called her, She answered and said she would be right down!!! We got to know her a bit, she is from Equador and has lived in Italy for 15 years! She is a mom of 2 kids, but both her kids live in Equador. One of her kids is a 15 year old girl, she hasnt seen her since she was 6 months old. She is trying to earn money to return to see her kids. She is very alone. She is a huge example to me, sometimes I feel alone. I am only 19 years old and I am in Italy without out my mommy. But this lady hasnt known her daughter, this lady has patience and loves God and Jesus Christ because they understand her. She knows that this experience has made her have a relationship with God. We then talked about the Restoration of the gospel and prayed with her. After she was crying and we hugged her and told her that everything would be okay.

 

I know through this that God places obstacles and trials in our life that sometimes we want to give up and stay at home in our jammies and eat ice cream all day. But we are strong, when we have a hard time we are not alone, We have our Savior who is ready always to help us no matter the mistakes we have made, through his help we can endure and maybe even enjoy the hard times. We can learn and become who we should become!!!

 

I am so very grateful for my experience here. I know that God is here, He is our Father in Heaven. We can come to know Him and He will strengthen us always.

 

I would also like to share a quote I found in a talk by Brad Wilcox--Are you There New Era 1990 April....

 

Doubts are not wrong. they can be a step towards right. Questions are not a sign of weakness but a sign of growth. Men are not wrong when they doubt but when they fail to do something about their doubts.

 

--I know this is true. This gospel of Jesus Christ has helped me learn this and continue to learn.

 

I love Italy!! i love my people here and what I teach them and what they teach me!! I love this Italian language, it is beautiful!!!

 

I hope you all have a fabulous week!!

 

Love Sorella Skinner

 

PS I am going to LUGANO SWITZERLAND for today. (bragging right??)

Value in God's Eyes

Ciao Tutti!!! Come va?? Bene molto bene??

I am sorry that my group emails always seem to be similar. I do have lots to say but little time to say it!! I love being here in Italy. It has been a great blessing. No I still struggle with the language but I am slowly improving with Gods help. 

I want you all to know that you have a Heavenly Father who loves you. You are valuable in His eyes, not just somedays but EVERYDAY!! He loves you and will continue to love you. I know He has a plan for us and it is for us to return to Him by following Christ. Moses 1:39. I know we can find our purpose in this life when we see Gods purpose. :)

Here is my miracle for the week:

Miracoli: We were doing some finding this week and usually Sorella Boscia and I ask each other okay this person next? But as we were walking we saw a man dressed as a clown selling baloons! We didnt ask each other we went straight up to him and asked him if he thinks God wants him to be happy. He was so ready to hear this, he said he had a friend who was mormon who passed away and how he believes God wants our happiness and that is why we are here. We exchanged numbers and invited him to English class and hope to see progress with our new friend Endy Bendy! (bendy as in bending balloons!!) 

I agree with Endy, God wants us to be happy, that is why we are here!!!

Have a great week!!! 

Sorella Skinner

 

Bright Red and Meatballs!

Ciao Tutti!!!

As for this week the work in Milano is crazy and great!!!! 

Scripture of the week is Ether 12:24-27 and also 2 Nephi 32:8-9 

I know we must pray always, especially when we dont feel like praying. We are always in need of help from our Father in Heaven!! 

Cool experience...my awesome sister Kinny sent me a talk to give to an investigator! I translated it the best I could and gave it to this investigator. I also turned bright red after sharing my testimony!!!! But that must be the spirit!! There have been many other cool experiences with the gift of tongues as well, i have been on my mission for 4 months, i cant speak perfectly in italian but I can speak with others. Even those who speak Spanish. At church this sunday I told a lady I liked her hair in Italian...she only speaks Spanish but she could understand!! I know that with Gods help I am able to share this message, and I know that because I know this church is true, what I am sharing is true!! 

I want to share my quick testimony that I know that God hears our prayers and answers them through other people and through the book of mormon. If you are not mormon, that is okay, I respect you. But I want to invite you to read it!! If you read it you can know for yourself that it is true if you go to God looking for the truth.

I Know these things to be...if i didnt I wouldnt be in Italy sharing it with strangers!!

Love you allllllll!! Happy week!

Also...food of the week...meatballs with cheese inside. yes....i am sooo lucky!

Sorella Skinner

Mission life in Italy-Prayer, illuminating the way!

Ciao Tutti!

 

Dont have too much to share with everyone this week...me and Sorella Boscia were sick for 3 days and had to stay at the apartment. It was not the best, but I definitley was able to nourish my testimony to share more with the people that I teach!! 

What I want to share with you is the importance of prayer!! This week I got to teach English class again. And I taught how to pray in English. I was so happy it was this topic because I got to teach our dear friend Jimmy about prayer! We helped him realize that we pray to Heavenly Father but we close in the name of Jesus Christ. It was cool to help him realize that!! He is awesome! He also sends us messages every day in English. Sometimes they make sense other times not. My favorite this week was... God bless us and will illimunate the way for us. :) Like I said, He is awesome!

Anyway, Every prayer is important to our Heavenly Father. In the mission we pray lots, before we leave the house, before and after each study time, and before and after each lesson. I have limited words I can say in Italian and too many now to pray in English. (its an awkward missionary thing haha) But I know that God cares and hears every prayer we have. We have a way to communicate with our Father in heaven. I am sure that He misses us just like I miss my family back home in Idaho. So I invite you all to pray with a sincere heart and remember that we have a Heavenly Father who is ready to help us when we need Him!! 

I also invite you all to read Jacob 7!! I may sound like a nerdy missionary but I read this and just felt so happy!! We have the word of God on earth today to guide us! This can be an answer to our prayers!!

Love you all! Happy 2015!!!

Love Sorella Skinner