Sorella Wiltbank: Aug. 4, 2014

My dear family!

So first things first I just want to tell you guys how much I love you all. I have such an amazing support system and I honestly don't know what I would do without you all. And Heavenly Father has made sure to let me know how much of a gift it is that I have such a good family. Every single blessing that I have received on the mission has told me that I have been born into a good family. Every single blessing. And it is so true. I love you all to pieces and thank you for supporting me like you do! I know sometimes I am annoying, and impatient, and a spoiled brat! But thanks for putting up with me!

It sounds like your guys's week was a blessing in disguise. I am glad everything worked out the way it is supposed to with the car. It's funny how Heavenly Father gives us exactly what we want and need....without us really knowing that it is what we want and need. Thank you for your guys's faith, it strengthens mine!

Thank you so much for all of the sacrifices that you have made for me to be here. I know that there are many that you have made, that I don't even know about. But I feel your love and the blessings that come from them.

Thank you mom and dad, you are the best :)
Also thank you for the family history stories! I am excited to read them!!!

So.....transfer calls! The moment you have all been waiting for!

I have been transferred to Crotone and my companion will be Sorella Rost! I hear that Crotone is on fire (not literally) but that the work is really great! And I have only heard great things about Sorella Rost! I am super duper excited!!!!!

So highlights of the week:
So there is an elder in our district who has eaten so much pasta in the last few months that he has developed celiac! How sad is that?! So we have been searching for a place that does gluten free pizza, and we found one! And he was very happy. I also ate the best pizza ever! It was a really good place. But unfortunately it was expensive and far away! And....we missed the last tram home. So we had to walk, and we were late!
Our homeless investigators that ditched out on church...they avoided our phone calls! But then one day we found them on a bench, and they were having a really hard time because they were getting kicked out of their homeless shelter. But it was no coincidence that that same morning one of our buddies who is a mechanic, asked if we know anyone that needs a job! So the next morning we took them by to talk to him. I hope it all goes well.

Saturday was transfer calls!
Sunday we went and ate dinner at Graziella's house, she is a new convert. She made the best lasagna ever!! Gosh! So good.

I feel like Satan has been really trying hard on me lately. And it really scared me this past week. I know it sounds really weird, but I could just feel and see the power of Satan everywhere. I was discouraged going out onto the streets and talking to these people, because all I saw in them was sin. And it scared me. I got a blessing from the Elders, and it helped a lot.

But with all of this....I feel so emotionally and spiritually drained!
I'm hoping that going to a new city will help me endure. Seeing a new place, new faces, a new start!

Anyway....
Spiritual thought for the week:
Our beloved prophet once said...in November 2013

"Our Heavenly Father, who gives us so much to delight in, also knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve, and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way our Heavenly Father teaches us, and to become something different from what we were—better than we were, more understanding than we were, more empathetic than we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before.

This should be our purpose—to persevere and endure, yes, but also to become more spiritually refined as we make our way through sunshine and sorrow. Were it not for challenges to overcome and problems to solve, we would remain much as we are, with little or no progress toward our goal of eternal life. The poet expressed much the same thought in these words:

Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees.
The further sky, the greater length.
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow."

Also thank you for the gratitude talk! {Found HERE.} At first I was like....psssh I am grateful! Why do I need this. But then I read the talk....and then our DDM training was on gratitude....and I realized that yes! I do need to be more grateful! Thank you for always being inspired!