November 8th email

Le tenere misericordie della settimana ☺
Ciao tutti!
A lot of great things happened this week. I will tell you about a few of them!
We were doing finding in Città Alta and I had a huge stack of bigliettini (this is what we call pass-along cards), and I was determined to hand all of them out. At the end of the finding activity, we were speed-walking (like dignified missionaries haha) for the bus, and I still had like 7 bigliettini left. Once we actually got on the bus, I had 2 left, and I thought, "oh man, I wanted to hand the rest of these out..." and then I noticed a woman sitting behind us on the bus that I wanted to hand one to. I told her about how we are missionaries and pointed to the web address on the back where she could find a video about Jesus Christ. Then I said to the other missionaries, "Only one left, and I didn't do it!" Then the same woman tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I had another one that she could give to her friend. It was a perfect little miracle.
Also earlier this week we were calling old potential investigators-- people that missionaries have met and wanted to teach but have not been able to. We called one woman who told us that she is too busy all the time to see us and that she would tell us when she is free. This is a pretty typical response, so I asked if there was anything we could do for her and wished her a good evening, and said goodbye. We didn't expect a call from her, but the next day she called us. She was like, "I just wanted to call and say hello because you are always so sweet and say hello to me so I wanted to call you this time." It was so sweet 😭 I have hope for this woman. I love when little miracles happen throughout the week.
Saturday lunch to Sunday lunch, we fasted to find people that we could teach, among other things. On Saturday night, I felt so hangry 😅 and was considering breaking my fast becaue I'm a weakling, but I was like "no I shouldn't because I know something really good will come out of this fast if I am this tempted to break it." So I didn't break my fast early, and we went to church the next day. We received a referral for a family that wants to be taught and baptized, an engaged couple that just moved into the area from Ukraine that is already familiar with the church, and the news that we could start seeing an old investigator again (who we had to stop seeing for a bit because of home problems). Basically we got 3 golden referrals. And I know with certainty that it was because of our fast. That was another miracle that happened this week.
We visited an inactive that we see once a week, and she was watching Little House on the Prairie in Italian. My love for her grew probably one million times what it was before.
The end of this week was hard for me. This work is really emotionally exhausting, and sometimes I get down when things don't seem to work out, such as people not answering our contact attempts for days, weeks, or even months, or when it feels like the people we teach aren't progressing, etc. I have been praying a lot lately. And I have been blessed with the ability to see the tender mercies of the Lord more easily. People still don't answer their phones, but I am happier when I realize that the Lord's hand is truly in His work. David A. Bednar once said, "Sometimes we may ask God for success, and He gives us physical and mental stamina. We might plead for prosperity, and we receive enlarged perspective and increased patience, or we petition for growth and are blessed with the gift of grace. He may bestow upon us conviction and confidence as we strive to achieve worthy goals. And when we plead for relief from physical, mental, and spiritual difficulties, He may increase our resolve and resilience." God gives us so many opportunities to grow, but He never gives us anything we can't handle.
I am attaching a pic of the inside of a duomo at Città Alta and downtown.
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Johnson ❤

November 1st email

Ciao tutti!
Your emails do not go unnoticed! I love hearing from all of you!! This week was a little slow, but overall it ended up being good. I hope everyone had a great Halloween :)
We didn't get to do a lot this week because Slla. Ringo was sick, but on Sunday, when we had to miss Stake Conference, we did something even more fun than sitting in hard chairs for two hours. We got to unclog our kitchen sink!! 😀 Garbage disposal doesn't exist in Italy so if any food gets in the kitchen sink it can clog it. So we spent a bit unclogging the kitchen sink pipes, and it was only a little bit less disgusting than the times that I have had to unclog wet, soapy hair from shower drains. So it was pretty disgusting. But I have got to say: I am becoming quite the handyman on the mission.
On Monday night we had a super fun FHE with a couple of our investigators at a member's house. First we had a lesson, and then we ate dinner together, and then we played games. This is the type of thing that just makes my week ten times better. It's so comforting to have people here that I can have fun with even though I am so far away from Oregon!
Last night for English class, we had a Halloween party, because even though Halloween isn't that important to Italians, it is very important to us Americans. So my whole district dressed up and brought candy and we played games. It was super fun! I have not laughed so hard on my mission as I laughed when we played the blind-folded "Bobbing for Donuts" game haha.
I was studying President Uchtdorf's talk from last conference, entitled "A Yearning for Home," for a lesson with an inactive that we had this week. The lesson didn't go great because she is one tough cookie, so I figured I would share a bit with all of you. In the talk, President Uchtdorf said, "No, following the Savior will not remove all of your trials. However, it will remove the barriers between you and the help your Heavenly Father wants to give you. God will be with you. He will direct your steps. He will walk beside you and even carry you when your need is greatest." I love this quote. It is so true. It is us that lets God in! We have to let Him in! It is so so important. We will find more peace and comfort in the trials when face when we let God be a big part of our lives.
I'm attaching a couple pictures of different sunsets that I saw this week (they have been soooo beautiful here lately!), me dressed up as a pirate (dressing up for Halloween is hard when you're a missionary haha), and the essentials during study time.
Buona settimana,
Sorella Johnson

October 25th email

email from my missionary...
Ciao tutti!!
So much to tell. Transfers happened, and Slla. Hoffman left me. My new companion's name is Sorella Ringo! She is from Indiana and plays the oboe. She is ready to learn and is very loving. Being a trainer is tiring, but honestly, I really like it. I like making the calls and helping Sorella Ringo with her Italian. I like having to converse with the members and others because I am the one who knows more Italian. I can already tell the Lord is helping me so much, because I am able to converse with people at a level so much higher than I was even a week ago. My trainer, Slla. Hoffman, prepared me very well ☺ and the gift of tongues is sooo real.
So they apparently call some type of Oreo-like cookie here a "ringo," so any time Slla. Ringo introduces herself to someone new, they always say, "Oh, like the cookie!"
For some reason we have had an odd number of strange old people give us candy this week. One time I helped this lady pick up her groceries when she accidentally dropped them. Then she thanked me and pulled out some candy and gave it to us. It was pretty good haha. Then today Slla. Ringo and I were at the post office and this old man asked if he could go in front of us because he was in a hurry. I said yes sure go ahead, then once he finished, he walked over to us and slipped a piece of candy in my hand 😂 Sadly it was coffee flavored, so maybe I'll just keep it as a souvenir haha.
This week there were a few cool things that happened. Friday night, we went English class finding in Centro. We have done this a few times in the past but we pass out hundreds of flyers and no one new comes to our English class. This time we got out a white board and walked around with it so we could draw more attention to ourselves. A woman came up to us and wants us to come over to her house and help her with her English, and she even said she was willing to listen to what we do as missionaries. She gave us her number, and I am super excited to see what comes of it. Also on Sunday night we were invited to go to an FHE with a couple of members, and they unexpectedly invited their non-member friend, and that non-member friend agreed to meet with us again in a week! I am so excited!
“You need to know that the Lord hasn’t called you because of anything you have done. In your case, it is probably in spite of what you have done. The Lord has called you for what He needs to do through you, and that will happen only if you do it His way.” -Dale G. Renlund's brother
I am attaching a couple pictures of me and Slla. Ringo on the day I picked her up in Milano, a picture of a pretty church that is on our walk to a member's house, and a (blurry-- sorry, I cannot take a tablet selfie with one hand) picture of me and Slla. Ringo when she got her first gelato!! 😀
Vi voglio un sacco di bene! Ciao ciao,
Sorella Johnson

October 18th email

It's a girl! 👶🎉
(email from my missionary)
Ciao tutti!!
Big news! Today is my last day being trained! Bigger news!! Tomorrow I will become a trainer. Aka I am having a baby haha (hence the subject line). On my MTC group's first day in Italy, someone asked my mission president, President Allen, when he expected us to be ready to train. He told us, "By the time you're done being trained." Never thought it would happen to me haha. I am actually on my way to Milano right now and then I will be staying the night with some sorelle there and then I will pick up my daughter the next morning. Wish me luck 😅
This will be an interesting 3 months... but I am super excited. My trainer, Sorella Hoffman, is leaving and just finished her 8th transfer (1 transfer = 6 weeks), and I will stay in Bergamo-- I just finished my 2nd transfer-- and train a new missionary. A couple things I am most nervous for are the legalities (such as going to government offices and applying for a permesso for her) and not starving. Also I can barely even pronounce addestratrice in Italian and I still can't roll my R's... When we told one of the less-actives we visit each week, she started laughing hysterically 😅😅 Also our bishop was like 🤤 Hahaha. But the Lord will help me through this!
This week was a bunch of cramming in appointments and cramming information into my brain so I know how to get to peoples' houses and everything. So if you all want to know what I did this week, just imagine me sitting at a desk looking at schedules and making lists of things to remember and studying more Italian. Then today for P-Day we got lunch as a district (some yummy pizza) and then played volleyball and other stuff together at the church. It has been super moderate temperatures lately, like mid-70s, but after today it's supposed to get colder and rainier. I am excited. 😁
So considering the upcoming slap in the face (becoming senior companion and feeling like I literally know nothing and having to talk to people on the phone in a language I started learning 4 months ago, etc etc), I have been thinking a lot about how God is all-powerful and all-knowing. I figure a lot of the things I learn in the next few months will serve me well in the rest of my life. This does not mean that I am not still wigging out of my mind, because I am. But it DOES mean that I plan to trust in God in literally everything I do in the next couple months, kind of like a trust fall. He will carry me when I need it.
Gordon B. Hinckley said, "Believe in yourself. Believe in your capacity to do great and good things. Believe that no mountain is so high that you cannot climb it. Believe that no storm is so great that you cannot weather it. … You are a child of God, of infinite capacity." We are all children of God, and He can help us through anything we face.
I am attaching a pic of me and Slla. Hoffman when she sat on me, a member present at one of our lessons, our district right before doing English class finding in Centro, and a cool random church we found on a hike.
I hope everyone has an awesome week!
Con amore,
Sorella Johnson

October 11th email

“I caught colpa d’aria”

Ciao!!
We had scambio (exchanges) this week! The Verona sorelle came to Bergamo, and I was with Sorella Richards. It was really fun! Because I am the one who knows Bergamo, I was in charge of getting us everywhere on buses, and we didn't get lost 😎 In the morning, we picked them up from the train station, then we came home and did planning studies as new companions, had lunch, then went up to Città Alta to do finding. For finding, we hand out bigliettini (pass-along cards) and try to talk to people, and this time we also handed out English class flyers. We got to talk to a lot of people, for example, a short Napolitano man (he was even much shorter than me) who slurred his words all together but somehow I was still able to have a conversation with him. I must say, the gift of tongues was real way back in the MTC and is still very real now.
This week Slla. Hoffman and I were waiting at a bus stop next to our apartment building to go to the church. We waited at the stop for like half an hour, and the bus never came. Then all of a sudden a bunch of policemen closed off our street and there were police cars driving down the street to make sure nobody was on it. Then a bike race came down the street right in front of us! There were hundreds of people riding on their bikes and tons of people on the sidewalks cheering. It was super cool haha.
At church on Sunday, a girl that neither of us recognized rode up to the church building on her bike. We greeted her in Italian, but then her eyes got all big and she said, "Do either of you sisters speak English? I don't know any Italian!" We found out she is from Utah and is here in Italy for a couple of months as a nanny, and she just moved to Bergamo a couple of weeks ago. We got to translate for her during church and she was really fun to talk to. She thought it was weird how the Italians say "Utah." 😂 (like ootah)
Also I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but Italians believe in a sickness called "colpa d'aria," which means "fault of the air." Basically what happens is if there is a breeze or any type of cold air or air conditioning, they believe it will cause a cold or worse sicknesses, especially if it touches your neck (this is why they always wear scarves!). Sometimes colpa d'aria even causes death, because whatever real condition they have actually gets credited to be colpa d'aria haha. For example, on Sunday this older lady walked into the church and said her heart was hurting really bad, so she said down on the couch. Then a couple of members came up and greeted her, and she told them her heart was hurting her and pointed to it. Their reponse: "It's just the cold! And the heart is on the right side!" Sorella Hoffman and I were like 😮 noooooo.
But of course after making fun of colpa d'aria, I am now sick... these pazzi Italiani might be on to something...
I was reading an old general conference talk this last week and it had a C.S. Lewis quote in it. The quote said, “I pray because I can’t help myself. … I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.” So good. And so true. God is there no matter what; we just have to go to Him. And He will always help us. Sometimes He helps us grow by letting things be hard, sometimes He eases our burdens, sometimes He comforts us, etc. Prayer is so simple yet so critical.
I took like no picures this week so I'm attaching a pic of me and the district on a hike we did a couple weeks ago, a couple sneaky pics of Giorgio on the bus (I'm not weird, I promise), and a picture of a nice car we saw last night after getting off at the wrong bus stop 😂

I hope you all have an ottima settimana ❤
Sorella Johnson

October 4th email

"La conferrrrenza generrrrale"

Ciao!!
This week has been really good. General conference was soooo good. We also got access to WhatsApp and our mission has smartphones now. Pretty crazy how much technology we're incorporating into the work.
One of our investigators told me this week that my accent is so adorable. She said not to change a thing. But I have never been able to roll my R's, which is just the worst. So I am currently on a personal quest to learn how to roll my R's. Whenever Slla. Hoffman and I are not at an appointment, I try it; usually I just sound like "Thhhhhh," but I will get it sooner or later haha.
For General Conference, the morning sessions were broadcasted on Saturday and Sunday night at the church building, so we invited several investigators and less-actives to come, who said they would. Sadly, none of them showed up. This is a pretty regular occurance. The perk, though, is that the other missionaries and I got to watch it in English-- because there was no one to watch it there in Italian-- and we brought snacks, like popcorn, brownies, etc. It was super fun and the talks were soooo awesome. If any of you did not get the chance to watch it, go to lds.org and watch it now! My favorite talks were by Joy Jones, all the ones by Uchtdorf, Holland, Hallstrom, Callister, and Ellis. Sometimes watching or reading talks can give us the best strength and encouragement we need, because life it tough.
This last week and a half or so has been a lot of running for the bus and long appointments and not returning to our apartment the entire day. Our area is so big that a good chunk of our time could be transportation. We don't have a car, so we ride the bus or tram, depending on where we have to go, and we have to time everything right. Also some people want to talk a lot more than we anticipate; which has happened a lot this week. If you can imagine us saying goodbye, "Ciao, buona giornata! Ciao ciao!" and then they close the door and we sprint down the stairs, out the apartment building, and down the street, that is pretty much exactly what happens.
For P-Day today, we traveled to Sorisole, which is a paesino (like a little town) about an hour away, but still in our ward boundaries. We decided to go on a hike which was very very uphill and at the top there would be waterfalls. So we go on this hike and it was really nice. It actually felt good for my lungs to be tired haha. It's several miles uphill and we get there and there are no waterfalls. So we talked to an Italian man on his hike with his little walking poles and he told us there were no waterfalls of any sort around there. Turns out Anziano Christensen ha sbagliato (he done messed up) and we ended up at the wrong place haha. But it was still really fun. We also saw a duomo on the way up and went inside. It's so amazing how many hidden gems there are here in Italy.
This morning I read D&C 58:2-4, and it says:
"2 For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven.
3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.
4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand."
Sorry it's so long, but I thought this was important to share. I know that we go through hard things in life. Sorella Hoffman and I teach people whose families have been murdered, people who are going blind, people who have no money but still want to feed us, people who do not feel God's love because of all of the terrible things that have happened to them, or do not feel God's love because they are numb inside. But I know He loves us. We cannot even comprehend the immense blessings that He has for us if we just have faith through the hard times and remember Him through the good times. We just have to press forward.
I am attaching a couple pictures of the duomo we saw today and a picture that Sorella Hoffman and I took for our new WhatsApp profile, just in case any of you forgot what I look like haha. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Vi voglio bene ❤
Sorella Johnson

September 27th email

“Maggots and the Star Trek Enterprise”

Ciao tutti!
Last week we did a few hours of finding in Centro for our Family History Night we had on Thursday. The finding was fun. Funny stuff always happens. For example, this lady started speaking half-Italian/half-Spanish to me, and I was so confused. This happens so often; you'd think I would know more Spanish by now.
On Friday a senior couple from Vicenza came to check our apartment and make sure it was clean. They are serving as Military Relations missionaries on the military base in Vicenza, so they know a family that used to live in my home ward that now lives on that base. It was pretty cool. Also they gave us a whole pack of Nutter Butters because they get American food on the base and because our apartment was clean. 😛
On Sunday night we watched the General Women's Session of conference. The regular sessions are aired live here and translated immediately, so we will be watching them at the church on Saturday and Sunday nights with the members. I am excited for conference. They are always so many great things to hear and learn. To watch it this Saturday and Sunday, you can go to lds.org. 😁
A couple days ago, I saw a tiny dog with a puff jacket on. It was the cutest and weirdest thing I have ever seen. But it just reminded that Christmas is in less than 3 months. 🎄☃️
Last night we had a weird occurance. I grabbed a trash bag to take out from our back balcony (there are so many different types of trash that we have to sort here that we don't have room in our kitchen, so we put it all on our back balcony), called "indifferenza," so indifferent trash. Basically if you don't know what type it goes in, throw it in there. So I grabbed the bag and started walking to the front door and realized that there were maggots squirming around inside!! Nastttty. And then maggots got onto the floor in our apartment and on our balcony. It was the most horrifying experience ever.
This week I was so tired. Every week I am tired but this week I was especially tired. I had a hard time staying awake while studying. I even accidentally fell asleep while reading a talk called, "Are You Sleeping through the Restoration?" Haha go figure. Well it was a little frustrating because all I wanted to do when we were home was sleep instead of think about the work. I love this work. I feel like there is a lot of enduring that comes with it, though. Sometimes I get too caught up in how much time I have left rather than what I need to do or want to become before I finish my mission. It's easy to fall into the trap of laziness. But I don't want that. I was thinking about this the other night, and I looked up a scripture that randomly popped into my head (Omni 1:26), and it said, "Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end..." I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out, but at least I have the scriptures (and general conference this weekend!!) to help me.
Today for P-Day my district and I went on a hike next to Lago d'Iseo. It took like 2 hours to get there by public transportation, but once we got there it was so beautiful!! We had a great time just exploring and hanging out as a district. Then on the bus ride back we watched the super great hills, colorful houses, and castles on the mountains as we went by. Also side note: we were playing 20 questions on the bus, and I guessed Anz. Norton's thing, the Star Trek Enterprise, after 7 questions... I think I am more like my father than I realize. After we finished our hike, we went to a place we found that had American breakfast food, and I got waffles 😛
I am attaching a pic of our 9-year old inestigator, Nadine. She is the sweetest little girl I have ever met. Every time I see her she gives me a huge hug. 😊 I am also attaching some pictures I took from our hike today and a pic of my waffles 😀 I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Vi voglio bene ❤
Sorella Johnson