Lasciate che le cose deboli divengano forti

Ciao, Famiglia!  

The foto uploader is taking forever, so Idk how many photos I will send this week.  BUUUUT, this week was fantastic!  Wow, was it hard, but it was really great.  Maybe if I start from yesterday and go backwards, that will help me remember all the best things from this week!  

So, my favorite bit of spiritual knowledge that we discovered this week was in a talk from the 2008 General conference when Anziano Bednar (he is so cool!) gave a talk about how to say more meaningful prayers.  He recounted an experience from when he and his wife were at BYU-I, giving a talk or something like that and they suddenly found our that a dear friend of theirs had passed away.  Anz. Bednar and his wife had decided that they would offer a prayer on the family's behalf, asking for help for the family.  But, when they were about to pray, an apostle suggested to pray only in gratitude.  Sorella Bednar offered a prayer of gratitude for the Plan of Salvation and for the doctrine of eternal families, and both she and Anziano Bednar felt more comforted than they could have if they had prayed for anything else.  Maybe this seems kind of crazy that a prayer of gratitude to God can change our outlook on anything and everything, but I know that it is true.  The scriptures always tell us to pray in gratitude whenever possible, and there is a reason for that.  I have found since listening to that talk that, if I offer prayers full of gratitude, I will be lifted up in happiness and my perspective is better that is otherwise would have been.  I invite you all to try this!  Especially to try saying prayers of only gratitude.  The results are very cool.

You can find the full story here under the 2nd point:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/pray-always 

So, Church was really great too!  We tried to pick up one of our investigators to come to church with Sorella Mazzolari, and it ends up that she didn't want to come because she had promised us the other day that she would come and be ready by the time when we would pass by, buuut it was not so, bro!  It was kind of sad, but I think that going to pranzo at the Mazzolari's house made it all better! 

They are seriously one of the most funny, scerzose families that I have ever met!  They are really kind, and Sorella Mazzolari told us that she was 1.) the first female waitress in Taranto, and 2.) she and her husband were the first couple to be married in the church in Taranto.  It was pretty cool!  And their son, Manuel, reminds me a lot of Andrew because he always has headphones in and he loves rock music!  Manuel is a really great kid.  I think him and Andrew should be friends, haha.  :)

Also!  Ofori is doing great!  We have been working with him to quit smoking, and he really wants to quit, but he is having some issues with stopping completely and with alcohol because he has been doing these things for years now, even since he was with his family in his home country.  And, it is great to meet with him not only because we get to talk about the Word of God, but also because he tells us a little more of his story every time.  This time, he told us this story about how he has had a fear of women since he was a kid because he had a dream about a woman frying him.  Then he recounted a conversation with his friends (all this cam up because he said that when he talks to us, he feels like a sinner in church, but he also appreciates the help that we are giving him.).  And he said to this of this conversation:

"And I tell them, 'they are not my wives,' they help me!"

I imagine the conversation went like this:

Friends: Ofori, why do you talk with those girls so much? Are they your wives, or something?

Ofori: They are not my wives, you understand, they bring me the word of God.

Ofori is the greatest!  :D I feel so grateful to be one of his missionaries! 

Annnnd, we also have been trying to work with this one girl from English course who took the lessons in the past.  She knows so much about the church and she thinks that the Story of Joseph Smith is beautiful.  She speaks perfect English, and we have had to think of creative ways to continue being her friend, but to also reintroduce her to the Gospel. And it is going well!  So, the other day, we went and got gelato and we were able to talk a little about her past experience with the Book of Mormon, and were ultimately able to leave a chapter for her to read.  It was especially cool because she invited us to her house to come see her cat and to talk about the reading that she will have done.  We love her!  She is so great!  :)

And, our friend, Collins is leaving for Denmark today... A week earlier than he had anticipated.  So, he will not be able to be baptized here in Taranto... Just yet at least!  He gave us another bit of info that he will return in 2 months, and he hopes to get baptized when he returns!  But, we discovered that he lives in the Zone of Statte, and even though he spends a majority of his time at Piazza Garibaldi, we have to pass him off to the Statte Anziani when he gets back.  No prob tho!  Because either way, he will have made the first step on the "covenant path," as they say in General Conference, with the decision to be baptized and confirmed.  Really, these are just the first 2 baby steps on a path towards eternal life and being able to be with our families forever. 

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/04/covenants-two-way-promises-with-god?cid=HPFR042514738&query=two-way+promises+with+god&lang=eng 

Well, that is all I have for this week.  I sure love you guys, and I hope that all is well for you.  Can't wait to write you all again this next week!  

-Sorella Corey Cherrington

(Fotos: Us and Bianca, and me with the Mazzolari family!  :D)

Miracoli per la Pasqua

Sooo, this week was outstanding!  :D  First thing's first!

COLLINS CAME TO CHURCH!   XD  And he now has a baptismal date for the 2nd of May! :D  He is such a good person, and we are convinced that he truly is one of the "elect" people that missionaries are searching to find.  We taught him the Word of Wisdom yesterday and he totally agreed with all of it, and said that he wanted to quit smoking and drinking cold turkey.  WOW!  He is so great!  And he said that he has a testimony of Joseph Smith, that he was a special, chosen man of God.  He is also very serious about baptism and he said in the closing prayer, "Lord, I put my date of baptism in your hands."  He is seriously the greatest!  :D  He also read in his Book of Mormon and he wants to show the Word of Wisdom pamphlet to all of his friends who smoke, to help them to stop.  :)

And Ofori is doing great too!  He has been reading everything that we leave with him, and this is a phone conversation that we had the other day, "So, Ofori, have you been reading in your Book of Mormon in Twi?" 

Ofori: Yes, I read the chapter you gave me.  It is about a man, who, he repents, you understand." (About the Book of Enos.)  This is one of my favorite quotes from my entire mission!  :D

Wow!  He read and he could tell us about it!  When investigators do this, it means that they are committed to learning more and they are serious about it.  The only issue with our friend, Ofori, is that he feels a bit uncomfortable about coming to church because he wants to feel worthy first.  We have tried to share with him our testimony and scriptures from the Book of Mormon that explain that anyone can come into the church, because it helps us to progress in our endeavors to improve ourselves.  We pray for Ofori and Collins all the time, and we have the faith that they can continue to progress in their knowledge of the Gospel.

And the coppia Franceschini have been helping us a lot with teaching Ofori and Collins and gave Collins a ride to church on Sunday and they also gave Ofori a tie (his dress clothes are stuck in Brindisi) and they also gave our new simp, Rosi, a ride to the activity in church for Pasquetta!  We are so grateful for the Franceschini, and without them, we would not be having success così.  

Annnnnd, CORNELIA!  :D  We have been able to see her this past week because she exits the house with the Signora who she takes care of.  The lessons we have taught to her have been both packed with the spirit and also hilarious.  Why hilarious?  Because in the piazza where we teach her, nearly "Every old woman in the city of Taranto comes to salute the Signora and Cornelia," as Sorella Bradford says.  And that is actually quite accurate...  Haha, but it is really fun.  We have come up with some ideas to teach Cornelia in a different post in the future because she clearly believes in that which we teach her and she loves to read the Book of Mormon with us.  She is really sweet.  And she is really strong too, perché she has been having a lot of health problems and not enough money to fix them, so she has been in a really tight spot lately.  We love Cornelia and we want to help her as much as we can with the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

Other than that, we have had a blast these past couple of days, during Pasqua (Easter).  (Happy Easter, everybody!  :D).  There have been some pretty crazy things going on, like the Processione durante la Settimana Santa with all the odd men in white suits...  and there were big parades for la Madonna, and uau, it was pretty huge.  For Easter, we got to go to Fratello Miccoli's house (love that family!) with Bishop and his family (Bishop is the son of Fratello Miccoli.  It was sooo fun!  Especially because Greta (Vescovo's daughter) is hilarious and they are such a loving family.  :)  They also bought some of the big Easter eggs for us (We had a total of 3: one, we bought together, one from the family Miccoli, and the other from the Anziani!  :D  It was certainly a chocolate-filled holiday.  And it was really cool to be able to do this huge Meno-attivi biglietti per Pasqua progetto where we delivered several cards to less-active families all over  Taranto for the amazing, Sorella Pastano.  It was a really tiring progetto, but we did it!  :D  And it was really rewarding in the end.  

Well, that is all I have for now!  I love you, guys!  And I hope that you had one of the greatest Easters ever.  :)

Love,

Sorella Cherrington

Sorella Bradford

Marzipan fish and shellfish!  Look closely at the clams!  

Beautiful Taranto Sunset!

Sorella Cherrington contemplating the beauty of Taranto!

Marzipan for Easter Celebrations

When I google translated this, here is what came up: L. Teresa's Missionary Sisters Institute Primary School Matching cost???

Holy Week 2014

Corey said that these people who dress up and participate in the parade pay 70,000 euro to have their sins forgiven?  Italian religious tradition.

Easter Presents!!

Another beautiful Sunset in Taranto!

Cornelia gave the Sorellas a marzipan lamb.  Awwww!

Corey with a large piece of chocolate!

Easter Goodies!

Rami di ulivo e di palma Fronde della Domenica delle Palme

Soooo, this week was sooo amaz-a-zing!  I cannot tell you how much I loved this week!  :D  Except I will because I am writing about this week in this e-mail!  :)

Allora, we met with Collins again this week and invited him to be baptized before he goes to Denmark.  He accepted!  XD  He is such a good person and he loves the Gospel!  Literally though, he has such a special spirit about him that one can just see and know that he is a good person.  We love Collins!  And we are excited that he will be a member of this wonderful church in just a few weeks.  

Annnd... yesterday was "Palm Sunday"  and it was pretty cool to see everyone selling or buying these cool things made out or palm fronds and these olive branches.  This one nice sorella from church gave us some olive branches and Marianna put an olive leaf in my scriptures at church!  It is a really interesting way to celebrate the holiday.  And, Martin (I will talk more about him in a minute) told us that, in his country, they call this holiday "the day of the many flowers." Because, when Jesus went to Jerusalem, the people brought many flowers.  

Also, Saturday, we had a nice Picnic with the GANS and the giovanni and our buddies from the Pastano family.  It was pretty much amaz-a-zing, and Sorella Bradford made cookies and I made a lasagna.  It was really fun and we got to know a lot of the members better.  We were a bit disappointed that our simpatizzanti couldn't come, but it was all good lo stesso.  :)  And, right before the picnic, we were able to go to Talsano with Sorella Pastano for an appointment with a menoattiva.  It was a really beautiful morning, but the visit with the menoattiva was a bit sad because she has lost her testimony.  We hope to help her rebuild it, but the most we can do is help.  She has to do the things that she knows are right (read the scriptures, pray, and come to church) as well if she wants to nourish her testimony.  

Hmmmm... And we also had a really good experience with our investigator, Giovanna!  W love her sooo much!  And her son is really cool! They both accepted a new baptismal date together and are totally willing to follow the Savior's example.  But, it is very hard for them to come to church because her son's wheelchair is tough to transport.  All the members we have brought with us have said that they will give her a ride, but it has just been difficult form her and we just have to keep praying and trying our best to help her out.  She is awesome, and we live her and Michele.  I love their dog too!  It is a puppy named Lilly and she loves us!  XD  I love dogs.  :)

What else?  English course has been going really well, and Sorella Bradford and I are managing well the 2 classes that we each have to teach.  I know the Lord is helping us because I used to get so nervous before English course, and not I just feel so comfortable walking in and teaching the class.  A lot of it could be because I know all the students and we have a pretty good relationship with all of our students.  :)  There is one girl who I am really good friends with, Bianca!  She speaks English perfectly, and is really fun!  They are all really great, and we love our students!  :D

I think that is all for this week!  I love you guys, and I hope and pray that your guys' week will go well!

Love,

Corey

PS- I am going to leave you all with an invite this week to pray for a date when you plan to invite the Missionaries over to talk with a friend.  You may not know who will be the friend at first, but once you pra for an choose a date, miracles will happen!  This is a promise that Elder Ballard gave us in his talk "é un miracolo."  Love you, guys!  :)

The Challenge of Believing the Lord's Blessings

This week was one of the hardest weeks of my mission and possibly of my life. But I think that that is why it ended up being one of the best, most rewarding weeks of my entire life. So, as some of you know, I started off the week with some pretty bad news that a dear friend of mine who is like a brother to me had lost his life a few months back. I talked to someone about how I was feeling because I was really not doing good for a while as a result of the sad news. But, when I was finally able to talk to Sorella Perry, and she really put things into perspective for me. She told me that, because of the Atoning sacrifice of the Savior, my friend is okay, and that he is in a safe spiritual situation where he is able to heal. I felt peace in this and I immediately began to feel better because I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for my friend and that he has nothing to worry about, and nor do any of us here on earth. I know this is true, because it immediately brought peace to my sad, suffering heart. God lives, and he loves us. I know that for a fact. And he will never forget or hold a grudge against anyone of us.
So, this week was really intense... The other Sorelle also just left the city too, so we are managing all of their work into ours this week. It has been a bit rough, but Sorella Bradford and I are up to the challenge. Also, we got to see our buddy, Martin, the other day, and he is just fantastic! :D He was going through some hard times this week because he had to change classes, and it did not seem possible for him to catch up in school before the grades would be published. So, he came to one of our lessons a bit down. So, we talked with him about how we can face our trials, and I was able to share with him a story about when I was at BYU and I didn't think that I could finish all of my classwork prima di andare to New York for the Model UN conference. It literally seemed impossible. But, my Dad came up from CA and gave me a blessing and some council, and all went right and well. I advised Martin to get a blessing, he accepted the invite with faith, and told us that evening that the blessing had worked! He was able to understand all of the Italian texts that he had to read (he is from Hungary, and has not been in Italy long, so that has also been difficult for him), and he was so excited that his faith, along with the priesthood authority of God, were able to help him through his seemingly impossible trials. It was a miracle!
Also, because this week was a week of break-throughs with all of our Simps, we had a turning point also with Collins, Ofori, and Joseph. It was amazing! The lesson we did the other day was wayyyy crazy because so many things happened like this crazy lady was yelling at us and the pigeons as she waved a bible in the air and fell to the ground in an odd prayer position..., and then the church bells went off as we were trying to give the baptismal invite and... just everything man... BUT! We were able to get through all of the hard things and we really got to know our friends better. It ends up that they are refugees from Libya, and that is why they have had to search for work all around Europe. We told them that we wish we could help them more, but they said that we are helping in the best way we can because we are preaching the word of God, and that is more than enough. Ofori and Collins accepted the invite to battesimo, but said that they would not be able to be baptized on the dates that we offered to them because they will have to move to different countries before long. But they want to find the church in the countries they go to and are not actually 100% sure that they will have to go. All I know is that I really feel like these friends of ours, and also Martin, are our brothers, and we love them as children of God. It is amazing, the profound and pure love that we feel for people as we invite them to come unto Christ.
Annnd, there is also Giovanna! So, this is a cool story:  Giovanna was an ex-simp of the Sorelle A who we (then Sorelle B) had met when we were with Sorelle Hibbert and Perkins before Zone Conference. We had planned to stop by Giovanna's house and start teaching her, but then we discovered that she was in the Area Book of the other Sorelle, so we gave her to them. Then, the first time that the other sorelle had taught Giovanna after that was when we were doing a scambio with the other sorelle, so Sorella Bradford was able to go to the teaching appt. with Giovanna and be there for the baptismal invite. Giovanna accepted the invite, had a baptisimal date, and we are now the missionaries who will go to see her! Crazy how these things work out! We love Giovanna! And her kids are so great too. Her son (8 years old) is paralyzed and cannot walk, and is one of the coolest, funnest kids I have ever met. :) We love their family, and we are excited to help her towards battesimo and to help her come unto Christ, above all. 
Hmmm... What else? I love you all, and I hope that everyone is doing good. :) Right now is a really good time in my mission, and there is a lot of stress, but it is a good stress because we are in the service of our brothers and sisters here in Taranto, and there is no better thing to be doing than the work that our Savior would do if he were on the earth. Love you guys! Be strong in your hard times and the Lord will bless you. I hope you all were able to see general conference (lds.org) because it teaches us how to endure our trials with patience. Some of my favorite words of advice were these:
-When we have an attitude of gratitude, everything will be good. We don't have to pretend that we like our hard times, but when we have an attitude of gratitude, we will find little miracles in every and any situation
-We have to take upon us the right load, or the right preoccupations, concerns, opinions, etc., and that load is the yoke of Jesus Christ. This means that we have to ensure that we are serving others and doing what He wants us to do and then, we will see happiness unlike any other happiness known to mankind, and we will find our way back to our Father in Heaven someday.
Vi voglio bene! :D,  Sorella Cherrington

Il lavoro del Signore può essere divertente ed emozionante!

Hey!  Soooo.... This past week was just about the funnest week... ever!  I got to see so many cool missionaries in Roma when we went to the conference,and the 6 hour train ride there and the 6 hour train ride back was a blast!  Also, it was also nice to do finding in Roma again!  I feel like there are sooo many cool, different people to meet there.  It really is an international city.  

E Allora?  

The conference was really great!  Elder Kearon from the area 70 came to speak to us!   He is from the UK and he did a lot of work in Roseville and in the Sacramento area, so he has actually seen me before...  Holy cow, coincidence?  Annnd, he really got all the missionaries excited about the work again.  We will be a power-house mission before long, I am certain of it!  And.... hmm.. in specific, I loved that he talked about faith.  The most important thing that we can have as missionaries is faith because, without faith, we cannot see the miracles that are happening and we cannot allow even bigger miracles to occur.  It was really great!  

Also, I was able to see a ton of my friends in the mission and I didn't realize how many people I know until I was there in a pack of missionaries!  There are so many good people in our mission.  :)  And I know that these friendships we make here will last a lifetime and even longer!  Also, I am realizing, piano piano just how many weird connections I am making and have in the mission.  For example:  I saw an Anziano who kind of looked like my friend, Shamae Budd.  I read his name tag, and it says "Anziano Budd".  Too weird.  I then I had to ask him if he knew Shamae, and he said, "Um, yah.... She's my sister!"  Holy cow!  we were both in shock!  And then Elder Budd asked me if I knew Professor Kerry! The words "Small world" do not cut it to describe how everyone in my life is somehow connected to another person I know... :)

Also, we got to stay at the villa, which was really nice because we got to spend some time with the Waddoups, Millets (the office couple) and other missionaries dalla Puglia!  It was really nice, and we all said a family prayer both nights that we stayed there.  It was a really cool experience.

And now... the work!  :D  

Holy cow, you guys!  Something about this conference was seriously magical because I feel that, when I got back and was in a trio with Slla Vasilachi and Slla Ruppe, our work started exploding!  :D  Like, we met with our New Simp, Collins, and he brought a friend who wants to meet with us, and there was a boy in English course who approached me and the member I was teaching with (Marianna P.) and asked US about the book of Mormon!  It was really amazing!  We even got to teach him a lesson after Corso D'inglese!  :D  And, Oh my goodness, you guys!  The finding really payed off!  I love finding, you guys!  And now, we have so many phone numbers, people we are getting a hold of to meet with, new simps, referrals from Simps, and this is a really exciting time in Taranto.  

Also, Collins came to church!  It was like a dream!  The other day, when teaching in our trio, Collins asked us if he could come to church!  We then said, "of course!", gave him directions to the Capella and said we would meet him at the Bus stop after Lidl to walk together on Sunday.  And, WOW!  HE CAME! He called us Sunday Morning, walked with us to church, the Anziani Translated for him in priesthood meeting, and then me and Sorella Bradford took turns translating for him in the other meetings.  He told us that he really liked church and that he would meet with us later in the week too!  We want to invite him to be baptized the next time we see him, so we will see how that goes.  :)  This is really an exciting time in Taranto, you guys!  For real.  

Hmmmm... What else?  I cut my hair!  It is really short, and I looooove it (because Sorella Ruppe cut it for me, of course ;)

Well, I love you guys, and I just want to convey to you how much I love you, how happy I am, and how I love my church, my religion, and God with all my heart.  I know that this is the true church, and I want to try my hardest every day to remember all the things that Christ has done for me so I can "forget myself and go to work"! And, you guys, if the gospel makes you as happy as it makes me, share it with the people you love who don't have it yet.  It is the greatest gift that you could ever give anyone, and it is a gift that will provide eternal and everlasting friendship.  These things I share with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  

Love,

Sorella (Corey) Cherrington

PS-  Funny Story this week!  

Soooo, I sat down at the piano the other day (half as a joke) to see if I could play anything from the Simplified Hymn book.... I ended up being able to play an entire song, even with the bass parts!  Uau!  Che forte! 

Ci spostiamo in avanti, nonostante le distrazioni dell'avversario!!

Sooo, this week, I wanted to say that I was incredibly inspired by Avri's e-mail to me about how she received an answer to her prayers.  I could not stop thinking about it after I read it and I am so happy for her, and that she has decided to serve a mission!  I can't wait to see her and to talk to her about all these experiences she is having right now.  I would like to even put her story on my blog, if she approves?  If so, I am sure tons of others would be inspired by it as well. 

Allora, I have made a lot of progress this week as a missionary and as a person as well.  Me and Sister Bradford have had to avoid some pretty awkward situations with people on the streets.  But, we know that that is just the adversary, trying to stop us.  For example, the other day, after we were rimaste un po' male da qualcosa that happened at a bus stop, Slla Bradford said, "Ya know, this is just the adversary, trying to keep us from finding a new investigator tonight!"  I said, "Yah!" And we immediately talked to a man about the gospel after that. He rejected us.  But we persevered and talked to one more woman, and it ends up that her child's doctor is Mormon, she has heard a little bit about our church, and she wants to learn more!  :D  We got her phone number and we will hopefully see her soon after our mission conference in Roma is over.  OH!  Ps, lol, I am going to Roma tomorrow for a mission conference that we will have! Haha, after this, I will have been to Rome in every single one of my transfers at least one time!  I am glad for this because I can always say that that city has a special place in my heart.  Especially since I spent the first 6 months of my mission there.  :)  

So, what else?  I love the ward here and the English course is great.  We have an awesome class and they are really fun!  Last week, we talked about "Looking for a Job" as our lesson and I was able to have the class participate in a fun representation of the difference between "fired" "laid-off", and "let-go". It was really cool because I got to use all of my random business knowledge that I acquired from Dads and Mom's heating and air business to help other people learn better the terms!  I absolutely loved it!  And Sorella Bradford told me, "Wow, I am really impressed by your random business knowledge!"  I love Sorella Bradford!

Soooo, I want to tell you all a bit about Sorella Bradford!  She is really great.  She is funny and so smart and has lots of fun stories to tell about her time at Berkeley.  We are able to laugh off awkward situations too and bidoni as well.  I really enjoy serving with her and I have learned so much, and I am sure that I will continue to learn more, from being her companion. 

Hmmmm, what else? Ah!  Our investigator, Ofori is progressing!  :D  He read some of the pamphlet and he loves to meet with us!  We just have to get him some stuff in his native language, Twi, and it will be fantastic!  Also, our lovely Rumena investigator, Cornelia, remembered the Joseph Smith story when we returned back by her yesterday! It seemed like she wasn't listening or that she didn't understand, but she did!  She is a tricky one, that Cornelia!  Lol, I love her sooo much and I have faith that she will make progress soon!  (Especially because we finally got her some materials in her language last night, and she told us that she would read "volontieri!"  The Fratello we brought to her lesson and Colins's lesson was really great too!  He has a humble, very powerful testimony that brings a great spirit to any lesson. :)

Also, we just started teaching Italian to 2 really nice people from China. We had another stellar fratello from our ward come with us to that lesson too, and it was really nice. We left them with a Book of Mormon in Chinese and another one in Italian and we were able to share with them a bit about the Book of Mormon as well! We weren't able to set up a return appt. because the man (Antonio) has to go to Napoli this week for work, but we will also hopefully see them after the conference!  

Welp, that is all for now!  I love you guys and I cannot wait to hear from you again next week!  :D  I absolutely love e-mail time because I get to hear your guys' stories.  :)

Vi voglio bene,

Corey

Senior Missionary Couple: The Franceschini's

Torta that Antonio made for them!!

"Spicy Ice" ????  :) 

Ti ringraziamo o Dio per averci inviato le tue anime valorose!!! :)

Ciao Famiglia!

Lol, before my mission, I didn't understand all those RMs who talk about their mission all the time or they "mess up" and speak their mission language on accident... Lol, ironically, I understand in questi giorni and it will be a rather large adjustment to make, going home to the states and eventually having to speak significantly less Italian than I am speaking here.  It just really hit me today... Especially because I have less than 7 months.  I was thinking at the bus stop of all the things that will be in English and how weeeeird it will be!  Like church and school, and basically everything!  I will miss this place soooo much and the language, and especially the people!  I love the people here.  Man... and being with my friends in the mission has been really fun too!  and I am excited to have these next several months to be able to learn, grow, and progress even more.  :)  Lol, stepping off of my scattola per sapone... ;)

THIS WEEK!  :D  So, this week was full of miracles and finding!  There is lots of finding to be done here because we are looking for new simps.  We are expecting a miracle though and so are the members!  (One member asked me yesterday, "So, when will our next baptism be?"  Haha, the members are great :)  and they are really excited about missionary work.  I really love that about this ward.  All we have to do as missionaries is find someone to teach so that we can invite one of the many ward missionaries to help us!  (I think there were 3 or 4 new ones called yesterday!  

SO!  Our investigators, Babba and Ofori are really great and they love to listen to us because they say they love to hear the word of God and they think that it is important to hear all of the word of God so that they don't miss a grande parte of God's message by not being open to all possibilities.  They speak inglese, so I brought my quad of scriptures to a lesson for the first time ever!  It was great. And Babba is making progress!  :D  Last time we met, we left him with some "homework" to read and answer the questions in the back of the restoration pamphlet (members out there get one of those and study it!  It explains who we are in a very concise yet professional manner, and I love it.)  And, though Babba has a tough time reading in English, we were able to help him through the things that he had trouble doi9ng on his own.  They are really great!  We have another appointment with them today after P-day ends.  

Also, the other day, we were doing some street on the Lungo Mare (best place to do street because the coolest people are always there!  :D) and we ran into this crazy group of kids who were around the age of 12 or 13.  It seemed a little intimidating at first, but I stopped them and I asked them if they wanted to listen to a brief message we have to share.  They agreed and, though some were quite rowdy, we were able to explain part of the >restoration with them and we even got them to respond to our questions and to share their knowledge of the Bible a bit.  It was great!  :D  But, there came a point where they just couldn't listen anymore because they wanted to go off and walk around the city, so we left a couple pamphlets and invited them all to English course.  One of the girls was especially excited about this and she asked us at the end, "Can I hug you guys?"  (She loved us because we are from America). So we hugged her and then we were on our way when she called back to us, jokingly saying, "Hey!  When you go back to CA, you will take me with you, right?"  Then, I responded, lifting my eyebrow and joking back with her, "Hmmmm... ci pensiamo."  They all laughed, said Ciao and walked away.  It was a really cool experience.  :)

Hmmmm... what else can I share with you all?  Allora, we also have these new investigators named Cornelia and Vittoria who I absolutely loooove!  :D  They are both from Romania and they are here in Italy for work.  It has been really nice teaching them because Cornelia is so positive about our message and she invited Vittoria to come listen to us with her.  It was really cool!  We are not quite sure how much Vittoria Understands, but we took President's advice from Zone conference and we invited them to baptism right then and there!  :D  They agreed and we set a date for the 5th for them both.  Before anything is certain though, we want to make 100% sure that Vittoria understands our message.  Cornelia capisce, me we want to make sure that, if they are converted to the Gospel, that they understand and are able to have a lasting and true conversion through which they can be converted by the Holy Ghost and not us.  That is truly the purpose of our work; to invite people to come unto Christ, and to explain things to them and to tell them how they can make progress towards having a testimony if they so choose to make those steps.  

Hmmmm..... I believe that is it!  :D  I love you guys and I hope that you all have an amaz-a-zing week full of miracles!  Miracles happen to each one of us every day, we just have to open up our hearts to our Savior, Jesus Christ and recognize that He really does have a huge presence in our lives.  Ciao for now!

Vi voglio beeeeene!  ;D

Sorella Cherrington

PS- Sorry for no photos this week, I forgot my camera in casa...  Next week, though!  :D  Love you guys!  And solo 1 month and a half till I hit my year mark! woo hoo!  

Taranto Zone Conference March 6?

Taranto Zone Conference March 6?

Taranto Zone Conference - Mission President on the right: President Waddoups

Taranto Zone Conference.  Love this picture of Corey! 

Corey's current companion is on the left, Sorella Bradford and on the left is Sorella Hibbert who was one of her first companions in Ostia.  

Trying to Connect the all the dots!

Zone Conference Hymns!!

The Senior Missionary Couple in Taranto:  Anziano and Sorella Franceschini!!  :)

Everyone at Taranto Zone Conference.  Smile :)