May 25, 2015

Carissimi Miei,

Hello everyone! Happy p-day! Can you believe that the month of may is almost over?! What the devil! This one seriously just flew by. It feels like I just got to crotone, but somehow or another another month and another transfer has gone by. We got our transfer calls this week and it is confirmed that I will be finishing my mission here in Crotone! Which I am thrilled about :) we have so many incredible things going on over here and I am so excited to finish out working with these people. Sorella McFarland, however, is being sent to the blessed land of Palermo! I have been talking her ear off about it for days. Haha so you know what that means, I will be getting a new companion. Her name is Sorella Puzey and she is in the same group as Sorella Jones, so she has been serving for about 6 months now. I have never met her but I have heard great things about her, so I am excited to start working with her. It will be sad to see Sorella McFarland go though, I have really loved serving with her. But also with these transfer calls we got some fantastic news - sorella jones will be coming to serve in the calabria zone! Which means that I will get to do exchanges with her these last few weeks, so I couldn't be more thrilled about that. So that is what this next transfer has in store!

The work here is going great, growing more and more each day. This week we saw a lot of progress with our investigators, which is so exciting. This week we were able to meet with Juliette and fix a baptismal date! She is now officially preparing herself to be baptized on the 20th of June :) obviously we are thrilled about that. She is continuing to listen to the Book of Mormon and her testimony is growing day by day. This week she brought her sister and a few of her friends to church and during the gospel priciples lesson she bore her testimony about how the leaders in our church are real prophets of god. So awesome! 

This week we also saw a lot of progress with Slesia. More than anything else our relationship with her grew a lot. She was having a bit of a rough week so we decided to take a step back from the lessons and just take some time to talk with her. During one of our lessons we felt like we needed to show her the talk "forget me not" by President Uchtdorf. She absolutely loved it! At the end we were able to have a discussion about what he said and she told us how listening to his words helped her feel at peace, and that she was a loved daughter of God. Such a rewarding moment as a missionary - to be part of the process of helping someone else feel the love that God has for them. She texted us a few days later asking for the website where we watched the talk so that she could listen to it again. She came to church as well and seemed to really love it. It is so exciting to see the progress she is making. 

This week we also continued to work with one of less active families that we delivered brownies to. Their names are Sorella Tristaino and her daughter, Valentina. This week when we visited we felt like we needed to talk to them about temples and try to help them have a goal to go there. The lesson went really well, they absolutely loved listening to everything we had to say about temples and the love of God that we can feel while we are there. It was really incredible to see the complete change of heart that they had in comparison to the first few times that we tried to stop by and do small little spiritual thoughts together. There was a pretty incredible spirit when we talked about the temples that really touched them. Such an incredible blessing that our Heavenly Father has given us.

And to finish off we've got a highlight from the week. But it has some background, so let me explain. This week sorella McFarland and I decided that we wanted to focus on serving the members. The problem is that if you just go up to someone and say "how can I serve you?" most of the time they wont tell you anything that you can do. So we decided that to serve the member we wanted go and "heart attack" them. This week we had planned to attack the Sarcone family. I dont remember if I have already said this, but our investigator Roberta is the daughter in law of the Sarcone family. So yesterday we walked over to their house with all of our cut out hearts in a bag ready to do the deed, when we noticed that their was someone out on their front porch. As week got closer we realized that it was Roberta, and just as we were about turn and bolt she saw us -- caught red handed in the act. Words can't describe the look of pure confusion on her face. Haha she called out her mother in law, sister sarcone, who looked equally confused, and asked what we were doing. The only thing we could think to respond was "oh we are just passing by to say hi, we have a little thought that we want to share with you." Then horror filled our whole souls as we realized that we had to walk into this families home with nothing but a poorly cut out, wrinkled paper heart with a quote from president monson written on it. Haha I've never felt so sheepish. But they were nice about it, in the end we just ended up telling them the truth and we all laughed about it. What can ya do.

So needless to say, the work is going great and we are finding joy in the journey every step of the way. Thank you all so much for your constant love, support, and prayers. I am so grateful for each of you! Have a great week, talk to you soon :)

sorella marsh

May 18, 2015

Carissimi Miei,

Buongiorno a tutti! So great to hear from you all this week :) as always thank you for all of the pictures, videos, and emails! I'm so glad to hear that all is well back home.

As for me this week was a pretty crazy one. At the beginning of the week we headed off to Taranto for another scambio. Which went well! The city is absolutely beautiful there, and it is always a great experience to work with other missionaries and see their way of doing things. Also, I dont remember if I told you guys about this, but when Elder and Sister Teixiera came for the mission conference a few months ago sister Teixiera extended us an invite to read the Book of Mormon in 65 days. And while I was in Taranto I finished! But I need to explain. So while Elder and Sister Teixiera were here they did 3 mission conferences to cover all of the missionaries, if that makes sense. Basically they split all the missionaries up into 3 groups and did 3 conferences. However, not all 3 conferences were the same. Similar things were said, but also somethings that were different were said. Turns out the mission conference that I was at was the only one where Sister Teixiera extended that invite to the missionaries. As I finished the Book of Mormon I was thinking about why it was important for me to be at that conference and why I specifically needed to receive that invite. As I thought about what I had learned as I read the Book of Mormon I realized that this time through I felt like I had just gotten to know the Savior so much more. I came to a greater understanding of who He is and especially how much He loves us. I was pondering that and thinking about why it would be so important for me to know those things when I realized that this assignment was given to us during my last few weeks in rome and my first few weeks in crotone, where some of my main investigators have been Anna and Slesia - an atheist, and a buddhist. I think it was so important for me to read the book of mormon during this time to help me realize how powerfully it teaches of Christ to all people, despite their religious background.  Anyway, I dont know if any of that made sense, but just thought that I would share :) 

Then when we came back to crotone there was a HUGE catholic festival during the weekend and so the city was just packed with food booths, carnival games, and so many people. Which made missionary work a bit difficult, but we still made it work :)  Since proselyting wouldn't be the most effective during the big hours of the festival we decided that we would make brownies for some of the people we have been trying to working with and write them little notes to tell them that we love and appreciate them. We dropped them all off and didnt think anything of it, until the next day when we had two people set up appointments for us to visit them this week. So there you have it - the converting power of American sweets!

We did manage to squeeze some lessons in though, and things here are going well! Slesia is making a lot of progress. She has started reading in the Book of Mormon and so far she says she likes it. What is the greatest though is listening to how her prayers are becoming more sincere and more hearfelt. It is really beautiful. This week we also met with Roberta and she is doing well! We continued to talk about the plan of salvation, but this time we focused on the Atonement and its enabling power. She is incredible woman. All of the trials that she has gone through haven't shaken her faith in the slightest. This week we also saw some great progress with Juliette. For the first time ever she came to Relief Society! We have been pushing for weeks to get her to come to more than just sacrament meeting, and she finally came. Later that night we went to have a lesson with her and we focused on the prophet Joseph Smith. When we asked her why Joseph Smith was important she just smiled and said "he is so important because he helped us have the real church. He asked God and believed he would have an answer. And now we have the real church of Christ." She is so great. We are really excited about the progress she is making. 

So despite all the craziness it was a great week! Not to mention that Sorella McFarland and I earned another rite of passage as missionaries - this week we were popped on by a bird. The same bird, in fact. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. So now I can cross that one off the list. Haha but needless to say things are going well! Lots of exciting things going on over here, I am so grateful that I get to be a part of it. Love you all so much! Until next week :)

sorella marsh

May 11, 2915

Carissimi Miei,

It was SO great to see you all this week! Seriously I have just been on cloud 9 these past few days. Thanks everyone so much for making the skype call happen! I really am convinced that I am the most blessed sister missionary. And of course Happy Mother's day to our wonderful angel mother. What on earth would we do without her? Love you mom :) 

This week was a fantastic one for us here in Crotone! I have lots to tell you guys about. This week we got started on our exchanges with the other sisters so we had the sorelle from Cosenza with us for a few days, which was fantastic. Twice the amount of work done in the same amount of time, what more could you ask for? They are incredible missionaries too. We have been seeing lots of blessings from the work they did here with us. One of which includes our new investigator Slesia! She is so fantastic. So sorella McFarland and I actually met her at the beginning of the week just on the street. The day was almost over so we were on the way home when we saw one more person on the street, so we decided to stop her before heading home. She said she was interested in learning more so we set up a return appointment for a few days later. However because we were doing the scambio during that day Sorella McFarland and one of the sorelle from cosenza went to the lesson, and had wonderful things to report. Turns out that during that lessons she said that she felt like she never really found a religion that felt right to her, but in these days she tends towards buddhism. But she is filled with a desire to learn. She just soaks up everything that we teach to her and even better she is willing to act on it. She even accepted the invite to be baptized and came to church with us yesterday - for all three hours! She is fantastic, we are really excited to be working with her.

Another great miracle of the week - we contacted a long lost referral! So when I first got to the area there was the name Roberta on our board. She is the daughter in law of one of our members and was given as a referral a few months ago, if I remember right. The sorelle in the past tried to contact her and set up an appointment, but I guess it just never worked out. But this week while we were doing weekly planning we had a feeling that we should call her again, so we did. She picked up the phone and we asked her if we could come by to see her and she said "well I'm free this afternoon if you want to come by" to which we quickly responded yes. Haha so we headed over to her home and she is just the sweetest woman. Her husband passed away very tragically a few months ago so she is going through a very difficult time. Honestly it broke my heart listening to how much she was hurting. But I found so much comfort in knowing that we could give her exactly what she needed to heal. We left her with a pamphlet of the Plan of Salvation and we will go back this week to follow up on it. 

Our other investigators are doing great as well! We are continuing to work with Juliette, and this week we officially started working with her daughter Victory again! They are such a cute family and we think that we are going to see a lot of great things with them. Unfortunately we weren't able to see Rossana and Teresa again this week, but we are hoping to meet with them again soon. And the D'Agostino family is doing well. Unfortunately Raffaela has gotten pretty sick again, so we haven't been able to stop by in these days. But we hear from each other frequently on the phone and we hope to visit them soon. 

Needless to say, it has been a pretty incredible week :) I love doing the work of the Lord. We have got a few pretty exciting weeks ahead of us. After the conference with Elder Bednar President Waddoups announced that he has raised the standards of excellence for our mission. Which means we've got work to do! It is so exciting to be a part of though, and so rewarding to think that the work we are doing now is going to change the way that future missionaries will serve here in Italy. The Lord really is hastening His work, and I feel so blessed that I get to take a part in it. I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Sorella Marsh

May 4, 2015

Carissimi Miei,

Hello everyone! Can't believe we are already back here again. Feels weird writing again so soon! But just as great to hear from everyone :) thanks for your support and for writing each week. I am one incredibly blessed sister missionary - thank you thank you thank you! So today I want to give you a bit more of an update about life here in Crotone! The only problem is that by now I have no idea what I've already told you about, so apologies if I repeat some things. 

First off I'll tell you about the investigators we are working with. In these past few weeks we have spent a lot of time working with Juliette and her daughter Victory who is about 9 years old. They are from Nigeria and have both been meeting with the missionaries off and on for about 6 months. Right now we are trying really hard to work with them together as a family and help them progress towards baptism. It will be quite the progress, but they are so fantastic. The other day we were teaching a lesson about the importance of reading the scriptures and when I asked Juliette why she thought it was important to read the scriptures everyday she said "because the scriptures are like a medicine. If we do not take we will be sick." I loved that! They are such a cute family. She has one other little boy as well, his name is Elliot. He is about a year and a half and he has stolen my heart. This week he has officially learned to call me marsh :)

As for our other investigators this past week we started working with a family! The sorelle met Rossana on the street before I got here, but we were just able to set up an appointment with her before leaving to Rome. When we got to her home Rossana, her daughter, and two sons all sat in on the lesson. We explained a little bit about our purpose as missionaries and did an introduction to the Book of Mormon and they absolutely loved it. They are going through a lot of trials as a family right now and are just seeking to be closer to God. They are really wonderful people. 

Here in Crotone we are also working with quite a few less actives, so I am thrilled about that. I wish I could tell you about all of them, but there is one story that I wanted to share. So one of the less actives that we are working with is named Daniella. She is married and has 2 kids, one of which is also baptized. Her name is Raffaela. When I first got to Crotone we called Daniella to see if we could pass by and visit and she told us that Raffaela wasn't well so they were in the hospital. Turns out Raffaela had to stay in the hospital for about a week, and throughout that time we visited her frequently. We would go and read stories from the Liahona, sing hymns, and play games to help her pass the time. It was a heartbreaking experience to see Raffaela so sick in the hospital, but it was pretty incredible to see that after that time their hearts had completely opened up. During our last visit before we left to Rome they were asking us when we could come visit them in their home to read more stories together. So we are excited about that :) and we've heard that Raffaela is doing much better as well. 

So that is a little bit more about life here in Crotone! We've been so blessed in seeing lots of miracles this week. We are definitely seeing some good things with the work here and we are excited to move forward. So it should be a great week! I love you all so much and I am so grateful for all you do for me. Can't wait to see you all on SATURDAY! Hooray :) 

a presto!

sorella marsh


***Note from Steph's mom: Stephanie gave me some information about the Sr. couple that is serving in Crotone.  They have some marvelous pictures on their blog http://bullockitalymission.blogspot.com
Here are some that are from when Steph first got to Crotone.

Branch members who were able to make the trip to Cosenza on Sunday 

Sorelle MacFarland and Marsh drove back to Crotone with the Bullocks

 Celebrating Sorella McFarland's birthday on April 27!

 Going to Rome for Elder Bednar's special training.   Airport hang out! The Airport is officially closed, but the workers continue to keep the place open. 

Only Ryan air flies in and out of here.

  Elder Williams has been playing a game with the missionaries  for weeks. They had been finding little stones about the apartment, really glass that has been broken and then ground and smoothed by ? and they turn into these stones that look like clear green stone. Sorella Bullock thought it was Sorella McFarland all this time and one of her Island traditions. BUT no it was Elder Williams, We we made necklaces out of them and worn them to Rome.

Missionaries at the mission home before a couple of them went home after honorably completing their missions.