Week 24 - Arrivederci Sorella Mia

This week has been all over the place. We were thrown into a trio, Sorella Barnes heads home to Utah tomorrow, we're receiving our transfer calls tonight, and somehow the weather has changed from freezing cold to burning hot all within a week.

We started out the week with a scambio in Pozzuoli. I was companions with Sorella McDonald for a day and she had planned a meeting with a new convert. This new convert lives a 50 minute bus ride from Pozzuoli, so we went straight to the bus stop once we switch companions. In proper southern Italian style, the bus came ninety minutes late and packed with people. After thirty minutes of being squished on all sides, a fight broke out between two women because one woman refused to let the other pass by. Then after the fight stopped, an man got on the bus and gave a twenty minute sermon. It was probably the most interesting bus ride of my life.

Two days later, we got a call from the Sorelle in Pozzuoli saying that Sorella McDonald was being transferred to Malta. So after two days of frantic packing, we sent her off, and Sorella Ellison came to be in a trio with us! Then we had another day of frantic packing, this time for Sorella Barnes. It was bittersweet to watch her go. I learned so many lessons from her about being a hardworking missionary and being a kinder, more charitable person.

My spiritual thought this week was prompted by the crazy, slightly stressful events of this week. I found myself becoming anxious and upset over the little frustrations this week. The rejections seemed to be harder, our investigators couldn't meet with us, and we had a huge list of things to get done. I went to bed stressed out and I woke up feeling the same way. Then, while talking with Sorella Barnes, she mentioned how she was apprehensive about going home because there were so many things she couldn't control. She described as "doing a trust fall with Heavenly Father." In a way, I felt that was true of many of the things that had been happening. We can't control everything in our lives and lots of times it feels like we're mid-trust fall,  without anyone to catch us. But He's always there, and will always. always. catch us. Our stresses and fears and worries won't always be taken away, but we can know that He'll be there guiding our lives and helping us grow in ways we can't imagine.

This spiritual thought is a little all over the place, so I just want to wrap it up with two of my favorite scriptures. Both of these being my comfort in my stresses and help me look at them with a greater perspective.
D&C 121:7-9 - 7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

Psalms 46:10 - Be still, and know that I am God:

I love you all so much!
Sorella Maxfield