Poem: Will you forget me?

Yesterday during companionship study, my companion expressed a fear she's always had about being forgotten. She said growing up in a military family, she moved around a lot and always feared her friends from city to city would forget her. Then she recounted how she pictured her leaving Heaven probably went, with her asking Heavenly Father if He would forget her, and Him reassuring her that that was impossible. 

Then I was reading in Helaman 12 about how quickly the people forgot the Lord and fell back into their own ways, and I just got thinking about how He never forgets us but we forget Him so easily sometimes. 

Then I had one of the weirdest spiritual promptings ever, where the spirit told me to write a poem. I haven't written a poem since the 8th grade, so I tried to ignore it, but for some reason it just kept coming back. And then addiritura I felt prompted to send it home. So here's a copy! It was one of the stranger personal studies I've had, but it was probably one of the most spiritual. 

Will you forget me?

The plan is set, we're all lined up 

And through the veil we'll go

To live and learn and grow and love

On our new earth down below

Millions of brothers, millions of sisters

All watching patiently 

And then there's you, near the end of the line

Over infinite heads you can see

There goes Adam! There goes Eve!

Then Abraham, Moses, now Ruth! 

One by one, they're going so fast

Now the line's starting to move 

You see them all go, they're great and they're strong 

You realize that you're just one

One little child, so small and so scared

And really, you don't know a ton

But now it's too late, it's already your turn

The line is right down to the end

He's waiting for you, to send you on down

Your father, your dad, your friend 

You stop right there, your head hanging down

At the thought of your next great task 

So you stare at the ground and quietly say

"Dad, I just have to ask 

"Where will I go? And how will I find

The path that will bring me back home?

Who is my mom and who is my dad

And siblings, will I at least have some?"

"And what if I fall? What if I fail?

Who am I even supposed to be?

And Father, one question that scares me the most

Is will you forget about me?" 

His hands take your own and He looks in your eyes,

That way that Fathers do.

"My child," he says, "I've not left you alone

The way is prepared for you."

"You'll have scriptures and prophets, bishops and priests

All there to show you the way. 

Your mother and father are already there

Waiting to teach you to play"

"You'll stumble and fall, of that I am sure

But don't fret, I have a plan.

Your elder brother has already gone 

When you can't, I promise He can."

"He knows how you'll feel, the pains you may have 

Through Him, your wrongs can be right 

And at the end of it all, my arms will be here

Waiting to hold you tight."

You look in His eyes and to your surprise 

Out comes one little tear. 

How could He cry, so perfect and great

What does he have to fear?

"What I fear, my love," knowing your thoughts,

"Is that during your new journey

You may lose track of my perfect plan 

And that YOU will forget about ME"

"With all the distractions, the news and the noise 

Your thoughts may be in disarray,

But please little one, don't forget to look up 

And please don't forget to pray."

"I'm always here waiting to help you along 

To know who you're supposed to be.

I remember you always, my precious child

Please don't forget about me"

Week 58: Mission Conference

This week we had mission conference, which was absolutely incredible. (More on lessons learned later) Almost all do the missionaries came up to Rome, so I got to see most of my old districts and companions! I realized how much like family they are to me. I'm so grateful for the friendships I've made in the mission, both with the Italians and the people I've served with. Another thing I learned is that being and STL in the center of Rome makes you the hotel for any sisters that need to come through. So this week we had 8 sisters in our apartment. And it was a mad house. On top of that, Sorella Decker and I were gone for Mission Leadership Conference, leaving behind two brand new missionaries to take care of 6 sisters. We were very proud of how well they seemed to be handling it, until about halfway through our lunch we got a call saying that they'd lost a sister at the biggest train station in Rome, and after an hour and a half they still couldn't find her. We found the sister and everything turned out ok, but I felt like a mom who kept getting phone calls from the babysitter to tell her that there was absolute chaos in the house. 

After Mission Conference both Sorella Brooks and I felt like we should give our house to house find one more try before referring her to the temple sisters in April. We found her a couple weeks ago, but she lives far enoug away that going to her house is a big time investment. So we fasted and prayed throughout the week in hopes that she would be home. And she was!! And better than that, she let us in and we got to teach her the restoration! She's watched the temple construction for 10 years and was so curious to know what it was about. We're so excited to go back and continue teaching her!!

I feel so blessed to be serving in a place where there's a new temple. I have never had easier finding! People are so curious about the temple and so interested to know why we're building one. These past weeks have been filled with finding where we bear our testimonies about eternal families and all the blessings we recieve when we follow Heavenly Father's plan. The temple brings such an incredible spirit to this whole city, and I can't wait to be able to go inside again. 

On Thursday we got to hear from Elder Massimo De Feo!! Our ITALIAN general authority! We were feeling pretty blessed because we heard from someone who served in our mission, then lived in our mission as a stake president. His comments and trainings were so helpful. He first talked about the Mantle of a Missionary. He said the worst thing we can do is try to cut and paste the Mantle to make it fit us. Instead we have to improve, find a higher plane of thought, and use the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to try and grow to fit the mantle. So it's never about "What more can I do?" It's about "What more can I become?" This is so applicable to everything we do in this life! Our purpose here is to prepare to meet Heavenly Father and become as much like Jesus Christ as we can. So it's really not about cramming our schedules full of every possible activity so we can be busy and therefore successful. It's more about focusing on how we can grow and who we can become! I know that the way we can become happier, more hopeful, and generally better people is by following the example of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for His life and His example. 

I love you all! 

Sorella Maxfield

Week 57: Italian travel tips from the heart of Rome

Italian Travel Tip #1: Never Eat Your Pasta on the Go. We learned that the hard way this week. My companion had made a pasta that could have served a battalion of missionaries, but unfortunately we had to run a sister to the train station halfway through our pranzo time. So we did what any sane and hungry person would do, and we put our pasta in a Tupperware and just kept eating as we traveled. We were on the metro, enjoying our pasta, when all of a sudden the man across from us just starts screaming at us. He was saying things like "I can't believe how disgusting you are" and "This is disrespecting my culture, go back to America" and "you didn't even bring bread to eat the rest of the sauce, this is disgraceful." I considered offering him a little, but decided it was better to just keep eating and ignore it. Then a train official starts yelling back at him and telling him that she had the authority to arrest him if he kept harassing us. And what does this angry little Italian man do? He gets up in her face now and starts yelling until the metro doors open and he sprints off. 

Italian Travel Tip #2: Avoid Italian Hospitals When Possible. This week I decided to be an adult and try to fix what I thought was an ear infection. So the nurse told me to go get it checked out at the pronto soccorso. I could be wrong, but I'm almost positive that the word "waiting room" has an Italian derivative because we did a fair share of waiting there. Four hours of it, to be exact. Fortunately we found out that I don't have an ear infection. But they also told me they weren't sure what was wrong, and I should take 6 different medications in an attempt to figure it out. 

But, the best parts of our week were not that yelling Italian man and the crazy hospital, but were the times we got to teach and hear from Elder Brent H. Nielson. 

We met with a great family this week and played the game about having a testimony of Christ. The way it works is every round you have to eliminate something you could live with out. So it starts out with things like nature and movies and clothes, but by the end the options left are scriptures and churches and family and a testimony of Jesus Christ. Everytime I've played the game, the only thing left is a testimony of Jesus Christ. It's the most important thing we can have. After sharing this game with the cute Columbian family, the mom said in her broken Italian, "Jesus Christ is our joy and our hope. How could we live without him?" I know that that's true. Our testimonies of Jesus Christ are the most important things we can have with us in this life and the one to come. 

We also had the chance to hear from Elder Brent H Nielson this week, head of the missionary department. He shared a message about using the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He said we use this power when we "Submit cheerfully and with patience" to the trials that Heavenly Father allows us to face. That phrase is all throughout all the scriptures and is our key to finding strength through Jesus Christ. After explaining that he said, "So. If we came to this earth to learn through our trials, why is it that everytime we get one we freak out?" That hit me so hard! Why do we freak out everytime we get a trial? Why do we ask why me? We literally agreed to so this! And through those trials we have the chance to grow closer to our Savior through the enabling power of His Atonement. I know it's a lot easier to say that than to apply it during trials, but I loved how he helped me to really change my mentality about trials. 

I know this church is true and I'm so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and His Atoning Sacrifice. 

I love you all!!

Sorella Maxfield 

Week 56: I love to see the temple

As many of you know, we eat our fair share of pasta, pizza, and gelato in this mission. As a consequence, we should be counteracting that with a lot of physical exercise. This has been a constant struggle for me as a girl who really likes the food and really hates the cardio. In these past weeks though, Sorella Brooks has written up an exercise plan to get the Sorelle of Rome 2 back into shape. I think she's trying to turn our house into her own mini battalion of air force cadets. Our poor neighbors probably wake up to the scene of Sorella Brooks barking exercise orders at three wheezing sisters. Has this strict regimen convinced me to cut down any of my pasta, pizza, or gelato intake? Absolutely not, sir. 

Outside of just health benefits, Sorella Brook's military background has made our finding improve so much! She says good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to everyone. Everyone. And we've really had some cool conversations come from her friendliness. Our coolest experience this week was on Thursday. We were out finding, and as we walked out of our apartment, I had a weird instinct to walk the opposite way that we usually go. So we walked down, and I felt another instinct to walk into what looked like a very sketchy and very empty looking park. We walked in, and sure enough, it was very sketchy and very empty. We walked to the other end, and I saw two teenage boys facing away from us smoking. And I felt the strongest impression to go over to them. But I absolutely did not want to. So I turned to Sorella Brooks and said "the spirit is telling me to go over and talk to those boys in the middle of this sketchy park but I am so scared to walk over there. " And she said "sorella. You can't ever deny the spirit." And so we just marched right over to them, and I was dying of fear. But as we got closer we saw they were with two girls. We started to introduce ourselves, and immediately one of the girls interrupted us and said we had stopped her a couple days prior and invited her to see the temple. Just like that, we got to talk with four teenagers about the temple and the chance they have to go see it in the winter, and the blessings that come from the temples. It was so cool to see how the spirit really was guiding us and what blessings come when we follow those promptings. (Even when the prompting seems completely insane)

To finish off my email, I just want to bear my testimony about the power of temples. I am so grateful for all the work that happens in His temples. We can participate in the most important work that there is! We can be sealed to our families for eternity! And we can sit and think and ponder in the house of our Heavenly Father! I am so grateful to finally be serving in an area with a (almost dedicated) temple. The outer beauty is just a small reflection of what beautiful promises we can make inside. I love the temple and I love my Heavenly Father. 

Lots of love,

Sorella Maxfield

Week 55: It's getting so rainy here that even the dogs are wearing jackets....

This week I counted 17 dogs wearing rain jackets, and as I'm writing this another 2 just walked by. If that doesn't sum up this week's events in Italian culture and weather, I don't know what could. 

We've been caught in the most rainy season as a new companionship still trying to figure out our way around this giant city. Unfortunately, this week was filled with a lot of errand running and logistical things, because I learned that as a trainer you're responsible for a lot more than just helping your companion learn the language. Other necessary responsibilities include, but are not limited to: 1) teaching your new missionary that, no, you can't only live off of gelato and nutella, 2) translating any medicines needed into italian and hoping your new missionary doesn't ends up with their prescription and not some laxative, 3) filling out piles of paperwork so that the new missionary doesn't get deported. 

Some other fun Sorella Brooks quotes this week:

"In ROTC training I had to have 40 grams of protein every meal so I could get gains"

"Why does my memory just go to the chop shop in the morning?"

"I'm really digging this whole pranzo thing"

I just adore her. 

In the time we did have for normal missionary work, we were on an exchange! So Sorella Chadbolt from Canada came here and we went finding. But here's what I love about finding in Rome: We were able to go finding in the homes right by the temple! Typically house to house isn't terribly effective in this mission, but I had had the feeling this whole week, that there would be people living near the temple who would be ready to hear about our church. And sure enough, thanks to the longgg construction process of the Rome Temple, many people knew who we were and had some interest! One woman in particular started asking us question after question and we ended up teaching parts of several of the lessons. Finally she just said that all this probably requires a series of lessons or something, and that it might just be better if we came back to visit her at her house the next week. So we're looking forward to that! 

This week I saw God's hand in my life everyday, but the most prominent was yesterday. Being in a ward with another set of sisters is hard. Being in a ward with 10 missionaries is even harder. And being the only set that is a completely new companionship in the area was very overwhelming for me. We didn't know what classes to go to, which members we needed to set up meetings with, or even where to find the relief society. So I spent most of Sunday school praying that we would find a way to integrate ourselves into the ward, even though the members already habe relationships with all the other missionaries. After we finished third hour, we decided to hang around and say goodbye to people as they left. Two separate families came up to us as they left and told us to come over in the next week because they had referrals for us. I was floored. Heavenly Father answers prayers. It was an amazing testimony that He is aware of our individual situations and that He is really waiting to reach out to us. 

I know this gospel is true and I know we have a Heavenly Father who loves us. And I love being His missionary!

Sorella Maxfield