When your lawnmower is actually a vacuum!

Holy crazy week!! Happy April Y'all:) Sorella Meager's Texan accent is rubbing off on me a little bit;) BUT....before I get to the fun stories, and miracles of the week, congrats to my little brother gav for receiving his mission call to Argentina! He leaves on my 1/2 mark...July 5:) so exciting!! Also, happy official 6 months to me today! lol weird it's already been that long! And yes subject line...well lawnmowers here are actually plugged into the wall and have super long cords to get around the yard...basically a vacuum, and me and Sorella Meager get the biggest kick out of it! She'll start wheezing, and I take on right after her...we are the 2 wheezers

Okay now, well...where to begin is the point..let's start with I totally ate it on the bus the other day..the step was a bit high to be wearing a pencil skirt and BAM....it was a good laugh

okay in all seriousness though, we've seen lots of miracles this week!

-met with our adorable Italian grandparents Ansen and Carla, and brought them banana bread:) we left them the Book of Mormon, and invited them to read it, and they were so excited! (Follow up in next weeks email) also grandma Carla knits all day everyday...like she's a basically a professional at this stuff

she gave us each a scarf and hat

so cute!

-we taught Sepideh and invited her to be baptized when she receives her answer. She said yes, and tonight We are setting a date with her, but seriously so awesome how some people are just so prepared!! She even mentioned how cool it is that we found the truth and now we are here sharing it with others...me and Sorella Meager are just thinking "YES, YES Sepideh, you're so right, this is true!!"

-sports night is a blast and President Allen wants our whole mission to do it now! Score

🏼 Paulo (an English class student) is quite the baller, and I taught him how to say cross up ankles in english

and he sure did cross up my ankles...surprised they aren't broken

it's such a fun time though we all play sports, and share a spiritual thought after, then head out for gelato...it's slowly growing bigger so in the coming weeks it's more than a few people who come..everything has to start somewhere right?

-we had family night with the furia family, and invited them to look for missionary opportunities to share the gospel with their friends. this is the lord's work, it's each of our responsibilities to help grow the kingdom of god, not just as missionaries, but through life in general, so we told the kids to bring friends to sports night, so hoping they follow through Saturday. :)

-we do "Mostra" every Saturday morning at the market with our zone...advertise English class with some fun American music, and homemade chocolate chip cookies...Italians love them! Me and Sorella Meager made ATON and accidentally burnt a whole batch so oops....ha those things were literally ROCKS...could've chipped a tooth on those, so we may or may not have had a throwing contest off our balcony

but hey we met a super awesome family at mostra

3 kids and their mama who we will set up an appointment to teach soon, but all of them wanna come to sports night so we're excited. :) also I made some YUM salsa this week, and brought it for our district when we watched conference together:) man I've missed that stuff! And peanut butter...never thought I'd say it, but a ppj sounds pretty good right now

-Pdays consist of zone sand volleyball which Literally is the best! We are super close, kinda like a big family:) last week, got some nice sunburns and went out for sushi after

🏽 today we played in the pouring rain...felt more like winter really..but nothing like wet sandy hair, and numb toes.

so much fun!

-we visited sweet Barbara this week, and wow guys this lady....she never seizes to amaze me

after watching mountains to climb (Mormon message...go watch it if you haven't), she opened up more than ever, pouring out her heart in tears how much she is struggling. As a little girl she was abused growing up, and now married to a very abusive husband who beats her, and divorce is very hard here in Italy...so the situation really just breaks my heart...and here we are, two 19 year old girls trying to tell Barbara there is a light at the end of the tunnel when really I don't know what lies ahead of her future, but I do know that God knows, and bore my testimony on faith and how faith is not just something we have, it's a way we live. We live in faith through our trials, cause in the end, that's what helps us see the light at the end of the tunnel...faith in Christ and god's plan for each of us individually. Then we talked about Jospeh smith, and all the trials and tribulations he went through, but he never gave up his testimony or said, "okay, I hate being tarred and feathered, I think I'm going to tell everyone I made up everything cause this is just too hard...." no he didn't because he knew how important this message is, the message of Christ's restored gospel...he knew it, he knew that god knew it, and he could not deny it. We just held Barbs hands and all cried for a good while...it was a very sweet spirit in the home

please keep her in your prayers!!

-in church...they asked this sweet little lady to give the prayer in sacrament, and it was a good 10 minute walk to the pulpit! Wow this little grams was at least in her early hundreds...i hope I never live that long

-at the grocery store near our home, there is this lady who is there everyday....so instead of just saying ciao and leaving, we went and bought her some bread, and stopped to talked to her. She is a refugee from Nigeria and we were talking about about our purpose as missionaries, and then she asked us if we are scared because the world we live in is so bad, and me and Sorella Meager were able to look her in the eyes and bare her our testimony about god and his plan for us. The world is yes a very scary place, but that's what is such a blessing to know this gospel, because we know these things are happening for the second coming of Christ. That alone Brings so so much peace to my heart. She asked us to bring her a bible, so we will along with a Book of Mormon. ;)

-and lastly...CONFERENCE!!! We weren't able to watch all of it cause we have been with Barbara helping her with some things, but I loved the parts I was able to watch

a quote from Elder Nelson I love was, "When we look unto the savior in every thought, our doubts and fears will leave." Its simple, but oh so true! The savior is the Source of peace, and as we put our trust and faith in him, we will overcome the power of the adversary. I've learned as a missionary one of Satan's greatest tools is fear, fear of rejection, fear of not knowing enough, or the language well enough, fear of talking to people...but as I have put my trust in our savior, he has helped me realize I can do hard things! We can all do hard things that that may seem impossible when our focus is on him, and he will feel our hearts with peace.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!

Love Sorella Rindlisbacher

Quote of the week:

"You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give." President Monson

-American festival with Barbara and her cute kiddos

let me tell y'all....Italians don't know what a real American festival is like! Some of the saddest ribs, and hamburgers I ever saw

but it was fun! Plus there was a mechanic bull, and made me miss rodeo a bit

Barbs is maybe 5' nothin... these italians are so dang small!

ya you'd think this is a sidewalk...cars drive on it too

-me and Sorella Meager wear these shirts to mostra! It catches some attention, and starts up good conversation;)

Met Giorgio at Mostra today.. he's a cool guy! Also looks like tarzan!

Watching conference with our district and I made everyone salsa :) I haven't had this stuff in forever! It's yum!

Hello Spring! And my glowing white legs haha

Sent this video on Dad's birthday last week!

Taking brownies for family night with the furias <3

Talking more about Barbaras situation is just so sad :( "She is in the saddest abusive relationship. Her hubby is muslim and is very abusive because of their difference in religion. He beats her, and threatens to kill her if she leaves.... we only go over when he leaves to France for work. And today at our lesson with her we watched mountains to climb. Then cried together and read some scriptures. Never have I cried like that in a lesson, nor Sorella Meager. Sweet Barbara is struggling so much, and has so much hurt inside. But this lady doesn't loose her faith, she is so so strong! I know why God sent me to Collegno, I needed to meet Barbara <3 She has changed my life!"