Sorella Rachel Riley: 18 months in northern Italy: Week 68

car selfies :)

....and there goes another week!

-we had a member family mark a Spanish BOM with their favorite scriptures and set a goal to give it away last week. On our daily stroll through the park, we came across a man sitting on a bench, reading a book. We talked to him and he was super friendly...but only spoke Spanish. Didn't have the Book with us though. We were able to communicate a little, and told him we had a book in Spanish and we said we'd run home and grab it. So we did! He was surely a bit surprised at this whole event but pleased and opened up and read the introduction, which sparked his interest. He's from Venezuela and was visiting his daughter who lives here. That was a cool little experience!

- the other day we had an appointment cancel on us and were a little bummed about that. A few mins later we got a call from an unknown number. It was a guy named Paolo who was in Brixen with his girlfriend and they wanted to talk to us! Crazy, this never happens! We dropped what we were doing and sprint-walked to the station. There we met them. Turns put Paolo and Maria were vagabonds, looking for help. They had been helped out by an LDS Bishop once before so thought us missionaries would also give hand-outs. He wanted specifically for us to let them sleep in the church for the night, even begging us to call members and ask them to host these people. Long story short he became super salty as we left without giving him anything. We were a little disappointed because we had gotten super excited for the miracle investigators we were about to meet.

- talked to a lady who was once a foreign exchange student and lived with a family in Utah and got to know the church, etc. She couldn't get over the fact that the daughter was top of her class and then just got married and became a mom and seemingly threw away her potential. There was a lot I wanted to say in response to that, but it would have taken a while, so I told her how grateful I am that my mom chose to be "just" a stay at home mom and raise 5 kids. I'm so grateful to be raised in a family & church society that places importance where it belongs: the family. What could be more fulfilling, and what could do more good in the world than raising a strong posterity?!?!

- had another road trip to Verona. Those are always a blast!

I love y'all!

Sorella Riley

P.S. this email isn't very coherent but neither are my thoughts