Week 23 in Italy

Well, it's been a wild week here in Sanremo. We started out with a scambio with our sister training leaders. I stayed here in Sanremo with Sorella Astel again, and Sorella Bucco went to Genova with Sorella Ball. I have gotten very used to taking trains and public transportation.

On saturday night, we had a mini golf activity. We had a few of the men in the branch show up. It was really fun! Went to bed that night and woke up sunday morning with 64 mosqito bites. That was interesting. Literally eaten alive.

My birthday was great! I woke up to a fresh pan of brownies and signs all over our office room for my birthday! My companion is awesome. We had a great district meeting with shakes and fry bread, we worked, we ate, and we had a great little festa at our branch presidents house. It was super fun!

Tuesday, we had a lunch appointment with Mirium and Maurizio. Usually we are home for lunch though. So anyway. We left our house at 1 and we were home by 2:30. We got out of the elevator and walked to our front door to find that it was slightly open, our door mat that is normally outside had been moved inside, and sorella Bucco's jewelry bag was dropped right by the door and it was a huge mess. I looked in a little further and saw that our bedroom was a mess and the new pair of pants i had bought was thrown out of the bag. I obviously knew that someone had broken into

our home. I just didn't know if they were still there or not. Sorella Bucco had been on the phone so she wasn't really aware of what was happening. I looked at her and said " someone was in our house, we need to go!!!!!!" so we jump back in the elevator, got out of the building, and called mirium and maurizio to see if they could come and walk through our house with us. We didn't want to go alone just in case. So they came back. We went back up and got a closer look at everything. They had broken through our normal door lock because we hadn't locked the 4 dead bolt lock. (our fault. we know.) They pulled out pictures and went through everything. But they took nothing. The only thing we lost was my necklace that I got from Elva and Grandpa larry for my 16th birthday. I'm super sad about that.. But I know it could have been so much worse.

We called the police man from our branch and he helped us file a report. Then we cleaned our house up, locked our house down, and just tried to not cry. It was a really rough night. But we received priesthood blessings this morning and we will be having our house blessed later today. I know that God is watching out for us and is protecting us. Prayers would be appreciated. Mainly we just feel violated and still a little bit scared. But it will be okay.

I am grateful for the power of the priesthood and I am grateful for the protection and safety that God gives to His servants. I am just grateful for the power of prayer and for the little miracles that happened yesterday. We weren't at home when they came, they didn't take really anything, and someone is coming to fix our door at some point in time today. (It won't shut all the way.)

I love all of you. I know that we each have trials and challenges that we will have to face. We might ask why it's happening, we might lie awake at night unable to sleep, we might cry, and feel incapable of doing anything. But we can ALWAYS take strength from the power of the Atonement of Christ. When there is no one and nothing else to rely on, He is always there.

On a lighter note, our little Roberto will be baptized on friday! yay! We are so happy and excited for him. He passed his interview and he is so excited! We will send pictures next week. 

love, handshakes, and highfives, 

Sorella Tokarski

Week 22 in Italy

Wow. No time! I'll hurry and write all the great things that happened this week.

We had an awesome branch dance party activity friday night. Big success. We had like 20ish people there!! So much fun!! We have a wonderful 9 year old boy that we are teaching and his baptism is next friday! We are finishing up teaching him the first 5 lessons so that he will be ready for his interview this saturday! I love Roberto so much! And it has been so great to learn how to teach the gospel in a much simpler way. It's the way we should teach it to everyone!

We also were going through former investigators in our phone. We found a woman a couple of weeks ago and have been teaching her. It turns out that she has a tumor and only has months to live. She is currently staying in Hospice. She is mildly crazy and our visits with her are never boring. She is great. She is very catholic but continues to say that if she feels it's right, she would happily change. And when I say she is mildly crazy, I mean very crazy. But we just love her so much and we are enjoying spending time with her.

We also went to visit another less active member in the mental hospital. She is struggling. When I look her in the eyes, I feel a little bit of her suffering. I know that her spirit is suffering and it's hard to see. But we continue to love her and serve her in any way that we can.

Also. We were sick for two days this last week. So that wasn't fun. But it happens.

We have a scambio tomorrow, which just means that one of my sister training leaders will come to my city and work with me here and my companion will go to the sister training leaders city to work with the other sister training leader for a day. I love scambios! They're fun. It's just hard to get very much done because of travel time. But it will be great!

And we have another great activity planned for friday night. We'll be playing mini golf! We are working really hard to help unite our branch. It's resulted in a lot of fun memories so far!!

I love my mission! I love being a missionary. I'm enjoying my last few days of being a teenager. Weird... Anyway. I love you all! 

Talk to you all next week. :) 

love, sorella tokarski 

Week 21 in Italy

Well, it was a wild week. It went super fast. Lots of ups and downs.

First the downs. We had to let go of three of our investigators with baptismal dates this week. :( 

One of them refused to talk to us, one of them isn't interested any more, and the other one sent us a text telling us that she needed to take her spiritual walk without us. I am crushed. My heart just broke for each of them. These are people that we have been teaching for a while now.. I saw their individual testimonies starting to grow. We had incredible spiritual experiences with each of them. And now they've chosen to walk away. It just tears you up inside. It's so hard.

Then we went over to visit the home of three new converts and they had just had a huge argument to the point that police were called and everything. The mom had to leave to go do something for work. We talked with the two teenagers for a bit about repentance, forgiveness, and pride. It was a really bad situation. It was heartbreaking. But we were able to leave them in peace and on good terms.

Needless to say, it was an intense week. But on the positive side, our other investigator with a baptismal date came to church on sunday with his mom who hasn't been to church in a LOOOONG time! It was soooo awesome! My heart literally exploded when we saw them in the chapel. It was so beautiful. I am so excited to keep teaching our firey 9 year old Roberto and to watch him and his family progress together. 

That's basically it for the week. It went by so fast.

We had a great activity on Saturday where we (the missionaries) and a few of the members of the branch had a picnic and played frisbee and soccer! Yes. I actually played sports for fun. It was awesome!! We had a great time. We will be having another activity this friday night. It will be a big dance fest. Big meaning hopefully about 15 people will show up. hahaha. I love being in a branch. It will be a lot of fun. We are working really hard right now to unite the members so that we have a good environment to bring our investigators into. It should be a great weekend! I love you all.

Even though there are so many constant ups and downs as a missionary, it is truly the greatest thing in the entire world. I am so happy to be here. Even when our hearts break and tears fall. There is nothing better that I could be doing right now than this. I get to feel a small part of the love that Heavenly Father has for each of His children. It is an incredible blessing. It also makes rejection and watching people give up or walk away a LOT harder. But it is worth it.

I am grateful for my companion. We never cease to have a good laugh, have a random dance party, or turn a bad situation in to a better one with some gelato. I am truly grateful that I don't have to do this alone. I am grateful for my two companions that are with me literally 24/7. Sorella Bucco, and My Savior Jesus Christ. 

Thank you all for your support and prayers.

Talk to you next week. 

Sorella Tokarski

Week 20 in Italy

Wow. What a week. Happy birthday America! We had a great meal at a members house. They hung an american flag and everything! They're great. We took a 45 minute bus ride up into the hills to their house. It was gorgeous!! We had 5 meal appointments this week... That goes down in history!!! I love these people, but let me just say, I will be excited to be able to serve my own portions again some day. hahaha. When they feed us, we start out with a full plate of pasta. We're talking covering the whole plate and then some. LOTS of pasta. And then, there's a serving of meat and some sort of vegetable. Then there's a salad and some sort of bread. And then there's a fruit. And then there's a dessert. These people don't mess around with their meals... Needless to say, the skirts were fitting a bit tighter by the end of the week.

Well folks, I have been a full time missionary for 6 months now. It's hard for me to believe that a third of my mission is already over! I honestly can't imagine that day when I'll be a returned missionary. I refuse to say "the day my mission ends" because really, my mission will never end. It started the day I got baptized and there will never be an end. Sharing the gospel and being a missionary is something eternal.
 

I love my mission. I love being a missionary. It's such a special calling to be set apart LITERALLY for this short period of time. All faults and weaknesses are magnified, and strengths sometimes become new weaknesses. But during this time of being set apart, every moment of my day is focused on service, change, growth, learning, loving, following the spirit, and trying to be obedient. There is no better setting to change myself than in this safe and set apart missionary bubble. Away from several of the worldly temptations, the temptations become wanting to sleep in, not diligently studying, taking too long of a lunch break etc. It's so hard some days to find the motivation to just work. But I know that every single moment of this time does not belong to me. I am here to serve my brothers and sisters whom I LOVE. My salvation will partially be based off of how I use this time. When I remember those two things, it's a little bit easier to get up and go. I love these people here so much. I desire their eternal happiness. And when I flip my thoughts from my own selfish desires, I am again motivated to work. My heart aches when they don't keep commitments or choose to not progress. It aches not because I am sad for myself, but because I am so sad for Heavenly Father. I know He watches every one of His children. He desires their safe return. I have the sacred privilege of sharing that with them. I have the special authority of personally representing Jesus Christ and inviting others to make choices and steps that will lead them back home. Although full time missionaries have this special authority right now, it doesn't change the fact that our duty as members of the church will ALWAYS be to invite others to come unto Christ. I take comfort in knowing that my calling as a missionary is eternal and doesn't end when I am released.

Participating in the work of salvation is the single greatest and most meaningful thing I have ever done in my life. Please, don't wait until you have a tag to feel this joy and meaningful purpose in your lives. I promise you that your hearts will change, your desires, thoughts, and feelings will change. The gospel will be rooted more deeply rooted in your hearts. You will feel a greater appreciation for Heavenly Father and His children. You will feel a profound influence of the atonement and more gratitude for what Christ sacrificed for us. But more importantly, you will understand a little bit better how much He and Heavenly Father love every single one of us. You will feel the pure love of Christ work in your life, as the attribute of charity develops naturally through your service to God's children.

I have such a testimony of the importance of doing missionary work and the power that it has to change lives on both ends of the situation. I love this work and I plan to do it every single day for the rest of my life. 

I love you all. I have felt the power of your prayers this week. I have needed the extra strength and support, and it has been there. Thank you. 

Be good! 

Love, 

Sorella Tokarski 

Week 19 in Italy

This week was good. I love my new companion. She is wonderful. She is a hard worker. She speaks italian very well, and she is an incredible teacher. She is a convert to the church and she has such a strong testimony. We are really going to make the most of the last 6 weeks of her mission. 

We basically just taught, and ate, and walked this week. It was lovely! 

For p-day, Mirium and Maurizio took us up into the mountains and we went on a hike through the woods and had a picnic. It was wonderful! And scary. But great. I love them so much. They feel so much like family to me. We just laugh together and talk and make wonderful memories. They will be two of my best friends for the rest of my life. 

The lesson that I learned this week, for the millionth time, is how all powerful and all encompassing the atonement is. It doesn't matter what circumstance, situation, or trial you may be in, you can gain strength, receive forgiveness, and feel the pure love of Christ through the atonement. The full effect of the atonement won't take place immediately. But as I have prayed to feel the healing power of the atonement in my life, I have felt the comfort and the peace in knowing that everything will work out the way it needs to in the end. When my heart breaks, his love is there to bind it carefully and sometimes slowly back up. I am so grateful for my savior. I love Him and I feel so blessed to be one of His full time servants right now. 

I also gained an even stronger testimony of the power of the priesthood. I received a priesthood blessing for my back and because I'm starting to come down with some weird sickness slash cold this week. In the blessing there were things mentioned that didn't really make sense. But as the week went on, it was very clear to me that Heavenly Father knows me personally. He knows exactly what will happen, and when it will happen. He spoke to me through that priesthood blessing blessing me with things that I would have BIG need within the next few days. I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood and that we can hear God's direct message to us through priesthood blessings. 

I love being a missionary. It has brought me the most joy I have ever felt in my life. I am so grateful for the wonderful people that I get to be around and work with every single day. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is true and I have no shame in declaring it from the hill tops of Sanremo. 

Have a wonderful week. 

Love, 

Sorella Tokarski