Sorella Wilcox♥

Kayla is doing so well. I am going to share paragraphs from some of her latest emails. They might not  be in order, but they will give you enough information to see how well she is. What a missionary my Daughter is! I love her and we miss her so very much. Her release date is March 26th as of now. They have changed it once on us so we are being flexible with this one. We thought she would be home on Feb. 12, but they changed that one. She has been in the Milan 2 district for quite a while now, we will hear Wed. if she is getting a transfer, she feels like she just might be.  The mission home address is the safest address to use for writing her. I will put it at the end of this email again in case anyone wants it.. Cards and letters is all she wants for Christmas this year, which is a good thing because packages just don't get to her very often. Enjoy the reading!!!
Ciao Madre Mia!

This week sped right on by! It is so weird how time flies and personally I am not the biggest fan. Well, thats not true, but it is a little. I want to just stay in Milan forever! Plus Slla Simons is pretty much my best friend. She is so incredible! We both have some pretty rank garlic breath right now because we made some bruschetta con aglio, pomodorini, olio di oliva, mozzarella e un po di oregano e sale. We over did it on the aglio (garlic) and it was SPICY! I brushed my teeth, swished mouth wash and chewed gum and Im still rank! But it was scrumpcious. I wrote what we ate in Italian so you can be oh so impressed with the gift of tongues and plus it sounds better in Italian. Doesnt everything though?
 Dont you worry, I am taking notes and am prepared to cook away for you when I get home! Slla Kone, a member here in Milano, taught us how to make an incredible pasta when we went to her house yesterday for lunch and invited us over for Christmas! Im praying Im still here. She is so great. She married an American who served in Milano 2 and speaks incredible english. She is so fun and said she would come visit me in Utah when they go to America.

We have some really great investigators right now too. We invited one to baptism yesterday, Elizabetta. She is african, but has lived here since she was 5 or so. Here meaning Italy, the south in Puglia. She is incredible! She told us she had been praying about whether to introduce us to her family or not and she decided that she should and the spirit was just so strong! She said once she knew that everything was true and she felt confident in the decision to be baptised, she would do it. Im so excited! The work here is growing slowly but surely. I betcha I will be speaking at her baptism too! He he he. I prayed a lot about my talk for Isaiah and I got some great insights. It is going to be two talks. One in Italian and one in English. Lots of Emily (his mom)'s friends only speak English and so I get to do it bi lingually. It really gives me chills to see how incredible the gift of tongues is. I mean honestly, who would have thought that this was even possible! To speak fluently two languages and just go back and forth between the two? I love it!

This week Maria is doing so good! Her mom has noticed a great difference in her and now wants to come to church! Can you believe that? Her mom accepted a book of mormon, but didnt want much of anything else. But now thanks to the example of Maria, she wants to come to church. We are lights unto the world and they do see us. Especially in families.
Elizabetta, our other investigator, is doing incredibly well. She is having spiritual experience after the other and really loving learning about the gospel. She doesnt really understand the apostacy, but she believes all of it. Valentina bore such sweet testimony about the scriptures to her that had us all near tears. She is a powerhouse! Marco doesnt have to work Sundays anymore and will give his first talk in Sacrament Meeting the 18th!
These people are incredible. Marco and Valentina are buying a car and they said that they are going to name it Wilcox. Yep. They are so funny! Marco said that I have to stay in Milano at least until Christmas and I hope so!
We found a new investigator! Her name is Martha and she has 3 adorable children. Antonio 6, Carolina 2 and Diana 6mos. Her husband left her because he didnt want to have they third child and she wouldnt abort it. We found her on the street a week or so ago and turns out we are next door neighbors! We finally got to see her and she is doing great! She agreed to have us back over and her children are so calm and well behaved. This gospel will bless her life so much.

I love the Germans! We went to Diechmann's ( store a billion miles away or so it felt) and they had MY SIZE!!! So I got some really nice brown shoes that are just what my doctor ordered (at least 3cm heel) and firm sides to keep my foot in place. Then These KNEE HIGH BOOTS!! Arent they beautiful! I am so excited! A year of walking paid off! Well, more ways than one, but I am thrilled. What do you think? I love them. Slla Simons approved them so I wouldnt just buy for looks and they feel great.About the journey, we had to go to Monza, a province outside Milano, and we had no idea where to go. So, naturally we were asking everyone. NO ONE KNEW! Every person we asked told us a different answer. Very frustrating.  It took us a good 2 hours to get there, but it was well worth it. We ended up having to walk across a construction site that would be closed when we tried to get back, but we took it with faith and went for it. Then, on our way back we were lost and inbetween two major interstates so crossing the streets were out of the question. We called the Elders there and they were going to have to come get us, but luckily Heavenly Father took care of his helpless daughters and Slla Simons felt inspiried to walk towards a buiding. By doing so, a bus drove past us, we followed the direciton it came from and found our bus stop!!! It was a miracle! We also invited a beautiful mom named Lucia and her 2 year old to hear our message and they said ok! Well, the mom did. Maybe Sunday, but we will see. I also talked to a girl on the bus who had a pug! She was so cute and agreed to have us over on Friday! Unfortunately, she lives just outside our area so the Elders get her...:( but its ok! She was adorable, mid 20s named Federica.

All worth it for these gorgeous shoes! Heavenly Father loves me.

This week we were inside a lot. The flu caught Slla Simons off guard and we were inside Sat-Monday. That may not sound like much, but oh, it is! There are times when Im so tired and would give just about anything for a nap, even the flu, and then we get it and are inside and I realize how much better it is to just be working! No, it was fun though. I got to be very experimental with my baking and made those yummy treats! Plus, after sleeping all day Sunday, Slla Simons was a rock star and got dressed up really fast, we snapped some pics and then she passed out again! That girl goes through Camomille tea like its nobodies business! Im partial to blueberry and mixed fruits from Bolivia, but that is just me. Herbal tea rocks! And its really cheap so we are drinking hot things that are good for us!
However, Thursday I went to a reflexologist , Sorella Darwish who is our Gospel Principles teacher, and she worked on my feet. It was so nice to finally be relaxed! I didnt realize how much stress I was under until she pushed on parts of my feet and I wanted to cry! She got me spot on in a lot of things too, like how my life was pretty serene until my mission and I got thrown into an environment where I had no control and it was hard, to when I had some really tough times here and how Ive seen and heard things I havent wanted too and instead of letting them run out of me Ive tried to supress them. There is a lot of nasty pictures on billboards, lots of dirty things in general that are normal now, but that isnt good either. But, she gave me some great advice on how to work out in the morning, how to relax at night and what to do for my bruises. I have really fragile veins and need to eat blueberries and other berries. So, slowly Im learning how to take care of myself. Which is great because in my P.B. Im told to take the best care of my health! Im learning how to on my mission! I wonder a lot how I would be without my mission and it make me want to cry!
We had a door knocking miracle this week! I have been really struggling with faith in doing casa and believing it works because I see so much success outside of doing that. But last friday, Slla Simons and I decided to be completely obedient and stick to our schedule. As a part of that, we decided to go do casa for out morning finding before programming. We had picked a street, but it didnt look very promising, but we decided to go down it anyway. Slla SImons then got a stomache ache out of nowhere and we thought it would be best if we went home. Then, we saw this apartment door wide open on our way back and decided to go in and knock doors. So, we were doing it, starting on floor 5 down to floor 1 and everyone either said no or they werent home. It was the last door, we decided to introduce ourselves as disciples of Christ and sing I am a Child of God at the door. A very pregnant woman answered to door and let us do just that. She then invited us into  her gorgeous home for a drink of water. We talked a little, taught about the family proc and set an appointment for Monday! She is married, this is their first daughter and they are from Puglia. Her name was Patrizia. On Monday we went back and taught the Restoration, but she couldnt see the difference from us and the Catholics, even though our lesson was clear and she stated herself what was missing from the Catholic church. So, we are not going back for a while, maybe after her baby is born, but it was really sad. However, the faith is renewed that casa does work and people do let us in! That was just a little taste of what awaits later when the real people are ready! And who knows, maybe in a week or two when the baby comes they will be ready. Funny note, the baby kept kicking her during the lesson like MOM! Listen!

Fall leaves outside her window!

Her life is complete now,,,she's been to the Opera!!

New camera..outside her window.

 Just one photo of a dish she has perfected. Kayla cooking - - -Miracles are really happening!!hahaha.........

New boots she spoke about in her email.







On top of the Duomo!! How Italian is this picture !!!!