PERMESSO‏

Ciao tutti!

Funny story. Old Italian men can either be really cute or extremely annoying. We were on the bus the other day and it was really crowded. We were standing near the back entrance, and this little old man comes on. He stands right behind me and starts staying "Permesso" (it means excuse me, or let me pass) and I try to move but I can't really. So he starts getting really ansy and says Permesso about 5 times, each time louder than before, until he's almost shouting it. Mamma mia...chill out dude. So now Sorella Ashman always say "Permesso" in an annoyed voice just because its funny.

Ok. Well, I'm in Lecce today!! For Pday Sorella Ashman and I decided awhile back that we wanted to go visit Lecce, which is south of Bari on the stiletto part of the boot. It took us about 1 1/2 hours by train this morning to get here. Lecce is apparently called the Florence of the south, and its such a cute city!! We just walked around and in a bunch of churches this morning, then we met the Anzioni here in Lecce and we are doing internet now, and we'll explore more later. It's so fun to be in another city and just hang out really. I really like Lecce, everybody here rides a bike and it makes me really miss my bike!!!  Allora. Good times. I love Italy. It's so beautiful here and the architecture is AWESOME. I just want to say that I'm wearing pants in public and it's extremely weird....

This past week was good. We've had some good things and some bad things happen. Some excitements and some disappointments. I struggle everyday in some way with the language because I still understand so little. I pray so hard everyday for help from Heavenly Father and I know that I receive it. Our baptism date for Michele, which was for December 10, is not happening anymore, he is not ready yet. It is sad, but we will continue to work with him and get him ready because he still wants to be baptized. PS - Michele is an ex-Mafia. No big deal. He was a big time drug dealer, a mob boss, was in prison for 7 years, he wrote a book about it all, and now he's gonna be a Mormon. HAHAHAHA. Everyone should just realize how awesome that is. Michele really is a nervous wreck though...he has panic attacks and I don't blame him after all his life experiences. He always freaking out that we won't go to our appointments with him, and if he's going to be 5 minutes late he calls us freaking out haha. Last week he called us and said he wasn't going to make it at 10. "Pero MASSIMO 10:10." Hahaha at MAX he would be 10 minutes late...soooo funny. ANother questions we had to ask him: "Michele, have you ever killed anyone?" Pause............................"No." Mamma mia...that freaked us out a little. He's so cool though. He's going to help the church so much though. Pray for him to become ready for his baptism on some future date, hopefully soon, and to have some peace because he needs it.

We had a miracle last week with Valentina, a 12 year old girl who's dad isn't a member, her mom is inactive, but she always goes to church with her aunt and uncle who are very active. Her aunt, Sorella Santoro, had asked us to work with this family, her brother, and especially with Valentina. So we've become friends with her at church but that's mostly been it so far. She's soooo cute and she just loves us. ANyways, Valentina asked her parents permission to be baptized and they said yes!!! So we set a date with her, which is going to need to be changed, so we have December 18th for her baptism!!! SO EXCITING! THis one seriously just fell into our laps...Bari is so blessed.

We have Zone Conference this Friday and I'm sooooo excited for it. It will be great to meet the other missionaries and get to know President and Sorella Kelly better!! As well as be personally uplifted! I seriously am so excited.

We asked a TJ for a flier yesterday...hahaha it was so funny. They were shocked when we asked. It's good research for us. It reminded me of a Jehovah's Witness who I used to see at BYU every Friday morning one semester when I went to my physics lab at 8am. So great.

We had some good street contacts this week. One lady was from Colombia. She didn't seem interested in our message really, but she was super nice and I really like talking to her. She had hot pink lipstick on and shatter nailpolish. Another lady stopped us on the street and asked if she could meet with us. SO COOL...that never happens. We're meeting with her Friday. We met a guy named Francesco, and were supposed to meet with him yesterday but he couldn't last second. He seemed super interested and said he's see us Sunday at church. We really hope he shows up. We also did casa on Sunday night and are going back to this guys house. We really really really are trying to find a family, because that is so incredibly difficult here in Italy. We have some high goals right now. Anyways, this guy was really cool and he invited us in but his wife wasn't there so we couldn't. But his adorable RED-HEADED grandson was there and I love this little boy already!!! Italian kids are the cutest, especially when they speak Italian hahaha.

We got 2 new investigators on Monday  morning!! Mario and Rosa. We met them at Michele's book release on Friday night. Mario is really selfish (hahaha) and Rosa seems ready to change her life. I can't wait to see what happens with them! We're meeting with them again tomorrow morning. We have also met only a couple times with this guy named Daniele...who is the coolest  old man ever. He has a bazillion questions and has a VERY strong personality, and he's stinkin funny. We're having a party with him tomorrow hahahaha. He officially goes into retirement tomorrow and it is also Sorella Ashman's 1 year in Italy mark. So we're having  a party with him :) He really likes us. WE hope he learns to like our message along with us too haha, since that is the point. But he needs friends because he is lonely. Ahhh Daniele, he's awesome.

I love all the compliments here. Everyone calls us belle and I love it. Whenever we're teaching, people call us angels (angeli) and beautiful girls (belle ragazze) and it's so funny. People have told me I have  a baby face and a sweet face...those can be weird. Hahaha good times. Italians are very blunt and say it how it is. I need to learn from them, but hopefully with a little more tact!

Yesterday I saw a real-life scene from a movie. We were walking on the street and Sorella Ashman  saw a woman who she had street contacted once before, awhile before I got to Bari, and then met again once on the street after that. I guess this lady has brought the sorelle to her work and everything, so they had been with her for a fair amount of time. Anyways, Sorella Ashman saw her yesterday so we were walking with her for a couple blocks, and she was going home. We parted at an intersection, and her way was green so she started walking in the street. About 2  seconds later, she got hit by a car....and I saw the whole thing. It was insane. THe car was making a left hand turn and seriously slammed into this woman, and she went flying over the hood of the car and her stuff went flying and then she fell to the ground in the middle of the intersection. Oh. My. Gosh. I couldn't believe my eyes. And then she moved and I was sooooo grateful that she did not just die before my eyes. That was seirously the thought in my head. It was terrible. She was taken to the hospital, and last I heard she has fractured her jaw probably. We want to go visit her. So she is alive but I don't know all the damage that she sustained, and we left the scene it a daze. Pray for Kety. Mamma mia.

Ok, well sorry to end on a tragic story note, but I have to go and internet is expensive at this internet joint  here in Lecce!! Haha we got up at 4:30 this morning to come, caught the bus to the station at 5:30, train at 6;15. It's been so fun so far, I like travelling in the mission. Oh yeah! We went to Foggia on Saturday for a baptism and that was fun too. We went with the other sorelle and their anzioni, so there were 6 of us travelling together and it was fun to get to know them better. Foggia is north of Bari, about 1 1/2 hours on train. SO the opposite direction of Lecce. I'm just travelling around the east coast! :) Zone Conference is in Bari though, so everyone's coming to us. Yay life.

Ok, signing off. Love you all, hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! I did get to eat a little piece of turkey and some mashed potatoes that Sorella Hicks had made, and it was good. :) Other than that I enjoyed my pasta!!! I have a lot to be grateful for. I'm grateful I'm a missionary here in Italy and that I can learn a new language and culture and people, and that I can serve Heavenly Father for a year and a half. I'm already 3 months in and it doesn't seem real. SOmetimes the time goes by super slow and other times super fast. I've already been in Italy for a month. I'm grateful for my family and their support for me, and also the support of everyone who reads these emails. I'm grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, for the Atonement, and my relationship with Heavenly Father through prayer. We really are lucky to have this knowledge, because I'm beginning to understand how many people do not. Count your blessings! I'm excited it's almost Natale!!! Love you all!

Love, Sorella Sobeck :)

The church is Foggia - we went for a baptism.

My brother! Anziano Whitfield

Pday adventures

Pretty

Cool

Love locks

Welcome to Italia, land of popes and saints and everything Catholic

We tried to get to that duomo for FOREVER...and we never found it haha

Best dolce ever

My collega and I

Michele (ex-mafia) and his book signing...about the book he wrote about his experiences in prison for 7 years of his life

LONTANO :) aka: FAR AWAY :) - week 3 in Bari‏

SALVE!! CIAO!! BUON GIORNO!!

Whoo hoo I've been in Italy for 3 weeks already!! Miracles continue to happen all the time and I'm always amazing but then at the same time, we're supposed to expect miracles in this work. It's a mini-theme in our mission here: Aspettati un miracolo. So everyday we go out expecting miracles to happen and they do. It's soooooooooo cool.

Some miracles this week:

1. We got a new investigator!! His name is Daniele and he is old and alone and wasn't interested in our message until we talked about the Restoration and he felt the spirit. TROPO FORTE. He is in Milan this week so we haven't met with him since but we are going to see him Monday and please pray for him!

2. GERALD THE NIGERIAN! Ok...I have forgotten to tell the fingernail story. So  my first Monday in Bari we met with him, and it was his 3rd lesson with missionaries. This is all in English. He is very Catholic but just regurgitates (sp??) the information he's been taught all his life, but he's very invested in it sometimes. We were talking about baptism and he was so for infant baptism becuase of Adam's sin. He then starts talking about all this stuff about women shouldn't wear trousers (thats his word for pants!) and about how God is angry with me because I paint my nails. I wasn't sure if I should laugh of be offended haha but now I think it's hilarious. So he wanted nothing to do with Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon or anything, but he admires us so much for coming to Italy, a difficult place, to talk to people about Jesus Christ. Ok. So we met with him again last Thursday. He had told us that he is going to Nigeria for a few months to see his family. This guy is  a refugee and people want him dead in Nigeria and its a very big deal for him to go home right now. So this was our last meeting with him. This time he still asked a lot of questions but the spirit was there and he was actually hearing our answers and eventually he stopped asking and fighting. He says the COOLEST things. My favorite was this: "I would like to attend your church...I think I'm beginning to be interested in this church." NO WAY!!! SO COOOOOOOL! I love this guy!!! It is really sad that he will be gone for so long. But as a parting gift we gave him a wrapped Book of Mormon so he had no idea what is was and he was so grateful for the gift. Hahaha. We hope that while he is in hiding in Africa for 3 months that he will read it and when he gets back in march he will know its true and want to get baptized. We'll see what happens. I hope I'm here in bari so I can talk to him again. When we were about to leave him he said some really profound things, because again, he admires us for being missionaries and teaching people about Jesus Christ and our relationship with God. Some thigns he said : "Since you've come here to do this work, do it perfectly...Christ can do wonderful things for you. If you are working for God, He will always work for you too." Talk about profoundness. I hope he gets baptized when he comes back. :) I will miss Gerald the Nigerian!!!

3. MICHELE SCIACOVELLI! We set a baptism date for him for December 10!!! Ok...this guy is another of the coolest. He is an ex-con. He was in prison for 7 YEARS, I don't know why yet. While in prison he did schooling and learned to read and write...amazing. He's been out for 5 years now and has completely changed his life around. He wrote a book, and it is being released on Friday and we are going to the premiere and Sorella Ashman is speaking at it!! IT's going to be a big deal, he wants her to talk about how they met and how he has changed and how the Atonement applies to everyone. His book is about his prison time, and his experiences and his conversion to the church are going to help SO MANY people, especially young men. Talk about a person who the church NEEDS. He is going to be a great example of how change is possible. He LOVES EVERYTHING we teach him, especially the Atonement, and he can't wait to be baptized in a couple weeks!! He is seriously a living Alma the Younger story...wowwwwww. I just love him!!!! Pray for him!!! December 10th!!!

4. The other sorelle we live with had a baptism on Saturday!! Her name is Stefania and she's 23 and wow...talk about people being prepared for the gospel in Bari! She is currently in Switzerland with a bunch of other members from the wards here at the temple. She has so much faith and just devoured everything. She's actually been dating a member for a couple years and has been going to church. But in just 2 1/2 weeks the sorelle taught her everything so she could be baptized and go to the temple to do baptisms. Miracle. It was so fast but she was incredibly prepared and basically knew everything. Sometimes finding people is that easy. I'm so grateful they had that success. There are baptisms everywhere! There is another one in Foggia on this Saturday that we are going to go to to support the anzioni there. Foggia is about 2 hours away I think and I'm excited to go. Us 4 sorelle are signing at the baptism. It's so exciting to see all these people accepting the gospel and seeing all the success the missionaries are having in Italy! MIRACLES!!!

5. We took a bus to a cute little town called Adelfia on Monday. We went to try and contact a family who are ex-investigators, but the bishop told us that he felt we needed to go see them. So we had faith that when we went to Adelifa that we would find them home and that we would talk to them, and invite them to church and it would be awesome and we'd have 5 new investigators....Adeflia is about 30 minutes from Bari, so its far away and hard for the members to come to church. This is where our Relief Society president lives, Sorella Iacovelli. We tried going to the families house (Famiglia Gravina) but no one was home, so we went to Sorella Iacovelli's house. On the way I had my first encounted with a TJ!!! (Testimone di Geova) And he was super nice...it was weird haha. He listened really intently. He's been TJ for 40 years though, so he's pretty stuck on his ways. It was just so weird. Then we went will Sorella Iacovelli to an ex'investigator family and they were sooooo cute. I think we went to Adelfia to meet them honestly. They stopped taking the lessons becuase they're so busy. Then we went to the Gravina's and it was not what we expected. They were home, and the mom comes out and tells us how she hates the bishop and all the stuff that happened that should not have happened with other members, and they have no interest in meeting with missionaries anymore. It was very sad. It's so amazing to see though, that when you plan for something and it doesn't go how you plan, other things happen that compensate.

Ok, those are my big stories of the week. Here's a quote I found in an old Ensign that I really liked: "Temporal obstacles make eternal development possible." - Robert D. Hales. It also said that temporal means temporary. What a cool quote. Puts things into perspective.

Funny thing that happened, that Fratello Curci said. Fratello Curci is our ward mission leader and he is a very interesting man who talks 52454481532143 words a minute and sometimes says exactly the right thing and other times says exactly the wrong thing. He treats me and apparently all new missionaries to Bari like we're stupid sometimes. It's fun. Other times he just loves us and is so impressed by us. You never know with him. Anyways, I do respect him and he has done so much good for missionary work in Bari. So he was giving us a ride home the other night and asked the funniest question: "Why do women like men?" Hahaha it was sooo funny and random. And then he was asking if I went to school in America and I told him I go to BYU and he said: "Ahhh....you go to BYU to find a marito? A hu-hu-hu-husband?" HAHAHAHA. That was all in English (he knows a little bit) and Sorella Ashman and I almost died. Hu-hu-husband? What the heck? Apparently I failed at that hahaha. But I am on a mission and that is so much cooler!

Another funny quote, said by Michele Sciacovelli yesterday: "Signore Curci, this is going to scandolize you." Curci : "Nothing can scandolize me anymore." Michele: "I never got baptized!! I have never done the Cresima or Confession." HAHAHAHA. Oh my goodness. Best thing ever. He was almost proud of this fact hahaha and it's not like being baptized Catholic or not means anything to Mormons. It was sooo funny. And of course, all this has to be translated to me by Sorella Ashman, becuase I didn't understand what he said. Hahahaha I just started laughing when she told me what he said. Oh Michele, he's so awesome. December 10th!!!!

Well, I shall end this novel now and say that I'm still grateful to be a missionary, despite the hard experiences. Because we have so many miracles all the time. I'm grateful. And I wish everyone a wonderfully Happy Thanksgiving!!! Eat some turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes for me! I will be eating...PASTA!!!!!! :) I love pasta.

Ok, love you all. Have a wonderful week!!!

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Pictures!!!

289- This is Angelo, one of the baptisms my first Sunday! He's SO GREAT and a wonderful member missionary already!!!

The fish we ate at Sorella Spagnoletti's, mentioned last week...yum? It was actually not bad at all.

Bari sunset! BELLISSIMA!

GERALD THE NIGERIAN!!! Isn't he so cute??

The other sorelle baptism. Stefania and her boyfriend, Ettore. Aren't they gorgeous people?? Ahhh Italians

"IT'S THE TJ'S!!!" - Week 2 in Bari‏

Ciao tutti!

I have been in Italy 2 weeks already and I guess I could say that I already feel like a different person and forgot what life is like in America. It's kind of funny, and it's a good thing. I really like Italy so far, especially the food :) On Sunday we went to luch at the bishops house and the food is sooooo good. I have a feeling that every Sunday lunch appointment (everyweek a family has the missionaries over for lunch without fail...they love us!) is going to be a painful experience. Example: there are multiple dishes in every lunch here. The first dish is pasta. A big plate full of delicious pasta. I eat that and it is normally what I would eat in America for a meal. I feel comfortably full already. But then it's just getting started. Then the meat comes out. With potatoes and bread and cheese and salad and lots of other little dishes. Then it's the fruit. And then the dessert. Oh my heavens. It is sooooooo much food. I feel like I'm going to explode after this meal and all I want to do is sleep hahahaha. It's awesome. Eventually my stomach will get stretched out and I'll be able to handle it better. This is a smallish meal too...some people have twice as many dishes hahaha!!! This week I also ate fish (a whole fish on my plate...it reminded me of my experience in Galilee eating talapia last year about this time) at a member's home for dinner, along with lots of other things. Last night my companion and I had an appointment fall through after English course, and it had been a really long day that hadn't really gone according to plan so we went and got pizza the last half hour of the day. Sometimes you just need that, and it was fun. Pizza here is good! It's so different from American pizza though - I like both kinds :) So lots of interesting food. The gelato is also fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Won't ever get enough of that!

I got my permesso stuff taken care of last week (so I can be legal in the country and they don't kick me out...that's important) but it took a lot of time and a lot of time away from working. It was necessary though. This week we visited several inactive families and the great thing was that they ALL came to church on Sunday!!!!! It were disappointed in the amount of investigators who came to church (only 1 came :( ) but then all these inactive people came and we were so happy about it!!! It's so important to work with inactive members and new converts...just as important as working with investigators. Because it doesn't mean anything if someone is baptized but then doesn't go to church and endure to the end. This is a lesson that I have learned and I'm sure will continue to learn.

Our 2 people who got baptized my first Sunday, Angelo and Marinella, were confirmed this past week and it is so cool to see the difference in them once they receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It really is an amazing thing that we are able to witness. ANGELO IS A WONDERFUL MISSIONARY!!! He has so many friends and he isn't scared about telling people about his membership in the church and he has the most amazing spirit. He always wants to come out with the missionaries and we love having him with us becuase he is so enthusiastic and people really listen to him. Members can be the best missionaries. I hope after my  mission that I will have courage and continue to be a member missionary. Angelo is a wonderful example to me! A really cool thing he said this week: we met with him and Marinella last week and Sorella Ashman read a scripture in Romans 6:4 about being buried with Christ and when we're baptized it's symbolic of being reborn. He said the cutest thing. "I didn't even die and I feel like I went to heaven." OH MY GOSH!!! Talk about a Golden investigator/member. I'm so glad I have the opportunity to work with him at this time and see his testimony grow.

Everything is so much better when it is said in an accent. It is true. An Italian English accent is so fun. At the bishops for lunch on sunday they were talking about Kellogg's frosted flakes but they called them Frosty's in English. Hahahaha I love when they talk in English! IT's so funny!

I love my companion, Sorella Ashman. We get along really well and she's so funny. Today while we were waiting for the bus the funniest thing happened. Here's the background: So there are tons of Testimone di Geova  (Jehovah's Witnesses) here in Bari and they really make our work difficult because everyone thinks we're TJ's. Sorella Ashman loves talking to them for some reason. They put these pink stickers up on the palazzo's where they've tracted so the other TJ's know. I may have taken off one of two of them...hmmmm. Anyways, so this morning at the bus stop 2 of them were about to walk by us. And Sorella Ashman really wanted them to talk to us. She looks at me and says "It's the TJ's! I want them to talk to us. Look like we're searching for God!! Aiutami Signore (looking heavenward)!!!!!" HAHAHAHA oh my heavens. I was busting up so bad. But then they didn't even talk to us, they completely ignored us! Mamma mia. Good times.

I'm continuing to study hard and hope that my understanding will increase. It is already getting better than it was when I first got here 2 weeks ago. So that is a relief. I'm grateful for advice people have given me. I know the language will just take time and that eventually I'll be able to speak what I want! :) In the meantime, i'm still enjoying myself and the fact that I am a missionary in Italy. There is so much to love about the culture here. It is SO different than America. I'm learning to love the differences and love the people and who they are. They are really wonderful. I'm so grateful to be here. I'm grateful for the hard experiences that I have everyday because I know that I am becoming a stronger person and missionary because of it! Heavenly Father doesn't give us more than we can handle. I really believe that.

Ok I have some more time, so I'm going to tell a really cool story that happened this week. So it is a really good idea to have members in lessons with investigators. Here that can sometimes make it difficult for the missionaries to teach because they will talk so much, but the overall purpose is great. So we had Sorella Spagnoletti (my favorite!!! she's is 67 and has so much energy and i want to be JUST LIKE HERE and i'm so serious) with us and we were going to go to a guy's house for the first time to teach him. That didn't end up working out. So we were wondering where we should go with Sor. Spagnoletti, and she said "Let's go to my house!" Last week she had given us a referrel...her own husband. Sorella has been a member for 34 years and her husband, Franco, never was interested in the church and apparently doesn't believe in God. So we were excited to meet him! We went over and he was really nice to us right away - they both looked at our photo albums and then she cooked dinner for us (this is where we ate the fish) and the conversation was really good and then we asked if we could share a spiritual thought. So we started talking about prayer, and this is where we found out he was athiest and has never prayed and believes in nature and all that fun stuff. He listened to us though. We talked about how we can receive answers from Heavenly Father when we really want to know an answer to something. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon, asked him to read 2 Nephi 2 and to pray about whether it was true and to listen for an answer after he prayed. HE AGREED TO DO IT! We were so excited that he made the commitment! Sorella Spagnoletti walked us out afterwards and she gave us the biggest hugs. She said that in the 34 years she's been a member of the church, she has tried to get her husband interested. He has NEVER listened to any missionaries or members before. We were the first that he even listened to and he was so nice to us. It was an incredible experience. She was so grateful to us. I can't wait for WHEN he receives his answer, because I know he will if he really asks with intent.

This was a great experience on Monday night. I'm so grateful for the SPirit and that Heavenly Father really does prepare people to hear His message of His gospel. Even if people don't get baptized, we can help change their lives by making the spirit available and for them to feel it for the first time and really recognize it. If nothing further happens with Franco, we know that he felt the spirit and if he does his part he will receive an answer. Missionary work is so cooL!!!!

Ok, I gotta go with I love you all! Pray for the missionaries in all the world! We all need them and I know that prayer works. I pray for you as well. I hope you are happy and life is treating you well. :) I love being a missionary. I have a testimony of this work and I know that I'm supposed to be here right now!

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Cool house slippers they gave me when I got here. I like them because they're colorful.

Italian hot chocolate. Very good, rich, and thick.

Slla Spagnoletti gutting up fish for her fish dinner.

I looooooooooooooove Italian pizza. Diavola!

Slla Ashman with some dog fazzolletti that we found on the street...weird.

First week in Italy!‏

Ciao tutti!! I have survived my first week in Italia and while some things have been easy to adjust to it às been a pretty tough week. It's very overwhelming to be learning everything at once...the language here is obviously very different than in the MTC. People speak extremely fast and the vocabulary is all new so I spend most of my time trying really hard to understand and not necessarily succeeding haha. I probably stare at people with the blankest expressions, while also trying to look happy! It's super special. I'm also trying to learn people's names and learn my way around Bari (I'm so directionaly challenged it's ridiculous) and get used to just living life as a real missionary. It's awesome! But it's really hard and overwhelming also. I could definitely use prayers for support and love right now as I'm making this huge adjustment.

So...ITALIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bari is beautiful! Bari is towards the stiletto part of the boot, right by the ocean. The weather has been awesome, not really cold at all except a little at night. Our apartment is colder than outside it seems haha. Bari has 2 districts, Poggiofranco and Libertà, and I am in Poggiofranco where there is so much work currently!!! I came at an amazing time and my trainer, Sorella Ashman, is constantly telling me how lucky and cursed I am at the same time haha. I'm lucky to start my mission on a high and see all this work and progression, but it'll be hard when I get to a new area and it's not as good :) I love my trainer! Sor. Ashman is from Las Vegas and she has so much personality and is a great teacher. She is very encouraging and is helping more than I can say. I can't imagine having a bad first companion...that would be a terrible experience. Her year mark for her mission is actually tomorrow and I am the second greenie she has trained. She is fluent in Italian because she studied for 3 years before her mission and so her Italian is fantastic. This is her 4th transfer in Bari and everyone just loves her. I'm grateful to be with her!!!!!! In Bari there are 8 missionaries - 4 sorelle and 4 anzioni. My district is just the missionaries in Poggiofranco, so there is my companionship and then 2 anzioni: Anziono Kafel from northern Italy and Anziono Pedreira from Uraguay. Neither of them speak any English so it's fun :) The 4 of us are in the same ward also. In my apartment are all 4 sorelle which is fun. They are Sorella Hicks from Oklahoma and Sorella Heiner from Mesa, Arizona. These 2 sorelle are in the Libertà area, so they aren't in my ward. My ward is so great!!! It's pretty big with about 80 active members and we are fortunate to have our own building for the church. Everyone has been really nice to me, even though I don't really understand what they say to me haha. They have such faith. I really admire them.

The Italian people are CRAZY. I can't even believe it. They are seriously the coolest though. I've never seen more beautiful people in my life, or people who talk faster, or more people who smoke! Jeez - I'll probably come home with lung cancer. They just love love love to talk so much. It is really funny to get a few Italians together and just watch their conversation...everyone talks at once and there is no such thing as being polite. In fact, they like it when you interrupt them because it means you're involved in the conversation. I need to work on that skill haha. We'll try and say a closing prayer and they completely ignore the suggestion sometimes and a prayer isn't said until 15 minutes later. I love it. My favorites are the old people...oh my gosh the old men are the coolest and the cutest. They especially love to talk.

We are teaching a lot of people right now!!! There is so much work and responsability in Poggiofranco right now. We have lots of appointments during the week and a fair amount of progressing investigators. It's really amazing to see the miracles that happen. Lots of stuff happens every single day, but I think my favorite day so far was Monday so I'll tell you about it. In the morning we had our study and then we go out at 10. I had an appointment for my permesso, so we walked all the way over there and were told that the person wasn't at work that day. Dumb. Your permesso is like your green card so you need to take care of this process in the first week and a half in Italy to be legal. So we decided to go to a different part of town and get a different thing that I need, my Codice Fiscale. On our way we got a number from a guy, and it was the first street contact we had where we got someone's phone number!!! We will call him and hopefully set up an appointment to meet with him. We wouldn't have met him if my permesso apt. worked out. Then we waited in the building for an hour and a half to get my codice fiscale and at the end the funniest thing ever happened. It probably won't be as funny written down but we talk about it all the time now. A guy working there sneezed REALLY loud. It got all over his desk and was disgusting. So right after he did the biggest sneeze ever he shouted "MADONNA MIA!!!" and started wiping at his desk with his hands. HAHAHAHAHA we were seriously laughing for 1 minutes. Oh my goodness. Whenever we sneeze now we have to say Madonna Mia. Then we got gelato and it was DELICIOUS. I love gelato. It's better here than it was in Jerusalem. Then we were only at our apartment for about 45 minutes beore we had an appointment with a man from Nigeria in the park (in english!) named Jared. He is intensely Catholic and it was really intense but good. Then we met a kid from Iran at the bus stop and he loved us because we're Americans and spoke to us in English. We wanted to see if anything would come of this conversation and we all rode on the bus together for awhile and we invited him to English course but he didn't show last night. Anyways, the encouter was kind of strange but whatever, he was nice and hopefully we'll see him again. Then afterwards Sor. Ashman was talking to an old guy on the bus going back, and this other old guy keeps looking at me. Then he started walked closer to me, but didn't look like he was going to say anything. So I said hi to him and asked how he was doing and he started talking a lot and I had no idea what he was saying! Luckily Sor. Ashman came back though (haha I'm so helpless right now!!) and we started talking to this guy and he really wants to come to church and we gave him a Book of Mormon and we're meeting with him on Thursday!!! OH MY GOSH!!! He even came to about 5 minutes of FHE with us at a members house so we were on the bus with him for about 30-40 minutes I'd say. It was intense and so cool! I'm so excited to meet with him for real and see what's gonna happen. So then we had FHE at Fratello Curci's house with a less active couple and it was good. Monday was a really cool day for me where I realized wherever you go it's for a reason, and if something happens that takes you in a different direction than you were planning, it is not coincidence when you meet people. Soooo cool. I need to get used to that :)

Ok, I should probably go. But I'm doing well and I'm working hard and having fun. Yes it's overwhelming every single day, but I'm so grateful to be here and be a missionary. I know that I am supposed to be here and I look forward to the coming week to see what miracles will happen. Italy is awesome so far. I'm so lucky to be here in Bari and serve the people here.

Here's some photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mamma picking me up from the train station in Bari.

FIRST GELATO :) :)

BAPTISM!!!! My very first Sunday in Poggiofranco we had a couple baptism - Angelo and Marinella. They are so awesome!!! We meet with them a lot and I really like them. I can't believe that I already got to see 2 baptisms...that is so rare for 2 at once and especially to see that your first weekend in the mish. I'm so lucky!

Gelato :) :) :)

My first authentic Italian pizza.

And this is my address in Bari. Mom, Dad, Amy, and Janine, I sent you the wrong one because the Elders and Sisters switched apartments a couple days before transfers.
Sorella Sobeck
Via Giulio Petroni 99B
70124 Bari, Italy

Mail is pretty reliable in Bari, so you can send stuff directly here. Now is a time especially when letters and emails would be greatly appreciated.

I hope everyone is well. Love you all. Remember to pray all the time and read the Book of Mormon everyday. Heavenly Father loves all of us. :)

Love, Sorella Sobeck

SONO QUI!!!‏

Ciao mia famiglia!!! I am in Italia officially and I love being here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually haven't done anything really yet, we flew in and President Kelly and the AP's picked us up from the airport, they gave us our 1st slice of Italian pizza (yum!), and drove us by the Colosseum!! Then we got to drive to the Rome II ward meetinghouse and it was so cool. We were all tired, but they kept us up until normal time and none of us really slept on the planes very much. I slept SOOOO good last night. I love President Kelly and Sorella Kelly and the APs are awesome and everyone is taking such good care of us. Last night we got Golden Transfers and I am going to........BARI!!!!!!! I KNOW!!! It's insane and I'm so so so excited! My trainer is Sorella Ashman and everyone here just loves her and says she has a great personality and works really hard and she knows really good Italian. I'm getting really lucky with that :) I can't wait to meet her. Anyways, I gotta go, my p-days are Wednesday so I'll let you know how my first week goes next week! I'm taking down the train this afternoon with Sorella Fidler who is going to Taranto. It's gonna be a party! I'm so excited to go to Bari! Love you all!! Have a great day!!

Oh, and my address in Bari is the following:

Sorella Sobeck

Viale Luigi Einaudi, 25

70125 Bari, Italia

I'll let you know if it's safe to send mail there next week, meaning if it's reliable for it to get there. If not, just send stuff to the mission home here in Rome. I'll let you know more next week. Love you!

Love, Sorella Sobeck

FOREVER LONG AIRPLANE RIDE

We made it to Italia! On the way to the mission home (aka: the Villa)

First glance EVER at the Colosseum

The WONDERFUL Presidente e Sorella Kelly

The temple complex model! Anticipated completion: 2014

Golden transfer!! I'm going to Bari!!!!!!!!!

Yay!!

Group with golden transfers: Slla Taylor (Siracusa), Slla Sobeck (Bari), Slla Miles (Ladispoli), Anz. Jones (L'Aquila), Slla Ivory (Cagliari), Slla Teichart (Ostia), Slla Fidler (Taranto)