POPCORN

Buon giorno!!!

First, transfer news.................I am staying in Bari! And my companion is............Sorella Ashman! Hahaha we're staying together for a 3rd transfer and we're both really excited because the work is great and we have people we don't want to leave yet who are really progressing and we want to see them go further. It was a very big surprise, because I ended up really thinking Sor. Ashman was going to get transferred. So now she'll be on her 6th transfer in Bari. It's crazy to think I'm starting my 3rd...whoo hoo!!

Second, I forgot to say a couple things last week:

1. Relief Society sisters who have the book Daughters in My Kingdom need to go to page 52, look at the picture, and report back to me what you see. Specifically, look at the animal at the bottom of the picture. :) :) :) It's basically the best.

2. Anziano Curzola, the new greenie anziano in my ward from Bolzano, Italy, knows Tyler Stoker! Anziano Stoker served in Anziano Curzola's ward sometime during his mission...what a small small world. He said Anziano Stoker goes home the end of January, so this week....weird! I remember when he got his mission call to Milan and I was so jealous. And look where I am now! :)

Well this week has been interesting and awesome as always! It was kind of funny because last weekly planning session we made a bunch of awesome plans for the week and felt really good about it all and were super excited, but then almost immediately most of those plans fell to the floor...hmmm. We decided that Heavenly Father had other stuff he wanted us to do this week then...so we kept making plans and backup plans and more backup plans and nothing was working out it seemed, yet we still ended up having a pretty good week! It's so great how things work out for the best, even when you have no idea how it ever could.

Miracles/cool/fun stuff of the week:

----We had a lesson with Pasqua Mongelli, the mom of our bishop and stake president, and wife of the man we were seeing in the hospital, Michele Mongelli. I don't remember if I mentioned that Michele passed away, but we went to his funeral and there were TONS of people there and it was good albeit sad. So we had a really good lesson with Pasqua and asked if she would be interesting in meeting with us and coming to church and such, and she said yes. We hope to be able to work with her and be able to help her after the death of her husband. But she is interested in the church and has been for a long time, but she never had the permission or acceptance or her husband, or so I understand. Her name is Easter (Pasqua)!

----On Sunday, our lunch appointment was pretty short, which was AWESOME. Normally we are at members house for lunch for 2 1/2 to 3 hours...yes that seems extreme, but they have to prepare teh food and then it takes forever to eat it when there are lots of courses. So our mission rule is to not exceed 3 hours...I know in America dinner appointments are only 1 hour...SO DIFFERENT! So after lunch, you think we'd be super full like always, but for some reason we weren't, so we went home and made a HUGE bowl of popcorn and watched "The District" for our study. It was awesome. "The District" is basically training videos of missionaries teaching lessons in the San Diego mission. It's very helpful. Anyways, the popcorn was really good too.  :)

----DANIELE...so Saturday we finally made PANCAKES with him!!!! We went planning to set a baptismal date, but when he got there we found out his daughter and her family were coming...so no baptismal date. But we made pancakes for everyone, and we LOVE his daughter, her husband, and their 3 adorable kids!!!! And it helps that they loved us too...that was transfer call day and they were all soooo worried that one of us would get transfered! Well, we gave Rosella and Mimo (his daughter and her husband) a Book of Mormon and Mimo especially looked suuuuuuper interested in reading it. They are also both lawyers...super cool. It was a great experience to be with them all. I just love Daniele's whole family. And awesome news...on Sunday he finally CAME TO CHURCH and he came for the whole 3 hours!!!!!!!! MAMMA MIA! A lot of people have met him by now because he's come to an activity and a family home evening, and we always have to bring a woman with us to his house when we teach him. So everyone was super excited to have him there. On Monday we passed by his house (he lives like 3 blocks from us, and therefore 3 blocks from the church too) and asked him how he liked church. He said it was very different than Catholic mass but he liked it. YES. Then Tuesday came...and I had the best lesson of my mission so far. We were determined to set a baptismal date with him for march 3rd, and Sorella Ashman told me that I was going to do it. Ok...I was pretty scared haha. I was praying so hard to help me have the spirit to say the right thing and to be able to have him understand me clearly and all that. So we went to the lesson and brought Sorella Magno with us, a member in the ward who was baptized 40 years ago after being hardcore practicing Catholic. Her testimony is super strong. We decided to tell him the stories of how we both decided to come on a mission, talk a little about temples, and then ask him (again) to be baptized, but this time with a date. We told our stories, Sor. Magno bore her testimony, I felt the spirit so strongly during all of this, and then I asked him about march 3rd and to pray about being baptized on that date. And he said yes to praying about it!!! So I guess it's not a firm date yet, but I know he's going to receive an answer. Seriously, the spirit during that lesson was off the charts and it felt soooo good. I am sooo proud of Daniele and his progress. He really wants to be with his wife and daughters forever, and now he knows how it is possible. Pray for him to receive an answer please!!

Other stuff that's been going on. Our ex-Mafia investigator, Michele, hasn't really been progressing at all the past month, very sadly. He knows the church is true, but his priority right now is only his book. He's doing lots of presentations for it, and so we can never meet with him. It's really sad, because we went to one of his presentation's the other day and he looks completely different. he is all business now, and he doesn't look the same as when we were meeting with him. Yes, that may sound very clichè, but its true. All the missionaries have noticed. :(

I also have a request to make of everyone. Anziano Pedreira (he is in my ward and got to Bari the same transfer I did...he's AWESOME and from Uraguay) is in the hospital right now. He has been having bad headaches lately, but then a few days ago he started losing vision in his eyes. Yesterday they admitted him to the hospital to do some tests, and his left eye he has currently lost 90% of his vision, and his right eye is not well either. They haven't figured out whats wrong with him yet, they did a CAT scan and didn't find anything wrong, so there is lots of waiting. Please pray for Anziano Pedreira and the doctors. WE went and saw him today at the hospital and he's doing as ok as the circumstances can allow, but he needs some miracles right now.

Sorry to end on a bad note. Other than that things are going pretty well here. I'm excited to stay in Bari and continue working with these people with Sorella Ashman. We are expecting some baptisms and lots of miracles!!! :)

Thanks for all the emails this week. My mom's in Hawaii going whale watching...completely jealous because it's pretty cold here today. And I had some responses to the She's the Man quote from last week. Glad you got that one, it's one of the best movies ever! Love you all, hope all is going well, please pray for Anziano Pedreira, and for the missionaries to have the gift of tongues!!! I know pray works!!!!!!!!!! I also finished the Book of Mormon again this past week, and I know with all my heart that that book of true and powerful and will help anyone who reads it. Heavenly Father sure loves us to give us things like teh Book of Mormon, prophets, the church, and His Son Jesus Christ. I know this church is true.

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Making pancakes with Daniele watching

yummmmmm

for the kiddies!

Make lemonade!!!‏

-Sorella Ashman "Theres a saying in America that says: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

-Frank (English course student) "Nooooo lemons are good thing. I have a tree of lemons in my house."

English course students say the greatest things ever. Frank is kind of a pessimist about life, yet he's soooo cool. I love listening to Frank talk - his English is very good and he says really funny things all the time!!

This week was a good one. Maria Pia and Valentina were both confirmed on Sunday and both are doing very well. I don't like when they have to wait a whole week to receive the Holy Ghost, but they both did fine. It was good when Sunday came though.

We've had some good lessons with Daniele this past week. Last Thursday we talked about his chapter from the Book of Mormon that he read (2 Nephi 2), and he said something really cool. He said that he read it a couple times and when he read certain verses he understand something differently the second time than the first time, or he thought of it and applied it differently. We were like "Hallelujah!!!" because he is already realizing the power of that book!! Well, we helped him realize it when we got super excited and were like you already have a testimony of the Book of Mormon!!! hahaha we got really excited for him. This made us happy, especially after the big disappointment when he didn't come to church last week. We also had a lesson with him Monday night and we read in Alma 34 with him about prayer and repentance and not procrastinating. It was a great lesson and we also talked about baptism. We still haven't set a baptismal date with him, but we feel the time may soon be coming. He knows that this is our purpose and we have brought it up several times, and he still meets with us and loves us. So we hope he will be ready to commit to a date soon!

Friday was Friday the 13th...I think Friday's are just not our day or something. It actually wasn't a terrible day, but there were some interesting things...AND a black cat crossed our path. Maybe I'll become Italian and become SUPER supersticious about everything....or maybe not. Anyways, I hope everyone had a happy Friday the 13th.

We got 3 new investigators on Saturday night!!! So remember the story of LAST Friday night when we went to Japigia and had to walk home in the freakish windstorm but he had gotten this lady's phone number? Well we made it to her house again on Saturday night and we had a lesson with her, her mom and dad, and they were all very very nice and want to continue to meet with us! And then Caterina and Pia came to Sacrament meeting the next day too!! That was really exciting for us to see someone make and follow a committment immediately...because it doesn't happen more frequently that it does it seems...sadly. But everyone has their agency and I'm grateful for that.

We've been talking to more people on the street the past week and we've gotten lots of phone numbers/potentials. It has been a cool experience to see the obvious...when you talk to people you'll find people who will become future investigators. And everyone has to be an investigator before they can become a member. We've met some interesting people and its been fun. WE've also done more house this week. House is always an interesting experience...you never know who you're going to meet. And when are you ever going to get another chance to knock on people's doors and talk to them about Jesus, besides on your mission??? Hahaha. So, we met some cool people, we met an INDIAN guy who doesn't speak Italian! That was random. We went back and left an English Book of Mormon in his mailbox because he wasn't home the next time. I really  really really felt like a missionary when we did house on Saturday in the pouring rain along with some wind. But it wasn't raining when we left that morning so I was not wearing great rain shoes haha! It's been colder with week...but still, we're pretty lucky here with mostly mild temperatures.

Today for Pday Sorella Ashman and I went to Polignano, which is a small town about 30 kilometers from Bari and its GORGEOUS!!! We were basically in heaven all day...Polignano is right on the sea and so we had so much fun just being near the water. I love being outside and exploring!!!

Well thats really it for this week. Transfer calls are this Saturday and we're anxiously waiting to see what President will say for us!!! Sorella Ashman has been ehre for 5 transfers and me for 2...it makes a lot of sense logically that she would leave. But she doesn't want to hahaha. Anyways...we both kind of get the feeling that I might be leaving, and if I do we think I'm going to Mistretta!!! Its a SMALL SMALL city of 5000 people on Sicily! SO COOL!!! Hahaha. Anyways, I'll let you know next week whats going on. I'm probably staying right here in Bari though! :)

Sidenote about the food here. I LOVE cheese (and no my favorite is NOT gouda!!! NAME THAT MOVIE!!!:) :) :) ) There is a cheese called straciatella that is basically mozzarella in this creamy milk and its SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. I can't even stand it. ANd I also love mozzarella with all my heart, and basically every other kind too. I just love the food here (except for the raw fish)!!!

Foto::

The best billboard I have ever seen in my life, right by our house :) :)

Cool spiral staircase in the palazzo where we met the Indian guy!

POLIGNANO IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life!

My little perch I found. We sat here for over an hour hahaha. It's pretty cold outside today!

BELLISSIMA

the coolest most awesome popcorn making vending machine in the middle of a little street in a tiny town in southern italy EVER!

That's me!

That's where we went today!

Vi volgio bene!!!!

Love, Sorella Sobeck

The week from heaven, but also some from the place opposite of heaven!‏

WHAT A WEEK. It was basically a week of MIRACLES and also a week of a few disasters/disappointments. But there were by far more miracles than bad stuff. So lets start the recap...

Thursday was awesome because we taughts 4 lessons that day, saw like 3 other contacts, and taught English course. It was crazy busy!!! It was a great day - because the days when you see lots of people are the days when I feel like I'm helping to make a bigger difference. That's not always true, because one day might have nothing but you talk to someone on the street who you helped have a better day and that's just as good. I like to be productive and do a lot though, so Thursday was a good day where nothing fell through. Love those days!! Also, Thursday at English course we taught our students how to play Hand and Foot, the card game. Well, Sorella Ashman taught it to us because I had never played it before. But it was fun and we've played it several times since. We got a bunch of cards at a Chinese store on pday and they are getting used!

Oh my goodness, have I not talked about CHINESE STORES????? They are basically my new favorite thing, though not as good as thrift stores still. If you see any Asians in Italy, you know they must work at a Chinese store, and there are tons of them! They are just these stores where they sell clothes and the other most random things you'll ever find for much cheaper than going to centro and the brand stores. I looooooove chinese stores. Every pday we go in at lleast one to just look around. We don't buy stuff much because we're poor hahaha. We found a santa claus lighter than sings to you when you light it the other day...yeah!!! I didn't buy it though...don't worry :)

Friday...OH MY GOSH. It very well could've been a day from hell...ahhhh. So Friday morning is weekly planning, which isn't too bad but its long. We had personal study and we were just looking outside and it was SOOO WINDY and cold. It's usually not windy, but there were high speed winds and we were soooo grateful we didn't have to go outside that morning because of planning. So we start companion study at 9 and read 1 sentence from the white handbook when we get a phone call from Giovanna, the girl we saw in the hospital before who is 22. She called us crying, said she needed help, and asked if we could come to her. So we weren't dressed yet, but we scrambled to get ready to go help her with whatever happened, because we didn't know. So we go outside, both PRAYING with all our mights that the 11 bus would come because it NEVER comes and it was also a holiday so buses are much less frequent. We started walking and MIRACLE OF MIRACLES IT CAME!!! I know Heavenly Father probably created that bus out of thin air for us to get to the hostpital. So we get there, try calling her but she had turned her phone off...what the heck. We tried calling her like6 times and looked for her for over half hour but we never found her. We were soooooooooo confused!!! (Today we still don't know what happened to her...) So we ended up going to a mass instead hahaha becuase we had been wanting to go but never had been able to, and it was my first mass! Cool stuff happened there...becuase the priest started talking about the Magi (the wise men...this holiday was Befana, which is celebration of when the Magi brought presents to baby Jesus), and about how other people in the world must have known about Jesus Christ because the Magi came from the east...we were all thinking WE HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!!! IT'S CALLED THE BOOK OF MORMON!!! Hahahahaha! Man oh man, how cool is that. Anyways, so we go home and do weekly planning, then we go outside into the freakish windstorm again to go to the hospital again to see teh bishop's dad who was not doing well. They were going to release him on Monday, basically giving him a death sentence. So that was really sad. Then we were going to go to Japigia to see a contact, but again the bus schedules were weird and when we finally got on the bus we needed (after waiting outside for almosot an hour in the cold!) we missed our stop because we didn't really know where we were, and we had to go on this giant loop to get back, and we basically wasted another hour on the bus. We were pretty upset about the day by this point, and we didn't even know if this lady we wanted to see was going to be home. Also, the bus we were on we found out was the last bus of the night. So we had make the decision if we wanted to go to the lady's house and walk the 50 minute walk home in the cold windstorm, or stay on the bus and waste more time and feel miserable. So we got off, because how are you going to find people if you don't try? And she wasn't home...boo. But her brother was and we got her phone number so that was good. Onthe walk home we had a better attitude and ran some and sang more and we had a miracle because we didn't feel cold the entire 50 minute walk home. I know that Heavenly Father blessed us for trying, even if we made some mistakes and wasted a lot of time (not of purpose). I know he blesses His missionaries and watches out for them! That was a cool experience for me. Man oh man, Friday...

Saturday - we had to make the programs for the baptisms which took forever, but that night we had a FHE with some people from the ward at Maria Pia's house, and Daniele came too! That was great and he was really participating in the lesson and promised he'd come to church the next day for his first time. We were SO EXCITED because we have been asking him to come forever and he finally said that he could. And Maria Pia was nervous for her baptism but excited too. And we read the talk by Elder Wirthlin "Come What May anòd Love it" and it went super well.

Sunday - the day that was AWESOME but also SUCKED. Hahaha. Church was interesting...when you have baptisms EVERYONE has to ask you a bazillion questions about everything. And we had 2 crazy people who are basically ex/eternal investigators who both came to church on the same day. Plus 2 ladies who we had never seen before. What in the random of the universe??? And we had planned an awesome lesson for sunday school about the plan of salvation, but that was definitely not right for this crowd. So we had to completely improvise a lesson. And Daniele never came to church either. This was one of the biggest letdowns I've experienced on my mission so far honestly. It was a pretty tough blow. Oh...and we had left our cell phone at Maria Pia's the night before so we had no way to communicate with anyone, and we had 2 baptisms that night. AHHHHHH. So we went to Danieles after church (we were supposed to eat lunch at his house), only to tell him that we couldn't go in becuase we didn't have another girl with us (the girl who promised to come with us also didn't show up to church because she was sick), and also to ask why he didn't come to church to which he gave the lamest excuses ever - that he was sleeping. So it was a pretty bad situation becuase we were very disappointed in his choice to not come and he was disappointed we didn't eat lunch with him. This was a huge step back in Daniele's progress. Let's just say there were some pretty not so happy emotions going on that morning. Then we went with another family to lunch (the Juan's who I love, with her parents who are interesting...her dad is SO NEGATIVE), but we had to be back at church at 4:30 to help Maria Pia get ready for her baptism at 5, but we drove back with the parents and they didn't get us back until about 4:50 and we were freaking out about everything and the stress was bad - because they acted like it wasn't even important. Plus he drove like 2mph the whole way back...we were sooooo frustrated! Bahhh.

BUT................then Maria Pia Montrone and Valentina Verdillo got baptized as members of the church. And my life was very very very very happy again. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) I was soooo happy for both of them. I've never seen Maria Pia look happier (remember, she's 74, has has a very hard life and is very negative about a lot of things also). And Valentina is just the best!!! I love both of them soooo much and am so excited for them!!!

Monday...another miracle when we got in contact through Angelo with one of our ex'investigators! We had 1 lesson with him my 2nd week in Bari, we all really felt the spirit when we read the BoM with him, but then he wasn't interested. Sad. But he came to US this time and he wants to change and come to church and be taught the lessons! He has seen the incredible changes in Angelo and wants that to happen to him. Last night (Tuesday) we gave him a bapstimal invite and he said yes!!! WHOO HOO!!!!!! MIRACLES ALL AROUND!! We also had a lesson with Daniele about the Plan of Salvation, and we're realizing how much progress he needs to make and also faith. He still has not prayed with us in a lesson, and we contacted him 2 months ago. And the feeling in the meeting was different than the past, I think because of the stuff that had happened the day before and we were still just all a little raw inside. I'm interested to see what happens.

Monday I also had my interview with President Kelly, who I just love and appreciate so much! He's so wonderful and I am so grateful to have him as my mission president! While we were all waiting for interviews they let us watch this new movie called "17 Miracles" about the Willie/Martin handcart companies. I highly recommend it to all becuase it was incredible and of course makes you appreciate SO MUCh the sacrifice of our pioneer ancestors who went to Salt Lake to obey the prophet. And these handcart companies were converts from England...converts are so strong. What an example.

yesterday was Zone Conference and it was awesome and incredible and I'm grateful for all the missionaries in these zones and for their testimonies and hard work. We talked a lot about obedience, and I have made some goals to improve myself as a missionary. We also talked about how nobody is perfect. And when we begin realizing more and more of our weaknesses even as we become better missionaries, it means that we are coming closer to Christ and that He is helping us and blessing us to become stronger. (Ether 12:27) There were a lot of cool things said about this scripture and I was grateful for the teachings. After ZC we saw a couple people, taught English course, then got Pday eve PIZZA!!! We were starving! I used to think eating a whole pizza was a lot, but it's not even a big deal anymore, and last night I thought it was too small HAHAHA. Mamma mia...food.

Ok, well I always write too much probably but there were some really cool things that happened this week and I had to tell about them and teh bad stuff too! There are really highs and lows of missionary work, but it's all worth it when you help people come closer unto Christ. And seeing 2 baptisms this week really helped set the pace for the year I think. We're excited to see about transfers soon (transfer calls are next Saturday) and are already trying to predict what will happen. I know that the Lord takes care of His missionaries!!! He loves us so much and I'm so grateful to be doing this work and to have the bad experiences as well as the good ones. It makes you appreciate everything.

Pictures, then sign-off:

 Us with Maria Pia and Angelo!!! Angelo has been a member for 2 months and he baptized her!!! I love Maria Pia!!!  She finally got baptized after 2 years in contact with missionaries and the church.

Us with Valentina, our little 11 year old miracle. I know her haircut makes her look like a boy haha, but I think she's so cute. And just so fun to be around. She's obsessed with Justin Bieber.

This pizza box explains truth!! Pizza is always a party!!!! :) :) I looooooooooove pizza!!

Meggggggggggga citof.

Ok, love you all, have a great week!!!!!!! I'm so glad the Italian holidays are finally over. BUt now its the SALDI, which is 2 months of sales!!!!!!!!! We're gonna have to practice some self control over here hahahaha.

Love, Sorella Sobeck

BUON ANNO!!

Hello everyone and Buon Anno to all. I can't believe its 2012! The world will not end as so many people have told us on the street that it will haha. I will be a missionary for the entire year of 2012! It's crazy and exciting to think about, and to wonder the places I'll get to serve in this year and the people I will meet and the experiences I will have. Ahhhh its exciting stuff. Missionary life is sempre così. Love it.

Well, this week some interesting stuff happened and we didn't have a lot of work because everyone always says "dopo le feste" which isn't until after January 6th. So we are VERY excited that the holidays are almost over here and that will actually be able to make appointments with people in the near future. The most exciting thing is that we still have our 2 baptisms scheduled for THIS SUNDAY and they both had their baptismal interviews yesterday and both "passed" so on Sunday evening Maria Pia Montrone and Valentina Verdillo will be baptized and we couldn't be more happy for them!!! I feel so lucky to be able to see all these baptisms in Bari since I've been here. It is definitely a blessing in my missionary life. :)

New Years was pretty uneventful in our house. It was fast Sunday so we started our fast after lunch on Saturday which meant we couldn't really celebrate haha. And we had to be in our apartments by 6 on Saturday night for safety purposes. For lunch we ate American style with homemade french fries, big spinach salad, stir-fry, and SPARKLING CIDER!!! It was delicious!!! When we came in at 6 we heard fireworks all the night long too. But when we went to bed I fell asleep quickly and it was the first New Years I can remember when I haven't been awake at midnight to celebrate. it wasn't even a big deal though haha the next day was just normal and we went to church. Our lunch appointment was at a family who's house should be on those hoarder (sp?) shows. They have SOOOOO MUCH STUFF. I don't understand how people can live like that. But like usual, I wanted to explode after lunch becuase we ate soooooo much. Every time I think it'll be better because my stomach is getting stretched out, but then every time its not better hahaha. Oh well, gotta love the experiences! And I do, becuase the food is usually very delicious :) On New Years day after lunch we went to the hospital to see the man we saw last week (Michele Mongelli - the day of our bishop and stake president (yes the bishop and stake pres. are brothers)) who is not doing well. He and his wife are not members, which is interesting considering their sons are the leaders of the Puglia. We don't really know what they want us to do, becuase he is seriously dying. It was one of those experiences when you really have no idea what to do and you just hope that the things you say and do were ok. Anyways, that was interesting. I wanted to lie on the empty hospital bed in his room though because we were so full of food. Ahhhhh! And after the hospital we went and saw one of the coolest ladies in the ward: Sorella Valenti who is 88 years old and has  more energy than me! She walks to church every week hahaha I love her.

On Monday we started the new year by cleaning our apartment! It was festa della pulizia for all the missionaries haha if the Italians can make up their own holidays why can't the missionaries?? So we deep cleaned our apartment from 10-5ish. I spent a couple hours scrubbing mold off the bathroom wall tiles with a toothbrush and getting high off bleach! YAY NEW YEARS!!! Hahaha it was actually fun, and the work load was lighter because we have 4 sorelle instead of just 2. It was definitely a festa!

Yesterday was Italian day. Sorella Ashman and I have 1 day a week where we speak only Italian - its hard but its effective and I always learn a lot. We had our 2 baptismal interviews and so we ended up hanging out with the Anzioni from Bitonto becuase Anz. McAffee did the invterviews. We had a good consiglio di distretto where we talked about the things we've learned in the mission so far and how we always need to look forward. SEMPRE AVANTI! And then this morning I read a really really good talk in teh January 2010 Ensign by Elder Holland called "The Best is Yet to Be". It's from a BYU fireside he gave in 2009, which I distinctly remember that I was there in the Marriott listening to him speak. It's a great talk, I recommend everyone reading it becuase its very good about new years. Here's an idea from it, I don't think its an exact quote but its close: "Faith is always pointed to the future. The past is meant to be learned from and not lived in. It's goooooooooood stuff!!"  Also yesterday we got lots of food and some of it free! I love free food!!! We had a panino from the Panino King (he's awesome and definitely an artist of the panini (sandwiches)), orzo (the Mormon exception for coffee because its made from barley adn not coffee beans...and I don't like it very much but one of our contacts ALWAYS gets some for us haha!), a delicious creme puff, gelato, and pizza. And for all of this lovely cibo we only spend €4.40! Again, I love when people buy us food :) :) :) Because missionaries are very poor people hahahaah! Then English Course was stinkin hilarious last night with some great quotes. Here's some I wrote down: "Frank! You are English like the sisters!!" "You are the secret English digger." "I made the resolution to accept whatever may happy in my life." The first 2 were just hilarious. The last one was beautiful and profound! After English course we went to get pizza (Pday eve tradition now - every Tuesday night!) and Daniele came with us!!! He's so funny! Last week when we went to Ikea he bought us some colored pencils, and last night he bought our pizza. We always try to tell him no (of course) but he does it anyways and he just loves it. It is so funny. We have been wanting to set a baptismal date with Daniele but whenever we've had a lesson with him lately we have been kind of rushed with time and the timing has not been right. We are praying for him. It has been amazing to see the changes in him the past almost 2 months we've known him. We really haven't taught him all that much because we haven't had many lets sit down and have a lesson opportunities with him. But he's reading the Book of Mormon and changing before our eyes. I hope I can see him get baptized. But if not, I know that he is coming closer to Christ and we are bringing some joy into his life right now.

Another interesting lesson we've had this week with Remo Lassandro. I don't remember if I've written about him at all, but his wife is a member but he's not, he's a heavy smoker, and many missionaries have tried working with him but he just doesn't make progress. Well, we had another lessson with him on Monday night and he is beginning to trust us more and we are beginning to see more and more what his problems are. He doesn't like the commandments becuase he considers himself rebellious and he likes his freedom. Which has led us to some interesting discussions between the 2 of us and thoughts of every lesson I've ever been taught about obedience to the commandments. The purpose of the plan for us is for us to be happy. Jesus Christ gave us commandments and he can't do anything that would make us unhappy, so by default these commandments are to make us happy. Of course we know that when we follow the commandments we actually have MORE freedoms than when we don't. It's an interesting idea to think about, and there is a link that Remo has not put together in his mind. He doesn't have the desire to. He's read the Book of Mormon like 3 times and is not baptized because he has never prayed about it because he doesn't want to know if its true. That is a prime example of why DESIRE and INTENT are so important in conversion. Without them you won't go anywhere! Anyways, Remo is beginning to progress a little bit more everytime we see him. It's going to either be a looooooooooong process and a lot more missionaries to finally get him to understand Jesus Christ better, or it will be one major explosive event that changes everything. I wonder what it will be!!!

We have Zone Conference next Tuesday already, so I'll get to write about that next week. I can't believe this transfer is already half over. Again, I'm excited for the feste to be over because then we can actually have normal weeks of missionary work. It's very satisfying to have a nice full week of work and then see the results at the end.

Something I've been trying to work on lately and learn more about it following the promptings of the spirit. I hope I can become better at this as a missionary, since we are always completely relying on the Spirit. And it's the Spirit that converts, not missionaries or other people. We are just the instruments.

I have started reading Jesus the Christ, and usually I've been reading it out loud to Sorella Ashman. It's been really fascinating and we're only on page 50 or something! That book is HUGE. I'm loving it so far though and the way Talmage words certain things. I don't understand half the words I feel like, but the ideas are very interesting.

I hope everyone has some good New Years resolutions planned! Mine would be to eat better, but I already know thats not going to happen here hahahahaha. I'll do my best though. I hope that everyone has the goal to become closer to Jesus Christ this year. I know I am becoming closer to him everyday oon my mission and I hope everyone can experience it in some degree. He truly is my best friend and I'm so grateful for everything He does for me and all of mankind. He is the best example there ever could be.

Ok, I love you all! Have a great year. Happy 10th anniversary to my beautiful sister and my awesome brother-in-law tomorrow!!! And to my cousin Heather for sending me that video of the family on Christmas :) :) :) :) :) :) I absolutely loved it and thanks for all the hellos from the Schaerrer side of the family!!! Love you all!! Ok, bye.

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Foto::

 my favorite graffiti in Bari by far :)

our New years lunch celebration!!!

 check out that sky!! That is the palazzo I live in and the beautiful sunset the other night.

and another!

Don't know where that came from!

Yay marriage!

Basta. Ciao ciao!!! :)