Sorella Sobeck in Rome: 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 :)