Sorella Sobeck in Rome: Peanut Butter M&M's‏

Can I just say I miss peanut butter????? One of the Anziani in my district (the one from England) got a "care package" from his dad that had a bunch of food in it to share with the other missionaries. All from America. And he gave us some peanut butter M&M's and I went to heaven. I love peanut butter. But...nutella is pretty good too :)

I have to write about some miracles :)

Giuseppe, pretty much our only progressing investigator, saw a baptism!!!!!!!!! But the miracle is how it all happened. We found out last Monday about this baptism in Palermo that would happen on Thursday. We called Giuseppe to tell him about it. The next day at our appointment with him he was looking up train times and everything for us to be able to go together. It was all MUCH more complicated than I make it seem now, but I'll save the drama except to say we had to make a lot of phone calls and some of them didn't seem so successful haha to figure out everything (we have lots of rules as missionaries!). So we ended up finding a train that would get us all to Palermo on time for the baptism, and another one that would get us missionaries back home in Mistretta by 9. So Giuseppe drives his car from Capo d'orlando to Sant'agata where he takes the train. We drive from Mistretta to Santo Stefano to catch the train and meet him on it. We get to Palermo, meet our anziani there, take a bus and then walk to the church where the baptism was. There weren't a lot of people because it was Thursday night, but the point was that the guy getting baptized was there...and Giuseppe too! He saw the baptism and also the confirmation (usually the confirmation is the Sunday after but this was a special circumstance and we were so excited he got to see both!). We left really fast after it was all over to catch the bus back to the train station. Giuseppe bought us gelato, then we go to the platform. Our train did not come at 7 like it was supposed to. yeah, it was cancelled, and so was the next one after that. When did we leave Palermo? 8;20. Oh my gosh. And what time did we get home to mistretta? 10:35. Hahaha mamma mia. (Missionary schedule you're home at 9 usually and in bed at 10:30...) So Giuseppe had taken the whole day off of work so he could come to the baptism with us, and then we were super late getting back. But, because he loves to talk to people (he's a businessman), he ended up getting a new client for his business while we were waiting for the train to come! HE was so cute when he said "Yeah, I really got blessed for coming to the baptism!" He's so great. We have stake conference this Sunday and we're really hoping he'll be able to come with us!

Another miracle. Yesterday we did a bit of exploring when we went to a new little city where we had both never been before. We chose this place because we found some information about an ex-investigator and we had her address so we decided to try and find her. We got to Pettineo and learned that this address didn't even EXIST! And we didn't have a phone number. So...we went around asking a bunch of people if they knew Rita Bruno. And because its a small town, people led us a certain direction, we'd ask someone else, they'd lead us a different direction, until eventually we found someone who took us directly to her door! Was she there? Nope...haha. But we went back later and found her daughter, who when she saw us was SO HAPPY! And we got her phone number to come back another day. Small cities are so great! That never would've happened in a big city. We feel really good about this family and hope we have a lesson with them soon.

I have a testimony of passbacks. So we do finding all the time (tracting...street contacting and door knocking). A lot of people when you ring their citof tell you you can come back later. Most of them aren't serious, yet we do it anyways :) But once in awhile you find some people who really are willing to let you come back. That happened with a couple ladies a few weeks ago. We went and visited both of them this past week again as passbacks. One of them told us "Yeah, I never let any religious people in, but I'm just really curious about what you girls are doing here." Thats a perfect opportunity to teach someone about the Restoration of the church! So even if people don't necessarily seem interested, I know that we need to go back anyways, becuase YOU NEVER KNOW UNTIL YOU TRY!!! I've heard stories about the most unlikely people getting testimonies of the church and then baptized. You never know. I'm not saying this lady will probably get baptized a member of the church, but at least now she knows our story a little bit. And that we're really nice girls and not crazy. A lot of people thing the latter unfortunately because they don't even give us a chance...but thats universal :)

I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon. We need it!!! (Read 2 Nephi 29). Sadly, the people here don't even read the Bible and so many refuse to even have the idea enter into their mind to read another book that comes from God. But I KNOW IT'S TRUE!!!!!!!! I'm grateful for the messages and the comfort I take when I read it. Everyone...READ IT PLEASE!!! Just a little bit everyday. And make it become a habit to make us better people.

Sadly this morning I went to my 5th funeral since I've been on my mission. There are so many old people in Italy...jeez. But this was for our branch president's mother. She's not a member, and President Portera is the only member in his whole family, so this was a Catholic funeral. It may have been my 5th funeral but it was my 1st Catholic funeral. It was an interesting experience...again, it makes me really grateful for the Plan of Salvation and that I know where we go after we die, and also for the Mormon culture because its just happier. All these experiences help me understand Catholics better though.

So I don't really have time to write more. But I appreciate all the birthday thoughts/notes from last week! I had a good birthday. We went to explore a little place called Tusa, and the highlight was when a drunk guy gave us a tour of the Chiesa Madre (the main church in every town), and then later thought we were lesbian and offered to buy us a drink at the bar. Might sound strange, and it was a bit, but oh so very funny!!! And then that night I celebrated with birthday pizza and gelato :) Gotta love Italy! I sure do.

Hope all's well with all. My mission is just about half over and it's really weirding me out. Please pray for us to find people who are ready for the gospel and willing to accept our message. These people are the sweetest but as always our hearts need to be softened.

Remember my address in Mistretta is

Strada Concordia 2

98063 Mistretta (ME)

Sicilia, Italia

or theres the mission home address

Piazza Carnaro 20

00141 Roma (RM)

Italia

Love you all!

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Ana Lu - NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so not surprised. ;) Gotta give me details over here!!! Auguri!