DOLCETTO O SCHERZETTO!!!

Happy Halloween! It's really really weird that its already Halloween...I will have been in Italy for ONE YEAR on Saturday, so last Halloween I was getting ready to leave the MTC! It suddenly got really cold here like 3 days ago...it was fine and nice outside and then it wasn't haha. So we're getting used to that. Today we're having a Halloween party with our district in the church...complete with a homemade pinata, a delicious LASAGNA, games, watching the Joseph Smith movie (!!!), etc. We're pretty excited :)

I've had some pretty cool experiences this week. There is a new convert named Doris who is from Nigeria and is awesome, but very shy so she never really talks much when we go. But she has teh cutest little daughters, and I love going to her house. We went on Saturday and talked about having patience in the midst of afflictions and read a story from the Book of Mormon with her. We asked her a simple question about how prayer has helped her in her life, and it was an inspired question becuase then she just opened up and talked for 20 minutes straight telling us all these crazy experiences in her life but how she has so much faith anythings. I was just in awe...she is AWESOME!!! And then she was just so much more open with us ever since! I LOVE those experiences that just build relationships with people. She invited us to her daughters birthday party for yesterday...Divine turned 1. I will just say this: AFRICANS KNOW HOW TO PARTY!!!!!!!!!! Holy cow...best thing I've even gone to hahaha it was so much fun and we met a TON of cool peeps and we had a little spiritual meeting where we sang "How Great Thou Art" African style...it was incredible. And then I ate some legit AFrican food...oh man. It was interesting haha...fufu anyone?? Look up what that is haha. So I love Africans pretty much with all my heart :)

We had a ward activity this week, but our ward boundaries are super spread out so its difficult for people to come to church during the week. But with the support we did have it was lots of fun.

Me and Sorella Winward taught an institute class in English for people in our ward who don't speak Italian, and that went really well. We are doing the class on teh Book of Mormon, and all 3 sets of missionaries in our ward are rotating who teaches. The Book of Mormon is incredible and teaches us SO MANY THINGS even from the very beginning!

We have some Muslim investigators who are from Senegal in Africa and we're helping them learn Italian/English for service. They all have Books of Mormon now and on Sunday when we went it was awesome because they were writing their names in the books and marking the verses that we read with them! Usually Muslims won't even talk to us or accept anything we try to give them, so this is so cool for me to see.

All my stories are about black people this week haha. The other day we missed a bus and so while we were waiting for the next one we gave everyone English course flyers and I talked to a guy from Nigeria. So he already speaks English. But he asked what church I was from and I told him and he said "Hmm. That's a coincidence." Um, what is? I found out that he has attended our church in Greece before. Nope, not a coincidence. We're going to call him in a couple weeks when he gets back from a work trip :) That was a pretty cool miracle.

Things are still going slowly but surely. I know we just need to continue to work hard and work will come. Patience :) I love this work! I've challenged myself to write down a miracle that I see everyday this week so I can more readily see the blessings Heavenly Father is giving me. The blessings come when we DO something. When we ACT. This church is a church of action!

Vi voglio tanto bene!

Love, Sorella Sobeck

These beautiful sunsets helped me feel happier after hours of finding

Ladispoli

Sorelle!

District Halloween party

Service for Slla Galle'

Olive picking service!

Love my collega!!

Sam!

Divine's 1st birthday!

Some of those lessons of life‏

So, I don't think I'll ever get over with how big this city is! Yesterday we had Zone Conference (SUPER early in the transfer this time), and to get to the Roma 2 church where it was at took an hour and a half. Some of that time is waiting for the bus, or the metro, or the train (there are a million ways to get around), but I just think its so funny. Roma 3, my area, is the ghetto of Rome and I think its so appropriate that I'm here. The other day I talked to a guy from Cairo and I got to tell him that I've been there and he thought that was so cool! Cool connections where your previous life experiences help you bond with people. There's a lot of weird people here, but they're all children of God so we try to talk to them anyways :) I'm enjoying my experiences, even though the work is really slow and will take time to build up.

One of the biggest lessons I feel that I've had to learn on my mission is patience. With my companions, with my investigators, with Italy in general, with myself, etc. Every situation is different.Every transfer is different. Now I'm learning some more about it with the lack of work...and of course it sometimes just punches you in the face with how hard a situation is until you learn to just smile anyways when its not easy. Welcome to life. I love to smile :)

I've been learning a lot. It's so fun to talk to people on the street. YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET!!!!! There have been some sweeeet people though, and I really look forward to meeting with them if they allow us to. I love thats theres so many languages spoken because I know that the gospel is true in EVERY LANGUAGE and that it will help people from EVERY COUNTRY. Universal joy. What could be better?

Zone Conference was so great. Every time I learn so much and I feel like certain messages are directed specifically at me. It was weird because some of my good friends are finishing their missions this transfer, so they gave their dying testimonies. Everyone says how quickly the mission passes. At the beginning of my mission I thought that was the silliest thing to say, because I felt like it was going to last forever. Being in your first and second transfers and having the whole thing ahead of you kind of puts that perspective sometimes. Now that I'm in my 9th transfer and only have a few left, I'm realizing how real that statement is that time really does fly. The days are long but the weeks are short - the principle that never ends. Seeing this yesterday put some things into perspective. There was always a great training that the assistants gave about how we are ALL set apart with the same missionary authority. But how we act determites how much POWER we will have. This applies to every single calling. What we get out of an experience depends on what we make of it.

All these eternal principles. I don't even know what to do with myself sometimes. Somethings they much so much sense. Perfect. Other times it is so difficult to keep things in perspective. Despite the fact that I am majorly imperfect, I hope that I can remember.

The gospel is true.

I don't really have any cool teaching experiences this week. But I'll just let you know that my first new investigator in Roma, was such a funny experience. Yep, he's literally crazy. Hahaha. He is already an ex-investigator...oh man. The mission is the greatest adventure.

Vi voglio bene tutti!!!

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Aunt Donna - I'm in Roma 3! Its the ghetto of Rome and I love it haha :) :) But the temple is not in my zone, I have not seen it yet. I haven't really seen anything yet, the other day we saw the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon and a huge piazza, but I haven't seen much becuase we can only go on Pday and it takes awhile to get there anyways. So over time I'll get to see all the cool stuff, I'll keep a look out for the things you mentioned. Thanks for all your prayers!

Aunt Kathy - I know! It's so funny that it happened like that...I had a feeling I'd be transfered up to Rome, so I thought it was just an ironic situation. I'll be excited to hear about what he saw while he was here.

Garrett - November 3rd! Not too far away, good luck and I seriously can't wait to hear all about your experiences. With a BIG SLURPEE.

Ana - FRIEND! Where have you been??? :)

Bellissima!

Pday adventure: People-watching at the Vatican with McDonalds hahaha

All the santi

WHOOO!

Castello di Sant'Angelo

:)

Ciao da Roma!

Ok - I survived my first week (almost) in this HUGE CITY. It is completely different than Mistretta...theres tons of PEOPLE. There's public transportation. Theres a TON of stranieri (foreigners) so half the people you see aren't even Italian and you hear 30 different languages everyday. I live with 4 sorelle (like I did in Bari - its great). There are so many different comparisons, yet its the same mission and the same country. I felt like I went to a different mission when I went from Bari to Mistretta, and now from Mistretta to Roma I feel the same. My companion is great! Sorella Winward is half Italian (her mom comes from Sassari in Sardegna), but never learned to speak it before, she is in her 5th transfer, she is pretty shy but SO SWEET so it is a completely different type of companion than I've ever had. All of my comps in the past have been bolder than me, not afraid to speak at all. It's very refreshing to me to kind of break the pattern I've had. I love Sorella Winward already and we're going to have a great transfer together!

The work for us is not so hoppin at the moment unfortunately. There were some struggles with the last sorella who was here (who ended up going home early), and as a result there's not really much to work with. So I kind of feel like I'm opening a new city or something! We've been doing a lot of finding so far, I haven't taught a single lesson this whole week (not for lack of trying - just getting stood up, inactives not being home, people not being available until other days, etc.). It's been a pretty humbling experience for me to say the least. I haven't had a mission experience quite like this so far. We could really use some prayers to help us find new people to teach so the gospel can help them! In general people aren't quite as willing to stop and talk to us here I've noticed, becuase its a much busier lifestyle here. But the people are nice. We just have to get them interested.

CONFERENCE WAS BOSS!!!! The announcement about the age change for missionaries created quite an exciting stir, but I think its awesome and will really help missionary work. It's going to be a big change for BYU also haha. Some of my favorite talks were Elder Gay's, Elder Eyring's, and Elder Holland's (always) - I don't have my notes with me and I don't remember which other specifics but they were all great. The leaders of the church always know how to put things into perspective to really help us understand things. I personally learned a lot of lessons that are helping and will help me during the rest of my mission. I got to watch the Relief Society session and then the first 3 other sessions - haven't gotten to see the last one though and I probably won't get to. I look forward to the Liahona :)

It was SO FUN to be in Rome for Conference becuase we all went to the Rome 1 church and I got to see a bunch of missionaries and see old friends who I've served with in the past in the MTC and in Bari!!! It was so great to see familiar faces and to see whats been going on with them in their mission life. A mission builds lasting friendships :) Also, I love my district. My district leader is a missionary who came to Bari my 2nd transfer, but he left after a few days becuase he wanted to go home. Well, he didn't go home :) And now he's an awesome missionary and a good friend already! The other sorelle are fun and its fun to have lots of people to talk to and get to know. I haven't been able to meet lots of members yet though since we didn't have normal church. That's for this Sunday.

Today I will have my first Pday in Rome and we're going to centro to see some cool stuff. I don't know what yet, but I'm so excited!

They are repainting all our walls in our apartment, so this week has been PAZZA. The guys painting are members from Rome 2 and they are soooo funny. They made us lunch the other day too haha. So we've just been living in chaos the past week. They should finish today - I will miss them around, but I will enjoy being able to have a more organized house without paint stuff EVERYWHERE that they leave all the time haha.

I don't have much else to say. Again, prayers would be appreciated because we have lots of lots of finding and work to do! I'm excited to be here in Roma and I know that I'm going to learn a ton from this place and these people.

My new address is

Viale Alessandrino 250

00172 Roma (RM)

Italia

Happy week!

Love, Sorella Sobeck

PS - haven't heard from lots of people in lots of time!! You all alive out there?

Crossing the strait from Sicilia to the mainland - overnight bus=TERRIBLE experience and no sleep...

Slla Winward!!! Our success from finding that day! :)

Gabriele e Samuele! Roma 1 bishop and son

Anziani

First pday!! Trevi fountain

Tossing coins

Pantheon

Obelisk...Roma is cool

It's Almost Conference!

Transfer results! Sorella Sobeck is going to Roma!!! I'm super pumped about the change...I definitely feel like its time for a change in my mission - I learned so much in Mistretta and I feel like I changed as a missionary and also as a person while I have been here the past 5 1/2 months. At times it was definitely a refiner's fire...that is life in general. There were many wonderful moments and I met some incredible people. I look forward to going to Rome (to the HUGE CITY!) and having new experiences. I will be companions with Sorella Winward, who I believe is going into her 5th transfer and whom I've never met, and we're gonna tear it up! It's going to be insane...there are a ton of missionaries and a ton of members in Rome, so its going to be a lot different than down here in piccola Mistretta :) I'll be in Roma 3. Can't wait...going to Catania today and taking the bus from there to Rome with some other missionaries...riding the bus all night long and we arrive in Rome tomorrow morning sometime! Change...it happens. Pray that we find un sacco di persone to teach and baptize!!!

As for the rest, this week has been full of saying goodbye to people in all of our cities. I have met AWESOME PEOPLE during my stay here. People are so friendly and loving...I really will miss Sicilia a lot and the type of lifestyle...even though sometimes it drives me insane, the people here really do enjoy life. I appreciate them and their good humor and generosity and love. Oh Siciliani...I will also miss the food down here hahaha.

I feel like I have been able to plant a lot of seeds in this area. People have so much potential if they will just allow themselves to move forward. It is easier said than done I realize. I hope with time and with feeling the Spirit more than many of these people will eventually accept the truth and the gospel. I have seen many miracles, some really big and some super small...those little miracles are what makes the world turn in the world of a missionary.

I hope I will be able recognize even more those small miracles every day during my next city.

One really cool thing we did this week...there has been CRAZY WEATHER lately here in this part of Sicily. Its been really hot and humid...and then it finally just decided to let it all out and pour rain. There was a crazy lightening storm for like half hour straight the other night, without thunder though. On Saturday night while we were waiting for transfer calls we did Mostra (I don't know what its called in English) in Mistretta and we tried a new idea that we got from some other missionaries. We got some bed sheets and put them on the ground, then we drew pictures. Sorella Fuller drew the prophets cycle, and I drew the Plan of Salvation. We drew on dark sheets with white chalk, and then afterwards we just washed them all clean, and it was super fun. IT WAS SO WINDY!!! All of our stuff decided to fly away many times....pamphlets, DVD's, the sheets haha...we had to put a bunch of weights on all the sides/corners. It was a cool and interesting new way to attract attention, and it really worked with the younger generation who usually just ignore us and make fun of us haha. But they thought the drawings were cool and despite the weird weather and not too many people being outside we got to explain what we were doing to enough people to make it count.

Fasting works...period. It is so cool to see major blessings and answers come to your prayers what you sacrifice a little more.

I'm so excited for General COnference!!! Since I'll be in Rome I'll probably get to watch it in English while I'm excited about. You get way more out of it in your native tongue.

Here's the mission address again, since I don't know my new address yet.

Piazza Carnaro 20

00141 Roma (RM)

Italia

Hope everyone has a great conference weekend! President Monson is so awesome and I know he's a prophet of God!

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Some pics to close the transfer -

My district this transfer! Last pday we spent a couple hours in Palermo with the anziani - this is on top of Mt. Pellegrino where you can see the whole city of Palermo, though thats not whats behind us :)

Mostra! Drawing on bedsheets with chalk...in the wind :)

Brioche in Palermo! My last time there!!

My last morning in Mistretta...it's such a cool place!

Sonia and Nino

Crazy Maria

Lightening storm!!!

Slla Battista and Salvatore

Famiglia Giardino! Pina, Salvatore, Gianluca, Valerio

Little Nino

Stefano

Lina and Davide

Ciao M-town!

Ciao collega!

Ciao SICILIA!