Sorella Sobeck in Rome: BUON ANNO!!

Can't believe its already the new year. I spent the whole year of 2012 in Italia as a missionary and it was great :) It was a great year and a year of many learning experiences - lots that I didn't want at all but all that helped me as a missionary but most especially as a person. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father knows me and what I need more than myself. I know that after my mission these experiences won't stop either...life is all about growth and its not about being easy but about becoming more accepting of the will of the Lord. Good thing He loves us a LOT and wants us to always come out on top. :)

I'm grateful to have a new transfer ahead of me! Sorella Openshaw and I are staying together and we are working hard together. We have a baptismal date for next Saturday for Blessing and it truly is a miracle. Our relationship with her is growing and her testimony is growing. She looks soooo happy every week when she comes to church and she loves the things we teach her. She has a ton of faith, like all Africans, and she knows she needs to act. On Saturday when we went to their house they fed us fufu...mamma mia...it was a fun experience haha. Theres lots of different kinds, but they made it with delicious cow intestines! I drank lots of juice... :) :)

Christmas was so much fun. On CHristmas Eve we were with a member who is from Utah actually and is just here working for a little bit. Andrea fed us baked potatoes with delicious chili on top and we were all about to explode from being so full. We had permission to be out until 10:30 on Christmas Eve, but when we left Andrea's house we realized that there were no buses running...so...we had to walk home from her house...we didn't get home until 11:15 hahaha walking in the ghetto - it was a bit scary and there were definitely some CRAZIES outside, but we made it home in once piece. We were praying reeeeally hard :) On Christmas we went with all the missionaries to the Perego's house outside of Rome - Ugo is Italian but served a mission in California and lived with his American wife, Jenna, in Utah for 10 years before they just barely moved back to Italy this year. They are AWESOME - Ugo is practically American by now and has the great sarcasm we all love and use. We watched a Bug's Life with their 5 kids, they gave us Root Beer/Dr. Pepper and DORITOS(!!!!!!), we watched the MoTab CHristmas program from a couple years ago with David Archeletta, ate lots of other delicious food including turkey, and we SKYPED WITH FAMILY!!! It was soooooo great to see my family and talk to them! I love them! We were at the Perego's all day long and they gave us a ride home which was wondeful, considering the night before haha. It was really great to have a couple days and just chill for Christmas. And then the next day on Pday we got to watch another movie and we watched Kung Fu Panda 2 and hung out in the church playing games all day - good times.

New Years was also really fun - we got to clean our apartments! Happy Holidays to us! We were getting down and dirty with all that black mold that decided to grow under our sink...fun times! And Roma on New Years at midnight beats any firework show I've ever seen for the 4th of July in America - there were about 20 firework shows around our apartment that random people just set off - we set our alarm to wake up a bit before midnight to celebrate the new year, but we didn't need that alarm haha because it was SO LOUD! We were on our balconey watching the fireworks for awhile.

THings are going really well with the work, even though its been really slow with appointments and such the past couple weeks with the holidays. We have some investigators that are making really really good progress and we're so excited to watch it!!! SOme of my favorite things about being a missionary are hearing a person pray for their first time with us and when they start reading the Book of Mormon everyday. Best feeling EVER! WE're so excited about Blessing and we have a couple other solid progressors that I look forward to seeing what happens with them.

Thats all I have time for today. Hope all is well, Happy 2013 to everyone!!! The church is true!!!

Love, Sorella Sobeck