Fai il 90%!

Quote that I love: Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you make of it. It has really helped me keep a bigger perspective at certain points in my life, including during my mission, and I shared it with an investigator this week who is having a hard time and he loved it. It's amazing somethings what some simple words can do for an effect on someone.

This week...has returned a lot more to normal and I'm quite grateful. I love adventures...but I'm grateful to be back in Mistretta (after 2 1/2 weeks not at home) and with a working car (after 1 month with it being powerless....not fun haha). You really appreciate things you have when you don't have them anymore! I wish I could just remember to be grateful for everything I have in every moment, but I'm not perfect hahaha. But yes, its been great to be back in Mistretta...the members really missed having us around, and as a result we have gotten some great lunch/dinner appointments this week :)

Doing scambi with Sorella Spicq in Siracusa was so much fun! I really really like Siracusa, the little of it that I got to see. I forgot how much WALKING you really do it some cities...because our cities are smaller I've gotten lazier haha. I learned a lot from Sorella Spicq and she was so much fun to be with for just a few hours. And the next morning we had to go to Messina for some more legal stuff for Sorella Fuller, and once again without a car we had to take the train and be in Messina by 9am...so we had to wake up at 3:40am to walk 40 minutes to the station to take the train at 5am...another adventure hahaha. The Siracusa sorelle were such great sports about it, and then we took the train and got picked up by the Messina anziani and in this place Sorella Fuller had to go to this class thing and they wouldn't let me go in, so I was separated from my companion, just sitting in the hallways, BY MYSELF, for 3ish hours. SO WEIRD to be by myself!!!!! We had to call president and everything. It was weird and I was almost paranoid I guess hahaha just sitting by myelf. So I've gotten to do a nice little giro of Sicily lately - Catania - Siracusa - Messina - Palermo - MISTRETTA...mission traveler I am.

I made brownies for English Course last night, and when he found out who had made them one of our students told me with great conviction "Troverai un marito". Translation: You will find a husband. Thanks! I love English course!

We had district meeting this week in Cefalù - its the middle place for us and the anziani, so we decided to just wing it and go there for our meeting (where I got to give the training!), and we ended up sitting on a wall right by the sea. Il mare è troppo bello!!!! I love the sea and how beautiful it is. I'm so lucky that my mission is so stinkin beautiful! I love district meeting and getting support from other missionaries and hearing other perspective and about their successes and their hardships and just being friends with them.

I guess I don't really have too much to say about the work this week...becuase we didn't really do a whole ton of missionary work unfortunately. There was lots of time devoted to lots of other things, and so in our actual area not too much happened. Sadly several of our progressing investigators are no longer progressing, even though I still love them. Even though the missionary work has been slower though, I really feel like I've been learning some important lessons through the difficult moments lately. I'm also coming to understand that very often we have to RE-learn the same lessons many times...or at least I do...because I forget. A great lesson though: NON ARRENDERSI MAI. NEVER GIVE UP.

And all these things shall give us experience :) Even when the work is slow, Heavenly Father still loves me! :) He sure does take care of us and I'm so grateful for that. I know the church is true.

Transfer calls are Saturday, we'll see what happens. And then...GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! It's like Christmas for missionaries :) :) :)

Alright time to wrap up...we're in Palermo and we gotta drive back for appointments!!! Love you all, thanks for the support for real.

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Messina!

Messina!

I did the training again for DDM and I used the nail game

DDM in Cefalu' this week - the halfway point

Illenia is awesome!!

Paul was here!!!

Ciao from Siracusa!!! One of the great thigns about my mission is that I get to see some really cool places. Zone Conference was great yesterday at Catania...it was a little strange because President Kelly didn't come because he was sick..the first zone conference he hasn't gone to in his more than 2 years of service so far. Sorella Kelly came though and it was incredible to see the spirit working through her to give us the training that President would've give us if he were there. I love my mission president and his wife so much - they take such great care of us and the mission, they love us, they are proud of us, they help us, and they bring the spirit so much so they can teach us. I always learn so much from them, and through Sorella Kelly yesterday and the spirit I was able to hear many things that I needed to hear to help me. After Zone Conference it was kind of a mess becuase everyone needs to get a ride to the station and instead of the normal 4 cars that we have we were down to 2. Yep, our car is still out of commission, and it ended up being a pretty big stress figuring out how to even get to zone conference in the first place for us, I'm grateful that we got it all figured out and all went well. I am so grateful to have a car in Mistretta, becuase when it works it really is a huge blessing. We had to wait a lot time to get a ride to the station, and we ended up going on the bus to Siracusa with the Anziani who are serving there, so we could have a pday here today and do splits with the sorella tonight. I'm excited :) I will be with Sorella Spicq who is from France! Pday was awesome today hanging out with other missionaries and going around and seeing some cool touristy stuff in Siracusa...Paul preached here! I can't wait to make it up to Rome as well one day. This past week has been really crazy as we've worked on getting Sorella Fuller legal in Italy, the car problems, STILL living in the church (we've not been in Mistretta for more than 2 weeks now, except for one night to do laundry...we pretty much have most of our stuff in the church haha), investigators having problems, other investigators progressing, figuring out solutions to a bunch of problems, but still seeing miracles as a result. I thought missionary work would just be the missionary work part and not dealing with real life, but we've had some real life problems lately which have made me appreciate this time apart more than usual. The great thing about all the problems that we've been having is that hte work still moves onward! We have continued to see some cool miracles everyday in many many forms, and Heavenly Father has blessed us to be able to keep on top of the work in all of our cities even though we haven't been able to do much traveling. It has been huge for us to see that the work has not had to suffer as a result. I have a testimony of prayer! I know that we can ask questions to Heavenly Father and He can answer us in so many ways. I was having a particularly rough moment the other day when we were at the Questura (pretty much a legal place that deals with pretty much all immigration stuff), I prayed to Heavenly Father to help me read something in the Book of Mormon that would help me deal with stuff. I was reading a war chapter haha and I didn't know how I was going to find an answer there, but I did. Completely. God works in mysterious ways :) I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Sorella Kelly challenged all the missionaries to read the entire Book of Mormon before Christmas...in about 90 days more or less, becuase it took Joseph Smith less than 90 days to translate it. I'm going to take the challenge and I am so looking forward to just reading it cover to cover again and increasing my testimony even more. Sorry I don't have more time and I feel like this email is all over the place, but things are moving along and I'm grateful to have seen many answers to my prayers as of late. Heavenly Father helps those who ask for it, and gives us comfort when we pray for it and seek for it. And when we're happy, He rejoices with us :) I love you all!!!!!!!!! Love, Sorella Sobeck

DEVIL CAT

My bibbia bianca

Sorelle at Zone Conference

Reinacting what happened here many years ago...it was a place for hanging

Ampitheater

Pday group in Siracusa

Great and abominable church

Paul preached here!

Slla Spicq and I after a really short scambio

The power of a dedica‏

Ciao!

As usual, some great stuff and some not so great stuff happened this week. I guess I'll just start out with some sad news in the mission life of Sorella Sobeck...the fact that Giuseppe is not going to be baptized on Saturday, and I don't know when it will happen at this point. He has a work meeting and then he goes to Milan for 2 weeks, so we had to cancel his date and haven't been able to make a new one unfortunately. My testimony of having a baptismal date has gone up though...becuase when he had that goal he was making amazing progress, feeling the spirit really strong, having great experiences, etc. Once the date was out, the next lesson was kind of how they used to be...all over the place. It made me sad but I feel that the timing must be important, probably for his family to come around a little. But we'll see what happens. I really believe that a big reason I was sent to Mistretta was to help Giuseppe progress.

Other than that, some great awesome things happened too! We got an awesome new investigator, Stefano, who we met last Tuesday. We were doing some house and we decided to walk to the end of a street to see if anything was down there. Then we found Stefano working, got his number, and made an appointment to come on Thursday. We wanted to give him a Book of Mormon, and right before we went to see him I felt like we should write him a dedica in his BoM. A dedica is just a dedication to someone, something that Italians LOVE. They love anythign personalized. Sometimes we hesitate to write dedicas though because when we do, sometimes we never see that person again to give them the BoM unfortunately, and then what do you do with it? Anyways, so we wrote a decida to Stefano. When we gave him the BoM he said, "Thanks, I love reading!" And when he saw the dedica, he got really quiet, then he read it and told us "That is beautiful. No one has ever given me a book with a dedica". Man, something so simple made me feel the spirit really strong. We saw him again yesterday - he had read 13 chapters, went on the internet site, found and watched the Joseph Smith movie, and was very content. We taught him the first lesson, concentrating on the pattern of prophets and apostasy and the need for a Restoration of the truth and authority. He already believes Joseph Smith was a prophet and that th Book of Mormon is true. Seriously...this rarely happens. It really increases my testimony that PEOPLE ARE BEING PREPARED. THEY ARE READY. We just have to do the work to find them, and create environments where they can feel the spirit, and INVITE INVITE INVITE. We wanted to leave the Restoration film with him to watch as his commitment, but when he told us he already watched in online I was thinking "What are we going to leave for his impegno??" And I thought about inviting him to church. 20 seconds after I thought that, HE asked US about if we have a mass and what we do. Holy spirit guiding my thoughts. It's pretty cool.

Angela, the Romanian, came to church again on Sunday! Two weeks in a row! She is so great. We have had to focus a lot on the first lesson and the Book of Mormon. She is orthodox, so her thinking pattern is a little different than Catholics. We have to talk her through lots of stuff, but she is already gaining a testimony of prayer. It's probably one of my favorite things to hear investigators pray to Padre celeste (Heavenly Father). I'm a huge fan of Angela, who is making great progress.

We are still in the church, but have an appointment this afternoon to get our car fixed!!! So we've been sleeping at the church for 8 nights, and I'm super ready to go back to Mistretta though. And I'm SUPER excited to have the car working at full capacity again - especially since next week we're driving to Catania again for Zone Conference!

I found out some awesome exciting news lately from Bari. A woman that Sorella Ashman and I found our last week together, Julie who is from Africa and is pregnant, was baptized in July!!! I was so excited to hear about it - she really is so sweet and it makes me have so much more faith to see a result in the process of PLANTING SEEDS!!! Frequently we'll never know the results of our actions, but I'm so grateful to have found out about this baptism and that Bari is still on fire with having lots of baptisms! There are lots of prepared people in Italy :)

Alright, that about wraps up all the big stuff I think thats worth mentioning. We're working hard and seeing some great miracles happen. The transfer is already half over. Time is just passin by. Buona settimana a tutti, e vi voglio tanto bene :)

Oh and I also must write....GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Aunt Donna - my comp is kind of from different places, but she has lived in Oregon and Washington, and now her family lives in St. George. Sounds like some crazy stuff is going on with the work on your street!

Aunt Kathy - That sounds like an awesome vacation for Glen! Yeah I'm in Sicily now, but we have transfers in a few weeks and who knows what will happen. Maybe I'll be up in Rome haha. Thanks for the email.

Uncle Phil - those Ibex are insane!!! I have no idea where that dam is haha but now I want to go see it!

Breakfast

DDM in Palermo

Yeah...fun analogies

Water bottle...fire extinguisher...Luigi "NO WE ARE NOT TJ'S!"

è già settembre‏

Times flyin. This week has had some pretty big highs and lows to be honest, but as always everything always works out even if you get a little stressed to get to that point :) Thats life in all aspects though, so nothing new for the mission. Sorella Fuller and I have been really tired this week, so today is a super chill pday :) :) :) Love those.

Guess what???? I'M LIVING IN THE CHURCH. No lies...let me explain. So, we've had some car problems as of late. We went to the car dealership last week to ask them to check what was going on, we made an appointment to come back the next week. So Monday we went back and they told us they had to order a part for us, and that it would probably take another week to get there. They told us to not drive very far distances. Well...thats kinda difficult when you live on a mountain and the place where your principal investigator and also the car dealership is is an hour away when you take the freeway and farther when not. So, we called some people. At first they wanted us to switch cars with the Messina anziani, but we didn't think that was necessary. So we got the idea to stay in the church...because it is literally an apartment. We called some more people, got permission, and now we are staying in Santo Stefano in the church, which is down the mountain completely (we're right by the sea and have a great view in the morning :) ), and I feel like I'm camping. It's pretty awesome because our church has a kitchen, bathroom, mattresses, etc. Perfectly fit for living there. So I feel pretty priviledged that I can say I got to have a sleepover in the church! We'll stay here until they tell us the car part comes in.

And this really is perfect. Because now while we're here, we save time driving (its now a lot closer to everywhere we have work), lots of gas money going up the mountain. We got 2 new investigators in Santo Stefano last week, and they BOTH came to church. MIRACLE. I've never had anyone come to church they're first week. It's always pretty stressful to get people into church here becuase it just takes a lot of organizing. But its so worth it. Angela is the Romanian badante (live-in caregiver pretty much for old people), and Nino is the neighbor/nephew of the old people she works for. They both came, and they brought the old lady with them, Maria, who is so cute and just like a child. We went to their house in teh morning so we could show them the way to the church, and while we were all a half hour late and they only stayed for maybe half hour, it really was great. They came to testimony meeting and got to hear some really great member testimonies. We're hoping that they'll come again this week. Pretty awesome. It was a great miracle for us to get them in church.

Giuseppe's baptism is still scheduled for next Saturday (!!!!!!!), though we might have to change it to the week after if he has work conflicts. But I am so grateful to have been able to work with him for the past 4 and a half months and to really see HOW MUCH HE'S CHANGED. Now he's the one asking us if we can read something together int eh Book of Mormon, volunteering to say the prayer, saying what he thinks and what he learned. It was not like that even a month and a half ago I feel. I feel like he is definitely ready for his baptism, and that he will continue to grow leaps and bounds. He shared with us an experience where he asked a personal question to Heavenly Father and he got an answer in return. And now he wants to act on that answer. It is music to my ears. Please pray for him in the next couple weeks, because even though he's ready it isn't going to be easy for him with all the opposition he has around him. I'm so excited for him and proud of him!

On my year mark on Friday we met with a kinda-ex investigator but he's more of on a break becuase he's super busy. Salvatore came to church one time (that was another miracle) a couple months ago, but since then its been hard to see him. Anyways, this lesson he was asking us a bunch of questions and we ended up talking a little bit about how we have a living prophet and how there are 12 apostles on the earth again, which he LOVED. He told us that he loves the things we're teaching him, he still reads the Book of Mormon everyday (whoo hooooo!!), and that if he were 20 or 30 years younger he would want to be a participant of this religion. Well, we felt prompted to invite him to be baptized for the 2nd time in his history. It went a lot better this time. He didn't exactly say yes, but he for sure didn't say no. He wants to go slow, but I felt so excited becuase its definitely a step in the right direction and he is still interested in our message. We were having doubts the past couple months if he was still interested. I love the spirit. Its important to make lesson plans, but sometimes you do something completely different and it ends up so much better!

And yes, I did eat a pizza for my year mark :)

We've been getting some rain and its been awesome! It's cooling down just a little bit, but especially in Mistretta I've been wearing sweaters in teh evening! So excited for that.

I love you all!!! The church is true! The Book of Mormon is true! This message helps every single person on this earth if they let it.

Love, Sorella Sobeck

Santo Stefano is right by the mare :)

I kinda hit a curb... :(

New district!

Giants parade in Mistretta

First night camping in the church! My greenie is awesome!

Ok basta. Have a great week! Happy september!

ONE YEAR

Whoo hoo I made it!!!! I feel like their are certain landmarks in the mission...in the MTC - making it to the first Sunday, becuase the first 4 days are the longest days ever. The first week in the mission field, when you feel like your head is going to explode with everyone and everything so new and not understanding anything at all besides Ciao. Training the first time. Hitting the YEAR MARK (day after tomorrow...we're so eating a pizza to celebrate). Training the second time and making it through the first week of that. There's been some big stuff happening lately in the mission life of Sorella Sobeck.

Things are good. For the second time, my training experience is not completely normal, but that's all part of the mission experience becuase everything is just all over the place and you never know what you're gonna get or whats gonna happen. My new companion is Sorella Fuller, from Utah. She studied Italian for 3 years before at BYU, has been to Sienna for 3 months a few years ago, and because she knew the language better than MTC language training, they sent her state'side for a bit to wait for her visa there. She she did 3 weeks of MTC, then had a transfer in Arizona before she got sent to Italy and down to me in Mistretta. It's been a really interesting experience this past week, as we've gotten adjusted toe ach other and the fact that our mission experiences are very very different....yep, the mission is a bit different in Italy than it is in Arizona. There's been some give and take going on this week and a LOT of conversation (I don't feel like I've ever talked so much in my life as this week haha), but its been great! Sorella Fuller has GREAT ideas and I know she was sent here to Mistretta to be my companion for lots of reasons. I am already learning so much how to be a better and more consecrated missionary which is really helping my attitude and ability to lose myself in the work. I feel like since transfer calls a week and a half ago I haven't stopped a minute to just take a breath and think, so as a result I've been very tired this week, but we are talking to EVERYONE on the streets, having some great lessons, and really seeing cool miracles and I'm reallly grateful to have my new companion. We're going to see some great things happen in our time together.

We're still hoping for this baptismal date for Giuseppe in a few weeks, but with August being ferrie and everything (where everyone goes on vacation...something I'm VERY excited to have done with in a couple days), he hasn't really been thinking about it and we hadn't seen him for a lesson in a few weeks. But we've had a couple good lessons lately where I've felt the spirit, and its great to see how his understanding of the things he reads in teh Book of Mormon increases. He really is great and chosen to be a member of this church.

We have a really cute girl from Romania who is a new investigator, as well with a couple of her friends, and they seem really interested and we're pumped. They all want to actually come to church on Sunday, which is a huge miracle becuase whenever we invite someone to church in this area they mostly just deny the option completely. But this girl, Angela, seems really special and really wants to come. We have another lesson with her and all these people later tonight and I'm super pumped for that!

I really don't have much more to say, and I'm also out of time. So I'll wrap up saying I'm grateful to have the chance to train again and be learning a TON by someone who is so much younger in the mission. They really have a ton of energy and that greenie power brings miracles. It's pretty awesome. I'm grateful for the church and the gospel, and for the agency that we all have even though it is really hard to accept the choices of others sometimes. I'm grateful for God's love for every single one of us. When you start realizing that every single person you talk to is a child of God, it makes you love them a lot more and a lot quicker. It makes me happier as well. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I've never learned so much in my life. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Thanks for all of your examples. If you feel the need, you can send some thoughts my way and it would sure be appreciated. Hope everyone has a great week. Thanks for all the prayers.

Love,

Sorella Sobeck

Leaving Mistretta with Slla Comollo and meeting Salvatore in Reitano...meno male!

My favorite picture EVER of Slla Comollo...flying squirrel

Taking a detour to Enna on our way to Catania for transfers. Highest city in Sicilia

Splits while waiting for the new collega

Slla Fuller made it!!

I'm wearing the same shirt in all of these pictures...HAPPY ONE YEAR TO ME!!!

Round 2

All right everyone, so as not to postpone the suspense of transfer news (because I'm sure everyone is very anxiously waiting!), I'll just tell you right now what happened. I'm staying in Mistretta for a 4th. Sorella Comollo is leaving and going to Bari (in the other ward that I was in, but I'm so excited for her to go there!!!!!!! Now she'll see what I came from haha). My new companion is...I don't know yet. I will find out tomorrow when I pick up my greenie from the station in Catania. Yep, for some crazy reason Heavenly Father wants me to train for the second time, I only hope and pray that this time will be a little smoother. Should be, becuase the last time was half my mission ago haha. I have this pattern going on: Bari - same companion for 3 transfers, then train for 1, transferred. Mistretta - same companion for 3, then train for possibly 1. Vediamo. I'm anxious about what's going to happen, but also excited to be so lucky. Training really is a cool experience, and it really affects the missionary for the rest of their mission...so its an honor. Who would've thought I'd have 2 daughters on my mission??? (Haha and for those who might not understand the mission lingo - when you train, the new missionary is called your child.) Greenies bring good luck, so I'm hoping with her we'll be able to see a couple baptisms this transfer that we have planned. That would be simply incredible!!!

Other news of the week: I HAVE to write about the San Sebastiano processione where 20.000 people came to the tiny town of Mistretta. IT WAS CRAZY. The streets were seriously FILLED and I really could not have imagine it before, because its just not like that normally! The processione itself was very interesting...a very good cultural experience. It is sad for me that these guys carrying around this huge saint statue all over the city is the concept of faith for so many of these people, but we can only do our best to help people realize that there is a lot more to it than that, and a lot more joy. I got some GREAT video and pictures that I can't wait to show all when I return home in March.

This past week has been a little crazy. On Saturday was the procession so we were under Mistretta arrest (because we couldn't leave with the car) and got to see the procession.

Sunday I gave a talk in church about different ways that Satan tries to bring us down, using Alma 46-47 (about Amalichia and how he betrayed the Nephites and then became king of the Lamanites, all in 2 chapters!!!) as an example. It was very interesting for me. I used 3 examples: 1) we are on top of the mountain (like Lehonti and his armies), and Satan tries and tempts us to come down. He asks us many times, and he changes tactics, and if we're not careful we won't realize when we start descending from the top of the mountain. 2) Satan gets us "by degrees", like Amalichia poisened Lehonti by degrees. Most people aren't just going to commit a huge sin the first time they're tempted. But piano piano, he weasles his way in. (Man I really don't remember how to spell in English). 3) Satan is a LIAR. Amalichia tricked the queen on the Lamanites, then married her and became king himself. Satan is sooooooooo sneaky. We all need to do our best to stay on top of the mountain, where we can be with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and if and WHEN we make mistakes, find our way back by using the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It seems so simple, yet in real life we make it so complicated. I know I need to be better at this. At Zone Conference President Kelly told us there are 2 principal ways in which Satan destroys missionaries, and the same applies in real life forever: 1) disobedience 2) discouragement. I really learned a lot giving this talk and applying this story to how Satan tries to work with us to bring us down. He is only as strong as we let him. And we have God on our side. This gives me so much comfort during my mission.

Monday I gave the training at DDM when we went to Palermo and we had all the Palermo anziani there (6 of us total), and it was fun to have DDM in Italian again, like old times in Bari. Both of my anziani have been transferred as well, so my district will be all new except for me. That's going to be really weird.

The week has been spent getting Sorella Comollo all ready to go, getting ready for the new sorella, and telling a million people goodbye. The joys of transfers. I've been so tired this week as its go go go haha. But its been good to see people. When you tell someone you're leaving, they really try harder to make time to see you haha, so its been a great trick of bribery to meet with some people!!! Today we are going to Catania, my comp leaves for Bari tomorrow morning, and I believe I will be picking up my new comp tomorrow evening. While its been a great 3 transfers together with Sorella Comollo and we've really worked hard to pick up the work in Mistretta, we are both excited for the change and feel like awesome miracles are going to happen in both ends. I hope its true :) I'm sure next weeks email will be full of interesting things that have happened.

Please pray for me this week, to have lots of energy and patience, and especially for the new sorella because she has to be companions with me!!! :) It's going to be fun for both of us, but always an adjustment. I hope everyone is well, sounds like school is starting again so good luck to everyone going to school! That's so weird to think about, I feel like I've been away for so long. I celebrate one year in the mission next week...isn't that crazy? Il tempo passa.

Love you all!

Sorella Sobeck

Parade

Searching for inactives who don't want to see us

Antonio and Santa

Nino "male male male"

At the procession!!

One of the runners, they were exhausted

Disgusting...money that people donate to the saint

Giuseppe

Famiglia Portera!

Pizza napolitana...la cosa piu' buona nel mondo!

Last district meal before they all left me

Famiglia Pupari

Angela and Giuseppe

Castello hike in the early am

Giuseppe and mamma

San Sebastiano statue

Fireworks after the procession

It's Tuesday!

So I forgot to mention last week that Pday would be today instead of tomorrow, cioè Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Tomorrow is Ferragosto, which is a big holiday in Italy in which no one works and no one wants to talk to you! So tomorrow we get to clean our apartment!!! The joy is unbearable haha. Actually, our apartment is really small so we're lucky...we can just clean really really deeply :) And hopefully have some BBQ with some members...but we'll see on that one.

Sad to say that the work is kind of slow at the moment. I feel like our days our full but then I think and sometimes I wonder what did we really accomplish? I think Heavenly Father is helping the days in August to go by so it will just end haha. (But sometimes I feel like time is moving forward about as fast as a snail...of course Zone Conference last week went really fast, but before and after not so much haha) If I haven't already mentioned, August in Italy for missionary work is fun times...because everyone goes on vacation and they tell you to not come back until September pretty much. It's kind of a weird experience. In Mistretta and the other little cities around, its more likely that someone you talk to will not be from the area, or even from Sicily. I've met lots of people from the north lately, near Milano and Torino and Genova, etc. . Awhile ago I was even meeting a few families from AUSTRALIA: That pretty much made my day :)

But anyways, despite the slowness of August, we still are working to ask everyone to be baptized. You get some interesting answers, but its pretty cool when someone says that when they receive a testimony they will baptize themselves (as you say in Italian. I love reflexive verbs! :) ) We are still moving forward with our 2 baptismal dates in September, but its hard when people go on vacation. We're working hard though, and I really am seeing the blessings and miracles when we let people know our purpose right from the very beginning.

We have our newer Giuseppe who is doing well. OUr last lesson with him was about finding answers to our questions by reading in teh Book of Mormon and asking the questions to Heavenly Father, and especially about applying what we learn. It was really cool. We've had a couple lessons with a Jehovah's Witness couple this past week, and I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation. We talked a long time yesterday about Adam and Eve, and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon are true, and that we NEED modern day revelation and more than the Bible to piece together everything. We NEED the Spirit to guide us and to help us understand our answers and our testimonies. I'm learning so much from these lessons with them, and its building my testimony instead of the opposite, which I believe is their goal for us. Oh well...I can't lie and say its not our goal for them too, since we are here to help people learn about all the truth. :)

I love food in Italy. Period. But we have also had some fun experiments in the kitchen lately when we found some McCormick seasoning in the cupboard and we have made some tacos and fajitas lately. Yummmm. Something different and delicious.

Last Pday in Catania we did a giro of the city and it was so fun to be around other missionaries. We feel so isolated with just us 2 in Mistretta, and as always I wish I appreciated more what I had in Bari when there were 8 of us in the city and I lived with 4 sorelle. it's great to get to know other missionaries and know they are working just as hard as you. We hung out with the Catania sorelle (reunited again with Sorella Teichert from my MTC group who is so wonderful, and Sorella Rosato who is from Como and so funny) and the Messina anziani (Anziano Giovita who is also Italian and also very funny and TALL and Anziano Prieto, from Brazil! who is so fun). It was weird that Sorella Teichert and I were the oldest missionaries in that group...man. I also have to say that McDonald's in italy is the cool place to hang out for young kids...its very much opposite of that in America haha. We saw lots of churches, walked a lot, and took lots of weird pictures (which sadly I cannot upload any becuase we never remember to bring the camera cord...sorry).

Next week I will have transfer results (again) and I'm very much looking forward to the calls on Saturday. I will at least be getting a new companion, and after 3 together with Sorella Comollo I know we are both very ready for a change of companion and a change of outlook in the work. I'll probably be staying in Mistretta for a 4th, but we'll see what happens. Transfer calls will be very exciting, because it also happens to be when there is a HUGE procession in Mistretta for San Sebastiano (the patron saint of the city), and its famous in Italy. People come from all over to see it, and this week (and already this month), Mistretta will grow from population 5.000 to 20.000 approximately...so we hear. It's huge. And crazy. There's no parking...thats lame. We aren't allowed to leave the city with the car because it will be blocked off. I hope we don't get the calls during the procession when the people are screaming and running the streets with this giant saint statue on their shoulders....gotta love Italy. We're pretty lucky to be here to see it, and I'm super excited! I'll take some video.

Ok, gotta run. Love you all. Happy week. Hope all is well. The Book of Mormon is true! Prayer works!!! The true restored gospel is on the earth!!!

There are Chinese people EVERYWHERE

Padre Pio is also EVERYWHERE

Blessed coke on a hot and humid summer evening

Giant man puppet 

Getting pumped for the procession, where San Sebastiano is basically God to these people...

Love, Sorella Sobeck