L'Ultimo Addio

Hey y'all!!! 

This is a short note, cause I'll see you soon! 

It's been a crazy week. At times it dragged by and then at times it flew. It's pretty sad saying goodbye to everyone in the ward. 

Tonight we're visiting a part-member family and then a less-active. 

Tomorrow we wake up super early to catch a train to Milano. 

I'm just grateful for my time as a missionary here in Italia. The Lord has worked so many miracles for me and for many others. 

Thanks for all the love, letters, prayers, and support. 

See you soon! 

Sorella Pace

Ciao Rimini!

The Last Week

So. This is it. The last week. I'm kindof  in shock. It's going to be a good one though. 

Yesterday there was a women's conference broadcast across Europe with Elder Ballard and Elder Bednar. It was powerful. I'm stoked for General Conference last month. 

Last week definitely had its rough moments, but it was also chuck full of tender mercies from the Lord. Sorella Killpack and I were really able to see His hand in everything we were called to do. Everything is a blessing in the end. That's the greatest miracle of life.  

Basically I'm really tired. But I've been so blessed the past eighteen months to share the gospel with others, to serve, to learn, to grow. 

I love you all! 

Sorella Pace

On scambio yesterday

With Sorella Killpack

The beautiful Rimini countryside!

Dear Italian Weather...

Last week I was perfectly happy riding my bike in the Rimini summer sun in short sleeves. Today I have a sweater, scarf, rain jacket, tights, and a sore throat. September is here! 

This past week has been kind of crazy. I've been outside of Rimini just as often as I've been in it. Friday we had mission consiglio in Milano. After that we went straight to Modena to do a double scambio with them on Saturday. 

Sunday we went to church. All the youth had spent the last week at either FSY or the temple in Switzerland. They all bore powerful testimony during Sacrament meeting. Then that afternoon we had a lesson with a less-active family. We've been working with them for months, but have never seen much success, especially with the wife. We were talking and laughing, when suddenly she opened up and revealed one of the walls that kept her from returning. We were shocked but we were able to bear powerful testimony. We're going to visit again tonight, and hopefully we'll be able to continue to assure her of God's love and that He really does answer prayers. 

I received a strong witness of that just an hour later. We left their house and started knocking doors. It did not go well. After some pretty rough rejections we were discouraged. We started biking towards Rimini to do some strada and I was feeling pretty down. I was exhausted, thirsty, and didn't think I could do any more finding that day. I remember praying as I peddled and telling Heavenly Father that if only I could have some water, I would be happy. I imagined someone calling after us with two glasses of water in hand, inspired to stop us, give us to drink, and listen to our message. It didn't happen. But then, less than a minute later I looked to the left of the road and saw a small wall with four spouts continuously pouring out water. There was a group of old men filling crates of two liter bottles with water. That was the coldest, sweetest water I have ever tasted. And I just felt Heavenly Father telling me not to worry. He's aware, and He'll take care of my needs. I just need to focus on feeding His sheep. The rest of the evening went very well. 

Monday we got up early and went to my last Zone Conference in Firenze. It was a really good conference, even though it was strange to think it's my last. I gave my farewell testimony. That was hard. 

But the work moves forward. We're still having some great lessons with R. She's learning a lot and making great progress. I is still busy working in her hotel. We're really praying that we'll be able to see her this week. 

I love you all!!!!

Sorella Pace

And just like that... We're Famous!

It began as a normal companion study. We sang a hymn, we said a prayer, we read rules and preach my gospel. The phone rang from a random number and I passed the phone to my collega. "Pronto, sono Sorella Killpack" "Hello, this is ___ from Salt Lake. We're filming a member of your ward in Rimini for a mormon message and learned that he helped the missionaries in the past learn Italian. We called President Dibb and he gave us permission to call you. Would you have time this afternoon to come and film with us?"

haha. What? We both looked at eachother with our make-up free faces, our ponytailed hair, our end of the week wardrobe and realized that lunch would be spent fixing all of that. 

So next time you see a film of two sorelle riding their bikes, I'm the one in the blue shirt and pink helmet. 

This week's been really good. It was a little stressfull when changes in the mission schedule ruined our plans for every single scambio for the transfer, but we've fixed it so they all fit in, even if  not comfortably. 

Yesterday I was in Bologna for a scambio and then returned home for an amazing lesson with one of our simpatizzanti, R. The spirit was super forte and we had the perfect member with us to help her resolve her concerns about certain commandments. We started out asking about her reading in the Book of Mormon, and then my collega suddenly asked R. if she knew the Book of Mormon was true. There was a pause, and suddenly and a little surprisedly R. answered, Sì. I felt the rush of the Spirit and realized that she really did know. The Spirit continued to guide us and the lesson ran smoothly. It will take her some time before she's ready for baptism, but she's moving forward with faith, really seeking out a testimony. I learned so much from that lesson. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sorella Pace

Here's Sorella Killpack and I with our first homemade authentic Italian lasagna!

A Quick Hello

Dear Family, 

So, today we planned to make lasagna with a chef in the ward for p-day. We realized that lasagna takes time, especially in Italia, but we were completely unprepared for how long it took. so, if this letter's really really short, and completly full of typos, please forgive me. And I'll send pictures next week. 

We're doing well here in Rimini and seeing lots of miracles. This past week was Ferragosto, which basically means a big summer party where everyone goes in vacation, so we did lots of finding. But all the tourists come to Rimini so we're full of all sorts of Europeans, just not many who speak Italian or more than basic English. We did get our selves invited to a Ferragosto dinner, with an American and several people who've lived in America. We've had lots of good Italian food this week. 

We also had a wedding here in Rimini! The daughter of a less active family we work with was married on Monday and sealed in the temple on Tuesday (she's active). It was great to go and see my first and probably last Italian wedding. 

There was also the ward's summer/pioneer party last Saturday and it went very well. The rain managed to hold for the entire time. Miracles do happen. 

I love you all!!! 

Have a marvelous week!!!!

Sorella Pace

Hello All

Hello All, 

It's been a great, if exhausting week. Transfers were on Thursday, so I traveled to Milano with Sorella Clawson to drop her off and pick up Sorella Killpack. It was so much fun to see all the sisters who were going home for one last time, if a little strange. They're the first of the big groups of sorelle to leave, so it was strange to say goodbye to several companions, past sister training leaders, and all the others who I've gotten to know so well in the past year and a half. There were train line problems, leaving us all stranded in Milano for a couple hours. So a large group of sorelle went to get lunch together, and we had a blast. 

This past half a week with Sorella Killpack has been amazing. She's a super hard worker, loving, and so much fun. We're going to have a crazy good transfer together, and we're already seeing lots of miracles. We had a long day of finding last week, and were feeling slightly discouraged. We had been doing strada, so we decided to go to a neighborhood and do some casa for a little. We parked the bikes, and then decided to say a Popp chart (a little 2 minute synopsis of a PMG principle). I finished mine, and we both turned to see a man walking down the road. We stopped him, and he said that he was baptized eleven years ago in Argentina. We had a long conversation with him. His family's going through a hard time, but he has two teenage girls who aren't baptized! So we're going to try to work with them. 

It's incredible to see how the Lord moves His work forward, one heart at a time. We're working with several less-actives who are making incredible progress in returning to church. It's such a blessing to work with them. 

Have a great week!!!!

Sorella Pace

Transfers

Dear Family,

It's transfer time again. Tristemently. Sorella Clawson's headed home in two days, and my new companion is Sorella Killpack! I'm excited for her to come and to work myself to death the next six weeks.

This past week was really good. Our sweet less active came to church for the first time in months, and bore her testimony during sacrament meeting! All the ward members ran up to greet her afterwords :D

Monday afternoon we had an appoinment cancel. She lived a train ride away, so it opened up a lot of time, and we started finding. We went to one area of centro, and then after not much success there we headed to another street. After a while, I saw a man leaning against a truck on the side of the road. As we walked towards him, I noticed that he was looking at us, which is not all that common. We stared talking to him and he immediately asked for the church address. After a minute he told us that he was baptized years ago as a teenager in Perù, but after moving away, had lost the church. He's now married with a wife and two boys. He was so excited to know that the church is here in Italy and is bringing his family on Sunday! There were so many little things that lead us to finding him in that moment.

Have a great week!

Love,
Sorella Pace

Ciao Tutti!

Ciao tutti!

It's been quite the week of sunshine and cloudbursts. Last Saturday we had quite the soaking as we were caught out in a paesino, senza umbrelli, and with rain puddles up to our calves. It seemed like a hurricane outside, but luckily the bus stop bench was secure, so we could stand on that without floating away. It's been a crazy summer weather-wise.

We helped a less-active can peaches last week. We were cutting them up when I opened a peach only to find twenty earwigs wiggling around in there. You know how I do with bugs. It was quite divertente, but the peaches were delicious. She makes homemade peach juice that is to die for. It's so thick and fresh. You feel like your eating a peach. She's doing really well and making so much progress! We taught her about the parable of the 10 virgins, and the need to have the oil of conversion in our lamps. The next day when we showed up for canning she had read the scriptures in the morning and was listening to conference talks on her tablet! We're so proud  :)

Our wonderful investigator, I accepted a bap date! That was a huge miracle. We read 3 Nefi 11 with her and taught the gospel. It was a really good lesson. Her only struggle is that she manages a hotel and had crazy hours. She really wanted to come to church this week but wasn't able. But she really had the desire to be baptized and wants to really prepare.

Yesterday was a scambio in Bologna. I was able to be with my MTC comp. Sorella Bollwinkel for a day! It's crazy how much time has already passed. We can now speak Italian together! haha. and our lessons actually make sense.

Transfers will be happening next week. I assume to stay in Rimini since Sorella Clawson's headed home, but we'll find out on Saturday.

I love you all! Keep your lights shining bright!!!

Sorella Pace

Pieno dei Miracoli

This has been a week pieno dei miracoli! The greatest is our new investigator, I. Her mother's a new convert of a few months from Bari and she's spent her summer bouncing back from Bari to Rimini, which is how we met her. A few weeks ago she gave us the number of her daughter, I. 

As soon as we called her she was excited to hear from us and set up an appointment. She's managing a hotel for the summer, so she's crazy busy, but if we go in the mornings, there are fewer distractions. We taught her the Restoration last Sunday, and it was the most amazing lesson of my mission. She got it. She really got it. She was explaining the apostasy back to us and really understood the significance of the first vision. She told us that she's been praying to know the right church, and by the end of the lesson the Spirit was so strong she had goosebumps.

Yesterday we had a scambio with our wonderful sisters from Ravenna! I love them. They're in our same district, so we get to see them alot. It was neat to go to Ravenna for a day and serve there. It's strange doing scambi sometimes, because I see myself a few transfers ago when the situation was swapped. It's crazy how much you learn and grow so quickly. 

Last Thursday we had a scambio planned with Bologna, but when we got to the train station that morning, there was a problem with one of the stations on the way to Bologna and all the trains we delayed for forever. We tried sticking around for a while, and even hopped on a train only to have it cancelled. We were able to help out an American family who were trying to get to Rome to catch a flight home. In the end we had to cancell our scambio. We had just gotten home for lunch  when a new convert called us. She's been working in a hotel all summer and so is unable to meet with us. They have insanely crazy hours here. But she finally had a day off and was in Rimini! So we were able to finally go and see her, after several months of trying. If we had taken a train to Bologna, we wouldn't have been able to do that. Nothing happens per caso. This is the Lord's work, and His hand is in it. We are so blessed to be a part of it

Here's a photo with my companion, Sorella Clawson that we took last week at San Marino!

I thought you might want to see my lovely helmet. Here's a picture from scambio the other week. :)

Love from Italia

Dear Family,

Last Friday we had a lesson with a meno-attiva famiglia that we've been working with for a while. Afterwords we had some time, so we decided to do casa in their apartment complex. We had been going for a while when I found myself talking to a lady on the citofono. I explained who we were and she told me that she was busy taking care of her children- feeding them, giving them baths, ecc. Then she asked who we were again. I replied that we were from la Chiesa di Gesù Cristo dei Santi degli Ultimi Giorni. A lightbulb turned on in her head, and she stated that her friend was a member. She said that she would love to meet with us and that we should talk to her friend to set up an apointment. On Sunday I went to talk to the member, she said that her friend had already mentioned our visit. The cool thing is that the member had just told her friend this week that she was a member of the church. It's amazing how the Lord really does prepare people to hear the message.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!!!!

Sorella Pace

Miracoli!

Last week was pretty fun, if a little crazy. We left for Reggio Emilia Wednesday night for a double scambio the next day. It was an amazing scambio, chuck full of miracles. We found and talked to so many amazing miracles from all over the world. 

Then on Friday we headed up to mission consiglio in Milano. It was fun to see everyone, especially Presidente and Sorella Dibb again, safely returned from America. It also happened to be the 4th of July so we had hotdogs, baked beans, potatoe salad, and Oreos for lunch. 

On our way up to Reggio we sat down by a lady on the train and tried to start talking to her. She wasn't very responsive and didn't want to talk. After a while we somehow started up a good conversation. She told us that she had been to South Dakota before to visit the Souix, and loved it there. We started explaining about the church and mentioned that we were Mormons. She suddenly got very excited and told us that she had been to a sacrament meeting years ago in Napolì with a friend. I handed her a Book of Mormon pass-a-long card with the church address in Rimini. On the back it talks about how the Book of Mormon was written in the ancient americas and she suddenly got very excited about how it was the ancestors of the Souix. When she left, she said that it was funny how life circles around and that she met the Mormons again. 

Monday morning Sorella Clawson smashed her foot pretty hard between her bike peddle and the curb, so yesterday we visited the ER to get it checked out. Italian hospitals are pretty slow, so we had to wait for several hours. We sat down next to a man and after a few minutes he leaned over and asked me if the church in Rimini was still in the same place. I asked him how he knew the church and he said that he had visited it around twenty years ago. As the conversation continued he brought up lots of things such as who's your favorite prophet (his was Brigham Young), is there a temple in Italia yet, who's the branch president- to which I replied that we were now a ward, and he understood what that meant. hmm. So I asked his name and he's an inactive who's house we had passed by over a month ago! After a little his wife came out, and we were able to talk to both of them for a while. I think we'll be passing by their house again very soon. It was neat that even in the ospedale, God gives us opportunities to do missionary work and share the gospel. 

I love you all! 

Sorella Pace

African food on scambio!

Rimini!

Running into old Comps at consiglio

Karen with Sorella Carter

Karen with Sorella Pond

Gara di Cucina! (aka "Cooking Competition")

Ciao Tutti!

Well it's been quite the week. I have a new companion! Her name's Sorella Clawson, and she's amazing.

The biggest news of the week is that we pulled off our Gara di Cucina!!!! Halleluiah! 

We got slightly nervous at 7:00 when we were supposed to start and only a few people were there, none of which had brought food. But within 15 minutes we were able to start. We had set up 'Lehi's Dream' throughout the church and after a quick explaination sent people through. It turned out really well. We used yarn as the iron rod. For the first minute they weaved through the Relief Society room and then they went to the chapel, where they were blindfolded. Fratello Saliaj played the great and spacious building, yelling insults and telling them that they were going the wrong way. Then he got really creative and when they arrived at a table where the string did a zigzag, he would take their hand, move the yarn over their head, and pull them up to the front with him. He captured around ten people that way. We also had a point where the yarn split, and a bumpy yarn was added leading the way to a dead end. It all turned out really well. 

Afterwords we had the food contest with us missionaries and Bishop as judges. We had several nonmembers there, and it all went really well.

With the new transfer we're restarting scambi. Tomorrow we're doing a double-scambio in Reggio Emilia and then we have mission cosiglio in
Milano the day after. We come up with a little theme for the sorelle each transfer, and this time we're focusing on gratitude using Anziano Uchtdorf's talk from general conference.

I love you all. Have a marvelous week!

Sorella Pace

Transfers

Hello Family!

It's been a pretty crazy week. Last Thursday we went to Firenze for Zone Conference combined with the Firenze Zone. It was a very long day on trains, but the conference was very good, if a little different without Presidente and Sorella Dibb. They were in the states for a few weeks for health reasons, but they came back last Saturday, and just in time for transfers this week.

Presidente Dibb called us Monday afternoon to inform us that Sorella Bucco is transfered to San Remo! That was pretty exciting because it's really close to San Remo where I served a year ago. My new comp is Sister Clawson who is coming from Como to serve her last transfer here in Rimini.

We've spent the past few days visiting members and investigators for Sorella Bucco to say goodbye. Today we had a lunch appointment with a member family. In good Italian style, they feed us a huge plate of tortellini followed by a second corse with a thick round of chicken and potatoes followed by a big bowl of fruit and gelato. It was proprio buonissimo, but I was feeling full after the first half of the tortellini dish. We were dying as we left. We waddled out to our bikes and then we oh so slowly peddled to our second lunch appointment with a lady from our english class. We arrived and explained that we weren't feeling all that hungry, because it's so hot and humid that we don't really feel like eating alot of food. Which she took to mean that we weren't eating at all, so she gave us the biggest piece of lasagna I have ever eaten in my life followed by another piece of chicken, more potatoes and desert. I literally was falling into a giant food coma as I stuffed more of it in my face. 

Afterwords we biked up to the church and just laid on the ground groaning for a while before we started emailing.

This next week we're planning a missionary activity for the ward- a Gara di Cucina aka. a Food Contest. Us missionaries will be the judges. I'm not sure my stomach can take it any more. The cool thing is that we're going to start the activity with a rendition of Lehi's dream. So on Sunday we spent a good while at the church testing out our maze of an iron rod (made of yarn) that will eventually lead to the tree of life (the food contest). It was awesome and I can't wait for that activity. 

Yesterday we had the most amazing lesson with C!!!! She came to church on Sunday and didn't exactly love it, so we wanted a really powerful spiritual lesson. We talked about the temple. She lost her husband a few years ago to cancer. It was amazing to sit on the couch with her, show her pictures of the temple, and feel that special spirit. She has the strongest desire to go to the temple, and her testimony is slowly growing. She's still not completely sure if the Book of Mormon is true, but she's come a long ways. It's so cool watching the road everyone takes on their journey back to Heavenly Father. We all have our different experiences we face, but hopefully they teach us to rely always more on the Lord.

One of the things that Anziano Lee talked about in Firenze was consecration. It's so cool to think that we all have the choice to consecrate our lives to God or not, but only through that process can we succeed in life.

I love you all!!! Have a wonderfull week!

Sorella Pace

Last week we had a zone conference in Firenze. The Rimini Zone with Anziano and Sorella Lee on the left. They were our substitute mission president and wife while President Dibb was in the US for a surgery.

Members of my MTC group

The pizza we made the other day

Bikes

So last Wednesday we headed out to a small town close to Rimini to visit a less-active. We rode our bikes to the train station, locked them up, and caught our bus to Sant Archangelo. The lesson went really well and we were able to talk with her non-member mother. Afterwords we caught our bus home and went to grab our bikes and head home for the night. We turned the corner,when low and behold, Sorella Bucco's bike was missing it's front tire! And that is why, even when there are absolutely no empty spaces for the bikes at the front of the station, you never go around to the super sketchy area behind the building to lock up your bikes. Lesson learned. 

We were left with the problem of carrying the bike home, roughly 25 minutes on foot. We tried carrying it for a while, but quickly decided that that wasn't worth it, so we put her front over my back tire to create a tandem bike and walked it that way. haha. 

No worries, we took the bikes in Friday and got a new tire.

We also found some awesome new simps this week! One of which stopped us in the Bologna train station a couple weeks ago as we were doing scambi. The other is Peruvian, and accepted a baptisimal date yesterday!

Next week are transfers, so we'll see how that goes. Time really does fly.

Love, 
Sorella Pace

Our poor bikes!

Happy Birthday Sorella Pace!

Hello Family!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! My comp’s great and spilled the beans to our district so in district meeting on Monday we had cookies, lemon bars, and banana cake. It was delicious. We also have a full day planned on Thursday, so hopefully all goes well and no appointments cancel. That would be the greatest birthday present ever.

This past week has been amazing! I had a couple great scambi, we found some awesome new investigators, and yesterday we reset C. con a baptism date! She originally had one for next week, but then she went on vacation for ten days, and then she asked for a week before we contacted her again. We were pretty nervous about why she didn't want to see us. We had just taught her the Word of Wisdom with a very powerful spiritual lesson and she accepted to try living it, but then she kindof backed off. Last Saturday we had a really good lesson with her and she asked us why she always felt guilty when she smoked and drank caffè. WELL, we were more than happy to explain that to her. We were more than happy to expain why. Yesterday we taught her the gospel with a member. It was an incredible lesson. At the end we invited her again to be baptized and she accepted 25 Luglio for a date! We all agreed to work together to help her prepare. We promised to do our part, and she promised to do hers. It was an incredible miracle.

On Sunday there was an area wide stake conference broadcast from Bern, Switzerland. Sister Reeves, Elder Andersen, and Presidente Uchtdorf were all there. Sorella Uchtdorf also gave a talk. She’s the cutest German lady ever! The conference was incredible.

I love you all!!! Have a great week!

Sorella Pace

Scambi

So it's been a pretty crazy week!

Last week we had back to back scambi. First was Thursday with Reggio Emilia. The sisters were supposed to arrive Thursday morning and then Sorella Bucco and Sorella Hallum would return to Reggio while I would stay with Sorella Jackman in Rimini. They called us that morning to say there was a strike and their train was cancelled. We immediately we scrambling to figure out how we could meet up. They eventually were able to catch a fast train down, so we make the exchange and then Sorella Bucco camped out at the station for a while trying to find a train back to Reggio. 

Then on Friday Sorella Jackman and I headed up to Reggio so we could meet up with our companions again and then we would go to Bologna. We made it about 45 minutes out of Rimini before our train broke down and we sat for an hour straight. It was kind of stressfull, but everything worked out in the end. 

I was able to spend a day in Bologna, Dad's first city of his mission! So that was pretty cool. And both scambi were really good! I was with two young missionaries for the first time since I was a young missionary. They had so much energy and desire to work hard! I learned a ton from them. 

Have a great week!!!

Sorella Pace

For p-day we went to a city named Urbino. It was beautiful, even if bus schedules left us with only two hours to see the city. There was a cool museum, but we went through it in about twenty minutes. The workers thought we were crazy!

Prayers

Sunday evening we were having a rough finding session. We were in the park stopping people, but no one wanted to listen. We walked up to a lady on a bench and asked her what makes her happy. She said at first she wasn't really happy. We continued talking to her and ended up sitting down with her and starting with a prayer. The Spirit was instantly very strong. We taught her the Restoration. Because of hardships in her life she had lost her faith in God in the last few years. At the end we invited her to say the prayer. She was hesitant at first because she knew only how to recite a memorized prayer. We explained how to pray from the heart. She gave the most beautiful prayer. Afterwords she sat there for a few moments with her eyes closed. She told us that she felt such peace at that moment. She said, "I can pray at any moment. Why don't we know this?" It was a very sweet moment, as she realized and felt that she has a loving Heavenly Father who she can talk to at any moment, and she can feel that peace each time she does. 

On Saturday there was the baptism of a thirteen year old boy in Ravenna. We had an appointment that morning with an investigator, A. We've been teaching him and his girlfriend for a while, but they've only recently started making progress. His girlfriend was down in Rome for a week, but we decided to invite A. to come to the baptism. And he agreed to come! He took an hour train ride to Ravenna to watch it. And he really enjoyed it. We're seeing them tomorrow and hopefully setting a baptism date with them. Keep them in your prayers! 

Tomorrow we start our scambi for the new transfer. It's been a couple weeks since our last scambio, and it's been really nice to fully focus on our area. We're starting out with a double scambio with two Reggio Emilia and Bologna, so I'll be separated from Sorella Bucco basically until Saturday. We hoping to get all of our scambi done sooner in the transfer so that we don't feel so rushed at the end. 

I love you all!!! Have a great week and a great start of summer! 

Sorella Pace

Investigators

So this week has been amazing. 

We have this investigator E, who had come to church once and we had taught once. Our second appointment was for after church on Sunday and we really wanted to set her with a baptism date for June 20. She loved church- during gospel principles, she made some really good comments about prayer. Then after Sacrament Meeting we went to a classroom to teach her a lesson. We had planned to teach her the Restoration, but then she started asking questions about baptism, and told us that she wanted some sort of goal in her life. Hmm. Perfect! So we taught her the gospel instead. At the end we invited her to be baptized on the 20th. But then she said that she'll be out of town because she's going home to Moldava for a month. So we then asked her to be baptized June 13 and she accepted! She said she'd pray about it to know if it was right, but she accepted the date as a goal to work for! We're super excited for her! She is so elect and ready for the gospel.
The only problem is that we had thought the 20th would be pushing it to teach everything to her beforehand. Especially since we now have to teach the fifth lesson before baptism. She has a job that keeps her super busy and can meet with us max. twice a week, and sometimes only once. Then you add in our crazy schedule because we're traveling to to scambi, and setting appointments gets a little trickier.  But we're super excited for this date, and are putting it in the Lord's hands. Somehow we'll have the time and ability to teach her everything.

Our other baptism date C. is doing well as well. Earlier in the week we went with a member to teach her the Plan of Salvation. At the end she asked us why we were against coffee. We told her we'd talk about it the next time. 

At first she was pretty defensive, after all, what's a cup of coffee? But as we and a member bore testimony, she calmed down and accepted to try and live the Word of Wisdom for a week!

I love seeing the blessings of the Lord in our lives. It amazes me everyday that I'm able to serve Him and do His work. It doesn't matter my fears, my faults, my weaknesses, or my mistakes. He takes my best effort and magnifies it into more than I could ever do.

You all are amazing! 

I love you!

Sorella Pace

The Stake of Firenze!

So it's transfer week again, but all's well. I'm staying here with Sorella Bucco. She's only a transfer above me in the mission, so we're both crossing our fingers to finish the mission here.

Fun stuff happened this weekend! We went to Firenze to create a stake! We caught a ride with some members so we spent Saturday in Firenze and then went to the conference that night and Sunday morning. It was soo good! Anziano Dykes came and gave a really good talk Saturday evening about missionary work. He had all us missionaries in the new stake go and stand up front, and there was a sack load of us. Then one of the new converts that Sorella Bucco baptized a year ago stood up, bore a powerful testimony, and thanked Sorella Bucco. 

We stayed the night with the Sorelle in Firenze along with the Ravenna Sorelle, so we had a blast talking amongst ourselves.

Last Friday we had a lesson with a potential that the anziana found. She had come to church the week before. In between then and Friday she had checked out the church's website and had read the Joseph Smith story and started reading the Book of Mormon online. She had a lot of questions. It's amazing to see her desire to learn more.

I love you all!!! Have a marvelous week!

Sorella Pace

This weekend I was in Firenze!!! It was so hot (Hence the sunburn) but we became a stake! :)

Auguri

Well I'm currently sitting in Ravenna where we're spending P-day with the Sorelle here. It's been quite fun. We toured a whole bunch of churches this morning, including some I remeber studying in school. We made homemade pizza, and Sorella Lemos cut our hair. 

Last night we tried something new with the Rimini English Class. We have three different classes that we teach- the anziani take the conversation, Sorella Bucco teaches intermediate, and I have the beginner class. So we decided to have a party, combine the classes for the night, eat treats, and play scattegories. It went really well. We paired them up on teams, putting more advanced english speakers with my very basic class. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, so we think we'll have an activity once a month. 

We had several people who where there for the first or second time. One of those leaned over and started asking questions about what else we do in the church. I mentioned church on Sunday mornings, and she wanted to come, but has work at that time. 

Afterwords, two of the other ladies asked if we could meet up another evening during the week to practice more english. Of course we said yes. I love teaching english. You're able to develop really good relationships with people, and they naturally become interesting in the gospel, and then there are people like S. in Pordenone who got baptized last Thursday!!!!!!!!!

Last Friday the Anziani called up with a refferal of a lady they had met on the street.We called her and invited her to church, but much to our surprise on Sunday, she came! The members were so welcoming to her. She had a ton of questions, and loved testimony meeting. She told us to call her that night to set up an appointment for the week, but before we could call her, she called us. We'll be seeing her on Friday! It always amazes me how the Lord prepares people and places them in our path. This truly is His work. 

I love you all and hope you have a marvelous week. Auguri to all those who ran the Marathon last week. 

Sorella Pace


Side Note from Julie
We talked to Karen this Sunday for Mother's Day. She is doing well and looks beautiful! She sends all her love!

Rain is pouring all around...

As I sit here in the church typing this letter, there is a crazy thunderstorm going on around us. Luckily we're safe and dry, but we're slightly worried about when we'll need to leave the church, and I think our appointment outside in centro tonight is cancelled. 

Such is life, especially as a missionary. 

This week's been pretty exciting.

I had a scambio in Reggio Emilia, we had interviews with Presidente Dibb, and most importantly, 

We set a baptismal date!!!! With our wonderful miracle investigator, C. 

She spent a week reading the Book of Mormon, and then came to church. It was The Best sacrament meeting that day with some really powerful talks. Afterwords we went into a classroom for a lesson. She really wants to know if this is God's true church, and she's working to recieve an answer. We were able to set a bap date for 6 June. She's going to England to visit her daughter for a couple of weeks, and asked us for the address of the church there. We're super excited for her. 

I love you all! Have the best week ever!
Sorella Pace

Life long dream accomplished! I was a Helping Hand! We had a district activity where we cleaned up a park here in Rimini. It was pretty awesome!

Buona Pasqua!

Buona Pasqua! And Happy Anniversary Steve and Melanie! 

Easter was absolutely amazing. It also happened to be fast and testimony meeting as well. The Spirit was so powerful. One of the youth had brought her mom to church for the first time. I guess the mom has been pretty against the church which makes it hard on the daughter, but she cried throughout all the testimonies and had a wonderful experience. 

That morning the nonmember mom of member family called us up as we were walking to church and invited us over for Easter pranzo (lunch). We've eaten with her once before, and she perfectly matched the idea of an Italian cook feeding you until you're ready to burst, and then adding five more courses. For Easter we were a little more prepared- mentally if not physically. What we were unprepared for was that it all would be fish. Which I'm fine with, but Sorella Bucco hates fish. So as our host was busy in the kitchen, we snuck food to my plate and the empty seashells to Sorella Bucco's plate. 

That evening we went to the Branch President's house for a dinner of homemade pizza and homemade gelato. It was delicious. By the time we arrived home that night we were stuffed to the brim and still couldn't eat breakfast the next morning.

My favorite part of missionary work is teaching. When you're in a lesson with someone who really is searching for the truth, there is a powerful and sweet spirit that completely guides the lesson. After a lesson we'll talk about what happened, and half the time I'll have no idea what exactly I said, only that it was what they needed to hear. Last week we taught a restoration lesson to an ex-investigator from the Area Book, and it was a powerful lesson. It was actually the first time Sorella Bucco and I had taught the restoration together, but it went beautifully. We were able to adapt completely to her needs and help her really understand the importance of the Book of Mormon. She was so committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. She asked for three chapters and a week to read, and then next Sunday we'll meet again to discuss about it. Sorella Bucco and I left that lesson completely amazed and grateful for the help of the Lord.

The sad part is that my bike broke right after that, so we had to walk the bikes home. We got lost, and had forgotten the map at home so the walk took two and a half hours. Our feet are sore, but it was worth the lesson.

Vi voglio tanto bene!

Sorella Pace

Easter Pranzo (lunch)

Scambio

Cara Famiglia,

So today we visited San Marino and I felt like I was living in a dream. We were running around like crazy and taking pictures like crazy because we had only a short amount of time before we had to catch our bus back to Rimini. I think it was the best p-day I've ever done.

Last Thursday we headed up to Modena for my first scambi as a sister training leader. I was with Sorella Holloway from my MTC district who I basically haven't seen for a year. It was so much fun to work with her and realize how much we've grown since the MTC. Modena is the coolest city, and Sorella Holloway and her companion just opened it to sisters last transfer.  As we arrived in Rimini the next day we were able to meet up with our companions by the beach- my first view of it in Rimini. It was beautiful, even if the wind was blowing up a sand storm. 

Then this week I was in Ravenna on another scambio. Wow that city's beautiful as well. It has the neatest brick churches, something you don't see much in Italy.

Being on scambi so much is really fun since I get to work with so many different sorelle and I learn so much from them . It does means that I haven't spent much time in Rimini though. Tomorrow and Friday I'll be doing my first scambio here which should be interesting. Hopefully I don't get too lost.

This week I've been so full of gratitude for everything the Lord has given us. 

He has the perfect plan for everyone and puts us in eachother's paths to bless one another. When I was in Ravenna we stopped a lady on the street and talked to her for a while. She's going through a hard time and struggling to feel God's love for her right now, but as we talked I could feel her relax and feel the spirit. She wasn't ready to give us her contact information to meet with the sorelle again, but I know that we were placed in her path that day so she could feel that our loving Heavenly Father is looking out for her.

Buona Pasqua!

Sorella Pace

So today we decided to leave the country and head up to San Marino.

Best decision of my life.

I literally have never been in a place so beautiful. It's a castle built on top of a mountain. From one side you look out and see the coast - the land, the cities, the sea - and from the other side you look out and see the most breathtaking landscape of mountainous hills leading off towards Tuscana. I literally took over two hundred pictures in the space of two hours.

From one of the towers

Looking towards the Adriatic Sea

A super windy day by the Rimini beaches with the Modena Sorelle after a scambio. We really struggled to get a picture without someone's hair completely covering their face. This is the best I got.

RIMINI!

Dear Family,

I've now been in Rimini for almost a week. I arrived Thursday evening, and then woke up very early to catch a train to Milano for mission council. That's a long train ride, especially when you do it three times in two days. The fun thing was that I was able to ride a Freccia (a fast train) for the first time. It did take a couple of days to get over the exhaustion though.

Conference is absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow. I LOVED the Women's Conference. Everything was so powerful- the talks, the video, the music. I just about cried when they had all the little primary girls stand up and sing.

I'm loving Rimini. The branch is very strong, very missionary minded, very wonderful. Dad, I can completely understand that the first missionaries had such miracles, because they found the most powerful people.

Yesterday we went out with a recently returned missionary from Rome. We visited a less-active, and then she took us to meet another inactive she mentioned that this inactive has a roommate who she'd met once and could be interested in the gospel. We had a nice lesson with the inactive and left. As we were walking home, we stoped a girl on the street and started talking to her. After a mintue she mentioned that she knew someone who had just served a mission in Rome. After a second we realized that we were talking to the roommate! We had a lesson with her, and then she came to english class that night. It's amazing how the Lord puts us in the path of people who are preparing to hear the gospel.

Tomorrow I'm going to Modena for my first scambio as a sister trainging leader. Basically a sister training leader is like a zone or district leader for the sorelle. We do scambi with them and make sure they're doing well. We're over five sets of sorelle, so we'll be busy with exchanges the whole transfer.

My companion Sorella Bucco is amazing. She's a convert of several years, with a very powerful testimony. I'm so excited for this transfer with her.

Love you all! (Vi voglio bene!)

Sorella Pace

Trasferimenti!

Dear Family, 

So it's that time of the transfer again, when it ends. I figured that I'd be leaving Pordenone since I've been here for four transfers, but I was not expecting the call from Presidente Dibb on Monday night calling me to go to Rimini and be a Sister Training Leader. Wow! 

I'm excited and nervous and hope I'll be a good leader. My companion is Sorella Bucco who's supposed to be amazing. Rimini is one of my dream cities- it's on the Adriatic Coast, pretty touristy, and every missionary who serves there absolutely loves it. My trainer Sorella Heupel had just left Rimini and talked about it all the time. So it seems like once again I'll be spending the summer by the sea. Which is really nice because I was dreading an Italian summer inland. 

It's going to be really sad leaving Pordenone, especially since I'll miss S's and L's baptisms. They are so wonderful, and the gospel is truly changing their lives. 

There have been so many wonderful people here in Pordenone who I love with all my heart. But I'm excited to head to Rimini and serve the Lord and the people there. 

Vi voglio bene!

Sorella Pace

Last P-day we went for a hike in the mountains above Pordenone. It was bellissima! Even if I was so not in hiking shape and used muscles I haven't touched in the last year.

My dear sweet 84 year old who's going to be baptized April 12! It has been an absolute miracle watching her understanding of the gospel grow. I think one of my greatest joys was when she was finally able to pass the fake baptism interview because she remembered what everything was.

Karen, a member, S. who is going to be baptized.

I have never met anyone more ready for baptism. She loves the gospel and everything about it. My greatest blessing of the mission has been meeting her.

S. and the Sorelle

Our miracle inactive. We were truly guided to her, and she's come to church ever since!

The Keefers. They're the Military Relations missionaries here. They're amazing!

We were riding our bikes back from Roveredo the other day and rode past this field. It's so beautiful here!