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