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