It's been real. It's been fun. And it's been real fun.

We saw Sorella Uras this week. (For those of you who don't remember she's an old lady who loves cooking and is such a strong woman!) She finally got out of the hospital so we could show the pictures of the lasagna that I made. She's given me lots of different recipes. She always makes food for us and honestly I don't know how she does it. She moves around her apartment with an oxygen tube and it honestly scares me when she stays standing up for too long. We are always telling her to sit back down. Anyways we wanted to give back a bit so we made her this eggplant recipe that she had given us. (Eggplant is actually pretty good.) Oh the fear of cooking for an old Italian woman! It was a little stressful hoping and praying that it turned out good. But it the end we were able to take it to her and I was able to say goodbye to her!

Sorella Orr made my birthday amazing. She bought me anti-aging cream, socks, and muesli. All I could ever want. She's the best and made my birthday a lot of fun. We spoiled ourselves with treats. What can I say? We love our arancini and bacii mcflurries. But we also received our transfer call on my birthday. That was a punch to the gut. So I'm leaving which is really hard to accept. I wanted to do another one here in Muggiò with Sorella Orr. But instead I'm going to the area just next door in Milano. The ward is called Cimiano and I will be a Sister Training Leader there. The best part is that I will be there with Sorella Williams! It's going to be great! And then Sorella Smedley is going to come and take my place in Muggiò. I'm excited for scambio with us four! It will be a lot of fun!

We bought exercise balls to sit on when we eat and do our studies. I would say they are a game changer and definitely a life improvement.

Then we went over to our ward mission leader’s house to have dinner on my birthday because it was his birthday too and we had a lot of fun. There were some young single adults from the ward and the night went by too fast! I was able to say goodbye to Franny who is a recent convert. She's getting ready to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. She's excited for that! It's sad that I have to leave her but she's planning to come to the US in the fall so maybe we will be able to meet up. Plus, we are in the same stake still so we will see each other around.

On Saturday we had a lesson with Alfredo in the church. It was such a good lesson. We gave him a little tour of the church but he had too many questions so we had to stop in the middle and start the lesson so we could talk about everything. He had a lot of really good questions and seems to have a sincere desire to believe in God and Jesus Christ. He really opened up to us about everything. It was a miracle lesson. In it, he commented about how happy and content we seemed.

Sunday and the past couple days have been full of goodbyes. It's been really hard to say goodbye to everyone here. I love them so much. Luckily, I will still be close though. I will say a few more goodbyes tonight and then tomorrow I will leave for Cimiano.

This morning I was studying about faith. Something that I really thought was cool was about the scripture Matthew 17:20.

"And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

There was little faith but it was quality faith. Quality over quantity even in faith. Our faith needs to be pure and genuine. When we have that pure faith, that's when we begin to see the power faith has... however small that faith might be.

I love you all! Hope you have a good week!

Franny is the one sitting next to me.

Saying goodbye to Melissa. She served in Salt Lake.

Sorella Riva. That blessed woman!

The family Rosa. 

Giacomo, the little one had drawn on his face 

during sacrament meeting haha.

Sorella Uras! She's the cutest little old lady!

Sorella Bassi

Milli, Emma and Nicolo

The Mongiovì couple. I love them! 

Fratello Mongiovì was one of the first missionaries in Italy.

Last but not least Sorella Sacco!

Lucky Number 7

To my beloved family... none of you are allowed to read this until you hurry and send me an email of what happened to Jimmy.

Highlights of the week:

1.    I completely fell on my face. I was straight up belly on an Italian city street. Two things go through your mind: one- you die laughing with your companion and two - you wonder if you need to drench your clothes in hand sanitizer because you never know where dogs pee.

2.    Sorella Orr was finally able to meet Juana and Claudio. We were able to talk to them about the importance of reading the scriptures, praying, and going to church.

3.    We had zone conference! It was a combined zone conference which means that I got to see Sorella Nielsen! She seems to be happy and doing well and it was so good to see her!

4.    I made my first homemade lasagna! And it was good! We also made biscuits and gravy which were amazing. Biscuits, everything from scratch.

5.    We met Alfredo in the park. He was a miracle. We had decided to do 15 more minutes of finding and then we met him. He has a Book of Mormon from a long time ago. I'm convinced he was prepared by God. He ask us which scripture he should read that day.

6.    We laughed until we cried in our lesson with Sorella Sacco. It all started when she pulled out her Book of Mormon that was centuries old and it said different words than ours did. (This is in Italian.) Anyways, it was good for us all to laugh.

7.    We met an American! Her name was Meredith. She was struggling to put some black garbage bags into a donation bin on the street. We actually heard her speaking English... American English.... on the phone. Sorella Orr and I both got big eyes. Apparently she's moving tomorrow back to the States with her family and she was really nervous. She seemed a bit frazzled. She said after seeing us and talking to us she felt better about it all. It's always such a blessing to know that you were in the right place at the right time.

This week has been a weird one. There's been lots of laughter and to be quite honest there were some really hard times. I found this quote just hanging in our apartment, probably left from the Anziani before us.

"We don’t always know the details of our future. We do not know what lies ahead. We live in a time of uncertainty. We are surrounded by challenges on all sides. Occasionally discouragement may sneak into our day; frustration may invite itself into our thinking; doubt might enter about the value of our work. In these dark moments Satan whispers in our ears that we will never be able to succeed, that the price isn’t worth the effort, and that our small part will never make a difference. He, the father of all lies, will try to prevent us from seeing the end from the beginning."

It's from the May 2006 Ensign and it's called "See the End from the Beginning". It's a great talk and there's a really good story about how President Uchtdorf had a lung disease as a boy but because he worked hard for his family, huffing and puffing on a bike, the disease was healed. Everything has a purpose. Sometimes our seeing the end from the beginning can just be clouded.

I love you all!

The Famous Fort

Zone Conference = Mail and Packages from Home

Love our Valentines Socks

First homemade lasagna - Yummy !

Arancini

Our favorite panzarotti place by the duomo!

Zone Conference

"Your Ministry is now over"

On Thursday we passed Mondi over to the Anziani. When we said goodbye to him he said "your ministry is now over." Just another great quote from Mondi. Although I don't think it tops him telling him that she's like his mother and is a big girl after we took a selfie with him. Haha. We had fun with him and I hope the Anziani will be able to help him more! Then we went to visit a less active who has bad health. Her dog is borderline crazy. It's not a big dog but rather a small one that thinks it's big. We offer to take this dog on a walk for her because she can't leave her house. We take this dog outside and it goes nuts! It's like it was never domesticated. We were one step away from being attacked. So bipolar. It loved us in the house.

My beloved companion made bagels on Friday! They were pretty good. We also went to go see Milli and her mom. It was good to see them we had almost like a little tea party except with not tea... so not a tea party. Haha. I love them though. They are so fun to talk with. Then we got to see Maria Tacunan! Man I love that woman! She's the bomb! They had our Book of Mormon chart we made for them hung up. They're just the best.

Saturday we finally got to see the Ponce family and I just love them. They are still struggling and it just breaks my heart because it just seems like they never catch a break. But then we passed by Sorella Sacco. She's a talker. I felt bad because she kept telling her son to be quiet and then she would talk more haha. She's a cute little lady though!

On Sunday Milli and her family came to church and it made me so happy! The ward was so good at making them feel welcome and Nicolo finally warmed up in primary and it was just a miracle day. Sorella Mongiovì was a home girl and helped Milli with knowing where to go and everything. Just helping her feel welcome and introducing her to everyone. Tiziana even brought a friend to church so that was cool!

I swear I'm so fed up with smelling smoke on my balcony when I'm just trying to do my jump roping exercises. It makes me lose all patience with the people I see on a street that as you walk past they blow smoke in your face. And if I see another 14 year old smoking, I am going to lose it!

Sunday was followed by Monday. And on Monday we had an amazing appointment with Milli. She made us some amazing food from Ecuador. We had a really good lesson about the plan of salvation. They agreed with everything and recognized it as the truth! Nicolo also told us about how much he loved coming to church. Ah! I love them. They are great.

Random fun fact: we made a fort and lived in it for a straight week. Also mega bed was created in the fort. It was a blessing and a curse. We got some good practice with our army crawl though!

Okay so as missionaries we pray right before we leave the apartment every single time. You might think it might just be another part of the routine but there are seriously so many blessings! It's one of those weird things that I want to continue after the mission. Every time while we are praying, I am reminded of something that I am forgetting to bring/take from the apartment. It's a small blessing but it makes a difference. Prayer works. Take time to stop and breathe. Talk to Heavenly Father and you will see blessings! I promise.

I love you all!