c'era una volta...

Oh mamma, I don't even know what to write about, it's been a whole new week but I don't think I am capable yet of comprehending that this is the last day. Okay, so I am, but I still feel like everything is normal and that I'm going to be here forever except that everytime that I see people I make them cry. miiii I still hope that by some miracle the camera or at least the memory cards are still returned to me, but there are so many more important things that I just can't be sad about it forever. Luckily I have been blessed with lots of companions who take lots of pictures. By the way, that's really funny that Tommy is in Anziano Grigg's ward and has been forever. When I met Anz Grigg he said to ask Tommy if he knew his family because he lives in his mission, and I forgot to ever ask. Oops. So let's see what has happened this week... On Wednesday we went to the Vittoriano. WOW. It has a terrace, and you have to pay 7 euro to take the elevator up there...

Also, the Area Presidency asked us to share "spiritual success stories" with each other a few weeks ago. This is what I wrote. I have never seen a baptism. But I have seen so many miracles. I have seen so many people come so close and make so many changes in their lives that it is absolutely incredible. I have talked to hundreds of people on the street, I have gotten many phone numbers to call, I have taught many lessons, I have met the most beautiful people that exist. The Lord has given me so many opportunities to learn and to grow and to serve Him. Although I have never been present when a person I taught was baptized, I have seen a lot of success in my mission. One of the biggest spiritual successes I have had is in myself. When I began my mission I had no idea that I was capable of stopping a stranger on the street, telling them that I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and teaching them the Gospel. I had no idea I could take control of a lesson and keep it going on t...

Hello family! Well, heartbreak of the week so I can just get it over with...my camera got stolen on Sunday. And for some reason it had all of my memory cards in its case so there went everything. At least I assume it got stolen since it was no longer in my bag, although it was shoved in there pretty good and I never felt a thing and I always feel when somebody touches my bag. It was just weird. Anyway, I cried for about 3 hours straight and it's still extremely depressing but I can't do anything about it so I guess I just have to get over it. Don't ask me to see my pictures though, thank you. Oh dear. The rest of the week was pretty great. We went to the Galleria Borghese on Wednesday. It is incredible. Mamma mia, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was my favorite sculptor before and now he definitely is. AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING. All of the detail and all of the movement. Apollo chasing Dafne while she's turning into a tree and in only a second more he'll crash into her and sh...

Mamma mia che settimnana lunghissima...uou. So it's been another good one. We're definitely busy. I have a question for you--what is my homecoming talk on??? I have to write it before I get home because I don't think that even with going back in time a day that I'm going to do it the day I get back so somebody needs to let me know please. Thank you. So, let's see, Thursday was Thanksgiving, which of course is a day just like any other here in Italy--some of the people who use internet occasionally read that it was a holiday in the USA but they don't really know what that means. So in the morning we tried to go visit Rosanna, the woman who lives in the house that's more than 1000 years old but she never answered her phone so we just ended up doing some finding work. We also had to make a copy of the key to our water heater cabinet, because the one that was in there was ridiculously old and it broke. They didn't even have to make a copy, they just have t...

Mamma mia, che settimana! But can I please start with today, because today was way cool. Actually, I'll just say the CRAZIEST part of today. So, we were in the Vatican, looking at St. Peter's after having walked up the the cupola and stuff but I'll talk about that later. And I was taking a picture and somebody says "hi Sister" and I looked to see who it was expecting to see some member from the USA because we see them every p-day, and I looked and the face looked very familiar and she said "I'm Sister Beck." !!! Wow. What are the chances. And then she talked to me for a minute--her husband served a mission in Italy 40 years ago (and he speaks Italian VERY well still) and her son-in-law served in Milan about 15 years ago so they were visiting. So cool. She told me to tell my parents thank you for letting me come on a mission. So THANK YOU. What are the chances, going to the Vatican and meeting a general authority who's just on vacation. So awesom...

Hi! We're in an internet place that doesn't check documents...how weird and illegal. It's hidden in little streets and I'm writing on a laptop and my fingers are having such a hard time using it, it's so different. But more comfortable. However, typing is annoying, my rings are too big and they spin around and I'm actually kind of afraid of losing them from my fingers. Sigh...cosa posso fare [what can I do]? Well last Wednesday we went to the "Bone Church" really the Cappucin crypt or something, it's really quite fascinating. They had to move the crypt at some point so they just decided to use the bones to create these rooms of art and such--apparently the decorations made of bones are supposed to symbolize their hope in the resurrection. It was really quite fascinating, thousands of people's bodies were used for that thing, they had chandeliers made out of hipbones. Mamma mia, I don't know what they were thinking but it's pretty coo...

Hello! Well, what a week. Last P-day was way cool, we rented bikes for three hours and rode around and saw a whole bunch of things--la Fontana di Trevi, the Pantheon (and unfortunately half of the facade is covered by scaffolding che triste), a couple of other fountains, piazza del Popolo, the Spanish Steps, I don't know what else, but it was a lot of fun to zip around on the bikes and ring those annoying little bells at people so they'd jump out of the way. Luckily my collega only ALMOST got hit by a taxi. Fun fun fun. We had an appointment with Claudia in the evening, she is awesome, she understands a whole lot more than the average bear and she is interested in learning. Unfortunately she wasn't able to come to church this Sunday because she went to Padre Pio Puglia. HAHAHA. Oh dear. Thursday Anziano and Sorella Marcucci came over for Anziano Marcucci to fix our shower so it's actually like a real shower and has a curtain and everything che incredibile! And we were...

I really like this city. So last week for p-day we went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. SO INCREDIBLE. Mamma mia, I'm so glad that I have a companion who wants to see everything, I think if I had one who just wanted to stay home and write letters I would die. Thankfully even though she's been in Rome for a while Sorella Zeller is willing to go everywhere. Don't worry, I'm going crazy on the photos. I figure I have not a lot of weeks left and I still have about 4 gb of scheda left so I'm going to just take pictures of everything. Don't worry, I'm taking a few of myself as well. But WOW this place is a dream. The Colosseum is fantastic, I am just so in awe at how it's built so perfectly and solidly and has been here forEVER, mado' it's amazing! An investigator told us the other day "we used to be able to build things that last thousands of years, now we build a palazzo and it crumbles in 10" Wednesday night we went to see a girl na...

So, the most exciting thing of this week was definitely the temple groundbreaking. It's starting!!! But a lot of awesome things have happened this week actually. We started another 40 day fast from English on Thursday. It's going well so far, and I'm glad to have the chance to speak Italian again after a few transfers of not speaking it much. We're all enjoying it. We had a really good lesson with Zohra on Thursday, about coming to church. She needs to work on some things but she understood pretty clearly that it's a commandment and that whether she feels somebody else is spiritual enough or not, if she's not going to church than she isn't really doing the things that she expects of other people either. She's cool. We then went to a lesson with Massimo and Fior di Maria. I'm still not sure exactly where we found them, but they are amazing. They are retired and their kids are grown up and they actually like spending their free time together. Their ho...

I'm in Rome!!! So so so so cool. I think I'm here to make sure I never think about going home. Wow. Wow wow wow. I saw the Pope today! And the Sistine chapel! It's AMAZING! Okay, so last Wednesday aside from packing we did a whole lot of other stuff, including seeing Sorella Mandorino. That was fun, she's a cute old lady. She wasn't very happy when Sorella Jones told her that we didn't need focaccia, so she gave us pastries and she gave Sorella Jones a sweater instead. Haha. The Bari Sorelle slept at our house on Wednesday night, and then Thursday morning dark and early I left--woke up at 4,50, the capi zona picked me up at 5,40, the train came at 6,15. And at 12,15 we arrived in Rome. Trains are nice, by the way. In Rome, Anziano Crawford tried to drive us home from Termini with all my luggage, but he had left the GPS in the office so we drove around centro for a while, and saw the Colosseum (!!!!) and a pyramid that they apparently stole from Egypt, and then...

Hello! I hope that Tommy's doing better. Ouch. That makes my head hurt just thinking about it. Mamma mia. Good thing they don't have basketball things in Italy, because nobody has yards!!! Of course crossing the street is like playing frogger but in spite of the insanity that is Italian driving they are generally fairly polite. But ouch... So I'm GOING TO ROME!!! I'm going to Rome I'm going to Rome I'm going to Rome! Yeah. I'm kind of excited, Taranto is a little pesante, three transfers of nothing but finding work gets kind of exhausting. Hopefully we're closer to getting investigators that actually want to see us in this city but even the ones that come to church never want to see us, and in a ward where 120 people show up for sacrament meeting it's pretty stinking hard to ever see members. So. I am sad to leave our inactives, they are my favorite, they like us, and they are actually progressing. But Rome. Oh the things I can do for p-day. So th...

Hello!!! Well, I'm tired. We got up to catch a 6,20 bus to Bari that never came :( but I guess at least the one at 7 came so getting up early wasn't a total waste of time. Let's see what we've done this week. Last Wednesday we went to see Patrizia. I really love that woman, she is great and I wish that the members would get involved with her!!! It's kind of frustrating that they don't. She is definitely making progress, and she wants something in her life to change so I hope that she realizes that the thing she needs to change is that she needs to come back to church! That's what we're working with her on. She has been in England this week to visit her daughter who is going to school there. She'll get home tomorrow night and hopefully she had a good vacation. We probably won't see her this week though because catching up on work is always stressful. After that we looked for a few people and weren't able to contact them, but in the end it wa...

Hello! You have a date for my homecoming? That's weird...What am I speaking on? Yeah, Alex is going to be home really soon. His parents are picking him up, but he'll be speaking in his ward on Halloween. I sent a letter to his house today, that was weird. The address is sooo much shorter. Well, this has been a good week, although it's weird because we still have no investigators that we're seeing, we're talking to tons and tons of people but if they don't listen then you can talk at them all day and it doesn't make a difference. Last Wednesday night we basically just meandered around centro (we got to take our pday hours at night since we spent the morning at the questura) and got gelato. We talked to a man on Lungomare who told us over and over that he wasn't on drugs, just nervous. Methinks thou dost protest too much? We went and talked to Carlotta again, and gave her a Book of Mormon. It was good. She really seems to want to understand. However, it ...