c'era una volta...

Well hello, Thursday we went back to Ragusa on the 6 am bus. Che gioia! We left our apartment at 5, and there was luckily a bus down to the station so we didn't have to walk for an hour. When we've gone to catch an 8 am bus before the buses weren't running yet. So that was nice. We really should have been wearing coats though, we figured it was just cold because it was so early and that it would warm up when the sun came out but it was FREEZING in Ragusa, and we were waiting outside the Questura for a few hours. Oh well. They took in groups by numbers we'd gotten when we called to see if it was all ready, and when they got to the group that would have been right before me there were a bunch of people not there when their number was called so I got to go in. They didn't let my companion in though--the guy isn't a big fan of Americans or those who aren't Catholic. Fortunately he gave me the Permesso without trouble. Woohoo. I'm officially legally in the c...

Hello famiglia mia, It's been another crazy crazy week. Mamma mia. We've done a whole bunch of stuff. Thursday we went to visit a woman in a store, and she wasn't there but her husband who I had invited to English course once upon a time was there, and some old guy who saw our tags and pulled out his Book of Mormon and said he had a question for us. We asked if he'd ever talked to missionaries about the book and he said no, he just reads it when he has free time at work. Ha. It was kind of an interesting thing. The one guy started talking about the Bible and how he thinks that churches are made just from people's interpretations and how he doesn't judge them and there was a lady who had walked in and said yeah you shouldn't judge since you don't even read the Bible and he said "well I don't judge people, but YOU judge all the time". The woman left and he's like "she's testimoni di Geova". That was a weird experience. It wa...

Famiglia Mia, It was great to talk to you and Dad too, but I don't think I can be your wake up call every week unfortunately. Haha. But it was a good week, and I'm glad we got to call. Time flies. Let's see, this week...Thursday we went to see Lillian, and she is just wonderful. Her dad died last week, he was in his 90s, the oldest man in their village. She just got home from Nigeria a couple months ago so she can't go back for the funeral and she's sad, but she said that when she was there last she told him all about the gospel and he accepted Jesus Christ. And she told him that when he died, he just had to remember that and accept him again, and that he needed to look for the missionaries over there (after he dies) so they can teach him the gospel, and he said he'd do it. So she's really peaceful and knows she'll see him again and has a great testimony. She was really glad to see us though, she needs friends. Then Thursday night was our "America...

Hello again! So about this whole Mother's Day business coming up--I have no idea what time your ward starts or what time you want me to call you...We've got a little bit of a time difference so I have to call you guys before church, but I don't know around when would be good or necessary. I don't have the package yet. I need to get a codice fiscale, and we tried, but to get the codice fiscale I need my permesso, which I've also tried to get and will try again not this Monday because we have a zone meeting but the next. Hopefully then I can get my codice fiscale and ritirare my package from the dogana. Mamma mia. Che confusione. But oh well, the questura in Ragusa evidently is open Monday afternoons just for the people who are here for motivi religiosi (woulda been nice if we had known that months ago...) and so me and Sorella White will go to Ragusa to get those things and our companions will do scambi. And the Agenzia dell'Entrata or whatever it's called is...

Hello family! Did you send a package of something? It's stuck in Milan in customs, I think they want people to just write "mission supplies" when they send stuff nowadays, but my companion has one up there too so we have to go to the mission home tomorrow and get it all worked out. Fun Fun. So, I have officially been out nine months as of Thursday and I got my call a year ago last Friday. Thursday we spent the whole morning running church movies to the Anziani and waiting for a bus that didn't come for three hours so we could talk to the Relief Society president about how we can help the Relief Society. We taught some lessons at the station, but wow that bus took a long time to get there. The meeting with the presidentessa was good, it showed her that we want to help and that we're here to work together. But she thinks we're here to visit old ladies, but what can you do? I dunno... It was pretty good though. Luckily we got a bus back to Catania so we could ...

CHIESA DI GESÙ CRISTO DEI SANTI DEGLI ULTIMI GIORNI MISSIONE ITALIANA DI CATANIA P.zza E. Vittorini, 7 (Parco Inglese) 95030 Sant’ Agata Li Battiati (CT) Tel. uff. 095/411009 – 411054 Fax uff. 095/411244 15 April 2010 Dear Brother and Sister Stevenson, We are happy to report that Sorella Stevenson has been made a senior companion. This is an important calling and comes because of her proselyting and teaching skills and her diligence in studying and learning the Italian language. Her familiarity and study of Preach My Gospel is an important component in her knowledge and understanding of the missionary lessons and doctrines of the church. We are pleased with her overall growth and development as a faithful servant of the Lord. It will be important for your daughter to rely on the Spirit for inspiration on how to conduct the work in her area. As senior companion, she will be responsible for the missionary work of her companionship. We are confident of her abilities as she has show...

Good morning! It's actually almost three pm. We've had a busy week, lots of traveling and not lots of sleep. Luckily Catania is the only sister city that was unaffected by transfers this time so I didn't have to worry about packing or anything. Let's see...Thursday we had every intention of having a normal day but with internet and then reading and giving our suggestions for the changes that should be made from the old branch mission plan and a whole bunch of other things it ended up being not so normal. We did, however, teach a decent number of lessons. Our English course lately has been interesting...we only have a few girls who come (age 18-30 ish) and we've had lots of gospel discussions in questi giorni. But it's been fun. We talked about the importance of faith in Jesus Christ on Thursday. On Friday morning bright and early we went down to the bus station to catch a bus to Mistretta. Actually, a bus to Nicosia and then we were supposed to catch another...