Hmmm.....

So lets see, what are the highlights from this week....

I am still trucking along learning more and more italian every day, not huge rapid improvements, but enough that I can tell there is a difference from when I first got here. I can understand 75% of talks at church on sunday so thats a plus, and I am learning to think in Italian. It is such a temptation to let my mind wander when I am not understanding, but if I focus really hard and avoid translating the words from italian to English in my head and just listen I can almost understand. It is weird to think about how the brain learns languages.

I am always scared to try and strike up conversation on the bus or at the bus stop, but I am trying to be more brave. There was this old man on the bus the other day that I said hello to, and then he just started talking to me and even when I would tell him I didnt understand something he said he would just keep talking, he was kind of weird actually because when he was getting off the bus and shook my hand he also kissed it. Hmm.... some how I always find the creepy people. Oh well we are all children of God, right.

Something interesting/strange that I saw this week was while we were on a street doing house all of a sudden we heard accordion music and it got louder and louder and we turned the corner to see to people playing the accordion and another with a trumpet coming down the street, ha ha. They immediately come over and ask do you got any money? we told them no that we were missionaries and so they continued on down the street.

Remember how I told you about making pasta and the cool pasta machine, well that same investigator and her mom bought sister steensen a pasta machine as a going away present since she leaves in like a month and then they felt bad that I didn't have one, and bought me one too. Ha ha, I told them not to repeatedly, but they went and did it anyway. How nice is that! Even though I feel a little guilty that they felt they had to buy me one, I am grateful for the wonderful pasta I will be making. It is slightly heavy so it might be interesting to cart around, but I think it is well worth it.

Oh Also I told you about an investigator we were trying to set a baptism date with. We taught her the word of wisdom, and it went really well! she didnt question or anything she just said, ok if you say it is right it must be right. However when we talked about a baptism date she was a little apprehensive to actually write one down. Her parents and family are traditional catholics and I think she feels a little nervous about taking another fork of the road, but she knows it is true. I have high hopes that she will set a baptism date this week, I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Well I am almost out of time so I will just end by saying I love you all and I am grateful for your support. I love hearing from you. I just got some mail this last week from the mission office, and I am trying to reply to it, so be patient with me.

This church is true and this gospel is the most important thing in the world. I am so grateful for it!