Drum Roll Please...

Well I am still in Pescara and I will be joined by.... Sorella Skabellund. I won’t meet up with her until tomorrow so I don’t have any information on her to share with you, except for that she has a beautiful singing voice and is very talented musically. (Yay) She is only 2 transfers ahead of me, which means that I entered the MTC 3 weeks after her group left for Italy. I have seen her at Zone conferences and she seems really nice so I am excited to meet her and get to know her better.

I am currently in Rome, where I have been since yesterday afternoon. I am in a 3-sum with Sorella Bennion (Megan’s cousin) and Sorella Leckie (a sister who I was in the MTC with for 3 weeks) so it has been fun tagging along with them. One thing that has been especially fun is that we also all enjoy music and singing and so yesterday while doing service for some members we sang hymns in 3 part harmony. I don’t want to say anything negative about the Pescara missionaries and their musical abilities (especially cause sister Steensen might be reading this, ha ha) because they aren’t bad, I just have missed hearing the harmonizing parts.

I am a little nervous to have to be running the show for the next week or two until sorella Skabellund gets used to the city and the people, especially cause that means I will have to make all the phone calls for a while. (yuck!) It is a little tricky to make phone calls, but it is a good way for me to practice my Italian.

It was really neat this week to see how big of an impact the missionaries can have on people’s lives over this short time as a missionary. I could see how much Sister Steensen was going to be missed as she said goodbye to our members, investigators and friends. Iolanda especially. We fear she is waiting for her husband to get to the same understanding and testimony that she has come to before being baptized so they can progress together. I pray that, that isn’t the case and I have faith that I will see her baptism.

We had a beautiful first lesson with a mother and her daughter last week. Anna Maria and Daniella. The mother Anna Maria, was especially touched by the story of the first vision, and is anxious for us to come back and teach her husband as well. I don’t know why, but after having an amazing first lesson like that I am always a little nervous that something is gonna go wrong, ha ha I know I know, doubt and faith cannot exist together, and in the end it is always our investigator's agency to choose and as long as we've been worthy of the spirit and taught by that power that is all we are asked to do.

Last Sunday (the 8th) was the Holiday Festa della Donna and I am still not sure what the holiday was for, I think it is to honor some women who were killed in a factory fire somewhere a long time ago, but anyways there is a yellow flower, Mimosa that they give to all the women for this Holiday and so for a few days leading up to it and they day of this holiday there were people on nearly every corner trying to sell these flowers to us. They grow in huge bunches on a tree and I wonder if some of these people selling them don't just sneak into peoples yards and trim off some flowers, ha ha. Silly street venders.

Ok, all for now. Next week I will write you all about sister Skabellund and our first week together. But until then, I love you all!

Ciao!