Hello All!

This week sure went by fast. I feel like I just wrote e-mails yesterday. :) Hmm... So I am feeling pretty good about this transfer in Florence. I think it is going to be really great. Me and my companion Sorella Favero both feel that we really need to work with the ward here. Ever since we decided that is what we need to do I have really seen the hand of the lord in this work.

one example, we were on the bus the other day and we noticed this really cute little african girl, we got off at the same stop and kinda smiled at the little girl and said hi as we passed by. At the end of the night as we were getting ready to head for home we were deciding if we should take a train or the bus, we decided the bus and then ran and caught a bus that had just pulled up even though it was one we don't normally take. When we got on there they were again, so we decided to go talk to them. After talking in Italian for a few minutes we switched over to English, because she spoke it too and we asked here where she was from. she said Cameroon. It just so happens our investigator Yvonne is also from Cameroon so sister Favero asked if she knew a women named Yvonne. At first it looked as if the woman was going to respond like "how would she know her?" but instead she said, "yeah she's my sister." How crazy is that? Anyways she told us that her sister had told her about us and that both she and Yvonne want to come to church this week.

I really have a testimony that when we are trying are hardest to follow the promptings we receive the lord will bless us in ways we didn't even imagine.

Also this week we had Zone conference. It was awesome! so many good talks and trainings. Our zone Leaders gave a talk about the invisible lines in the sand that we face everyday. The moments that have so much anticipation and pressure behind them. they used a lot of sport analogies about the final minutes in a basketball game where the team is down by 1 or the Olympic race when Micheal Johnson came out in gold tennis shoes. They said everyday we face these lines in the sand (seeing a family on the bus that we want to talk to, baring our testimony to someone on the street... David facing Goliath, Daniel in the Lions den...) They said the Atonement was the greatest moment and because our savior crossed that line, we can cross any little line we will ever come up against. and they reminded us that Great moments take great preparation. It was really great.

I felt also that a theme throughout the conference was Patience. It is really difficult to have patience sometimes, especially when you have been working towards something or waiting for something for a long time, but we are always blessed and rewarded for our patience. The lord always keeps his promises!

I love you all so very much and I really do appreciate your examples and your testimonies. I love reading the letters I get from you and hearing about your lives. You are in my prayers. Take care!

Oh also I just wanted to wish all you moms a wonderful mothers day and thank you for all you do, it really is a lot of work to raise a family and being here in Italy and seeing so many families with out the knowledge of the Gospel makes me that much more grateful for my mother and the truths and values she has taught me. Aubrey, Shayna, and Megan your kids are so cute! keep taking pictures of them and make sure they know I love them and so do all the old ladys here in Italy when I show them their pictures!

Ciao!!!