Shooting Stars

I got a letter from mom the other day and she asked me if I had a fan or if my apartment cooled down at night. Yes I have a fan, and no my apartment most certainly does not cool down at night, so the fan blows a nice steady stream of hot air! I’ve tried lots of different things like sleeping with a cup of water beside my bed so that I could dump it on me every so often to make the air from my fan feel cool, I tried freezing a water bottle and putting it in my bed but that just got everything all wet and it melted way fast. In Livorno when it was hot I would sleep on the tile floor but here we have really weird gross carpet and it is no cooler that the bed. The best and only solution is sleeping outside on our balcony, which we have been doing this week. The only problem there and the reason why we didn’t do it sooner is that my companion can’t handle the mosquitoes. She didn’t want to sleep outside and it is a rule that we have to sleep in the same room. But she bought some mosquito repellant stuff and this last week has been heavenly. It even gets a little chilly outside. I can’t believe the difference in heat. When I walk into the apartment in the morning the heat like smacks you in the face.

This week was Festa di Lavoro, aka an entire day of cleaning out the apartment. It is so nice to have a clean apartment, though it never seems to last long. We threw out so much junk, we had to make the Elders come help us hall it to the dumpster.

One of the great things about Italians is that they always eat fruit with their meals, one of the not so great things is that the fruit of choice for the summer here is Watermelon. Anyone who knows me and my weirdness about fruit, knows I do not like melon for anything. I can eat it, but I never really enjoy it and here when they cut you off a piece of watermelon it is not like a little sliver but a fourth of the melon, seriously. I hope watermelon season ends soon.

So as we have been sleeping outside these last few days I have enjoyed looking at the stars in awe and wonder and feeling more than ever that our Heavenly Father sure does love us to give us such a beautiful world. We even saw a few shooting stars. Some where in the scriptures around the beginning of 3rd nephi there is a verse that talks about how people began to be less and less astonished at the miracles and signs from heaven. I can’t help but wonder how often I too, become less and less astonished by the goodness of God and his miracles all around me. We really are so blessed. Every single day is a miracle and we should take the time to stop and thank God for the beauty all around us.

I love you all so so much. I hope you are enjoying the last little bit of your summer vacations. The church is so true and I love being a missionary.