Birthdays!

First and foremost, Happy Birthday Trent!!! I can not believe you are 16! That is seriously nuts! I put something in the mail for you last week, but I think it will be a little late in arriving cause I probably should have mailed it a few days sooner, oh well. Just know that I love ya lots and hope your birthday is great!

While I am on the subject of Birthdays I will just go ahead and tell you about mine. It was really a good day. It started out with a rain storm in the morning… early morning… like 4 a.m. yeah we were sleeping outside, but don’t worry we managed to get inside before it really started coming down. It poured until about 11:00. I actually really love the rain so I counted it as a Birthday gift from Heavenly Father. I received a birthday card in the mail from dad and I was impressed that he had found one in Italian and also that it arrived exactly on my Birthday. I opened up the presents from the package mom had sent me and was so excited to see some American candy and seasonings for Ranch and Tacos!!! Along with some other awesome gifts. In the morning me and my companion did our weekly planning and then in the afternoon we did some finding work followed by a member appointment. Early in the day however the Elders had called saying that they had scheduled an appointment that they couldn’t make it too, but felt that this appointment really needed to happen so they asked us to go for them. (yeah I kind of sensed something was up.) So after eating a ton at our appointment (I didn’t tell them it was my Birthday it was just a regular appointment), we raced over to the other appointment which actually ended up being a surprise party. I was pretty stuffed and had seriously just eaten and we were served dinner again. Hambergers and fries and salad and CAKE. Both sets of Elders were there as well and they had made me a musical Birthday card. You know those cards that you open and they play songs, yeah they gave me the card and every time I tried to open it to read it they all screamed out some awful noise. It was pretty funny, mostly because the noise they were making comes from an inside joke about the annoying sounds peoples doorbells make here in Italy. The family Coca is just wonderful it is a single mother with 3 daughters and she is always doing so much for us missionaries. She gave me a shirt and a wallet on top of the wonderful dinner. It was a good day.

So yesterday me and my companion were doing some finding work and we decided to look up some parks where we could do some different finding activities. We found a nice little park with lots of trees and a big field beside it. The field was dry and full of weeds, it reminded me of something you would find in Utah. The park was pretty empty but we decided it was a pretty good little park and maybe we could check it out on a Saturday or Sunday to see if there were families there. We had correlation in the afternoon and we told the Elders about the park then even later in the afternoon the Elders called us and said, “hey you know that new park you found? I don’t think you’ll be going there anymore… cause it is on fire.” We looked outside from our balcony and sure enough there was a huge thick cloud of black smoke billowing up into the sky from off in the direction of the park. It only took like 10 minutes for it to be contained so I guess it wasn’t that bad. The elders said it was just the field part that was burning. I just thought it was funny that the same day we found the park it caught fire.

Here in Rome we often take the Metro, and lately me and my companion have been using it for finding work. We get on and talk to people and when we get to the end of our area we get off and ride it back in the other direction. There are a lot of interesting people on the Metro, for the most part they are more normal than the people on the buses, but every so often you run into some really strange people. The other day my companion was talking to some man, he was huge and bald and at first appearance seemed all rough and tough but after a while of listening in on their conversation I determined he might be a little bit strange, when it was time for him to get off the metro he stood and shook my companions hand telling her he really was glad they talked that she was just like a little sister and then he spotted me and my nametag and was like “you too? Oh Sorellina (little sister)” so I offered my hand so he could shake it and leave I seriously said nothing to him the whole time my companion had been talking and instead of just shaking my hand he went in for the bach. I think I have explained this before, in italy it is common to great good friends with a kiss on each cheek, though for the most part you don’t actually kiss the cheek you just kiss the air beside their cheek have ever as missionaries sisters can’t be bached by men and Elders can’t be bached by sisters. There was no place to go I couldn’t dodge cause I was sitting down in the seat and there was no room to back up or move my head. So I got bached by a big huge bald man. Oops.

This past fast Sunday we were all united here in Italy fasting for the temple. Elder Oaks, when he was here, counselled all the members to always pray for the temple, and so I have tried to make that a part of my prayers as well. I feel seriously spoiled to live so close to so many temples. I know that the blessings of the temple are so important and I can’t wait for the saints here in Italy to enjoy those blessings in their own land. I love this gospel and I really love teaching and baring testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. In the last few days I have talked to some really nice people and have felt the influence of the spirit as I testify that God loves us so much and that as a result his true church is on the earth once more. I know that this is true without a doubt. I love being a missionary.

I pray that all is well with you at home. Be safe and happy and pray for missionary opportunities!