Sorella Carter: Tears of Joy

Wow! I cant believe that the transfer is almost over! Only about a week left. I hope that Sorella McCann will be with me for at least one more transfer. I truly have been blessed to have her a my companion. We are very similiar and I am so grateful for the example that she is for me.

Today I got a letter from Amber with pictures of Nathan, Clara, and Andrew. As soon as I saw them I started bawling...Ahh..hah It was happy tears because I am soo happy ad grateful to be here. It is just hard seeing how much they grow up in such a short amount of time. The are all so cute and I really appreciate photos from all the famly. It means so much. I love showing investigators my family because they mean so much to me. They are my life and that is onof my favorite topics to talk about with investigators. I love sharing with people that they can live with their families for eternity..per sempre. Some people have no idea what happens after this life and I love sharing ths good news with them. That we can live with our families forever. I love you all and I cant even begin to express how much I love you all. For you support, love , and prayers.

I dont have too much to say for this week. I wanted to share what a typical day is like for us as sorelle in italia.

6,30 wake up and begin to exercize

7,00 prep for day (get ready)

8,00 personal study

9,00 companionship study

9,55 prayer/devotional with the sorelle that live with us

10,00 new missionary training/ strata (street contacting)

13,00 pranzo (its a big deal in italy to say the least)

14,00 language study

15,00 lessons with investigators,strata, casa,etc

21,00 plan for the next day

We usually take the buses to get to church and other lessons, but we mainly walk everywhere. Yay! It is always a good time walking on the streets of italy because Italy is sooo diverse! I didnt realize how many different types of cultures that would here. I love it. I can already tell that I will be so sad to leave Italy at the end of my mission. The people here are honestly so great. The members are so strong in the gospel. I truly feel like the Italian people are my type of people. They all have a great sense of humor, and they have such a love and passion for the

gospel.

Ocean

So last Pday was very hilarious to say the least. As we were in an appointment at 6pm it started to ran out of the blue..and it wasnt just a light drizzle it was full on pouring rain with lightning. hah we had an appointment at 730 pm and we knew we had to go because it wasnt going to calm down. Luckily the person let us use their umbrella. (by the way this person remembered dad..I showed her a picture of him and she knew him) so the apartment that she lives in is right by the street..literally right next to the street. I kid you not. The door is also clear and all we see through the door are waves of water splashing onto the door. So Sorella McCann and I decided to run out of the door on three and I wouldpoint the umbrella by the door so the wave would hit the umbrella. As soon as we open the door a bus comes by..hahah it was too late. It was like we were in a tsunami..hahah then I yelled "OCEAN!!!!" because I saw the wave coming. Luckily we closed the door in time so we didnt too get wet but it still managed to get inside the door. Then we realized that there was a backdoor so we went out thereand had to time it so we wouldnt get splashed by the oncomingcars. I wish I could have this memory recorded because it was soo funny. As we ran we made it to the bus stop but our sandals we were wearing were soaked. As we waited at the bus stop we thought to ourselves "maybe people will be nice and change lanes so that they wont splash us" Seriously as soon as we said that a car splashed us both really good. The investigator we taught let us use her blowdryer because she felt bad for us. haha These are the moments that I will not forget.

This week I have been reading in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah. I love the story of Abinadi. There is a chapter which he specifically tells the people what will happen to them if didnt repent and then a few chapters later the people wish they would have listened to Abinadi. This seriously seems to be the case for so many people these days. There is a chapter which is so beautiful in Mosiah which is similar to a chapter in Isaiah and it talks about Gesù Cristo and his atonement. It was very poetic and beautiful.

I have always heard that as a missionary when you read from the book of mormon each day there will be something that is of relevance to either your investigators or random people you meet. I have truly seen that this week. I was studying for our investigator that is getting baptized this saturday about prophets and I read a chapter in the book of mormon specifically about prophet which was pretty cool. Then just random little ideas popped into my mind for the lesson for her that we should mention. That was the most that I have ever talked in a lesson which was a huge improvement for me. I love the book of Mormon and I honestly do feel that my spirit is thirsting for more knowledge about the gospel.

This week I am the senior companion because on the last week of transfers we switch so that the junior companion can have practice being the junior companion. So I have the phone and I lead the lessons with investigators (or attempt to do these things). My first time I answered the phone I said "Pronto" and that was about all I said until I handed it off to Sorella McCann..haha Hopefully it will get a little bit better and I will be able to actually talk to people on the phone.

My favorite thing that the Italian people say is "Piano piano". They always say it to me for the language and the members also say it for our invetigators. I also love it when they say "Ecco" which means behold..but they use it for like when they enter a room for example..It is great. I love the Italians. Ahhh! Seriously I wish you all could just see how great they are then you would understand how I feel about them.

We have our baptism sabato (saturday) for our investigator. She is so ready to be baptized and I am so excited for her. I hope all will go well since it is both Sorella McCann and I first bapism.

Seriously I am very grateful to be here in Italy. The language is still hard to understand but each day I know a little bit more than I knew the day before. I love you all more than I could ever express. I love you all

love,

sorella carter