A volte Cristo calma la tempesta. A volte permette la tempesta imperversa e calma la nostra anima.

"Luisa and her dogs, Stella and Sandy.
She loves them more than her own kids. "

Cara Famiglia Mia! Let us jump right into another week of Sorella Alley's current life. This week was a bit of a slower week and Sorella Burkman and I came up with some creative ways to do missionary work. We have one favorite Italian in particular and her name is Postina. Yes, for those of you with any knowledge of Latin language, the mailwoman is our favorite Italian because she brings us tidings of joy and happiness. Since we basically stalk her daily, we decided to be less creepy and just write her a note. So we said, "Postwoman, thank you for bringing us mail. You make life better. We love you. thank you!" With that taped to the mailbox, we watched out our window waiting for her. Sure enough, never failing, she came on her yellow vestba. She saw our note and was instantly all smiles. Her smile was so big I though it would darn near pop her eyeballs out. It was a good missionary act. 

Last Friday we had pizza with the Zufolini's who invited Cristian, Valentina e Serena Bazzocchi. It was a really fun night of laughter and pizza (pitsa for all you uneducated Americans...). We haven't given up hope on them and Cristian asked if he could still read the Book of Mormon. So he is still reading and we are counting on the Spirit to spiritually face punch him and then we will sweep in make the kill, fondly meaning we hope to start teaching this chosen family again soon. 

Hardest Week of My Life

Se Dio ti guidasse avanti un ostacolo, ti guiderà di superare quel ostacolo.

Because I do not trust google translate to actually translate this sentence correctly, I will render my service. 

If God brings you to an obstacle, He will guide you through it. 

And that is what this week was, full of obstacles and trails. This week was definitely the most difficult and trying week of my mission and in the same sense, probably my life. The evening of the last pday we met with Cristian and Valentina again to prepare them for their baptisimal interviews that were to be conducted the next morning. Everything was golden and in controll. At the end of the lesson Valentina did a complete 180 in the opposite direction. Everything spiraled downhill and they were speaking to Emilio in rapid italian. Thus making it extremely difficult for Sorella Burkman and I to understand but it was apparent that it was good. To make the story short, we ended with cancelling the baptism and saying our goodbyes for perhaps, forever. I have never felt so much heartache and disappointment. We rode our bikes to the church and prayed, asking Heavenly Father to help us understand why. We hugged each other and just cried. I believe this week we experience just a smidge of what Heavenly Father feels like when His children choose to reject Him and His divine Son. On the other hand, Satana is a jerkface and knows exactly how to kicked the downed missionaries. However, we don't give up without fighting back and we refused to dwell in the darkness. We have rededicated ourselves to being 100% obedient and we are expecting Heavenly Father to gives us miracles. We need a win right now. 

Ciao tutti!

Shall we just jump right in? This week has been incredible- full of exhilarating highs and devastating lows. Mission emotions are wack people, but they make me a better missionary so I can deal with them. 

Just another beautiful night in Rimini:

The last week of the transfer... the start of a new

Another transfer has come and gone, and I have completed 1/3 of my mission! How? I have no idea. Well folks, I know you are all anxiously awaiting transfer news. Monday night we received the news that we needed to prepare to have another Sorella join us in Rimini. We took down the bunk bed and moved into the next room (which can I say, Sorella Burkman and I are fantastic with this stuff. We literally fix everything in the house that needs fixing and we built our own bunk bed in an hour. took the elders for hours....) Tuesday night rolled around and we finally received our transfer assignments. Sorella Ervin will be splitting off and welcoming a new companion (Sorella Strong, trained by Sorella Acerson so my mission "sister") and ....drum roll.....Sorella Burkman and I are staying together in Rimini! This will place me at 4 transfers and 7 1/2 months in Rimini, which is bittersweet. Sorella Burkman and I have made some new goals to keep the excitement up and push ourselves to grow. Keep the letters coming the Rimini Address :) 

"Our new studyroom-converted-bedroom. I once had a huge apartment to myself. Now we live in a closet. :)"

"The Bazzocchi family! Cristian, Valentina and Serena!"