Okay, I know I'm a day early, but today is pday so...

"...we should be careful to not haul around in our lives so many nice
but unnecessary things that we are distracted and diverted from the
things that truly matter most."

I want to start off by listing a few of the things I'm grateful for:
Jesus Christ
Family (and people that pretend to be my family when I'm far away from home)
The Atonement and the ability to change and be better
The Restored Gospel
Christmas
Food (both Italian and southern and all foods)
Italy
The scriptures (Bible and Book of Mormon.. the standard works)
Personal revelation
Prayer
Music (I.e. Christmas music)
Mountains
Sunsets
Lakes
Temples
Best friends and friends of all types
Good quotes
Fishing and hunting
Sports in general
Movies
Nutella
Planners (and organization) in general)
Scarves (most especially Italian ones)
The ability to communicate across the world within seconds
Trees
Hot chocolate

Miracles:
Okay, God is so good. Reason: I spoke decent Italian before last week,
and I was SUPER nervous to train because I didn't feel like my Italian
was up to par, but somehow magically, hour five of being a trainer, on
the train from Milano to Rimini, I started talking to the lady that
was sitting by me and we talked for a good long while and I understood
everything AND I talked back to her and we just had a full
conversation!!! It was so crazy cool!! And every single day since,
I've been able to understand and speak back to everyone!!

We decided to pass by Heily (the 13 yr old that wanted to get baptized
but her dad said no) and we went by her apartment and no one was
there, but as we were walking out... guess who we saw? HEILY AND HER
DAD AND HER BROTHER!! She ran up to me and hugged me and we went and
helped them take the groceries upstairs to the apartment and then we
got to teach Heily and both of her little brothers, Dillon and Justin.
They were all so excited and we found out that their grandpa in
Ecuador is also Mormon! How cool?? We are going to see them tomorrow
too and bring them more copies of the Book of Mormon. :) I am so
excited for this family.

Yesterday, we set my record for most baptismal dates set in one day:
the new record is 3. We had an appointment with Giusi and we had a
member, Alan, come because he is getting ready to go on a mission. The
lesson went so well, and at the end, my greenie invited her to be
baptized December 23rd and she accepted! THEN we had a lesson with my
favorite family (Nando, Tania, and Nadia) and we sang Christmas songs
for them and talked about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus
Christ and invited them to be baptized February 3rd and they also
accepted!! (The reason it's so far away is because they're going to
Napoli for a month durning Christmas time). Either way, we're so very
excited for all of them :)

Vi vogliamo bene!
Sorella Meager

Eat some turkey for me! :) and go to the temple too, cause I miss it so bad

Ciao a tutti!

I am picking up my "verdina" tomorrow and I am SO STOKED. (and not
gonna lie, I'm nervous too) !!!

Transfer news:
I'm getting a GREENIE FRESH FROM THE MTC :))))) which means that I'll
be here for another 3 months!! I'm so excited to be here for
thanksgiving and Christmas :) Sofia (best friend/ investigator) and I
are already planning on riding this little train that goes around
Centro on Christmas!!

It's been freezing raining for the past week. (that sentence is not
very English. I'm sorry, Mrs. Castle).

Friday, I got bird poop on my hand...

We found out that our neighbors are professional bike thieves, so we
have to lock our bikes with 2 chains inside the apartment, under the
stairs. Needless to say, it is quite the process getting them inside
and down the stairs and them facing the right direction and getting
the chains on and it's not an easy process when you get home at the
end of the day and you have to pee and you're wearing 1000 layers of
clothes.

They are starting to decorate the city for Christmas with Garland and
lights :))))) and let me just say, it's going to be the most beautiful
thing in the world. I am so excited to have Christmas in Rimini :)

Miracles:
We have an investigator, Guisi, that we've been trying to get an
appointment with for the past who knows how long, and finally when we
called her on Saturday, it was the perfect timing. She told us that
she had been having a bad day and she wanted to know that God loved
her... and then we called :) the Lord knows His sheep.

We got on a train without getting tickets because we were running late
to an appointment and the machine to get tickets didn't work and there
was no other train that we could take, so my companion said that we
can just pay the fee (double the price of the ticket) if the conductor
comes, and if no one comes then we'll just buy tickets at the train
station when we arrive. Comunque, the train conductor came around and
(I was freaking out, but my companion told him what happened with the
machine, and he was SO nice and we ended up only having to pay €6,30
(half the price of 2 normal tickets for this distance) instead of the
tickets+ the fee.


Vi voglio bene,
Sorella Meager

Just in case you forgot, Thanksgiving is next week, so take a sec,
watch the Mormon Message called "In the Spirit of Thanksgiving" and
think about something you're grateful for! :)

"May we “live in thanksgiving daily”--especially during the seemingly
unexplainable endings that are part of mortality. May we allow our
souls to expand in thankfulness toward our merciful Heavenly Father.
May we ever and constantly raise our voices and show by word and deed
our gratitude to our Father in Heaven and to His Beloved Son, Jesus
Christ."

Sorry everyone, my English is going downhill, but here is a picture of
a funny translation from Chinese that didn't quite end in correct
English.

Saturday we ate so much food that we thought we would surely die and then we had to run (in dresses with our bags) twice so we didn't miss buses. Ultimate missionary test right there.

Sunday morning I was trying to figure out what to wear and everything started shaking and I realized it was another earthquake so I ran to the doorway and I yelled at my companion (who was in the shower) and I was like, "THERE'S AN EARTHQUAKE" but she already knew that... later she told me that it felt like she was in a portapotty and someone was shaking the whole thing.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
All the kids went trick or treating through Centro (the middle of town, kind of like an outlet mall) and they would just run into all the shops and the owners all had candies for the kids when they ran in. It was super cute.

Okay, I want to share part of a general conference talk that I read in personal study this morning:

"...the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.

When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation...and Jesus Christ, and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening--or not happening--in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy. We feel it at Christmastime when we sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” And we can feel it all year round. For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!"

That is EXACTLY why I am out here trying to learn Italian and teach this message to the people in Italy. We have a message of JOY for the world. I know how much the gospel can bless peoples lives because it has blessed my life. It changed me. Heavenly Father takes us as we are and makes us better than we could ever imagine. We are here to have eternal joy and only through Jesus Christ, can we achieve our divine potential and have that joy.

2 Nephi 2:25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

1 Nephi 9:6 But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen.

Vi voglio bene,
Sorella Meager

Interesting facts:
Microwaves are timed by minutes
There is always fog during winter but today it cleared up a little
Italians are still pro drivers like wow
If you don't wear tights and it's cold (according to the Italians),
they will assume that you are a skank...lesson learned. Twice.
I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet, but Rimini is the
capitol of discoteca
Rimini is also the birthplace of Piadine and Cassoni, so if you ever
come here, go to Della Lella (restaurant) and get some (SO GOOD)
Hicamas are NOT sweet potatoes

Friday was my companion's one year mark so I made her brownies while
she was in the shower and I put a "1" candle and sang to her during
personal study :)