October 29 WE WENT SWIMMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

....in the street last night


LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!
La vita è bella!!!

Hello Family, life is good. It always seems like so much has happened and changed since the last time I email you all.

Well, I was sick last week and am still sick now, but I'm getting better. On Wednesday night I didn't sleep that much at all. I went to bed early and then woke up in the middle of the night and went back to bed and then I woke up again and this time I stayed up and read from Jesus the Christ for a few hours and thought about that. Then I went back to bed at 4am, woke up at 6:30 when my alarm went off, turned it off, went back to bed and slept until 8. we had one appointment with a one of our investigators at the church, and then one of the elder's in our district gave me a blessing. we went home and I slept pretty much all day. We cancelled the rest of our appointments for the day. the same thing pretty much happened on friday. expect we did have an appointment at 6:30 with Cate, who is the BOMB. she is from south africa and she has been a member of the church for 10 years i think. we are helping her prepare herself for the temple. even though i was still sick, it was really good for me to go. we went with our district leader and his companion, Anziano Robbins and Anziano McKinnon. Anziano McKinnon made german pancakes which were really good, and sorella harris and i gave the lesson and then we played a game and had snacks. sorry for all the lower case, this keyboard's shifts aren't working too well. but i really needed that night. it really helped me as a missinoary.

every tuesday night we have our english class. it is always fun and i love our students. sometimes we go get pizza with whoever wants to go after english class. but this time, we invited those who wanted to hear more about the church and what we as missionaries do. it went really well. there was one lady who said she would be coming to church. she said she always gets bored at church (catholic). and a few other people were interested as well. i'm excited!!! then after that, all the missionaries and Sara, one of our investigators daughter, she is 24, i think, well we all went to good ol' McDonalds, to eat food. it was great fun. and then it was so fun walking sara home because it was raining like mad and we only had a few umbrellas and anziano robbins wasn't using anything, so he was soaked and then sorella harris was getting soaked too. to get to our apartment, sorella harris and i need to go under a tunnel, well, it's just the bridge for the train tracks. we were about to go under and sorella harris stopped, but i kept going and a car came by and there was a lot of water on the road, and i got wet!!! it was funny. but he best part was at the end, when a car was coming and there was a LOT of water in the road. it came rushing down and sorella harris yelled and i tried to block the wave of water coming towards me with my umbrella, but it didn't work out. we were completley soaked. i was laughing SO HARD. and this morning i was laughing hard too. rain and umbrellas make me laugh, hard. yes, i'm having a grand time in Italy. :) :) :)

we are doing scumbi today, which is a companinon exhange. i am staying in Genova and another sister from torino is coming down and then sorella harris is going up to torino. i'm a little nervous because i will be in charge of the phone and stuff and i'm just a little nervous but it will all be good. it will be a good experience. i've just got to fake it until i make it. i did that the other day, and it worked out just fine.

i can't believe that this transfer is almost over. we find out next tuesday, who is leaving and who is staying. sorella harris and i were thinking and trying to figure it out. but then later, i prayed for help not to worry about it because i worry about it a lot. and now i don't even really have the desire to think about it. I know God lives and He hears and answers my prayers. the Lord has helped me so much while I've been on my mission and i am so grateful for all that He does for me.


I am learning a lot about life here in Genova, Italia. oh, by the way, in english, Genova is Genoa. JFYI. I plan to soon send a few cds of pictures so you can put one in the Christmas newsletter. Be sure to send me one!!! even if it's through email.

with Sara, she offered to help me with my italian. so we are going to start tomorrow for the first time. we will teach her a lesson of the gospel and then after, she will help me with italian. i'm so stoked for this. sara is great, she helps me so much.

i am grateful for the gift of tongues. i love praying in italian, by myself because then i am not afraid and i say whatever and i think i actually speak better italian. this morning i prayed a lot of times. when i first woke up. when i woke up again. when i said my blessing, i didn't just ask for Him to bless the food, i talked to Him, and then for my personal study prayer. I LOVE ITALIAN!!! It IS becoming a part of me. there are times when i translate, just to myself what people are saying, and i think it sound so much better in italian. or sometimes, like last night when anziano robbins was giving an introduction to the church, i was sitting there listening and then it hit me: he's speaking italian. and i can understand him. i love those moments. i love italian and i love italy. there are things about this place and culture that are becoming apart of me. and there are some things here that i just love so much. like packaging for foccaica, a really good bready snack. sounds and smells, and tastes and everything. i've alson discovered more so on my mission that I LOVE TAKING PICTURES!!!! last p-day i took around 168 pictures. i love candid pictures and i love just taking pictures and videos of peopole being themeselves. the elders don't really mind it, but i need to be more respectful of sorella harris because it drives her crazy. ;)

just about 2 months until Christmas!!! which means i get to talk to you all!!! please let me know who is going to be home. i'm excited for Christmas. this will be my first Christmas away from home; but i am still really excited. I'm going to see if i can make our homemade peanut butter cups. that will be grand.

well, that's about all for this week folks.

this has been Sorella DeVocht reporting live from Genova, Italia.

Have a nice day and watch out for the rain!!!