Verona, Italy - November 24, 2010

I have a major announcement. During my third week here in Italy, in Verona, the light in the bathroom went out. Despite our best attempts standing on the washing machine or shower edges, we could never quite reach it. I got used to it. Then, about a month ago, I was cleaning the bathroom and became crazed from the lack of light, and built a tower out of chairs and tables to reach the light. Finally, we could touch it! But the inexplicable Italian light fixture would not be opened. And alas, we went away empty-handed. Then, this week, my companion was very sick. So we stayed inside most of the past three days. And I took the opportunity to call the bishop, who sent an Italian ward member who knows Italian light fixtures over. And he couldn't open it either. And then, it suddenly became apparent to him and it opened! And yes, dear friends, we now, after seven months of darkness, have light in the bathroom! It's incredible! We also had a unusual random encounter with this random woman from Norway. [Editor note: I'll call her A.] We think she is somewhat nomadic, or homeless. We got a call from her, asking if we could meet her at Castelvecchio, so we went right away. She told us she would be sitting on a bench with three large bags. She seemed a little crazy, honestly, like clinically insane, and she wasn't making a lot of sense as to why she was there in Verona, where she was going, who she knows, what she does, anything at all, but she really wanted a place to go pray, just for a few minutes. So we went with her on the bus to the church to let her in to pray for a few minutes. But getting there was quite an adventure too. She had a lot of bags, right, so we go to try and get on the bus, and my companion takes one bag, A takes another, and I try to take one, but A gets off again to help me, so I have one end of the bag and A the other end, and I am in the bus, when the bus driver, who is totally not looking, just slams the door on me! He wacked me in the head with the door, sending my glasses all skewompus, and has my arm caught, and then starts driving! And I was still holding the other end of the bag. People started yelling at him, and he tried to blame it on us, but he was totally the one not looking. Anyhow, we made it to the church in fairly good condition after that, with a stop so that A could pick up some food at a mercato because they would all be closed afterwards. Oh, and also, we saw the anziani on our way, who could not understand what on earth we were doing. But we stopped and they met A, and she pinpointed their family nationality solely by last name, made random comments relating what we were talking about to our immediate surroundings, like what sorts of stores we were standing in front of, which I certainly had not noticed, and did I mention that she only had one functioning eye? the other was stuck closed. I was very impressed by her observativeness. Both Sorella Mullen and I only became more and more impressed by her the more we got to know her, even though she definitely was insane. So while she was praying, we wrote a note in the Book of Mormon for her, telling her about her divine potential and how much God loves her. We prayed with her and taught her about the Book of Mormon, and then she read the note and cried and told us thank you so much. It was a really beautiful experience, getting to see one of Heavenly Father's daughters in a light we probably would not have otherwise taken the time to see. Over and over again I meet people that I think are ridiculous or strange or something, then get to know them and feel so powerfully God's love for them. I really do know that God loves and knows intimately every one of His children.