Modena, Italy - December 22, 2010

Buon Natale! So, we had our zone conference on Friday, in Modena. That was handy for us, because we did not have to travel at all. Zone conference was completely incredible, I think one of the best I have had in the mission. It was all about the Book of Mormon, and Sorella Ryan and I were able to share our testimonies of how God really truly does place people in our path who need and will read the Book of Mormon when we are looking for the opportunities to talk to everyone. Super awesome zone conference. And to top it all off, at the end the Wolfgramms called out certain people to be actors in a nativity scene, and the rest of us sang the primary nativity song while all these missionaries came in dressed as donkeys and angels and the star. hilarious! Then, it started snowing. really hard. Ao much so, that 12 missionaries from the Firenze zone could not get home that night at all, because the trains weren't going and the busses weren't going, so we housed the two sisters, and the anziani in Modena housed two elders, and then the other eight elders slept with the elders in Bologna. It was crazy! And everyone went home the next morning instead.

On Sunday night we were finding this invite's house, someone we invited on the street that is, but like two months ago so it was before I got to Modena. We found her and met her husband and two-year-old adorable son. He was so adorable, and so outgoing! He was bouncing all over and climbing all over us and playing with everything. His mom finally pulled him over to the other side of her to keep him still, but he still would not stay still. So, in typical Ghanian manners of discipline, grabbed his arm and bit him. Really hard, and he started crying. But he did calm down. It was so crazy. That is something really crazy actually, is the way Africans treat their children, they yell at them to be quiet when they are going crazy and usually say (but not actually do) things like (and this is one we literally heard), 'I will beat you! You be quiet, or I will beat you so hard your head will come off and you will see yourself!' It's always a dilemma as a peace loving, spirit loving missionary to know how to react in situations like those...

And then, on Monday morning, we took of to go do scambio! with Verona! yay! That means I got to spend Monday and Tuesday in Verona with Sorella Mullen again doing scambio. We are actually still in Verona doing p-day up here, so I am writing from my old haunts! It was a really awesome scambio experience, particularly for me. On Monday right after arriving we went to go see a sister who was baptized and confirmed the week I left Verona, so I missed the event itself. I had heard a bit from Sorella Mullen that the confirmation was kind of crazy, like in the audience all they could see was that the sister was breathing oddly and not quite herself, but seemed fine. So I asked her about it and how it went and she said it was incredible. She said that they were blessing her to receive the Holy Ghost, when she felt an electrical shock all down her, all over, so strong and overwhelming, and she lost her memory even for a minute before she came back to her senses and just had to thank and praise God for such an amazing experience. Talk about baptism by fire! It was so great to get to see her again, and see how incredibly happy she is to be baptized! Hooray! I also got to see another sister, and elderly woman whom we were teaching. Her health has improved so much that she can come to church and they have even set a baptismal date with her! That was so neat to talk to her about that. I remember when we found her all the way back with Sorella Rossi, and then teaching her for four transfers, but her health was so bad she couldn't even walk or anything, often not even sit. It was so happy! And then we dropped in on several other investigators who were super excited to see us, and had a great lesson with them. We struggled so hard to get one of these investigators to pray, and at the end of the lesson, she prayed without putting up one bit of fuss, and was totally serious about it and it was beautiful! AWESOME! I loved it. It was great.

I also discovered today by using the scale in the Verona apartment that I literally (including coat and boots) wear 6 kilos of clothing every day. Too cold! Bah!