Where do I even begin......

SO MUCH has happened this week.

First of all there are some pictures from my last night in Bari and the Panzarot-festa with mostly all my favorite people in Bari (trane francesco and silvio and all them who couldnt come).

We played some soccer...I only lasted about 5 minutes after a few failed attempts at trying to kick in sandals and a skirt without scandalizing or hurting anyone.

Slla Johnson on the other hand is a pro

(they had to come up from Taranto to babysit Slla LeCates after I left).


Not pictured is me dominating at basketball.


Finally got a picture with Raffaele after many refusals and HIS EYES ARE CLOSED. So dont put it on the blog because he will see it, but I am sending it to you so you can know one of the most helpful members in the world who helped us will about a billion lessons.


Anz. Reyes and I finally parted ways after six months together,
thats him on the train to Rome with Anz Tingey who is "dying" aka restarting life, Anz. Reyes is going up to Pescara...ironically where Antonia is for the summer, maybe theyll run into each other!

The night before the 4th there were fireworks!! I dont know what they were celebrating or if it was all for us, but it was pretty special.

The next day after district meeting we had hamburgers and watermelon and potato chips. I only got a picture of the aftermath, but my district is AWESOME. There is just four of us, the Anziani from Gela (Holland and Peidiera--i dont know if thats the right spelling) and we are all awesome.

And I love the graffiti in English, this one is particularly endearing because the street sign, "Sacro Cuore" Means sacred heart.

Okay, now we will close the chapter of Bari. Thursday morning me and Anz. Holland said goodbye to our small fan club, got on a bus and away we went. I wont mention how every once in a while there is this awful ache in my heart for a few minutes when I think about the people back there or how Anz. Holland and I spent 15 minutes during our bbq talking about HOW GREAT Bari and all the people there are.


because for the most part I am...

SO IN LOVE WITH RAGUSA.
Seriously. I told Slla Lewis (Yes, our names confuse people because they are so similar) that it is like Disneyland of mission life.
People talk to us, the fruit is even better, people .
I feel like I am serving a completely different mission.

1. The terrain is completely different and full of hills and I almost have shin'splits. Seriously, no matter where you are, its a hill...or stairs . 2. The streets are cobblestone and the houses/apartments are adorable!

Sunday was great because we are in charge of both the music and translating (there are several members from Africa who speak little Italian) and underqualified for both, but I get a kick out of translating--though I was translating for one of our investigators and it was hard not to add in little things like,
"when he said that he was talking about..." haha.


It was fast and testimony meeting and I am sitting there and then one of the members slaps me on the shoulder as he walked by so I went up and translated for him into Italian while the adorable child in his arms was trying to steal my name tag.
Does it get much better than that?


I am not sure. And its beautiful also because I already feel like I know these people after 3 transfers with Slla Foote and how much she loved them, I loved them before I even got here.


My companion I can describe easily, she is EXACTLY like the girl from Enchanted. EXACTLY. just blonde hair instead of red.
She is very loving and very brave.
And we have seen miracles.

Like, Romeo, who...no joke...we met on his balcony.
He is from Nigeria and is AMAZING. We couldnt go in because he only lives with men so they set up chairs outside the house and then we showed him where the church is and the next time we saw him he was already reading the Book of Mormon and the pamphlet we left him. He has a sweet friend named Ali from Chad, but he is Muslim so we dont know if we can teach him.


And speak of the devil, Romeo is in this internet point, and he says hi!


We met with a lady who hasnt been to church in years and she told us how she wants to have a testimony, she just doesnt and didnt feel like she ever did. Another example of someone who was just waiting to be asked. We told her we wanted to visit her and start over and
help her find her faith.


And we taught a sweet family the other day, a lady who helped us try and find an address that didnt end up exisiting.
She is so cute
(Basically I use cute and/or awesome to describe everyone, but its true)


and there was a boy there who we were talking to first
(she was solving problems upstairs, it was sort of flooding)
and we told him how the BoM is like an adventure story of the prophets and missionaries and he started reading it,
afterwards HE explained it to her.
We asked her if she would be baptized when she received an answer and she said yes.


Today we met with some awesome girls from America that we found because one of them walked by and said "bless you" when Slla L sneezed and I said, "parli inglese?" and we started talking in English. They are both really cool but shipping out in the next couple weeks.


And those are just the people we have met since I have been here, there are a sack of other awesome people they have been working with too.


Did I mention its NOT AS HOT HERE?
Dont get me wrong, its hot,
but its a bit off from the sea so its not so humid.
I havent had cannoli yet but I had some other really good little cake thing that Slla Lewis handed me when I showed up.
Slla Stebar was there too. I am just following her around her mission.


I have already had one proposal since I have been here.
An old man with a high-pitched voice who is always by the window with an adorable Romanian girl that works for him.

Sparodic email full of spelling errors I am sure.


But I love you all.


Endlessly. x sempre.
Have fun.
Be good.


Sorella Laws