Notes About Nothing: There's no place like Rome!!!

So ready to hear about this is the most insane transfer day ever??

Well, I am going to Rome.

Roma 3 is the ward I will serve in (the ghettoest part of Rome according to people who have served there, so I am excited to say the least).
It is so crazy to be going back to Rome.
I was going to Rome a year ago!

I am NOT training, but my companion has only been here for one transfer so she is still pretty new. And Sorella Kelly has already invited us to have lunch in the mission home some day ;)

It's crazy to go back to the mission headquarters after being exiled on the island for so long.
What makes this so crazy though?

Sorella Stebar is coming with me!
Not to the same ward, but we are both going to Rome.
Today. On an overnight bus.

And it has been craaaaaaazy trying to get everything organized for the new sorelle coming in, because, turns out we actually have A LOT of working going on here and it is rather inconvenient timing because there really is a lot going on with a lot of people who are really progressing and we are nothing short of heartbroken.

I spent a lot of the mission being heartbroken.
It's always worth it.

And our washing machine did something crazy so all our clothes came out sopping wet and it is raining so they will neeeeever dry and we have to pack themmmm.

Sometimes you can't help but wonder if you are doing any good, not because we don't see miracles every day, but sometimes it feels like these people mean SO much more to us
than they could possibly understand,

but you discover as you are leaving just, how, much.

you have touched lives,

because it's always obvious how much they are touching my life.

But Sunday as I got up in front of this little ward and I bore my testimony to them with my entire heart

and I saw everyone looking back at me teary eyed just like my farewell talk back home

I was filled with even more love for the lovely, lovely members here
.

They are family. They were my family for 4.5 months,

they took me to the doctor and made fun of my skin disease and gave us rides to remote ends of ragusa

and we there with us as we got stood up over and over and every Sunday they kissed us

and loved us and loved our investigators that we love.

Thats the way to a missionaries heart, love their investigators.

Thank goodness for Facebook.

Last night almost no one showed up for English Course--because everyday here is a holiday AND it was raining, two things working against us-- which was super sad because we wanted to say goodbye to our gang, but Valeria

(the adorable girl in one of the pictures) showed up and is now our best friend because she is so cool and was kept saying, "che tristezza!" how sad! that we were leaving and kissed us like a million times--I never actually thought I would get used to being kissed all the time, but I have. And instead of talking about English we taught her about how the church was restored and she is super great.

Speaking of tristezza, saying goodbye to Corrado was heaartbreaking, he started tearing up, and so did I, and he shook our hands for about five minutes and told us how he would never be the same because of us and how grateful he was. It was beautiful but awful.

In church, fllo Dimartino shook my hand and then goes,

"I am going to hold on so you can't go"
and Ana said,

"and I am going to hold on to your other hand." And you dont know who these people are but they are amazing.

And we havent even said goodbye to Gabriella or Romeo yet.
It. is. so. saaaaaaaaaaaad.

And our ex-member that we have been teaching totally changed our lives with his incredible story, about how he has just been waiting patiently for the leaders to decide that he was ready and how it has been hard for him to not be able to renew his covenants with the sacrament every Sunday because he knows how significant it is and how he wants to make those commitments and covenants with God. And he is super inspiring and legit. and if we had more than 30 seconds I would tell you all about it.

Halloween, didnt happen. Holidays on the mission are the worst. ;) But we got to be with our amazing district.

which does not exist anymore because t
he Anziani are getting blown out too.

We killed this zone and they're shipping us out!

And Raposelli completely decided to change his life! And we got to go into an old man clubhouse in the park when it started raining and we taught them all about the church and the Book of Mormon,
I am going to miss old Sicilian men!!

OKay, I love you all looooooooooooooooooooooooads. and loads, and loads. Trust in the Lord and do what he asks (even though we have thought about just not getting on the bus tonight, who can stop us! Not the Zone Leaders, they're not even here anymore, haha!)

Okay, enjoy the pictures with the lack of substance to this email.

un bacio,

Sorella Laws

my new address:

Viale Alessandrino 250
Roma 00172
Italia

But I am also super close to the office, so that works too.

here are pictures that show how i match the curtains in the church