Post Christmas

Well after we talked to you on Christmas eve we went to Vescovo's house and it was just as magical as we hoped.

And one of the many Christmas miracles was that

we did not have to eat fish!!!

Thank goodness he married a French woman!

So there was a giant turkey

and one of
his sons was wearing a vest and poofy shirt

so my and Slla Camp's dreams of a muppet Christmas Carol really did come true! minus the muppets...but there was a dog there too, it was really cute and like a miniature version of our old dog Laika.

So we gather 'round the table all of us and we are eating and laughing and
enjoying every moment

and then we sing Christmas hymns altogether and I was called upon to say the Christmas Prayer...again. So I am the official Christmas prayer sayer for the year and that's why I feel like it warrants capitalization. It was honestly the most Christmasy feeling Christmas ever...probably just because of the giant turkey, but it was great.

Sunday we woke up

and opened presents,

I was convinced Stefano

had gotten us some glass scultpture of the Colosseum or something,

but it ended up being a box of Christmas sweets and orange soda...It was a nice thought. Then we bitterly (just kidding) watched Slla Stebar open her presents and got ready to go.

We went to church and the night before bishop has asked two of us to give
talks and I had just given one and no one else really wanted to so I was like, we can do a musical number! But I didnt really take into account that a musical number would just replace the intermediate hymn and not actually the talking time so it gets to be time for church and we havent actually prepared anything because we had gone straight to bed and the anziani weren't there so we couldn't even tell them and the usual piano player was gone so it ended up Slla Camp on the piano and Slla Stebarand I (no musical training) singing Come, Come All Ye
Faithful. It was a hit. Old ladies were crying and young people were impressed and Alma filmed it to send to all the other Phillipinis that were gone for Christmas, we couldnt have asked for more. The main chorister was gone too and I cannot explain how much joy I got out of conducting a joyous chorus of Italians (and South Americans and French) singing GLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORIA. It. was. the. best.

And everyone gave us chocolate!

Actually, too much chocolate,

it's not sogreat anymore, haha.

Christmas plans fell through so we slept some (much needed)

and then I made sausage and scrambled eggs

for our American Breakfast.
Yesterday we got to teach a part member family. The
parents were baptized 3 years ago and the teenage daughter wasn't ever all that interested in changing her life. Well, back last transfer I was reading a little blurb about her that said she likes anime and wants to be an animator and I thought, Slla Stebar needs to come here. Well, she did and so we went over there with our "secret weapon" and it worked! They hit it off and now they want us to come back again as soon as possible and keep talking with her and showing her that you can be a member of the church and still be cool too.

Last night we found a really nice African man on the metro. He was helping some Chinese tourist find their way and after they got off I went and sat by him and asked him a little about himself and then if he had ever heard of the church and he said, "would you like to discuss it with me?" and I said, "Yes, I would." And he said, "Every morning we must wake
up and praise God for all he has done for us." I definitely agreed with that and then taught him about the Book of Mormon, he wants a copy of it and said to come by Saturday or Sunday. He works at an Embassy and is here with his wife and two kids!

We are still having lots of fun and seeing miracles always.
We have been talking to everyone about the new year and how each of us needs to decide now the things we will always do and the things we will never do. It started in study one day when I read a talk to the Young Women, I decided to make a list, and then my companions and now we are sharing the idea with members and some investigators because every new convert knows that when they get baptized they are commiting some very important things and as members there are things we need
to remember that we have already agreed too and also other things that will make us better people, for me, since I am going back into the "real world" soon I decided I willevery day read and pray, not spend too much time on Facebook, etc. etc. Not downloading music illegally. Those little things that we let slide, but really aren't doing us any good even if they aren't inherently evil. The idea is to make all that I have learned these past months something that sticks.

I think 2012 will be a good one, what about you?

Sorella

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