Letter #20 - 1/29/14

Dear Mom and Dad,

 

GUESS WHAT? I am wearing pants right now!! hahaha Oh how I have missed them. Today we are going hiking in a little pizino outside of Florence so we got to wear pants. Don’t worry mom, I'll take lots of pictures :) haha.

 

So this week was really really hard but like I said a few weeks ago, it’s the hardest days that precede the miracles and that is exactly what happened. We are teaching this 17 year old girl that is friends with one of our new converts and she is super amazing. I already love her so much. And our 12 year old new convert brought her mom to church again this week and she brought her little 2 year old sister and she is so adorable, all the members of the branch are already obsessed with her, haha.  We did a musical number because it was Branch Conference and she decided she wanted to be a part of it too so she went to the front of the room and stood in front of us and kind of danced a little and then when the song was over she said "sediti tutti!" which means everyone sit down, haha. It was so funny. But probably one of the most amazing moments so far on my mission happened on Sunday when our three new converts went up in front of everyone in Branch Conference and bore their testimonies for the first time ever. It was so powerful and they all have grown so much in the past three months. I was like a proud mamma watching them all up there bearing their testimonies. It was so so so cool.

 

Oh and last Wednesday for pday we went to Siena! We climbed the bell tower and it was so fun. Literally one of the most beautiful views ever. We were all the way at the top, right under the bell and we could see all of Siena and then the rolling hills of Tuscany. It was beautiful. Oh and by the way, a bird pooped on me, haha.  It was right before we went to go climb the tower and Sorella Lopez, Sorella Forbes and I were all standing there and out of nowhere a bird pooped on my arm. Don’t worry, no one else got hit but ME, hahaha. It was hilarious. And we went inside the duomo in Siena and it was really pretty too! Siena was just absolutely beautiful. We had a blast.

 

This week has been full of ups and downs but even on our hardest days we can see how blessed we are to be here in this area at this time. This is Heavenly Father's work and he is always supporting us. I love being a missionary, with all my heart. Don’t get me wrong, it is the hardest thing I have ever done in ways that I didn’t even expect, but it is also the most rewarding.

 

I love the Italian people so much and no matter what we go through it is always worth it for them. Heavenly Father loves them so much and so do we. I love it. Thank you for everything you do for me and for all your prayers! I can feel them for sure. Have an amazing week and I will talk to you next week!

 

Love you la mia famiglia!

 

Sorella Alli