tell her i am afraid of dogs.

the district. anz casillias (from equador, zone leader and district leader and training...powerhouse) and his baby anz da ponte (born in italy, italian dad, moved to washington at nine, italian pro), anz liccoli and anz visitin, ussss!

i have to tell you something...i never know how to start these emails. you'd think i could think of a normal way to start. but no. so forgive me for starting so abruptly always. including now.

giovedì 
-in our house we have these huge closet things. they were probably really nice and classy about 30 years ago. but you know me...i love me an antique so i was a fan. in fact i complimented them daily. their only problem was they smelled AWFUL!!! i have smelled like dirty laundry/sorella missionary shoes from the past 30 years because of this closet. but the constant smell of cigarette smoke either overpowers the closet smell on me or killed everyone's ability to smell so i was never all that worried about it. ha! but the guy that is in charge of the missionary housing (who is in our ward and is a GEM) called us saying that he bought us new closets. woo! so we spent the afternoon installing them. a little piece of me went with those old smelly ones though. however, i am smelling a lot better lately. so that is good.

venerdì
i read the greatest thing! 2 nephi 33:1-2. notice, as elder bednar pointed out to me in some talk or something, that the scripture says "unto" not "into" your heart. we are always in charge. we choose whether to accept or reject something. so i decided this day to accept the things that my heavenly father has brought unto, not into, my heart. feel free to do the same!!

sabato
someone that we met on the street a few weeks ago called up and wanted a lesson right there and then. this never happens. so we did it. and it was really great! 

domenica
we took a stroll/did "street" on the beautiful lungomare. it was so beautiful. italian ocean sunsets...they are gooooooood. we visited a lady that sorella taylor and i visited on my first sunday in italy. i was being all nastolgic the whole time. haha! it was funny...to me...because sometimes i act like i have grown up in italy when in reality i have been here for about 2 and 1/2 blinks. but anyway i LOVE this lady! she is old and her last name translated into english means parables so that is a cool name for a mormon. we talked about the rome temple. woah i get chills like a mad man when i hear italians talk about THEIR temple. it is a BEAUTIFUL thing!! come and listen to them talk about it sometime. 

the beautiful smed and luongomare. during a bidone. still beautiful though.

lunedì
smeds and i lost a lot of sleep the night before due to the ghosts in our apartment. there was some scary paranormal activity kind of squeaking going on in our apartment. i thought it was smeds bed but she thought it was mine. instead we were both frozen in our beds, not moving at all but thinking it was the other person making all the noise. who was making that noise? we have been searching for a logical response all week. nothing. ghosts. that's who.

here's the thing, smeds loves meat. loves it! she hunts and just eats meat like a true cowboy. and you know me. but when you are companions you do things to make the other person happy. in this case, i ate this crazy things called kebab with smeds this week. it is like this shredded meat on a pita. i would've LOVED it without meat!! haha. but if smeds asks...tell her i loved it okay?

martedì
we taught val about family history. have i already told you that i am some weird family history freak these days? i am. it is way way way WAY cool!! that is how i want to spend some more of my time in the usofa. anyway we got him all set up on family search and had a tour of our family history center. and that is where i learned the saddest information ever. since africans have kept their culture alive through stories, they don't have written work and therefore there is no real family history work to do in africa because their are no records! i was more sad than valentine was. and he was WAY sad. but we cheered each other up by deciding that the family history work for africa starts with val...and the other members in africa but you know i am a little biased. anyway. WRITE THINGS DOWN guys! how is that all going to work eternally for africa? i have been studying but my african history and culture resources are...limited. CASSIE BINGHAM help me! 

also we had a great relief society activity about photography done by my fav member gaia who is waiting for her mission call. pray she goes to temple square so i can still be her best friend when i go home. she has temple square written all over her so i am not worried.

also we had corso dinglese and someone brought in some "grammatically incorrect" song lyrics to a song that, to their great surprise, i had never ever never ever ever heard. it said something like "dont you worry child" and apparently it is the most popular song in the world, according to my student with dreadlocks. is this true?

oggi
it rained all over our day plans. instead we ate gelato and smeds told me about a time she found a dead baby cow in a puddle by her house. she is full of these good stories. i will write them all down to add to her genealogy work! haha! 

also we got a call from val who was doing some work for a member this morning. he called to have us tell her, in italian, that he is afraid of her dogs. her dogs are about the size of my foot. i learn something new about him everyday. this is why i love him so.

well my lovelies, that is all i've got for you today! know that i love you and pray for you. and also know that d&c 24:10-12 is a wonderful little message for all of you to read and find joy in. 

tanti bacci
sorella vostra
xoxo

a window of about 12 things that i love all in one spot. 

a great sign that says my friends. and i like friends ... as you can see by my expression here.