quaqquaresciare.

did you think that i fell asleep on the keyboard to produce such a subject line? nope. that right there is taranto dialect (tarantino) for the verb "to knead." really ...

well well well things really can change in the drop of a hat! since we last spoke:

-we moved.

-we saw this crazy liahona worthy miracle.

-we became the most popular people in taranto according to 3 teenage italians.

-we planned the rest of valentine's life.

-we smiled and laughed and loved every minute of it.

let me explain in detail.

-flashback to thursday morning. we are in a meeting with the anziani and the bishop, talking about the work and the ward and how to improve. somehow the topic changes to where the sorelle live. and bishop goes NUTS! "THEY CANT LIVE ON CESARE BATTISTI! THAT IS TOO DANGEROUS!!!" like hulk-style mad. it just so happens that the man in charge of the missionary housing was in the church that day and bishop commanded him to get us a new apartment. long story short ... we switched our tiny cutie little cesare battisti apartment (aka my mission so far ... seriously it was leaving home all over again ...) for the anziani's new huge beautiful 3 bed, 2 bath, 3 balcony, YELLOW apartment that is a hop skip and a jump away from the church (seriously, that is how i traveled here today) and we are living like queens now. however, a little piece of me will always be in our 30 year old broken down noisy, but extremely lovely, cesare battisti home. 

-virgina marinò. new convert, living miracle. she was in the hospital for tumors on her ovaries (whoa! tmi sorry) a few weeks ago and they told her to go home while they decided whether she needed surgery or not (haha ... italian medicine). she goes home. a few days ago she is really really really sick again. the anziani were at her house the night she got sick again and gave her a blessing. the next day they took her to the doctor, she got an ultrasound and they told her that somehow the tumors were completely gone and she was 100% healthy. the priesthood; way cool. the anziani are loving life right now as worthy priesthood holders that participated in a miracle.

-because we moved into an apartment that has been occupied only by boys between the ages of 19 and 23 for the past year or so, we had to do some serious house warming for ourselves. they had one bowl, a plate, and about 40,000 spoons. weird. anyway we needed to get some supplies to live so we hit up all kinds of chinese stores and came home with huge bags full of stuff. it was raining while we waited for the bus. we notice some girls sitting near us giggling and pointing at us so i went up to them and started to chat. the conversation went a little like this:

me: hey girls. what's up?

girls: oh ... hi ... hehe ... hi.

me: we are the missionaries for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and we have an import--

girls: WAIT! are you two AMERICANS?!!!

me: yeah.

girls: AHHHHH!!!! WOOOOOWWW! YAYYYAYYAYYA WOO WOO WOO!!!

me: ...

girls: (continue to act like they just saw beyonce or justin bieber or elvis or something)

this continues until our bus came (10 minutes later). we gave them a pass along card, invited them to church and to english course, and went on our way. 

not easy being so famous.

-valentine is still prepping to go to london. i get overly excited about the fact that he will a) be able to speak and share his testimony with people who will fully understand it and see how special he is b) meet peggy so my mission and my moms mission will unite in a beautiful fusion of british/italian/nigerian goodness c) be close to a TEMPLE! oh the church is soooo good!

and that pretty much sums up our taranto life of the week. besides the fact that our 2 english course gems are progressing beautifully and we are so proud of them that we shine. 

ps remember how fred arnistan? (WHAT IS HIS LAST NAME?!) is in my english course ... well elijah woods' identical twin just joined the group. it is way weird. it is like i am living in bizzaro hollywood or something.

ALL OF MY LOVE,

sorella wightman

good news! i got a new camera card!!! 

soooo pictures>>>

>>> me, alessandra (one of the english-course-gone-investigator gems), and smed.

>>> anz da ponte (getting babied for being sick ... i am the BEST sorella) me, chiara (who is getting BAPTIZED on sunday yippie!!), and anz sejko (looking all angry).

>>> the district: anziano casillias, anziano da ponte, anziano visitin, anziano sejko, me, and sorella smedley looking like a model.