you're never going to believe this.

guys ...
i have to email today because tomorrow i catch a train to my new city!!! i don't have a ton of time but i figured you would all be worried to not hear from your number one italian girl. lemme explain this big surprise and the events of our week (... quickly).

so last week we did scambio with catania and siracusa. we were out of ragusa for 4 days and it was weird. i felt like i was on a business trip and i got homesick for ragusa! but lemme just say ... SICILIA is thee most beautiful place ever! it was fun to see the island a bit and meet members and investigators from our surrounding cities. plus i love scambi anyway. i had the pleasure of being with sorella kimball. she is from kaysville and knows madison. woah! i love her! mom be friends with her mom ... she is a blogger and a blog stalker just like you ... in fact maybe you have already found each other. i want to say her moms blog is allisonkimball.com but i can't remember ... ugh! she has the cutest little family on the planet, complete with a few adopted cuties who love bow ties and i love them! sorella kimball is FABULOUS!! she is a little shy and not the most confident person i have ever met but she has every reason to be. i felt like a better missionary for having served one day with her. we had a few lessons together: one with a guy from sri lanka, a man who was wearing a shirt with the f word all over it (weird to see english swear words ... non mi piace), and a lady at the cutest little hat store. also the church in siracusa looks like an elephant and i love it. AND when we were there (in ortigia actually (look it up) i am convinced i have seen multiple movies filmed there) i saw a man playing the accordion! it was so picturesque.

we got back home friday night and it was good to be home, for lots of reasons but mostly we learned that it is true : ragusa is colder than the other cities. what a joy! little did we know it wouldn't last long, the cool ragusan winds calming the summer heat. 

friday was pretty cool. we had a once in a lifetime opportunity to teach italian teenage boys about the gospel at their judo class. haha! i love saying it like that. the first counselor in the bishopric is friends (with everyone actually) with the teacher of this judo class in ragusa and he was invited to their thursday night culture study. the teacher wants the students to base their physical practice on something more spiritual so he invites other religions in ragusa to come and explain their doctrine, then the teacher has the class study it out and choose if they want to learn more. so fratello magrograssi invited us to come with him. they got really deep really fast and my very simple italian teaching vocabulary was put to the test. also the teacher was annoying because after every question that the kids would ask, i would answer, then he would explain it again "in case they couldn't relate to my american lifestyle" and has obviously gone to the wrong sources for answers because we quickly found ourselves explaining polygamy and other fun facts like that. but it was still really great! and i hope i never forget this little image in my head of 15 italian bad boys, all dressed up in their judo gear holding book of mormons. they could be 15 italian good boys, all dressed up in their missionary gear if they prayerfully meditate the things we shared with them and all thanks to their loving heavenly father and their loving savior. after all, this is a gospel of CHANGE!!

and speaking of change, we got transfer calls on saturday. we just assumed that all would stay the same. usually trainers and greenies stay together for 2 transfers. HOWEVER the joke was on us since the assistants called to say that they are closing ragusa to sisters and bringing anziani in our place. so haynie and i are goners. bittersweet my friends. transfers always are. sweet because it is always exciting to go see new things and meet new people and all that but bitter because it means leaving all the people you just fell in love with and cannoli and arancini and haynz and sicily. but this is the lord's work and i will go where he wants me to go. and he wants me to go to rome so really i guess it is a good deal! there are lots of different wards in rome and i don't know the geography well enough to tell you exactly where i am going but i am opening rome 5 (a branch that broke off from the big ward--rome 2: where the mission home is and the temple and everything good about life--a while ago and apparently took all of their best members) to sister service. it guess it is a city in the mountains about 30 minutes outside of the city of rome. my district leader was born there and LOVES it. he literally cried like a baby when i told him that i am going there. also i asked him to bring pictures of the city to show me and he just brought pamphlets since all the families of the branch posed for the pictures they used in them. haha! they are famous!! oh and i am training again. and will be in a trio. and haynie is going to SIRACUSA lucky duck!!!
since then the week has been straight up madness. especially since our washing machine thinks he is so funny by breaking AGAIN at transfers. but hey ... now it is the anziani's problem. he he!

alright folks. that is it from sicilia.