Week 14

Well, first week of the second transfer is over. That is crazy!

This week was sort of slow. Sorella Patterson has been sick, so we are just taking it easy, but we did have some cool finding and teaching moments! We got stopped at the bus station by a Filipino man named Niño (pronounced with the Spanish thingy over the 'n'), and he used to play basketball with missionaries when he was in the Philippines. We gave him a Tagalog Book of Mormon and he wants to learn more. He says he isn't super religious, but he agreed with everything that we taught him, so chi sa! (we’ll see!) :)

There was also this crazy (in a good way) Russian guy named Igor, who met a sister missionary that was on her way home (like to America). He lives in our town with his wife and two kids, and he is literally the most energetic person I have ever met ever. He is also pretty open even though he says he is Eastern Orthodox, and he's been reading the Book of Mormon so we'll see. Speriamo bene! And then there was a homeless woman named Carmen. She is from Berlin but was born in Marseilles and then moved to Belgium? Brussels? (something with a B…) before living in Berlin for 20ish years. Then she moved to Napoli, then Roma. So she was cool, very nice, speaks really good English (HUGE BLESSING) and I gave her a Book of Mormon tour on my own, which was super cool. That’s when we go through the pictures at the front of the book to explain it. It's really amazing.

We also taught Amède and Laban the Word of Wisdom this week. Amède is in France for the week so we will hope he continues to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. He's kind of come to a standstill with growing his testimony, so we wanted to teach something that would require him to act in faith. Laban has a few apprehensions about coffee and tea, but he said he would try. He also told us he accepts the Book of Mormon as true, so that's a pretty big plus (THAT IS THE COOLEST THING IN THE WORLD. NO BIG DEAL.) They are both still set to get baptized on the 18th. And the big miracle of the week: GESI ACCEPTED A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!!! We were talking about the plan of salvation, she had a really good experience reading the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 9) and told us ''I am falling in love with this book!'' We invited her to be baptized on October 25th and she said yes! I am so thrilled for her. I can't believe it!

I am doing well. Thanks to everyone who emails me with love, support, cool stories, funny stories, jokes, riddles, lame one-liners....I like getting emails ;) Also mail takes about two weeks to get from my apartment in Italy to my home in Washington. In case anyone was wondering.

There are postcards and whatnot en route, keep your eyes on your mailboxes! ;)

I love you all so much, I am so happy here, it's hard, but it is worth it. And thank you for your love and prayers! I need them!

Tutto del mio amore (All of my love),

Sorella Decker