Buone Feste!

I cant believe Christmas is almost here. In about two days. It is really strange, to be honest. Ive been thinking a lot about last year this time and I cant believe how it feels like yesterday! Back then, it felt like the next Christmas would never come and that I had forever and a day to be in the mission. Now, I feel like I blinked and a whole year is gone.

How many changes have I seen? How much have I grown? How many incredible experiences have I had? How grateful am I for this opportunity? Words really cant describe all the feelings I have. I have a little more time to think as we are on bikes going from place to place (well, when there isnt ice on the streets) and its so overwhelming for me to be where I am. Slla Doxey and I are in the same boat in a lot of ways. Both of our trainers are married (slla Moreno got married Friday) and we are both have the same amount in the mission and left, heck, we are both companions and have had the same companion before! But I dont know how much it helps. It makes it that much easier to see the changes and realize how precious little time is left.
This week has been really good though. We have both been well, no sickness! We have taught lessons knocking on doors and we have a baptism coming up on the 9th of January and our ward is just incredible.
We actually have had some interesting adventures!
One of them happened 2 nights ago. We were going to do a Power Visit with a member family. Its when we go, do a short thought and then pray together to know where we (le sorelle) need to go to find people. They took us to their old neighborhood and we started ringing doorbells. We unfortunately had little time and had to wait for the bus (which never came). So we were miles from home, no bus because of the snow and not really sure what to do. So, we say a prayer and start walking. We see a man making a snow man in his front yard and decide to talk to him. His name is Francesco and is so nice! He asked some very good questions and we sang a Christmas carol, shared a scripture from Helaman and then Moroni about how we can know the truth of all things. He seemed genuinely interested. This was all outside by the way, in the snow while it was snowing. His wife however came out and started yelling at us about the Jehova witnesses and how her husband has been studying with them for 3 years and its tearing apart her family. She jsut screamed and cried and humiliated her husband in front of us. We wanted to help her so bad, but she didnt allow us. She said she has her religion (catholic) and doesnt want to hear from us. Francesco just smiled a sad smile, had teary eyes and allowed us to pray for him. So we said a prayer and gave him the book of mormon. He was really happy to accept it which is good. I hope he is able to accept us in the future.
As we continued our walk, we got a phone call which I answered. Slla Doxey started talking to a woman named Faustina from Ghana and she said there were no more buses, but that we could come to her house and call someone to come and get us. So, we went to her home, she gave us some lemon herbal tea and introduced us to her 4 children. There were very sweet and luckily, we were able to call for a ride from the Martin couple who serve as missionaries on the American base. Faustina's son is 14 and interested in religion so we will go back and teach him on Thursday afternoon! Quite the adventures, no?!

This is Juliet's balcony, as in Romeo and Juliet!
Me and my girl Juliet. One breast is lighter than the other
because it is good luck in love to rub on it.
Weird and twisted, I know. Dont worry, I didnt do it.


 VENICE FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

My favorite view.
Me in
Piazza di
San Marco!

     This is Angelo, my favorite Gondolier. We had just gotten lost in Venice, happens really easily, and we were working on getting back to St. Marco's when we saw him. He watched us for a while and then when we got closer he asked, "are you Jehova witnesses?" we said no. Then he asked "are you Mormons?" and we said yes. He then said, Good! Then we can get married! I thought, hmm...very tempting! Apparently he has been studying with the Elders in Mestre and is preparing for baptism! How cool is that! We got to bear some awesome testimony and really have a great chat. He is awesome and yes, Im still considering the offer to marry him.

Oh my goodness mom, Venice is a dream! I am absolutely in love with the place! I cant wait to take you there! We got to stay from 10 am to 8:30 pm! ALL DAY!! It was incredible. We took a water bus which is just a regular boat but its the bus system there to the Piazza di San Marco and then walked everywhere from there. It was low tide so we didnt have any problems. It had recently flooded and snowed so Heavenly Father loves us so much to give us a bright sunny day. We went inside of the Basilica di San Marco and it is all done in Mosaics. I have never seen a church so beautiful in my life! Mom! It was all gold and just incredible. Of course, doesnt even begin to compare with our temples, but it was a lot better than the usual Catholic dark Cathedrals. I bought some ink and a journal too! Oh, the journal story is fun. We had gotten lost and found a cute little journal shop. Venice is full of ink bottles, journals and anything for writing. I wanted to go in, but it didnt open for an hour or so so we came back afterwards. When we did go back, it was closed still. I was way bummed, but luckily, an old man came out of the shop and started to lock up. I asked him if I could go in for a bit and he said no, but he was going to his other shop more in Centro (center of the city). So we followed him and he gave us a history of venice discorse and told us all about how he makes the journals, about the theatres, Marco Polo's house, everything. I bought a beautiful journal from him and now am just deciding what I will use it for. I had just bought one from another store for this coming year. His name is Paolo and he said he wants to do internships so the younger generation can learn how to make journals like in the old times. Interesting no? It was all in Italian too which made it that much more special.

I'm not adding anything to this post because what could it possibly need???