Baptism!, Word of Wisdom, Transfers

(Last week's zone confrence. Mal is in the lower left, 2nd row)

Well hi-dee-ho~
What a week! Last Preparation Day I had to go to the Questura and do my permesso. (It's just like the paperwork that makes it legal for me to live here.) Anywho, so I had to go in a back room and the guy like steam-rolled ink all over my fingers and palms. And I had to do fingerprints and all that jazz. I'm so lame because I actually had this thought go through my head, "Dangit! I'm on the grid!" ha ha So much for my dreams of being an undercover spy. ha ha Also, I had thoughts pass through my head about back in high school reading that book "Black Like Me". ha ha Oh man, sometimes there's nothing to do but laugh my life. ha ha Good times in Italy eh? So last Wednesday after I e-mailed you we had to finish teaching Diana the lessons. AKA...like all of the commandments. I was a little worried for some reason because we were teaching tithing but Diana went to the meeting with Elder Oaks last week and he talked about tithing so...yeah. Golden. He gave this little equation in his talk that I thought was interesting. He said 90% of earnings (money) + Blessings > 100% of earnings without blessings. True right?So we taught the rest of the commandments and everything was good. Seriously, she just accepted everything like no big thing...honestly it kinda freaked me out. Who's that awesome?!? So yeah, she went for a little swim on Sunday baby!! It was so rad. One of the members (who's only been a member for like 7 months but is ridiculously amazin') baptized her and it was so cool. No worries, I took pics, and will send them....eventually. Diana actually kills me because after we taught her lesson last Wednesday we went to the closet that has baptismal clothes and were getting different dresses out for her and stuff. ha ha Oh man...she couldn't just pick like the generic ones that everyone uses. SOMEHOW somebody snuck in this horrid dress that, in my opinion, looked like something from the witch trials and ...our little Diana thought it was just the ticket!! ha ha Oh dear. She actually asked if we had the pattern for it! But I the important part is that it was white...not the fact that in my mind anyone who goes under the water in that kind of dress...usually doesn't come up. Hope that doesn't make me a judgemental person.The ward was an awesome help too. Different sisters in the relief society brought food and some members stayed after church for the baptism to meet her and congratulate her. It was pretty cool so see them fellow shipping our cute new member of the church. :) Loved it. It was a really cool experience. I've seen like 3 or 4 baptisms since I've been here but it was so cool to see someone that I've taught make this decision and follow through with it. I'm just so excited for her. Another investigator that we've been working with is a lady named Erica. We don't get to see her very much but the last thing that we've been working on is the word of wisdom. The first time we taught it to her and then followed up, she wasn't obeying it. So Sorella Chevalier and I decided that we'd offer to "give up" something with her, for moral support. :) So we told her that if she would live the word of wisdom for a week, that we would go without all sweets. She kind of laughed at first because she didn't understand how often those kinds of things are offered to us by members. So anywho, we made this deal and Sorella Chevalier and I were doing good. Well, we have a meeting on Mondays and someone always has a treat assignment. Sorella Skabelund brought Carrot Cake---Sorella Chevalier's favorite. She tried to call Erica to make sure she was obeying the word of wisdom because if not, she wanted to eat the cake. ha ha Well, we decided not to have any. And later that day...we got a text from one such Erica that said, "Have you had sweets? I haven't had coffee. Have a good day. Erica" We were so excited!! I called and talked to her about it the other day and she was so happy. It was crazy cool.Well good times in Italy indeed. We find out about transfers on Monday and I think my companion's out. She's been here for over 8 months so I think she's over and out. But we'll see what happens. I probably won't go anywhere but who knows really. OH ALSO: I just wanted to say that I only get mail like every 3 weeks. So...if sorry that it takes me forevs to write back but I do and I love it. :) Anywho, as always, I'm shipping Italian love your way, everyday. :) Sorella Hansen