Sorella Mallory Hansen: General Conference all in Italian, Leaving Cagliari....‏

Hey guys! How's everything going back at home? Hopefully splendid beyond belief. Things are going swell here.This week we went to visit Pino and Clara. Clara texted us about a week ago and said that Pino has a prostate tumor. We've been praying for them and we went by this past week. They were so excited to see us. It amazes me how giving they are. We went, thinking that we were going to be doing a little service for them. Nothing massive, we'd made some cookies during our lunch hour and brought them a card and...yeah...nothing huge. But Clara thought that we were going to come that night--instead of in the morning--and she was making a cake for when we would come that night! Can you believe that? We were going to see them and see how Pino was doing but instead she was making a cake for when we came. Unbelievable. On top of that, she was so excited that we came in the morning that she insisted that we stay for lunch. We ended up having lunch with her, Pino, and their son Marco. I just felt so amazed by them. They're going through a trial right now and yet they are always thinking of others and serving other people. They are amazing people. I love them so very much. They will be amazing members some day. They're pretty much dry members anyway. They're amazing examples to me of people who serve and love--regardless of what they're going through.General Conference was this weekend! Did you all love it?! Oh my dear, I love General Conference. I tried to listen to all of it in Italian. I had two different thoughts come and go in my mind during conference (concerning the language) 1. "Holy smokes. I'm listening to general conference in Italian. I know what they're saying. So cool!!" But other times invisible option 2 came into my mind "What in the world? Are they still speaking Italian? Oh mamma, the translater is speaking fast. Yipes!" So...I think what I learned is that I need to be appreciative for how much I understand and how much I've been blessed to understand and speak the language. The other thing that I learned is that I really need to keep working and improving. There is so much more that I need to be able to understand and communicate. My language skills can still greatly improve. It was cool. By-the-way can we just take a second to talk about the wonder that is President Uchtdorf and his talk about love? I didn't understand every word of the sessions that I saw, but his talk was 230% Wonderful! Also, in the Sunday Afternoon Session I did NOT have sore feelings about listening to President Monsons talk. My word, what an amazing, loving, wonderful, inspired man! When his talk was over I looked over at Adele (Oh, by-the-way, Adele came to conference! Let's take a second to have a "woot" and then I'll get back to my letter....woot woot! Wow, I surprised myself with two...okay I'm stopping. I've been writing in parenthesis for too long) so I looked over at Adele after his talk and she pounded her chest with her fist a couple of times and said how much it touched her. Ah, let's just all love and be grateful for a living prophet and his apostles.We had another lesson with Susan this past week. She wasn't able to come to general conference because her son was sick. (But we did have 3 investigators who were able to make it!--Roberta, Marisa, and Adele. Keeping the parenthesis to a minimal...) But yesterday we were able to finish the second lesson and dare I say that it was a romping success? Allow me to explain. I love going to Susan's house but it also freaks me out a little bit because there are always elements of surprise. Kids running around crazy and throwing things, her husband is in and out of the lesson (yes, we invite him to stay, but he's not quite commited yet), she's trying to cook lunch at the same time (we've asked if we can come at another time but she said that's the best time for her), her baby is crying, etc. I say these things not to complain or make anybody look bad--they're an amazing family. I just frequently have thoughts run through my head like, "Wow, where does preach my gospel say how to handle ...fill in the blank" It's interesting to see how to keep the spirit but take control of situations and see how we can better help the investigator feel of the spirit and understand what we're teaching. Also...Susan is still on track for her baptism which will be this next transfer. I'm really excited for her!Welp, we heard about transfers last night after English class. All of our students stayed afterwards to hear who was staying and who was going. It turns out ...I have officially been voted off the island. I'm going to a city called La Spezia! I've heard so many amazing things about La Spezia! I've heard that it's incredibly beautiful and the ward there is amazing! So...how's a girl to complain? I can't and I won't! And my new companion will be Sorella Skabelund! I'm really excited to serve with her. We served in the same district my first two transfers in the mission. So she slept over once a week so that we could go to our district meeting every Monday morning. She's wonderful and I know it's going to be an amazing transfer. I'm sad to leave, but I really felt like it was time. I've learned so much here, and I will always be in love with this city because I have changed and grown and learned tons within the five months that I've been here. But there's more to learn--as always. I'm seriously so excited to get to La Spezia. BAH! I leave on the train in a couple of hours and then we take a boat all night and will arrive on the mainland Thursday morning. Then I'll go to Rome, get my new companion, and be off to my new city.Sorella Nelson and I have had a great transfer together. We laugh so hard together and have done some good work. She has a great companion that's coming to be with her and I know they'll be able to take over the work and everything will be okay.I love you all. Have a great week. Read your scriptures. Go to church. Love you very much. Italian love, Sorella hansen