5 christmas apts, costly Christmas spirit?!, Pumping up the finding‏

Oh mamma there's so much to tell this week!First off, let me tell you about my Sunday. We were crazy stoked because we thought FOR SURE we were going to have 4 investigators in church---the Acevedo family (3), and Mirium. We called them all the night before to remind them and everything was a go. Saturday night we were planning what time we needed to leave to go pick Mirium up. We were going to have to get a bus at 7:30 a.m. to get to her house, and then take a bus together to be on time for church at 9.Never mind the exciting morning where I falsely calculated how early I needed to wake up to get ready. I woke up and showered at 5 and then went and sat on my bed and thought, "Wait, WHY am I up so early?" And then I went back to bed until 6:30. Brilliant!The doozey to this story is that we had one investigator in church. We left our apartment, got a bus to Miriums house, knocked on her door and...niente. We called her cell and her husband came to the door and said that she got called into work at midnight last night. Then Judy and Arianna Acevedo didn't end up showing to church either. It was pretty sad. BUT we have gone back to both of their homes, taught lessons, and they're coming to church this week! After that morning I just thought, "Man, we made so many plans and we really tried to prepare." But alas, there is always more that we can do. When they see how important it is to us that they get to church--when they really see that, they'll come. They'll feel it. They'll feel that we really want them there and that they really need to be there.Oh, we had transfer calls last night. My companion and I will be staying for another transfer together. I feels like the right thing. There's still more for us to do here. AND we'll be here for Christmas! I couldn't be more excited even if Saint Nick took me for a sleigh-ride himself! We've really been working to strengthen the branch here. We have 5 appointments with members from December 24-26. It's really a huge blessing and it has really made us feel loved. Last year, I had just arrived here before Christmas and we had zero appointments. Nowhere to go. It was kinda sad because I LOVE Christmas and it just felt weird spending it alone with a girl that I had only been with for like 10 days. (P.S. I love that companion with all of my heart strings) So contrasting from last year and seeing the love of this tiny little branch, it really makes us excited.We saw the Maiello family again last night. (They're an amazing Italian family that all (okay, except for the sons) had baptismal dates like 4 months ago...and after tithing...they called it off) Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend too much time with them because the mom had to take her daughter somewhere like a half hour after we arrived. BUT she gave us a ride to the station and we were able to talk to her about the situation. We were able to figure out more of what their problem ACTUALLY was. It just never made sense to me reading in the area book that anyone who really knows that the church is true would deny everything over a commandment that they've never tried. If you receive an answer that the church is true, then it is! It doesn't all of a sudden become untrue because we don't drink coffee or because we pay tithing. It's not like answers to prayer expire, or have a short shelf life. Negative. You can be pretty durn sure that if He tells you something's right...He's not playin! Anywhoodle, it was a really good conversation. And she told us that she recognizes that things are different since they decided not to get baptized. She said that things were better with her husband and they were all so much happier when it was something that they were doing as a family. Isn't that so true? I'm just really excited to keep working with them. We kind of know what angle we need to go at and feel like we can help them.ALSO we've really wanted to step up our finding! So we decided to do this survey that we have in Italian. It just asks religious questions and every now that then there's a conveniently worded question like, "If you knew that there was a way that families could be together forever would that interest you?" Eh? Eh?? ;) So yesterday we took a gander through a park and a piazza and talked to some people and had some slammin' conversations! It just helps me remember that there really are people that naturally wonder and have questions about spiritual things. It's so cool that we have the answers to help them out. It was a way cool experience and I'm stoked to keep working on our finding work...as well as other things of course. :)Well, fun fact: A measely ol' strand of christmas lights over here run about €19. Yup, that's like 25 bucks. I love christmas and all but I would rather get white washed then drop that kind of money on Christmas lights that would cost like 2 bucks in the states. (If christmas lights cost more then that...then jokes on me!) ALSO, the lightswitches in our apartment are all on the outside of the room. It throws me off every time. I walk in the room to turn on the light and...I have to walk back out in the hall to do it. Good times Italy!Welp, I gots to be jetting. Have a holly jolly....week. I hope you are all healthy and happy as can be. Say your little english prayers and just know that this missionary loves ya...kind of a lot. Italian Christmasy Love (yup, no Thanksgiving to wait for over here..) Sorella Mallory Hansen

Mirium, Acevedo Fam, Florence‏

On Thursday I got to go back to Roma! I needed to pick up my permesso di soggiorno. Er...don't know what you call it in English. It's just the cool little legit card that makes it legal for me to live here. So...that. It was really cool to be able to go back to Rome and specifically the area where I started the mission. On the way home we were sitting across from a woman on the train that we started talking to and she was a delight. She speaks Italian, English, and French....so...I think we're going to be the best of friends. ha ha She wanted to practice speaking French with me but I assured her Italian is better at this point and I'll fix my French when I get home. haha Anyway I got her number and hopefully when she comes into town this weekend we'll get to meet with her. She's adorable. So hopefully next week I'll have a fantabulous update on Daniella. :)We had another appointment with Mirium. So far she hasn't been able to come to church because she works. But she has this Sunday off so she should be coming. I'm so excited! I love when investigators can make it to church because it's an amazing spirit and it really helps them to start making progress when they come to church and start keeping commitments. ALSO, she showed us how to make filled cabbage. Is that what you call it in english? It was kind of ...not disgusting. I sat there with my paper and quill writing everything because it was a delight.We had a lesson with the Acevedo family last night. We planned this lesson that is...quite different. The last lesson that we were there ended in a bit of contention and the couple kind of started fighting and pointing out each others faults to us. Yeah, it was awkward and sad. So for our lesson we brought a CD player and music and had it playing in the background and we had printed in a huge font the things that we wanted to teach. It was really cool. We had some quotes from prophets on contention and took some quotes from "Beware of Pride" from Ezra Taft Benson. Then after the 15 or so papers that we were flipping for them to read, we gave them their own paper that had more quotes from "Beware of Pride" and also they had their own quote from Elder Holland that talked about being nice to your spouses...but in Elder Hollands way of expressing it. :) The last paper had questions like, "What are some things I could do to help bring more happiness into the home?" and "What are some things that I love about Leo?"--that was on her paper. Anyway at the end we talked for a couple of minutes and bore testimony on the importance of seeing the good in other people and looking inside ourselves to improve. It was cool.Well we're going to Florence today for P-day and then there's a conference for the women. Sister Cook and Sister Thompson from the General Relief Society Presidency are here to talk to the sisters. It should be pretty bizzangin. Welp, have a dandy day and a wonderful week. Lots of Italian love, Sorella Hansen

Me and our investigator Clara. She's a doll!! She asked me if I'd marry her son... er ... "I would love to have you as a mother-in-law!" ha ha

I love her!

After a bit of house, we were walking out and a metal door got my foot. We stopped to snap a quick pic of the glamorous life of a sister missionary.

PS - No, I did not just run through the sprinklers. It's just hot and I sweat, K!? :)

With my loveable Adele. She's so wonderful I can't even handle it.

Patrizia, Me, Adele

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My how things have changed. I've been reflecting a bit on how things are different from last winter time in Italy. In this apartment here in La Spezia there were some umbrellas left over from the previous sisters. One is brown with pink polka dots and the other is pink with brown polka dots. Both have lots of frills and ruffles. I feel pretty silly holding those umbrellas when last year my umbrella (that I dropped a whopping 2 euro on) was spray painted silver and had spray painted silver stars on the inside. It's a bit of a change for me. I'm adjusting. ha ha The other day it was raining and storming like mad! My companion and I were at the bus stop in the middle of this full-on downpour and we were getting drenched, mangled by the wind, and we could NOT stop laughing. There were people stuffed under this area where you can wait for the bus. But there was no room, so we took quite a hit, but they were laughing just like we were. Good times. Even "bad" weather tends to be a solid good time. THEN later that day we were running for another bus and...my shoe broke. I just busted up and apologized to my companion. ha ha Luckily the bus that we missed was right in front of our apartment so we ran in and I changed shoes. ha ha Ah my life.We finally had our Halloween party. We have a member here that helped us oodles to make it successful and he put a lot of work into it. He made a Labyrinth (you know quite well that my spelling is lax.) and word had it that it was the bees knees! I didn't go through it because I was helping in the other room. We made a sweet Twister game. But instead of colors we had ghosts, tombstones, pumpkins, you get the idea. I stole it from when I had to help with the Relief Society Birthday Party back in Rexburg. I made a Twister board with relief society stuff. "Right hand, Emma Smith. Left foot, quilt". Same idea but with Halloween goods. It was a hit! Fratello Ricciardi (the member that made the labyrinth) downloaded a bunch of short film clips to keep the people entertained between games. He brought "Thriller". I uh...did not hate it.There is an investigator family here in La Spezia (They're 100% Italian) that have been investigators for...like 3 years. They're record in the area book is like 8 pages long. They had a baptismal date a couple of transfers ago but then they misunderstood the tithing lesson and the father, especially, has backed off. The mother and daughter know that it's true but the dad and sons aren't really interested anymore. I've been nervous and excited to meet this family. From what I had read in the area book, the sons had been pretty rude to the sisters recently, and the dad won't even stay in the same room when the sisters go over. Well, we decided to just drop by last week and invite them to the Halloween party. Originally just the daughter was home (her name's Teresa). She was really excited to see us and welcomed us in no problem. Little by little the family started arriving. The mother was very nice but whispered really quick "if my husband makes a face when he sees you guys, just don't worry about it okay?". One of the sons came in, shook our hands, and chatted for a second before going to his room with his friend. (success!) The dad came in. He shook our hands and started making dinner but he came over every now and then to talk to us. (Much better then we were expecting). Then, the one that I was most worried about was the oldest son. He was (from what I had read) the most disrespectful and...not in favor of the church. Well, he came in and we got a handshake (score!), thanks to an enthusiastic greeting on our part we got a smile (love it!), and then somehow he ended up sitting at the table with us (this is huge!) and I got him to talk to me for about 20 minutes while my companion talked to the mom. (And...I think my mind just exploded.) It was a miracle! They invited us to stay for dinner but we had to go to a couple other houses. When they said good-bye the mother thanked us for bringing joy into their home. I left that night just feeling so great. It was completely different then we were expecting and it was just really encouraging.Well, I'll end here I suppose. I could tell you a story about last night when I learned for realsies that the gift of tongues is legit. (lets just say we spent about 40 minutes with an old woman who's Brazilian, trying to speak Italian and....trust me, we got lots of help to understand her!) But I will end with a success story from the branch! On Sunday I uh...somehow got an appointment for the day after Christmas! ha ha It's this member who...the first day seemed like she wanted to run away from us. I wonder if she had bad experiences with missionaries in the past. This kind of behavior is just kind of a challenge for me. (I saw the same thing in Cagliari and that member ended up becoming one of my best friends) So I kind of...make her talk to me and eh...try to get her to not hate it, maybe even enjoy it a titch. ha ha We spoke for a little bit after church and then she left to go get in the car with her husband. I was talking to Fratello Carli and our branch pianist who, come to find out it is pretty good for a laugh. In the middle of our conversation this sister ran back up the stairs and asked me to step out into the hall with her. She said, "What are you doing December 26th?" ha ha Come on, that's two months away! Nothing in particular. She said, "Because we wanted to have you over. We can't have you over for Christmas but the 26th, we can." ha ha Isn't that crazy and yet wonderful?! It's not like I even spoke to her about Christmas after church or anything. It just came out of nowhere. So...we have a Christmas appointment. Can't complain about that! Welp, I really gots to be a-jettin' but hope your Halloween was fantabulous and...what are you doing December 26, 2010? If nothing, I'd like to have you over. RSVP

Italian love, Sorella Hansen

Some Pictures from back on the Island

With Little Roberta

Fratello Virdis , Roberta, Me

Check it out - our English class student has like 16 turtles chilling in her back yard!

This is the Espis Family. He is Branch President and AMAZIN!! And I'm with Sorella Bjarnson

Doing some house in Dolianova. It has random parts of town that are hilariously medieval.

Burr burr, Explosion in the bathroom (it's not what it seems), Progress with the Acevedos!‏

BUONGIORNO!! Hello my dears! I hope that you have all had a marvelous and enjoyable week. One of the main changes that I've noticed since being here in La Spezia would be...the weather. In Cagliari I was in short sleeved shirts and it was still pretty warm. Well, ever since I've arrived in La Spezia...are you ready for this?...WINTER COAT! ha ha So there's no snow or anything, but there mornings when it is burrilicious! But, it's okay. Lots of layers never hurt anyone.Another fun fact about life in La Spezia (and especially since my companion and I are new in the city together) is we're not only discovering the city, bus system, members, investigators, etc. but we're also trying to figure out our apartment. Now I know what you're thinking, "what is there to know about an apartment?" And before coming here I would have agreed with you ...but alas, I learned when we did our first load of wash that we might have needed an instruction manual for this glorious little place that I now call home. So to spare you details that don't matter, I was washing my feet in the bidet at night time and there was some hose stuck down the drain. I obviously pulled it out and forgot to put it back because I thought it was random. Well the next morning we went to do a load of wash and at a certain point during our weekly planning...we hear an explosion of spraying water in the bathroom! We ran into the bathroom and the hose where the water drains out of the washer....was the one that I had removed from the bidet. So we got the hose and put it in the bidet. After about 10 minutes it SHOT out again and was spraying all over the bathroom. Once again, though nearly doing the splits while sliding in there from the excitement and slippery floor, we got the hose back into the bidet. Is the story finished? Course not. When the washer finished, we could NOT open the door. There's no handle! It must have been riped off by a dear sister missionary that was a little upset about the hose in the bidet. So we saw a pile of wrenches on top of the washer. Can't be true right? After about 10 minutes we managed to get the wrench situated just right to open the washer. Ah. Just one of the many adventures that we have been enjoying here in our new little home. Good times indeed I say!So on to the important stuff: the work! Our dear Acevedo family are doing really well. We've started teaching them the commandments and so far they have accepted everything without problems. Love it when that happens! Leo, the father, is a rock. He knows that this is the true church and is the strong one about making sure that the family prays and reads the scriptures. We are also wanting to work with their son, Ariel. He hasn't really stayed with us for a lesson because he's either at work or he gets there as we're leaving. We managed to get him to come to the table for the lesson about commandments and it went really well. It's going to take some work but I can already see that we're cracking him and he's opening up. It's kind of sad because he doesn't really feel at home there so you can tell that he's awkward about joining us for lessons. But really all that he needed was an invitation...a loving, enthusiastic invitation, but that's all. His parents weren't going to ask him to come to the table. It's so important for everyone to feel included, invited, and welcome. Just like this young boy needs to feel at home and welcome with his family, I've seen the same principle in our branch here. There are a good amount of in-actives. How great it would be if everyone could look around for someone who's "not at the table" and give them a loving invitation. Everyone should feel welcome, comfortable, and loved. We've met with several inactive members this week and though their struggles are different, it would do nothing but help if we could all (not just the missionaries) do a little bit more to serve someone else and help someone else feel appreciated.We had Zone Conference in Florence yesterday and it was amazing. I'm so grateful for inspired leaders who help us learn how to improve as missionaries and be more effective. It was really cool to be back in Florence. I went about 2 years ago (I can't believe it's been so long!) back when I lived in Paris. We walked through the street market on the way to the train station and it was so fun to see that gorgeous city again. There was something so magical about it. I felt like I was in a movie. (Except instead of being with some dreamy chap, I was with my fellow 22 year-old, female, mid-calf skirted companion. ha ha) It's all good! I still manage to be woo'ed by the city, talk to some sweet street vendors, and enjoy my time gazing at all the marvelous things to be that...I don't need but...come on. I was in Florence. :)I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve. I have so many things that I need to continue learning and improving, but I know that with the lords help that we can do it. We can do what He asks us to do. Satan is a complete idiot. (sorry for my juvenile name calling) but it really got to me this week the idea that Satan doesn't want us to believe in ourselves, in God, or in the fact that we CAN do ANYTHING that God asks us to do. period. Satan wants us to feel inadequate, scared, fill-in-the-blank with whichever miserable descriptive word that you want. I'm so grateful that I know that Heavenly Father wants me here. I know that He didn't tell me to come on a mission but...think that I wasn't ACTUALLY capable of accomplishing anything or doing any good. That's completely bogus and one hundred percent from the one man who has no bright future, hope, or anything worthwhile to offer anybody. Well I do. Not because I'm anything fabulous or remarkable, but because I'm a missionary for Jesus Christ. I have a message that changes lives and makes people feel happy, peace, love, and come to know the Savior. I have been called to this work from Heavenly Father himself. He wanted me here. He knows His children. He loves them so much. And He will help us do what He has asked us to be done. I'm so over any feelings or thoughts that take away from that fact. Heavenly Father will be there for us EVERY time. How wonderful and reliable is our ol' pal Satan? Er...yeah, check the facts. He has never been there for anyone. He's not reliable, he doesn't care about anybody, and doesn't deserve a second of our time. I am grateful for the opportunity to understand this. It's been a week that has really made me learn that I need to choose who to listen to. I'm grateful for the hard times in the mission. Yup, they happen. I'm grateful to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who will always be there, will always love us, and wants so badly for us to see of our divine potential and worth. I love you guys. I pray that you're all doing well and are happy and enjoying each day, each member of the family, and even the little things in life that don't always go our way. See the good. Find joy, be happy. Have a good laugh. The church is true. You have a beautiful life. And you are all very important. Know that I love you and miss you. Sending lots and lots of lovable sista missionary love. Kisses! Sorella Hansen

La Spezia, Cinque Terre, Teachin' a family!‏

(This is the Cinque Terre)

Hey guys~What a crazy week! (I know, I say that every e-mail right?) There was a grundle of traveling to get to this beautiful city of La Spezia. 4 hour train ride to get to the boat, overnight boat ride, one hour train to Rome...wait for my companion to arrive in Rome, and then a four hour train ride to La Spezia. And my word how have I acquired so much stuff?! I had to go to a little Chinese store to buy a little suitcase because there was just magically not the room that I was hoping for. ha ha I don't know if I mentioned last e-mail but I got "Blown In" to this city. That just means that both of the sisters that were here before me...left. So my companion and I are brand new here. We don't know the city, the investigators, the members...you name it. Thank goodness we speak the right language eh? There's only one elder in our district that has been here in the past so we ask him all kinds of questions like, "Hey, how do we get to our apartment?" ha ha When we got off the train, they had to bring us to our apartment because...well...we'd never been there before. It's been kind of stressful, but mostly I think it's a pretty sweet adventure. I like it. It puts more pressure on us to quickly gain good relationships with our investigators and members...everything. I'm really enjoying it so far.We've had two lessons with investigators. One was with a woman named Miriam. She's great. We taught her about baptism and she's a rock. She has a pretty rough family situation but she's keeping everything together and ...yeah...she's a tough woman. I like her a lot.Our other lesson that we had was with a FAMILY...yup!...family. I was so excited that we were teaching a whole fam. They're adorable. They're from the Dominican Republic and yeah...they're great. We also taught them about baptism and...asked them to be baptized. I know, right? Our first time meeting these people and we asked them to be baptized. Welp, the lesson mustn't have gone too bad because they said yes! Seriously, how much do I love blessings? Oh yeah, kind of like a lot! AND...my companion and I forgot to fast on Sunday, so we fasted on Monday instead and had just broken our fast before that appointment with them. It was way cool.Church was a completely different experience then I'm used to. We went to Relief Society and there were 2 members there...besides us and the teacher. Crazy stuff right?! I've never been in a relief society that small. In Rome there were like 25 women in relief society...in Cagliari about 10-15. But what was cool was I met all of the members and could probably tell you all of their names. ha ha That's kind of nice! I think there were people that were missing though so I'll be meeting more of the branch this Sunday. The members here are amazing. They're so strong in the church and I just love them already. There's so much work to do here though. We're trying to keep finding new people to teach and there's plenty of inactive work to do.We went on the most AMAZING hike today. We went to the "Cinque Terre". Oh mylanta it was beautiful! It's like a 5 hour hike that you walk along a mountain...along the coast, and there are five different cities that are just built into the mountain. It was breathtaking. These cute little towns were exactly how I'd always pictured Italy in my head. It was like a movie. Ah. I'll send pictures. :)We have a new contact. My companion and I were on the bus going home and (Well, I try to be really nice and smile and be friendly...because...it's not like we blend in with our attire that we're rockin'.) I smiled at the people on the bus and this one guy made eye contact with me and he got off at the same stop as us. I was kind of worried because I didn't know if I should be worrying about his intentions. I was kind of getting creeper vibes. BUT, he stopped us to talk to us about the gospel. he's talked to an elder in the past and he wants to know what the true church is. His father is Muslim and his mother is Christian. Anyway, he has a lot of questions. We gave his number to the elders and helped them with the first lesson and it was pretty cool. I've never taught someone whose not very familiar with God and has a different religious base. It was a cool experience though.Well I have written too much as usual. I'll tell you a bit about my companion next week. She's great. Sorella Skabelund from Mesa, Arizona. She finishes the mission in February. Love her. She's fabulous. Well I love you guys so much. Please be safe, say your prayers, smile a lot, be happy, and have some ice cream...even though it's not as good as Italian gelato. ha ha Okay sorry, that was mean. Italian Kisses! 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

Some Google Images results for La Spezia - Not too shabby!