Baptism of Sara and visiting the Basilica!

In front of the Basilica

Inside the Basilica--Kinda blurry

Companions in front of the Basilica

Battismo di Sara!

Visiting a New Member family

Grand prize--This picture is for Dad

  Looks like you guys had a lot of fun this week with the 4th! No, I didn't really get to celebrate it...except my companions and I bought some chocolate and then watched the part of the Restoration movie which it mentions the fourth of July. Haha yeah we know how to party! Well this week was  really awesome! We saw so many miracles with our investigators and random people we talk to. I love going to places and randomly finding people who want the BOM and ask if they want to come to church. Like the other day I was doing my permesso and I was talking to this African guy and he said that he went to the Mormon church in Nigeria and was wondering if there was church here. 

          Last week we had our Pday in Rome and we got to see the Basilica! That place is huge!! I've studied it in school and I thought I would recognize all the art, but it is so huge and filled with art...I've probably only seen like a tenth of the art in it before. Man it was so beautiful I can't believe I got the chance to see it. My companions were making fun of me, because I couldn't believe that I was there and there were points where I was seriously giggling because I was so happy to be there. Ah so beautiful. I'll have to take you guys there. 

          Okay I've realized that I haven't really said much about my companions, city, Italia, etc. so I decided to talk more about that for a second. It is really hot and humid here--I am always wet. It's fine. Although we have had some cloudy/rainy days which have been so nice. Everyone does the kiss-both-cheeks thing as hello/goodbye here and I'm getting quite good at it. In fact, I like it and I don't plan on losing this habit when I come home...so prepare to be kissed...a lot :). Haha. In addition to the language...I am learning sign language. Italians are very expressive with their hands and it always cracks me up! It's funny when we get a ride with a member and we'll be talking to them while they're driving. There has been a couple times that I have been scared for my life because their hands spend more time in the air than on the wheel. But somehow they are still have good drivers. Maybe we should talk to them less...haha! My apartment is VERY nice, like seriously. I think maybe even the best in the mission. The thing I love about apartments here is that everyone has a balcony (usually filled with plants and flowers). Ours has an extra mattress on it and we love eating, praying, and talking outside on it, especially late at night. Honestly, this city to me (maybe this is only because I went to crazy China) just feels like a normal city in the US...except everyone speaks Italian. For me, it's not a great cultural experience to be here...maybe if I get to go more south... oh well I really do love it here! I feel like I have been here forever. My companions are really great! There are actually a lot of threesomes of sister in Italia right now and I think that is only because there are more sisters than cities. Once they open up more, they'll move us around, I think. I thought it would be more difficult to be with two companions, but we work really well together. It's fun having three languages-English, Italian, French so together we can talk to almost everyone! 

         This week was really great because we had a baptism! Except not exactly ours. Her name is Sara, she's about 14 years old (but acts so much older), and she's just great. She has actually been waiting a LONG time to be baptized, but since she is a minor and there's some issues with her mom...I don't know all the details, but she has just been waiting on permission from a judge to get baptized. She's practically already a member and has come to lessons with us all the time. She and I have become good friends and two weeks ago I was talking to her about her baptism. I told her she was going to be baptized while I was here and she didn't believe me because she has been waiting so long and it was a supposed to take longer. Then two days later she called me screaming that she just got permission to be baptized! Moral of the story: I can tell the future. Haha just kidding. But her baptism was beautiful and we had a great turnout for it. The "baptismal font" that we have is actually just a small stand up pool. Her brother baptized her and it was so sad because he hit her head on the back bar of the pool! But he redid it and she's okay! Haha...maybe next baptism we'll do it in the ocean! 

Okay I'm running out of time so I guess I'll just tell you about the rest of my investigators next week. Love you guys! Vi voglio bene (by the way this means "I want you well" but it basically means "I love you" in Italian in a non romantic way.)

Con amore, Sorella Knudsen