Cruise Ship

Boarding a Cruise ship

On the Cruise Ship

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay this week has been great and crazy! So on Tuesday we got on a train at 10 AM to go to Cagliari and then at 5PM we got on an overnight boat to go to Rome to spend 7 hours and then we got on another overnight boat to go back to Cagliari and then a train back to Sassari! It was so exhausting, but so fun! We got spoiled a bit...the boat we went on was huge and just like a cruise ship. We had nice rooms and we got to go up on the top of the boat at night...and we also did finding on the boat! There were mostly just a lot of guys who didn't want to listen to us and spends all their lives on this boat, but we did meet this one worker, Massimiliano, who was interested! 

View from the Cruise Ship

Cruise Ship Deck

In Rome we had a conference with Elder Patrick Kearon from the seventy! They split our whole mission into two groups so I got to see a lot of missionaries and past companions. I got to hear from the missionaries in my old city Pescara and it made me so happy to hear how my new convert is doing great. This conference was exactly what I needed. I went in with all these questions and within five minutes they were all answered and then the rest of the time was spent answering all these questions I should've asked. We didn't have a lot of time, but Elder Kearon was so inspired and said so many useful things for our mission like finding, teaching, and conversion tips. He's from England and was an investigator for 10 years (if I remember correctly) and many people told the missionaries to give up on him, but he finally got his answer and was baptized. He gave us a lot of tips coming from the investigator's side. 

This member taught us how to make Tiramisu!

A bit on my lovely investigators: Sandra who is now coming to church everyweek at 9am and is getting her testimony! She even got sick at 1030 but she wanted to stay for sacrament. She is becoming strong and loving the church, the hardest thing right now is just finding time to teach her because she is so busy. Something funny about her is that she progresses best when we don't do anything...let me explain...she is one of those people who will not do anything if told to do it—she has to decide on her own. Right now she is deciding to come to church, pray, and read all on her own and her testimony is growing because of it. Also Sandra is trying to quit smoking...so in support of it—Patterson and I have decided to quit eating unhealthy foods. Wish us luck!

This week Alessia and Sara worked at an old jail so they gave us a tour.

Okay so here I have these four best friends—Daniela, Sara, Alessia, and Andrea. We met them all through English Course and they are the most incrediable people ever that we just had to become friends. Also, these little stinkers found my blog and read it every week now (awkward) so since we've been gone a lot this week and I don't have any other cool thing to talk about...I will just go ahead and embarrass my friends by talking all about them. :P 

Daniela, Alessia, and Sara.

First there's Daniela! My puzzola! I met her first and she has been a great friend ever since. She is very strong and beautiful. She has a very good heart and wants to do what's right. She loves doing things for other people just to make them happy...and that makes her happy!

Sara! My masci! Sara is loud, energetic, lively, fun, smart, etc. She always brings a huge smile which lights up every room. She always has a great attitude and loves everyone.

Alessia! My tesoro! Quiet, but powerful. The most caring person you will ever meet. She has a big heart and just loves everyone unconditionally. She really appreciates everyone and does whatever she can to make other people happy. She is very selfless and always puts other people over herself.

Andrea! My ciobbo! He has the greatest love for the gospel and the spirit that you will ever find. He makes friends with everyone instantly (we did finding with him this week and he knew half the bus already and invited them all to English course) and finds ways to raise everyone up and make them happy. He is naturally the happiest person. Also....he stopped smoking which means...HE IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!!! We are so excited!!!

Anyway I'm really bad at complimenting people, but these are my best friends in Sardegnia and I love them so much! STOP READING MY BLOG NOW :)

This week I've been studying a lot about grace and what it exactly means. Grace is the strengthening and enabling power of the atonement. Every day we face things that are hard or challenging that would be hard to do on our own---but luckily we don't have to! Christ has gone through everything and knows exactly how he can help us—we just have to be worthy and ask. He can give us the strengh to overcome anything. Also, I've been studying Moroni 10:32 which says through his grace we can become perfect. His grace also takes our efforts and make them perfect. As a missionary, I am not perfect...I'm always making mistakes and sometime I feel like I am not enough...but I know that if I try my best and ask for help—Christ can take what little I do and make great results. And the best part of this is...that it is unlimited! He loves us just that much that he will ALWAYS give us more strength. The atonement is real. It changes lives.

Well love you family! Hope you have the best Birhtday mom! Only six more weeks and you get to see my pretty little face again on skype! 

Un Bracione!! 

Love Sorella Knudsen