Sorella Knudsen: I'm Spoiled!

I said goodbye to Sassari. That was a bit hard. All our friends threw us a going-away party which was the sweetest thing ever. Those six months in Sassari went by so fast and I loved every minute of it. Those people are absolutely amazing. I was sad to leave, but I know I am a supposed to be in Battipaglia so it wasn't too sad. So Wednesday morning we got on a train to Cagliari, then an overnight boat ride, then I took three train rides to Battipaglia. It was crazy traveling because we had to take some extra suitcases and we ran into so many problems and almost missed everything, but by the grace of God...we made everything without losing one thing! So now I am in Battipaglia!!!!I already love this city so much!!

goodbye party.

the best future missionaries ;P

Saying Goodbye

Coming to a new city has given me this new spirit and motivation for the work. I feel like I'm a Greenie again with how much I want to work and do my best. Also, it is kind of cool being old in the mission...I have so much experience! It is so cool coming to a new city with it's own problems...and realizing just how many ideas I have! I feel like my experiences in Pescara and Sassari have even prepared me to come here! Like here in Battipaglia we have this huge group of youth who love English course and hang out at the church all the time...but don't want to take the lessons. That's how it was in Sassari, but now that group is all praying and reading the BOM. So I am so excited to work here and have all these new things to try.

Boat ride with the elders

And my companion, Sorella Webster? Is amazing!!! She's from Idaho, 19years old, and is just the happiest, cutest girl ever. She is loves the work, never gets tired, and always just wants to learn and do more all the time. We get along so well and this transfer is going to be the best.

Battipaglia!

Okay some random things about Battipaglia: It's a small branch here (it looks smaller than Sassari, but I guess a lot of members were gone this week). There's quite a few spanish people in this ward. There's a ton of less actives in this area. I live in a huge apartment (6 Elders used to live in it). I live by MOUNTAINS! Every week we help two handicap kids do exercises which is super fun. I teach Primary! It is so fun singing Italian primary songs! I don't understand Napolitano (the dialect they speak here) at all and the accent is way different here. Cheese from buffalo is really famous here. But the best part is that we have a senior couple who lives next to us! They're named Scherbel and are from Wyoming and they do everything for this ward. Anziano Scherbel is actually the Branch President which is so nice because he gets to do it full time basically and is so involved in coming to lessons and friend-shipping. They do everything for this ward. Also, I heard they have us over all the time and every Pday they will drive us out to do something fun! So basically I am spoiled here! I've only met two of our investigators so far, but they seem great! One of them, named Rosa, has already read the whole BOM and knows it's true. But she is obese and can't walk down and up her 4 flight of stairs to get to church. We're hoping to try and help her get more exercise so she is able to walk around easily.

Then we have Rosaria, who is a fairly new investigator.. We went over Friday and we taught her the Restoration again and we watched the film and she loved all of it and believed it was true. Then she told us about she had a dream many years ago where (and during that period she was reading a lot of religious books) Mother Theresa told her that the truth is not found in one of her books, but in a greater book...and she told us that it was the BOM that Mother Theresa told her about! It was so awesome! So we invited her to be baptized and she wanted to be, but is scared so we asked her to pray about it that night. The next day we went back and she told us that she prayed about it, read 4 chapters of the BOM, and felt really good and she accepted the June 7^th as her date!! Then on Sunday she felt sick so she couldn't come to church so we'll have to move the date back a bit, but she is so going to get baptized!!!

Bacio!

Sorella Knudsen

p.s. The Scherbels went into Rome today and we bring me my package so I finally will have it! Thanks mom!