I ate Worm Cheese!

 

Sorella Rost and I eating worm cheese. 

Awesome week. We've seen so many miracles this week, but it has had a bit of disappointments. We've been working so hard this month to try and get a baptism...but it seems like all our investigators need a bit more time. A lot of our investigators couldn't see us this week and there's just a problem with everyone to make this step. But don't worry--we're not discouraged and we're still working hard! 

I'm learning how to cook! Be excited. Best lasagna ever.

-So there's only three things you will hear about this island before you come here...1. There are more sheep than people. 2. they have their own language. And 3. they eat cheese with worms in it. Well guess what I did this week...I ATE THE WORM CHEESE. To make it they first take some cheese—then puts a ton of worms in it. The worms eat the cheese—then poop it out—and there you go—worm cheese. It gives it a really spicy, special flavor that these sardenians really love. Yesterday we had a meal appointment and they gave us this cheese so I had to try it. It was nasty. It tasted like cheese mixed with stomach acid.

We went over to Sandra's--and she pulled out SQUID to cook. 

Squid

-We had a great lesson with Sandra this week! Her heart is changing slow, but definitely changing. She told us how she knows this church is true and how she feels better each week and she knows she needs to come to church. We taught her the restoration a while ago, but she didn't really listen to us then, so we taught her again this week. Her son, a recent convert, has been memorizing the first vision and we asked her if he could say it. It was the most special lesson! We taught the restoration, she really listened, and then her own son told her the first vision. The spirit was so strong! We also taught the word of wisdom this week...she doesn't have a huge desire to quit smoking yet because she still doesn't want to be baptized, but now we're focusing on strengthening her testimony and hopefully that will help! Also, on Sunday, she asked us if she could pay tithing even though she's not baptized. She's already the best member ever...just needs to stop smoking!

-Have I told you how boss my companion is? In English course on Tuesday she told all our English course students that the pope doesn't have the authority.

-Angela is doing awesome! She loves coming to church and wants to learn and learn and learn! She's great, even though her lessons have been a bit hard this week. Angela is very lonely and has been hurt a lot in her life; she has a lot of questions and worries that she needs to get over to find peace. We've been taking this member with us who is really the nicest lady in the world with the greatest testimony...but our lesson was about two hours long...and we only got to talk for about ten minutes of it. This member just went off explaining the plan of salvation without us and explained all these things to try and help Angela. She even talked about how in the garden of Eden there was no seeds so nothing could grow...uh...pretty sure that's not doctrine! She wouldn't let us talk until the end and we just bore our testimonies about God's plan for us. Then after she told us how we need to not just think of Angela as a baptism, but to take more time to help her;ow she needs to explain everything because we don't speak Italian too well; and all this stuff. We honestly felt horrible after—and we didn't do anything! Then on Sunday we were talking with Angela and she asked if we could keep coming over, but not bring that member because she feels the spirit when we talk, but not when this member talks. This made us so happy! Because Angela recognizes the spirit and it strengthens my testimony that we are called to do this work—even if we have a lot of weakness the spirit is the one that teaches and we are set apart to have this spirit.

Teaching Alessia about the BOM!

Gelato with Alessia!

-New investigator! There's this really sweet girl named Alessia that has been coming to English course a long time and she comes to all our activities and loves all of it. We gave her a BOM and explained all the stories—she went home that night and read 11 chapters! We're really excited about her!

Andrea 

-Okay I need to tell you the update on Andrea! He's the coolest ever. Last week his family was all cool with him joining the church, but then this week...he got in a huge fight with his dad and brother and they kicked him out on the street. He slept on the streets for two days and then the third day he called the other sisters to tell them what happened because they are teaching his mom. We were so upset that he was on the streets with nothing (and it has been really cold during the nights and he got sick!) so us sister we got all these sheets from our closet and we made him soup and gave him all these things. He was so touched when he saw us—he couldn't even speak, he just kept crying and crying. He took the stuff, found a place to sleep, and just started praying and reading...when he got a call! His boss heard he was on the streets so he called him up and told him to come live with him and his family and they will take care of him and let him keep coming to our church! Also, his boss was so amazed at everything we gave him and couldn't believe that there were people that nice. I don't know who this family is, but they seem so awesome! It was such a miracle! This week Andrea lost his girlfriend and his family, but it was awesome seeing how happy he was anyway. Also, yesterday we had lunch with a bunch of friends and there was this one girl who was asking questions to Andrea about why he would want to get baptized and change religions. He told us how he became super religious when he was younger and loved going to church since then, but that there is a huge difference between his religion and our church. He said how his religion preaches and doesn't do anything, but how we preach and act. Yes we have crazy standards, but it's great because it means we really believe in these things. He feels a huge difference once he started coming to church here and he knows that it is true. He's the coolest kid ever. There's a lot of people that need the church...but this church NEEDS Andrea. With his testimony he's going to bring hundreds of people to church.

Well that's all. I LOVE this city! This people here are so crazy and so funny and just makes me so happy every day...even when times are hard. Not a day has passed in my mission so far that I don't stop to think how crazy and awesome it is to be in Italy. Yes some days are hard, but I would never trade anything for it. Also, this week I get to go to ROME for a conference and we're taking a night boat over! Should be fun, but I'm scared to miss so much time!

incinta dello spirito santo

-HAPPY BIRHTDAY KELSEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-So you know how in America when you eat too much food and your stomach sticks out and how we call it a “food baby” well instead here they call it :incinta dello spirito santo. Which means: pregnant by the holy ghost—because that's what happened to Mary. Oh Catholics...only in Italy.

Scambio! Sisters from Caglari!

-Italian: “sono Sorella Knudsen della chiesa di Gesu cristo dei santi degli ultimi giorni.”

Sassanian: “Eu Soggu Suredda Knudsen ieja di Jesu crischi e di ri santi di luschimi di.”

Did you know that Sardegna has a difference language? They all speak Italian (thank goodness), but each city has their own language! Sardegna has a lot of Spanish influence so their language is like a mix of Italian and Spanish. We actually get told all the time that the food we eat here is the same as in Spain and Argentina. First I'm trying to learn Italian, but I'm also learning a bit of Sassarese!

-Ah where has this week gone?! These weeks are going by TOO fast and I'm not a fan. Transfers are starting to feel like weeks. Where is all the time going?!?! Thanks for the pictures mom! I can't believe Slla Waddoups put those up! Tell Daniel congrats on his mission call to Jacksonville Florida! That's awesome! Looks like you guys had a lot of fun in St. George! Ah little Hayden is SO cute! You need to send me some pictures! Hey also...have you seen any pictures of me on facebook lately? All my friends here in Italy tell me that they keep tagging me in some...have you seen them?

Sassari missionaries and Andrea

-First off, BEST NEWS!! Remember Andrea from my last email who is awesome! But him becoming Mormon is creating tension in his family so last Sunday he dumped us and we were all sad. Well he went home that night crying...then he opened up his BOM and prayed. His mom came in and started talking to him and told him if this church makes him happy then she will support him coming. So he came back and is getting ready for his baptism! Then his whole family agreed to take the lessons so now the other sisters are teaching them. MIRACLES. 

girl's day lunch!

-Anyway this week has been awesome! We have three new investigators!! One of them is named Angela. First off, we started this program with a couple of members to have them pray for missionary experiences and if they do that for 20 days then there's a promise that they will have someone to present to the missionary. Well we did with this family named Mastino—and they gave us a referral this week! Her name is Angela, she is a little bit older—BUT SO PREPARED! She knows the catholic church is wrong, doesn't like the Jehovah witnesses, and is just trying to find peace and meaning. She heard about our church and told us she just wants to go to a church where she can feel the spirit and feel good. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! Aprile 29!!! She is one of the best investigators I have ever had—we've met with her three times last week, she keeps all her commitments, asks great questions, wants to learn so much, so humble, and she spent an hour on the bus to come to all three hours of church! Angela just shows me how much God loves his children...she's this old lady that lives alone, wants peace, and has so many questions. God knows that she really needs the gospel so he arranged for her to hear it. I'm so excited for her, because I know how much the gospel is going to bless her and I can't wait for her to hear everything. 

My friend Alessia and I in old Sassari

-Also...WE HAVE A FAMILY! Their names are Simone and Francesca and they have three little girls. But it's a little bit complicated because Francesca was married with another man and had two kids, she's waiting on the divorce, and in the meantime is with Simone. Okay can I tell you how horrible marriage is here in Italy? Okay so the catholic church doesn't want divorces so they make divorces into a huge deal and you have to wait at least four years and pay thousands of dollars before the divorce goes through. So no one wants to get divorced so no one gets married here. Also, if you can only get married here if at least one of them is Italian...so all these immigrants here can never get married, so sad. Anyway Francesca was an investigator in the past, but then someone stole her BOM so we went met her she asked for a new one. We went over there and had a great lesson about the restaurazione. This couple was very sincere, wanting to learn everything (even though they have a lot of doubts about prophets). The best was when we invited them to read the BOM, Francesca turned to Simone and was like...”will you read it?!” And he was like “yeah I'll read it more than you!” then they started an agreement—he has to read two pages everyday and he writes down everything he learns and she will pray, think of a question, and then read. And we contributed and said we'll make them brownies if they do it. Hey whatever works to get people to read the BOM! They are awesome. 

A horse.

-In the meantime...things are going great with our investigators! Our investigator Antonella finally let us bring a member with us and it made all the difference to hear someone else's conversion and testimony. But again she wasn't feeling well enough to come to church so we need to help her get over that fear...I think she just needs to have more friends. We decided to postpone Lucia's date because she was not ready for the interview this week and now she's having a lot of personal problems and doubting so we are going to help her strengthen her testimony this week! And a ton of other things. Well time is going by too fast in the mission and it's scaring me, but I'm loving the mission more and more each day! The best feeling is working your hardest and then seeing a ton of miracles and blessings. Buona settimana! VI voglio bene!!

Sorella Knudsen

Spiritually rebirthing people is hard work

Us missionaries and our best investigator friends

This week has been the best week ever! But also exhausting!  Exhausting in that we're-been-working-really-hard-seeing-lots-of-miracles way.   So it's been great!! Well first President decided to have a zone conference (even though we just had one two weeks ago) so back to Cagliari for us!! This conference was really inspired and just gave us a lot of inspiration for our work and I just loved it! 

Yeah...that's my companion.

 

I also had to do a scambio (exchange I think they call it in English) with Sorella Udall—our little Greenie!—for a day! 

Greenie and I got a little wet!

Okay can I just tell you how much I love this sister? She's brand new in the mission, but she doesn't have any fear at all to talk to everyone and she is so happy and going non stop without ever feeling down. She makes us all want to work harder. She's awesome. Also, my companion is super cool! We get along so great! I don't know how I am so blessed to work with such amazing sisters!

Greenie with her first pizza!

 

Okay so remember my last letter where we invited 3 people to be baptized...and they all kind of told us no or not yet. Well Sorella Patterson and I kept up this goal and kept inviting everyone to be baptized! We had a lesson with our investigator Antonella and it was a tough lesson. It was filled with questions and distractions and all these crazy things...but we wanted to invite her to be baptized so we just kept praying the whole lesson that the spirit would come back and the perfect opportunity. And it came! She was talking about how she wants to kneel down and pray to know if the church is true and get an answer—then we asked that if she does get an answer...will she be baptized. She said yes! She told her we've been praying about it and we know she can be prepared for the 22 of March and SHE SAID YES!!!!! So were so happy! 

Then we went over to Lucia Solinas! She had her boyfriend over, and he was making all these distractions and talking about the most randomest things...but we kept bringing the conversation back to the gospel (this is like my biggest, constant struggle...just trying to actually talk about the gospel! Hahah jk). Lucia was talking about how she likes to help other people and so we read a scripture about how when we are baptized we promise to help other people. Lately Lucia has been having a really difficult time and we've been trying to show her how faith in Jesus Christ will help her. We read Mosiah 24 together which is about the people in bondage who the Lord strengthens and delivers. At the end we asked why the Lord helped these people (kind of a difficult question), but then Lucia answered “because they made a covenant with them”. We were amazed that she picked out that part so fast. We invited her to be baptized and you could just tell that it wasn't a surprise, but that she has really been thinking about it! She said she wants to do it and when we gave her the 15th—she said she would do it then!!! Then, ah it was so cute, she said “But it's going to be hard...I don't know if I can get up at 6 am every morning” Hahaha! She thought she had to live JUST like us. She was happy to hear that our schedule was not a commandment. Ah she's the best! We love her so much!

These two lessons were the hardest lessons of my life! Satan was using every force to try and stop us, but Patterson and I knew we had to invite them to be baptized so we stuck with it and just prayed our hearts out during these lessons and we were able to come out with two dates. After one of the lessons Sorella Patterson said “Man spiritually rebirthing people is tough work.” Ah I know that that is true. But it is also the best thing ever. We have been so happy this week with our TWO BAPTISMAL DATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

….and ….then....satan came. He got both Antonella and Lucia to stay home from church Sunday! You have to come to church three times before you can get baptized so Anontella can't make her date now (which is fine, we'll just give her another). But it just bummed us out that neither one of them felt like coming. Then the saddest thing happened to all of our missionaries last night. So there's this investigator named Andrea. Sorella Felice and I found him on a bus, but the Anziani have been teaching him. He is AWESOME! He's 20, loves everything about the church, and has been reading and praying so much. He is the favorite of all us missionaries and the whole ward. Well he came to this activity last night and told us that his parents are really against him getting baptized and it's causing a HUGE conflict in his family and he can't do it anymore...so he dumped us all. I still think he will get baptized one day.

Well that's missionary life! You get a lot of miracles...but also a lot of disappointments come to. A big struggle that I've had on my mission is going from having a lot of faith for miracles and then trying to not be disappointed or sad or when they don't come and keep having that faith. When you get discouraged and lose faith then you became less effective. I'm getting better though! I prayed so hard and had so much faith that Antonella and Lucia would come to church...and when they didn't...I was fine. I still have a lot of faith without getting discouraged! They ARE going to get baptized one day...but sometimes the Lord has his own timing for everything and we all know his timing is a lot better than ours. So this week has been great and we're seeing miracles everyday and finding people who want to listen and who want the peace that the gospel brings to us. THIS GOSPEL IS AMAZING!!! I fall more and more in love with it everyday. Love you family! Have a great week! 

In bocca al lupa" means in the mouth of the wolf...which means Good Luck! I thought this was funny! 

That is so funny that you got my Christmas package back! Aw man! Thanks for always thinking of me and wanting to send me packages mom! Maybe just send me the letters and some pictures of Hayden and Kylie and don't worry about the package! As much as I would love those chocolate oranges... it might not be worth sending me a package! I wouldn't mind getting some souvenirs here so maybe just put some money into my account instead of worrying about a package! Thanks! Also thanks for keeping me updated with everything. I'm so sorry to hear about Emily and I'm definitely keeping her in my prayers. Also, I'm sending home a memory card with copies of all my photos—let me know if you get it! 

Love Sorella Knudsen

3 Invites

Saying  goodbye to Felice

Waiting in the airport to get our new companions

Ah I am so happy right now and just loving life! I admit, I was not too that excited to have more sisters in the apartment because in Pescara with four sisters it was always such a big mess and there was never time to do anything. BUT THESE SISTERS ARE THE BEST. Okay first, there's Sorella Rost from Cali. Who is a PROFESSIONAL cook! She loves cooking and takes care of all of our meals. Plus, we decided to eat healthy—so I'm eating the yummiest food without gaining weight! And then she's teaching me how to make everything! She's so cute and awesome. Then we have Sorella Udall from Arizona who is our Greenie and is crazy, awesome, perfect. She is just like that Greenie from the RM who is so excited about everything, wants to take notes on everything, has unbelievable amounts of energy, etc. It has been really fun having a Greenie around to remind of us that excitement we all felt when we first got here. But she is so funny... like she asks to get up at 6:28 so she has time to say a prayer before we exercise, she sings “love at home” all day long, before she got here she already planned our first shopping trip, she wants to plant flowers to brighten our home, sweeps our apartment every day (because of the missionary books says to do that), and all this stuff. She's a hoot, but we love her. Then there's dear old Patterson! It's great because are such good friends already and we both want to give our all to the mission.  This is just too good to be true.

Planning

Okay so Patterson and I made a goal to always be ready with a baptismal invite for every lesson we go into. Then the Lord knows we're always ready and doing our part and it's just up to him. I honestly didn't expect we would use them too much...but every single lesson we've gone to...the spirit has prompted us to use them!! Let me tell you about some of them...

1. Sandra. If you remember a couple months ago we already invited her to be baptized, and...she screamed into our face and told us she will never be baptized. But she's the mom of a member and still our friend so we still go over every week. She has still been coming to church and reading the scriptures each week. We've still some small changes and her asking some questions; she was really interested in the temple and wants to go. So anyway I take Patterson over to meet Sandra and we do a lesson on repentance with her...and then it just turns into the whole gospel. I just knew we had to invite her again...but I was so scared! I said a prayer for help and we started talking about baptism. Then she said how she doesn't remember her baptism at all and she would like to do another one as an adult because it would be more special (WHAT?! Last time she said she would never get baptized because she respects her dad's decision for her to be baptized too much). So I invited her again and this time she said “non ancora. Vi dico quando.” (not yet, I'll tell you when). Then she said she wasn't ready, her son said she needs to stop smoking first, and we decided next time we will help her stop smoking. But this is a huge miracle for me and shows me how much the Lord can change hearts. We still have a long way to go, but Sandra went from a “NO MAI!” (NO, NEVER!) to a “not yet.” Speriamo bene!!
2. Lucia Farina. We invited her to be baptized last week and she was unsure about it so we asked her to pray. This week we were teaching her the plan of salvation, but it turned into talking about the holy ghost. She said how we could see how happy we are and she seemed really interested in the holy ghost and wanted that for herself. Again we felt the impression to invite her to be baptized...and she seemed really unsure about it. We asked her if she has ever been baptized before and she said no I still need to be baptized (this gives us a lot of hope...because even though she says she loves her church—there's a reason she hasn't been baptized yet). She's at a point where she has two choices before her and she needs to choose. We asked her to pray about it and we've been calling her everyday to see how it's going. She hasn't got an answer yet. I really believe she's going to get baptized one day! The Lord just has his own time and when she's ready—she's going to get that answer!
3. Flora. Our cute Philippian. She has been an investigator a long time of the sisters and wants to get baptized....but works Sundays so can't ever come to church. We went to go meet her and again we felt prompted to talk about baptism and to be bold about it. We bore testimony, talked about the blessings of baptism, told her how important it was, etc. She really wants to be baptized...but she doesn't want to quit work. We also talked about prayer a lot and asking him for more faith and help. She seems to really want to pray and figure everything out!
   Even though done of these people accepted...we are so much closer to having a baptism. I have learned that as we really prepare...the Lord will use us and help us accomplish our desires. There's never a reason to be shy about inviting someone to Christ and that we should keep inviting and inviting and inviting! I love this goal and I plan to keep it up for the rest of my mission! 
   
   

   

   An inactive teaching all of us to wash our faces with fruit! 

   Vi voglio bene!
   Sorella Knudsen

Sassari sta fiorendo!

A member gave us mushrooms, so I made them! 

my yummy mushrooms

I'm so happy right now. So in Pescara, I had this HUGE love for everyone and the city and everything! But I haven't quite felt that for Sassari yet...I mean I love it here, but I haven't reached that point yet...but then it hit me this week I LOVE Sassari! Let me tell you how great my week was!
 

Okay first we had zone conference and it was awesome and I learned so much!

 

 

 
Oh hey I want to include a cute story about a miracle that my mission has seen! Here's a little email our mission president sent us:

"Our eleven year old granddaughter has leukemia. It was a tough decision to leave her and come to Italy, but President Eyring told us our family would experience miracles as we served. We believed him.

Last week our daughter called and said the doctors were concerned because Emily’s blood count was extremely low and continued to drop. The concern was this could be an indication the cancer was coming back and she might need a bone marrow transplant if it didn’t improve.
We made a decision to call family members and ask them to fast for Emily on Sunday. This is when we asked all of you to include her in your prayers and your fasting.
Three days later Emily went to the hospital for the determining blood test. For this stage of her cancer, the doctors try to keep the ANC count (the ability to fight off infection) at a minimum of 500-1500. The test results were astounding. Her ANC count had jumped from 100 the week before to 4,800--AN ABSOLUTE MIRACLE.
The next day, instead of going to the hospital for a possible bone marrow transplant, Emily got on a bus and went with a group of children her age on a choir tour. She still has about a year of chemotherapy left, but we have faith she will be cured.
We truly know the Lord blessed Emily and we thank each and everyone of you for your prayers and faith. This it truly another Italy Rome Mission miracle. We love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Presidente and Sorella Waddoups"

They told us about her when they first got here and every zone conference they always tell us how she's doing and then last month they asked all of us to fast for her. We are so happy she's doing good! 

Last week in Cagliari we spent our P-day going to this huge lake and seeing Flamingos!  Sardegna is known for them!  

I'm a flamningo.

Sassari sta fiorendo! That's part of the Rome Mission song, but I put in Sassari and it means Sassari is flourishing! And it's true! The Lord is blessing this city so much right now!! When I first got here all Sorella Felice and I did was finding, finding, casa in casa, strada, finding, bleh. But now we are getting new investigators every week, we are finding all these in actives who we can work with, we're meeting with the members and they're trying to bring us their friends, we have a ton of lessons each week, and our investigators are progressing!!! It is so awesome to have so much work! Then transfers came this week...and poor Sorella Felice is out (she is so sad)...and I'm getting...Sorella Patterson! Remember that redhead who was in all my photos in Pescara? Yep, she's my new companion! It's so weird because we already know each other so well, but I then I know she's AWESOME and a great missionary so I'm excited! BUT THEN...President told me he is bringing two new sisters in Sassari!!! One of them is Sorella Rost from Cagliari (who I did a scambio last week with) and a Greenie! Crazy!! So now I need to prepare the apartment and get everything ready! 

We taught Sandra on the beach!

My cute companion who I will miss!

Also, a couple of weeks ago Sorella Felice and I met this guy on the bus named Andrea, but we gave him to the Anziani because he's a guy...but he's getting baptized next month!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday he thanked Sorella Felice and I again and again for finding him! So happy for him!

We had a great lesson with Lucia Farina! We taught the gospel and read 2 Nefi 31 and talked all about baptism. We invited her to be baptized and she said that she already made her choice to belong to the Evangelist church and she's comfortable there. We talked about prayer again and asked if she's been praying... she said yes and then hurried and changed the subject. Here's the thing...and we could be totally wrong on this...but we think that Lucia did pray...and got her answer that everything that we've been saying is true...but she's too scared to act on it and change everything yet. Then I started bearing my testimony and I said “Sono molto benedetta” (I have been blessed) and tears started coming into my eyes because of the spirit...and then Lucia started crying! It was the sweetest moment...all of us sitting in silence while the spirit bore testimony to Lucia of what we've been saying. I have never been so happy to make someone cry before! Hahah! Then...the best thing ever happened...LUCIA CAME TO ALL THREE HOURS OF CHURCH SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She has never wanted to come and yet she came! It was a miracle and I am so happy.

Also, the other Lucia...we've been meeting with her a lot this week because she's been having some personal problems and just listening has really helped. She hasn't been able to come to church yet, because her leg was broken...but this week she has been able to walk again...so...SHE AND HER BOYFRIEND CAME TO CHURCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, she and her boyfriend stayed an hour after church talking to everyone and they seemed to have really liked it!!

Then there's Sandra! She's been making progress lately!! We taught her all about the temple and how we do baptisms for the dead and get sealed to our families—she loved it! The spirit was so strong when we talked about it. Her son (who's a member) is preparing to go to the temple and she wants to go with him...but she knows she can't if she's not a member...that really hit her when she saw the temple and realized she couldn't go...so now I just know she's really thinking about baptism, just for the temple. My new plan is to help her stop smoking so she can be all ready when she decides to get baptized. And as always, SHE CAME TO CHURCH TOO!!! 

My 3 investigators that came to church!!! and that guy in the back is the one who gave the talk hahah!

Hey we were way excited about everyone coming to church finally!! Also, all these corso d'inglese students came which was awesome! Sorella Felice had to give a talk and it went great! Then...Okay this is the worst/funniest story ever...so this guy named Matteo (he's 7 feet tall, has this deep voice, and super awkward) well he had to give a talk too. He went up and told how the Madonna is of the devil and how we need to correct Catholics of all their false traditions and just went on and on about how the catholic church is of the devil. We (all of us missionaries) had over 15 CATHOLIC investigators that came. It was so was funny because of how awful it was. Yes we don't believe that the Catholic church is correct, but that doesn't mean everything they do is of the devil. After we had to go talk to all of our investigators and apologize for what he said. Most of them understood, but a few were a little offended.

Anyway this week was awesome! We also got a new investigator (a sister in law of the new investigator last week), we got a member referral (a member threw a Valentine's party all so we could meet her friend who hopefully we can teach soon!), and today a corso d'inglese student wants us to come over and teach her and her friend about our church! Miracles are happening in Sassari!!! I love this city!!! 

Love you all! Sorella Knudsen

Ciao!!

-Thanks for the emails! I especially loved that you told me about all my cousin's missions! It was awesome to see their photos! I especially think about Nicole all the time because there are so many Romanians here!! Will you send me her email? Also--I know her companion!!! She was in the MTC with me!!

-So guess where I am...CAGLIERI!!! Tomorrow is Zone conference and today we have interviews so we got to come down early and spend P-day here! I'm in this cute little Internet cafe that has great music (that we're trying not to listen to haha). Also, sadly there's not our great Library Lady Lucia here, but we knew that we would do Internet on Monday so we stopped by on Friday and she gave us necklaces! So cute! And she told a member that' she's reading the BOM. I have a feeling we're going to get another Lucia! Stay in tune till next week...

-I GOT YOUR PACKAGE! Yay Christmas!!! That would've been awesome to have for Christmas, with the little tree and stocking and chocolate orange (I was so happy for that!) but February is also a great time to have Christmas too hahaha! Thank you so much!!

Scambio. all the great sisters close to me.

-This week the sisters from Caglieri came to do a scambio (exchange) in Sassari with us! It was fun to see other sisters (it's been about two months) and learn how great they are! (fun fact...the closest sisters to me are in the French mission) My good old Italian companion Sorella Mistura and Sorella Rost came! Sorella Rost is the best cook EVER and gave us great cooking lessons. (Like did you know when frying something...you should heat the pan...then the oil...then put in the veggies otherwise the oil just gets soaked in). We had four lessons planned...and then the last minute...all of them cancelled!! But when things like that happen we know that God has another plan in store...Sorella Rost and I were walking the streets of Sassari getting rejected over and over again...then we found this cute little Romanian girl named Laura. We talked about how much God loves us, and prayer, and the restoration and now we have her as a solid investigator! She lives in the sketchiest and dirtiest place, but she's great!

Alleyways

-This week we made progress with Antonella. I've already mentioned her a few weeks ago. But she's this old lady who loves the bible (she has studied with Jehovah Witnesses) and it's been really hard for her to accept the BOM. Mostly because when she read the Bible or the BOM she just opens to a random page and starts reading...but every time she does that with the BOM she gets weird war scriptures. But this week we read Alma 32 about the seed and she loved it! She said that now she really likes the BOM and maybe there's good things in it too. Success!! Also, we borrowed her BOM and marked up scriptures for her to flip to and it has made a huge difference.

-One strength that Sorella Felice and I have for our investigators is tender loving care haha! But really, this week we decorated (so sister missionary) their BOMs and marked up chapter for them to study. It's paying off because more investigators are reading!!

Well got to go! Right now us missionaries in Sassari are making all these plans for activities, member missionaries and meno attivi so get excited to hear about all that!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Missions are like Popsickles

Missions are like popsicles. The first half is the hardest; the second half is the fastest; and it's best enjoyed when you “stick” to it and thrust in your “sickle”! (my lovely companion told me this)

So I hit that sad/happy moment this week when February 1^st came around and I hit my half way point (OHHHH I'M HALF WAY THERE....OHHHH LIVING ON A PRAYER!--it's a song). Yes, I am half way done with my mission. It's awesome because I've done so much and learned so much and I can really work hard these last nine months...but I only have 9 months left in the beautiful country of Italy.......... :( :( :(

-This week was great! I feel like P-day was just yesterday and I have no idea where the days went or what I've done...pensiamo un po...

-OH remember how last email I said how we just gave the library lady named Lucia a brownie? Well today we gave her a BOM and she was so touched and loved it! She promised to read it! Also, she works with one of our members! Stay in tune for next week...

-Last P-day Sorella Felice and I took a train to Algero—a BEAUTIFUL city by all these boats. It was so cold and wet, but we had fun anyway. Attached are the pictures.

The beach! All those brown things are sponges.

 -Corso d'ingese! So our English course is one of the best finding tools ever (besides the members) and we have found many investigators and friends from the course! One of my best friends (and an investigator of the Elders) is named Daniela and this week she gave us these really nice Sardengian necklaces which were so pretty! Also, we have all these other students that stay an hour after corso and talk with us. Then we have these three older students who come EVERY WEEK without fail! They are so funny and they really like our church. 

I drew this for a little girl in my ward. Guarda quanto brava sono. 

-This week has been really great! I feel like it has gone by so fast! We had a great lesson with Lucia Farina! We gave her Alma 32 to read and she loved it! She marked it all up and she spent 30 minutes telling us how great the analogy about the seed is and telling us all the things that she's learned. We invited her to come to church again, and she doesn't want to come all the way to Sassari (she lives 40 minutes away) when her church is right by her house. Then we asked her if she has been praying to know if this book and the church is true. She told us she already knows the book is, but hasn't really prayed about the church (well she doesn't believe that there's one true church). For some reason at this moment, Sorella Felice and I couldn't think of anything to say so we just sat in silence for about a minute. But it was really good because I could feel the spirit and after she said “I think I actually really need to pray about this.” I really do think she will sincerely pray about it and then will receive a strong testimony.

-We found a new meno attivo (less actives) this week! Her name is Maria and her house is covered in Catholic pictures, but she pulled out her BOM and it looked like she has really studied it in the past. Also, she offered us wine and coffee. But she is really nice and wants us to come back and talk with her. We've decided to do all the lessons with her again. Hopefully we can help her come back!  

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!! Sorella Knudsen