Yo yo yo!

Hey one and all. This is a letter from Italy!

So this week has been amazing. We have had a couple of finding miracles that have just been awesome. First of all, the other group of elders in Ostia set a baptismal date with this lady for the 22nd. So she just needs to keep coming to church and she will make it. It is hard for her 'cause our church building is in Rome (for some reasons that I don't want to get into 'cause it makes me mad to think about). But she is a great lady and if she keeps coming to church we'll have a baptism on the 22nd.

Next story. So my companion and I got a referral from another elder that met this woman on the metro. He gave us the number and the name and we gave her a call to set up an appointment for Friday at 11:00. Perfect. She gave us the bus number we needed to take, 764. That was awesome. So we embarked on the one hour travel to Laurantina and searched for the bus at the station. Didn't find it. We asked the woman at the biglietaria (ticket booth/sales) and she said that it existed but that we could also take a bus which was already at the station. So we said, awesome perfect, and took the 765 instead of the 764.

So relying on the word of the lady at the ticket counter, we asked the bus driver to double check if he went to that street. He said that he didn't go anywhere near that street. So he dropped us off at another bus stop. We looked at the map and found a bus that would take us close, and then we could walk the rest of the way. So we took that bus and asked the driver, and he said he didn't go close to that street. But he stopped close to a stop that the 764 stops at, and that bus would take us there.

So we wait at the bus stop. At this point it is 11:30. So we wait, and 20 minutes later the bus comes and takes us to the street. So we are searching for palazo (apartment building) number 53. Cannot find it. We wearch for another 45 minutes up and down this street. It is a way long street. Can't find anything. So we decide to just head home and call the lady and set up another appointment. So we are walking up a street that makes a T intersection with the road that this woman lives on, and we see the bus we need to take to get back to the station. And if we don't grab this bus, we will wait for another 45 minutes to catch it again. So we run. No, we sprinted with all of our might. It was urgent we caught that bus.

So we didn't make it to the bus stop, but luckily there was a lady who was at the bus stop that stopped the bus with us running as fast as we could and flagging it down. And it waited for us to get there. So we get on the bus and move to the middle. We are hot and sweaty and just want to go home and eat lunch and set another appointment with this lady, when a woman walked up to us and says, "Are you Mormons?" "Yes," I said. Then she said, "I had an appointment with one of you this morning, but they didn't show up." I then exclaimed, "You are Laura!!!!!!!" And she said, "Ya." We then commenced to teach her the first lesson on the way to her work, which happened to be the stop before ours on the way home. So we had a good 50 minutes or so with her.

The Lord is preparing his people. Even now there are people for us to find and teach. And if we mess up and get off at the wrong stop, he will provide a way for us to find his elect - if we keep pushing to do his work.

What a great miracle that was.

Ok, some other things that I wanted to share really quick. First, the Italians put their fork on the right when they set the table. I think that that is funny. Oh, and I have lost 5 kilograms (11 pounds). That is a whole belt notch for me. I can hardly keep my pants up. But my muscle is still there, so don't worry anyone that is reading this. I am still the beautiful self that I was when I left. Just a little thinner.

Other news in the mission - this mission is shrinking, and for reasons that make me angry, I will not talk about them right now. But we only have one missionary coming in this next transfer. So ya, and we are losing eight. Sad, but I guess we just have to work harder.

I love you all and hope that you are doing well. It is fun to hear from all of you. Jalayne, can't wait to hear more stories about your teaching job. Julie, you are going to love high school. Kim, your leg will get better, promise. And Justin, keep up the lawyering.

I just wanted to add another little sauce recipe real quick. So you just use plain tomato sauce and you customize the sauce they way you want. Add a little bit of olive oil to thin it out on the pasta and then add basil, garlic, and any other spices you want to add. You just have to play around with the flavors. My favorite is tomato sauce and olive oil with peperoncini (a small spicy pepper), with basil and parsley. That is really good. You just need to play with it till you get the flavors just right.

Love you all, and I am praying for you. Pray for the people in Italy. They need your prayers.

Love,
Anziano Hatch