okay -- super fast

Sorry to send off another baby letter, but Giudi and Luca are here and they're more important, ha!

But this week has been beautiful, starting with last pday where we went and kicked it with out bff Elena who taght us how to do this traditonal stamping stuff (sending pics).

But our work is finally starting to pick up. We've had some beautiful miracles with our less actives and finding new people to teach and our days are filling up so they are flying by. I feel like I could be leaving next week. Got my baby and my city ready and now I've got something else to do, we'll see... there are 17 new Sorelle coming in this next transfer...oofa!

Know that I love your guts, I love being a missionary and the weather is beautiful!

Excited about all our coops and beekeeping dad!!!!!  It must be you and me!

You are beautiful and there is nothing better than being a missionary.

S.lla B

and may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten...

Guys, things are good.

The first few weeks here where a little rough, but I feel like I'm finally doing what Heavenly Father wants me to, I'm loving my baby companion and my city and my members and life is good. Plus it's sunny!!! Huzzah for summer! I know I'm going to hate being a hot sweaty mess in a matter of weeks, but right now it sure beats being rainy and cold and blah.

Ok, so I feel like I've already written a few emails and I'm running our of words, but I will tell you about a beautiful surprise conference I got to go to on Monday in Milano. I headed up with a Sorella from Rimini and we abbandoned our babies for the day on Forlì and headed north again.

It's always the weirdest to got to Milano after serving in Lombardia for a year. Elder Allen (who's an area seventy and heads the missionary department) spoke and it was awesome. We learned a lot about repentance and my mind was blown. He also told the sorelle that were there to calm down, we're too good at stressing ourselves out when this is a joyous work and we need to have fun. Good for me to hear from a higher source, ha.

Piazza Aurelio Saffi

PLUS I got to spend the whole day sitting by my Sorella Beutler. I was the happiest. When I see you in a bit I'll just give you the rundown and what we talked about, ha.

Agnese.

In other news my plan of bringing hope to our branch and our people is in affect and is working and it is great. My companion is starting to calm down about the fact that our numbers leave something to be desired because we're doing exactly what the Lord wants us to. There was a different spirit about church on sunday and we're visiting our people and they are smiling! Ha. I love it. It's really rewarding even if we're not getting people ready for baptism right now.

Laura's kitchen, my favorite place in Forlì.

I'm still obsessed with Laura and Alberto and family. We have a couple other peeps we've started teaching that are cool and I'm just trying to love every day because I don't know what will happen next transfer. With 15ish more sorelle coming in I could get another baby to train at the same time or go open another city, who knows.

Buon compleanno, Gloria!

Love you all dearly. these are some pics with Agnese, Laura's daughter, and a birthday party for Gloria, our only Young Woman who's a rock star.

xoxo

s. cespuglio

time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'

Steve Miller Band keeps running into my brain these days because time is the craziest.

I hate that I know that on Sunday I have two months until I'm home. Oh mammmmma. But I'm finding sollace in the fact that I will be heading right back here to hug all the freaky people I've had to just shake hands with. I've also fallen into apostasy and hardly use the Lei form with anyone anymore, haha.

Life is good. I feel like I have the ground finally under my feet. I know what God wants me to do here in Forlì, I got a beautiful blessing last week from Anziano Jeffries because I was just dragging and it was exactly what I needed. God loves me, did you know? haha. But I've really been feeling that.

Then conference blew my mind! Plus we had Laura and Alberto with us at one of the sessions, we watched in Rimini and I love watching conference with investigators and watching them get their answers. I can't tell you how much I love this family. They can't get baptized for a while, like over a year, waiting for divorces to go through so they can get married, but I am obsessed with them. When I sit in their home I feel like I am exactly where I need to be and there is such a spirit of love in their home. I think about them all the time. I'll tell you their whole story when I'm home but really, they're incredible. Credetemi.

Anyways, besides having them at conference with us, it was exactly what I needed and Whitney Clayton came out of nowhere and totally blew me away. Maybe my favorite talk. "Marriage is a gift from God and the quality of your marriage is a gift to God." Shoot. Loved it. There's just nothing better than living apostles and prophets.

It's been a really interesting experience figuring out what the heck to do with this city. I feel like I knew from the beginning but didn't trust myself and just got to work knocking on doors and doing what have you, and every time we went out to do finding I literally felt empty. It was weird. I could tell I wasn't in the right place but I didn't know what I needed to be doing.

Conference just flooded me with peace and I'm realized that I just need to teach and love these members for now. You have to plow the field before you can plant before you can harvest, and these people need love and joy, and that's why I'm here right now, so I better get to work.

Ian can't believe you saw Travis and Korey and didn't say anything! hahaha. Love your guts. Still waiting on someone to give me Ian's address...

Well, I'm sure I had 6,000 other thoughts to tell you but ormai sono vecchia e la testa è troppo piena. Life is good, even better for us because we have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Appunto!

Vi voglio beeeeennnnnnne. Statemi bene!

sorella cespuglio

pasqua

Hey guys. Love you.

This week's email is going to be short because really there's not much to report. I got sick last week and am still just kind of dragging. It'll be a miracle if my body lasts this last 2.5 months, haha. Thank heavens I'm not in it for 17 years. Oh mamma, Alma, you're a stud.

We had a beautiful Easter lunch, filled with way too many chocolate eggs, at the house of the Rossi's. He's Pres Wolfgramm's counselor and I actually met him when he came to Siena a few weeks ago, and they're so cool. They have a daughter who served in Temple Square (knows Laura Otto) and is now married with two little kids, and then they have a son who served in England. Without them the branch of Forlì could not exist.

It was nice to be in a home and then share our little lesson with them because we haven't been teaching as much as I like to and it just felt good to do my job.

Today we're just going to kick it here (we went and saw San Marino last week with the Jeffries) and tonight we're going to go teach Laura and her beautiful family. Her daughter Agnese, 11, soon to be 12 on June 3rd, is my new bff. Love her.

We've started working with some really beautiful less active Nigerian women that have solid testimonies but just don't come to church. We're teaching everyone the restoration and pushing them to read the BOM and then after a few lessons we're going to figure out what is going on with all of them. It seems like some of them have just felt pushed lately so we're going to work our Sorelle power and love the crap out of them and then invite them to get their act together because we want their salvation, not because I like telling people what to do.

You are all wonderful and I pray for you everyday. Be good!

xoxo

sorella b