Laura is Amazing

Alright..... well...... i guess i'll start at last week this day. we went and saw the vatican museum which was amazing! we saw the sistine chapel and all this beautiful art. it was remarkable! 

Vatican Square

so we decided to go back home from rome a little early cause we had an appointment and we ended up getting on the wrong trani that was a 'fast' train and wouldnt stop in our city and a voice came on and announced it and we were like, oh no..... so we ran to the door of the train and couldnt get it open (the best was a german family behind us who made the same mistake and was yelling at us to open the door) but it wouldnt open so the family went to the next door, got it open and jumped out but when the last person in their family jumped out the train started to GO and i was just full of adrenalin and was ready to jump off a MOVING TRAIN and i turned and looked at sorella ivory for i dont know what, i guess approval to jump haha and just said 'SORELL?!' like..... if i jump are you coming? and she just looked at me and then we both kind of realized what we were about to do and started laughing. no we did not jump off a moving train. we would have died. haha and sorella ivory would have had to call president. imagine that.. 'um... president? yeah, sorella sudweeks broke her leg cause we jumped off a moving train....sorryyyyyy.....'  anyway... that was just the funniest experience. anyway.. we missed our appointment but our lives are.... still...... with us................

Catching the golden snitch

a brilliant idea we had this week was to move our couch (that was basically used as a shelf inside) out to our deck area and it has been the best thing we've ever done. holler.

two of our investagators have told us that they dont want to see us anymore, including andreina.... which is really sad and just kind of breaks your heart when that happens..... but on the other hand, the lady we found doing house agreed to start reading with us from the book of mormon every week so thats really great, and very rare to have found her by just showing up to her door and not through a referral or anything. i know that shes really been prepared to hear our message, even if it might still be hard with her, she said that her door is always open to learn more about christ and i hope she realizes that what we have can really bless and help her life. 

we also went and visited Pat, a less active, this week. she hasnt been to church for a few years but we are going to try to see her once a week and hopefully she'll start coming back to church. she works in the mornings though which is the problem...... it seems to always be the problem here hah... shes from nigeria so she speaks english which was the BEST thing. we did a lesson in english with her and...... yes. i liked it. hah.

Laura and the evil emperor

but italian is coming. i am able to speak a lot faster than when i just got here and i understand a lot more. its still a little crazy to me that i am able to understand this language haha... but i also know that heavenly father is really helping me when its important. a lot of times i wont understand almost any of one conversation and almost all of another conversation but i know its cause on the one hand, it was really important that i understand their needs and concerns. its all very interesting and i know how actively God is guiding this work.

well...... not much else to report. i love you and im thinking about you........ 

keep it real, everybody.

Sorella Sudweeks

Long hair!

She calls this my super sister missionary dress. ;) She found it in the death closet. best find ever.

Sorella Sandwich

Dinner at Gilberto's

Ciao da Italia!

first things first- i am staying in Ladispoli for another transfer :) with sorella ivory. so God answered that prayer haha cause..... i love her and quite frankly i am terrified to be with anyone who knows this city less than i do hah.. but no worries. we will be here for another 6 weeks at least. which means you can still send letters to this address:

Sorella Sudweeks

Via Flavia 21

00055 Ladispoli RM

Italy

i've decided i like letters sent here better cause i only get them from the mission office every 6 weeks (transfers). so yeah. send them here. :)

Elisa's Baptism

alright. so i had my first baptism this last saturday! her name is Elisa De Antonis and she is the cutest one! she got baptized in the sea and it was the coolest experience because we started in the church where sorella buma gave an amazing talk and i accompanied the music (proud of me clinton?) then we all walked to the beach together and there were still a few people there but not really in the water. when elisa and fratello viglietta walked down into the water everyone went silent. i swear, even the cars stopped driving by. there was such a beautiful spirit there and when elisa came out of the water she had the biggest smile on her face and she came back to the shore and gave her mom the biggest hug. it was so perfect. 

so sorella buma is leaving tomorrow to go back to salt lake! crazy! she has been an awesome trainer and its sad to see her go but im also very excited for her. its been insane though cause we've had SO many appointments with people since she's leaving (she's served in Ladispoli for the last 9 months!) and we have just eaten so much. you literally have no idea.. 

the other night we went over to a guy's house from our english course and he had his family and some friends there and it was just so italian haha! we ate outside and they had a pizza oven out there in their garden and they just kept putting pizzas in and pulling them out, all these amazing kinds of pizza! and they'd cut them up and pass them around. i swear i ate like 10 pieces of pizza that night.. (pizza is square by the way. we make it wrong in america). and then after the pizza they pull out this amazing gelato. oh man....... it was so great too because not only did we get to talk to the guy from english course about what we do and our church, but we talked with all his friends as well. it was just a fun night. :) 

At the beach with Giorgia

so since sorella buma is leaving, we have special privillages haha. no but we did get permission to put our feet in the water at the beach (at 6:30am. chill.) on her last exercise day. so we called giorgia and she came and hungout with us at 6:30 in the morning and it was GLORIOUS! and......... i will maybe be able to do that again in like 6 months.... we'll see haha.... 

im thinking of asking for them to make me a tag that just says 'sorella sud' (sud {sood} means south) because no one, seriously, no one, can pronounce sudweeks. i've gotten 'sun-eeks', 'suj-eek' and my favorite- 'sandwhich' yup. sorella sandwhich. 

well i love you all! vi voglio tanto bene! 

Sorella Sandwhich

Waiting for the bus

Giorgia and Laura

FORTZA ITALIA

i was looking forward to starting this email off with FORTZA ITALIA! but italy lost the Eurocup to spain........ well.......... anyway.........................

also you know how in utah you have to go to the gym to get to the sauna? here.. its not the case. its just all around you. :) haha yeah.. okay enough complaining.

last week we went and saw the vatican for pday. and it was probably the single most amazing view i have ever seen. we went all the way to the top dome, which was insane cause when you get higher the walls start curving in and you are literally walking sideways up the stairs cause youre in the dome. its crazy. and at the top you can see all of rome and man....... im just pumped for you all to try this one day!!

i had my first zone conference this past thursday. i bore my testimony, prayed and sang (with 7 others) in italian. so that was pretty fun. it was nice to hangout with other missionaries too and learn together. i LOVE president and sister kelly. they are the best..... seriously. so funny and so sweet. i just love them. 

i get to see my first baptism this saturday! in the SEA! and she is the cutest little girl! she's 10 and we starting teaching her cause her mom is a member but hasnt been to church in years and years.. but she knows the church is true and has the strongest testimony so she wants her kids to take the lessons and be baptized. its so sad cause she is such a good person but has made some mistakes and doesnt feel worthy to come back to church. we're really hoping that elisa's baptism will push her in the right direction cause it would be good for her but also for elisa, to have that example in her life. 

anyway.. i have to play the piano for the baptism and....... i cant play the piano... haha so we go to the church for at least 30 minutes during lunch so i can pratice. its coming......... 

well... i love our ward. we seriously have the best ward. our members are so great and something i realized this week, after a lesson with this cute girl in our ward was that the stuff we teach our investagators isnt something for just them. its for everyone. for me too. the gospel of christ applies to everyone. not just people preparing for baptism. its something we need to apply in our lives daily. 

-faith in christ

-repentance

-baptism (taking the sacrement)

-holy ghost (listen to him!)

-endure to the end (REPEAT!!!)

its a cycle! and when we apply and reapply and really LIVE it is when true happiness is present.

man...... this gospel is so sweet...... and it can bless lives SO MUCH. we just need to  accept it and live it and then life will be beautiful and rich.

side note.. 

i want everyone to read helaman 5. 

it is seriously so epic. haha. do it.

i love you all. vi voglio un sacco di bene!

sorella sudweeks

pics:

first 3 are of the vatican

the last one is the piazza in my town. yeah. we have fish and turtles in our fountain!