The Work Will go Forth...‏

It is CHRISTMAS time in full swing here in cute little Pavia. Christmas lights, trees, decorations, food...EVERYTHING. it is such a dream! They are even put in an ice skating rink in the center of town and have cotton candy and fried bread with nutella and a cute little market! AH. it is too much! It is such a happy time of year and a beautiful time to be in Italy! From what i hear, Christmas are just a dream in Italy! i am STOKED. I am not really sure what we will do on the actual day of Christmas. Of course we are gonna Skype home and hopefully have dinner with some members but who knows!

Modeling new dress from Mom!

We get transfer calls this coming Saturday, and it is pretty much a 99% guarantee that we are going to be spit up...SO SAD. It literally makes me sick just thinking about it. Generally the trainer leaves the trainee...that is what usually happens, but you never know! It is normally that the trainer leaves and then someone else comes and then one transfer later i would leave...that is the trend of our mission, but surprises always happen! So we don't really know! It  will be interesting to see what will happen. It will be weird to leave Sorella Woods...she and I have become SO close...she is all i know as far as missionary work goes, so it will be interesting to be with someone new! But i am excited, a chance to grow a new best friend.

This week was one of our best ones yet! It was seriously just sooooo good! I don't even fully know all the reasons why, it just ruled. We have really been trying to work reallllllly hard because the whole time we have been here in Pavia we haven't seen much progression in the work. We have seen miracles, for sure...but not much progression! But we have continued to work our very hardest no matter what. It is one of those things where you just keep going onward with faith, knowing that Heavenly Father will bless you in some way...just not always in the way you think or want!

We had a cool experience the other day when we were out doing some finding work...we were talking to people on the street and stuff and it got to the point that we really needed some direction as far as where we should go. We said a quick prayer and immediately after started talking to a lady on a bench nearby. She ended up being super awesome and actually became a new investigator! it was a huge miracle and an amazing testament of the real power of prayer. Heavenly Father is mindful of us out here, and He will help us to know who we need to talk to! We ended up finding one more investigator that day and talked to LOTS of people, and it was just a miracle day. We needed one of those!

The other day we also found another new investigator while we were waiting for the bus...her name is V. and ohhhhh man she rules. She was SO open and soooooo excited about us coming over! I called her the other day to set up an appointment and she was like SO STOKED that it was the sisters calling her! That has never happened before!! Hopefully she will continue to be amazing and we can start to teach her! We are seeing miracles here. The work goes forth! Slowly but surely...ha welcome to Italy! I know that if we continue forward with faith and diligence, we will always see blessings!! THE WORK OF THE LORD WILL NOT BE FRUSTRATED.

For Thanksgiving...we did nothing! it was def the saddest thanksgiving i have ever had...it just rained a lot and nothing went well, but it is okay! i thought a lot about being grateful not just for the things I have but also for hard times and trying situations! I am grateful for everything Heavenly Father gives me, good or bad. It all works together for my good and everything put together equals who i am! He knows everything, thank goodness! I am so grateful for that knowledge and for the chance I have to help others come to know of it too!

This week i got my first hair cut in Italy....by Sorella Woods! ha apparently that is the thing to do..you just cut each others hair! To save money? i dunno...Sorella Woods did a great job and only cut off a tiny bit...you cant even tell! I guess the Italians are a little crazy when it comes to cutting hair.

No need to worry about the fact that we don't eat dinner! it is just what you do here! we don't starve and we have plenty of money!! We just don't come home!! work work work...but we do eat a snack before bed...it was weird at first to not eat dinner, but now i am used to it!

That is about all i have for this week...sorry not the best email! But i am doing great and just loving life here in Italy! next week I will know the deets on transfers so that will be an exciting time! i love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week!!

Love,
Sorella Burt