Email from Sara 7/29/09

SUPER SUPER short

Okay, we have to leave in like 4 minutes to go catch a bus. We had a really fun Pday and then there were internet issues so I really don't have time today to write a good email, but I'll be sure to fill you in next week. Sorry! :(

Just know that I love you and that I'm happy and healthy! The church is true!!!

Love,
Sorella Leckie

Sara and her companion at an investigators house 7/26/09

This another email sent to my mom...we thought initially that it was from a memeber in Italy, but now we think it's an investigator. Who knows? : )

Hello again, here are the latest photos of your wonderful daughters, with voices like angel's. best wishes X Pamela and Paolo Franceschi.

Email from Sara 7/22/09

Cara Famiglia Mia!!

What a week! I have a hard time remembering what I’ve written and what is actually new for this week. The weeks all seem to run together in a blur.

Last week we went to Pisa. Mom said that you’ve already gotten the postcard, but like I said there, there are a LOT of people in not much space. But it was still cool to see it. We really just went, took a couple of pictures, and then headed back. A fun little trip. When we asked president if we could go for Pday he asked us why we wanted to go see a tower that leans. While it was cool to see such a historical sight, I have to ask, now that I’ve seen it, “why did I want to do see a tower that leans??” All in all, it was fun and I’m glad I got to do it. I was surprised to see that they still do let people walk around in/on the tower, but we didn’t have the time or money to do that, which was fine with me.

We’re staying busy. There are a lot of good things going on here. We need to become better at finding people to teach, but some of the few that we have found are making good progress and like learning about the gospel. If we can just help them understand and make the changes that come with understanding and accepting that Joseph Smith is a prophet, we’ll be doing great. There are a lot of people who think it’s enough to believe, and it’s always hard to help them understand that the Lord wants us to sacrifice so he can bless us. Right now we have three investigators who are making the most progress, Sylvester from Nigeria, Annalisa, a wonderful 24 year old, and then Mariana, the grandmother of Piera (who got baptized a few weeks ago). They are wonderful and we have high hopes for them. There are other investigators too, but for now these three are by far the most progressing.

Summer is in full swing here and it is HOT. We had a couple of nice days, but we’re back to the hot mugginess. I guess that’s how it’s supposed to be in July, though. A little frustrating for everyone to be going on vacation when we want to teach them, but I guess that’s just how it goes. I’ve heard that August is even worse… we’ll see.
Well, I guess that’s about it for this week. Sorry I’m not very good at writing very detailed letters. The details do happen, but I am just not very good at remembering them when it comes time to write to everyone.

Remember that I love you all!!! Have a wonderful week!
Sorella Leckie

Pisa! Me and Sorella Stephenson at Pisa.

My new district. All the same, except now we have Anziano Billings.

We have english class fliers that we put up to get people to come to English class and we wanted to put a cool picture on it. This was the first attempt before we got the lighting right and I think it's pretty cool. I'm not a very good jumper and I think it might have been a little frustrating for everyone else who jumps super high. Oh well.

Email from Sara 7/15/09

Ciao!!
Okay, so this will be another short one. We gots to catch a train so we can go see Pisa. Yay! I'll be sure to send pictures next week.

Transfer info: Sorella Stephenson and I will be together for another 6 weeks and we're pretty excited. There are a lot of good things going on here in Pistoia and neither one of us wanted to leave.

Hottness!!: It is ridiculously warm around here. I hear that it's just a spike in the heat, but that it will probably stick around for most of august at least. We just have to drink more water. Last night when I was going to sleep around 10:30 the thermometer on my alarm clock said 87 degrees, so it's good an warm.

It's hard to know where to start when I dont' have time to go into any details!! Ahhh... Just know that it was a wonderful week and that I'm excited to be here serving in Pistoia and serving these wonderful people here. We had a great branch activity and have had wonderful lessons and the members are becoming more and more willing to help.

The elders in my district were in a three-some and two of them actually were going home and so it always makes you reflect a little bit more on your performance and how you want to finish your mission. The contrast between the two dying missionaries was so ridiculous dramatic and I can't help but hope that I can sprint to the finish instead of coasting. There is so much work to do!!

I have to go now so I can send you some pictures. They say things better than I can write them anyway. Love you all and hope you have safe travels and such!
Con tanto affetto-
Sorella Leckie


Pretty much every wednesday night we have dinner with the DeRobertis family. It's been a little bit of a challenge to make sure we have an investigator every week, but it makes us work harder. President DeRobertis is the branch president and is really good friends with the Acersons. Last wed was President DeRobertis' birthday so we got to spend the whole evening with President and Sister Acerson as well. Fun times!


We had a dinner with the Itala Family. Anziano Aycock and Schmucki were leaving the next day and so we had a fun lesson and dinner all together. Also in this picture are Nelly and Andre, who are members of less than a year. It was a wonderful evening.


This is us making dessert at the Itala family's house. We were making Canolli and it was yummy. This picture, according to Sorelly Stephenson just captured all of our personalities so well. (Anz, Schmuki, Aycock, Me)


I biffed it pretty good last night. We were in a big hurry to get home on time so we didn't have to call president and I tripped. It's not as bad as it looks... the road was really dirty. It is just scraped a little and I can only imagine what it looked like with my backpack flying up over my head... ah... memories.
p.s. The mosquitos are eating me alive.

Email from Sara 7/8/09

I'm still alive!

Caro Famiglia mia!
It has been an absolutely crazy week! Aside from the fact that we got to go to Sienna for the horse race (an all day affair) we actually didn’t make it home on Thursday evening because the horses took so stinkin long to actually start going. I was picturing something like “My Fair Lady” where they have the starting stalls for the horses, but it was actually a pretty primitive thing. The jockey’s didn’t even have saddles. And it took over an hour for the horses to get lined up and not shoving the other horses out of the way. It was RIDICULOUS!!! Anyhow, after the race finally started and ended 2 minutes later we had to BOOK IT out of there because we had about 20 mintues to work our way through the massive crowd and then run to the Church, grab our stuff and then head for the train station. It was complete madness. We were all running and there was really nowhere to run. I thought I was going to die, but I didn’t want to get lost =). Anyhow, our train was actually 25 minutes late so we didn’t even need to run quite that much, but at least me made it. That train took us to Firenze and then there wasn’t another train to Prato until 12:30 PM and the Zone Leaders said that that was too late, even though the ELDERS got to go home and sleep in THEIR beds! We ended up staying the night in Firenze with 4 other sisters and Sorella Stephenson and I slept on the floor so we could get up REALLY early (4:55) to head to Prato. We ran home, showered and then headed to the Questura (kind of like the immigrations office) where we had to wait for more than 6 hours for her to get fingerprinted. We weren’t planning on it taking 6 hours and had planned to take a train at a certain time to head down to Rome so I could pick up my Permesso, but we missed it and had to take one 2 hours later. So we got to the sister’s apartment in rome at about 10:30 and then talked until midnight (not my idea). Then the next morning we went to the Questura in Rome (thankfully for only 2 hours) and I am legal now! So we had a happy 4th of July in Rome, we ate at McDonalds (the most American thing we could think of) and then headed back to Pistoia for a couple of hours of work before going back to Prato to our own beds. Despite the craziness of the trip and traveling in general it was really fun to be back in Rome, even if it was just for a few hours. ANYHOW… after all that we’re just having a pretty low key P day today. We went and saw an old Fortress here in Pistoia and now we’re doing email and I don’t really know what else we’ll come up with. But I’m okay with that. We have permission to go to Pisa, so since next week is the last P day of the transfer I think we’ll head up there. It’s pretty fun, but pretty crazy around here.

Just a random note while I’m thinking about it. There was a full moon here the other night, and I was just wondering if it was a full moon for you all too. Just curious.

FYI… My camera is broken. Not entirely, but half of the screen is black. I think it got smashed in my back pack. =( Anyhow, I’m trying to decide if it would be better for me to buy one here or for you to buy one there and send it. If we both do a little research this week then next week I can make an educated decision. For now, I’m using Sorella Stephenson’s pictures. I actually kind of prefer not to have to take my camera, but I do like having one. But, I have decided that I like Canon’s. I just think the quality of pictures is way better. So if you don’t mind doing a little research for me, I’d appreciate it. (I guess that’s mainly directed at Crystal, or anyone really, who has a little time and could give me a few suggestions on what kind and how much, etc. )

Lets see…. What else??? As far as missionary work goes, summer is tough. A lot of people are on vacation or leaving in a few days/weeks. It’s kind of the same problem for Christmas, but just in the summer. But we do have some wonderful people we’re working with and the branch is getting more involved, too. I love Pistoia. There are such wonderful people here and it’s just such a cute little place. I love it! Crazy how time flies. Next transfer I’ll be going into my 7th transfer. CRAZY!!! I should probably know much more than I know, but as they say here in Italy “piano piano” or in other words, little by little. I’m trying. I feel like now more than ever I’m trying. I have to try hard just to keep up with Sorella Stephenson and sometimes I get exhausted… some days more than others, but somehow we just keep goin’. I feel so blessed to be able to be here as a missionary for the Lord.

Thanks for all the love and support that comes this direction. We can truly feel the prayers on our behalf. I love you all so much!!!

Vi voglio tantissimo bene!!!
Sorella Leckie

This is at Piera's Baptism. It was great!!


In Siena. There are a ton of pictuers, but this is just of us missionaries. This was before it got REALLY packed.


Happy 4th of July


These are all from Siena. So this race is a pretty big deal. I think they've been doing it for several hundred years at least. I heard different dates from different people. Each part of the city has a different animal or team name, and they all have a horse for their city and colors and there's a big parade at the beginning and they throw flags and have drummers, and people are all dressed up. It was definately a cultural experience that I'm glad to have had, but not one that I would necessarily want to repeat.

These are from the fortress here in Pistoia. It's from the 1500's or so and just a free place to go look around. There were absolutely no other people there so it was pretty fun. Aparently though, in July they show movies there at night. How fun!

This last one is a fun one of our district. It is the Branch President's birthday today and we wanted to take a picture of us to put in a card for him and we forgot to do it before DDM and then the Elders had already left, so we ran out to the bus stop and the bus was coming so we had to take it really quick. It was probably pretty funny looking for anyone driving past. :) (Elder Hoopes, Aycock, Schmuki, Me, and Sorella Stephenson)

Email from Sara 7/1/09

Cara Famiglia Mia!!!

What a crazy week!!!!! And it’s not even halfway finished yet! I feel like we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off because there’s so much to do and so little time, but right now things are especially complicated because everyone is leaving for vacations, but we’re still plugging along. I guess the first and best thing is that Piera got baptized on Sunday! Yay!! They had a lot of family and friends come who are not members and hopefully they will have some interest. I know that one of Piera’s friends is at least curious because we have an appointment with her today. Also, Michael (Piera’s little brother) has decided that he’s ready to get baptized. He had decided prima that he wanted to wait for his mom and dad to get baptized, but apparently after Piera’s baptism he changed his mind and asked the Elders yesterday if he can get baptized in two days. The two days is a little bit of a problem, but he will get baptized very soon, so we’re excited. We are going today and because we teach the lessons again to the new members again will teach the first to Piera again, to Micheal and to Claudia (Piera’s friend). We’re pretty excited.

Things are going well here also with other investigators, etc. We found a beautiful family and are anxious for them to be finished with their summer travelling so we can teach them. We also try to have daily contact with our investigators who are progressing and for some of them it’s a little tricky, but one, Annalisa, is so good and calls US. Life is good!

We are also excited for tomorrow. Pday is a little switched around this week because we’re going to Sienna for a big traditional horse race in one of the piazzas. It’s a pretty big deal and an even bigger deal that president is letting us go because it doesn’t start until 7 pm and its more than an hour and a half away. But we are just doing email and groceries today and then tomorrow will pretty much be pday for us all day because they are actually going to have a little missionary meeting before the event. We’re pretty excited. Then on Friday evening I have to head to Rome with Sorella Stephenson to pick up my Permesso to stay in Italia. So all in all this week is just a little bit on the wild side, but good.

We are working with the members more and are having a branch fast this Sunday for us to find and bring a family to church. It’s good stuff.

Alrighty, well I gots to go. We have an appointment and have to be at the station in 15 minutes.
Love you all. I’m happy and healthy!!

Love,
Sorella Leckie

p.s. quick funny story… the other day Sorella Stephenson and I were running after a bus and barely caught it because the bus driver stopped again after he had already started to leave and out of breath and very thankful to the bus driver we started on our way. Only to realize a few seconds later that we were heading in the wrong direction. We started laughing and the other people started laughing when we told them the problem. The bus driver kindly let us off between stops and we headed the other way, still laughing and leaving a bus full of amused people. Good times.

Sorry no time for pictures today… I’ll send lots next week!!! Love you!!