Email from Sara 12/29/09

Oops.

So, me being the smarty pants that I am forgot to tell you on Christmas that P-day would be Tuesday this week. But, I don't really have too much to add. I do know now, though, that I will be staying in Livorno with Sorella Gambardella until she goes home. Wish us luck. Some days are much better than others, but apparently it's not exactly a pretty prospect for her to go home so she's not happy about it. Pretty controlling parents and not good situations, etc. Anyhow, when she asked President if she could extend the mission he told her no and that she needs to face it. We'll see how things are in a few week when the inevitable is closer. Pray LOTS!

It was an absolutely wonderful Christmas for me. We got to watch "Up", the new Disney/Pixar movie and I absolutely loved it. It was so ridiculously off the wall, but so fun.

We're looking forward tonight to an appointment with Veronica and Josy. Veronica has come to church a few times now which is great and she loves learning about the gospel. Happy days!!

It's a little rough sometimes because some members and investigators don't really trust my companion very much, and she isn't always very tactful so some relationships are kind of strained, but hopefully they can have patience with us as we are trying to go forward in the work.

Today for Pday we're going to go Ice skating... should be fun. The ice skating rink is temporary in a piazza and very small, but fun.

I'm going to go now so I can hopefully add a few pictures today. I haven't really taken lots because my comp takes tons, so I'll get some from her to send to you someday :)

Love you all and hope you have a very very happy new years!
Con tanto tanto tanto, ma tanto amore-
Sorella Leckie

p.s. people here think its kind of strange when I tell them we burn our christmas tree... oh well.

The sunset. I think I was on the phone with Crystal when i took this one.

The view at about noon from the Eubanks.

Email from Sara 12/23/09

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Wow! I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve and then its CHRISTMAS!!!!! This will be extraordinarily short this week siccome I will talk to most of you this week. We've been singing lots this week and i LOVE Christmas music. Honestly that's probably one of the things I miss the most- apart from just being at home with family. But it's all bearable. The members and our investigators here are wonderful. Last year we weren't really invited to spend Christmas with anyone, which was fine and it was really nice to have a day to just relax. But here a ton of members have invited us to come over and were somewhat disappointed when we told them we already had an appointment. I would love to be able to spend Christmas with so many of them but it's just not possible. I want to try to make cinnamon rolls to take to some of the members though. We just gots to do them today. We had interviews with President yesterday and I was reminded how much our Heavenly Father truly loves us. It was a great reminder and I was so thankful. I know that deep down inside of me He loves me, but I guess sometimes its just easier for me to see how much he loves others. I realize that I need to focus more on seeing the love He has for me. It's not really hard, just a good reminder.

Alrighty, well, sorry there's no pictures, but I'll try to send some next week. Love you all and hope everyone has a very very Merry Christmas and that you do something nice for someone else!

Love you all so much!!!
Sorella Leckie

Email from Sara 12/16/09

8 days until Christmas!!!!!!

Wowsers Christmas is comin up fast! It's been a pretty good week. I'm still... "adjusting" to my companion and learning more and more to trust in the Lord.

Our investigators are doing well. Josy told us that Veronica wants to get baptized when she turns 18. We just have to help her want it enough not to wait anohter 2 years. Gil is also progressing. We seriously see these investigators at least 5-6 days a week. It's wonderful.

It has gotten very very cold here the past few days. Something about those Russian winds are just biting. But we're still truckin'.

This past week I learned how to make "Arancini" a Cicilan treat. Pretty much you take rice, make a ball, stuff in some ragu (sauce with meat), ham, cheese, and then make then reform the ball. Then you roll it in flour, egg and bread crumbs and deep fry them. They are yummy but HEAVY. I ate one and thought I was going to die.

I never would have thought I would say this, but I'm really learning to like soccer. I never played before I got to Livorno, but now we play every Saturday with members, contacts, investigators, etc. and I absolutely love it. I'm still not very good, but I still love to play.

Looking forward to talking with you all at Christmas. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Hope everyone has a great week. Sorry this is a little short again this week, but we gots to go see the leaning tower of Pisa!

Love you all!
Sorella Leckie

Making the arancini. Our kitchen was a complete disaster!

This was just an hour ago when we got to Pisa.

Sara's email 12/9/09

SHORT ONE!!!

Okay, I have two minutes. It's been an alright week. We had Zone Conference and District Conference so I've been to Florence twice. I got to meet one of the members of the 70 so that was cool. Josy and Gil were there and they got to meet him, too. Too bad he didn't speak italian, but translating is good too. The 70 (he has a really really hard name) talked a lot about not getting trapped by the things of the world. Good reminder.

Time is flying and I can't believe there are only 15 days until Christmas. I look forward to talking with you and hope everyone has a wonderful wonderful week!!!

Lots and lots of love!!
Sorella Leckie

p.s. I miss Christmas music!!!!!

Happy December!!!

Well, the Christmas tree is up. The Christmas lights in the city are twinkling, and here it is also beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The weather here actually reminds me a lot of how it often is at Christmas time at home. Pretty mild. Today is absolutely georgous!

This morning we had a breakfast together as a district and I made biscuits and gravy and also pancakes. It was pretty yummy and fun. Then we've just cleaned the house. We still have to do the grocery shopping, but it will be a pretty low key p-day.

Thanksgiving was fun. The dinner went really well. Most of the members have had some kind of Thanksgiving before and so it wasn't completely new, but still fun. I had everything I would have had at home... maybe a little less but still it was delicious. We had a really really good turnout. We were expecting around 50-60 but there were probably close to 100 or so. Thankfully there was plenty of food so everyone was happy. In the church there's no oven or crockpots so a hot dinner is practically impossible. There were people from the Livorno branch, the Pisa branch, English class, investigators, and then just friends. There were a LOT of non-members there. It was a great turnout.
We even got to play american football before the dinner. It was so much fun.

As far as the work goes.... it is going. We were finally able to meet with Veronica again- at her request. She is so sweet and she and her brother came to church on sunday! We had 6 investigators at church just from our companionship. With the Elder's investigators, too, I think there were 10+. It was a good sunday. Some of the elders are working a lot with Gil and have formed a really good friendship. I'm a little worried that after they leave (they both go home in 2 weeks) that his willingness to meet with the elders will decline since they've become such good friends, but for now he still meets with us, so we'll just keep at it and keep praying. Josy is so happy. She truly is like a member, just unofficially. I really hope she can get baptized soon. I would love for it to happen before the end of the year, but she still needs permission from her mom, who hasn't necessarily had any change of opinion. Again, we just have to keep praying. It would be absolutely amazing if she and Gil could get baptized together! Wow.
Alrighty, I'm gonna call it good now so I can add some pictures. Again, I'm doing great. Still loving Italy and the wonderful people here! Thanks for all the love and prayers you send this direction. They are so so appreciated. Keep'em comin'!! The church is true!

Vi voglio un mondo di bene!!!!
Sorella Leckie

Me and Sorella Gambardella in front of our BEAUTIFUL Christmas tree!!!

My district before transfers. Anziano Mondragon, Kelly, Bryant, Me, Sorella Cheesman, Anziano Porter.

Last p-day with Sorella Cheesman. We went to a little place up the coast. Sabrina Santelena took us to see a little bit of Livorno outside the city. It was absolutely beautiful. Sabrina is a member of the branch here and is Amazing!! I love her to pieces.