Day 61

It was such a good day. I am not even sure why, but the best I can come up with is that Italy was rejuvenating. I feel like I have come back with such a clear head and a new perspective on the world. (Not very much of that had to do with actually being in Italy, but Im sure it didn't hurt:)

I headed in to church this morning. It was fast Sunday and I took the opportunity to fast. I am glad I did. It was a good way for me to be able to feel the power of the Holy Ghost in my life. I was able to feel the Spirit at church today as Elder Maxwell and Elder Lasarev gave their farewell testimonies. They both go home this week and I will miss them a lot, but they will be at BYU this winter so I am sure we will have some good times.

It was exciting to me to be able to feel the Spirit as people spoke in French and as we sang the hymns in French. I was able to feel of the power that the gospel can have over any people all over the world. This church is not an American church, it is a worldwide, eternal church and I was able to feel that today.

I was so happy to find out that Michael is not being transferred this week, which means he will be here past the time I leave. What a huge blessing that he has been in my life. Especially here, but really for my entire life. I told him today that I am done being the oldest and that he can just take over that role. He would be much better at it.

I was able to meet his investigator Otti. He was such a nice man. When he found out that I was his sister, he couldn't believe it. It asked if I was his biological sister and we again confirmed. He proceeded to tell me that my brother was amazing. I told him that I thought so too. He told me that Michael teaches him how to walk. He said that even though Michael is much younger than him he knows so much more. I told him that once again the same was true for me. Michael really is amazing! (O PS that whole conversation was in French)

Ally and I tried to take the way home that would keep us out of the rain the longest. It didn't work super well. We got on a metro for two stops, then another one for four stops, then we got on the ten that drops us off close to home, but with two stops left, we decided to get out and take the bus that gets us a little closer to our house. We had never tried it before, but we figured we might as well. We found the bus stop, got on, and then realized that it was going the opposite direction. So we got off and tried to find the one going the other way. Of course this bus didn't have stops rigt across the street from each other so that was another ordeal. Finally we made it home.

We joked about it because I have a saying that I have come to love. It is, "While you can, take the long way home." It can apply to so many things, but I think we made the most of our journey home and we got to see areas that we probably never would have seen.

When we got home I uploaded a few pictures and then decided that it was nap time. I woke up and then Ally decided it was nap time for her. We switched off using my computer because Ally's was dead and she accidently left the charger at the institute building last week.

We had dinner with our host family tonight and it was beyond wonderful. We ate at 20h and I was starving! We had quiche, ham, ble, bread and cheese, and a mandarin for dessert. It was so good! I ate a ton! I was happy! It was a little bit longer of a dinner tonight because we weren't done talking, even though we were done eating. It was nice to realize that I was just enjoying their company. They had a new granddaughter born while we were gone, so it was fun to hear about that. Of course we had to tell everything about Italy. Its funny because not that much gets communicated while we talk because most the time we are just trying to explain what stuff means, but it is still fun.

Remember last week...

well they cut it down. I was sad.

I saw this just a few blocks away from our house on y way to church. Nothing had even been done about it. Even on our way home from church around 14h, it still looked undisturbed. It made me sad, but I also remember that I live in a big city, Just found it interesting.