Italy Adventures: Off to a good start!

Buon Anno!
I seriously cant believe that it is 2012. Its just kind of seems like 2011 didnt exist for me. Ill be talking about the summer before my mission and say "Last summer..." and my companion gets really confused because last summer i was in Catania. Its just so crazy how fast time has gone. This transfer has flown by (even though we are only 1/2 way through). I hope that all of you had a great New Years! 2012 is going to be great! We were in our apartment by 6 and SOOOO thankful for that. While we were walking home there were people just throwing fireworks everywhere. It was so scary. One went off right in front of us and luckily the kid walking next to us stopped and so we stopped because we didnt see it. Then we just planned some lessons at home and tried to go to sleep on time but everyone in all of Italy was lighting fireworks the whole night so it was a little hard. We were SO lucky though because some of the other missionaries said that their neighbors were having parties so literally they couldnt sleep. At least everyone in our Palazzo was really quiet. We roasted some marshmallows and drank some hot chocolate. It was a great new years and i loved having a great excuse to go to bed instead of staying up!
Other news of the week. We have been going to see lots of members recently. We have eaten with members every day since friday... haha. Its great because i love them but so many meals all in a row. We have another one tomorrow and then another on sunday. Im excited. We want to really try and get the members to trust us because that is the best way that we can find families to teach. I love our ward though. They are such great members. THis ward is famous in the Rome stakes. Its a small ward but has really really strong members.
Before i forget i better tell you about our little cleaning disaster. Well, we were doing a great job and cleaning everything. So we are cleaning the bathroom and unscrew the drain in the shower to clean it out. We put it back together and went about our business. At the end of the day, before going to a members for dinner, we took showers. While we are at this members house, like 30 min away in a car, we get a call from our chef neighbor saying that water from our bathroom was leaking into his. After about 2 hours the dripping stopped and so it was clear that something had gone wrong with our shower. ANyway, long story short, our landlord was SO mad and just screaming at me on the phone because we touched the screw... but that just seemed like a normal thing to do. Thankfully the member that took us home (diana, my age and coming to Temple Square to serve a mission in feb so you all need to go visit her please) took the phone and explained everything for us. She was SOOO sweet and it was just the biggest tender mercy that she was there with us that night. ANyway, they came and just tightened the screw yesterday and all is well now. WE know now that we cant clean our drain. ANd we are going to make a sign for the next sisters that follow us:) A little scare and i felt AWFUL but all is well now.
Well, just one thing really quick before i go. I love that the Gospel is so simple. We were teaching Andreina and a couple other people this week and talking about how great it is that we just have to get one question answered to know if our church is really true. We just need to know if the book of mormon really is a true book on the earth. We dont have to know the doctrine perfectly and have all of our questions answers because everything falls into place if the book of mormon is true. There is a great take that elder Calister (maybe i messed up on his name) gave in conference about the book of mormon. Its been so great studying it because it really answers all the main questions we get from people every day. Im so grateful for this book that we have! So many times in my life i have taken it for granted. But i love it and i know that it is a book written by prophets called of God for our day!
I think thats pretty much it for us here in Ladispoli today. Thanks for all your prayers and love and support. We were talking last night about how blessed we are to have such great families and friends. You really realize it when you are talking to people all day that dont have these things. Hopefully next week ill have some great investigator updates. yesterday Maria turned 11 and we took some brownies and lipgloss to her and she LOVED it. It was so fun. Pino is basically homeless and doesnt have a job still and just has so many problems. I dont know how he still has so much faith. He is so great! Everyone else pretty much has been out of town. They all come home this week! Thank the heavens!!! Love you all! Hope you all have a great week! Good luck getting back into the swing of work and school:) Love you and miss you all!
Love,
Sorella Chelsea