Sorella Rachel Riley: 18 months in northern Italy: Week 28

focaccia with sauce and cheese is pretty much just really good pizza

Torino 22 - the toast experiment

We did a LOT of street finding this week. Fun stuff.

I finished reading Jesus the Christ this past week and obviously it was really good. It's heavy stuff and requires careful reading and many hours of personal study. But so worth it! I learned so much about Christ. Like who he actually is, all from examining His life spread across almost 800 pages. Everything He did and said. The main thing I got out of it was how He is always there and always willing to help everyone. But it's the people who choose not to be helped. They push Him away and criticize His good works. So yeah good stuff.

My companion will eat any food that’s put in front of her, which comes in handy at meal appointments when the host's back is turned. She has saved me countless times. One day I decided to really see how much she could eat. So I made toast. We were sitting at the table talking to the other Sorelle, I was by the toaster. I made two pieces at a time and every time it popped up I put a slice on a plate in front of her and ate the other. Every time one appeared in front of her she'd butter it and eat it. I kept going to see if she'd ever tell me to stop. Eventually we ran out of bread but yeah we ate like two loaves of sliced bread and a bunch of jam. We both had belly aches for the rest of the day. It was worth it though, because my point was proven. And nobody had to cook lunch.

The transfer is halfway over and we finally have a stamp with all the correct information. I had a blast stamping last year's Christmas bigliettini, and even did one perfectly lined up with the lines. We get pumped about the little things here.

We've had some good visits with members. There are some great people here. And they're so happy to have Sorelle in the ward. That's always a good feeling for us :)

On Saturday we got a private tour of a homeless shelter. It's super well-run and helps a lot of people. The volunteers/workers that we met are super giving and loving, mostly Catholic-based. We're now signed up to volunteer there for a few hours every week. On our way back we walked through the "biggest street market in all of Europe".

So for part of weekly planning we're supposed to do "tablet audits" where you check your comp's pictures and music etc. That's a good idea and all but it kind of backfires for Sor. Seymour and I because we get stuck on each other's photo rolls and search for all the pictures of puppies and other cute things and look at pictures from past P-days and talk about how awesome the Rimini zone was. So maybe we need a 3rd party to step in and do the audits for us.

That was probably my most pointless and non-missionary related email yet so congrats if you've made it this far. Give your local missionaries things to write about and refer a friend! I love y'all!

Sorella Rachel Riley

Italy Milan Mission

Via Antonia Gramsci 13/2

20090 Opera MI Italia