Bike Crash…Again!

However that works, it literally feels like this transfer has been the longest and fastest. It is officially hot here…I'm dying, yes. We're back to beads of sweat dripping, frozen water bottles, granitas, popsicles, frozen towels and fans. The only relief we get from the heat is a cold shower every night and morning. Summer hit like a tsunami! I am questioning how I am going to survive these next two months! haha

Bikes are good, but causing problems!!!!!!!!!! BAH! That 's exactly why we bought the bikes dad; too much wasted time on foot. I love it, when they work! Reggio was the best with bikes; in Forli we seemed to have lots of problems. Funny story for this week. Wednesday we went to go to a family night with one of our darling families. All girls :) At the end of our lesson it started dumping buckets of rain. Seriously, I haven't seen that much rain in a while - especially not for such a long period of time. We had to get home though. We hopped on our bikes and just booked it. Every time I put my peddle down, I sunk in a pool of water. I was laughing the whole time. I went through a puddle to get up on the sidewalk, and under was a big hole that I had NO WAY of seeing. 

Guess who totally flew off the bike? Yup, me :) haha Just my luck. I jumped back on though, and we made it home. I gave myself a quick look over, and this time nothing was broken - thank heavens, just bruised up.  (She has some deep bruising…especially on her bottom. No pictures this time.)  In this hot season, luckily we had a cold day, and I was wearing lots of padding. Leggings too. I woke up pretty sore, my hip and knee hurt the most.  My bruises are pretty big and purple. They're healing at this point though. 

Can you believe that literally the next day, Sorella Jones decided she wanted to speed up to catch up to me.  Her chain fell off, and her bike came out from under her. Unfortunately it was a hot day, and she had no padding to save her from the pavement.  I turned around, and she was on the ground surrounded by men helping her up. She's pretty scrapped up, but we're both surviving. We both woke up the next morning groaning. We're quite the pair! 

Fun miracles for this week! On Saturday we had to go to Alessandria for a conference. In the morning we went to go visit one of our less active girls in Novara (19 and DARLING!). We had also wanted to see one of our investigators, but she didn't answer the phone all week. I was disheartened, because Saturday was the only day we could have seen her. We went to Novara anyway for the appointment we had, and as we walked out of the station, who do we see…CHARLOTTE our investigator! 

We had 30 minutes before our bus and were able to have a lesson with her! We'd been praying for a way to at least contact her! She said she loves us and thinks of us often. She is so amazed how we are so young and decided to give our lives to God to help His children. She loves the Book of Mormon and the messages we send her each night to read. YAY! We're making progress here in Vercelli! 

Then we went to meet with our sweet Valeria, who I adore. We had a beautiful lesson with her, by herself which was nice, because before other distractions were there, and we couldn't teach directly to her. She is such an amazing young girl and is doing missionary work! She is so solid. Even if she doesn't come to church weekly, she won't put down her standards for any boy who asks. YES! POWER IN PURITY! She's brought her boyfriend to church, and he is reading the Book of Mormon, and we are wanting to teach him. Member missionary work; the best way to go! 

The conference in Alessandria was beautiful too. I got to see my dear Sorella Russell, whom I miss, and that was wonderful! I had asked Heavenly Father to give me whatever I needed in this conference. I felt like it was a "Boost Sorella Montagnoli conference", instead of stake conference. haha! I was emotional the whole time, wiping tears and feeling floods of love and prayers from those who care about me. More importantly, I felt the love my Savior has for me, and I know He is so aware of my needs. Oh how I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have to laugh, because the thought came into my mind…will He still be this nice to me and come to my instant aid, when I am not a missionary?  If not, I never want to be released! haha! I know that isn't true though. :)

Bishop Whitehead sent me an email about Brother Moon's passing. My heart was so sad, but peaceful at the same time. The plan of salvation is my favorite study topic, well mainly because it includes everything (restoration and apostasy included :) ). Brother Moon was so valiant here on earth, just like Michelle's mom, Uncle Stuart, Grandmother Frances, and all our other cari (dear ones).  I can only imagine the other side of the veil and all the work they are doing there. I like to think of it as a big team. We here are on the defense team…working, defending, bringing people home and ourselves. We are doing work for the living, and proxy work for those who have passed on.

For those who have died, they are offense on the other side.  They don't have the adversary working against them personally, but they get to help others accept the paradise that awaits them. They teach, assist, record, and use their many hands for righteous work. When I think of people's death as their vehicle to the next step, I am not as sad. I'm still sad, because I'll miss them for a while, but it is just a brief moment - right?  Dear Karen, and their whole family are in my prayers.

Well, I love you all! You are all great! Mom, I do wonder if we are crazy to come back here on vacation in August, but really there isn't any other time we could come. We'll just deal with it. :) haha! 

Love you! 

Sorella Montagnoli