Well first off, I love Genova!!! It's gorgeous! And not as hot as Milan so that's way nice. We live in an apartment building on the 3rd floor right in the city so it seems like it's bigger than Milano since there I lived in a pretty calm area. There are always cars and sound. And we have a lovely guy who likes to yell along our street in the evening and mornings, but it hasn't really disturbed anything, so that's fine. :) but the view is gorgeous and the streets are so cute! The way we get around is buses and train. I don't mind buses because it's pretty easy to do finding and talk to people on the bus, but the train is pretty hard to do finding. In the station though there are a lot of stairs and sometimes we can help people carry strollers or bags up the stairs and that's a good way to serve and then start a conversation! The only thing about Genova is it stinks.... But that's ok, it always smells nice when we pass a nice paneteria or focacceria! Genova is known for its pesto and focaccia and I've tried focaccia! It is so good. Definitely different than the focaccia I had in Milan. It's soft, salty, oily goodness :)
Sorella Russell is super sweet. We have gotten along really well. She is from Illinois, so my first companion NOT from Utah! She is 20 and has been out about a year. She has been in Genova 3 transfers so this is her fourth here. She's pretty good at showing me around, but sometimes we're learning together. I was called to Genova 2 but the sisters are actually over Genova 1 and 2. So a lot bigger area than I had in Milano. It's all of Genova pretty much!
We have already seen so many miracles! Mostly from people we talk to on the street we've has lots of good gospel conversations with people, and we have been able to teach well together.
Saturday we had a really good lesson with a lady named Elisabetta. She is from Poland and has apparently investigated for over a year. She has gone off and on with the missionaries. We met with her and she said she has been reading the Book of Mormon. We addressed some concerns she had and really committed her to read and pray and then we also set a baptism date for her! She said she would tell us when she felt ready to be baptized and when she got her response, but we told her we knew she could really know if she has a certain date, like a goal. We pulled out the calendar and she chose September 5. She even wrote it in! So we are praying for the best!
Sunday was a great day at church! We went to Genova 1 this week since one of our investigators said she was coming. They meet pretty much in an office building just the 2nd and 3rd floor or something like that. When you're in it it doesn't feel like an office building though! It just feels likes normal church. All of the members are sweet! And Lucia did eventually come! We had a good lesson with her after church. The sisters have only met with her twice I think but she loves everything. I think she would really progress the only thing is she has work every Sunday. So hopefully we can figure that out so she can come to church. She says beautiful prayers and loves the scriptures. She also really likes how Relief Society was more like a conversation where lots of people make comments and how we learn from each other.
Sunday night and Monday were really stressful. We had another sister with us who is serving in San Remo. She had to stay with us because her 2 companions were going to Pordenone to pick up one of the sisters permesso. It was stressful because none of our appointments worked out and we seriously could not figure out what to do. I didn't know the area at all so I didn't know of people we could try to passby or members we could visit and Sorella Russell didn't know of anyone either. So I didn't quite know what to do. Sunday night we did some finding and then did mapping so we could have less active passbys the next time we were in an area and the appointment fell through. Then Monday we ended up doing a bunch of those passbys since our appointments canceled. Fun stuff. I kind of felt bad just dragging Sorella Bowman all around Sestri but the streets are beautiful, so that was a plus. They are the tiny, hilly, colorful streets that you think of when you think of Italy! :) We did have a miracle with these passbys so it was all worth it. One of the ladies actually answered and let us in! We had a really good short lesson with her so now we know her and can visit her again!
Later in the day Sorella Russell was kind of ahead of Sorella Bowman and me and we got stuck at a light. She didn't realize and kept going into the train station. When we got to the street across from the train station we could see a train that was just leaving. We both mentioned at the same time how we hoped she didn't just get on that.... Since it was probably our train... Well the light finally turned green and we went on the platform to no Sorella Russell. Oh dear... We tried calling her with a Payphone since she had the cellphone but it wouldn't take our money... So we just got on the next train praying she was just at our station. We got to the next stop and I saw her outside on a bench talking on the phone. We hopped off, went to her and the were able to get on the train to go to our stop. Phew! She was pretty stressed, but now we laugh about it! She couldn't believe she left me at a train station my first week in Genova! Good times in Genova! After Sorella Bowman left, Sorella Russell and I took a little breather with gelato. :)
Tuesday we met with a lady who had met with missionaries in the past. She's from Panama and it was a good lesson. She said her only issue with our church is that we're polygamists... So we cleared that one! I think she'll be really good. She loves the Book of Mormon and she gave a great prayer. We actually didn't think her lesson was going to work out because we tried calling her Monday night and kind of got the area she wanted to meet at but then I guess she just hung up... So we didn't actually know if she was going to come. But the next morning we felt like we should still got to the piazza and then call her so we did that and she said she was super close and we had a great lesson!
We also met with a less active and her husband who is not a member. That was a powerful lesson. We really addressed his needs. His main issue is coffee. Aaaah... they're not married. It's the document issue again. They're planning on getting married next year. I hope we can see him again. We actually just planned on seeing her since she's less active but he was home from work so that was a miracle! He usually works late, but I think we'll be able to work something out! They live in Rossiglione, a beautiful, calm, more country part by Genova. So different from the city. I loved it!
Today we went to Portofino!!! So beautiful! Sorella Russell was super excited to show me! I loved it! It was probably the most touristy place I've been in in Italy! I was hearing English everywhere! Weird! We were on the bus and it was really packed. We got talking to two couples, one from England and one from South Carolina. One of the ladies made comments about how there were too many people on the bus and how the ride wouldn't be so bad if the driver didn't accelerate between turns up the hill. I just had to laugh. Welcome to Italy! That is seriously how it is everywhere! Packed buses with barely even room to stand and crazy drivers! I guess I'm just used to it or something.
Anyway the work is moving and I'm falling more and more in love with Italy! :) Have a great week!
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Dixon :)
(No pictures this week because Sorella Dixon didn't know the password for the computer. Let's cross our fingers and toes for photos next week.)
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