Week the Third

Ciao Cara Famigila,

I hate to start an email out this way, but I have some terrible news. They had cod nuggets for dinner on Monday AND I MISSED IT!!!! Ahhh man! Apparently my sorelle saw on the board that there would be cod nuggets and just busted out laughing! Oh those cod nuggets.

In reality, I am happy to report that I had a successful trip to Miami! I woke up at 4am on Monday, drove on the MTC bus to the airport with a bunch of other missionaries going out into the field and flew from SLC to Dallas/Ft Worth and then to Ft Lauderdale. The mission president, President Anderson and his wife Sister Anderson, picked me up at the airport and took me to the mission home. I got into FL at about 5:40 pm. Yeah. A lot of traveling. I stayed the night at the mission home and had stir fry chicken instead of cod nuggets (aw, sad) and then the next morning I was handed off to Elder and Sister Sommerfeldt, a senior couple from Canada. They took me down to Miami where I went to the consulate. First let me say that Pres and Sis Anderson are AWESOME! They were very kind. Sis Anderson and I had a nice chat after dinner and Pres Anderson looks a lot like Gary Cooper. Haha.

So. The Consulate. Dun-dun-DUHHHH!!! We got there and the business plaza it is in was in between - get this - a Jaguar/Porsche/Ferrari dealership on the one side and a Steinway gallery on the other! Yeah, that definitely set the tone of the consulate. So I go up to the fifth floor while the Sommerfeldts waited in the car, fully expecting to wait for two hours in the consulate, especially since I didn't have an appointment (they don't make appts). Anyway, I walk in the consulate and it is a beautiful work space. Very nicely furnished, totally classy, and the only other person there, besides the worker, was a woman filling out some paperwork. I waited a grand total of about 10 seconds before I got called up to the window. The man asked what I needed, I told him I was there to apply for my visa, he took my stuff, put the sticker on my return envelope and handed me the tracking number, and then said, "alright you should expect your visa in about a week." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe that!?!? I was totally stunned!!!! He must've seen it on my face because he said "yeah, they usually have everything we need" and that was it. I was in the consulate for literally less than 10 minutes. !!!!!!!!!!!!! And to get my visa in a week???? Are you kidding me?!?! I'M SO EXCITED!!!! It really was the best! When I walked back down to the car we didn't really know what to do! We had expected it to take much longer than it did. It was a beautiful experience.

Hopefully I don't run out of time to write today. I feel like I've been typing particularly slow. Eh.

Anyway, throughout this whole ordeal I've been wondering what I've supposed to be learning from it. I thought for sure there was someone I needed to talk to or share the Book of Mormon with or something, but I didn't know. So after we left the consulate the Sommerfeldts took me to Subway to get something to eat and also to get something for the trip back. We walked in and the only other patrons were a woman and her 3 year old daughter. She looked at us and then after a moment of hesitation she said "It's the Elders!" We went over and talked to her and come to find out she is a member of the Church. She had been baptized in Albany about two years ago and just barely moved down to Miami five months ago. She said she had been trying to find the Church down there but couldn't find it. She kept saying how she really wanted someone to come over and teach her daughter so that she could "grow up right". So Sis S took her info and promised to get the missionaries in touch with her. The woman, Dorothy, said she had just about given up on finding the Church in FL. It was a very interesting experience. I kept thinking to myself "this woman is a beloved daughter of God. She has no idea how much of a hassle it was for us to be in that place at that time. He must really love her and care a great deal about her daughter, Alexis." I mean, obviously the Lord loves everyone, but I really felt a strong witness that this particular woman was individually loved of God. Way cool, right?

And then on my layover in Chicago I met a woman from York, England on her way to visit her kids and grandkids that she hasn't seen in two years. We just talked for a while. She does some kind of testing on food for germs and stuff, so naturally I was interested and she said that on this trip she had gone without her husband and was kinda sad about it. "Miserable" without him, she said. Anyway, she told me about her job and her kids and stuff and later on in our conversation she said something to the effect of "thanks for chatting with me. I was feeling pretty miserable and you've really cheered me up." What a nice thing! So, all in all, the trip to Miami was a MAJOR success!!!! Sa-weet!

The bummer part was that I missed the devotional last night :(. Russell M. Nelson came!!!!!! Double drat. But check this out, one of the sorelle in our district, Sor. Miles, IS HIS GRANDDAUGHTER! Crazy, right?! Apparently he called her up on the stand and hugged her. Only after that did he spill the beans about their relationship so everyone was basically left wondering "um. Is that allowed? Are apostles allowed to hug girls???" I'm sad I missed it.

Oh, we got new roommates last week! Sis Peterson and Sis Windley who are both going to New Hampshire. They'll leave again before we do, so it's kinda weird, but they are nice. And Sis Windley really gets my sense of humor so that's fun. We hardly ever see them, though. Mostly only at night. But that's cool.

I forgot to mention - so when I was waiting to leave SLC Monday morning, I went to go buy some breakfast. The guy in front of me was clearly Polynesian and started talking to me. I found out that he's a member of the Church and he and his family were headed back home to Miami! They know Pres and Sis Anderson. So anyway, the Polynesian that he was, he bought my lunch. Those dang Polys! Haha. It was nice of him and I knew that he would buy my breakfast no matter how much I protested. I told Pres Anderson about them (I didn't catch their name) and he said that they were Tongan.

Anyway, I've really been thinking this week about how people are really, truly searching for the Gospel. I mean, people really do want to do what is right. They want to be kind to other people. They want to live by a kind of moral standard. People really do have a longing for God. It's so interesting to get to see how different people interact with what they feel and what they believe is right. So cool.

ACK! My time is up! Well, I love you all very much and am so grateful for your support. A big thank you to those who have written to me! It really makes all the difference in the world when there is mail waiting for you after lunch and dinner. I love it. And I love you!

Vi vogliamo troppo bene :)

Love,

Sorella Soh