Week 31 - Italy; First world or third world

   I've concluded that Italy would be categorized as a second world country. Let me explain what experiences led me to this conclusion this week;
First, for the past three weeks our water heater has been broken. Which means our options have been either to take a freezing cold shower, or to heat up four pots of water on the stove, and pour that over our head with a pitcher. I have it down to a science now; 4 ladle-fulls of near boiling water, then fill up the rest of pitcher with cold water from the sink, and you've got the perfect temperature! Until about five seconds later when you have to do the whole thing over again.
Second, when the man came to fix said water heater, he spent about five minutes pushing random buttons, then running into the kitchen to see if the water was hot yet. After nothing happened, he came to us and said "yep. It's broken. We'll call you when we can come back to fix it." Just as a cherry on top; they said they would come two weeks before this first appointment, on a Monday (pday) insisting they couldn't meet with us any other day. Then 30 minutes after this first scheduled appointment, they called to tell us that they weren't going to be able to come anymore...
Third, we waited 45 minutes for the bus that we're almost positive was just hanging out at the end of the line taking his own sweet time.  
    I was told this week that I always make comments about food in my emails,  which is absolutely true. If I'm being honest, I will probably continue to write about food for the rest of my mission. This week's food adventures included reheated peppa soup, home made pretzels, and soaking all the dried beans left over from other missionaries because it was the only food left in our house.
    This week we had an amazing lesson with our investigator from Nicaragua. She's amazing and she has the chubbiest baby I've ever met in my life. In this part lesson, we went in wanting to talk about the restoration, and after watching a video in Spanish, we started discussing it a little. Half way through the lesson, I felt prompted to give her an invite to read specific chapters from the Book of Mormon each day, and that if she did, she would find answers to the questions she still had. So the next day Sorella Nelson and I prayed to know what questions she would have, and what chapters she needed to read to answer them. We decided on Alma 32. When we asked her the next day if she had read, she said yes, and that she'd read all the way to chapter 42! It was the most reading she'd ever done in the whole time we'd been teaching her! We hope that as this challenge continues, she'll find the answers she's been looking for. 
    This week we also started a little challenge with another one of our investigators. She really wants to quit smoking, but is having a very difficult time. While we were talking with her about this, Sorella Nelson says that if she goes 14 days without a cigarette, we'll go 14 days without sugar and we'll encourage each other through the whole process. Sounds dumb, but let me tell you how hard it is to resist gelato when it's burning hot outside.  Anyway, it's been going really well thus far. She messaged us yesterday and said how grateful she was to have found people who are finally encouraging her to stay in the right path. She expressed how for the past couple years she's been trying to get herself away from people who encourage her to do things she knows are wrong and how she was so grateful to finally have people helping het live the life she wants. It was really special, and therefore, the basis of my spiritual thought this week. The environment in which we put ourselves is so important. I've noticed so many things chanted about myself as I start and end my day with prayer, focus on studying the scriptures, and fill my days with service. How we live and what we surround ourselves with changes the people we are. So if you want to become more like Christ, surround yourself with things and people who are Christlike. You'll change, and through your example,  Heavenly Father will help other people change. 
    I love you all so much! 
Sorella Maxfield