not worm cheese, but macedonia

For starters- could someone procure Lias address\email for me so that I can write her? Would she be entering the MTC right about now?

Yes, I am with Sorella Carla Squarcia :) Pres. called us late on Monday night and surprised us with "Youll be picking her up tomorrow morning in Catania" so ...... we did :) I was sorry to see S. Riffaldi go but happy that we got to serve together again. I dont know how I managed but I even know my way around Catania. We picked up Slla Jones from the church, went to the airport and parked in a BUS area (I actually thought I was right outside of the bus area, but appartenly not) because when we walked back out, there was the longest line of cars, honking and blaring, and we looked to see what was causing the mess and I heard someone say something to the effect of "..people parked where the bus is supposed to pull in so it cant pull in" and it was exactly just that. A bus couldnt pull in so had to block traffic as people piled out and unloaded luggage. We were too embarassed to claim one of the cars causing the blockup so we stood off to the side (while I, of course, giggled all the while while S. Jones frantically searched for her camera) till the bus took off, people cooled down, and we got into the car and drove off, quickly ;)

Sorella Squaricas experience so far in Mistretta? Well. We got back to Mistretta at 3:00 and she was hungry, so while she boiled pasta she danced around the kitchen to create some body heat. I didnt think not having heating was that bad because we had a space heater, but that too has decided to take a vacation, so we now fight over who gets to do dishes. Doing dishes means warming up (in the slightest) so its a little strange trying to dirty as many dishes as we can. Making pancakes this morning managed to dirty even all the kitchen surfaces which required some scrubbing...I may have purposely (is that spelled wrong?) dripped on the floor too so that I had to bend down and wipe it!

I took her to meet a few of the members and Francesca, we taught English ......... We teach English every TU and THUR at 7:00 for an hour. I teach advanced, which is usually just Carmello, a non member, and Renzo. Renzo Purpari was an inactive till a month ago, and now we are hoping to help prepare him to be the next branch president. Anyways, he always comes to english class, so when he didnt come twice in a row and didnt come to church that sunday either, we were alarmed and fasted for him. It was all resolved in yesterdays phonecall- he decided to stop coming to English because "when I read, Carmello looks at my mouth. I dont like it." Mi sta antipatico.
I told him he shouldnt NOT learn English because some other man likes looking at his lips while he reads, so he came to English last night and I taught them separately. What funny people here.

Slla Squarcia was terrified to teach English but she did very well- they just went over the months of the year. Afterwards, she said that she now understood why I told her she shoudnt get worked up- I think our English lessons are the most laidback and family-like lessons in the mission.
We ended with a lesson on Mosiah 24 and then once the clock struck 20:00, we ordered everyone out because we had to run to an appt. We literally had to carry their stuff to the door so that they got out and didnt remain to chat inside. We booked it up Mistretta to Nino and Sonias house (father and daughter, whos wife is american but left them almost 3 years ago) and we had a wonderful dinner of soup and sausage and fresh ricotta. Ive added ricotta to my list of "Things Im discovering I dont like". The minestra was amazing though. I could happily live off of potatoes, peas, cabbage and carrots. While we ate fruit salad for dessert, S Squarcia kept glancing at me and I didnt even think twice about it as I happily munched away on pieces of pear and orange -
right before getting into bed last night, she said "Im sorry to say this S Urban, but halfway through dessert, I noticed that it was full of worms. I tried to warn you but you ate so quickly that I couldnt do anything. I managed to set four worms to the side of my bowl while I was eating, but when I got to the end, I could only find one worm left in the juice".

I dont know if Ive ever laughed so much in my life over eating worms. Just the whole concept of helping Slla Squarcia prepare for her mission in a couple of months, her freezing to death here ("Why didnt you tell me it snowed here?! Id have brought more warm clothes!"), and finding worms in her first meal here. Oh well. Mistretta is known for its mystery meat. This time, it just wasnt a mystery.

We found a beer bottle in our kitchen cabinet that we opened and discovered really good pasta sugo inside. Who was it from? Bo.

Antonio is still delivering bananas. Seriously, if he did think I had diarrhea, how long does he think I could have it?!

We are just about doing emails and then we will go back home and write a few letters and I get to read the conference talks!! Dad, THANK YOU. I think I may have slept with the Ensign under my pillow last night. None of the missionaries have recieved that months issue yet so I consider myself super blessed. Thank you everyone for the things you sent me. None of its labeled....except, Andrea, thanks for the pillow case! Its too cute to use :S
Lenora- the tights are AWESOME. Im wearing two pairs and the leggings right now. yay!!
The candy has been opened and enjoyed by our english students and I just dont know how to divy (sp?) up the cookie mixes. I would make them myself and deliver them BUT I know theyd get burned.

For New Years Eve, we bought a bottle of apricot juice because there wasnt any apple, and we had a romantic dinner of pasta. We left out the candles this time bc we were too cold to go hunt for them in the death closet. We set the alarm at 11:55 and when it woke us up, we were too toasy in bed to step out for a toast, so SR just counted down "10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1! Happy New Year!" and turned her head and fell back asleep. That was our celebration.
The next morning, we got up and spent the whole day cleaning. We were fast workers and got most of it done by 15:00 so we were able to read and catch up on things for the rest of the day. Amber asked me if its true that they throw toilets out of windows- only in Naples :)

Is it true juice is supposed to be consumed entro 4 days of opening?
Ive been drinking grape juice a sip at a time when I pass the fridge...since Slla Jones was here. I guess its never been enough to intoxicate me. But Carla poured it down the sink today and it sure wasnt juice anymore!!!

Sorella Urban

p.s. Oops, P.S.. Angela didnt get baptized. Still the law of chastity problem.
And how do I manage to write a whole email without adding something spiritual? Im a terrible missionary.
Read, pray, and go to church!

:)