There's a sister missionary in Rimini, and she's praying for you

Ciao la mia famiglia e i miei amici! I hope life for you all is wonderful. I'm having just about the greatest time I've ever had. Don't get me wrong, I'm working harder than I've probably worked my whole mission, but I love every single moment.

Just one of my favorite sorelle! It was such a blessing
to spend all day with my dear Sreolla Bennet.

Last Thursday was transfer day. We had to be in Bologna at 9:30, which means we had to catch a train at 7:45 in the morning. It wasn't too bad though. We travelled with Anziani Simcox and Valentine from Pesaro. Anziano Simcox is getting transferred to Milano! He'll be serving in a trio in Milano Cimiano. There are so many trios in the mission right now, we just don't have enough places for all the missionaries we have. Anyway, he's going to love it. Sorelle Burkman and Alley just dropped me off in Bologna and then caught a train back to Rimini. The anziani and I met up with Sorelle Montagnoli, Bennet, and Brown from Forli and then we went to put Sorella Montagnoli and Anziano Simcox on a train. I'm going to miss those two so much! One of the Bologna zone leaders was getting transferred as well, so Sorelle Brown and Bennet, Anziani Valentine and Thompson, and I basically stayed at the station all day. I'm not going to lie; spending the day with Sorella Bennet basically made my life. I miss this girl so much. The two new Sorelle got in at about 3:15. Sorella Strong is my new companion, and let me tell you, this girl is amazing. I can already tell we're going to have so much fun this transfer. Sorella Jameson is going to the trio in Forli. I'm excited for them. I don't know her super well, but I do know she's absolutely incredible. 

Apparently bees really love my new companion. It only
took us about 10 minutes to get a normal picture.

When Sorella Strong and I arrived home we found out some pretty unexpected news. We're in a new district! We're now in a district with Ravenna and Forli. This is super exciting because we will get to see the Jefferies every week. Also, my dear sisters in Forli are in our district. I'm so excited. I'm a little sad because I love the Anziani we have in Pesaro and Ancona, but I'm growing to love change more and more. 

Sorella Strong and I have been doing a lot of tracting. That's pretty much the majority of what we're doing right now. Like I said last week, we're starting off with zero investigators. But, we've already found a new investigator. We were walking down a little side street in centro, and he was walking toward us. I wasn't really planning on trying to talk to him, but as we passed I just said Buona Sera. He turned around to talk with us, and we ended up having a 45-minute lesson right there on the street. He's a really sweet old man with a very strong knowledge of the Bible. He knows his stuff. I feel like I learn this everyday: don't pick and choose whom to talk to; just talk to everyone - you never know what will happen.

My dear sweet Sorella Strong. Photo bombing this picture
are Anziani Valentine and Thompson

When all you do is tract, you end up meeting a lot of different people. They might not all be interested, but so far they've all been really nice. We were walking around this lake, and we see a man fishing. Sorella Strong asks me if we should go talk to him. Well, we're missionaries, so of course I said "andiamo." As we're walking up to him, I'm thinking of what I want to share with him. I was trying to figure out what I thought he'd need. Sorella Strong beat me to it with, "What kind of fish are these?" A little bit of a strange opening, but we walked away with his number. New way to find someone?

We were walking home from English course last night, and the bridge we usually cross was closed. I don't know another way to get home . . . so being the upstanding citizens we are, we thought we'd sneak across. One of the workers saw us walking towards them. He came over and whispered to just go over the bridge and when we were on the other side, try not to be seen by the other workers. He said if we were, to tell them we didn't see anyone on that side. He then put his finger to his lips and said "shh." I love Italians. On the other side we quickly got off the bridge and took a side street. There were three cute elderly people sitting in front of a house watching the workers. The man told us that they only let us through because we're beautiful girls, but if he had let us through, he would have made sure to let everyone know. We talked to the three of them for a little bit and they invited us to come back. We're going to take them some zucchini bread after church on Sunday. 

This transfer is already becoming on of my favorites. Sorella Strong is a spiritual giant with a large heart. I already consider her to be one of my best friends; we truly are sisters. Everyday I realize we're more similar then we thought previously. Everyday we learn new things about the gospel together. Everyday we have more fun than the day before. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to work with her. We're going to learn a lot from each other; we're going to see miracles; we're going to teach lessons; and we're going to have the best time along the way.

I love you all. Please remember, if you're having a hard day, there's a sister missionary all the way in Rimini, and she's praying for you.

Vi voglio bene per sempre

Sorella Ellen Rose Ervin