Firenze Firenze Firenze una bella città!- Florence, Florence a Beautiful City

Ciao to all you lovely humans back home! I am sitting at an internet point somewhere in Firenze desperately craving Fanta or an Inka Cola, with the clock ticking away and having no idea, as always, where to begin. I still can't believe I am here sometimes. We have had an extraordinary day and I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't tragically sunburned. Pay no mind to that--all is well. The Lord is just trying to show me how incredibly blessed I am and it is beyond expression. Everywhere I go there are different sounds and smells and beauties. I can't get soak in enough of it. There are tremendous bell towers that resound with an antique sort of music that I adore. I feel like an old soul locked in that beautiful ringing. But Firenze is massive and far from just an old city. It is alive with activity. There are buses and cars and shops and bicycles and people. It is like nothing else. A conglomeration of old and new that is beyond beautiful. I love the people here with all of their quirks, they are wonderful. If it weren't for the mosquitoes, I would never complain. We went today on the train to S. Romano and then walked to the neighboring city, Montopoli, which was full of ancient wonders and panoramic views of an Italy I never imagined. We sat in a beautiful old church, looked at towers from the 10th century, and took pictures of the glorious Italian countryside. che troppo bello. Beyond words, and the pictures will never do it justice. I loved walking in strade that curved with the hills and seeing these quaint old palazzi in a small, quiet Italian city. It was very different from Firenze, but beautiful too. We have been working so hard this week, I can't say enough about it. We have three new investigators, are increasing our number of lessons, and talking to as many people as we can. I am understand a little bit better, though the fiorentino dialect still throws me for a loop. We meet interesting people every day. One evening doing casa, we were welcomed into a house with an enthusiasm I can't describe and we talked to Gabrielle and Giulia for almost an hour about the gospel. On a return visit we sang a hymn for them and I was complimented sweetly on my voice, which is nice because I have such little time to sing. I may never remember the hymns in English after my sojourn in Italy and I couldn't be happier about it. Things are moving forward here in Firenze and every day there are little miracles that prove the Lord is involved in this work. Our mission president shared with us a french poem that goes
Come to the edge...
No, we will fall.
Come to the edge...
No, we will fall.
Come to the edge...
We came,
He pushed,
And we flew.
Sometimes that is exactly how I feel the Lord works with us. We have to step a little into the unknown, into the challenging, into the new, to be pushed enough and strengthened enough to finally fly. He strengthens my faith daily and even when at the end of the day I am more exhausted than I ever imagined I could be, I am not tired of doing this work. As it says in  our mission hymn: Non ci stancheremo mai di servire il Signore (We will never tire of serving the Lord). We won't. I won't. I love these people and I want to do all I can to be who He wants me to be for them. Lots of love from me to all of you! I can't believe it!