Time Continues to Fly

It's been a wonderful day! Got up early to get ready for church so that we could Skype with Sorella Adrianne Bennett at 7:30 a.m. and then hurried home from church to talk with Sister Malinda Bennett.  It was so great talk with both of them! They are doing so well and love the time that they have right now to serve their Heavenly Father and Savior! We are SOOO proud of both of them.  I do have to admit though that I'm really quite missing both of them right now, but of course, I wouldn't have them be anywhere else than where they are right now.  I can't wait for July when I can head to see our other daughter Alisha and her family in Pennsylvania! 

 Malinda has been nearly a third of her mission already! Is that crazy! She is loving it! She is training a sister missionary that has only been out for 6 weeks so Malinda is doing the second half of her 12 week training that they have once they reach the mission field.  Her name is Sister Knight and she is from Southern California (not sure which Sister Missionary she is in the top picture, I'll have to ask Malinda in my next letter to her.  Malinda said in her phone conversation they have 4 new people to teach this week, they are so excited.Her companion just before this one was Sister Fullmer (second picture above), she was born in Haiti but grew up here in Utah.  Malinda also knew people in West LaFayette, so exciting, Caleb and Lindsey Miskin, who have become dear friends over the past few years, Caleb was in the ward that DeeRay was Bishop of at BYU, and Jonathan Goodsell who was in the ward that DeeRay was a counselor in, how awesome is that! Before that Malinda was in North Vernon, in southern Indiana, where she was companions with Sister Bonner (fourth picture down).  She has had such amazing experiences with each of these companions and they have been a real blessing to her and we love them for it! She has met some wonderful people that have really touched her life, she loves sharing the gospel message with the people of Indiana!

Adrianne arrived in Italy just 10 days ago and is just love her experience there! Her companion said this morning that she is doing really well with the language, which I will probably believe her interpretation over Adrianne's as to how well she is doing! Sister Montagnoli and Adrianne took Italian together at Lone Peak High School and when Adrianne saw her at transfers as one of the new trainers, she said to the other Sister Missionaries that were standing by her waiting to find out who they were going to be companions with, that whoever got Sister Montagnoli was going to be so lucky.  When Sister Montagnoli got up and told a little about the area she was serving in and then announced who her companion was, Adrianne was so excited, couldn't have been more happy, Adrianne said she just ran up to her and they both kept hugging each other, the Assistants were laughing at them because of their excitement to be companions. Adrianne said things are going really well in their area, her first Saturday there they had five teaching appointments!  Wow! They have a three story building that they meet in for church on Sunday, it is owned by the church but obviously not your typical meeting house, she said it's pretty typical for there. She loves it in Forli, where they are serving right now along with a senior couple, the Jeffries, I was so excited to hear from them within days of Adrianne's arrival in Italy, they had even posted these pics on their blog, oh it meant so much to us!!