Hey guys! How's it going???

I'm very glad that everyone is doing well! Thank you so much for your emails and encouraging words of support and love!

Things are still moving along great here in Siracusa and I love the people and the city. I might have to be quick today because we are leaving Sicily for a bit to go to Reggio Calabria where I'll take a plane tomorrow morning for Rome. I am really excited and it should be a great conference like usual. 

This week has been fantastic and rather busy, but productive. We have been working really hard to find new investigators, but it seems like it's been a bit of a tough spot for everyone in the zone. It will pass and we'll keep going on diligently! 

Anziano Smit had a little tooth problem so we had to go to Catania on Thanksgiving because there is a dentist there that the Church really trusts. We might have to go back again, but it looks like everything is okay. For English course we had a little party to celebrate Thanksgiving with all the English course students and we had a great time. We bought pizza and everyone else brought snacks, drinks, and desert. We have some amazing people come to our courses and I love them so much! This older man who comes frequently was so excited to introduce me to his wife and she talked about how much he loves us and enjoys our company. I would love to teach English as a job; I find a lot of pleasure in it!

We have also been also meeting with our bishop often, and coordinating the work together has gone well.b

Sunday was a lot of fun. On Saturday there was a 'SuperSabato' event for the youth where all the youth in Sicily came to Siracusa. They stayed the night and I was asked to teach a class in church for all the priests about mission preparation. We did sacrament with them and we all had a lot of fun. We ate lunch with all of them and I made a ton of new friends with the youth all over Sicily. 

Italy has changed some laws around and has made it a little more difficult to get the residence permits, and on Monday we had this appointment for Anziano Smit. This tall young man walked in and I knew right away that he wasn't Italian. As he was going through the process I heard him say, "This is so boring" and I asked where he was from. He said North Carolina and he is a high school junior on a study abroad program. On our way back from Catania on Thursday we met all the rest of the kids in his program from all over the U.S. and we had a fun time chatting. These girls said that they are going to buy me a bunch of American stuff from the American base in Catania so I can't wait to get some Starbursts and root beer. I haven't had root beer since the MTC! Italians think it's gross unfortunately.. Anyways we asked this guy, Isaac, if he wanted to go get a pizza sometime and he glady excepted and then said that he would really like to know more about the church too. I guess the recent presidential elections have sparked some interest.

Yesterday was an amazing day. We went to a spot where we found out lived a bunch of less-actives, and we began searching. We had some luck and some return appointments, and as we walked near the sea I saw the strangest thing ever. It looked like a giant boat that was sinking near the coast. Not believing my eyes we decided to go see what it was, and in fact, it was a boat that ten months or so earlier had crashed into a cliff on the coastline during a storm. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. It was very random and we found it by chance. It is a little hard to miss, I guess you could say, but in a remote part of town. 

Last night we had another great English course and had fun doing role play, and we had a special family home evening. Usually there is a spiritual thought, and then a game. Our ward mission leader, Christian, the week before asked Giovanna if she'd like to share something, and she was so happy to be involved. She gave one of the best spiritual thoughts ever, and everyone was really touched by the things she shared. 

I love you all so much! I hope I can do something fun in Rome and take a great picture. Speaking of pictures you all looked so beautiful in the family pictures! Thank you so much for including me in there! I love you! I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg. Have a great week! Vi voglio un sacco di bene!

Un abbraccio forte!

Anziano Clay Lacey