I've been seeing these eels swim around in buckets all month just waiting to be eaten.

So I'm very sorry I haven't been sending normal letters. The day we do internet is always crazy. So I have some things to tell ya'll. We went to Matera again (I don't think I told ya'll this). It was way cool because we took this little road outside the city that lead us to the ravine near the city. We crossed the ravine and went up to the mountain on the other side. It was way cool because we found a lot of caves and stuff, and a hole that I was involuntarily shouved into (we did get a great picture though). From the other side of the ravine we got a great view of the city. Cameras just couldn't capture it. Anyway later we went to this castle there and we found a park with GRASS! It was real grass. So I went and laid down in it. When I got up after like 10 mins I discovered that I had laid in a huge pile of dog $h!+. It was bad and the train ride home was worse cause the entire train stunk. We also had another great lunch with Sorella Panza. The last two times were terrible. She fed us this good pasta, but then the second course was this turkey that had been cooking in our sauce for the pasta. When she served Anz Hogg I could see one of her long, thick, black hairs was wrapped around one of his pieces of turkey. I warned him of the impending danger. He turned pale with fear. I now know for certain that the Lord looks out for his missionaries because at that moment the door bell rang. We told her (she has a hard time hearing sometimes), and as soon as she left the room Anz Hogg takes the hair and splats it (it was so full of sauce that I heard it hit the ground from across the room) on the floor. Then the desert came, and it was pudding that had been sitting out so long that a thick skin had formed over the top. Also she would never think of covering it so there was all sorts of stuff that had fallen in it, such as: cat hair, some random plant, and she had mentioned to Sorella Leone earlier that it was so cute how her cats would steal the food when she puts it out on the table. Those puddings were for sure molested by her cats before we arrived. Also she didn't stir the pudding so it was lumpy and I could still taste the flour that wasn't stirred. It was by far the worst time there. Then of course this last week she gave us rotten apples cooked in honey and water. I told her "Sorella why would you cook rotten apples?" Her response "I saw they were going bad so I decided to sweeten them up with the honey." It was really bad.
Enough about Panza I'm starting to dry heave just thinking about it. The most amazing thing has happened to us though these past few weeks. A while back we had knocked on this lady's door, and her daughter answered the door, and told us to come back. So we did, and her mother opened the door. She was really distraut, and her eyes were all swollen up because she had been crying. I spoke with her for a bit about the Book of Mormon, and why it's so important. She was just mainly glad to discover that we weren't Jehova's Witnesses or Evangelists. We then talked a bit about the Plan of Salvation like where we were before this life, why we are here, and where we were going after, that kinda stuff. She was very interested cause she had never heard it explained in 50 years. So we came back another night and explained this beautiful plan to her. She was amazed and her two grandaughters were way involved in the lesson as well. At the end she was so excited, she told us we had to come back, and teach her more. The next time we went over there we taught her the Restoration of the Gospel and Joseph Smith's story. She was so amazed to find out that God and Christ were two seperate beings. Then suddenly she got real serious with us, and she looked me straight in the eyes. She thanked me. She told me that the night we had come over she was very upset, and she was doubting God, this life, and the importance of living. She was planning on killing herself, but then we knocked on her door. She told me the things I had told her about that night calmed her, and she felt different, happier, and more important. She is amazing, and we went to her house the other night, and taught the Plan of Salvation to her daughter, daughter-in-law, and her friend's famly upstairs. They also gave us so much darn food we could barely carry it home, so they gave us a ride as well. It was trully a special moment, and it felt so wonderful to explain the importance of the Plan of Salvation. This is trully the work of the Lord we are doing.
Ok, Sister Hassell this is for you and Mrs. Schaffer as well, and anyone else really. For Christmas the speacial foods are not pizza, or pasta. It's deserts of course. They have pan d'oro. Which is bread that is really good, sweet, and soft. It just about falls apart in your mouth. Then being in Bari for Natale, the speacial thing here is eel. They eat eels for the main meal. I'm really excited. I've been seeing these eels swim around in buckets all month just waiting to be eaten. Christmas is going to be way awesome. I can't wait three more days. (For my family just so ya'll know I will be calling at like 10 or 11 ya'lls time. I can't remember if I'm 7 or 8 hours ahead of ya'll). So just be ready. I love you all, and I can't wait to hear from ya'll.

Buon Natale. Vi voglio bene.


Anziano Joel Paul