Written: 12 April 2009

Yesterday was such an excellent day. We had an Easter miracle. It was our Preparation Day and we were waiting at the bus stop to go to downtown Rome. We were meeting the other office couple at the church. A Filipino lady approached us and said she was a member of the church but was inactive. She had been thinking a lot lately about coming back to church. Fatima was on her way to work, but she rode the bus with us to the church to see where it is. She lives on our street – Renato Fucini. She had been ready to leave for work a half hour earlier, but was slow in leaving her house for some reason. We showed her the church and gave her an English Book of Mormon – the one I had been marking – and invited her to our scone night on Monday night. Afterwards, we were upset that we hadn’t gotten her phone number and address. But we felt strongly that the Lord’s spirit had prompted our encounter.

The day was spent pleasurably in downtown Rome. We had an Italian man with us who helped us understand much of the history. He took us to specific famous works of art and sculpture. After lunch we left Giuseppe and the Pearson's and hung out at Nouvana Square and Trevi Fountain people watching. It was a very relaxed day. We took a different bus back to Termini and then decided to take a different bus home than we usually take. As we walked to the bus stop, we realized that Fatima was there. Incredible! She rode the bus home with us, visiting together the entire way. She showed us where she lived and gave us her phone number. We showed her where we live. Fatima is going home to the Philippines for one month and when she returns, she has promised to go to church with us. The story is much more involved that this, but the important part is that she recognized the Lord’s hand in meeting us.

Yes, I am making scones for about 20 missionaries and investigators at our apartment tomorrow night. It will be interesting to see who actually shows up. I will make about 4 batches of dough and hope that is enough for everyone to eat their fill. Of course, we will have honey butter and jams for toppings and milk or water to drink.

Today is Easter Sunday and we had 6 of the missionaries in the district over for Sunday dinner. It was a fun afternoon and evening. I think they were all glad to have an Easter dinner appointment.

Love, the Sommerfeldts

PS Our Internet has been down and I couldn't post the blog. Everyone went on Easter Vacation - even our Internet.
The scone night went great and Fatima showed up, for which we were thrilled! It's Tuesday night and we are madly baking cinnamon rolls from left over scone dough. I made 6 batches instead of 4. If I can keep Will out of the cinnamon buns, it will be another miracle. The missionaries coming into the office are really getting spoiled.