What were you grateful for this week?Kind strangers. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?The most challenging part of this week for me was trying to figure out how to get out and see the town with it raining all day every day. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. A wow moment I had this week was when I gave the four year old a new game that I brought. He was so excited to play it and it helped him with his counting in English a ton! He kept getting it out and asking me to play it this entire week.

Tell us about your week! This week was amazing! it was my first week here and I couldn’t ask for a better host family. My host mom took me in to Lucca a few times and it was great to feel like I was really starting to know my way around. 

On Friday night I went out to dinner with my host family and some of their friends and it was so much fun. The people who could speak a little bit of English kept wanting to talk to me and I got to try my first true Italian pizza. 

Then on Sunday I took the train for the first time and went to Pisa. I attended church in Pisa and although no one there knew me, they were all so kind and willing to help. 

Pisa was beautiful and I’m going to go back later this week and probably many more times. When I got back to Lucca later that day I had to walk an hour and a half from the train station to my house, in heels and pouring rain, but it was one of my favorite experiences so far!

I got to see the Italian countryside in a way I hadn’t before and it felt really good when I could recognize where I was and where I needed to go to get home. The two boys have been so fun to really get to know and the baby is finally starting to get used to me. I can’t wait to see what the next two months here bring!