Italia: Chiesa in Sassari

I'm still working on the wedding photos, so bear with me, I will include a few TEASERS at the bottom of this post!!!

On Sunday, my parents and I drove 90 minutes to church (chiesa) in Sassari (2nd largest city on Sardinia, pop. 120,000). I was the navigator. We immediately got lost and couldn't tell WHERE we were on the map. Luckily, my dad has an internal compass/map of the world built into his brain. When all seemed hopeless, we stopped for help, and were only 3 blocks from the chapel!

When we saw this sign, we knew we were in the right place!

There were 3 companionships and every missionary was from the USA, except the petite sister. We attended Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting with full translation. What a nice branch and beautiful services. The singing was lovely, with a LOUD Italian Tenor leading the music.

This very adorable elder is my dad's cousin Michelle's son, David Morris. He has been on his mission for 2 months and is so GUNG HO. His Italian is great and he is so pumped about working hard. It was a pleasure to meet him and we had a fun time visiting.

I didn't know he hasn't sent his mom any photos yet or I would have been snapping them like crazy. The people in the branch were so friendly and welcoming. They LOVE Elder Morris and appreciate his service so much.

This woman was one of Elder Morris's investigators. She was very cute. She and I were "talking" about Sardinian food and she was telling me how it's so great: the bread, the cheese, the wine . . . and then she looked at Elder Morris a little nervously and said, "But I don't drink the wine, I just know Italians like the wine!" And then she mentioned that after church she was going to the beach with her grandchildren . . . but that she'd be bringing her Book of Mormon to read. She was so funny.

And NOW . . . The PRE-Wedding photos! These are all in Black and White, so you can be AWED by the colors of the actual wedding!

First, we started with the French mani/pedicure.

My mom, Briana and her best friend, Jade walking down Briana's cobblestone street to pick up Briana's bouquet. Briana is wearing traditional black velvet Sardinian pants. My mom is wearing tradition Mormon Capri's.

This is our cute bride with her Daddy, 2 hours before the wedding. I should have told Dad NOT to make a goofy face and NOT to wear his Led Zeppelin shirt!

Briana and her Adorable Maid and Matron of Honor (I also have Traditonal Capri's on!!)

Sem's sister AnnaLisa and I did Briana's hair. She's the fat one and I'm the cute Italian one.

Jade giving Briana a movie star makeover . . .

Briana's hair looks DANG good, if I do say so myself!

This is Sem's mother, getting Luca dressed.

Come back tomorow and you can see THE WEDDING!!