Ciao tutti!
I have great news!! I'm staying in La Spezia!!! I'm so excited!!! And I'm getting an Italian companion, too! I'm really excited. Her name is Sorella Mura and she's from Cagliari, on the island of Sardegna. I've met her once and she's awesome. I'm so excited! We got to Livorno Monday night. Sorella Jones left for Rome yesterday morning, so I've been with the 2 sisters here. Tomorrow morning I pick up my new companion and head back to La Spezia! We get the transfer calls Monday mornings during our district meeting. President Margheriti (the branch president) called three times during the meeting to find out if we had received our calls yet. He's so great! He loves the missionaries so much! He cried when he said bye to Sorella Jones.
This past week has been great! Last week for PDay we went to Monterosso and Corniglia, the final 2 of the Cinque Terre that we hadn't been to yet. Monterosso is amazing! It's so beautiful! I seriously can't wait to bring you back! Today we're going to try to go to Pisa if we have time. It's only about a 15 minute train ride from Livorno, so hopefully we can make it. I want to see the tower! Livorno is beautiful. It's right along the ocean. There's an American military base 20 minutes out of town and there is an American family in the branch here. We went to their house yesterday, and I got to have a root beer! It was so good!!
So my embarassing/funny story for this week....I burned myself on the oven the other day on the back of my hand. So we're teaching Rita a lesson the other day about the Plan of Salvation. We were talking about the 3 kingdoms of glory, and she asked us if we believe in hell. Then she noticed the burn on my hand and asked me how I got it. I tried to say that I burned myself on the oven. Unfortunately, the word for oven is very close to another word, and I accidentally said that I got burned in hell. She gave me a really funny look, and then said, "Do you mean the oven?" Good times learning another language!
Another funny story. There's a McDonals at La Spezia, and they recently added a drive through. No one here knows what that means, so they have a huge billboard in front with pictures showing how it works. They are so confused! They don't understand why anyone would be so lazy that they can't even get out of their car to get food. It's pretty funny. Also, last night at english class here in Livorno, the class was asking me where I'm from. I said Arizona, and they asked which city. When I said Yuma, they all knew where Yuma was! Apparently there is a comic here in Italy that's all about this guy who lives in Yuma and Tucson. Weird!
Elisabeth and Presciella are progressing and doing well! They happily accept any commitments we extend, participate in the lessons, and ask tons of questions. They're great! Elisabeth has a huge crush on one of the elders, and it's really funny! He's getting transfered tomorrow, though. Hopefully she still comes to church even after he leaves! Joanna and Carla aren't really progressing, but they still enjoy the lessons and love the sisters. We're trying to help them see that the lessons are more than just nice spiritual thoughts we're giving, but something that they need to apply in their lives. They are such an amazing family!
Sunday night, the mom of a lady in our branch passed away. Monday morning all 6 of us missionaries went to the mortuary to see if there was anything we could do. Italian mortuaries are kinda creepy! By law, when anyone dies they have to wait at least 48 hours before putting them in a casket. They have a superstition that some people come back to life once put in the casket, and try to get out, but are already buried and no one notices. So they wait at least 2 full days to make sure they're really dead. The mortuary is a long hallway with tons of rooms along the sides with huge windows. The people who have passed away are placed on a bed right on the other side of the window. So instead of a viewing during the funeral, everyone comes to the mortuary and walks down this huge dark hallway full of dead people. It's a little creepy! But it was a great experience. Sorella Bellu, the one who lost her mom, is the only member in her family. It was so great to see how much peace she had knowing the Plan of Salvation. She even gave a Book of Mormon to her aunt and taught a whole lesson on the gospel. It was awesome!
I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission. There truly aren't words to describe how great it is! I'm so excited for my new companion, and to keep the work going in La Spezia!
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Hawkey
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
January 21, 2009
Hi everyone!
Hope you all are doing well! This week has been so great! Last week for PDay we went to Portovenere, which is amazing! It's seriously probably the most beautiful place I've ever been. It's about 10 minutes from La Spezia, and we had so much fun! We also did a little shopping in centro (downtown). Thursday were interviews with President Acerson. He's amazing!
We've been meeting a lot with Rita this week. She's so great! She loves the Book of Mormon so much, and happily accepts and keeps all of the commitments we extend her. She came to church this week and loved it! After church all the missionaries went over to the Margheriti's for lunch, and Rita came with us. She's making friends in the branch! She's so great, and I love her so much!
Saturday we met with Joanna, and it was slightly short of a disaster! We tried to watch the Restoration DVD, but they didn't have a DVD player, so we used their laptop. The first computer we tried wouldn't read the DVD. The second one read the DVD, but the sound was super quiet and we couldn't hear anything! Which would have been fine, but right as the movie started, her 2 year old woke up from his nap, which NEVER happens while we're there! He started playing with every single toy he owns that makes noise! Then right as the first vision part of the movie was starting, he knocked over his play table on the tile floor, all his toys going all over the house and making so much noise! It was an interesting appointment, to say the least.
Today for PDay, we're going to the final 2 of the Cinque Terre that we haven't been to- Monterosso and Corniglia. It finally stopped raining this morning after pouring down all week! All of my pairs of shoes are soaking wet, no matter what I do to them. As soon as they start to get a little bit dry, I have to put them back on to wear them out again. So it's nice to see some sun and hopefully dry things out!
Anyways, the work is going well, and I'm still hoping La Spezia doesn't get closed to sisters, but it's looking like that might happen. This work is so amazing, though! I heard once that a coincidence is a small miracle in which the Lord chooses to remain anonymous. It's so easy to brush things off as a coincidence, but the Lord's hand is always there. We just have to choose to see it. There are so many experience I've had that I know without doubt are miracles. They're just small little things, but I know that the Lord places us where we need to be. He is always there and is always involved in our lives.
I love you so much!
Sorella Hawkey
Hope you all are doing well! This week has been so great! Last week for PDay we went to Portovenere, which is amazing! It's seriously probably the most beautiful place I've ever been. It's about 10 minutes from La Spezia, and we had so much fun! We also did a little shopping in centro (downtown). Thursday were interviews with President Acerson. He's amazing!
We've been meeting a lot with Rita this week. She's so great! She loves the Book of Mormon so much, and happily accepts and keeps all of the commitments we extend her. She came to church this week and loved it! After church all the missionaries went over to the Margheriti's for lunch, and Rita came with us. She's making friends in the branch! She's so great, and I love her so much!
Saturday we met with Joanna, and it was slightly short of a disaster! We tried to watch the Restoration DVD, but they didn't have a DVD player, so we used their laptop. The first computer we tried wouldn't read the DVD. The second one read the DVD, but the sound was super quiet and we couldn't hear anything! Which would have been fine, but right as the movie started, her 2 year old woke up from his nap, which NEVER happens while we're there! He started playing with every single toy he owns that makes noise! Then right as the first vision part of the movie was starting, he knocked over his play table on the tile floor, all his toys going all over the house and making so much noise! It was an interesting appointment, to say the least.
Today for PDay, we're going to the final 2 of the Cinque Terre that we haven't been to- Monterosso and Corniglia. It finally stopped raining this morning after pouring down all week! All of my pairs of shoes are soaking wet, no matter what I do to them. As soon as they start to get a little bit dry, I have to put them back on to wear them out again. So it's nice to see some sun and hopefully dry things out!
Anyways, the work is going well, and I'm still hoping La Spezia doesn't get closed to sisters, but it's looking like that might happen. This work is so amazing, though! I heard once that a coincidence is a small miracle in which the Lord chooses to remain anonymous. It's so easy to brush things off as a coincidence, but the Lord's hand is always there. We just have to choose to see it. There are so many experience I've had that I know without doubt are miracles. They're just small little things, but I know that the Lord places us where we need to be. He is always there and is always involved in our lives.
I love you so much!
Sorella Hawkey
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Christmas Eve
Breanna and Sister Jones on Christmas Eve.
This was the house they went to with a family in their ward.
January 14, 2009
Ciao tutti!
This week has been great! We got 3 new investigators!!! And had great appointments with our less active members! And it's been warm and sunny and things are great here in La Spezia.
Wednesday for PDay, we went to Carrara, which is a town just outside of La Spezia that has a big marble mine. The elders wanted to find marble chess sets, so they drug us along with them. They ended up not finding anything, but Sister Jones and I had a lot of fun shopping!
Wednesday night at our branch family home evening, the elders found a mouse in the church. They know that I HATE rodents and bugs and things, so they always try to scare me. One of them caught the mouse in a cup, and kept chasing me around the church with it. After a while, I didn't believe that he actually had a mouse in the cup, so I stopped running and went over. He lifted his hand off the cup, and the mouse jumped out at me. It was so scary! The elders all thought it was hilarious, and Oscar video recorded the whole thing on his phone and shows everyone me freaking out.
Thursday night we were doing some passbacks of people we've met who didn't have time to talk when we met them. There is one family who we met briefly doing house, but they went out of town for the holidays, and we hadn't been able to find them home for about a month. Thursday we went to drop by, and they immediately let us in. We taught them a mini first lesson, and the wife asked if we could come back when the husband is home to teach more! We're going back this Saturday!
Friday, we had an appointment with a lady that the sisters that were here before us found. She wanted to learn english, but works when we hold our english class, so we said we can come teach her. We went there for the first time Friday, and asked if we could share a spiritual thought. We ended up teaching the whole first lesson, and both her and her sister asked for copies of the Book of Mormon! One of the sisters came to church on Sunday, and is coming tonight to the branch family home evening. They are from Brazil, and are named Presciella and Elisabeth. They're great!
We also had an appointment Friday night with a family of 7 that the other sisters had taught a couple times. We waited to go there until the old sister sent a letter that we could take to them. The old sisters said that they were pretty hard core Catholic. So we get there, and just "happen" to arrive right as they are starting the rosary prayer! We sat and listened for about 30 minutes, and then they went off on how the Catholic church is the only true church, and how they respect our beliefs, but we're wrong. It was an interesting experience, to say the least.
We met a contact before Christmas named Rita. She's 53 and single and met with the elders 6 years ago. She is so sweet! We have been trying to find her at home since then, but we've never been able to get ahold of her. Sunday night we were talking about her trying to figure out how to find her. My companion and I both looked at each other, and at the same time, said "She's in the hospital." We called her, and she answered this time, and sure enough, she was in the hospital. We went to visit her, and she was SO happy! She had surgery on Wednesday, and none of her family had come to see her. She had been sitting all alone in the hospital room since Wednesday morning. We taught her about blessings, and she asked if the elders could come give her one. Monday we all went and she got a blessing, and she loved it! She lights up every time we go visit her. She is so wonderful! We're excited to be working with her.
Anyways, those are the highlights of my week. This is such a great experience to be an instrument in the hands of my Heavenly Father to share this wonderful gospel with His children here in Italy.
I love you all so much and hope you know you're in my thoughts and prayers.
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Hawkey
This week has been great! We got 3 new investigators!!! And had great appointments with our less active members! And it's been warm and sunny and things are great here in La Spezia.
Wednesday for PDay, we went to Carrara, which is a town just outside of La Spezia that has a big marble mine. The elders wanted to find marble chess sets, so they drug us along with them. They ended up not finding anything, but Sister Jones and I had a lot of fun shopping!
Wednesday night at our branch family home evening, the elders found a mouse in the church. They know that I HATE rodents and bugs and things, so they always try to scare me. One of them caught the mouse in a cup, and kept chasing me around the church with it. After a while, I didn't believe that he actually had a mouse in the cup, so I stopped running and went over. He lifted his hand off the cup, and the mouse jumped out at me. It was so scary! The elders all thought it was hilarious, and Oscar video recorded the whole thing on his phone and shows everyone me freaking out.
Thursday night we were doing some passbacks of people we've met who didn't have time to talk when we met them. There is one family who we met briefly doing house, but they went out of town for the holidays, and we hadn't been able to find them home for about a month. Thursday we went to drop by, and they immediately let us in. We taught them a mini first lesson, and the wife asked if we could come back when the husband is home to teach more! We're going back this Saturday!
Friday, we had an appointment with a lady that the sisters that were here before us found. She wanted to learn english, but works when we hold our english class, so we said we can come teach her. We went there for the first time Friday, and asked if we could share a spiritual thought. We ended up teaching the whole first lesson, and both her and her sister asked for copies of the Book of Mormon! One of the sisters came to church on Sunday, and is coming tonight to the branch family home evening. They are from Brazil, and are named Presciella and Elisabeth. They're great!
We also had an appointment Friday night with a family of 7 that the other sisters had taught a couple times. We waited to go there until the old sister sent a letter that we could take to them. The old sisters said that they were pretty hard core Catholic. So we get there, and just "happen" to arrive right as they are starting the rosary prayer! We sat and listened for about 30 minutes, and then they went off on how the Catholic church is the only true church, and how they respect our beliefs, but we're wrong. It was an interesting experience, to say the least.
We met a contact before Christmas named Rita. She's 53 and single and met with the elders 6 years ago. She is so sweet! We have been trying to find her at home since then, but we've never been able to get ahold of her. Sunday night we were talking about her trying to figure out how to find her. My companion and I both looked at each other, and at the same time, said "She's in the hospital." We called her, and she answered this time, and sure enough, she was in the hospital. We went to visit her, and she was SO happy! She had surgery on Wednesday, and none of her family had come to see her. She had been sitting all alone in the hospital room since Wednesday morning. We taught her about blessings, and she asked if the elders could come give her one. Monday we all went and she got a blessing, and she loved it! She lights up every time we go visit her. She is so wonderful! We're excited to be working with her.
Anyways, those are the highlights of my week. This is such a great experience to be an instrument in the hands of my Heavenly Father to share this wonderful gospel with His children here in Italy.
I love you all so much and hope you know you're in my thoughts and prayers.
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Hawkey
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
January 7, 2009
Hi!
How are you all doing? Have you given away the Book of Mormon yet? Does anyone answer my questions? This week has been really good. Our New Year's party at the crazy sister's was a blast! We had a delicious dinner and watched fireworks. New Years day was Festa di Lavoro, which means party of work. We do it twice a year on the mission. It's where we stay home all day and deep clean the apartment. It was actually a lot of fun to be able to stay in my sweats all day long! And our apartment looks great!
This week has still been a little slow. The holidays last forever long here! Yesterday was La Befana. It's a holiday where a witch brings the kids stockings full of presents. It's pretty much like another Christmas, so Christmas lasts 2 weeks.
Saturday we were doing house, and a couple let us in. They listened for about 2 seconds, and then spent the rest of the time trying to convert us to Catholicism. They kept giving us all these magazines to read, and gave us a Mary necklace charm. We gave them some pamphlets, too, which I'm pretty sure they only took because we took their magazines. We tried to give them a Book of Mormon, but they wouldn't accept it. She looked at it for a little while, though. She flipped it open to a random page and read the first verse she turned to. It talked about believing in the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and how at the last day we will all stand before Christ and know of the truthfulness of the Gospel. She read it aloud once, then stared at it for a couple minutes, read it again, stared again for a couple minutes, and then gave it back. It was a really neat experience. When we got home that night, we experimented and saw which verses we turned to. They were always random verses about someone begat someone else, or something like that. It's so amazing to see God's hand in this work. I know that it wasn't a coincidence that she turned to that verse.
I heard once that a coincidence is a small miracle in which the Lord chooses to remain anonymous. I have so many of those little miracles each day! I know witout doubt that they're not just coincidences. I see so easily the hand of the Lord in this work. It could be so easy to brush off things as coincidences, but when we have faith and choose to see the Lord's hand, it is always there.
Saturday and Sunday night our district did chalk in centro (downtown). Chalk is where we have a huge sheet, and draw with chalk on it. It always attracts people's attention, and when they come over we talk to them about what we're drawing. We drew the Plan of Salvation one night, and the Prophets the next night. We met some great people and got some amazing contacts!
Sunday after Church, we went over to the crazy sister's again. They wanted us to make them an American breakfast for lunch. They're moving to Milano tomorrow. They loved the breakfast! We made french toast, pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit salad, and syrup. (that's right, we made syrup. They don't have it here, so we made it from scratch!) They asked us for all the recipes of everything we made. Giulia, the most crazy of the sisters, said she wants to become American so she can eat that everyday. We told her that we don't have a huge breakfast like that everyday, but she chose to not believe us and still wants to become American.
Monday we visited one of our inactive members, Giuliana. She's single and has 2 kids, Momy and Michele. They love me! They cried when I left. They are so sweet. They gave me several little presents and drew pictures for me. Momy, the girl, is 7 and Michele, the boy is 5. He gave me his favorite ornament off the Christmas tree, a puppy, because I told him I have a puppy at home.
Monday was also the birthday of Salvatore, one of the elder's investigators. He's the one that has the 18 year old daughter, Rita, that we visit occassionally. They both LOVE the missionaries! Rita invitied the elders and us over for a little surprise birthday party. She made it sound like it was just going to be the 2 of them and us 4 missionaries and a little bit of cake. When we got there, it ended up being his whole family and a full on dinner. And Italian dinners take forever! You have the antipasti, first course, second course, salad, dessert, then coffee, with about 10 minutes between each course. We didn't get home that night til almost 11! It was really good, though. He was telling his kids how much we've helped him and how we've saved his life and brought him hope. It was a really great experience.
I love you all so much and hope you're doing well. You're in my thoughts and prayers!
Vi voglio bene!
Banpy at home.
Monday was also the birthday of Salvatore, one of the elder's investigators. He's the one that has the 18 year old daughter, Rita, that we visit o
How are you all doing? Have you given away the Book of Mormon yet? Does anyone answer my questions? This week has been really good. Our New Year's party at the crazy sister's was a blast! We had a delicious dinner and watched fireworks. New Years day was Festa di Lavoro, which means party of work. We do it twice a year on the mission. It's where we stay home all day and deep clean the apartment. It was actually a lot of fun to be able to stay in my sweats all day long! And our apartment looks great!
This week has still been a little slow. The holidays last forever long here! Yesterday was La Befana. It's a holiday where a witch brings the kids stockings full of presents. It's pretty much like another Christmas, so Christmas lasts 2 weeks.
Saturday we were doing house, and a couple let us in. They listened for about 2 seconds, and then spent the rest of the time trying to convert us to Catholicism. They kept giving us all these magazines to read, and gave us a Mary necklace charm. We gave them some pamphlets, too, which I'm pretty sure they only took because we took their magazines. We tried to give them a Book of Mormon, but they wouldn't accept it. She looked at it for a little while, though. She flipped it open to a random page and read the first verse she turned to. It talked about believing in the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and how at the last day we will all stand before Christ and know of the truthfulness of the Gospel. She read it aloud once, then stared at it for a couple minutes, read it again, stared again for a couple minutes, and then gave it back. It was a really neat experience. When we got home that night, we experimented and saw which verses we turned to. They were always random verses about someone begat someone else, or something like that. It's so amazing to see God's hand in this work. I know that it wasn't a coincidence that she turned to that verse.
I heard once that a coincidence is a small miracle in which the Lord chooses to remain anonymous. I have so many of those little miracles each day! I know witout doubt that they're not just coincidences. I see so easily the hand of the Lord in this work. It could be so easy to brush off things as coincidences, but when we have faith and choose to see the Lord's hand, it is always there.
Saturday and Sunday night our district did chalk in centro (downtown). Chalk is where we have a huge sheet, and draw with chalk on it. It always attracts people's attention, and when they come over we talk to them about what we're drawing. We drew the Plan of Salvation one night, and the Prophets the next night. We met some great people and got some amazing contacts!
Sunday after Church, we went over to the crazy sister's again. They wanted us to make them an American breakfast for lunch. They're moving to Milano tomorrow. They loved the breakfast! We made french toast, pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit salad, and syrup. (that's right, we made syrup. They don't have it here, so we made it from scratch!) They asked us for all the recipes of everything we made. Giulia, the most crazy of the sisters, said she wants to become American so she can eat that everyday. We told her that we don't have a huge breakfast like that everyday, but she chose to not believe us and still wants to become American.
Monday we visited one of our inactive members, Giuliana. She's single and has 2 kids, Momy and Michele. They love me! They cried when I left. They are so sweet. They gave me several little presents and drew pictures for me. Momy, the girl, is 7 and Michele, the boy is 5. He gave me his favorite ornament off the Christmas tree, a puppy, because I told him I have a puppy at home.
Monday was also the birthday of Salvatore, one of the elder's investigators. He's the one that has the 18 year old daughter, Rita, that we visit occassionally. They both LOVE the missionaries! Rita invitied the elders and us over for a little surprise birthday party. She made it sound like it was just going to be the 2 of them and us 4 missionaries and a little bit of cake. When we got there, it ended up being his whole family and a full on dinner. And Italian dinners take forever! You have the antipasti, first course, second course, salad, dessert, then coffee, with about 10 minutes between each course. We didn't get home that night til almost 11! It was really good, though. He was telling his kids how much we've helped him and how we've saved his life and brought him hope. It was a really great experience.
I love you all so much and hope you're doing well. You're in my thoughts and prayers!
Vi voglio bene!
Banpy at home.
Monday was also the birthday of Salvatore, one of the elder's investigators. He's the one that has the 18 year old daughter, Rita, that we visit o
December 31, 2008
Hey there,
Happy New Year! This evening we're all going out to the crazy sister's family's house for a big new year's dinner. They're going to set the clocks back so we can have a "midnight" celebration. I'm excited! Oscar's coming with us, too.
As for Christmas, I wrote you a letter last week, so hopefully you get that soon. It was so much fun! The Christmas Eve dinner turned out great. Everyone loved it! And Christmas in the country was a lot of fun. The family we went with has a sister who's not a member, and has never allowed the missionaries to come to her home. The sister's family was all out there on Christmas day, too, and she loved us sisters! She invited us over last night.
Mom, a couple things for you. I want to get Sister Jones a little present, since she's going home in 4 weeks. Any ideas? Also, we can only chew gum in the apartments, so I have plenty of gum right now. But if you want to send something, mints would be much appreciated. Also, happy 3 years of being cancer free!!!!! I'm so proud of you for everything you do!
Joanna is doing well. She continues to progress, slowly but surely. She's super busy with her 2 year old little boy, who's full of energy. Plus she's pregnant, so she's really tired. But she makes all her committments, and during last week's lesson, she pretty much taught herself! It was really cool. She's amazing!
We visit Sandra a couple times a week. She's the Nigerian lady who owns a market. She's incredibly passionate and loud, and I love her! She sings tons of gospel songs at the top of her lungs and doesn't care who sees her. Saturday night we went to visit her, and we saw from the window that she was moving around. We assumed she was dancing and singing, but we walked in and she was in this huge argument with one of her friends about religion. And when she gets mad, she really gets mad. Just picture a little black woman, with tons of energy and passion, who is not afraid to punch people in the face if you mess with her. She was yelling about how much she hates people who tell her there's only one true church, and that she thinks organized religion is ridiculous, and all this stuff. My companion and I walked in right in the middle of this, and we whispered to each other Do you think she saw us? Maybe we should leave and come back when she is not in the middle of a speech about hating missionaries! But then she saw us, ran over to us, and gave us a huge hug and said "Hello my beautiful sisters! How are you?" and then went right back into her speech. It was kind of scary, but really funny.
Sunday I gave my first talk in Church in Italy! All the other missionaries here couldn't believe I agreed to speak. They all said that if they had been asked to speak during their second transfer, they would have freaked out! But it went well, and everyone in the branch said that they were very impressed with it, and that they understood every word. And trust me, if they wouldn't have understood, they would have no problem telling me! One lady told my companion the other day that she looks like she's getting fatter. Italians are very blunt!
I also accidentally flirted with Oscar. But this time it wasn't even my fault! As you all know, sometimes things come out wrong, and it sounds like I'm flirting, when really I'm not. But this time I was just asking him what his plans were that night, and apparently in Italy, that's very flirtatious. So I will no longer be asking any men what their plans are!
So no one here can say my name! It's really funny to watch them try to read my nametag. H's at the beginning of a word are silent, there's no such thing as W, K or Y in Italian, and E's are pronounced like ay, as in may. So they really hate my name!
This week was pretty slow with the holidays. No one really wanted to set up appointments this week, which is understandable, but it made for a slow week. But the work is going well here and I'm loving it!
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you're all doing great and know that you're in my thoughts and prayers.
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Hawkey
Happy New Year! This evening we're all going out to the crazy sister's family's house for a big new year's dinner. They're going to set the clocks back so we can have a "midnight" celebration. I'm excited! Oscar's coming with us, too.
As for Christmas, I wrote you a letter last week, so hopefully you get that soon. It was so much fun! The Christmas Eve dinner turned out great. Everyone loved it! And Christmas in the country was a lot of fun. The family we went with has a sister who's not a member, and has never allowed the missionaries to come to her home. The sister's family was all out there on Christmas day, too, and she loved us sisters! She invited us over last night.
Mom, a couple things for you. I want to get Sister Jones a little present, since she's going home in 4 weeks. Any ideas? Also, we can only chew gum in the apartments, so I have plenty of gum right now. But if you want to send something, mints would be much appreciated. Also, happy 3 years of being cancer free!!!!! I'm so proud of you for everything you do!
Joanna is doing well. She continues to progress, slowly but surely. She's super busy with her 2 year old little boy, who's full of energy. Plus she's pregnant, so she's really tired. But she makes all her committments, and during last week's lesson, she pretty much taught herself! It was really cool. She's amazing!
We visit Sandra a couple times a week. She's the Nigerian lady who owns a market. She's incredibly passionate and loud, and I love her! She sings tons of gospel songs at the top of her lungs and doesn't care who sees her. Saturday night we went to visit her, and we saw from the window that she was moving around. We assumed she was dancing and singing, but we walked in and she was in this huge argument with one of her friends about religion. And when she gets mad, she really gets mad. Just picture a little black woman, with tons of energy and passion, who is not afraid to punch people in the face if you mess with her. She was yelling about how much she hates people who tell her there's only one true church, and that she thinks organized religion is ridiculous, and all this stuff. My companion and I walked in right in the middle of this, and we whispered to each other Do you think she saw us? Maybe we should leave and come back when she is not in the middle of a speech about hating missionaries! But then she saw us, ran over to us, and gave us a huge hug and said "Hello my beautiful sisters! How are you?" and then went right back into her speech. It was kind of scary, but really funny.
Sunday I gave my first talk in Church in Italy! All the other missionaries here couldn't believe I agreed to speak. They all said that if they had been asked to speak during their second transfer, they would have freaked out! But it went well, and everyone in the branch said that they were very impressed with it, and that they understood every word. And trust me, if they wouldn't have understood, they would have no problem telling me! One lady told my companion the other day that she looks like she's getting fatter. Italians are very blunt!
I also accidentally flirted with Oscar. But this time it wasn't even my fault! As you all know, sometimes things come out wrong, and it sounds like I'm flirting, when really I'm not. But this time I was just asking him what his plans were that night, and apparently in Italy, that's very flirtatious. So I will no longer be asking any men what their plans are!
So no one here can say my name! It's really funny to watch them try to read my nametag. H's at the beginning of a word are silent, there's no such thing as W, K or Y in Italian, and E's are pronounced like ay, as in may. So they really hate my name!
This week was pretty slow with the holidays. No one really wanted to set up appointments this week, which is understandable, but it made for a slow week. But the work is going well here and I'm loving it!
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you're all doing great and know that you're in my thoughts and prayers.
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Hawkey
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