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