Ciao!
Another great week in Prato! Neytil's doing great. He's getting so excited for his baptism! He loves learning, and always asks tons of questions. We had a great lesson with him Saturday and anytime he talks about the church he says “our church.” He told us the other day that he knows that commandments are for our own good. God doesn't just give us commandments to be strict, but as a way to help us become more like Him. He's read all of True to the Faith and loves it! He is seriously amazing. Dielle is doing good. She is understanding a lot more now. Mary is also doing well. We had a great first lesson with her last week! She understands it and is sincerely interested. She came to branch night on Friday and made tons of friends. We have 5 new investigators from the past week! 3 of them are former investigators. One is Diletta. She's 10, and she took the lessons when she was 8. Her grandma is a member, and her mom is a less-active member. She's so cute! Her brother was there, too, who's 8. They are such cute kids! Diletta wants to take the lessons again to know whether she should get baptized. We're also going to start teaching the kids english.Sabrina is also a former investigator. She's in her early 40s and lived in NYC for a few years, and England for a few years, so she is fluent in english. She is adorable! She's a very energetic, slightly eccentric woman with a bunch of cats. We're really excited for her.Elsa is also a former investigator. She's 84 years old, but Italian old people age very well. She seems like she's in her 60s! She came to church on Sunday and really liked it and is very sincere in her desire to take the lesson again. She made lots of friends at church and even asked us if we could bring one of the member with us to our next lesson!Angela is a really cute girl that we met last week when we did district singing in centro. She's American and is here doing research for her thesis. She's getting ready to graduate from Duke. She used to go to our church when she was little with her mom, but then they moved and she hadn't been since. But she came to branch night on Friday and church on Sunday and we have another appointment with her tomorrow. She's so cute!Opeka is a girl from Sri Lanka that we met a couple weeks ago doing house. She takes care of an old lady. She was raised Buddhist but went to the Catholic church when she moved here and felt really strongly that Jesus is the Christ. She has a strong testimony of Christ and wants to find the truth. We gave her a Book of Mormon a couple weeks ago when we met her, and she has already read most of 1 Nephi. She's awesome! She asked some amazing questions and is very sincere.Yesterday we had lunch with Franco, the man who works for the Catholic church who gave us the rosary beads. We gave him a Book of Mormon, which he LOVED! He asked us tons of questions about our church, and he loved that we worship a living Christ instead of using the cross. He also loved that we don't get baptized until we're at least 8. We're hoping to make him an investigator soon. He has a lot of faith and will be a great member!I love you all and hope you're all doing well!Vi voglio tanto bene!
Sorella Hawkey
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
May 20, 2009
Ciao tutti!
First of all, and most importantly, NEYTIL'S GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We set the date for June 11th. He's SO excited, as are we! Saturday we taught him the 3rd lesson, and he told us he knows this is the true Church and is ready to get baptized. We also taught the word of wisdom. We started out saying that we don't drink alcohol or smoke, and before we got the chance to say anything else, he cut in and said that all of those things are bad for our bodies, as is caffeine and any other harmful substances. He then told us that he's always thought that our bodies are temples (yes, he actually used that word) and that they house our spirits, and so more than just avoiding harmful substances, we also need to eat healthy things like fruits, vegetables and grains. So once again he taught us instead of vice versa. He's incredible! Last night we had an appointment about obedience, reading the scriptures and daily prayer. We asked him how he knew the Church was true, and he bore an amazing testimony! He's getting super excited for his baptism. He went to visit his family Sunday night to take them the Plan of Salvation pamphlet that we gave him and teach them about the Gospel! They're thinking about moving down to Prato, and we're all praying really hard that they do. It would be so great for them to be together and for Neytil to help them investigate the Church, so they can get sealed together as a family!Mary came to church on Sunday! Thursday night she came with us to the Bagni family's house for dinner, and they quickly became friends. The Bagni's are an amazing couple, who are great missionaries. They constantly invite missionaries and their investigators over for dinner. They bore a powerful testimony and it helped Mary a lot. She loved church, and we have another appointment with her tomorrow. She's so sweet!We've met with Dielle a few times lately, but the girls always get really fussy as soon as we try to start teaching a lesson. We've tried to go visit in the morning while the girls are at school, but Dielle has been busy during the mornings, so it's really hard to teach a real lesson. She keeps coming to church every week, though! And we were at her house the other day when Sara took her first steps!!!! It was SO cute! Her girls are so beautiful! She's more or less part of the branch by now and loves coming to church! Last Monday we taught her how to have family prayer every night. Chiara has been having a lot of behavior problems both at school and at home. Friday we went over, and Dielle told us that they've had family prayer every night, and Chiara hadn't thrown a fit all week and had been obedient! Dielle even realized that it was because of family prayer that she has been good.We weren't able to meet with Ghita last week, and we finally had an appointment with Rita, but she doesn't understand anything we teach. She only speaks pigeon english, and just a little bit of english and a little bit of Italian, so we're struggling with helping her. We're going to bring a Nigerian member to the next appointment with us so that he can explain things to her in pigeon english. Hopefully that will help. We had lunch yesterday with Silvana, Gianluca and the elders, and it went pretty well. They don't really get along well at all, so it was kind of akward to be there because they fight all the time. It was fun, though, and I've seen a difference in the way they interact since they've started praying together every night. Monday night we went to mass with our friend who's a priest. He's going to come to church with us next week. It was really interesting. He gave us glow-in-the-dark rosary beads, too! The more I learn about other religions, the more I realize how true and how amazing our church is. It's such a blessing to have the pure, uncorrupted Gospel of Jesus Christ and to be led by a living prophet. My mission is amazing! There's no where else I'd rather be. The Church is true. I realize more and more every day how much our Heavenly Father truly loves His children. He loves us so much!I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Sorella Hawkey
First of all, and most importantly, NEYTIL'S GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We set the date for June 11th. He's SO excited, as are we! Saturday we taught him the 3rd lesson, and he told us he knows this is the true Church and is ready to get baptized. We also taught the word of wisdom. We started out saying that we don't drink alcohol or smoke, and before we got the chance to say anything else, he cut in and said that all of those things are bad for our bodies, as is caffeine and any other harmful substances. He then told us that he's always thought that our bodies are temples (yes, he actually used that word) and that they house our spirits, and so more than just avoiding harmful substances, we also need to eat healthy things like fruits, vegetables and grains. So once again he taught us instead of vice versa. He's incredible! Last night we had an appointment about obedience, reading the scriptures and daily prayer. We asked him how he knew the Church was true, and he bore an amazing testimony! He's getting super excited for his baptism. He went to visit his family Sunday night to take them the Plan of Salvation pamphlet that we gave him and teach them about the Gospel! They're thinking about moving down to Prato, and we're all praying really hard that they do. It would be so great for them to be together and for Neytil to help them investigate the Church, so they can get sealed together as a family!Mary came to church on Sunday! Thursday night she came with us to the Bagni family's house for dinner, and they quickly became friends. The Bagni's are an amazing couple, who are great missionaries. They constantly invite missionaries and their investigators over for dinner. They bore a powerful testimony and it helped Mary a lot. She loved church, and we have another appointment with her tomorrow. She's so sweet!We've met with Dielle a few times lately, but the girls always get really fussy as soon as we try to start teaching a lesson. We've tried to go visit in the morning while the girls are at school, but Dielle has been busy during the mornings, so it's really hard to teach a real lesson. She keeps coming to church every week, though! And we were at her house the other day when Sara took her first steps!!!! It was SO cute! Her girls are so beautiful! She's more or less part of the branch by now and loves coming to church! Last Monday we taught her how to have family prayer every night. Chiara has been having a lot of behavior problems both at school and at home. Friday we went over, and Dielle told us that they've had family prayer every night, and Chiara hadn't thrown a fit all week and had been obedient! Dielle even realized that it was because of family prayer that she has been good.We weren't able to meet with Ghita last week, and we finally had an appointment with Rita, but she doesn't understand anything we teach. She only speaks pigeon english, and just a little bit of english and a little bit of Italian, so we're struggling with helping her. We're going to bring a Nigerian member to the next appointment with us so that he can explain things to her in pigeon english. Hopefully that will help. We had lunch yesterday with Silvana, Gianluca and the elders, and it went pretty well. They don't really get along well at all, so it was kind of akward to be there because they fight all the time. It was fun, though, and I've seen a difference in the way they interact since they've started praying together every night. Monday night we went to mass with our friend who's a priest. He's going to come to church with us next week. It was really interesting. He gave us glow-in-the-dark rosary beads, too! The more I learn about other religions, the more I realize how true and how amazing our church is. It's such a blessing to have the pure, uncorrupted Gospel of Jesus Christ and to be led by a living prophet. My mission is amazing! There's no where else I'd rather be. The Church is true. I realize more and more every day how much our Heavenly Father truly loves His children. He loves us so much!I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Sorella Hawkey
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
May 13, 2009
Ciao tutti!
Another great week in Prato! We had to give 3 of our investigators to the elders this week because we don't have time to meet with everyone! One set of elders just got blown in, which means neither of them had served here before, and the other set of elders stole the investigators of both elders, so the new ones don't have a lot of work right now. It was kind of sad to not be teaching them anymore, but at least they're still taking the lessons from the elders.
Thursday we met with Ghita. She's still really defensive and likes to bash a lot. It's really hard to feel the spirit in that environment. We try bearing our testimony a lot, but then she just tells us that we're being deceived by Satan. I don't really know what else to do with her. We're going to try meeting her one more time to see if we can get anywhere. We're praying a lot that her heart will be softened.
Dielle on the other hand is an angel! She's so incredibly sweet! I feel like she's part of my family. She came to church again on Sunday and is pretty much part of the branch. Everyone loves her! The sisters in the branch invite her over during the week for lunch at their houses, they give her rides and they help out with her girls. The members have been a huge help! The members here are absolutely amazing. When someone needs help, they all step in and help, even though it's inconvenient. I've learned so much from them. They always invite investigators over for family home evening or dinner with their families, they give people rides, they ask us if they can come to lessons. They're amazing.
Friday nights we have branch night, with a spiritual thought and dinner and some games. It's a lot of fun! We had 3 investigators there this week. Neytil came, and loved it! He's also more or less part of the branch already. Everyone loves him, and is so excited for him to be taking the lessons! They're going to be so excited once we set a baptismal date!!!!
Saturday night we took Neytil to a baptism in Florence. It was so beautiful! He told us that he feels like he's found the right church. He also told us how important it is to read the scriptures every day to feel the Spirit. He has such amazing insights. He knows the Bible front and back, and is quickly learning the Book of Mormon. He was walking around the church building looking at the pictures, and his face just lit up talking about Jesus Christ! He saw a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, and pointed to angel Moroni and asked us who it was. We said his name is Moroni, and before we got the chance to explain any more, he said, "Oh, the son of Mormon, right? And the one who appeared to Joseph Smith?" He is amazing! Sister Millis and I are convinced he's going to be an apostle someday. At church Sunday they made an announcement for institute and the CES fireside by Elder Bednar. Before we even had the chance to invite him, he told us he was coming because he loves studying the scriptures and wants to hear an apostle speak! We also overheard him tell the institute teacher that he wants to go on a mission someday because he thinks it's so wonderful that we go around and help people find the true church.
Monday we had interviews with President. He is so wonderful! His son, Scott, just got his mission call to the Catania mission! He's really excited! They will have 3 kids on a mission, and someone from their family in every mission in Italy. Me and my companion were last for interviews, and we took a bus from the church to a members house. President was on his way to the train station and took the same bus as us. We were talking to some people on the bus, and the whole time President was standing right above us looking over our shoulder! It was probably the most intimidating bus ride ever!
I've been studying a lot lately about grace and the power of our Heavenly Father. I love the scripture in Jacob 4:6-7 (I think) that talks about how Jacob is able to work miracles only through the grace of God. Nephi tells us in 2 Nephi 25:23 that it is by the grace of God that we are saved, after all we can do. I love the definition True to the Faith gives of grace. We not only need grace to eventually be saved and have eternal life, but we need the grace of God every single day of our lives. It is only through his power and strength that we have power and strength.
I also love the story in 1 Nephi 18 that talks about Nephi building the boat. Heavenly Father could easily have built the boat himself. He doesn't need Nephi to build it. But he allowed Nephi the opportunity to build a ship so that Nephi could learn to trust in the Lord. It's the same with missionary work. He doesn't need us. He has all power, and he could easily do this work without our help. But He allows us to be here to learn to trust Him, to help us learn to turn our lives over to our Heavenly Father. He makes so much more of us than we could ever make on our own. An elder I worked with took the story in 1 Nephi 18, and applied it to missionary work. Nephi talks about how he didn't build the ship after the manner of men, but of God. In the same way, God builds His missionaries and His children everywhere after His manner, not the manner of the world. There's a scripture in Psalms that talks about us as clay and Heavenly Father as the potter. I am striving to turn my life over to Him, to let him mold me and build me into what He needs to be. I am trying to let go of myself and be what He would have me be.
Buona settimana! Vi voglio tantissimo bene!!!
Sorella Hawkey
Another great week in Prato! We had to give 3 of our investigators to the elders this week because we don't have time to meet with everyone! One set of elders just got blown in, which means neither of them had served here before, and the other set of elders stole the investigators of both elders, so the new ones don't have a lot of work right now. It was kind of sad to not be teaching them anymore, but at least they're still taking the lessons from the elders.
Thursday we met with Ghita. She's still really defensive and likes to bash a lot. It's really hard to feel the spirit in that environment. We try bearing our testimony a lot, but then she just tells us that we're being deceived by Satan. I don't really know what else to do with her. We're going to try meeting her one more time to see if we can get anywhere. We're praying a lot that her heart will be softened.
Dielle on the other hand is an angel! She's so incredibly sweet! I feel like she's part of my family. She came to church again on Sunday and is pretty much part of the branch. Everyone loves her! The sisters in the branch invite her over during the week for lunch at their houses, they give her rides and they help out with her girls. The members have been a huge help! The members here are absolutely amazing. When someone needs help, they all step in and help, even though it's inconvenient. I've learned so much from them. They always invite investigators over for family home evening or dinner with their families, they give people rides, they ask us if they can come to lessons. They're amazing.
Friday nights we have branch night, with a spiritual thought and dinner and some games. It's a lot of fun! We had 3 investigators there this week. Neytil came, and loved it! He's also more or less part of the branch already. Everyone loves him, and is so excited for him to be taking the lessons! They're going to be so excited once we set a baptismal date!!!!
Saturday night we took Neytil to a baptism in Florence. It was so beautiful! He told us that he feels like he's found the right church. He also told us how important it is to read the scriptures every day to feel the Spirit. He has such amazing insights. He knows the Bible front and back, and is quickly learning the Book of Mormon. He was walking around the church building looking at the pictures, and his face just lit up talking about Jesus Christ! He saw a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, and pointed to angel Moroni and asked us who it was. We said his name is Moroni, and before we got the chance to explain any more, he said, "Oh, the son of Mormon, right? And the one who appeared to Joseph Smith?" He is amazing! Sister Millis and I are convinced he's going to be an apostle someday. At church Sunday they made an announcement for institute and the CES fireside by Elder Bednar. Before we even had the chance to invite him, he told us he was coming because he loves studying the scriptures and wants to hear an apostle speak! We also overheard him tell the institute teacher that he wants to go on a mission someday because he thinks it's so wonderful that we go around and help people find the true church.
Monday we had interviews with President. He is so wonderful! His son, Scott, just got his mission call to the Catania mission! He's really excited! They will have 3 kids on a mission, and someone from their family in every mission in Italy. Me and my companion were last for interviews, and we took a bus from the church to a members house. President was on his way to the train station and took the same bus as us. We were talking to some people on the bus, and the whole time President was standing right above us looking over our shoulder! It was probably the most intimidating bus ride ever!
I've been studying a lot lately about grace and the power of our Heavenly Father. I love the scripture in Jacob 4:6-7 (I think) that talks about how Jacob is able to work miracles only through the grace of God. Nephi tells us in 2 Nephi 25:23 that it is by the grace of God that we are saved, after all we can do. I love the definition True to the Faith gives of grace. We not only need grace to eventually be saved and have eternal life, but we need the grace of God every single day of our lives. It is only through his power and strength that we have power and strength.
I also love the story in 1 Nephi 18 that talks about Nephi building the boat. Heavenly Father could easily have built the boat himself. He doesn't need Nephi to build it. But he allowed Nephi the opportunity to build a ship so that Nephi could learn to trust in the Lord. It's the same with missionary work. He doesn't need us. He has all power, and he could easily do this work without our help. But He allows us to be here to learn to trust Him, to help us learn to turn our lives over to our Heavenly Father. He makes so much more of us than we could ever make on our own. An elder I worked with took the story in 1 Nephi 18, and applied it to missionary work. Nephi talks about how he didn't build the ship after the manner of men, but of God. In the same way, God builds His missionaries and His children everywhere after His manner, not the manner of the world. There's a scripture in Psalms that talks about us as clay and Heavenly Father as the potter. I am striving to turn my life over to Him, to let him mold me and build me into what He needs to be. I am trying to let go of myself and be what He would have me be.
Buona settimana! Vi voglio tantissimo bene!!!
Sorella Hawkey
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
May 6, 2009
Ciao tutti!
This week has been amazing!!! We have 2 new investigators, and our other ones are doing great! Wednesday we went with Neytil to Florence. We saw the Boboli Garden at Palazzo Pitti, and Piazza della Signoria. We walked by the Duomo in Florence, and Neytil talked about how even though the Catholic churches are beautiful, he doesn't like them because you can't feel the Spirit. He said that religion should be more personal and churches shouldn't be more worried about the art and the traditions than the gospel itself. He's amazing!
We finally were able to teach Dielle the first lesson. She loved it! She's so wonderful. All the sisters in the branch have been a huge help with her! They've all taken her in as their sister and have been wonderful. She had talked to the sisters and had a ride arranged for church before we even had the chance to invite her to come!
Our new investigators are Dickson and Ghita. Dickson is from Nigeria and is hilarious! He has so much faith. I love working with Nigerians. They never doubt God, even during the hard times. They always look for the best in every situation. He's great! Ghita is from Romania. She's recently divorced and has an adorable little boy who's almost 2 named Davide. She's really depressed right now, and we're trying to help her see how the Gospel will help her find hope. She studied with Jehovah's witnesses before, and is very confrontational about a lot of things that we teach. We're working on helping her feel the Spirit.
We had an amazing lesson with Neytil! He had researched baptism this past week! Once again he more or less taught himself the lesson. He asked some amazing questions. He never doubted anything we taught, but kept saying things like "wow! I never knew that!" and "This plan makes so much sense!" He's going to make an amazing missionary!
Sorella Lombardo, the less active woman we do service for, came to church this week! When we first started meeting with her, she said she wanted nothing to do with the church, so we asked if we could do service for her and help her clean her house. At first she was really grumpy to us and wouldn't even talk to us. Now she loves us! She came to church last week, and to the branch family home evening! It's amazing how service can soften hearts.
Everyone else is doing good! Monday we had a wonderful zone conference! We talked about how we can help build the temple here in Italy by finding, teaching and baptizing families. The assistants interviewed 3 different families who were recently baptized, and made it into a video. It was so beautiful! This Gospel truly blesses families. It's the only way we can be together with our families forever. I'm so grateful for my own family and that we are sealed together. I'm especially grateful this season for my mother, and all the mothers in my life who are amazing examples to me. Happy Mother's Day!
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Hawkey
This week has been amazing!!! We have 2 new investigators, and our other ones are doing great! Wednesday we went with Neytil to Florence. We saw the Boboli Garden at Palazzo Pitti, and Piazza della Signoria. We walked by the Duomo in Florence, and Neytil talked about how even though the Catholic churches are beautiful, he doesn't like them because you can't feel the Spirit. He said that religion should be more personal and churches shouldn't be more worried about the art and the traditions than the gospel itself. He's amazing!
We finally were able to teach Dielle the first lesson. She loved it! She's so wonderful. All the sisters in the branch have been a huge help with her! They've all taken her in as their sister and have been wonderful. She had talked to the sisters and had a ride arranged for church before we even had the chance to invite her to come!
Our new investigators are Dickson and Ghita. Dickson is from Nigeria and is hilarious! He has so much faith. I love working with Nigerians. They never doubt God, even during the hard times. They always look for the best in every situation. He's great! Ghita is from Romania. She's recently divorced and has an adorable little boy who's almost 2 named Davide. She's really depressed right now, and we're trying to help her see how the Gospel will help her find hope. She studied with Jehovah's witnesses before, and is very confrontational about a lot of things that we teach. We're working on helping her feel the Spirit.
We had an amazing lesson with Neytil! He had researched baptism this past week! Once again he more or less taught himself the lesson. He asked some amazing questions. He never doubted anything we taught, but kept saying things like "wow! I never knew that!" and "This plan makes so much sense!" He's going to make an amazing missionary!
Sorella Lombardo, the less active woman we do service for, came to church this week! When we first started meeting with her, she said she wanted nothing to do with the church, so we asked if we could do service for her and help her clean her house. At first she was really grumpy to us and wouldn't even talk to us. Now she loves us! She came to church last week, and to the branch family home evening! It's amazing how service can soften hearts.
Everyone else is doing good! Monday we had a wonderful zone conference! We talked about how we can help build the temple here in Italy by finding, teaching and baptizing families. The assistants interviewed 3 different families who were recently baptized, and made it into a video. It was so beautiful! This Gospel truly blesses families. It's the only way we can be together with our families forever. I'm so grateful for my own family and that we are sealed together. I'm especially grateful this season for my mother, and all the mothers in my life who are amazing examples to me. Happy Mother's Day!
Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Hawkey
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