August 26, 2009

Ciao, from Prato!
I'm so excited to still be here! Things are going great. Last week we started doing service at a rest home. It was a blast! We got sent up to the "crazy ward" where the people truly are not completely there. But it was so fun. We helped them eat their afternoon snack, and then just spent a couple hours visiting with the residents. My favorite is named Silvana. She's super old, and in a wheelchair, but she was all dressed up and decked out in tons of necklaces and bracelets. She's super spunky and really cute! We had a lot of fun and can't wait to go back tomorrow.
Nertil's sister got baptized on Saturday!!!!! He told us all about it. He said it was way more beautiful than he even imagined it could be. Even though Drina (the sister) just moved to Genova about 2 weeks ago, everyone in the ward came to the baptism and was really supportive and sweet. She's going to come down to visit Nertil next month, and I can't wait to meet her.
We had another baptism in the branch on Saturday. His name is Frank. It was a beautiful service, and he too is preparing to go on a mission. He's from Nigeria and is wonderful. Speaking of Nigeria, Moses finally gave us our Nigerian names! I'm Ewanta. He made me practice saying it for the longest time, so I could get it right. It means truth.
Our investigators are doing well. Vera's family is great! The baby is so cute and is growing so fast already! We dropped Dielle, which breaks my heart, but we both felt really strongly that that's what we needed to do. I love her so much and hope she has another chance to hear the Gospel in the future. Nataliya is returning from Ukraine next week, so we're really excited about that. And Kelly has been reading the Book of Mormon and said that he has a list of questions for us to answer at our appointment tonight!
The work is going well. This Gospel is so amazing. I've been thinking a lot about consecration lately, and how even though we don't live the law of consecration, we need to be willing to give everything to buildling up the Kingdom of God on earth. This year and a half I am giving up everything to serve Him, but I am so blessed for it in return. There's no where else I'd rather be, and nothing else I'd rather be doing.
Vi voglio tanto bene!
Sorella Hawkey (aka Ewanta)