Ciao!
Another adventurous week in the life of a missionary! It’s never a dull moment around here. We started a new service opportunity- teaching English to a super cute girl named Genni. She’s great! She’s the friend of a member in the branch. We’re hoping to also start talking to her about the Gospel soon.
We brought Bruce to a couple of appointments this week. Bruce is a recent convert from Nigeria. He has such a crazy story. He’s been in Italy for about a year and a half and is here as a refugee. He comes from a mainly Muslim part of Nigeria where they are very violent towards Christians. Bruce’s house was burned down and his life was threatened many times and was forced to leave his wife and baby to come to Italy to protect his life and that of his family. He took a raft to get here, along with some other refugees. And yet, he has such an incredible faith in his Heavenly Father. He never once even considered denouncing his faith, even in the face of serious danger. He knows God is in control and he never doubts that. He is such an amazing example to me.
Church here is always an adventure. Between chasing Susan’s kids around the chapel, trying to convince stubborn investigators to turn their cell phones on silent during sacrament meeting, Susan making all sorts of baptismal plans with our knowledge and then telling all the members, Area Authorities visiting and all sorts of interesting debates in Sunday School, Church is guaranteed to never be boring here.
Dennis is doing so well! He is as enthusiastic as ever! He is excited about his "baptisment" as he calls it. He had some doubts about the Book of Mormon, as a lot of Nigerians do. He was talking to us about it, and before we could really say anything, he said, "But I’ve prayed about the Church and I know it’s true. I know The Book of Mormon is true, so I just need to trust the answer that God gave me." He’s amazing. We also found out that Dennis is married and has two kids in Nigeria. He’s hoping to reunite with them soon. We taught him the law of chastity last time, and he loved it. He started talking about in the Bible where it says that if your eye offends you, you need to pluck it out, etc. and how the law of chastity starts with your thoughts and intents of your heart. Then he said that if he ever had a problem with looking at other women besides his wife, he would literally pluck his eye out. He goes all out when it comes to obeying the commandments. We love Dennis!
Susan is doing fine. We’re not sure exactly when her baptism will be. She’s been standing us up a lot lately and doesn’t listen to anything we say in either of the languages that we both speak. I’m pretty sure Gizmo listens better than Susan does. We’re hoping that working also with her husband will help a lot. Other than that, we’re running out of ideas to help her. You gotta love free-agency though, right?
Nothing else too noteworthy around here. Monday all of us missionaries did service for one of our favourite family’s in the branch who own a bakery. Each year they have their annual spring cleaning and the missionaries always help for a few hours. It was actually a lot of fun. And of course, we never leave their place empty-handed. They made us pizza for lunch and we left with a huge sack full of delicious bread! I’m definitely going to miss Italian food.
I’ve recently been reading again through the talks from the most recent conference. One thing that really stuck out to me was Elder Bednar’s talk. He talks about things that we can do in our families to be "more diligent and concerned at home." But what really stuck out to me was how he talked so much about putting into practice that which we already know. He said, two times, the exact same thing:
"What we know is not always reflected in what we do…As disciples of the Savior, we are not merely striving to know more; rather, we need to consistently do more of what we know is right and become better."
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the difference between knowing and doing. It’s not enough just to know. We have to constantly put into practice the things that we know we need to do.
I’m so grateful to be serving a mission. I love my Savior so much. I know His Atonement is so real, so personal, and so powerful. He loves us so much. He lives and is always when we need Him.
Vi voglio tanto bene!
Sorella Hawkey
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
January 20, 2010
Ciao a tutti!
Another great week in Cagliari full of lots of appointments! Dennis is doing so well! He’s getting baptized February 7! He is so excited, as are we! We talked to him about it last week and he said, "Ok sisters, I was thinking about it. And February is cold! So here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m going to buy some of those pouches you fill with hot water to keep you warm, and after I get baptized, I’ll put them in my shirt." We explained to him that we have a font in church and he doesn’t have to get baptized in the freezing cold ocean. At first he was relieved, but then he thought about it and said, "Well Jesus didn’t get baptized in a font!" We then explained that a living prophet has said that it’s perfectly acceptable to get baptized in a font, and he said, "If the prophet says it’s ok, then that’s good enough for me." He’s amazing! Before the appointment with him we told him that if there’s not another woman there, we can’t enter his house. So he went out and found a woman to bring to the appointment! He’s so great! He is so enthusiastic and happy all the time. He saw the elders the other day and told him that he’s getting baptized and he’s taking the baptism class with the sisters. (He calls the lessons his "baptism class")
In another appointment with Dennis, we showed him all the pictures from the new Gospel Art book. He soaks up everything we have to teach him and LOVES it all! He told us that he prays for us every night and that we’ll find caring husbands. He’s so fun. He really wants to go to general conference someday so he can see Church Headquarters. He already calls it "our" church and wants to see his prophet in person!
We had a great lesson with Luisa this week about how to feel and recognize the Spirit. She loved it! She is really hard to meet with because she’s so busy, but she is doing well and is progressing. We had a lesson also with Odion. She taught us the Plan of Salvation and did a great job! She really wants to serve a mission, and will be great!
We were finally able to see Ilaria and Alfredo several times this week! We love them so much! We talked about the Word of Wisdom and are going to help them stop smoking. They recognized how much more difficult their lives have been since they haven’t been to church in a few weeks, and mentioned over and over how much better their day is when they read the Book of Mormon and pray. Yesterday we saw Ilaria again with her brother Maurizio. We taught him about the Restoration and Ilaria taught almost all of it by herself! She understands it so well and has such a great testimony. We talked to all of them about baptism and they’re praying to pick a date!
Speaking of baptisms, Susan will be getting baptized the 31st of this month. She is doing much better and can’t wait. We had a lesson last week with her and her husband Massimo! Massimo is great. He’s so laid-back and just about when we think he’s not paying any attention, he makes a great comment or asks a great questions. We’re so excited to be working with the entire family!
Life is great! I can’t believe I only have 2 months left. At zone conference last week I got my going home packet. I saw it in the missionary mail and couldn’t believe it’s already here. I tried to give it back to President, but he just laughed and said, "Oh sister. You’re so cute." I think he thought I was joking.
For our district meeting this week I had the opportunity to give the training and I found so many wonderful things in my studies. My assigned topic was finding people. I love the talk from April 2008 by President Eyring called "Man Down." I highly recommend it to everyone. It talks about soldiers and how they will risk anything to save their fellow soldiers. As missionaries, and any member of the Church of Jesus Christ, we also need to be willing to risk anything to spiritually save our brothers and sisters. There are so many people in the world who don’t have the Gospel and are in darkness. It’s our job to find them and bring them the healing that comes with the Gospel.
Each person in the world has the potential to become like their Heavenly Father. Their souls are precious in His sight. And I have the wonderful privilege of helping people see that every day! I read a wonderful conference talk by Elder Ballard that talks about the value of each soul. He says:
"Brothers and sisters, I believe that if we could truly understand the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would realize how precious is one son or daughter of God. I believe our Heavenly Father’s everlasting purpose for His children is generally achieved by the small and simple things we do for one another. At the heart of the English word atonement is the word one. If all mankind understood this, there would never be anyone with whom we would not be concerned, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or social or economic standing. We would strive to emulate the Savior and would never be unkind, indifferent, disrespectful, or insensitive to others. If we truly understood the Atonement and the eternal value of each soul, we would seek out the wayward boy and girl and every other wayward child of God. We would help them to know of the love Christ has for them. We would do all that we can to help prepare them to receive the saving ordinances of the gospel."
Have a great week, everyone! Vi voglio bene!
Sister Hawkey
Another great week in Cagliari full of lots of appointments! Dennis is doing so well! He’s getting baptized February 7! He is so excited, as are we! We talked to him about it last week and he said, "Ok sisters, I was thinking about it. And February is cold! So here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m going to buy some of those pouches you fill with hot water to keep you warm, and after I get baptized, I’ll put them in my shirt." We explained to him that we have a font in church and he doesn’t have to get baptized in the freezing cold ocean. At first he was relieved, but then he thought about it and said, "Well Jesus didn’t get baptized in a font!" We then explained that a living prophet has said that it’s perfectly acceptable to get baptized in a font, and he said, "If the prophet says it’s ok, then that’s good enough for me." He’s amazing! Before the appointment with him we told him that if there’s not another woman there, we can’t enter his house. So he went out and found a woman to bring to the appointment! He’s so great! He is so enthusiastic and happy all the time. He saw the elders the other day and told him that he’s getting baptized and he’s taking the baptism class with the sisters. (He calls the lessons his "baptism class")
In another appointment with Dennis, we showed him all the pictures from the new Gospel Art book. He soaks up everything we have to teach him and LOVES it all! He told us that he prays for us every night and that we’ll find caring husbands. He’s so fun. He really wants to go to general conference someday so he can see Church Headquarters. He already calls it "our" church and wants to see his prophet in person!
We had a great lesson with Luisa this week about how to feel and recognize the Spirit. She loved it! She is really hard to meet with because she’s so busy, but she is doing well and is progressing. We had a lesson also with Odion. She taught us the Plan of Salvation and did a great job! She really wants to serve a mission, and will be great!
We were finally able to see Ilaria and Alfredo several times this week! We love them so much! We talked about the Word of Wisdom and are going to help them stop smoking. They recognized how much more difficult their lives have been since they haven’t been to church in a few weeks, and mentioned over and over how much better their day is when they read the Book of Mormon and pray. Yesterday we saw Ilaria again with her brother Maurizio. We taught him about the Restoration and Ilaria taught almost all of it by herself! She understands it so well and has such a great testimony. We talked to all of them about baptism and they’re praying to pick a date!
Speaking of baptisms, Susan will be getting baptized the 31st of this month. She is doing much better and can’t wait. We had a lesson last week with her and her husband Massimo! Massimo is great. He’s so laid-back and just about when we think he’s not paying any attention, he makes a great comment or asks a great questions. We’re so excited to be working with the entire family!
Life is great! I can’t believe I only have 2 months left. At zone conference last week I got my going home packet. I saw it in the missionary mail and couldn’t believe it’s already here. I tried to give it back to President, but he just laughed and said, "Oh sister. You’re so cute." I think he thought I was joking.
For our district meeting this week I had the opportunity to give the training and I found so many wonderful things in my studies. My assigned topic was finding people. I love the talk from April 2008 by President Eyring called "Man Down." I highly recommend it to everyone. It talks about soldiers and how they will risk anything to save their fellow soldiers. As missionaries, and any member of the Church of Jesus Christ, we also need to be willing to risk anything to spiritually save our brothers and sisters. There are so many people in the world who don’t have the Gospel and are in darkness. It’s our job to find them and bring them the healing that comes with the Gospel.
Each person in the world has the potential to become like their Heavenly Father. Their souls are precious in His sight. And I have the wonderful privilege of helping people see that every day! I read a wonderful conference talk by Elder Ballard that talks about the value of each soul. He says:
"Brothers and sisters, I believe that if we could truly understand the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would realize how precious is one son or daughter of God. I believe our Heavenly Father’s everlasting purpose for His children is generally achieved by the small and simple things we do for one another. At the heart of the English word atonement is the word one. If all mankind understood this, there would never be anyone with whom we would not be concerned, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or social or economic standing. We would strive to emulate the Savior and would never be unkind, indifferent, disrespectful, or insensitive to others. If we truly understood the Atonement and the eternal value of each soul, we would seek out the wayward boy and girl and every other wayward child of God. We would help them to know of the love Christ has for them. We would do all that we can to help prepare them to receive the saving ordinances of the gospel."
Have a great week, everyone! Vi voglio bene!
Sister Hawkey
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
January 13, 2010
Hi Everyone!
Susan got married on Saturday! It was a cute little ceremony at the court house. The guests included me and my companion, and a couple in the branch. Sunday after church we all went over for lunch to celebrate. We had an interesting lunch of cow liver and pig legs. I gagged it all down somehow. But it was all worth it, because we had a great talk with Massimo (Susan’s husband) and he asked lots of great gospel questions and wants to come to church this week! Susan’s baptism got moved to a later date. We’re really excited to be teaching the whole family, though.
We have a new investigator named Dennis. We went last week to visit a less-active member and Dennis was there. We taught him about the Restoration and he loved it! He was literally on the edge of his seat at the beginning. Then he got off the seat and sat in front of the coffee table that was directly in front of Sister Nelson and me. Then he sat ON the table. He was just so excited about everything he learned that he couldn’t even get close enough! He kept saying "This is the first time I’ve even heard this! This is incredible!" He also wants to get baptized! We’re going to set a date next time we see him. We asked him what he thinks he needs to do to prepare for baptism. He thought about it for a second and said, "I need to read this book (pointing to the Book of Mormon), pray, repent of my sins, go to church with you and walk in holiness before God." At the end of the evening as we were saying goodbye he said, "I feel like I just won a billion dollars. I’m going to sleep like a newborn baby tonight, I’m so happy!" He came to church on Sunday and LOVED it! He’s amazing and we’re excited to work more with him.
Roberta is also preparing for baptism. She’s so cute! She is really confused, which considering the family environment she has isn’t surprising. She’s praying to pick a baptismal date. She’s so close to being ready but is so scared. We love her and coddle her with affection, and she just soaks it up.
Less-active Susan is doing really well. I don’t really think she’s even less-active anymore. We’re working on strengthening her testimony. She’s great! Everyone else is doing pretty well. No big news.
Monday we had lunch with an adorable older couple in the branch. They are so fun! They have a huge piece of property outside of Cagliari and grow all their own fruits and vegetables. So lunch was delicious! We talked a lot about the Temple and what a beautiful opportunity it is to go to the Temple. They asked us how close the nearest Temple is to my house. They were so jealous that it is only 2 ½ hours away. Before the Madrid Temple was built, they had to go all the way to Germany to go to the Temple. They had take a 16 hour boat ride, then drive 10 hours to get there. Even now it’s a huge sacrifice for the Saints of Italy to go to the Temple, but they faithfully give up almost all of their vacation time each year to serve for weeks at a time at the Temple. More than 70% of the Temple work at the Temple in Switzerland is done by the Italian Saints. They are such good examples of sacrifice. Sacrifice isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s so easy to find excuses when we want to, but really, what else is more important than the Gospel and this great work? When we make sacrifices to serve our Heavenly Father, He blesses us so much that it really isn’t a sacrifice at all.
Vi voglio tanto bene!
Sorella Hawkey
Susan got married on Saturday! It was a cute little ceremony at the court house. The guests included me and my companion, and a couple in the branch. Sunday after church we all went over for lunch to celebrate. We had an interesting lunch of cow liver and pig legs. I gagged it all down somehow. But it was all worth it, because we had a great talk with Massimo (Susan’s husband) and he asked lots of great gospel questions and wants to come to church this week! Susan’s baptism got moved to a later date. We’re really excited to be teaching the whole family, though.
We have a new investigator named Dennis. We went last week to visit a less-active member and Dennis was there. We taught him about the Restoration and he loved it! He was literally on the edge of his seat at the beginning. Then he got off the seat and sat in front of the coffee table that was directly in front of Sister Nelson and me. Then he sat ON the table. He was just so excited about everything he learned that he couldn’t even get close enough! He kept saying "This is the first time I’ve even heard this! This is incredible!" He also wants to get baptized! We’re going to set a date next time we see him. We asked him what he thinks he needs to do to prepare for baptism. He thought about it for a second and said, "I need to read this book (pointing to the Book of Mormon), pray, repent of my sins, go to church with you and walk in holiness before God." At the end of the evening as we were saying goodbye he said, "I feel like I just won a billion dollars. I’m going to sleep like a newborn baby tonight, I’m so happy!" He came to church on Sunday and LOVED it! He’s amazing and we’re excited to work more with him.
Roberta is also preparing for baptism. She’s so cute! She is really confused, which considering the family environment she has isn’t surprising. She’s praying to pick a baptismal date. She’s so close to being ready but is so scared. We love her and coddle her with affection, and she just soaks it up.
Less-active Susan is doing really well. I don’t really think she’s even less-active anymore. We’re working on strengthening her testimony. She’s great! Everyone else is doing pretty well. No big news.
Monday we had lunch with an adorable older couple in the branch. They are so fun! They have a huge piece of property outside of Cagliari and grow all their own fruits and vegetables. So lunch was delicious! We talked a lot about the Temple and what a beautiful opportunity it is to go to the Temple. They asked us how close the nearest Temple is to my house. They were so jealous that it is only 2 ½ hours away. Before the Madrid Temple was built, they had to go all the way to Germany to go to the Temple. They had take a 16 hour boat ride, then drive 10 hours to get there. Even now it’s a huge sacrifice for the Saints of Italy to go to the Temple, but they faithfully give up almost all of their vacation time each year to serve for weeks at a time at the Temple. More than 70% of the Temple work at the Temple in Switzerland is done by the Italian Saints. They are such good examples of sacrifice. Sacrifice isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s so easy to find excuses when we want to, but really, what else is more important than the Gospel and this great work? When we make sacrifices to serve our Heavenly Father, He blesses us so much that it really isn’t a sacrifice at all.
Vi voglio tanto bene!
Sorella Hawkey
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
January 6, 2010
Hi everyone-
Happy New Year, and happy day of The Befana. We rang in the new year by having an early curfew and then spending all day the 1st deep-cleaning our apartment. Good times. It's been a bit of a crazy week here in Cagliari, but overall it's been good.
Wednesday we went with the elders to a city in our branch about an hour away for a "business trip." A member in Rome gave us a bunch of referrals. She had been talking to some friends online about the Church, and for Christmas wanted to send them the missionaries. We went to visit all these people with letters from the member in Rome and a copy of the Book of Mormon and we sang them Christmas songs. We had great success! It was a great day. It really made me realize even more how important members are in missionary work. If we had tried to talk to these people by ourselves, we probably would have been turned away. In fact, many of them mentioned that they had turned away previous missionaries. But because we were sent by a member who they trusted, we were warmly received. It was a great day. The elders are going to visit them later this week and try to teach them more!
Susan is getting ready for her wedding on Saturday!!! She asked us to be their witnesses. Then we got un-invited, then invited again, the re-un-invited. So as of now, we're not the witnesses for the wedding, but she did tell us we can come and bring gifts. She also tried to tell us that it's the witnesses' responsibility to buy the wedding rings. We tried to explain that that is in fact the husband's job to provide the ring, so we'll see how that goes. Once she gets an idea in her head, it's hard to convince her otherwise. We love her despite her craziness and are super excited for both her wedding and her baptism next week!
People are still out of town for the holidays. The holiday season here lasts until today, so hopefully our investigators will be returning soon so that we can meet with them. We do have a lesson planned tomorrow with the three muskateers (Ilaria, Alfredo and Maurizio). They are so wonderful! They've been super busy but are doing well.
This week we had a huge miracle! We were able to meet with Caterina! She hadn't been able to meet with us because the nuns where she lives told us that if she meet us, they would kick her out and leave her homeless. But apparently they had a change of heart and she is now free to meet with us! It was a fun surprise when Susan brought her to the appointment. She is doing well. She is really shy when it comes to talking about spiritual things, but she is warming up.
I just finished the war chapters in Alma in the Book of Mormon. I love those chapters! They are so applicable to the spiritual "wars" we have in our own lives. One of my favorite stories in the war chapters is the letters between Pahoran and Moroni. Moroni writes a somewhat mean letter to Pahoran accusing him of some wrongdoings that he didn't do. Pahoran's reply is full of love and kindness. He explained the situation and admired Moroni for his passion in his cause. It is such a beautiful example of forgiveness.
I also read a talk by President Faust about forgiveness, called "The Healing Power of Forgiveness." He quotes Dr. Sidney Simon, who said:
"Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves."
How beautiful is the opportunity to forgive and love others as Christ love us. It is a hard task, but with His help, anything is possible.
Have a great week! Vi voglio bene!
Happy New Year, and happy day of The Befana. We rang in the new year by having an early curfew and then spending all day the 1st deep-cleaning our apartment. Good times. It's been a bit of a crazy week here in Cagliari, but overall it's been good.
Wednesday we went with the elders to a city in our branch about an hour away for a "business trip." A member in Rome gave us a bunch of referrals. She had been talking to some friends online about the Church, and for Christmas wanted to send them the missionaries. We went to visit all these people with letters from the member in Rome and a copy of the Book of Mormon and we sang them Christmas songs. We had great success! It was a great day. It really made me realize even more how important members are in missionary work. If we had tried to talk to these people by ourselves, we probably would have been turned away. In fact, many of them mentioned that they had turned away previous missionaries. But because we were sent by a member who they trusted, we were warmly received. It was a great day. The elders are going to visit them later this week and try to teach them more!
Susan is getting ready for her wedding on Saturday!!! She asked us to be their witnesses. Then we got un-invited, then invited again, the re-un-invited. So as of now, we're not the witnesses for the wedding, but she did tell us we can come and bring gifts. She also tried to tell us that it's the witnesses' responsibility to buy the wedding rings. We tried to explain that that is in fact the husband's job to provide the ring, so we'll see how that goes. Once she gets an idea in her head, it's hard to convince her otherwise. We love her despite her craziness and are super excited for both her wedding and her baptism next week!
People are still out of town for the holidays. The holiday season here lasts until today, so hopefully our investigators will be returning soon so that we can meet with them. We do have a lesson planned tomorrow with the three muskateers (Ilaria, Alfredo and Maurizio). They are so wonderful! They've been super busy but are doing well.
This week we had a huge miracle! We were able to meet with Caterina! She hadn't been able to meet with us because the nuns where she lives told us that if she meet us, they would kick her out and leave her homeless. But apparently they had a change of heart and she is now free to meet with us! It was a fun surprise when Susan brought her to the appointment. She is doing well. She is really shy when it comes to talking about spiritual things, but she is warming up.
I just finished the war chapters in Alma in the Book of Mormon. I love those chapters! They are so applicable to the spiritual "wars" we have in our own lives. One of my favorite stories in the war chapters is the letters between Pahoran and Moroni. Moroni writes a somewhat mean letter to Pahoran accusing him of some wrongdoings that he didn't do. Pahoran's reply is full of love and kindness. He explained the situation and admired Moroni for his passion in his cause. It is such a beautiful example of forgiveness.
I also read a talk by President Faust about forgiveness, called "The Healing Power of Forgiveness." He quotes Dr. Sidney Simon, who said:
"Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves."
How beautiful is the opportunity to forgive and love others as Christ love us. It is a hard task, but with His help, anything is possible.
Have a great week! Vi voglio bene!
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