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