April 15, 2009

Hi everyone-
First of all, thank you everyone for the easter notes!! It was the best easter basket ever! It was so fun to open all the eggs, and get notes from all of you guys. Thanks!
It's been another great week here in Italy. We've been super busy! We have a new investigator named Sylvana. She's the mom of one of the elder's investigators, and they're a great family. GianLuca is the son, and he's great! Last week we visited Sylvana and read the story of Christ's resurrection together. She was so touched, and bore a powerful testimony of the Savior. I adore her, and am really excited to work more with her.
Friday afternoons we do service for an inactive member of the branch, and we clean her house and do her ironing. She's so cute! She follows us around and points out spots we missed dusting and tells us what we can do better. She's a typical Italian! She also has us iron EVERYTHING! Including her dish towels, her four year old grandsons swimsuits, and his underwear! She's a riot.
Friday we met an amazing woman named Dielle. She's from Albania, and was married to an Italian for awhile, but he was abusive and she left him. She has two beautiful little girls. We gave her a pamphlet and told her that we have a message of peace and happiness. She started crying and said that that's what she's been searching for her whole life. We had an appointment with her yesterday, but her four month old was sick and she had to take her to the doctor. I'm SO excited for Dielle!
Sunday nights we sing as a district in centro as finding work. We met a tons of people and got some great contacts! Sorella Millis and I got there a little early, and were going to walk around a talk to people for awhile until the elders got there. We were walking past the duomo (the main church in Prato) and everyone was gathering outside. We asked an old couple what everyone was waiting for, and they explained to us that the duomo in Prato has a belt that belonged to Mary that one of the priests or someone received from Jerusalem hundreds of years ago. Every year during easter, they have a big ceremony where the bishop of the church goes on the pillar outside (which was carved by Donatello, just as a little sidenote) and shows the crowd the belt of Mary. There was a band dressed in traditional clothing that marched through the streets and ended at the duomo, then the bishop came and showed everyone the belt. I love the traditions here! It's especially interesting to celebrate holidays like easter in a country so steeped in Catholic traditions.
My mission is still amazing. It's such a great blessing to be here! I can't believe that I have less than a year left! I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had this past weekend to celebrate easter. Christ lives again. He rose from the tomb that first easter day, so that we can all live again one day, too. He is our Savior and Redeemer. I love the talk Elder Wirthlin gave a few years back in conference called Sunday Will Come (or something to that effect). That Friday that Christ was crucified was a dark, horrible day. But three days later, He rose again. Elder Wirthlin goes on to explain that each of us have dark, depressing days in our lives. We have times of deep despair, where we see no light at the end of the tunnel. But Sunday will come. Because of the sacrifice our Savior made for us, Sunday will come. We will find peace and happiness, and the Savior's sacrifice will remove our feelings of despair and grief. I love my Savior so much! I am forever indebted to Him and forever grateful for all He did for each one of us.
Vi voglio tantissimo bene!
Sorella Hawkey