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