June 10, 2009

Ciao, tutti!
Come state? This week has been a little crazy. I'm still in the threesome, which is fine, but we're trying to do the work for both cities, which makes for a lot of stress. But we're getting lots of good things done and trying to get everyone visited. Neytil is still in Albania, so we moved the baptism to the 20th. He calls me almost every night to check in and tell me what he learned from the scriptures that day. He is so excited for his baptism! He went to church in Albania this week! He was walking around town, and saw the elders and went up to them and told them that he's getting baptized next week and wants to go to church. (I don't know what I would do as a missionary if some random person walked up to me and told me that!) They all went together, and Neytil loved hearing the scriptures and the hymns in his own language. He also loved that it was exactly the same as it is here in Italy. We talked about how the church is the same everywhere you go, and he loved that! I can't wait for his baptism! Monday at zone conference, somehow just about everyone in the zone had heard about Neytil and they all asked me tons of questions about him. They all want to come to his baptism! It will be my greenie's 2nd day in the field, so a good way to start her mission!Everyone else is doing well. Unfortunately, very few are progressing. I think I'm going to have to let some of them go. It's so hard to drop investigators, but when they're not ready, they're not ready. Instead of wasting everyone's time, we can go find those who are ready! People like Neytil! I know there are people out there who are prepared for us. Yes, Italy is a hard mission. I've heard plenty of the stereotypes about it just being a pretty vacation, but one with no baptisms. Or about how we're just here to plant seeds. But there are people who are ready and prepared for the Gospel now. There are families who are prepared, who can be sealed in the Temple. We're going to find them and bring them the happiness that they can only have through the Restored Gospel.Monday we had an amazing zone conference! Elder and Sister Kopischke were there doing a mission tour. He's currently the first counselor for the European Area. Sister Kopischke is adorable. She ate lunch with all the sisters. She's so energetic and expressive! She's really cute. Elder Kopischke gave amazing trainings! I learned SO much and I know every single missionary was inspired to be a much better missionary. We talked a lot about faith and making things happen by our faith. He said that we're not in the business of doing miracles, but of doing. Miracles are great, and yes, they happen every day. However, we can't just sit around and expect miracles. We have to use our faith to make them happen. Fatih is a principle of action and a principle of power, but sometimes we forget the action part. We read the scripture about how if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. We can't control whether or not Heavenly Father will work the miracle of moving the mountain. We can't determine if He will give us access to His power. But we can determine our action. So if we want to move mountains, we need to pick up a shovel and get to work. If Heavenly Father decides to help us and move the mountain Himself, fine, but if not, fine. We just keeping working until the job is done. I've learned so much about faith on my mission, and learned so many new insights from Elder Kopischke this week. I am so, so grateful for my mission. It is everything to me. In a couple days is my half way mark, and it feels so weird. I love my mission so much. I don't want it to end. There's literally no where else I'd rather be, or anything else I'd rather be doing. Vi voglio tantissimo bene! Buona settimana!Sorella Hawkey