July 15, 2009

Ciao, tutti!
I'm staying another transfer in Prato! I'm really excited! I love it here, and I'm not ready to leave. The branch is amazing, and I love the people we're working with. We've been doing a lot of finding work lately and have some really good contacts! On lady let us in right as the Jehovah's Witness' were leaving, and she asked us great questions and wants us to come back when here husband and kids are home! She's really sweet, and we're excited for her. Sorella Lombardo is doing well. We're working on getting her ready to go to the Temple. She expressed a desire a few weeks ago to go one day, so everything we teach her is centered on the Temple. Every time we go over to clean her house, she spends almost the whole 2 or 3 hours reading the Book of Mormon! She says she reads every day. She's been so much happier as she is keeping the commandments and doing what she's supposed to.Saturday we had Nertil teach us the first lesson. It was SO good! He used tons of scriptures and taught so well. His sister has been reading the Book of Mormon since she went to church 2 weeks ago and is asking Nertil lots of questions. He's so excited to be doing missionary work! Last night we had an appointment with him, and as we were starting, he had this really guilty look on his face. He said, “Sisters, I'm sorry, but I ripped a page out of my Book of Mormon.” We asked what happened, and he said that a few nights before, he was at the station waiting for his train and reading the Book of Mormon. There was a man sitting next to him, so he started teaching this man about the Church. He was inviting him to church right as his train pulled up, and he didn't have anything to write down the address or phone number of the missionaries, so he didn't know what to do. Then he realized that on the blank page at the very front of the Book of Mormon was a sticker with our phone number and the church's address, so he ripped it out and gave it to him as he was getting on the train. He said he felt really bad about ripping the Book of Mormon, but we assured him that it was to do missionary work and that everything was ok. The elders had a baptism this weekend, which was wonderful. I love baptisms so much! Nertil gave an amazing talk! He was so nervous to speak, but he did an amazing job. He's going to be such a great missionary. He's been asking tons of questions about missions lately, and you can tell he's thinking about it. We haven't really been able to figure out what to do with Dielle. Over the last few weeks, we've had 4 different appointments set up, but she hasn't been at either of them. She isn't really progressing, and it's really hard to know how to help her. We decided to drop her for the time being, but wrote her a letter explaining our purpose as missionaries and that we know she's having a hard time in her life, but the restored Gospel will help her more than anything else possibly can. We told her that we want to help her, but she has to be willing to do her part, to read the Book of Mormon, to pray, and to come to church with the intent to learn. Then we told her to call us when she was ready to make these committments. About a week later, we got a phone call from her! She thanked us for the letter and asked if we could set up an appointment! We're going over tomorrow morning, so we're hoping things go well. I love Dielle so much and don't want to lose her!I hope everyone is doing well. I have a huge favor to ask all of you. I was wondering if you could write me and tell me what the Gospel means to you and how it has blessed your life. We're working on a little project, and that would be awesome if you guys get a couple minutes to write! Sorellahawkey@myldsmail.net.
Thanks!!!!
Vi voglio tanto bene!Sorella Hawkey