August 12, 2009

Hi everyone-
I'm in La Spezia for the day! I finally got to pick up my permesso di sogiorno (my identity card to reside in Italy). It's fun to be back. We're going to 2 of the Cinque Terre today. There's a hike between the two towns called the Via del'Amore that we're going on. Then we're stopping in Lucca for a little while on our way home.
Another week full of adventures. Wednesday the sisters that live with us met a lady at the park who lives in Prato. She had met with sisters a few years ago, and told them that she wants us to come back. The sisters got all her contact information, so we set up an appointment. We got there and she only had a minute or two to talk, so we just got to know each other a little bit and set up a return appointment. Before we were going to leave, we asked if we could share a scripture with her. She asked, "Is it about religion?" We said yes, and she said that she is Muslim and doesn't want to hear about any other religion. So then we were wondering why she wanted us to come over. As we were leaving she asked us if we wanted to see her clothes. We thought that maybe she's just a lonely little housewife and wanted to show her clothes to some girls, so we said yes. She emptied her entire closet and showed us everything! She was talking about how high quality it all is, and how she stitches it all by hand, and how this model comes in 4 different colors, and this model is only 20 euro, this one only 10....Apparently the sisters in the past bought a bunch of clothes from her, and she was hoping we'd do the same. It was kind of akward slash really funny.
We have another new investigator named Elijah! We met him at the Nigerian wedding we went to a while back, and hadn't been able to meet with him for awhile because he was out of town. He came to church on Sunday and really like it, and we're meeting with him again later this week. He's great! We're really excited about him. I love Nigerians!
In Sunday School this week, we talked about missionary work and how everyone can be a missionary even if it's not full time. The teacher asked a question, I don't remember the exact question, and Nertil raised his hand and gave an amazing response and talked about Jacob 5. He talked about what everything in the allegory represents and how it applies to missionary work. He already understands the Book of Mormon better than I do!
Monday we had an appointment with Dielle. We talked about baptism, and it didn't go over well at all. She got really mad and refuses to even consider it. She wants to talk to her priest and see what he says. I can pretty much guess what he'll say, and I don't think it will be good! We asked her to pray to know that our church is true, and she said she already knows it is. I don't think she realizes yet that we're not Catholic, though, no matter how many times we flat out say that we're different. Then we asked her to pray to know if Heavenly Father wants her to be baptized. She said she's too scared to pray about that, and won't do it. She needs a lot of prayers right now. I know that deep down she knows our church is different and that it's the true church, but she refuses to do anything about it. Of course, it gives me a lot of hope that my companion had a very similar conversion experience, and now look where she is!
Right after Dielle, we had a beautiful appointment with Vera, and her husband was there, too! We read from the Book of Mormon together. They both asked great questions and made great comments, and sincerely want to know if these things are true. They are such a beautiful little family! Valeria, their 2 year old girl, always hides under the table when we come over. And she's about to pop any day! I'm so excited to see their little boy soon. We gave her a bunch of baby name ideas, but she still hasn't picked one out.
Nataliya is in Ukraine for a month, but took her Book of Mormon with her to read on the trip! I just hope I'm still here when she gets back. We have a lot of great contacts right now that we're working on meeting and making into investigators. The work is going great! I love my mission!
Vi voglio tanto bene! Buona settimana!
Sorella Hawkey