Thursday, March 12, 2015

Italy, Week 18, (3/4/15) - Transfer news, Running through the Bora and Sushi


TRANSFER NEWS: (drumroll please.) I'M STAYING IN TRIESTE WITH SORELLA BURT!!!!!Woot woot yeahhh woot woot yeahhhh. So stoked!
So yeah, we're pretty excited. We did not expect that at all. Both of us expected that I would leave, but no! I'm staying! It was a very strange transfer day, but we finally got our news at 9:15 at night (more or less) and it was great news! 
Last Wednesday we had a lesson with a family and made a family mission plan with them and afterwards they gave us a huge bag of blood oranges from the wife's dad's garden in Sicily. Like no big deal. Anyway, that's not really that exciting, but I was pretty excited about it. 
A few days ago we met this old lady who was soooo funny. She was standing at the bus stop and asked us if we knew when the bus was coming. We talked with her a bit and she asked us if we were students. When we told her we were missionaries and asked if she had heard of the church, she just got the wide eyes look of "yeah, I know that church" and did the laugh to go with it. And she tried to get away from us, but then she would keep coming back and talking to us. move away, then come back. She like, was incapable of not talking to us, it was so funny. Then we get on the bus and she sits down and as soon as the bus starts going she's just sliding around all over her seat and looking at us and kind of laughing. She was sooooo funny. I can't even describe her, but she was just so unique and wonderfully hilarious.
We had a baptism in our ward this week!! The Anziani were teaching a 17 year old kid from Africa and he got baptized Saturday! Finally! They've been trying to set bap dates and everything for a while now, but it finally happened and it was so great! in his testimony after he said that he wants to serve a mission and share the word of God!
Sunday we had an investigator come to church!!! She's the pregnant one that I talk about all the time and she finally got to come to church! She could only stay for the first two meetings, so she missed Sacrament meeting, but she said she really liked it! The members were soooo great and made her feel so welcome and you could tell she just felt really loved and she was really happy and just loving it the whole time. Members are so great! Always keep your eye out for new people that you can fellowship!!! It may  mean little to nothing to you, but it means the world to them!!
Yesterday we decided to do a little bit of English class finding and we wrote "Would you like to learn English? For FREE!" And walked around the busier parts of the city and gave out bigliettini. At one point this girl walked by us and right when she walked past me I heard her say "really??" and maybe 5 minutes later we hear "Wait! Excuse me!" And it was that girl! SHE CHASED AFTER US!!! It was a pretty far distance too... she seems super legit!! Whiteboards work! We had a lot of people either come up to us or just star at the sign or keep looking back at it that we would walk up to. It was so fun! Hopefully they come to English class and we can start building it up! Because right now we only have one student... BUT! Yesterday the anziani called us and said our one student wasn't coming that night, so they were letting us know so we could decide if we wanted to still go or not. We decided that we would go and show our faith that at least ONE of the people that we gave English class bigliettini to would show up. And this guy that we had talked to a few days earlier after the baptism came! we were waiting at the bus stop and he was on the other side of the street and he crossed the street and asked us if we still taught English class. We gave him all the info and everything then went our separate ways. And he came!!! He was the only one that came, but he came!!! AND! Our English class lesson turned into a Full on Restoration lesson! It was one of the most beautiful Restoration lessons too! (Not just because we got to teach it in English. But that's part of it.) he was just asking questions and we were explaining what we do as missionaries and one thing led to another and we told him we have a living prophet today and that the church is the same church that Christ established on the Earth but restored by a prophet Joseph Smith and it was incredible!! He hadn't known that we have the same church that Christ established and that we have a living prophet and he was really intrigued by it. And the Spirit was really strong and it was sooo great! Hopefully the Anziani can start teaching him soon!!
I LOVE THIS CHURCH!!! It's just so true!!! What other church can claim that they are the very same church that Christ had established on the earth 2 thousand years ago and have all the scriptures and everything to prove it? NONE! I'm so grateful that we have a living prophet today that through him God can guide and direct us to know how to live the best lives we can live in TODAY's world. And I know without a shadow of a doubt that Thomas S. Monson truly is a prophet, just like the prophets of old in the scriptures and that he truly does receive direct revelation from God for us! His word is scripture and I'm so thankful that we have these words and the specific guidance for us today. It's just more proof of Heavenly Father's love for His children. 
I love you all soooo much! Thank you for EVERYTHING you do. Vi voglio tantissimo bene!!!
Love, 
Sorella Hawks :)
Favorite Sorella Burt quote of the day: "Sketchy internet points are always sketchy."
She's so wise.

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