Miracles never cease (11 months) 27/5/2015

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Heather Hastings		May 27 (2 days ago)

This week was a killer week! We could have taught 18 lessons but because we had to prepare for an open house/ward activity we are having, we cancelled some appointments to help prepare for that. So many miracles. I'll tell ya, when we came home last night I was wiped. Physically, mentally, emotionally.... we went to bed early, today we deep cleaned the house and jammed to music, then we covered the windows and took a fabulous hour long nap. We got gelato before emailing and I feel greatly refreshed :)

So much to tell. Monday, the new day of the week. We started out nice by being on time and early to District meeting. The Elders brought us brownies so that was fun. Between the four of us in our district... we may have eaten the entire pan. What a long day! So this family search activity/open house I've mentioned we're doing is Tuesday-Saturday 6pm-9pm. There has been so much to do to advertise and make sure people come! As of yesterday, we had two people show up? Anyways, so we stayed at the church to make posters and finish up last minute touches. We brought fruit and cut up to make a yummy fruit salad, but we didn’t leave the church until like 3:30. As we were riding home, sorella Montagnoli got a flat. So I wasted five euro to buy a pump that didn't work, then in the end we got it fixed. We were doing a scambio (exchange) and had a train to catch at like 5:10. 4pm comes and we hadn’t eaten lunch yet because all the pizza places were closed! Welcome to Italy, where everything closes for lunch or after lunch. At the last minute we find some food, grab our stuff and catch the train to Piacenza. Then our phone stops working, add that to the list. Meanwhile, we start a fast as a district for this crazy city of Reggio Emilia. I leave my comp and come back with Sorella Jones. We met a cool lady on the train who is getting married next week, and it was really fun to be able to talk with her about the family. It doesn't sound like a lot but we stressed the whole day, mainly about this activity, and we were all over the place. Oh, and it rained somewhere in there too. 

So Tuesday comes around. But wait, Monday night we had just finished nightly planning when.... the phone rings. It Says "XS EVELYN" meaning an x investigator. Turns out she is in the hospital sick, and she thought of us. She has come to church in the past but wanted us to go pray with her. SO we added that into our plans. Monday we had a nice companionship study, talking, chatting, sharing my wise advice. We went to visit our bap date, she's still smoking but she's so close! We are going to move her bap date again, hopefully for the last time. Liz, you will be proud of this. We made a delicious lunch which we call "Pasta di Chicacado" which would be pasta cooked, through in some chicken, avocado slices, drizzle some oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cheese. Bon appetite! :)

Then we went to visit this girl Evelyn. She is Nigerian, and is really sick- but she's so young! We shared Alma 7:11-13 with her, and also 3 Nephi 17. We committed her to get a blessing and all on her own she wants to come back to church when she is better. She is so sweet, so struggling right now. We sat besides her hospital bed and just chatted in our African/English for a while. We bought her an ice cream and she had never been happier. Here in Italy, because they pay so much tax the doctors and hospitals are free. She doesn't have a job, but she has a son she rarely sees because her health doesn't let her take care of him. So sad, but we contacted the lady in the room next to her also and we just had this super awesome spiritual lesson. It was wonderful, and I am so grateful we were available in that moment. After that, we went out and spent time in the park finding. We talked with a really nice lady and were able to pray and leaving a blessing on her family. At this point, we were feeling great. Oh, did I mention how blessed we are with our hospitals in America? After we exchanged back our companions, we hurried to the church, taught English class, got a pizza. We had our Russian member there last night, and so was our Russian investigator who comes to English class. We met them up and we are so excited for them to be friends so we can get some member help with her. We came home last night and crashed... 

Life is good my dear family. Life is good. I hope you are all well. I am doing wonderful, and happy, and blessed. My studies have been really deep lately, like on Saturday we talked about "Canon" and "lost books" and the bible. I've been doing studying on faith and knowledge, and it's so cool to see these patterns in the Book of Mormon and then see how they connect to the bible. Last Thursday, we had a stellar African lesson. I have never had a lesson that wonderful. The restoration. She is super interested, feels lost and looking for the truth, for the true baptism, for peace in her life. Blessing. She wants to come to our church, too. We met another lady from Ukraine, has radiation poisoning because she lived in Chernobyl (don’t know how to spell) and she is really messed up, but we took her the spirit and she wants to learn more. 

Have I told you how amazing our bishop is? We love their family! Clausel and Enuine Nsondi, she is from Ghana and he is from Congo, they both served in Ghana. Their family is the best, so cute, I love them. We went to visit them on Friday and it was perfect because we ran into our less active and got to teach her too. 

God's timing is so perfect! Miracles! They are small, but that's how it goes. Passo per passo. Step by step. Line upon line...

That is the watered down versione of my week, but know how much I am loving where I'm at right now. Reggio Emilia... is a strange city, but finally I think the work here is picking up. Oh, and we got transfer calls- nothing changes because we are training. Another six weeks then I'm probably out. Don't wanna think about that yet though. I Love you all! You are great. The ipads are great tool we can use now, and it’s fun to read your emails when they come. Be good. Read your scriptures. Be happy. Say your prayers. Just keep up your faith and keep up the good :)

Sorella Hastings =)

Love and Be Loved

I have crossed the Rubicon 13/5/2015

Heather Hastings		May 13 (4 days ago)

I love my family! I hope you all know that :)

Sometimes life at home becomes a blur so even though Skype time goes by so fast, it is good to see your faces and remember your voices and know you are still real people! Last week, my companion bought a talking alarm clock in Italian. That has been nice because it happily wakes us her (she is a very sound sleeper) and it also tells us the time/temperature every hour. I might bring one home. How would you feel about that Liz? Beper. She talks in Italian! It's so cool!

Anyways...

I guess being a trainer is kind of stressful. Who knew? My companion is wonderful and but there are lots of things for BOTH us to learn. We had another slow week, we had two appointments Sunday after Skype but they both fell through. This week is consecration week and we are shooting for 21 lessons, and so far we've got a really good start and a line up. Last Thursday night we had an FHE with the relief society president and her non-member husband. We shared about baptism and about those Kukumba boxes where they trap monkeys. You put your hand in to grab the banana, but unless you let go you can't get out. So we made one of these boxes and used it for an example lesson, what are we holding onto that we need to let go of to be free and receive blessings?

Friday we helped a member make a sweet cake for the relief society Karaoke on Saturday. Pictures included of that. It turned out great, and we were able to make some good relationships with more members. Italians are so fun and so loud, open. I love them! They make everyone love, and they love to joke-some of them. On Monday we had to move district meeting because a plumber came to our house. We have had a leaky shower so he fixed it. We stayed inside all morning until the end of language study, but we made calls and got somethings done. That afternoon we had an appointment with a new investigator. She was late so we were able to talk with and contact 4 people! One girl was super interested on what we believe about marriage, and she's like 22, so hopefully we can meet with her. At our appointment, our investigator was distracted the whole time. The whole reason she met with us is because she wants a passage way or a trip to go to America. We can't help with that! So that was interesting. Also Weston, I still don't know how you do it. I think Africans change as they come to Italy. "The bible is from Genesis to revelations" which if you know the history of the bible that is not true. They just don't accept it as scripture, only as the word of God or as a testimony, which they can write their own testimony too. It's a struggle here. Maybe I'm just not a pro yet.

With our investigator Anna, we reset a bap date with her. She is really wanting baptism and is so close to stopped being smoking! Our new date in the 6th of June. We can make it. She is feeling down just about life in general, and so we are working through that together. This lady is so sweet and golden though, she always asks us for things to read. She has read up past 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon already. If you read that book, you will know it's true. Try it out! It's true!

A miracle: our less active came to church this week! 

I love having a schedule, it's great. I do really well with structure but sometimes it drives me crazy too! Like on pdays, can't we just go with the flow? Take it as it comes? Go on adventures and see who we find? I love being surrounded by the Gospel, being able to study the scriptures every day. That is something I want to bring home because there is never enough time! Even though we have a good 1-3 hours for study every day. Morning scripture study and reading is so wonderful. How can you have spiritual moments often at home? I’ve been thinking about that. We do what is called POPP charts every day, where there is a scripture to go with a principle and we are supposed to teach  the principle, read/recite the scripture in Italian, ask a question and testify. Three times a day and there are two-three scriptures for every week. I love that, because it helps us know the scriptures and also we can find others that connect to them, but in down moments it brings the opportunity to teach our companion or someone else in a simple like two minute role-play. And then we have to spirit. So, maybe you can do that at home- find one good scripture and just share it throughout the day with the kids. Maybe. I love just being able to simply bear testimony often throughout the day.

Well, I have crossed the Rubicon and I ain't goin back. I love where I am and though I miss you sometimes, the life of a missionary if incredible. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Alma 26. Ammon's (return home talk) I second that. But I'm still here and we're still going strong! 

So che questa chiesa è la vera Chiesa di Gesù Cristo dei Santi Degli Ultimi Giorni e che Dio ci ama cosi tanto per avendo mandato il suo figlio per noi, affinché noi possiamo vivere con Lui per sempre nel'eternità. 

Buona giornata, buona settimana! 

Vi voglio un mondo di bene! 

Fotos: 

A sweet trail we found to ride down

The cake

My companion eats an apple every day

Sorella Hastings =)

Love and Be Loved

A Prophet of the Lord 29/4/15

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Heather Hastings	Apr 29 (5 days ago)

Buon girono a tutti! What a marvelous week we have had. Well, in reality we have had a very slow week and we still are struggling with people to teach and having our lessons go through. But, we had a miracle Monday and I will start by telling you all about it.

Sunday first- no investigators in church. That was sad, but we did have some less actives come, and they changed up the bishopric so that was interesting. Sunday after we visited a less-active with her sister and we made some progress! She wants her son to get baptized next year, after he turns ten. So that was a good lesson and we talked about our baptismal covenants, what they mean. Then we got to come home early, plan as normal and then prepare for bed- we were asleep by 9:15 because Monday morning we woke up at 5am, took the 6:13 train and headed to Milano for the Anziano Bednar mission conference!

By 9:20 all 242 missionaries were there in the chapel, the sisters in the front five rows. Around 9:30, Elder Bednar walked in with his wife, Elder Teixera and wife and Brother James Allen and Wife, with President and Sorella Dibb. Smiles all over my face, I was so happy! After we sang an opening hymn, we all stood up and sang the mission together. As we sang the words in Italian with meaning and sincerity, I teared up a bit- the spirit being so strong. Man, it was so cool! And it was only the first ten minutes! After that, Elder Bednar got up and we were all expecting some sort of prepared talk, a training on how to use the iPad, etc. He gets up and introduces some things, then starts out a discussion by simply stating "It's not about the iPads" and then asks us to share our thoughts and responses. 

We talked all together, a discussion, him guiding our responses by his comments and questions. Best example I have ever seen from a teacher on asking good questions. We talked about our agency, how we are agents in life not objects. The ipads are objects, like a pen, and will just be another object or tool to enhance the missionary work. With being agents, we talked about agency. We do not have "free" agency, but we do have moral agency. We talked about how we can be life-long missionaries and not just be returned missionaries. Everything we are doing now will prepare us for the future, for marriage, for families. They seemed to talked about marriage a lot... 

The whole conference was just incredible! The spirit was so there, so calm, so powerful all at once. This man, this prophet called of God just having this discussion with us. We covered some basic doctrine and some deep doctrine. We talked about covenants and what they mean. A covenant is determined by God, and like baptism for example we agree with Him to follow his terms, do our part (obey commandments, serve him) and he'll do His. That being said, we don't have the option to brake our covenants because we already said we would follow it! But we have the choice still, and should we chose wrong we are breaking our end of the covenant. We talked about our mission purpose- everything is centered on that! To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel by faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism for immersion, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end.

The pattern of the Gospel is one eternal round. What are the first principles and ordinances, the most important, that Jesus teaches us? Both in the bible and the Book of Mormon? You think they might be important, yeah? The whole thing was just a super spiritual, guided learning discussion together. The gears in all of our heads were cranking like crazy, and it was so cool, so much a testimony of the power of God. We learn by our heart, not by our logic. We learn as we feel it though the Holy Ghost. Our knowledge is never complete, it is ever perfect, but it "grows brighter until the perfect day" and we just keep learning, keep climbing up. My companionship with a companion now is great prep for the future. Faith: ACTING on the teachings and principles of Jesus Christ, which then gives us the power from God. But we have to make that first step. 

We learn step by step, "line upon line, precept upon precept." We were promised some great blessings of power and knowledge by Elder Bednar if we would study specific things, like we talked about the connection of understanding to the heart and stuff. It is very brief, but those are some things that stood out to me. We had a bit of training on technology, but really we just focused on the spiritual aspect. I made a comment once, and (with all humility, and shyness) I stood up and said what I learned, then Elder Bednar said wow that is really great, and only knew how to express his impression with a German word. So that was cool! 

God calls prophets. This man, Elder David A Bednar, is a prophet seer and revelator of God. I was there, and witnessed his representation of Christ! He is funny, he is way too intelligent, and he loves to joke and loves the other apostles. His wife is just as great. It was so wonderful, such a great opportunity. He left his testimony with a special blessing upon our mission for success. He truly is a servant of God and holds the keys of the power of God. What a miracle!

About these iPads, we are in the waiting period now. They have not yet arrived, but we should have them within the next few weeks. We have some initial training to do to make sure we use them as representatives of Christ, and to be safe in all aspects with them. So, I'll give more updates in the coming weeks.

As for skyping on Mother's day: I only just realized yesterday that mother's day is in two weeks! I don't know our plan for that. I would like to chat with just mom and dad for a bit, and maybe just Lisa and Becca for a bit, and maybe Liz for a bit, then everyone together. I don't know. As long as we can talk I'll work with it! The very soonest I would be able to get on is 1:30pm my time. It's possible we could do it at night, but I just don't know.

Well, some other events this week: There was a baptism on Saturday! It went really well for the Anziani, aside from the fact that one of the speakers spoke for 30 minutes instead of 3-5 minutes... We made banana bread that day, and it wouldn't cook so we kept checking it. Well, one time pulling it out my arm hit the oven and I got a lovely burned, which now I have a nice scar from that. Thanks to my companion’s family for sending her with Doterra, we put oil on it and it helped. 

We were doing some door knocking last week and we are not allowed to enter the homes of Muslims, but we met one and ended up teaching a lesson through the door. Then her husband came her and we gave his a pamphlet. That was a first. Monday night we had FHE with our new bishop, and on the way the buses went on strike, and it was raining, so a random man offered to give us a ride. We so went with him and met his wife and two children, from Ghana. We are going to meet with them on Sunday, so that's a cool double miracle! Yesterday, we met a group of American on study abroad- that was really exciting. They are so nice, so happy, so kind to us, are interested in who we are and what we do. Why aren't all people that friendly?

On Friday, we had three solid appointments- but as weekly planning went on, every hour we basically had a cancellation. So that turned into an eventful day. Well I will try to remember to tell about that next week, because time is up. I've got to do some technology training!

I am loving being a trainer, by the way. Sorella Montagnoli is pretty much awesome. She full of all kinds of new ideas and spunk. Things are going well. I love you all, I hope you are happy.

Your homework: study the atonement. Scriptures, preach my gospel, conference talks, just study it. It will bless your life. Have a fantabulistic week!

Pictures: Friday was Italia’s Independence Day

We have some intense language studies

Baptism

We found a waffle maker like what we have, I think

Sorella Hastings =)

Love and Be Loved