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