CIBO

Written 3-19-14

 

It's true.  Life in Italy revolves around food, sleep and missionary work.  So last pday we just walked around Savona.  What a privilege it is to live here in this beautiful city next to the sea

So one part of missionary work is to help people with any projects.  We were able to clean Sorella S.'s house and it was awesome.  It's amazing how when we serve someone, it immediately lifts our spirits.  

So I got a shiny new bike this week because my old one literally died.  The M. family in our ward came with us to the Decathlon (aka BIG 5 times ten) and drove the bike back in their car.  It is so much easier to ride around Savona now because my brakes aren't dying and neither is my back.  YAY!

So our investigator G. finally came to church this week.  It was so wonderful to see her and her beautiful family.  They left after sacrament but we're hoping they come again.  We taught them about the temple and it was a beautiful lesson.  

So we're working with a new family from India.  A., his wife, N. and their daughter A.  We had another appointment with them but we got the times mixed up and they weren't expecting us.  But they let us in.  We answered more of their questions.  They confessed they hadn't been reading the Book of Mormon so we challenged them to start reading it.  Then the husband A. announced that he's going back to India for three months for education.  We're not sure exactly what we're going to do with this family but we're hoping that the missionaries in India will teach the husband and we can continue teaching the wife and daughter.  They gave us dried plantation banana chips, these clear, crunchy potato chip things and this gummy purple Indian dessert called Aluva.  Mom do you know what that is?  Can you research it for me please?  It was delicious. 

Sunday the Relief Society president and her husband invited us for lunch.  It was the best lunch of my life.  It was a 6 course italian feast.  We started off with olives, salami, prosciutto, 5 different kinds of bread and bread sticks, deviled eggs, these puffed pastry things filled with cheese.  Then came the pesto covered pasta and the pasta covered in a mushroom sauce.  Then came the curried turkey leg, salad, peppers drenched in olive oil, and more bread.  Following that was the egg plant with herbs and mozzarella cheese on top, more veggies and other goodies.  Then the fruit... I ate an orange and kiwis.  Finally dessert which was this creamy cheese stuff that tasted like icecream covered in a strawberry sauce and homemade tiramisu.  We ate over a span of three hours so I wasn't dying after.  We finished off with tea.  There was another family there and they spoke french so we were speaking Italian, French and English all at the same table.  AMAZING!  Also this family lives up in the mountains of Finale Ligure so they live in Italian paradise.  

Monday was an awesome zone conference.  The theme was that the power behind us as missionaries is greater than the obstacles in front of us.  I bawled the entire time and met amazing new missionaries.  I absolutely love all the missionaries here.  

Yesterday we had an absolutely amazing experience.  We went to W and L's house.  W wasn't there but L. was.  We sang hymns for him and played the piano.  He is really old and has really bad health and suffers a lot.  He then told us more about his life.  He is such an example to me of persevering to the end even when life is so incredibly difficult.  

Thank you everyone for all of your love, support and prayers.  The mission is hard but I've seen more blessings and refinement now in my life than ever!

The scripture this week is Ether 12:27

the challenge this week is to pray and ask Heavenly Father to help you have an experience where you are in the right place and the right time for that miracle to happen.

The word of the week is sbadigliare (sbaw-dee-lee-are-ay).  It means Yawn.

Love,

Sorella Hatch