Uh. YA!! That's Why We're Here!

Ciao Tutti!

This week was so great! It was probably the hottest week I've had here

yet... but we saw lots of miracles!

So on Thursday we met with Graziella Romeo. She is a member

who lost her daughter a few years ago. We talked about courage. When

we called and set up an appointment with her Sorella Griffin

accidentally called the wrong Graziella in the phone book since she didn't

know who she was. The other Graziella called us back a little later

and we decided to set up a time to meet with her too since she's also

 less active! So on Friday we met with her and it was such an amazing

lesson! She's almost 20 years old and got baptized about 2 years ago.

She still has lots of questions and needs help building her

testimony, so we're going to meet with her more and help her! Miracle

with calling the wrong person on accident!

During the lesson she was asking why some people have to have such

hard trials and some people don't. A scripture came to my mind that I

read recently.

It's D&C 58:2-4:

2 For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my

commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in

tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of

heaven.

3 Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the

design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter,

and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.

4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day

cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet,

but is nigh at hand.

As she was reading it I learned something new and was able to teach

her! Trials and difficulties are actually GIFTS from God because they

help us become so much better. We learn and grow from them. Like it

says, AFTER tribulation come the blessings. So those who don't have the

trials in their life maybe aren't ready or prepared for trials yet

because they aren't ready to grow and change to become more like

Christ.

Saturday I tried Gorganzola cheese... I don't know why.. it doesn't

even look appetizing! Its cheese with mold in it! But Sorella Griffin

said I had to try it, so we made Gorganzola pasta and it actually

wasn't that bad :) Kind of interesting, but not horrible.

Saturday we also visited Nancy again and showed her the Restoration

video. She really liked it and said she's like Joseph Smith and wants

to know the truth. We're just working slowly with her since she's in

the hospital and can't focus very well. But she loves it when we come,

and we love visiting her! She is such a trooper and gets better

everyday! She has come so far since we first met her. She can now move

her leg up and down and is working on walking. She wants to get out of

the hospital so bad. We're still not sure when she'll get to come out.

Saturday night we met with the Ramos family. They are the family that

I sent a picture of a couple weeks ago. They are great members but the

two oldest are less active. This time when we met with them the oldest

daughter actually sat in the lesson with us! The first time I was

there she didn't even say hi, the second time she said hi, the 3rd time

we actually talked with her for quite awhile after the lesson, and

this time she stayed in the lesson! Hopefully we can get her to come

to church now! Slowly slowly :)

Sunday I felt like we should go try this passby. The bishopric always

gives the missionaries a sheet of paper with people's names and

addresses on it of people they don't know... there are that many less

active people in this ward. So we try to passby them when we can.

Usually they don't live there anymore, aren't even on the citofino, or

the building doesn't even exist! Its kind of weird...

So this one was in Bareggio, a little paesino outside of Milan. We

have to take the metro to a stop, then a bus outside of Milan. So we

get to the metro stop and are waiting for the bus when I realize that

we forgot to check the address again! We checked it on the iPad the

day earlier but now we didn't have wifi. I was worried I wouldn't be

able to load it and we'd have to go back... But when I pulled out my

iPad it was aleady up and the map was still loaded how I had it! Thank

goodness! (Miracle!) So the bus came and Sorella Griffin helped this

lady put her stroller on it. I saw the lady and realized it was

Marina!!! The lady who we taught a couple weeks ago who can never meet

with us because she's a Bidante! (Miracle!!) We got to talk with her

the whole bus ride! It was so great! I really hope we, or at least

missionaries later, will get to meet with her when she's not so busy,

because she's so great! Then we got to the passby without any problems

and guess what? The house was actually there! AND the name was on the

citofino!! AND the lady answered!! She didn't let us in, but now we

know where she lives so we'll try her again! She kind of lives by Elda

so we'll just try her when we go see Elda sometime! Another

miracle---we always made it to the bus stops at the perfect time so we

didn't have to wait forever. Because usually they don't come as often

on Sundays. :)

Monday there was consiglio with the Zone leaders and Sister Training

leaders at the church at Lampugano, so we got to have 2 sisters with

us for the day who are companions of 2 of the STL's but aren't STL's

themselves (they were in their 2nd and 3rd transfers) one was Sorella

Insalaco from my MTC district!!! So she and I went to a lesson

together and Sorella Griffin and the other Sorella, Sorella Jones,

went and worked together! It was neat working with someone I knew

before! And that day we did great finding work and had great lessons

with people!

That night we also saw Elda. On the bus ride there we started talking

to a guy, and I just thought to ask him what was the most important

thing in life for him. He really liked that question actually. He kept

saying it was a good question. We talked a little about the plan of

salvation with him and gave him a pamphlet. Hopefully this gets him

thinking more and one day he'll see the missionaries again. I love it

when questions come to my mind that I know are JUST for that person.

What they need at that moment. They are definitely inspired questions

from the spirit!

With Elda we had pizza and Italian ice with her :) She wanted to get

out of the house since she had been inside all day. She is so amazing.

She doesn't let her leg problem stop her from anything. She is a great

example of strength and endurance. She wasn't able to come to church

last sunday.... but HOPEFULLY this Sunday she can. She is reading the

Book of Mormon, but she says she doesn't really remember what she

reads. She still calls us a ton, a lot of times to complain about

stuff.... so we're trying to help her see the blessings in life.

Tuesday we had so many miracles! We spent the morning calling less

active members we didn't know and ex investigators and we talked to

this girl named Stefany who was really progressing in 2011 but then

stopped meeting with the missionaries becuase she wanted to focus on

school, but we called and she was more than happy to meet with us! So

we have a lesson with her on Friday.  Hopefully that will go well.

Later we went to the hospital to visit Nancy. When we got there she

was sleeping. We didn't want to disturb her especially since she's had

such a hard time getting sleep lately. As we were in the hall

discussing what to do we see a lady in the room next to hers just

sitting in there alone. We decided to go in and talk to her and cheer

her up a little. We started talking to her and ended up sharing the Perche

Egli Vive video and she really liked it! Her name was Daniella and

hopefully we'll get to talk to her again when we go back to visit

Nancy!

Then on the way back from the hospital we talked to a lady who had a

cute baby in a stroller. Her name was Nancy and she's from Peru. We

said we were missionaries and then SHE asked US if we could teach her

about our religion because she's been searching for a religion and

feels it's important to be a part of a church. Uh, YA!! That's why

we're here! We set up a time for Thursday and she confirmed with us

about 3 times to make sure she had the time and place right. Wow! I'm

pretty excited to teach her :)

THEN on the next metro we start talking to this girl, I just said I

liked her watch, and she sees we're missionaries and says how she has

seen a lot of us before and has always wondered who we were. We

offered to teach her more about our religion and she was totally

willing!

Later that day we were waiting for the metro when a guy walked down

the stairs wearing cowboy boots and carrying a guitar. Cowboys boots?

In Italy?! That never happens here! So of course I had to talk to him!

;) It turns out he spoke English really well. He was telling us how he

writes songs in Italian and English. He performs at night and teaches

guitar during the day. We told him we teach an english course and said

if he ever wanted to practice English he could come. He actually

seemed interested, so we'll see if he comes.

Needless to day, yesterday was a great day :D I just love talking to

people!! And my language is definitely improving! So it's getting

easier to talk to people, too!

Well, hopefully this week is filled with even more miracles! I hope there are Miracles

in your lives, too!!

Love you all!

Vi voglio bene!

Sorella Dixon

The smile is real...
REAL Italian Pizza!!!

"This is a pizzeria! I got pictures of the actual wood oven and the guy taking the pizza out! Delish! :D

Italians don't use a pizza cutter to cut pizza. They use scissors! Or just rip it! 

And the crust is so thin they usually fold the piece of pizza to eat it."

The Duomo.

"We actually went inside it last P-Day!"

"Going down to the baptistery..."

"They used to have a font"

"Just shows how things changed over time."