Sorella Dixon: I Love Just Trekking up the Hills of Italy!

Cari Tutti!

Happy August! The weather was really nice to us the first 2 days. It was nice and cool and there was a little rain! But now its back to being nice and hot again.

Last Thursday we visited a lady in the hospital. Her name is Ester. I don't know if I've mentioned her before. But she's really sweet. She was less active before, then broke her leg, and now has nothing to do in the hospital but read so she's been reading the Book of Mormon. All the way through for the first time actually. She loves it! Hopefully this will help her gain a real testimony and come back to church. As we were leaving the hospital we stopped outside for a little bit to try to call a couple of people. There was a hill right by us and we noticed a bunny. Then we saw more. And then they just kept coming! There were just random bunnies hopping on this hill! I was really curious and there happened to be a lady there watching them, too, so I asked her if she knew why the bunnies were there. I honestly just wanted to know that. I wasn't even planning on talking to her before that. Well she told us that the owner of the bunnies just let them loose and now there are about 30 wild rabbits who live there. Then we actually ended up talking about the gospel anyway! She told us she comes everyday to be with her dad who is in the hospital. Her mom passed away several years ago and before that she lost her sister. She said she has kind of lost her faith. We talked about hope and life after death and we asked her if we could come visit her and her dad here again and she said sure since she's there everyday anyway. Sooo yesterday we visited Ester again and then went and found Ofilia and her dad! It was really good! Turns out that her dad had actually talked to missionaries before and has a Book of Mormon at home. So he was open to us. At the end we asked if one of them would like to say the prayer and Ofilia said she would because it has been a long time since she had prayed. And then she ended up getting teary eyed while she prayed. Also, in the room while we were there was another lady who was with whom I assume is her dad. We showed Ofilia and her dad a Mormon message and asked the lady if she wanted to watch and she shook her head but then she ended up standing up during the video so she could see it better. :) Then she told us she liked it. :) Miracles that all started with bunnies!

To make it even better yesterday night after we got back from the hospital both of our appointments we had fell through... so we were trying to figure out what to do. We decided to call this member (it was actually the member we dragged up stairs and to the lesson with Elisabetta who ended up canceling on us!) and asked if we could come visit her. She lives really close to us. She said sure! Whenever we wanted! So we went there and ended up talking about Ester. She is really good friends with Ester and visits her almost everyday at the hospital. This member, Sorella Perez, is so amazing. She is a rock. Even with all that she has been through. And she stays strong even though most of her kids have chosen different paths. We told her about our experience with Ofilia and her dad and she said she knows her! Since she goes to the hospital so often she has talked with her before. So that was neat! We're going to try to get Ester and Sorella Perez involved with helping these people learn about the gospel!

Friday I went to Savona for a scambio with Sorella Schoenhalls! It was so fun! Sorella Schoenhalls is great! We had great lessons, ended up walking forever in the boonies trying to find this passby, and got to go to these little towns outside of Savona that are right next to the ocean, so they were gorgeous! It was fun to get to know Sorella Schoenhalls. She's a great missionary. But God gives us companions for a reason. I feel like I can teach so much better with Sorella Russell. And we just see miracles happen everyday when we're together. It's just a powerful companionship. So I'm grateful to be with Sorella Russell :)

Saturday we had English class and then shared a spiritual thought with the people there. I love English class here. Because people actually come and they are also kind of interested in the gospel as well. They participate really well during our spiritual thoughts. So there's this lady named Elena and she has come almost since when I first got here. We found out she doesn't believe in God. Last time we were talking about happiness and she actually told us that she hasn't really felt happy in her life lately. We talked about the Book of Mormon and she was actually interested! So was her friend who has come to English class before apparently but Saturday was the first time I had seen her. Tonight we have English class again so hopefully they come!

Sunday after church some members invited us over for lunch and it was delicious! They are a couple from the Philippines and Indonesia. Sophya, our new convert, was also there and it was so fun! Then we had a really good lesson with Mayra. She is less active and told us she doesn't even know why she was baptized. It was a good lesson where she really opened up with us. Hopefully we can address her needs and really help her gain a testimony.

Monday morning we had no appointments so we went out and did finding. It was a great morning actually! We talked to SO many people! I loved it! We ended up doing bus, street finding, and casa. Later that afternoon we had a lesson with Talia and really talked about trusting in the Lord and recognizing the spirit. She didn't come to church on Sunday because she was out til 3 the night before and was too tired... so that's a bummer. But she said she would for sure come this week. After her we did some passbys in that area. So where we live apartment building are just built on all the hills. So we are always climbing up. There are literally pathways of just stairs that go on forever to get to a street, or you can take a really long, skinny, windy road. But i love it! I love just trekking up hills in Italy! Especially because all the buildings we pass are gorgeous and colorful!

Yesterday was the day we saw Ester, Ofilia, and the member. And then when we were walking home from Sorella Perez's we ended up seeing Sophya, our new convert. She was taught by Sorella Griffin and Sorella Russell actually. She just loves the missionaries! She wanted to have a short little lesson on a bench so we shared a little thought with her. I think she really needed us at that moment actually because she was telling us she had been having a hard day. She's away from her family and she's also worried about them because they're not doing the best things. So it was good to lift her day.

Today we went to Camogli and it was gorgeous! Just more ocean, colorful buildings, boats, and cool churches! So pretty! :) Italy is gorgeous and I don't know why I'm so blessed to be here right now!

Well hope you have a great week!

Vi voglio un sacco di bene!

Sorella Dixon

Here is some Italian eye candy. What a gorgeous place!