La Pace (Peace)

Cari Tutti!

I hope everyone had a great week! This week was so great here in Bologna! So Helena is doing GREAT! She absolutely LOVES everything we teach her and just can't wait for more. We've been able to see her regularly and she loves it. We were able to get her to church on Sunday. Thanks to the help of some members. Since she has a wheelchair it's tough for her to ride the bus. It's fine when the bus has the ramp that can come out for wheelchairs, but not all buses have that. So some members who live kind of near her were able to give her a ride. And she was just so content at church, sitting there with her legs up on her wheelchair and taking notes. Haha she's so cute :) And she's already getting to know the members and loving them! 

She said after she went home on Sunday she was just alone in her house and felt so at peace. She was actually j really calm and everything when we saw her the time after she went to church. It's so amazing the peace the gospel really does bring into our lives. Even when we don't realize we are missing it, the gospel provides it. That is what has happened to Helena. PACE (peace) is the word she tells us she feels the most. 

Seek for the peace the gospel brings. Remember that we are SO blessed to have that in our lives. It's such a great promise that Christ has given us-- 

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

I see and talk to so many people everyday who live their lives and remark how bad the world is and how troubled they are by it. But we have the opportunity to help others find that peace in their life. The peace that the world doesn't have. 

Corina and her family are still doing great. They are the most humble people ever and so giving. Corina is such a great Mom. I love just seeing her with Romina, her daughter. She loves her so much and takes such great care of her. She is such a strength in her family. As we read the Book of Mormon with her, Ovidio,and Romina, the spirit is so strong. It's a beautiful family scripture study together :) And of course it also involves Romina being a busy body and going through our bags for things, but she's just so adorable. When they read, they just want to keep reading because they love it so much! 

We have found a member who is American (her husband is here for school) and speaks Romanian because she served her mission in Romania! So she'll be able to come to lessons with us to Corina and Gilda. Whomever we bring to Corina and Ovidio, they just love!

This week we were finally able to see Chiara again. She's been on vacation, but now she's back and we had a lesson with her. We were worried it might not work out because when we went over there at the planned time, she wasn't there but it was Marilia (our mission leader's wife) tending the kids. She called us and said she would be about 30 minutes late, and after that was up she still hadn't come and didn't get home until an hour after the original lesson plan.... and then she only had about 20 minutes before she had to go somewhere else... but we stayed anyway and helped her make a fruit salad as we talked. It ended up being a really good lesson actually! Since she has been studying with the missionaries for a LONG time, she already knows the stuff, it's we're just trying to help her gain a testimony. She mentioned how she has prayed to know about the Book of Mormon but hasn't gotten a response yet. Not at all. So we talked about what needs to be a part of that prayer- sincere heart  , real intent, and faith in Jesus Christ. The part that we really focused on was real intent and what that means. Right now she is an active Catholic and doesn't really want to change... so she was just praying just kind of out of curiosity. But we talked about how real intent means you must ACT according to the response you get. So she said she needs to really think about what she would do if she got the response it were true. It was what she needed. She even told us that she didn't know how important it was going to be that we came and talked to her a little bit that afternoon. 

Well, I hope everyone has a great week! Remember to recognize the blessings from the gospel EVERYDAY!! Smile and share the light of Christ with everyone :)

Vi voglio bene!

Sorella Dixon

A photo I just found on the mission blog. This was zone conference at 

Christmas time!!

A Peek into "Home Sweet Home" for Sorella Dixon

Kitchen

Closet

Bedroom

Study Area

Hallway

Cute Missionary :)

So Many Great Things Happened and my Heart is so Happy!

Cari Tutti!

I hope everyone had a great week! This week was so great here in

Bologna. So many great things happened and my heart is so happy :)

I want to tell you about a woman we met named Helena. Last Thursday we

were on the bus going to an appointment and a lady gets on the bus in a

wheelchair. She has a man with her who is helping her. I was not

really close to her, but I wanted to talk to her. But she beat me to

it! After a little bit she asked if I was Mormon and then said she had

seen the Mormon book and read something about a tree of life and

really wanted to know more. She asked for our number and asked when we

could come over-- and wanted it to be as soon as possible! So we got

all the information and planned to see her Friday. Although we weren't

able to see her until Sunday. Oh, I was also able to learn, before we saw her at her home,

 that she's from Mozambique and she speaks Portuguese. So we see

her on Sunday and it was amazing!!!

This is her story-- 

She came to Italy about 3 years ago. She was married but is now single and lives

alone. She LOVES religion and has read about every religious book

there is! She found God and Christ here in Italy. She studied with

Jehovah witnesses and the Evangelist church. But she didn't really

feel anything when she went there, so she stopped. She believes one

should FEEL something to continue in something. About 8 months ago she

was online just researching stuff and came across the Book of Mormon.

She downloaded it and read a little bit from each book. The thing that

really caught her attention was the tree of life. She LOVED it! Well,

one day her computer crashed and she wasn't able to read it anymore.

And then she just had this desire to find the book! The thing is, she

has kind of been stuck in her house for a long time because she has

broken feet/ legs... i'm not sure which one. But she can't get around

on her own that easily. She did go to an internet point and was only

able to find the chapter in the Sunday School manual about the tree of

life. She just WANTED this book. so. bad. So one day her friend from

Nigeria was helping her out and took her out. She had told him how she

really wanted to find these Mormons and two days later we were on the

same bus. He actually pointed me out to her because he came to the

church in Bologna about a year ago. And then she asked us to come

over. So we taught her the Restoration on Sunday and she  believed

everything we told her and then gave her a Book of Mormon. In

Portuguese. And you would've thought she just won the lottery the way

she reacted when she saw the book, and then saw it was in Portuguese!

Her native language :) It was so great!

It really made me think about the Book of Mormon and if I really

appreciate it and really WANT to read it that bad all the time. She

just LOVES it and just HAD to have it. We are so blessed to have such

an amazing book in our life that I think sometimes we can take it for

granted.

Helena wants to come to church and do everything. It was funny because

she was asking US when we could return, what we wanted her to do for

the next time, what the requirements are for baptism and everything.

And she gave the most beautiful prayer. If you ever get to hear an

African pray, it's such a neat experience. I love love love it.

Then we were able to see her yesterday. We talked a lot about the Book

of Mormon and really helped her recognize the spirit. She told us as

she was reading it between Sunday and yesterday she liked it, but

didn't have that strong feeling like she did the first time. It

was just like a storybook this time. So we talked about the spirit

and how it works. And how it isn't always a really strong feeling. In

fact it's usually really small, and just peaceful. We helped her apply

the scriptures to HER and just 1 Nephi 1:1 about recognizing the

blessings from God even though we have afflictions in our life. She

actually talked about how it's weird because she has so many hard

things going on in her life right now, but she just feels at peace.

She's not worried about things like other people would be. It's so

weird and different for her. It was after we talked about the

scripture and applied it to her that she said she felt something. And

got something out of it. Oh, I just love her. She is truly elect. I'm

so blessed to have this opportunity to teach her.

Other news-- I got to hear about Genova yesterday!!! And boy was that

sooo good to hear about!! Elizabeth and Chiara are doing sooo well!
Sorella Pulli and Sorella Jones are taking good care of them! And
Edith! It made me so happy. :D I'm pretty sure we'll be hearing about
all of their baptisms pretty soon!
Well I actually have to go, sorry I can't tell you about all the other
wonderful things that happened this week! But Bologna is a place of
MIRACLES!!! :D
I have you all have a great week! Tonight we have the opportunity to
hear from the first presidency for a worldwide mission broadcast! So
we are so excited for that! I know it will be amazing! I'll tell you
about it next week!

Vi voglio bene!!
Sorella Dixon

Look at that cute sorelle peeking out the window!

On the way to San Luca

"Walkway to San Luca"

A church called San Luca

Overview of Bologna

"Venice!!! I went there for a scambio (exchange) this week with Sorella Burgess"

The restaurant to celebrate one year serving a mission

L'espiazione (The Atonement)

Cari Tutti!

I'm so sorry about last week's letter. Sometimes the internet

connection just doesn't work very well... but hopefully this letter is

a little better!

These past couple of days have been really warm. I love it! It's so

sunny and the skies are so clear! It doesn't feel like January at all!

"Oh ya know, just normal missionary work...in these gorgeous streets"

So last Wednesday was the Befana. It's the day a witch flies around on

her broom and gives little kids candy in a stocking if they've been

good that year and coal if they haven't. Apparently it's supposed to

be a super old, ugly sock. So we spent the day with a family and they were

cute and gave us a sock full of candy! And it had a few holes

haha. ;) I love getting to know members here. Their conversion stories

are amazing and their continual faith is so inspiring. Since it was a

p-day we just spent the afternoon there. Normally we're allowed an hour

and a half for meals with people-that also includes the thought or

lesson. With Italians though lunch is usually a 2-3 hour ordeal. These

people just love to talk!

Corina and her family are great. We're having a hard time getting them

to come to church. But we're hoping that the members that we've

invited to lessons will help. They live a little ways from church and

they don't have a car so it's not the most convenient thing for them.

Samuel, Irena, Corina, and Ovido

One evening we went over and it ended up just being Corina. But that

was great since some of the time she's just in the kitchen and

we just teach the others. So it was good to actually have a lesson

with her. She has shared such great experiences with us. When she had

Romina there ended up being health problems and about eight months

later Corina was in the hospital with a horrible infection. There was

one night in the hospital when she kneeled and prayed by her bed

asking God to help her with this situation, and promising Him that if

He did, she would follow his path. That was about 7 months ago. And

then we showed up. Amazing how God works. He didn't just send

missionaries right away, but he did eventually. She is so worried that

she's going to mess up though. That's her main concern. She doesn't

want to make promises to God and then go back to who she was. So we're

really trying to help her understand the Atonement. Because Christ is

always there and always accepts us back if we come with a broken heart

and a contrite spirit. I just love this quote that I found about the

Savior forgiving us:

          "Our Heavenly Father knows what we are facing, that we all sin and

“come short of the glory of God” again and again. He sent His Son, who

“knoweth the weakness of man and how to succor them who are tempted.”

His Son teaches us to “pray always that [we] enter not into

temptation.” We are told to “cry unto [God] for mercy; for he is

mighty to save.” The Savior commands us to repent and to forgive. And

although repentance is not easy, as we strive with all our hearts to

obey His gospel, He gives this promise: “Verily I say unto you,

notwithstanding [your] sins, my bowels are filled with compassion

towards [you]. I will not utterly cast [you] off; and in the day of

wrath I will remember mercy.” The Savior wants to forgive"

Friday evening we were able to visit Sorella Volta. She is a sweet older

member who loves missionaries. She was having a really hard day and we

came over at the right moment to lift her day and help her feel

better. It was just really nice to be able to help someone without

really realizing that she needed us until we were there. We have

actually been trying to see her for awhile, but we weren't able to

until this week. And that's when she needed us!

Sunday was a great day of church, a ward lunch, Corina's family, Gilda

and lots of finding miracles. We actually have an old investigator

just show up in church, and she came and introduced herself to us! She

stopped meeting with the missionaries a couple of months ago because

she was busy, I think, but now she wants to start seeing us

again! Her name is Loredana and is from Italy, and we should be able to

see her this week!

Gilda is a lady who we found a couple of weeks ago. She is also from

Romania. We found her when we were trying to do a passby but the lady

wasn't home so we just did casa. A man opened the door and said to

come back the next day when his wife would be home. As we were leaving

we passed a lady and started talking to her. She had met the

missionaries in the past but her Book of Mormon was in Romania so we

got her number and said we'd bring her another one!  So we go back to

the guy's house the next day and  the lady we talked to ended up being

his wife! She really likes our message. And she has been losing her

eyesight so it's hard for her to read the Book of Mormon since she

doesn't have glasses, but with our iPads we can make the text bigger

so she can actually read it in her language and understand completely!

We are just hoping to find a way that she can read on her own. Or

maybe someone can at least read to her.

Another miracle-- Last week we were calling a bunch of less active

members who were in our phone and set up an appointment with a lady

named Gemma. So we met her on Monday and were asking her how she got

to know the church. She is from the Philippines and has been here

about 4 years. She told us that her sister and aunt or cousin are

members and that she wasn't a member yet she had just been to church a

few times with them in the Philippines and a couple times here. What?!

Apparently she saw the sister missionaries at the train station here

and talked to them and they misunderstood and thought she was a

member! She told us that she wants to be baptized and really hopes she

can come to church. She works, but it should be a pretty easy job to

get off Sunday morning. We are praying for her! So we are super

excited to start working with her!

Tuesday morning we met with a man named Carmine. He is Italian, and we

met him doing parco. He is super nice and is a Chinese

religion that I don't fully understand, but he's interested to know

about ours. I just love all the different types of people we meet here.

Everyone has such different backgrounds and beliefs and it's so neat

to see how God prepares people for His gospel....Piano piano and in his

time.

Back to the thought about the Atonement. I think this is a good reminder

for everyone. Investigator, less-active, member, missionary, etc. We

all make mistakes, yet Christ is there ready to forgive. He helps us

overcome our weaknesses and resist temptation. I know that he gives us

the strength and helps us continue towards God. Satan is the one that

points out the things we do wrong and the mistakes we make, yet if we

turn to Christ, He will show us what we are doing RIGHT and all the

good we do. He wants us to come to Him. And he wants US to want to

come to Him and then He just readily accepts us.

Spero che ognuno di voi veda i miracoli ogni giorno!

Buona Settimana!

Vi voglio un sacco di bene!

Translated.....I hope that each of you see miracles every day ! Have a good week! I want a lot of good for you !

Sorella Dixon

"New Year's Eve pizza"

"Missionary selfie"

See why we miss her....:)!!!

"The stairwell in the Towers"

'The Towers"

"This is Bologna"

Roasted chestnuts

"This statue was burned on New Year's Eve"

"Typical Bologna Italy"

"Inside a beautiful church"

"Pretty, old buildings"

Miracoli ogni giorni, anche se sono piccoli (Miracles everyday, even if they are small)

Well, the email I just wrote got lost. And I don't really have time to

write everything again. So, sorry this is so small.

But this week was good. Full of ups, downs, walking in the cold,

talking to all kinds people, and seeing how God truly does love each

one of His children.

We had some great experiences talking to lots of people this week. One

time we talked to a lady at the park, and she wasn't interested at all

so we went away and about 5-6 minutes later we heard someone calling

for us from behind. When we looked back it was her, and she was

interested in what we had to say. We taught her the restoration and

gave her a Book of Mormon and she was really interested.

Another time we were doing a passby and took the wrong bus. Then when

we got on the right one we ended up missing our stop. But then a lady

got on the bus that we started talking to and she was curious about us

because she was a history teacher and new about Mormons. She had a lot

of questions. It was great. We were in the right place at the right

time!

We had several lessons with Corina and Ovidio and there were always

different cousins over. So we taught the restoration a lot of times.

Ovidio would get into it and teach part of it,and then he would bring

up baptism and say "and if you read this book and do what it says you

can get baptized!"  He was just so excited to tell everyone

about baptism, and he's not even baptized. Sometimes I think we can be

reserved to mention baptism or get a little nervous, but he was just

so excited to invite everyone. We also sang "I am a Child of God" with

them, and they loved it! We sang it at the lesson yesterday, too, with

them and they tried singing along. They are so cute. I just love

teaching them. The spirit is always so strong and they understand

everything so well. Their faith is strong and they really do want to

follow Christ.

Well I have to go, but I hope everyone has a great start to their new year!

Buona Befana!

Vi voglio un sacco di bene!

Sorella Dixon

No photos this time, but I found one or two in our folders.

This is what life looked like in January a year ago...

Sorella Dixon--pre mission.

Is that nuts? Yup!!!!

Italian pizza in UTAH! :)  Before Sorella Dixon with all her

pizza photos in Italy.