Sorella Dixon: 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