I hope everyone had a great week! Weeks go by so fast I can't believe it's already pday again!
We had a good week here in Bologna! We got transfer calls and I will be staying here with Sorella Albos! :D I'm pretty excited since I love Bologna, the people here, and Sorella Albos!
This week we had kind of a slower week with finding people, but we were still busy and saw a lot of people. Right now we are so blessed to have so many people to teach that we are always on the go, but then the effort to talk to a lot of people and find isn't as great. So we are hopefully going to build that up this week. But we were able to have some amazing lessons with the people we are teaching.
With Helena we are teaching the Preach My Gospel lessons again and have really been able to go in depth and help her understand the doctrine more. We had an amazing lesson about the plan of salvation--mostly about life on earth. It was so great because we just shared scriptures and quotes that we have heard so many times, but for her it was new and she LOVED it. The spirit was so sweet. She was also really good at listening. That's something she's trying to work on. Not talking so much haha. Because she can talk A TON. But she's getting better at really just listening and trying to learn. She now has visiting teachers and they are so sweet. Yesterday was National Woman's day (So... happy woman's day!) and they surprised her by bringing her flowers and a cake. She called us after they left just to tell us because she was so happy! She loves being a part of this "family" :)
Last week we did a scambio with the sorelle from Piacenza. Sorella Weidmann and Sorella Bowman. I got to work with Sorella Weidmann and she's from Germany. She actually came in with Sorella Goethals! So that was fun! I love being able to work with and learn from sooo many sisters from ALL over the world!! It really is incredible! She is such a great example of strength and following God's plan. It was interesting because she's in her 4th transfer and was feeling a little discouraged, and I told her that my most discouraging time was also in my 4th transfer. And then I was talking with Sorella Albos later and she said that it was in her 4th transfer that she also felt the most discouraged. I don't know what it is about being 6 months in, but apparently it's pretty common to feel down at that time. So I just want to say to any missionary around their 6 months mark and are down (or really any missionary feeling a little discouraged) It's ok. There will be hard days. And the work will be hard. But don't give up! There's a quote in our kitchen from Elder Holland that says:
"I bear witness that He came from God as a God to bind up the brokenhearted, to dry the tears from every eye, to proclaim liberty to the captive and open the prison doors to them that are bound. I promise that because of your faithful response to the call to spread the gospel, He will bind up your broken hearts, dry your tears, and set you and your families free. That is my missionary promise to you and your missionary message to the world."
The mission is truly amazing and I wouldn't give it up for anything, not even the hard times.
On Sunday night none of our plans worked out, so we were trying to do some pass-bys and thought about seeing Giovanna and Rosa. We have been able to see them twice since I've been here and have tried several other times but it never worked out. So I didn't really think they'd let us come, but we tried anyway and it was just what they needed. We go in and the first thing Giovanna told us was how their dog died last week. They've had this dog 15 years and it died from a heart attack. They were devastated. I think God knew exactly that our plans needed to fall through so we could see them and help them feel a little love.
Also on Sunday we were able to do a mission wide fast and invited our wards to fast as well to find people to teach. And then we were able to kneel down with all of the missionaries at 1:30 to pray and ask God to help us find those we can teach and bring into the gospel. I love how President had us do that and include the members too. Just as so many leaders have asked, I invite you all to pray with the missionaries and search for ways to be a missionary as well instead of just praying FOR the missionaries!
This week we saw Gilda and we are working with her to stop smoking. She has been smoking a loooong time and every time she goes to stop, or try to smoke less it's harder for her and she ends up smoking more. But last time we talked about doing a fast to have the strength to begin stopping and she was really interested in that. So we will be doing that with her. She is so great. She believes everything we teach her. Her life is so hard, yet she has sooo much faith!
Well those are just a few things from this week! I hope everyone has a great week and continues to feel the love of the Savior everyday!
Vi voglio un sacco di bene!
Love,
Sorella Dixon
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