Ciao!

Well, Antonia didnt pass her baptismal interview, which was pretty sad. She didnt understand tithing even though we had the bishop with us when we explained. She thought it was a one time payment so that she could get baptized instead of a lifestyle. Sometimes she isnt listening all the way when we teach. But she still really loves all the members so we want to keep teaching her with them especially Vescovo Mongelli and Fllo Curci and help her see all the blessings that come from obedience to the commandments. We are going to see her right after this because we havent been able to see her since her interview last Thursday. We talked to her on the phone and it sounds like she had an awful Easter and got sick, so shes not doing so hot. :(

Then Easter we went to church and everyone kissed us and we ate with the entire DeSantis family, which was really fun because we ate tons and made fun of each other and watched the little kids open chocolate Easter eggs. After that we went to Slla Magnos because she wanted us to meet her nipote who came from Milan. In the end we listened to Fllo Curci sing and play the guitar. He has written a billion songs. And they are actually quite good.

Here in Italy the day after Easter is a holiday too so we had district meeting and then played some soccer with the members. I was awful. Then we had a "picnic" --picnics here are much more complicated than a couple sandwiches and juice boxes. Lasagne was involved...And we watched the movie about an Italian priest who found a Book of Mormon when he was in New York (long, long, long time ago) and it had no cover so he had no idea what it was, but he read the promise at the end about reading and praying and so he did and he knew it was from God. So he started teaching from it during his sermons until he got kicked out. They tried to take it away from him but he wouldnt let them. Then he went to war and they told him he wasnt allowed to talk about it with anyone, because he had been teaching it to his fellow soldiers. Then finally he saw the word Mormon in the dictionary and found out it was related to a university in Provo so he wrote to the president. They said they would have someone come baptize him. He was going to meet them somewhere, but then he couldnt get across the border. So this man waited until he was really old until someone could finally come down and baptize him (the Church wasnt in Italy yet). Afterward a few of the members bore their personal testimonies of the Book of Mormon.

Tuesday we went to visit our American member and she made us tacos! Woo. I mashed beans so we could have refried beans and she made tortillas from scratch and I realized just how spoiled we are in America where everything comes in a can. And I had ice for the first time in 6 months or so.

Yesterday we went to a rehabilitation place because one of the members broke her femur (OUCH!). We were in the car with her daughter who is trying to take care of her entire family and start a new one (shes getting married in July) all at the same time. We shared some tender moments talking about balance in our lives.

Oh and we saw Chilotam again, man, he always manages to get the best of us. He told us we need to "Teach people about God and not that man Joseph Mormon" No, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. He will not buy into the idea of a prophet, because we only need the bible. We asked him if he thought Noah was a prophet and he said "No, a prophet is someone who comes and says you will die tomorrow because you have sinned against God."


Am I mistaken, or is that exactly the story of Noah?

Then he told us we need to stop preaching about Joseph Mormon because he is dead and we are alive so we should preach about God and Jesus and ourselves.

"I was praying in Italian prison once and a man said to me, stop praying, there is no God. And I said to this man, Man, you must believe in God. Then I prayed to God, God, show this man that you exist. Show them you exist by setting me free from here. And then a guard came up to me and said I needed to stop because people were trying to sleep."

He really has a lot of faith.

And we keep learning that maybe teaching simply is harder than it seems.

We have had some awesome English Course lessons, the other day we talked about an old conference talk about the "six destructive d's" doubt, discouragement, disbelief, lack of diligence, disobedience, distraction. Some of them really opened up. Its turning into English class/Therapy sessions. And I love it.

I learn so much from the people here everyday, their examples, their testimonies, their lives.It is interesting to see how trials in our lives lead us closer to God or farther away, but we never remain neutral.
And its always our choice.

I love you all,

Sorella Laws