That's so fun! Where are you guys camping this year? Send me lots of pictures, that sounds great. I'm glad to hear the school year ended well and that summers already off to a good start.
Summer here is already kicking my butt. I've completely stopped wearing makeup because it feels like the mascara is melting off my face. (We were told several times in the MTC that makeup makes sisters look prettier and more awake, but obviously these people have never seen an Italian summer) luckily our house has AC, so we keep it nice and cool so we can sleep and focus when we study.
Our investigator Lucia is progressing really really well. She accepts every doctrine completely, and reads up to 40 chapters of the book of Mormon a week. The only problem we're having still is the fact that she thinks she can t leave her new puppy at home for long enough to come to church. We've been trying so hard to think of solutions, and the best I've come up with is to lock the dog in the primary room. Any suggestions better than that?
I didn't want to write about this in my group email, because it's slightly sensitive material, but I wanted to tell you about our new Chinese investigator Lolia. She has an incredibly strong faith. When We met her she told us her whole story. She grew up being taught in school that the idea of a God was impossible, explained through science. She said she always felt there was a God, and finally found some people who explained Christianity to her. She said it felt so right. Unexplainably right. So She joined the Christian community. But THEY had to meet in secret because the police were actively persecuting Christians and their families. All of her internet usage and phone usage was monitored by the government. One day She heard that two of her Christian friends were taken in by the police, so she picked up and moved to another village. Within two months, the police were there again looking not only for christians, but asking the villagers to turn in anyone new to the town for questioning. Luckily her landlady warned her in time, and she packed up to leave again. As She left, she was chased by a police man, and somehow made it on a train without being caught. She made friends with someone who agreed to help her escape to Italy under the radar, and now she's here. Her family doesn't know. She can t communicate with them or the government will find out and persecute them. She said She has fear to tell any Chinese people why she is here, so she tells everyone a different story as to why she's in Italy. She's absolutely amazing. She's endured and suffered so much for her faith. I hope we have the opportunity to continue teaching her, cause I have so much left I want to learn from her.
One other thing I wanted to ask. So We have this new program here called the Friendship Center. It's completely in religious center to help refugees. We have to wear p day clothes but we can't talk about religion at all unless we're asked. I Love it so much, it's been such a fun experience. Sorella Nelson and I have been assigned to go to every women's day. So All the refugee women come and we talk about women's health, and do fun things together and it's amazing. The only catch is that we're assigned to go every pday, for two hours. To me, not even a bad sacrifice, it's a great way to relax and have fun on pday. But my question for you, if you can, is I was wondering if you could send me a list of fun things to do in Rome, or close by, that we can do in the mornings from 9-2. I have a hard time planning pdays on top of everything else, but I figure now with the womens day every pday, we'll need to be especially out together for the morning. I figure you have all the travel resources to help us come up with a decent sized list (we've already done most of the big stuff. Colosseo, trevi, Moses statue, Roman forum, etc.) Anyway, if you have time, it would be much appreciated.
I love you!!
Sorella Maxfield
No comments:
Post a Comment