14 March 2007

Buongiorno tutti,

I think Spring has arrived here in Italy, or at least in Prato. It's been really warm out lately and were enjoying the good weather.

Today for p-day we went out to Pistoia and went to the Zoo as a district. Saw some monkeys, elephants, giraffes, etc. It was pretty fun. So now we have time to hurry and email and do our shopping for the week.

This past week flew by. Last Thursday we had a lot to do. Lots of appointments and then the regularly scheduled things for Thursday like correlation meeting and english class at the church.

Friday we also had to finish our weekly planning quickly and got in a visit before we headed down to ROME! Yep, we got to go to Rome last weekend. Sorella Roper had to get her permesso (permit of stay) renewed or something and then there was also Zone conference down there because we had a visiting authority. So Friday we left Prato around 3pm and took a bus to florence (because there was a train strike) and finally got down to Rome at about 7pm. We got to spend the night at the mission home. Saturday morning we woke up and went and got Sorella Ropers permesso and then all met at the church in Rome for the Zone Conference. It was crazy because it was all
the missionaries of the mission, except the missionaries that are on the island of sardegna. It was fun to visit with all the missionaries and to see the ones that I knew in the MTC etc.

The zone conference was absolutely amazing. President and Sister Rhien's talks were so uplifting and inspired. President Rhien talked about the importance of the spririt and why, in the church, we have these big meetings. He said it was to be "taught from on high" like it says in D&C 43. He said these types of meetings are nice but if we don't learn from the spirit and write down impressions, it's been nothing but a nice meeting. Also, these impressions from the spirit and these types of spiritual experiences are necessary for a lasting conversion in the church. Anyways, I learned a lot at the conference and am working hard to follow the council. I'm so thankful for the Rhiens and for their dedication and hard work. They really are amazing people with so much trust in us as missionaries. It's strange sometimes to look at them up there on the stand and think that Mom and Dad are up in Milano doing the same thing!

After zone conference we headed back on up here to Prato, home sweet home! A lot less busy than Rome that's for sure, and also re-energized and excited about the work.

On Monday we had another visit with our Buddhist investigator, Adoriana. She read the intro to the Book of Mormon. We just further explained the importance of reading it and invited her to read and pray. She's really quiet and not too open but we have all the hope in the world for her, she's so cool and ready to hear the gospel. We continue to meet with Titi. We're in a bind with her because she's not able to come to church but she's one of our only investigators whose keeping reading commitments. You can tell that she just needs friends right now but I really don't know where it's going to end up with her.
I don't know if I've ever told you about Petra and her family. They are from Nigeria but have lived in Italy for a long time. Petra is 11 years old and we've been working with her to get her baptized. Her dad is a member but the mom isn't. They've told us for a while that they'll just tell us when they are read for baptism but we are working on setting a specific date to work towards. Speriamo bene! They're great people.

Okay, I think that's all for this week. Gotta run and get the shopping done. All is well here and as always, I love being a missionary. I'm reminded everyday how lucky I am to have the gospel in my life. I'm also reminded of my cool family and friends and what a charmed life I live! The church is true!

Thanks for everything, my prayers are with you and I love you all!

Love,

Sorella Boynton