Boun Giorno!

Buon Giorno a Tutti!

Oh my goodness...what an awesome week! Last week I had only been here for a day
when I wrote home and it feels like its been so long since then. I have learned
a ton--Italian and Gospel-wise and I wish I could tell you all everything but
here is just a sliver of what happened over the course of this past week! So
last week, my first few days were a little bit of a blur and I remember thinking
"what exactly did I learn in the MTC again?". Sicilian is a different language
and there are a bunch of different dialects that Ive just learned to get used to
not knowing what some people are saying. Some of the most basic phrases I would
forget how to say because I was trying so hard to understand them that when it
got to the point of me needing to talk, I would ramble off something totally
random...for example, I was asked how many brothers and sisters were in my
family and I told the lady I had three children. I also said that I liked a
ladys leg because its just like mine...really long. I meant to say skirt instead
of leg though. haha. Oh the joys of learning a language. I did teach my first
lesson this past week and it was an awesome experience and bore my testimony on
Sunday at Sacrament meeting. At least I can speak about the gospel in Italian,
right?

Everyday is a new adventure here in Ragusa and I love it because its never the
same schedule. Im trying to think of my favorite thing that happened this past
week and Ive had so many good experiences, I just cant explain them all. I guess
to start off, we are writing today because yesterday we had a multi zone
conference in Catania with all of the missionaries in Sicily and Malta--so the
missionaries up in Italy werent there. It was amazing though...Zone conference
is just one big all afternoon missionary "pow wow" I guess you could say. haha.
We had some area authorities come to speak to us and President and Sorella
Toronto also spoke to us. It reminded me of the feeling of unity at the MTC or
like a really awesome day at EFY...its nice to know there are 60 other
misionaries in Sicily doing this same thing that I am doing and to get ideas for
our investigators here.

Sorella Robb and I are back in Ragusa today though and this morning we taught
our "bambini" English at the preschool which constantly reminds me of my work
days at primavera preschool--just with a bunch of cute little Italian 3 year
olds running around, speaking better Italian than me. haha. We are learning
together. The Italian is really coming though...I am learning 10 times as fast
just being here and being surrounded by it. I have had some wonderful
experiences teaching this week. I love how curious and nice Sicilians are...I
still am shocked when we get stopped on the street and are asked why we are
wearing a tag with Gesu Cristo on it and people listen. The people here are very
passionate with the way they think so its good and bad at the same time. Its
amazing to me how much the gospel has to offer to every single person. Sorella
Robb has been good at reminding me to personalize each lesson we teach and it
has been so fun. One of my favorite lessons we planned was for a 26 year old
lady named Emanuela who works at a Photography gallery. We planned a lesson on
faith and compared it to the process of developing a roll of film. Like film,
faith is a process. It doesnt come all at once,(although at times I think that
would be nice)faith is a gradual thing that can grow or diminish depending on
our desires. We must first have hope and expose ourselves to light (like when we
take a picture) and then let that light reach the film strip. Faith doesnt stop
there though...we must then "hope for things which are not seen" but that are
there and can develop into something beautiful. So, we must take that hope and
develop it(and then we will liken it to the film developing process). We havent
taught this lesson yet because she only had a few minutes when we visited her
yesterday but we gave her a sneek preview and she was excited. I love this
gospel and the happiness it brings to me so that I can share it with others in
their lives. I am so grateful for this opportunity to help others--especially
the Lord in His work. Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sorella Hashey

p.s."Happiness is something we gain from loving and helping others"