Rule 200! Don't Give Up On Anyone!

March 25, 2015

What a wonderful week! Last Saturday there was an 8 year-old getting baptized! Sorella Distante and I knew that this was a great opportunity for our investigators! We invited EVERYONE! After many calls and texts we invited over 100 people. 100 people!  And 3 people came! It was a miracle!  I know it may sound small but it was HUGE! 

One of the people was Lisa who I talked about last week. She was really touched by the hymns. We had an opportunity to sing a couple hymns with her right before the baptism and she really felt the spirit (and we know it wasn't because of our wonderful singing abilities). 

Another was Marti. She was a girl I talked to on the bus the other day. She had never heard of the Church, but agreed to come to the baptism. Afterwards she said is was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. 

But, the biggest of all was Chiara! She met the missionaries 20 years ago. She has studied with the missionaries off and on since then. 20 years!  It actually really surprised me when she said she really wanted to come to the  baptism. After the baptism she told us that we needed to talk. She had received her answer. She knew!  It was one of the most wonderful things I had ever seen on my mission. I saw her change overnight. She still has some things to overcome before she can be baptized. But I have seen her heart change. 

This is a Gospel of miracles. This Gospel is true. Maybe not everyone knows it yet, but one day they will. Everyone will have their time. I am thankful I was born within the church. I don't know why I can have the opportunity to have the Gospel early in my life and others didn't. But I do know that God loves ALL his children. He has a plan for us all. 

Presdient Dibb has asked me to really help my companion learn English. She doesn't think she is doing very well, but I am impressed by her determination and how far she has come in 3 weeks with only me to practice with!

Sorella Distante and I went to New Missionary Training in Firenze yesterday. It was so great to hear from our leaders and learn. I feel like I learned more than the new missionaries! There is always something we can do to improve. We also have to remember it is important to not become overwhelmed either. We can take it 1% at a time. If everyday we improve ourselves by 1%, piano piano... we will eventually make that 100%. 

Vi voglio bene,

Sorella Dani Hamblin

A LITTLE EASTER TREAT!

GIANT CHOCOLATE EASTER EGG!

SORELLA DISTANTE WITH HERS!

NEW MISSIONARY TRAINING

SORELLA JOHNSON WITH ME!  WE BOTH ARE TRAINING NEW MISSIONARIES!

THESE TWO SORELLE STAYED WITH US WHEN THEY CAME TO PICK UP THEIR PERMESSO DI SOGIORNO.

Rule 190: Don't Eat Pizza From Strangers! (Seems obvious, right?!)

March 18, 2015

Well another wonderful week with my wonderful companion, doing the wonderful work of the Lord. We are beginning to think our phone is broken because no one answers our calls or texts. We had a great Zone Training on setting baptism dates... we are still working on the setting appointments stage... But, honestly, I have never been happier. We come home everyday exhausted knowing we did all we could. That's all I could wish for. I love my sweet companion so much!  She is always trying one more person or one more door!

We did have a great miracle last weekend. 

We taught our investigator Lisa on Friday about the Plan of Salvation and then invited her to baptism. She said she needed to think about it. We are happy she wants to find an answer for herself, but we are worried because she didn't talk much during the lesson. The next day we saw her on the bus! Huge miracle! We were able to talk to her and she really opened up to us. Now we understand her situation more and she trusts us. 

I am so thankful for the daily miracles we see. The Lord's hand is in our daily lives. He directs our paths. 

Sorella Distante and I got rained on, lost, and possibly food-poisoned this week but we wouldn't want to be anywhere else! 

Love this work! Love our Savior! And I love y'all!

Buona settimana!

Sorella Dani Hamblin

Rule 170: Who Needs English Anyways!?

March 11, 2015

Okay I thought I was surprised last week when I found out I was training... well SURPRISE! She is Italian! There was only one Italian in the group coming in and I got her! She doesn't speak English... I am sorry but in the next 12 weeks my emails will probably be even harder to read. 

Anyways, this week has been great! I am so out of my mind tired but that is because we are working harder than ever. I think everyone needs to stop by the Spain MTC before coming to Italy because this girl really knows how to do missionary work. Her name is Sorella Distante.  Yes, it really does mean distant or far. :) She is so amazing, I don't know how I got blessed with such an amazing "greenie". She is exactly what Bologna needs. She cannot stop talking to people. Seriously, we are late to everything because she has to talk to one more person, or try one more door. Something funny we have found is that all the Italians like to talk to me and all the foreigners like to talk to her.  I know we are going to some amazing "greenie" miracles in the next couple months. 

Nothing terribly exciting happened this week, just doing wonderful finding work. I really have learned to love finding work. I love talking to these people. I love giving them an opportunity to have more hope in their lives. We met some wonderful people this week. One is from Brazil, but has lived here for 20 years. We taught her the Restoration last night. I could tell she couldn't understand all that we were teaching, but the Spirit was so strong. The Spirit really is the teacher. Every time I teach the Restoration I get so excited. This gospel is true. We really can receive answers to our prayers like Joseph Smith. God does answer prayers. Every prayer! All we need to do is ask. Is there anything more wonderful really? There is a God in Heaven that loves you. You never need to fear because you can overcome all with Gods help. I love being a missionary. 

I love you all!

Sorella Dani Hamblin

Pic: My "greenie" on her first day! And it took half my mission, but I finally saw Anziano Crowther at transfer circles #FHEsiblings 

Rule 160: IF YOU AREN'T CHANGING, YOU AREN'T GROWING!

We got transfer news on Saturday. Sorella Hogan is going to Busto Arsizio and I am staying in Bologna and training a new missionary.  I am sad Sorella Hogan is leaving!  She was a GREAT companion, I am going to miss her singing opera music to me all the time!   :)

We also had our scambio (exchanges) this past week. I was with a new missionary named Sorella Marostica. It was so great to work with her. Of course, as most scambios go, all of our appointments cancelled. So, we did a lot of finding work. It was one of my favorite finding days because we talked to so many different people. We talked to people from Poland, Hungary, Turkey, California, Romania, Spain, Nigeria, OVUNQUE! I don't know how that happened, but it was really fun! And only the Americans had ever heard of the Church before. A lot people think we are Amish... working on changing that!

We met a cool woman on the train from America but lives here now. Sorella Marostica had an English Book of Mormon (which was a miracle!) so we were able to give it to her! She asked why Catholics have not adopted the Book of Mormon yet... :)

The theme for the past week has been "change"! If you aren't changing, you aren't growing. If you feel comfortable where you are at then you aren't stretching yourself. That is what repentance is, a continual change of heart towards God.  Remember to keep changing for the good!

Love you all!

Sorella Dani Hamblin

PS Shout out to Kate who got her call to Lima Peru! I am so excited for her and her choice to serve!

PPS permesso di sorggiorno" is what we get here in Italy from the government in order to stay (Sorry about all the Italian!)

Bologna District

I am going to miss Sorella Hogan!