Municipio Roma 2 - Week 32

Every week seems to fly by so quickly.  I had a very good week though with small miracles.

 
One day we were walking to a member's house and while we were walking a man on a motorcycle stopped us and asked us for directions to Buffalota. I had actually lived there for the first 8 months of my mission so I was able to verbally tell him how to get there since he didn't have Google maps. He then saw our name tags and asked us how we knew Italian and who we were. We told him we are missionaries and our purpose to bring others close to Christ. He was very interested in our church and asked if we could exchange numbers so that he could talk to us again when he goes to the visitor center. That was pretty cool because people never stop the missionaries

Another miracle was when my companion and I lost the bus and we waited for a long time at this one bus stop. Finally we got on the bus and a lady talked to us. She said she was an inactive member of the church. She enjoyed the conversation we had and said we could come over one day and share a message with her family. That was really cool!


Also this week there was one day that rained immensely. When we were going to church it wasn't a very heavy rain.  We took a bus to church and we were basically inside the whole day. Looking out the window the rain seemed to be letting up. Finally it was time for my companion and I to go home so we started walking towards the bus stop. All of a sudden as we waited for the bus the wind started to blow harder and faster. It got really cold and I felt like the wind was moving me.  Then hard rain fell on us like daggers. We waited out there for 30 minutes and we were soaking from head to toe. The umbrella and rain jackets did not help much. My companion and I were shivering, we were so cold. We decided we would pray so the bus would come faster or that the rain would slow down. About 15 minutes later a bus came and we got on. Then the rained stopped. I was slightly upset that the rain stopped AFTER we got on the bus.... but it was funny. We came home with purple lips and our shoes we filled up with water, we took warm showers and got our winter clothes out hahaha.


Also, in the visitor center we have the statues of the 12 apostles but for some reason the children love James' staff. The staff broke the first time during the open house and keeps on breaking. I have been here through all of the staffs many breakings. On Sunday a family came to me and showed me the staff lying on the floor all shattered in smaller pieces than it had been on the other times that it had broken. I took advantage of it and took a picture with James and his broken staff. It has officially been broken 10 times since the dedication.


The new Book of Mormon series movie came out last Friday and it follows the Book of Mormon story exactly. A new episode will be coming out every Friday, I encourage everyone to watch it and read the Book of Mormon along with it.  It can bee seen at www.ChurchofJesusChrist.org This book is another testament of Jesus Christ that teaches people about families. It teaches about the doctrine of Christ and His pure love that he has for us. It talks about His atoning sacrifice. I know the Book of Mormon is true with all of my soul.


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

Municipio Roma 2 - Rome week 31

This week has been such a great week! Both my companion and I definitely feel like successful missionaries! We have been working hard these past few weeks and really trying to be obedient to the mission rules even more than we were. I can testify that being obedient to the commandments brings blessings.


This week we found 4 NEW PEOPLE to teach! That is kind of rare in my mission but it is also a blessing from the visitor center. All 4 of them are Italian and had come to the visitor center. They were drawn to the beauty of the temple. We had 2 of those people come with us at church yesterday. It was a big miracle! They both enjoyed church so much and they came to a baptism that my companion and I had. We taught a little girl all the missionary lessons and she got baptized this weekend!


We also helped the person from Cape Girardeau I talked about last week get baptized!!! My dad had the privilege of being asked by him to perform his baptismal ordinance, to perform his confirmation and gift of the Holy Ghost.  Even though we had taught him online, we were still able to watch and participate in his baptism through technology. Technology is definitely a blessing from Heavenly Father. Our friend who got baptized was so happy after he was baptized and he shared such a beautiful testimony about his Savior Jesus Christ. My companion and I were so happy!!!


We had a goal this week to talk to some members and get appointments with them because our ward is sooooo big due to all of the tourists and temporary temple workers. Our church building is right next to the temple so everyone goes. It is hard to know who is a member and who is a visitor.

This past week we had a missionary member lunch organized by a member. I made some new friends. I sat next to a cute Phillipino family who have lived in Italy their whole lives, visited church, family was at the luncheon but they are not members of the church. They were really happy that I spoke with them. This week we are planning to go visit them!

Something cool that we do in our visitor center is musical moments. They are every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The times for them are 11:30, 3:00, 7:00. They are very cool, we have so many talented people here in Italy. We are having a professional opera singer come in this week. I am very excited. We had someone play their saxophone as well. We also have a sister who plays the cello and it is so beautiful! I also love that I get the opportunity to play my trumpet every week!


This week has been very good. Full of miracles due to obedience and working as hard as we can. I know that as we are obedient to the commandments we will receive blessings and it will lead us to joy.


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

Municipio Roma 2 - Rome Week 30

This week has been miraculous! 

I did some scambi (exchanges) this week with Sorella Worthen and Sorella A.Barnes. We do exchanges as missionaries so we can see how other companionships work together and we can learn new ways to teach the gospel. I had the great opportunity to be with those 2 sisters and see their love for the Savior through their teaching about Him to people that we encountered in the Visitor center.


One night there were 2 Italian couples that were at the mall and had seen the Rome Italy Temple. They decided to come and learn more about it. The senior couples spoke to them and gave them each a Book of Mormon. The couples left their contact information to learn more and it so happens to be that they live in my area in Rome! It is a miracle because my companion and I had been praying to meet Italians to teach. 

One night as we were taking public transportation to get home I had an impression to talk to a girl on the bus. It, the impression, was messing with me and I could no longer contain the feeling so I started talking with her. She was very nice and knew English as well. She was interested in learning more English so I invited her to come to our English course here which is at the temple site. She seemed very happy and gave me her cell phone so we could keep in touch.


A couple of weeks ago a friend of my dad asked about the church; my dad spoke with him about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and had taken the time to bear his testimony about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This friend became sincerely interested and accepted my dad's invitation to go to church. He really enjoyed church and loved the feeling he had. He then pursued to investigate more on the matter and contacted me to teach him more because my dad had told him I am a missionary and in the visitor center so I can talk to him anytime. Soon enough my companion and I started teaching him and his lovely girlfriend. This friend has accepted all the invitations we have extended to him and has kept all the commitments. He has chosen to be baptized this week! This friend has incredible faith and his faith has led to actions. His faith in Jesus Christ is remarkable and his willingness to repent and be baptized by proper authority. He has read some chapters and verses of the Book of Mormon and has done what Moroni has invited everyone to do which is read these things for yourself and pray in the name of Christ to know if these things are true. He knew it was true because he had asked of God and he had felt a happy feeling inside his heart. I am very proud of him and proud of my dad who has helped him come this far. I am very grateful to be helping and teaching people the Gospel of Christ, while I am in Italy, to my hometown in the States.


We also had a training meeting in the visitor center recently and they had talked about a new update. Now for the Visitor Center sister missionaries have the option to do a Bible study or a Book of Mormon study and we have been trained on how to come about that. We have a small handbook assignment for those who want to study and then the Sisters have a guide that they follow as well and teach. It is brand new and it is amazing. Now people when they come onto comeuntochrist.org they can request just for a Bible study or Book of Mormon study and then we can do that. Technology is such a blessing. We are able to preach the gospel and reach every point through it. We are able to explain the gospel through technology. The Lord really is hastening the work and wants everyone to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 
Technology was brought by Heavenly Father to help His work move forward. We need to be using this technology wisely and cautiously. This is what we do in the visitor center is use technology wisely to teach the doctrine of Christ. I encourage everyone to find new and better ways to use technology and to help gather Israel through technology.


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

The following are from St. Paul's Basilica, Rome Italy

Tiber River, Rome, Italy - in my area where I live

Some views from my area, Rome, Italy

My Zone with President and Sister Smith (middle of photo)

Congrats Taylor Raines on your baptism in Cape Girardeau this coming Saturday!

Municipio Roma 2 - Rome week 29

This week was zone conference week. As an STL I am required to give a training for all the missionaries in my zone along with my zone leaders. The mission president chooses the topic which he thinks is best for the missionaries to improve on. We talked about good technology habits and how we can use technology to hasten missionary work. It was very cool because in the past missionaries didn't have technology and now we are aloud to use it in our day-to-day activities, however, we must use it for our missionary purpose which is to invite everyone to Come Unto Christ.

I got to train about the Visitor Center and how we use technology for missionary work. A lot of the Elders in the mission didn't even know about Visitor Center sisters and that we are actually teaching people around the world, helping them to learn about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and baptizing them. It was cool to tell them what we do in visitor center and how we use Facebook, Skype, and Whatsapp for missionary work and teaching our to people. On my slide I put a picture together of Paul and Peter with little phones and how missionary work would have been so much more effective in they had had the technology in their time; could you imagine? 

After zone conference my whole zone of missionaries did a missionary activity together. We had created a new Facebook page called "uno in Cristo" (One in Christ) and went out onto the metro with a purpose to ask people to join the page and share it with their friends. 

It is a Facebook page that is Christian based and the information that is being posted on it is Bible scriptures and videos about Christ. We are trying to unite Christian's and, of course, at the end of each post we put comeuntochrist.org just in case they want to see more about us. 

So, I was assigned a temporary companion and we went together on the metro and sat down by people and talked to them. The first couple of times it was kind of nerve wracking for me. I didn't know how to start a conversation with people but I decided to pray in my heart and the words came into mind what to say and in Italian as well. At first we were not getting much success but in the end I sat by this kind lady and my companion sat across from us. The lady had seen that my companion could sit by me and she asked her if she wanted to trade seats to be by me. I then told her that it was fine and I asked her where she was from. The conversation went from there and she asked me if I was student in Italy and how I had learned Italian so well. I showed her my name tag and told her I was a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that I learned Italian when I got here and basically by myself by reading books and just talking to people. She was so amazed and kept asking me about the Church. I then invited her to come to the Visitor Center at the temple and then I told her about our Facebook page. She immediately pulled out her phone and found the page and then a man sitting on the other side of her which I had no idea was listening did the same. He asked me for a card to the Visitor Center and after that we had an amazing conversation about Christ. We all friended each other on Facebook and they want to see me when they visit the Visitor Center. So that was just a cool experience.

I think this week I really learned to trust in the Lord in everything. I could see how much He helped me throughout this week. Even as simple as giving me courage to talk to people on the metro and giving me the right words to say in Italian. He is always there to help us. I encourage everyone to just Come Unto Him and trust in Him.


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

The car dad is going to buy me for college!

 The two Brazilian Sisters

 Two Italians and a Brazilian/American

My companion Sorella Barnes and I

 Streets of Rome

 The artwork inside of an old church

 The beautiful Rome Temple

comeuntochrist.org