Analinda Hyatt - Italy Rome Mission, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Mission Week 59 & 60 in Italy - COVID Quarantine Week 1 & 2

Week 59

Coronavirus has gotten Italy!!!

This week has not been eventful really. The corona-virus is really getting the Italians. The government has shut all of Italy down. We are in an official quarantine.

We can not go outside. None of the stores and shops are open; only grocery stores and pharmacies are open.

More than half of our mission got sent home. The rest of our mission all got moved up to Rome to be closer to president. We can not do regular missionary work outside but we can use technology.
We have been testing and brainstorming different ways we can contact members and people we are teaching through technology.

There has been an upside to all of this. I was able to finish the Book of Mormon in Italian for a second time in 5 days since we have a lot of time.
I was able to study the gospel more thoroughly and has been able to have the opportunity to teach some of my Brazilian cousins online about the gospel.

I am doing well and the people are doing well.
Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

Week 60

This week has been very long. It was better than last week. We did some different things this week.
We have been using technology a lot. This week my companion and I did a Facebook live and it was a success. Our ward mission leader loved the idea so much that he encouraged us to set up just a time for the Italians.

We made a page called Sunday Night Live. To our surprise a lot of people around the world are enjoying it. We have some missionaries around the world that loved the idea so now we have missionaries serving in other countries are making videos in the language they are called to preach and sending them to us so we can post it on our page. It is really cool. I'm very grateful for those missionaries around the world who are helping us spread the gospel to all the world.

Sunday was a very good day. It actually felt like a different day. Our ward decided to do church via Zoom. It was so cool. Everyone in my apartment dressed up for church and we sat on the couch and had the opportunity to participate for sacrament meeting. After the call my roommates and I gathered together and we did "Come Follow Me" together. We read Jacob 5. It was really cool to do it just the four of us. It felt like a family hahaha.

Afterward, my companion and I decided to make a very good Sunday lunch. We made fried chicken and potatoes. It was very good!!!

Shortly after I had the opportunity to teach another Brazilian cousin about the Book of Mormon and she was super excited because just before our call she had met with the missionaries in her area and they gave her a Book of Mormon. We went over the introduction and the testimonies. We invited her to read the first chapter and she said she would. She was very happy and excited to start reading the Book of Mormon.

After that my companion and I did our Sunday Night Live. We taught the restoration online. For those of you that would like to know more about how we received the Book of Mormon I encourage you to watch it through our Facebook page 'Sunday Night Live'

This week my companion and I had to go grocery shopping again. It is always weird to go outside especially when it looks like there are no humans in the world.

We were in a line for probably about 35 minutes and my companion and I had to act that we did not even know each other. We had scarves around our faces and our hands in our pockets. We had all of our documents ready to present to one of the police officers if they were to ask us. Police surround the grocery stores and they also drive by the apartments. It is so weird, feels like we are in a war and all of our rights have been taken away from us.

It is okay. We are finding a lot of things to do in the house and we are still doing missionary work through technology.

Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

Quarantine life - scarf use for protection