EASTER - Mission Week 62, 63 and 64 in Italy; ROME Covid quarantine Weeks 6, 7 and 8

Week 64 in Italy

The days go by fast but the months go by super slow. We are still in April, but that's okay.
This week we had a couple of member appointments...we discussed Joy and Peace to the members. We thought it was a great idea considering the circumstances that we are in right now. It's always good to look to the positive side of things even during rough times. 

I had a miracle this week. On my Facebook story I had posted a picture of temples and asked in both Italian and English if anyone knew what it was. To my surprise there were a couple of Italians that didn't know and I had a childhood friend who also didn't know. We went to Elementary school together for 3 years and then I moved away. Some how this person and I had been Facebook friends and then through this question we reconnected. It was so strange because this person remembered me and I knew it was the Spirit bringing this person back to my memory. I had made such an impact on this person as a little 7 year old that this person still remembered me. I then proceeded to talk about the temple and this person was very interested. I then asked if they would like to know more about our message of Christ and to my surprise this person accepted. It is so cool how Heavenly Father uses us as instruments in His hands where ever we are and at whatever age to fulfill His purposes.


We continued to teach my cousins in Brazil. They are progressing well and enjoying reading the Book of Mormon.


This week during my personal studies I have been reading the Old Testament and I absolutely love it. There are so many good stories and also some very weird ones which are also good. I always marvel at how the Israelites had seen soooo many miracles and had been freed out of bondage so many times and yet they chose to worship a handmade false god. It is so sad to see that they only remember the one true God during their times of difficulty and trial.... they barely remember Him when they are having success. It is incredible how much love God shows to them...He is always helping them even when they abandon Him. I will never understand why some people think the Old Testament is bad and that God is mean in it when I can clearly see, of course, He would be disappointed or upset when the dumb Israelites disobeyed Him or forgot Him but at the same time He showed Love and Mercy unto them. God continued to call prophets to guide the Israelites and He freed them many times. If this doesn't prove how much Love God has for us then I don't know what else can other than having His only Begotten Son die for us.


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

EASTER! Week 62 in Italy

This week was a very good week. It was the Holy week and preparation for Easter Sunday!

I downloaded the new update for the Gospel Library App and I was so excited that everyday this week there was a certain study and an activity to do to develop some Christ like attribute in remembrance of what Christ did for us on the cross.

It was short but very well put together. I loved it. My favorite one was about forgiveness and how we should always forgive others because Christ forgives us and he paid for us.

This week we had a lot of lessons online with members and people we are teaching. It was very good because we really focused on the message of the atonement and why Christ is so essential. It really grew my testimony about the Savior. Coming to know Christ through the scriptures and our actions is the best way to come unto Christ.

This week we had a scambio (exchanges) I was with Sorella Williams who is a new missionary and her companionship lives with us in our apartment. We spent the day together and we learned how each of us does missionary work and what we can learn from each other. It was very fun. We studied Preach My Gospel in Italian and prepared for one of the lessons we were going to have. I was excited for S. Williams because she is new and she was so excited to try a new way of teaching and Facebook finding. I had a blast.

For lunch this week my roommates and I have been playing Monopoly. Not just any Monopoly but Italian kind of cheat monopoly that my dad sent me. We have been playing it for a whole week so we do it on our free time and still do our missionary work on our regular times. We have learned so much Italian from that game since it's all in Italian and we have learned new words that we haven't even heard of and now we are reading the cards and the game is a lot faster now.

Our Easter was great! My companion made a Brazilian dish called Panquecas and I made rice to accompany it and then we drank Guarana (Brazilian drink that dad sent me) and our roommates made homemade cinnamon rolls. It was a big feast. We all had matching pj gowns with our companions so we used it after we had church online. We then ate together and laughed and opened up our Kinder Easter eggs which had little toy things inside. Haha and at the end of the night we did our Sunday Live about the atonement and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was very good. I cannot remember much of the week but I know it was a good one.



Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

Mission Week 60 & 61 in Italy - COVID Quarantine Week 3 & 4 - ROME, Italy

Week 61

Another slow week! It was a good week!
My companion and I had some successes doing Facebook finding.
How we do this is we join groups in our areas that we are assigned too. We then looked at the members in the group and we pray about them and we choose a person and we start messaging them and trying to see if they have interest in the gospel.
Yes at first it can be a little weird and I'm pretty sure the people think we are weirdos. But no matter if we are stopping people on the streets, knocking on their doors, or messaging them through Facebook we are always weird to people. I had one random lady ask me who I was and why I was in Italy. I began to explain I was a missionary and about the new temple and to my surprise she said she would like to visit it one day.


I am also currently teaching 2 of my Brazilian cousins online. One them is absolutely in love with the Book of Mormon. Honestly, I haven't seen anyone with such a love and desire to read the Book of Mormon out of all the people I have taught. She reads it everyday and it is actually more than most members do. She has told us that she feels happiness every time she reads the Book of Mormon and she can defiantly see Gods hand in her life. Before General conference we did a video lesson call with her and the missionaries in Brazil. We explained about the priesthood authority and about prophets. We told her about General conference and invited her to watch it. Guess what she did? She watched General Conference! Wow she is amazing. We had also invited her to be baptized on the 17th of April. We told her to pray about it and feel for herself if it is right.


As you all know every Sunday we do a Facebook live about what we believe about Christ. This week one of my house mates was scrolling on a quote site for our church and she saw that 3 people had shared a watch party of my live video from my Facebook on to the page. Thousands of people have seen it and liked it and actually commented. I was so surprised there were so many people commenting on where they were watching from. We had one girl from the Philippines comment "I want to be just like you guys!" And that was very very touching. It is amazing how many people are actually watching our Sunday Night Lives and are feeling the love that Christ has for them.


Last but not least... GENERAL CONFERENCE! Oh my flipping goodness it was amazing!!!
The prophets and apostles did a fantastic job of bearing their testimonies about the savior Jesus Christ and really has prepared us well for Easter in memory of the resurrected Christ. I was very very pleased with this conference because anyone who wants to really know about what we believe from the mouth of our prophets and apostles should definitely take the time to watch the General Conference that was presented.
There was soooo many great talks but I will recommend just a few for everyone to re-watch or to watch especially if you would like to know more about our church.
From the Saturday afternoon session..
President Eyring (last speaker)
From the Saturday evening session...
President Nelson's talk (the last speaker I believe)
From the Sunday Morning session:
Elder Bednar's talk (4th speaker.. about temples)
President Nelson's talk (last speaker about the restoration)


I know that the Lord does call prophets and that He speaks to them in order for us to know His will. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet who RESTORED Christ's church here on the earth 200 years ago. I know the Book of Mormon to be another testament of Jesus Christ and when we abide by its principles we can feel closer to Christ!


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹


Week 60

This week is hard to remember. The days mash up together. On Wednesday we had district council over the phone and we talked about the work in my area.

Everyday at 11:00 we have been teaching a member of our ward English. She is sooo sweet. She is one of the best students I have had to learn English. She does all of the homework assignments and she practices so much at home. She is actually improving. She is speaking pretty well and learning a lot. I get so proud for her. 

Earlier this week we went grocery shopping near by our apartment. It was probably the longest wait I have had yet... we waited for 2 hours! Man it really hit the day. At least the grocery store still had a lot of food and we were able to get food for the week. 

This week my companion and I have worked hard trying to have lessons with people on the internet. All in all we managed to have 13 lessons in one week! I have never had that before. Technology is such a blessing. 

This last Sunday we had a world wide fast for the Corona-virus and for the people who are affected by it. It is cool to be in unity with the members in the entire world for the same cause. We had church through the zoom call and it was very good. We were able to bare our testimonies of Jesus Christ and strengthen one another. I also took the time and energy to make a really good lasagna (mainly American style) I personally do not like the lasagna here in Italy because all they use is tomato sauce and the lasagna noodles and a little bit of cheese and in my opinion it does not taste nearly as good as ours. I made a lasagna for the 4 of us in our house. My roommate made homemade bread and we had fancy grape juice. We had the best Sunday lunch ever. We were all so happy hahaha. 

We ended our Sunday by doing our Facebook Live about the Plan of Salvation. It is by far my favorite lesson and doctrine of Jesus Christ because we can really see how much God loves us that he provided a way for us to grow and become like Him one day. It truly is a plan of happiness.


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

Mission Week 59 & 60 in Italy - COVID Quarantine Week 1 & 2 - ROME, Italy

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

Line up 6 feet apart to go into the store and can only go in one at a time

Staying busy in quarantine

Sunday Night Live!!

Mission Week 58 in Italy - No Covid19 in me!

This week has been so weird with the everyone freaking out about the Coronavirus. Italy passed a law temporarily that no one can be in large groups in religious buildings or anywhere so the temple and visitor center has been closed down until the 15th.
This week we did not serve in the visitor center and we focused just on our areas which was really cool. As missionaries we are still aloud to go to our areas to do prosylting because we are called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We went to a cute city in our area on top of a giant hill that looks so mediveal. Its called Montecielo! The had built a stone wall around the town and there was a huge castle in the middle of the town. The town and houses were built litterally in the walls. It seemed like I was in a Lord of the Rings movie in medieval times. It was really cool. We went through the city talking to people and they were very nice and interested in coming to the Visitor's Center once it reopens. We had talked to a buddhist lady who actually always wanted to go see the temple and she asked us why we have it. It was a great opportunity to explain to her what we do in temples. We invited her at the end to come to the visitor center when it is reopened and she was very excited and said she would come.
There was another town that we visited this week called Palombara. It is a really big city also on top of a hill. The walls surround it as well but it isnt nearly as cool as Montecielo. The people were very nice and it had more modern things in it.
This week we tried a new finding technique. When I was in Pescara I had painted a big poster called the Plan of Salvation which answers questions such as Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where do we go after this life?
We decided to walk on the streets of Guidonia with the poster and stop people to ask them if they knew what it was. 2 young women seemed very interested and asked us to explain the art. We had the opportunity to summarize the plan that God has laid out for us before this life. The girls seemed to like it and we gave them our phone number for more information.
SUNDAY this sunday was different than most regular sundays. Since we were not aloud to go to our meeting houses and be in large groups due to the Coronavirus we did our sacrament meeting inside our apartment. We went to one of the Senior Missionary's apartment and in just a little group we had our own sacrament meeting. I had never done anything like this it was an amazing experience. We watched President Henry B Eyring's talk "Try, Try, Try" We were able to talk about the trials we face wnd how we csn overcome them through the atonement of Jesus Christ. This sacrament meeting really made me reflect on the preisthood authority that we have today. I began to have a deep gratitude for the preisthood that has been restored on the Earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. We were able to still have the sacrament thanks to the preisthood and it was so powerful to have the sacrament in a little group and to really think about what Christ has done for me.


This next week we will pretty much be staying in our areas again but I know as we are diligent and faithful the Lord will bless us and show us many miracles!


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

Mission Week 57 in Italy

This week went by so fast! We had the opportunity to meet a cute family in our ward this week. They made us dinner and we got to know them. We then played a spiritual game with them. In this game they saw 4 cards with random things written on them and as a family they had to decide what they could live without. At the end they had to pick what card was the most important... it was having a testimony of Jesus Christ because we have everything thanks to Jesus Christ and his atonement. We need to have our own personal testimony of the savior and not of others. I love Helaman 5:12 in the Book of Mormon which tells us we need to build our foundation on Christ. We then invited this family to bare their own testimony of the savior to one of their friends.

 
CORONA VIRUS:  So I am sure everyone has heard that the Corona Virus is in Italy. I would just like to clarify that it is in Northern Italy, up by Milan. Yes, missionaries that were ending their missions in April or May left their missions early due to the Virus and are home now. My mission is in the south. In Rome we have not heard about very many cases and all the missionaries here in the Rome Italy Mission are currently still serving. We, of course, are taking caution and, we have been instructed to wash our hands, always carry hand sanitizer and to not touch too many people. No matter what, the Lord's work still prevails. I have a sure testimony that the Lord will bless us while we are serving Him. 

CONCERT: This week we had a concert filled with a variety of different types of music and instruments. We had jazz, opera, latino, hip-hop, classical. It was such a blast! I was asked to and had the opportunity to play my trumpet. I played "La Bamba" and "The Mexican Hat Dance". It was very fun. An elder played the accordion while I played the trumpet; someone was on maracas and piano. It was really fun! We invited everyone in Rome to come and see. It was very very good. I really enjoyed it. 

SUNDAY FUN DAY:  Sunday was very good. I had the opportunity to translate what the speakers were saying into English for the English speaking visitors. I usually do this every Sunday and during Sunday school I translate too. I love doing it because I am more focused on what the speaker is saying in order to translate, hahaha. 

Usually on Sundays at the visitor center we do not get very many people who come in that are not members but this Sunday we really got a few. 

We first met a father and her daughter who came in asking about the temple. We took them to the temple model and told them about each room and what we do there. The daughter's eyes shined when we talked about eternal marriages and she asked how she could be able to one day enter into the temple. We explained to her the process and that it is possible for her to enter one day. She was very excited and decided to continue to look around the visitor center.

 
Later, a random American couple walked in from Virginia. They weren't members of the church but their sister is and they came to learn about the temple and take pictures of the visitor center. They were such a cute elderly couple. They loved how we can be with our families for eternity due to the blessings of the temple. They were really content with their visit at the visitor center. 

An Italian couple also walked in and told us that they have always wanted to come visit the temple because they had seen it being constructed and this was the time they had to go together and that they had invited a friend that they were waiting for. We were able to show them the temple model and the Book of Mormon room. They were very amazed on how we view the Savior as our one and only person that we depend on for salvation and especially that we do not pray to saints. They thought it was incredible that we believe that we as people can become like saints therefore we do not need a mediator during our prayers to speak with God. We can talk to Heavenly Father whenever we want and He will listen to us. In the end they all wanted their own copy of the Book of Mormon and they said they would come back again. 

This week was full of a lot of good experiences and loads of interested people.


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹

Mission Week 55 and 56 in Italy

Week 56

This week was a very long week.

On Wednesday my companion and I had a very strange day. 

We make goals as a companionship for the week to accomplish and one of ours this week was patience. Everyday we have been praying that we could have patience and be more like Christ. Wednesday was definitely our trial of patience. 

We had an appointment set up in our area which is about an hour away from where we actually live. We were not sure if they were going to give us lunch or not because the last week they said they would. We told the other sisters that work with us to wait for us in that city and they could do missionary work there as well since it is all our area. We ended up not having lunch but we had a great lesson. Once we left the car was gone and it started pouring rain on us. We had left our coats and umbrellas in the car because at first it was warmer and sunny. We called the sisters to see where they were and they were about 2 hours away from us! We had a lot of things we needed and we also needed to get back home. They had to come back for us. While we waited we rang some doorbells until we couldn't handle the cold and wet and we ran inside a gas station. We did our studies and contacted people on the phone. My companion and I were in a very upset mood. The sisters then came and all was well except for they had an appointment in Rome so we had to go with them and by this point it is about 3:00 and we hadn't eaten breakfast or any lunch and we were hungry but we had to go. After we dropped the sisters off and went home to get food. Once we got done the sisters called us to pick them up and take them to their next appointment. They told us late so we ended up dropping them off late and we had felt so bad about that. Afterwards we went finding for some people to talk to and that's when my companion and I really had to use the restroom. In Italy there aren't rest areas or very many restrooms. Usually you have to pay to use the restroom but in this case we actually couldn't find one ANYWHERE! We ended up not going and we had to pick up the other sisters because the 4 of us had a dinner appointment with a member, which was awesome. The whole day was testing our patience!


This week our ward also decided to throw a party called Carnival. It is not like Carnival in Brazil. Since Halloween for them is very bad here as in people do rituals and things contrary to the will of God. Carnival is the equivalent to Halloween in the United States. All the kids dress up but instead of going trick or treating they just stay at a party and everyone eats a lot of food.
We went but did not dress up

We had the opportunity to talk to most of the members in our ward that we didn't know. It was a blessing because both my companion and I are new here and we have been trying to get to know the members.
This week in the visitor center we had sooo many Italian visitors who were very curious about the temple. Most of the people love the temple and think its one of the prettiest buildings in Rome.


This week has been crazy but full of good miracles and adventures!


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹


Week 55

What a week! 

Everyday goes by faster and faster.
I have been asked to be the Music organizer for the Rome Italy visitor center on the days I serve in there and it has been a hastle. Most of the sisters in the VC preform but on my day there are only 3 sisters capable to play a musical instrument. It worked out this week. I had found out that an Elder sang very well and his companion plays the piano so I invited them to preform and it was very amazing. I also performed a piece on piano and the other 2 sisters sang a very pretty song about the Savior. I love how music can invite the Spirit. 

We taught a couple people this week! One was a young woman from our area and we went to our house and read some of the Book of Mormon with her and taught her about Joseph Smith and how he translated the Book of Mormon. We invited her to church and she came!!
Another person we taught was online. On of my very close friends from high school. It was such a special opportunity to talk with him about Gods plan for every single one of us. There was such a sweet spirit of confirmation that God truly loves us.
The last person we taught this week was online as well. It was my cousin from Brazil. It was perfect because my companion is Brazilian and we were able to teach together. We taught her about the restoration and invited her to read the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson she was very happy and had asked for her own copy of the Book of Mormon. It was a wonderful experience because I could see the happiness flow through her. I love being a missionary because we can teach people the gospel of Jesus Christ.


This week was also Valentine's Day! I usually do not celebrate Vday but this one was good. We got invited to eat lunch at a missionary couple's house to eat homemade American calzione. It was so good. We also had very awesome musical moments. At the very end one of the senior couples that serve in the visitor center with us got all of us pizza for valentines day. It was very sweet! It was a great valentines day.

While we were in my area in a place called Fontanuova my companion and I walked on the street looking for a place that we could study. As we walked we were talking in Portuguese, of course. I was very passionate about the topic we were talking about and an Italian man stared at me. He then asked us who we were and he had told us that his ex-wife was Brazilian so he could understand us a little bit. He was then interested in why we were in Italy. We had the opportunity to tell him that we are missionaries and that we have a brand new temple. He was very intrigued and we gave him a card to come to the visitor center.


This week has been full of miracles. Whenever we have trust in the Lord He always provides a way for us to fulfill His commandments.


Sorella Hyatt🇮🇹