YES

So the news of the temple has to be the biggest thing for this week. Here is the link to the church newsroom site: http://beta-newsroom.lds.org/article/president-monson-breaks-ground-for-rome-italy-temple

It sounds like Julie has been keeping things up to date. We got to watch the groundbreaking with the members and two investigators. It was really great. The area presidency was there with President Monson and the stake presidents, and so on and so forth. The spirit was strong and I almost cried when I saw the picture of the temple for the first time. It was really great.

Nothing extraordinary has happened in the last week or so until recently. Yesterday was a dynamite day. We had a lesson with the son of one of our investigators. We had invited him to read the Book of Mormon on Sunday when we ate lunch at his house with him and his mom. Then we went back on Tuesday and his mom was still at work. (His mom is Mariapia.) But we had planned to teach him anyway. He had already read the Testimony of Joseph Smith and gotten to Chapter 9 of 1 Nephi. That was great. He is loving it. He says that he feels good when he reads it. At the end of the appointment, he asked for another Book of Mormon, because he wants to give one to his friend. And then he said, "Ya I'll give this to him, and then maybe you can go over or we can go over and you can explain what this is. And then maybe I can share a little bit about what I have felt." We were like, YES, that would be fantastic.

So that was good. All in all it has been a good week. We finished our English class advertisement stuff, finally, so we can get that started. And members are getting ready to give referrals. I feel like we are going to be really busy towards the end of November, because there is Zone Leader Council next Tuesday, and after that there is Zone Conference and exchanges that we have to do. With all that, plus members that want us to teach their friends, we will be busy. We will just have to plan well. We'll see how it goes.

Halloween in Italy doesn't really exist. They get most of their things from what they see America do. It is starting to pick up I think, though. Mostly just a time to throw a party. There are lots of Halloween parties. But as far as trick-or-treating goes, it doesn't really exist. So that is that.

Well that is it. Love you all!

Anziano Hatch