Sunday, September 25, 2011

"A Mission Pays Off"

August 17 E-mail

Man....Italy is just awesome. Sorry you can't all be here enjoying the fun with me. It was a nice mix of updates from you guys this week. Keep the mix coming and I will be set. I'm excited to receive the package that you all sent. I can never get enough sports. Aunt Carol has been sending envelopes full of clippings every so often which is also really fun.

That is super cool though that Oly was able to hang on to tie Bonneville. It's too bad they couldn't have won though. So how is the team looking right about now? You said that a bunch of girls chose not to play this year, was it just a few? Is Connor helping to coach? Is Hillary looking like one of the better players on the team? Sì o no?

I'd like to announce that my hard work and diligent efforts of seeking for loose change on the ground has paid off once again. Last night we were riding home and I caught a glimpse of some pink paper on the ground. I immediately kinda said loudly to my comp..."heck yeah"...confused he was like what?...I put my bike down walked straight to the pink paper and held up £10. I'm so good! Anyways I will have to put it to good use.

We had an addrestramento yesterday which was really fun(basically a zone conference). We really learned a lot and got to do lots of role plays. It was fun to hear from President as he was talking to us about how the mission is having lots of success right now. He mentioned how Pavia had 8 baptisms last transfer. haha I immediately heard the missionaries behind me saying.."oh dang...Anziano Barnes is awesome, he is the man"..haha I wanted to turn around so bad and say....well actually I was there last transfer.... haha luckily I got over my prideful self and stayed quiet. haha. It was cool though to hear that the other 3 Africans got baptized. The mission is really just killing it though. I think as a mission last month there were 41 baptisms total.

This week for us has had it's ups and downs. We weren't able to meet our mark of 20 lessons again but we hit 19. We had some really cool thing happen though. Sunday night we had an awesome lunch and lesson with our bishop. His kids were down in the South this month but we ate with him and his wife. We just clicked though. We probably spent a little too much time with them but it was well worth it. The whole African thing is way in the past. We did this cool lesson though with the Alma 50 chapter vs 1-4. Comparing the fortifications of the cities to commandments and the family. We have a whole example with pictures and everything it was dope (something I inherited from Anziano Bolnick). Afterward Vescovo Carrus told us how much he loved the lesson. He told us that next Sunday he was gonna announce to the ward to try and invite us over so we could do this lesson. What better way to work with members than to have the bishop invite everyone to do so....I was just like...that would be fantastic!



Later that night we we're able to have cool lesson with this Romanian guy. We talked about finding happiness and having faith in Christ to overcome our problems. It was difficult for him because he felt like he's followed Christ in his life and things just got worse. He wanted to know how he could be happy if he didn't have food for his children. We were a bit empty with a solid answer but we talked about how this faith does help. I can't remember exactly what we told him but he told us how he felt good about what we'd said. We fixed an appointment for the next day but he didn't ever show up.

We are currently working with an African named Steven who is really cool. He goes to Bible study classes and stuff like that. We currently have a baptismal date set with him for September 3rd. He is just hte nicest kid ever and loves learning. We just got solidify him a little bit. He has stood us up a few times because he has fallen asleep or something. Africans do that fairly often because they just forget everything..it's bad sometimes. Oh well. Steven is really cool though and were excited for him. No news on Ettora but we think he got back from vacation today. I have a feeling this vacation will have taken him back a few steps in terms of him thinking he is ready.

So what was the whole, mom not happy about the pictures of me in the apartment?...I don't think i quite understood. I am glad you liked the other pictures at least. The weather is just dandy here about this time. It isn't like overly hot but it's hot. I come home with a damp collar every night haha. I can't believe it's already almost September! This summer has flown by.

UTAH FOOTBALL!!!! PAC 12!!! You do realize, dad, I'm gonna need a weekly update, right?.. Let's hope the Utes don't get thumped by USC. It will be an interesting season that I wont see. Oh well.

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