Why........does the sporting world have to be going so well right now? Packers undefeated and the Cards in the World Series? what more could a sport junkie be missing? haha and I'm only sort of kidding.
Anyways I laughed for a good couple minutes at Andy's costume haha. What was he thinking? I definitely loved the shark and shrimp? costume of Ruby and George. George looks so happy to be wearing it. haha
We've been making some strides lately to increase our teaching pool and find the time to find. We've been teaching Antonio, Tammaro, Steven, Edmond and others so much that we have been finding it hard to find others to teach. Having to say that we are teaching too much would sound crazy to almost anyone here in the mission. We have really been striving though to plan better and more effectively so we can fit in more time to do strada, casa and parco. haha It's a feeling I've never had before that I'm not doing enough finding work. We have some pretty solid people in our teaching pool right now and it's awesome. I think as we really exert ourselves though and strive to find more of God's elect children that he will bless us and guide us to them.
Edmond has been just awesome. He has really felt the blessings already of being a baptized member with the Holy Ghost. He just seems more happy and more enthusiastic about everything. He's started becoming friends with the other African new converts in the ward. We are currently working to really integrate the African new converts into the ward. Frankly the ward doesn't do a good job at all of calling them if by chance they couldn't come to church. They don't really look out for each other at all. I feel so blessed to live in Utah where the wards are strong and united. Me and my district need to just create our Title Of Liberty and hoist it around church the next couple months until they get the idea. We need to hit them with something so that when they aren't helping each other and loving one another they will feel it in their lives and feel prompted to do something on their own(without having the missionaries having to push them constantly along).
Anyways, Ettore is doing OK I guess. He's been coming to a few of the ward activities but has not come the last couple weeks to church. He works a lot and is super awesome but we really need to talk about the importance of weekly church attendance and the blessings that come from it. His family, Anna, Richie, and Chris are all doing well and yeah they are pretty strong. We visit them weekly and the mom Anna is such an awesome lady.
Well as far as the investigators go, we are teaching Antonio, Tammaro, Andy and Steven still. Antonio is progressing very well to his date on Nov 5. He loves meeting with us and seeing us often. We might have some problems though because there is some sort of issue to whether or not he has the ability to make decisions for himself. Before you start laughing or something, the guy is pretty normal. One of the members who's been helping us out with every lesson has told us that Antonio has a card saying he can't make decision on his own(the whole thing is super complicated). Antonio seems relatively normal though to us, and, in fact, there are others we are teaching that are probably more weird.
Tammaro is about 45 years old and he is always talking about the problems with his ex-wife who is apparently crazy now or something. We struggle at times to teach him because he will interrupt and talk about his problems. We are coming up with a way to talk first about all his problems and then teach him the missionary lessons. When we do teach him it takes a lot of guidance from the spirit. He is really cool though and is really open with us.
Everyone else is still in the "works" and coming along slowly but surely. We have about 4 or 5 others who are investigators but finding the time to see us is difficult for them. We are hoping they can make some big strides in the next couple weeks.
It seems to me that a lot of Africans come to Italy because they are looking to make money. I wish we could just send an African back to Africa so he could tell the rest that there aren't any jobs. They all come looking for work and they all never find any. They also think that because the Euro is better than their currency they will make lots of money but they just don't get it. There are no jobs for them and who wants to hire somebody who doesn't speak any Italian?....it doesn't make sense sometimes. It doesn't bother me at all that they are here because they are awesome people. The only thing I would say is that they are seriously better off economically in Africa.
Well we had a really cool miracle story this week while we were doing casa. We started doing finding work around 5pm last Monday. After the first hour we just felt the area we were at wasn't going very well. We then prayed and decided to go to our back-up area. We got there and then said another prayer to decide which palazzo we should enter. We then both felt inspired to do the pink palazzo instead of the other two big green and red palazzi.
After knocking on the second door we were welcomed by and elderly Italian couple. After introducing ourselves and we started to speak to them about Jesus Christ. They told us they were Catholic and then invited us in. They told us that they were not really interested in changing religions but would listen to our message. They talked to us about their family and how their son had recently been married and we talked to them about the Restoration. After thanking them for their time and kindness we proceeded down the palazzo to the other doors.
After knocking on another floor we found ourselves talking with a lady in her 60's. We talked a lot about the confusion in the world about religion. She explained how great it would be if we could all be united. We agreed! We talked back and forth about the blessings of the gospel and there was an awesome presence of the spirit. Before we could even extend an invite to here, she invited us to join together and come to her church. We politely declined but gave an invite to here to pray about what we'd said.
After saying bye to the elderly lady we were able to enter in and speak with a small group of youth in their early to mid-twenties. Again we were able to speak about the Restoration of the gospel and present them with a Book of Mormon. They were super funny and nice about it all but didn't have too much interest. We left though having placed a BoM and receiving one of their phone numbers.
As we got to the bottom of the palazzo we met an African women in her 40's or 50's. We did a quick presentation and she told us she was tired and didn't have time to speak with us. I quickly asked where she was from and she told us she was from Ghana. I talked about how I hear it's a wonderful place and we sort of transitioned into how the Gospel blesses the family. She told us how her young daughter had recently died and how it's really hard on her. We came soaring back to give a quick but strong testimony of the Plan of Salvation. Immediately we saw the glow in here eyes of hope and she told us we could come inside. Two minutes ago she was just telling us how tired she was and how she didn't have any time!
As we entered she left into another and came back with her older sister. We introduced ourselves again and they introduced themselves. We then started talking about the Plan of Salvation with Agnes and Abigail. It was super powerful and super spiritual being able to bear testimony to them about how Abigail could see her daughter again. We were able to set up another appointment with them and get their numbers.
We soon exited the apart in shock of what had just happened. Two hours earlier we had entered the palazzo not really knowing what to expect. What a great miracle we had just experienced. I had had one other experience in which I entered 3 times while doing casa but besides that nothing. It was such a testimony for me to see how Heavenly Father guided us to that specific palazzo. We trusted in him and he delivered.
Well I love you all so much and I will just end on that.
If you are thinking about stuff to send me for Christmas...hot chocolate would be a good idea.
Love you all.
Go Cards.........who woulda thought?.....me!
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