We Are Convinced That Millions Will Be Baptized When China Is Opened Up

E-mail on December 14, 2011

Ciao Babbo! e tutti gli altri.....Mama ti ama anche, non ti preoccupare. (Hi dad, and everyone else ... Mom, I love you, too ... so don't worry)

Well this week went really well for us. We had a good amount of success and we are gearing up for Natale (Christmas). Well I will just start by answering some of the questions you all raised. I have not yet received your Christmas presenta. Was it sent to the mission office or to an apartment? We haven't had any conferences for awhile but we will this next Tuesday. So if you sent it to the mission office I will pick it up Tuesday(just in time for Christmas).

Are you planning on having any family over to skype with us?

Well we did find out about transfers the other day. We are going to stay together for this next transfer. It was a big surprise for us because it will be Anz. Scheurn's 5th transfers here. Presidente Wolfgramm even told us that he doesn't usually keep missionaries there that long but he felt like he should. I have yet to do 4 transfers in a city haha. My companion was wanting to stay for Christmas because he loves the members, but he's a bit tired of Pisa. I don't really blame him though. We will have a couple new faces in the district as well. Our district leader was transferred and I was asked to be the new one. Should be fun.

Well Wong went back to China so he's not around anymore. Apparently he has the church though in his city so that will be really great. Lin and Chen are just doing awesome. We brought them to a couple appointments this week with an investigator. After that appointment we met with a less-active guy, Carlos from China and it was super cool. They talked a bit in Chinese and we got to hear about how Carlos became a member. We weren't able to get him to church but I think it sparked his desire a bit. I think he'll come to the Christmas party on Saturday. Cross your fingers.

It's so awesome being able to teach them though. They seriously are so smart and remember every detail about what we teach. I think Lin is a lot more spiritual then Chen but he's been a member longer and understands the language better(both Italian and English). Chen is great though and is just always so happy. You wouldn't be able to see it in the pictures because they just don't smile in pictures haha. Me and my companion are convinced that millions will be baptized when China is opened up. I love just being able to teach them and have them accept everything we say because they can feel the truth of it. They don't let what the world has to say interfere.

I'm gonna try sending some pictures again but if it doesn't work I'm gonna smash my camera.

Well this week we finally met with the Mendoza family. We met them doing casa a little bit over a week ago. Tehy were so nice and just an amazing family. The wife is Catholic but the husband isn't. They are both from Ecuador and have been here about 10 years. The husband, Charlie said he was actually almost baptized in Ecuador when he was 15 years old but he moved and lost contact with the church. He remembers very little but is very open. The wife kind of surprised us because when we first met them she didn't want us to have their number.

When we met with them last night she was doing the dishes as we began teaching. After a few minutes she came and sat down. We kind of got to know them at first and asked them about their beliefs. We brought up the importance of the family and kind of glided into the Restoration when the wife asked question about the church. She told us that all her family is Catholic and really hasn't had the desire to change religion or even listen to another one. It was awesome to see her just warm up to us and get interested. Their kid, Mattia age 6 was so cool. He was the nicest just coolest little kid. He was just smiling the whole time while playing with their nativity set under the Christmas tree. Every so often we'd ask him a question or listen to what he was saying.

We invited them to read the BoM and they said they would. It went so great and was really guided by the spirit. Charlie works a lot! But he said they would try coming to the party on Saturday. We are hoping to see them again in about 3 or 4 days. The Lord is really just blessing us though in small ways. We still don't have lots of investigators but we have a lot of new converts to help integrate into the ward as well as less-actives to juggle. We really have to balance out the work though so that's sometimes a challenge.

Other than that nothing much is going on. I'm gonna get to have a pretty warm Christmas so that will be great! I don't like the cold much. Tell me what time is best for you guys and we will try working around that.

I'm thinking in the range of 3-5pm. That's what we got so far......sorry.


Love you guys a lot though.

Ciao

Tuck