It sounds like all of you are doing really great! As I read mom's e-mail about Sawyer I could only help but think "Poor Sawyer". He's a trooper. Well, it's been a really interesting this past week.
Anziani Neff and Scheurn at the Trexler's Taco Night (the Trexlers take great care of the missionaries in Pisa -- Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas, American food from the PX, teaching help, etc. )
The work is going really great and we are so excited for the people we have found. During a scambio last week in which I went to Livorno, Anziano Scheurn and Wilkens found an Italian couple. They are both probably about between 35 and 40 years old and are amazing! Elder Scheurn and I saw them on Saturday and had a really powerful lesson with them. The wife, Giusi(short for Giuseppina) doesn't really believe in God so much but she's is very open and humble. Her husband does believe in God and he too is very open with us and sincere with the things he says. We were able to teach them about the Restoration and they really like it. Like I said, we learned that Giusi doesn't really believe in God. She said she kind of lost her belief as she grew up even though her mom would go to church.
Well as we got to the end of the lesson we were talking about praying to know the truth. I felt impressed to ask her if she'd ever prayed, and she said yes a long time ago. I sort of pried into that and I asked how it made her feel. She responded by saying it brought her comfort. From that we sort of transitioned to how baptism is something that allows us to feel that comfort every day. We talked about how the Holy Ghost makes that possible. You could see the excitement and peace the lesson really brought and we owe it to the Spirit.
Yesterday when we called them we followed up to see if they'd read the Book of Mormon chapter we left them. They said they had and that they had also prayed about it!!! Before I could give them something else to read they said they wanted to read it again to understand it better. They also told us that on Friday that would not be able to see us because Gregorio(husband) has to work. They already knew about the baptism on Saturday though so they asked "Well could we see you on Saturday at your church?" Of course we said yes and so now they are coming to the baptism, too! Companion exchanges are just a breeding ground for miracles.
Well now we have this amazing family. There is also the Mendoza family that is coming along slowly but surely and then there is Mirta. Mirta just found work as a nurse for an old lady and is struggling to find time to see us. She is so elect but we gotta get around this work problem. She is coming to church on Sunday so that is good. Then there is still this other family we found a few weeks ago and we are finally able to see them. We passed by last night for our appointment but she said her husband wasn't home!! Agh....We rescheduled for Friday when the husband is home. They are both super nice and have two awesome kids. Well Davide is on track for his baptism this Saturday having passed his interview! How amazing is that! The work here has really exploded. Catherine(the Chinese girl) just got back from China and we are working towards setting a baptismal date with her. The work over the last week has sky rocketed!
It sucks that my companion is being transferred to Bolzano in the upper northeastern part of Italy. He's going from warm to freezing cold just like that. I'm going from Pisa to Verona just like that......yeah. Monday we found out that we are being whitewashed. We are both being taken out. Are you surprised? Because I still am. I trust President Wolfgramm though with all my heart. Even if our work is going better than most of the other companionships. The good news is that Anziano Hardy is coming to take our spot. He will be training, too. When President told me it would be him coming to replace us my heart was immediately at ease(he's a stud). So yeah, I will be going to be Zone Leader with Anziano Mesarosh(can't remember how to spell it but he's American/Canadian). So basically the least expected thing happened(at least according to me). I'm pretty nervous just because there are a lot of missionaries to look after. Again it comes back to the trust though I have in President Wolfgramm. I didn't think I had the necessary skills to do it, but obviously he thinks I do so I will just have to discover it and use it to help our Zone.
We have been scampering all week to get everything perfect for Anziano Hardy and his greenie. He's walking into best case scenario though so I'm not too worried about it. We've been having to say goodbye to everyone while trying to teach all these awesome families and other investigators. I am super sad about leaving Chen though. I didn't get a proper good bye with Lin because I thought for sure I would be staying. Agh.....it kind sucks but oh well it's not about me. I was going to be baptizing David, but our Ward Mission Leader will most likely do it now.
I will keep an eye out for those presents.....21 holy smokes.....not cool guys not cool...... Oh yeah Anziano Barnes will be Assistant this transfer so that's kind of cool. Well....I'm terribly sorry again about pictures but I'm ill-prepared again. I blame it on having to be transferred tomorrow morning. We have been all over the place.
I love you guys so much and i hope you enjoyed the success story. My love for this work is growing every day and my desire to do it is growing right along side it. I get frustrated when I don't give my all and actually it just annoys the CRAP out of me. It annoys me even more when I wasted little seconds on my cleaning habits. At first I though that being a good cleaner was a good gift, haha and it probably is, but I need to loosen up a bit and let things go. Verona should be fun and I will get to stretch myself a lot.
You guys are great! Thanks for the thoughts and love you put into your emails. It means a lot!
Ciao.
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