Race To The Finish

HEY guys!

Sounds like your week has been full of lots of fun; mine too! Man, from seeing those pictures it's pretty clear everyone has grown up a lot. I saw about half of Jack in one of them and thought it was me for a second. Do i dare even try to wrestle Ben when i get back? I did beat him before I left but I think I'll just stay clear. We will see.

Well transfer information is in. Anz. Free is going to take my arrival path and go to Verona as a Zone Leader with.....Anziano Hardy. Yeah don't worry I'm not at all jealous. He just gets to be with one of my favorite companions in a great city. Oh well.

I did get some updates about people in Verona. Martino, the kid who was baptized shortly after I left, received the priesthood recently and wants to be a missionary super bad. Salvatore Benemerito won't get married to Valentina (investigator) until she gets baptized. I was excited to hear that he's been continueing to go to church since I left along with Sorella Benemerito. His dad Angelo has gone twice since I left! He is actually really smart and spiritual but with health and other things he never came to church while I was there.

I'm going to be companions with Anz. Eveson(spelling?). I don't really know him super well but I've exchanged a few words during previous transfer days in Milano. I'm super glad that I always made the effort to make rounds and meet new missionaries. He's going into his 6th transfer and is really obedient from what I've been told. I'm really happy about that because I think it'll help me even more to finish strong and not fall on my face at the finish line. I don't know much about him other than that he's done good work in past cities. I guess I'll know more tomorrow.

Well you asked about Twum. Twum didn't come to church the Sunday before his baptism and so we didn't announce it. We wanted him to be there and really set for his baptism. He is getting baptized though this Sunday. One of the other brothers, Buate, will be baptizing him and I think I will do the confirmation. Twum is doing great though and is excited for sunday!

Ivano is Ivano and we are moving like molasses, but it's ok. The key is that we are moving forward even if it's slow. Valentina we haven't seen in weeks. Since we first saw her she's been working and hasn't really answered our calls. She said a few weeks ago though that she was reading the BoM every night.

On Saturday morning we though that we had lost Romolo. We got to his house and he told us he was moving back to Peru. His wife's documents weren't going through and so he wants to move back. He was not doing well and was very sad/depressed. Luckily we had planned to watch Finding Faith in Christ! dunnuh nuh nuh nneh neh!(sound). At first when we asked to watch it he told us no but we convinced him.

As we watched in Spanish(I understood lots..cool huh?) there was a great spirit felt. I felt it stronger then more than any other time I've watched it in the mission. As we finished you could see that the spirit had slapped Romolo in the face. He even told us that he wanted to start committing himself more to church and reading the Book of Mormon. Sunday he came to church and liked it a lot.

We haven't seen Brunella in over a week. She's been stuck at her house near Imperia because her car is broken. She is thinking about moving though to Sanremo and transferring her work records to the Sanremo hopsital. If it all goes down it would be AWESOME. She would be around people who love her and closer to the church. We are still working on trying to get someone to go and see her.

Sujey is actually a less-active member. She is now really good friends though with Yajaira, Steve's (Cangiolosi) wife. She comes with us to all the lessons with Sujey. This last lesson though Sujey's mom, Jenny, listened to us. She, too, is a member but when she came here to Italy she stopped attending. Apparently she wants to start coming! I've been learning a bit of Spanish lately because Sujey doesn't speak Italian. It's actually came pretty easy even though I still can't really say anything.

My testimony though of Heavenly Father's love for his children grows ever stronger each day. He's taken our work from nothing to something in days. He is just always watching out for us and for this branch here. The cycle of success and no success though continues to strengthen my diligence/faith. There have been so many times when the work goes well then just disappears. He makes us wait and work our butts off then blesses us right when we need it. Verona was a bit tougher than most, but He would always bless us right as we truly needed it.

I feel that the last two cities I've been in have grown me more than the rest of the mission combined. I do believe though that the previous transfers and cities prepared me and put me into position to be changed and blessed like I've been in the last 6 months. I try not to worry so much now about all my defects because there are still so many. It can be stressful but I'm getting better at just doing my best each day. It'll be a fun race to the finish line to see how much more I can change and help those around me.