Sanremo Is Just Perfect

Well, the baptism went really well but it did take quite a few tries. We had church in the morning and you could see that Twum was excited for his baptism which was to be later that day at 5 PM. We were a bit worried we hadn't prepared him and Buate (new convert from Ghana) with how to actually do the baptism. About an hour prior to the baptism we instructed them for about 5-10 minutes and they had it down.

Well when it came time for the baptism Twum was the most inflexible person I've ever seen. I thought that Africans could bend their knees and jump out of the gym but Twum isn't one of these. It took about 5 plus tries to get it accomplished. This included two failed attempts on his knees (still couldn't get him all the way under). We also had one failed attempt when he was sitting on his bum in the water with the water coming up to his lower lip (don't ask me how we couldn't get him under on that one). Buate really needed to be forcing him under the water better but oh well. Ha ha, baptism complete, with a few laughs. I laughed a bit more as I went to see if they were done changing and heard that they were arguing. Don't worry, it was a friendly argument but they immediately asked me ''who's fault was it?''.

It was pretty hectic trying to prepare everything for the baptism. Seeing how Twum speaks English the talks were in English. One of the other new converts from Ghana gave the first talk which I translated then subito dopo (after which) I gave the other talk. I also played both hymns and set up the program haha. Meno male (thankfully) the baptism went through because I was definitely stressed all Sunday.

Well we've dropped Romolo. He's been giving us too many cancellations without a notification. He didn't sound too sad about it though when I told him. I think he was probably too scared to tell us he didn't want to see us anymore and was waiting for us to stop coming.

We are still working with Ivano. Really there isn't a whole lot to say about his progress. He's comes to church every week, to the baptisms, he reads and prays. We are trying to build his faith to accept baptism and be ready  when his leg heals. We are thinking that if he's not willing to be baptized or follow chastity by the time his leg heals, we will drop him, too.

The work is sort of back to ground zero again just like that. Twum is basically a new convert, Felice is baptized and confirmed and we don't have anyone to teach. I'm still really hopeful that we will start up again with Brunella once she gets her car fixed and moves here. Other than that though we haven't had much success in finding people.

The city is great! Sanremo is just perfect. We are just passing some of the hottest weeks of the year, but it's starting to cool down. The tourists should be leaving and the people from Sanremo should start returning from vacation. It's a difficult city to get really good pictures taken, but I will start getting on it. I haven't taken hardly any so far and it's got all the other cities beat in pure beauty. The ocean breeze is the best and the perfect medicine on hot and humid days.

It was good to get a good update from Anz. Eveson about Pavia. I guess most of the Africans who were baptized have moved away. There is still one left but I don't think he goes to church often. Hopefully the others have found the church where they are now. Eveson told me that Domingo hadn't been coming to church but that he had a strong testimony and knowledge of the Gospel. He moved just recently to Chicago. I guess he had work and was just tired on Sundays or something. Gianluca hadn't been coming to church a lot either.

We've been doing so much finding lately so we are praying that the Lord will hook us up. I've seen it time and time again so I know the Lord will provide if we just stick in the sickle with all our might. I have no doubt that we will have a successful transfer. Our vision is to have one baptism and two baptismal dates before the transfer ends. It's going to be tough but fun.

Looks like the girls are all grown up. It seems as if Ashley has passed Hillary up in height. Sorry Hill. She better not pass me or I will throw a fit.