The Baptism! It Went GREAT!

What Up?....hey family

Well I've just been super lucky this summer. I get to serve in a beautiful city with some great members, and it's not that hot! There have been some hot days but nothing like last year in Modena. I remember just walking outside in the mornings around 10ish and thinking ''oh boy''. Everything has been really nice though lately. Hopefully I didn't just jinx us because there is still almost all of August.

I think that I will go and try to buy a watercolor painting. They have some really good ones of Sanremo that are decently priced (i hope). I honestly don't know if they are well priced but they are about 20x11 for 20 to 30 Euro. I will keep searching to see what else I like though. It's tough on PDay though because we rarely have time to look and I can't be wasting time other days by window shopping. haha Dad you think I can just take 15 minutes out of my day to go to Venice?....''Come on''.(Job voice).

The baptism! It went GREAT. Felice is the the worst at making jokes at the wrong times haha. For example, Sunday we are in church preparing for the baptism. It is around 4:30 pm and Felice and his family were supposed to be there around 4. We weren't worrying to much but we called them to see where they were. Felice answers and says''Hey so I've decided to not be baptized''. Of course I knew he wasn't being serious but when you hear something like that it makes you contemplate things for just a second. I immediately responded though with a joking remark. haha.  He just thought he was so funny.

Edith, his wife, had the video camera out and was filming all the way up until the program started. We took a bunch of pictures and it was great. Anziano Free baptized him, we watched a small little video about baptism before they changed and came back in. He wasn't going to bear his testimony but Steve sort of tricked him into it. It was short but super great. He bore testimony about as he entered the water the spirit told him, ''Felice you're starting a really marvelous thing''. It was super awesome to see how happy he and his wife were. He will be confirmed next Sunday.

As far as the work goes, Ivano had a good experience at the baptism. He said he felt really peaceful during the whole program. He told us the other day that his leg has healed! That is fantastic because it was one of the things preventing him from being baptized. Now the only thing left is the chastity hurdle. His girlfriend isn't even around but he doesn't really want to give it up for when she gets back. He really just doesn't understand or see the importance of it yet. Hopefully during the next few weeks he can get a testimony of it as his girlfriend is away.

Romolo has been non-existent the last week or two. We set up appointments and he just doesn't show up or isn't home when we pass by.

So for the last month or so we have been struggling to find new people. I think over the last month or so we have found 3 investigators. Two of these have dropped off though since then. We've been working harder and praying to find people but we've been unsuccessful. We fasted on Sunday about getting new people but even as we worked Monday we just had zero success. Over the last few days though we've had some really good things happen that didn't necessarily come from our efforts.

There is this member referral, Brunella, that recently met a family in the branch (the Cangilosi's). Brunella doesn't have a family, work and lives alone. They met her at a pool a few weeks back and are just good friends now. She's been to their house a few times and they brought her to church on Sunday. She's been facing depression lately and it's been tough on her. Anyway she liked church enough to stay for the baptism 5 hours later. We got a call a few minutes ago from Yariara, Steve Cangilosi wife, and I guess Brunella wants to know more and meet with us. Tomorrow we are going to see her in church with Yajaira! She's super prepared so pray that the lesson goes well.

If I remember correctly I mentioned Valentina week or two ago . Well we haven't seen her since the first lesson because she's been busy. We kind of thought that she lost interest or something. Well the other day I texted her and asked if she still had interest in meeting with us. She said she does but she had found work and it is keeping her busy. I told her that she should call us when she's free and invited her to start reading the BoM we had given to her. I was shocked with the response when she said ''I read every night before going to bed'' Cool eh?

Twum is coming along great! He will be baptized on the 18th. He's just super humble and willing to accept the gospel. We are super excited for him. Things in the work are going well for us lately. We have a few new faces and are so hopefully next week I can talk about the successes we hope to have had.

Dad you should ask Andy what the ClearLink job would entail. What would I do and how much would I work? The four week intense college courses interest me but it could be great little window between arrival and spring semester to bolster my savings. Che cosa ne pensi? Dimmi tu.

Well it sounds as if all is going well. Thanks for sending me the tidbit about Hill's game. Make sure you tell me about how Ben is doing in football? I will want to attend their games when I get back for sure.