September 28 - 3 Weeks until Italy!

Buon Giorno!

This week has been an awesome one - probably the best thus far!  All of the teaching we've done has been in Italian, and my abilities (and the abilities of all those in my district) to speak Italian have just taken off! ...

We also were able to teach Nicholas again - the one with a really hard life.  We had planned to teach him the restoration, since he was really interested in how he could find peace (the book of mormon and praying are perfect for that!!!).  However, after we began teaching (in Italian, remember...) it became apparent that he needed something else.  We ended up talking about repentance, which was really good because he had done some pretty bad things and was feeling horrible for what he'd done.  We testified to him that he could repent, and that the feelings he was having were one of the first steps of sincere repentance.  We taught him some other things that I don't remember, but the Spirit was very powerful, and we were able to meet Nicholas' needs through that Spirit.  The gift of tongues is so real!!!...

One of the biggest things I've learned about and worked on this week is the purpose of missionary work - to help people come closer to Christ.  I don't need to wait until I'm in Italy to do that!  There are people all around me, some who are struggling a lot, others who are doing okay, but all of whom could become closer to our savior.  One of the things I've been doing is looking for these opportunities to serve and help others.  How?  I've been trying to talk with everyone, and in some way or another share my testimony with them.  Because, after we get talking, most of the time it's pretty apparent what their needs are (you just have to ask the right questions - inspired questions - and listen to the Spirit to know what to think and say).  It's amazing how much more we can love people when we truly are trying to help them come to Christ.  So, my invitation to you is to be a missionary now - in your families, with your friends, while you go on errands, everywhere - because everyone could always use a boost, and when we share what we know and do what we can, both we and the people we are trying to help are edified.

I want to share probably the coolest experience of the week.  This one wasn't in Italian, however.  Yesterday during our companionship inventory we were talking about ways we could serve the new missionaries coming in on Wednesday, and somehow we got to how we could help missionaries in our district, particularly Anziano Healey, who has been pretty down the last while.  We decided that we wanted to try to teach him as him (and do what I talked about earlier - find his needs and help him come to Christ).  About an hour later, Anziano Healey had to go to the bathroom so Anziano Mauldwin was right outside the door of our class so he could be close the the bathroom door.  A couple minutes later, I had the thought to ask Anziano Mauldwin if it would be okay if we taught Anziano Healey.  Apparently Sorella Laws had the idea at the exact same time, becuase we looked at each other and quietly decided that it was a good time to ask.  We talked to Anziano Mauldwin and worked out a way in which we could teach Anziano Healey alone (Anziano Mauldwin would go wiht the other district for a while).  When Anziano Healey returned, we talked to him and he agreed to let us teach him.  He was struggling with doubts about himself - if he was good enough, if he had a testimony - some really crucial things that had just completely bogged him down.  We taught and testified and listened, and the Spirit entered the room with amazing force.  I can't say all of the things we said, but we were able to help him and meet his needs.  He later told us that he didn't go to the bathroom to go to the bathroom, he went to pray to God for help.  He said that he asked Him to help him, and it was probably about that same time that Sorella Laws and I both had the feeling that we needed to work out with Anziano Mauldwin if we could teach Anziano Healey.  So, God answered Anziano Healey's prayer super quickly!  If nothinig else, he learned that God will help him.  It was a really neat experience.

I love you all!

-Anziano Barnes