My first week in Italy has been amazing!...
Here are some funny experiences that I have had this week: We were in centro (downtown) and talking to as many people as we could, and and we stopped a lady and asked her how important the family was to her or something. She all of a sudden looked offended and hurried off, saying, Sono un'orfana (I'm an orphan). Whoops! Another time, we were doing casa and we got to one door where the guy opened the door and he said that we couldn't come in because there was a flu epidemic or something and something about february (maybe they've had the flu since then or they're quarantined until next feb. I don't know). Then, before we left, we shook his hand and started walking away and he reminded us to make sure we washed our hands! I don't know if he was just creative in finding a way to tell us off or what! Another time, we got to an apartment with two doors, one normal one made of wood and then another one beyond that made of glass (so when the person opens the wood door they can see who is there but there is still one more door). An old lady came to the door, and we both smiled, and then anziano Pastillo started waving. She then had a funny expression on her face and started to close the door. Anziano Pastillo kept waving, and then she shut the door, with Anziano Pastillo still waving!
Okay, a couple of cool success stories: We were returning home for then night on our bikes and we saw a guy, probably about 25 or so years old, and we decided to stop him. We said that we had books of mormon that we were passing out, and asked if he wanted one (that was it...), and he said yes! Then we said that we actually didn't have any more and asked if we could exchange information, and we got his address and phone number! Some people are just a lot easier than others... Then, a couple times, we were at a door and we said something to the effect of we are missionaries, can we come in (nothing more...)? And they let us in! And, here is probably the cool miracle of the week... We were ding casa on Sunday night (Halloween), and we got to this one door. We rang, and a lady opened the door and we started to introduce ourselves. However, then a whole bunch of other people started coming out of the house (it looked like there was a party inside or something), and we turned around and started to talk to them. Then, Anziano Pastillo asked if they'd ever seen missionaries like this - and he pulled out this little thing he has (it is really cool, about the size of a penny, and when you put it in your mouth and blow and stuff you sound kind of like a bird or a monkey) and played it so he would sound like a bird. Everyone started going ooh, un'ucellino (oh, a little bird!) ! We wished them a Buon Halloween and then turrned back to the lady at the door to try to talk to her and get in. However, without us even saying anything, she said for us to come in! We proceeded to teach them a little bit, and they were very open and very interested in our message, and we got a return appointment! Sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways...
Today (P-day) we went to Florence and saw a bunch of the famous historical things there (Michelangelo's sculpture of David, the Duomo of Florence ...). Wow! I love italy! I also bought my first tie here in Italy - 3 Euros!!!
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The branch here in Prato is great! It is small (30 people or so), but good. This sunday I got to help pass the sacrament! Also, for the last 15 minutes of the meeting, the guy who was translating left, and they asked me to translate (there are some nigerians that don't speak italian, but can speak english)! Exciting? ... Oh yeah, at a random point during our meeting they said that the new anziano was going to speak. What!? I didn't know anything about that. Anyway, I got up and shared a brief testimony and I think I shared a short experience to go along with my testimony, and thanked the members and shared how excited I was to be with them. As a missionary, you always have to be ready for anything!
Thanks so much for your love and support and prayers!
-Anziano Barnes
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