Ciao!, December 9th

...I met my new companion last Thursday, Anziano Koponen... He's from Finland, he's 23, and he's got only a few months left of missionary service remaining.  He speaks english (it's really nice to be able to do our companionship study and all of our planning in English - it's a whole lot easier to give input!), and his Italian is absolutely amazing (he says that he is able to fool Italians for a little while with his accent into thinking that he is Italian - hopefully I can learn a bunch from him in that sense)!  
..Already, we've had some interesting experiences together.  First, I got hit by a car the first day we were together...  Fortunately, everything is okay with me, the bike, and the guy's car.  Okay, so what happened was that, first, it was dark outside, and this guy was turning left onto a road (and apparently he didn't look both ways because he didn't see me for a while...), and then, well, he got me.  He was going pretty slow still, so everything was okay.  Anyway, after that I have become kind of paranoid when we're riding bikes!  I don't think this is what was meant in the scripture about "laying down your life in the service of the Lord!" 
...Then, Monday night Piero had his baptismal interview - everything is still on for Saturday!  He hasn't smoked since last Friday, and it sems like he really has given it up for good!  Piero really is absolutely amazing, both the zone leader who interviewed him and the branch president said that he is the most prepared investigator that they've ever seen!  Anyway, after that, we went to the Branch Presiden't house with Piero for a Family home evening.  It was absolutely perfect for him!  ... The spiritual thought that we brought - about the Holy Ghost - took a wonderful turn for the better, and it turned out that the branch president and his wife and a daughter shared some amazing personal experiences about what the Spirit did for them - the stories completely captivated Piero, and I know they were exactly what he needed to hear! ... Oh, for Piero's baptism... His really good friend, who is a member in the branch and who has come to a lot of the lessons, is going to baptize him.  Then, Piero asked me if I would confirm him!  I guess I need to study up some more on my Italian!  Oh, and for Len_Lo, the chinese investigator that we have, we had to move his baptismal date back to the January 8th because there is no way we would have been able to finish teaching him everything (we would have had to see him 2 or 3 times every day for lessons in order to have him prepared!).  However, he took it really well, and he's been happier the last little while than I've ever seen him!  He is understanding everything wonderfully and all of our lessons with him are going great!...

Love, Anziano Barnes