Transferred to Milan

CIAO!

This week was a ton of fun - and crazy too!  ...  I got the call yesterday that I'll be going to Milan!  I'm going to be with a missionary named Anziano Wilkinson.  He's from England, and he's only been out one transfer (the same amount of time as my current companion, Anziano Hutchinson)!  He was in the same room as Anziano Hutchinson in the MTC, so they know each other really well, and from everything I've heard Anziano Wilkinson is absolutely amazing.  The tricky part - there used to be 4 missionaries that served in this area, but one of the companionships got closed, so now we're going to have to do the work that 4 missionaries were doing in the past!  I'm going to be a district leader again. ...

On Thursday we had a really big adventure.  We went out to Montemurlo to do some proselyting work (Montemurlo is quite a ways away - it takes about 40 minutes one way on our bikes when we ride at a good speed - so we planned to stay there all evening, from 3 until 9).  It rained like crazy this day.  We got completely soaked riding out there (but we were moving around really good and we stayed warm enough - it was fun).   The funnest part was when we were on the side of a road, and there was a huge puddle.  At the perfect time, a car passed me and splashed me - but it was more than just a little splash - I was consumed in a wave of water!  That was fun.  Anyway, when the sun started to set (and it was still raining...) it got freezing cold!  We ended up having an appointment to go to at 8:00, and we decided to leave a little bit early so that we could change.  That turned out to be a good idea.  It just kept raining harder and harder, and by the time we got back to our apartment we were completely soaked and freezing cold.  It was an adventure trying to get our clothes off. And then another adventure waiting 2 days for them to dry.  Anyway, everything worked out, and thankfully we didn't get sick!  ...

Friday we did a scambio.  I was with Anziano Casuto, one of my zone leaders, and this is his very last transfer (so that was his last scambio, and in fact, today is his last day as a missionary...).  He is absolutely amazing.  He taught me a ton about how to teach and how to do finding work.  We got into several homes and were able to practice the new approach that our Mission President has asked us to do.  We found a really cool family - they have 4 kids.  We asked them what helped them the most to be happy.  The kids all said different things, but then the mom said "Jesus Christ."  Wow.  I've never seen anyone of a Catholic faith have such a clear understanding of the importance of the family and the importance of having a home built upon the principles of the Gospel.  We had a great, spiritual (almost perfect) lesson, but at the end she said that she wasn't interested.  It was sad, but everyone's got their agency.  Oh, and they fed us a little bit too.  We got to try an interesting pie - a spinach ricotta pie (a pretty typical thing here in Italy - basically just a normal pie crust with a filling of spinach and ricotta and some other stuff, and it has a pretty strong nutmeg flavor) - it was pretty good.  ... Anziano Casuto is a crazy runner.  He had me wake up with him Saturday morning and go on a run with him.  We got outside and started going, and I asked how long he was wanting to go out - he said about 50 minutes!  Okay, here we go.  So, we basically did a 10k and then some (almost 7 miles) together!  I'm amazed that I can still go that far (even if it's not quite at the pace I used to be able to...)! ...

Anyway, Saturday was an adventure.  We were coming back from Firenze (we had gotten back together to end the scambio) and got on a train.  However, as we went a little ways, nothing seemed familiar.  We finally decided to get off the train because we figured we had gotten on the wrong one.  We ended up in a place called Montelupo - a super tiny town in the middle of nowhere.  We had to wait an hour for another train to go the other direction to take us back to Firenze.  And then that train was the wrong one too!  We ended up on the wrong side of Firenze and had to take a bus to get back to the station.  Then we were finally able to go home.  What an adventure...

Sunday was awesome!  Mitchel got confirmed!  Then, that afternoon, we went out to see Zultan again (we haven't seen him for a few weeks).  He's 1/2 nigerian and 1/2 hungarian, speaks English really well, works a ton, really wants to clome closer to Christ and improve his life, but doesn't understand the importance or significance of apostasy or the restoration.  He thinks it's enough to just do some good things...  So, we brought a member with us - Austin.  He is absolutely amazing!  We rode the bus with him out to Zultan's home, and he was being a better missionary than we were!  He got several numbers for us and introduced us into some friends that he has that are interested in the gospel!  Then, in the lesson, well, let's just say he WAS the lesson!  He shared his testimony and tons of experiences from his life.  He related super well with Zultan.  Austin used to be, well, bad.  He smoked.  He drank.  He partied.  He had a ton of girlfriends.  And, he loved his life.  However, one day he met the missionaries and they gave him a book of mormon.  However, he refused to read it.  The missionaries continued to push, and finally, several months later, he began to read.  He prayed.  He changed his life around and gave up his past life of temporal and carnal living.  Austin shared his testimony of how much better he felt.  How much more his new life meant to him.  He shared stories from his baptism, shared photos from it.  He testified of the Book of Mormon and finding answers to questions.  He was absolutely perfect.  At the beginning of the lesson, Zultan had no desire to read or pray.  But, at the end, he committed to both reading the book of mormon and praying to find out the truth for himself!

Monday was absolutely beautiful!  We went to Cinque Terre, one of, if not the most, beautiful places in Italy.  It's a chain of 5 really old cities constructed right next to the ocean on some cliffs/mountains.  I forgot to bring my camera with me to do emails, so I'll have to send the photos next week.  However, believe me, it was beautiful (it reminded me a lot of the Canary Islands, where I went 9 years ago to visit my grandparents who were serving as mission presidents).  We got to do some good hiking (not only was it beautiful, but it was a good work-out as well).  But, the best part, at least for me, was this:  We ran into a bunch of other missionaries while we were going around.  One of these missionaries, to my surprise, was Anziano Pastillo - my trainer.  We hadn't seen each other since the time we said goodbye at the end of my first transfer!  It was a ton of fun to see him again!  The whole time hiking we hit it up together and talked about tons of different things.  Right now he's a zone leader in Genova, and he's doing really, really well.  This day was wonderful!  ...

However, we got back into Prato that night and went to our bikes.  Problem.  We could only see one of the bikes as we were approaching.  When we got to the bikes it was true - only one of the bikes was there!  We looked at lock - it was cut.  Someone had stolen one of our bikes!  The interesting thing is that they didn't steal the other bike, and no one else touched it either (who knows how long it was just sitting there with a broken lock dangling on it...).  The other funny thing is that they stole the crappy bike.  Oh well.  So, I jogged home while Anziano Hutchinson took the bike (he was exhausted, and I was totally up for getting a nice couple mile run in...).  So, yesterday we tried to find a bike, but we couldn't find anything.  So, we had another day of lots of walking!  But, we probably had the coolest miracle of the week yesterday: we had found a family from Napoli a couple weeks ago and we went yesterday to teach the restoration (Anziano Hutchinson taught them one other time on scambio when he was with another missionary).  Wow!  First of all, the parents and the brother of the man of the house were there, and we found out that they live really close by - they're all interested too!  The first thing, in fact, that these people asked for was our information so that they could come to church!  The man of the house, Domenico, really wants to come - he told us first thing (without us even asking) that he's going to come to church, he just needs to know where it is and how to get there!  They understood what we taught really well, and accepted the invitations to read and pray!  Really, many of these people could be baptized within the next month (next time we'll fix baptismal dates)!  ... Anyway, they are absolutely amazing - I don't know how to explain it more! ...

I know that this is the Lord's work and that I am needed up North to do some work.  I know that if we do His work His way, He will make miracles happen.  I can't wait - bring it on!

Thanks for all of your love and support!

-Anziano Barnes

Mitchel got baptized!

Buon Giorno!

This week has gone by so fast!

First of all, the best news - Mitchel got baptized!  However, due to a bunch of different things going on Saturday in the church and other activities, we had to do the baptism Sunday night, so Mitchel has not been confirmed yet (that will happen next Sunday).  The service was absolutely wonderful; the spirit in this one was more powerful than any of the other ones I've ever been in.  One cool thing about this ceremony was that it was held in both English and Italian (because there were a lot of Nigerians there to support Mitchel and also a bunch of Italians from the branch also there for support).  So, there were always two people at the pulpit - one speaking English and the other Italian.  After the baptism, Mitchel bore his testimony and reccounted a little bit about his story.  So, at the beginning of this year he was thinking a lot about life and the significance thereof.  He started thinking a lot more about the spiritual things.  He had grown up in a very religious familly and knew the bible very very well, but had never before been baptized.  Anyway, he decided that he wanted to do something that would be of significance in his life - something that he would never forget.  So, a few weeks ago he decided that he wanted to be baptized.  He talked to his friend, Frank (a Nigerian member in our branch), and this friend brought him to church and that's where we met him, and then the next day he had committed to be baptized less than two weeks later!  What a miracle! ...

The one other big thing that happened this week:  the way we do missionary work is completely different!  The mission president and the assistants trained all of the zone leaders (who trained us this past monday) a completely new way to do proselyting work.  This way focuses on helping the people that we meet feel the spirit from the very first moment that we encounter each other.  We begin teaching, asking inspired and soul searching questions, and testifying right away.  It's a whole lot more difficult and draining, but it's a whole lot more fulfilling!  I am able to stay focused about as close to 100% on the work as is possible, and I feel like a real missionary - I'm preaching the word and inviting people to repent (though these first encounters are just the beginning steps of repentance - allowing us to show them the ways that they need to change to live according to the will of God) all day long!  I'm still not very good at this new approach at all - it's a whole lot different than teaching in a real lesson - it's a whole lot more fast paced, and it requires that I really jump on the situations (a lot of the time by interrupting people and talking a whole lot more than what is comfortable and normal for me).  Oh well, I guess I can grow a bit! ...

I forgot to share a few of the interesting/funny stories that happened this past week:  We had just gotten inside of a palazzo and were heading towards the elevator (we usually try to avoid hiking up 6 stories - the average size of a palazzo...), and a couple walked out.  We introduced ourselves and invited them to hear more about our message.  They said no, and then asked where, or to whom, we were going.  I responded, "a piano sei" (to floor six - we usually go to the very top floor and then work our way down, and there are usually six floors in the palazzi).  She looked at me kind of funny, and then they left.  When we got in the elevator, we looked at the buttons, and the building only had 4 floors!  No wonder she looked at us weird...  She was probably thinking, "sure you're going to the sixth floor, kid..."  Now it's our running joke, when we get in an elevator, to say, "piano sei", whether or not there's a sixth floor!  Also, yesterday we were doing casa, and it was Anziano Hutchinson's turn to start off talking.  They opened the door, and Anz. Hutchinson extended his arm to shake the man's hand, and immediately the man grabbed anziano Hutchinson's arm, pushed it away, and slammed the door, saying "arrivaderci" (bye).  We got a kick out of that one.  Another time, we were ringing the citofono (on the outside of the palazzo, trying to have someone open up the door that would allow us to enter the palazzo so that we could start ringing the doors inside).  They asked the normal "Chi è?" (Who is it?).  I said that I was Anziano Barnes.  She kept on asking, so I responed, "I'm from the church.  I have a message.  Can you open the door for me?"  Finally, she aksed a question I'd never heard before.  She asked, who sent you?  First I said, "the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."  Then she asked again, no but WHO sent you.  So, I said, simply, "Dio" (God).  She was kind of like, "uhhh...." and then she hung up.  It was probably a good thing that she hung up, because I bursted into laughter.  I had always wanted to say something like that to someone, but there had never been a good opportunity.  Well, there's nothing like the truth! ...

Wait, there's one more cool miracle story that I need to share really quick:  Last night we had an appointment with the Nikolli family (a family that's investigating the church).  We got there and rang the citofono outside.  A man answered (we assumed that it was the dad) saying that he was the only one in the home.  We said we could still come in and talk with him.  He let us in.  We got to their door, and then the son opened the door.  He welcomed us in!  This was a bit of a different experience for us, usually he won't listen to us at all when we come over.  He's a 14 year old teenage boy who loves listening to his music, playing his guitar (he's one of those "punk" type kids - even with the long hair...).  Somehow, we started talking about the Book of Mormon. He said that he'd never read it because the only one that they have, his sister Giovanna, uses and keeps.  However, he said that he would like to read it.  I told him we had brought one just for him!  We talked briefly about the Book of Mormon and shared the Moroni promise with him.  We taught him how to pray, and then invited him to read that evening and then to pray to know the truth.  He was perfectly willing and excited to do so (which kind of surprised me - he was never interested in the past)!  Then, the rest of his family came in!  We were able to teach them for a couple minutes, and we invited all of them to read and pray.  They all agreed!  Then, we asked when we could come back (this was usually the tricky part - the mom usually says that they're too busy and tells us to call several days later), but she aked "could you come tomorrow?"  Whoa!  Maybe this family is a whole lot more prepared than we were thinking!  Then, we talked about how there will be a baptism in Florence this weeked, and we invited them to come!  And, the boy and his sister will both come - they want to and they said they don't have anything else going on, so, we'll all go together on the train to Florence to see a baptism!

That's about it for me this past week.  I'm excited for this next week, especially to get better at this new approach to doing missionary work and to teach some of these amazing people that we've found.       

Thanks to all of you!

Vi voglio bene!

-Anziano Barnes

February 9, 2011

Wow!  This week went by so fast!  We've been working a lot with Mitchel (our Nigerian investigator who gets baptized this week) to help him get ready and to organize all of the stuff for his baptism. ...
Friday was cool because we got to teach a less active man from Nigeria who was baptized 2 years ago.  He says he doesn't come to church anymore because there isn't a choir (imagine a southern baptist church with a bunch of black people singing - I think that is what he likes...), so he goes to a church closeby where he can participate in some music stuff (this church has more of a "rock" style choir).  This appointment was totally unexpected - we were close by his house, and we called him to set up an appointment for a couple days away, but he asked if we could go right then.  We did.  Anyway, it was a total "follow the spirit" lesson.  Fortunately, the spirit worked or something and the passage in the Book of Mormon came to mind when Jesus gave the sacrament the first time to the nephites.  We read that together and discussed the importance of the sacrament.  We got him to commit to coming to church, and we also got his brother, who isn't a member, to commit to come as well.  However, come Sunday, they didn't show...

Then, Saturday evening, we went over to the Benedetti couple's home to teach them about the restoration.  The lesson was absolutely amazing!  Why?  The scriptures.  The wife really knows how to read the scriptures and is able to pull a ton out of them.  In fact, the first thing she asked us when we got in was about what she had read in the Book of Mormon (she read the introduction and the testimonies of the different people, in the which is a part of the story of how Joseph smith got and translated the plates).  She asked, "where are the plates now?"  Whoa!  We weren't ready for that!  We told her that we didn't know for sure, but that the Angel (she even remembered that his name is Moroni...) took the plates back, and now they're in a safe place.  Anyway, we really tried to teach FROM the scriptures, instead of just throwing in a few verses into the lesson.  Wow!  All of the scriptures that we had planned in the morning were perfect!  As we began teaching we realized that they didn't have very strong testimonies of Jesus Christ, and they weren't sure if He is the son of God, and they also have trouble believing in all of the stuff about Mary (Jesus' mother).  We had decided to use some more scriptures when we talked about Christ, and we decided to use Mosiah's testimony in Mosiah 3:5-11.  It addressed all of their concerns, and it really brought the spirit.  The scriptures did the work for us!  Then, later on, we were trying to explain the great apostasy, and they were not understanding at all (they began talking about what they had understood about what we taught - and it was way off...).  Anyway, we decided to take a step back and we turned to the scriptures, which we said would explain it better than we would.  After reading the few verses we had chosen, the wife then said that she thought she understood, and proceeded to describe exactly what we were trying to explain about the apostasy!  The scriptures work!  It was a cool testimony to me about how important it is to do as we've been instructed and to use the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, as the main source of our teaching, to truly "expound" the doctrine by using the words of the prophets....

After the meeting, we did a scambio.  I was with Anziano Fulcher, and we worked together in Prato.  The biggest thing we did was a big lesson with Mitchel (there were still several things we needed to teach him before he would be interviewed the next day).  We taught simply, powerfully (from the scriptures!), and we used some really good questions and we were able to really discern when he understood and when we could move on.  We taught amazingly well together - Anziano Fulcher has an amazing ability to teach!  After that, we did some casa.  We had not gotten in at all and we were starting the last palazzo.  It was 8:52 (we had to end a little before 9:00 so that we could be back in time...), and we were in the elevator going up to the top floor.  I told Anziano Fulcher, "Okay, it's miracle time."  He kind of laughed, and I told him that I was serious.  Anyway, we open the elevator doors, and there's a man with the door open (he's the one that had unlocked the door at the bottom entryway of the palazzo), who told us to come in!  He wasn't interested in the end, but we were able to teach a lesson in the very last minutes of the night!...

I know that this is the Lord's work - He's in control.  And, when we do His work His way, miracles are done!

Thanks for your love and support,

-Anziano Barnes

Groundbreaking for 1st Chapel in Tuscany Area!

Wow!  This week was absolutely amazing! ... Last thursday we did a scambio, and I was with Anziano Del'Oso, who's one of my zone leaders right now.  I learned a lot from him, especially about how to teach simply but with power and clarity. ... We've been continuing to see Rosa, but it's difficult to see her because she got another job - now she works as a badante (I don't know the word in English, but basically she just works in the house of an old person, taking care of their needs and taking care of the house) a ton.  She is gone ALL day for 5 days out of the week, so the only times she even is at home, available to be taught, are on Thursday and Sunday.  But, we're excited that sunday is one of the days she has off - now she can start coming to church!  She's reading the Book of Mormon and seems to be understanding and progressing, but she still won't accept a baptismal date - hopefully this next week we can work with her and help her go to the next step....

Saturday we had interviews in Firenze (Florence) with President Wolfgramm, but before that we (the missionaries of our zone) were able to go see the groundbreaking for the chapel that will be built in Firenze.  It will be the first actual "chapel/church building" (not just using part of an apartment) in the Tuscany area!  And,  I even got to help "break the ground" by throwing up a bit of dirt with a shovel.  After that we had to hurry super fast to get some lunch (we had like no time, so we just went to a market and I bought some fresh bread, some ham, and some cheese, and threw together some simple, huge, and delicious sandwiches.  Then the interviews began.  While president was interviewing, all of the other missionaries were able to be trained and taught.  It was an amazing meeting!  I learned a ton!  Many of the things that we learned from the member of the 70 who came to a zone conference a couple weeks ago were brought up again, and a couple new ideas about what we can do in our work (many of which ideas were sparked from things that Elder Capisca said).  One of the biggest things that we're doing is making our teaching better by being much more simple, reading and expounding the scriptures, testifying, and asking good, inspired questions (all of the things that we should be doing...).  However, we're starting to do what Anziano Capisca suggested, and president has nicknamed it the "2 minute drill."  We have 2 minutes to teach one principle from one of the missionary lessons (examples: God is our loving Heavenly Father, the Great Apostasy, or the Fall of Adam and Eve), making sure that we explain the doctrine simply (one thing that our president suggested was to use the points at the end of each preach my gospel lesson, which are the main ideas of the principle that the investigators need to understand), use a scripture, bear testimony, and ask an inspired question.  It's called the 2 minute drill because, while we're doing casa or going in between activities, we test each other and practice teaching.  It's a lot of fun, and already my teaching has become a whole lot more clear, powerful, and it's easier to focus on the people and their needs.

Then, Sunday is when the miracles started happening.  We went to church, and in church we saw a nigerian man who we'd seen in church several times before, always coming with other nigerian friends who are members.  Then, after sunday school, we were talking with him and then he told us that he had never before been baptized and that he wanted to be baptized!  We told him that we could help with that... He has a book of mormon, participates in everything, and acts just like a member, so we just assumed he was a member - whoops!  I'm glad he said something.  Anyway, so we went over the next evening to teach him about the restoration of the gospel and to invite him to be baptized.  We were coming close to the end of the lesson, and we were almost to the point in which we wanted to bring up baptism and ask him to be baptized, when he interrupted us and told us again that the reason he wanted us over was that he could be baptized, and asked if he could be baptized!  We told him certainly, and asked if he would prepare himself to be baptized the 12th of February.  He said yes!  We don't have a lot of time to teach him, and we have to go over everything, but above all, we need to prepare him to make this sacred covenant with God, and we need to be sure that he's ready. However, everytime we see him we see how prepared he is, and we feel that he will be ready!  This was a really cool experience for us, because we've been working really hard and haven't had a whole lot of success, especially with people that make significant progress, but, within two days, we found a guy (actually he found us...) and got him a baptismal date that's only a week and a half away!  We didn't see this one coming at all! ...

Thanks for your love, support, and prayers!

-Anziano Barnes