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
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