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
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