This week has flown by! The big news of the week, of course, is Valentin - he's progressing really well and everything is looking perfect for his baptism this saturday! ...
We got some new investigators. ...
We have a family now (we've only taught them once). It was a miracle how we found them. We felt that we needed to go out to an area that was pretty far away. We got out there and didn't feel too good about it, but there was one palazzo that we wanted to try. So, we rang the 15 doors or so that were in it, and at the last one there was a 19 year old girl from Nigeria that was super interested (we couldn't go in at that time because she was alone), but we got her info and got a return appointment. After that, we both felt we needed to leave that area so we traveled back another 30 minutes to do work elsewhere. We went back for a return appointment once so far. We're not sure how well they're taking the message, but we have a pretty cool opportunity - they just found out that they have to leave their house next monday (they can't afford it because the dad doesn't have work and they're getting kicked out). So, we are in an excellent situation to serve them! ...
And, our ongoing miracle story: Valentin. He's making an amazing amount of progress! Right now he's at Mosiah 4 (he started the book of mormon 2 weeks ago...). He marks his scriptures and always talks to us about things that hit him when he read. Yesterday is probably the sum-up of his progress. He says that he would love to get everything all at once (knowledge, good feelings from the spirit, relief from problems, etc.) but he said that now he realizes that it's better if it takes time, and he's seeing how these things are slowly coming for him. He expressed his desire to continue learning after his baptism so that he can understand more about all the things we've taught. One of the most exciting things that he said was about his faith. He doesn't have work and if he can't find work in the next couple weeks he'll have to return to live in Romania for a while until he can afford to come back to look for work here again. He hasn't really been doing a ton to find work however (he's seen a few agencies and put in some applications, but hasn't done much else), but yesterday he said that he thinks that he's starting to have a bit of faith that Jesus will help him find work! When Valentin says "a bit" he means that he's got quite a bit. We were going over the baptismal interview questions to prepare him for his interview, and we asked if he believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet. He replied "non 100%... ma più di 60%" (not 100%, but more than 60%). We talked about what having faith meant (and read from Alma 32...) - I think now he knows that he knows it's true, even though he doesn't "know" everything there is to know. We couldn't be more happy for him. ...
One more experience I want to add:
We were doing casa last week and we weren't sure if we were in the right place. So, we said a prayer and asked God to confirm that the place we were in was correct. We felt good. So, we continued working. However, we got some of the hardest rejections, and at every single door. If we hadn't specifically prayed and recieved an answer, we probably would have left. However, then we got to the right door. A person opened the door. It was a woman that used to be a man (sex change...) who came from the Philipines and has been here for 20 years now (they're about 30 now...). We taught at the door for a little bit and we were both weirded out a little bit and wanted to leave. However, right then someone else came to the door - a lady from Brazil. My companion and I then sort of split up the task - he talked to the man/woman and I talked to the lady from Brazil. We both placed Books of Mormon and they both committed to read. For me and my experience, it was cool to see how this lady changed - at first she was very doubtful and combatted everything I said, but then I recounted the first vision and bore my testimony and presented the book of mormon. She changed. Right then she stopped speaking, opened up the book, and started reading. My companion had success too - he found out that this person really feels bad for what they've done - every time they pray they ask for forgiveness (they made the choice to change sex about 20 years ago, when they were a young teenager, because they lived in a difficult situation and this person wanted to remove their affiliation with their family, so they changed sex and moved to Italy and left the Phillipines). This person had just finished praying when we knocked on the door! Nothing has come about (that we know about...) from this experience, but it was a cool testimony for us!
Thanks for your thoughts, prayers, and love!
-Anziano Barnes
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