This week was pretty good. We've started working more with the members, and so far it has been going really well. Everyone we teach has left feeling very edified, and all of them have thanked us a ton for what we had done for them. It's cool to think that we are doing "finding work" by teaching the members and helping them become missionaries as they love, serve, and pray for their friends (and then, of course, introduce them to us)!
We had an amazing lesson with Fernando! He came up with something while he was studying the scriptures that turned out to be perfect. I don't know if I'll be able to explain it very well, but in the end it helped him understand a lot more about the plan of salvation - our purpose here on earth, why there is opposition, and lots of other things like that. It was a really interesting thing that he came up with, but the Lord works in "mysterious ways" (the weirdest thing is how he came up with it - he said it came to him after reading the part in 1 Nephi where Lehi says to one of his sons that he wants them to be like the river, always flowing unto righteousness... I have no idea how that is related...). In the end, he prayed to God again and said another beautiful prayer. He's out of town this week, but we're trying to maintain some phone contact and to make those brief visits as spiritual as we can.
Unfortunately, Anziano Wilkinson hasn't been getting much better - that is, physically. He's happy as ever (he actually seems happier - maybe it's just a contrast...), but his body isn't quite as good. This past sunday he was as tired - exhausted - as he's ever been. I've never seen someone look so rough; he had nothing left. Even the members in church came up to him and were asking what was wrong. Since coming back after church, we've been in the house and he's been resting. We still don't know what the problem is. We went to a doctor here in Milan last Friday, and all he did was prescribe some drugs to help him mentally - mostly to help with anxiety so that he could sleep well. He has been sleeping more, but I think it's more of a case that he was so tired that he could not physically remain awake. Fortunately, with the couple days of rest, he's got a bit more energy and feels a tiny bit better (but now his stomach is going crazy again). We need to figure out what is wrong soon, because none of the things that the different doctors have tried to do for him have changed anything. Keep him in your prayers.
So, since we were in the house, I've had a lot of time to study. And, actually, I got to enjoy something that I haven't really done for a long time - sing! I bought a CD that has about an hour worth of hymns in Italian (a guy sings the melody and there is accompaniment). So, I opened up my Italian hymnbook and sang the bass line, harmonizing with the guy on the cd. It was really fun and spiritually edifying. It's cool how I can still achieve my missionary purpose to "invite others to come unto Christ" and help them do it also while we stay inside, for my companion is one of those "others" that can come to Christ! This difficult time has definitely strengthened our love for each other and we've been helping each other grow spiritually. And we've still been blessed as far as the work is concerned. Let me share a little story...
Yesterday we got a call from a guy named Efrian. He comes to church every once in a while (he's actually studying with a lot of churches right now...), we've taught him a few times, but he never has wanted to pray to ask if our church is the right one (he's pretty stubborn and it's really difficult sometimes to teach him). However, he called us yesterday and said he was on the metro and was passing by our stop, and that he had some fruit that he wanted to give us. Okay... I prayed really quickly of what I could do for him, and a couple verses and a couple passages in a Joseph Smith pamphlet came to mind. So, I wrote him a little note/testimony and left the things I wanted him to look over. The things that came to mind were perfect for him and his situation. Anyway, we live right next to the metro stop so we hurried and put shoes on and walked outside to meet him. He gave us the fruit and we gave him our little message, which he committed to do (and then he also said that he is going to come to church this next week with us, and he wants to have a lesson with us right before - we didn't have to ask anything!). Then, all of a sudden, one of his friends came out of the metro, and he introduced us to him. Now, this friend will be coming to church on sunday and hopefully also to the lesson. It's cool that even our "not progressing" investigators are doing missionary work for us! The Lord blessed us with this cool little miracle, even though we had to stay in for Anziano Wilkinson.
Anyway, I'm so happy that I can be a missionary right now - there isn't anything that I'd rather be doing (well, I wouldn't mind being able to do this a little bit better...)!
Thanks for your love and prayers!
-Anziano Barnes
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