This past week was hard. It was one of those weeks that we didn't see a lot of success - especially as far as numbers are concerned... However, I learned A TON! As I look back, I've seen a little bit how the Lord has been purifying me and helping me to become more the servant He needs. I feel more and more like a missionary - I think I'm just beginning to experience what it is like to "be" a missionary rather than just "do" missionary things. More than anything, I really want to invite and help others come unto Christ.
However, even with a hard week, there was still a lot of awesome things that happened! One day we biked 33.7 miles (we have an odometer...). One of the areas that we felt like we needed to go to was super far away. By the time we got out there, we had less than an hour to work in the area before we had our next commitment. However, we found the family that was waiting for us! A mom and her son opened the door. They're from Cuba. We began talking about the family and the conversation quickly moved on to Joseph Smith (I don't remember how it happened...). In the background, the TV was on. We didn't worry too much about it (we were at the door - the father wasn't in the home so we had to stay outside). However, we started reciting the first vision. A few seconds into it, the boy, probably about 10 years old, walked off towards the television. At first, I thought we'd lost his interest, but, to our surprise, he went and turned off the TV and hurried back to listen. The Spirit at that moment was incredible. We happened to have a Book of Mormon in Spanish with us (we usually don't have them in Spanish because 90% of the city or more is Italian...), so we were able to give it to them. Then, near the end of our encounter, while we were exchanging contact information, the boy took the book, sat on the couch, and opened it up, beginning to read. They had to leave the next day for vacation, but they gave us the date they're returning and said we could come back!
Another cool story: Doing laundry gets a bit difficult when you don't have a washing machine that is hooked up or power in the apartment (our house situation still hasn't improved much...). So, we had to go to a laundromat. We walked in and looked at the machines, confused at what we were supposed to do. A few seconds later, a mom and a daughter (the daughter was probably 13, the mom early 30s). We asked for help and they showed us what to do. The mom knew some English, so when we wouldn't understand something she would try a little bit in English. We got talking while we got our laundry going. Then, the owner of the shop came out and joined in the conversation. She knew missionaries in the past because she used to go to an English class that they did. She talked about how fun it was and how nice the missionaries were, and how she had learned a little bit about the church and had received a Book of Mormon (the missionaries took little opportunities to share spiritual thoughts and give all of the students Books of Mormon). Before giving us much of a chance to talk to her more, she left to go to lunch. However, this helped this mother and daughter have greater interest. We were able to teach them the message of the restoration! The mom, Simona, was impressed that we'd give Books of Mormon away. She committed to read it and to pray to know if it is true! They, too, had to go on vacation (that's why they were at the laundromat - preparing their clothes so that they could leave the next day...). But, with them as well, they gave us the date that they're coming back and said that they would love to meet with us again!
We've been reaching out to our neighbors as well (there are 4 of them - still 145 empty rooms...). We had baked some cookies, so we took a few cookies around to our neighbors and introduced ourselves. We were able to establish a great relationship with a couple of them (not all were home). One of them we started teaching, and another we want to try to start teaching this next week. The guy we started teaching is named Nikko. He's from Lithuania. He believes in God because one day, several years ago, he was on a boat that started to sink. He was out in the water, in the night, for over 8 hours. He got to a point when he felt like he had nothing left, so he decided to pray (he never was very religious, but his wife was, and he'd gone to the catholic church a few times with her). Right after his prayer, he felt something like a big slap on his face and he regained all of his attentiveness and was renewed in strength. Then, right after, he saw 4 rescue boats and he was saved. Last night we gave him a Book of Mormon in Lithuanian and taught him how to pray. It's a bit difficult - he doesn't speak super well and he loves to talk (an interesting combination...). We'll have to see how we can focus the lessons a little bit more and teach him more of the restored truth. However, we see this man every day (he's the groundskeeper), so hopefully we can help him come unto Christ!
That's basically my week!
Thanks for your love and support!
-Anziano Barnes
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