This was a crazy, really good week! I'll give a quick overview and then give the details - we now have 4 people with baptismal dates (all for the 25th of September), Anziano Boscia and I are more united and happy together than ever before, we've had major excursions on our bikes that last over 1 hour each way, and lots of other great things with a bunch of great people!
The African new converts are doing well. We finally got to speak to Emmanuel (well, pretty much - we talked to his brother on the phone while Emmanuel was right there), and now we're going to get the information for him so that he can get to church and so that the missionaries in Napoli can go put an arm around him (and help his brother!). All of the others are doing well. Almost all of them study the Book of Mormon every day (for me this seems to be the key to everything - their wellbeing physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually). One of them we've been helping to recommence a regular study.
Okay, now for the Rodriguez family! We were a little bit worried about them for a while because, even though they were reading, no one had prayed to know if what they were reading was true! And, every time we went, the mother got in the way a little bit, making it difficult to teach and focus on the others that are more ready. However, some awesome miracles happened! One day, when we went, the mother had decided to leave for a little bit (she's usually home all the time). We were able to teach Roberto and Brenda alone. In this visit, we discovered that Roberto already had a testimony of the Book of Mormon and really wanted to be baptized! The next visit (I wasn't there - I was on scambio), the mother was asleep, and they were able to invite Brenda to be baptized - she accepted! She's known the church for a long time (before she went to Canada when she lived in El Salvador she knew the missionaries and attended the church but never wanted to get baptized) and has read the Book of Mormon a couple times as well! Both of them will be baptized September 25. Today when we go to teach we need to teach the word of wisdom - Roberto still smokes, so we need to help him make this change so that he can qualify for baptism. However, they are doing great! It is awesome to see the changes that are happening in their lives!
Tiziano, Daniela, and the kids - Ivan and Vincenzo (and a couple others that are smaller - Margherita and Francesco). Tiziano hurt his foot and he has to stay home (he can't even drive) on Doctor's orders. For a while, Daniela drove and he accompanied her to pick us up and take us to their house. However, but now that the kids are home, they cannot come get us like that - there's not enough room in the car (and the kids aren't old or responsible enough to leave at home alone). The buses don't go out and return often enough, so what did we do? We took the bikes. It's about 20 or 25 km (12-15 miles) one way. So, we take an hour to get out there and an hour to get back. Is it worth it? Definitely. Last saturday we talked with Daniela and Tiziano (alone, without the kids) to tell them that we wanted to start preparing the kids for baptism. Then, yesterday, when we went, we invited them to be baptized! They accepted! They have such wonderful and pure hearts. The spirit was really strong. It really is a joy to work with children! No wonder why christ says that we need to become as a little child! They are preparing to be baptized the 25th of september as well.
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One of the things that I've been working on that has really started to take effect is "opening up." I find it so much easier to talk openly and converse with people (something that I've always thought was a big weakness of mine). Doing this, I've found that it's a whole lot easier to show the love that I feel for others, life is a lot more fun, time goes by quicker, and everything seems to go better. I saw this a lot on my scambio with Anziano Sanders - I don't think I've ever talked so much in my life. Even though it could have potentially been a difficult and "slow" day of lots of finding work, it was really enjoyable and it was one of the fastest days I've ever had. I want to keep working on this aspect of opening up. ...
Here's the story with the pictures: We got electricity! However, the fridge that we had didn't work. But, we didn't realize it until after we had bought our groceries. So, we had to go to the church. To make it worse, we went to the bikes and my front tire was completely flat - there was a thorn. The place to fix the bike is past the church (we don't have stuff at home). So, we had to walk the bikes as well as take all of the food (otherwise we would have lost a lot of time going there and back and back again to fix the bikes). The other problem - Anziano Boscia wasn't able to hold the groceries (he's not strong enough). And, it was hard enough for him to just walk his own bike. So, this is what I came up with... It was super heavy. The next day my shoulders and back were super sore. But, we did it and we didn't lose much time at all!
-Anziano Barnes
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