Christmastime in Florence is great!

Ciao tutti!  Christmas in Firenze was great!

We had to do a lot of finding work this past week because we couldn't see any of our investigators - things just fell through.  But, there were reasons!  One of the most evident days of this was last thursday.  We had 6 appointments set up for the day, and 0 went through!  For one of them, we were supposed to meet a man at the station but he had missed his train and couldn't come.  Our back-up plan was to try to talk to people at the station.  Usually, I wouldn't want to stay there to find new investigators because it is mostly tourists and drunkards, but we decided that we would do it this time because we had planned it.  And, a miracle happened!  We were talking to a lady, and then a man came up and tapped me on the shoulder.  He had a huge smile on his face and asked who I was and if I remembered him.  He said he was from Prato (my first city).  I recognized his face, but I couldn't remember at all who he was.  I talked with him and slowly, with some of the things he was talking about, figured out who it was - his name is Aldo.  He's from Peru.  He was less active when he was in Prato, but while I was there he was starting to come back and we were helping him out.  However, at that point, I had left prato.  A couple months later, he moved to Firenze and couldn't find the church, and, over the next couple months, lost complete contact with the church.  But, because we were in that zone in that time, he was able to find us and we were able to help him know where to go and we got him recommitted to read the Book of Mormon every day and to come back to church!  Later that night, after another appointment fell through, we met another member, but this one has been less active for 30 years.  But, it was cool because she opened up a lot to us and expressed her love that she had for the missionaries that had taught her and the joy that she had felt those many years ago.  We really want to help her come back!

The holidays here were fantastic!  We were able to know the members here a lot better.  Friday night there was a christmas party that we were able to try to invite nonmembers and less actives to so that they could mingle with the members.  That was a fun (and strange) party (and of course they gave us tons of food)!  On Christmas Eve we went to a Brasilian family's home.  They had brought a friend (that came to church and wants to meet with us now)!  And, of course, they gave us a ton of good food (lots and lots of grilled meats - chicken, steak, ribs, and even chicken hearts)!  After them, we went to midnight mass.  Where?  THE Duomo of Firenze (the huge one with the big domes).  It was really cool to be inside and marvel at the architecture and it was interesting (but a little boring) to watch their services.  Our christmas day was great too!  We went to church and then after went to an Italian family's home.  They had also invited several of the single ladies in the branch (one from Peru, one from the USA, one from Russia with her 17 year old son, and one from Albania).  It was a lot of fun to be with them.  And, we were able to have the full-on Italian meal plus foods from each of the other international people that came!  Then, of course, the coolest part of Christmas came - calling my family!

That evening, we visited another member family - the Zahorskys.  The husband is from Slovakia and the wife is from Peru.  Being with them was awesome because we were able to help them open up a lot - the husband recounted his conversion story and the wife talked about her mission and bore her testimony and even started to cry!  It was a really nice, uplifting experience (and the food was really good too!).

The next day, we had lunch with another Italian family.  She had invited her daughter and the rest of her family.  Who was it?  A family from Prato that I knew!  The father was the one that spoke French that helped to resolve all of Blanchard's problems over the phone a couple of months ago that made Blanchard want to be baptized!  I finally was able to tell him the wonderful results of his call and thank him in person.  There, again, we had a ton of food - another full Italian feast (yeah, that's right, that makes 4 days straight of being stuffed non-stop; yesterday was great - I had almost forgotten what feeling a little bit of hunger was like)!  Again, there, there was a great spirit and the members were really able to open up to us, share some amazing experiences, and share their testimonies.  I absolutely love the members here! ...

Thanks for your love and support!

Happy new year!

-Anziano Barnes

Christmas Day!

A screenshot of a wonderful video skype call from a member's home in Florence!

We enjoyed a 40-minute skype call with Anziano Barnes on Christmas morning! The members are taking good care of the missionaries, especially making sure they don't go hungry! Midnight mass at the famous Duomo in Firenze, lots of visits and food with members, and a phone call home makes a great Christmas!

Christmas Concert; Investigators from Peru

Ciao!

Oh, just a cool note...  I finally got a hold of Anziano Knutson (from the MTC).  He is serving right now in Palermo, where Anziano Boscia is from!  He knows his family really well - they go over quite often for lunch! Let me tell you about the week.

Eze is doing awesome (he's Godsent's friend from Nigeria)!  He came to church and loved it again.  In fact, in one of the lessons we were reading from the conference ensign, and after the first couple things we read (and we hadn't even explained what it was) he said that he wanted one.  After I explained what it was, it only increased his desire to have one!  As he continues to learn more about the gospel, he gets more and more excited to be baptized!  He's one of the most solid investigtors I've ever had - he is available often, he shows up to appointments, he always answers his phone, and he embraces the gospel!...

We have 2 absolutely amazing new investigators - Greta and Juan.  They're from Peru.  Greta is about 25 and Juan is her dad, about 50.  They came to a baptismal service last saturday and felt great and made some friends.  Then, last sunday, they came to a christmas concert and loved that as well. Afterwards, we taught them with a member that completely made the lesson.  By the end of the lesson and prayer (which Juan was saying), Juan, Greta, and Tessy (the member) were in tears.  It was really cool because Juan is pretty hard-headed.  When we met them on the street a couple weeks ago he tried to go away as Greta talked with us.  He came reluctantly to the baptism.  And, he came again to the concert.  I was able to connect really well with him (he's a really funny guy - he has a really sarcastic, serious humor - so I was able to joke and laugh with him).  He opened up and softened up a lot.  Greta, on the other hand, has been really strong from the start - she's super outgoing and fun to talk to, and she just loves everything that we give her!

Like I just mentioned, on sunday there was a Christmas concert.  This worked a miracle for me in a really interesting way.  My love for people grew.  I don't really know how, but being there, seeing lots of beautiful families (many that I knew from Prato and others that I am beginning to love here in Florence) with their tiny and energetic children and the happiness on their countenances did this for me.  Also, I was able to give all of myself to the investigators that we had there - Greta and Juan.  It's been a long time since I've been able to connect so well spirit to spirit with an investigator and experience so much joy together.  I'm so grateful for that little tender mercy of the Lord in helping me love others more fully and want to continue to do so.

Buon natale!

Buone feste!

Auguri!

-Anziano Barnes

"Exploding" work continues; Anziano Heninger transferred

Ciao!

The beginnings of the "exploding" in our work are coming through finally!  We now have a couple investigators that are working to be baptized - Massimo and Eze!  And, it's about time that it happens, for the transfer is over.  Anziano Heninger is going to be going away.  He'll be opening a new companionship in a city by Milano (Vercelli) and he is going to train one more time!  And, to make it better, he is going to be living in the same apartment as Anziano Boscia, my past companion!  I'm super excited for both of them (and really excited for Anziano Boscia because he will be district leader - it's a good time for him to have some responsibility).  I will be staying here and Anziano Lusvardi will be coming.  He came into the MTC a few weeks after I did, so we knew each other there.  He's from Provo and I'm looking forward to serving with him.

Here's the investigator update: Massimo is an Italian man who came to church with a member friend (this friend is a bit strange - we taught with him once and then never again - we were able to teach better with other members that Massimo has clicked with).  He absolutely loves coming to church and last Saturday he came to a baptismal service and loved that as well!  His story is cool because he didn't accept the date right away.  He said that when he knows he needs to be baptized that he will do it, but wouldn't commit to a date (that was the last we heard).  Then, before church, we were talking to the member friend who introduced him to the church (the strange one) who told us that when he was talking with Massimo, Massimo had told him that he was going to be baptized on January 7 (the day that we proposed to him)!  He is still very early on in the conversion process, but he is open and humble and ready to make changes in his life!

The other man, Eze, is a Nigerian friend that Godsent brought to church this past Sunday.  And, as we were teaching him yesterday, he accepted baptism!  If all goes well and as planned, he'll be baptized on January 14.

We also are teaching a Peruvian couple that are doing really well.  They, however, have not yet come to church (we've taught them for 3 weeks) and they are living together.  But, they came to the baptismal service on Saturday and felt "peace" and "happiness" from inside that "is difficult to explain;" they felt the spirit!

Right now we are finding and "going through" a lot of investigators.  These are the ones that are making the most progress.

There are many things now that I am trying to be better at.  One is my scripture study.  The last few days, I completely changed the way I study and mark my scriptures - and it works perfectly for me.  I've been learning so much more and my Book of Mormon study that I make sure to do every morning is so much more edifying.  Also, my prayers have gotten a lot better - I feel like I'm really talking to my Heavenly Father.  They are much less selfish, and thereby, in doing so, I've been receiving a lot more guidance of how to help the people that I'm working with.

I want to tell a cool miracle that happened this past week.  The miracle was Saturday.  It started out rough.  We were supposed to pick up our bikes saturday morning (they broke and we left them there Friday afternoon - they said they would be done saturday morning).  Well, the store was closed - we were without bikes.  Anyway, that was just a little obstacle, the bigger problem was that. that morning, I had woken up with a really bad cold.  I was feeling miserable - I felt a little bit light headed, I had a bit of a headache, and my stomach started to hurt (like the beginning of pains from the flu).  But, I knew that I could keep going - it was just a cold and it was hit just a bit harder that day and I still had enough energy to go around. So, even though many times the temptation came to give in a bit and try to take it easy at home, I decided not to.  I realized that I was just complaining about myself selfishly and I decided that I would try thinking of others.  Even though the pain didn't really go away, my attitude took a 180 degree turn and I was able to do what I needed to.  Anyway, I kept on enduring all day long and resisting thoughts about stopping.  I think God recognized my sacrifice and how deep down I really wanted to do what was right, and he blessed us - a ton!  We found a bunch of new investigators, had a couple powerful lessons with the investigators that are making progress, we had 6 investigators come to and love the baptismal service later that evening, and we even were given some great food!  When we do the right thing, even when it's hard, God really will bless us!

Grazie di tutto!

-Anziano Barnes

Florence is exploding, 25 new investigators

Anziano Ballif, Droghei, Heninger, Barnes, and Sorella Bishop and Lloyd

WOW!  We had another incredible week here in Firenze!  Our work had hit its low point, but now it is getting ready to explode!  Let me tell you about what happened!...

Sunday was a day of miracles!  We were supposed to have 5 lessons set up with people that day but they all fell through.  We had to find people all day long (after church).  To make it worse, it was pouring down rain.  We decided that we would be as diligent as possible and we gave it our all.  We ended up finding an old investigator that is now making progress again (he had come across some anti-mormon material and we were able to clear things up).  We found a Cuban named Kemuel that seems golden!  He accepted the soft baptismal invite!  Then, at 8:20, we needed to find one more person and teach them a lesson in order to reach our goals for that whole week.  We were riding our bikes and I had just finish praying - feeling a little bit bad because I wasn't at 100% in performance but I felt like my desires and faith were sky high - and then Anziano Heninger said hi to a guy on the street.  This guy responded really friendly so as I approached him I slowed down my bike and stopped him.  He is awesome!  His name is Marco - he's a 21 year old Italian kid that also seems golden.  We were only able to be with him for about 10 minutes because he had to be somewhere, but from what we discovered about him he is incredible!  He lives right next to where they are building a new church building.  He mentioned this new church and said that he would always go to it when it was finished (he had no idea that it was our church).  We made that connection for him and gave him a Book of Mormon.  He is super excited to start reading and to start attending our church!

On Monday I did another scambio.  I was with Anziano Droghei, a missionary in his 2nd transfer that is absolutely incredible.  ... We had a lot of cool miracles together in finding new people and helping the people that they have that are preparing for baptism. We stopped everyone and therefore we were put in exactly the right places and exactly the right times to find a few new people to teach, we helped people open up to us and then get touched by the spirit. Oh, one thing that I should add - we had to sacrifice a lot (but we were blessed later...).  We started the scambio right after district meeting that went a little long, and then we had to ride slow on bikes because his brakes went out, and we had an appointment early in the afternoon. Anyway, we decided that we would skip lunch (and that we'd just have a huge feast after the night was over...) and go close to the apointment and try to find people for the few minutes before the appointment.  Anyway, even though we got kind of hungry, we were greatly blessed.  One of the people we talked with gave us a full Pandoro with chocolate, and the other Anziani surprised us and bought us pizza!  The promises about being blessed both physically and spiritually are true!

I said earlier that our work is about to explode.  Why?  In the past 15 days we have found more than 25 new investigators (I've never come even close to a number like that - I don't know if I've even got to half that amount before).  So many of them seem so golden and ready!  We have couples, full families, and individuals, and they're from all over the world - Italians, south americans, people from the phillipines, people from Africa, and even people from Eastern Europe (we don't have any north americans yet...)!  We hope that we can help at least a few of these people come unto Christ!

I've been continuing to grow exponentially.  I love being with Anziano Heninger - just being with him makes me want to be the very best I can be, and he does so much for my growth just with his incredible positive influence.  My heart is being purified even more and my desires are coming much more in line with what they should be (well, the desires for things that don't matter are getting "choked" as I'm trying to help desires "spring forth" and "flourish" from charity and other christlike attributes).  I'm getting better at realizing the role that Christ's atonement is playing in my own life, and that's helping me have an even greater desire to help others apply it in their lives as well.  In this way I am grateful for my weaknesses and such, for they allow me to put into practice the gospel of Christ by exercising faith and repenting - truly changing who I am to be able to be in harmony with God's will - even though often, in the moment, I wish that the weaknesses would just become strengths right away!  But, it's okay, I'm finding a lot of joy in the process!

-Anziano Barnes

Italian Turns Spanish; and the Book of Mormon Miracle

A couple really cool miracles happened during our finding work this past week.  One night Anziano Heninger was unlocking the bikes and I saw a lady and stopped her.  She was south american and seemed to speak mostly Spanish.  I began to talk to her (in Italian - I don't know Spanish).  After a bit, it was my companion's turn (he speaks spanish, and during that time he was doing some Italian and some Spanish).  The lady, however, responded quite interestingly.  She looked at him and said "You (Anziano Heninger) speak less Spanish than him (me)."  The words that I had spoked to her in Italian, were heard by her as Spanish!  It was a really cool miracle because she probably wouldn't have stopped if she couldn't have understood well what I was saying.  But, because the Spirit made her understand, we were able to stop her and later teach her!  By the way, after that first time of hearing Spanish from me, it never worked again...

Here's another cool miracle.  We were talking to a lady named Siriana.  We had just pulled out the Book of Mormon and testified of it.  Then, she took it and said that she would open the book at random to read something.  What did she open to?  Moroni 10:3-5.  I couldn't believe it!  I told her how that was "one of my very favorite parts" and indicated the verses in question.  As she was reading, I kept looking back at my companion, marveling and trying to hold back the laughs that derived from my great joy from God's hand in that lesson!

Yesterday, I was able to go get my permesso in Pavia (= a long day of trains).  It actually only took out 4 hours of our actual work time, for we traveled in the night and we did a bunch of our "P-day time" on the train (time to write letters or other stuff).  This time turned out to be a huge blessing.  I learned so much!  I was given the next big way I have to change as a person - I realized something that I had never seen before, something that I never considered to be a form of pride, but that I learned really was.  I don't have a specific game plan yet of how I am going to change, but I am really excited to grow to the next level and become more like our Savior. Actually, I have been trying one thing - I ask myself "Why am I doing this?  Is it because I love these people?"  This has helped me quite a bit so far. I also was rebuked a little bit by the spirit because I realized that I am focusing way too much on myself.  I realized that one source of that comes from my prayers - they are much too selfish!  I am now trying to make sure I focus on others - that is, in fact, what I am here to do - invite OTHERS to come unto Christ (and as I do that fully, THEN I also will better be able to come unto Him).  Also, I got a cool insight to one of my questions.  I want to "know" Christ better.  And, I've always thought that this would come through study.  However, I learned that it will actually come more through actions, by trying to be who Christ is and do as He does.  Then, to build on this cool stuff I learned, Anziano Heninger shared something that he learned that made some things click for me.  My mission will be a springboard and also a reflection of the rest of my life.  If I cannot love someone, be patient, sacrifice (or do/be anything else) now as I am a full-time servant of the Lord, how in the world will I be able to when I get back to a normal life?!  It was a good wake-up call for me because there is still a lot that can and needs to be changed!  But, this is great!  I'm really excited to have some more changing to do - this is the way that I can put into practice the Gospel and apply Christ's atonement in my life!

And, yeah, those are the highlights of my week!

Vi Voglio bene!

-Anziano Barnes