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
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