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| Anziano Barnes and Anziano Jenson |
Ciao!
I'm still alive. I hope mom hasn't worried too much about me - I finally am able to do email (it's 3 or 4 days late). Why? My P-day got changed. Now I'll be doing P-day on Saturdays. Why? I got called to be an assistant to President Wolfgramm. My new companion is Anziano Jenson. My life is crazy now. I have no idea where to really begin, so I'll just go.
When I was back in Firenze, it was probably one of the most exciting times of my mission. We committed 4 people to baptism! Two of them were Stefano and Katia (the cool Italian couple that came to church last sunday), another was Godsent (the "eternal" african investigator), and Xiomara (you say it like "show-mah-rah"). It's been really cool to especially see the changes in Godsent and Xiomara. Godsent finally decided to "plant the seed in his heart" and start to really be serious and prepare himself to be baptized. Xiomara has been reading the Book of Mormon for the past couple weeks and already has an awesome testimony of it - she took our challenge to start reading (even just open it up) and then God would speak exactly what she needed to her. There was a really strong spirit in the room with her (just to show how amazing she is, she brought a friend from school with her to church to introduce to us) and she got quite emotional after the lesson.
I learned something really powerful this past transfer, and I didn't even realize it until I was gone. I realized how important living the gospel is, and, more than ever before, the doctrine of Christ was really working through me over the past couple weeks. I discovered the great power of faith. A couple weeks ago I kind of knew that I'd be leaving, and I set a goal to leave Firenze with 5 people preparing for baptism, and I truly committed myself to it. And, it happened! It's amazing how working towards righteous goals really is an act of faith - and things will happen! I can't believe how much God has helped me to change and to grow, in all aspects (it's a good thing too - I'm gonna need it...).
And, so, Monday morning I got a call from President Wolfgramm telling me that I'd be the next AP. I had to leave early the next morning. And, since that day was already full with appointments, I had to stay up late finishing my suitcases. Tuesday morning, I set off by myself (that was interesting - I haven't been alone for that long, about 5 or 6 hours, for almost a year and a half!). And, since then, my life has been hectic.
Wednesday morning all of the new missionaries came. We took them to the Duomo in Milano to do some proselyting and then we took them to lunch (we got the same things that I had my first day). These missionaries are awesome. They are some of the most spiritual, humble, and positive missionaries I've ever met. It was really cool also because they all really love missionary work - their favorite part of their first day was contacting people at the Duomo! God blessed us with some cool little miracles! With one missionary, we were struggling to find anyone that would listen to us. I told him we should pray and ask for someone that would be interested. We prayed, and the next one we talked to was interested and this missionary was able to bear testimony and exchange information. It was cool to see him light up! Then, going back on the metro, there was a missionary who seemed a bit apprehensive to talk to people. I came up to him and encouraged him to start talking to the guy beside him. He started to talk with this guy and the guy was awesome - an elect! He doesn't believe in the catholic church anymore but he has a perfect concept of prayer - even how to do it and why God doesn't always give us what we ask for!
Then, on Thursday, we did a training for the new missionaries, and afterwards, we took care of the departing missionaries. We had a really good dinner and then a testimony meeting - it was a really great experience and the spirit was really strong.
Oh, maybe I'll talk now a little bit about my new companion - Anziano Jenson. I love him so much! He's a really loving, friendly, happy, funny, intelligent, and spiritual guy. It's really fun to serve with him and we seem to be able to work pretty unitedly. You'll notice in the pictures that he has some of the funniest expressions possible - don't worry; he's not always like that.
We've only been able to go out twice so far to our proselyting area. We're working with a family right now (Italians). The 16 year old daughter, Jessica, got baptized last week. And, the parents, who initially were completely against the idea of us teaching and baptizing her, are having amazing "changes of heart" and have now accepted baptism (but not a specific date)!
It's a huge change coming here to work in the office as an assistant, and it's been super crazy, but I'm really excited to work with President and my companion to try to make some changes in our mission!
Thanks for all of your prayers!
-Anziano Barnes
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