This week has been a little bit different because it has included a very different type of missionary work - literally "missionary" work. We've spent the week training the missionaries in our mission (we'll do it all next week too!). It's been a really neat experience getting to know the missionaries, loving them, serving them, and helping them improve. I think one of the neatest things for me to experience was the qualifying power of the Lord - I was able to do things way beyond what I normally could do.
As far as our work in Lodi is concerned, nothing has really changed other than the fact that we received several referrals at the end of last week. We'll be following up with those and hoping that something comes of them!
The first couple days of the week were cool because it was amazing to experience first-hand the process of revelation. It took a lot of praying, studying, and planning, but it all turned out. The coolest part for me was to see how what I came up with was exactly the same as what President Wolfgramm did (the areas in which we needed to train, the results we wanted, and even what to do for a role play)! And, it's been super-relieving to hear people tell us after the trainings that they came with lots of questions and left with answers to them all! The Spirit works!
The big focus of our training is helping the missionaries see things as they really are - how the Spirit shows us. When we can see God, ourselves, and those around us for what they are (God= our Heavenly Father who is involved in every aspect of the work, We= called of God and handplaced where we are to work miracles in His behalf, They= children of God who are being prepared to receive the gospel and who need it to be happy now and to have eternal life after). We used these points to emphasize our finding work (that we need to talk with everyone and really get to know them - our desire to find and our ability to teach with power increases dramatically when we can see people the way that God does), using the Book of Mormon (it's the tool that can fix pretty much any problem), and our teaching (that the most important part of teaching is inviting people to make commitments, because it is by keeping commitments that people become converted - we need to see how God works in people as they keep their commitments). I could go on for a couple hours about this stuff (I learn more and more and become more passionate every time we teach other missionaries), but I won't. Anyway, I love these principles because when we can truly understand this part, all of the little technicalities fall into place. It's great! it's been cool to see how the missionaries have responded to the training.
I've been able to see some cool parts of the mission that I've never seen before (more of Genova, Torino, Como) and see some of my past companions (Anziano Boscia and Anziano Heninger) and meet a ton of missionaries that I've never seen before! It really is exciting!
Thanks for your prayers, and your continued ones will be great - especially that we don't wear out completely (we're already starting to get tired, and we're only about 20% through - we've got 2 more full weeks, and these ones will be even more intense because we're throwing exchanges in between everything)!
Vi voglio bene!
-Anziano Barnes
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