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| Milano Zone |
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| Pilar |
Ciao tutti!
It doesn't even
feel like yesterday that I was here writing! I attached a couple of
pictures - the missionary ones are of our zone (the milano zone) and the girl
is Pilar. Here's the update on all of the investigators:
Gianni got married
today! We went to the marriage ceremony and it was pretty interesting -
as far as I know I've never been to one before. That aside, Gianni had
asked me to speak at his marriage. That was fun. Anyway, he is
doing great and he's really excited for his baptism (which will be next
saturday!!!)!
Pilar is also doing
really, really well! We did a practice baptism interview with her today and she
passed. So, she's got the basic doctrinal background and she's living
accordingly! We had a really neat experience with her earlier today -
she's a super sensitive girl, and at the marriage today she got
emotional. She was telling us, after, when we were talking with her, that
she knows that it's going to be like that and some on the day of her baptism.
We're really excited for her because she finally told her sister (who lives in
south america but who will be coming here within a few weeks) about her baptism
and her sister is really happy for her. Now there is someone close to her
in her family who supports her! The sister asked if Pilar would change
her baptism to when she could be there, but PIlar says that she wants to be
baptised on the 9th still - one because she really wants the blessings that
will come, and 2 because it is already a special day for her. We'll
see. But, we're really happy with how well she is doing!
Francisco is also
doing well (he is the one that I talked about who the surprise less active
showed up to)! He has been listening to the Book of Mormon on cd and he
usually does it for a little bit more than an hour! He's excited for his
baptism. He didn't understand super well why exactly he needs to be
baptized in this church and not in another (other than that he just feels that
this is right), so we've been trying to keep on emphasining the authority of
the priesthood. We had a cool lesson with him the other day - we were
teaching the plan of salvation. We have a bit of a language barrier, so
it's often hard to help him understand everything. And, he's not one to speak
up if he hasn't understood exactly. Anyway, we were really blessed and
helped this past time because, as we asked questions to check his
comprehension, he responded wonderfully - sometimes better than we had taught
it. I guess that means that the Spirit was the one teaching him!
We've only seen
Victor once this week. He was doing pretty well then - we taught about
the word of wisdom and he already lives 100% according to it!
Joe is also doing
really well. We had finally figured out why he wasn't progressing very
much - he couldn't understand hardly at all anything that he read in the BOM
(he reads super slow and his understanding isn't super high from what we've
seen). So, we gave him the BOM on cd! We gave that to him
yesterday, so we'll see if he's listened or not tomorrow when he comes to
church. However, he gives us hope because when he prayed yesterday, he
said one of the most beautiful and sincere prayers I ever heard. He
really wants to know if these things are true and will do everything that he
can to find out!
Nelson, Marvin, and
Alba are also doing better! They started reading again the BOM, and, of
course, you can see (literally, see) a difference! There is light in
their countenances again! Nelson brought a friend and Alba's sister came
as well. So, now we're trying to help all of them. It's a bit difficult
because they are all on different levels and they all are progressing at
different rates. So, we'll see what we can do! Oh, I need to
share the thing that seemed to change everything - we finally were able to
bring a member with us, and his testimony was wonderful. When we left
their house, there was an incredible spirit there, and it was after that lesson
that they began again to read the BOM and make progress! So, we're bringing
members still - it works!
Here's a cool
little miracle that I had on an exchange this past week. President
Wolfgramm has been teaching us some new things (and so has the spirit) so we've
been putting them into practice. We planned one night to find 2 people: a
person who really felt the weight of sin and needed to hear about
repentance and forgiviness, and a person who really needed to have hope in
Christ (we planned that they would be in a really difficult situation right now
so hearing about what Christ can do for us would be exactly what they
needed). We prepared finding approaches about how to start talking with
people. We went out trying to find them. And, here's what happened:
My companion started talking to a lady on a bench using the approach he came up
with (he did the one on hope through Christ), and it was perfect! She
asked us to sit down with her. We talked with her for about 30 or minutes
or so. In the end, she said that she wants to get baptized! Here's
the cool part, however. She knew a couple missionaries in the past.
And, a couple weeks ago, she had randomly called the missionaries there asking
if they could go see her (but she lived too far away). God made us find
this lady in the actual city right during this time of her need! So,
visualizing people spiritually instead of physically plus planning out what you
are going to teach and how to approach really does work!
The conferences
this week again went great! Now, finally, we are done! But, it's
just the beginning... We sat down with president Wolframm yesterday to
discuss reccomendations for transfers, and tomorrow night we'll meet with him
again to finalized the transfers for next week. That means that next week
is going to be super busy and crazy with the new and departing
missionaries. I'm excited!
This week, at one
of the conferences, I was overcome with love for the missionaries there.
I don't think I've ever felt so much for people in my life! I had a
similar feeling the next day at the next conference as well! It was so
cool! My prayers are getting a lot better - I think I had another one of
my best prayers last night - I felt supercharged after I had finished.
I'm really grateful for how much God has set me up to learn and grow, and I'm
thankful for how much I have and still am growing. I want to become even
more converted and even more committed to the Lord's work! And, piano
piano, it's happening (piano piano = "small small" or slowly)!
Vi voglio bene!
-Anziano Barnes
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