This week has been super awesome!!!
Unfortunately, we've hit a wall with all of our investigators - we haven't been able to see them and they haven't been progressing. But, other miracles are coming. On Sunday, we did splits with a few young men. I went out with a boy named Andrea and another named Mario (Pilar's boyfriend). They both had a good time. Andrea had to leave a bit early, so Mario and I had a little bit of time alone together. One thing to note - he's never liked the idea of a mission too much (he doesn't want to leave the girl, other friends, the possibility of working, and "losing" 2 years). But, after Andrea left, i asked Mario what he had been thinking about a mission recently. He told me, "I'm sure now." I asked if he was sure if he was going or sure if he would not be going. He replied that he wanted to go. I asked when he had changed his mind. "Today," he said. He was feeling the spirit of missionary work! And, even if there were lots of people that shut doors in our faces, we had a good time and were able to help people come to Christ!
On Monday we did the last of the conferences. Again, it went great (this one was probably the best we've had)! The picture I attached is of me and my zone at the conference!
Tuesday we went to do a scambio with the Anziani in Verona! I was with Anziano Parker (who was in the MTC group right above me - he was the missionary that we all admired). It went great! We were going around to knock on doors when we saw an open door at one of the apartment buildings. We went in and walked up a couple of stories and there was another open door leading into a house. We rang the doorbell and someone yelled to come in. We walk in and we see three ladies! One is an active member. Another, as we find out, is a less-active. And, the other wasn't a member. As we began to teach and invite them, we asked for the member's testimony, and she did great! And, then, we set up a return appointment for later that evening when the non-member lady's whole family would be home. We went back that night and had a great lesson with them!
On Wednesday we had a scambio with the zone leaders in Milano. I worked still in our area. We had several cool miracles. The first was that we had planned to go to a park and due to some craziness we only had a few minutes. But, we found right away exactly the people who we had planned to find - a young couple trying to learn if God really exists. They were super interested in the BOM, so we gave them one, but they're going out of town for vacation until september. We have their contact info so we can keep in touch a little bit as they're gone and then we'll get back in touch once they're back!
Then, we went to knock on some doors. The 4th or 5th door we knock on is opened by a man from Napoli who lets us in. This is one of the coolest miracles of my mission (just a header). He was super down due to his lost job, a comlete lack of money, and zero success in finding new work. A few hours earlier that day he was wondering if he should kill himself. Then, we show up. He was super humble and listed really intently. He accepted the Book of Mormon and baptism. As he said the closing prayer, tears came to his eyes. He asked us after the prayer "Who are you? Are you angels? Did God send you?" We set up a return appointment and we are so excited for when we get to see him again!
On Thursday we went to Torino for another scambio. This one was also full of miracles. It was cool because it seemed that the people that we found were the ones where it took extra effort or going way out of a normal comfort zone. We found a guy who was sleeping on a park bench but that we woke up. We taught him. We found a college student who was on his bike at a stoplight who talked with us for a little more than 5 minutes, pedaling slowly beside us as we spoke. We found a young mother who is thinking about getting baptized (right now she thinks she wants to do it in another religion) even though it was a strange situation - it was at a park by a swingset; she was with her son on one swing and there was a another lady with her child at the swing right by it; we talked with the other lady first and she wasn't interested, and this mom that we found was listening to everything we said; but, that doesn't matter, we talked with her anyway and she was interested and we set up a return appointment! Then, we were waiting for a bus after 9:30 (when we sould be back) and there was a really cute girl that walked by; we talked to her and she was super interested in the BOM and we exchanged information right as her bus came and she got on!
I'm feeling better than ever! I feel like I'm finally getting close to who I've been wanting to become! I've never felt so helped and lifted during trainings or exchanges, and I've never felt like I've been able to help people - especially the missionaries I worked with - come closer to Christ!
Vi voglio bene!
-Anziano Barnes
No comments:
Post a Comment