Ciao!
Dang it! Time isn't slowing
down at all. We've had more miracles and, of course, a lot more
opposition as well. The good news: Luisa (the 10 year old girl that came
to church a week and a half ago) has a baptismal date! She is SO awesome!
She's prayed to know the truth of our message and received an answer. She's
made friends already with all of the kids her age. Her parents, even
though they are accepting of her desire, are still hesitant and a bit
resistant. But, we were talking with the mom about "her desire"
and Luisa butted in and said that her desire was to get baptized, and she wants
do it the 25 of August!
More good news - there's a young man
named Luis that wants to get baptized! He is friends with a new convert. He
has come to church for a while now and Anziano told me (this is what he heard
from other missionaries) that he isn't ready and he can't get baptized. Well,
I wanted to investigate a bit more so we talked with him to try to understand
better, and he is super ready! And, there are no problems! Apparently
there were a lot of miscommunications between him and the missionaries of a
couple months ago. Now, we're finalizing a few things and he'll be able
to be baptized in the next couple weeks!
Unfortunately, Alessio is gone. His
aunt came to Italy, and she and the father of Alessio, combined, had a really
bad influence on Alessio. They're both inactive members of the church and
are quite anti. They were also baptized when they were younger (between
10 and 15) and they said that they made a dumb decision that counts now for
nothing seeing as they are now. They asked Alessio if he wanted to do
this for that end. And, he got confused. Fortunately, the mom is really
desirous that he comes to church and can make his own decision. Right
now, she can't, but she'll be better able after the aunt leaves at the end of
the month. But, in the meantime, she's trying to read the BOM with him
when he's home. There's still hope!
Mimmo is also doing well. He's
cut the amount of cigarettes that he smokes in a day in half. He feels a
lot more at peace with himself and he's opening up a lot more to the spirit. He
still hasn't received his answer, but he's searching and he's trying to change
his life so that he can be better able to feel the spirit's influence in his
life.
Last Saturday was one of the best
days of my life. Not necessarily just because of the things that we did
or the things that happened, but for who I was and how I was helped. It
was the closest I've ever been to being 100% focused on other people and
helping them come unto Christ. I felt awesome! And, we had a bunch
of miracles (it was on a scambio - we found a few people that have now become
new investigators, we set a baptismal date with a man, and I was able to try to
help this missionary and figure out how to open up more and overcome his fear
to talk to people in certain situations)!
Oh, and we've also been having some
cool miracles with some members. I sat down and talked with them for a
while 2 Sundays ago and I challenged them to invite some families over for a
family home evening with the missionaries. They invited one last week
and, even though it was pretty "rocky" (to say the least...), the
people were interested, invited us to their home, and now they're beginning to
read the book of mormon! And, this family has invited now another family
to come over this next saturday! It's great!
For my companionship, Anziano Ibba
and I, things are going great as well! We've committed ourselves to doing
everything we know how to do and we've been finding a lot of joy in doing it! I
mentioned in an earlier letter how Anziano Ibba claimed to be the best
missionary in the world, but just a bit lazy. Well, that laziness doesn't
really exist at all anymore. Now it's just a thing we joke about
together!
I feel awesome! I love my
mission! My desire keeps on getting renewed and built up even more. These
last two weeks are going to be the best!
Vi voglio bene!
-Anziano Barnes
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