Buon giorno tutti! Today it's a beauuutttiifffuulll RAINY day! Haha we are in the Church basically in the middle of a hurricane. It rains SO much here apparently right before winter, so we are in for a treat! Haha I took a video of us walking in the middle of it all, we got sooo drenched! haha it was to the point where the water was basically going through the umbrellas. Haha it's a good time. I actually love the rain, so it's okay for me. But our poor pamphlets are soaked. But anywayyssss... so the work here is going great! We have made soooo many calls, (like over 100) to potential investigators, and have set up some great appointments. We are really excited to be here, it's a city with a lot of need for missionaries, and a lot of people willing to learn. We are doing a lot of Street contacting (well, when it's not raining) which has been going well! The days pretty much roll together we are so busy, haha.
I read a wonderful quote the other day from Elder David A. Bednar (I have found so many great talks these past few weeks!). He said something to the effect of "We will see more success in our prayers if we pray not for our circumstances to change, but instead for the capacity to overcome the circumstances we are presently in." He talked about Nephi, when he was bound with rope by his wicked brothers. When Nephi prayed to be loosed he didn't pray for God to unloosen the bands, or to change his circumstances in any way (which is what I would have prayed for I'm sure), but instead he said " ...give me strength, yea even that I may burst these bands with which I am bound..." Wow. Can you imagine the faith that he must have had? He knew that God could give him the strength to change his own circumstances, even to burst the ropes that held him. That was a profound lesson that I learned...that we are going to have hard times. We just will. But that instead of pleading with God to change our circumstances, we should plead with him to give us the strength to confront and overcome the challenges that we are facing. I thought that was great :)
Wow, this computer is set to Italian, so basically all my words are underlined in red for misspelling...so forgive me if I don't spell stuff right, no spellcheck. haha.
So anyways..what else is new...oh! I read another quote in...I can't remember where,...awkward...haha oh well! But it was Thomas S. Monson who said "...Young men, I hope you appreciate the sacrifices your parents make for you to be able to come on a mission...Their labors will sustain you, their faith encourage you, and their prayers will uphold you. A mission is a family affair." So I just wanted to thank you all for your support. I know that you have made many sacrifices for me to come out here. and I have felt the strength of your prayers. I love you all!
So, our miracle! This past week we had a wonderful miracle with one of our investigators. We found her while doing strada (which in itself was a wonderful miracle also!) and set up an appointment with her. Our lesson About the restoration was wonderful; the spirit was so powerful as we bore our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and our Savior, Jesus Christ (which we later found out she had never known about), which in fact is our miracle. A few hours after our wonderful lesson we received a text message from her saying "grazie per conoscere me Gesù" which we took to mean "thank you for helping me to know about Jesus." Our hearts were touched as we thought back to during the lesson in the Church when she was staring at the big picture of Jesus coming out of his tomb with wonder in her eyes. There are wonderful people here in Italy who are kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it. I can't imagine what life would be like without knowing the we have a Savior who died for us, and now lives for us, who can help us through every single trial, every single hardship, because he has been there before. What a privilege it is to be a representative of Him, and declare His reality to those who simply have never been given the opportunity.
Well family and friends, I love you all and thank you for all you do for me. I am so thankful to have been blessed with such wonderful people in my life to give me strength in the tough times. Being a missionary is such a blessing, I wake up every day so thankful (and also exhausted...but still thankful! haha) for the opportunity I have to declare the truth all day long. I love testifiying of our Savior, and as a missionary we truly can feel a special part of the love that He and our Heavenly Father have for those we teach. We are all one big family, brothers and sisters, and we are all here to help each other find the light. What a special time we live in! :)
Oh! also, I was reading my setting apart blessing that I recieved before I left (thanks Aunt Raelyn, Tiffany, and Nicole for taking notes for me!) and part of it said "Ask you family for help in calling down blessings upon those you teach..." And so I wanted to ask you all a favor! So, we are teaching a wonderful family right now, the Michael (yes that's the last name) family. The husband is a member but the wife is not....yet :) They are both such wonderful people, their testimonies touch my heart. But the husband just recently lost his job. He has expresed to us his unbreakable faith that those who put their trust in God ill be blessed and provided for. He walks (because his bike is broken and he has no money to fix it) 10 miles every day looking for work and dropping off his resume, but times are just really hard here in Italy. They are such wonderful people and the husband deserves to be able to provide for his family. With tears in his eyes he expressed how difficult it is as a father, as a man, to not be able to provide for his family. So I just wanted you all to say a special prayer for them, that they may be blessed with means to pay for thier apartment and food, and find work. That would be wonderful. Thank you all so much!
All my love,
Anziano Wilson
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