Buon Giorno tutti!
Wow! What a week! It has been great here in Rimini! The weather has been amazing! Except for the thunderstorm that is going on right now...I am soaked, haha. But it has been so amazing! Our investigators are doing so well! But I have a lot of miracles to share so I better get started!
Miracle: We have been experiencing so many wonderful miracles this past week it is hard to single out just one to share. But the most wonderful that comes to mind is what happened just this past Monday. I decided to name that name Miracle Monday! The miracles of that day started off with a toally unexpected "accident". We were riding our bikes through centro, weaving in and out of all the walking and biking people and dogs as usual, when we came to a blind corner, which we passed without problems every day. For some reason though, this time was different. Just as I was riding up to the corner, the front wheel of a woman's bike shot out from the corner. I slammed on the brakes but not in time, and we crashed practically full-speed into each other. Amazingly, however, neither of us were hurt at all, or even moved. Our bikes' forces had seemed to counter-act each other, and so we both had even remained upright on our seats during and after the crash. The only result was that her front wheel, which I had hit with the front of my wheel, was slightly...and by slightly I mean VERY bent. Like a 60 degree angle. After making sure that each other was okay, we learned that she was on her way to work and would be busy that night, working until midnight. So we proposed to her that we would exchange bikes and that night she would just use my bike, and the next day we would bring her bike back to her house. She agreed. And so we carried the bike home. The next day we surprised her by fixing the tire (even recieved a very kind discount from the bike shop owner), and brought it to her address she had given us. After just a minute or so of talking, she asked us what it was we actually do, and said that she had always wondered what the boys on bikes with helmets (NOONE around here wears helmets on bikes, but it is a rule and so we do :) ) were doing always around Rimini. We told her and bore our testimonies to her about what we did, and taught her about the Restoration. We then invited her to pray with us. We prayed for her children by name, and after the prayer she was in tears and said to us "What a great way to pray. I hope we meet again someday. You boys do good things." As much as we tried, she said she was just too busy to meet with us right now, but gave us her number to call her in a few weeks. We plan on following up with that! There were many more miracles that day to follow!
After that wonderful experience, we were out finding investigators to teach in the park, when we decided to speak with a man named Francesco sitting alone on a bench, smoking a cigar. (To be completely honest, he looked a little scary.) haha. But we talked with him for quite some time about religion and life, and learned that he had quite the background! He had recently turned to God after a life of drugs and alcohol and crime in Rome where he is from. He told us that God had saved his life, that he was just finishing up a rehabilitation program, and that he knew that he had major changes to make in his life. We bore our testimonies to him about the Savior's love, and how the Atonement literally changes lives. I could feel so powerfully the Lord's love for him as we spoke. We said a prayer with him at the end of our discussion, praying for him and those he loves by name. As we ended to prayer his whole demeanor changed. He thanked us so much for the prayer, and expressed to us that that is the first time he has ever been prayed for in his life. We gave him a card with a website to go on and he said he will search for the church closest to where he lives and go as soon as he is home! Rome has a wonderfully referral coming.
Later that night, after a few lessons, we were walking around centro (the center mall area of town) for the little time we had left before it was time to head home. We met a large man named Sarvio, sitting on a bench. He was from Kalambria (Southern Italy), here visiting his wife, who is in the cancer center for an advanced stage of pancreatic cancer. She has only a short time to live. He expressed to us his sorrow for her, that she had always been a woman of great kindness and compassion and was dying at the young age of 70. He then expressed how he himself had been in a diving accident years ago, which resulted in him being in a coma for 2 weeks. How he was scarred with a form of Parkinson's from it. How his brother died in a motorcycle crash at the age of 28, and how he feels useless in helping her. He even said sometimes he wished that he had never woken up from the coma. We bore testimony to him of our Heavenly Father's love for him, that he has eternal worth, and shared the glorious message of the Plan of Salvation with him. We expressed that he will see his wife again. That this life is only a small step in our Eternal Father's great a glorious Plan for us. That he was saved for a reason, and the Lord has great things in store for him. He burst into tears, and expressed to us all that was going on in his life. We ended up speaking with him for over an hour and a half, talking, but mostly just listening. At the end he insisted on taking us to a nearby pastry shop, buying us a pastry, ( Southern Italians are so nice!) and then he gratefully went on his way. We left him a pamphlet explaining the Plan of Happiness, and he said he will be calling us again soon when he is in need of someone to talk to. What a privilege and blessing it is to be an instrument in the Lord's hands, to do good in other's lives. To help and listen and comfort as the Savior did when he was on the earth.
So you may be thinking "wow. What a wonderful day!" or "wow...that's a lot of miracles!"... But Wait! There's more! After our conversation with him, we decided to talk to one more person before heading home. We saw a man on a nearby bench, and went over to talk with him. His name is Sharrif, and came to Italy years ago from Romania. We spoke with him for a long time about him beliefs in the gospel, and learned that he has been reading the bible for over 8 years every day. He assured us that he already knew everything, quoting us scripture after scripture. We told him that we were sure we had a message that he had never heard before. Intrigued, he listened as we explained the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ though the prophet Joseph Smith, and as we reccounted the miracle of the First Vision to him. We explained to him the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and how he could pray for himself to know the truth of all things. We invited him to pray, right there on the bench, to ask his Father in Heaven if this was the path that he should take. He prayed in Romanian, and though we couldn't understand a single word, the Spirit flooded our hearts. As we remained silent to ponder after the prayer, he turned to us, and accepted the baptismal invite we had extended him before the prayer...for March 14th! We have since met with him once, and he is such a wonderful guy with great faith. The Lord has great plans for him.
It is such a blessing to be a missionary! I can't even believe the kind of miracles we see. It is so amazing to be here in Italy, spreading the peace and hope that comes from the gospel!
The Lord has a plan for everything. Even when things seem to be going wrong, it could simply be a miracle in disguise. What a great life it is being a missionary!
Everything here is going so well, thank you all so much for your prayers in my behalf, and for the good that you all do every day! I love you all!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
Friday, February 21, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
FEBRUARY 12, 2014
Rimini!!! :) What a great little (big) city! I am loving it here; we are working hard and seeing so many miracles. The work of the Lord is so wonderful, I am so thankful to be a part of it.
The weather here is AMAZING, oh my goodness it has been a wonderful break from the 2 weeks of straight rain in Udine! But, I still miss that place. It is weird how you grow so close to people in such a short time when you are teaching them the gospel. Sometimes I will find myself thinking about how to help these people all the time, and then stopping and being like "whoa, I actually really care about these people...about strangers." But then I realize that they aren't strangers, they are my brothers and sisters. I am so thankful for the opportunity to help my family grow :)
So my companion, Anziano Strang, is from Canada....yikes. haha just kidding! He is actually in my same MTC group, so we have a lot of inside jokes already. He is hilarious though! We are basically always sarcastic to each other when we talk, cracking jokes about everything. It is a good time. The other day we went on for about 10 minutes one night about..what was it....I can't rememeber! Something about like singing the national anthem at an event and just holding every note out for 7 days, and then totally singing the wrong word at the end. It was so funny.
I am really thankful that I have been blessed with so many different interests and talents; it helps me to be able to get along with a lot of different types of people. For example my companion doesn't like sports at all (what!?), but we still both have a big interest in music. So we find things to talk about anyway. The mission is so great that way-you learn how to get along with different types of people.
Transfers are next week, so I will probably be going to a new city again, (haha just kidding), but that would be intense.
We also had to ride another 12 hours worth of trains yesterday to go pick up my companion's Permesso di Sojourno from Bergamo, so we are still a little bit in travel shock. But we have seen that the Lord puts people in our paths when we least expect it; even on the trains. I am so thankful to be a missionary!
Miracle: We had a few wonderful miracles this week in Rimini! It has been a really wonderful city, I am excited to serve here. The miracle I woud like to share this week happened last Sunday. We had just finished church and had a few appointments planned, but when we tried to call them, both fell through or rescheduled. We went to our one appointment that was confirmed, only to hear that he was no longer interested and just showed up to tell us. So we were feeling a little down on our luck. But we kept a good attitude, and my companion reminded me about the miracle fence. So we kept working hard. We met 3 wonderful potentials on the street, 2 of which we set up a new appointment with already, and were even let in during casa! (That's the first time ever for me.) We were let in by a wonderful Albanian family- a mother, son, daughter, and the "nanny" person that helps the mother take care of the home. They were very nice, gave us a drink and we explained part of the Restoration to them. They accepted the lesson gratefully, but didn't commit to another appointment, rather telling us to just stop by sometime. So next Sunday we plan on stopping by and bringing a Book of Mormon for them. This miracle was such a spiritual-booster, and the beginning to our successful 4 lesson night! The Lord's hand is truly in this work. He just likes to stretch us and grow us a little before the miracles. For we receive no witness until after the trail of our faith.
Everything is going great! I hope everything is well at home, you are all in my prayers always! I love you all and thank you so much for your prayers and support.
Love,
Anziano Wilson
The weather here is AMAZING, oh my goodness it has been a wonderful break from the 2 weeks of straight rain in Udine! But, I still miss that place. It is weird how you grow so close to people in such a short time when you are teaching them the gospel. Sometimes I will find myself thinking about how to help these people all the time, and then stopping and being like "whoa, I actually really care about these people...about strangers." But then I realize that they aren't strangers, they are my brothers and sisters. I am so thankful for the opportunity to help my family grow :)
So my companion, Anziano Strang, is from Canada....yikes. haha just kidding! He is actually in my same MTC group, so we have a lot of inside jokes already. He is hilarious though! We are basically always sarcastic to each other when we talk, cracking jokes about everything. It is a good time. The other day we went on for about 10 minutes one night about..what was it....I can't rememeber! Something about like singing the national anthem at an event and just holding every note out for 7 days, and then totally singing the wrong word at the end. It was so funny.
I am really thankful that I have been blessed with so many different interests and talents; it helps me to be able to get along with a lot of different types of people. For example my companion doesn't like sports at all (what!?), but we still both have a big interest in music. So we find things to talk about anyway. The mission is so great that way-you learn how to get along with different types of people.
Transfers are next week, so I will probably be going to a new city again, (haha just kidding), but that would be intense.
We also had to ride another 12 hours worth of trains yesterday to go pick up my companion's Permesso di Sojourno from Bergamo, so we are still a little bit in travel shock. But we have seen that the Lord puts people in our paths when we least expect it; even on the trains. I am so thankful to be a missionary!
Miracle: We had a few wonderful miracles this week in Rimini! It has been a really wonderful city, I am excited to serve here. The miracle I woud like to share this week happened last Sunday. We had just finished church and had a few appointments planned, but when we tried to call them, both fell through or rescheduled. We went to our one appointment that was confirmed, only to hear that he was no longer interested and just showed up to tell us. So we were feeling a little down on our luck. But we kept a good attitude, and my companion reminded me about the miracle fence. So we kept working hard. We met 3 wonderful potentials on the street, 2 of which we set up a new appointment with already, and were even let in during casa! (That's the first time ever for me.) We were let in by a wonderful Albanian family- a mother, son, daughter, and the "nanny" person that helps the mother take care of the home. They were very nice, gave us a drink and we explained part of the Restoration to them. They accepted the lesson gratefully, but didn't commit to another appointment, rather telling us to just stop by sometime. So next Sunday we plan on stopping by and bringing a Book of Mormon for them. This miracle was such a spiritual-booster, and the beginning to our successful 4 lesson night! The Lord's hand is truly in this work. He just likes to stretch us and grow us a little before the miracles. For we receive no witness until after the trail of our faith.
Everything is going great! I hope everything is well at home, you are all in my prayers always! I love you all and thank you so much for your prayers and support.
Love,
Anziano Wilson
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
FEBRUARY 5, 2014
Buon giorno tutti! Sorry, I might have to keep this a little short, we are catching a train in a half hour to go to a little town you guys may have heard of--Venice--for P day today. But yeah, just going to spend a day in Venice, no biggie. :) I'm SO excited! Italy is just so great! And don't worry Big L, I'll take pictures!
But the big news for this week is....drum rolll......I'm being transferred!..again!...On this Thursday. haha. It's called a "space transfer", because technically transfers aren't for another 3 weeks, but a few missionaries get moved around sometimes midway through the 6 weeks. So the mission president called me last night and told me that I have been called to go serve in Riminey for at least the rest of this transfer, but most likely more. So this will be my 4th city in 4 transfers....wow. A lot of people in my MTC group are still in their first city. I think that the Lord is trying to help me to love packing....because I HATE it! But I do love changing it up and meeting new members and investigators in a new city, so I am excited to go wherever the Lord needs me.
I don't know too much about Riminey, other than that the President told me it is a big party/tourist town and that I was to stay away from the beach. But he won't have to worry about that, I have already had practice staying away from the beach in San Remo. I told one of my roommates today "Yeah, I guess I just am supposed to learn to appreciate beautiful cities more...I just keep getting called to them!" He was just like "...I hate you..." haha. But I really have been in some beautiful cities. Udine is kind of plain, (And oh my goodness does it rain! It has literally been non-stop raining for a week. I just bought a new umbrella yesterday because it has been so windy and nasty! But now I am being transferred out of the rain....whoopie! ha) but the members and people here are so great. That's what the mission is all about anyway. Any place can be beautiful, and is beautiful, when you are spreading a message of happiness and joy.
But besides that, we have been having a really wonderful time here in Udine. I am really sad to leave the wonderful branch here and the investigators I have grown to love. Plus my companion has been the best companion ever! I am sad to leave him. We have been working so hard to be strictly obedient and diligent and we have just seen so many miracles, including the fact that one day I just woke up and could speak and understand 90% of Italian! Maybe it has just come so gradually that I haven't noticed, but the other day I was talking to someone the other day on the street, and realized that my companion was across the street talking to somone else, and I was actually holding the conversation! The gift of tongues is real. The Lord's hand has been in our work so much these past few weeks. But I know that the Lord has people for me to help in Riminey too, and so I will go and do. :)
We came up with a realy great strategy for doing street contacting, that I really enjoyed a lot! We made a "portable white board" by laminating a piece of computer paper, and then drew a big smiley face on it with a marker, and would go around to people and smile real big and ask "What makes you happy?". It was really great, because people just can't resist smiling when they see a big smiley face and a couple of goobers smiling real big. haha :)
My miracle this week is a little different than the typical one. I have noticed something in particular these past few days: I am so exhausted! But so happy. It is the weirdest thing. I get home every night aching and just ready to collapse on my bed, and yet I can't help but smile and think about really how many blessings I have been given. The Lord strengthens His missionaries so much. As soon as I'm out the door talking to people, or sprinting to the next bus stop to get to an appointment, I feel just fine. It's such an amazing thing.
Well, I hope everything is well with all of you. You are all in my prayers every night, and I am so thankful for your thoughts and prayers, and for your letters! I love you all, have a great week!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
But the big news for this week is....drum rolll......I'm being transferred!..again!...On this Thursday. haha. It's called a "space transfer", because technically transfers aren't for another 3 weeks, but a few missionaries get moved around sometimes midway through the 6 weeks. So the mission president called me last night and told me that I have been called to go serve in Riminey for at least the rest of this transfer, but most likely more. So this will be my 4th city in 4 transfers....wow. A lot of people in my MTC group are still in their first city. I think that the Lord is trying to help me to love packing....because I HATE it! But I do love changing it up and meeting new members and investigators in a new city, so I am excited to go wherever the Lord needs me.
I don't know too much about Riminey, other than that the President told me it is a big party/tourist town and that I was to stay away from the beach. But he won't have to worry about that, I have already had practice staying away from the beach in San Remo. I told one of my roommates today "Yeah, I guess I just am supposed to learn to appreciate beautiful cities more...I just keep getting called to them!" He was just like "...I hate you..." haha. But I really have been in some beautiful cities. Udine is kind of plain, (And oh my goodness does it rain! It has literally been non-stop raining for a week. I just bought a new umbrella yesterday because it has been so windy and nasty! But now I am being transferred out of the rain....whoopie! ha) but the members and people here are so great. That's what the mission is all about anyway. Any place can be beautiful, and is beautiful, when you are spreading a message of happiness and joy.
But besides that, we have been having a really wonderful time here in Udine. I am really sad to leave the wonderful branch here and the investigators I have grown to love. Plus my companion has been the best companion ever! I am sad to leave him. We have been working so hard to be strictly obedient and diligent and we have just seen so many miracles, including the fact that one day I just woke up and could speak and understand 90% of Italian! Maybe it has just come so gradually that I haven't noticed, but the other day I was talking to someone the other day on the street, and realized that my companion was across the street talking to somone else, and I was actually holding the conversation! The gift of tongues is real. The Lord's hand has been in our work so much these past few weeks. But I know that the Lord has people for me to help in Riminey too, and so I will go and do. :)
We came up with a realy great strategy for doing street contacting, that I really enjoyed a lot! We made a "portable white board" by laminating a piece of computer paper, and then drew a big smiley face on it with a marker, and would go around to people and smile real big and ask "What makes you happy?". It was really great, because people just can't resist smiling when they see a big smiley face and a couple of goobers smiling real big. haha :)
My miracle this week is a little different than the typical one. I have noticed something in particular these past few days: I am so exhausted! But so happy. It is the weirdest thing. I get home every night aching and just ready to collapse on my bed, and yet I can't help but smile and think about really how many blessings I have been given. The Lord strengthens His missionaries so much. As soon as I'm out the door talking to people, or sprinting to the next bus stop to get to an appointment, I feel just fine. It's such an amazing thing.
Well, I hope everything is well with all of you. You are all in my prayers every night, and I am so thankful for your thoughts and prayers, and for your letters! I love you all, have a great week!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
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