Buongiorno a tutti!
What a great week! Well, every week I basically say that, but that's because it's true! Every week as a missionary is so great. SO exhausting and hard and sometimes frustrating, but so wonderful as well. I have learned so much about not only the gospel and the simple beauty of it, but about myself. What a special experience this is.
Let's see....the good weather didn't last long...it's pouring rain...again. The weather is so fickle here I feel like I'm in Pocatello again! haha. Besides that, it's been good! I started a "video diary" (My companion's idea), and so every night after planning (when I am all tired and yet excited because soon I can sleep) I just have been recording like a 1 minute summary of the day. Not to toot my own horn or anything but....TOOT TOOT. haha. just kidding, but at least I find them pretty funny! We have a lot of good times and funny stories as missionaries....for example, this week we met with a less active African member who just now, for the first time ever, realized that Nephi is a human being. ... So we are happy for him! "What is this Nephi!" "He is a prophet!" "...So... he is a human being?" "yeah!" "OOOOOOHHHHHH, yesssssssssss! very good, very good!" :)
Italy is so great, because we get a mix of so many cultures! Africans are soooo much more humble and way different to teach that Italians are, and occasionally we even get the rare South American (which is basically like gold...everyone there has such a strong belief in Jesus Christ. It is such a great mission!
We had a wonderful training meeting in Padova last week, very instructive! We are working hard to get members and missionaries to start working together more than ever before. This is a special time for the gospel in Europe!
Miracle: We had a very cool miracle this week! Apart from the fact that Morris was interviewed to be baptized and passed! and we FINALLY (we have been having to postpone it for 3 weeks due to scheduling conflicts and other concerns) can start planning the baptism for April 4th! That was a miracle it itself also. He came out of the interview with just a radiant smile and said "I did a good job!" It was great!
Oooo, okay, I need to put this one in here too, even though it isn't the planned miracle either. But Christian FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! :) It has been like 2 months in the making, but after us going with a member to his house at 10:30 he finally was able to come for the last hour of sacarament meeting. And what are the odds...both our branch president, President Zufolini, AND our District President, President Caramia (who is a total stud of a district president...if I can say that? I hope I can, because I just did, haha.) spoke! President Caramia gave an amazing talk on David and Goliath and about how the Lord can help us overcome any obstacle in our way as we seek to follow him. On top of that it was branch conference, so the branch choir (for the first time ever I believe) sang sweet hour of prayer (Tenor part courtesy of yours truly...yikes...haha). But it was so beautiful, and the spirit was so strong. Fratello Canuti, the Elder's Quorum President, (Who has only been a member for less than 2 years, yet is one of the most solid and missionary-minded in the entire branch! [He even calls us almost every day to see what appointments we can bring him too! That's not typical at all!]) has been with us to Christian's house to teach a few lessons, and it was him who went with us to go pick up Christian. As soon as we got to church it was the greatest thing ever, he just totally took him under his wing, led him into the meeting, and set right next to him the entire time with his wife, explaining all that was going on with the announcements and sacarament and everything! Christian had such a good experience! His face lit up as we introduced him to all of the members after the meeting. It was a special experience.
But the miracle I would like to share was a few days ago, and we were out doing some finding work in centro. It was raining on and off that night, and it had just started up again. We had about 20 minutes before an appointment, and wanted to use the time productively, so we decided to say a prayer to ask for guidance. We ended our prayer and walked up to the first person we saw- a man texting on his cell phone walking towards us. We went up to him and before we could get out the first sentence he said "I know you guys! You guys are the Latter-Day Saints!" We both began to smile really big like "Yes! Finally someone who knows us!" And he followed up with a brief story about how he was baptized 15 years ago, but has been inactive for a very long time due to persecution at work and other difficult situations in the past. He asked us to give him a Book of Mormon right there on the spot (which we gladly did) and gave us his phone number, and we set up an appointment to meet with him and his wife, Barbara tomorrow at 5:00! He said that he knows President Asioli, the 1st counselor in our district presidency, and that they are very good friends and he has always been very kind to him. So we will try to bring him with us when we go! The Lord truly prepares paths to meet; I have gained suc h a testimony of that on the mission.
Well, I love you all very much and thank you all for your support and prayers! I need and am so thankful for them! I have felt your strength many times. I hope you all have a fantastic week!
-Anziano Wilson
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
MARCH 19, 2014
Buon Giorno everyone and a Happy New Year! :)
Things here in Rimini are going GREAT! I just love being a missionary! The branch here is so motivated about missionary work, and it is just the greatest atmosphere! We just need to do our best to do our part and find people that the members can help us teach! But the Lord is working miracles in Italy, it is amazing to be a part of.
The weather is B-E-A-utiful today, and has been the past couple days! (And it's a good thing, I am running out of sewing string from the 20 million buttons that have popped off of my winter coat!...bike riding is rough on long coats...but I'm getting to be a sewing pro! haha)
Our investigators are doing great! We are working hard with Morris to prepare him for his baptism on the 28th of March. He is a great man with great faith, and despite many trials he has been relying on the Lord to pull him through....and we actually just recently found out that his parents live in Pesaro, just about 40 minutes away by train from Rimini...and they are meeting with the missionaries there, and have baptismal dates for the 29th! The Lord prepares families and friends together to receive the gospel! :) Christian went to the hospital about a week ago with some kind of lung problem (he told us in Italian, but we couldn't figure out the name in English)...and it turns out it is also contagious...so we haven't been able to meet with him for a while...but we plan on going there in a few days...he said he is almost completely healed! Which is a blessing. He is such a great guy. We are working with Peter still to prepare him to be baptized...but he needs to be a little bit more committed to showing up to our scheduled lessons...or at least calling us to let us know he won't be there...heh. But that's the life of a missionary here in Italy! We call them "Bidone's"...which means like trash can....and we get quite a few of them.
Everything else I can think of is going really well! We have been seeing so many miracles and tender mercies from the Lord. I don't want to jinx it, but I think I am getting used to waking up so early....finally! Because now at least the sun is awake before us... :) The Lord has helped me so much in that regard...whenever I am just totally exhausted, somehow He always gives me strength to make it to the end of the day. It is so marvelous!
Miracle: We had a wonderful miracle this past Monday! Try as we did, we simply couldn't fix any appoinments that day, and so we ended up with 8 hours of finding work. As we planned Sunday night, we decided to try a new finding strategy,-Pray With As Many People As Possible, or as we jokingly call it, PWAMPAP! We decided to offer service to people in the form of prayers, by walking up to them and simply saying "Buon giorno! Noi Siamo servi di Gesù Cristo, e vorremmo offrire una preghiera per voi e la vostra famiglia!"(we couldn't help but think that at least it appeals to the Catholic nature of the general population- priests offering prayers for others...except in this case a different kind of prayer!...and we didn't ask for money after saying it [although we were actually offered it by this sweet old lady: "Thank you for the prayer; Go buy yourselves a coffee!]...we politely declined. :) If they said yes, we would ask their names and ask about their families, and what we could pray for. We figured that after we had done something nice for them, they would be more likely to listen to what we had to say...and it worked! We were blessed by the Lord with the opportunity of praying with 35 people! 16 of those instances resulted in us being able to share the message of the Restoration, or the Plan of Salvation, or one of the other glorious elements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and 5 of those people agreed to meet with us again to discuss our message! It was a wonderful miracle, and above all we felt good because all people, whether they agreed to listen to our message or not, were left with a positive experience. What a blessing it is to be a missionary!
I am so thankful to be on a mission! It is so hard and so exhausting...but so worth it! Thank you all for your loving support and prayers for me and our investigators. I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
Things here in Rimini are going GREAT! I just love being a missionary! The branch here is so motivated about missionary work, and it is just the greatest atmosphere! We just need to do our best to do our part and find people that the members can help us teach! But the Lord is working miracles in Italy, it is amazing to be a part of.
The weather is B-E-A-utiful today, and has been the past couple days! (And it's a good thing, I am running out of sewing string from the 20 million buttons that have popped off of my winter coat!...bike riding is rough on long coats...but I'm getting to be a sewing pro! haha)
Our investigators are doing great! We are working hard with Morris to prepare him for his baptism on the 28th of March. He is a great man with great faith, and despite many trials he has been relying on the Lord to pull him through....and we actually just recently found out that his parents live in Pesaro, just about 40 minutes away by train from Rimini...and they are meeting with the missionaries there, and have baptismal dates for the 29th! The Lord prepares families and friends together to receive the gospel! :) Christian went to the hospital about a week ago with some kind of lung problem (he told us in Italian, but we couldn't figure out the name in English)...and it turns out it is also contagious...so we haven't been able to meet with him for a while...but we plan on going there in a few days...he said he is almost completely healed! Which is a blessing. He is such a great guy. We are working with Peter still to prepare him to be baptized...but he needs to be a little bit more committed to showing up to our scheduled lessons...or at least calling us to let us know he won't be there...heh. But that's the life of a missionary here in Italy! We call them "Bidone's"...which means like trash can....and we get quite a few of them.
Everything else I can think of is going really well! We have been seeing so many miracles and tender mercies from the Lord. I don't want to jinx it, but I think I am getting used to waking up so early....finally! Because now at least the sun is awake before us... :) The Lord has helped me so much in that regard...whenever I am just totally exhausted, somehow He always gives me strength to make it to the end of the day. It is so marvelous!
Miracle: We had a wonderful miracle this past Monday! Try as we did, we simply couldn't fix any appoinments that day, and so we ended up with 8 hours of finding work. As we planned Sunday night, we decided to try a new finding strategy,-Pray With As Many People As Possible, or as we jokingly call it, PWAMPAP! We decided to offer service to people in the form of prayers, by walking up to them and simply saying "Buon giorno! Noi Siamo servi di Gesù Cristo, e vorremmo offrire una preghiera per voi e la vostra famiglia!"(we couldn't help but think that at least it appeals to the Catholic nature of the general population- priests offering prayers for others...except in this case a different kind of prayer!...and we didn't ask for money after saying it [although we were actually offered it by this sweet old lady: "Thank you for the prayer; Go buy yourselves a coffee!]...we politely declined. :) If they said yes, we would ask their names and ask about their families, and what we could pray for. We figured that after we had done something nice for them, they would be more likely to listen to what we had to say...and it worked! We were blessed by the Lord with the opportunity of praying with 35 people! 16 of those instances resulted in us being able to share the message of the Restoration, or the Plan of Salvation, or one of the other glorious elements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and 5 of those people agreed to meet with us again to discuss our message! It was a wonderful miracle, and above all we felt good because all people, whether they agreed to listen to our message or not, were left with a positive experience. What a blessing it is to be a missionary!
I am so thankful to be on a mission! It is so hard and so exhausting...but so worth it! Thank you all for your loving support and prayers for me and our investigators. I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
MARCH 12, 2014
Buon giorno tutti!
Wow! What a great week! It has been crazy so far, but so wonderful! The mission is so busy...I am dead tired...and it's P-day...not looking good for the rest of the week! No, I know that the Lord will help and bless me with health and strength to do his work.
The weather has been SO good! It's at the point where it is warm enough to go out with just shirts, but cool enough that we aren't dying of heat stroke as soon as we hop on the bikes. I love it!
Our investigators are doing really well! Unfortunately, Davide has been having a few problems, and so we had to postpone the baptism indefinitely by request of the parents, but he is a great kid, and I'm sure things will get better! Morris and Peter are doing really well. It is so special to see and hear the testimonies of the people that the Lord has already prepared for the gospel. They seem to know eveything even before we teach them! It is such a blessing to be able to bear testimony about the love that our Heavenly Father has for each one of us. It is just such a great thing to know! :) We are working hard to find more people to teach....and it's been tough! But I know that the Lord has people out there prepared for us...we just need to find them!
We had a great activity with the branch last night...even though we were so busy that us and the 2 sorelle missionaries ended up planning it in like 10 minutes...But luckily I have a bit of experience at "winging it"...thank you highschool! haha :) It ended up going really well though! We had a demonstration of how to teach about the Restoration in five minutes, using the awesome pamphlets with pictures that the church makes for the missionaries, we talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon in answering any question, and about the real reason we even share the Gospel anyway. Because we love our brothers and sisters and want them to have all the happiness and peace and joy that we have found, especially in this world that is becoming increasingly difficult and sad. We ended by singing the Milan Italy mission hymn (which is the coolest hymn EVER!), and we were all inspired to do more effective missionary work!
I am SO excited for General Conference. It is like a missionarie's only excuse to watch T.V! Haha, just kidding! I am so excited to hear what God's messengers have to say to us in these times that are so crazy and difficult. I have downloaded around 200 general conference talks, and put them on my USB, and so I listen to one almost every day while I'm cooking breakfast and getting ready for the day. Those are inspired words. What a blessing it is to have a prophet of God, and Apostles in our day!
Let's see...we also used a lot of our P-Day time to start to make a "General Authority War" card game. It is basically the greatest thing I have ever seen. I'll show it to you guys when I come home!
The work of the Lord is so wonderful. It really is just such a blessing to be here. The life of a missionary is so....great! I don't have to worry about any of my problems; just how to solve other peoples'! It's so great! :)
Miracle: We had a very tender and wonderful miracle this week. While out doing casa Sunday evening, we met a man on the street named Alberto. He was headed to mass, but invited us to come back the next night to speak with him. So we returned the next day and rung his citofono, but there was no response. We remembered learning that the Lord always sends His missionaries to places for a reason, and so we started ringing the houses of all of the others that lived in the apartment complex. After just 2 or 3 rings, we were invited in! We were met by a wonderfully kind man named Giuseppe, and he led us to his apartment, explaining to us that things have been very hard for him and his family in the past few years. He explained that they have 2 young boys, ages 6 and 7, who are severely autistic-to the point where they don't talk or anything. As we walked into the room and sat at the table they were running all around, and jumping off tables chairs, and everything else you could imagine. But you couldn't help but notice a feeling of love and peace that was in the home, despite all the noise. It was amazing. We sat down, learned that he and his wife, Maria, had met with the missionaries over 20 years ago, and that he had kept in touch with one of the missionaries for many years, but now he is married and with 5 children, and they have slowly lost contact. He had also met with President Caramia, our district President, and told us to say hello to him for them! We plan on following up with that! They are VERY catholic (Surprise...haha), but have a Book of Mormon (have never read it...), and are interested in talking more about the church! We were able to bear our testimonies to them about the glorious Plan of Salvation, Resurrection, and the eternal nature of the family. It touched my heart to see the patience and love they had for their two sons. They invited us back on Saturday night for dinner, and we are very excited to see them and their precious sons! It is such a blessing to be a missionary!
Everything else is going so well, I hope and pray that all is well with you all at home! I love you all and am very thankful for your love, support, and prayers! Have a great week everyone! Love,
Anziano Wilson
Wow! What a great week! It has been crazy so far, but so wonderful! The mission is so busy...I am dead tired...and it's P-day...not looking good for the rest of the week! No, I know that the Lord will help and bless me with health and strength to do his work.
The weather has been SO good! It's at the point where it is warm enough to go out with just shirts, but cool enough that we aren't dying of heat stroke as soon as we hop on the bikes. I love it!
Our investigators are doing really well! Unfortunately, Davide has been having a few problems, and so we had to postpone the baptism indefinitely by request of the parents, but he is a great kid, and I'm sure things will get better! Morris and Peter are doing really well. It is so special to see and hear the testimonies of the people that the Lord has already prepared for the gospel. They seem to know eveything even before we teach them! It is such a blessing to be able to bear testimony about the love that our Heavenly Father has for each one of us. It is just such a great thing to know! :) We are working hard to find more people to teach....and it's been tough! But I know that the Lord has people out there prepared for us...we just need to find them!
We had a great activity with the branch last night...even though we were so busy that us and the 2 sorelle missionaries ended up planning it in like 10 minutes...But luckily I have a bit of experience at "winging it"...thank you highschool! haha :) It ended up going really well though! We had a demonstration of how to teach about the Restoration in five minutes, using the awesome pamphlets with pictures that the church makes for the missionaries, we talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon in answering any question, and about the real reason we even share the Gospel anyway. Because we love our brothers and sisters and want them to have all the happiness and peace and joy that we have found, especially in this world that is becoming increasingly difficult and sad. We ended by singing the Milan Italy mission hymn (which is the coolest hymn EVER!), and we were all inspired to do more effective missionary work!
I am SO excited for General Conference. It is like a missionarie's only excuse to watch T.V! Haha, just kidding! I am so excited to hear what God's messengers have to say to us in these times that are so crazy and difficult. I have downloaded around 200 general conference talks, and put them on my USB, and so I listen to one almost every day while I'm cooking breakfast and getting ready for the day. Those are inspired words. What a blessing it is to have a prophet of God, and Apostles in our day!
Let's see...we also used a lot of our P-Day time to start to make a "General Authority War" card game. It is basically the greatest thing I have ever seen. I'll show it to you guys when I come home!
The work of the Lord is so wonderful. It really is just such a blessing to be here. The life of a missionary is so....great! I don't have to worry about any of my problems; just how to solve other peoples'! It's so great! :)
Miracle: We had a very tender and wonderful miracle this week. While out doing casa Sunday evening, we met a man on the street named Alberto. He was headed to mass, but invited us to come back the next night to speak with him. So we returned the next day and rung his citofono, but there was no response. We remembered learning that the Lord always sends His missionaries to places for a reason, and so we started ringing the houses of all of the others that lived in the apartment complex. After just 2 or 3 rings, we were invited in! We were met by a wonderfully kind man named Giuseppe, and he led us to his apartment, explaining to us that things have been very hard for him and his family in the past few years. He explained that they have 2 young boys, ages 6 and 7, who are severely autistic-to the point where they don't talk or anything. As we walked into the room and sat at the table they were running all around, and jumping off tables chairs, and everything else you could imagine. But you couldn't help but notice a feeling of love and peace that was in the home, despite all the noise. It was amazing. We sat down, learned that he and his wife, Maria, had met with the missionaries over 20 years ago, and that he had kept in touch with one of the missionaries for many years, but now he is married and with 5 children, and they have slowly lost contact. He had also met with President Caramia, our district President, and told us to say hello to him for them! We plan on following up with that! They are VERY catholic (Surprise...haha), but have a Book of Mormon (have never read it...), and are interested in talking more about the church! We were able to bear our testimonies to them about the glorious Plan of Salvation, Resurrection, and the eternal nature of the family. It touched my heart to see the patience and love they had for their two sons. They invited us back on Saturday night for dinner, and we are very excited to see them and their precious sons! It is such a blessing to be a missionary!
Everything else is going so well, I hope and pray that all is well with you all at home! I love you all and am very thankful for your love, support, and prayers! Have a great week everyone! Love,
Anziano Wilson
Friday, March 7, 2014
MARCH 5, 2014
Buon Giorno!!
The work here in Rimini is going so wonderfully,(even though both of our bikes broke today and it has been thunderstorming for about a week...haha) The life of a missionary is just the best though! :) Despite all the things that go wrong, it is just such a happy life! We just laugh about everything and know that we are in the right place. It reminds me of a quote that I heard in the MTC "The mission is just 2 years of awkward situations....but so rewarding!" haha...so true. That's exactly what we were thinking as we were riding our broken bikes to the repair shop today through the central mall place...my companions bike was squeaking like a banshee, my week was rumbling in and out of place and we both had helmets on in suits going about 1 mile per hour. We turned some heads...but I'm sure it is just because we are such handsome young men....right? :) haha
We have been meeting with Morris and Christian and Davide still, and are preparing for Davide's baptism a week after next Friday! Davide's mother bore her testimony last Sunday in sacrament meeting (Which, by the way, was such a great meeting! All the teenage kids in the branch bore their testimonies about how they are like the only people in their friend groups who are mormon, or even believe in God, and about how they have been sharing the gospel with their friends!) about how she has been having some really hard times in the home (the father isn't a member) recently, but about how we brought the spirit into her home the past few times, and she has felt the Lord's arms around her helping her through her trials. We brought a puzzle for Davide, and hid the 9 pieces around the kitchen for him to find. But we gave the last piece to his mom to hold, and told him that if he needed help finding them, to first ask her, and then us. He went around the room looking for the pieces, and finally gave up. He then turned to his mom for help and advice (something that we have been working with him to do!) and he completed the puzzle. We then read with him from Alma 56:48, that says, talking about the Stripling Warriors "...for they did not doubt that their mothers knew it." It was a wonderful experience. How blessed I am to have a righteous mother to raise me who "knew it", who I could always ask for advice and help. I love you mom :)
Another highlight of the week! I was blessed with the opportunity to call up the Anziani in Lecco to ask about where my bag with all my scriptures is and how I can get it (Don't worry, it is still in Lecco...hasn't moved a bit...ha ), but I was able to talk to Anziano Lopez and ask him about how the work was going with all of our old investigators!...It turns out that 4 of them have been baptized in the past 6 weeks I have been gone!! Two young boys about 20 or so named Marvin and Osvaldo, who we met and started teaching about 2 months ago and a mother and a son from the Huamacto family who had been investigators for about a year- Nelly and Giorgio! I can't believe it! They were such great people, it warms my heart to hear about their baptisms and their continued progression in the gospel! The gospel truly changes lives...I have seen that so much here in Italy.
Let's see...more good news is that we get to go back to Bergamo and back (A 12 hour train ride) for a 10 hour culture class/video that sometimes the missionaries have to take (It's about like how to register kids for school, and how to do doctor visits, and all that...stuff that missionaries don't need necessarily, haha)...But it's required! So that will be a good time! It is insane how much traveling missionaries do here in Italy. But it's a good time!
It is such a blessing to be a missionary. Time is flying by so quickly..It is a reminder to me that I need to take advantage of every moment.
Miracle: This week we finally were able to contact a Kenyan man named Peter-a referral from the Anziani in Pesaro-after two weeks of trying to call and almost giving up. He answered and said that he could meet us the next day in centro, and so we went. It was down-pouring rain, and as we waited there we were pretty sure he wouldnit show up. Just as we were about to leave, he tapped the back of my shoulder and introduced himself. We were ecstatic to meet him, and we went right into the Restoration. We learned of his great faith, and invited him to be baptized on April 4th at the end of the lesson. He readily accepted, saying "If God needs me to do it I know I must." The spirit had touched his heart. What a blessing it is to be a missionary!
Well, I love you all tons, and thank you for your prayers and support! Remember those in Ukraine in your prayers, I was told by a member here that they are in a really difficult situation with wars and things. Thanks for all you do, I remember you in my prayers!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
The work here in Rimini is going so wonderfully,(even though both of our bikes broke today and it has been thunderstorming for about a week...haha) The life of a missionary is just the best though! :) Despite all the things that go wrong, it is just such a happy life! We just laugh about everything and know that we are in the right place. It reminds me of a quote that I heard in the MTC "The mission is just 2 years of awkward situations....but so rewarding!" haha...so true. That's exactly what we were thinking as we were riding our broken bikes to the repair shop today through the central mall place...my companions bike was squeaking like a banshee, my week was rumbling in and out of place and we both had helmets on in suits going about 1 mile per hour. We turned some heads...but I'm sure it is just because we are such handsome young men....right? :) haha
We have been meeting with Morris and Christian and Davide still, and are preparing for Davide's baptism a week after next Friday! Davide's mother bore her testimony last Sunday in sacrament meeting (Which, by the way, was such a great meeting! All the teenage kids in the branch bore their testimonies about how they are like the only people in their friend groups who are mormon, or even believe in God, and about how they have been sharing the gospel with their friends!) about how she has been having some really hard times in the home (the father isn't a member) recently, but about how we brought the spirit into her home the past few times, and she has felt the Lord's arms around her helping her through her trials. We brought a puzzle for Davide, and hid the 9 pieces around the kitchen for him to find. But we gave the last piece to his mom to hold, and told him that if he needed help finding them, to first ask her, and then us. He went around the room looking for the pieces, and finally gave up. He then turned to his mom for help and advice (something that we have been working with him to do!) and he completed the puzzle. We then read with him from Alma 56:48, that says, talking about the Stripling Warriors "...for they did not doubt that their mothers knew it." It was a wonderful experience. How blessed I am to have a righteous mother to raise me who "knew it", who I could always ask for advice and help. I love you mom :)
Another highlight of the week! I was blessed with the opportunity to call up the Anziani in Lecco to ask about where my bag with all my scriptures is and how I can get it (Don't worry, it is still in Lecco...hasn't moved a bit...ha ), but I was able to talk to Anziano Lopez and ask him about how the work was going with all of our old investigators!...It turns out that 4 of them have been baptized in the past 6 weeks I have been gone!! Two young boys about 20 or so named Marvin and Osvaldo, who we met and started teaching about 2 months ago and a mother and a son from the Huamacto family who had been investigators for about a year- Nelly and Giorgio! I can't believe it! They were such great people, it warms my heart to hear about their baptisms and their continued progression in the gospel! The gospel truly changes lives...I have seen that so much here in Italy.
Let's see...more good news is that we get to go back to Bergamo and back (A 12 hour train ride) for a 10 hour culture class/video that sometimes the missionaries have to take (It's about like how to register kids for school, and how to do doctor visits, and all that...stuff that missionaries don't need necessarily, haha)...But it's required! So that will be a good time! It is insane how much traveling missionaries do here in Italy. But it's a good time!
It is such a blessing to be a missionary. Time is flying by so quickly..It is a reminder to me that I need to take advantage of every moment.
Miracle: This week we finally were able to contact a Kenyan man named Peter-a referral from the Anziani in Pesaro-after two weeks of trying to call and almost giving up. He answered and said that he could meet us the next day in centro, and so we went. It was down-pouring rain, and as we waited there we were pretty sure he wouldnit show up. Just as we were about to leave, he tapped the back of my shoulder and introduced himself. We were ecstatic to meet him, and we went right into the Restoration. We learned of his great faith, and invited him to be baptized on April 4th at the end of the lesson. He readily accepted, saying "If God needs me to do it I know I must." The spirit had touched his heart. What a blessing it is to be a missionary!
Well, I love you all tons, and thank you for your prayers and support! Remember those in Ukraine in your prayers, I was told by a member here that they are in a really difficult situation with wars and things. Thanks for all you do, I remember you in my prayers!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
Saturday, March 1, 2014
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
Buonissimo giornissimo!
Sorry for the late email everyone, we had to...err...we were blessed, to go back to San Remo this week (again) to finally pick up my Permesso di Sojourno! (I know you all have been sitting glued to the computer screen waiting for the past few days, I apologize, haha) But it turns out they only gave me a one year Permesso...(even though the church always pays for 2 years, Italy likes to do that I guess.) So I will be able to do all the paperwork all over again in a few months for another one! Hurrah Italia! haha :)
But this week really has been great anyways. We have been getting just in such a groove here these past few weeks; the work is going wonderfully! We have a little boy who is 9 named Davide, who has just decided to be baptised on the 14th of March! That was such a wonderful moment, and he also told us that he is going to invite all of his friends from school to the baptism! ...Which means they'll bring their parents! :) Apparently a missionary in our district had a baptism like that in his last city, and after the baptism all the other little kids were like "Well hey, I want to be baptized too!", and long story short they were blessed with like 4 or 5 familes to teach! So we are hoping and praying for the best!
We are also teaching a man named Morris. He is from Nigeria, but speaks Italian! (which is pretty rare; usually it's English). We had a wonderful few lessons with his this past week, and after much prayer and thought he has decided to be baptized on the 21st! He also needs your prayers for support!
Finally, we are teaching a saint of a man named Christian. He is Italian; we found him outside his house on the street, and since he has invited us into his home multiple times. He is always so kind to us, even though he is young and looks like a pretty "rugged" kind of guy. It is always kind of funny when we teach him though, because his mom is always sitting on the couch, and is SUPER Catholic, and so she tries to squeak in some nay-sayer comments about here and there. But we actually just recently found out the Christian hasn't been able to read his Book of Mormon as much, because his mom has been reading it! She always listens to our lessons, and I think secretly she knows it's true too :) So we gave Christian another Book of Mormon to be his.
We are teaching some other great people too, but those are the most progressing at the moment! The mission has been seeing so many miracles; the Lord is truly hastening His work! Even in the heart of Catholicism. It is such a blessing and a wonder to be part of the Lord's army in such a special time.
One of the members here in Rimini recently showed us a picture of the temple in construction in Rome, (It still has a ways to go until finished), becase he was down there for a business meeting. He said that it is just right in the center of one of the busiest parts of town. So everyone will see it. :)
Miracle: We had a wonderful miracle this week! So we had to travel to San Remo this week again to pick up my Permesso di Sojourno, and so after 2 full days and 18 hours of train riding, we were pretty exhausted. But after train cancellations and delays and bus-substitutions, and about everything else you could imagine, we finally arrived at the Rimini train station! Right at the bottom of the stairs leading to the station we saw a large Nigerian man with two large bags (almost as big as he was!), trying to haul them up the stairs. We ran over and gave him a hand with the bags up the stairs and across the road to the bus stop, and started a conversation with him. We learned that his name was Luke. We also learned that, in fact, he was a referral from the missionaries in Pesaro we had received a few weeks ago, whom we had already tried to call several times with no success! He explained to us that he had just been traveling, had seen our calls, but did not answer them because there would be extra roaming fees. We ended up teaching him a small lesson right there at the bus stop, and then setting up an appointment to call him next week! The Lord works in such mysterious, but wonderful ways!
Well both the weather and the work are just so beautiful here, I am having the time of my life. I am so exhausted, but so thankful. We are so blessed to be alive!
I love you all and pray for you; thank you so much for remembering me in your prayers! Remember to keep the people of Italy in them also. It is a rough place for a lot of people around here.
Love,
Anziano Wilson
Sorry for the late email everyone, we had to...err...we were blessed, to go back to San Remo this week (again) to finally pick up my Permesso di Sojourno! (I know you all have been sitting glued to the computer screen waiting for the past few days, I apologize, haha) But it turns out they only gave me a one year Permesso...(even though the church always pays for 2 years, Italy likes to do that I guess.) So I will be able to do all the paperwork all over again in a few months for another one! Hurrah Italia! haha :)
But this week really has been great anyways. We have been getting just in such a groove here these past few weeks; the work is going wonderfully! We have a little boy who is 9 named Davide, who has just decided to be baptised on the 14th of March! That was such a wonderful moment, and he also told us that he is going to invite all of his friends from school to the baptism! ...Which means they'll bring their parents! :) Apparently a missionary in our district had a baptism like that in his last city, and after the baptism all the other little kids were like "Well hey, I want to be baptized too!", and long story short they were blessed with like 4 or 5 familes to teach! So we are hoping and praying for the best!
We are also teaching a man named Morris. He is from Nigeria, but speaks Italian! (which is pretty rare; usually it's English). We had a wonderful few lessons with his this past week, and after much prayer and thought he has decided to be baptized on the 21st! He also needs your prayers for support!
Finally, we are teaching a saint of a man named Christian. He is Italian; we found him outside his house on the street, and since he has invited us into his home multiple times. He is always so kind to us, even though he is young and looks like a pretty "rugged" kind of guy. It is always kind of funny when we teach him though, because his mom is always sitting on the couch, and is SUPER Catholic, and so she tries to squeak in some nay-sayer comments about here and there. But we actually just recently found out the Christian hasn't been able to read his Book of Mormon as much, because his mom has been reading it! She always listens to our lessons, and I think secretly she knows it's true too :) So we gave Christian another Book of Mormon to be his.
We are teaching some other great people too, but those are the most progressing at the moment! The mission has been seeing so many miracles; the Lord is truly hastening His work! Even in the heart of Catholicism. It is such a blessing and a wonder to be part of the Lord's army in such a special time.
One of the members here in Rimini recently showed us a picture of the temple in construction in Rome, (It still has a ways to go until finished), becase he was down there for a business meeting. He said that it is just right in the center of one of the busiest parts of town. So everyone will see it. :)
Miracle: We had a wonderful miracle this week! So we had to travel to San Remo this week again to pick up my Permesso di Sojourno, and so after 2 full days and 18 hours of train riding, we were pretty exhausted. But after train cancellations and delays and bus-substitutions, and about everything else you could imagine, we finally arrived at the Rimini train station! Right at the bottom of the stairs leading to the station we saw a large Nigerian man with two large bags (almost as big as he was!), trying to haul them up the stairs. We ran over and gave him a hand with the bags up the stairs and across the road to the bus stop, and started a conversation with him. We learned that his name was Luke. We also learned that, in fact, he was a referral from the missionaries in Pesaro we had received a few weeks ago, whom we had already tried to call several times with no success! He explained to us that he had just been traveling, had seen our calls, but did not answer them because there would be extra roaming fees. We ended up teaching him a small lesson right there at the bus stop, and then setting up an appointment to call him next week! The Lord works in such mysterious, but wonderful ways!
Well both the weather and the work are just so beautiful here, I am having the time of my life. I am so exhausted, but so thankful. We are so blessed to be alive!
I love you all and pray for you; thank you so much for remembering me in your prayers! Remember to keep the people of Italy in them also. It is a rough place for a lot of people around here.
Love,
Anziano Wilson
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