Buongiorno a tutti i miei cari amici e familgia! Vi saluto da Italia!
This week has been so wonderful! Talk about miracles! Being a missionary is just so great! Last night as I was lying in bed (about 10 minutes before bed-time....oh man, I never thought I would have a bed-time again...strange.) I was just totally exhausted and thinking "We do some serious work out here in the mission!" It is SO easy to fall asleep these days! :)
Let's see....the summer is coming! Which means there are a bunch of activities and marathons and all kinds of stuff going on here in Rimini. It's a happening place around here these days!
Our district leader told us last district meeting something that I thought was really cool. He said that we, missionaries in Italy, have a special opportunity and priviledge of preaching the gospel here. Because we get to do it like the apostles of old did it! There is just a huge center piazza place in basically every city in Italy, where thousands of people walk every day...and we can just declare the gospel to them! Sure, we get tons of "non mi interesa" 's and "no, grazie" 's, and "NO! NO! NO!" 's from the people we try to talk to....but I'm sure it was the same for the apostles and prophets of old! It's pretty cool to me to think that we are walking the same paths that they walked, and doing the same thing that has been commanded of the disciples of Christ ever since He lived here on the earth. Plus, it just makes the day so much better when you get a smile out of someone who at the beginning looked just angry at the world! The message of the Restoration is a special message, and it truly can and will change the world!
In other highlights....my companion's bike got stolen! (Did I write about that last week?...maybe...but we still haven't found it!) Also, there was a car driving around the block this morning with the windows down, blasting some kind of...either advertisment or protest....the only words we could make out were "knives, cutting products, ham knives, and scissors"..... so...there's that!
I am just so used to living it Italy! There was a car parked in the middle of the road the other day, and we just rode past it on our bikes without even realizing it...and then I thought about it again like "...was that...hmmm. Italians!" haha.
Miracle: We had many wonderful miracles this past week, but the one that sticks out to me the most happened with one of our investigators named Morris. We have been working with Morris for several months now, and it has been up and down throughout the lessons as to his being progressing/ ready to be baptized. He always tells us that he believes everything that we teach, but it just didn't seem to us that he had a real, strong, personal testimony of the truthfulness of what we teach-the kind of testimony that he could look to at any moment when times got tough, and it would help pull him along in faithfulness. To make a long story short, after postponing his baptism several times due to different factors (the biggest of which being his lack of coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon), he was really upset with us, and didn't even accept our phone calls or pass-bys for several days. This past week we decided to give it one last shot, and looked up some wonderful scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants (1:17, 29-30) and Joseph Smith History (1:19), to share with him about the fact that there is only one true and living church on the earth today, led and guided by Jesus Christ Himself. The beginning of the lesson started off a little rough; with him saying that we could just forget about the whole baptism thing, and that he would just continue to go to his old church, that is closer to his house anyway. But the Spirit of the Lord moved quickly in us to help us form a response to his questions and concerns, and after reading those scriptures, and discussing it for the better part of an hour, his entire countenance changed. We asked him at the end of the lesson, "Morris, have you received a personal witness today, from the Spirit, that these things are true?" He paused for a moment to think, and then finally said "Yes. It is written. These are not your words, they are the Lord's. I believe them." We were ecstatic, and we still are! He is now well on his way to being baptized again! The work of the Lord is wonderful!
Everthing else is going wonderfully! Our district is BECOMING A STAKE!!!! So we are all invited to go to Fiorenze (yes!) for a special stake organization meeting! And you know what that means....apostle! We hope at least! But it will be a really special meeting, and I am so thankful that we get to go to that! Our branch here in Rimini is finally becoming a ward!! I'm really excited! Oh by the way, Fiorenze is Florence in English. My companion reminded me that I guess everyone might not understand where that is :)
Thank you all so much for your prayers and love and support, I really am so thankful for all of you. You all have played a big role in my life, and I am better because of it! I am excited to skype home on Sunday! :)
Love,
Anziano Wilson
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