Buongiorno!!! :)
So the work here is going GREAT! Besides the fact that we can't seem to get a hold of ANY of our 30 investigators to set up lessons!! But, that's just how the work of a missionary in Italy goes sometimes...I still am loving it!
Let's see....it's getting really hot. Really, hot. So that's a good time. We just got permission from the office to go buy a bunch of fans for the apartment...because Italians don't have air conditioning....they think it will make you deathly ill...
We had a wonderful activity last night at the church; the son of the 1st counselor in the stake presidency is leaving for her mission to temple square within the next week or so, and so we had a nice farewell party for her....and of course we invited our investigators! I love Italian parties...they are nuts. Screaming and shouting and tons of food. But super fun!
There were two new investigators that came to the party and really enjoyed it; Giorgio and his son Carlino...(?). They are from Colombia....and speak spanish!! I love it when people speak spanish to me; it is getting to the point where I have established enough of the base of Italian that it doesn't throw me off anymore to speak/try to remember the Spanish I learned in highschool (which is limited)...so they enjoyed laughing at me trying to speak with them in broken Spanish/Italian mix. We have kind of a joke here among the missionaries that to speak spanish all you have to do is speak Italian but add an 's' at the end of every word. Buongiornos amicos! haha. But that's really not true at all. But sometimes it works!...and they at least understand what you are trying to say...mostly. Anyway they enjoyed the party! And we set up an appointment to meet with them and talk about the gospel on Thursday! They are so nice and I am really excited for that! They were brought to church by a young man in the ward, Emmanuele, and he will be there as well!
I had a wondeful scambio (companion exchange) with our district leader, Anziano Chamberlain, this week. He is a hoot. The dryest sense of humor, but oh, it was a blast! He is a great missionary! I learned a lot about using different finding techniques with him, and we both had a really good experience getting 4 cancelled appointments but regardless finding and teaching 6 people lessons on Monday!
Miracle: This week has been a little tough in terms of finding chances to meet with our progressing investigators...for some reason ALL of them were busy! So we ended up with a lot of cancelled appointments, and so a lot of finding work. But we have had some wonderful experiences! We experienced a really cool miracle on Thursday. We met this man sitting on some random steps in the middle of centro, and started a conversation and ended up sitting down and explaining the entire Restoration to this guy...during which he was really engaged and listening and asking questions! The spirit was super strong right after we quoted the First Vision using Joseph Smith's words (as it usually is), and as we recognized and explained to him that what he was feeling comes from God; from the Holy Ghost, who testifies of truth, tears came to his and our eyes. We asked him to pray to ask God if what he had just heard was true. He said a wonderful prayer, after which he explained to us that he has been having a lot of difficulties recently and that he had forgotten to pray for a long time...but that he was glad he was reminded.
He said that he would rather not give us his phone number, but that we would "see each other around" (we all know what that means...) But he is super nice, and i hope that the Lord will touch his heart and that he will decide to call our phone number that we left with him. Regardless, it was a really special experience for me, one in which we felt the Spirit of the Lord very strongly!
All else is going relatively well. We are working to establish contact with our investigators...we have a lot of them; it is just fixing lessons that seems to be the struggle right now. But the Lord is here preparing the way for us, and as long as we do our best, He will help us find a way!
Thank you all so much for your support and prayers for me and our investigators. We are still working with Cristian to stop smoking...that is proving to be really difficult. But, he has read like 400 pages in the Book of Mormon so far..."this book is like magic for me! Whenever I feel anxious or sad I read it...and then I have peace!" The poor guy is the only one in his family of 4 who wants to quit smoking. So he still needs your prayers!
I love you all and wish you a fantastic week! Adiòs amigos!
-Anziano Wilson
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