Buongiorno a tutti i miei cari amici e famiglia! Spaghetti, fusili, tortolloni!
This week has been such a wonderful week for me. Man, it flew by though! Where did September go?!
I am so very blessed, and thankful to be a missionary for our Savior. I have been really trying recently to forget myself and just go to work. Rely on the Lord and trust that as long as I am doing my very best, the Lord will do the rest. We have seen some amazing miracles in this special place.
--We held district meeting entirely in Italian this week!! woohoo! President Dibb wants the missionaries to improve dramatically in Italian (which I completely agree with. There are a lot of missionaries that unfortunately don't put a whole lot of effort into really mastering the language. They just learn enough to kind of get by. Don't do that!!) so we are supposed to hold meetings and stuff once a month entirely in Italian. I feel bad for the two new missionaries in our district, though! They looked so scared when I asked them what it means to pray with real intent. (In Italian). And so I just said it in English too, and then they gave great responses! :)
--We did shopping for the entire next month, today! That was a project! The closest grocery store (that has good prices...missionary prices) is like 10 miles away, but luckily we had a member volunteer to drive us there and back! That was a blessing! So we now have full shelves!! :)
--This last week I finally finished reading the entire Book of Mormon, cover to cover, in Italian!!!!! What a wonderful experience. It took me a little bit of time, but it was worth it! 630 pages of masterful teaching! (It's a little longer in Italian). I have grown so much closer to my Savior, and have improved dramatically not only my capacity to speak and read the Italian language, but also my knowledge and understanding of the Savior's teachings. It is funny, because at the beginning, like the entire book of first Nephi, you can tell how much I understood...(nothing!)...there isn't a single thing marked except the scripture masteries I found when I was in the MTC. :) But it was such a blessing to read it! Reading the testimonies of those ancient prophets in a different language for some reason just made so many things click. It is so much more clear; the things that they were saying make more sense! As I was about to leave, I will admit that one of my greatest fears was that I just didn't know very many things at all, doctrinally! I am so thankful for the knowledge and understanding that the Lord has given me as I have studied and prayed to understand. I consider it one of the greatest blessings of my mission.
--We had a dinner the other day...actually yesterday, with three investigators from English Class. What a great time that was! I have finally arrived at the point where I can make jokes in Italian!! FINALLY!!! I have been anxiously awaiting this day!!
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Miracle: This week we had a wonderful miracle after church services on Sunday! We had about an hour between the end of church and the start of lunch, and so we decided to go to centro and hand out these things called "Sorriso del Giorno" that Anziano Strang and I came up with in Rimini. They are little pieces of paper with a quote from an Apostle or Prophet and a big smiley face next to it. They are great, especially in little towns like Morbegno! We handed out one to a middle aged man named Gianluca walking a little out of the way, just in passing, and didn't really think much of it...and then about 10 minutes later we crossed paths again, and he walked up to us all excited and said that he had read the back of the paper (where we had stamped it) and saw our church's address, and wanted to know where it is. We began a conversation about how much God loves us and how we are his children, and he gives us a church to help us get back to him. Then we tied that into the Restoration through Joseph Smith. As I said "Joseph Smith had great faith, but he just didn't know which church was true. He was searching for a long time for the church that would bring him closest to God..." and he interrupted me by saying, "Oh, kind of like me!..." What a golden comment! I was taken back by his preparation and faith, and his sincere desire to learn! He works all day 6 days a week, but we agreed on meeting him again this next Sunday, to watch some of the General Conference together. (We also made little hand-outs for general conference, so that made it really easy to tie that into the conversation.) He was so excited. As we finished praying together he looked up with the biggest smile. He will be a future leader of the church someday here in Italy, I am sure of it! We will meet him again on Sunday, and I am planning on giving him a call Friday just to see how things are going and everything. It was a special miracle. The Lord places people in our path, we just need to be available to him!
Things are going really, really well. We are working hard to find investigators to teach...and get them to church!! We made some outstanding (If I may say so myself) pass-along cards for General Conference this next week! AHHH!! General Conference!!! I almost forgot that it is in like THREE DAYS!!! I love General Conference! (I just hope they don't change around the members of the seventy and everything too much...that would mess up my general authority game ;) ) What a blessing to hear the voice our Father in Heaven through his chosen servants in these latter-days.
I love you guys a ton! I remember you always in my prayers and thank you so much for yours! I can feel the strength that comes from your prayers. I need them! Have a wonderful, fun-filled week! :)
Love,
Anziano Wilson
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