Wow! This week has flown! But here we are again at the computer.
--So, we whitewashed Brescia, meaning that we took the place of an entire companionship. So getting to know the area and everything from scratch has been pretty fun. Challenging, but fun. The Lord has been blessing us abundantly; I am so thankful for His guidance and help as He has opened up doors for us that have not previously been available to the other missionaries.
--So, as we are beginning to discover, the missionaries that were here before us weren't the most dedicated missionaries, unfortunately. That is really unfortunate. There were a lot of things out of order in the apartment, in the teaching they were doing, and in the relations with the members. (My heart goes out to them, because when you are out here only to work when you feel like it and do what you want, you really get nothing out of it. You just lose two years, because you will never truly be changed into what the Lord knows you can be. Missions are to change you. They are to strengthen you. They are to mold you into who our Heavenly Father whats you to be. I am infintely grateful, fully recognizing my weaknesses and imperfections, for the great knowledge that the Lord has blessed me with, and for the man he is helping me become.) So I wanted to make sure and make a good impression with the members in the first sacrament meeting we went to. The bishop asked us to bear our testimonies (you could tell he wasn't expecting much), and introduce ourselves in sacrament meeting. I went up and read Alma 26:12, bore testimony that the Lord will make us into who we need to become, that I have seen that on my mission, and I concluded with "Brothers and sisters, I have been on my mission for 20 months, and I just want you all to know....my companion and I are here to work. We are here to be obedient. This is the Lord's work. He will help all bring our brothers and sisters home..." My companion bore a wonderful testimony as well. This has turned out to be a great blessing to us.
--For example, two of our members approached us right after the meeting and said "So you guys are the Zone Leaders? I appreciated your testimonies." We replied that we were happy to be here, and they immediately followed up with "oh good! I have been waiting for some good, obedient missionaries. Would you come over and teach my husband the gospel?" What a blessing! The other lady in the ward said, referring to her husband that has been coming to church on and off for about a year, "you two look like the kind of missionaries that can finally baptize my husband!" What a great blessing! I know that Lord will help us do it.
--We have been seeing some serious success talking to people on the buses and metros here in Brescia. It is amazing how many people are willing to talk about the gospel!
---One of my favorite encounters on the metro this week happened yesterday. We were riding the train from the station to our house, which gives us about 1 minute (two stops)...so we call it "professional mode.", because there is no time to dance around the subject; you get one chance to touch them with the Spirit and then either they are interested in meeting with us or not. As I stepped on the train I caught a glimpse of a man in the corner of my eye....south american! (that is like money in the bank). So I hurried over to him and started up a conversation about Jesus Christ. He told me that he was getting off at the next stop (so I'm thinking in my head, "oh man, game time!"), I immediately bore my testimony to him of the first thing that came to mind--God's love for each of us is unfailing. He asked which church I belonged to. I replied (in spanish ;) )La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ùltimos dìas. He was like "los mormones!? Take my number!" And so I pull out my phone and we exchanged numbers.We are meeting with him later on this week! All this happened in the course of 20 seconds! What a wonderful experience!
--I met a man named Stanley on the bus this week. As we were riding to our next appointment, about 10 minutes away, I began a conversation with him about Heavenly Father. He is from Nigeria, and has great faith. We talked for the whole bus ride, and even said a prayer together right there sitting on the bus. He was touched, and gave us his phone number. We are meeting with him on Sunday! What a miracle!
---So many more amazing things have happened this week; the Lord has been placing people in our path left and right!
Miracle: This past week in Brescia has been amazing! The Lord has been blessing us so much. The miracle of this week is that we have found over 25 potential investigators since we have arrived here, and 7 of those have turned into investigators so far! The Lord has been placing so many people in our path, it is a great blessing. More than anything, I am thankful that the Lord has been blessing me with the ability to see people for who they can become, rather than who they are at present. For example, just yesterday we were at the train station waiting for an investigator to show up for our lesson, and we saw a young man with shaggy clothes, and over 10 piercings on his face, and a large bull-type nose ring. My first thought to myself was "wow, that is gross"....but then, feeling bad for judging him, I changed the thought to "wow, that boy must be seeking attention. He must be having a hard life. Let's see if we can help him." And so I went up and began to talk to him. I found out that he is a Christian, from Peru, and that he has been here for around 8 years. We talked about how the Savior of the world loves each one of us, and how He will never leave us alone. He asked us what church we belonged to, and after we replied he said...."los mormones!?" He then told us that back in Peru, when he was a young boy, he was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but that he had lost track of the church when he moved here. He said that he has seen many of us around, but was waiting for us to speak to him. He said that he felt loved when we spoke. We exchanged phone numbers and are meeting him again on Saturday. We are planning on inviting him to come back to church! It is amazing to me....you just would never guess that something like that could happen.
--Everything else here is going really well. Anziano Pinnock is a great man, (He is so hilarious! Finally someone that is just as sarcastic as me! We are having a blast cracking silly jokes all the time). We are doing some wonderful work, and have seen so many miracles. We are planning on really focusing on working with and strengthening the members here. Whitewashing has been a bit of a challenge, especially since we didn't have much to work with, but we are working hard and talking with everyone. More than half of the 7 new investigators we have found have been found on public transportation here. I know the Lord will bless us in this new area.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support! I am so thankful for you, and remember you all each day. Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
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