Buongiorno a tutti quanti! What a beautiful day!
This week has been really amazing. General Conference was so inspired! I loved every minute of it! What a blessing it is to be led by living Prophets and Apostles of our Heavenly Father!
--This week we went over the visit the Simeone family. The father in the home is not yet a member, and the wife is semi-active in the church. They are really great people. While we were visiting, while the pasta was cooking, sister Simeone asked us "I just don't get it. How do you guys do it? At such a young age how are you so sure of what you teach!?" It was a piercing question, and it made me search my soul for the answer. But right away the words of the Savior came to mind, from the book of John, 7:17," If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." I then bore testimony that the only real way to know if something is right, and to gain a testimony of it, is to put it into practice in your own life. To test it. To do as the Savior said, and follow the will of God. I realized that the moments when I began to really have a testimony came when I went out of my way to try. To see for myself if it would bring good fruits in my life. And little by little, I began to see the fruits in my life. They were always small; almost unnoticable at the time...but looking back the evidence is huge. The Lord's hand in my life has been always present. And that is now the testimony that I can lean on. The words of President Thomas S. Monson came to my mind "I maintain that a strong testimony of our Savior and of His gospel will … protect you from the sin and evil around you. … If you do not already have a testimony of these things, do that which is necessary to obtain one. It is essential for you to have your own testimony, for the testimonies of others will carry you only so far" What a truth that is! As thankful that I am for the testimonies of others that carried me through childhood, my life really started to change when I found out for myself. And that takes effort. They were touched, and we had a wonderful discussion afterwards; inviting them to write down specific questions for conference, and watch to see that they would be answered in conference.
--On the subject of questions and answers, I wrote down a few questions to be answered in Conference. I felt as though a few of the talks were specifically for me.
--We ate some delicious peanut butter and banana sandwiches for Easter. That may not sound like much to you all, but good peanut butter here is like liquid gold. It was AMAZING.
--I think we all noticed the emphasis that was put in almost every talk this conference--the importance of the family, and how to keep it strong. In this regard, I specifically appreciated the talk "The Music of the Gospel" by Elder Wilford W. Andersen of the Seventy. What an inspiring metaphor! Just keep practicing!
--Scambio: I had the opportunity to scambio with Anziano Bendezu this week in Bergamo. He is from Perù, but has lived in Rome for the past 21 years. We taught an amazing new investigator of theirs, and I learned a lot from his teaching style. It was a blessing to teach with a native-speaker and learn new terminology. For example "Prendere due pigione con una fava (take to pigeons with one bean) means kill two birds with one stone!
--I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter! What a blessing it is to remember and celebrate the great victory over death. As Jeffery R. Holland put it, "So today we celebrate the gift of victory over every fall we have ever experienced, every sorrow we have ever known, every discouragement we have ever had, every fear we have ever faced—to say nothing of our resurrection from death and forgiveness for our sins. That victory is available to us because of events that transpired on a weekend precisely like this nearly two millennia ago in Jerusalem. Beginning in the spiritual anguish of the Garden of Gethsemane, moving to the Crucifixion on a cross at Calvary, and concluding on a beautiful Sunday morning inside a donated tomb, a sinless, pure, and holy man, the very Son of God Himself, did what no other deceased person had ever done nor ever could do. Under His own power, He rose from death, never to have His body separated from His spirit again. " What a message of hope! The grave has no victory; the tomb is empty! It has touched my heart in a very specific way recently, the greatness of it all. We cannot even fathom what our Savior had to go through; what He had to overcome. But he did it. For each of us. So I hope we all enjoyed celebrating the great gift of victory. I bear my testimony that He lives, and that He loves us. That He will never leave us. He cannot forget us. May we never forget Him.
--We had a really great Mission Leadership Council this past Monday in Milano. We are preparing for the visit of Elder Bednar at the end of April. He is going to do a 6-hour training with the entire mission! What a blessing!
--Miracle: We had some wonderful miracles this week with General Conference. The messages were inspired, and we were blessed to have two new investigators, Innocent and Jerry, attend for the first time; they both loved it! But the miracle that I would like to share is the miracle of personal revelation. I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance of leadership--in the church but also in all aspects of daily life-- and the blessing that it is for the leader as well as those he leads. The Lord has taught me some really tender principles that I hope to put better into practice as I strive to Lift, Encourage, Inspire, and Bless the missionaries around me, and long after my mission when I return home. The knowledge that we have, and the fact of continued personal revelation; communication directly from Father to son, is truly a miracle!
--Everything in Brescia is going really well. We have some wonderful progressing investigators that are really seeking to make changes in their lives. The Lord will continue to bless them to grow closer to Him as we as guides do our part. We are all excited to have an Apostle of the Lord with us in such a short time.
I hope you all are doing well; I thank you for your prayers in my behalf. I always pray for you all, even many times during the day with random people on the street! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
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