This week has been bitter sweet. I have to say the start of the week was tough. As you all know our baptism date with Carolina, it was tough but she dropped us. The problem she had was her mother in law who studies with Johova's witness had convinced her that she is waisting our time. Also she stopped having the desire to know for herself if these things were true. It was tough but in the end it comes down to everyone has the freedom to choose and she chose not to find out. We were disappointed and also it was tough because Rogelio dropped us as well because in the end he as well didn't want to change.
So the day after Carolina dropped us we had an appointment with Natacha. Natacha is a mother from the Ivory Coast (so she speaks French but has been in Italy for 10 years so she also speaks Italian) that we met through casa. Super great woman and has a family of six! This was our second lesson and we taught her Il piano di Salvezza (The plan of salvation) it went great and before she had read everything we asked her too. We gave her a baptismal date for the 25 of August and at first she was like noooo wayy that is way to early. We explained look, we are glad you know that this is a big decision but this date will be goal for you to prepare yourself for this date! We told her if we feel she is not ready we will not baptize her. It just clicked for her and she accepted the baptismal invite!!! We were so excited because before this week we were down that our other investigators dropped us! Right after she gave the closing prayer and it was perfect! She then told us how when we pray she gets goosebumps and we explained that it's the Holy Ghost confirming that what we are saying is true. She told us next time we come, she will have her whole family come listen to us because this Sunday she's making her family come!! It was funny also because right after we walked outside Carolina passed us in her car. I thought it was ironic how yesterday she passed up the blessings she could have and the day after we give a baptismal date to someone who really wants to know the truth!! We're super excited here in Bergamo, now in my area we are focusing on 2 cities Dalmine and Ponte San Pietro. I love Ponte San Pietro. It reminds me alot of Ravenna being small and lots of the people that are friendly and will hear us out. This Thursday we went to Verona, still beautiful, for zone conference. We got some great instruction on how to find more investigators. Presidente Wolfgramm has changed our approach from instead of walking up to someone and introducing ourselves, "Salve, sono Anziano Thomas della chiesa di Gesù Cristo ed abbiamo un messagio in marito lui". We don't intruduce ourselves anymore we just walk up to someone and give a "power statement" meaning I'll walk up and say "Salve, Abbiamo la famiglia per la felicità," then follow up with a question, "per lei, perché la famiglia rende la felicità?" We call in "awkward finding" because it just feels strange to not introduce yourself and walk up and say something like "In this life we have many obstacles, how do you overcome these obstacles?" Presidente Wolfgramm explained it like this, when we introduce ourselves the spirit doesn't testify of who were are, but when we give an eternal truth the spirit is able to work in that way. It was a good conference I really enjoyed it and also learned alot I can apply into my work.
Tomorrow I will probably go to Milano to get my toe worked on. I have an ingrown toe nail and it kills. I will go to an American doctor in Milano and he will cut a piece on my toe nail off so I'm looking forward to that! haha. This week has gone by great, I got some great Gelato as well as some pizzas. Anziano Treadway and I are getting along great he's hilarious and love working with him. He as well played baseball in high school. Today I'm going to play a little ping pong and then we'll play basketball with a Sud Americano member and so looking forward to basketball for the first time in 6 months! Next p'day we're planning to go to Cremona, I've heard that it's beautiful and also has the world's oldest violin!! Yeah!! No but things are going great loving every moment. I was thinking how lucky I am to be in Italy this morning, p'day moring we take a culture run. And every p'day I go running up città alta. Reminds me of toro hill haha but we run up it and explore a little bit every morning of città alta. So old and beautiful also I love it because no one is out that early in the morning. Anziano Treadway and I go running every morning and the rest of the day I feel great! Thanks everyone for the support again loving life here in Italy and love being a missionary. Grazie a mille!
Anziano Thomas
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