We did a scambio (splits) this week with the Zone Leaders and I stayed in Pisa. We did 6 straight hours of finding work with absolutely no success. Until 5 minutes before we went home...
During our scambio with the capi, Anziano Quinton and I did every single type of finding work; parco (park?*), casa (knocking on doors?), mezzi (?), and strada (street contacting?) for 6 hours in total. It was definitely a mental challenge for me because I've never done that much finding work in one solid time period. But we still did it and sadly didn't see a lot of success until the absolute end of the night. It was about 8:45 and we decided to talk to one more person and then head home. Anziano Quinton picked out a man, who Anz. Quinton thought was Chinese... and we went and talked to him. His name is Roger and is a super cool man from the Phillipines. He'd met the missionaries there too. After explaining a little bit about the Restoration, we got his number and his address. Then when we asked if we could leave him with a word a prayer, he said to wait a few minutes for his two friends. After a few minutes one had showed up, named Dennis, so we said a prayer with them and left. After getting the bikes, we rode by them and the third friend was there. We stopped and talked to him and got his number too. His name is Ray.
(*Attempted translations not by Ben)
Then a few nights ago we met Ray again and I taught him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon in Tagalog while Anziano Strang was a few feet away talking to Ray's two friends, Florence and Roland about the Church. That was a super awesome experience where we just took advantage of all the oppurtunities placed in front of us, even if we had to split up for a bit.
Phillipini rock. Just saying. I'm super excited to start working with the sweet people and there families. Our goal is this. There is a small group of about 20-30 families of Phillipini people who are all catholic and they meet in the middle of the city every Sunday night to worship God. So we're gonna go there and convert them all... Yeah :)
Fun stuff in Pisa. That's it really. :)
So fun stuff from studies:
Alma 14:26
26 And Alma cried, saying: How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance. And they broke the cords with which theywere bound; and when the people saw this, they began to flee, for the fear of destruction had come upon them.Also from this speech by Elder Bednar.
(Oh yeah. And Elder Bednar is coming to speak to the Milano mission on April 27th. So there's that...)
So basically I learned something that I always understood and it made sense but I never really put it into practice or used it. It's this. When we have some trial, affliction, tribulation, difficulty, God wants to help us obsiously. He's our Father in heaven. He isn't just going to leave us there suffering and wallowing in pain. What He will do is "give us strength according to our faith in Christ." That is how he works. I think most people who don't believe in God don't understand how He works. I can say that because that's how I was when I didn't believe in Him. No one really understands in full obviously, but we as humans often expect Him to work how we want Him to work and that's not how it is. He knows how to do these things, it's us who needs to trust Him. As we as sincerly and have faith in the Atonement of Christ, we will receive strength unto deliverance. He won't take away our trials and tribulations, but He will give us strength to face them with our head up. As you face times of trouble, ask for strength unto deliverance. It works :)
Italian baby named Yacobo!
You guys rock. I love you all! Have a great week!
Anziano Guthrie
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