Last Transfer

Hello everybody! I hope you've all had a great week. This week has been an interesting one. We got transfer calls and Anz. Schwiermann and I are luckily still staying here in Brescia, still with the branch, but we're moving to a new apartment so we aren't living in 4 anymore, which is kind of lame but good for staying focused. So it'll be a great way to end the mission.

Let's see let's see... This week not a ton really happened. A rather slow week overall, so there's not much to share. Uhhh... We had our Branch Conference with all the stake presidency and everything. I got to see an old friend from Modena who was there because he's in the young men's stake presidency. So that was super cool.

Plus, the same day, my companion, the sisters, and I all did a musical number that went super well, a sweet 3-part harmony with me playing piano. It went really well considering we changed the song the night before. So that was sweet. The branch president was crying after.

Today, we're headed out to Mont'Isola because Anz. Horne is leaving Brescia tomorrow. Sad to see him go but he's got some good stuff to do in his new city. His companion's new companion here is going to be my old companion from Mestre, Anz. Hubbard, so that'll be a fun reunion.

Well, the past couple of days I've been thinking about what I want to accomplish in my last transfer. I've set a couple goals. The two main ones are really developing my relationship with God and then learning how the Spirit really speaks to me. I have a difficult time getting to know people because I'm a pretty introverted person, so that's not really my thing, and I've noticed it get in the way of my relationship with God. So I'm trying to break that barrier between us. Then with the Spirit, it was inspired by an article by Elder Christofferson. He was talking about an Anglican Archbishop being interviewed in South Africa. He says the following.

During the interview the host asked a perceptive, inspired question of Bishop Tutu: “Have you found that your relationship to God has changed as you’ve grown older?”
Bishop Tutu paused and then said, “Yes. I am learning to shut up more in the presence of God.” 

He recalled that when he prayed in his earlier years, he did so with a list of requests and solicitudes. He would approach heaven with what he called “a kind of shopping list.” But now, he said, “I think [I am] trying to grow in just being there. Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter, you are just there in front of the fire, and you don’t have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you.” 

I think that is a lovely metaphor--just sit with the Lord and let Him warm you like a fire in winter. You don’t have to be perfect or the greatest person who ever graced the earth or the best of anything to be with Him.

That's what I've been trying to put into practice. Every time after I pray, I try to just sit and listen and figure out what the Spirit sounds like. It's something vital to me.

I hope you all have a sweet week! Hear from you soon!

Do great things today!
Anz Ben Guthrie