Well, they say out of the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses shall every word be established. If that's the case, then I've got some news for you all. First, I am apparently blonde, and do not have brown hair. Second, I am not American, because my english is too perfect, and thus I am English. Yeah, bugiardi, tutti due, I know. But that just goes to show you how crazy people are out here... lol.
Alright, time for the good stuff. Sunday in church we had a girl show up that no one knew. I can't remember if that ever happened in the states, but I have never seen this happen in any other city, let alone twice in the same month (diego and mariarosa as well) but yeah, she showed up for gospel principles when we were talking about the Spirit World. How's that for a first impression? hahaha BUT! She's super awesome! All the things that were taught she said that she already believed in, in fact she kept testifying about all the things that were being taught, to the point that even Lizbeth was looking over at me all surprised and impressed! It was awesome!!! She also said that for some reason she just felt a strong need to come to church today! Holy Ghost! We're seeing her tomorrow morning right after studies! We're stoked!!!
Quick update on some old investigators, we've been semi seeing a family from Santo Domingo for a couple months now, who's biggest problem is that they don't see a need to come to church, nor to see us more than once every 15 days, in order to know that the church is true or not. They're reading everyonce in a while, but it's hard to help them make progress. Well, we had a pretty cool lesson yesterday, and at one point Marino asked how often there are baptisms in our church. We told him that it just depends, but that there will be one in about 2-3 weeks. He immediately got all excited and pointed out to us saying "oh, see and I bet you've been seeing them for a long time then haven't you? How long have they been attending your church?" Our response, "yeah, I guess. We met them 2 weeks ago." hahahah! He then asked how it was that they got their answer so fast, and so we told him how they meet with us 3 times a week, and come to church each week. It definitely made him realize the importance of our meetings, and we were able to set up the next appointment for the following week, instead of 15 days later! Progress!!!
Miracle time! So, we've been talking a lot about the importance of planning, and how we need to "spiritually create" things before they can happen. Like in Moses 3:5...
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth...
So, we really wanted to give this a try. As we planned monday night, we hoped to set up an appointment the next morning with a young man who would be able to receive the priesthood, because our ward is in dire need of priesthood holders. The next morning didn't go so well. Companionship study didn't start off too hot, and we had to make up for it later, because we had several lessons that needed to be planned for that day, so it took an extra 30 min to get out. And with lunch being moved earlier because of one of our appointments, we would have only had 30-40 min of time once we got out into the city, so we decided to work on our area book, as there was a lot to catch up on. Short story even shorter, the first appointment we set up was with an former investigator, who at one point in time had a baptismal date, and he's a perspective priesthood holder too. I then reminded my companion of our plans from the night before, and we realized even further that this work is directed by the hand of God.
Okay, but my favorite part about this week was with Yuri and Lizbeth. They are awesome. But have not been reading. But I didn't worry too much about that. We were too focused on how we were going to get all the lessons in before this weekend, so that they could get their baptismal interview at general conference, and then get baptized the following week. But I learned a very important lesson this last weekend that will help me for the rest of my life... So, saturday we were supposed to teach tithing to Lizbeth and Yuri. We were on an exchange with the zone leaders, and I stayed in Pavia with Anziano Baliff, and he and I had prepared a pretty good lesson, and felt very confident, that despite Yuri's concerns, he would feel the spirit, and commit to pay tithing after baptism. So, we went off. We got to the lesson, and started off with the usual stuff, asked about work, and everything, and started with a prayer, then we asked if they had read the book of mormon lately. - Yuri said no, that he still had not read, and Lizbeth had still only read the one chapter. - And something hit me, in the pit of my stomach. Words from Elder Caussé at a recent conference came ringing in my ears "You can't go on if they haven't read the Book of Mormon". But there was no time, there was no way we were going to be able to teach the remaining lessons if we decided to skip tithing tonight! Not even our crazy idea of teaching Yuri over the phone while he's down in Rome this week would be enough if we didn't teach tithing tonight! We've got to keep going! But I managed to turn to my zone leader sitting next to me, and asked him if he thought we should read with them. He nodded his head, and we opened up to Alma 32:26 and read a couple verses about the importance of acting, and then recomitted them to read the book of mormon, and we left. Not a word about tithing. It was painful, but I knew we had to do it. The next day was church, and later that night we had a lesson scheduled with them. When we got there we found them with both their copies of the Book of Mormon out, and learned that they had read all of the introductions and testimonies, and even up to the middle of the first chapter of Nephi. I know that these things may seem small, but they mean so much! That lesson sunday night went so much better than the previous ones, and they have a much more full concept now of how important this message is that we bring! That saturday night lesson was just what I needed to brake this terribly wrong mindset I had of trying to get them to a specific baptismal date, and has helped me as well realize the importance of this message, this salvation that we are helping people move towards.
This church is the true church of God. There is none other. If someone says otherwise, they have not heeded the promise given in Moroni 10:4-5 which reads...
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
I love the gospel, and the many opportunities that we are given to repent and to change. I am excited beyond description for General Conference this weekend! Whether I watch it in italian or english, I know that I am going to learn exactly what I need to learn! I strongly urge all of you that read this to be ready for General Conference, and to be open to the words of the prophet and his apostles, because they're exactly what we need to hear to find the peace and happiness that we're all looking for.
Take care! Vi voglio tutti un sacco di bene!
-Anziano Bushman
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