Week 54: July 18 (Brindisi)

EHI! La settimana di Miracoli (the week of miracles)

Hey everyone! I hope y'all all had a good week, I am excited to keep
working here in Brindisi--we have seen so many miracles this week and
things are going really well.
Also, I know it's the family reunion this week at Grandma and Grandpa's
and so know that I miss you all but I am grateful to be here and
serve.

Okay so I want to start off with one of the biggest miracles that I
have seen during my mission so far. Last Thursday Anziano Morlock and
I were doing some finding when we get a phone call from an unknown
number. So I answer it and it's this girl on the other end and she
says, "Hi is this the Anziani of Brindisi?.. So I am from Taranto
(which is like an hour and a half away from Brindisi) and am living in
Brindisi for the summer with my family. I went to the church in Taranto
and met with the missionaries there and then we moved. Well I just
wanted to ask you guys, I would really like to be baptized here so if
there is a time that you could come over to our house that would be
great.." "Umm yeah.. Yeah we can definitely do that! We can be at your
house in a few hours.." OHHH BABY SOO SWEET!! Not gonna lie I was
totally not expecting that, and so we went over there and they have
such a nice family. They live out in the country side and have a huge
like farm with olive trees and a massive horse. They also have 10
children and the 3 youngest ones have all investigated the church. So
we went over and talked to her and she chose a baptismal date for July
30 (which is in 2 weeks) and we told her that that's really soon but she
said that this is something that she really wants to do and so that's
what we have set with her right now. We have gone over there twice now
and she came to church too; we are really trying hard to make sure
that she really has a testimony of these things but I asked her what
she wants to do after she is baptized and she responds, "I would like
to help people... I would like to be a missionary.." OKAY, so yeah,
that's incredible. Her little sister (who is the 2nd place boxing
champ in Italy for her age.. 14.. Boxing here is huge; I don't know what it is)
came to church and sat in on our lesson the second time, so we are
hoping to work with her too. The parents are really open and they have
been to church many times, and so we are trying to figure out what is
holding them back and if we can work with the whole family. So yeah,
we are praying and hoping that things go well. We called our mission
president about it just to make sure we had permission to work with
her because she is 18, but there are no sorelle (sister missionaries) in our areas or even
close and he gave us permission. Then two days later he called again
and I was pretty nervous not gonna lie thinking something bad was
going to happen like being transferred out and he was just like, "Hey Elder! I
wanted to call and follow up how that family of 10 is going?" So we
are all praying over her that things continue to go well and she
grows, feels the spirit, and is baptized.

The other miracle that we saw was C. came to church!! I was so
happy when he walked in, literally doubling the size of all the
Italians there because they are so tiny. During sacrament meeting he
pulls out his Book of Mormon and Bible and then a notebook. He then
started to take notes and literally wrote down everything that
every one of the speakers said and also in Gospel Principles before he
had to leave. He is doing so well and we were able to have a good
lesson with him just reading from the Book of Mormon. He told us that
he wants to really understand and learn so we have to teach him piano
piano (step by step). His scriptures are marked up from all his notes
and he is progressing. Hopefully we will be able to meet his family
soon. During the week when we met he took us out for Gelato after and
we were speaking in English. When he drove away he rolled down the
window and was like, "I love you!!!" We are praying that he will
continue to learn and feel the spirit to know that this is true!!

Our new branch president is incredible also and he mentioned to us
that he would like us to find him some bed and breakfast places here
so that he could spend some more time in Brindisi because he lives so
far away. And how during August (which is one of the hardest months
cause every Italian is on vacation) he doesn't work so he would like
to come hit the streets with us. On Sunday he actually asked me if I
could come and speak to him in his office for a few minutes and so

we talked about some things and about the work and

afterwards he [gave me some really positive feedback that made me feel great].

I am super grateful for the support that we are

Receiving from him. He calls us just about every day to see how our
lessons went and our new contacts are and what we are doing so it's great.

For my spiritual thought I wanted to share something from another
quote from Elder Holland (an apostle of the Lord) during his talk
titled The First Great Commandment:

"What I need, Peter, are disciples--and I need them forever. I need
someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach
my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly,
truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned
me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It
is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the
ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to
change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last
time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify,
labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you
exactly what they did to me.”

I have been thinking about this a lot this week because of two
experiences that we had while doing finding. The first one I know I
shouldn't have acted the way that I did but here is what happened.

A man came up and started talking to my comp as I was talking to
someone else. I walked over and he was going off on how we need to
take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and how we need to follow
him more. And then he starts asking me all these ridiculous questions
and starts hitting me. Like slapping my arms and stuff so I started to
get ticked off. And then he was like, "How many books are in the
bible.. What is the exact number?" And I just looked back and was
like, 'Well that's not important for my salvation whatsoever." "Awww
Soo you don't know the bible.." "That's not even important.."  (66--I
looked it up after.) And then he goes off again and I am ticked cause
he keeps hitting me and I want to just rip him apart and just knock
him out. Then he asks me to show him in the bible where it talks about
the Book of Mormon so I pull up Ezekiel 37 about the stick of Judah
(bible) and stick of Joseph (book of mormon) and how they will be
together. Anyway, he didn't accept that and then just kept hitting me
and I was so ticked off. And then he left.. SO yes, lesson learned is that I
probably shouldn't have gotten mad cause I wasn't feeling the spirit, which is what teaches.

The next experience which went a lot better is on Saturday night when
we were doing finding in Centro. This half American (so we were
speaking in English) stopped us and wanted to talk and he told us that
he was atheist. He then started to tell us his thoughts and how we are
wrong and how he respects us but we honestly can't know or believe
these things.. And just saying all these things (he was very
confident.. Not shy whatsoever to tell us what he thought of us) and I

felt the spirit and "preached the gospel and defended my faith" as I
bore my testimony to him that in fact I do know that God exists, and
he loves us. And that the planets and the way things work on the earth
show that there is a creator and that I know these things are true.
That Joseph Smith really did see God and I believe that I can pray and
really talk to my father in heaven and that he listens to me. We then
left and it was a good feeling to know that I had at least done my
part and that's what God has asked me to do as his missionary.

God exists, he lives, and we can all know that for ourselves!!


I love you all so much!!!

Love,

Anziano Spencer