Hey family! I hope that you are having a great spring break at home. It’s starting to get warmer here in Rome which has been really nice. Today for Pday we are planning to go with our district to this Via Appia street which apparently is like the first street that was created here in Rome. Also, we are going to go check out some catacombs, and go to this big park to play some frisbee. The thing that is also really cool is this Via Appia street connects Rome all the way down to Brindisi, which is where I was serving 4 transfers ago. The church there is found on Via Appia.. pretty interesting.. I am super excited. It is going to be a lot of fun. Also, this week I will be able to do an exchange with Anziano Haws who is such a stud. He is only in his 2nd transfer, so I am really excited to work and with and learn from him.
This week has been pretty interesting in many different ways. The really cool thing is Anziano Kolsen and I have definitely found our MOJO together which has been great. We have a lot of fun together because we get along really well, but we also work really hard. Our finding has been awesome and teaching has gone really well too. Unfortunately, one of the tough things from this week is a lot of our investigators have stopped meeting with us for different reasons. One of them (who we seriously thought was going to be baptized this next week) got into some heavy anti-Mormon stuff online and he has decided to not meet with us anymore. We tried our best to help him understand that what he read was not true, but he unfortunately has made his decision. It was really sad because before this he had really started to change his life and see improvement but then he believed more what he read online on sites that were not true than what we, as true witnesses, were telling him. A simple example of our last lesson is this from our investigator: "I read that basically this church is going to control me... to let it take away my all my freedom and happiness..." (ummm completely not true) and my companion (who is a beast and also the kinda guy that does not let anyone boss him around or tell him what to do) looks at him and just says, "Look at me man... do I look like some who would let anyone.. anyone boss me around or control me?" Our investigator started laughing and was like "yeah you’re right, no..." and then I looked at him and said, "now look at me.. do I look like I am not happy? That I am not free??" He looked at me and then started to smile, realizing that honestly what he read online was just not true, but sadly he has remained firm with his decision and he is not meeting with us anymore. For anyone wanting to learn more about our religion I invite all to search at Mormon.org or lds.org because that is where you will find our right information... the other sights apparently explain that we are not happy people. Now, anyone who knows me knows that that right there is automatically a false accusation and so I just pray that our investigator will eventually come back and all will search the right things online to find the correct information.
Another one of our investigators (the one that we found and brought to the party at the YSA/GANS center a few weeks ago) has found a job in Germany and moved there yesterday. He is willing to still meet with the missionaries in Berlin so hopefully things will start to progress for him while he is there and feel the spirit to confirm this truth.
We have been doing a lot of finding which has been good. There is a really cool place that we have found that is very successful. It’s close to another college in Rome and every time we have gone we have found some people that have been interested. We were able to meet with this one really cool guy on Saturday that brought two of his friends to the lesson! They had a ton of questions for us that we were able to answer and then explain the Restoration. They are really curious for right now but they are not sure how much they want to commit. We will be seeing them this next Saturday and I really hope it goes well. I have really enjoyed doing finding when we are able to do splits and go with members as well. This last week I was able to go out with Jonathan Calvagna [returned missionary] which was so great. Even though we only had about an hour together it was still great. His energy is incredible and it was cool to be able to go with him and talk to people. I love seeing the change from both of us--especially from me—because the first time we were together was my first transfer in the mission. Now I can talk to people a lot better and work a lot better with him. The mission change is great.
For my spiritual thought I wanted to share something that I read this week that I loved, and really helped me. I forgot what talk it was that I was reading since I copied it in Italian... I apologize that this isn't in English.
"Il Signore ha dichiarato: “E dovete essere istruiti dall’alto. Santificatevi e sarete investiti di potere, affinché possiate dare proprio come ho detto”. La parola santificatevi può sembrare poco chiara. Il presidente Harold B. Lee una volta ha spiegato che possiamo sostituire questa parola con la frase “Osservate i miei comandamenti”. Letto così, il consiglio sembra più chiaro."
I love this quote a lot.. basically what it is teaching is that the Lord has declared for us to sanctify ourselves. But sometimes this word doesn't seem very clear, and so Harold B. Lee (a prophet) basically declared that this word can mean to simply observe the commandments... super simple, but I know as I am more sanctified as I observe the commandments of God and that I will have his blessings and that I will feel the spirit more. Especially at the end of my mission I have these thoughts always about what I can do more and so this was a good reminder to just simply do what I have been striving to do my whole mission. Observe the commandments of God, especially the rules that we have in the mission, and I am blessed with miracles. Simple... but very powerful.
Well, I love you guys so much!! I hope y'all have a great week!
Anziano Spencer
P.S I got bit by a wolf pup last week. Not gonna lie, I think it’s pretty sweet. More like nibbled, but still haha.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.