Here's a little story from yesterday:
We've been visiting members recently a lot and it's been good. So,
background: crazy stuff went down several transfers ago including a
6-man white-wash of Firenze two transfers before I got here. When I
got here, four of those original six remained. Unfortunately, a couple
things got even them off to a not-so-great start. So in pratica the
members here aren't too thrilled with us and (little) stuff has even
happened since I've been here. So we've been working on the
member-missionary relationship.
So today we finally got to visit with vescovo and his wife bc they're
really busy and it was such a forte lezione!! Davvero, this morning
when I was studying for it it was so guided. We invited them to share
their testimonies directly and clearly and it was the perfect
invitation for them. The lesson was brief, it was good teaching, it
was 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 and we were happy. And we gave them a little card at
the end just to say we're thankful for them and really want to work
hard here.
But wait, there's more!
So we were getting a car ride from his wife down to the bus stop
because they live far away from the city and his wife had to pick up
the kids from school. So we walk into the school to pick up her little
boy and I was like, "ah! Maybe we can meet one of Sorella Ferrini's
friends and get to know them," because we know she talks to her kids'
friends' parents about the church. So I went in with that mindset and
Lo and behold the little boy's English teacher I saluted her just
like, "ciao!" and she stopped subito and was like, "you're not
Italian!" Long story short we explained about the church and she
agreed to meet with us and once she's done moving houses.
It made me so happy not because I want members to think that any of us
missionaries as individuals are great but I know that she will talk
about this with her husband and it just makes me happy to know that
they might trust us more! We had another experience like that on the
bus because I've been trying to get back into talking to people on the
bus not just during scambio but always because *fake alert* otherwise
and it just so happened that on a 5-minute bus ride I decided to talk
to this lady and then when we got off the bus, I saw my companion was
with a member we are really close with!! Afterwards, Sorella Garcia
said that when she was talking to this member they both looked at me
and saw I was talking to someone and so then this member all the
sudden said to my companion that she has a friend that she would like
for us to teach.
I just know that missionaries are here to work. We are here to work
and not play around. I mean, have fun and be happy, but work. Members
have to see that we're working. When they do, they have trust in us. I
don't talk to people to be seen by people, I do it because I want to
because I love talking to people and sharing the gospel and I want to
do what I can to help members do missionary work. If helping them
trust the dedication of missionaries is a way to help them then I will
do it! But anyways I hope we get to teach some new people because I
really want to bring members to lessons we just don't have a lot of
people we're teaching right now.
We also talked to two boys about our age the other day in the park.
Let me just say I love young adults way more than adults. Young adults
are searching, they're intelligent, they're bright and they're open.
Old people are old and straight up tell you they're too old to change
and I hate that because no one is too old to change. Anyways, most
Italians are atheist, not catholic. That's a big misconception. Most
will say they are catholic but it's only because they were baptized
and it means nothing to them other than that they were baptized into
the culture of their parents. As far as I know, people don't even
really go to Christmas mass.
And our investigator Elizabeth came to church this Sunday!! I think
she really loved it, even though she had to endure me teaching gospel
principles lol. This week will be a good one, simps, potentials,
members, oh my!
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