Vicenza - Week 13

Well we started another transfer, and that means I am no longer one of the newest missionaries in my mission! But I am only in transfer 2 haha. This week went by quick, but it was a pretty standard week. We had Halloween with the American Ward and were able to do a trunk or treat. Most of Italy does not do Halloween, but they are starting to do little things like parties and such. We all dressed up too because we got permission. I was a soccer player in a warmup suit with Elder C.. Elder S. was a fat pizza maker and Elder D. was Superman. It was a lot of fun to be able to experience a Halloween in Italy, even though it really was just like in the States since we went to the base for the trunk or treat.

We have a new member in the Italian branch named Ishmael who is getting ready to go back home to his country in Africa (it is some French speaking one) so he asked us to teach him as much as we can because the church is not set up in his country and he wants to have as much knowledge as he can. We have been teaching him a lot. It is nice because it is about so much and I get to study stuff for myself. It helps us practice our teaching skills, too.

Also, we were able to talk to Robson about what we do as missionaries and we had a great discussion with him about it. He was like "you guys being missionaries, must get the power of God to be able to talk with people. If I had that I would just walk up to people and say 'Do you want to talk'. " We thought a lot about that and we think it is a lot easier to sit down and just talk with someone and get to know them before you introduce the gospel, because how can we teach someone when we don't know who they are? It was pretty powerful to me to think about that.

We were walking down Giro (Downtown Centro) and we saw this beggar who had a guitar. Elder S. has wanted a guitar so we asked her if it was hers. We asked if she stole it, she said no, so we asked to buy it, and we got it for 10 Euro! We had her sign a paper in case she did steal it that way we would have verification that we bought it from her.

It has been raining a lot lately, so it is getting a little harder to find people to teach, but we are going strong.

A Little spiritual thought: "Without the spirit, you will never succeed, regardless of your talent and ability" - Ezra Taft Benson.

I don’t even really need to explain how this applies to missionary work. The spirit leads us to do good, and if we don’t have that spirit with us, then our intent is not to help others.

Also I like how in John 5:39 it talks about searching the scriptures, and if you take the time to really read and ponder upon them you will find the answers you are searching for.

Anyway, have a great week everyone!

Anziano Chase