Vicenza - Week 28

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day (I spent mine looking for people to teach outside, but there were mainly couples and single people trying to get out of the rain....)

This week had a good ring to it. Mardi Gras was all this week, so people were out and about just partying and being around the center of the city. It made for lots of great opportunities for us to speak with people. We had lots of good discussions about how God reveals his doings through the mouths of the prophets, and how we have a living day prophet on the earth. It is sad how many times people will agree that we could have a prophet on the earth, but then don't want to know any more. But we still gotta love them anyway, and keep teaching the truths we know.

Eddie has been progressing a lot lately and is on track to be baptized in the upcoming weeks. We only have one more lesson to teach him before he is baptized. A great thing that he told us the other day is that he doesn’t want to be baptized because we want him to, but he wants to be baptized because he wants to be a part of the true church on the earth. That was pretty awesome to hear, because missionaries never stay in the same place forever so when we hear an investigator say that, we know he has been touched by our Heavenly Father.

Eddie's friend, Ken, has now been meeting with us a lot lately as well, and accepted a date to be baptized. We were teaching him about repentance and how it is important that when we tell our Heavenly Father that we truly feel sorry and say we won’t do that same sin again, and then to commit it the next day or right after, it is mocking our Heavenly Father and is not true repentance.  He totally agreed with that and felt strongly that we were teaching him by the spirit. We loved hearing that because he is very receptive to what we say, and the spirit has confirmed to us that he wants to be taught and brought to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Daniele has been progressing with the lessons as well, but has been struggling with coming to church still. He expressed to us his concerns about it, because he has always had that issue, so we taught him about the importance of expressing our desires to our Heavenly Father, and sincerely asking for help. Once we ask for the help, we need to take the first step for Heavenly Father to be able to push us farther.

We had a special fast with Josephine yesterday to help give her the strength to be an example to her family. We took our senior couple missionary, Elder Pederson, with us to teach her about Eternal Families. We taught her about the importance of Family Home Evening, and family prayer. Elder Pederson did a great job of explaining how, even if there are struggles, that the love we have from the Savior should be the same love we share with our families. The lesson went great and she is going to try and be doing more spiritual things with her family. We are hoping for the best for her!

A couple of really cool things I read this week I'd like to share. The first is a quote by Gordon B Hinckley. He says "Stop seeking out the storms, and enjoy more fully the sunlight". Optimism is so important in our life, and hope. How are we to be successful and even happy with our lives, if all we do are look at the negative? I love this quote especially because compare how often you see the sunlight more than you see storms. The good is always around us, in plain sight. Sure a storm is noticeable, but why do we need to take more notice to it and let it hurt us more, when we can appreciate the light in our lives? We need to allow the good to overweigh the bad, just like the sun, always comes more often than the storm.

Last thing I would like to share is from Ebrei (Hebrews) 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarded of them that diligently seek him." For us to return to Heavenly Father, we must have faith in him. The part I love the most is at the end. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Our efforts will not be in vain. He promises to help us if we DILIGENTLY seek the truth. We need to do our part for him to bless us.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week, I know this gospel is true with all my heart. We are his children, and we can live with him if we follow his teachings. We have a prophet on the earth today to guide us, and we have the ultimate source of knowledge, through prayer! I know these things to be true! Ci Vediamo!!!

Anziano Chase

I was giving some service for a family and they had a wicker broom. I had to leave for Hogwarts after I saw the broom.

The view of Vicenza at night from a member’s house