Siamo qui di nuovo come sempre. Questa settimana andata, secondo me, benissimo.
Missions are full of disappointments, cancelled appointments, and long days. But the tender mercies of the Lord and the little blessings we get make it all worth it. One day this week we had a couple appointments that just didn't go so great. One of our investigators was telling us of the struggles he is having with his wife and her opinion of him coming to church. Then the next lesson we had went completely south. We thought to ourselves, "ugh looks like it's back to the drawing board on what we can do". We had a potential lesson set up for that evening and it was on the same street as the church. Being the intelligent missionaries we thought we were, we left from the church in search for the right number. We didn't, however, realize our church was on a main street that goes for kilometers. His number was 6 and the church was 236. We walked for an hour going almost 2 miles and when we got there we didn't see the name on the building. Disappointed, we walked away, but out of the corner of my eye I saw another complex with the same number 6 on it. For some reason two buildings had 6 on it. We checked that one out, and the name was there. We rang it, and he answered. His name is Delfino, and he is 18. He is the son of a less active, and wanted to know about his fathers religion. We had a great lesson and he wanted to know more. As we walked out the door, I completely forgot about all the rough things we had gone through that afternoon. I was just so excited for the good that just came. A mission isn't a cake walk, it isn't walking to a street full of people dying to get baptized, but it is a blessing. We can't understand true joy until we have had to walk on the tough side. We need to struggle a little. Every trial makes every blessing just so much more meaningful. I've really learned that out here.
So more on Delfino now. He really is one of those blessings. We have seen him a couple times since we first met him this last week and he wants to be baptized. He said the plan of salvation is just something that sounds right, like why wouldn't we follow something like this, it is the way to God. He just is so open to the gospel. I'm excited to see how much he progresses. He also is a good drummer, and after one lesson we played some drums together. I certainly don't have my uncle's skills, but it was fun to bond with him.
Charles is making some progression on his hunt for the truth. We talked about crossroads in life and how sometimes God permits us to make the decision of what path to go on. He won't tell us every time at the crossroad. We talked about a message that Elder Holland shared a couple years back about how a father and son prayed to know what way to go. They made a decision and went down one fork of the road. After a bit they realized it was the wrong road so they turned around and went the other way. The son, confused, asked the father why God led them the wrong way. The father replied saying that God let us go the wrong way just enough for us to know that the other way was the right way. Sometimes we get stuck at a crossroads and will have to make decisions on where to go, but we can be assured that God will help us in whichever path we start on, as long as our will is in line with His will. He will guide us if we choose wrong, and affirm us if we choose right.
I came across a young adult devotional that really had a huge impact on me this week. The talk is titled Vivere Con un Scopo: L'Importanza dell' "Intento Reale" this was given by Randal L Ridd of the young men's presidency. He talks a lot about how we need to really have a purpose behind the things we do. I could talk about every bit of this talk, but for time's sake, I'll narrow it down to two parts of his talk I liked. The first is about a story of when he was a boy in seminary. They were given stars for every chapter they would read in the Book of Mormon. At first he didn't really care about it, but as he fell behind, he changed his mentality. He found himself wanting to read the book, and every time he got a star he felt good. At the end he realized he hadn't gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon, what he had truly gained was Stars, that was his real intent. He quotes "Looking back, I can see that the Lord was totally fair with me. Why should I have expected to find anything other than what I was looking for? I never really stopped and asked myself why I was reading the Book of Mormon. I was drifting, letting worldly motivations guide me, only to find out that I had read the right book for the wrong reason. Real intent is doing the right thing for the right reason." Sometimes we lose our sight on why we really should be doing things and when we establish real intent, we will receive real rewards. The other part I would like to finish with is about our focus. He shared a video and asked people to watch and see how many passes were made from a team. After, he asked how many knew the amount. After that, he asked how many noticed the extra things that happened in the background also. He compared this to life. "Our focus in life is so important. As this test demonstrates, we typically find what we are looking for. Or, as the scriptures put it, “Seek, and ye shall find” (Luke 11:9)." If we set our focus on the gospel we can find so many things, that we would miss if we focused only on the things of the world.
I know that when our intent is to serve God, when we establish that as our purpose, that God will bless us immensely. I know He is proud of each and every single one of us. Have a great week everyone!
Anziano Chase
Perché egli vive🇮🇹🇮🇹🇺🇸🇺🇸
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