Thursday we were in Mestre for an exchange with the Mestre Anziani. My companion for the day and I went and were able to see a man who had been inactive for five years. He had called the Anziani a few days earlier asking to see them. We didn't know what was going to happen, or what we needed to talk about, but spiritually prepared ourselves for whatever would happen. When we started to talk with him, he told us he felt like he needed to start over again, and find the gospel in his life again. He said he realized he had abandoned it all, and now knew he needed it more than anything in his life. We had a great conversation about the atonement of Christ and how it is for every single individual to have. When we know we need to change, the power of the atonement washes away our sorrow, and gives us the strength to start again, just like this man so desires. I really believe that this person can make this change in his life. He knows he needs to rely on God every step of the way.
So I accidentally busted P.'s lip the other day... We were invited to a young single adult game of calcio, and we took P. so he could get to know some of the young single adults in the stake. Plus side was that he was a soccer player in Ghana, so he was super excited to come. Anyways, we were playing and I position myself for a header. Little did I know P. had come racing over to try and get the header himself. So as I go up his face connects with my shoulder due to his momentum. I ended up cutting his lip pretty bad.... But overall the activity went great and he made a lot of new friends.
We had the opportunity to finally go and visit the geletaria that G.'s parents own. It is in a city a ways out from Gorizia, but we thought it would be a good gesture to go out of our way to stop by and see them. They are really busy with their store, but they really are trying to make it to church more often so they can all be ready for G. when we set his baptismal date.
G. is doing good. We were able to talk about the will of God and how sometimes we need his correction in our lives. Sometimes we feel like we are doing great in our path to success, and then all of a sudden we get a spiritual correction telling us to stop or to change something. We sometimes feel like we shouldn't need to be cut down, that our bush was becoming a beautiful tree. We can sometimes get upset that we were corrected or given council. But Elder Christofferson said something important. He said that God is the gardener and he knows the best way to make us a beautiful tree. We never would become that tree without the guidance and love the gardener has for the tree. He knew that cutting out bush a little bit would help us grow in the right way to become a beautiful tree. When we allow God to give us advice and help, we are rewarded by him. He wants us to grow ourselves, but there will always be times when he, the gardener, will need to step in and make changes to protect our growth.
Today it was super rainy so we didn't get to do much, but it was nice to rest for a bit. Anyway, I just wanna end with a little phrase. "Teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and if necessary, use words" the gospel of Jesus Christ lives within us. We live what we teach. The light of Christ should be seen in us when we strive to live by the teachings he gave us. I know this is true. I know it is why people see the difference in others who strive to live a Christlike life.
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