This was a really big week for the church in Italy. Elder Ballard came to split the stake boundaries of Rome to include the districts of Napoli and Sardegna. The conference was amazing. Caserta became a Ward along with a branch in Sardegna. Elder Ballard talked to the members about their responsibility to make sure that we get worked hard enough. He called all us missionaries up to the front during the meeting and told the members "These missionaries represent 40% of the missionaries in this mission. They are willing to work are you going to make sure they are busy?". He also talked about how the Lord now trusts Italy to have a temple of it's own which means he has raised the standard for the members. It was amazing to be in the presence of an apostle of the Lord. Some members in our ward have already began helping us more. They took us to see a disabled member that no one has visited for years and give her the sacrament. I hope more of the members raise their expectations and work together to move the work forward. It was really a special experience. Elder Ballard trained us missionaries for an hour before the conference started. He gave us advice and we all had the chance to shake his hand.
Work is slow this week. We had and investigator come to the conference in Rome. He is practically a member. He asked us when he could start saying he is a Mormon. haha. He is dropping smoking cold turkey this week and hoping to set a baptismal goal. We now have a new less active lady to visit. She is in and out of the hospital right now and because of health issues she cannot come to church. We plan on taking the sacrament to her every week.
I got to see Anziano Burton again at the Conference. He is doing good and loving sardegna.
