July 13, 2014

.....Pres just made the zone leaders the only authorizzed drivers on the Island so....Only they use the car now. Cost of living went a little bit down. It is noticably higher being on an Island anyways.

Things are going really well with the work. We found a few more investigators this week. Our biggest problem is just getting them to Church at the moment. I'm sure over time they will feel more comfortable coming. As the meet more and more of the members of course.

I did an Exchange in Oristano last week. I got to meet some of the members there. It was the city my trainer began his mission in and they all still remember him very well.  

We ended up on a really weird adventure on Saturday. We got a call from an ex investigator saying he wanted us to meet people at the park. So we went and there was a big city event for the opening of a new piazza. They were giving away bushes and flowers. One of the english course students works for the city and I went to go talk to her. Without even asking she just loaded me up with a rose bush and 6 other flower plants. Just put them in my arms. Then this ex investigator came up and decided he wanted to take us to meet someone else on the other side of town. So we went with him and it turned out to be a sort of "fire side" in a _________Church. It was really good. It was this actress who had an experiance with God and repented of all her sins and now she gave all her money to children in Africa. This investigator wanted us to meet her and shake her hand so after she was done talking we went up to talk to her. After we shook her hand the priest took interest in us and wanted our number. Haha he probably thinks he's going to convert us. Well see about that. I've heard of more_______ priests converting than missionaries.

I got your message about the dumpbox. My only concern is that I really just don't have time to sit at the computer and wait for them all to upload. I have so little time with the Internet a week that would rather spend writing you. It must be driving you crazy to not be getting any pictures. I'm sorry.

 I would like to become like Jacob in the Book of Mormon and have as he says "unshakable faith". I know I'm going to feel a little lost at first, they have spent enough time warning us about that here, but I'm sure if I hit the ground running I'll adjust well to life again.

I'm excited to see my room again and most of all sleep in my bed. You can take the Mr. Orem picture down haha. I forgot I even had that. I have nothing against getting rid of it. Are you going to leave any work for me to help out with. It probably sounds weird coming from me, but I really miss doing projects with Dad and Learning how to do something with my hands. I should have taken more advantage of his handy man skills and learned a lot more. I don't know  how soon I'll bounce off the the singles ward. We'll see. For now I think I give the old home ward a few months at the least. I'm hoping they are either going to put me in with the Priests or mission prep. I would really like to go on campouts and teach the priests quorum.

I really hope Bishop ______ makes it a few more months. I'd prefer to do the exit interview with him.

I've been eating lots of different sard dolci lately. My favorite one is made from almonds and a cream. It is Amazing. Also there is a place really close to our house that sells really good canoli.

Well I really dont know much what else to say.

Love, 

Jesse

July 7 2014

This week was amazing. Full of miracles. We were working hard all week and it payed off.

 

First miracle that happened was we were doing some street finding and we stopped this lady and talked for a little bit. Turns out she knew the missionaries a long time ago and has a Book of Mormon and everything. She had a really nice conversation with her and at the end she just says "You should come to my house and meet my son and his friend". Just right then and there she took us to her house and we had a little lesson with them. The son has been fighting against depression for 10 years now. 10 years ago his dad died and he hasn't been the same since. He was really happy to see us and listen to what we had to say. Same with the Mom and his friend. We invited them to come to the 4th of July activity in church and they came and had a great time. Turns out his friend who actually is his psychiatrist knows tons of the members here. We had another appointment with them and we challenged them to start reading the book of mormon and praying to know if it's true.

 

2nd Miracle. We stopped this guy to invite him to English course and he stopped and said in English " I don't think I need an English course" So we said he could always practice. He liked the idea, but the time doesn't work for him. So we offered to come to his house and teach him about our church in English. He wasn't too sure about talking about the church, but he said we could come anyways. We went to his house a few days later and we talked all about the God, prayer and the plan of salvation. He told us a few years ago he almost died and because of this he doesn't feel there is anything on the other side. We asked him "Do you want to know there is another life after this one" he really thought about it and in the humblest of ways said "yes I reallyl want to know, I'm just not sure". He has a stutter so he really struggles to speak, but the things he says he really thinks about before he says them. We are sure he felt the spirit really strongly. At first we were on a strict 30 minute time limit then by the end he didn't want us to leave. He really opened up and we think he already trusts us. I really believe the spirit touched his heart. I can't wait for the next appointment so we can see how his prayers went and we can explain La restaurazione even better.

 

I haven't been too busy with my new responsibilities. There are 10 missionaries in the district. 2 of them are the Zone leaders. So things aren't stressful at all. We have a district of really really good missionaries. One of the sisters was in Pescara while I was in L'Aquila and she is a really hard worker. Things are starting to really pick up here on the Island for everyone. We need to work on getting members more involved in the work, but I think the first step will be getting our work really established. I'm not even going to come close to getting an Ipad. That's okay. I'll probably be the last to finish without the Ipad.

 

Bathroom is almost done. We finally got water 2 days ago. We still can't clean the whole house because the workers are still putting in the toilet and shower so the floor is always dirty, but the kitchen is like our little safe haven. I'm really happy to have the water back because I can use the washing machine again. I've been washing cloths by hand for about a week. We should have a shower in 2 days maximum. No more using the hobo house below us to shower.