Hay Family,
Sorry I haven't written you a real letter in a while (only email), when we got here (to Reggio Emilia) the apartment was quite a mess and so it took 2 p-days (preparation days) to clean up and then we visited the Duomo in Modena. It was beautiful- I'll send pictures. Anyways it has been fantastic here I really can't describe it- Italy is an amazing place. Reggio Emilia as smaller and an immigrant town. There are many types of people we teach, Ghanaian, Nigerians, Italians, there are a lot of people from Russia and Ukraine as well. It is really hard in Italy right to find work and that is the main problem everyone has.
Oh also, everyone talks about how Europe is all hard missionary work and everyone is closed to the gospel here-- This is not true. There are so many people searching for the truth here, and many people who want to learn more. So many. We see miracles every day here, we have a "miracle wall" where we write them down every day. And they are all legit miracles. I'll tell you about a guy named Guiermo and also maybe Charles in my email today.
Many people here are Catholic, tons always say "Ave Maria" prayer and other things, but always they feel the power of true prayer and the power of the Book of Mormon. My companion always talks about his conversion story, when he opened the Book of Mormon for the first time, he felt its power and many people seeking for the truth recognize this.
Of course we always get rejected all the time but we are really looking for people with real intent, who want to learn more. If people are not progressing and are unwilling to read the Book of Mormon or pray and things like that, we have to drop them (not continue to teach them). It's really sad but we have to find people what are willing to act on the gospel. Since we started doing this, our schedule has become filled to the max with people who really want to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite things is that we get to teach people of so many different backgrounds and cultures. We have given out Book of Mormons and met with people from many, many different countries.
But yes anyway, I like it in Reggio Emilia, the people are great. Its not the typical beautiful Italian city, but that just makes me love it more. Our ward is amazing, very active and big.
I Love Being a Missionary !!!! It's so much fun and I guess it's hard work and things but I don't realize it because we never take a break or slow down.
One other thing with this announcement in General Conference of the age change (that young men can go on missions a year earlier at 18 and young women two years earlier at 19) and everything is a sign. One senior missionary talked in Zone Conference who was in the MTC the week after General Conference said that Elder Bednar came and talked about how he was in the council that decided the change, and they did it for two reasons.
1. It is the Lord's work
2. The Lord's work needs to be hastened.
I testify of the second reason we are finding more and more people every day that have been prepared to receive the Gospel. It is the latter days, Christ is coming soon. All the signs are about our days. It is astounding how well the work is going here. It truly is a blessing but we still have a lot of work to do.
One last thing I love about being a missionary in Italy: People always have never heard of the Book of Mormon here. (75% of the time, no exaggeration, people think we are Jehovah's Witnesses or bus or train station workers) And so their hearts are truly open to the message we have about this book, about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today, we have some powerful lessons on the restoration and I am thankful for this. Well I hope everything is well, write me.
(Sometimes you have to chain your dogs to make sure they don't escape)
Anziano Day
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