Ciao again everyone! How's life? I hope all is well with you.
This was a very good week I think. We saw a lot of miracles and we accomplished a lot of things. As a missionary, miracles become part of the daily routine, but I'll try to focus on a few big ones that happened this week.
First, President Wolfgramm, our mission president, challenged us to set two baptismal dates last week. All week, we worked hard trying to accomplish this goal. We set about going from appointment to appointment, at least the ones that didn't get cancelled. We did a lot of finding work. We made a lot of phone calls. Despite all this, at 4:00pm on Sunday, we had no baptismal dates. We were still determined to make this happen. We tried to call Claudio all day, but we could never get ahold of him. We had a tentative appointment set with Amanda, but when we called her she said she was in Marotta. We told her we'd meet her wherever she was. Then, we hurried to the train station and hopped on the next train to Marotta. After a beautiful lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we commited her to be baptized on June 22nd. She had no problems and readily accepted the date. After waiting for the train, we finally got back to Pesaro at around 7:00pm. We still wanted that other baptismal date, but we were out of ideas. We tried to visit some less-actives for a while, but it wasn't working. Finally, Anziano Miller stopped and said that we should just do a surprise visit at Claudio's house. In his own characteristic Anz. Miller way, he said that the Lord will provide for us. We passed-by and there was Claudio. After another beautiful lesson, he accepted the baptismal date of June 15th. His wife was not ready to accept it, but he was. After reading "A Proclamation to the World," we saw a lightbulb go off above his head. Right then, the Spirit was so strong and he said that was something he really wants. After the lesson he told us that he knew this was the right thing and that he was going to do everything he could to get his family on board. We told him that faith is the power to work miracles. We've definitely seen that this week.
Monday, we did a scambio (companion exchange). Anziano Miller and Anziano Miller (that's funny to write) stayed in Pesaro while I went to Ancona with Anziano Garcia. After our permanent scambio last transfer, it felt more like coming home rather than a scambio. During every scambio, missionaries set goals for things they want to improve on. My goal was to listen to the Spirit and teach more simply. Sadly, all of our apointments fell through. We did everything we could to find a lesson, but nothing was working. Finally, we prayed. Then, a miracle happened. Immediately after the prayer, we both started walking in the same direction down the street. We both stopped in front of a house and knew that was exactly where we needed to go. Behind the gate we found a woman named Susie. She was thrilled to see us, absolutely thrilled. It was amazing. She didn't have time for a full lesson, but we were able to have a short prayer with her and set up a time to come back. I could feel her need for the Gospel and I'm so glad we found her. Prayer works. Faith is the power to work miracles.
Now, I'll talk about a man we met name José Luis. José is a professional baseball player from Venezuela. Yes, we found a professional baseball player in Italy. Go figure, right? He played for the Arizona Diamondbacks for a while, but his shoulder got injured so he came to Italy to play for Pesaro. We actually met him at the immigration office while I was picking up some documents. That's right, I'm officially an immigrant. Woot! Anyway, he doesn't speak a lot of Italian, but he understands it well. Anz. Miller just talked to him for a few seconds while he was waiting, but then they called his name before we could hand him our card. Anz. Miller was determined to set up an appointment with him so we ran up to the window, slapped down our card, and left. The crazy thing is that while we were outside and just about to leave, he came out of the office and talked to us. He wanted to meet us! For those not familiar with finding work, it's rare for someone to actually want to meet with us. We set up an appointment with him. While I was in Ancona, Anz. Miller and Anz. Miller taught him for the first time. Apparently he's super bravo. He just lost his mom this year and misses her very much. His family is still in Venezuela. They taught him about God's plan for him and how families can be together forever. Anz. Miller told me that at that point he broke down in tears. He said he knew this was true and was ready to be baptized. Whew. That happened fast! We're of course happy to help him along that path.
Sorry, for the big paragraphs this week. Those are the big stories that I can think of. Every day is filled with miracles. Every day is a miracle. Every day we're able to wake up and start another day here in this beautiful country surrounded by wonderful people. The work is hard, but wow is it rewarding.
A dopo, Anziano Simcox
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