Sei mesi

Buon giorno da Pesaro! Beautiful, sunshiney, extremely hot and humid

Pesaro... It's really hot here. Even at night. There's no rest from

the heat. Our poor fans are dying. One of them actually collapsed last

week. Partly because we dropped the bunk bed frame on her but hey...

We named her Betty. She's a trooper, and our number one fan... ... ...

Pity laugh anyone?

Aside from the heat though, we're doing okay. We're still adjusting to

working in four, but things are starting to settle down. It's a weird

change and our apartment is a little cramped, but andiamo avanti.

We're getting a new kitchen here soon so that should be exciting. Just

in time for me to leave right? Figures. Our kitchen is really old and

nasty so they're ripping out everything and putting in an Ikea

kitchen, whatever that means. We're excited. That's one of those

simple joys of missionary life.

As of yesterday I've been a missionary for six months! Crazy right? I

feel like I've been here forever, but at the same time no. I remind

myself sometimes that I'm still only in my first area. I feel really

old though. Hah. I love Pesaro, however hot it is.

Our friend Matteo broke his leg. That was a bit of a downer for all of

us. He was playing soccer and tripped... He's farther away now, so

it's harder to visit him, but we're trying to do the best we can. He's

keeping a positive outlook though! He actually thinks it's kind of

funny in retrospect. It's kind of like me when I tore my ACL. It's

hilarious now that I look back. Actually that was hilarious in the

moment... but hey.

Carmine is getting baptized on Saturday! He's really excited. He's

such an inspiration to me. He is a person who likes to take time to

make the right decision, hence why it took him a year and a half to

choose to be baptized. We were a little sad at church on Sunday

because Pietro didn't come again. Our investigators can't make

progress unless they come to church so we were sad that he will be

missing that step in his conversion. Carmine talked to us and gave us

a lot of encouragement. He told us that he's stood up the Anziani

plenty of times. He said that the first Anziano that found him never

had the pleasure to see him in church, but here he was in front of us

now. As missionaries we never know the seeds that we plant. I could

easily look back at my time here in Pesaro and at first glance it

would appear that I haven't seen much accomplished. Numbers help us to

quantify, but they can never measure a person's heart. We as

missionaries will never know the changes that we helped to bring about

in someone's heart. As Pres. Wolfgramm always said, "The greatest

miracle is the changing of a human heart." While at first glance the

physical results of our labors may be much, I know that a huge

spiritual harvest is in the future for whoever is willing to do all

that God may require. His purposes are much higher than ours and we

never know the miracles that He has in store, even if we may never

realize them.

That's my message for today. Sometimes in life we go about thinking

that we're not going anywhere, but I promise that if you are pushing,

you are going somewhere. Anz. Miller always loved to tell this story:

An old man once hired a young boy. The young boy's job was to move a

boulder from point A to point B. The young boy pushed, yet the boulder

did not move. Every day the young boy pushed with all his might, but

the boulder would not budge. This continued for a year with the

boulder making absolutely no progress. Finally the young boy went to

the old man and said, "What is the point of doing this? Every day for

a year I have pushed this boulder and it has not moved one inch! Why

don't you just move it yourself?" The old man replied, "Of course I

could move it myself, but what good would that do? Look at yourself!

Look at what you've become!" The young boy looked at himself and

realized the difference that pushing the boulder had made. His body

was stronger. His mind was stronger. He had a newfound determination

and willpower that he had lacked a year before. He had not moved the

boulder, but he had moved himself. The young boy had become a man.

Keep pushing that boulder. Don't give up. Love, Me.