Buooooooooonnnnn dì.
Hello from Milano. I love being a missionary! I've had some great experiences this week. We're working hard and seeing some big things. General Conference was this week! I saw all of the sessions except for the Sunday afternoon one, because that was too late in Italy time and they didn't rebroadcast it. (For those who don't know what I'm talking about, you can check it out here: http://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng) I thought there were some very inspired talks. I particularly liked Elder Oaks's, which talked about the commandment to have no other gods before the one true God. How many "gods" exist in our world today? Money? Fame? Popularity? If there is anything in our life that we put before God, we need to reprioritize pretty quickly! There were also many powerful testimonies of Christ, which helped strengthen my own testimony.
The rainy season has arrived here in Milano. I feel like I'm back in Ohio! The cold has come as well, so we are now back to wearing our suit jackets full time. The only time we ever wore them over the past six months was at church, so I feel really fancy walking around with my suit jacket! Inside the apartment, we've had to bundle up. Our apartment is old and drafty and the proprietario (English?) hasn't turned on the boilers yet so we have no heat! It's not too bad yet though. We just like to complain.
When we're not teaching lessons, we spend most of our days out on the streets or in the parks trying to find people to teach. We have been blessed with a lot of success over the past few weeks. It was a little strange at first to have so many people actually listening. I thought maybe I was on Candid Camera or something. Maybe people just get nicer in the fall. Boh! We've had some great conversations and I feel like we've been able to do a lot of good lately. Even if in the end people choose not to continue to learn more, it's okay. A huge part of our job is just to plant seeds. The mission has taught/is teaching me that rarely do we see the effect we can have on the world by the way we live. Sometimes just a smile or a "buon giorno" is exactly what someone needed that day. I never know, but I'm here to let people know that there are people that still care. Hopefully in my teaching and proselyting I'm able to leave things better than I found them. That's life, no?
I can't say I have any huge miracle to tell you this week or any cool life-changing event, but I just want to leave you with my testimony that God loves you. He loves all of us so much and He wants to bless us. Yes, there is injustice and suffering in the world, but He is aware and He will give strength to those who suffer. He can't always make everything perfect. If everything were perfect this life would be pointless. He can however give us the eternal perspective, which is that this life is a second in time. Let's make the most of it by learning what we can and loving with all we are able.
I love all of you! Thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers, letters, emails, etc. Though I might not always be able to respond, I appreciate so much every little note. I'm grateful for your support.
A dopo, Anziano Simcox
No comments:
Post a Comment