I learned some Chinese today. Too bad I have no clue how to write it or pronounce it. I guess that means I didn't really learn anything. At least I know now how to say thank you. I'll get there one day. We went to a Chinese restaurant today and they taught us how to say it. They just laughed when we said it so we either said it right, or horribly wrong. I'm leaning towards the latter.
Pasqua, Easter, was great. I thoroughly enjoyed this Easter. Church this Sunday was standing room only, which was quite a remarkable thing. We were able to have quite a few investigators in church which is always a huge feat, at least in Italy. Our awesome Bolivian family came, well at least four of them. There's only three of them that we really teach- the mother and two of the daughters. The father is in Bolivia and the other kids aren't too interested. However, having four of them there was great and they really enjoyed it and are looking forward to coming again. Frank was also there (he hasn't missed a day all year) and he also brought his son, who fell in love with the church. We're hoping that he will open up to us and start listening with his father. Our investigator from Bangladesh, who I don't think I've written about yet, came as well. Aside from them, there were several other "eternal investigators," those who have come to church for a long time, but aren't quite ready to take the next step, whatever it may be. The service was excellent. The talks given were inspired. The music, played as always by yours truly, was uplifting. Overall, it was great Easter Sunday.
A neat announcement was made this week by our mission president. On May 11, a new stake (which is like a diocese our a group of congregations) will be created in Firenze (Florence). With its creation, every member within our mission boundaries will now live inside of a stake! That's a huge feat and a wonderful leap towards new growth of the Church in Italy. When members are inside of the stewardship of a stake, they are able to receive more help from the church, financially and spiritually. They are able to meet together more often and strengthen each other more effecitvely. Leadership becomes completely localized and the church and those areas become more self-sustaining. It is a good cultivator of faster growth in membership and in faith. We're really excited about this. Pesaro, the first area I served in, will be covered in this new stake, which covers all of Tuscany, the Marches, and part of Emilia Romagna (for those of you who know your Italian geography).
For Easter, we had no appointments set up, so we decided to spread a little Easter cheer and do something different from the norm (see attached picture). We dusted off our big whiteboard, wrote "Buona Pasqua!" (Happy Easter), and headed downtown. We just walked down the streets wishing a Happy Easter to everyone, and handing out pamphlets as we went. It was a big success. We had to go home after a while because we had nothing left to give out. It was nice to walk down the street and have everyone smile back and wish us a Happy Easter.
This week we should be in for just as much fun and, we're hoping, as much success. I hope y'all had a great Easter as well. If you've got three minutes to spare, click here and watch this great Easter video that the Church put out. I've been really impressed with the Church Media Dept. lately: http://easter.mormon.org/
Buona Pasqua! Vi voglio bene. --Anziano Simcox
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