I couldn't get creative for a title this week. Take what you can get. :P
I'm tired (I know, not news) and old (in the mission that is, although I did just turn 21). On Monday we had a zone meeting. This zone is a lot bigger than Bergamo's zone, geographically and people-wise. It being the last zone meeting we'll have before next transfer, all of the "dying missionaries," the one's going home in a few weeks, got to give their final testimonies. I'm particularly sad about this group going home because these sisters going home soon are the ones I was with in the MTC! Elders serve two years, but sisters only do a year and a half. Also, apparently I'm old enough that one of the zone leaders mistakenly thought that I was going as home as well and had put me on the program to give my farewell!! Excuse me?! I might be old, but I'm not there yet! I'm definitely getting over the hill though...
Varese's pretty great. I feel a little more adjusted than last week. I've got a good hold on the area now and I can get my way around the city, even if I disagree with the way it's laid out. Really, it makes no sense. Different from Bergamo, we also cover the entire province (think county), so I've been able to see the surrounding areas as well. Last week we visited a member in a beautiful city stuck between a lake and a mountain. I didn't have my camera with me, but I'll get one eventually.
Since summer has "started" (the rain and cold would beg to differ) a lot of people have left on vacation. One investigator went to Puglia for two months. A few members have also gone of to Switzerland/other places. There's still a good 10 or so members that I haven't met yet because of vacation or sickness. Two of our members are in the hospital right now. One has a constant fever and has trouble eating, but they're not sure what's wrong yet. He's somewhere in his 20s. The other one, an older member, had his fifth heart attack. We went to visit him and he was taking it pretty well. He said with all these operations they've done on him he should be a cyborg before long.
We had a great appointment with a part-member family Sunday night. The wife, a member, has lived here in Italy six years or so and had never been to church in Italy up until a few weeks ago. The husband, not a member, was diagnosed with cancer a while back and has been going through chemo-therapy. A few weeks ago the wife came to church with her sister, who is visiting from Venezuela. The sister convinced the wife to come to church with her so that someone could come give a blessing to her husband. The Elders went over and gave him a blessing, and he felt the Spirit very strongly. They went back one other time and taught the family. On Sunday we went over and taught the Plan of Salvation. It was one of the best Plan of Salvation lessons I'd ever been involved in. We started by watching Finding Happiness, a short film about, obviously, finding happiness in today's hectic world. That was a perfect lead-in to talking about the purpose of life. We used some figurines that Anz. Atwood had to explain the Plan of Salvation. It was good because the husband already knew about it from his wife and sister-in-law before we taught the lesson so it helped him solidify his testimony of it. Their daughter, also not a member, has been reading in the Book of Mormon and last Sunday she and the mother came to church! He would come too, but it's still difficult because of his treatments. Once his treatments are over, he's hoping to be able to come to church and be baptized. It's great to see this family re-activating and learning the Gospel together.
Listening to the "dying testimonies" on Monday, I gained an insight that I really liked. One sister held up a picture of Jesus sitting on a hill overlooking Jerusalem. She talked about how this could have been a few nights before His crucifixion. She talked about some thoughts he might have been having. He might have been apprehensive, knowing the tasks that laid ahead of Him. He might have been sad, knowing that His ministry was coming to a close. He might have been pensive, thinking about His ministry and the effects it had on people. He didn't convert everyone He met. He didn't establish world peace. However, He did all that the Father had commanded Him too. The people around Him had free agency, but He knew that He had done all He could to make a difference. Of course, Christ IS the difference. It is interesting to think however that even the Savior of the world, the only perfect being to ever walk the earth, didn't convert everyone He taught. Many rejected Him. Many tried to kill Him, and some succeeded. However, He did what He was commanded to and so should I and so should we all.
Vi voglio bene, Anziano Simcox
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