Howdy y'all! Woops sorry. My American slipped out there for a second.
This past week has been a busy one. I've settled into my new home. From day one we hit the pavement and kept running. There's a lot of teaching going on around here lesson-wise. Of course, we should always be teaching in whatever thing we do.
I've had two experiences this week that I thought I would share.
Last night I was on a bus. To begin with, I already don't like crowds. Public transportation is everywhere in Italy though, so I've had to learn how to deal with it. It's actually really useful though because using public transportation you can get almost anywhere in the country. Talking to people on public transportation though has always been a bit difficult for me. I'm not scared of it. I've been talking to strangers every day for almost a year now. Something else though makes it hard for me. I don't know. Anyway, last night I felt an urge to talk to the man standing next me. Immediately I thought to myself that he wouldn't be interested in what I had to say, but the prompting just kept getting stronger. I pushed down the natural man and opened my mouth. What do you know... He wasn't interested at all. Bummer. I then said to myself that there still must have been some reason that I received the prompting. Immediately though, a man behind this other man leaned over and said to us "What does Mormon mean?" We were able to have a nice conversation and leave him with a pamphlet and a much better view of the Church. Always follow a prompting, even if it may yield no immediate fruits.
Second, the biggest thing I think I enjoy about the work in Bergamo is the willingness of the members to be involved. Last week we had a lesson at a member's home with an investigator. He is an older Italian man in his 60s who is very intellectual. He loves to analyze little details and he LOVES to talk. He comes to church every week on his own. He doesn't wait for us to invite him---he invites himself! This last lesson we had at a members home was very spiritual and uplifting for all of us. Usually he loves to talk, but there in the member's home we were able to invite the Spirit in such a way that when we were testifying, he was silently listening to the Spirit. I think the things that invited the Spirit the most were the members' testimonies. They were able to connect with him in a way that we never would've been able to do, but they were also very careful of the balance between them bearing testimony and us teaching. They love our investigator and are fellowshipping him wonderfully.
I hope all is well. I appreciate as always your letters, emails, and prayers. Every week I love opening my inbox and seeing your names and knowing that you've "got my back" so to say.
Love, Anziano Simcox
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