Life's Lessons Learned - 4/16/14

Life's Lessons Learned:

-There's something in Bergamo that I'm really allergic too.

-Vietnam has its own language.

-People read their scriptures more than I think they do.

-Good things do come from Mormon.org

-It doesn't matter how much you dust something, it will just get dusty again and you'll learn to accept it.

-The people you would think wouldn't listen to you, could actually be the most interested.

-Italian flour is lighter than American flour, meaning that you need to use more of it. Swindlers...

-All of Germany goes to Bergamo in April for some reason, and they don't appreciate when I try to speak to them in German. They just look at me, think "Oh that's cute," and respond in English.

As you can tell, it's been an interesting week. Since Sunday night I've been somewhat dying from allergies that turned into a really bad cold. Luckily, I haven't had to stay inside yet, although it was really tempting. We looked like a sad pair yesterday. I kept blowing my nose and Anz. Johnson kept sneezing. We still worked hard though and had a great day yesterday.

One cool thing that happened yesterday was we met a great new investigator. I'll call him..... Antonio. A while ago, he went onto Mormon.org and requested a visit. Because of some scheduling problems on both ends, yesterday was the first time we've been able to meet with him. He took lessons from missionaries about four years ago. He went to church, had all the lessons, and almost got baptized. Something happened though, and he stopped investigating the church. He told us that since then he had been doing a lot of searching and reflecting and that he felt directed back to the church. He went online, requested a visit, and then we came! He was very ready. I don't know how he was in the past, but yesterday, he was ready. We commited him to read and pray every day, to come to church, and even to be baptized. He was ready in that moment to set a goal for baptism, so we were very excited to be able to be there to him. He accepted everything so well that we didn't even know quite how to react! I look forward to seeing him progress.

Second story, For my whole time in Bergamo, and some time before that, we've been teaching a wonderful Bolivian family. For a while, they haven't been making progress and we felt as if our visits were not yeilding any results. Their children love to see us though and the Spirit was still present when we taught, so we decided to keep teaching them. Due to some scheduling conflicts on both sides, we weren't able to see this family for almost a month. Yesterday, we finally were able to have a lesson at their house. They were so excited to see us and one of the members we usually bring with us. We began by talking about their reading and to our surprise we found that they have kept up reading even during our absence! In the past month that we haven't seen them, they've read all of First Nephi and part of Second Nephi! They were excited to tell us about the chapters they'd been reading. The eleven year-old daughter was quick to explain the concept of free agency and that there is always a choice between good and evil. Even the mother, who was progressing least, was excited to tell us about their reading. They have been reading almost every night, with their young children being the driving force. They remind them every night to read together, and so that's what they've been doing. It was so neat to see them getting excited together about the scriptures. I'm also glad that we have hung on to them, even when it could've been so easy to stop teaching them. This week, they're attending church as a family.

Easter is coming up! I'm so excited. If we don't have any one to feed us, we'll try to make a nice Easter lunch for ourselves just the same, coupled with Grandma's Easter bread (Thanks!). Easter is always a great time of year, especially here in the mission. The religious aspect of Easter is celebrated much more here than at home I think. Many people have been wishing us a Buona Pasqua, Happy Easter. I haven't seen so much as a single rabbit or jelly bean, although some jelly beans would be great (hint hint).

No really, Easter is all about Christ, and I'm grateful to have the mission to teach me about this. Holidays in the mission are so different. It's strange to not be around family and friends. It's strange to not have all of the usual traditions. It's nice though to focus my attention on the meaning behind the holiday. I love the words of this scripture, even though it's probably the most commonly quoted scripture in Christianity: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved" (St. John 3:16-17).

Buona Pasqua! -Anziano Simcox

The picture was taken from a bell tower in Città Alta. We could see the whole valley. Don't you love the classic European style against that beautiful mountain range?