I'm a little later than usual. It's been a hectic day. Actually it's been a hectic week. I was expecting this week to be pretty tranquilla, but it turned out to be the opposite. That's OK. I kind of prefer it this way. I'd much rather have a lot to do than nothing to do. The best men and women in the world can become the worst when they have nothing to do. There truly is wisdom in the Lord's counsel: "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."
We saw Ronaldo today for the first time since Dolores passed away. He's in good enough spirits given the circumstances. It was strange to be at their house without her. Her mancanza, her absence, was definitely felt. I know she's in a good place though and that she's hard at work in the Lord's service. I attached a picture of Anziano Strang, Ronaldo, and I. I really love that guy, even though communication isn't the best. He doesn't speak much Italian, and his English is pretty broken, but only 10% of communication is verbal right? He's leaving tonight for a month in the Philippines. He's bringing Dolores back there, staying for a month, and then coming back. We look forward to seeing him when we get back.
Lodi is so wonderful. I've actually still only seen it in the dark, but what I've seen has been beautiful. We were out walking a night or two ago talking to people. We came into a big piazza with a decent sized church. We thought that was the Duomo, the cathedral of the city. Each big city has it's own Duomo. We continued walking down the streets and we soon popped out into an even bigger piazza with an even bigger church that turned out to be the Duomo. It was beautiful and the piazza was amazing. I'll have to get some pictures if we ever see it in daylight. The streets are very old, but very well maintained. It's the most beautiful "centro" I've ever seen. I did not want to go in for the night when the time came. The members are wonderful too from what I've seen. Our Bishop is very supportive, which is always a HUGE positive. He pulled us into his office at the end of church last Sunday and talked about how anxious he was to get the missionary work moving in Lodi and he told us that we could count on him for anything. "Potete contare su di me!" Those are beautiful words coming from a Bishop's mouth. To boot, our chapel is outstanding too. I honestly was not expecting much. It's not too noticeable and it's kind of just stuck in between some plain-looking shops in an industrial-like area, but inside it's gorgeous. The thing is it's really plain inside too, but I just really love it. Maybe because it's kind of hidden that it feels even more beautiful on the inside.
So yah, I love Lodi and I hope to never leave. Although I keep having reminders of how soon I actually will leave Italy and that's scary. Still not sure how I feel about that. I try not to think about it too much.
We had a lesson just this evening with a new member of less than a year. He really understands the Plan of Salvation and the concept of free agency. He brought up a good point. He said to think of animals. In a way they're perfect. They can't sin, and they certainly won't be punished for any wrongdoing. We are much less perfect than animals because we can sin and we can cause bad things to happen. Humans can be pretty destructive. Then he posed the question, to which he already knew the answer, "Why then did God not make us perfect like the animals? The world never had to know imperfection." Then he gave the answer. "God loves us. He made us imperfect so that we could become perfect. He made us imperfect so that we could progress." There is no joy in stagnance. There is just being. True joy comes from progression. God could've loved us enough to create us as perfect beings, but instead He loved us more. He loved us so much that He created us as imperfect beings with the possibility of progression. True joy comes from progression.
Vi voglio tantissimo bene. Ormai l'italiano è più facile da scrivere e da parlare, quindi chiudo questa epistola in italiano. Meno male c'è Google Translate, no? Spero di poter parlare inglese quando torno. :P
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