Modena, Italy - February 10, 2010

We had a nifty week this week! We got to see a great investigator again, and we are starting to move in to teaching her the commandments, because she has been taught all the doctrinal lessons already and accepts them pretty well. The cool thing about her is that even if she has a problem with something we teach, she prays about it and gets and answer and then she knows the truth. I know that what we teach is true because it is not just the ideas of another man who started another church, but the eternal truths directly from God Himself. We are not teaching ordinary philosophies, but things that the Lord said in person to prophets or sent His angels to say to them. I love it so much. Well, we were planning on teaching the ten commandments along with a heap of other simple ones she is already living, like pray often and study the scriptures and obedience. So when we got to the ten commandments we thought we wouldn't have to take a lot of time talking about them because she is pretty cool and lives a very good life, but then we read the very first one, Thou shalt have no other Gods before me, and remembered all of a sudden that we still hadn't succesfully addressed the idea of worshiping mother Mary with her. So on the spot we had to teach her the principle of what this commandment means. We taught her that God has asked us not to worship images, or anything or anyone else instead of Him. Since prayer is a form of worship, that means that praying to Mary is a violation of this commandment. Obviously we believe that Mary was a wonderful and chosen woman, the mother of the Savior of the world, but God has asked that we direct our worship not to her, but to Himself. She objected very much, and we just bore strong testimony that we knew this principle was true. We knew we had to be very firm on what the truth was, even though she was not happy about it, and we were, very firm, but of course polite. And by the end of the lesson she had already told us she knew what we were saying is true. We committed her to pray about it to know for sure directly from God. She will. I am excited to see how that went for her when we see her again!

We had another potentially tense experience with an investigator this week. A woman whom we have been teaching off and on for almost two transfers now. We have had a couple of very powerful lessons on the Restoration with her, and she listens very closely and understands what we are teaching very clearly. It is so neat to see and then to hear her tell back accurately the truths we have taught her. The spirit has been very strong. Then we went this Monday and she starts off by telling us that she can't learn with us anymore. She told her family about it and they said that she can't follow two religions at once, that is Catholic, and must not meet with us anymore. Normally I would have felt very nervous about what the right response was or the right thing to say to help her eternally, but I suddenly just felt very calm and peaceful, which I recognize as having been the strong influence of the Spirit, and my companion said afterwards she felt the same way, and we just knew what to say and how to help her. She let us pray with her and teach her the deep importance of reading the Book of Mormon to know for ourselves, and the importance of counseling with God in her decision making. We read Alma 32 with her to help her understand how to find answers and find the truth - she told us she was searching for which church holds the truth - and she talked a lot and opened up and really felt the spirit. She told us back again very clearly that she understood that she must read and pray and come to church, and committed to come to church next Sunday. We were so excited! Sorella Snodgrass and I are so so grateful for the strong presence of the Spirit in that lesson with us. I have had a few times in my mission where I felt strongly that I had said exactly what God wanted in a lesson and really delivered His message to that specific person exactly and that now it was truly that person's choice fully and completely. This was one of those times. She let us teach and committed to continue learning because she felt the Spirit, and wanted to follow it. Preach My Gospel warns that some people reject your message even after having received a witness of its truth. She texted us today to tell us she does not want to meet with us anymore. We called to find out what had happened and she was very closed and would hardly talk to me, but said she could not find the time right now and that she had not been reading the Book of Mormon. It was way sad, she was our most progressing investigator right now. But that's her choice. Way sad.

But three people we met very recently did come to church on Sunday and that was a big boost! We haven't had any investigators in church in a long time. We were very excited that they all came to church on their own, even invited themselves. Yeah! We will see how this goes.

Probably the biggest news from this week is the scambio we did. I went all the way up to Pordenone, a good solid hour north of Venice, whereas I am two hours south of Verona. It is a very small town but really nice, I liked it a lot. My scambio companion, Sorella Burgoyne, and I had some fun casa experiences. We invited an old Italian man waiting for an elevator, and he declared he was atheist because of deaths in his family, and kept talking with his hands very much (as all Italians do), but getting uncomfortably close to me as I was talking to him. So I would casually take a step back when he came too close. Then immediately he would get closer again while ranting about our beliefs. And I would back up again. He literally chased us in a circle and then out in a straight line a solid ten feet away from the elevator he was waiting for, almost separating off my companion from me at one corner because the sidewalk was too narrow, and all without noticing at all that we were moving. It was hilarious! Finally we just said, 'well, we have to go. Thanks. Bye!' and had to rush off because I was trying so hard not to laugh it was so funny. Then in that same complex we were walking and nearing a corner, and suddenly a man came running around the corner and scared me half to death. I literally screamed at him and flung myself against the wall to get out of the way I was so startled, and then busted up laughing because he was just running past to his house. It was pretty embarrasing. Also Sorella Burgoyne and I lost each other for a solid ten minutes. I had no clue where I was or where she had gone, so I just sat put with my bike and waited for her to come back and find me. It was pretty funny. I just biked in circles in the piazza I was in. But it was a really fun scambio and I enjoyed working with a new sister I had not hardly known before.