Ciao tutti!
I hope that everyone was able to have an awesome and amazing week this week! This week went by really well for us and we were able to accomplish a lot while we were in the trio this week. We had some really good and powerful lessons throughout the week and it was a super good experience to be able to teach and testify with three of us and bear solemn witness of the things that we were teaching. I am thankful for the opportunity that we had and I was able to learn a lot which I love doing from other missionaries. It helps you really be able to see how you can improve and in what way you can do better. I am so thankful for that.
We had a lesson that sticks out to me in particular this week to a less active family. It was really cool and there was a really special spirit there as we taught them about how the Book of Mormon is written for us in our day. It was lesson that was based right out of the Book of Mormon accompanied with strong and powerful testimony on the divinity of the Book of Mormon. I know that it is is true and we were able to bear witness on the truthfulness of it and the blessings that come from living the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that we all felt the spirit in the that lesson and I know that that they did as well, but it is up to them to accept it for what it is and understand that is what they were feeling. That is all that we can do as missionaries is present the message and allow the Holy Ghost to teach and bear that witness to them that it is true. I am thankful for that and knowing that we don’t have to get this knowledge from anyone else but the Holy Ghost and that is Heavenly Fathers way of allowing us to know of spiritual truths. Those feelings we get, the burning feeling, the pressing upon our minds, sudden strokes of ideas, etc. comes from the spirit and allows us to know what is the truth.
Transfers days have come and gone once again and everyone here has survived from them! so it was a little different this time because Anziano Berger had to travel all the way up to Rome in order to go to a Missionary Leadership Council. So he had to endure the entire travel up there even though he was staying here in Catania for the transfer.
So since the zone leaders have the car here in Catania I was given the opportunity to drive it in order to help out with the transfer day. It had been a whole year and half since I have sat on the driver’s side of a car so it was so weird. Driving here is so different in Italy and is a lot more hectic. This is also one of the craziest cities in the whole mission to drive in probably all of Italy honestly. It is pretty nuts for sure. It was cool and we were able to get everything where it needed to go and transfer day was a good success.
So Friday evening we went and visited a member that lives a little outside of Catania and we were able to go and share a message with them. on the way out on the bus that we took we saw that some man was obviously burning his orchard of olive trees. It was pretty interesting and the fire was pretty big. So we visited the family and shared our spiritual thought with them and then headed back outside of the neighborhood in order to take the bus back into Catania. We were waiting there for a while and the smoke got really bad so we decided to walk down to the end of the route at the next stop where the bus turns around and heads back into town. We waited and waited and the bus never came. We decided to walk back to the other stop hoping that maybe the members could give us a ride back into town. We then realized and saw that the fire had gotten out of hand and had hit the tree line along side of the road. It was dangerous for the cars to pass even though they were just doing it so we didn’t know when the bus was going to come or be able to make it through. We called some other members and they were going to come and get us, and then they finally were able to put out the fire and we got through on the bus that came shortly after. it was pretty nuts hahaha. I guess that must be something that people are doing right now because yesterday over that side of town from the station you could just see smoke raising up into the sky all over the place.
We had a super amazing miracle this week! We received a phone call during weekly planning and it was this guy that wanted a Book of Mormon from us and so we were free Saturday and were able to grab a train to go and see him after picking up people from the airport. We went past the stop that he was waiting at since the door didn’t open for us. We got off at the next one and it in my head I was thinking with the little time he had that he said that he had that we wouldn’t be able to do the lesson. We called him and he said that he called his friend to give him a ride. So he showed up to the station and we walked back into town which took about 10 minutes and were able to have a lesson with him. He is our age and he is so awesome! He is honestly prepared to here about he gospel and believes that the truth can be found out there somewhere. I was so thankful and grateful to have met him and that we had the opportunity to teach him the restoration. he is so cool and was really excited to be able to receive the Book of Mormon.
It was really special and we really look forward to seeing where it all goes!
Another miracle was that the lady that called me the other week came to church! She has been living in Italy for 15 years and hadn’t been able to find the church until she called the number that she found on the Internet. It was so awesome! She was so excited to be back and she brought her husband as well. I was privileged to sit next to her in sacrament meeting and she was able to partake of it and renew her baptismal covenants that she has made for the first time in 15 years.
It was so very cool! She was definitely blessed with a wonderful day to return where we had an amazing sacrament meeting with wonderful talks that were given. It was super cool and super special for us. Her husband isn’t a member and he really seemed to enjoy church and hopefully their son, about our age, will be able to come next week. It was so very special and we were able to enjoy it with them.
I am so very thankful for the power of prayer and that Heavenly Father has blessed us with divine communication that we can have with him. We can truly be able to receive so much help and blessings from on high as we pray to our Father in Heaven. He wants to hear from us indivually and is ready to give us the blessings that he wants to give us and is ready to do so. We have to ask of course according to his will. I love this scripture that is found in the Book of Mormon when Jesus Christ is teaching the people how to pray and what can be accomplished through prayer.
19 Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;
20 And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.
We are always to pray to Father in the name of Jesus Christ and we will be able to receive all that which is right that we ask of him. I know that the responses and answers don’t always come in the time that we think or in the necessary way, but I know that they come to all. I know that he is listening to us and is ready to respond. I know that we have a Father who is so willing to bless us with the highest of all blessings as we call upon him. I know he wants to give us these wonderful things. Jesus Christ teaches on the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7 about prayer.
7 ¶Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
I know that this is true and that he can give us all that we need. I am thankful again for prayer and know that it is something that we can always work on to be more sincere and genuine with our prayers. I want to invite you all to look for ways that you can improve your prayer and be willing to ask Heavenly Father for these recommendations to improve and he will help us pray with more power. I am thankful for all the prayers that you guys have been giving me and all he missionaries in the world. We really appreciate it a lot! I love you all and hope that you have an excellent week!
Con tanto amore,
Anziano Garrett
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