Buongiorno tutti!
I hope that everyone had a nice week and that everyone is enjoying the rest of their summer as it winds down.
So this week I accidentally left my wallet in the house. I always carry it around in my bag because then I don’t have to worry about pickpockets. So I keep my abbonamento (metro/bus pass) in there. The day before we had walked to the store to get more water for the house and I forgot to put my wallet back into my bag. We leave the house and catch a bus the next day and about 5 or 6 stops down bus workers start to get on to check if people have there passes or a ticket. I then realized I had forgotten my wallet so I got written up for a nice little fine. So they said to go to this bus office and they will waive it. So we travel over there and the lady tells me I have to pay it at a post office. So I went from having a €1.50 fine to a nice €56 fine. Well then Sorella Cano explained that I have to go back there and show them the abbonamento and they will waive it. So we head back again the next day and then tell the lady that I have the abbonamento, and she says of great we can waive that but the office to do that is closed today so you will have to come back next week. So now we have to go and travel all the way back for a third time. Well I definitely learned not to forget my wallet anymore. So we will head back there Tuesday and then start a scambio after with Anziano Calvagna and Anziano Palazzo. I will stay here with Anziano Calvagna and Anziano Rasband and Anziano Palazzo will head up to Terni.
This week we had some really good lessons, and we got a new investigator that is really awesome. The sisters found the potential and passed him off to us to do the first lesson! He is super nice and really believes that the things we taught about the Restoration of the Gospel are true. He accepted to prepare himself for baptism so we will just have to keep working with him and I am definitely excited to do so! We will be getting some investigators coming back from vacations soon which is really exciting and we are ready to be able to see them again.
We have been doing some finding for new investigators and we are trying hard to try different ways to find them and to do our best in finding those that the Lord has prepared for us. We are looking forward to working hard this next transfer and really find those we need to find.
Today for pday we didn’t really have any solid plans so we cleaned the house and then went to Villa Pamphili which is a huge park and it’s super nice and went for a nice 5.5 mile run. It was super nice and the weather was beautiful. It was a nice little change of pace and the most I have run since the MTC.
Rome is cooling off and the weather has been great this week. We are still working hard trying to find those ready for the Gospel. I was excited to hear that the Indianapolis temple was dedicated and I look forward to going to it when I come back. It is so weird that I have been on my mission for 6 months already and that I will have spent 6 months in Rome 1 by the end of the transfer. I am still enjoying getting to know all the members better and it is fun to be able to get to know them. I am enjoying it here and look forward to continuing to do the Lords work.
Something I read just this morning really had me thinking a lot of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was reading in Nephi 13 and something that really hit me and got me to dig a little deeper was verse 12.
12 And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.
This is the prophesying of Christopher Columbus and the discovering of America and I just loved how it said that the Spirit of God came upon him. He was no doubt inspired and I really wanted to just dig a little deeper in to this. I came across a scripture regarding the great apostasy during this in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
This is talking about before the second coming of Christ there will first be a falling away from the truth. We believe that this falling away occurred and that the proper priesthood authority was lost from the earth following the crucifixion of Christ and the death of His apostles. That authority was lost and we saw changes to the true doctrine that Christ and his authorized disciples taught. That Christ true church that he established during his ministry was no longer upon the Earth.
Going back to the first verse I shared from the Book of Mormon I found a talk given in October 2005 General Conference by Robert D. Hales entitled “Preparations for the Restoration and the Second Coming: ‘My Hand Shall Be over Thee.'” It is an amazing talk that explains the predictions that the Lord made throughout history to restore the Gospel in its fullness once again on the earth and that the authority and the truth would never be lost again until our Savior comes once again. It is an amazing talk that does a really wonderful job of explaining historical events that made it possible for the Lord to restore the Gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith. I highly recommend taking the time to read it and would challenge you guys to do so.
Later in that same chapter of Nephi 13 there are two verses I really like talking about the Book of Mormon.
39 And after it had come forth unto them I beheld other books, which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the convincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are true.
40 And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.
I know that the Book of Mormon was translated by the power and gift of God and is untainted pure scripture that truly proves Jesus is the Christ and that the testimonies in the Bible are true and that the Gospel is established upon these witness. The Bible and the Book of Mormon testify of Christ and I know that Heavenly Father loves and the Lord hasn’t ceased to talk to the people here on the earth. I know that we can all know these things are true through the Book of Mormon.
It is the evidence that has been provided for us to know and we like Joseph Smith can know the truth through prayer. God is our loving Heavenly Father and he always listens and he will answer our prayers.
I know this was a long post but I hope everyone stuck through it! I love you all and hope that you all enjoy this next week. Hope to hear from you all soon and thanks for all the support and taking the time to read my blog. Love you all and talk to you next week!
Anziano Garrett
Our district and some members in Roma 1, taken before the last transfer. (photo from Sorella Kennedy’s blog).
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