Ciao!
I hope everybody’s week went by well and you all really enjoyed it. It is crazy how fast the time goes by here in the mission. All of a sudden it is Sunday again and its just really weird how the time just rolls by here on the mission. I can’t believe I am rolling up to my year mark. That to me is insane.
The weather turned around all of a sudden and now it has been super windy and pretty cold. The wind is pretty crazy here in Trapani because of the way that the city is laid out around the sea we have wind that can come from all directions so when it starts to pick up it is really strong. Had to bust out my heavy winter coat for the first time last night.
We had a lot of finding this week. We had a good DDM as usual on Tuesday in Palermo and came back for finding around Trapani. We do what is called “White Board” finding. We a question on the board and do a little survey or sometimes we will write “Corso D’Inglese Gratuito!” It is fun and we have some good conversations from it.
We had good English Course lessons this week and we saw some new faces there which is really nice. We always love getting new sick students that become really good friends of ours.
We were able to hit a good number of families in the branch this week to get started on our member plan that we prepared for them. It will hopefully yield a lot of ways to get the members more involved in the work with us and help strengthen them at the same time. We were able to talk to some really awesome people this week, and we hope that they will be willing to meet with us so that we can help them in any way that we can.
We got two new investigators this week. It is a younger couple which is really cool. We gave the first lesson at a Tabaccheria because that is where they asked to meet us. It went really well, but next time we will be meeting in the church which will be a lot better in order to avoid distractions and better to be able to feel the spirit more strongly. They asked a lot of really good questions and she really wants to know the truth which is really sweet.
We had a good Sunday yesterday as well. We ate at one of our regular families we go to after church on Sunday. They are super awesome and just so so so nice. We finished off the night with some less active and white board finding. We asked the question, “Perchè abbiamo le scritture?” (Why do we have the scriptures) and it went really well. We got some really good conversations out of it and a few phone numbers.
We are really working hard and trying our best to improve to the best of our abilities as a companionship. I really enjoy working with Anziano Spencer and we are having a fun time serving together right now. Not really sure if I will be staying another one here in Trapani or not. I would like to be here for one more. I think it is nice to be able to stay and get to know the members and keep trying our best in a city. I think the 4 transfers I did in Rome were a lot of fun and good time spent there. I would like to spend even time in about 4 cities. We will see what happens though. Wherever the Lord needs his missionaries is where he will put them.
Something that I really enjoyed from my studies this week was from Matthew 20 about the parable of the laborers. I love to consider the kindness and generosity that the householder has when hiring the laborers to come and work int he vineyard. It shows that it doesn’t matter when we find the gospel in our lives and become disciples of Christ so long as we are laboring for him. I really think that is amazing because we are all working to the same eternal goal and the love our Heavenly Father offers us is the same for each one of us. We are equal in his sight and we continue to labor together trying to reach that eternal goal to return to live with our Father in Heaven, our Savior Jesus Christ, and or families to dwell with them for eternity. I love this excerpt that I read from a General Conference talk given in April 2012 by Elder Jeffery R. Holland.
“This parable–like all parables–is not really about laborers or wages any more than the others are about sheep and goats. This is a story about God’s goodness, His patience and forgiveness, and the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a story about generosity and compassion. It is a story about grace. It underscores the thought I heard many years ago that surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it.
“… However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.
“… There is no dream that in the unfolding of time and eternity cannot yet be realized. Even if you feel you are the lost and last laborer of the eleventh hour, the Lord of the vineyard still stands beckoning.
“… His concern is for the faith at which you finally arrive, not the hour of the day in which you got there.
“So if you have made covenants, keep them. If you haven’t made them, make them. If you have made them and broken them, repent and repair them. It is never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time” (“The Laborers in the Vineyard,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2012, 32–33).
I love this talk a lot. I love that with the Atonement of Christ it is never too late to get back on the path that our Heavenly Father expects us to be on. I am so thankful for the Atonement and that it is truly perfect and we can be clean through it and receive enabling power from it. It is truly never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time.
I love you all and hope that everyone has a wonderful week this week! Hope to hear from you all soon and Happy Martin Luther King Day!
Love,
Anziano Garrett
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