Why can't I change time?
It's transfer week here in Italy which means, Anziano Larson, Wilson, Kendricks, and Sorella Albos, are transferring to different cities. Anziano Delgado, is going to be my next collega, I am going to meet him tomorrow. He is the same age mission wise as Anziano Lewis, so a year and seven months give or take. Anziano Larson is kind of excited to leave. An Anziano from a different area came to Alessandria last week. Anziano Kendricks came for a little bit and is now leaving. He is funny and down to earth.
Anziano Wilson and I had a scambio(trade off) last week, in which, we had quite a bit of success in one day. He is a fireball finder. I watched him trying to observe how he was so successful. He is really kind and accepting of other missionaries, and is very funny. On the street though, it seemed a simple secret that worked extremely well, was he would just treat people as if they were already friends. Which makes sense to me, Anziano Larson and I needed to do that more and it was really nice to be shown how to do it really well. He's also really social etc, which helps. I really respect and like him though.
The language is coming along fine. A few weeks ago I just kind of stopped complaining and dealt with it. I have gotten a lot better and have been extremely blessed. I am really grateful. I am not worried about it anymore, though I am no where near fluent. I should be able to get by with my new collega.
I read a book called Our Heritage, extremely quickly earlier this week. It was really good. The start of the LDS church is truly remarkable. I know a lot of the basics of the church since I have been a member a long time, so its nice to read other things that have more things that not every member knows. I know that this church is true.
We started trying to do genealogy finding last week. It's really easy to talk about families, and most people agree that the family is important. Knowing about where you come from the stories etc, is a free, fun, thing that the church does. We have been having some success this way and I'm hoping this next transfer we will be the Charizard of Pokemon to Missionaries to Missions. We will have to act though. It should be an adventure regardless.
We met with Paulo, the older man I mentioned several weeks ago. He talks extremely loud and is kind of the stereo type Italian you think of. We had a lesson with him last night, and it will probably be the most bizarre lesson of my mission. We brought Martin with us. Paulo would talk sooo much. He would interupt us, and when we would interupt him, he would interupt our interuption. It made the lesson really hard to do etc. He smoked a bit during the lesson as well. He would talk about all of these off topic things, even when we told him that this was the time we would talk about spiritual things. When we left he took Martin and Anziano Larson by the arm, and walked us to the car, and wouldn't let us leave for another three minutes. Martin told us he wouldnt do another lesson with Paulo. Its going to be a long road to baptism for him, We are going to try to have him walk to the church so he is tired, so he will talk less next time. He came to church last sunday though. If every soul is worth the same in the sight of God, I believe that if we have to spend extra time with Paulo (over a hour yesterday), that it is degno (worthy). I love him so much though. Some investigators make it easy to love them.
We are going to go play some basketball against some youth here after this. I am pretty excited.
Think of the ocean, and how deep it is. You will now be prepared to think of this deep spiritual thought.
Jeremiah 14:8-10 Talks about how the Jews were failing and not doing so well because they would do whatever they wanted. Going after the lusts of their hearts or something along those lines. Which is really kind of a deep subject. The first sin was that Adam and Eve tried to have happiness without God, as if they could have knowledge to match Gods (type of a thing, its a bit hard for me to explain). When we put God on the back-burners, when we just do whatever we may want, we are going after the lusts of our hearts, and sort of acting like the Jews in the Bible time (most of the time not a compliment). It is not a wise thing to pit yourself against God. You will lose. If you aren't for him you are against him. This life is a time to prepare to meet God again, after this life. If it seems to hard to change, to repent, and to become better, ignorance wont just save you. If you walk off a cliff even if you don't know there is gravity. You still fall and die.
I don't believe I am allowed to go around calling the people to repentance here, but I can at least in this email. Become what God would like you to become. Educate yourself. Find happiness. People act however that just because they are well off or want to do other things with their time, that they don't need God. This is not a true thing and will not bring true happiness.
Anziano Ballard (I believe) talks about he was on a trip with a few millionaires and a billionaire. The billionaire had spent his life on wealth, and he enjoyed that. When he mentioned death and the life after this he said, Either there is no life after this.... or if there is.. I don't imagine all of my wealth will do me much good. Kind of a lose lose lose situation for him.
I invite y'all to lay up treasure for yourself in Heaven, and maybe a little less so on earth. Keep perspective, awareness, and remember the things that truly are important.
I wish y'all the best in your endeavors.
With Love,
Anziano Gridley
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