Helllllo there, wonderful family!!
Okay, so first off Italy is amazing. Second off . . . this last week was amazing! We managed to get 24 lessons breaking our new record! It was truly a busy amazing week filled with miracles. We are very blessed here in Piacenza. I think it is like daily I turn to Anziano Ransom and say, man what did we do to deserve these blessings!?
But anyway I'll start from the top of my list so this might be a bit scrambled, sorry! First off, if you could hook me up with Tyler Pendleton's email somehow I'd love to shoot him an email.
Okay, so I've told you the different escapades of my bike . . . well, this week has a whole new episode!! Previously on THE BIKE . . . my bike stinks and is always breaking! This week on THE BIKE . . . okay, so we went out to our furthest biking contact way out in the sticks, took like 20 minutes biking. Little to my surprise, my tire exploded on the way back about 5 minutes into our travel! So I guess I'm a bad driver because I manage to hit all the nails, pieces of glass, barbwire etc. etc. So at first I was mad, but I am getting use to this weekly occurance, so I just laughed it off and was like . . . okay, let's grab another bike and get back to work! So we walked to the Saquings house, which took about an hour, and asked if we could borrow a bike for the night and return it that night. They said yes because they are amazing, and then led us to the back of the house where their bike was. To my surprise the bike was miniaturized with some magical spell. No, but seriously this was like a kids bike, complete with racing flames and everything. So with my knees nearly hitting my chin we set out again. Now the bike is fixed, with the small problem of having to pump up the tire on a regular basis. It's kind of like our car in St. thomas that we needed to stop every half an hour to fill it with oil. So I figure it's some good exercise for my arms pumping it up. By the end if my time in Piacenza I'll be huge!!
Okay so Aliceeeeee. She is so cool . . . very inspiring. So this last Wednesday, after emailing, we went and taught her the Word of Wisdom . . . oh boy. We told her about alcohol, drugs and tobacco, and she was like . . . ok, I can do that. I quit smoking about 10 years ago in one day. It was very hard but I have a stong mind. So were like . . . sweet. And then we were like and also tea and coffee are bad. And she smiled and just gave us this look of . . . oh crap . . . you serious? She laughed and was like . . . oh boy . . . well I guess if I quit smoking I can quit drinking coffee. So we came back a couple of days later and brought her some herbal tea to replace all her bad tea and she thanked us a lot. I was like . . . how are you doing? And she was like . . . these 2 days have been hard. I've had a head ache and I've been very tired, but I haven't broken the Word of Wisdom! I made you guys a promise and I'm keeping it! She is literally just glowing everytime we see her. Everytime we see her, which is 3 times a week now, I am just inspired by her faith. So then church rolled around . . . actually more like flew around, and all three of our power investigators were there!! Alice came with her cute little baby, that is one, Francesca came, and Koffi and Doddi came!
We also had this Russian guy, Cristo, come who doesn't speak any languages we do. We literally teach him by drawing, it is very hard. So he is also kind of [an unusual] character. So he came in his jean shorts and white flame shirt. In the middle of a talk his cell phone went off and he held an argument in Russian right in the middle of church, with all the members turning around to look at him. It was not soo good, but I couldn't help and just think... yeah that's our investigator baby!
So anyways, Alice came and president asked her to say the closing prayer!! And she said it and it was perfect. Then another lady asked her how long she had been a member and she responded, I've been a member for 3 weeks (how long we've been seeing her). That's how cool Alice is. We saw her yesterday and we were like . . . how are you doing? And she was like . . . today has been very interesting. So i was like . . . oh no, is she drinking beer or something?? And she was like . . . this morning I prayed, asking God for something, and I got my answer today! She was just beaming. It is so amazing to see the change that the Book of Mormon makes in people's lives. She is on page 124 in Italian which is the beginning of 2 Nephi. Everytime we come she shows us her favorite verses. It is my favorite part of the week to see her come to us with her marked scriptures, wanting to share them. She will make an amazing member. She requested to be baptized on the 8th of July because it is her birthday and she says that would be the most special birthday she has had. So we said that would be perfect.
Francesca is still doing great. Nothing really new in that department. I know I say this every week but I think we're going to invite her to be baptized this week.
Koffi and Doddi are the bomb. So in Sunday afterwards, the Branch President came up to them and was like . . . hey, if I was someone who didn't know anything about the church, could you tell me about the church's beliefs? And Koffi was like, yes, we could. So branch president was like . . . I, for instance, have never heard of this church. And it was soooo sweet, At first I was like . . . oh crap . . . but then they totally jumped into the first lesson! Swtiching off and everything. Well, you see, Joseph Smith in 1820 was 14 and had a question . . . etc., etc. They amazed me; it was awesome. So we saw Koffi and Doddi this morning before emails, and talked about commandments and we invited Doddi to be baptized! I don't know if you remember, but we asked him before and he said he had been baptized twice before and didn't want to make it 3 times. And he was like . . . yes, but I am concerned about this. Will it be a sin if I get baptized again, because it says in the Bible one baptism. And it was sooooo cool I looked over at Anziano Ransom and he gave me the look of . . . you got this answer. So i turned back to Doddi and was like . . . No, Doddi, it will not be a sin. If you could see the Joy that God has because of your faith and your decision to be baptized. I know that this is exactly what God wants you to do . . . it was awesome. And then to see the look of joy come to his voice, as he said . . . okay, I will be baptized on the same day as Koffi (July 4th). Then we just bore testimony and left it was awesome. The Spirit was very stong as we testified of Heavenly Father's joy for his choice to be baptized.
So the other day we met this funny guy named Max who is from Africa and I was like . . . my name is Max!! And he was like . . . no way . . . I will call you MAX THE PREACHER then, haha. He took our number down and titled us as that. So we're going to try to see him this week. We met him in the park which means there is a good chance that he is homeless, but we'll see, haha. He is a funny man.
So this week was just way cool because of our awesome brothers and sisters in the gospel here in Italy. Thank you all for your emails; I loved them. Josh happy Birthday, my friend!!! Graduating from the "M"BA and all that is way cool. Mom take it easy on the bats, haha. Dad I would search the closet in case mom brought home a shotgun or some other form of weaponry, haha, sorry Mom. Nate I loved your picture of the cabin. You should send it into halllmark or something. Write a poem about me and send it in. For sure it will be a winner. But hey, I have to rush off now and buy some food. I hope this wasn't too short! Mom and Dad glad to hear you got the package. Lemme know if the pics work so I can clean up my card.
Love you all!!
Ciao, ciao, ciao
Max the Preacher!
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