Dear Family and Friends,
I loved this week! At first, I thought it was going to be a really hard week. It has been a whole month since I have been gone and occasionally I will miss home, I mean who doesn't? But really I got out of this week how having the Holy Ghost in our lives can really touch people, even teachers role-playing as our investigators. But anyway, there's a lot to talk about.
I loved receiving letters from my family and that box of cookies from Brother Goodman (thank you so much!), they mean a lot. If you would like to write or send anything, you probably want to do it soon, because I leave for Rome in 11 days! Time really does fly by!
Since we have 11 days until we leave for the Rome Italy Mission, everyone is getting more and more excited! We are doing our best not to eat too much at the MTC (since there is a lot of food!) and working out so we are better in shape. I have consistently for the past three days been able to run a mile without stopping! I call that an accomplishment!
It keeps hitting me how we are actually leaving for a whole new country and I am barely proficient in my language. Actually, the language is coming along more and more lately. I am finding I can actually explain myself and my ideas more in Italian than normal. Although, I really need to start working on some real world phrases besides the gospel language I know, like "How much is a half kilogram of ham?" (An actual phrase in our language teaching program).
But really my week was defined by two very amazing experiences. On Saturday, we taught our investigator Gabriella. She had been struggling with praying to God because she had the desire to believe in God but she felt she had no reason to, especially when she felt that she had not received an answer from God when she prayed. So I began by addressing Ether 12:6, where a witness does not come until we have a trial of our faith. In the midst of explaining this, I felt impressed to share my experience with deciding on college and my mission. For about two months, the thought of where to go to college had been dwelling in my mind, specifically because it would also decide when I served a mission. I prayed and prayed and prayed and felt over and over that I had not felt much of an answer. And then one night, after receiving the impression to try again, I prayed. I did not go into much detail since it was personal and I don't know that many words in Italian, but I did say this: I felt the love of God and I felt that he answered my question. I felt a happiness I cannot express and in the midst of explaining this to her, I began to cry. Because I know what happened was true. Gabriella felt it was true by the power of the Holy Ghost and because of it she accepted our challenge to be baptized. It was one of the most spiritual moments I have felt.
This week I really learned how the Holy Ghost or Spirit is the teacher of the lessons and as missionaries we prepare ourselves to be worthy conduits of it so that an investigator can feel that this gospel is true, because I listened to the promptings of the Spirit. Elder Waddell, 2nd Counselor of the Presiding Bishopric spoke on Tuesday about how we are meant to serve a mission, which means we devote our time to looking for those who need service, for those we can express charity or the love of Christ towards. But the only way we can really see how to serve those around us is by listening to the promptings of the Spirit.
Yesterday, as a class, we practiced teaching a less active member. This was a lot more difficult than normal because the reason she fell away from the church was because she saw no blessings from the church in her life, since her husband has had lupus for a very long time and continues to get worse. She did not believe the Atonement of Jesus Christ could help her in her trials and endure. I wanted to reassure her that yes it can but I couldn't think of how. And then I thought of someone in my life. My mom.
For those of you who do not know, my mother had cancer when she was very very young. While she was cured, along came the assumption that she could not have any kids because of the great pain that would return. But she knew that she was meant to have a family. So she did have a family, me and my sisters and my brother. It was probably the most pain she experienced ever, constantly being sick and sacrificing for us. And yet she endured because as I like to think about it she relied on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Through His Atonement, he endured all the pains and sicknesses of the world so that we might be lifted up in our burdens and endure them with hope, and happiness, that we might be strong when we are normally weak. I testified of this experience to her and truly felt the Holy Ghost testify of the power of the Atonement and how it is very real and can help us every day.
I am sorry for both of these long experiences, but they are probably some of the strongest experiences in my life. I love listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, because it not only strengthens those I teach, but it strengthens my own testimony of this gospel that I will teach in 11 days. While this is extremely frightening, I have received assurances that this is right and that I can do all things through the Lord. I testify that this gospel is true and that I truly feel like I will be opening the doors of heaven to those I teach and inviting them to follow Christ and receive eternal life.
I challenge you to all pray to feel the Holy Ghost in your life and receive the faith and reassurance that this is all true. I love you all dearly, especially my sweet family at home. But I also love God and my Savior, and can't wait to serve my two years.
Le voglio bene!
Anziano Price
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