Dear Family and Friends,
This week officially was my year mark. Yikes I'm old now in the mission! Luckily with age finally comes the wisdom. Really, the things I liked the most about this week was the fact that I just felt like a good missionary. Obviously there's a lot to improve on; I'm not done progressing. But the sweet assurance that in general I know what I am doing and I truly feel like a representative of the Lord.
The week really started with Emanuele. Remember last week when he came to church with a pamphlet? Well we spent about an hour trying to find his house in campagnia (turns out the street didn't exist on google maps). Upon arriving, he greets us to his home in the country wearing only underwear (Side note: Since it is very hot in sicilia, it is very common for the old men in their houses to not wear shirts and sometimes not even pants!). After learning about his long life story, we tried our best to share him the message of the Restoration but it was difficult considering he cannot hear very well. Fortunately, he loves to read and so we gave him more pamphlets and the Book of Mormon, and he promised to read it. Considering he is 88 years old and lives only with his friend/caretaker, Segio. He in fact is from Romania and knows Emmanuele because Emanuele baptized his cousins in the Catholic church when visiting. We still have no idea how he found out about the church.
Really our goal for the week was to improve our finding considering everyone has disappeared for the summer, going off the beach, or staying inside their houses, which honestly I don't blame them. But the Lord blesses those who work hard especially during these difficult times with miracles so Anziano Mars and I put out our faith and we walked the streets of Ragusa several times this week. And we talked to so many people! Obviously, almost none of them were interested in our message of Jesus Christ (a lot want to come to our English Group though!), but we certainly had some interesting encounters. Like explaining to an old man how we weren't Amish and how we can use electricity. Like talking to one lady who had a Westie and explaining how it reminded me of Auggie. Like a Iuri, a kid who learned English from playing videogames. Like talking to another old Sicilian who insisted we have 4 wives.
Actually, we talked to a lot of old Sicilians (because they make up a big part of the population here). One conversation that really touched me was with Gianfranco. While in the park, we first asked him if he believed in God. Before he could really answer, another old sicilian interrupts the conversation, jumping and wildly waving his hands. What he said, I honestly couldn't understand because it wasn't Italian but the hand gestures made it seem like he was excited and didn't think Gianfranco should have been talking with us. After that one minute outburst, Gianfranco lets us sit down and we actually had a real discussion. He talked about normal things (politics, America, basically how things have changed since he was a kid) but he really opened up about losing his belief in God and also about losing his wife 6 months ago. My heart reached out to him as we shared the Plan of Salvation with him since he felt like there was no purpose to him living anymore, and nothing really changed in him but he thanked us for talking to him and said maybe he would come to church one day.
For me, the mission has really become a mission of miracles! Sebastiano continues to make progress and we are working with other potential investigators too! On Friday, we helped Fratello Dimartino clean the church (since he was by himself!) and I'm sure my mom will love to hear that I can definitely say I have improved my cleaning skills on the mission, especially mopping. Anyway, right as we finished, a potential investigator from the Area Book we had contacted said he wanted to stop by and see the church. We showed Salvatore the newly cleaned church and tried to give him a Book of Mormon but because he loves the Bible so much and knows it well, he doesn't feel like there can be anymore of God's word left. But he was touched that after 10 years, we had saved his number so he promised to come to church one time. Nothing gets better than that!
Honestly, I can say that coming home tired and really sweaty everyday, I feel really good. I absolutely love being a missionary, especially being a trainer right now because Anziano Mars is awesome and we are working together really well now. Most of all. I am grateful for every opportunity to bear testimony of Christ and help these people at least know who "the Mormons" are. I made a promise to myself to work hard everyday so that everyone in the city can recognize the "Mormon missionaries" and we can try to befriend them. One day I specifically prayed to have someone stop and talk to us. Twice during the day, ragazzi who I had met before, stopped us and talked to us. It wasn't about religion, more about swear words or "Bruno Mars (sorry Anziano Mars) or drugs, although we certainly tried to bear our testimony of Christ. But I still know it was an answer to my prayers that God is watching over this work and is proud of all those who defend the name of Jesus Christ. The amount I have grown spiritually and emotionally from my mission is incredible and I still have an amazing year left in this great country. I hope you all too can feel the joy that comes from God's light and can find the time to share it like I try to do everyday.
Vi voglio bene!
Anziano Price
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