Week #26 – Lights to the World

Feb 15, 2016 Ascoli, Italy

Hi Everyone!

So this week we hit the grind of finding hard. It was tiring. I don’t think I was awake past 10:15 even one time this week! Unfortunately we didn’t see very much success from those efforts but thankfully Heavenly Father blessed us in other ways. I was getting pretty frustrated with the opposition we were facing from our attempts at finding so I decided maybe it would be a good idea to go back through the area book and pick out old investigators that we felt might be willing to meet with us again. We have 3 lessons set up for this coming week with old investigators!!! That was awesome. Also during our hours spent finding we ran into an old investigator and set up a lesson for this coming week, ran into a less active woman and invited her to come back to church and she came, and we ran into an old English course student and he said he will be coming back this week!

This just shows me that God accomplishes His will in his own way and our role is to submit to Him and be content with being used in any way He sees fit. That’s a hard lesson to learn but it’s an important one.

Other news… I ate over 6 1/2 pounds of oranges this past week. If it’s possible to eat too many oranges someone please let me know.

We have been meeting with a less active mother and daughter this past week and we are planning on doing a family home evening with them soon which will be really cool and a great opportunity to score some awesome Italian cooking. Finally I had the opportunity to get to know a member in the branch a little better recently and he is awesome! His name is Andrea and he used to be evangelist and then Jehovah’s Witness. I learned that two years ago he showed up at our church service with the intent of converting everyone and causing disruption, but he felt the spirit so strong from the members and the way everyone treated each other that he himself was converted and was baptized. His story makes me think of one simple fact. Us missionaries need the members of the church a whole lot more than it may seem. It’s easy to think that most of the progress of bringing new converts into the church rests on the missionaries but the reality is our role is only secondary to the example and instruments that members are around the world. You are examples to your friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances. Every interaction you make is an opportunity for others to see what an everyday disciple of Christ looks and acts like.

Sincerely thank you to all of you who take this calling to heart and continue to be those lights to the world. You are the true difference in this work, we wouldn’t see the success we do without you.

That’s all I got this week! I love all of you! I’m always praying for you. If there be anything specific I could pray for just let me know!

Have an awesome week and never stop moving forward.

Anziano Friedman