September in Italy

Well It has been a crazy week! Anzaino De Angelis and I are getting over the companionship-of-three-becoming-a-companionship-of-two blues. Anziano Horrocks I am sure is doing great in Bergamo 3rd Ward training (and as President neglected to mention in the transfer calls...being a district leader!)

Well, Anziano Horrocks at 4:00 am on Thursday left. We had said our goodbyes the night before. Anziano De Angelis and I waited with one of the missionaries from Modena while he waited for his new companion to come from across the mission to Bologna. That took most of the day. I kept on forgetting that it was my birthday. We had English class and all of my students made a huge deal out of it! That was really good. I love my English class!

On Friday we had a couple of lessons. One with Stive and the other With Revindar and Kaor. Revindar and Kaor are going to get baptized on the 28th of September! How exciting!

Saturday was a good day. We did some finding and me some pretty nice people none of whom wanted a return appointment, but we planted some seeds.  That night, thinking that the electricity was still sketchy, I washed all of my laundry by hand in our bathroom sink. I turn out that just did that for the experience because I found out later that day that the power was back. Well it was fun at least.

Church on Sunday was really great! I feel like I am growing with this ward! They are really nice and supportive of us. It is good to feel among family and friends. We had a bunch of really cool visitors in our ward that Sunday.  In our ward, there are always visitors and that is a huge perk. They all seem to show up at the same time. It's really interesting. They become a part of the ward even for just that small amount of time. A guy came into the chapel at the end with a pass along card asking for a copy of the Book of Mormon and that was certainly interesting. Anziano Horrocks and I last transfer had prayed that something would happen from the pass along cards that we give out by the hundreds every day. Well so far two Sundays in a row that has happened!

We met Stive again on Monday. He is doing well. We read from the Book of Mormon together. He has promised to come to Church on Sunday. That will be good.

Yesterday we met with a man named Wisdom who has seen us out and about and stopped us a few days earlier. That was really good. We also met with a guy named Malik from Senegal. Both of those lessons were interrupted, one by an evangelical bus driver and the other by some drugged up teenagers. That is what you get for having lessons in the park.

Today we have three more lessons planned, one with a less active and the other two with Stive and Prince (the man who came to church because of the pass along card)

Tomorrow, we are going to Modena for a zone meeting and the ENGLISH CLASS!

I love you guys! I hope all is well! I cant wait to hear back from you!

Anziano John Colin Cook