So Saturday
night we had an appointment with the Ruiz Diaz family. They are from
Argentina and they have a son who served in Hermana Alley's exact area! I
almost hugged him just to get a little Argentina on me but Sorella
Killpack has fast reflexes and held the tiger back. Anyway, we were
teaching Simone and Diego at their house and we've been working with
these two investigators from my first week in Lodi. We knew they needed
to progress towards their Baptism Date but it wasn't going to happen if
we didn't bring a strong lesson about prayer. We read Matthew 7:7-11
with them and asked Simone, the son, what it meant to him. We sat in
silence for about 2 minutes and the Spirit was working with him, you
could see it visibly. Then his dad, Diego came to the rescue and told us
as a father, himself, he would do anything for Simone. BOOM!!!!! That
is how it is with our heavenly Father! To further demonstrate our point,
we held a blanket up in a door frame with Diego and Simone kneeling in
the separate rooms with the blanket in between them. We asked Simone to
tell his dad about his day. It took him a while to warm up but once he
got talking it was easier. Then we asked Diego to respond with the what
he thought was most important for Simone to know. Then I heard the most
powerful three words ever. "Ti volgio bene." I love you. Oh what is that
glistening in my eyes, you ask? Tears. It was beyond touching and
again, I was not the missionary, I was simply the mouthpiece. Then to
end our lesson, we asked Diego to pray. Very reluctantly we taught him
how to pray, and he started one of the most humble and beautiful prayers
i have ever heard. He thanked his Father in Heaven for his two angel
missionaries (commence the tears again), and he asked for guidance to
raise Simone to be a future missionary. He shared that it was the first
time he had prayed since he was 17. That was 23 years ago. This is the
beauty of being a missionary. Someone like Diego, a declared atheist,
now KNOWS that there is a God and God does love him. One of the most
powerful lessons of my mission. I LOVE MY JOB!!!!
On Sunday,
to my wonderful delight, we enjoyed a sacrament put on by the Primary!
Turns out kids are the same in every country and I could see Caleb and
Andrew up there on stage pulling each other's ties while Graham sits
perfectly like a little angel. I thought of how blessed I am to be an
Alley and to be stuck to you nuggets for eternity.
In more exciting news, we will have a baptism this week! On Saturday,
Maria and her son, Richard will be baptized! We taught them for the
very first time my first night in Lodi. They are from the Republicà
Domenica so thank you Stephen, I am just finishing up where you left
off. :) So this Thanksgiving season I am thankful that Hermana Alley and
I both have baptisms! Missionary work is the basically the wheat thin
to the cheeseball. It is just the best.
Vi amo tantississsisssimo!
Sorella Alley
PS if you send anything for Christmas, please send it through amazon.uk. Taxes and tarrifs are expensive here and I have to pay for each package I receive, UNLESS it comes through amazon.uk. Here is a link to the mission blog with more information: http://missionemilano.blogspot.com/p/packages.html
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