So this week was quite different than last week. Thursday,
we had a scambio and we headed to Mestre to drop off the Sorella
Quinton and pick up my companion for the day, Sorella Montagnoli. On the
train back, the train was completely packed and in walked a young
mother with 3 small children. Immediately I jumped up and offered my
seat to the woman, who was speaking english to her children. Sorella M
started talking to this woman while I sat on the floor and engaged the
little ones in games. I had a very stimulating conversation with a 6
year old about her ponies and unicorns. Turns our this woman, grew up
athiest and found God in china, of all places. She met her future
american husband there and they now live here in italy. Next year they
will move as missionaires to china. She was really interested in our
belief that families can be together forever. After about 20 minutes her
american husband walks in and starts talking to us. I stood up and we
engaged in conversation. He asked me what the gospel of Jesus Christ is,
and I am thinking to myself "this is going to be great conversation
with a fellow missionary." Well, faith is the first principle. Faith
unto repentence. The man exploded. He whips out his bible and begins
asking me questions about insane doctrine. How long it take for abraham
to be saved according to his faith? What is faith? How many years did it
take for abraham to be righteious and then sacrifice Issac. After about
20 minutes of trying to teach with the spirit and testify, i was hit
with the realization that I could not feel the spirit. This man,
brutally attacking me and my faith, had driven away the spirit.
There is a quote that goes something along the lines
of "one day all of us will be backed up to a wall and there we must
make our stand." Well here i was, literally forced to stand face to face
as this man told me I was damning people's souls by teaching false
doctrine and being posessd by Satan. It became almost an out of body
experience as I began to think that I had encountered a modern day
Sadducee. I understood perfectly how the sadducees and everyone attack
Christ, using scripture and docrtine to attack the Son of God. I was
experiencing it myself. I shut my mouth, looked him straight in the eye,
and thought "There is nothing you can say to me that will make me deny
the truth. I will not fight with you because it will not do any good. I
will not bible bash with you. but I will pray for you." I have never
felt anything like that. I just felt saddness for this man who was close
to the truth but so far off that it was pathetic. After the train, we
talked about our experience and how neither of us felt the companionship
of the holy ghost but we literally felt like Christ was there with his
arms linked through ours.
Sometimes on the mission, (secondo me) we as
missionaries dont have the companionship of the holy ghost, such as in
situations like this. Why? Because as a personage of the divinity, the
spirit cannot be where there is contention or outright attacking of
Christ. It is like a coach. We practice with coach because he knows more
and he trains us, but then in game time (in this case train time) the
coach literally cannot enter the game. The coach tries to yell
instruction and correction from the sideline but sometimes it is so loud
in the game that you cannot hear the coach. THis is missionary work,
sometimes all you have is your training and your testimony to help you
play.
It was a very interestting experience and one I am, I
will never forget. Well, that is about all this week. I hope you all
had a wonderful easter and felt the hope and truthfulness of the
resurrection. I can say with absolute surety and conviction that Jesus
the Christ lives. He conquered the bands of death and with His atoning
blood corrected any and all effect of the fall of man. That includes,
but is not limited sin. He knows our pain, our disappointments, our
joys, our sorrows, our loneliness and our frustrations. One day, I will
be pleased to stand before Him and my Father in my resurected and
perfected (hallelujah!) body.
Buona pasqua e non dimenticatevi mai che vi amo un sacco!
Sorella Alley
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| "il Lago di Garda!" |
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| "So beautiful and made me want to accidently fall in." |
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| "This silly sisters were taken for unsuspecting tourists and paid 22 £ for 2 gelati. hahahaha Mine cost 3. Win!" |
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| "Happy marriage Karlee and AJ!" (editor's note: Karlee is Christine's bestie (second to said editor of course) and is getting married this weekend!!) |
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