Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Another Transfer in Olbia!‏

Buon Giorno!

As you all already know we are going to be here for Christmas! Everyone, members and other elders predicted that one of us was going to get booted off the island for sure, but, we are doing another together and we are very excited. I think I'll move around a lot the rest of my mission since I will have been in Olbia for so long. It's been another great week! I can't believe how fast this transfer went by, mamma mia! 

Just a little update with investigators. Unfortunately, Ignazio won't be baptized this weekend. It is for the better though so maybe I shouldn't say unfortunately. We talked to him and he said tearfully that he didn't feel ready. We stressed for him not to worry but that this date was a goal. He said that he knows that after the holidays he will be ready. We haven't fixed another date yet, but we have a lesson tonight so we will talk to him about it. Last night we had family home evening at his house and it was awesome because for the lesson everyone shared their conversion stories; His wife, his mother-in-law, Carlos Villegas, and Claudio Branca. People were crying, it was beautiful, and and the spirit was definitely there. I think it was really good for Ignazio to hear all that and get excited for his baptism. He's loving the Gospel and he is still progressing well. 

The Tache's are doing pretty good. We haven't seen Ionel in forever because he picked up a second job but Iona came to church so that was nice. She still reads the Book or Mormon everyday and loves to tell us about the things she reads. We've been trying to see Lino and Giovanna in Calangianus but they are pretty busy. We have an appointment set up for Friday and they are excited to see us again so we are hoping that all goes well! That's pretty much the update on investigators! Keep praying for them!

We found this new zone of houses that we didn't really realize before that is close to this huge supermarket that is kind of like the Italian version of Walmart. Well we've been doing a lot of finding there. We got really lucky because it started raining one day. When it rains, it is miserable when it is already really humid, but people generally feel a little bad for you, which is nice. Well we started ringing and knocking, and on the speakers we heard a kid yell "Non ce nessuno!" (There isn't anyone here) but the gate opened. We were a bit confused and then a lady walked out. She asked who we were, we gave her the spill, but she said she wasn't interested. She then felt bad that it was raining and invited us in for a minute. Go rain! Well it turns out that her ten year old son had friends over, and was expecting another friend so he answered the door like that as a joke. Well like usual, this woman, Giulietta thought we were J.W.s at first, but was fascinated that we were Americans. She was also really interested in our church. She asked a bunch of questions, and we taught her a part of the first lesson. She is a very active catholic, but she doesn't like a few things about the church. We gave her a Book of Mormon and scheduled to come back again. We have a lot of hope for her and I'll keep you informed on how things go. 

On Thursday we were invited to a birthday party for one of the little girls in the Basignana family. It was at McDonalds in this little wannabe mall complex in Olbia. We were a little confused on why we were invited to a nine-year-old birthday party, but it turns out that Sister Basignana had brought us to talk to all of her friends who were the parents of the kids that attended. It was funny because we were the life of the party with the adults! They were asking a lot of questions about the church, and hopefully something will come from it someday!

A little bit of success we saw was a less active come back to church! She has been a member forever, and we have been visiting her a lot, but she finally came! Members were really excited to see her and we hope that she stays active. She fed us one of the best dinners I have had since I've been here so that was pretty memorable. 

As far as the language goes it's getting a lot better! We speak almost all Italian outside of the house and we are even trying to switch to Italian inside the house too so we can get this language down! The members make fun of me and we joke because I always write down funny terms or new words I learn when we speak! It's pretty funny but I hope I can get a descent Italian accent down this next year and a half.

Well that was the week! I'm sorry this email is a little all over the place, but it's hard to write down all my thoughts sometimes! This next transfer is going to be a lot of fun and we have a lot of hope for it. We'll definitely see Ignazio's baptism and I'm feeling a few more! Thanks for everything you guys do for me. Not long now until Christmas and we get to talk! I love you all so much! I Love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg. Have a great week! Vi voglio bene!

Con gran'affetto, 

Anziano Clay Lacey

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