Battesimo in Settembre!

Hey guys!

This has been a great week with the work! We keep seeing a ton of miracles and we are really excited for the upcoming weeks.

To start off, we have a baptismal date set for September 1st with Sergio! On Saturday we went over to his brother's house to do a lesson. We met him there along with another really strong member of the church, Fratello Messina, and we began teaching the first lesson. Things went great, but it wasn't turning out quite like I wanted it to because there were a lot of people talking and it was going all over the place. The best thing to do to bring the Spirit to the first lesson is to simply begin teaching the story of Joseph Smith and the First Vision. I always feel the Spirit so strong when I recite Joseph Smith's very words, and you know that everyone else feels it too when the room goes silent for a little while. And then a heartfelt testimony acts as the 'cherry on top' for a real spiritual presentation. While we were in the spiritual climax, we asked him if he would try to prepare himself for baptism for the first of September and he agreed.

The best part of teaching is inviting. I invited him to give the closing prayer. We taught him how, and he was a little nervous to do it in front of everyone present, but he did it anyways and did a great job. We left feeling very edified by the Spirit. The next day was Sunday and he came to church looking great in a white shirt and tie. There, during the second hour of church I was able to teach a class with him, a recent convert, and a member to have present. We talked about the Plan of Salvation, and it was great because when we had left Saturday night, Sergio started reading the Plan of Salvation pamphlet, therefore he was a great participator. After the lesson he came up to me and thanked me. He thanked me for inviting him to pray the previous day, and he shared with me that never before in his life had he prayed, and he felt something different. When he told me this I felt that same feeling that I've felt many times in my mission: the love that my Heavenly Father has for this man. I told him that that was the Spirit, and because he had the faith to pray he opened himself up and the Spirit witnessed to him that those things that we said, the events that we talked about, and the fact that there are living prophets and apostles on the earth today, are all true. Times like this are when President Monson's prophetic promise in my call letter comes true that I will feel a joy beyond anything I've ever felt, and that I'll have a rock solid testimony of the Restoration as I lose myself in this labor of love.

We now have a new investigator named Natale! He is a man that has known the Church for a long time, and has frequented our English courses. He was actually the first man I met in Trapani! We invited him to take the lessons and he agreed. We haven't set a baptismal date yet, but he agreed to be baptized when he finds for himself that these things are true. We now teach him every Tuesday and Thursday and he loves the Book of Mormon.

We had a real miracle last Sunday. We prayed to have the Lord guide us to someone who'd have need of our help before beginning proselyting work. We were walking on a street and somebody honked at us, pulled over, and turned his car off. We walked over to see if we knew him, and he said, "Ciao Anziani". Obviously he knew who the missionaries were, but he was very quiet and didn't say much. We found out that he is actually an inactive member of the church. Him and his wife are separated, and she lives in Milan with their two children, one of which is leaving for his mission in Romania. He told us that all he wants is to be with his family again. I don't want to go into too many details, but we are helping him to reactivate himself to feel and see the same blessings he had when he was going to church every week. He personally was the one to say that the Lord helped direct us together to cross paths.

We have also been asked to give a lot of blessings recently. One sister was really sick with a high fever, so on Saturday she asked me to give her a blessing. I had given blessings of comfort in the past in Italian, but never the sealing of the anointing. The Spirit guided me with what I was to say, and she came to church the next day fine, happy, and healthy. Blessings work! Another family is about to go to America for a vacation and to attend the wedding of another member of the family. The mother is really worried that their little two year old son, Mirko, will not benefit well from this long travel, and that the vacation might have a negative affect on him so they asked me to give him a blessing of comfort as well.

The members here are so great! They are such hard working member missionaries and their immovable goal to make Trapani a ward still impresses me. We had a great Family Home Evening with a sister who had never once participated in, or held a FHE activity before! She has been a member for over twenty years, but she is the only member in her family. We had a great time with the young adults, and other members of the branch that are the only members also in their families. Plus we ate gelato, and the gelato in Trapani is really famous, and the best ice cream I've ever eaten in my life!

Well that's the week! Things are going great and we'll see how transfers go this Saturday! I'm a little nervous, like I always am at the end of the six weeks, because anything can happen! We'll see. I love you all so much! Thank you all for your prayers and for the love I feel from you everyday! 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 and stay safe! I miss you all so much! Vi voglio una galassia di bene come sempre!

Anziano Clay Lacey