Sei mesi nella missione!‏

Hey!
 
Well tomorrow is the six month mark and I can't believe it! And just a
few weeks until I get to talk to you all! I'm loving this Christmas
season here in Italy. There are lights being put up everywhere around
Olbia and it looks beautiful. I'll have to send pictures soon! Well
this has been a great week as usual and I've enjoyed every minute of
it.

Ignazio is progressing great as usual. He is still preparing for his
baptism that is coming up quickly. He is so ready, but we are just
hoping that he personally feels ready so keep praying for him! We have
another lesson tonight so I am really excited for that. We had Family
Home Evening with them last night and he is getting so much more
knowledgeable in the Gospel as he participates in discussions and
makes very insightful comments. He is such a great man!
 
I want to start off with a sweet story. When we did splits with the
assistants Anziano Banks and I found a man named Lino. He said that it
wasn't a good time and to come back a later day. Well, that is an
excuse that we always get from people, and when we return they tell us
they aren't interested, or say to come back again because they are
still busy. Unfortunately, I didn't think anything of it at first. On
Friday we went back to Calangianus (where we had found him) and had
lunch with the Branca Family, and then went out and began working. As
we were leaving Alessio joked and said, "I won't give you a ride back
to Olbia if you don't find three new investigators." We set out and
began knocking. As we were searching I had a feeling that we should go
see this Lino guy. The only problem was that I forgot where he lived.
I usually do a good job with writing down addresses but the night we
found him was foggy and dark and I didn't write it down. So we just
starting walking. We went down a street that I thought was it and I
decided to knock on a random door. Well, it wasn't him, and it was
actually someone that I remember quite distinctly because she yelled
at us a few weeks before for knocking. So that was fun! I asked her if
she knew where Lino lived and she said his house was right next door
(all these houses on this particular street look the same). I was only
one off so we went and knocked. A woman answered the door and we told
her who are and asked if Lino was home. She said that he just got back
from work and she invited us in. We saw Lino and he was happy to see
us. We sat down and began breaking the ice. Everything was very
natural and quick, but we taught them the first lesson, gave them
invites to pray and to read the Book of Mormon, and then set up a
return appointment. We have two new investigators! Lino and Giovanna.
They are both solid and I have high hopes for them. We still need to
get to know them better to find out clues and teach to their needs,
but they seem to have really been prepared to hear the Gospel! When we
go back to Calangianus this week we will see them again! I'm so
excited! Alessio still gave us a ride even though we only found two
new investigators!
 
Other than that nothing else has really happened with other
investigators. 

Other than finding Lino and Giovanna it's been a pretty average week. I bore my
testimony in church just in case I get booted off the island in a few
weeks. The members said that I have progressed well in the language so
that was nice hearing compliments from them. On Sunday night we had a
ton of fun finding people. Our goal is to find two potential
investigators a day. Well we went to this new area and we found six
potentials! Everyone was really nice and some of them have some really
great potential.
 
On Monday the Anziani from Sassari came for district meeting, so that
was fun. I'm trying to think of more exciting things to write about!
Oh, some little kid who thought we were Jehovah Witnesses threw a rock
at me from off a balcony and it hit me straight on the head. I didn't
acknowledge the fact that I had been hit to give him the satisfaction
of a perfect hit, so I completely ignored it and we walked off. Me and
my companion talked about it later and we commented on how amazing the
Savior is for not thinking one bad thought against anyone. When that
rock hit my head many negative thoughts were rolling through my head
of what I would want to do to that punk kid if I wasn't a missionary,
and I'm just glad we have the Lord's perfect example to lead us and
help us. Just a funny little story!

Well I'm sorry there aren't too many more details to write about!
Things are going great here and it's getting nice and chilly with a
bit of wind. Italians look really good in the winter with their
stylin' winter fashion. This European style is really rubbing off on
me! To finish off I want to say how much I love you all! 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 I look forward to
hearing from you all again next week! We'll see if I have a transfer
call or not! Vediamo! Allora, vi voglio benissimo! Un abbraccio!
 
A presto,
 
Anziano Clay Lacey