I hope everyone had a great new year! We did, it was such a party. President had all of us home by 7 for safety reasons and we were not to leave the apartment. We got a lot of things done around the house with area book and cleaning and we got to get out of our skirts sooner so all was well. Every time someone asked us what we did for the new year and we told them we were home by 7 they laughed and asked us what we really did....we were really home by 7 haha.
New Year's here is crazy because they don't just celebrate it on the first, but also the second, and the third, and the fourth. Pretty much the entire first week of the month aka stores are never open, people are never home, and the metro and buses are all kinds of weird. Oh Italy.
We have been putting in a lot of work with our less actives and investigators this week. We had a surprise birthday party for Fernando which was the best. We ate pizza and laughed so much. I love them. We taught them a lesson about eternal families and then he surprised us by asking us to set up an appointment with them and the bishop because they want to talk to him about making the steps towards marriage, baptism, and (they even said) the end goal is being sealed in the temple!! We were so excited and we have a lesson with the bishop Sunday.
Giuseppe has been hard. He knows this church is true. His wife is a recent convert, he reads the scriptures and goes to church every week, he has amazing comments with us during lessons and also in classes at church, but something is just not there. We couldn't have been more blunt with him last lesson. I looked him straight in the face and said "Giuseppe I know that you know this is true, so what are you waiting for" we challenged him to baptism on the 21st of January, which is the date we planned and prayed and we felt was right for him. He told me that he doesn't need to rush and that he is waiting to be a better more Christlike person. I told him that none of us are perfect and that waiting would never change that. Heavenly Father is only one able to give him those special blessings and confirmations he's waiting for when he makes that first promise with him. "I the Lord am bound when you do what I say". We must follow his commandments in order to see the fruit, and baptism is a commandment. I felt the spirit and I know the spirit told him what we said was true I have no doubt in my mind. He told me he agrees with the fact that we avoid substances that are bad for our bodies which in turn hurt our spiritual relationship with God as our bodies are a gift from Him, but asked "what's wrong with having just a glass of wine at dinner with my father? I'm not an alcoholic, I just want a glass." To be honest that's a question that has always been hard for me to explain. There is no perfect way of answering that. It's as simple as this: alcohol is never a good thing, it's something negative for the body, like other substances in which we need to be smart with the consumption we take in, for example ice cream or soda. However, neither of those, if abused, would make me drunk. Heavenly father trusts us to be smart. There are a couple parts of the word of wisdom that are black and white: coffee, tea, alcohol. drugs. And ultimately we have to ask ourselves if we truly believe that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. If the answer is yes than we must believe that the word of wisdom came directly from God. It is not just a helpful happy guideline, it is a standard of health we willingly choose to live so that we can receive those blessings from baptism or temple attendance. It is not always an easy thing, but Heavenly Father knows that and he knows us perfectly. Pray to him for help and truly put it to the test. You just feel happier when you know you're following the commandments God has given us.
We invited Giuseppe to fast with us this weekend and we testified if he did it with an open heart, actively seeking to find his answer of whether or not he should be baptized January 21st, Heavenly Father would confirm to him yes.
I know this is Christ's church on the earth. We are seeing miracles and praying for them fervently! Make New Year goals and bring yourself closer to Christ. The beautiful thing about the atonement is you have an infinite number of times to start from scratch and have a fresh start, you don't have to just wait for every new year.
vi voglio un sacco di bene
Sorella Williams
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Consiglio for all Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leader
The Repoyo's, they are my fam.
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