Ciao tutti
Well I gotta make this e-mail quick because I’m in Olbia and I gotta
catch a train for Cagliari in a bit and then a plane to Roma (so no jumping on
boats this time haha) And I won't have much time there. I'll be spending the
night but I have to be at a conference right in the morning and then I leave
right after. So that’s kinda gonna be my crazy week. I have gotten emails from
many people recently and so no one should worry whether or not I received them.
I'm very thankful for all the emails I get =) you guys are all very supportive
and it’s really appreciated.
So a quick update on our Bolivian Investigators. We met with Adhemar
again Saturday and had probably one of the best lessons of my mission. We go to
meet his whole family who are so nice. The lesson started with just him and we
answered a couple of his questions. Then he pulled out his bible and started to
read 1 Cor. 13:8-10 (as we know in our church that this chapter is perhaps one
of the most beautiful chapters on charity in all the scriptures) well the Jehovah
Witnesses taught him something else with these scriptures. Selecting only
verses 8-10 they told him that it means that "after that which is perfect
is come" according to them to be Jesus Christ "then
that which is in part shall be done away" which they say means that after Jesus comes all gifts of
prophesy and gifts of God are to cease. So he read that scripture to us and
wanted to know our opinion. We quickly made him aware that first you need to
read the whole chapter to receive the full context of that scripture learning
that it's not talking of Jesus Christ but about ourselves perfecting our love
and instead of those things in part being eliminated they receive a fullness. I
told him that if we are God's children and he loves us, then why in the world
would he ditch us, after Jesus Christ left the earth, to fend for ourselves. I
told him that I can't believe in a God that loves his children but then takes
all spiritual gifts away from them. At this moment Adhemar began to start
crying. He told us that this scripture has disturbed him for years because he
has had incredibly spiritual experiences of praying for things (for example
finding lost livestock) and having dreams of places where these animals were
and finding them there. More than once but many times. It made him confused and
worried that his gift wasn't a gift but a curse and so when we gave him our
interpretation of the scripture a light came into his eyes and he started to
cry. At that moment I bore testimony of how blessed he was and that we were all
children of God and he knows and loves us all individually and I started crying
too haha. I'm such a baby. But the spirit(Holy Ghost) was so strong. After that
moment our relationship changed immediately. He had us stay for lunch with his
whole family and his mother in-law became a new investigator. His kids and wife
will probably become investigators after the next visit. They are so nice and
such a tight family. It reminded me of all you guys’ back home. I was really
glad for that experience. It was run all by the spirit. Not only the
investigator was edified by the lesson but so were me and my companion. I need
more lessons like that =)
Other than that not much else is going on. Maddelena and Maurizo
still come to church every week but they are just really hard to meet with. By
the end of this week we should have baptismal dates with them I think.
So that’s about it for this week I gotta go. I love you all have a great
week and I'll talk to you next Wednesday =)
Con Amore
Anziano Hill
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