This week in Siena has been pretty good! The weather seems to be stabilizing, mostly sunny days. Today we are going to play frisbee with some BYU students for Pday, which should be fun. Here are some highlights of the week:
-We had five investigators in church! It was really great. Andrea, Miwako, Redi (the husband of a new convert), Francesca (the friend of another new convert), and a friend of a less-active member all came! It was a good Sunday, except that Andrea no longer has a baptismal date. Kind of a major bummer, he had a really good experience in church on Sunday and wants to be baptized, but Miwako has kind of changed her mind and isn't really on board anymore. Andrea has a testimony that this church is true and is willing to make the step of faith to be baptized but Miwako doesn't feel good about it anymore. We want to focus with her on a testimony of the Book of Mormon. They are going through some tough times though, and we think the Law of Tithing may have something to do with the recent obstacles. However, we still have lots of hope! It may just take a little more time than we thought.
-We are doing lots of finding work! Every day we plan our day so specifically and it's awesome. We plan and write down goals and accomplishments we want for every single hour of the day and the people we are looking to find. It is awesome to put our faith down on paper and see miracles happen. But we need lots of prayers! Pray that we find new investigators.
-We had a branch activity! After some last-minute near disasters in activity planning, including the fact that we were unable to go to San Galgano to see the sword in the stone and the abbey without a roof, we rearranged the activity to be a picnic and games activity here in Siena, including a Siena Scavenger Hunt! It was lots of fun, and unfortunately I did not get any pictures. It was soooo awesome to play frisbee for the first time in forever though. Other fun fact of the week, we had some tourists in church on Sunday including a family from Charlotesville, Virginia! The dad taught business if I remember correctly, but is going to be teaching at the BYU Business School for a year.
This morning I was reading Mosiah 15 and I was pretty stupefied by the entire chapter. It is really powerful about the atonement of Jesus Christ. I especially liked the mentioning of 'the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father' and thinking about how important it is to learn the lessons of humility and obedience from the atonement. I am grateful that my Savior was obedient and humble enough to suffer and descend below all things so that through Him all may be saved. I know He lives! I know the Book of Mormon is true and testifies of Him! I know this is His church! I love you all!
-Anziano Benjamin Smith
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