2nd Week in Genoa

Family!!!

 I could not possibly express how much I love it here in Genova. The work is exploding. At the beginning of last week we were worrying about how we were going to teach lessons, get investigators and we had lots of time to do finding work. As of yesterday, the rest of this week up until monday is completely full! Full with appointments with beautiful families, elect potential investigators that we have found. We have been talking to soo many people, everyone that we can, and it has been worth it. It's like a miracle tide is growing and building up, about to crash on the Genova beach!

  Our zone and district leaders have given us some awesome training and encouragement about how we can teach and find investigators in a more effective and efficient manner. I really enjoyed an activity that we did in district meeting monday. Each one of us pretended to be normal people sitting on the bus. We took turns playing different roles pre-written on sticky notes while one companionship went around contacting us. The goal was to take 30 seconds to talk to each person, teaching and asking a question and getting their contact info. It was hard, but really fun to practice. As we have been applying this principle we have been able to talk to more people and find those who are interested in our message. Our planners are so full of phone numbers and addresses...

 Anyway, I guess that getting a lot of phone numbers and appointments..."being busy" does not necessarily mean that we are successful. Let me tell you about a few of these amazing children of God.

We have started a new finding approach. We carry around a whiteboard with a yes-or-no question written on it, like "Is there a purpose to life?" People enjoy having their say, and it's a great way to quickly spark up a conversation, bear testimony and get people talking.  Although we are not very experienced in "whiteboarding", it has brought much success! One young man named Jonathan approached us, and told us that he had wanted to attend our english course in the past, but had lost our contact information. He was in a hurry, but was very willing to set up an appointment with us for the following day.
     
    Thanks to the testimony and fellowship of an awesome returned missionary in our ward, the lesson went really well. Jonathan felt very open to ask questions and talk about his desires to develop a closer relationship with Christ. The Spirit was abundant as we taught him and watched the Restoration film. He expressed how he felt much like Joseph Smith, having attended and studied with four different faiths, yet feeling confused about which doctrines were true. Kyoto, our member, explained to Jonathan that he too could ask God in prayer to receive a sure answer. He bore testimony about the power of having real intent by making promises with God in prayer. His testimony was the perfect segway into a soft baptismal invite.  Jonathan accepted and then offered a beautiful, humble prayer. He is still coming to English class, but I think he's even more excited to attend church on Sunday. :)

  My favorite person we have met this week was Claudia! While walking to Institute last night we still held up the whiteboard. This beautiful woman passed us, and seemed  taken aback when she read the question we had written, "Is there life after death?" My first impression of her was that she would ignore us and walk away. But when we asked her, "What do you think?" She just looked at me, and then to my surprise, she began to cry. I put my hand on her shoulder and asked what had happened. She said, "I am going through a really hard time". We bore testimony of the plan of salvation and she smiled and said, "I know this can help me". She was just as happy to have met us, as we were to meet her. We set up an appointment. She is going to get baptized, I just know it!

Well, these are just a few of the amazing things we have seen. I pray that you are working hard and enjoying the blessings of the Lord as well. He loves us so much!

Love,
Sorella Oakes