Every Week, More Miracles

We had some beautiful miracles this week, as well as some very . . .  interesting moments. That's okay though; we're used to it because we're missionaries.

Last night after English Course, Emilio was getting ready
to leave and he put on his helmet, but it got stuck. We told
him he looked like Megamind, and he was so excited he
made us take a picture.

Mormom.org is amazing, no doubt. We visited our first media referral this week. Let me tell you, it was a little adventure. We've had this referral for a while, but the number wasn't active. He lives a little ways from town, so we were having a hard time getting out there. Ilaria had told us she had the day off Monday, so we decided to ask her to take us. After district meeting, I called her. I asked her if she wanted to come on an adventure with us. Of course she did! I explained that we only had an address, we didn't know if it was correct, and it might just be a long time in the car without ever finding him. She was really excited.

She came over and we put his address in her GPS. It turns out, it's in a small town way closer to us then we originally thought. So we went! It only took about 15 minutes to get there. But, we were at some kind of factory. We decided to look for this man anyway. We went up to the citofono and asked if they knew Eugenio. They directed us to another entrance. When we got there, a man was walking out to us. It was Eugenio! He invited us into his office and was really excited for us to be there.

He said he had been looking for the church for his mother-in-law. He is a practicing Catholic. We asked if we could share our message with him anyway, and he said yes. So we taught a lesson to him, in his office, in a factory, with Ilaria. It was amazing! Sometimes the best lessons are those in very odd circumstances. Ilaria bore powerful testimony, and I was so grateful to witness it. At the end of the lesson we asked if he would be baptized when he comes to know these things are true. He said yes!

As we were going home, Ilaria was so excited. She kept talking about how grateful she was that we had invited her to come. We were grateful she was there. We have another lesson with him for next week, and Ilaria and Emilio are both going to come. 

One night last week, we decided to go out to visit one of our families. We went after correlation and actually had to run to the bus stop because we thought we were going to be late. Don't worry; the bus was late, so we had enough time. We had asked them for the directions, and they told us to get on bus 7 and get off right before the border of San Marino and they would pick us up. Well, it was the wrong bus. We took the last stop before San Marino and then we had to wait for them on a dark corner . . . for about a half-hour. It was a little sketch. But they finally came and found us. Now we know the right bus to take when we go out this weekend.

We had district conference this weekend. Our branch loved it! It was quite brilliant actually. Anziano Reina came for the conference [Elder Jose L. Reina, an Area Authority Seventy from Spain]. President Dibb also came, which was great because he interviewed Emanuele for his mission! Yay! Emanuele's papers are done and now we just get to wait to find out where he goes. I've never been so excited than when I found out he finally finished his papers.

Saturday night we had a beautiful session about missionary work and how members are also missionaries. President Dibb stood up and asked for all of his missionaries to stand. We were spread out throughout the room and there weren't very many of us. Then Presidente Caramia [the district president] asked for all of his missionaries to stand. Every single member in the room stood. It was absolutely beautiful. Anziano Reina talked about how together we can do so much more good. I was of course crying and Alan kept looking back at me and laughing. That's okay though, because at one point I saw him wipe away a tear of his own.

Sorella Draghi might be my hero. She asked us if we thought we'd be able to come for Thanksgiving dinner. We told her we couldn't come without an investigator. She was kind of sad that rule didn't change for Thanksgiving. Saturday night she walked in and asked where President Dibb was. She said she was going to get permission from him if it was the last thing she did. I was un po nervous, but we pointed him out and off she went. After the conference she walked up to me and quietly chanted, "Cena, Cena, Cena!" So she got permission. We may be in Italy, but it looks like we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving just the same. Thank you President Dibb!

I'm so excited for this next week. We have almost every hour scheduled with appointments. That's so rare! I'm just so grateful to be here; there are days I wish I could stay forever. This branch is so wonderful; I have learned so much about love from them.

Vi Voglio un sacco di bene!

Sorella Ellen Rose Ervin