We went out to dinner with several senior couples. (Sorry about the unfocused picture)
And then we stayed with the Stephens, who use to live in the Valley View Stake in Salt Lake. President Stevens set apart, Roland, Shelly and I think Mike before they left on their missions. He and his cute wife work in the office.
Today, was a multi zone Conference, with our Napoli Zone, the Malta Elders, and the Taranto Zone, and the Rome Zone. There were about 70 of us there today.
Today, at the beginning of our conference, Sister Barona, who serves here in Battipaglia, gave her testimony, as all the new missionaries do. She has only been here a month. She already speaks such good Italian. I heard some of the elders, at the table next to ours, ask each other if she was Italian. I was very proud of her.
We did a lot of role plays, which were very helpful. We practiced asking questions to help our investigators think more. It helps us get to know them better and find out what's important to them and what their concerns are.
Eric Mika, who was the tall freshman center for BYU Basketball last year, was there and I got to meet him. I got to tell him all about my famous BYU basketball player father, and we got a picture. He said to be sure and say hello to my Dad from him. So Dad, if you read this, "HELLO" from Eric Mika!
We also have another BYU basketball player in our Zone. They got to go on exchanges together, yesterday, and got quite a few contacts who stopped and asked them about why they were so tall!
We got a picture of our Napoli Zone.
President Waddoups gave a good talk about the vision of the church in Italy. He shared several prophesies from three different apostles who all became presidents of the church.
1851- Lorenzo Snow
"Oh Italy! ...the future of thy story shall outshine the past, and thy children shall yet be more renowned than in the ages of old. Where triumphant warriors were stained with gore, and princes reigned in the pomp of tyranny, the sure, though tardy working of the Gospel now weaves a fairer wreath, and will wear a brighter crown."
President Benson said, "we feel to predict under the authority of the Holy Priesthood and under inspiration of Heaven that thousands of thy children in this land will be brought into the truth and into membership in thy great Church and kingdom...."
In 1972, Elder Hinckley said, "The Lord opened this work in Italy to bring the light of the gospel into the lives of thousands and tens of thousands of His children who live and will live in this beautiful land."
We have so many wonderful friends here in Italy, (members and future members) who we pray for everyday. We pray they will be happy. We pray that they will search sincerely for the truth. They could help the church grow, with their many talents and willing hearts. I know they love God, because they love and serve in so many ways already.
I believe these words given by apostles and prophets, about the future of Italy. The temple will be such a blessing to these people. It will also be a light to shine the path and influence many many more people to join the church in these last days.
We had a delicious lunch of green salad and meatball lasagna and of course Italian bread. Sister Sutton and Sister Stephens were responsible to getting it all prepared for us. It's no small task to feed 70 hungry missionaries!
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