Paul the Apostle lands in Pozzuoili

After Zone conference yesterday, we went down to the church that the Catholics have designated as the spot that Paul the Apostle landed at when he came to Pozzuoili (Puteoli is the old name) on his way to Rome.  see Acts 28:13-14.

The Willies are on the left and Sister Waddups is in the front middle center.  We had an exciting thing happen while we were looking at the church.  A couple of nuns came by to see it also.  We talked to them for a while and got a few pictures.  And then, Elder Bandiaky asked the older sister if she would accept the Book of Mormon.  she gladly did so and we were thrilled.

Zone conference in Pozzuoili

Yesterday we had zone conference in Pozzuoili, which is right next to Naples.  All the Napoli Zone met our new President Waddoups and his wife for the first time, with the exception of the Battipaglia missionaries because we met them Sunday when they visited our branch. I thought it was a very good conference.  We did a good exercise to practice inviting our investigators to be baptized.  They encourage us to do that right after the first lesson with them.  At first that seems way too early and fast, but I do see the wisdom in this guidance.  Because many investigators love the missionaries to come over as often as possible.  They like talking to them and they feel good when they are around the missionaries, but they don't really have a goal in mind other than to continue in this friendship.  We should invite them to pray and to ask if the things that we have taught them are true, and if they find out for  themselves from God that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Christ's church has been restored by Joseph Smith, we ask them if they would follow Christ's example and be baptized by such and such a date.  We practiced that many times and tried to do it simply and quickly, in just one minute of time.  It was a good practice.  We received  our new mission theme, which is "Be all you can Be."
Our training sisters, from this zone, are  Sister Wagoner and Sister Christenson.  they did a short training session with us which was excellent.  They taped together many sheets of white paper short end to short end and cut the whole thing in half lengthwise so it looked like a giant tape measure.  Then they cut off a section at a time that each represented the hours in our day and how we use them.  After cutting off all the hours of things that we have to do each day, such as sleep, eat, exercise, language study, scripture study,  companion study, companion planning, we have about 8 hours left that we can do actual missionary work.  They shared the idea of how to use those hours in non busy activities but in the Lord's work.  They are both such darling girls.  We all were attentive and were inspired to use our time more wisely.

We had 55 to church today!

Today our new mission president and his wife, president and sister Waddoups, came to visit our little 

branch.  Can I tell you how excited I was that we had 55 people to church!  We had 15 children in the primary.  We did have two families who were member visitors, but we did also have 13 investigators and we think that 9 of them will be  baptized in two weeks.  Anziano Scherbel has been working so hard and has not given up through many difficult circumstances.  I admire his endurance and his desire to  serve The Lord.  Tonight, he went with the Elders to visit a brother and sister who have not been to church in 38 years.  They said they want to come to church next week.

Vitri Sul di Mare

We took the sister missionaries to find some inactive members in a few different towns that are now a part of our branch.  We drove to Salerno first and found the right apartment and met the family of the member who was not home.  But we got a new phone number and we will be able to come back.  Then we drove to Cave di Torrini and found the home of another member who also was not home but we met his mother and aunt and got his phone number also.  On the way home we drove along the coast and stopped for a picture  over looking the most beautiful little coastal town named  Vetri Sul di Mare.  The top of the cathedrals you see with the beautiful colors are all made of ceramic mosaic tiles that glisten in the sun.  Nestled against the shores of the Mediteranean Sea,  this is a perfect  place for picture taking.

Here are our cute sister missionaries who are fearless and amazing

That which is of God is light

D&C 50:24

That which is of God is light; 

and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, 

Receiveth more light;

And that light growth brighter and brighter

Until the perfect day.

Section 50 of the Doctrine and Covenants is so good for us missionaries to read.  It applies directly to us.  Verses 13 &14 say:

Wherefore, I The Lord ask you this question--

Unto what were you ordained?

to preach my gospel by the Spirit,

Even the comforter which was sent forth to teach the gospel.

Verses 26 &27 

He that is ordained of God and sent forth,

The same is appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least

And the servant of all.

Wherefore, he is the possessor of all things;

For 

A few troubles

Today, Anziano Scherbel tried to rotate one of our tires on the car, which was wearing quite badly.  We are waiting for a new car, and hoping this one will limp along a bit longer.  It's got too many miles on it and we were notified that we will be trading it in for a new car in a month or so.  After two trips to the store to get a wrench that would get the hub caps off,  Anziano Scherbel was almost home when a lady backed into him in the  roundabout near our apartment building.  She was stopped in the round a bout when he entered it from the other side, and as he came up closer and stopped to wait for her, she started backing up slowly and then accelerated and ran right into our already old car.  She was in her 50's or so and come to find out, she had just been fired from her job.  How sad is that?  She didn't want to report it so her insurance would go up, so they had us take our car to a shop where they will pay for it to get fixed.  So we are now without a car, and that makes us appreciate what car we did have.  We hope it can get fixed and won't cost this lady too much.

A few good sayings

I found four good sayings that I want to remember.

2 things define you: your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything.

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.

I knew who I was this morning but I have changed a few times since then.  -Alice in Wonderland

What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday.