Fwd: KOBE!

From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 5:00 AM
Subject: KOBE!
ok. cool story of the week. We start to talk to a kid on the street last week, and he says he'd love to hear our message. He gives us his address and it's FOREVER away. (45 minutes on a bus). We go there. Kobe picks us up and his whole family is interested in the message. six people want to hear more. Yes, they live a long ways away, but... there are members somewhat nearby. So worth it. This was thursday morning. Later that afternoon, we meet Roberto, who talks... a lot. I try to get out of there, but he keeps talking. and then he shows us his prize collection. He opens a door and shows us his collection of about 1000 firearms. Pistols, rifles, every shape size everything. He owns every berretta pistol except one. He hands me a gun and I say... wow. these fit way too well in the hand. And then he explains to us that he dislikes killing things. He went hunting once, and hit a bird that looked at him as if to say "what did I do to you?" he doesn't kill things with his guns. He just has a lot of them. That evening, we get stopped by a man as we walk past a bar. He asks who we are and explains that he wants to come to church. So we explain a little, and he is very pleased with our responses. We see him the next day and he explains that he told the catholic priest what we'd said. He was like "he didn't know what to say." apparently he went a little overboard with that though, and got himself kicked out of the local caritas (homeless shelter). oh well. He also didn't come to church because he had slept through it. bummer.

 

Later on Friday, we found an awesome Cuban man named Olevares, who is an endocrinologist and was loving everything we said. So he said we could come back whenever.  Saturday, we had a bunch of appointments, and they all fell through. It was super disappointing. We went to Salomé's, who was pleased to see us. We taught them about the sacramental prayers. The next day, his wife/compagna came to church for the first time in months. WOOT! They're waiting on a divorce so they can get married and then get baptised. Also in church was Spalanzane, our dear conspiracy theorist neighbor.

 

Sunday, we taught Abraham, who told us he couldn't come to church, but said that he'd read the book of mormon and that if he found it was true, he'd be baptized and come to our church. That's an interesting response. Rosa told us that she hadn't watched the movie we left her, and more or less understood our message, but said she can't come to church.

 

Monday, we got all bidoni again. BUT! we went to our backup plans and found 4 women... that the sisters will teach. oh well. Better for them. One of them was amazing. A chinese woman named Francesca who speaks Italian and is an evangelical Christian. she asked "if this is true, what do I need to do?" BE BAPTIZED! She accepted the invite to read the Book of Mormon, and the sisters will teach her and I'm certain baptized her whole family. This was an amazing experience because chinese people almost NEVER speak Italian, and are even more rarely Christian, at least here in Italy. I have spoken with my companion many times about my racism in general. I can generally tell you how much a person will listen to our message by just looking at them. BUT sometimes you meet those people that breaks those molds. I love it when racism is proved wrong by people like Francesca. That evening, we found one of our members at home, a girl named Chantal. We taught her a short lesson about prayer with the rest of her family. It was sweet.

 

Today we'll go to a member named Dan who we've never met. That'll be fun. I love you.

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