Well, well... It is the first day of the new transfer. We got rules and what not's for Christmas today. so we can Skype/Google Hangout. We asked around the members and they said that a lot of Sri Lankan internet points are open on Christmas or the day after or we could go to the church (church might be easier). We could do it pretty much any time you guys would like.
This week Ciccio had his baptism interview and he passed!
He had a really hard time understanding tithing. We had a 40 minute lesson
about how much is 10%. We tried explaining that it always changes depending on
how much you have. We even busted out the calculators and had an object lesson.
He understands that he needs to pay. But how much he needs to pay is still a
mystery. That’s alright... We are going again tonight to have a little math
class. And the important thing is he knows it is important! We are going
to be holding the services this Friday. We are hoping his family will come...
They are not all too supportive. But he is all for it!
We did an exchange over in Reggio this week. It all
started on our P-day together. We had a lesson together in Messina with our
investigator named Giovanni. He had forgotten about our appointment and was
drunk. Needless to say that lesson didn’t go as planned so we then walked to
the boat in the pouring rain and we forgot umbrellas! We then got to Italy and
the trains were delayed on hour because of the storm. We got home super late
and super wet to find that all the heaters in house were broken. We then woke
up the next morning at 6 AM to the water heater exploding! The
apartment flooded and rust was everywhere. We spent the next 4 hours trying to
find a plumber and mopping up rusty water. We eventually called a member’s
friend to come help us. The exchange ended and we walked back to the boats in
the pouring rain because we didn’t have umbrellas.
BUT! The story ends good because this week in church we
had 5 investigators come to sacrament meeting! Trials before blessings.
We also set up our Christmas tree this past week. It
looks pretty nice. About 2 feet tall with lots of gingerbread men ornaments.
Needless to say we were pretty excited. We also cut out snowflakes to hang from
the ceiling!
So last week Etna exploded. Pretty cool. But this week it
has been raining ash all over the city. The other night we walked home and
looked at our hair and it was about 5 shades darker from the ash raining from
the sky! The whole city has a thin black layer of sand. On days like that we
are supposed to stay in inside because the air is pretty much toxic. Luckily it
has rained a lot to wash it all away... But the whole city is still pretty
mucky.
Cicons trip to Napoli 2 weeks ago. We both went down to
Catania. He took the plane to Rome and train to Napoli. I stayed in
Catania.
This week there supposedly was a big Typhoon headed our
way and we were told to pack all of our stuff in case we needed to leave
immediately. We were also told to stay inside because of the storm. It was a
little rainy and about 5 mph wind... I guess the storm kind of tuckered itself
out. Needless to say we just left and did some missionary work.
So we are still trucking along here in Messina and
pushing the work forward. I am excited for Ciccio. He is a good guy.
Ciao Ciao.
