Miracles-Week 11

This week was just awesome with the missionary work!  We had pretty much no work going on in the area because our investigators have all been very busy and haven't really been keeping any of the commitments we have extended to them. So, we decided we needed to find some new investigators to start teaching so Thursday night after our English course we decided we were going to do some street finding, We got pretty far from the house and it was pretty late so we decided to walk just a few more streets. We also had to stop by a members house really quick, so we were walking past a park and from inside the fence I heard " "Ciao Anziani" and saw someone waving their hand so I just waved kindly back and kept walking. After we stopped at the members house we returned on the same path back to our house, it was really pretty dark at this time so I couldn't see much but I heard the same voice and saw the same hand waving from inside the park so I said to my comp, ""andiamo" (or "let's go").  When we got to the fence of the park we saw these two men, both in wheel chairs, who said they wanted to talk about the gospel and they want to start coming to our English course again because I guess they used to attend the course in like 2008! So anyway, we were talking to them about the Book of Mormon and one of them, his name is Francesco, said he already believes in the Book of Mormon and that Joseph Smith was a prophet!!!  I don't know what will happen with him, but I hope he will begin on his journey of learning about the gospel, but i knew it was truly a miracle that the Lord had prepared this man for us to come in contact with!  He even attended our family home evening activity that we have every Friday night! It's amazing to experience these things first hand! Also, on Saturday we had an activity in Bitonto where all the missionaries in our district, 12 of us in all, came to Bitonto to help us do some finding! We made goals to each find at least 5 contacts in an hour and a half. We were in the last half hour and we still needed to contact two more people so we were like, "well, what should we do?" It was just me and my comp and we were a bit lost, to be honest, so I asked my comp which way we should go? He said left, so we went left and just after about 10 steps a man ran up to us and gave us his number and told us he had a question but he couldn't talk right now, so we gave him our number and he said he will call us as soon as there is time! I have seriously been so blessed as a missionary! It is awesome!  Well I want to talk a little bit about some other stuff that happened this week! So the first thing is that there was this huge festival in Bitonto for the Saint Medici, which is apparently the protector Saint of this city, every city has a different Saint, so for the last two days and next weekend there is this huge festival where everyone marches around with candles and I don't really know why, but all of the streets are closed to cars and there is like a huge fair set up with roller coasters and with crazy dance parties going on. So we decided we would stay inside for most of the weekend doing other stuff! Hahaha! So yesterday for lunch we had an appointment with this family in our ward, and they talk sooo fast that I could not understand them half of the time! Luckily they are really patient and loving! So half way through lunch they pulled out this plate of giant sea snails that were sooo weird looking!  I was so scared just looking at them! Luckily the husband didn't really want to share and he ate ALL of them without even offering! Hahaha! The rest of the food was incredible! Their ten year old grandson was there who thought I was pretty funny even though I could only make a few jokes and understand half of what he was saying! Well I have already grown to love so much about these people and their culture, and I know that love will only continue to grow as I put my whole heart into the service of the Lord! This gospel has changed my life and continues to change lives for ever! Thanks to everyone for all of the support and letters! I am so grateful for all of you! 

Love- Anziano Goode

Walking the streets of Southern Italy