Missionary Letters--Rome Italy: Led by the Spirit

Cari Miei,

This week was really good. In fact this week we had a cool experience with prayer. We got a referral from the office of a person who called Provo when they saw an advertisement for a Book of Mormon and wanted one. All the office gave us was the name of the person Alessio Mangiaprete, the city Orbetello, the street Perelli, and the number 122. That's all we had. I of course was skeptical because the last name in Italian means something along the lines of (priest eater hmmm)

So we had never been to this city before because our area covers hours of cities in all directions by train. So we find out that we can get there by train and that it will take 2 hours by train to go and 2 hours to come back. So of course we plan a day that we can just go for the whole day and work in that city and we go. So we get there and have no map, so we ask a couple of people who tell us there is no street by that name in this city. So finally we talk to this guy at a news stand who likes to wink at my companion, he was more than willing to be helpful =-) He tells us that we must of heard wrong and that it is the street vIA pIETRO nENNI (sounds like perelli I guess) so he sells us some bus tickets and we are on our way...

So we get to the street (the police station is one this street) and walk the whole thing the apartment numbers end at 21 hmmm. So knowing that God must of sent us to that street for a reason we knock on every singe door we see on the whole street... looking at all of the names to make sure. We see no Mangiaprete or anything like it... Nothing. By now 2 hours have past and the sun is hot, we don't know what to do but we have come all this way to just give up, I think not. So my companion asks all of the police men where the street could be and nothing...So I say lets just go sit on these steps and say a prayer and tell God we are going to need him to lead us to this person he has prepared...

So I finish the prayer and my companion says why don't we call the office elders and they can look online and see if this street really exists or what... so we call, it doesn't exist... but Anziano McFadden tells me that he saw the street Marcelli and that it sounds like the same so I should try it. Marcelli... Perelli-- no not really I mean two l's one I that's about the end of the similarities but we don't know what else to do and we are trying to follow the spirit, so we go...I wonder if anyone is even still reading this email... anyways I thought it was a cool story and you know that I can never just get to the point of the story...

So basically we ask a million people and go on an adventure to finally find this street which only had 4 apartments on it (we are looking for number 122), but we think God must of lead us here for a reason so we knock on all of them, even though by now 4 hours have past and everyone is either in the middle of lunch or their afternoon nap...So on the last apartment complex there is this name (Manganelli, mangaprete manganelli hmmmmm) SO we ring from below and the door just opens so we get in the elevator and go up and there is a lady who the second she sees us starts waving her hand no no. So I just tell her hey we are just looking for Alessio... pause interested squardo. She tells us that she is Alessio's only relative in that town and that in fact he lives at number 22 on via Pietro Nenni the street where the police station is, it is just that there are three apartment complexes that are behind the station and you have to go through a gate that looks like it is part of the police station which really isn't easy to get to them...So now we have the real last name of Alessio, The real name of the street, and the real number of his house, and how to get there because it is hidden all because we went to a street that didn't sound like the name of the street name we originally had because we were trusting God to lead us and answer our prayers...

So we found Alessio a 17 year old boy who God must sure love a whole lot to lead us to him all so we could bring him a Book of Mormon. I love that God answers our prayers that he knows us personally and that to accomplish his work he will bring about miracles. I know that God knows you and that he loves you and that if you let him he will use you as an instrument in his hands.

Vi Voglio Tanto Bene