Missionary Letters--Rome Italy

Cari Miei,

This week was good, it actually has been keeping pretty cool and I am grateful to be close to the sea so that the breeze just keeps coming in. We finally had some time this week to do some good old knocking on peoples' doors. I have been feeling like we need to go to a certain neighborhood for a few days so last Thursday we headed over there right after our companionship study.

After knocking on a few houses the gate of one house opens and there are 4 17 year old ragazzi (Ivio, Tomas, Corrado, Massimiliano) standing around in the front yard of this house. They let us in and tell us to come sit on the front porch. So we start by telling them who we are, to which Ivio the ragazzo who lives there tells us that none of them believe in God. Hmmm so we teach them a first lesson. They are all listening, it makes me want to laugh because they look like total punks who would not be at all interested in our message. They have died longer hair, percings, and are all wearing black with pictures of things like skulls and cross bones. They ask us really good questions that you can tell they have thought about.

Tomas tells us that if he doesn't believe there is anything after this life, why in the world would it be important for him that there is a Christ. Then Corrado tells us that he thinks that people believe in Christ because it is easy for them and they need that thought to feel better. We told them that to really follow Christ it means sacrifice and submitting yourself to the will of God and letting go of your selfish desires, things that are all hard. That if they want to know why they NEED a savior and redeemer they can learn if they will read the Book of Mormon and they will feel the truth and importance of its message.

We asked them if they had ever heard of the Book of Mormon, to which Ivio replied yea it is that book that was the gold plates that Joseph Smith translated... I almost fell over backwards, I mean most people just think that we are Jehovahs Witnesses or Amish. He told us that his mom had read the Book of Mormon so he had heard about it. They told us they didn't really have anything else to do for the next 3 months of summer anyways and that we could come back by next weeks because they are always there together hanging out on the couch and that they would read.

Every day this transfer it seems like we have chances to talk to people like these ragazzi and it always blows my mind that it is not that they just choose not to believe in Christ, they just really don't have a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and therefore don't understand why they need a Savior. They see the people around them who say they are believing but that it doesnt really mean anything, a belief in Christ has become something so cliche that lots of youth are rejecting it because they don't understand what it means.

I love that I know the plan of salvation and that I know the answer to questions like why am I here, what do I need to do, where was I, where am I going after death. I know that in each and every part of the plan the most important part is Christ. I love you all. I love that you teach me what people who are trying to follow and have a testimony of Christ should do.

Vi Voglio Un Mondo di Bene