Miracles and Music

Miracle story of the week:  Thursday morning started off not the best of sorts.  We woke up and left immediately to go to the police station to pick up my ''Permesso di sogiorno'' or permission to remain in the country, only to find out that it's only Friday mornings and all of the rest are afternoons.  So we headed towards our appointment with Gina, which fell through.  We were feeling slightly discouraged, trying to study in the park, when I recognized one of the Anziani's investigators and said hello.  A few minutes later he comes back and says, ''My friends would like to hear the word of God.  Can you come?''  Who says that?!  So we walked to the other side of the park and ended up teaching the restoration to two of his friends, Cross and Godsent.  Cross told us that he believed in prophets, and had wanted to meet the missionaries in Nigeria because they ''looked like angels'' but didn't have a chance in moving to Italy.  At the end he gave a prayer and asked God to help him know that the Book of Mormon is true.  It was such a great experience.  We passed them on to the Anziani because they were already teaching their friend and they are all single adult males, but they ended up coming to church on Sunday and everything!  How cool.

We also rescheduled our lesson with Gina and talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  After we talked about baptism, we asked her if she would be baptized when the Lord answered her prayers and she knew it was true and she said, ''No, I've already been baptized.''  We then explained that if she received an answer about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, then she would also know that the priesthood authority has been restored - the same authority held by John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John.  We then explained that we weren't expecting her to do it now, but when she received an answer, and she said yes!  The Lord really is preparing people here!  

Sunday night we went into the church to drop a few things off, and were asked to help with the combined choir which is singing in district conference. We agreed and asked if we could share a spiritual thought so that we could teach as well, seeing as we had about 45 minutes until our lesson.  It was one of those tender mercies that just refresh you spiritually - to be surrounded by members and to be able to play the piano.  Plus, the director actually knew what she was doing, and it was so neat to be in sinc with her - playing parts, bringing out the tenor when that voice struggled, etc, all in Italian instead of English.  The language of music is universal.  At the end they begged me to play a solo so I played Lenora's awesome version of 'If you could hie to kolob' modified somewhat.  They loved it so much that they asked me to play something else, so I played 'Claire de Lune.'  You should have seen their faces.  I had to fudge a few parts but the spirit was so strong.  The two german sisters said they were going to bring a recorder so they could always have it.  I am so glad for all of those years of piano lessons, and how it helps me release stress and rejuvinate my soul. Thank you Bonnie!