Thursday 12 Feb 2015

It has been a wild few days.  It has rained some every day since Monday.  The wind has been very strong.  The gusts were in excess of 50 mph and perhaps even touching hurricane strength. The winds were out of the north and when I looked at some weather charts, my suspicion was confirmed; there was a low pressure center developing south of us in the Mediterranean sea.  It looked to be just slightly lower than 1000 mb so just an ordinary low, nothing too radical.  I wonder what things will be like when a deep low sets up in the same area.  The wind rattles the shutters and the French doors out to the balcony making it difficult to sleep at night.  The elders said they solved the problem by putting a pillow between the two.  The other problem for us is that the wind seeps through the door and it was cold…in the 40s.  So the house was pretty cold despite the best efforts of our heat registers.  I have to admit the weather was also pretty fun to watch; we had some thunderstorms mixed in and the convection produced snow pellets several times on Monday, what fun for an ex forecaster!

In district meeting yesterday I had the assignment for the miracle of the week.  Sis B thought all the little helps we had getting the car serviced qualified, but I thought that our prayers to find an investigator were answered quickly and in a way that qualified as miracle of the week.  One of the members, Sorella Tedesco met with a lawyer here in town on a work related matter (she is a mid-wife).  They hit it off very well and he asked her about her religion.  She told him a little about our church and said that there were missionaries here in town and would he like to meet them.  He was interested so she set an appointment for Wednesday afternoon.  This man is a well-known lawyer here in Crotone with many connections political and otherwise.  He is also a devout catholic and has some connections in Rome and with the pope if I understood things correctly; he does go there frequently as he is now 70 and retired, or perhaps semi-retired would be closer to the truth.  We met with him last night and had a friendly if at times a bit lively discussion.  He asked about polygamy and I don’t feel like I answered him as well as I would have liked.  Like many he asked what the difference is between our church and the Catholic Church.  I started in with modern day prophets and the story of Joseph Smith but he interrupted me right after I told him a little about the first vision, so I wasn’t very happy with the little bit that I got in edgewise thereafter.  I did tell him a little about the Book of Mormon and that the Savior had appeared to the people on the American continent.  We will give him a copy of the Book of Mormon and I am sure he will read it and want to talk about it, especially those doctrines that differ from those of the Catholic Church.  In talking about this experience this morning Sis B. had some great insights.  During our meeting she felt that family is very important to him (we did leave a copy of the proclamation on the family) and he would be very interested in the temple and how families are sealed together there.  She also had the best answer regarding polygamy that I have heard; I wish we could have shared that with him during our meeting, but we expect there will be another opportunity.  It did start me thinking about polygamy and I think I should write a short essay to capture those thoughts; in essence we need not be apologetic but bold in pointing out that the Lord accomplished his purposes in commanding the practice in our time.  Just as important is the advice that the mission president gave me that I should pray that Sis B can sense the things that I do not see or sense in our meetings with others; I did and the meeting last night was a fulfillment of that counsel

I suppose the other item to note is what a difference there can be with a senior missionary couple.  I have seen this several times already that people are interested in talking to us that do not seem to want to talk with the younger elders and sisters.  It is surprising and remarkable to me but it is certainly true here.  I suppose the opposite is also true, that there are some who will talk to young missionaries but not the tried and true set.  Oh well, to each his own.