No Photos!

Sorry! This week I haven't had the chance to take any photos.

Anyway, it was a pretty enjoyable week that passed by very quickly. We've mostly been doing a lot of proselyting, and trying to keep track of all the new contacts that we have.

Yesterday I had a pretty cool experience. Our Zone Leaders challenged us to pray about a goal to have three new contacts every day, so me and my companion decided to do it. Yesterday I was dead tired and it was pretty crazy trying to do proselyting. Recently we taught one of our new investigators about diligence, and so I remembered what we taught her. haha. That's when I decided that even though I was crazy tired (about as tired as when Clark and I stayed up for 26 hours so we could avoid jetlag going into China), I would still do all I can to talk to people on the street.

The first new contact I got was really crazy. I stopped a guy and told him we were missionaries and we were in the area explaining how God has called a prophet in these days. He told me he had to go to work, and then I asked him if I could have his number so we could talk about it some other time, and then he actually gave it to me! hahaha.

The next one was pretty normal. I just stopped a couple guys, explained the restoration, and then we exchanged contact information so they can learn more.

Then the third one was a Chinese couple that I taught about the restoration. I've been going out of my way to teach Chinese lately because I asked the church to send me 10 restoration pamphlets, and instead they sent me 25! So I figure I should start giving them out. They also accidentally gave us a Japanese Joseph Smith pamphlet, so I've been looking for someone Japanese as well.

I felt like the church decided to give me a birthday present this week. When we went to district meeting on Monday there were new pass-a-long cards!!! I love pass-a-long cards.

The work is growing now. I think I told you already that we got Stanley back. Well, we ended up losing contact with him, but then this week he called us and told us he was in Venice!! He was visiting his brother up there (a member), and then on Sunday they went to church together! We're going to meet with him tonight. Maria Pia (another old investigator), came back to church and wanted to meet with us. We have an appointment with her tomorrow. Andy Connell (my first companion) is still in town, and the other day he gave us a couple referrals. haha. That guy's a stud.

I tried cooking a pasta with SPAM today! haha. I had leftovers from when I made fried rice. It turns out that spam isn't the best meat to use in pasta, but it still turned out pretty good. I used about 150 grams of SPAM, a little onion, a can of peeled tomatoes, basil, and panna (i think it's cream). And I threw in some pepper. Pretty good.

As a mission we're reading the Book of Mormon. I had already been reading it through. . .I was in Ether. . It's going pretty well though. If you aren't reading the Book of Mormon through right now, maybe you could do it too. We're focusing on our missionary purpose, but you could read it through and just focus on Jesus Christ because it's pretty amazing to see how much He is mentioned in the Book of Mormon.

Well, I hope that you all have a good week. I'm doing splits this week with Bitonto. We should get transfer calls before next Wednesday. I'll be staying here for sure. My companion has already been here four transfers..so he's probably gone. Too bad. Things are going really well.

Love,
Anziano Banks