Hello everyone! I hope that everyone is well! This week I had the opportunity to go and work in Mestre, which is a small city, just outside of Venice, and the area actually includes the city of Venice. It was good day, but made me reflect alot about rules, and their role in life. Throughout my Mission, I've seen many Missionaries with many different attitudes towards the rules, some who didn't put much stock in rules, and others who revolved their entire Missions around the rules. I've come to realise that neither is a good idea. I'm preaching to the choir, I think, if I say that it's important to obey the rules, but often we get so tied up in obeying the rules that we forget why we're here in the first place: To help others. Other times we get so caught up in the "spirit of the law" that we start thinking that it means we can do whatever we want, and justifying it by saying "it's the spirit of the law that matters, not the letter". Before the Mission, I had a discussion with an evangelical with the Missionaries. When I said we needed to do good works, otherwise we wouldn't be saved, he agreed, but when I followed up by saying that we needed to obey the commandments, he called me legalistic. To me that was a great example of using the "spirit of the law" to escape the consequent requirements of having the law: The need to obey it. I've learnt that we should ALWAYS go with the spirit of the law, there is nothing else that the Lord wants us to do. That is what really serves, what really helps, and what will save us in the end. The small print to go with that is that the spirit of the law rarely contradicts the letter of the law, and it's even rarer that it is easier. On a final note, I've noticed that my Italian is heavily influencing the structure of my English, so if it seems strange to you, forgive me! I love you all, Anziano Nelson

Hello! So this week has been good, we got some really good new investigators! Including one who has recently been praying to know whether she should forbear with her Church with the many changes and problems that she sees, or if she should leave it entirely...then she met us! She even went to find the Church by herself without us saying anything...before she even had her first lesson with us! There is still a long way to go, but she is showing so much sincerity, desire and willingness. It's an example for everyone. Too many people are happy to say something along the lines of "I don't like what I have, but I don't want to lift a finger about it", and I think we all have a part of this in us. I know I do. But this lady is really showing the Lord (and us) what it means to have real intent. She's seeing an opportunity to get closer to God, and taking it with both hands. Let us all do that! I know that in each one of us there is something that is not right, we are not happy about it, and it is an obstacle between us God (however big or small). Let's do something today. Make a decision about how you're going to make it better right now, and in the next 30 minutes, get the ball rolling. I know that as you do it, miracles will happen, and your life will get a little better, enough for you to want to make the next change :) I love you all, and hope you all have a great life changing week! Anziano Nelson

Hello!   So this week we've had a big clear out of our investigators. Many of them weren't progressing as we would have liked, and so we said to them that when they're ready, they can give us a call. Unfortunately, at the same time, many of our really good investigators had various problems, and so stopped wanting to see us. It was rather depressing! Then flu hit our companionship and we weren't able to do any finding work to get new investigators for the week. It took alot of faith and resolve for us to persist and say that we would continue without our old investigators, especially since we were only doing only fixed appointments, but we went ahead and tried our best. The miracle? We were able to teach 22 lessons still, 2 more than the goal for the Mission!   It reminds me of the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal, that Dai Hole showed me one time, in which he set up a competition with false prophets, in which the object was that they had to have their respective Gods send fire upon the sacrifice. Elijah poured water on the sacrifice, which showed his faith. While I may not have faith like Elijah, we all should have that faith, to be able to do the right thing, even if it makes things harder for us to achieve our goals, and have faith that God will help us. When we do the right thing, God really does bless and gives us what we really need.   I love you all!   Anziano Nelson