Week 67

Mormons vs. JWs: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em

Hello! 

We have an amazing new investigator aka my new best friend. She is a recovering alcoholic with a ton of enthusiasm. She fist found the church in Brazil and has come every so often and now she is finally ready to really let God into her life. She came to German class and I got to teach a beginner course for the first time and it was good. Yesterday morning we went to her house to teach her some more German and she is really eager to learn. We had planned a brief spiritual thought of "Grazie a Lui" to start of sublty, but she knew better. After orzo and cookies she put away her notebook and pulled out a Libro di Mormon. "Time to learn about the important stuff" she said. And learn she did. She listens and understands so well and is just so prepared. SHE asked US where to start reading and she is eager to begin. That morning with Masillia was so very needed for my heart and enthusiams because lately I'd been feeling generally unproductive despite all the finding & passing out bigliettini & buzzing appartments & begging those who will listen to keep comitements. The Lord likes effort and rewards us with success in ways we don't see coming. 

We had a super cool experience this week. It started with an invite from a friendly JW who we met in the park, named Liv (this city only has one park and it is tiny so we have to share). She invited us to come hear someone talk about the Bible and everyone was invited and we were like OK thanks but the day came and we decided to actually go bc why not? JWs assume Mormons don't believe in the Bible (I always love a good opportunity to prove someone wrong) plus there's a million in this area so we might as well make the first move to becoming friends.

So off we went. But we got there too early and didn't want to be the only ones there so we sat in a bench at a safe distance for a few mins. A nice older couple pulled up and parked in the parking lot close by then got out and waved at us. I assumed they though we were some of their own, since we have a similar dress code. They then proceeded to walk over to us and were like "hello, Mormons!" I was like hi, Zeugnis Jehova. Then they invited us to their meeting that was about to start. They were pelased to know we were already planning on it. The woman said we could go in with them and sit with them. So we did. We felt so welcomed. You guys, these Jws are the opitomy of fellowshiping and welcoming visitors to their church. So many people came up and introduced themselves and were so happy to have us there with them. Most recognized who we represented thanks to the tags. All the assumptions about JWs hating Mormons melted away. Being there, waiting for the meeting to start felt stalrangely familiar, like being 10 mins early to your typical sacrament meeting. Women in dresses, men in their shirts and ties, people gathering together to worship their God (Jehova in this case). 

It started with a hymn, then a prayer, and went on like a sacrament meeting except no sacrament and the talks were by their priests/pastors/whatever they call them. They cited lots of scriptures. One of the talks was about how Jesus remained politially neutral and avoided all violence, so they should too. These people really are following Christ and striving te be his diciples. Just add living prophets & additional scripture & covenants & the Holy Ghost and they're golden. 

From that experience I learned a couple of things:

-JWs are good people and practice what they preach 

- we're a lot more similar than we all think

- I am so grateful for the ordinances and continuing revelation and confirming Holy Ghost provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

- they follow the Bible, which is truth, so yes, people can be truly converted to those beliefs because they do have so much truth 

Now we are friends with the whole JW comunity of Brixen and they're super friendly when we pass them on the street. 

Alrighty, that's it for this week! 

I love you all and thanks for staying in touch 😊 

Sorella Riley