First, thank you so much Anthony! And everybody else who contributed to the pakckage Anthony sent! I absolutely loved it, and it has made my whole week. haha Elder J. Lima has loved it too. He never had Hersheys chocolate before, and now he is addicted. He can't believe it can be so good and so inexpensive! And peanut butter and skittles and ties and letters! You guys really have no idea how much each letter means to me. I keep them all safely guarded with other things from my mission that mean a lot to me. And I am replying to those of you who have sent, it just takes a while because I can only write on P-day, and time is probably a missionary's shortest resource in the field.
This week has been oh so good! The work has slowed down a little bit, but Elder J. Lima and I are learning so much it is unbelievable. As much on how to discern what others need as to what we need ourselves. I never realized so fully how connected every thought we think and everthing we say and do has so much impact on everything else. And I am learning things and developing talents I admired so much in others but never knew how to adquire! I feel like I am growing as much each week as I did in months before my mission. I wanted to serve so much, and I did much to prepare, but even so, how large is the gap between where I am and where perfection is! haha. It is humbling. But in a very good way. I am also learning that truly nothing is out of our reach when we truly devote ourselves and involve Heavenly Father. I'm beginning to understand how there exist people like the prophets in the scriptures who moved mountains with their faith. Really, the choice is ours. Completely ours. As we consistently choose the right, we grow. And when we are tested and we choose the right anyways, we grow even more! Soon we look back and we can't believe the difference! Living the truth really sets us free.
So, cool story: I have officially been frightened by lightning now. Legitimately frightened. Only for a split second, but for that split second I thought I was doomed to sudden destruction. Haha, it was quite an experience. Elder J. Lima and I were in a quite distant part of our area when we looked to the horizon and saw darkness coming. Not clouds, darkness. It was so dark we literally stopped walking and marvelled at it. It was about 6:00PM here, which is normally full sun like it is noon. We started heading home, and not 20 minutes later wind came out of nowhere and it got dark really fast. Another 10 minutes and it felt like it was 9:00PM and we sat and watched the darkness swirling and moving very quickly and very strangely. I thought it was a tornado developing but Elder J. Lima assurred me that there are no tornadoes here. We hurried now to get to a bus stop before the rain hit, but we didn't make it. It started raining harder than I have ever seen before. By the time we arrived on our main street it was flooded about 6 inches deep, and water was beginning to enter some stores. Luckily, we live on the second floor.
The thunder and lightning was tremendous. All I could do was laugh because of how absurd the storm was. Elder J. Lima looked at me like I was crazy and I laughed more. We hurried home and on the way the lightning intensified to the point he was afraid it would hurt people. And then a very large bolt of lighting burst on the rooftops of the houses on that very street and was acompanied by the loudest and deepst noise I have ever heard nature make. It literally shook me to the very center and made me exhale, almost like I'd waled into something. It was pretty neat. We went home, returned with a camera and took pictures of the flooded street and the rain stopped and half an hour later everything was normal and the water had receeded and the sun returned and it appeared a normal afternoon and everybody continued life as normal like nothing had happened. Apparently storms like that happen occasionally here. Quite an experience.
Well, I never like to say something without icluding the spiritual side too. After all, that's the part that really means something at the end of the day, everything else passes away with time.
I have felt the spirit teaching me and directing me more than ever before. I am so happy to be a missionary! We have a few families we are working with now that I am certain the Lord has given us to work miracles through us and help them find the happiness we enjoy. I can say with an honest heart now that I am doing my very best and that my desires now are even stronger than before to be perfectly obedient and to bear my testimony and testify with power. I have a testimony, I just was shy about sharing it in it's fullness because it is very precious to me, but more than a few times I have seen hearts change and seen people pierced to the very center when they hear it. So I'll keep doing my best to tell the whole world, one person at a time.
Every time I stop and look at my life I am humbled by all that Heavenly Father has given me. Truly, He has given me everything I could possibly want to be happy. Yes I miss home. Yes the mission is the hardest thing by far I have ever done in my life. Yes there have been moments when I thought I would not prevail. But in the moments I have come to know the Savior better. And he has saved me from myself. I so often don't see the bigger picture of our life here, but he shows me and guides me down the path He knows is best. I am so happy to be here serving Him with all I have to offer. I really couldn't be happier anywhere else right now. I am so glad to be a missionary!
All the best my friends and beloved family!
Elder Viglione
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