After looking at my last post and the previous one, I realized I put in a pix of my little plants again. I am not that much in love with them, I just didn't realize I put them in twice. Also, I didn't have a pix of the man that Anziano Joshua Thompson taught and baptized, whose baptism we attended in Como last Friday evening. It was a special event, and we felt the Spirit strongly.
Anziano Thompson sent this pix today of himself (right) and Victor, the man he baptized, and his companion, Anziano Campbell George. This is the man who attended the family home evening in Como, his first, before he even had a lesson, a few weeks ago. I think it is significant to point out that Victor is representative of who is accepting the gospel right now in Italy. All missionaries send pix of who they baptize into the mission office, and we see them, and Myrna records the baptisms, when the paperwork finally comes in.) They are quite often immigrants from Africa and have a really hard life, both in Africa, getting here (including illegally by boat), and once they get to Italy. Victor has no job and few prospects of getting one. He lives in a refugee camp in a room with other Africans like him. He speaks a little English, in which he was taught the gospel, but better than he does Italian, and is a very humble, and, surprsingly, happy man. The anziani had dinner with him, where he lives, and even took a video of it. He made them his favorite and traditional meal, fu fu, which looks like a white dough ball. After washing their hands in a common bowl (mostly to wet them so the dough would not stick to their hands) they form a little ball and dipped it, with their hands, in a small bowl of tomato based soup, made with goat meat. Victor was very pleased to be able to offer the missionaries this humble meal, the best he had. He has to ride a bus about a half hour to the church, and has to come by the money for the bus ticket. I don't know how he gets money, but when you go to the center of touristy cities, like Como, you see young Africans pan-handling, selling trinkets, including "friendship bracelets," as Jan, Ginger and Brian learned in Rome. Anyway, I wanted to add this post about Victor before I forgot, although I may have already mentioned the Africans.
After I typed this I saw a few more baptism pictures come in, so I decided I had better amend this post to include this pix:
Just to show that people other than Africans are being baptized in Italy.
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