Cool Experiences

Dear family-

This week we taught catherine (the girls I met on FSU) the POS right before she left to go home for the summer. i felt such overwhelming love for her and testified of the POS from a very deep part of my heart that has never come out in a lesson before- I told her to ask God to help her remember who she is and all that she promised she would do on earth, and how she can become that- i told her that i did that and that is how i came to come on a mission, and he Has answered me and revealed myself to me and who i really am- i can feel Gods love for her. I am so grateful I met her- she wants to be baptized- i referred her to the missionaries there and i know she will continue learning and be baptized before the summer is out. we will forever be friends. i thank God for that choice experience of finding her- that was nothing but a blessing for us both. Also- on that exchange- the most amazing experiences happened. again- i feel and am aware that God is giving me select experience, purposefully at the end of my mission. they are blessings. 

Met a man while on an exchange with a sister, while walking to campus, he was homeless and sleeping under a bench- it was raining- we spoke to him. we got involved in a good spiritual discussion, and i began offering him a BOM- he said he wouldn't accept it unless he knew "i knew his Bible" haha i have been waiting my whole mission for someone to say that to me! I mean i am in the south!!! he said "if you can answer these 3 questions, i will consider accepting your book." well i told him to ask away- he asked: who was the greatest king? I said King David. He said what was his downfall? i said Bathsheba. he smiled and said- those were basic- then he asked, who was the man to walk with God without death? "Enoch" then he smiled and got excited and said, Oh you do know your Bible!! then i tried to read a verse from the BOM on faith vs hope (we were discussing it earlier) in Moroni 7:40-42- he consented and as we finished reading he said, "oh i feel the spirit!" so again i offered him the book and told him it would help clarify the Bible for him and give him more complete understanding- he said- if you can answer this, i will take the book (i know he wanted to take it he was just being stubborn) so i knew i would be able to answer it bc i knew god wanted him to have it! haha so i said ask away- he asked, "what is the shortest verse?" and I said, "jesus wept." he clapped his hands and laughed and took the BOM and said give me that dern book! I'll read it! haha it was so great i was laughing my head off. 

      then i testified of it and he got real serious and started opening up about his life and how he became "homeless" we just listened. then he said, "I want to know where you meet. I want to learn more. you know why? because you have been so considerate. I was having a bad day. felt lonely and forgotten. You've brightened my day. I feel the spirit. Because you have been so considerate I want to learn more. I will read this book." I just shook his hand and said, "John thats because we know you are a son of God." he smiled ear to hear. it was a really cool experience. that was a special parting memory god gave me at the end of mission. 

Also met a man named dave- 33 year old atheist- raised by atheist parents we met him in the chapel of our church. I don't have to time to say all that happened- it was amazing though- he was the most sincerely deceived and conflicted person i have ever met- our lesson lasted nearly 2 hours of intense heartfelt discussion and teaching- he is also very educated. His main questions surrounded the Atonement and after life, and many other aspects of the gospel he believed was a lie, but i could feel he was sincere not trying to debate so we continued- then he said, "how do you believe? have you ever doubted and how did you overcome doubt?" we discussed faith,  i had to reach into the innermost parts of my testimony. heart and experiences to answer him- i have never felt the spirit speak with more power and authority through me then during that lesson. he said, "If i could hear something i could accept as a truth- i would be willing to change my ways. i would believe." again- i could see his faith growing! thats when we turned to Moroni 10 and invited him to go to God and ask him if he was there, and help him recognize his presence. he asked me how old i was- then he said, "i can feel you are sincere and earnest. you really believe. you're really passionate." then i asked him, "do you think i am sincerely deceived?" he went white and said, "thats exactly what i think....but don't you think the same of me?" I said yes- thats exactly what i think, and thats why i am inviting you to go to the source of all truth and ask him to reveal truth to you- it doesn't matter what i believe- what matters is the truth God reveals to you, and your willingness to accept it. and Dave- i know you are sincere so i know if you ask him He will speak to you" he was stone silent. then he said, "this meeting has meant a lot to me. I want to pray right now. i want to ask him right here right now." ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! i stared tearing up!!!!!!!!!! he said, "i don't know how to pray but i am willing to pray bc i really do want to know. I have always wanted to know. how do you pray?" we told him how to pray, and then with all sincerity, he prayed- i will never forget he said, God, are you there? are you really there- an actual tangible being? and not something abstract? Please answer me in a way i will understand and know, and i know that if you are real you will know how to do that because you will know my heart." he closed in the name of christ- oh the power of that prayer!! after his entire affect changed...literally that experience deepened my own testimony of the reality of God.he looked at me and smiled and said-" i've never prayed in Christ's name before." he seemed stunned- i asked how he felt and he stood and said, "exhilarated!" i cried and told him thats the spirit! you just experienced it! I told him he had just demonstrated so much faith! he was beaming he said, " i would like a book of Mormon. if i am going to know if this is true or not i need to really study it. Im going to read that whole book." then he asked to meet more of "us" and asked if we would invite him to future events- all this change wrought because of praying in Christ's name- that experience was a gift and blessing. what a choice experience.

Love sister Bertoldo