il Papa è venuto

Ciao!!! Buon Giorno Tutti! Di nuovo, un bellisimo giorno nella bella Sardegna! Questa città di Cagliari è grande!

Well, this week has been awesome!

So, last Sunday, we had a pretty interesting and unique opportunity. It turns out il Papa, or the Pope. came to visit Cagliari, Sardegna. Everything was pretty crazy and half the city shut down for his coming. It made it really hard to get around places because everyone was going to see him. I first saw Papa Francesco from our apartment balcony riding down the street near our apartment. He was dressed in all white standing in the Popemobile. Everyone was packed on the street and everyone began chanting his name when he drove down. Later in the evening we went down to the center of town where he was going to be talking to the youth of Cagliari. It was insane. Here is a picture of me in the middle of this huge crowd wating for the Pope to show up:

This crowd packed all the way down the street and they had huge screens set up so that everyone could see him. It was basically the entire city packed here waiting for him. As soon as he came people were like cheering and stuff. Babies and people in wheelchairs and sick people were being lifted from the crowd by security guards so that Francesco could kiss them on the forehead and whisper something in their ear as he drove by slowly through the huge crowd. It was actually like really cool to see. When he got to the stage he gave this really cool talk about how all the youth and everyone really just needed to come unto Christ and that He would give them strength. His talk was incredible minus the end when he told the people to pray for "La Madonna" Mother Mary. It just shows you how close people are to finding the truth. It made me think of how it may be harder to simply change all the small things in your life than changing one big thing. That is kind of what the Catholics here have to do. They have to go through and change a lot that they believe in by just a little bit here and a little bit there. It makes it more difficult.

Well, overall this week has been fantastic as a missionary also! So, with our investigator G*, we set a baptismal date for November 9th and he was really excited for that. He has began to grasp it a lot better in general. And like all Catholics, he is beginning to change the little things he believes in to match the truth. It is cool, a lot of the time he likes to tell us how things are, but at the end of the lesson he accepts what we say and acts like he has been doing it right all along. He is a really nice older man. At church on Sunday he was telling all the members about how his baptismal date is on the 9th of November. It is awesome teaching him right now. Also, this week we got a couple new investigators. One is this middle aged woman named O*. She comes from Spain originally, but now lives here. She comes from a hard background but she is really looking for the truth in her heart. She knows that there is something powerful and special about this church. It is awesome teaching her and it will be so incredible sharing the true message of Jesus Christ and his redemptive power. I am so excited for her. We have also met with this guy named C*, he has a hard time believing in God, but he has said that he will try to pray and read the Book of Mormon. We will see how it goes for him. Other than that right now, we have a lot of contacts from street and we are setting up a lot of lessons this week. Already, for the rest of this week we are filled with things to do. Thank goodness for that, I was getting a little worn out of finding on the street. Our work is really starting to pay off and we are excited. 

 Anziano Davids and I are working great together and we are loving it here! It is so much fun being with an awesome companion like him! This city is awesome! We have met so many amazing people! Actually, this afternoon we are playing a game of Soccer with some kids we met on the street. We challenged them to a game of Italians verse the Americans. Hopefully we don't get wrecked. Well, not a whole lot else to say. Things here are really great and are always looking up. Thanks for all of your support and everything! 

I love Cagliari!!!

Until next week!

Ciao Tutti!

Sincerely,

Anziano Burton