I heard this amazing story today and I wanted to share it! Ok so in Italy, especially southern italy, Easter and Christmas are the 2 largest holidays, the whole town shuts down for a week and its a giant celebration. the kids get 2 weeks off of school! but it also makes it really hard for tracting and finding because everyone is out of town, all the stores are closed and the streets are completely dead. Saturday, the day before Easter was especially slow because EVERYONE cancelled on us and we had zero appointments, no one would answer their phones and there was literally zero cars and people on the street. We were at a loss of what to do, so after lunch I went into my room and I prayed. I said, God we have 4 hours, it is easter so we have no plans and there is no one on the street to contact but I know there has to be someone, somehwere who needs to know that they are not forgotten. I know there has to be someone, somewhere that needs a message of hope. Please tell me where to go and I will go. Immediately I got a really strong impression that we needed to go to the hospital, to the 4th floor. Now, the interesting thing about this impression was I had received the exact same impression on Friday too. The hospital is clear across town, it takes a really long time to walk and its in a scary part of town so we dont like to go often. But last night I felt an impression to go so we walked all the over there, but we made it there after visiting hours so we walked through the halls only to feel that we needed to go back home. It felt like a waste of time and I was really confused why I felt like I needed to go there, so when I received the same impression again, I told God Ok I will go, but I need to know 100% that this is really where we are supposed to go. Again, i felt an incredibly strong impression to go all the way back. So I told my companion, she looked at me like I was crazy haha, I would have too, but then she thought about it and said ok, if God needs us to go, we will go. During our 45 minutes walk to the hospital, my companion felt impressed to take a different route, even longer than the normal one. as we walked, we saw only ONE person, only one person on the entire trip to the hospital!. It was an old man walking with a cane so we gave hima picture of jesus for easter and kept going. after about 5 minutes i looked back and he was still standing there, in the road, looking at the picture. 5 minutes later, i looked back again, and he was still standing in the road looking at the picture still! i grabbed sorella rossells arm and i said, we have to go back. we ran back to the man, and after talking to him we found out he had just had a stroke. His name was Nino, he said he died and he saw Jesus and Jesus told him it wasnt his time to die yet adn that he would live. When Nino asked Jesus why he needed to keep living, Jesus told him his purpose in life was to find happiness. So he came back to life, but the right side of him was paralysed so he walked really slow and talked really slow. He said when he saw that picture of Jesus he said he felt really happy. We sat down with Nino and taught him about the Plan of Salvation and then got his number to teach his family. It was a huge miracle. I know we were supposed to meet him and talk to him about the plan of happiness we have in our life. Right after that, we got to the hospital, we said a prayer to know who it was we were supposed to talk to there. we walked down the hall on the 4 floor and looked into all the rooms at the people and then we turned around and did it a second time. The hospitals in italy are super ghetto, with graffitti and dirt all over the walls. the rooms are super small and hot because there isnt any air conditioning and there are 4 beds with patients in each room. After looking in the rooms, my companion and i both knew we were there to help this young african boy. we walked in and introduced ourselves as the missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ but he just stared at us blankly. Turns out, he didnt speak any italian, just english, but he would only say a few words to us. we found out his name was Abraham and he said he was in a lot of pain, he couldnt move any part of his body, just his hands. Sorella Rossell got a doctor and we found out he was a runaway from Nigeria, he was brought here completely in shock, unable to move his body from dehydration. He had been there for 6 days without moving or speaking, barely eating or drinking. While she talked to the doctor, I got some food and started feeding him spoon by spoon until he had energy to tak to us. For an hour we just fed him, helped him drink water, and cleaned him up. He then had the energy to talk to us, he told us he was 16 years old and he fled from Nigeria because of suffering, His family didnt know where he was, but he came here to find work. We gave him a pamphlet about the Restauration of the church and we told him that we were there because God told us that he needed help. We told him we would be back the next day, on Easter and then we had to leave because the visiting hours were over. Before we left, we wrote a letter that said I need food, I feel pain, I need water, ect in italian and english so he could communicate with the doctors if he needed anything. On Easter, we went back to the hospital with the Elders, they brought him a new change of clothes and shoes and we brought him a giant chocolate easter egg haha. When we got there, he was holding the pamphlet and said he had read it over and over. He was able to move one of his arms, we saw the translation paper had been hung up and the nurses had been using it to communicate with him. The room was packed with people since it was easter, and there were 20, im serious, there were literally 20 people packed in that tiny room. we helped feed him again but he was doing much better. we asked him what he understood about the pamphlet adn he said, God answered Joseph Smiths prayer. he was so happy when we showed him all the things we brought him and he just kept saying thank you thank you thank you. We told him we had a book for him (OK here is the other miracle, so sicne we are in sicily, we dont get supplies brought to us very often. we were on low supply of copies of the book of mormon, only a few to last about 2 more months. but my 2nd week in siracusa, i found an english copy of the book or mormon with a dedica in the title page to a boy named Abraham. I had been saving it ever since, so when we met Abraham, i knew that copy was for him!) I pulled the book out of my bag, I told him it was a book about Jesus Chrsit, written by prophets and I knew it was true. I bore my testimony to him in English about the book and then handed it to him. I looked over at Anziano Davids to see if he wanted to add anything but he had a look of shock on his face. I then realized that the room was completely silent. We had been standing in a small, sweaty hot room with 20 people in complete choas, and then it was totally silent. I looked around and every single person was looking at me. Anziano Davids said, when you held up the Book of Mormon, everyone stopped talking and just watched you. Keep teaching. I finally learned what the gift of tongues is. it came in a completely different way than i would have ever expected. Us 4 missionaries then proceded to teach a lesson to Abraham in ENGLIGH to a room of Italians, but they all flocked to his bedside. they pulled up chairs and were standing around his bed. we spoke in engligh, but they all understood perfectly in italian! I still cant even believe what was happening. I felt very impressed that we were supposed to teach all the other 3 families. There was one woman who asked if she could have a Book of Mormon too. so us 4 missionaries broke up and started teaching the 4 people in teh hospital with their families in this tiny room. The power of the spirit was SO strong! After wards, we all sat down with Abraham, we noticed he was smiling and now everyone in the room wanted to help him too. They thought it was incredible that we didnt know him, but that as missionaries we were here to help others. pretty soon the whole room was like a giant family, everyone was helping everyone! it was so powerful, so perfect for easter, the day we remember our savior, the atonement and his sacrifice for us. We taught abraham about the book of mormon, he said he would read it and pray to know if it was true. yesterday the 4 of us went back to teach him again. but this time he could move his legs again!! he could move his whole body except for one arm, the doctors said ti was a miracle. the doctors and nurses started to come in and they said, since we started coming to visit him, he miraculously started to recover. they aslo had tons of questions about the book he was reading. so again, we taught ANOTHER lesson in english to Abraham about the plan of savlation and all the people understood it! As we were teaching, other patients and vistiors from other rooms came in to listen! they just crowded around and listened in a language they didnt even speak! I know that they understood though, i know that God helped them understand throught he power of the spirit, it was a huge miracle. Elvira, the lady we gave the book of mormon too, she was there adn she said she had read the begginning and wanted us to come teach her sister! Abrahams countenace had totally changed too, he was so happy and healthy, and he was wearign the clothes we brought him. He had read 13 chapters in the book of mormon! He said he prayed to know if it was true and God told him it was! He then told us he wanted to tell us his story. Ok Im already crying, haha his story is unbelievable. His family was being persecuted in NIgeria, he had 2 younger sisters and a brother. So he is 16 and he ran away to find work in italy so he could pay for them to escape. He said there was a lot of suffering in his country. He fled through Nigeria, Niger and then to Lybia, with no clothes, no food and no water. Libya is a very scary place becasue they shoot people who try to cross the country lines. he said he got captured and he was thrown in prison for 2 weeks with nothing to eat or drink but a tiny bit of water. he said he knew if they didnt kill him, he was going to die, so he prayed to God and asked, God am I going to die? he said God spoke to him and said No, you are going to live. Miraculously, someone paid the guards to let him go free, so he was able to flee lybia and he got on a boat to malta. the boat was too full of refugees though so in the middle of the sea, it collapsed and he spent 2 days swimmin in the ocean. again, he was so weak he said he felt like he was going to die to he prayed to god and again God told him, no you are not going to die.. i will help you. after 2 days he landed in malta, then had to take another boat to sicily. last week he arrived in sicily and was bussed to a refugee camp. when he got there, he realized the camp was refusing them food too. the camps are very corrupt and are guarded with barbed wire and men with guns. they are extremely cruel to the african refugees and he said his legs stopped working. he collapsed from malnourishment and severe dehydration so they bussed him to the hospital. he was in so much pain and couldnt move any of his body. he said he was scared because none of the doctores spoke english and he didnt know what was wrong. so he prayed and asked god for help and god said he would help him. right then, the 2 missionaries walked in! He said last night, after reading the book of mormon, he prayed and God told him that the book was true. Abraham then asked God if he would help him be able to walk. He said because he asked God in faith, God told him to run. Abraham smiled at us and said, last night, i got out of bed and I ran down the halls. He then looked at us 4 missionaries and said, i dont know why you are here, i dont even know you and yet you have come and helped me. you are my friends and you dont even know me. I know God is there and he hears me because you came and saved me. I know what you have taught me is true. At this point we all have tears pouring down our face. I love Abraham so much. I know that God has not and will never forget him. He loved him so much he sent the missionaries to help him. I told Abraham that I knew God loved him because when I prayed, God led us to find him. Before we had to leave again, Abraham said the prayer. He closed his eyes and offered the most humble, heartfelt prayers I have ever heard. He was truly speaking to God. I know it. I cannot ever deny it. When we pray, we are truly speaking to God. I know he hears us, every single prayer we ever say. he hears them and he will answer us. I know God lives. I know my Savior Jesus Christ lives. I know that throught the atonemtn, we can be healed, cleaned and made whole again.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 03:10:51 +0000
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