what helps the medicine go down

wonderful thing for Tuesday, 13 Jan: Neither one of us feels well - nothing big, just a cold that won't let go, especially Blaine. However, we had a job to do today. President asked Blaine to interview a brother for baptism in the town of Reggio nell'Emilia, a couple of hours away. It was exhausting physically, but of course we were up to it. In the process, we met a wonderful man who has overcome a lot. Blaine challenged him to do a little more before he enters the waters of baptism, so that his commitment will be secure. We believe, as C.S. Lewis put it, that God says to each of us, “Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your money, so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. Hand over the natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked - the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself; my own will shall become yours." This is what our religion constitutes; therefore, we do not take the ordinance of baptism lightly. This fine man agreed. The elders (missionaries) covered their disappointment in encouragement and promises to continue to work with him so that he will be ready. This is tough work; however, the fulfillment that comes as a result is correspondingly marvelous. One of the elders, Anziano Vaclaw, was here in Prato before his transfer to Reggion nell'Emilia. He has obviously grown and matured, which was very gratifying as well. His companion, Elder Stoll, seems a very dedicated and loving missionary as well. We took them to lunch before leaving, and felt that the work there is in good hands. fun thing: When we got home, we felt really junky. We toiled on things like writing personal history (Blaine) and preparing for Institute lesson (me). We didn't feel much like eating normal stuff for dinner; instead, we found comfort food in a pumpkin cake I had taken out of the freezer (left over from late November), and a cup of orzo (the Mormon version of mocha latte). Then we got ready for bed, pulled the coach out, got a comforter, and watched Mary Poppins (the only movie we have and the only time we've watched a movie so far) till we felt that we could go to bed and actually sleep.