lambs and tigers

Wonderful thing for Weds., 25 March:

We do a fair amount of lost-lamb searching.  We can attest to the joy that is felt when one is found.

We saw M. in church in Florence Sunday with delight; we had heard that he had been in church the week before (we are back and forth between Prato and Florence wards), but this was our first opportunity to see him in months.

M. is an American student in Florence.  He has been taking a lot of art trips.  He got a little lost.
We asked if we could come visit.  We said that our job here is to encourage.  He said, "I really need that."

So yesterday, with homemade cookies in hand, we met him and the elders at his apartment.  What a great visit, what a wonderful, uplifting talk we had.  He shared about unmet expectations, about getting distracted and caught up in other things; we shared about crying unto God "in our wilderness" (Alma 34:26); we talked about Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life.  We saw delight and relief in his eyes, we felt ourselves connecting.  I think he felt at home.

Oh how I love this work.

Fun thing:

Found this great store under the train station at Florence called "Tiger".  It's pretty much a glorified dollar store, you might call it the IKEA of dollar stores.  I bought half a dozen journals and some stuff for the grandkids' Easter baskets.  Woot!