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Sciacca – Week 1

November 21, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Ciao tutti!

This week has been crazy busy and has felt fast and slow at the same time due to everything that we have been doing! I will start with the good stuff so that way you can know where I am at right now! So I was transferred to Sciacca which is a small city on the southern end of Sicilia! I will be training a new missionary here and we are both new to the city and don’t have a clue about anything at all really. My new companion is Anziano Hughes and he is from West Valley, Utah. He is super awesome! He has so many different hobbies and interests and is very talented in a lot of things. Has a great character and is just super nice to everyone he meets and encounters. I am super excited to work with him and we have hit it off super well! We are excited to see what kind of work we will be able to start up together with the Lord in Sciacca! We are super ready and excited for all of that!

The last week in Catania flew by and we were busy with lessons and saying goodbye to the members that I have had such a great chance to know and love over the four transfers I was there. I really love that city a lot and have a deep love for the people there! It has been great to be able to serve there and be able to learn so much from all the experiences that I have had there. Anziano Ponce and I had some great last lessons and we were happy and really felt blessed for the things that happened this past week. It seemed like this has been one of the busiest transfers of my mission. We have always had something going on and have been all over the place! I am thankful though for all that we accomplished and hope that we can all yet accomplish more over the course of the time we find ourselves here in Italy serving the Lord. I was able to say bye to many families, investigators, members, and missionaries that have all become my dear friends.

It was really cool on the way down to Palermo there was this kid waiting to get on the train, and of course as I have explained in the past everyone confuses us for the Tren Italia workers. So we started a small little conversation before the train took off, but then we continued that with another girl he sat across from on the train. We all started talking and then this lady sitting behind me joined in and before you know it another lady came over too. Our whole cart was just chatting away and I was able to share the restoration and the Book of Mormon with the lady behind me. It was so awesome to be able to listen to each other and just apply the gospel to all of our lives. It was a very special experience and even though she didn’t agree to have the missionaries over just yet she accepted the Book of Mormon and was willing to read it. She promised that upon reading it if she really felt that she needs to go forward with it she will give the missionaries a call. Really hope that she will be able to recognize that spirit and then act accordingly.

We made it to Palermo and had to stay the night there and wait until the next morning to leave. We made it safe to Sciacca and our branch President was nice enough to help us out to get all our bags over to the house. We settled in and ate lunch and were able to do our weekly planning after having a lesson in fact that night with an investigator. It all went super well despite some small obstacles that we will have to overcome because our data in the new area book app isn’t there. [Note:  The area books are where missionaries record contact information, etc., for the next missionaries.  The area books have been on paper in the past, but were recently moved to an app on the iPads.  Apparently, they’ve had a problem with the app.]  It was somehow lost so hopefully this problem will be resolved.

We then started doing permesso things for Anziano Hughes Saturday before heading out to Palermo for Stake Conference. We had great stake conference meetings and I was able to see all the members that came from Trapani! That was such a sweet reunion to see them and know that they are all doing well! I was super happy and excited about that. We had great sessions where we talked about how trials help us grow spiritually. It was hard for us to hear the talks due to technical difficulty so that was a little bit of a bummer to miss some of the things said.

I had a meeting to go to Sunday night and we ended up not being able to make it back to Sciacca that night either so we stayed in Palermo again. So technically I have spent more time in Palermo since I have been here. We were able to take a tour of Teatro Massimo today though and it was cool to imagine what it must have been like back when that place first open to go and see an opera show or a concert of some sort. It was a great first pday for Anziano Hughes and I and we were able to eat some great food from Palermo!

I am super glad to be here in Sciacca and I am grateful to be here! This week we know that it is Thanksgiving and I am excited for you all back home to be able to eat your guts out and enjoy time with the family. I really love Thanksgiving and all that it entails. I think often we aren’t as grateful as we should be for all the many and wonderful blessings that we have. I love that Elder David A. Bednar invites us to give prayers of just thanks for the the things that we have! I love that we can truly just give thanks for the many wonderful blessings in our lives. I love this video that was done by the church entitled:

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving (4:48)

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving Random people on the streets of New York City share a variety of grateful responses to one simple question: What are you thankful for?

It is super cool and I would invite you all to watch it and then this week to write down everything that you are thankful for. I know that our blessings are so many I don’t think that we will be able to truly count them all! Then offer this prayer of thanks without asking for anything. Here in fact is an excerpt from his talk about prayer given in October 2008 entitled “Pray Always.”

       During our service at Brigham Young University–Idaho, Sister Bednar and I frequently hosted General Authorities in our home. Our family learned an important lesson about meaningful prayer as we knelt to pray one evening with a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

        Earlier in the day Sister Bednar and I had been informed about the unexpected death of a dear friend, and our immediate desire was to pray for the surviving spouse and children. As I invited my wife to offer the prayer, the member of the Twelve, unaware of the tragedy, graciously suggested that in the prayer Sister Bednar express only appreciation for blessings received and ask for nothing. His counsel was similar to Alma’s instruction to the members of the ancient Church “to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all things” (Mosiah 26:39). Given the unexpected tragedy, requesting blessings for our friends initially seemed to us more urgent than expressing thanks.

        Sister Bednar responded in faith to the direction she received. She thanked Heavenly Father for meaningful and memorable experiences with this dear friend. She communicated sincere gratitude for the Holy Ghost as the Comforter and for the gifts of the Spirit that enable us to face adversity and to serve others. Most importantly, she expressed appreciation for the plan of salvation, for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for His Resurrection, and for the ordinances and covenants of the restored gospel which make it possible for families to be together forever.

        Our family learned from that experience a great lesson about the power of thankfulness in meaningful prayer. Because of and through that prayer, our family was blessed with inspiration about a number of issues that were pressing upon our minds and stirring in our hearts. We learned that our gratefulness for the plan of happiness and for the Savior’s mission of salvation provided needed reassurance and strengthened our confidence that all would be well with our dear friends. We also received insights concerning the things about which we should pray and appropriately ask in faith.

        The most meaningful and spiritual prayers I have experienced contained many expressions of thanks and few, if any, requests. As I am blessed now to pray with apostles and prophets, I find among these modern-day leaders of the Savior’s Church the same characteristic that describes Captain Moroni in the Book of Mormon: these are men whose hearts swell with thanksgiving to God for the many privileges and blessings which He bestows upon His people (see Alma 48:12). Also, they do not multiply many words, for it is given unto them what they should pray, and they are filled with desire (see 3 Nephi 19:24). The prayers of prophets are childlike in their simplicity and powerful because of their sincerity.

        As we strive to make our prayers more meaningful, we should remember that “in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments” (D&C 59:21). Let me recommend that periodically you and I offer a prayer in which we only give thanks and express gratitude. Ask for nothing; simply let our souls rejoice and strive to communicate appreciation with all the energy of our hearts.

I am thankful for all the wonderful blessings that Heavenly Father has given me our Savior Jesus Christ, opportunity for eternal life, my family, my friends, my mission, my talents, my abilities, nature, the scriptures, power of prayer, guidance, love, and so much more! I know there is so much to be thankful for! Love you all and thanks for all the support!

Love,

Anziano Garrett

Apple-picking service in Catania, Italy

Apple-picking service in Catania, Italy

Apple-picking service in Catania, Italy

Apple-picking service in Catania, Italy

Apple-picking service in Catania, Italy

Apple-picking service in Catania, Italy

Apple-picking service in Catania, Italy

Apple-picking service in Catania, Italy

Apple-picking service in Catania, Italy

Apple-picking service in Catania, Italy

Anziano Ponce teaching

Anziano Ponce teaching

Catania District soccer studs

Catania District soccer studs

Catania District anziani, November, 2016

Catania District anziani, November, 2016

Catania District sorelle, November, 2016

Catania District sorelle, November, 2016

Catania District, November, 2016

Catania District, November, 2016

Gospel Essentials

Gospel Essentials

SCIACCA, ITALY - FEBRUARY 22, 2014: panoramic view of coastline with downtown in Sciacca, Italy. Sciacca is known as the city of thermal baths since Greek domination in the 3rd and 4th centuries BC (Licensed stock photo from Adobe Stock)

SCIACCA, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22, 2014: panoramic view of coastline with downtown in Sciacca, Italy. Sciacca is known as the city of thermal baths since Greek domination in the 3rd and 4th centuries BC (Licensed stock photo from Adobe Stock)

SCIACCA, ITALY - FEBRUARY 22, 2014: panoramic view of coastline with dramatic sky in Sciacca, Italy. Sciacca is known as the city of thermal baths since Greek domination in the 3rd and 4th centuries BC (licensed stock photo from Adobe Stock)

SCIACCA, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22, 2014: panoramic view of coastline with dramatic sky in Sciacca, Italy. Sciacca is known as the city of thermal baths since Greek domination in the 3rd and 4th centuries BC (licensed stock photo from Adobe Stock)

Filed Under: Assignments, Companions, Italy, Missionary Work, Sciacca, Tourist Sites, Transfers Tagged With: ,

Catania – Week 18

October 3, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Ciao tutti!

This week went really well again and yet again I do not have too much time to email. This morning we had to give two rides to the airport to departing missionaries so that kind of ate out of our day some, but that is totally ok! I am just sorry because I know haven’t been able to get back to everyone!

Last P-day went really well and we were able to head over to Taormina as a district, which was a lot of fun and had a great time doing that. It was really cool to see the city again and climb the mountain to a different part of what we hadn’t seen yet. We had a great time and ate some really good cannoli and gelato together too. It all went really well! We then had a less active family home evening where we were able to discuss about the upcoming General Conference. It went really well and we were able to share a really spiritually inclined spiritual thought. We were excited about all the other things that we were able to do this week. It all went super well! We had a good time being able to do all that we had to do.

Wednesday I was able to have a great birthday and thanks to all those that wrote a birthday message! It went really well and we definitely stayed busy the whole day. We had district meeting in the morning and I brought these jelly beans that my family had sent me with 20 flavor of jelly beans, but the only catch is that half of them are gross flavors and half of them are good ones. They are identical in look so you have to really just guess and hope that you don’t choose a gross one. We put ten on a napkin and all ate them at the same time. It was a lot of fun watching everyone’s reaction. I was really lucky and got three good flavors instead of spoiled milk, dead fish, barf, or canned dog food. It was a lot of fun and then we were able to have a really uplifting and insightful addestramento from Anziano Nielsen which was really edifying. We were happy to hear from him and have a really great discussion speaking about all that we have learned in how to use our time wisely and really keep our purpose always at the front of our minds. It was really awesome. We then were able to all go out to eat together to a nice restaurant and ate some great seafood pastas, some steak or fish. It was super amazing to be able to do that with the district because you get really close to them as friends and fellow laborers in this work. We then had a less active family home evening with another member family that went super well again! We focused on teaching the children and talked about the importance of a living prophet on the earth  and how that can be a guide for us. We are really blessed to have a man called of God to help us in this aspect of guidance and setting an example for us.

We are thankful as well that we had the opportunity this week to have a ward activity that went really well and everyone seemed to enjoy! The members here do an activity every 2 weeks and we were the ones in charge of the activity. We had a lip sync activity that went really well and everyone was really excited about it. We had people the whole activity asking for different songs they could lip sync to. It was super funny and we were able to see less actives, members, contacts, and investigators all there to join us and then they all had a meal afterwards. It was a lot of fun and such a great time to be able to spend with them all.

We made it over to the part member family this Saturday after helping a member move from the 4th floor to the 1st in the morning, which went really well too! I got my head slammed against the wall walking down the stairs with a dresser hahaha, but it really went well and we were pretty sore after that. The lesson though went so well with our investigator and we discussed the topic of real intent and how important it is that we live with real intent as well as read the Book of Mormon with the intention to act on the knowledge that will be revealed to us. We read a conversion story that is really touching on this subject and it went super well to see exactly where she is at and how we can help her. They were also so nice and made a cake for me as well as a piñata. It so sweet of them to do that. I am touched by their charity and this sisters stalwart faith.

We also received the news this week that we will be having a mission conference in Rome with President Russell M. Nelson, of the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom, of the Presidency of the Seventy, Bishop Gerald Causse, Presiding Bishop, and Elder Patrick Kearon, Europe Area President. We are definitely excited about that and look forward to hearing from them in a special conference. We really hope that we will also be able to prepare to the best of our abilities to be ready to receive anything that can help us improve.

We enjoyed General Conference this week and it was super edifying and powerful to watch. I love hearing from our church leaders in the inspired messages that they share with us to truly reach out in love and care. It is amazing to see how these talks are all meant for us and how we can truly learn from them all as we pay attention carefully to the messages they have prepared. I saw some really interesting themes of prayer, scripture study especially from the Book of Mormon, the plan of salvation, missionary work, the atonement, and as well as the joy the gospel brings. I am so thankful for these divine messages and the opportunity we will also have to study them afterwards as well. It will be very important to study them again and look to put into practice everything that we learned from the spirit. I am thankful that God has once again called prophets and apostles on the Earth to lead his church here. I am so thankful to know that the Savior leads and guides his church through them. That the keys, just like prophets of old, have been given to them to direct and guide this great work. I love them dearly and am thankful for their life dedication to the Lords great work and the help they give to help all of us. I know that they are truly called of God and that each of us can know that the truth in its fullness has been restored through this revelation that we have today once again. You guys can check out this site to watch the talks again and soon read them as well.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?cid=HP_SU_2-10-2016_dPFD_fGC_xLIDyL1-C_&lang=eng

I love you all and am thankful for everything that you guys do for me. Love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Anziano Garrett

Second birthday in the mission

Second birthday in the mission

District birthday meal

District birthday meal

District birthday meal

District birthday meal

District birthday meal

District birthday meal

The district birthday meal

The district birthday meal

My birthday cake

My birthday cake

Celebrating with my birthday cake

Celebrating with my birthday cake

Celebrating with my birthday cake

Celebrating with my birthday cake

The birthday package

The birthday package

Second Taormina excursion

Second Taormina excursion

Second Taormina excursion

Second Taormina excursion

Second Taormina excursion

Second Taormina excursion

Anziano Nielsen with an awesome cannolo

Anziano Nielsen with an awesome cannolo

Great cannoli!

Great cannoli!

District cannoli feast

District cannoli feast

View from Mt. Etna

View from Mt. Etna

View from Mt. Etna

View from Mt. Etna

On Mt. Etna

On Mt. Etna

Catania District, September, 2016

Catania District, September, 2016

Filed Under: Assignments, Catania, Food, Italy, Missionary Work, Places, Taormina, Tourist Sites, Transfers Tagged With: ,

Tràpani – Week 21

February 22, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Ei buondi!!

Hope that everyone is doing well. Sorry that my emails didn’t make it through last Monday. I resent them to everyone so hopefully they all got there and everyone was able to read them. President Waddoups did a good job of scaring the crap out of me too. I had just had my interview and Anziano Spencer and I were finishing up a sick night of finding in Palermo and I got a call from him and he says, “Well Elder you’re in trouble.” I was like oh crap, “What did I do?” He replies it, “It wasn’t what you did, it’s what you didn’t do.” My reply, “Uhhh…” Thoughts were running through my head. Did I miss someone to give a pass along card to or something like that?  He then explained that I didn’t email my family and everything which was really weird since I spent like 3 hours in the church emailing. We got it all figured out and I sent them off the next day while we were waiting for Zone Conference to start.

Last week went really well though! Monday night we had a really awesome lesson with this family and it went super well. We were talking about the plan of salvation and they really enjoyed it. We could feel the spirit super strong at the end as we bore our testimonies on the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that has been restored through Joseph Smith. Super awesome lesson and we are going back over there tonight to watch The Restoration film with them and then have dinner. We are excited and really hope that it goes well.

Tuesday we did a scambio with the Palermo B Anziani in our district, so Anziano Jensen and I came here while Anziano Spencer and Anziano Brandon were in Palermo. It went really well and was good to get to know Anziano Jensen some more because we didn’t get many chances to talk one on one in the MTC. We were able to have a pretty successful scambio together and I definitely took a lot of good lessons away from it. We were able to randomly meet so many people I knew on the street that I never really see at all. It was really weird, but we turned out to have a lot of really good conversations.  We finished up the scambio visiting some members and having lunch with them. We headed back to Palermo Wednesday so we could get there for interviews. Anziano Spencer and I teamed up again and went out for a night of finding that went really well and we were able to talk to some really awesome people. Hopefully the numbers will go places for the Anziani there. We stayed the night with the Anziani at the Palermo 1 house with all 4 of the anziani plus the assistants as well. It was fun, as always, to get to talk to everyone before heading to bed.

Zone conference was a lot of fun and we were able to really learn a lot from all our leaders. President Waddoups did two really good addestramentos. One on becoming a consecrated missionary, based around Tad R. Callister’s Becominng a Consecrated Missionary talk. It was super good and a really good reminder for me to make sure that I am putting my all on the altar of sacrifice for the Lord during my service over here. He then focused on the Book of Mormon and we have the challenge right now to read it in three months which is going really well. I am excited that we are all really trying to focus on Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon right now. The assistants, Anziano Flynn and Anziano Taranto (Toronto), gave an amazing addestramento about focusing on Preach My Gospel. Sorella Waddoups also had a really awesome activity that she did where we were able to share our thoughts on two missionaries, then the Book of Mormon, and finally the Savior. It was really awesome. Super fun zone conference for sure.

We did a lot of planning Friday night and then coordination meeting with our branch mission leader. Saturday we were able to have 4 lessons which was really awesome and they all went really well. The one with our new investigator from English course went really well and we were able to read Alma 32 together and it was awesome. We really look forward to seeing where he goes and how he progresses. He came to church too!! It was so awesome. I really love him a lot and really hope it all works out with him.

We went to Segesta again today, which was really fun,  and we were able to go with Anziano Palazzo, Anziano Trejo, two other members from Palermo 1 and then an investigator of theirs. It was super fun.

Something that I really enjoyed from my study this week was from this morning was 2 Nephi 9:39.

39 O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.

I really like the last sentence. It is so true that as we are spiritually minded it truly helps us make the best decisions in life and helps us avoid falling into temptation from the adversary. I really liked that a lot to just be spiritually minded which will help us get to where we want to go, our enteral home with our Heavenly Father.

I love you all very much and hope that you all have an amazing week and that you enjoy life in all ways possible. Talk to you soon!

Vi voglio bene,

Anziano Garrett

Sometimes sidewalk chalk drawings are used for finding on the street.

Sometimes sidewalk chalk drawings are used for finding on the street.

On the beach at Tràpani, Sicily

On the beach at Tràpani, Sicily

Segesta excursion, Feb 22, 2016

Segesta excursion, Feb 22, 2016

Zone conference fun, Palermo Zone, Feb. 2016

Zone conference fun, Palermo Zone, Feb. 2016

Palermo 1 District, Feb. 2016

Palermo 1 District, Feb. 2016

[Photos of zone conference from Sister Waddoups’ blog]

Palermo Zone, February, 2016

Palermo Zone, February, 2016

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups' blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups’ blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups' blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups’ blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups' blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups’ blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups' blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups’ blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups' blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups’ blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups' blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups’ blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups' blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups’ blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups' blog)

Palermo Zone Conference, Feb. 2016 (from Sis. Waddoups’ blog)

Filed Under: Assignments, Companions, Conferences, Exchanges, Italy, Missionary Work, Places, Segesta, Tourist Sites, Trapani, Trapani Sites Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Tràpani – Week 15

January 11, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Ciao!

I hope everyone had a great week! Good to hear the weather back home is doing its normal jump arounds. This is easily the warmest winter I have ever had in my life. It’s weird.

Right now we are on the bus going to Segesta, an old Greek temple and I am enjoying a new ride I have never taken, enjoying the Sicilian countryside. It is really beautiful. Today is Anziano Spencer’s birthday which is cool! So we are going to do something really cool today.

Segesta, Sicily

Segesta, Sicily

Sorry I didn’t explain what an “ape” was last week. It literately means bee, but In this case it is like one of those three wheeled small car things with a truck bed. So it was funny to see all this stuff piled on the back of it.

"Ape" referred to last week was probably similar to this!

“Ape” referred to last week was probably similar to this!

This week went well though! We are really trying hard to be the best we can be. We are trying to work hard smart, and effectively as possible.

Right after pday last week we started the evening off with some finding. We were talking to people next to the soccer stadium heading down to a street that usually has more people and we tried to share a video with a man that didn’t have any interest, so we kept walking.

After noticing this man in the car witnessing the rejection, Anziano Spencer waved at him. All of a sudden we heard someone say, “Hey guys!” (in the Italian version) He had gotten out of his car and wanted to talk. We got to talking and found out he is a member. He didn’t have any interest right now in meeting with us but said he would come to English course. We did see him there and he participated really well in our spiritual thought and it was really cool to see him in those small moments where he came to Christ more in his life. It was a really cool miracle.

Wednesday we had district meeting in Palermo and got stuck there a little longer than we had initially intended to because it was La Festa di Befana, which is some sort of witch that comes and takes all the Christmas stuff down and then either leaves gifts like candy and such or coal for the children. I don’t know how I feel about this holiday. We are already letting Santa in our houses and we have trusted him over the years, but I don’t know about some old witch coming into people’s houses.

Another miracle I saw this week was with another corso [English course] student we have that is super cool! We have a really awesome friendship with her and she is super fun to talk to and her English is very good. She studies all sorts of languages so it is cool to see someone that is very gifted with learning so many languages. We were able to share our testimonies with her after English course and had a more in depth talk about the gospel with her. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said that she would read it! It was super cool!

We did some corso finding down to centro [downtown] and back on Friday night and talked to a really nice family that we think we will see at English course.

Saturday we traveled over to Valderice for a lesson and came back in the afternoon. Unfortunately we don’t think we will be headed back over there. The family just wasn’t ready to listen to our message. They were super nice though.

Valderice.12

Sunday we were able to begin our member missionary plan. We are helping the members kind of design a plan that fits for them individually. We are really looking forward to it because we think that it will help strengthen the members at the same time. It will be a fun time being able to work it out with them. We had a fun time during some finding this past week even though we didn’t have any success in getting numbers or appointments with people. It is a lot of fun having conversations with people where we can show them that we are pretty normal people. We are definitely peculiar, but normal all the same. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Italy, Segesta, Tourist Sites, Trapani Tagged With: ,

Tràpani – Week 13 (Christmas Week)

December 28, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Ciao Tutti!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas week and a good time celebrating with friends and especially family. The week was really weird. I was in Palermo from Tuesday until Thursday doing a scambio with Anziano Palazzo. We had a really good scambio and I definitely learned a lot from him. We were able to see this new investigator that they received. Months ago the Sorelle met this younger guy on the bus and they were talking to him and he was asking questions and they said it was a really good conversation, but he wasn’t interested to meet and learn more. They felt they needed to leave him with the Book of Mormon so they did. Then just about 2 weeks ago he showed up to English course and he had read the introduction and something really hit him about the Book of Mormon (the spirit). He is now super interested and wants to learn more so we met with him and had a really awesome lesson on the restoration. He is very intelligent and understands things really well. He is such a humble guy and super nice. We then had English course there and talked about Christmas for the lesson which was a good time.

Wednesday we did finding in the morning for English course and then switched it to a Christmas survey before lunch. We handed a ton of English Course bigliettini [cards] out. Then, disgustingly, I somehow ate 425 grams [15 ounces] of pasta in a sitting and was still hungry afterwards. That was really gross. In the evening we went to this Palace in Palermo and sung for the employees there. It was super cool! A member had set it up and invited the missionaries. We then did finding on the way back to Palermo 1’s church. Anziano DaPonte and I went out and did Christmas Survey finding together which was a lot of fun. We were then able to finish up the night with another lesson with that super sick guy. The plan of salvation really went well and he is such a good guy.

So for the holidays it worked a little different than a normal week.

We had somewhat of Pdays you could say starting at 1:00pm on the 24th and going until 6:00am on the 26th. And we had permission during this time to skype our families, go to members for meals, watch 2 animated movies, and other pday appropriate activities. Thursday we had our zone blitz where we sang Christmas carols with all the missionaries in the zone. It was a really good time, and my voice definitely hurt afterwards. We had some members and investigators there with us singing as well. We sang at the two big piazzas where the opera houses are in Palermo. They are really cool. So we had a really nice backdrop for our caroling. We were talking to people that were walking by and listening to the caroling. We shared the Christmas video with them and tried to receive potentials for the Palermo areas. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Assignments, Erice, Food, Holidays, Italy, Missionary Work, Places, Sicily, Tourist Sites, Trapani, Trapani Sites Tagged With: , , , ,

Tràpani – Week 11

December 15, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Ciao Tutti!

I forgot to say last week that my zone conference was yesterday so we had to get P-Day switched to today. Well I hope that everyone had an awesome week! We had a nice crazy week. Last Monday we were able to play basketball with some ragazzi [boys] which went pretty well. I still stink as usual, but hey the ball never hit me in the face at all.

Tuesday we were unable to grab a bus to Palermo for DDM because it was a festa [holiday] so we had to stay in Tràpani. There weren’t many people out that day at all. We had a good pranzo [lunch] with our ward mission leader and his wife which went really well. We had 3 people show up to English course and they were all advanced so it was great to be able to have a nice time with them and share our testimonies with a smaller group of people. They are all really awesome and definitely have really good friendships with them.

Wednesday had a fair amount of appointments with people set up. Only one of them fell through and we were able to get to know a member family a lot better which was really nice. We headed out for Palermo that night and then we had to wake up at 4:30 to get to the station in Palermo in time for Anziano Bourne to catch his bus to Bari at 6:15. It was Anziano Bourne, Anziano LaPray and I that headed there together. Anziano Trejo and Anziano Vrska went to drop Anziano Borough off at the airport. We texted Anziano Trejo around 6:00 and asked if there was any faster way to get to the station. He called and Anziano LaPray, in an anxious tone, explained that we just woke up. We were just cracking up thinking of Anziano Trejo’s face. It was a fun little joke. Everything went well though. Everyone made their departures on time.

Anziano Trejo, Anziano Vrska, and I were in a trio for the rest of the day. We had two lessons in the morning after studies and then went to eat at a new convert’s house who is the Italian Stan Lee. He is super funny. We had lunch over there and then headed back to the apartment before heading to a less active’s house. We shared a really good message with him that he received very well and it was awesome to see that we all three had different examples, but they all were able to be applied back to the main message. Anziano Trejo had told us about this guy’s movie collection and it is huge. I was nerding out of course for the 5 minutes he showed us. He just has everything you could imagine. He even has a Back to The Future hover board and that hat Marty wears in the second one. It was insane.

Anziano Spencer got in just fine a little after 7:00 and then we headed to Tràpani and got settled all at home. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Conferences, Tourist Sites, Transfers, Trapani, Trapani Sites Tagged With: , , ,

Tràpani – Week 5

November 2, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Ciao!

I hope that everyone had an amazing week! This week was weird for us, but we made it through and were able to really see a lot of good things happen this week.

So Monday night we had a family home evening and had a new investigator that night. We talked about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It started out really well and then went kind of crazy (not in a bad way. Just got a little off topic and such) and we got it reeled back in. We went off topic after a few minutes more and we just needed to get it reeled back in. We went from talking about the Great Apostasy and went straight into Joseph Smith and the First Vision. It was really amazing because everything just got quiet and we could feel the spirit really strongly as we shared about Joseph Smith and the first vision. It was really amazing to just feel the spirt as we talk about that event that changed everybody’s lives. It was a really cool experience.

Tuesday we went to Palermo for our DDM [district meeting] and then we had to stay there because we went to the airport to go pick up Anziano Goode, who had to come back down to Tràpani to pick up his permesso (papers to stay in Italy). So it was a long day but it was really good. We got the permesso, no problem, and sent him back to Palermo and then we went and had some lessons.

Thursday we had a scambio and Anziano Trejo got to come back here to Tràpani. This was his first city in the mission and now he is back in Palermo as one of our zone leaders. He is super awesome. He is really funny, loving, kind, and is an amazing missionary. He was super fun to work with and I had a lot of good things to learn from him.

Friday we had some lessons planned but some of them fell through, but we had a good night. We made some caramel apples for some people and the first batch was a big learning curve. We are no Sister Cloward, but we tried our best.  The second batch looked and turned out much better. The third should be even better.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: Baptisms, Italy, Tourist Sites, Trapani, Trapani Sites Tagged With:

Roma 1 – Week 21

September 7, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Ciao!

I don’t have a ton of time to email this week. We had a busy day and we have to head out a little early so we can get to a family home evening. We had a nice pday though. We went for some groceries this morning and then we headed to the church and downloaded our emails before heading out to centro. We wanted to go get some granita (shaved ice) that we had tried before, and I made sure I knew how to find that restaurant I went to about 4 months ago with Anziano Calvagna. Then we walked toward the forum and we were going to go to a church that has the chains that held St. Peter during his martyrdom. We found it by luck because the stairs and the building looked cool so I decided to walk up and it ended up being the right way. We got there and then it was closed for the pranzo hours so we couldn’t go in. We had a good walk through the forum though and got “Hey Eldered!” twice today which was cool. We went to a tie shop and got companionship ties which are Phoenix Suns colors (that’s for Wyatt). I got an orange one and he got a purple one, we are going to wear them to District meeting tomorrow to see if anyone notices.

We didn’t get to see a lot of different people this past week but we had an investigator that was willing to meet with us 4 times which was super cool. He really has a desire to learn more and sincerely find the truth. I am really enjoying getting to meet with him and get to know him as well. We were able to have a few more people we hope to meet with more this week. We had a great week, though, and some awesome lessons with our new investigator. One that we had with a super cool member helped so much. He really answered the investigator’s question so well and he brought a testimony that was super good for our investigator. I have really high hopes for him. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Food, Roma 1, Tourist Sites Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Roma 1 – Week 18

August 17, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Ciao!

We are alive and well and finally were able to return to working normally again. I really am excited to be back and at it. Well I will start with the big news since we received our transfer calls Saturday.

So here is what happened. Usually we get our call sometime during the study hours which are from 8:00-10:00 but this time we didn’t because we had a “deep cleaning” day in the house since it was a holiday and a ton of people leave to go on vacation the same day. So we got our call around 12:00 or so while we were cleaning. It was a super fast call because Anziano Rasband and I are both staying here in Rome 1! And the sisters are all staying here too and we will receive a new sister Thursday. Definitely crazy we are all staying here. I would never have guessed that to happen again. We are excited about the new transfer and really think we can improve on some things together and see some amazing things happen.

Last week we got back into the work and we were able to start seeing people again. A lot of our investigators have been out of town so we haven’t been able to see them for a while. We are really looking to get new investigators and keep pushing to find more, especially referrals. We saw some less actives that I always enjoy seeing and helping them with what the Lord needs us to do. I am excited to see some of the people getting back on vacation soon.

We had English Course as normal this week, which is going well, and we are seeing new faces pop up here and there, which is nice.

The weather has been nice here and I hope it will stay this way. We had a nice day today we went to St.Peter’s Basilica which was really neat and had an amazing view from the top. Before we went there we had an amazing conversation with a younger couple that is on vacation. We were just waiting for the order missionaries and the guy comes up to us and says he was trying to explain about the Mormon church to his girlfriend just earlier that day. Then he said I figured you guys could do it better. It was a really fun time and we shared the restoration with her and I really hope that they will have further exposure to the church down the road. I really really hope so because they were so nice and super awesome!

We had a good time at church yesterday and was great to see the members again. We are looking forward to this coming week and really looking to kill it! I am excited about it and just hope that we can keep pushing forward even when things always don’t work out the way that we expect.

I read in Ether 12 this past week and enjoyed reading about faith. I was feel like there is room to always look to improve our faith. I read this in True to the Faith and it can say it better than I can so I want to share this with you guys. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Roma 1, St. Peter's Basilica, Tourist Sites, Transfers Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Roma 1 – Week 16

August 3, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Buongiorno!!

I hope everyone had a really awesome week and that everyone is doing well! I hope that I can get this email in and it all make sense to everyone.

I forgot to mention that we got “Hey Elder!”ed (When someone sees us and yells for us or runs into us and we get to have a nice conversation) the other week and I am not sure if the family were members or not. They were from Charleston, South Carolina, but were just at Mattoon not too long ago for a funeral so they knew Charleston. I thought that was pretty cool. They were talking up Monicals pretty big.

Last P-day we had lunch with a member and it was really good. It was chicken, rice, and noodles. It was really good and a good time with the district and the members. After that we went and visited this church near the Baberini Metro station which would be close to Fontana di Trevi and this church is nicknamed The Church of Bones [It is actually called the Capuchin Crypt]. It was really interesting. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures so I didn’t get any at all. But it was a church that sometime in the 18th century, if I am not mistaken, they started to make art with bones. It was quite interesting and it was really weird all the same haha.

After that we had a family home evening in the park where we invited members, investigators, and English course students. I thought we were going to have a good turn out but only 2 members and an English course student came. I was glad that they showed up though. We had a good time, but we tried to get this English course student as an investigator and it didn’t work out like we had hoped. I was really hoping it would because he is super cool, nice, and funny. He really likes music too so I always love talking music with him. Maybe it just isn’t his time and we will have another chance in the future. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Food, Roma 1, Tourist Sites, Transfers Tagged With: ,
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