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Tràpani – Week 5
Transfer 5, Mission Week 35

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 18
Transfer 3, Mission Week 24

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: , , , , , , ,

Vatican and Colosseum Pictures

July 19, 2015 By Leave a Comment

[A few weeks ago, Taylor took some photos during their visit to the Vatican.  He was unable to send them at the time because they had just received their iPads and he didn’t have a mechanism in place yet to send the photos.  We finally received them, so here are the photos from the visit of the Rome 1 District to the Vatican back in June.]

Visiting the Vatican Vatican Selfie Vatican Museum Vatican Mummy Vatican Mummy 2 Vatican Art6 Vatican Art Vatican Art 13 Vatican Art 12 Vatican Art 11 Vatican Art 10 Vatican Art 9 Vatican Art 8 Vatican Art 7 Vatican Art 5 Vatican Art 4 Vatican Art 3 Vatican Art 2 Vatican Architecture Vatican Architecture 5 Vatican Architecture 4 Vatican Architecture 3 Vatican Architecture 2 Rome 1 District at the Vatican Into the Vatican Anziani in the Vatican

[The week before they visited the Vatican, they were able to visit the Colosseum.  Here are some pictures from that excursion]

Colloseum with Elder Rasband Colloseum Inside 6 Colloseum Inside 5 Colloseum Inside 4 Colloseum Inside 3 Colloseum Inside 2 Colloseum Inside 1

Filed Under: Italy, Places, Tourist Sites, Vatican Tagged With: ,

First Day in Italy
Mission Week 6

April 16, 2015 By 1 Comment

Note from Family:

Sister Waddoups posted many pictures on the mission blog this morning.  She also reported on the new missionaries as follows:

We received a new group of eight missionaries from the Provo MTC and one sister missionary from northern Italy who is here on a temporary basis until she gets a visa to travel to her actual assignment.  All of the missionaries received their checked luggage, but four of the elders had to check their carry on luggage because the plane was full and they didn’t get those suitcases.  They should be delivered to the office today, but the missionaries have already left for their assigned areas.  They will return to Rome in less than two weeks and can pick them up then.  As we get closer to the busy summer travel season, we have a lot of interesting luggage situations.  This one is actually a minor one and we’re grateful for that.

We’re excited to have the new “greenies” here in Italy.  They bring with them a renewed excitement for missionary work. 

We don’t know if Taylor was one of those four (50/50 chance) who will be without some things for a couple of weeks.  Also, we don’t know where he is assigned, so we’ll have to wait until next Monday, when he can email, to find out all the details.  On April 28th, Elder Bednar, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will be in Rome to train the missionaries on using their new iPads, so all of the missionaries will once again be in Rome for that, and the four who are missing luggage should be reunited with their suitcases then.

Here are some of the pictures from Sis. Waddoups’ blog. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Italy, Places, Rome Arrival, The Villa (mission home)

Arrived in Rome!

April 15, 2015 By 1 Comment

Note from family:

Taylor arrived in Rome this morning.  Sister Waddoups allowed the new arrivals to use her iPad to send a quick email home to let everyone know that they had arrived safely.  Taylor sent the following to Mindy:

Hey Mom!!
Just wanted to let you know that I that I made it safely to Italy!! I am all good and am really glad that I am here. Share this with everyone, love you all!
Love,
Taylor

 

Me in front of the Rome Temple, under construction.

Me in front of the Rome Temple, under construction.

New missionary arrivals, April 15, 2015

New missionary arrivals, April 15, 2015

 

Filed Under: Italy, Rome Arrival, Temple
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