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Roma 1 – Week 24
Transfer 4, Mission Week 30

September 28, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Ciao!

OK, sorry this email will be pretty short this week but I don’t have much time! I hope that everyone is doing well!

OK, so this past week we didn’t see a ton of people, unfortunately. We only got to see one of our investigators, but he brought a friend which was super cool! He hadn’t been answering the phone because he was sick, but then we got ahold of him and were able to meet with him once. He is doing well but hasn’t been answering the phone again. I hope that everything is going well with him though.

We got to see 3 of our less actives which went really well and they are doing well. We are still trying to find new work right now.

Anziano Rasband is doing better now. He had a doctor’s appointment but had been feeling better a little before we went. He is finally eating normally again, which is great.

So today I had no clue what we were doing for pday but the whole district did. We had to go somewhere, but the metro was broken for a fair amount of the A line and we had to take a bus from one stop all the way across Rome which took forever. It was crazy hahaha. We went to this place called Escape Rome where they put you in a room and you have to find clues and try to get out. It was really neat. Definitely made me feel a little dumb for sure. They gave us a lot of help sometimes hahaha. I don’t know if I wasn’t in the right mind set and not knowing how this all was set up or anything. I was a little confused and they didn’t even let me know what the place was when we went in hahaha. It was neat but I wonder if they didn’t help us if would have got out. They only give you an hour to do it. There was like a Vatican themed room and a CSI themed one.

We were in the CSI room with Sorelle Rossi and Nagliati. It was fun and I think that we all felt a little dumb from getting the help and finished with 5 minutes left hahaha. We then went and ate a really nice meal. I had a a mozzarella di bufalo pizza it was super good.

They then gave me some cream puffs with a candle and then we got gelato to finish it all off. It was a super fun day and the whole district had a great time. It was cool to see Sorella Nagliati before she goes home tomorrow.

I am really excited about General Conference and really looking forward to hearing from the prophets, apostles, and other general authorities. I really enjoy hearing the messages that we need to hear in this life. I am really excited to hear from them all.

I like this scripture in D&C 1:38

What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

We are hearing these messages from the Lord and they are all specifically for us and I am really excited to hear the messages and hope to be prepared to receive them. I was sad to hear about Richard G. Scott. Having three vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will be really interesting to see if they will all be filled and who the Lord will call to fill them. I am really pumped for this weekend.

Ok and last, but not least transfer news. I am going to be leaving Rome 1 and I am heading down to Trapani in Sicilia! That will be a lot of fun! Anziano LaPray will be my new companion. I am excited to be going down there but also a little sad to be leaving some people here.

I will leave this Thursday and I am excited to head down there. I will be taking a plane so it won’t take as long, but I will have to watch my weight limit which is going to take some skillful packing I think hahaha. I received all the birthday cards and am really thankful for them! I haven’t gotten to read them all, but will be sure to do so tonight! Thank you all! I hope that everyone has an amazing week, and I am sorry I won’t be able to get back to everyone today! Take care!

Vi voglio bene!!

Love,

Anziano Garrett

[Taylor’s new companion in Trapani will be Anziano Lapray.  He is just completing his 12 weeks of training.  This photo is from Sister Waddoups’ blog]

Anziano Lapray

Anziano Lapray

Filed Under: Recreation, Roma 1, Transfers, Trapani Tagged With: , ,

Roma 1 – Week 15
Transfer 3, Mission Week 21

July 27, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Ciao Tutti!

This past week has been super exciting and it has been a really awesome week. We had a chance to see a lot of new people is week and we had another chance to meet with our new investigator from last week. We played zone soccer last week but I didn’t get any pictures from it. It was so hot though. It was really hot and I never thought I would miss swimming all that much while on my mission, but that sure sounded super nice right then. And it so happened we were on the field right next to the swimming pool… It was a fun time though! We had a scambio that night so I got to have two less active lessons with Anziano Calvagna and it was a good time to be with him. It is truly amazing how wonderful it is following the spirit when preparing lessons and really considering what that person needs and what Heavenly Father needs them to hear. I saw that evening that when we act on the promptings to prepare for them and be bold when sharing lessons it can really have a positive effect in their lives knowing that message was personalized through the spirit for them. The promptings of the spirit can be so subtle and we just have to do what we can to learn how they come for us individually and act upon them.

So this week I really saw how success is truly a gift from God and that everything is in accordance with his timing. We had a lot of really good lessons this week and they were with people that I am so excited to keep meeting with. They seem so ready for the gospel and I just really want to share this gospel with them because I know that it can bring so many blessings to anyone’s life as they choose to obey and follow the commandments. I think of a talk that I read this past week that explains why we as Latter-day Saints are sometimes so eager to share this message with others. It’s a talk from General Conference of October 2014 by Elder David A. Bednar entitled “Come and See.” I love the story that he tells in there about his two sons. I always thought that story was super funny and really does give a wonderful analogy of why we want to share this gospel with others. This is a quote from the talk, but I would really encourage you guys to read it.

“The invitations we extend to you to learn about and test our message grow out of the positive effects the gospel of Jesus Christ has had in our lives. Sometimes we may be awkward or abrupt or even relentless in our attempts. Our simple desire is to share with you the truths that are of greatest worth to us.”

It is true that when we share this gospel it does stem out of genuine love that we have for others. It truly is something that we to help people see and have the same blessings that we have received. I know that these things can truly bring so much happiness into everyone’s lives.

We saw a lot of amazing people this week and I look forward to being able to continue to meet with the them. They are all super nice and seem so fit for this gospel. I just hope that they will commit to the things we ask them to do so they may know for themselves that these things are true. In my study this week I am still in Alma and I actually wanted to share something that I thought about regarding Captain Moroni again. This is in Alma 50. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Recreation, Roma 1 Tagged With:

Roma 1 – Week 4
Transfer 1, Mission Week 10

May 11, 2015 By 1 Comment

Ciao!

My first draft got deleted so I am trying again right now, so this might be shorter than the first one, unfortunately.

Last Tuesday we had a scambi [exchanges] and I went up north to Terni for the day and stayed the night up there one night.  We had two lessons on Tuesday and we taught this 8 year old, who is preparing to be baptized soon, and he just knew everything.  It was so awesome.  He was really educated and has a strong testimony.  I was happy to be able to teach him for sure.

We had another lesson that went well after that, but he talked a ton and so we had to go straight to English course.  It was a lot of fun and we taught the basic course about computers, but they knew so much that we just had a really complex conversation about technology.  It was a lot of fun and I had a blast on the scambi.

We did some finding the next day, Wednesday, and it’s crazy how many fewer people were walking the streets compared to Rome.  It was very different. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Culture, Food, Italy, Missionary Work, Recreation, Roma 1, Tourist Sites Tagged With: , , , , , ,