Roma 1 – Week 2

Ciao!!

This week has been really busy.  We are so busy every day!!  I rarely have time to write in my journal most nights!!

Let’s see, I have a lot to tell you guys this week and I may not be able to get to it all.  I had a fun first p-day here in Rome.  We got some lunch after emailing and we had some pizza and it was pretty good.  The pizza here is all sold by weight and you can get filled up for a really nice price.  But the pizza here, I have heard, is nowhere near as good as it is the further south you go.

We then went to the Trevi Fountain which was really sweet, but they are doing construction on it so there is a bunch of junk all around it, and no water, so that really stunk.  Maybe it will be done by the end of my mission but who knows.  Walking around Rome, though, was so much fun.  The part of the city where our apartment is isn’t like what you would think of in Rome.  It’s more just a ton of apartments with houses mixed around.  It’s still really nice, but p-days are a a blast to be able to go further into the City. We went to a castle today and I think it is the one that has something to do with Marcus Aurelius, but I am not totally sure.  The view from the top of the castle was amazing.

Sorry, back to last week.  Tuesday I went to get my permesso which is my residence permit pretty much.  It will be what allows me to stay here if I ever have to prove that I am allowed to be here for two years.

We had a lesson with someone named Luigi [name changed] after English course.  He has been busy and hasn’t been able to meet with the missionaries for a while, but now he has more time for us and really wants to continue to learn.  He really does have a desire and I look forward to getting to know him more.  We talked on sacrifice and touched on how Lehi and their family left everything behind and they did it to follow the Lord.  We talked about how we all have to make sacrifices and it says at the end of True to the Faith that the sacrifices we make to do what is right, with an eternal perspective,  let us receive blessings that will outweigh anything we have to sacrifice now.

We had a funeral last Wednesday that I really didn’t understand much of at all, but that’s OK.  It was still nice.

We had a lesson with a potential [investigator] we stopped last week and she is awesome!!  We told her we would only take 20 minutes, but she got off work a little late so then she said she only had 10 minutes.  We ended up teaching a 40 minute lesson.  We talked about the Restoration and she seemed really interested.  I am excited to be able to see her again and I think we will be able to see her on Saturday and I think she will try to make it to church too!!

Thursday we spent most of the day getting to the hospital to administer a blessing to an elderly woman who a less-active lady named Linda takes care of.  It was a long haul there and we ended up going to the wrong hospital at first.  It was a nice experience for sure.  The priesthood isn’t for the use of the people who hold it for themselves, but it is used to bless and serve the lives of others.

We had another English course and I just love to see the people there and they are all a lot of fun to teach.  We have a couple of investigators from the course, but I hope to have the opportunity to be able to teach more of them soon.  We always share a spiritual thought at the end and I think that they all really enjoy that.

Friday we had a lesson with a guy named Marcello [name changed].  He has trouble keeping the commitments.  We are going to try to work with him, and it’s just hard for him to understand that the scriptures can still apply to our lives today.

We also had a lesson with a man named Mariano [name changed] who is going through a lot of trials in his life, but really has a desire to do better.  We had a another lesson with him yesterday and he accepted a baptismal date, but we want to be sure that he is fully ready for that so we will have to work hard with him.

Saturday we had a lesson with someone on the street that we had met.  His name is Ahmed [name changed] and he is from Bangladesh.  He speaks a lot of different languages and is a very smart man.  We shared the Book of Mormon in Bangladesh with him before that lesson and he has been reading!  He really wants to find that right religion in his life and we talked about the restoration and he even got more interested.  We haven’t heard from him since, but he is busy with work.  We really hope that he will meet with us again.  He is really awesome and super friendly.

Church was really nice Sunday.  I still  can’t understand everything and so I feel like it is hard for me to totally focus the whole time because I have to really focus on what they are saying to fully get something out of it.  I am getting better at understanding, but still feel as is if I can talk way more than i can understand.

We had a lesson with Martina and Luciana [names changed] who are friends that live together and are both investigating the church.  They are super awesome and super ready for baptism I think.  They really understand things and Martina is already in Alma 7 of the Book of Mormon which is awesome!!  Luciana is still trying to be better at reading but they both have a desire to do what is right and follow Jesus Christ.  Martina said something I really liked.  She likes how organized the Church is.  I love that we can go anywhere in the world and the church is the same everywhere.  The differences are very subtle such as language or order of sacrament and classes, but all the things we teach and our message is the same all over the world.  I love that.

Monday we had a lesson with an elderly man named Riccardo [name changed]and it went really well!!  The only thing that is hard for him, he said, is having faith.  Developing faith is really hard.  It isn’t meant to be easy though.  The Lord wants to make sure that we are willing to continue to act on our faith even after we receive answers to our prayers and such.  It’s something that we continue to develop over the course of our lives.  We have to have action to have faith though.  Faith without works is dead.  James 2:20:  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?.  We have to do our part and the Lord will bless us accordingly.  I love Alma 32 on faith.  We have to just do all we can to act on our faith and we will be rewarded as it says in Alma 32:41-43.  As we nourish the word of god and we continue to read, pray, and do all we can to do right in our lives, we can taste the fruit of our labors.  The harder we work the sweeter the fruit.

I can see that in my life with my Book of Mormon reading.  That book has changed my life.  I desire to do better in my life and I continually learn more and more. I love the Book of Mormon so much and I know that it can bring so much happiness in our lives just like this gospel can too.

Tuesday was the conference with Elder Bednar which was so super awesome.  I could feel the spirit so strong there and it was just so amazing.  He said so many great things and I will try to share some of those things with you now, but i am running out of time.  We really didn’t talk about ipads much at all.  We talked about our purpose as missionaries and he did a Q and A session, much like he did at the youth conference we had [a couple of years ago, when Elder Bednar’s son, Michael, was the stake YM President and Elder Bednar came to the conference to visit with the youth of the two stakes].  It was super friendly, warm, and cheerful.  I love Elder Bednar.  He truly listens to the needs of us and teaches through the spirit.  One thing that I really enjoyed regarding testimonies was that we have to share them.  He gave a quote from Brigham young “A man gains more of a testimony standing on two feet than he does on his knees.”  I really loved that.  It shows that, over time, we will know that bearing that isn’t only our work, but that the spirit is there with us.  And that spirit is what teaches and testifies to others.  We are just merely instruments in the Lord’s work to help bring that spirit to others.

I have a lot more I want to share on that conference that I will have to tell you all about Monday.  Sorry!!

Yesterday we had miracle that I want to share.  We do have miracles a lot too.  It’s so awesome.  So I was going to the bathroom at the church after we got a lesson dropped.  After I came out I come to find that my companion is talking to a guy that walked into the church.  I thought that he was member.  Come to find out that he is from Nigeria and has been in Italy for 9 months and hasn’t been able to find the Church here.  He went [to church] in Nigeria on loves it.  He talks about how it is one big family.  He didn’t recognize the name of the church in Italian and had no clue it was our church.  He lives right around the block too!!  He works at the Nigerian Embassy and now he has finally found the church here!  We met his wife too.  So awesome.  We are going to go see them tomorrow.

I have to go.  Sorry I was short on time today!!  I will tell you more about the conference on Monday and talk about what I did today on my p-day.  Sorry for no pictures this week either!  I have a ton too!!  I will talk to you all on Monday!!!

Love,

Anziano Taylor Garrett

Note:  Taylor did send one picture this week, the photo of Anziano Mika and him.  It was taken at the mission conference on Tuesday.  The other photo was from Sorella Marsh’s blog and shows the missionaries ready to hear from Elder Bednar.  Taylor is just to the left of the base of the pillar.

The mission conference with Elder Bednar on April 28, 2015. Photo courtesy of Sorella Marsh’s blog.

Anziano Eric Mika, a BYU basketball player and missionary in our mission.