Roma 1 – Week 7

Ciao Tutti!!!

This week has been fun and we saw a lot of really cool things happen to us!  Monday we had our p-day and it was a lot of fun.  We had the chance to eat lunch with Tony Oliver and his sister, which was a lot of fun and a good time.  It was super nice of them to get us lunch and spend a little time with us.  We had a great lunch and a great time talking.

We then went and had to go find a picture thing for Sorella Arnold, who was going home, and we had a good time hunting for one of those and running around to get it in time.  Those painting things that the people sell on the streets are actually really sweet.

We then ran back to the Metro and made it back to the Villa all while running into different missionaries along the way.  It was a really fun day and we got to see how packed the Villa was with the 23 missionaries going home.  It was a fun day.

We then went back and had a lesson with Alessandro.  He is super awesome.  We, unfortunately, didn’t get to meet with his wife because she was busy, but we hope that we can next time.  The lesson went really well and I can see a strong desire in him to draw closer to God.  Heavenly Father really blessed us this week with that miracle of Alessandro texting us and us getting the chance to talk with him.

We were really busy on the last couple of days here with Anziano Calvagna.  We visited a lot of ward members and they’re a lot of fun to get to know and then be able share a message with them.  It was a lot of fun.

We had a lesson with one of our English course students before the lesson on Tuesday.  We hope to be able to meet with her again.

Anziano Calvagna and I were able to meet Gina, who I hadn’t met before, and we had a really powerful lesson with her that I thought went really well and she could feel the spirit.  I am really excited to be able to meet with her again soon but she works a lot, so we may not be able to.

We had a lesson with one of our really solid contacts and we were able to do a really awesome lesson with her.  Her name is Sofia and she really will benefit from this gospel and I feel that she is so ready for it.  I am excited to meet with her.  She is very open and we were able to know how the spirit will touch her best.  I am really excited for her and I know this message will bless her life just like it can everyone else.

The days were long and busy with Anziano Calvagna.  We then had transfers on Thursday and went to Termini [Rome’s equivalent of Grand Central Station] which is where we do the transfers.  We all stand by the McDonald’s there and they have been doing that same thing for years and years.  We ran into 3 former missionaries in Termini and got to talk to them about their lives and the mission as well.  It was a lot of fun.

I finally got to meet Anziano Rasband and he is really cool.  It isn’t too often that you get your training split, but I did and the Lord truly knows what is best for me.  Anziano Rasband is from the Washington DC area and he is in the Navy.  He is really nice and we have been working hard together these past few days.  He is really cool and we have similar interests and such.  We have had a few lessons together and we teach really well together.

We taught Sofia and that lesson went super well.  We then had another miracle when this guy named Giacomo called us.  We have never heard from him before but went over and taught him the restoration.  He was talking about an Apostasy after Christ before we even said anything about it.  It was super cool.  I really think that the Lord has been preparing him and we look forward to working with him this transfer.

Anziano Rasband and I were going finding and we found this potential [investigator].  Sometimes the way we do finding is to pray for inspiration to pick the right streets where we will find the people that are ready for our message.  We pick 10-15 streets together, then we individually select 5 and whichever ones match up we go to.  While I was praying I thought that we should look for someone in a red dress.  On our first street this lady was walking towards us and she had a red skirt.  We stopped her and she was super excited to talk to people that were discussing religion.  We got her number and are super pumped to be able to call her later.

This work would be impossible to do on our own.  We have so much divine help and are truly blessed by the amount of help we get from the Lord through the Spirit.

Something I want to share today is about Jesus Christ and His atonement.  Like Elder Holland’s talk this past General Conference , he talked about the necessity of the atonement and how it saves us from the fall.  I absolutely loved this talk and if you guys have the time I recommend watching it.  Elder Holland truly knows how to teach and speak powerfully through the spirit.  It is amazing.  We absolutely had need for the Atonement in order to be saved, and have the potential to return and live with our Heavenly Father once again.  And because our Heavenly Father loves us he gave us Jesus Christ (John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.).  We see in 2 Nephi 9:6-8 that this atonement was so necessary for us.

He also has so much love for us that he took upon him all the pains, sufferings, and afflictions of every person that was, is, and will be on the earth. This to me is hard to comprehend and understand how much pain that must have been.  He loved every one us that much.  And I know that He loves each and everyone of you. And since he took all of those things upon us, he knows us personally.  He knows what we are going through and how we feel because he has felt those same things.  He loves you and will always love you.  I am so thankful for the Savior and His atoning sacrifice.

The work is looking great here in Rome 1.

I am sorry to hear of Elder Tom L. Perry’s passing and am curious who the next apostle will be.

I look forward to hearing from you guys soon and to get to hear how you guys are doing.  I will be getting an iPad  on Thursday, so I will be able to start reading emails throughout the week.  I won’t always make it a priority, because I don’t want it to be a distraction, but it will nice to be able to do so.  The top priority is that I will be able to save time by reading at night when I have time.  Thank you all and hope you all have a great and wonderful week.

Ciao! Ciao!

Love

Anziano Garrett

P.S.  With the transfer this past week, we have some new missionaries in our district:

Sorella Kennedy is from California and she seems really cool.  She has been in Battipaglia for 6 months and that was her first area, with the same companion the whole time.  She is really nice and is companions with Sorella Cano.  Her mom is in a rock band which is super cool.

Sorella Harmon is the other sorella that transferred to Rome 1 and she is really nice as well.  She is from Oregon and I am not sure about much else because I haven’t had the chance to find out.

Letters that I got from the mission office on transfer day.

In the apartment.

Anziano Calvagna imitating the girl in the picture. Sending him off to his new assignment.

We received the following video from Tony Oliver, who saw Anziano Garrett and Anziano Calvagna on the streets of Rome: