Tràpani – Week 1

Buongiorno!

I made it down to Sicilia safely and made it to Tràpani. We found out Wednesday night I had to be staying in Rome 2 [for the night]so President and Sister Waddoups came and picked us up. We stayed the night there with some others that were parting to different areas. We got picked up by a senior missionary that took us to the airport early in the morning and our flight was supposed to take off at 8:25 but was delayed just a little. The flight didn’t take too long at all, but I was surprised they flew us down instead of putting us on a train. Tràpani is really nice and is a lot different than Roma. It is less busy with people on the streets for sure. When we landed the other missionaries were waiting for us and we got on the bus to go to Palermo and then caught a bus to Tràpani. The ride was very pretty on the way to Tràpani.

Adjusting to a different area is weird. I feel like I was in Rome for so long I just knew my way around everywhere and knew the members super well. It will be an adjustment, but one that will be great for sure. I haven’t had a chance to meet too many members at all. Just a handful of them. Still getting used to the area and how to get around.

I haven’t run into a ton of difficulty with the language down here. The two languages of the bilinguals are Italian and Sicilian, which sound so much different hahaha. I did hear two people speaking it one day while doing some finding and it sounded so much different. I couldn’t really make anything out at all.

So we are in the Palermo 1 district which consists of me, Anziano LaPray, Anziano Kennedy, Anziano Trejo, Sorella McFarland, and Sorella Argyle. So we are going to be doing district meetings in Palermo.

Since it was conference weekend we were able to watch every session except the last one. I really enjoyed conference and look forward to being able to study the talks more here soon. It was really good and the talks given were really good. I especially liked Elder Holland’s, President Eyring’s in priesthood session, President Nelson’s, and President Uchtdorf’s from the general women’s session. It was a really enjoyable conference. One of the most important things with conference is taking the things that we learned and applying them in our lives. We can set goals that will help us be able to do this and I need to sit down and set some goals for how I can improve on the path of discipleship. There are always things that we can work on in our life and like President Eyering said our faith is either increasing or decreasing. There is no middle ground. And we can always look to progress in our lives.

It was also very awesome to see the 3 new apostles called to the Quorum of the Twelve. I look forward to getting to know them more and hear from them in the future conferences. I will miss Elder L. Tom Perry, Elder Richard G. Scott, and President Boyd K. Packer and the beautiful messages they always gave. They have left us with wonderful teachings and things we can still continue to learn from.

Something that I have enjoyed in my study lately is seeing how we can learn from past experiences whether they be our own or from others. I am reading in Alma right now and I read this in Alma 18. This is when Ammon has taught King Lamoni and he falls down as if dead after his prayer to know if what Ammon had taught was true. He has been out for just two days and two nights and this is what King Lamoni’s wife desires.

5 Therefore, if this is the case, I would that ye should go in and see my husband, for he has been laid upon his bed for the space of two days and two nights; and some say that he is not dead, but others say that he is dead and that he stinketh, and that he ought to be placed in the sepulchre; but as for myself, to me he doth not stink.

6 Now, this was what Ammon desired, for he knew that king Lamoni was under the power of God; he knew that the dark veil of unbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness–yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that this had overcome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God–

So the part that I really liked is that Ammon had seen this before and he didn’t freak out about it. He had encountered the situation before so took it head on with comfort. He had seen Alma the younger in the same position after they were visited by the angel. Later in Alma after, with the help of Ammon, Aaron and his brethren were freed from prison to continue their missions. Aaron goes to King Lamoni’s father who is king over all the land. He goes unto him and says that he desires to be his serve the just as Ammon had done. The king refuses in this instance and desires to be taught by Aaron. This just really impressed me to see that they learn from their past experience and the past experiences of others. This something that we can surely apply in our lives as well as we take our experiences and put them to the best use that we can. I am so thankful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and for the opportunity we have to learn from the word of God.

I am so thankful for this work and for our living prophet Thomas S. Monson. I love you all and hope that you all are blessed at home and have a wonderful week!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Garrett

[These pictures were taken the last week in Roma 1]