Tràpani – Week 11

Ciao Tutti!

I forgot to say last week that my zone conference was yesterday so we had to get P-Day switched to today. Well I hope that everyone had an awesome week! We had a nice crazy week. Last Monday we were able to play basketball with some ragazzi [boys] which went pretty well. I still stink as usual, but hey the ball never hit me in the face at all.

Tuesday we were unable to grab a bus to Palermo for DDM because it was a festa [holiday] so we had to stay in Tràpani. There weren’t many people out that day at all. We had a good pranzo [lunch] with our ward mission leader and his wife which went really well. We had 3 people show up to English course and they were all advanced so it was great to be able to have a nice time with them and share our testimonies with a smaller group of people. They are all really awesome and definitely have really good friendships with them.

Wednesday had a fair amount of appointments with people set up. Only one of them fell through and we were able to get to know a member family a lot better which was really nice. We headed out for Palermo that night and then we had to wake up at 4:30 to get to the station in Palermo in time for Anziano Bourne to catch his bus to Bari at 6:15. It was Anziano Bourne, Anziano LaPray and I that headed there together. Anziano Trejo and Anziano Vrska went to drop Anziano Borough off at the airport. We texted Anziano Trejo around 6:00 and asked if there was any faster way to get to the station. He called and Anziano LaPray, in an anxious tone, explained that we just woke up. We were just cracking up thinking of Anziano Trejo’s face. It was a fun little joke. Everything went well though. Everyone made their departures on time.

Anziano Trejo, Anziano Vrska, and I were in a trio for the rest of the day. We had two lessons in the morning after studies and then went to eat at a new convert’s house who is the Italian Stan Lee. He is super funny. We had lunch over there and then headed back to the apartment before heading to a less active’s house. We shared a really good message with him that he received very well and it was awesome to see that we all three had different examples, but they all were able to be applied back to the main message. Anziano Trejo had told us about this guy’s movie collection and it is huge. I was nerding out of course for the 5 minutes he showed us. He just has everything you could imagine. He even has a Back to The Future hover board and that hat Marty wears in the second one. It was insane.

Anziano Spencer got in just fine a little after 7:00 and then we headed to Tràpani and got settled all at home.

Anziano Spencer is awesome he has a really great, upbeat, and optimistic personality. He reminds me so much of Tristan Ferry. It is awesome. He is such an amazing missionary. I have learned so much from him already. You can feel the love that he has for people just radiating around him. He is really humble and such a hard worker, really creative about the work and how to go about working with integrity. He is really awesome. He is super funny and is a very happy person. He has taught me so much. I really look forward to this transfer together. He likes to dance, rock climb, all sorts of other sports, ran in high school, action movies, and we hae some similar taste in music. He has a great work ethic, charitable, and genuine. He is from Texas and has two younger brothers that he is really close to.

He is super cool. We had an awesome day working together Friday and were able to do some really great English Course finding with a whiteboard. We had a miracle happen too. We got this call and when I answered there was no one there. I thought maybe it was a squillo so I called back. Then this lady answers and explains that her son accidentally called. We had gotten some texts from the phone before and calls but were never successful in getting ahold of this person. We were talking and then she said that she was a member of the church. I was taken aback and asked if it was our church and she said yes. We were able to talk and then she said she would talk to her husband (not a member) and then get back to us if we could set up a time for a visit. It was super awesome.

Saturday we had 3 super awesome lessons and were able to really do a lot of awesome work that day. We got to meet with one of our English Course students before she left on vacation which was really nice. Then Saturday night we heard back from the lady and we were able to go and visit her Sunday night and it was awesome. They are super awesome and their kid is super cute. It was a really awesome meeting and you could really feel the spirit strongly as we talked about our Savior’s birth. They were super nice and sweet and the husband’s mom made homemade arancine which were amazing.

We then headed to Palermo because we had Zone Conference the next day. It was a short but really awesome. The messages were things I really needed to hear and I want to do my best to apply the messages back into the work. We had a lot of stuff to carry home because we were also able to get some American Food. We got new pillows for the apartments so our arms were full.

I am really grateful for this time of the year to remember the Savior’s birth and why our Heavenly Father gave us this very special gift. I love the Christmas video this year and hearing the testimonies of the youth from around the world. It is something that I wish I found or recognized earlier in my youth. I am so thankful that I have a relationship with my Savior. He means so much to me and the love that he is full of for me personally. I am so thankful to have a perfect old brother to rely on. Someone who knows me inside and out who knows me perfectly and personally. I am thankful for the is relationship and. I know that everyone can have one with him too.

There is not one person that is excluded from his love. I strive to do as he did and apply the things he has taught us and continues to teach through modern day revelations. I love my Savior. Jesus Christ has done everything for us. Because he came into this world to redeem us and suffer for our sins, pains, afflictions, ect. He knows us each perfectly and he did it because he has a immense love for us and our Father in Heaven. I know we can all have a relationship with him and we can always continue to strengthen it. There is no need to wait to do so either. No better time then to start now.

Isaiah 9

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week and that you will have the opportunity to share your testimony of the Savior this week. Whether that be through social media, sharing the video with a friend, inviting someone to church, or the many other ways that we can share the message of the Savior. I invite you to pray for an opportunity to do so and then act when that opportunity comes. Look for those acts of kindness that we can do to life up others as well and I promise that as we do these things that we will be blessed. Our efforts never go unnoticed. I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week!

Love,

Anziano Garrett

Transfers