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Roma 1 – Week 5

May 18, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Ciao!!

We didn’t have a ton happen this week and I don’t have a ton of time to respond today so I will try my hardest to just give a recap of the week and what all happened and share something I learned this week in studying.

We had a second lesson with someone from our English course and he ended up dropping us after the lesson.  He has different beliefs and just doesn’t want to continue, but that is ok.  It reinforced the fact that we aren’t here to force people to do anything at all.  We are here to invite and for people to ask God themselves if the things we teach and if the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  We are unable to convince people.  We have to allow the Holy Ghost to touch their hearts and do what we can do to create the best spiritual environment.

We met with Silvestro and Claudia again and we just seem to continue to run into the problem that they will not commit to the things we ask.  It’s hard when they tell us they will and they just continue to fall short, but I am trying to remember that everyone has their moral agency and they have the right to choose for themselves what they want to do.  That seems to be a main struggle is getting to meet with our investigators and getting commitments.

So the family that I had talked about that is here from Nigeria?  We haven’t heard from them and whenever we call it goes straight to voicemail, so we went to visit and see what was up and we ended up finding out the dad went back to Africa for work related purposes (we think) but one of the sons was there.  He had a priest over from the Catholic church and they said it would be fine to be able to share a message with them.  We did a quick lesson on the restoration and then left. [Read more…]

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

Roma 1 – Week 4

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: , , , , , ,

Roma 1 – Week 3

May 4, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Buongiorno!!

Ciao tutti!!  Today was a fun P-day, but before I get to that I want to pick up a little where I left off last Thursday, so some other things i wanted to share about Elder Bednar’s conference.

He was super funny and definitely had some great jokes, don’t know why that popped into my mind, but I really wanted to share that.  He knows so well how to be guided by the spirit when he teaches.  He wants to be sure that he addresses people’s needs and I really like that.  Through the QandAs he is able to address what people need and give us answers and then I love that he makes the point not to write down everything he says but to write down the things that the spirit teaches us.  We can receive teaching from the spirit that no one else can receive.  It can be so very specific and personal to us.  This makes me think of how it is with investigators that we can’t always know exactly what they are learning if they may not be comfortable sharing everything, but as we teach through the spirit, and their hearts are softened, the spirit can touch their hearts.

I just realized that I forgot my journal at the apartment, but I will share something that he said that I really liked.  An elder asked the question pertaining to how we can best prepare now for being fathers and mothers.  Then he asked if he could add to the question.  His response was that we first have to make sure that we are good husbands and wives and that really struck me.  I really loved what he said.  We have to make sure that we are good husbands and wives and then the fathers and mothers part will follow.  I love that.  He talked about how we have the responsibility to raise our children and raise them knowing the Gospel, and I thought that was really cool.  It reminds me of this past general conference, with the focus on families.  Family is so important to me.  I love my family so much and I am so grateful to know that through God’s plan I can be with my family for eternity.  That is so powerful.  God has ordained marriage.  The important bonds we make here can be bound and sealed for eternity.  I love that.  That is such an amazing part of God’s plan for us. [Read more…]

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

Roma 1 – Week 2

April 30, 2015 By 5 Comments

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. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Assignments, Italy, Roma 1, Tourist Sites Tagged With: , ,

Roma 1 – Week 1

April 20, 2015 By 1 Comment

Buongiorno!!

I finally made it here in Rome!!  The last days at the MTC flew by so fast.  They were really just all a blur together honestly.  We had a really good Monday, though, and we just got to talk about Italy with our teachers and learn more about the investigators that they taught and such.  It was a lot of fun and we saw some really awesome pictures and some funny videos.  It really got me excited to be able to meet the people.  We also shared about what we learned the most or what aspect did we feel like we gained a stronger testimony of.  I really learned how to teach people and not lessons.  I was able to really learn we have to teach the people and fit the Gospel to their needs and make sure they are hearing what the Lord would want them to hear and have the Holy Ghost testify of that truth to them.

Fratello Gessel, Sorella Ansted, and Sorella Preston were super awesome.  I am so thankful for my teachers and all the help that they gave me and they really did help me learn the language as well as grow spiritually.

I woke at 2:00 the next morning to get ready to go and we went to the airport.  On the first flight to Chicago I talked to a member the whole 3 hours and it was really nice and we shared some stuff that we both liked to do, but we mainly talked about the Gospel.  He made a good point on how when we have the Book of Mormon we really are better able to understand the Bible.  He shared Isaiah 53:6 (“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”) and it is kind of hard to understand fully what that means.  Then when you cross reference that with Mosiah Chapter 14 we can really see more clearly what the Savior would do for us.  The Book of Mormon compliments the Bible so well and I have thought somewhat regarding to the two and how they both give us so much.  I think of the scripture in 2 Nephi 29:8 and it really shows that they are both testifying of Christ and I just really like that they both stand as witnesses to him.  It was a really great conversation and he also said that this wasn’t going to be easy and he said you probably won’t be doing it right if it is easy all the time. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Assignments, Companions, Italy, Missionary Work, Roma 1, Tourist Sites, Transfers Tagged With: , , , ,

First Day in Italy

April 16, 2015 By 1 Comment

Note from Family:

Sister Waddoups posted many pictures on the mission blog this morning.  She also reported on the new missionaries as follows:

We received a new group of eight missionaries from the Provo MTC and one sister missionary from northern Italy who is here on a temporary basis until she gets a visa to travel to her actual assignment.  All of the missionaries received their checked luggage, but four of the elders had to check their carry on luggage because the plane was full and they didn’t get those suitcases.  They should be delivered to the office today, but the missionaries have already left for their assigned areas.  They will return to Rome in less than two weeks and can pick them up then.  As we get closer to the busy summer travel season, we have a lot of interesting luggage situations.  This one is actually a minor one and we’re grateful for that.

We’re excited to have the new “greenies” here in Italy.  They bring with them a renewed excitement for missionary work. 

We don’t know if Taylor was one of those four (50/50 chance) who will be without some things for a couple of weeks.  Also, we don’t know where he is assigned, so we’ll have to wait until next Monday, when he can email, to find out all the details.  On April 28th, Elder Bednar, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will be in Rome to train the missionaries on using their new iPads, so all of the missionaries will once again be in Rome for that, and the four who are missing luggage should be reunited with their suitcases then.

Here are some of the pictures from Sis. Waddoups’ blog. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Italy, Places, Rome Arrival, The Villa (mission home)

Arrived in Rome!

April 15, 2015 By 1 Comment

Note from family:

Taylor arrived in Rome this morning.  Sister Waddoups allowed the new arrivals to use her iPad to send a quick email home to let everyone know that they had arrived safely.  Taylor sent the following to Mindy:

Hey Mom!!
Just wanted to let you know that I that I made it safely to Italy!! I am all good and am really glad that I am here. Share this with everyone, love you all!
Love,
Taylor

 

Me in front of the Rome Temple, under construction.

Me in front of the Rome Temple, under construction.

New missionary arrivals, April 15, 2015

New missionary arrivals, April 15, 2015

 

Filed Under: Italy, Rome Arrival, Temple

The First Phone Call

April 14, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Note from Taylor’s family:

We in Taylor’s family were lucky enough this morning to gather together and talk with him on his first opportunity to call home (the next one will be on Mother’s Day).  He was calling from Chicago O’Hare, where they (he and his 7 companions who are going to Rome) had just landed  at 11:00 a.m. on their flight from Salt Lake City.  Their flight for Rome leaves at 4:45 p.m., so they have a pretty nice layover, with plenty of time to relax, get some food, and get ready for the 10 hour non-stop flight from Chicago to Rome. 

It was great to hear his voice, have him share a few stories from this week to catch us up, and have everyone have the opportunity to talk, catch him up on what they’ve been up to, and ask him questions.  We put him on speaker, so everyone could hear and ask questions.  He was feeding lots of quarters into the phone, but it was a great 45 minutes or so and it was wonderful to speak with him again.  They are enthused, excited, and nervous about beginning their time in Italy.  I think they feel less than adquate with their language skills at this point, but it’ll be much easier to progress on that when they are immersed in the culture and speaking Italian all the time. 

Over the coming weeks they’ll be working with their trainers and becoming increasingly confident in their abilities as missionaries and in their ability to speak and understand Italian.  We wish them the best on the rest of their journey and look forward to seeing Sister Waddoups’ blog tomorrow when we can see photos of them on their first day as missionaries in Italy.

Taylor is on speaker. The first mission phone call.

Taylor is on speaker. The first mission phone call.

Filed Under: MTC

MTC – Week 5

April 8, 2015 By 1 Comment

Ciao!!

This week was a lot of fun and we were busy as usual.  So I can’t remember if I ever mentioned that after our temple time a few weeks ago we ran into an investigator that comes to the MTC and she is so cool!  We talked to her because she saw our name tags and saw “Anziano.”  She was being taught by some other missionaries that were going to Italy when they were here at the MTC and she loved them, so that was really cool.  We kept talking to her and got to know her a little better and shared a few things with her.  The next week we ran into her before dinner and we talked to her for around an hour and got to share a lot of cool spiritual insights with her.  It was so cool.  We gave her some scriptures to read and a video to watch on the mormonchannel.com called The Hope of God’s Light.  That is one of my favorite mormon messages of all time.  I love that one and I thought that she would really enjoy that too.

Well we ran into her on the way back from the temple again and talked to her for around 45 minutes and got to know her even better.  I was so thankful for that opportunity and we really care for her and she followed up on the commitments we extended so that was really awesome.  We get to talk to her again today so I am excited about that!  She just talked about how much she liked being here at the MTC and felt good here and how she knows that she needs to start reading the Book of Mormon.  She is so awesome.  She really does believe that God is helping her in her life and she shared an experience she had with her son that truly did testify that God’s hand has been in her life continually.   He never leaves us through what we are going through and we need to do as Alma directed his son Helaman in Alma 37:36-37:

36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day. [Read more…]

Filed Under: MTC

MTC – Week 4

April 1, 2015 By 1 Comment

This week was another awesome one and we really just did the same old routine.  We are very used to the schedule now and they keep us super busy here.  We don’t have any down time to do nothing.  None at all really, and thats how it should be.  Any free time I get I am either studying the language or picking up the Book of Mormon.  I love how much time I have to really study the Book of Mormon and throw myself into it.

The rest of last week went by really nicely.  It’s really weird being on a mission because one moment in the day you can be so up and the very next hour you can be freaking out.  I just get really worried sometimes but I have to know that this is where I am supposed to be right now and this is what the Lord is wanting me to do.  I just have to diligently use all my time to prepare myself to the best I can for those people that the Lord has prepared for me in Italy.

Class is going really well.  We are getting to know our teachers better and I love them all.  They are all so nice and really funny.  They keep class fun while we continue to learn Italian and also the spirtual sides of things we need to know.  Its really crazy what we already know in italian.  Its pretty wild.  I am more confident with the 4 weeks and 1 day of Italian I have then I am with Spanish [after 4 years of it in high school].  I can converse a lot more and keep conversations going, for the most part.  I am really excited to continue to learn more these last two weeks. [Read more…]

Filed Under: MTC
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