Main Menu

Tràpani – Week 10

Ciao Tutti!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week! We had to email in a cafe today because the Internet is out at the church. Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season back home! It is different here for sure. They have a festa tomorrow so a lot of the shops will be closed because that is the day that they put out their Christmas tree. It’s from the tradition that the Angel Gabriel visited Mary to announce that she would bear Jesus Christ. So tomorrow hopefully will be a good time for finding for us.

This week we were able to see 2 of our investigators and they have been reading in the Book of Mormon which is great. We want to help them progress and really be excited about how much blessings are in store for us as we embrace the gospel. I really know that with the gospel we will be able to have the most joy and happiness not only in this life, but in the life to come.

We were able to have some other really good lessons with some less actives as well as members. It is so nice and amazing to be able to follow promptings on spiritual thoughts and see that it was fit and really needed by the people that we share it with. I am thankful for the people I have the opportunity to know here and the friendships I have made with them. I hope that I will continue to get to meet amazing people and helping them to the best of my abilities.

We got our transfer calls this past Saturday and I will be staying here in Tràpani and Anziano LaPray will be heading up to Terni. It has been awesome to be able to work with him and I am thankful for all that I learned from him. He has showed wonderful examples of love, charity, awareness, and boldness. He is an awesome missionary and he speaks really awesome Italian. He is going to do amazing things. I look forward to being able to see him again later down the road in the mission. My new companion is going to be Anziano Spencer and he is coming down from Terni. We are just switching companions hahaha. It will be awesome though. Anziano Spencer is awesome and this will be his second city. Excited to start work with him Thursday! [Read more…]

Tràpani – Week 9

Buongiorno!

Hey everybody! Hope that everyone had an amazing week! Anziano LaPray and I just did spesa [shopping] and we bought some of the oranges since it is getting into orange season and they are fantastic. The weather has been getting chillier here. Nothing absolutely awful by any means, but it’s been cold, rainy, and windy. We have been handling it just fine though. This week we were able to get back to our city and we were able to see a lot of miracles this week. We were able to gain 4 new investigators this week and they all went really well! The first one seemed a little distracted during the lesson, but that is ok! We will see where he goes.

Friday night we had to go out finding in the rain and decided that we would have much better success in going “casa a casa.” One of the last houses that we went to the door was open and the gate was slightly open but we couldn’t decide if it was a one person building or multiple apartments. So as we are deciding whether or not to go in all of sudden out of the darkness walks a old lady. It was so unexpected and there were no lights on inside whatsoever. It was a little creepy because she didn’t say anything. We asked if we could share the video but we got the wave of disapproval. It was just really random hahaha. The next is a couple that we met street contacting doing a survey and they were hesitant to leave us their number. They said they only wanted to meet for 5 minutes to leave the Book of Mormon. Well we called them and to our surprise she all of a sudden changed her demeanor. She said she was expecting our call which was super cool. We went over and taught the first lesson and it went super well! It was really awesome.

They are super cool and were so very nice. They have two kids and they are really tall for Italians which is cool. They were all super nice.

We unfortunately won’t be able to see them this week, but we are going to contact them at the end of the week to set up a time for the following week. They gave us a recipe for Trapenese Pesto and some of the ingredients which was too nice of them. Then their older son gave us a ride to centro for our appointment with a less active. It was super awesome and such a big miracle. On the way home that night we were walking along Lungomare and the waves of the sea were just huge and there were big puddles in the street that cars were driving in. We almost got splashed on multiple occasions but it was really a small miracle that they never hit us at all. It was really sweet. We finished the night off after daily planning by setting up the Christmas tree!

We got a new investigator Sunday that we have met on the street twice and he is an evangelist pastor and really wanted the Book of Mormon.

We met with him and shared the message of the restoration and he was super excited to be able get a Book of Mormon. It was really awesome and he is super ready to receive the Book of Mormon. He too will be out of town so we will be able to meet with him in a couple of weeks.

This week went really well and the new Christmas video is out which we will start using now. It is really cool and brings a strong spirit as children talk about our Savior being born. It is really cool and the mormon.org sight is nice and decked out with a lot of cool things.

That is my invite this week is to check out the mormon.org sight.

Sorry I didn’t have a ton of time this week! I hope that everyone will have a wonderful week. I love you all and hear from you all soon!

Love,

Anziano Garrett

Tràpani – Week 8

Ciao tutti!

I hope that everyone had an amazing week! So this week was pretty different and a little wackier than the past. Tuesday we were able to do some good finding in the morning. We have been doing a survey that has been really helping us find success in getting numbers this past week. We have a lot of potential investigators  that we are going to start buckling down to get ahold of for lessons. I am really excited for the fact that we have been seeing a lot of success with it.

We were able to stay for English course that night and then headed to Palermo afterwards in order to be there in the morning for Specialized Training. It was  really awesome. The Sister Training Leader, Sorella Hansen, did a really good addestramento (training or something like that) on faith. It was really good talking about how faith is a power that really helps us move and as we apply faith in all we do we will see the miracles that will so often come with missionary work as we do all we can to make them happen with that faith. The Zone Leaders (love them) Anziano Kennedy and Anziano Trejo gave excellent discussion on unity within the a companionship so that we are able to better counsel with the lord and invite a stronger spirit with us. It was really nice and something that I was really happy to hear and can look to how we can do our best to have this between us and the Lord. We then had an interesting activity with Sorella Waddoups that taught about temptation and how hard Satan works with investigators to try to get them to stop meeting with us, not believe it, etc..  It was really a cool activity and just taught well about the competing voices that are investigators face but the spirt works by a still small voice. This is something that will help us for sure. President Waddoups gave an excellent addestramento on revelation.

We then had a good day and a half back in Tràpani and then Friday morning we went into scambio. I was able to go to Palermo with Anziano Kennedy. He is in his last transfer and will be going home shortly. He is so awesome and it was great to be able to learn so much from him. We had really good finding and were able to find success with that. We then had a really nice new convert lesson about Jesus Christ that went super duper well and we could feel the spirit as we talked about our Savior. Then to finish up the night there was an organized activity to watch Meet the Mormons in Italian for anybody that wanted to come. It went really well and was a really good thing to be able to show everybody that came. [Read more…]

Tràpani – Week 7

Ciao!

I hope that everyone had an amazing week and that you are all doing well! I am low on time so I apologize ahead of time.

We had a good week. We had a nice family home evening last week and it was really funny because during dinner a member is on a strict diet right now and he was sneaking food left and right. It was pretty darn funny and never seen someone eat a meatball that fast at all. This coming week we have specialized training and then a scambio later in the week with stake conference as well. I will be in Palermo Wednesday and then from Friday-Monday. So I will be there for awhile. Should be a nice time for sure though. I always love getting to learn from our zone leaders too. They are so awesome and glad that we have them in our district to get to know them better. We have sick [missionary-speak for awesome] English Course students that we have really strong relationships with. They are all so awesome. I love them. We really hope that we will be able to transition them more into the gospel. They are all so amazing and would love to be able to meet with them all.

This week we were able to see some of our investigators and had good lessons with them and members. We have one that we finally got to meet with for the second time that has been reading the Book of Mormon and retaining it really well. It is really amazing to see the progress out of them. We did a lot of finding this week and are really looking to be able to meet the people that we talked with again to share the Book of Mormon with them. We met some really amazing people and are looking forward to being able to meet with them and share our message with them. We just know how much it can bless their lives as they listen and choose to accept the invitations that we give them. Everybody can know for themselves that the things we share are true and we can’t force it on them. Even though it is so hard sometimes to see people choose not to listen and do the things we ask so they may know for themselves.

I have been reading a lot lately about the Restoration of the Gospel and trying to become more knowledgeable as well as strengthening my testimony of this great and wonderful last dispensation. I read this Ensign article entitled When Do The Angels Come? from April 1992 Ensign. I loved this story from it so much.

I suppose that Brother Williams made the same discovery as did the Saints in the Martin and Willie handcart companies, which were trapped by heavy, early snows on their way across the plains. In a conference address, Elder James E. Faust shared the feeling of one company member:

“‘Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church, because everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives, for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.

“‘I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have gone on [to some point I thought I could never reach, only to feel that] the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.” (Ensign, May 1979, p. 53.)

It is such a amazing story and so wonderful to know that the ministering of angels is still here and even though we can’t see them sometimes we can be blessed with these same wonderful amazing miracles. I love this scripture from D&C 84.

88 And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.

It so amazing to know that we have so much help in our lives. We have so much support in our lives as we submit ourselves to our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for all that Christ has given us. I love my Savior and know that he lives. And because he lives we will all live again, and he suffered for our sins. Through his atoning sacrifice we may be cleansed and washed away from the guilt that sin brings. I love you all and hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Anziano Garrett

Tràpani – Week 6

Ciao tutti!

I hope that everyone had an amazing week and that all is well back home wherever that may be for you! We had a good week this week and we were able to have some really great lessons. The weather is treating us well here in Tràpani. It is really pretty with all the sunsets and just the beauty of the city. We found USA food in a grocery store.  [see photo below] We also got 2 meters of pizza within 24 hours. We did not eat the entire 2nd one thank goodness. That one was shared with 3 others. We had gnocchi yesterday too, which was the first time since home. And more horse.

Tràpani is an amazing city with amazing people and I really look forward to being able to meet more and more of them. We are really having some good success in talking with a ton of people, but are still searching for those that are willing to listen to the message that we bring them.

This week we had an awesome first lesson with a member’s friend and we are really looking forward to continue to meet with her and her family very soon. She has a strong desire to learn more and to grow. She will be super awesome to meet with. We were also able to have two really good lessons with our investigators and last night we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. It was super cool and I always love watching that film. The spirit you can feel when talking about Joseph Smith. I am so grateful for everything he did. I know Jesus Christ truly restored his Church through Joseph Smith. It is amazing to know that God still talks to us today and provided the evidence necessary to know spiritually that this is Christ’s church on the earth once more.

This week for my ponderizing scripture I chose Hebrews 9:11

11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

With Christ even through times of difficulties there will always be good things to come. I love the Mormon Message with the same title. Good Things to Come. I love this quote that from the talk it is based around by Elder Jeffery R. Holland.

Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.

I would invite you all to watch the Mormon Message. It is really good as all of Elder Holland’s talks are.

Anziano LaPray and I will be staying another transfer together here in Tràpani. It will only be 4 weeks long because the Church doesn’t want to be having missionaries travel during the Christmas season. So the transfer after that will be 8 weeks long. I think I will be here for that one as well. We love working together and we are really growing together. We are really hoping to see a lot more investigators as we continue to try our best to talk with everyone we can. I love working with Anziano LaPray. He is super awesome. He is really funny and we are having a great time working with each other.

Everyone else in the district is remaining here other than Sorella Argyle, who is being transferred to Ostia for her last transfer.

Sorry I don’t have much else to report on this week. We are really looking forward to these next 4 weeks. I am loving Italy. It is wonderful getting to meet and love people here. It is an amazing place. I’m so very thankful for the opportunity to be here. I hope that everyone is enjoying life and soon Thanksgiving, which I don’t think exists here… But you all will enjoy it! Hope everyone has a wonderful week and I will hear from you all very soon!

Love,

Anziano Garrett

USA Food in a local Tràpani grocery store. Anziano LaPray has already picked out some pancake syrup.

USA Food in a local Tràpani grocery store. Anziano LaPray has already picked out some pancake syrup.

Tràpani – Week 5

Ciao!

I hope that everyone had an amazing week! This week was weird for us, but we made it through and were able to really see a lot of good things happen this week.

So Monday night we had a family home evening and had a new investigator that night. We talked about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It started out really well and then went kind of crazy (not in a bad way. Just got a little off topic and such) and we got it reeled back in. We went off topic after a few minutes more and we just needed to get it reeled back in. We went from talking about the Great Apostasy and went straight into Joseph Smith and the First Vision. It was really amazing because everything just got quiet and we could feel the spirit really strongly as we shared about Joseph Smith and the first vision. It was really amazing to just feel the spirt as we talk about that event that changed everybody’s lives. It was a really cool experience.

Tuesday we went to Palermo for our DDM [district meeting] and then we had to stay there because we went to the airport to go pick up Anziano Goode, who had to come back down to Tràpani to pick up his permesso (papers to stay in Italy). So it was a long day but it was really good. We got the permesso, no problem, and sent him back to Palermo and then we went and had some lessons.

Thursday we had a scambio and Anziano Trejo got to come back here to Tràpani. This was his first city in the mission and now he is back in Palermo as one of our zone leaders. He is super awesome. He is really funny, loving, kind, and is an amazing missionary. He was super fun to work with and I had a lot of good things to learn from him.

Friday we had some lessons planned but some of them fell through, but we had a good night. We made some caramel apples for some people and the first batch was a big learning curve. We are no Sister Cloward, but we tried our best.  The second batch looked and turned out much better. The third should be even better.  [Read more…]

Tràpani – Week 4

Buongiorno!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week and that all is well wherever you may be! We had a really good week week with some really good lessons. We are finding new work and have been able to see progress in one of our investigators. He is reading in the Book of Mormon and keeps coming to church each week and he is continuing to learn more and more. He is super awesome. We are excited to be able to continue to see him and meet with him. We have a lot of good work going and really are hoping to get a lot more going too. We are working hard to continue to push ourselves and to be better missionaries. We saw some really cool miracles this week. We went and visited a less active that we both never have seen and he is going to start coming back to church. He still reads the Book of Mormon every day from what we understood. He has three copies and one stays at work. He was super awesome to meet with and he has a family that aren’t members that haven’t been to church and we will make sure that we get them there too. We had amazing conversation with these two people while we were waiting for an appointment that fell through. I really enjoy having those conversations even though sometimes we never may see the results of where that conversation went.

I am really liking the Trapani area and enjoying working with Anziano LaPray, he is a really great missionary and he will do wonderful things here in Italy. Not sure at all if we will be going another one together or not. His uncle worked a lot on a movie coming out soon which is the story from the Mormon message Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light. Sounds like it will be pretty good so you guys should check it out it is called, Just Let It Go. Anziano LaPray wants to be here for Christmas to be with all the members.

The food is really good down here. Haven’t eaten a ton, but what I have eaten has been really good. I was hesitant to share last week what I ate in the fear of losing friends, but we ate horse last week. I didn’t know until the MTC that they eat horse down here. I can’t lie…. it was good. I love the brioche which is a nice big roll and then they slap three different flavors of gelato on them. They are amazing. I often think it is funny when we will be eating here and people will be talking about food for a good portion of the meal, but I honestly can’t laugh too much since my family does the exact same thing hahaha. We must have close Italian ancestry honestly. Trapani is awesome though.

If you have Meet the Mormons on DVD the bonus features have a lady that comes from Paceco which is just outside of Trapani. It has a lot of shots of the scenery around where I am at. It’s got an amazing story in it as well.  [The extra feature on the DVD is entitled “The Artist.”] [Read more…]

Tràpani – Week 3

Ciao tutti!

So last week we had some good lessons with a couple of our investigators. One is super awesome and he has such a big desire to follow God’s will and really wants to do what is right. He is super amazing and it is always a pleasure to get to talk to him and he has been coming to church for a while now. I really like getting to see him and meet with him.

We did some finding last week and switched up with what kind of style of finding. We had a good time doing one where we had the painting of Christ ordaining the Twelve Apostles and it was fun to do that and we look forward to trying it out with some other paintings.

We had Zone Conference last Wednesday and it was really nice. We had some great success finding in Palermo and then stayed the night there and had zone conference the next day. It was really an awesome time and I loved being able to hear from the assistants Anziano Pingree and Anziano Borden, President Waddoups, and Sorella Waddoups. It was really enjoyable and I learned a lot of what I can work on to become a better missionary. There is always something we can work on, but it was really nice to hear from our leaders and now we jus have to do our best to take away what we learned and apply it into our work and lives.

I don’t have too much else to report on right now. Really looking forward to this week and looking forward to everything that we have lined up and planned out.

So this week I picked my new scripture to ponderize. I chose 3 Nephi 13:34, which can also be referenced as Matthew 6:34 or D&C 84:84 (without the last sentence):

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.

I really like this scripture because it helps remind me to just live today. Not saying it isn’t important to prepare or think about the past, but sometimes if we do that too much or have the “I will be happy when…” mentality it can be dangerous. I just want to be sure to live to make the most of my day. I have always liked the quote from Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.”

I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week! Talk to you all soon!

Anziano Garrett

Trapani, Oct., 2015

Trapani, Oct., 2015

Trapani, Oct., 2015

Trapani, Oct., 2015

Trapani, Oct., 2015

Trapani, Oct., 2015

Trapani, Oct., 2015

Trapani, Oct., 2015

Trapani, Oct., 2015

Trapani, Oct., 2015

Anziano LaPray, October, 2015, Tràpani, Sicily

Anziano LaPray, October, 2015, Tràpani, Sicily

Canoli right from the source. This is true Sicilian food.

Canoli right from the source. This is true Sicilian food.

[Here are some pictures of zone conference from the mission blog]

Palermo Zone, October, 2015

Palermo Zone, October, 2015

Zone conference singing, Palermo Zone, October, 2015

Zone conference singing, Palermo Zone, October, 2015

The two BYU basketball players in our mission, Anziano Mika and Anziano Pingree.

The two BYU basketball players in our mission, Anziano Mika and Anziano Pingree.

Zone conference singing, Palermo Zone, October, 2015

Zone conference singing, Palermo Zone, October, 2015

My companion, Anziano LaPray, Anziano Trejo, and me with Sorella Waddoups at zone conference, Palermo Zone, October, 2015

My companion, Anziano LaPray, Anziano Trejo, and me with Sorella Waddoups at zone conference, Palermo Zone, October, 2015

Sorella Argyle and Sorella McFarland are studying hard at zone conference

Sorella Argyle and Sorella McFarland are studying hard at zone conference

Anziano Kennedy and Anziano LaPray with me at zone conference, Palermo Zone, October, 2015

Anziano Kennedy and Anziano LaPray with me at zone conference, Palermo Zone, October, 2015

With Anziano Pingree at zone conference, Palermo Zone, October, 2015

With Anziano Pingree at zone conference, Palermo Zone, October, 2015

Palermo Zone conference, October, 2015

Palermo Zone conference, October, 2015

Sorella Argyle and Sorella McFarland, members of my district working in Palermo.

Sorella Argyle and Sorella McFarland, members of my district working in Palermo.

Tràpani – Week 2

Buongiorno!

I hope that everyone had an amazing week! This week was great for us!

I want to start out with one of my miracles of the week. So we were doing finding one morning and we were going around sharing a video and talking to people. We were near a hospital at this point. This one family looked like they were in a hurry so I tried to hand the mom a pass along card but she didn’t take it. It did look like they possibly weren’t from here and so we kept walking along the side of the hospital building. All of sudden I just felt something wet land on me in different places on my body. I just asked Anziano LaPray, “What was that?” I asked a few times and looked around myself. I finally noticed that a bird had managed to poop on me. The iPad case took most of the hit thank goodness, but needless to say it was on my hands, iPad, head, pants, and shirt. So I was like we are going to go clean up in this hospital. We walked to the side door that was just behind us where that family was. They asked if we spoke English and they were needing help getting in. We took them around to the front after finding out that side door wasn’t open. They were needing help getting medicine for the little girl since she had a ton of mosquito bites. We offered to translate for them and went to ask for help. They directed us to the pharmacy to get them where they had just come from so we told them we would help them out but I needed to clean up first. Went and cleaned up then we went to the pharmacy and helped them get the medicine they needed. While I was cleaning up I was just thinking that the bird really did poop on me for a reason. I was so thankful to be able to have a small service opportunity.

I didn’t get to tell much about Anziano LaPray at all last week. He is from Idaho Falls, Idaho. He graduated in the same class as me, but I am still older. He is really awesome though. We have the same taste of music, movies, books, tv shows, video games, etc. We do have a lot in common. He is super funny too which keeps things fun for sure. We are getting along just great and I am excited to be working with him. He is a really hard worker and is an awesome missionary. He is really good at Italian too which helps and both of us are learning from each other. He is super fun to work with and is just super cool.

This week though we got to meet with a good amount of investigators.

We walked to a little town about 8km away and it was a beautiful walk.

We had a referral over there that we were going to meet and it ended up being a wonderful lesson. On the way back we found there was a bus we could take and we decided to wait for it. Thank goodness too because it just started to pour. It reminded us of the Rock Bottom episode of Sponge Bob. We had two good lessons yesterday that we thought went well. [Read more…]

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. [Read more…]