August 26th, 2019

So it's been like two weeks since I've emailed haha. Week one in Italy was crazy but I love it here. It's hot and humid but I'm getting used to it pretty quick. So much has happened that I don't even know what to say. The more soupy the pizza the better it seems to be. The best pizza other than Napoli is in Statte and it's owned by a member so we always eat free. The ward is a big family and after one day of knowing them they treat me like I'm one of them. Everyone calls me a greeny and laughs and says I'm a baby. Someone said I look like people they know in Bari. The general attitude of everyone is amazing haha. Everyone is social and they get in each other's faces with their hands and they all call each other out on EVERYTHING. My companion is a
Anziano Stark but I'm in a trio with a
Anziano Officer because his greeny didn't come because of the whole visa situation. I'm over Statte but we are in charge of Statte and Taranto. We have two houses it's pretty cool. Apparently I'm doing pretty good with the language but that's only because I pray for help constantly and am always asking questions about it. The view of the city is from the Taranto house. I'm re-learning piano and guitar because we have both. One in each house. The feel of Italy is just overall great. Almost no traffic laws. Oh yeah...... we have a car. We have English class twice a week and most people that come aren't members of the church. They're amazed by how much Italian I knew my first day in Italy haha. Welp.... That's my story with no context or rhyme and reason as to how I change subjects every sentence. Also English is getting harder and harder especially when it comes to writing haha. Ciao! Vi voglio bene! 

August 20, 2019 "I Made It!"

Email and pictures from Preston and his Mission President and his wife....

(From Preston) So this place is waaaay better than I could have ever dreamed of. In person you can really see the detail put into everything. I love it here and they’re gonna feed us soon so I’m excited. Vi amo!!


(From the Smiths) We are so happy and excited have Anziano Harvey here with us!! We love him already!! Thank you for sending him to us!
Gratefully,Presidente & Sorella Smith

August 16th, 2019

I finally got to go through the temple today! It was amazing. 
     This week I taught my teacher Sorella Hickey as herself. Not as someone she was pretending to be. It was a super spiritual experience and I do belive that through the spirit we can love those we teach and genuinely want to help them come unto christ. Tomorrow I will be teaching my other teacher Fratello Wagstaff. I don't know however what he needs to be taught. Yesterday as I struggled with this question I begged God in prayer that I would recieve revelation for how to teach him. Sorella Hickey, even though she wasn't even teaching us at that time, came and sat next to me and my companion and we asked her our question. She gave us exactly what we needed. I asked her about it later and I'm not sure she knew why she wanted to sit next to us either. The power of prayer is real. 
      Last Monday was the last day my teacher Sorella Berry had with us. We were her first and last missionaries because she mainly taught the Senior missionaries. It was sad seeing her go but she really did touch all of our lives before leaving. It will be sad to say goodbye to everyone, but we're leaving to do the work in Italy.
     Last night we did a speed walking race and Sorella hickey joined in. I'm trying to get the video haha. The language is seriously coming and we can all have real conversations. Only 5 elders in my district have their visas. We at least think we do. All of the other missionaries went to the later appointment through the mtc. They haven't gotten theirs yet and there's a chance they will have to be at the mtc another week. We're all praying they can come to Italy with us. 

     So che mediante fede in preghiera possiamo ricevere risposte e aiuto. Dio ci ame. Lui vuole ci aiutare. Le prove in questa vita è per noi diventare persone migliori. È così che possiamo imparare giusto da sbagliato. Vi amo. But apparently that's weird to say soo... Vi voglio bene. Until next time. 

August 9, 2019

Weeks are going by so fast and now I have 10 days left. I'm having fun and learning so much right now. 

     One of my teachers told us about her first day in Rome and how they had to go out handing out books of Mormon as soon as they got there. They got to walk around Rome to the Colosseum and stuff as they did it.

     I'm super excited to meat a bunch of Italians even if they don't really want to listen to me haha. On Monday I had a video chat TRC where we teach someone who speaks Italian really well. They try to find Italians for everyone but only half of us did. I got to meet one of my teacher's boyfriends and he spoke the language SO WELL. I'm so excited to get out of here.

     I can now speak in the present, past, and future. We can teach almost every lesson there is and it's coming way easier than it should. Our lessons actually bring the spirit even though we sometimes have no idea what we're saying or how we're saying it haha. The gift of tongues is real!

     My goal coming out of the mtc is to make people think I'm just a mentally challenged Italian haha. I want to get the Pronunciation down so people think I just never learned much vocabulary at all.

     Volleyball is really fun out here with my district. Next email will be my last before I'm in Rome!

   I Love You Guys! 

       

August 2, 2019

So days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. The Japanese elders in our zone bought hundreds of bouncy balls to throw around in the residences and stuff. There's only one rule with them and that's that you have to throw the ball to bounce once before it hits someone. Yesterday we threw them into each other's showers haha. 

     Laundry at 5:30 in the morning is like the dmv if they actually gave you a set time when you can get to them. It's so annoying when a washer finishes and the owner of the clothes is nowhere to be found. At 6:10 however the laundromat is empty haha idk.

     We had a temple walk and got a few more pictures. I realize that I didn't get any of them yet tho. I decided to take a picture of the holiness to the lord sign at every temple I visit. 

      We witnessed some missionaries trying to convert trees. I'd like to see that baptism. I hope that picture makes it onto the blog haha idk if videos can go on it or not.

      I've been having so many spiritual experiences and there are moments that I actually see Satan's attempts at stopping them. I know I'm on the right path and I'm so excited to go to Italy.

     So che mediante preghiera, possiamo ricevere risposte per nostre domande. Mediante Lo dono dello spirito santo possiamo sapere la verità di ogni cosa. Dio è il nostre padre celeste e lui ha molto amore per la sua figli. Vi amo tutti. Ti parlerò la prossima settimana.