November 25, 2019

Rome was fun! We listened to Elder Sabin and his wife and they had a lot of great things to say. I got to see the temple again! It makes me want to serve in Rome so I can actually go inside.

I saw my first companion and the sister who served in Taranto and left like 5 weeks ago. Time flies here. 

I got to eat some kebab from the place every missionary raves about. It was really good so I understand why everyone loves it so much. 

Domenico is on a great path to be baptized but I don't think I'll be here long enough to do it /:

I'm also pretty sure I'm leaving Statte the week before Christmas. I'm excited to see where I'll go but if I go to a not so good area Christmas might be what me and my companion make of it haha.

Thanksgiving is not celebrated here but the missionaries planned a party with the Taranto ward that we'll be attending. 

We went fishing with a half investigator I guess you'd call him. It was fun but we only caught tiny fish. 

On the way to Rome my companion and I brought pesto pasta that we cooked before hand because the train ride was long. So for lunch on the train we had pasta and Brownies and cookies and other snacks. We were prepared. 

That's the end of my random all over the place email. If you have any questions email me! 

Vi voglio bene! 

November 18, 2019

This week was pretty cool! Transfers lasted three whole days. Basically we were dealing with getting people to their cities and helping our new missionaries in our district get to their areas. It was a long week as well haha. 

I don't know if I said this last time because it happened Monday, but if I did then here it is again haha. I was called to stay in Statte for the next 5 weeks. It's only 5 because they don't want it to end the day after Christmas. That was a huge blessing because that same night Dominico (new investigator) asked me to baptize him. He now has sense and realizes that it's actually an important decision to be baptized so he's taking the lessons. I have very high hopes for him. Also the next day at English course, a student who's like 60 something years old at least, asked us if we ever have a class with just him then we should read the book of Mormon together in English and translate it to Italian and see how we do. He straight up offered to read the book of Mormon with us! That's insane haha I was so happy and was like yeah that's a great idea! Haha. 

We have a long week ahead of us because we're all going to Rome for mission tour. Basically the guy in charge of the European missions is coming and we're all going to Rome to listen to him speak or something. Everyone but the missionaries in Sicily are going so ill see mostly everyone. That will be a 3 day long thing because of travel. 

I'm doing good here and love hearing from everyone! 

Vi voglio un mondo di bene! Yes, Italians say that. 

November 11, 2019

Domenico bought us cologne. We got to see him again but we didn't have time to sneak in a lesson.

I had a scambio at Lecce. I don't know how to say it in English. It's where you trade companions for the night and the next morning. So I stayed the night in Lecce and we walked around the city for 4 hours trying to talk to people. We ate pizza and went to bed. That was basically all our scambio was haha.

We have transfer calls tomorrow. I don't think I'm gonna leave but we'll see. I couldn't imagine doing missionary work anywhere but here tho. And btw I'm not forgetting English... Only the more advanced vocabulary I'm forgetting. And I don't know words in English if it's like missionary terminology or something that I didn't ever learn in English to begin with.

BTW I forgot to say. I went to the English course in Lecce and it was short notice to tell them we were having it so only like 4 or 5 people showed up. But that's not the point. It was actually really fun and we made fun of how Italians give directions and stuff and they know that one of their missionaries are leaving so they were like "maybe you'll come to Lecce!" and I'm very doubtful of that haha but it's nice that they liked me haha. My 1/4 Italian helps me bond with Italians I guess. Especially the old men. I just get them  like I'm on the same wavelength as these old Italian men. They're honestly hilarious.

It's only sometimes that I really think of home but it feels like it's been an eternity since I've been there. I feel like I've been in Italy my whole life haha. I've only been away for 3 transfers (18 weeks) or only 17 weeks as of the 11th actually. I also feel like my emails home are different than everyone else's. I just gotta keep it interesting so people might actually read 'em ya know?

I guess I'll finish my saying that if you're the age to be a missionary... Go. If you're considering it at all than go. I've learned more in these past few months than I think I've learned my whole life. If you have the heart to change and grow god will really help you with that. Never have I seen the path so clearly. Like I'm not just gonna say I'm closer to God than ive ever been. I probably am but still. I am gonna say however that I can almost literally see that path I have to follow and I can easily see my progress as I follow it. And whenever I don't feel that clarity it means I'm straying off the path, maybe not by much but enough to keep me from getting where I want to go.

If you want to talk about the gospel email me! I'm the weekly hotline for that for the next two years and it's literally my life rn so hit me up. There are some cases that I can reply any day but don't lean on that one because that's very very rare. But now my email is too long and grazie mille to those who actually read this. 

Vi voglio bene!! 

November 4, 2019

All is well in Southern Italy! These past few months have gone by so fast. I'm learning the language super quick and I don't feel like I'm studying enough to deserve it. I have a weird feeling that there's something coming up that I need to be better at the language for so God is kinda helping me get to the point I need to be at. I am now studying way harder tho so that I feel like I deserve the progress haha. 

I made a new friend Domenico. He's an old Italian man from Taranto who says I'm like his grandson. When I first met him we just started talking and he asked things about my mission like how much do I get paid haha. I told him we aren't paid and in fact we pay to be out here. When he heard how much he was like why the heck do you want to be here haha. That opened us up for me to bear my testimony to him and he was like "wow" haha and he gestured to his arms and said he had goosebumps. He said how much he liked me and that I spoke to his heart. I told him that that's the holy spirit that does that and I told him how I wouldn't be able to speak the language without the spirit either. 

It truly was a miracle tho because my language ability literally jumped so far at that moment and it went back down just a little but I literally improved over night. Domenico and I are staying in contact and he really seems to love me and he tells me that all the time haha. But I don't think he realizes why he loves me. I just need to help him realize that he may like me but it's the spirit I bring that he loves the most. I'm hoping to be kinda furbo by slipping in the lessons with our meal appointments with him.

Another miracle from Domenico! This less active lady in Statte that we've been trying to contact is his sister!! We got to talk with her just a little but Domenico is a possible investigator and an in on a less active! We're being so blessed out here and I'm so grateful for it because we really hit a rough patch in the work with a lot of labor with no visual rewards coming from it.

I love Italy but it's making me appreciate America haha. Italy is great to have fun and the social life here is really amazing. The problem is the simple things like their weird toilets and stuff. Work isn't great here either. And customer service here isn't a thing and nobody expects it so nobody cares haha.

Anyways. Vi voglio bene! Until next week! 

October 28, 2019

This week was pretty cool. We've been doing a lot of walking the streets talking to people recently because it's been hard to contact the people we're teaching. The sorella left for Rome so now it's just Anziani.

I made Brownies and gave some to a member family. They were really good if I do say so myself.

I've been trying to find patches and pins for my backpack but I can't find any anywhere... Apparently they're only at the Chinese stores but I haven't found them there either.

Time is actually going by really fast. My greatest fear is not getting the language really good before the end of my mission. Kind of a weird thing to be worrying about but still haha. Being in a foreign country really makes you appreciate America more haha. Holloween is actually 3 days away that's crazy. Someone made me realize that I have 3 general conferences left on my mission and that made it seem waaaay shorter.

But yeah not much to say other than I'm doing good and learning a lot. I'm basically an expert on how Italy works now.

Ciao tutti!