September 9, 2019

So I was born in two cities, Statte and Taranto. I loved it but now my tale of two cities is over. Now I can focus on the people in my area and really get some work done. I will miss the people of Taranto tho. 

     We had a baptism in Taranto Saturday. Apparently someone else told a member that they would like to be baptized too! I love it here haha. There's some hilarious people like a member in Taranto that throws cornutes at everyone and pulls a knife on you haha. Everyone knows he's never serious but if you don't know him you'd totally think he is.

    We had zone conference! It was super fun and I got to spend a night in Bari. We got to go street contacting so we walked around with books of Mormon and talked to people. I met an awesome guy who dreams of visiting LA and I may have invited him to meet my family there when he goes. And since this is the first they've heard of this.... He's trying for summer of 2020! He speaks English and I'll keep you guys updated. We're Facebook friends now. 

    Dialects are fun haha I understood a lady when she told her husband to shut up and eat haha. I wouldn't be excited to understand it but it was a completely different dialect which can be a whole other language depending on where you are.

     We had a youth activity and watched emperor's new groove in Italian and ate Panzerotti. It was super fun and I think us missionaries enjoyed the movie way more than the youth haha. Now that I can somewhat understand them and speak I can actually make friends with the youth and members.

     Voglio imparare la lingua più veloce ma ogni persona dice "piano piano" (step by step). È più difficile parlare di capire.

My favorite part about this language is probably how often they use the word beautiful. They say ciao bello as a greeting all the time haha.

Vi voglio bene! Ciao! 

These egg things are called Pumi.  They're good luck or something.  You can google it. 

September 2, 2019

 So a week is a long time to remember everything that happened haha. But yes I got lined up by an Italian barber. He insisted on the style. Apparently I look even more Italian. A bunch of people say they see Italian in me and ask if I'm Italian. They always include how being short is an Italian feature haha.

     So the language is rough but apparently I'm doing better than most people on their first weeks which is encouraging but I also hardly understand anyone. So they're saying they walked around for a week understanding almost nothing?  I guess this is how I learn patience for myself tho. Little kids are the best to talk to because it's very hard to understand them and they are just hilarious in general. I met a little girl with the biggest Italian attitude I've ever seen. She's all up in your face telling you about the YouTube show she's watching about crazy people that go into houses where vampires live. Or at least that's what I got from all of that. I can't wait until I can understand everyone better haha. 

    It's lit here tho and even tho we had to work with two cities and had no time to do anything we actually get everything done. My man Mario is almost done smoking so he can be baptized. I think I can say his name because literally so many people have the same first names. BTW... That preacher isn't scared of us being right. He has such a strong testimony that he doesn't believe he needs more. He's afraid to doubt his beliefs by testing ours out. He doesn't care at all about money either. He's an awesome guy looking for the truth and would do anything to follow God. The stories he and the other immigrants from Africa are insane. In order to get here they have to go through territory where they are in slaved and if they survive it they can leave for Italy. They credit God with their lives and they owe him everything. They're truly an elect people.

     Soon I'm going to only Statte and can really focus in on helping people there. Our area is still kinda big so some members have to drive an hour to get to church. Lots of people go inactive because of it. So my goal is to go out to that area and create a group big enough so they can meet on Sundays. We're meeting with the stake president this week. Luckily Anziano Stark doesn't think I'm crazy.

     Vi voglio bene! Syl (Speak Your Language-the process they were taught in the MTC where they try to only speak Italian) is super hard but it's coming. I'm doing great and I hope all of you are too! 

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.