February 3, 2020

ROME!

I'm being transferred to what the call the Ganz center. It's the area in Rome where it's just working with young adults. My new companion will be Anziano Hartvigson!

We had another baptism! It was a man who's family was baptized maybe half a year ago. The whole family are now members! The joy this gospel brings to these families is so amazing. 

I don't really have that much to say other than I'm headed to Matera right now. Hopefully there will be plenty of pictures for everyone to see. 

There'll be plenty of stuff to tell you all next week tho!! 

January 27, 2020

We had mission conference!! We went to Bari and learned about the tools that the church gives us as missionaries and we also talked a lot about famy history work. Us as missionaries are now called (at least in this mission) to do the work on both sides of the veil. We are supposed to call all members and friends not in our church to do family history work! So do it!  It's actually super cool. If you by any chance can read Italian, do Italian indexing because these people need help haha. Only two percent of the Italian documents that the church has digitalized has been indexed.

Comunque... Hopefully I'll have some pictures and videos for yall to see. Thank you everyone for your love and support and birthday wishes! It really means a lot to me! 

Vi voglio bene e ci sentiamo! 

January 20, 2020

I didn't say last week because we weren't supposed to tell anyone. But by now the cats out of the bag. I am now in a trio with the Taranto anziani. My companion was transferred to Rome and since it was in the middle of the transfer I don't have a companion yet haha. We are working in my area and theirs. It's been a fun time and we only have two more weeks like this.

I don't know if anyone remembers but my first 3 weeks i was in a trio with Taranto. So at the end of this I will have spent an entire transfer in Taranto. The dialect is still fun and having twice the work is fun too. We're always busy which is really nice. 

I've met with sooo many inactive members this past week. We basically find a way into their homes and help them realize that we're cool and want to be friends haha. One is coming to church again and brings his son and mom. We have a bunch of people who would potentially take the lessons from us but for now no. I definitely see how people say this mission is hard but that's only if you think you're supposed to get a bunch of baptisms or something. Or that you need to work harder to baptize people. If the person doesn't want to join the church they won't. We're here to invite them and teach them and that's it. And everyone should be doing that, not just missionaries. 

But yeah, life is great out here. I'm having a lot of fun and learning more than I could ever imagine. 

January 13, 2020

It's officially been six months and time has flown by. It's also strange because I've been in my first city for my entire mission haha.

I'm learning stattarúle, the dialect in Statte, from a guy in my English course. It's basically a ten minute class after English course. It's crazy because the dialect comes from Italian but sounds nothing like it. The grammar is kind of the same but also the grammar also doesn't exist in dialect technically. It's very weird. I've only learned simple phrases like bè wagnù! Shamene ca ije tarde. Which you can't pronounce just by reading it, and it's nothing like Italian . It translates basically to alright boys! Let's go because it's getting late. Things like this just keep the language interesting so it's not awful to study every single day. And yes learning a dialect does help with my real Italian.

I'm still learning guitar and stuff so that's cool too. I had exchanges in Bari so I got to serve there for another day. They have an African investigator who knows the doctrine and covenants better than I do I swear. He's literally the definition of elect. 

In Statte the work is currently focused on less active members and their families. It's pretty awesome being able to create these strong bonds with people who speak another language haha.

But yeah not too much going on. Just out here grindin'. Vi voglio bene e ci sentiamo fra poco! 

January 6, 2020

New Years is awesome in Italy. We were on top of the highest building in Taranto and saw the whole city exploding with fireworks. I also bought a new leather jacket because Saldi started the 6th (today). The language is soo much easier now. Now I can tell people in stores that I speak Italian when they try to speak English to me haha. And we can have normal conversations without the whole, what? I don't understand you. Like you just said you speak the language bud like come on. So yeah that's cool. I don't know if I said this but i'm learning guitar. By the end of two years I might be half decent. And I eat a lot here. Like a lot. I'm starting to take working out more seriously. I did 300 pushups last night. Not all at once but in like 25 at a time. I really don't want to let myself get fat out here haha. 

This is my blackout year? Apparently that's the year that you actually serve the entire year. So that's cool too. Time flies yet I feel like I've always lived here. Maybe because I've spent the entirety of my mission in one city. There's really not much to say because it's hard to remember every little thing from the week haha. For those who still know I'm alive, I'm doing great!! haha.

Ciao tutti! Vi voglio bene.

December 30, 2019

So Christmas was 5 days ago and places are still playing Christmas music. Is that the same back home? Also it's actually pretty cold now. Like 7 degrees Celsius but the wind is like ice. So yeah I'm waiting for saldi to get a nice jacket.

I'm learning guitar finally so my fingertips are badly calloused.

Domenico came to church and loved it so I just hope he'll want to go when I'm gone. He didn't even go to my ward so that's a good sign. We do have other potentials to teach right now but nothing too solid because of the holidays.

But yeah nothing much else to say. We had an old guy (91) come up to us in the store today. Since I can understand people better i could tell he was swearing like a sailor and telling us what old age does to your body. Some old people here can be pretty vulgar.

On that note! Personal revelation is super important everyone. Seriously, if you can't say you know how to pray and receive guidance from the Lord you should consider devoting some time to figure out how you personally receive revelation. Everyone is different but the need for it is consistent. Buona giornata tutti! Vi voglio bene.

December 25th, 2019

Merry Christmas!! Buon natale! Auguri!

Thank you everyone for all of the love and support. This email will be short but the message is important. Family is the greatest part of the Hollidays but they should be the center of everything year round. 

So hug your loved ones and sing a Christmas song for crying out loud! Haha