The 3 C's...or the 3 P's...

Hello Family! Me and Anziano Stewart had another good week here in Messina-Reggio! This week we had a ton of people from the ward make a templet rip up to Switzerland. It is a huge, long bus ride or expensive plane ride to make it all the way up there, but it's amazing to see how much faith and desire some of these people have to go up there! We had two couple that were able to be sealed (Namoli and Kushon. Gabrielle and Milana). Both of them have been waiting a long time to be sealed together but have not had the money or time to make it up there. So both of them were able to go this week and be sealed with their children. We also had about 15% of the active ward take out their endowments this week too! Also, a lot of the youth went. They are staying up in Switzerland all week and going many times. They are coming back Saturday.

Met a man on the tram (which we ride quite frequently) who had broken his arm. Asked him how he did it... Turns out he legittimato slipped on a banana peel. Hehehe. BUT! We got his numba and had a lesson with him. Funny story number two from this guy. He agreed to meet us at the nearby granita shop and he comes with his girlfriend and girlfriend’s daughter. He sits us down and tells us that he really is not interested but he just wanted us to meet his girlfriend’s daughter! Questions were asked hearts were broken. Ended up giving a brief lesson on chastity... But we managed to flip it around and gave a Book of Mormon lesson. Surprisingly, the spirit came in and touched this man so that by the end of it he was actually crying. Woot! Gave him a Book of Mormon and he cried again. He said that he loves how we follow Christ and he wants to follow Christ. We just may have a new investigator?

We trammed on out to the town of Milazzo to meet with the Buononotte Family. They have a daughter on a mission right now in Toulouse France. We are going to try to get some lessons with Papa Bounonotte, who is not a member. The wife is way active and the younger daughter wants to go to BYU in 2 years. We are praying we can get some lessons with him. Also... Milazzo is very far away so it’s not easy to get out there.

I purchased a cook book this week! Found it in a wee little Libraria and it contains 1000 Sicilian Recipes! We have been eating spazzatura for the past couple weeks and I am sick of it! But this week we cooked some delicious ham fried rice, garlic chicken, lasagna (I cooked the lasagna mom taught me how to make), and other goodies. We made some American Brownies for one of our English Class student’s birthday.

This is Dion. He is Sri Lankan and he is awesome. He doesn't speak much Italian but understands enough English to get by. We go tracting with im into the Sri Lankan ghettos so he can translate. He is awesome at that.

We taught this member named Dilani (She is Sri Lankin... Messina has the 2nd biggest population of Sri Lankins outside of Sri Lanka. Cool eh. I have learned a little Sing Hala here as well! She has been having a hard time lately and we haven’t really known why. She is probably the most faithful member we have and she just loves the church more than anything. We went to see what was up with her. She said she has been a having a hard time reading the Book of Mormon because she can only read Sing Hala. But Sing Hala has an insane alphabet. Google it. She can’t really follow the story because there are so many characters she does not know. She was really sad because she loves the Book of Mormon but is not getting much from it. Wow... That is really hard. What do you say to that? We told Book of Mormon stories (all about the Lamanites from ancient history) to her and she really liked that because she doesn’t know them. We are wondering how to help her.

So yes... It’s been another good week in the land of 3Cs--Calcio, Catholicism, and Carbinara. Or maybe the 3Ps--Pride, Padre Pio, and Pasta? Either way... It’s a beautiful land full of amazing people! 

Ciao Ciao Ciao. Ciao Ciao. Arrivaderccc (Are-ri-va-derch). (The young people always say that.)

Pictures from Catania Zone Conference

The following pictures are from Nate's mission president's blog:

15 Augoso, and Other Such Adventures

'Twas but another good week in Messina. This week we experienced such adventures as: Zone Conference, Spiritual Lessons, 15 Agosto, and much, much more.

So this week we had Zone Conference down in Catania. It was pretty fun and I very much enjoyed it. I was amazed by how BIG Catania is compared to Messina. It was HUGE! The Catania Missionaries were busy picking up President and the Assistants from the Airport so we had to walk about 3 hours to the Anziani Apartment building and we got there at about 10:30 at night. (We as in Reggio and Messina missionaries.) Catania used to have 2 cars until the sisters, bless their hearts, wrecked the 2nd car. Everybody was okay but now they have to walk everywhere. In Messina it takes about 1.5 hours to walk the whole city. We walked for 3 hours in Catania and didn’t even see a fourth of it. It’s huge.

Zone Conference was great and President stressed the importance of using study time in the morning and the importance of trainers. Our Zone is very, very, very young. To give you a perspective of how young it is... 15 of the 18 people in our zone are under 3 transfers. That is to say, 15/18 have only been in Italy for 4 months. My companion is the oldest Elder with 6 transfers. Sister Waddups stressed the importance of wearing good shoes and avoiding ingrown toe nails.

It was nice to see all my friends from the MTC as well. They are doing well and it was fun to talk about our experiences in the different cities.

The APs forgot the mail for our Zone so we will get all of our letters in 2 weeks during transfers. But! I did get 4 letters this week for Mom, Ty, my friend Steve in Sweden, and my friend Blaikly! They were all sent around August 6ish to August 9ish. Also... The mail theives of Italy are at it again! 2 of my 4 letters were cut open. Those sneaky fiends may have taken out some stuff but the actual letters were still there. Oh! Also... The mail in Sicily is actually a lot worse than the mail on the mainland. So if it is a letter filled with anything somewhat important you could send it to the Rome address and it might be better off. Boh. Thanks for the letters though! I love real mail.

We were able to teach another lesson with Isac and Jial this week. They are the couple who are missionaries for another church. They are actually interested, which I think is really awesome! We are currently teaching them a lot about the plan of salvation and modern revelation. They believe 100 percent in the Bible—that the Bible is perfect and their church is based off that. I think I said they believe about 95% what we believe. I like ‘em. They always give us juice and milkshakes! They have 3 little kids that love it when we come over and cry when we leave. They are having some struggles understanding the Prophet Joseph Smith so that’s what we will focus on this week. Isac knows the Bible better than anybody I have ever met.

This week was also the big 15 Agosto so a lot of tourists came to watch the big Parade. Which was actually pretty cool. I liked it a sack (they say that here when they like something a lot). About 2000 young boys carried this huge tower of cherubs and saints around the city. But no religious holiday can be complete without lots of strong drinks, bonfires, and techno music. The people were going crazy for literally the whole 24 hours! And...as God did in times of old when the people where wicked... A huge thunderstorm complete with a 4.9 earthquake hit Messina the very next morning. A few people died actually but nothing was really damaged. I thought it tragic irony. The earthquake was kinda cool actually. I felt it and ran to the window and opened the sash to see what was going on but it had ended by that point. Anziano Stewart slept through it.

This is Kushon, who we went to the fair with. Kushon is from Sri Lanka and doesn't speak much Italian.

That night we ate at Namila and Kushon’s house. They are Sri Lankan members that love cooking for the missionaries and doing missionary work. They are new converts and going to the temple this month. Yay! The food they cook is always super, super hot, and you eat it with your hands. It’s super good though. I want to learn how to cook Sri Lankan food.

I find it interesting that Italy, for the most part, only has converts in their wards. The mission of Italy has only been open for 40ish years so everybody in the ward has a conversion story. There are a few young kids who were born in the church, but everybody else met with the missionaries. It makes me feel special and the ward loves the missionaries. Maybe too much. They get kinda of needy sometimes and we just want to focus on investigators. But it’s a necessary thing we gotta do here.

I am still searching for the infamous, nay even illusive, Black Pasta that calls Sicily its home. They make the Black Pasta with ink from Squids. Supposedly it’s only small towns that have it the further East you go. I always have my eyes peeled for it though!

Ciao Ciao...Ciao Ciao Ciao...

Love you all a sack.

Ciao Ciao...

Miracle Messina

Well, it's been just another good week here in Miracle Messina. That is to say... It's been busy and we were not able to spend that much time in Messina! Boh. So Anziano Stewart had to leave to go to Catania for a leader meeting and to do some baptism interviews for some people in Catania. I was then shipped over to Reggio, alone, again. Spent some good time with the Reggio missionaries and we did work there and Stewart did work in Catania. It all works out in the end, but it's kinda sad that we didn't have time to work our own city this week. But I will recount some of the tales and adventures that I had this week!

Italian Style BBQin'

As an English Class we were able to go up to the north shore of the island and go to our one student’s house... More of a mansion really... That is to say... It was a mansion! Our English class is actually really, really close and a lot of them have been coming for years. We ate sausages and hamburgers (they loved that they were cooking American Hamburgers). The house overlooked the ocean and we ate dinner in their winery. They loved showing us their winery and this huge 200 kiloliter fermenter they had! The thing was huge, man. But yes. It was a grand ol’ time. Also really nice to get out of the big, bad streets of Messina for a while and see the countryside.

So this week we went visiting non-members houses and we went way up into the hills of Messina to visit this really, really, really... really, really, really old member who can't make it down to church. But where she lived was super cool! Just above her house there were tons of little cities on the hills and tons of houses literally just hanging from the cliffs. Classic little Sicilian towns. But we got a member to come with us, Fratello Impolongia (Impolonsta the Monsta we call him). But it was a darn tootin' good thing we did to because she didn't speak Italian, only Messinese. Also, she couldn't read, so that would have been really difficult. But Impolonsta was awesome and translated for us. He really is such an awesome guy and he's always willing to come do missionary Work. In fact, every morning he gets on his knees and prays for a missionary opportunity that day. Fortissimo. 

We also went to go gardening this week at the home of the Underwear Shop owning member! She lives in like the inner city, so we really were not expecting it to be very much work... But we go there and she literally had a full-fledged garden, complete with a few fruit trees. It actually was a two day project and she, along with every Italian I've ever met, loves to talk and eat dinner, so when we try to leave it's at least another hour... Mamma mia... So those two nights we got home at like 10:30 and I was just wicked tired the next two days. But we love it and it was actually really fun. She's funny.

And also I went alone to Reggio this week. Like last week, it was weird to be alone for like 40 minutes without a companion, but the Reggios met me at the docks. We had a lunch appointment that day outside of Reggio in this little tiny town. But this lunch appointment was crazy. This guy, Giatano, is infamous for his cooking. He has about 50 rabbits and 50 ducks and geese in his garden that he raises and cooks. That day we ate one of his geese. Also, Giatano is the biggest Italian man I have seen thus far... He's probably 400 pounds. He just kept feeding us and feeding us! Pasta and Goose and Pasta and Goose. I was so bloated by the end of it I thought I might lose it on the train ride home. He's a good guy and one of the strong members of Reggio.

So this week there is a big Festival in all of Italy! Tomorrow is the peak of it and everything is shut down for the parades and fairs that are going to take place. We as missionaries are encouraged to attend. Woot. But in the city of Messina it is especially big! People tonight are having huge bonfires and firework shows and tomorrow there is a huge parade with these massive statue things that are like 80 feet tall! They started rolling them out this week and I'm excited for it. They are honoring the Madonna and everything has history or symbolism in the parade. You should actually google these parade things... Fiera Agosto Messina... They are cool. It's good luck to touch the black one’s feet! So the black guy is supposedly the reason why Sicilians are all dark... The legend is he conquered Sicily from Africa and through the course of time and babies the people of Sicily become marginally darker than the rest of Italy. 

So that's that!

Back in Messina

"Cannot speak the language. He holds no currency. He is a foreign man..." - Paul Simon

Starting where I left off last week... I was heading to a boat to Reggio because my comp had to go to Rome to Zone Leader conference. He dropped me off and off I went. I managed to buy myself a ticket, just in time because 10 seconds after I got on the boat they left! Skipped on over to Reggio where I bumbled around until I found the other missionaries there. The crossing is about 20 minutes. Kind of peaceful actually, being alone that is. The Reggio Missionaries took me out for Gelato when I landed there and we sat and watched cruise ships for a while on this huge amphitheater that goes down into the sea. The wind is always blowing in Messina and Reggio, which is super nice.

Gelato in Reggio.

"Things could be worse you know." - Radio

"How?" - Lampy

"How What??" - Radio

"How could they be worse?" - Lampy

"They couldn't, I lied." - Radio
- Brave Little Toaster

Reggio was having a rough week when I was there. Reggio is the smaller of the two wards/branches. They have about 12 active members and it’s really just a harder town to proselyte in. While I was there we did 8 hours of tracking every day, and they were pretty down because they couldn't find anybody who was interested. However! The very last hour on the very last day I was there we found a miracle lady who was sitting outside of her house. When we started coming she ran into her house and it took about five minutes of coaxing to get her out. But we did and she took a Book of Mormon. She started reading it and now wants to learn more about the Gospel! The first investigator Reggio has had in a really long time! Yay!!

"Nothing beats the hobo life"

So... In August everybody in Messina skips town and goes up north to escape the heat. And in August everybody up north comes down south to go to the beaches. So in reality nobody is in the city and those who do wander up here are tourists. So it’s been kinda rough finding people, and pretty much the whole ward has gone away on holiday as well. The people we do find are usually crazies (but we still love them). Anyhoos. Anziano Stewart found this homeless man from Germany who came down south to get away from the cold and he's been living in Messina as a "cook" for about year.

We gave him a pamphlet and the next day stopped to meet with him and he was a really good guy so we had a lesson with him. Turns out he is a cook. He lives in an abandoned house with other homeless people and he cooks for them with all the money they collect. Hmm… Anziano Stewart loves this homeless man a lot so he filled out a form for him and...he is now an investigator... Ohh Anziano Stewart. I don't know how I feel about teaching the homeless and I'm thinking the bishop is going to have something to say about this guy as well. They call homeless people "Big Beards".

My comp, Anziano Stewart.

"It's awful hot up here! I'm roastin’!" - Earthworm, James and the Giant Peach

Between the hours of 1-4... The streets are empty. They have a siesta type of thing because it’s so hot and everybody just goes home and sleeps. Our schedules are adjusted so that during this time we as well go home and study and are instructed to "relax" for one extra half hour. Boh. We actually tried going tracting at like 2:30 one day during relaxing time and literally... NOBODY was on the streets. 

"Mwwwaahhh!"

As you’re probably aware Italians love kissing people on the cheek. They do a kiss on both sides on your cheek and then shake your hand. The old mission president, President Kelly, said its okay for missionaries to do because it’s a cultural thing. Mamma mia. At first I started to count how many times I have been "boched" but I stopped counting after like 100... The first two days. I think I'm in like the only mission in the world where it is okay to kiss people. But despite doing it like 40 times a day it still weirds me out every time.

"..."

 We had an interesting lesson this week. We got a referral from a ward member saying to come to her shop to teach a lesson. Awesome! What we didn't know is that she owns a... women's underclothing store... So yes...she shut down her business for an hour and we had to teach a lesson to her 80-year old friend in her store.. We just had to look down at the scriptures the whole time! Boh.. And surprisingly the spirit came in and she is now an investigator and came to church! Yay! She is very very very old. Such a sweetheart though.

"Purple Monkey Dishwasher"

So last week I was telling you about all the languages here in Sicily. Well, we had a lesson at a member’s house that defines it perfectly. We went to a dinner appointment at a Sri Lankan member’s house (where they made me eat the hottest pepper I have ever had in my life and it made me soo sick). But we started teaching the lesson and one member would translate our Italian into Siciliano for her husband who didn't speak much Italian. There was also this old lady there who preferred Messinese and that same lady would talk in Messinese with her. Then! Our Italian would be translated by the Sri Lankin member into Sing Hala for her husband to understand. This is classic and there really are tons of languages! I'm picking up a little Siciliano too.

"You crack me so consistently, up" - Fat Tony

We got tricked this week. We found this beautiful family and they invited us to dinner for a lesson! We were soo excited! Little did we know, we were not going to be teaching the lesson. They failed to mention that. They were missionaries for this church from Mexico called "The Light of the World," and we go there and got a lesson from them. Kind of interesting. They actually believe 95%. Dispensations, prophets, prayer, need for a restoration etc. But after we had a lesson from them we simply taught about the Book of Mormon gave them a chapter to read. They actually were really interested. I don't know how sincere they were? But we have another dinner appointment with them this week! We told them straight up that we would be teaching the next lesson. They are actually super humble and didn't really trick us...that much. But I hope they start investigating because their family is awesome and faithful.

As always, people buy us drinks when we walk down the streets and all the vendors love the missionaries. People are so friendly and happy, and always love talking with us. I love them. Despite what people may say, there are people to be found in Italy. Many, many people who want to hear the gospel.

That’s that. Ciao Ciao Ciao Ciao.

A Few Pictures

I found Adam and saw him before I left the MTC.

During my layover in Texas I found Bryce. We talked for like 30 minutes. A tender mercy.