Enjoying the Holidays

Well, it was Christmas here in Messina. Needless to say, we tried to make the most of our 4 days of Christmas fun!

23^rd: Pday. Bowling. Testimony/District Meeting/Bonfire on the beach for friends and family... Sadly nobody came except the missionaries and Maria Pia...but it was fun building a fire and eating cake!

24^th: That morning we got a note in our mailbox saying that Anziano Cicon had a package waiting for him at this place near the outskirts of Messina. Needless to say... In Italy if your package is waiting for more than 5 hours it is probably going to get stolen. So we had to go to this place (ENDED UP BEING A 2 HOUR WALK!!!) way out in the middle of nowhere. We were practically in Taormina by the time we found the place. But we found the package and were able to salvage all the Christmas Goodies.

Afterwards we went Caroling to a few friends and neighbors. At 1 o’clock we got to stop Missionary Work. So we had a big American Feast in the Church. Once again, invited all our friends and neighbors but only our friend Mimmo showed up. But it was really fun. Listening to Christmas Music. Cooking Mashed Potatoes and Steaks. That night we Skyped, played games, and went to Midnight Mass.

Midnight Mass was incredible. I really, really enjoyed myself. We went to the Duomo. The Biggest, Baddest Cathedral in town, and they went all out for Midnight Mass. They had a huge choir, a cardinal, a nativity scene, the sacrament! It was all there! It was a super good memory. We also saw a lot of our friends and one investigator that we have named Enzo.

Midnight Mass

Didn't get home till 2:30 in the morning.

25^th: That morning we only had to do an hour of studies. So we did. Then we took a nap, and then hopped a train to Milazzo where we had a huge lunch with the Buonanotte family. They invited all their family over and the missionaries. Also 3 Catholic Priests (the family is catholic but the mom is Mormon)! Father Alessandro, Father Emeri (from the Congo--he only spoke French), and Father Mario. It was super fun and I got to sit at their table. We sang songs and danced around. Father Alessandro had a little too much wine and started singing and teaching us these little primary songs. I have got the videos. They are the best. It was a huge, 4 hour dinner and we ate a ton. It was honestly the best memory I have had so far on my mission. It WAS SOO FUN! Christmas Dinner with the Priests. I seriously can’t describe how fun it was.

That night we went to a Sri Lankan Member’s house and ate some more. But this time Sri Lankan Food. Sri Lankan food is the best food I have had on my mission. Super good. Then we watched Monster’s University (we had permission for 2 movies).

26^th: An Italian Holiday and President gave us another day off. We spent the day doing a ping pong tournament, playing games, and then we watched La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful). Fantastic Film. Highly recommend.

27^th and 28^th: We got sucked into painting a member’s home for them... It was fun. But this week was not a good week for missionary work here in Messina.

THANKS FOR THE PACKAGES AND LETTERS! 

I will try to write back as soon as I can!

Also this week is transfer call... And New Years Eve... President gave us another free day... But don’t send letters to this address! Because... I might move... That is to say... I need to move... I am going a little crazy here in Messina. 

Also... Skype. I am talking to Pres today about it. I will get back to you on what he says.

Ciao Ciao Ciao.

Visit to Napoli

Well... It was a really weird week this week. Fun! But weird...

This week we had our Zone Conference which was really good. It was all the missionaries from the Catania Zone. They said we couldn’t sleep over the night before so us and the Reggio Elders had to wake up at 4:40 in the morning to hop a bus down to Catania to be there on time. It was a good conference and President had all the missionaries do a Nativity scene. I was a sheep! Also... It was a little bit sad at the end because they forgot to bring down our Christmas packages... I think they felt bad so they are coming down with the van this week to deliver them. The theme of the conference was about charity and love.

The next day we got a phone call from the office saying that we had to get on a train to Italy within 2 hours because Anziano Cicon had to get his Visa stuff there. It was super short notice for some super expensive tickets! So we purchased some tickets to Napoli (where his Visa place is). We got to Napoli that night at like 9pm because the train was delayed crossing over to Italy from Sicily. We then rode the Napoli Metro and walked the big bad streets at Napoli late at night trying to find where the Anziani live.

Napoli is BIG.

The next day we did some finding in Napoli Centro. That city is sooo beautiful! It is super, super big and super, super old. You can see Mt. Vesuvius (the big one that blew up Pompeii). It is right across the bay from Napoli. We did that and then went to the Visa place and did all that stuff. After that we got a Napoli Pizza with the other Elders who are serving in Napoli. You must know that Napoli Pizza is super, super famous in Italy. The world. It is the birth place of Pizza. People always talk about the pizza there—that it is super gooood. I personally thought it was just an exaggeration, but it is true. That was the best pizza I have ever had. Messina Pizza is nothing compared to Napoli Pizza. I don’t know how it could be soo different but it is! It was sooooo good! The Pizza in Napoli is only like 2-3 euros as well. Super cheap. The Nap Anziani eat it at least 2 times a week.

Anyhoos. We had to spend 2 nights in Napoli so we got to walk a good chunk of the city. It honestly is such a magical city. I seriously cannot say that enough. Napoli is awesome. Dangerous. Yes. But it is just soo big and old. The people there speak entirely different than on Sicily. But, just like Sicily most people don’t speak Italian. They speak Napolitano. Just riding the metro lines and listening to people. They really only speak Italian when we talk to them. Kind a fun.

But yes. The Napoli trip was a super good experience (and a little refreshing to be out of Messina for 3 days). I am in love with Napoli. The people. The food. The language. It was really, really cool. Hope that I can make it there someday.

But... There was like no work that was done in Messina because we were gone so many days. But at least Cicon has his Permesso.

So like I said about Ciccio. He is doing good now. He had some problems this week though... Apparently the first counselor in the ward and another member saw Ciccio smoking this week. They said they didn’t want to believe it but it definitely was him. There was a big scuffle about it on Sunday morning before he could get the Holy Ghost. First of all... He was 2 hours late for church (Sacrament Meeting is last). Then we had to have a private meeting with Ciccio and talk about the Word of Wisdom. I personally don’t believe that he smokes. He said he didn’t so we went on with the gift on the Holy Ghost. So he is now a member of the Church. That’s good!

That is what happened this week!

Ciao Ciao Ciao.

Baptism!

Hey listen, so it has been a good week here in Messina. Ciccio entered the waters of baptism. We had quite a few lessons. We were able to meet with a lot of less actives, and I made pumpkin bread.

We had Ciccios baptism on Friday. It went really well. We spent most of the day filling up the font for the baptism at 5:30. Ciccio was 25 minutes late and we were sweating bullets he wasn’t going to show up. But he did. We got him all dressed up in white and had the services. Anziano Cicon baptized him and it was a spiritual experience for all those who attended. Heavens opened up. Angels ministered unto us and what not. Pretty cool. But right after he got baptized and changed he took off! I literally shook his hand right as he was headed out the door! But he said he really liked the baptism.

However... Sunday at church... Our man Ciccio didn’t show up. Needless to say he missed getting the Holy Ghost… So we went to his house to find out where he was and his mom said that that morning he felt ill. Took a bunch of meds. And fell asleep in his bed where he was for the next 12 hours after that! I was a little disappointed in him that he didn’t come but what can you do? We are working hard with him to get him to understand the gospel. He is a great kid but just has struggles understanding some things.

We have Zone Conf next week. Tomorrow I should say. There we will hear our man President Waddoups speak and pick up the transfer’s worth of mail! And XMAS packages. This year for Xmas, Reggio is coming over and we are doing a big 5 day Christmas scambio. With P Day, 3 days of Italian Holidays, and then a scambio at the end of it. We are making the plans for it now.

The whole city is decked out in XMAS lights. It looks really cool.

We are still teaching, still preaching, and still keeping on here in Messina. Thanks all.

Ciao Ciao.

Trials Before Blessings

Well, well... It is the first day of the new transfer. We got rules and what not's for Christmas today. so we can Skype/Google Hangout. We asked around the members and they said that a lot of Sri Lankan internet points are open on Christmas or the day after or we could go to the church (church might be easier). We could do it pretty much any time you guys would like.

This week Ciccio had his baptism interview and he passed! He had a really hard time understanding tithing. We had a 40 minute lesson about how much is 10%. We tried explaining that it always changes depending on how much you have. We even busted out the calculators and had an object lesson. He understands that he needs to pay. But how much he needs to pay is still a mystery. That’s alright... We are going again tonight to have a little math class. And the important thing is he knows it is important!  We are going to be holding the services this Friday. We are hoping his family will come... They are not all too supportive. But he is all for it!

We did an exchange over in Reggio this week. It all started on our P-day together. We had a lesson together in Messina with our investigator named Giovanni. He had forgotten about our appointment and was drunk. Needless to say that lesson didn’t go as planned so we then walked to the boat in the pouring rain and we forgot umbrellas! We then got to Italy and the trains were delayed on hour because of the storm. We got home super late and super wet to find that all the heaters in house were broken. We then woke up the next morning at 6 AM to the water heater exploding! The apartment flooded and rust was everywhere. We spent the next 4 hours trying to find a plumber and mopping up rusty water. We eventually called a member’s friend to come help us. The exchange ended and we walked back to the boats in the pouring rain because we didn’t have umbrellas.

BUT! The story ends good because this week in church we had 5 investigators come to sacrament meeting! Trials before blessings.

We also set up our Christmas tree this past week. It looks pretty nice. About 2 feet tall with lots of gingerbread men ornaments. Needless to say we were pretty excited. We also cut out snowflakes to hang from the ceiling!

So last week Etna exploded. Pretty cool. But this week it has been raining ash all over the city. The other night we walked home and looked at our hair and it was about 5 shades darker from the ash raining from the sky! The whole city has a thin black layer of sand. On days like that we are supposed to stay in inside because the air is pretty much toxic. Luckily it has rained a lot to wash it all away... But the whole city is still pretty mucky.

Cicons trip to Napoli 2 weeks ago. We both went down to Catania. He took the plane to Rome and train to Napoli. I stayed in Catania. 

This week there supposedly was a big Typhoon headed our way and we were told to pack all of our stuff in case we needed to leave immediately. We were also told to stay inside because of the storm. It was a little rainy and about 5 mph wind... I guess the storm kind of tuckered itself out. Needless to say we just left and did some missionary work.

So we are still trucking along here in Messina and pushing the work forward. I am excited for Ciccio. He is a good guy.

Ciao Ciao.