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.