Created by Aliens?

Who was the most interesting person you talked to this week?

We met a man who had a very strong belief that we are all created by aliens but at the same time believed that the aliens were created by God. In the end the aliens govern us, however, we can all be saved if we talk with God. He also believed that Mormons were of the devil (assuming now that he believes in devils) and that their whole purpose was to destroy the family. Classic. Meet these kind of people every day. He was classic. He was trying to carry this huge dresser up a flight of stairs (he being about 4 feet tall) so we offered to help him.

What was church like yesterday?

It was a normal day of church for the most part. Nothing really interesting. Oh! The other Anziani had a baptism this week so they confirmed them in Sacrament meeting. They had been stressing about that all week long because they didn’t speak Italian very well and had to give the blessing in Italian. They did a good job.

What was your best experience this week?

This week we had a meeting for all of the Zone Leaders. President is a good teacher and he talked about how Zone Leaders need to be confident in receiving revelation for their zones and what not. This week we also had a combined Zone Conference with Napoli and I was able to see Anziano Lewis. I served with him in Lecce. He is such a champ. I really love him a lot. He gave his dying testimony and I was super happy to be there for it. He is such a goofball. Awesome missionary too. I also was able to hear Anziano Zito’s death testimony. So I saw 2 companions.

What was your miracle of the week?

I think my miracle of the week would be the Christmas party that we had. There was little to no planning on anybody’s part (the missionaries were not a part of the committee), however the party actually went pretty well. Lots of people showed up, maybe about 70, and there were a lot of good things to eat. I also dominated in Ping Pong if anybody is wondering. We had a lot of non-members come and it was pretty fun. I also wore my Christmas sweater.

Me and Michael, the arch angel.

Ward Missionaries

How did the missionaries ever get to know a nun at the Vatican?

So the week before I got here the Rome 3 missionaries met a nun named Bernie at the Vatican because she said half of her family is Mormon. She said she has a lot of nephews who served as missionaries and what not. My first week here we went back to talk with her and she said she would hook us up with free tours because she emailed her nephews saying she met some missionaries here and they told her to be nice to us. She is super awesome. She is going to try to get us tickets to the midnight mass at the

Vatican this Christmas eve. Super cool.

What was coolest thing you saw this week?

Yesterday in church a member from the stake came to teach all the ward missionaries (This is the first place I have been in that has actually had ward missionaries) how to be good missionaries. He was super energetic and made everybody there really excited about missionary work. He just talk about how ward missionaries have the calling to look for chances to bear testimony and to always be prepared.

What was the best thing you ate this week?

We ate this cake at a member’s house that was really good. She kept calling it Ploom Cake. Plum cake? Didn’t have any plums in it, but it was really good. It was just a simple yellow cake with a little glaze on top.

What was your miracle of the week?
We are teaching a member’s little boy who is ready to be baptized the missionaries lessons. He is awesome and this week we did a lesson with one of his friends about the ten commandments that was really fun. It reminded me of Lecce because there I was the young men’s advisor. I really like teaching the youth. It’s a lot of fun and does not have to be so serious.

Thanksgiving and Miracles

What did you do for Thanksgiving?

Well we moved around old furniture in the church Thursday morning because the church got a shipment of new furniture and we had to move all the old stuff into a pile. For lunch I cooked up 2 small chickens and made some mashed potatoes and veggies. My companion made us some gravy and it was actually a pretty good meal. That was really all the happened. Not really anything cool.

Thanksgiving

How is the work going for you and Anziano Budd? Tell us about your investigators.

All of our investigators are people that him and his previous companion found expect for Timmy who we met my first week here (She is Chinese and the referral of a member). All of the people we are teaching are referrals from members. We have Fabrizio (He is married to a member who wants to be baptized with his sons, Emanuele and Claudio, but they need to keep some commitments) We have Salvatore who is 75 and he is awesome. He is the friend of a member who heard about Family History work. Then we have Carlos who is essentially the only nonmember in his family but has recently taken interest because of hard stuff in his life. It’s pretty good. There are a lot of members to work with.

What are your assignments as a Zone leader and how many missionaries are in your Zone?

We have like 20 missionaries or so. Elder and Sisters. Essentially all I really do is take numbers from them and then they call us about problems they have and all we do is pass the word up to the assistants. Not really that much but we also do exchanges with the other missionaries. 

What was your miracle of the week?

I have never seen so many miracles than I have with Anziano Budd. Literally. There are a million things every single day. Things seriously just happen all day long with people that we meet, people calling us, and in like every lesson Anziano Budd always has the investigators crying because of the spirit. This week he received revelation to literally just cut snowflakes for the lesson with this one member and it brought him to tears. I... I just don’t have that kind of spirituality to do this kind of stuff. I am trying my best but I just haven’t ever reached that kind of level as a missionary. I am doing my best. I really am. I just get kind of frustrated because I have no clue how to do missionary work. I just feel like if I am not doing something the way my companions do it, it is probably wrong. Which, based on my experiences, is probably true--haha. Well, I am doing my best to do my part though. I am terrified that if Anziano Budd leaves next transfer our work is going to crash just like what happened in Sciacca when Anziano Zito left. Well... let’s hope not. In the meanwhile I will do what I can.

President gave us permission to go paint balling for P-Day last week.

Today for P-Day we got a hook up from our friend, Berny, the nun in the Vatican. She hooked us up again with one of her friends to get us in free. We did a small tour and we got to go behind the scenes to see a little bit about the life inside the Vatican for a nun.

These motorcycles are the motorcycles of the Swiss guards. They are pretty sweet.

Miracles & Frustrations

What was coolest thing you saw this week?

Well... I saw a lot of cool stuff this week. Every day we walk near this huge Roman Aqueduct (they are everywhere but the one we walk by is like 60 feet tall and miles long.. broken up in parts but super long). While walking by it I saw there was a small piece that had broken off and I was tempted to take it as a trophy. But I didn’t. I am sure if I did nobody would care considering there are ruins everywhere and they literally have kids playing on top of them but I feel more honest this way.

I saw a grown man cry in a lesson with him this week. I got to go in the countryside to where bishop lives. Lots of beautiful churches and buildings and stuff like that.

What was the best thing you ate this week?

At the bishop’s house they invited 3 families over to eat after church (classic Italian meal that lasts for hours and has like a million different courses). I had some sausage that was grilled on the bishop’s BBQ by one of investigators that was really good. That was a really fun day as well.

What was the hardest thing you did this week?

We had an activity in church this week where a nutritionist came and spoke. It was all really hard Italian and my Italian is not the best...still kind of frustrated about that... but for the whole night I had no clue what was going on, even after the activity talking with people and it made me sad. I don’t know why but the language is still super hard and I haven’t quite caught on how to learn it.

What was your miracle of the week?

We did a lesson with an African man who is a High Priest form Nigeria. He has been living here for like 2 years but he is like most immigrants--they are always bouncing around from place to place. In the lesson he expressed how much he misses the church but is scared to come back and scared he has offended God. It’s kind of cool how we all can have the same fears and regrets whether we are an investigator, member, or high priest and how repentance is there for everybody. Swag.

Any plans for Thanksgiving?

Listen, I have been trying to plan a big thanksgiving feast for District Meeting this week. I don’t know why but this district is less than enthused about doing one. Not really sure why. In any case I will cook a small chicken and mashed potatoes for myself if nobody else does. Oh! This is cool. We asked for permission to do a Zone Activity of paintballing and surprisingly enough President approved it. I think he is just so used to me asking for permission to do stupid stuff that he eventually gave in this time. So today for P-day we are getting everybody together on the North side to go paintballing. Pretty sweet.

Well.

A New Kind of Missionary Work

Has there been any talk there about the meeting President Eyring is attending with the Pope? Any plans for President Eyring or Elder Perry to meet with the missionaries while they are there this week?

So I guess some apostles are here in Rome. I have not really heard much about it other than they went to the church on the other side of Rome (the really nice area of town) and they spoke to the members and missionaries there. President did tell us that the Pope is going to give the opening remarks for this conference and President Eyring will give the closing. Pretty cool. The conference is all about the family but other than that I do not know what is going on. 

Today for P-day we are playing soccer on some fields right next to the Vatican. Maybe we will stop by to see what is happening.

What was your best experience this week?

This week I got my first member referral in my mission. Her name is Timy. She is from China and her husband is Italian. She speaks pretty well. The member asked us to meet her because their kids play soccer together and all the moms went out for coffee and the member did not get one. So Timy was curious why. We are hoping to meet with her again this week.

Who was the most interesting person you talked to this week?

This week we had to do an exchange with some elders this week. We have been a little concerned about these elders and the quality of their work. So during our exchange they took me out to meet with one of their investigators... We took a 2 hour bus to get there and we show up to a huge castle looking villa. Fountains, turrets, long driveways, multiple buildings, vines on all the walls. Super classy looking place. So we go inside to find this investigator (I was very impressed at first at this place where she lives)... I see about 20 people dressed in really funny clothes walking around the grounds mumbling under their breaths. A few of them where sitting on benches or sprawled out on the lawn. After about 20 seconds I realized that we were in an insane asylum. So we find this woman and give her a copy of the Liahona and what have you and then I wanted to get straight out of there. I have no clue how they found this woman... I think the doctors of that place and I agree that she may not have need of a baptism. 

Oh man... This zone has a lot of trouble maker missionaries that kind of like to waste time.

What was church like yesterday?

It was good. Not all that much to report. It is really weird being in a ward and not a branch. I am not really sure what to do or who to talk to.

What was your miracle of the week?

We did our Zone Conference this week about member missionary work. Anziano Budd has had a lot of success with member missionary work so he knew what to talk about during the conference. I felt kind of weird because 100% of my investigators have been found through my own efforts. But it is with members that people are baptized. It was a good conference and went well.

Sights in Rome & Zone Conference Prep

What are your responsibilities as a Zone Leader? Do you have training?

We have a Zone Conference tomorrow. I don’t really know what I am supposed to do as a Zone Leader. I really just seem to be doing the same stuff as I did before but for some reason it’s more stressful.

What was coolest thing you saw this week?

We had Stake Conference this week in a super fancy hotel right on Villa Borghese. We did some finding before and after the conference in that Villa. That thing is super cool. We also saw Piazza del Popolo because that is where the Metro stop was. There is so much stuff to see here. Today for P-Day we saw the Forum and Coliseum. It was really cool. We didn’t really have time to enjoy much of it though. It would probably take 3 hours or so to enjoy it. We did it in 2. There is so much old everywhere.

What was the best (or worst) thing you ate this week?

This week we ate Pilipino food that was really good. A member made it for us and gave it to us at the conference. I can’t think of what the worst was this week?

What was your miracle of the week?

There is a new convert here that was talking with her friend and this week we will have an appointment to meet the friend and her family! That will be really cool. The mom is Chinese but the dad is Roman.

We have been busy this week trying to organize Zone Conference and take care of other problems in the zone with missionaries and stuff. I am doing good though.

I'm in Rome!

Can you send me more pics of your new apartment and area?

Our area is in the heart of Rome. Its pretty cool.I have only been here 3 days and have not taken any pictures. The apartment is really funny. It is rented out from an old lady that has tons of pictures on the walls and funny old yellow chairs and couches from the 1800's. 

The area here is crazy. In all cities there are always ruins and churches and stuff. But here in Rome the ruins are HUGE! The churches are HUGE! We pass by a few old Roman aqueducts every day and there are old Roman things that people just don’t care about everywhere!

Today we are hopping the metro and going to go see the Vatican and a castle near there. We are not going in them but just going to relax and see the outsides. Maybe eat some gelato and sit on a bench. Should be pretty relaxing after transfers. I will try to send some pictures next week.

Were you finally able to see the temple?

I don’t believe the temple actually exists. I have never really seen it or heard anybody talk about it yet? Maybe one day we will do finding out in that area to see it.

How was your travel and did Elder Maxwell stay in Lecce?

The travel was good. It was a 7 hours train ride alone. Elder Maxwell stayed in Lecce and help to organize the Halloween party that night. An Anziano from Bari came down to be his companion.

A little dedica for Anziano Maxwell I made. It is about 10 pages long. It is really cool. I have a video of it.

What are your first impressions of Rome compared to other places you've been?

It is big. Very big. Very old. It really feels like you are in a great city. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the huge Roman stuff everywhere or the history but Rome has a really cool atmosphere. I miss the small town feel of Sciacca or even Lecce.

What was your best experience this week?

I liked saying bye to everyone in Lecce. It made me feel loved. The branch did a small bowling activity for me the night before I left. It was fun. I had dinner with a lot of members and said bye to my English course. There are a lot of super awesome people in Lecce. Really awesome.

English course piz

The English course students made me a cake. They are super awesome!

What was church like yesterday in your new ward?

Big. There were about 75 members there. That’s the most I have seen in my mission. Lots of really cool and sane people here. I think this ward has huge possibility to grow.

What was your miracle of the week?

Good question. We got a baptismal date with a man here in Rome named Carlos from Peru two days ago. I am still confused who is who and what is what in Rome. I have met a lot of people. Our area has a lot of people in it. We ride Metros and walk and busses and train. It is really cool. It does not have that small town feel like I have been used to all my mission. Essentially all my mission essentially all people have talked with us missionaries in the past but here in Rome we can goes hours without anybody who has heard of us.