Ocean Baptism

Mom and Dad gave me this little format to make my letters better. I will be the first to admit that my letters have been getting a little junky as of late. So I will try to make them better! 

What was the best thing you ate this week?

This week I actually learned how to make some pretty good homemade tortillas. Super simple: lard, flour, salt, and water. I made us some breakfast burritos. They turned out really nice! Here in Italy we eat pasta about every meal (because that is what everybody else eats and it is what is in the grocery stores) but it is always nice to try out something new. I taught Anziano Maxwell how to make Banana Bread as well. We made the bread from our English Course in an attempt to have some good student retention. I hope that they liked it. I also hope they come back to English Course.

What was the hardest thing you did this week?

This week we did a lot of finding but there was this one day when we stopped a lot of people and they actually listened to us... But... It was just soo frustrating that I thought I was explaining something simply, like the Book of Mormon, but either they refused to understand, I was explaining it badly, or they couldn’t understand my Italian. It is really frustrating and makes me really sad. I don’t know if I explained myself very well but doing hours of finding and having good conversations just ending with people rejecting us is really heavy. But in the end it is nice to at least educate people about who we are.

What was church like yesterday?

The Branch President came back! I was no longer the presiding priesthood leader. However, there were only about 16 members in church today. Luckily there was a big group from Switzerland who came that made the church seem a little bigger. We had two investigators come: Viviana and Jimmy McFoy (He is rad). I had to teach the Gospel Principle lesson again because the branch mission leader was gone. The Elders Quorum President, Franco (everybody just calls him by his first name. That was super normal in Sicily but here they at least call people by their last names except for him), invited us to lunch. Viviana cooked us some pasta and we all ate at his house. It was nice.

What was your miracle of the week?

We went to Brindisi this week for a baptism they had. I had to do the interview this week as well. This investigator has been coming to church for about 3 years. She is a little... funny... Just recently she stopped taking her super strong medication and was stable enough to be interviewed. She had been interviewed in the past but she did not make it very far because her medications kind of fuzzed up her mind. I felt like she was ready to be baptized. They did the service in the ocean. It was pretty sweet. It was super windy which made about 7 foot waves and in the background of the baptism there were a bunch of surfers.

 

For P-Day we went roller skating. We picked up some blades and cruised around town. It was really fun.

Doing Well - Short Email

We are doing well in Lecce this week. Me and Anziano Maxwell are working hard. So this week we have the Elders from Brindisi down here and we don't have much time because we only have 2 computers.

Tomorrow we will have an exchange with the Zone Leaders Anziano Romano and Sorrgiacomo because there was a sister missionary who left he suit case on the train but the train ended up in Lecce so we had to pick it up. So they will come down here to pick up the bag.

I am happy Anziano Jones is now in our district. We just finished up P-day with him. Me and him were in the MTC together and it is cool to see how people change.

Lunch with Anziano Jones

We are happy here and are finding more people to teach now.

Sorry this email is short.

Awesome New District Leader

Well, we are working hard and doing our best here in Lecce. This week we tried passing by the less actives here in Lecce whilst finding new investigators, and we had a lot of good experiences doing that. 

This week in church it was really strange. It felt like nobody came. I thought the summer was supposed to be over and people would be coming back! Super strange. The branch president was gone this week so I was the presiding priesthood authority. It was kind of funny to take the sacrament first and lead all the meetings.

We got the transfer calls this week and me and Anziano Maxwell will be staying together. However, Anziano Calchera is leaving the district and we will be getting Anziano Creg Jones. He was from my MTC district. He is a really solid guy and a good missionary. I have not really seen him since the MTC though! It will be good to talk with him again. I am also the new district leader.

The work in Lecce has slowed down a lot. Not really sure why? I don’t know if we technically have any more investigators at this point. It is hard, if not impossible, to meet with people so I think we will be starting from scratch again. Woof. We have the faith to find new people though.

No matter what happens during the week at the end I remember I am a servant of the Lord and that makes me AWESOME.

This was after a super rough lesson and this was all I wanted to do.

Birthday Week

Just your classic week in the mission. We are working hard and doing our best as always. Anziano Maxwell is picking up on things really fast. We have been keeping ourselves busy doing lots of street contacting and this week we went around town with a whiteboard with questions written on it. We are always on the hunt for new investigators. We also tried a little chalking to bump up our English course (we only had 2 students last week. Yikes. One was super drunk.).

I had a good birthday though! We got a pizza from our friends near the house. They made me a special pizza with a 20 on it made out of dough. Also I got a really nice button up shirt from a friend and the members made me some cakes. It was really fun. I really like this branch.

We did exchanges this week in Lecce and then in Brindisi to boost our work. It was really fun. We did some more chalking and had a lot of really good conversations with people. 

This is a picture from our district scambio.

Today I am a little nervous because a member is giving us a referral. This will be my first referral I have gotten on my mission and about the fourth lesson in presence of member (not including Kevin). So I am excited but a little anxious because I am not quite sure what to do. We will do our best and follow the Spirit!

That is about it for Anziano Kelley and Maxwell this week.

Ciao ciao ciao ciao.

This is a brotha I met in the station named Manuel.

Peace in the Midst of Stress

Well, just another week here in Lecce. This week was good. We are on the hunt for new investigators. We had to drop our Romanian Investigators... There was a language barrier and I don’t think they could understand us, and apparently they are moving back to Romania…? I still don’t understand the situation. We did our best and will pass off a referral to the missionaries in Romania.

We are still working with the members. There is a friend of a member that has been coming to church the past few weeks who is a good potential investigator. She is from a church that believes in prophets/restoration and also their prophet gave them a word of wisdom type law. She believes a lot in missionary work and Jesus Christ. She is very intense. 

It’s kind of stressful. I’m stressed. My Italian is not really that good and I am not the best teacher in the world but we keep going forward. We will catch our break sooner or later! I am trying my best to find people to teach so Anziano Maxwell can get some practice. 

That’s about it this week. 

I really like Lecce. A lot. This is a really special place.

Our Romanian investigators: Yasmin and Maria.

An English Course that turned into an Arabic Course.

Zone Conference & Tourists

Well, first things first. My team won the Zone soccer game. It was 5 v 5 on a small field. I love doing zone soccer games. Zone Conference was really good though. We talked about unity, honor, joy and putting it into our work. We also had a combined zone conference with Calabria (They had to travel for like 7 hours to get here and some of them never actually made it because they missed their train). It was good fun though.

This week we have worked hard. It is currently the Patron Saint Festival here in Lecce and it is jam packed with tons of tourists! (Seriously. I have been keeping track and about 10% of the people we talk to are from Lecce.) The festival should end about Wednesday though. At this point I am used to tourists. At first it was really discouraging because I could never really teach any of the people I found, but now it is fun. The whole city is decked out with tons of markets and lights and stages with concerts. It is crazy. 

We met with our Romanian investigators this week (it is a mother and child). We tried doing the first lesson with them but they do not speak much Italian so we gave them a pamphlet and Book of Mormon in Romanian and we also watched a movie about Joseph Smith in Romanian. I think they are still really confused because it is hard to communicate with them. 

I have been getting really aggressive in my street finding (Maybe too aggressive. Actually I am pretty sure I am too aggressive). I just really want to find investigators but it is a little hard with tons of tourists. We are working super hard though. Anziano Maxwell is picking up things and he is learning. The first 4 transfers are pretty rough with language and knowing how to teach and stuff. 

We are doing our best here in Lecce though!

Zone Conference

Zone Soccer Game

Sri Lankan wedding we went to. The little girl comes to our English course. The mom drops her off and it is essentially babysitting, but she is cool. The mom asked us to come to a wedding with her. We were the only two white people in the room that spoke English or Italian. It was super cool. Tons of Sri Lankan food and all the ladies were dressed in traditional clothing.

Trainer, First Counselor in the Bishopric and YM President

What town in Canada is Elder Maxwell from?

Ummm... I couldn’t tell you and he is not next to me right now. We are with about 12 missionaries because we are playing our Zone soccer game today. So we don’t have all that much time today. Haha…

How are things going between you? 

We are getting along well. He is a really quiet guy. This is his first transfer so he is still really nervous about stuff but he is a good guy. He loves to work hard and is always trying.

Is it still super hot?

It is cooling down a lot! Especailly this week!

Are you healthy and wearing your retainer and taking care of your teeth?

Yes I am.

This week was a little stressful because I am training but we have started to work it all out. We also are working super hard because President said there is a baptism for every companionship this transfer in the zone. We found 3 new investigators this week. One is a friend of a member who came to church again (she is still a little nervous about missionary lessons) and the other 2 are a mother and child from Romania. They do not speak much Italian... At all really... But we will do our best and try to teach with the Romanian materials that we have!

Other than that I’ve been a little worried because we have a lot of stuff to organize and plan with 1st councilor and YM president and also missionary work stuff… But it has been good.

Thanks for all you guys do!