It's A Great Day

Ciao!

 

Dang, it's so cool to be able to read about a bunch of the stuff that's going on at home! I really love getting all your emails, thanks!

 

I noticed in Kalyn's letter she talked about her Ausstellung or something, where she does like a street stand. Well, we have something like that here. We have been working on getting the Permesso for it for about a week, and we have it scheduled from Thursday until Sunday. It's called the Mostra here, and each area in the mission is allowed to do it 3 times a year. Most areas do it one day a week for a month or so, but the city of Messina kind of stinks in that all the days have to be right after the other. It works, but it takes out a LOT of our time to be able to visit people during the week, and we have to wait to be able to follow up with the people we meet. But it's gonna be great, so long as it doesn't rain too much, haha! We have the ward choir coming to sing a few Christmas songs, we have a lot of members willing to help all the times we set up. It's gonna be crazy!

 

Ok, CRAZY story this week! The first week I got here, Anz. Stewart told me that the old bishop one time had a dream that there's a future priest who lives on this one street by the church, and we've both wanted to go there, but with so many appointments and without a car, we haven't really done a lot of street contacting or house. But Sunday, when all of our plans fell through, we decided to go down that street and work a bit there. There were a few good prospects, and we're hoping to be able to get back to them next week (on account of the Mostra).

 

But we get down to the ground floor of one of the palazzi (apartment buildings), and at one door, two older women opened the door. We started to talk with them, and the older one started to tell us to go away, she didn't want us here. The other one was just trying to figure out who we were. Finally, Anziano Stewart said fine, but he wanted to leave them a "Joy to the World" pass-along card. Then the older lady said, "Oh wait, I know who you are", or something, and (neither of us are sure how), they were both saying "Oh please, come in, come!" We said we couldn't come in without a man, and at that moment, the older one's husband walks up! So we go in, start explaining a bit, and they start talking, and they seemed super excited to see us! Turns out, they had ocassionally seen the missionaries a few years ago, but nothing came of it. However, for a week, the older lady has been having the same dream every night, that 2 Americans would be coming to her door with a paper in hand. I was thinking "WHOA, WHAT THE...?!?!" It was cool! And then there was a 13 year old boy that came in at some point, so we made an appointment with them for Tuesday at 6.

 

Well, the trams were late, and we got to their house, and nobody was there. We are for SURE going to go back though! But when we were about to walk in, a man outside stopped us and said that he and HIS family met with missionaries a while back, and he wanted to meet with them again! We both walked away from that place, and Anz. Stewart said "Man, that place is like a miracle workshop!" For sure, though. We're gonna try to get a LOT more new people in a bit.

 

But ok, down to business: we arranged with a member here to Skype with our families on Christmas, and it's funny, we were wanting to Skype at the exact same time Kalyn wants to call! Perfect timing, haha! So we'll see how that goes, but if anything comes up, Pres. Kelly said that we can call home to arrange the Skype call if we need to. If something changes, I'll let you know. And the money I took out: almost NONE of the stores here take cards, so I took out 150 in advance for anything. So far, I got a coin purse and gloves. Thanks!

 

Besides that, I don't see any business that needs to be "gotten down to". For P-day today, us and the Reggio missionaries went to Taormina, a city about half an hour away by train. It was cool, there was an old Greek Theatre there, and the view was fantastic! It's a city built all over the mountainous terrain here, and the ocean was such a deep blue, it was great! Except for a bit of rain, but you can't have everything, haha!

 

Anyway, love you all, and I'll see you at Christmas (if the internet here works well enough, hopefully).

 

Ciao ciao!

Anziano Walker

Merry P Day

Ciao famiglia!

Gosh, this week just FLEW by! It's crazy to think how much we've done this past week, 'cause it doesn't always seem like we're doing a heck of a lot in the days. I never knew how often appointments fall through, but at least we've had several back-ups on hand, just in case! So far, we've had ABSOLUTELY no meetings possible only twice, so those times we've proselyted on the street. Both last week. Anz. Stewart is fantastic at street contacting, me........... I need practice, haha! But (thankfully or not) it doesn't look like I'm gonna get a lot here!

And Dad, you weren't kidding about the sneaky tricks to get the Sri Lankans to miss their baptism: last Friday Dilhani called us and said she was offered a job that payed 200 a week, for a month, which would have been awesome. The catch? Not just work on Sundays, but work ONLY Sundays, from guess what times? 9-12, when church goes from 9:30-12:30. Can you say, "Satan"? She called around, including us, to ask what she should do. 200 a week is NOT a small amount, and they are in a really tough situation. But if she took the job, she wouldn't be able to be baptized the 22nd. But Anz. Stewart didn't tell her that, he just said "pray about it and study the scriptures, you'll recognize the answer." Or something to that effect. But everyone she called had that same sort of answer (you know it, you can find it, etc.) We were worrying our heads off until we saw them Saturday evening! But she was smiling and said she didn't take it. Gosh, they are the BEST! Heavenly Father really did prepare them SO DANG WELL!

Yesterday, I had my first Zone Conference! We had to take a bus to Catania, at 7:30 in the morning, but it was so fun and so refreshing! All the missionaries in Sicily came, amounting to about 25ish. Maybe 30ish. But I understood just about everything that was said in Italian, which was about three-fourths of it. Talk about an ego-booster! But yeah, it was great, and there were a lot of good things we heard and learned. As a bonus Pres. Kelly got all the missionaries matching, silk, Italian ties as a Christmas present. It is so SWEET! My FIRST Italian tie! But yeah, it was a great Zone Conference.

Anyway, Mom had some questions about here: yes, I can see the ocean from just about anywhere between buildings. In fact, I can see several cities on the coast of mainland Italy. There are some dang amazing hills that they're on, their pretty! But Messina itself? My companion best describes it whenever we see something strange: "Well, this is Africa." But we talked with a missionary who lived in Africa (Anziano Bandiaky, he came in with us. He's lived in Italy for a while, though), and he responded, "No, Africa isn't this bad." Haha! Basically, the streets are crazy, sidewalks sometimes don't exist, and buildings look a little shabby. I think the correct word is "ghetto". What makes the city beautiful, though, is the people, especially the ward. Everybody here is just so dang animated and fun! Oh, and instead of basketball courts for the churches, here they do foosball (they call it billiardino). They are astonishing with it. I've seen one person dance around the ball, no joke. They kick it when it's in the air. And they ALWAYS hit it SUPER hard and fast, without spinning the players (cause that's against the rules). It's so fun to do!

I'm so glad to hear from you! I'm (slowly) working on that letter that I promised, but I have almost no time on P-days to write. Dang. And that Christmas money, I decided to use some on a coin purse (coins are used a lot here), and then I'll see what's up later. Sales get big around February according to my companion, so I'll probably be a while letting you know. Thank you so much, though! And I'm psyched to hear that everything at home is going so great, and love you all!

Tante belle cose!
Anziano Walker

Ciao Famiglia!

Ciao, famiglia!

Before I start, I just want to say that I'm sorry I'm not gonna get to all of the questions you both had, but I'll get a letter going this week (hopefully). Today's busy. But I just want to let you know that I got the card you sent! Thank you so much! It came on Monday, so now you get timing, I guess.

Anyway, highlights of the week: yesterday, we went to Reggio Calabria, which is the other city that has missionaries in our zone, for district meeting. They usually come to us, but they had someone who needed a baptismal interview, and my companion is the district leader. But anyway, we took a boat, which was cool, cause I felt like such a rebel missionary, what with D&C 61 or whatever it is, haha! But Reggio is nice! I would have loved to see more of it, but I ended up getting a "whirlwind tour". One of the Elders forgot the keys to their church (an appartment), so I ran back with him. Then my companion and I had to run back to the boat to be able to get to a lesson on time. I was tired after running in a suit for half the day! But luckily, Anz. Davis, the Zone leader, had brought packages that were sent to the mission office (he went to Rome last week for a conference), and Kalyn had sent me some German chocolate, which I used as "victory chocolate" on the boat. We made it on as it was leaving, what a blessing!

Last Friday, my companion got pretty sick. He's all better now, but we were stuck in the apartment all day. He was sleeping a lot, so I had an opportunity to study a lot. Man, I was so ready to go out and tell people what I knew! And then I realized, I had to do that in Italian. Dang. Oh well, I'm steadily learning. But it's tiring! Anyway, one thing I really studied was my patriarchial blessing, and I can say now for sure that those blessings are inspired! It really helped me see some things in a new way, it was great!

You know that group of Sri Lankans we're teaching? Well, they're DANG AMAZING. I don't remember if I told you, but they have a baptismal date for the 22nd. So we're meeting with them 3x a week, and trying to help them understand everything as best we can. We were especially worried about tithing, since the mom doesn't have a job anymore, and they're all having a hard time. But after we explained it, she told us (through our interpreter) that she's been doing something similar just about all her life! Whenever she got paid, she went to the church down the street and put in some Euro, or in Sri Lanka, she saved some rice to give to others who needed it. That was just so awesome to us! And they're soaking in the Gospel like sponges, really studying the Book of Mormon, asking the best questions, gosh, I love teaching them! And not just because we speak to them in English, haha!

But I was super excited about them accepting tithing, because we have this one Professor who we meet with who refuses to be baptized until the prophet says it's voluntary. We're trying to work with him, but he's really stubborn, because he thinks about things a lot, whereas this family just accepted the idea readily. It really proves the many scriptures where it says stuff like "when they are learned, they think they are wise"!

That reminds me, on the way to their lesson yesterday, actually (the lesson after the boat), we met this one lady on the tram (which we usually only take to get to the more northern parts of the city, since the city is really long, but skinny). Anyway, she recognized us and said she was baptized something like 25 years ago in Catania, and asked to see if she could start coming to church again, and where and when it was. We'll see if she follows through, but that'd be a cool little blessing!

But that's the main points of my week in a nutshell. I wanted to ask you: how much are you gonna put in my account for Christmas? We take out money from ATM's, since no one here really accepts cards, and I want to know. I'm thinking of buying a few ties and maybe a nice suit (which here get dang cheap with sales, I've heard of some going down to like 30, and ties 2!). But then there's also these amazing cookies which are literally made to be put in milk (they are shaped like teardrops, so you have a little handle), which I would be perfectly fine with as a Christmas present, haha!

I love you all, and am glad to hear from Mom and Dad that everything's going great! See you in a few years!

Ci Vediamo!

Anziano Walker

2nd Italian P Day

Buon giorno!

Yes, I got Mom's letter today. Thanks a ton for writing this week, haha! But anyway, before I forget, Audrey's mission guesses: foreign - England, stateside - Maine. I'm leaning towards Maine, though. And no, we didn't really do anything special for Thanksgiving, and I even almost forgot about it. I only remembered because I was reminded throughout the day, by my companion in the morning and then by this one lady from Colombia in our English Course that we teach here every Tuesday and Thursday. She knew my holidays even better than me, apparently!

But the day's just keep going here. Honestly, something new happens everyday. I love it! And last week, I even got to help with my first baptism here! WOOHOO! Granted, she already had the date set before I came to Italy, and had received all but one part of the lessons, and she's 9 years old, but who cares! My count is up to 1, haha! and it was even better, because the bishop asked me to participate in the confirmation on Sunday, so that was really a cool experience. Not to give it, but stand in the circle (of 3, so more like a triangle).

So that was I guess my "Sunshine moment", according to Kalyn. Actually, there have been quite a few of those this week. On Tuesday, we spent the day with the Vescovo (bishop) driving around to visit some contacts that he gave us. Well, two, but we also visited a less active member. But the 2 contacts seem so awesome and prepared to take the lessons, and they're both really nice old men, I can't wait to meet up with them again! But it's gonna be hard, without a car. But anyway, the 2nd one, a man named Claudio, was really nice and open with us, and appreciative of our visit. But the best part was when the other member who we brought with us, named Sorella Oliveri, told a brief summary of her conversion story. I'm telling you, the Spirit was so strong in that room. You could have cut it with a knife. Maybe. :) But Vescovo is pretty sure that he'll be baptized within a few months. I can easily see that happening.

Another thing that happened last Friday was awesome. We were going to visit Nicole, the 9-year-old who got baptized the next day, and called up to her apartment with that intercom thing. One of her little sisters answered and said Nicole and their Mom weren't home. She sounded a little worried about something, so we kept trying to call them, but they wouldn't answer anymore. We called up to their window (2nd story conveniently over the intercom), and one of them poked out their head and said they were flooding. So we went up to help out. Turns out, something that they used to hold water in the bathroom broke, and it was empty, but most of the kitchen was soaked, and the two girls were huddled on the couch (which was kind of a funny sight, actually). We got it all cleaned up just before their Mom got home. She said it happens, so she didn't get mad. But it was cool to be able to get there just when we're needed!

And goodness, with investigators, this week has been hard. There's only three progressing now, and we even set the date for baptism with them. 2 are a mother and daughter, with a little 7 year old who we aren't really focusing on teaching, and the other one is a friend that I'm pretty sure they met here, and they're all from Sri Lanka. Lessons with them are interesting, because the mother speaks Italian somewhat, the daughter too but is better at English, and the friend speaks English pretty well. But we bring in another Sri Lankan in the ward so we teach in English and he translates to Singhallah. Crazy. But they have all had hard times, and it's nuts what they're going through, but they seem like they're really accepting the gospel and noticing miracles that it brings. And the Vescovo even payed their electric bills when the ex-husband refused to, so they're electricity was cut off. Anyway, I could go on forever about them, but I don't have time. Those are our 3 progressing investigators, but we're trying to get through to about 4 others, and one of them lost a baptismal date because she couldn't come to church 3 weeks in a row at least, and she smokes, and isn't really trying to stop, but it stinks cause she has a testimony, and we had to stop seeing her so frequently cause it's too long of a walk for us to go 2-3 times a week and..... *sigh*. Nutsy.

Language.......bugs. I'm getting there, but the thing I need is practice. The problem is, I'm trying to talk to Italians. Which means that they talk A LOT. All that I heard in the states was an understatement. We've stayed at people's houses for 2 hours longer than we planned on because they were going off. Granted, that was with 2 Italians for a lunch appointment after church, but it's kinda the same thing with everybody else we visit. Gosh. I'm getting there though, SLOWLY.

But at the lunch appointment, I had lasagna (which was great) and horsemeat (which was not so great). I didn't like it because it was cold, tough, tasted funny, and I felt like a jerk. And what stinks, everybody here drinks Coke! Three times now, that's the ONLY drink they've put on the table! Blech. It tastes kinda bad. But other than those two things, food here is AMAZING! We order a pizza a week for dinner, haha! And the toppings are crazy, I had one with something like bacon on it. My friend in Reggio Calabria (from the MTC, I see him every week for District Meetings. He takes a boat over here.) had a pizza with hot dogs and french fries on it. Nuts. But, good.

Anyway, I love hearing from all of you! Have fun this week!

Ci Vediamo!

Anziano Walker

First Letter From Italy

Ciao famiglia!

Ok, before I forget, Mom, your email is blank. Either it didn't send, or I'm just learning how you really feel about me. Gosh, I can't believe it... :P Just kidding!

By the way, kinda jealous that you all got to hear from Elder Cook. We had stake conference in our ward this past week, and we only got a bunch of native Italian speakers. I'm sure they were great, I just had a hard time following along if you get what I mean. But that's awesome for all of you!

So you want to know what it's like in Messina? Basically, picture Californiaish weather in the fall, add a little more rain (it rains for like an hour maybe each day), and then throw in a bunch of chaotic and somewhat dirty streets. That's a pretty decent picture, I think. But it's a great place! As chaotic as the streets are (basically, the only traffic law for cars or pedestrians is don't get hit), we get around rather easily. It's a little tiring, because we don't have a car (there was one here, but my companion doesn't have a legal license here, and I sure as heck ain't driving yet), but we just make sure to plan time for walking to and from appointments.

And goodness, do we have appointments! We have 9 investigators that we try to see on a regular basis (I haven't met like 3 of them yet, because scheduling with them is sometimes rough), and we have a bunch of referrals from members that we still have to contact, but it's hard to find time to do that when we have to meet with our investigators AND there's a bunch of new converts that we try to see sometimes, AND some less-active members who we try to see (the ward is going through a bunch of changes right now, so we're helping to pick up some slack until they can get home and visiting teachers out to meet with people). Sometimes, we have our planners filled for like the next 2 days, because we have so many people we're trying to see. It's great, though, the people are amazing!

Well, from what I understand, at least. The language is, well, difficult, yes, but for different reasons than I expected. One, it's nearly impossible to understand what people are saying, and some are harder than others. At least it was. I'm VERY slowly improving. The funny thing is, my companion speaks just about as fast as everyone here (he's been out for about a year and a half and has the language down pat), and I can clearly pick out every word he says, and understand everything unless there's a word I don't know. So I know I could understand people, it's just their accent and how they sometimes slur words together that gets me. Two, there's a lot of words that are used more frequently here than in the MTC that I'm having a harder time remembering. Usually, with food or something. But that will all come with time, focus, and language study time.

And the food is fantastic! Just about everything is different (such as tiny breakfasts, smaller dinners, and a good size lunch). And it all just tastes so good! The snacks are great, and so different. For example, in Sicily, they have these things called Arancini, which are these large rice balls, with some kind of filling like cheese or some kind of sauce, and then fried. Definitely beats a Snickers! And they also have these things that are like pizza, but not quite, with more veggies, but it's SO GOOD! And the cheese here is great (I didn't even know that could happen!), and the breakfast stuff, and the pasta.....GOSH I'M EXCITED TO BE HERE! And we have yet to eat a meal at a member's house, but that's supposed to be even better!

My companion is great. He comes from a military family, and they actually lived in Sicily before, but now his family is in Germany (in Nathan's mission boundaries). He does a lot in the lessons for now, but he's really supportive of me, and helps me to learn a lot. He doesn't quite have the Italian emotions (whereas we're stuck at people's houses for an hour because they're talking a lot, he's more like me), but he relates to them really well, and is just an all-around fantastic missionary.

Some funny stuff that's happened so far, before I forget: When talking about mission stuff, apparently here they refer to it like a life. So I'm born in Messina, and Anziano Stewart was born in Napoli. I'm his son, and I got to talk to my grandpa the night I got into Catania, where the train dropped me off. It was kind of a shock to hear him talk about missionaries who have died, but I'm used to it now. :) Also, coming here, we took a train from Rome to Catania, which involved the train going on a barge. Pretty interesting idea, huh? OH! At the airport in London, after we went through security (again), this one guy stopped the four of us (from the MTC, remember them?), and told us that, although he has a lot of respect for us missionaries, our religion "teaches a lot of funky stuff" that isn't aligned with normal Christianity, and warned us to look into it. Then walked off. We were too tired and worn-out to say anything but "Ok, thanks." Yeah, not the most spiritual story, but we laughed about it once we got some food in us!

Gosh, there's just too much to say! I want to tell you more about the people and some stuff that's we've done here, but there's not enough time, dang it! And I tried to attach some pictures, but this computer wouldn't recognize the memory card. So either, I can try the computer at the church real quick later, or if that doesn't work, I'll mail home the memory card when it's full. Or something of that nature. Sound good? Hope so, 'cause those are my only options. Oh well. I love you all, and can't wait to hear from you! The church is true, I promise! My response to that guy at the airport (if I had been awake enough to say it, but I thought it loudly at him as he walked away) would have been that we don't profess that we are another Christian church, we go out to bring others the true church of God. I like to imagine that would have been a baptism right there, but whatever.

Ci vediamo!

Anziano Walker

Welcome to the Mission Field

Yes, you are nerds. But, it all works out, I'm a nears too!

 

Anyway, I got my first area just now! I'm going to be serving in Messina, which is a city on the northeast coast of Sicily (Siciglia)! My first companions name is Anziano Stewart, but I don't know a heck of a lot about him yet. My address will be:

 

Via Trento Isolato No 2

(98123), Messina, Italy

 

And the mission president and his wife and the secretaries and the assistants to the president told us to tell you NOT to send packages, because it can get hugely expensive with no guarantee of arrival. So........ I'm passing that onto you. Please just letters, or those padded envelopes that will fit in mails lots. Oh, and could you put the new address on Facebook too? That'll beaheck of a lot easier than me writing a bunch of people.

 

Apparently, the assistant to the president served there for a year, and he has assured me that it's an absolutely beautiful area with fantastic people. I'm so psyched! Plus, I'm gonna ride a train all the way there tomorrow! Literally all the way there. The train goes on a ferry!

 

My p-days are on Wednesdays now, so talk to you in a week! Bye!

Last Thursday P Day

Hi family!

Alrighty, let's see if I can get everything down that I need to:

I'M SO EXCITED FOR CHANDLER AND NATHAN OH MY GOSH!!!!!! That's freakin' awesome that we're all gonna be on a mission at the same time! I can't wait!


Also, OH MY GOSH JEREMY'S GONNA BE A DAD!!!! HOLY COW THAT WAS ONE OF THE WEIRDEST SENTENCES I'VE EVER WRITTEN BUT THAT'S SO COOL!!! That dear Elder was really cool to read, I was really happy! :)

Alright, down to business: I did get my travel plans last week. That was an interesting thing: they didn't come with everyone elses. Turns out, the travel office forgot to print it off. Good thing I checked the next day! I was just happy that I was still going to Rome and not learning Italian for no purpose. But anyway, our flight from Salt Lake leaves at 11 something or other, so if I can I'll call you around 10. If not, we get to Chicago at around 3 (I don't know which time zone), so sometime in the afternoon. Then my next flight is to London, so if I can figure out if you're all awake and I missed the other two times, I'll call then. Then is my flight to Rome. I don't have my address in Rome yet, which is why I haven't said anything about it. Please let Kalyn know that somehow, she seems to be getting antsy about that.


Anyway, nice little week. The new districts are doing great now, it was just crazy the first week. All of them are really fun, and they make gym time a hoot! I've kinda stopped playing basketball because some people started taking it way too seriously, but the new districts pretty much play four-square, and they're so fun! So are the other people who play that. I can't understand why some of the elders in our district are so against it. Whatev. But yeah, that was my outside of class week in a nutshell.


Teaching our investigators this week was awesome! I can't wait to be able to teach actual people! There's this one teacher, Fratello Garvin, who for our companionship has the persona of "Fabio", a fantastic investigator he met on HIS mission to Rome, which he got back from a few months ago. But if everyone in Italy was like Fabio, the work will literally explode with new converts, it's so fantastic to have a great investigator like that! He reads the chapters we give him and a few more, he just about asked to be baptized, and he already made friends with people in the ward, and with the bishop. He even showed us a picture of his two kids on his phone, it was pretty cool. It kinda stinks when I remember it isn't quite real, but give it a week.


WHAT THE HECK, I'm gonna be in Italy in a WEEK! It's gonna be weird not being in the MTC anymore, and actually being in the thick of things. I'm gonna kinda miss having devotionals and firesides every week. And the temple. For over a year. Dang... But it's gonna be great! I'm so excited! That seems to be my theme word for this email, hahaha!


Anyway, I'm sorry that I'm so silly, but I forgot to take notes while reading emails. So.... I kinda forgot what Mom wrote. So I'll reply to Dad's! Let's see: that's an awesome insight into that parable, I've never really thought of it maybe being in the millenium. But where do the kingdoms come in that He was talking about before? And to tell you the truth, I kind of thought the same thing about D&C 130 after reading it a bit. Although, I couldn't have put it so eloquently, "brain dump" haha!


Oh yeah, one thing I remember from Mom's letter: about the letters, you're not sending ALL of them, are you? Cause especially that Conference one was a little personal. I know you have fantastic judgement, I just would like a little confirmation that privacy is being respected, haha! Oh, and thank you so much for the shirts! They may weigh a little much, especially with the ties, but thanks! I'll try to organize the suitcases as best as I can! And the Milk Duds were gone within a few hours, thanks!


Anyway, love you all!
Ci vediamo!
Anziano Walker

The Countdown Is On

Dad, I love you to death! Thank you for helping me to learn and grow as much as I could while growing up at home!

I just feel so bad sometimes that I can't do anything to help you with your back, and I have to say it's hard to imagine what you're going through, since I left before it got too bad. I'll be sure to be praying for you for as long as it takes to get better.

While you're studying the words of the Lord right now though, do you want to do a kind of "tag-team studying"? We had a devotional this Tuesday with Elder Clarke (we've had 4 straight weeks of speakers from General Conference, I love it!), and an idea came to my mind as he was speaking. He said to make sure to write spiritual experiences to our families, and maybe discuss what we've been studying. I think I've been doing that, but I think it would be cool if we could both write to each other what we've learned from the same stuff over the week. And this would help me a lot too, because I don't feel like I have enough time to really dig into the scriptures as much as I want to. But anyway, if you would want to do that, I would absolutely LOVE to work with you in scripture study again! This week, what I've been trying to read and understand was in D&C 88 and 130, both of which I've just come to realize have WAY more than I could understand by myself. D&C 88 I looked at last week in the temple, and it just hit me so powerfully. One thing that I've been trying to understand is that parable about 2 or 3 pages in. I don't know what the Lord was saying when He threw that in there when He was talking about some kingdoms, it sounds so out of place. Do you know anything about it?

The Rome Temple is expected to be finished spring of 2014, so it's very likely that all of us could go through it. I'M SO EXCITED FOR THAT!!! And apparently it's gonna be a really big one too, so that's awesome!

Thank you for being my Dad, and I love you a ton! See you in a few years!
Anziano Walker

Short Email

Hi fam!

Ok, before you get disappointed again: I forgot to bring my memory card for my camera to the computer. Again. Sorry. It's not that bad, I don't think, 'cause the only pictures I've taken thus far are some of my district from the first Sunday here, I don't really carry it around. We're not really supposed to, and when we're allowed to, I don't remember it at all. My bad!

I'm so glad to hear all of you had a fun little week! Mine here has been kind of a let down. It's just been hard, for a lot of reasons. We just had the new Elders and Sister (yeah, just one) come into the zone last week, right? Well, one of them went back home last Friday, another Monday morning, and another yesterday afternoon. So that's been hard on everybody. Plus, the Fireside speaker gave a talk (which I thought was pretty good), but he phrased some stuff in a way that was hard for a lot of people in the district, and made people second-guess whether they could make it through the MTC, let alone the mission. Plus, it's just been super hard mentally here this week, and I'm not sure why it just hit so hard this week. I dunno. Satan is real, and he will take advantage of anything he can, so be ready. That's the best I can say.

But I'm so dang glad that everything is going well at home, and I can't wait to here what you get up to next week! Those were some amazing blessings for you all on the temple trip, it's lucky that you're still able to get there with that old dinosaur! Dang, that van is ancient....

We should be getting our travel plans today in the mail, so hopefully they come! But we are gonna be leaving for Italy probably in two Tuesdays (so not this one, but the next one). Gosh, that's so weird!

Oh, and Elder Holmes said he's related to the Hatches. He's not going to Italy.

Ok, this kinda bugs, but today I went with Elder Johnson (he's the one going to Milan that I knew from my first BYU ward) for those try-outs for Fireside music performances. Apparently, you can't be your own accompanist. Oh well. But he tried out with that song I asked you to get me, and he had the Sorelle in our district do it with him, Sorella Harward on piano, and Sorella Lyman on the violin. Oh my gosh, it was SO AMAZING!!!!!! It's the most BEAUTIFUL song I've heard since coming here, and it was so good with the violin part!

But yeah, nothing else really happened this week. Just studying and working.

I love you all, and thank you for being the best family I can ask for!
Anziano Walker

Handwritten Letter

Mia Famiglia!

 Ciao!  This week has been Great!  What with everything I said in the email, I also have been trying really hard to serve people more often.  I figure instead of trying to get love enough to work to serve people, just serve people until I get that love.  This has definitely shown results, after just 3 days!  Here's my thing I've started with:  all my district takes showers in the morning, but I do it the night before.  So while everyone else is in the shower, I get up and make everyone's bed.  There was even one day where I took everyon's sheets down to get washed.  I don't know as much about them, but I'm already having on easier time getting along with people, even that one I had a hard time with!

Another thing i wanted to say:  I absolutely LOVE the temple!  It's so fantastic to go there everyweek and 1. get some new insigh about the endowments and often how it applies to my life and 2. I love sitting, thinking, praying, and reading in the temple, I feel like it just super charges my week!  And I get incredible new insights from the Lord about the scriptures there, it's awesome!  By the way, can you tell Gram & P That I do get to go every week?  She sent me a card, but forgot to put a return address.  That was something she asked me.

One last thing (this P-day has been rather busy) could you maybe find some sheet music for this one song:  It's called "Savior, redeemer of My Soul" and under the title in italics-from Joseph Smith the Prophet.  Text by Orson F Whitney, music by Rob Gardner.  It starts in the key of D (2#'s) and ends on Eb (3b's)  I'm pretty sure.  I hope that's specific enough.  oh!  It's around 6 pages.  Could you send that in the sheet protectors you got me for Christmas?  I probably won't learn it here, but if I ever get a chance to play a piano, it's so cool!  thanks!

Ci Vediamo!

Anziano Walker

Happy P Day to You

Buon giorno principessa!

Ok, before you type that into google translate to confirm what you think it means, just know that that's a quote from a movie that my companion has seen that we greet each other with occasionally. Just for kicks! The movie is apparently all in Italian, called either "Bella Vita" or "Beautiful Life", I don't know which language. He said it was a really good, somewhat sad movie. Just if you want to know.

Anyway, I realize I could type in addresses, but you all seem to be doing good getting them to each other, so I'll save time for now! Haha!

OH MY GOSH CHANDLER'S AND NATHAN'S PAPERS ARE GOING IN (OR HAVE GONE IN) THIS IS GONNA BE SO COOL!!!!!!!!! For Chandler, I'm sticking with Foreign: Spain (we've talked about it before), and Stateside: I'm feeling Virginia. Nathan, foreign: Sweden and stateside: Colorado. Watch me TOTALLY be right!

Oh, and by the way, I met a missionary on service day (Tuesday's) who got in last week and he says he knows Pa. He even got his patriarchal blessing from him! His name is Elder Holmes, maybe you could see if Pa remembers him. I'm pretty dang sure he should, because he said to some other missionaries that I have the coolest middle name (which I do), before I even thought about it. Which I normally don't, but still.

Ok, new stuff in my life: we got new Italian missionaries yesterday!!!! Two new districts: 13 Elders, 1 Sister. And the best part is: one of the elders is from AUSTRALIA!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! Although, I overheard him talking to someone from New Zealand that he knew (whoa!) that he gets kind of annoyed when Americans try to butcher his accent. Gotta watch myself. But everybody was SUPER excited in our Zone to get new missionaries, and so far they're really cool.

I also learned this Monday that I've been making a terrible mistake in Italian. I've been saying "Gesu Cristo ha sofrito per noi", which was supposed to mean "Jesus Christ suffered for us." The verb is "sofrire", so it should be that. Turns out, the right way is "sofferto". I had accidently been saying (for 6 weeks) in lessons and to each other He "fried for us." Yeah...... we busted up like none other when we learned that!

We watched a film after the Fireside on Sunday (like always), and this week we got to see a devotional from Elder Holland a while ago. It was so inspiring! He gave us the translation of a French poem his wife taught him which was really amazing: "Come to the edge", he said/ "No," I said, "We'll fall,"/ "Come to the edge," he said/ "No!" I said, "We'll fall!"/ "Come to the edge," he said/ So I came/ And he pushed us......./ And we flew. That part of the devotional was saying how on our mission and throughout life we're going to be pushed and pushed and pushed, and if we don't rely totally on the Lord, if we don't go out to the edge, if we don't show faith when there's so much risk, we can never see miracles. He then went on to explain a lot of stuff (he didn't have any notes, and it was the BEST talk I've ever heard from him!), which lit such a fire in me, it was amazing! What I got out of it was that we don't be obedient to commandments simply to be better than other people, or simply to be rewarded by God, we should (if we're doing it right) be obedient to have the Power of God with us. There is NO EXCUSE for falling in that regard: when we're doing our best for that purpose, we will have that power to help others. THAT'S what makes this Gospel special, THAT'S why we spread His word as much as we can, so other people can feel that. I absolutely loved it!

I was wondering how I could hold onto that fire, like Mom said. So far, what I've figured out is that we be exactly obedient, as much as we can. We be humble, without God we would have nothing to boast of (I got that from a scripture where Alma says "I don't boast of myself, I only boast of my God"). And we learn to pray whenever we start to feel like something's missing. And one thing that I think is very important, be LOOKING for that feeling. We've been blessed to have the Holy Ghost be with us ALWAYS, and I've noticed over the past few days, when I actually try to feel Him, He's still with me, filling my heart to bursting with that emotion. I absolutely LOVE what I've learned this week! I also know that like it says in Ether 12:6, it's hard to learn these things until "after the trial of your faith." I had an incredibly hard weekend, but I pushed through, and then I received all of that amazingness.

Now for individual stuff: Kaden - HAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh my gosh, I cracked up when I read that Dear Elder from Mom about the football game! Now everybody that was in the room before that Leadership meeting know it too, sorry. ;) Cam - Keep rockin' it, man! You better be an eagle scout by the time I get home! Cole - I am amazed to hear how much you love Scouts already! Keep it up! Mom - You've got to read some of Dad's emails to me, they give absolutely GLOWING stories about you ('cause that was good english....). Oh, and the long sleeve shirts are NOT for jeans, they are for suits. 1. Long sleeves are more comfortable and professional looking to me and 2. we just got to the time of year where we have to wear suit jackets. Plus, all the short sleeve shirts you ordered for me are regulars, not slim, so they don't fit quite right. Maybe you could send 4 or 5, that would be awesome! The short sleeves ARE for jeans, I only have 1 shirt for gym that's everyday. It stinks. Literally. Dad - My goodness, I love you and Mom so much! I keep seeing how what you've taught me as I grew up prepared me so dang well for everything here, thank you for being an absolutely amazing example!

Ci vediamo!
Anziano Walker

P-Day Letter

Buona giornata mia famiglia!

Hehe, that's all got the red underline, but it's actually spelled exactly right! I really like knowing another language. :) And Italian is perfect, because every word is spelled exactly how it sounds. Fratello Merrell even said that in Italy, if you ask someone how to spell a word, they just say it really slow. I thought that was pretty funny!

But anyway, thank you so much for your emails! I really love hearing about home, which I know may be a bit surprising, coming from me. I'm just glad to hear that everything is going along so well! Except that you all didn't get my letter. I sent that a week ago. I'm sure I had the right address and everything, where'd it go? I blame the Greeks. Not for any particular reason, except that I needed to put some group in that last sentence.

Italian is coming along SUPER well! We started playing a game in our district called "Native", where every morning class (which is every other day, almost), someone secretly gets picked as the native (picking a paper with an x out of a bag, the rest are blank), and they can ONLY speak in Italian until the next time. Everyone else is trying to convince everybody that THEY are the native by speaking in Italian as much as possible. Before we find out who the native was and switch for the next time, everybody votes to see who they thought was the native. If the native gets a vote, he/she gets 1 point. If a non-native gets a vote, they get 2 points. It's hard, but we're (mostly) learning a lot faster already! At dinner last night, I was able to have a bit of a conversation with someone without even really thinking about what I was saying. I mean, I didn't have to translate each individual word, it just came out. That was SO awesome! And I'm also able to make sense of what's going on in il Libro di Mormon when I read it, even if I don't know every word.

I absolutely love the devotionals here! This week we had Elder Bowen speak (he spoke in conference about his baby's death. I thought it was a good talk), and it was chock-full of good stuff! One of the biggest things I remember is that in our prayers, we should be able to say "Heavenly Father, I know I'm not much, but I AM obedient," completely truthfully. That's one of my goals here, to be able to be as obedient as humanly possible, and to know that I have to rely on the Lord as well. Another thing that he mentioned was that we can't receive revelation if we don't have a question. I realized as soon as he said that that I didn't really have a question, so I quickly tried to think of something that I really wanted to know about. Once I did, I immediately got like 3 answers out of his talk before it ended like 5 minutes later, and I got them in that Doctrine, Invitation, Promised Blessing format that I learned from Elder Bednar (I've been using that a lot, and it's awesome!).

I just want to say something really cool about yesterday. Honestly, that was one of the hardest days I've had here at the MTC. I had a hard time feeling good about the lessons with my "investigators" here, because I learned some hard things in their lives and wasn't able to help them as well as I thought I could. So I was feeling pretty down, but at one point I decided to read the Helaman's epistle to Moroni, where he becomes the leader of the Stripling Warriors (in Italian). While reading that, it struck me how amazing those young men were, and just how much faith they had in their God. Also, when they finally met up with the armies of Antipus, it said how they were so downhearted and tired, but the Lord provided them with this help, and it made them super glad. I felt really downhearted and tired yesterday, and I felt the Spirit come testify that it would all be ok in a bit. That was exactly what I needed. Some of that came with gymtime yesterday. I had decided that I would only shoot free-throws the whole hour, because I realized I was getting too competitive in the games and I was driving the Spirit away. So while I was doing that, I felt SO peaceful, and SO happy. It wasn't necessarily the free-throws that made it that way, but I was able to separate myself from something that made the days hard for me, and I felt a lot better afterward. So when you're downhearted and feeling low, well, let's look at a few inspirational words from Coldplay: "Lights will guide you home/ and ignite your bones/ and [He] will try to fix you." (Muahahahaha! Snuck in a spiritual thought from Coldplay!)

Anyway, I love you all a lot! Dad - I'm having to learn patience here too, I totally understand. It's hard. I want patience NOW. Kaden/Cameron - HOLY COW!! How were your grades so high? Nice job! Cole - YOU ARE AWESOME! Mom - I know you'll do what needs to be done to help the young women. You've been called by the Lord for that, and He knows you can (1 Nephi 3:7).

Tutte belle cose! (All beautiful things!)
Anziano Walker

Half Way P Day

Ciao, famiglia!

Gosh, thanks for so much input about life there! I'm just starting to appreciate knowing what's going on back home. But it still feels like life here in the MTC is just life, so I'm sorry if I don't remember you guys in prayers as I should! I really do love you all though!
Ok, can I just take the time to say that this was the BEST CONFERENCE EVER!!!!! I loved hearing all the talks and figuring out how the ideas they said could be applied to my learning the language and teaching (and you're right Dad, there's been a LOT more emphasis on teaching lately). But besides all that, I had possibly the best spiritual experience in the first session of my life! It's possibly a little too personal for an email, though, so I'll get it to you guys in a letter. But for right now, just know that I have NEVER felt God's love for me personally so strong, and had such a bright outlook on the future. We were given permission to write a letter home after Priesthood session, and I really did try, but the experience wasn't quite over, and I couldn't write the right words then, so I'll get that to you asap.
I took some of you're guys' advice and had some questions written down before, and just like you said, Dad, the answers came either all bundled in one talk, spread out over several sessions, or in the songs (by the way Mom, I loved the song with the soloist too. It was just so powerful, especially after Elder Packer had just given the lyrics a lot more meaning). I'm also super impressed that the boys were so vigilant during conference, and some of their questions were REALLY thoughtful, I love it! Most of my questions centered on how to be calm and hopeful through adversity, and how to really love other people (which is stressed a lot here, go figure). Needless to say, they were indeed answered, even some questions that I had but didn't think were important enough to write down, and many in ways I wouldn't have ever expected.
An awesome thing that happened after Conference was that for the Tuesday Devotional, Elder Bednar came to speak!!!! I was even in the choir that sang "Come Follow Me" that day!!! And it was so awesome, 'cause he said that this was the first time he had ever come to the MTC with something really prepared, but he felt that he should help us understand how to get more out of modern day prophets' words. He explained his method for studying the Ensign, which is looking for Doctrine (the thing learned about, answers the "why" of the Gospel)/ Principles (answers "what" we can do), then for an invitation, then for the promised blessings, which he emphasized that since they came from people that hold all the keys of the Priesthood, who what they bind on earth will be bound in heaven, those blessings are assured. But he told us that he doesn't just write down the words that the speakers say, but what the Spirit tells him. I'm already trying to apply this to my Personal Study time, and after just the first 2 sections in the first lesson in Chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel, it's AMAZING what I got out of it! I definitely want to keep using that sort of technique.
I just want to say how much help you all have been with my tough situation I've had here with some people from my district, your Dear Elders were great. I want to let you know that it is already improving. I had to apply a few things from Conference, such as learning to enjoy my time right here right now WHILE working (which hit me hard in Pres. Uchtdorf's first session talk), and I also swallowed the pride I was starting to feel and apologized for any offense I might have given to the Elder who I'm sure I irritated as much as, if not more than, he did me. That was just before yesterday's dinner, because I felt a huge prompting from the Spirit when I had an opportunity to do so, and let me just say the changes so far have been so relieving. Less stress, a lot more enjoyable time here, and just a better feeling in the work. I'm not saying there won't be more difficult times, but I know that if I do what the Lord would have me do, it will all work out. But I'm still gonna study in a different classroom, it's just a lot easier when it's only me and my companion. :)
Anyway, Kaden: on the card y'all sent me, you asked if we do anything for Halloween involving candy? The answer is, sadly, no. But we have MORE than enough in our drawer of consecration to last us through December, at least. I wouldn't worry too much. ;) And you have a choir concert this week? THAT'S AWESOME!!! Bocc'a lupo! Good luck! (literally, "mouth of the wolf", a common expression in Italy). You'll do great!
Cameron: if you feel like quitting piano was the best option for you right now, I'm sure you're right. You are a very good boy, and are doing all that God wants you to do, so even if you don't realize it, the Spirit directs you. Elder Bednar gave a Devotional last year (I saw a video) where he said "You be a good little boy, keep all the commandments, and God will inspire you, and you won't know it". At least, that's the main gist of it, and he gave several examples from his own life, which were fantastic. I do hope you will want to return to it, but school is important, and I'm especially proud of you working hard in that. That's really inspiring to me here. Puoi farlo! (You can do it!)
Cole: From the card - where did "Dr. Swag" come from??? Let Kaden know he has to pound that vocabulary out of you before you go out in public again! Hahaha! Congrats on joining 11-year-old scouts! If you use it right, you can crank out like half of the merit badges you need for an Eagle this year! Of course, when I did that, I also had an influential leader (Sis. Guthrie) who helped us a lot, so hopefully you get that!
Dad: Me and my companion for some reason didn't teach an investigator for about a week and a half, so that's been weird. But the investigators we have are our teachers (and very recently one of our district members for a different kind of practice), and the teachers take on the personality of people they taught on their missions. For each companionship, they keep the same identity, so it's like we have an actual investigator. Which is really cool, 'cause after our teaching drought, yesterday we got a "baptism"!! Federico (Fratello Merrell) agreed that when he knows the church is true (and he said he would come to church Sunday to see if it was, since he's already felt good about our teachings), he would agree to be baptized! It may not be totally real, but I like to think of it that way. :D
Mom: Wow! It's so amazing how many people are instantly affected by that change in age! I'm super excited to see the effects that it will bring in the coming months, that huge wave that'll probably come starting December to the MTC. I probably won't directly see the effects until around March, though, when those people will be coming to Rome. And no, I'm not gonna have my time here cut by 1/3, I heard that will start in a few months, which makes sense, 'cause the MTC just doesn't have the amount of teachers needed for that, especially in the Italian area. But that's so awesome!

Ci vediamo!
-Anziano Walker

3rd P-Day in MTC

Hey Fam!
I love that I'm gonna get a package tomorrow! That's honestly one of the best part of the days here, after meals, 'cause it's like a game when the District Leader goes off to get mail. At least, that's how I think of it. It helps, cause if nothing was in there, then it's easy to say "oooh, almost," and then move on. But anyway, the earplugs were a nice thought! If they work, that'll be genius! Although I had a discussion with Fratello Bulloch last Friday (they occasionally take us aside one at a time to see how we're holding up), and he gave me the suggestion to go in a completely separate room for each of the study times, which has been working wonders! The only problem is, it's not always a viable option, if it's only for like 10 minutes, so the earplugs could definitely help. And I'm not always sure my companion WANTS to go into another room, cause he's having so much fun in that room, and then I come in as the boring, studious type and say "hey, let's go work our butts off or at least try to instead of enjoying ourselves in here 'cause we're on the Lord's time and we have a lot to learn yada yada yada...." I don't ACTUALLY say all of that, but I'm pretty sure that's how the others in the class see it. Sometimes I feel very separated from everybody in my district. Which isn't very good, because my companion and I were called as Zone Leaders here, and I really want to do my best to love everybody else and do my best at that assignment, but I dunno if they even want me as a Zone Leader. And nobody takes the calls seriously here, cause their always joking to my companion about "Oh, he's the ZONE LEADER, you better watch what you say to him, or else he'll......" fill in the blank. And that's another thing, nobody acknowledges that I'm the other Zone Leader like that, so there is a definite separation of cliques, where I'm kinda by myself in the District, occasionally talking to the sisters or this one other elder going to Rome who is really nice.
Ok, I think I made that sound worse than it is, but yeah. But life is good here, just going through, trying to learn as much as I can in the short time we have here. It's weird after the older districts left on Tuesday morning, because now there's only 16 Italian missionaries here, whereas there used to be 44. Crazy switch.
Gym is a fun time here, 'cause our whole district usually plays basketball together. We're all pretty even, which is nice. The only thing is there's this one Elder who probably learned how to play from street ball, and he ALWAYS defends me when we're on opposite teams, and because he learned on the street, he fouls like none other. He doesn't realize it, though, which makes it worse. If I ever try to roll around him to get open, he uses his arms to stop me, and is always pushing me. What's funny, though, is that if the guy with the ball is coming down the center with an opening all the way to the basket, he won't switch guys to stop an easy lay-up, he'll even move AWAY if I do. I would like to let him know all of that, but he is the one elder that is the hardest for me to get along with in our district, and I'm pretty sure he's the only one who actually doesn't like me at all. I'll admit, some of that is reciprocated, but I am really trying to fix that. It's just really hard when he never talks to me without a slightly angry tone, and then I accidentally say the wrong words when I'm trying to say something and he jumps on it like it was an attack against him. I dunno, I guess I've gotta look for more opportunities for service for him specifically, cause I don't want there to be any serious problems.
Ok, spiritual thought before I go: we were reading 2 Nephi 2 as a class this week, and we were talking about the Fall. A lot of interesting points were being raised, and we just got deeper and deeper into the material. Near the end of the discussion, I remembered something that Bro. Tolley talked about in Institute: you can go as deep as you want in the scriptures, as long as you can relate it back to Christ. I then tried to find some way to relate the story of the Fall to Christ, which is hard, cause I have always had a hard time interpreting stuff in that way. Suddenly, I thought "ok, where have I heard about a tree with some fruit before?" Immediately, I remembered Lehi's dream. The Spirit brought that to light, I'm positive, cause the connection was staggering: because Adam and Eve "ate the fruit", another tree had to be planted before they could "eat the fruit" of the "tree of life". The tree of the Love of God (Christ's Atonement) was planted, and because of that, we can go back and live without sin after this life. Since the Tree of the Love of God is completely symbolic, then perhaps the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is symbolic as well. And it all ties back to Christ beautifully. I was dang impressed at how the Bible and the Book of Mormon worked together that well. Anyway, love you all!

Ci vediamo! (See ya!)
Anziano Walker