Another PDay Already

Ciao famiglia!

AhahaHA! It's working! I'm gonna be able to send some pictures this time! We're using two laptops from the Professore, since for today's P-day he took us to his "little town", as he calls it. It's a little slow to upload, but I'll be able to get a few going. The first one is from the MTC, my district on the first Sunday there. 

That was the test photo. The next is (I hope!) from my trip a few weeks ago to Taormina. At least, I hope. I'm totally guessing with these. The third one is from today, at Prof.'s "little town", called Novara.

And oh my gosh, it's so COOL!!! It's SUCH a small town, and everybody knows everybody, and all the streets are cobblestone, and most of them are way too narrow for cars, with a bunch of stairs, and EVERYTHING! And the air is so stinkin' CLEAN and FRESH! And it's in mountains, with like farmland all around, so it's got an unbelievable panoramic view! And it's just absolutely, .... stunning. It may be a little small to live here forever, but it would DEFINITELY be worth getting a vacation home or something, especially since houses are down to 2,000 Euro, although it would need to be renovated a lot. But the town is just so, cozy. It's like something straight out of a movie. And Prof. is so attached to it, he's been great showing us around town. I used to get a little irritated when it would be his excuse to not come to church for months at a time (he went up on weekends), but now I think I get it. :) Not that I'm perfectly for it, but I get it.

Ok, with that talking thing I told you about: yes, I am feeling more confident with the language (thanks for noticing that), and I'm trying to work on patience. On Monday we had about 3 lessons, and they all were very one-sided with the conversation. For instance, one went from 12 to 1:30, with us speaking a grand total of 5 minutes. Actually, that may be a huge exageration. It was more like 3 minutes. The guy was good, though. That was Andrea. We actually didn't do anything with him, really, he just decided to come back, and has been asking to meet with us every week. We decided to use that fire he has now, and direct his testimony of tithing (basically that whole lesson) at Prof. next Monday. We'll see how that goes!

But anyway, we had Zone Conference on Tuesday, and I got to have an interview with Pres. Kelly about that whole situation. I'll admit, after Monday, I was a little mad about coming here. But Pres. Kelly is so nice and understanding, and helped me a LOT. He also gave me the idea to rely more on visual aids, since that will keep conversation kind of always revolving around the original topic. It's genius! I know I've heard it before, but I'm SO willing to try it now. Now all I got to do is learn how to be creative with these...

One of the lessons we had Monday was with Danilo (Israelite), and this time we brought the Ward Mission Leader, Fratello Impolonia. We prepped him beforehand, and said logic wasn't gonna do squat, we just needed to go in there and bear testimony like a boss. He was totally down for it, and we went over.

The conversation was, shall we say, lively. It was like there was a nuke set off in the room. They went at it for 2 hours. And Fratello Impolonia did magnificently, bearing testimony all the time, especially of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Danilo was just set in his ways. It looks like we're gonna have to stop seeing him, since he just seems to be trying to convince us how WE'RE wrong, and not listening at all. Dang. But we literally did all we could with that. But that was an impressive spectacle to be in the middle of, I'll tell you that.

So for the past few weeks, the Relief Society started having a schedule where we eat lunch at a member's house every Sunday afternoon (So far we're good to the end of February), and this past one was at this one lady's house named Sorella Amato. She really wants to do missionary work, but it's hard cause we need to have at least one guy in the house, which is difficult with all the people she would be helpful to see with. President Kelly has said several times that he wants to get a companionship of Sorelle in Messina soon, and I think that would be REALLY helpful for people here. But anyway, we ate at her house, and BOY did we eat! First course: 1 kilo of pasta, easy, with seconds. Second: GIANT meatballs with egg inside. Then, of course, fruit and then sweets (dolci). Me and Anziano Stewart were in actually in pain after that. Plus, we left a half hour before an appointment we had at the church, which was an hour away on foot. The appointment ended up being a bidone (they didn't show up), but we made it in pretty good time. But the whole way, I was just telling myself not to throw-up till I got to the church, 1 cause the food was too good, and 2 that would be messy. But I felt better by the time we got to the church! :) But I didn't get hungry until next day's lunch. And I was able to eat quite a bit.... Yep! Becoming Italian is great!

Ok, so spiritual insight from this week: in fact, during the lesson with Danilo, I realized why we have the Sabbath on Sunday: Christ made the earth, right? So the celebration of the Sabbath was NOT for the creation, but to remember Him who did it. Thus, the Resurrection changed that. But how could it be changed by an unchangeable being? It's not so much the RULES that don't change, but the PERSON. Who is the person? Moses 1:39. That's the entire reasoning for everything. Sorry that was such a scarce explanation, I'm just running out of time.

But I love you all! I'll see if I can get more photos next time!

Ciao!

Anziano Walker

P.S. - There were problems with the computer, could only get one photo. Sorry! Next time!

Happy Wednesday

Hi everybody!

 

Gosh, this week has been rather slow, but the day's went fast. Unfortunately, not a heck of a lot of cool little stories to tell. Either A) I haven't been looking, B) I've been slowing down on my passion for wanting to do the best I can here a bit, or C) a combination of both. I think, unfortunately, it's C. What's been hard is that none of the people we needed and wanted to see last week could or would, so we ended up just seeing a looooot of new converts and less-active people. Which is good, yes, but then it's hard to get anything across that they need to hear. Why, you ask? They talk. It's like a national pasttime here. After some lessons, I come out feeling so dang crappy 'cause I couldn't get a word in, except "Ci vediamo" on my way out, or if they ask me to say the prayer. What's funny, though, was one person we talked to said to me "You need to talk more if you want to learn the language," and then continued on for something like 20 minutes about something that they thought was relevant. Ironic, huh? When that happens, I just end up feeling like crap. You guys know that I have always had a hard time fighting for places in conversations, but here it's just impossible. The thing is, I CAN talk in the language now, and I'm learning more and more how to hear it, but I never get a chance to show people that I can... Situations like that make me wonder why Heavenly Father called me here, where it seems I would be the MOST useless...

 

Ok, ranting aside, there was something pretty cool that happened Monday. Actually, it started last Sunday, when this one guy, named Andrea Perdichizzi, came to church. He's been a member for about 8 months, and less-active for about 7 of them. Apparently, he didn't like how the leaders did things for some reason, or he thought they were not following commandments enough. I dunno. But he came to church last Sunday, and he wanted to talk to us the next day. So we met up, and he told us (after talking like most Italians, but it was better with him) that he realized that not coming to church just hurt him, so he wants to become fully active again. That was cool! And he came this past week too, and this Monday we saw him again, and he walked in and asked how much was 10% of 60, and then tried to give US 6! Haha! But we showed him how to pay tithing, and he told us it was his first time ever doing that! He's great!

 

It's so much fun to hear how you're all doing! And especially with Kaden, that's awesome! Keep tearin' it up! And Cameron, I can understand about Ms. Kennicutt (that's the teacher's name, right?) She can be a little.... blunt. But the shop classes are incredibly fun, I'm glad you enjoyed it! As well as the volcano, that sounds sweet! I wanna go! And Cole's sounding good with the campout, that's cool that he liked it so much. I'm psyched to see how fast he gets through all the requirements for everything. Here's a little competition for you: get to be a Life Scout before I finish my mission. Deal? I bet you I'll win! :P

 

Mom and Dad, I always love your thoughts in your e-mails. Especially the advice you both gave for the guy from Israel. I dunno, we DID explain a lot of that before, but we can try some of it again and the new stuff. But I think what it's gonna come down to is us just testifying, and trying to pump spiritual feelings into the room. We haven't seen him since I last wrote, though. And Dad, your thoughts on "Come Thou Font" were great! I had looked up before what the Ebenezer was, but I never found where. That's cool! And then how you tied it with Ebenezer Scrooge, haha!

 

Anyway, I love you all, you're great!

 

Anziano Walker

Super Happy P Day

Pronto!

 

Literally, that means "ready". But that's how they answer the phone here, instead of "hello". That took a bit of time to get used to.

 

But anyway, HI! First off, for Kalyn: that sucks. Make sure you don't stress out like that again. :)

 

Secondly, thank you, parents, for worrying about me, but it's funny, my mood kind of fixed itself the next day. Or, sort of. It got to our companionship study time in the morning, and I was kind of in my own little shell, but Anz. Stewart realized that, so he started to ask my opinion a little more often than normal. Finally, I just said "I'm tired", and then he had the wisdom and patience to let me be for a few minutes as we just sat there. After a bit, I started up talking about lessons again, and whaddya know, my mood just gradually fixed itself! I finally understood what it meant to "lose yourself in the work", and how that brings joy. I haven't done much different, but I've just... felt so much better about it this week. Thanks for the encouragement!

 

But back to the phone thing from before (or I guess just that tidbit at the top), I've learned I need quite a bit of practice on the phone here. It's DANG hard to understand people here when you can't see them, for some reason. And, to make matters worse, one of the Sri Lankans who recently got baptized speaks English, but he learned it in the UK, so he not only has a Sri Lankan accent, but a BRITISH accent at the same time! So it's super hard to understand my own language here.... dang.....

 

But Tuesday morning, it was raining cats and dogs, so Anz. Davis and I (we were doing a scambio, an exchange, with Reggio Calabria) were calling old investigators in the Area Book. The FIRST person I called was from 10 years ago, but was totally down to meet THAT AFTERNOON. Unfortunately, something came up for her, so she sent us a text saying she couldn't come as we were walking there, but hey! The Lord prepares people, and a lot of them have already been met with, we just need to ask them to see us again!

 

Did I tell you guys about that one guy from Israel we met? Who's super set on Saturday as the Sabbath? But believes in Christ? Yeah, we've met with him a few times, and he's still super set on it. The thing is, he has a very solid foundation for that. He's read the Hebrew, Italian, and English Bibles, and is a firm believer in an unchanging God. And since God instituted Saturday as the Sabbath, since the world was created, it should still be Saturday, right? We've tried just about everything with him. Explaining that Christ resurrected on Sunday. Revelation to the prophets. We tried teaching the Restoration to invite the Spirit to testify. We've invited him to come to church and to pray about it and re-read the Book of Mormon. We've tried explaining that it's more the "why" than the "what". He always comes back to how God is unchanging, so the prophets who uphold the Sabbath on Sunday can't be Heavenly Father's prophets (he says that the devil can appear as an angel of light, which is completely true, it says in the New Testament), and that if Heavenly Father Himself came down and told him it was now on Wednesday, he would probably not believe it (since if He made Himself a liar, God would cease to be God). Basically, we're stuck. Any ideas? I'm trying to study it now to see what I can get. If anything, just a stronger testimony that that is what God wants.

 

Cool little miracle, but walking to his house Tuesday, something awesome happened. It's a half-hour to get there by tram. Unfortunately, they haven't been running lately. But we didn't know that until we came to the stop on time. When a lady told us that, we started walking like our feet were on fire, and called him to say we MIGHT be a little late. We knew it would probably take 40 min. to get there on foot. But somehow, we got there EXACTLY on time, a half hour after we left home. But that's not all. We had an appointment at the church about an hour after we had planned to finish, to account for tram time, and time to prep. The thing is, the church is a half hour walk from our home. So we walked there as quick as we could, hoping we could get there. We got there in about 35 min. Basically, we got there in impossible time. It's amazing what the Lord can do for us!

 

Today, I got a few more Christmas presents from you guys, thanks! The small pizza, focaccia, and calzone cookbook was genious! And the ties were super cool too, really fun colors! But I especially love the Italian jacket you got me, although I may have to send it home, because it'll be best for after the mission. Your choices were great, it's almost like you knew exactly what I wanted! Haha! :)

 

Oh, speaking of packages, smaller ones are ok to send to the mission home, I'll just get them at Zone Conference, hopefully. If you're wondering. Maybe.

 

But I still love to read about what's going on at home, and I love all of you. Thank you for being great parents, and a great family!

 

Ciao ciao!

Anziano Your-son-in-Italia

Happy P Day

Ciao famiglia!

 

Well, Dad, it's funny you mention last Friday's appointment. It ended up being what is called a "bidone", which means dumpster. Lessons get that name when we don't actually have the lesson, because they never come to the appointment. :/ We called him several times, but he just never picked up. Oh well. But the other lessons and visits we planned went swimmingly! Anziano Bennett was so easy to get along with, he's great! And he's super hilarious!

 

The Sri Lankan family is doing alright. Things are getting a little hard for them in different ways, but I'm amazed at how much they believe in the church already! They are SO strong, and they even gave us a referral for a friend who lives in Palermo (on the other side of Sicily), which the missionaries over there met with, and their friend liked it a lot! So cool!

 

This past week has been super hard on me. I was feeling kind of like Kalyn did, I guess, where it got hard to be happy. Satan sucks. Just saying that right now. But ever since Sunday, it just got super hard for me. Last night it kind of came to a head, and I just felt so stressed and whatnot, I thought I was gonna pop a blood vessel in my head or something. And I could feel a huge pressure on my chest. So before going to bed, I said my prayers and went to bed. I'm not entirely sure how much was coherent, but it worked. I climbed into bed, and after a minute or two, the pressure just ebbed away, and I felt calmed down enough to get a decent night's sleep. Heavenly Father loves us enough to help us out, even when we may not feel like we deserve it. I know. :)

 

Ok, I WAS going to tell you some interesting things we did this week, but I just took out my agenda now to remember, and it turns out I grabbed the one from LAST transfer. Oops. So, you'll just have to take my word for it that I DID have some good experiences, but I can't really remember what happened yesterday afternoon, let alone last week. But some things come to mind: yesterday afternoon, in fact, we met with a guy from the middle east, who speaks Italian very well and very clearly. We're pretty sure he has some connection to Judaism, because he knows the Old Testament like the back of his hand, but he also has a strong testimony of Christ. Cool thing, he has a Bible in Hebrew. I dunno why I told you that, I just thought it would be fun. :) Not so cool thing, he has a STRONG belief that Saturday is the sabbath, not Sunday. It's especially hard in Italian, because both Saturday and Sabbath are "Sabato". We'll see where this goes!

 

Ummmm, other than that.... I'm good to go. I still haven't got those cookbooks yet, unfortunately, because we haven't had time to go to a bookstore or anything. Plus, I'm kind of dying here, because I haven't had any opportunity to practice my songs I have on the piano. That really blows. BUT! (if you buy 3 completos, it's only 3 dollars!) There are some songs I've heard here that I would love it if you could search for music. If anything for after the mission. It might be helpful to look them up on iTunes or something beforehand so you can know what to look for in the music. Anyway, they are:

 

"In Christ Alone" by Owl City (This one is cool, because the band is actually really big, and then he did this song)

 

"Anthem to My King" by Octappella (I don't know if there's music for it, since it's a cappella, but it is freakin amazing. To make sure you have the right one, Google the words. It starts off "Holy Father, with humble voice I raise an anthem to my King/May the heavens find a way to hear the words I cannot sing")

 

Anyway, if you could find sheet music for those (or ask Kaden to, that'd be good too), that'd be AMAZING. If not, I'll still love you...........maybe. :)

 

It's great to hear how everything's going at home, I love you all!

 

Vi voglio tantissimo bene!

 

Anziano Walker

P day Letter

Well, hi there!

 

My goodness, we talked LAST week on Skype? That seems both SUPER LONG and SUPER short time, it's a weird feeling. But anyway, I loved talking with you all! It was really fun to hear and see everyone, I loved it!

 

I've had a tiring week, and not really from the amount of appointments or anything (we actually had a lot fall through). Some people had hard a hard Christmas, or times right around there. Especially the Sri Lankans, because they had problems from neighbors. But they're still going strong and loving the Gospel, which is awesome! Plus, Vescovo gave them €150 for Christmas, so they really enjoyed getting gifts for each other! And one of them, Sanjay, helped translate for us with ANOTHER Sri Lankan (who speaks maybe 5 words in English and less in Italian), and he was great, bearing testimony when he saw it was right, and letting us know what he said even if we didn't ask yet. I really think this little group is gonna be SUPER helpful for us, if we keep getting more Sri Lankan investigators! Some missionaries in the past even made it a little goal to get a branch here in Singhallah (or it might be Sinhalah, I dunno). It definitely seems possible.

 

But anyway, New Years: no, we did not stay up till midnight. President Kelly told everyone to be inside by 6, on account of "fireworks". They're basically just dynamite. And then New Years Day, we were inside all day, doing deep-cleaning. That's something we do 3x a year, where we're supposed to go through the appartment and make everything sparkle. The unfortunate thing is, other missionaries don't have habits of periodically cleaning, so appartments get hard to make that happen. We got a lot of progress done, though! Now we just need to maintain it...

 

That family with the dream? We've gone back 3x now, twice with appointments, and either they haven't opened the door or there wasn't a man in the house. So yeah, maybe it's not quite "Ensign-worthy" at the moment. Although with contacts from the Mostra, we have someone this Friday who we're gonna try to see. Did I tell you about him? He came up to me while I was talking to this one lady, and he started joking about the end of the world. But then he stopped, and asked for a pamphlet and then gave me his address. I think I did. But I called him up (cause Anz. Stewart was busy), and I asked if we could meet, and he just replied "Venerdì" (Friday). I was kinda shocked at his willingness to meet, and basically he had a time set aside for us, at 10 am, is what he said. So yeah, hope this goes well! It'll be difficult, because I'll be with Anziano Bennett, since Anziano Stewart and Anziano Davis (the Zone Leaders) will be going to Rome Thursday for Capi Conference, and coming back Friday afternoon. 2 missionaries 1 transfer into their mission in Italian........ THIS'LL GO SO WELL!

 

Fun story: on Sunday, Anziano Stewart was asked to go to the Primary to help with something. We were confused as to the "what", but he went at the end of the 1st hour (Priesthood). Coming out of that, I saw a really tall, different-looking guy than what's normal around here. He saw me, and said "Hi Elder!" I was so surprised, I just blurted out "Americans?" Smoooooooth.... But yeah, there was a family that came here on a cruise, and just decided to use their Sunday time on land to go to an Italian Ward. There were 8 in total, with 4 kids in Primary (which more than doubled it all). But the parents and two older kids came into Gospel Principles so they could understand. How, you ask? I ended up translating. Or, actually, it ended up as kind of a class effort. The teacher eventually learned to go slow. :) But they were really nice, and the Dad was understanding. Apparently they live in San Antonio, Texas, and he translates into Spanish ocassionally. Then after Sacrament (which Anz. Stewart translated for them), they asked to get a picture with us. Fun stuff! On the last day of my first transfer, I got my first translating job. Stinks that I butchered it, though. Oh well!

 

Anyway, the church is true, I promise. It's so cool to see the changes it brings to some people's lives. Even in 6 weeks! And I love how truly simple it is. Honestly, those answers that instantly come to your mind whenever somebody asks a question like "How can we know the Book of Mormon is true?" are EXACTLY right, even though we want there to be more complicated answers. That's something I'm learning a bit more here. Primary was spot on! I think that's what it means when it says it's the "straight and narrow path". Narrow because it has to be (no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God, right), and straight because everything is laid out for us. No sudden turns, nothing hidden. I love it!

 

Oh, before I send this off, I wanted to tell you about Christmas presents you're getting me: I'm gonna get these cookbooks called "Oggi, cucino io" (Today, I cook). Anz. Stewart has some, and apparently it's a nice little series with a TON of Italian recipes. So even if I don't learn it all here, I'll have the ability, don't worry! The only problem is that apparently, the quality of the ingredients REALLY matters. Some sauces only have 3 ingredients, but you need the best tomatoes to make it really good. So... we'll see how it turns up in the States!

 

Ok, that's everything, I think. I love you all!

 

Ciao ciao!

Anziano Trey Walker