First off, thank you so much for that video. That was exactly what I needed. I've been feeling so dang far away from everything, almost like I'm completely alone except for my companion and the Lord. Even the prophets and family felt so far away... But the start of that video, with Pres. Monson announcing the age change, hit me like a wall, and even the music was familiar, and just seeing a bunch of things so much like home,... thank you so much! That was probably my favorite moment this week, coupled with reading a bit about Nathan leaving, and everything. Thank you thank you, thank you!!! I'm just over here bawling my eyes out, don't worry about it. :)
But first things first, why I'm writing a day early: we have a zone conference tomorrow, which means we're gonna have to stay the night in Rome, so we either got P-day on Tuesday or Thursday this week. Sorry for the short notice! But for zone conference, an elder from the 70 is coming to visit, named Kent F. Richards, and he gave a talk in 2011 in General Conference. We'll see how he is tomorrow!
So how is L'Aquila? Oh my gosh, it's GREAT! It's so... normal! No cars on the sidewalks, people talk really clearly, and it's just like a small town, it's amazing! And with the snow, it's absolutely beautiful! You just need to take away the scaffolding and other construction stuff, which is being used to repair the damage from the earthquake. Honestly, it's kinda sad walking through centro, you can tell it looked absolutely wonderful. And apparently, a lot of the people are having a hard time believing there's a God after that. But we're doing our best here!
The missionary work here is a LOT different than in Messina. There, we had a hard time doing finding because of appointments. Here, we have a hard time making appointments, so there's a lot of opportunities to do finding. It's hard, sometimes. Especially getting myself to go out of the apartment when I sometimes wonder if there's noone out there. But I've already had some AMAZING experiences here!
First: we were going from house to house in an outlying "paesino" (little town), and it was FREEZING! Unfortunately, I had forgot to bring gloves. Great. But after a few whole palazzi with nothing, we got to one door where a lady opened up. She didn't let us in, but she said she was a Jehovah's Witness, and knows how hard it is doing exactly what we were doing. So she gave us some chocolate. :) I count that day as a success!
But then, on the way back home from that paesino, we got off at a bus stop, and just started talking to this one guy, African. We talked a bit (he speaks french (from Cameroon), english, and is just learning Italian), and he seemed pretty interested about us saying we have a living prophet, and asked if we were Mormons. Once that was confirmed, we offered to give him a Book of Mormon, and he said sure, but then we realized we only had them in Italian, so we got his number to meet up some other time to give him one in French, after we got it. Back at the apartment, my companion looked, but we didn't have any! However, after church the next day, I looked again, and there was ONE in French way on the end of the line, tucked in the corner. So we called him up, and he was totally down to meet up after class at the bus stop the next day, and we got talking a bit, and he said he would like to hear some more! Of course, after exams, which are this week.
Then, Sunday afternoon, we were going to see if we could see this one contact the Anziani before us found, but Anziano Esplin hasn't yet had the pleasure to meet. (He's been here for 1 transfer already). Walking up, we saw a lady walking 2 dogs, and Anziano Esplin recognized one of them, and asked if she was Paola. Turns out, it was her daughter. Also turns out, she had a question for us, and let us in. Also also turns out, the question involved a friend who had seen a Book of Mormon that was left for them, heard of missionaries before, and wanted to meet up! Also also ALSO turns out, we had a full-on lesson with Paola (the mom) and Francesca (the daughter)! SCORE!
Next miracle: doing Casa in casa (house to house) last night. After several whole palazzi, we went up to one, and kept calling people to see if we could get in. One lady said she didn't have interest, but was willing to let us in. The first door, niente (nothing). The SECOND, however, we stumbled upon 6 college guys living together, and they let us in! Even better, some of them seem to have a bit of interest, although we're gonna have to come back after exams. We offered to show a little DVD that we carry around a bit (Finding Happiness, 5 min.), but the DVD player didn't work. So we left them a Book of Mormon and went upstairs. After finishing, they called our number, and one of them had a computer that could hook up to the TV, so they wanted to see the movie! And then we went back down, knocked, and one of them opened the door and said "Oh great! You're here! I was looking in the Words of Mormon, and I was wondering who this guy was." He apparently started flipping through as soon as we left!!! AND, they said we could stay for dinner! Which was cooked by someone from Calabria, which is down south, so it was AMAZING food! FANTASTIC NIGHT!!!!!!!
So yeah, doing good here. Anziano Esplin's cool too. Definitely very different from Anziano Stewart. Unfortunately, a bit pessimistic at times, which made me somewhat apprehensive to come to L'Aquila at first, based on how he explained it. But I'm learning how to look through that, and he's a great guy! This is his last transfer, too, and he sure is great at this!
The branch here is small, but great! The Branch President is an African from the Ivory Coast, and he's absolutely awesome! Oh, and get this: I'm playing piano each Sunday. No exclamation point there, yet. This past one was a 4 on a scale of 1-10, it's been so long since I've practiced for real, and the songs were ones I didn't know. Oh well!
Anyway, I love you all, and I'm still super thankful for your emails and everything! By the way, our address is:
Via Montorio al Vomano #6
L'Aquila, Italy
67100
Just so you know. :) Oh, and just letters here. Packages can go to the Mission office in Rome. I might get them more frequently than every Zone Conference, since I'll be able to visit once in a while.
Alyssa: I dunno, I've never really thought about it. I guess it's a lot about the attitude of the people that live there. One thing that might be helpful would be to allow yourself to think of it as a home. But I pretty much understand, I think. It's weird.
Ciao ciao!
Anziano Trey
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