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4/16/18
So sorry everyone - I'll write something next week. I've literally been on a spiritual high and we're doing great work - plus we had a bomb p-day walking through Roma.
Anziano Samuel Parker
Pictures:
Anziano Ruiz at Mission Leadership Conference
View from Villa Borghese up above Piazza del Popolo/View out over Rome
The Spanish Steps
The Pantheon
Our group after playing Frisbee golf
Inside a super fancy gelateria that's got some amazing red grapefruit gelato - best thing ever!
[The Eternal City]
4/9/18
This will be super short this week!
I got transferred to Roma from Pescara!! I'm serving in Rome 1 as a zone leader.
You guys are great! Buona settimana! [Have a good week!]
Anziano Samuel Parker
[The voice of the Prophet]
4/2/18
Questa settimana è stata assolutamente incredibile…. con una propria descrizione. [This week was absolutely incredible .... with its own description.] I have had so many amazing teaching experiences on the street, both teaching people who are just barely learning about the church and those who have spent their whole lives enriching their knowledge of the gospel. These were amazing lessons. I have also been able to feel the Holy Ghost much more powerfully and consistently, probably the most I have been able to, and then recognize and act on it. It's been an unforgettable week in the mission and it all comes from a sincere desire to be better disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we were able to remember during this past Holy Week.
We had a wonderful district meeting. We reviewed the zone conference that happened 2 weeks ago, and we did it 100% in Italian since our entire zone participated in a week long English fast! We learned a lot, and I'm so grateful to be with such great missionaries!! After DM we had pizza, hand made by the Ascoli Anziani [the Ascoli Elders], who are just the best guys ever! We've eaten a TON of tasty food together this transfer.
On Wednesday & Thursday, we did a scambio [exchange] with the Elders in Terni, which is a bus ride to Roma and then a train ride away, so we got quite a bit of traveling done. Anz Jensen taught me a lot of things on our scambio [exchange] about finding [tracting], being a better companion, and also just how to love the people of Italy, no matter who it is, even more. We also had a beautiful lesson with a young family, a couple with 3 little children, who are learning about the church. In the words of Anz Jensen: "Whenever we're teaching them I feel as if we're in "The District." The most picture perfect lesson I think I've been able to take part in, all thanks to such and honest and sincere desire to follow the Savior.
During the rest of the week we did some good finding in a park in Pescara. I was reminded of it during a prayer and decided we should go, and we ended up finding several people who were willing to talk with us! We showed the Europe Area message video “Ci Sarà Sempre” (“Always There”) and had some great conversations about Jesus Christ and his restored church.
I want to share my testimony that I know President Russell M. Nelson has truly been called of God to be the Lord's mouthpiece on the Earth today. He has had a lifetime of preparation to make him capable of leading the church in these latter days. He's such an amazing example, and I'm so glad he's at the head of this church today. It's such a blessing to live the gospel and be part of the Lord's church because of the great role personal revelation plays. This restored church came to be because a young boy who was 14 years old was searching for an answer to a personal question. Similarly, the changes that are made within the church are made through revelation given by God through the Holy Ghost to his divinely appointed apostles and prophet. I hope all of you felt during conference or will search to feel a confirmation that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I'll tie this all together using the powerful verse from 2 Nephi 2, verse 8 that says:
“Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.”
And that is why we share the gospel. My testimony of the Savior and His power has grown so much over this past week's study of the last events of His life and learning to live as he did. He truly is the greatest man to walk this Earth, and there is so much to learn and become! Che bella questa vita! [What a beautiful life!]
Buona settimana, e pace fuori! (sbagliatissimo, lo so) [Good week, and peace out! (wrong, I know).
Anziano Samuel Parker
1 The Rome Temple
2 & 3 Zone Conference
4 un piatto abruzzese, molto buono [a abruzzese dish, very good]
6 We made lasagna (my first one!), not incredible, but a start
7 We went out to a friend's house for lunch in Campagna today, che bella l'Italia! [what a beautiful Italy!]
8 Muro a Terni [wall in Terni]
[The Temple]
3/27/18
Questa è passata troppo veloce! [This has gone too fast!] There were just so many things that happened.
On Tuesday we had a great district meeting and practiced for our musical number for zone conference. Then we had a celebration for Anziano Smith, Sorella Oveson, and I for serving in the mission for one year (and also celebrated 9 months left for Sorella Hickey and Sorella Cook) by having home-made true AMERICAN pancakes made by Anziano Strong. They were so good! The rest of Tuesday and all of Wednesday I got to do a scambio [an exchange] with Anz Rummens while Anz Strong and Smith went back to Ascoli for work. It was pouring outside the whole time, but we did some really inspired and faith filled contacting on buses and by the end of our time together we had made several new contacts and given away 2 Books of Mormon! I love getting to serve with other missionaries and learning from the experiences they've had in the mission. It also somehow energizes whatever area you're working in and it's always wonderful to see the miracles that are possible
Probably the best day of the week was Thursday! We got up early to get on a bus headed to Rome for Zone Conference, and Anz Smith got up even earlier to make us all Pesto Calzones for the bus ride. It was a pretty unforgettable start to the year mark for my mission! During the rest of the day we did the following:
- saw the new information center for the Rome temple (like a mini visitor's center for before the temple officially is opened)
- had interviews with President Pickerd at the villa
- got to see my MTC companion Anziano Bardsley, literally a year to the day I met him!
- had a street gesso during the evening and taught a group of ragazzi [young men] about the Book of Mormon!
- had gelato with with Anziano Smith, Bardsley, and Sorella Oveson (all part of our MTC group) for another celebration
The rest of zone conference went super well, and we learned about how to have joy in the work and also improve our language - hence the week long English-speaking fast our entire zone is doing!
I've had some incredible experiences getting to talk about the Book of Mormon this past week with just random people, and I'm so grateful we have this season of Easter to help even more people remember Jesus Christ. I know no matter what, he will always be there for us; the question is - will we let him into our lives? #CiSaràSempre [#It will always be there]
Buona Pasqua! [Happy Easter!]
Anziano Samuel Parker
1 Anz Smith, Sor Oveson, Io, Anz Bardsley #MTCsquad
2 al tempio [at the temple]
3 recreation of the Sistine Chapel
4 At the beach
5 Thiago's Airport
6 Random city in the mountains
3/19/18
I finally went further south than Roma!
This week we had an awesome adventure going all the way down to Taranto for Anziano Strong's permesso (legal permission to stay in Italy). [I still haven't gotten mine and I've been here for almost a year....] We were there with Sorella McDonald and Ellison from Pozzuoli, who were there for Sorella Ellison's permesso as well. To make things even better, it was zone conference!! So all the Anziani in the Taranto zone were there! I got to see 3 of my past companions, Anziano Castro, Bohn, and my trainer Anz Ruiz! It was so fun getting to see all of them again. I also got to meet a whole bunch of other Anziani. Wednesday night I also had my first calzone! Basically, It's an amazing pizza that's folded over and deep-fried, Italian goodness in a crispy golden shell.
In Taranto, after getting the permesso we had a while to wait for our train back to Pescara, so we did a giro [round] through centro [center of town].
Sorella Ellison and Anz Strong were showing us all their favorite spots from when they served there! The deep south of Italy isn't really different from what I've experienced so far, just more worn down buildings and way more fields full of different crops. I'm going to be really excited if I get to go south for my next area!
We had a really fun lesson with Thiago using a model of an airport that Anz Strong made. We used it to explain the commandments and why we need to follow God's guidelines for us. Thiago really enjoyed the lesson and the object lesson. Afterwards we gave him the model. We had found the aereo [plane] at an open air market one Saturday during this transfer and the idea for the lesson just popped into our heads!
This week for DDM [district meeting] we had a pumpkin lasagna cook-off between me and Sorella Oveson. It was pretty intense leading up to it and the whole district was pumped to try them out. Sadly, Sorella Oveson's was deemed to be better (honestly, it was lacking some pumpkin flavor, but the cheese was AMAZING!) Mine just had wayyyy too much ricotta. In fact, it had 898 grams of ricotta, almost a full kilo! And it was quite the journey getting it from the street market to our house. It went from the market, to a restaurant shelf, to sitting buried in sand at the beach, then the church fridge, and then our house fridge before being mixed in with all the pumpkin.
This week I had a really cool experience while preparing a Facebook post for #MissionariMormoni. I passed over the scripture Alma 29:9 which says:
"I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy."
And it just hit me that I need to truly internalize the effect I can have in someone's life by teaching them about pentimento [repentance]. This principle of the gospel has had such a huge effect on my own life, and I need to desire that positive change in the life of someone else in order to find that joy talked about by Alma.
Buona settimana! [Have a good week!]
Anziano Samuel Parker
The last picture is focaccia pufgliese
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