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10/22/18
(Sardegna looks so weird when written in English, it pains me every single time I see it written like it is in the title)
So based on the title, you might have a slight hint of what I did this week. If we skip back all the way to my very first month of the Mission, May 2017, a whopping 18 months ago, I filed to receive a Permesso di Soggiorno, which lets me reside in Italy. It is kind of like a green card, allowing residence, but not citizenship. Normally missionaries are able to receive theirs in about 3-6 months or so, but mine took an extraordinarily ridiculous amount of time to process for whatever reason. In that time the missionaries have since been removed from Olbia, with the nearest Elders being in Sassari, about a 2 hour train ride away, on the other coast of Sardegna. This week, I flew to Sassari and got to see one of my buds, Anz Jacob Smith! He's the best, and that night after eating African fu-fu (craziest thing to eat) in church with some members and teaching an English course, he made Anz Trickett and I several pizzas with his insanely refined pizza making skills! Then we had an early morning at 5:00am, taking a train to Olbia. We all crashed on the train before getting to the Questura and popping out with my new permesso within just 10 minutes! Ended up being 3 days of travel for the main purpose of 10 minutes at a government building to get a piece of plastic! But it was a great trip. I saw the Branch President of Olbia and we passed by the church to sort out the missionary materials that had been left there. We got a ride to the airport Friday evening from a homie English course student, Pietro, and then I said goodbye to "The Rock" for probably the last time in many years.
When I got back, I went directly to the church to reunite with my companion and attend a baptismal service for a ragazzo named Emeric who is from Perugia. It was a great ceremony and a lot of support from the members! Sorella Schnell, Ricks, and I sang "Pace in Cristo" with Anziano Cagnacci playing the piano. It was super powerful! I absolutely love bearing testimony through song, and it was awesome to see the look on Emeric's face and the joy he felt after having made the choice and commitment. Promises with God are unexplainably powerful and uplifting, it's something one has to experience to understand!
We spent time with the sisters doing a gesso in centro and talking to people about the church. Then we also had a lunch in church making Carbonara and eating Sorella Schnell's mission famous Tiramisù! Best carbonara I've had in months, same for the iramisù. Luckily this next transfer I'm going to try and use some recipes from a huge recipe book Anz Smith gave to me! ALSO - TRANSFER UPDATE! We got our transfer calls this morning and I'll be staying here in Terni to train a new missionary. Anz Sacco will be going to Sardegna (che coincidenza che ci sono stato settimana scorsa!) [what a coincidence that I was there last week!] to be a zone leader in Cagliari (the southern part, I like the north better, but I'm biased). I'm super excited to teach a new missionary Italian and help him adapt to the crazy different world of missionary work. I know I've had a lot of changes, trials, and struggles, so I hope I'm able to pass that knowledge on to help him have the best mission possible!
During my travels to Sardegna I ended up spending 14 hours on my own, and I spent a large amount of that time studying the scriptures and pondering. I've been loving thinking about the concept of choices, and how important it is that we use our agency righteously. If we have come to the knowledge of the gospel and have a testimony it's true, we need to always choose taking into account that knowledge! God wants to help us know everything about Him, we just have to search HIM out. He won't necessarily come calling our name, because "the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with man" (2 Nephi 26:11), or in other words, he won't fight against our agency to choose. However if we search out and ask for His help in choosing eternal life and happiness, He will come running towards us, happy to give us the guidance we need. #truth I bear testimony of that! I love all you guys and hope you make choices that will bring you closer to your family and also the Lord!
vi voglio un mondo di bene! [I love you so much!]
Anziano Samuel Parker
Ok Various Foto Mix'n'match time
-Group photos from our pday in Rome, spanish steps and San Giovanni (old Vatican)
-Sacco and I at the Colosseo
-Sacco and 4 of his past companions (3 of whom went home today)
-ex-Anziano Velardi visited us in Terni with his family before traveling down south!
-Anziano Trickett, Pietro, and Anziano Smith my squad at Sassari!
-the famed Anziano Misa and his custom Magnum chocolate bar he made today!
[Castles, Dinners, and Conferences]
10/15/18
This past week was absolutely loaded!
I haven't gotten an email out for a bit, but my time here in Terni has been going great! Me and Anziano Sacco are "piano piano" (slowly but surely) refining our Italian,thanks to the big emphasis the mission has out on SYL (Speak Your Language). We are trying to speak Italian from 10am - 9pm every day. I teach him the detailed grammar and he trains me on all the slang from the different areas he's served!
I have fallen in love with this area! We got to see a bit more of what surrounds Terni on our last p-day, and we were absolutely blown away by the beauty of Umbria. We hiked to a castle in a tiny paesino [hamlet].
My favorite moment of the week was arriving to the church Wednesday night after getting back from zone conference in Rome, and having it completely full of members doing activities!!! It felt like I was in America again! There were high schoolers doing seminary (they meet at night instead of the morning), bambini [children] doing a primary activity, Young Adults doing institute, and the bishopric having a meeting. It was so cool to hop off the bus and walk into a church that was filled on a normal week day with righteous and happy Latter Day Saints!
I'm super excited about all of the changes that were made at General Conference. It's cool that I get to have 3 months of 2 hour church while I'm here in Italy! Anziano Sacco did a really good job emphasizing the type of preparation we needed to do conference. So, I prepared a lot of personal questions that I was praying to have answered in the various talks and instruction from the leaders of the church. Literally all of them were answered!!! The last session of conference, on Sunday, especially touched me. I loved Elder Renlund's talk about choosing the right!
We watched the first session of conference with a recent convert, Roberto, at his house in Bolsena - a tiny town on a lake about 2 hours from Terni. We talked with him about asking questions to find answers, and he immediately said, "Oh, I'll have a list of 50 ASAP!" In the first talk, the short address
from President Nelson, Roberto lit up and said, "I got an answer!" It was one of the best things I've seen! I have such a love for our prophets, seers and revelators that God has blessed us with in these modern days. They're truly inspired and bear a special testimony and divinity of Christ. If you haven't watched any or all of General Conference for the church - do it! You're missing out!
We also had a zone conference this week in Rome. We had a lot of trainings about various topics, but the main thing I took away is how grateful I am for the opportunity to serve a mission here in Italy and be surrounded by and learn from such a high caliber group of people. Every missionary here is so special, and there are so many incredible lessons I've learned from so many different types of people. The sacrifices everyone makes all because of a unifying love for the Savior and a personal testimony of His restored church are really inspiring, and just make me want to do even more during my service here!
This week ended with a bang on Sunday! We had fast and testimony meeting, with a surprising number of tourists. In fact I almost felt as if I was in Rome 1 again! I translated for the first time in a while and our priesthood lesson gave me a whole new appreciation for a conference talk from the April Conference, "Behold the Man!" I love the way the spirit works on us at different times, making scriptures, talks, or music that we've already been exposed to many times, have a more powerful effect on our hearts and give us a new clarity of mind. I've been having a lot of those moments in my re-readings of the Book of Mormon this year! Anyway.... we had a lunch after church - huge meal full of glorious italian food, followed by dodgeball and ping pong with the ragazzi of the ward and the visiting American kids from Texas. It was dope! I love members of this church so much, worldwide we're all awesome!
I love all you guys, and you all to "kill" this next week - "Rejoice in the opportunity to have a new day at your fingertips."
Anziano Samuel Parker
-Pranzo after church. All the American kids are huddled around Bright and learning Pigeon English!
-Zone Conference Rome East (#1YearGoingStrongInRomeZones)
-Temple Update, they put the sign in!
-Piediluco Pics from today, beautiful lakeside town and the castle we got to explore!
[A New Zone (I'm Still in Italy!)]
9/24/18
Well.....
I don't have the craziest amount of time to write so I'll just send some photos and call it good!
I had an incredible week in Rome saying goodbye to members and people we've been teaching - some of the most lit visits I've had!
I'm now in Terni (abbastanza grande [big enough] city above Rome in Umbria) and serving with Anx Sacco, a country blasting, from the lovely town of Erda, Utah. We're gonna have a bomba transfer!
Anziano Samuel Parker
"It's not where you serve but how you serve" - J Reuben Clark
1 & 2 - Zone Conference photos from a couple week back
3 Saying Goodbye to Ludovico, Pina, and Pam
4 The Salerno Fam, I'll miss them back in Rome 1
5 Left our good friend Bobby with a Book of Mormon!
6 Last visit with Fatima, our friend from El Salvador that we've been teaching!
7 Terni and Sacco
8 Piazza in Terni, it's got the cleanest centro I've ever seen!
[The City and the People Change, But The Church Is Always The Same!]
9/18/18
Allora..... [Then.....]
È la fine di un altro 6 settimane!
[It's the end of another 6 weeks!]
This has been an incredible transfer for me. They keep on coming faster and faster. It feels like yesterday that Anziano Baker and I were giving each other a ginormous hug at Termini and then heading off to our first lesson 6 weeks ago. We learned even MORE Italian together, LOVED THE CULTURE more than bacon loves a hot frying pan, (metaphor courtesy of Anz Baker), taught the gospel, and felt the spirit with people from TONS of different countries, backgrounds, and religions. We have had some incredible experiences that have made us laugh so hard we lost control of what we were doing - (Anz Baker may or may not have spit out toothpaste and other liquids from his mouth in various areas of the house.) It was super special being able to serve with someone I already knew from the MTC, and it's even better that we got to do it together in the eternal city.
This past week we met with a good portion of the people we're teaching. My favorite lesson was one that I got to do with Anz Sanchez (#Hitting7MonthsOfLivingTogetherThisWeek) when teaching Fatima, a ragazza from El Salvador that absolutely LOVES learning about the Bible and how to follow God. We had a lesson fall through on our exchange in the morning, and so we texted her to see if she was available - and she was! She came prepared with a big list of questions about what we believe. She went to the temple and heard some things from members, so she had a lot of thoughts and decided to do some research online. Bad idea. This led her to be really confused about some things. BUT! Anz Sanchez and I were totally guided by the spirit, and we were able to spend 3 hours answering every one of her concerns - mainly about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith being a prophet, and accepting ordinances and principles that have been restored in this last dispensation. At the end we watched an video of the first vision that Anziano Sanchez put together and the spirit was SO STRONG! Oh, I just love the fact that God has promised he will pour out knowledge and testimony upon us to recognize ETERNAL TRUTHS!
ON TOP OF THAT LESSON - we got taught ourselves - one could say "schooled in the doctrine of the gospel. "Bishop Waddell of the Presiding Bishopric came to see the new Rome temple and spoke at the Rome East Stake Conference, and then came and talked to the missionaries of the Rome East and Rome West zones yesterday evening. It was a really cool spirit. While I was singing the EFY Medley (Daughters of Zion/Army of Helaman) in one of the musical numbers this line really stuck out to me - "We will be the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth." - just the fact that we ARE those missionaries, we just have to choose to actually BE THEM during our short time here in the mission field. We learned during the teachings of President Pickerd, Sister Waddell, and Bishop Waddell the importance of covenant keeping, and how our effort to keep our covenants and be obedient is how we demonstrate our faith, achieve success, and see God pour out his blessings, not only on us, but on the people of Italy. His attitude was just so positive, and he had such a great energy about him as he had the opportunity to bear testimony to us of basic and eternal truths, that change lives if applied sincerely and consistently.
After that conference we left and applied those principles right away, and had one of the best nights of finding I think Anz Baker and I have ever had together! We talked to some incredible people - Samuel, Diana, Danielle and others - and were really guided to people and being in the right place at the right time. We met a lot of new people, in addition to others we got to know better during the week.
Today we said a lot of goodbyes. I said hello to Sorella Zapata for the first time - even though she'll be finishing her mission (she'll actually be here in the Rome 2nd ward!) and then I said goodbye to Anz Strong, Anz Velardi, and Sorella Oveson - the last Sorella to go home from our MTC group. Che tristezza only us elders from now on! We had probably one of the best p-days ever and right now we're wrapping it up writing emails outside the old Vatican, San Giovanni. We had a nice convo with some Carabinieri (I'm not sure what you'd compare them to, maybe state troopers?) who asked us what our name tag meant, and then got to enjoying the nice September breeze and then sounds of a traffic controller incessantly blowing his whistle at a nearby intersection. The sounds and ambiente of Italy are unforgettable,
I love the truth of the gospel, and the example of Christ. Recently I've been studying the life of Christ as found in the new testament and on His gospel (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) as found in the Book of Mormon. It's incredible to see how much scripture written thousands of years ago (even in the same locations I was able to visit today with a member) can apply so clearly and resoundingly in these modern times. Lo amo, lo vivo, lo condivido! Vi invito a fare lo stesso! [I love it, I live it, I share it! I invite you to do the same!]
Anziano Samuel Parker
Brief explanation - I happen to have lived in Rome for the past six months - the same city in which Peter and Paul preached the gospel, and in which Christianity eventually became even infamous. We had the opportunity to go out this morning with a member and visit multiple sites in the city and learn about the history of Rome in ancient times around 30-60 D.C. We read several scriptures highlighting Peter's and Paul's travelings to Rome, and even visited the location of Paul's home while he was waiting for his court appeal with Cesare. That in addition to Bishop Waddell's visit makes the divinity and truth of the church all the more real for me!
1 Castel San Angelo - fortress of the pope, built on an emperor's tomb
2 Always companions! (Anz Mayer, my comp from exactly 1 year ago)
3 Got to have some last one on one time with Anz Strong before he goes home tomorrow - we went to see the Pantheon after getting Lemon and Grapefruit gelato!
4 Ecco il gelato
5 Exploring ancient Rome on a map! Shout-out to Fratello DeMatteis who really knows his stuff
9/4/18
I had my first root beer float here in italy this week. I bought a can of "Mug" Root Beer and some fior di latte [cream/milk] from a gelateria [ice cream store]. It was almost as good as it is at home!
Lots of miracles happening, and I can see my testimony strengthened of the Book of Mormon and Bible!
Buon Settembre,
Anziano Samuel Parker
Here are some photos from this past week!
1. Picking Fichi d'india [Prickly Pears]
2. Temple Trip with some members of our ward (surprise visit from the Smiths!)
3. Pizzeria we hit up with some member tourists today!
4. #StickerFinding
5. Pday with Anz Bacon today!
6. Truck driver photo bombed us!
7. Cibo
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