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[Walking in the Rain!]
9/25/2017
Ciao tutti, [Hello everybody]
Questa settimana eravamo un po' bagnati. [This week we were a little wet.] We got rather wet with all the wonderful rain we've been having!
Last Monday we had a really fun Family Home Evening with a good amount of the members playing telestrations (kind of like the game "telephone" but with pictures and phrases). We also were able to have a good discussion about member missionary work and how we can work together to help people learn about the gospel. It was exactly what we wanted to focus on this week, so that was an awesome start.
On Tuesday we had the hugest disaster trying to get to our district meeting. We missed the train leaving Ascoli, or it was not running (I'm still not sure what happened). So we took a bus that would take us to the other station to catch our connecting train. Unfortunately, we had a 40 minute delay and so missed the connecting train as well. The next one wasn't until 2 hours later, so we decided to take a second bus, which got us about halfway to Pescara from San Benedetto. Then we took a third bus which got us all the way there. We pulled into the main station in Pescara just as the district meeting was ending. So we did a scambio [exchange] in order for us to make a good use of our travel endeavors! I had an awesome time with Anziano McConkie in Pescara and Anziano Mayer and Ridd got to go back to Ascoli. We taught a lesson in the afternoon and then had a real fun time teaching English in the evening (I haven't taught an English course for a while now). We had to walk all the way home across town, because our bus didn't come. It had been raining a ton, but we were blessed to have it stop for exactly the amount of time it took for us to get home! We ran the last 3/4 mile and then literally as we opened the front door of the apartment, it started pouring!
Wednesday I actually did get soaked. Anziano McConkie and I went out to do some "finding" in the morning, but there weren't too many people out. We walked by a ragazzo, [young man] and said "hi," and then he just kinda slowed down and turned toward us - so we started talking to him! We walked for a good 15 minutes in the pouring rain, getting to know him, and then exchanged phone numbers. He was really open to talking more with us. About 2pm we went to the train station, where we met our companions, and swapped back and went home to Ascoli. Anziano Mayer got super pumped from his scambio with Anziano Ridd which is exactly what I was hoping for! We had a good night of member visits, where one visit involved me cooking for all of us!
We taught an English course Thursday night and got to know a young ragazzo named Amit, who has known the missionaries for a good bit. We helped him with some English assignments he had. We also got to spend some time with Andrea, a member of the ward, and he helped us with some potential contacts we can meet.
The end of this week was amazing! We went to Macerata to see a referral we received from Mormon.org, who requested a Book of Mormon. It takes a full 4 hours round trip to get there and back, so the appointment took most of our day, but it was so worth it! We got to meet an amazing woman from Ghana and her husband, who's a pastor, and then talk with them about the gospel. They had some really good questions, and she is really excited to learn during her study from the Book of Mormon and the Bible together. We also got a referral from Andrea, a friend that is struggling and really needs the gospel right now. We were able to teach a lesson last night and it blew my mind realizing how many things in this gospel I take for granted. The guidance we have from our Heavenly Father to guide us is such a blessing, and the peace we can have at every moment in our life thanks to the atonement of Jesus Christ is very real.
One thing I thought about this week was our brownie activity from last Saturday. In some ways it failed, since we only were able to give away 6-8 brownies out of the 4 plates we had made, but it also helped us understand a lot about how we need to go about missionary work. First off, brownies are amazing, and nobody should turn down free brownies, but if people don't know what a brownie tastes like, they are a lot more likely to not want one. Similarly, if one doesn't understand the benefits and joy that come from living a life in the gospel, they are much more likely to ignore you when you try to talk to them about your church. As missionaries - and this is especially important in Italy - we need to be the people that allow others to "taste test" the gospel of Jesus Christ. Once we do that, we can expect people to want more of our "delicious" message, and when looked at from an eternal perspective, is so much sweeter than any brownie could ever be.
This week try to help someone to see the joy and light that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you might be able to use brownies while doing it.
Siete tutti dolci! [You are all sweet!]
Anziano Samuel Parker
1 Some pastries with Anziano McConkie
2 Main church in centro Pescara
3 La Chiesa di San Francesco in Ascoli with some great lighting
4 Guarda! Un cavallo! [Look! A horse!]
5 Avg lunch in the day of a missionary!
6 Some fountains we walk by all the time
[I miss the sea, but I like the mountains!]
9/18/2017
Not gonna lie, this week was definitely tough. That's what you get when you put two missionaries, who have less than a years combined experience, together to lead missionary work in a city.
BUT!! We have passed through our difficulties and are ready to learn from our mistakes and failures! Anziano Mayer and I have talked a lot and we are learning how to be more self-motivated, since we are both so young and inexperienced as missionaries at this point. In just one week I feel I've already grown so much. It's amazing to see how when God puts us in tough situations, even though they seem insurmountable at first, we are able to rise above them and become even better than before.
This week started off with a great Family Home Evening in our apartment, {where the members meet for church} with several members. We had a good discussion about how important it is to be an understanding leader. It was a great way to get to know some of our members here in this area.
On Tuesday we went to Pescara for our District meeting. We have 12 people in our district! That's HUGE!! Our last district was half that size. I got to meet all the missionaries serving in our area, including some sister missionaries, 4 who work in Pescara, and 2 that are serving in Aquila. we had a great meeting, talking about the things we could use help with, for our respective areas. It was awesome! It's great to have these meetings because I feel uplifted a second time each week, not just on Sunday. Afterwards we had a quick stop for €1 pizza before going to the station and catching our train home. We ended up getting on the wrong one and had quite the long trip home, but while we were waiting outside one of the stations, I got to talk to an awesome ragazzo [young man]! He was talking about us with his friend, so when I heard "Mormoni" I straight up asked him if he was talking about Anziano Mayer and I. He said yes and then we had about a 35-50 minute conversation about our church, the Book of Mormon, and the differences in beliefs. I was able to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon, which he seemed really excited to read. Getting to have a missionary experience like that made up for leaving Ascoli at 7:00am and not getting back until 12 hours later, thanks to travel troubles!
This week we had two meal appointments, one on Wednesday with the Teodosi family, and the other on Sunday with the Bosco family. It's awesome to get to know members better and always is a treat to have real Italian food cooked by real Italians. I'm trying to fill up my recipe book as best as I can. Cool news: the Teodosi and Bosco Family (parents & a married daughter) are traveling to the Bay Area in California this week, and then they're driving to Salt Lake City, Utah to see General Conference (a worldwide conference for our church where we listen to church leaders). It's so cool they'll be going to my part of the world - they will probably even drive past my home town of Stockton!
Instead of memorizing a scripture this week I memorized a quote I found recently that was used in a talk by President Monson. It's had a big impact on me as we've been studying this past week and thinking about the importance of small decisions that determine where we end up. The amazing thing to me, is that no matter how far someone has fallen, they still have the potential to make changes in their life to become more like our Heavenly Father.
Il valore di un' anima è la sua potenziale di diventare come Dio
[The worth of a soul is it's potential to become like God]
Spero che tutti voi abbiate una buona settimana, e fate qualcuno sorridere per me!
[I hope all of you have a good week, and make someone smile for me!]
Anziano Samuel Parker
1 & 2 Name tag photos with some views
3 Drinking water from a lion fountain! Ascoli is one of the few cities in our mission with drinkable water from fountains like this
4 Activity we did on Saturday with free brownies and a display with some church pamphlets and a Mormon Message playing.
9/11/2017
This week was the bomb!!
Sorry I didn't even mention transfer calls were coming up last week, there were too many awesome spiritual things to talk about. Also for those wondering, Anziano Castro and I got along really well. I guess I didn't write about how we were doing as a companionship because there was never anything to complain about! I learned a lot from him and he really refined how I'm going to do missionary work more effectively the rest of my mission. I also learned un sacco di Italiano da Lui, [a lot of Italian from Him] and now the language is coming almost completely natural in day to day situations.
We got transfer calls last Monday evening and I got the news I would be going to serve in Ascoli Piceno with Anziano Mayer, a missionary from my MTC group! Also my trainer, Anziano Ruiz, served here for 3 transfers before coming to Olbia. Some fun info about Ascoli: it was founded before Rome (means we have a cool centro area), the founders chose where to live based on a bird, it's the second most Northern city in the Italy Rome mission, and we have church in our apartment! Hence we have a super nice and clean apartment. We are technically part of the Pescara Ward, but there are enough members here that we have a group which meets together so they don't have to travel 2 hours every Sunday both ways to go to church.
Tuesday we did some work trying to find people and then I packed. That night we had an awesome final night going house to house and we met some really cool people and then we taught an English course. Lastly, we went to the Mazzone's house to have a little family home evening and dinner. It was an awesome way to end my time in Olbia and they were so nice!
On Wednesday through Friday I had a very long trip going to Ascoli, so I'm going to do a bullet list:
- Train on Wednesday morning to Sassari with Anziano Castro
- Train from Sassari in the afternoon to Cagliari with Sassari Sorelle and Anziano Morrill
- Took a bus and a train to the Airport with Anziano Hunsaker on Thursday
- Flew from Cagliari to the Rome Fiumicino Airport with Sorella Palmer (50 min flight, we were in the airport checking in and waiting for longer than we were in the air....)
- Got a car ride from Anziano Draghi and Campbell (the assistants to the President) to Termini station in Rome
- Went from Termini to the Tiburtina Bus Station on the Metro with Anziano Farinotti and 2 other Anziani
- Hopped on a bus all by myself and then had a 2hr bus ride to Pescara
- Spent the night in Pescara with the Anziani there and Anziano Mayer.
- Friday took a train in the morning to San Benedetto Tronto with my new collega! [colleague]
- And finally, took a train from San Benedetto to Ascoli
All in all, I spent 14.3 hours in transit over the course of 3 days to get to my new area! This mission is so cool!!
I lost my wallet on the train from Pescara to Ascoli, so we had to go back to San Benedetto on Friday afternoon once they found it. I realized that it was missing right before our train to Ascoli came into the station, and I was able to get all the info to a Police officer in order for them to find it. They were super nice when we came back to pick it up, and we even got to talk about our church with the police officers in the office.
This past weekend we've been cleaning out our area book and trying to contact all the people that have a history with the missionaries here in Ascoli. We also got to meet with some ward members, Alessandra on Saturday, and then Silvano (a recent convert that Anziano Ruiz baptized) last night. Church was awesome and the members are super happy! We also got good news from the Stake that they might be making some changes here in Ascoli....fingers crossed!
Anziano Mayer and I are super excited about the next six weeks. We both are going to push ourselves and help each other become independent, self-motivated missionaries in all aspects of missionary work. This city has tons of room to grow, and I know that there are many people we can find here that need the gospel in their lives.
Hopefully everyone is having a great transition into fall, and a good start to the school year for those in school right now. I can't wait for winter, and I'm looking forward to spending my time here in this new city!
Un abbraccio per tutti,
[a hug for everyone],
Anziano Samuel Parker
1&2: The District - Transfer 3
3 Flight coming into Fiumicino airport, I believe that is looking down on Ostia
4 The first photo with the our tags with Elder Mayer
5 Really chill dog we met in San Benedetto while waiting for our train back to Ascoli
6 #AnzianoMayer
7 Main piazza in Ascoli, Piazza del Popolo
[The Race Went Well]
9/5/2017
We had a really cool week. We started the week and ended it by meeting two awesome ragazzi! [boys - young men]
Starting off from last p-day, we began a scambio [exchange] in Olbia on Monday evening. I went with Anziano Dunn into centro to do a really cool sondaggio [survey] that Anziano Castro and I came up with the previous week. We walked around with a white board and a dry erase marker and asked people to answer the question "Credi in Dio?" (Do you believe in God?) with a check mark under Sì, Forse, or No (yes, maybe or no). We got a whole bunch of responses and it lead into some really good conversations with people. (Interesting note: Atheists are the most open to talk and discuss beliefs with us normally). As we were about to go home, we decided since we had enough time we would do one more trip through centro. Immediately after we made the decision to turn the corner and keep on working, we ran into a ragazzo [young man] who we did the survey with. He said "no" at first solely because he had no "prova" or evidence. But we were able to tell him about the Book of Mormon and how it's a way he can receive an answer if God exists. He was really excited to talk to us and we were able to exchange numbers.
On Wednesday we helped John, a Nigerian member from the ward in Olbia, get some information figured out at the Questura of Sassari. For lunch, we got to have pizza from Francesco's Napolitano Pizzeria, which we haven't had for a couple of months. All four of us Anziani [Elders] then went to Sassari to meet up with the Sisters for our District meeting. We had to run to catch a bus for it (nothing like running to get you excited for missionary work). Then, after the meeting we had to run to catch our train to Olbia! It was an older train without good A/C, so we were absolutely dripping in sweat. Luckily, Anziano Castro and I have been running in the morning 3 times a week, so our exercise is paying off!
At the end of the week we had an awesome miracle finding a ragazzo [young man] about our age (22 yrs old) who is absolutely prepared for the gospel. We found him as we were going house to house in an area that I hadn't worked very much in. We were walking down the sidewalk just as this guy got out of his car. He stopped to answer a question that we asked, "what do you think of the word "Mormone"? We then explained who we were, why we do this work, and how the gospel and Book of Mormon in particular, have changed our lives. He was very impressed that a book could have such a big impact on us. He said that he wanted a positive change like that in his life too, given all the struggles he's been dealing with. We're looking forward to seeing him learn more and gain a testimony as he reads the Book of Mormon!
For this week I memorized Alma 56:47, which describes the 2,000 young (about my age!) warriors that went into battle to protect their families and allow their fathers to keep their covenants. I love that it says they were more worried about their fathers' liberty than their own lives. In a way I think it applies to all us missionaries, because when we become invested in this work for the sake of others, instead of doing it for selfish motives, it becomes a lot easier and allows to us to be more effective missionaries because of the pure and righteous reasons we are doing it!
47 Ora, essi non avevano mai combattuto, tuttavia non temevano la morte; e pensavano più alla libertà dei loro padri che alla loro vita; sì, le loro madri avevano loro insegnato che, se non avessero dubitato, Dio li avrebbe liberati.
47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
Un abbraccio a tutti voi! [A hug to all of you]
Anziano Samuel Parker
[We knocked on a lot of doors]
8/28/2017
It's weird, some days I feel like I don't have what it takes to do missionary work, but then by the end of the night or the next day I can be on the top of the world. And thus goes the missionary life.
We had an exciting start to this week because I got to do a scambio [exchange] in Sassari after our p-day in Alghero. We had an awesome evening finding people and got to have several great gospel conversations. One was even in English with a girl whose Dad is originally from Scotland! She was really open to talk about religion with us (rare for people to want to talk about religion here), and we were able to share with her why our church brings us so much peace. I learned a lot during the scambio and am now a lot more confident with my speaking and also my ability to stop people and have a conversation with them.
During our district meeting we set a lot of goals because the mission leaders want us to put more emphasis on pushing our limits and get more investigators. There is a general statistic that for every 20-24 investigators in Europe, 1 person gets baptized. As we have faith to find people and are able to make our finding efforts more effective, we will make it more likely to find those people that are ready to partake of the gospel more speedily.
We had an awesome lesson Thursday night with a mom and her son who we found several weeks ago! They let us in as we knocked on doors, and we taught them the first lesson. There is no feeling like being able to testify of something you know is true and has brought so much good into the lives of people in this world! They received us so warmly, and even though we never got a firm second appointment, they hopefully have a great first impression of our message and a general understanding of what we believe.
This Sunday was an awesome wrap up for the week. We chose two neighborhoods to focus on and knocked on doors. We were determined to talk to someone. Knocking on doors reminded me a lot of last summer when I did sales in Pittsburgh. On our way out of the second neighborhood, we heard someone playing the piano from an open window of a house. We listened for a good while because it was so dang amazing, and then eventually rang the doorbell. I was expecting an old Italian man with many years of experience on the ivory to come walking out, but it was a 16-17 yr old ragazzo [boy]! He was writing his own music, just free styling! He was really simpatico [friendly] and when we asked if we could share a message about our church he said "within 10 min." As we talked about the restoration of the church he got more and more open and interested. We left him with a Book of Mormon and invited him to read and learn of the truth for himself. I had literally complained just earlier how terrible it was that absolutely nobody wanted to listen to us (we had only been able to speak with two Romanian guys who gave us some grilled sausage! But they weren't interested in the gospel). And here was someone willing to listen. The Lord blesses us.
I chose to memorize Alma 32:30-31 this week, just because it totally is true that as you see the amazing fruits that come from the gospel - the blessings, the joy, the unity, and peace - you truly do gain a testimony of its truth! It is important not to ignore that correlation between faith and that result. I've seen a lot of people who don't want to see that connection, so as a result they go without a lot of happiness that they could have access to.
30 Ma ecco, siccome il seme si gonfia, germoglia e comincia a crescere, dovrete allora necessariamente dire che il seme è buono, poiché ecco, si gonfia, germoglia e comincia a crescere. Ed ora, ecco, questo non rafforzerà la vostra fede? Sì, rafforzerà la vostra fede, poiché direte: Io so che questo è un buon seme, poiché ecco, germoglia e comincia a crescere
31 Ed ora, ecco, siete sicuri che questo è un buon seme? Io vi dico: Sì, poiché ogni seme produce a sua propria somiglianza.
30 But behold, as the seed swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, then you must needs say that the seed is good; for behold it swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow. And now, behold, will not this strengthen your faith? Yea, it will strengthen your faith: for ye will say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and beginneth to grow.
31 And now, behold, are ye sure that this is a good seed? I say unto you, Yea; for every seed bringeth forth unto its own likeness.
Anziano Samuel Parker
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