a good 10 minutes thinking about it.
First off, I'm sorry to those of you who sent personal emails this week. I might not be getting around to all of them because for p day today, we're going to Rome and spending the whole day sight seeing and saying goodbye to the dying missionaries. For that reason, I won't have a ton of time. In fact, I'm writing this on the bus on the way to Rome, which is why this weeks letter is the normal, long-enough-to-be-annoying length. I promise I'll get around to them next week though!
Anyways, this week was awesome! It was also sad. And a little heart wrenching. But joyful. And disappointing. And also the happiest week. You know, the usual week for a missionary.
Monday was the last p day in Pescara for the other two Anziani in the house (Maxwell and Williams), and it was lots of fun! We couldn't think of anything to do so we just went to the beach and played
football and frisbee and walked around for awhile.
Met some people that spoke English and talked to them for awhile, too. After that we got gelato and went to the church for email time and also played ping pong. Tranquillo p day. After that, we had a first lesson with M, a man who we met the previous Saturday while doing a gesso. It was a good lesson! Established expectations and talked about he restoration. For some reason though, Italians just can't seem to grasp the concept of our religion. It happens all the time😂 we were trying to emphasize the differences between our church and the Catholic Church, and he seemed to understand it. Then after the first vision, he said "Ahh. Come pensiamo noi" which is basically "oh okay you think the same way we do" and we just sat there and said "uhm. No." Haha. He also told us he wants to quit smoking, so we're going to be helping him with that too! He's the first new investigator we've gotten while I've been here, so I was happy.
Tuesday morning we went and finished up with my permesso stuff and then went to district meeting. Because it was the last district meeting before transfer calls, we had predictions! We do that using
kinder eggs,
Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DNscTJWn7vU/maxresdefault.jpg
cause you know, they're not illegal here. We all buy one then put them in a pile and all pick one, and then we'll make predictions based on the toy inside. It's a fun little thing they do here.
Besides that, we all talked about how the mission prepares us for life after the mission.
After that, Anziano Cowden and I went and had the best pizza I've had so far for lunch. Pizza will never be the same after this💔
We then went back to the house to do some studies, and then we had a lesson with M. Rather, we were supposed to have a lesson with her. Tuesday nights it's hard for her to always get there on time, and by the time she arrived, it was time to start English course. But we had a few minutes to talk to her and stuff. I asked her to teach us some Chinese, and she told us how to tell someone to shut up haha.
Smh
As always, English course was a blast! Also, M came! We were supposed to get him started on the stop smoking plan that night, but after English course he told us he's going to need to think about it a bit more, which was a little disappointing. Still, he came!
Wednesday was an alright day. We did studies, and then went to see M, another less active member from Ecuador that no one knows about because his records were never transferred. We met him a few weeks ago and he talked about how he knows he needs to start coming back, but on Wednesday he said "Dio esiste. Basta." He says it's not important to him which church is correct, and that was a little disheartening. He did say though we're welcome to come over whenever we want just to talk. After that we tried some finding with no luck, so we went back for lunch. We had WAY too much food. I made chili and cornbread,
Made chili and corn bread for lunch today #whatwhat
and Anziano Cowden made cookies during lunch, and cinnamon rolls the night before. It may or may not have been because we had been fasting, but either way, we had tons of food. We ended up giving some to the Sorelle, which was a tiny miracle because it was late when they got it (they'd been in Chieti and got back after lunch), they hadn't eaten yet, and there was no time to make anything. So it worked out well!
Wednesday night we were supposed to have a lesson with G, a girl we met on Saturday, but her car broke and she ended up not being able to come. Instead, we did some studies, and then did a tiny scambio (exchanges) with [Elders from] L'Aquila.
Source: http://w0.fast-meteo.com/locationmaps/L-Aquila.8.gif
They were in the area because they'd left their phone the day previous after district meeting, so they had to come back to get it. It was a lot of fun! Anziano Simmons, the elder I went with, was also born (only meaning it was his first city. Not actually Italian👍🏼) in Pescara! So we went and we saw some members just so he could say hi while Anziano Cowden and Krogue did some finding. We ended up visiting too long with the members though, and the L'Aquila Anziani missed their bus back to their city, so they stayed the night.
Thursday was great! We went that morning to Gulianova
Source: http://w0.fast-meteo.com/locationmaps/Giulianova.8.gif
with the other Anziani to meet Massimo and Annabel, the Venezuelan couple that were baptized last Saturday!
It was kind of our pass off lesson because Anziano Maxwell and Williams are leaving. We just walked around and talked and what not. It was fun! They're an awesome couple😊 we also met with F, a contact from the week before. He's the one that called us to set up an appointment! He's a miracle investigator, I'm telling you. While we walked to a place where we could sit, he was asking tons of questions. He talked about how there was Adam and then Moses and then Jesus and then nothing. DISPENSATIONS. He didn't know what they were, but he recognized the pattern! And after the lesson, he asked if we do baptisms! YES WE DO! He hates the way the Catholic Church does it because babies can't choose. He thinks people should choose for themselves. He's awesome!
After that we came back and did a little scambio where Anziano Maxwell and I went see some members and then to meet with M. Goodness. I don't feel worthy to be serving in an area with such wonderful people. The members here are awesome. They're so loving and charitable and
they all love the missionaries. And our lesson with M went really well! We finished up the gospel of Christ, and she loved it. Her biggest struggle is just believing God is there, but we know she'll get there eventually. No worries. We then had English course, and we were supposed to meet with Flavio afterwards, but again he said he needs to think about it a little more. We're praying he'll continue to meet with us!
Friday was pretty awesome. We went up to Teramo
Just a random picture from Teramo.
with Carlos, and we met with Eli, Junior, and Mirella. They're all members, so we were just meeting to see how everything was going and shared messages with them. We also got some potential contacts, so that's awesome! Friday night was a little miracle too. I've said this already, but there's a pizza place close to our house that's pretty cheap and wayyyyy good. Friday night is always pizza night, and these past few weeks I've been talking to the owner and just asking him questions about what type of wood he uses, how long he's been doing it, stuff like that. He now knows me by name! And every time we walk in he starts smiling and says "Ciao, Anziano!" And Friday night after our pizzas were done he put fresh basil on them just because he wanted to. Such a nice person, and such awesome pizza🍕 A member also stopped by and dropped off a cake she made. It was an awesome day.
Saturday was good. We had studies, correlation, and then a lunch appointment with all the other missionaries. It was kind of a farewell meal for Anziano Maxwell and Williams, and there was so much food. Started with the appetizers, then the pasta, then the salad, then the bruschetta and arrosticini,
Source: http://www.resources.immobiliarecaserio.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/arrosticini-abruzzo.jpg
("Arrosticini are an Abruzzo speciality cuisine consisting of chunks of castrated sheep’s meat, cut in chunks and pierced by a skewer. However, more often than not mutton or lamb is used too."The meat is cut in little cubes and skewed in creating a delicious kebab that is traditionally eaten by hand. Arrosticini can also be known as “rustelle”, “arrustelle” or “cippitille” in some local areas."
Source: http://abruzzo4holidays.co.uk/enjoy-abruzzo/gastro-tourism/regional-recipes/arrosticini#ixzz4AlH9r5W5)
then the sausage, then more arrosticini, then dessert. Holy cow. My description doesn't even come close to how much food there was. After that, we went back to the church for a lesson with Peter that never happened because he didn't show up, so we did some studies, then went to centro to do a gesso. It wasn't as good as the last one, but we still met some awesome people! Afterwards, a member bought us gelato😊 good day in my book.
Sunday we got up and helped the other Anziani get their luggage to the bus so they could leave straight from the church to Rome. Here, the Sunday or Saturday before you leave, you go up to Rome, and they planned to leave during church which is why they took their stuff with
them. Saying goodbye to them was weird. Despite how weird and trunky they were at times, I learned a lot from them. It's nice though, because now our house actually feels like a house! The other
companionship was shut down, so it's a two-man house now instead of a four-man house. After church, we went to the Pacella's for lunch and a lesson. I met their son, Anziano Pacella, while I was in the MTC! He's serving in Florida. It was awesome to be able to meet the rest of his family. After that, we went home, had an awesome weekly planning session, then reorganized the house.
Today, because we're going to Rome, we got up early and nearly missed the bus to the bus station. Literally it was pulling away while we we're running and shouting "ASPETTA ASPETTA!" Luckily though we made it! And we're heading to Rome right now, and as soon as we connect to wifi, I'll send this email. We're going to be seeing tons of cool stuff today though, so look forward to pictures next time!
Lastly, there's a big lesson I learned this week. It's best summarized in part of the letter I'm sending to president Waddoups today. "This was a good week! Is it all that I wanted it to be? No. But I do believe it's what I needed it to be, even if I didn't know it. There's been a lot of things I've thought about, and chiefest among those is how I can overcome fear - fear of not being good enough, fear of the language, fear of doubt, and it's been tough. At times it doesn't seem like I can overcome them. There were moments this week where I know I should've done something, but I didn't. However, I read a talk from elder Bednar this week that he gave at a BYU devotional (the atonement
and the journey of mortality, April 2012 ensign)
and he talked a lot about how we can use the ENABLING power of the atonement. Yes the atonement redeems man from the fall, but it also helps us to reach greater heights. It's purpose is not only to save, but to inspire, to encourage, and to increase our capabilities."
It's still a hard concept for me to grasp and understand how to apply it to my life, but I love this. There's a difference between the redeeming and enabling powers of the atonement, and we can use both of them everyday. Is it still hard? Of course! But I have faith that it's getting better. I also have faith that the Lord, through the Atonement of Christ, can make me more than I could ever be on my own. We don't need to be perfect. We don't need to have perfect knowledge. We don't need to be able to do it on our own. All we really need is the Savior and a willingness to follow him and do what he asks each of us personally. The best part is that when we commit to doing it, he promises to help us along the way. He gives us something to reach for, and the enabling power of the atonement makes it possible to get there. That message brings so much peace to my soul, and I'll forever
be grateful for this gospel.
May the glory ever be to God.
Anziano Hansen
