The title has two meanings. One, we did a scambio (exchange) with l'Aquila this week, and l'Aquila literally translates to the eagle. Also, president Pickerd arrived this week! Get it? The eagle has landed? Anybody? Anybody? No? Okay.
Chieti alto!
Also, you know it's going to be a hot day when you wake up and you're already sweating. But when that's the case every morning? Psh. Don't even know what to say. All I know is that it's hot. Everyone told me I'd get out of the shower, dry off, and feel like I was still sweating. Wrong. So wrong. It's not that I feel like it. It's that I AM still sweating. Literally. #gottaloveitaly
when it's hot and you have to wait for a train
Anyways! Besides that, it's been a pretty slow week. Like I said, we did go and do a scambio (exchange) with the anziani in l'Aquila though and that was really cool. All the missionaries came to Pescara for district meeting on Wednesday, and then we left with the l'Aquila anziani to go to their city. It was really cool! I love being able to travel a little bit around Italy and meet new people. I went with Anziano Burgos, who's in his fourth transfer and is from the Philippines. He's super cold! He's already fluent in Italian because he's lived in Milan for the past few years, so it was really fun to be with him. Anyways, we started off first by just doing some finding. He and I made it so fun! That's really the key to missionary work. Yes, it's work, but you've got to have fun while you do it. Anyways, we also went to go see a less active that night, and he was really cool! Gave us some fruit that I've never eaten before, but I really liked it. That night we went and got dinner at this place that sells panini for one euro. They're tiny sandwiches, but there's 100 of them to choose from, and they're cheap, so it's fun! But because the menu was part Italian and part Spanish, I was completely lost on what to get, so I chose randomly. Turned out alright. I did get one though that was a dessert panini. It was some type of chocolate bread they made with Nutella and Oreos as the stuff inside. May or may have not fallen in love. Who knows.
Anyways, l'Aquila itself is a really interesting place. It was hit by an earthquake a few years ago, and ever since its been under construction. From the missionaries house, you could see 50 cranes just all over the city. There used to be a ton more people that lived there, but not so much anymore. Still, it's really cool!
l'aquila by night
The next day we were supposed to go check a few addresses, but ended up having a miracle lesson with a guy on the bus. He actually started the conversation! He just looked at us and said "what's that on your guys' tags?" Turned into an awesome lesson on the restoration! Aaannndddd afterwards of course we had to stop and get some ice cream from McDonald's. Yup. The Golden Arches are everywhere. I also realized that it was the first time I'd had ice cream from McDonald's since December 3rd, 2014. What's that date? Oh you know. Just the day my sister left for her mission. And now she's COMING HOME WHAT THE HECK. Time flies on the mission, and that both makes me happy and scares me because I love it here. Yeah it's hard, but it's awesome. Anyways, later that day we had a lunch appointment with a member and her friends, and we were able to have a solid lesson with them as well. All in all, it was a good scambio!
district meeting skype roleplays
Okay. For some reason my iPad is being dumb and is taking forever to type, and then it deletes stuff. So I'm going to have to cut this email a little short. Sorry! Here are a few other highlights from the
week:
We were going to drop M as an investigator, but ended up having a miracle lesson with her that totally changed our minds. Apparently, the Lord has other plans for her right now and He doesn't want us to drop her! SO COOL! We had a few lessons with Massimo and Anabel as well, the new Venezuelan converts. They're awesome! Sadly, none of our other investigators are responding to our calls, so as for now, we've only been teaching M and trying our hardest to find new investigators. It's taxing, but I'm still loving it. And the secret to missionary work is actually in the name! WORK! No we may not have been having tons of success lately, but we are 110% confident that the Lord will bless us for our efforts. We also went to Sulmona, a tiny city close to l'Aquila in order to contact a referral. Ended up only having about 20 minutes with him, but we plan on going back sometime! We did see Sulmona though, and it's a beautiful little town. Gosh dang it Italy is cool sometimes. We also found the best gelato I've ever had. Anziano Cowden says it's the best he's had too! Man you guys are
missing out, haha. We also fixed our sink! Hallelujah. Hummmm. Let's see. I've been up since 4 this morning because we needed to do weekly planning. Yay for getting up early! Other than that, Italian is coming along well. AND HEY NEXT MONDAY IS THE FOURTH OF JULY. The missionaries in our district are having a barbecue, and it's going to be awesome😎 we're also going to Rome this week again to meet the new mission president! That's going to be awesome!
Lastly, I just have one lesson I've learned this week I want to share with you all.
I've been thinking a lot lately about this mission. More than anything, I want to change people's lives (help others change their lives with Christ is more like it, cause I don't actually do anything). I want to fulfill my missionary purpose. I want to invite others to come unto Christ and help them accept His restored gospel. I want to be bold, outgoing, optimistic and happy. But you know what? That's really hard, man. And sometimes I feel like because our numbers aren't the greatest in the mission, or because we haven't had any baptisms yet, I'm a bad missionary. I'll be honest, it's literally the easiest thing in the world to feel badly about yourself. Also, there's a world of difference between humility and feeling badly of oneself. Those who are humble accept that they will never be perfect, but they
rely on God. Those who are simply down and out about themselves are relying on their own strength rather than the strength of the Lord. So I've asked myself tons of questions this week about how I can rely on Him instead of myself. One huge thing I learned is that even in this process of learning to rely on Him, we are STILL relying on Him. It baffles me that He's commanded us to be perfect, but even in our attempts to keep HIS commandments, He's helping us! I'm not explaining this very well, so I'm hoping you'll all understand. And that's something I invite you all to do - ask yourselves how you can rely on Him more! And another hard lesson to accept is best explained in a verse of scripture.
"I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another--I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants."
I need to accept that He is the master, and this is His work. I can work all I want, but I will never be able to do anything that makes me worthy of praise or glory. When I labor with a mindset of wanting
numbers, I'm laboring alone. But when I - when WE - labor with the mindset of bringing souls to Christ, we are working alongside the Creator of the Universe, to Whom we owe all things. All I hope is that we will always be able to give Him the glory. Let's do the right things, for the right reasons, at the right times without hesitation.
I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Sorry again for the shortness of this email and my scattered thoughts. Hopefully next week will be better. Until then!
(Title this week is Anziano Friedman's favorite thing to say haha)
Carissimi miei (My dear)! It's a wonderful day to be alive, wouldn't you say?
Anyways! (Please read the next line in the best news anchor voice possible) Topics from last week for today are as follows: Alessia, a very sad goodbye to the Waddoups at specialized training, a scambio (exchange) with Ascoli and just a tiny chance of happiness breaking through those clouds on the horizon (no rly tho).
Anziano Hansen with Pres. and Sorella Waddoups
Anyways! Alessia. To explain this, I need to tell you what was happening. This week was specialized training, so we were traveling to Rome! We'd left Wednesday evening so that Anziano Jorgensen (one of the zone leaders. This is also his last transfer!) and I could practice a song for specialized training the next day. We stayed the night with the assistants in their house. But yes. We were traveling to Rome, and I'll tell you it's a long bus ride.
1) talk to the person you'll be sitting next to for the next 3 hours or
2) don't.
Pretty simple, no? Anyways, the past few times we've gone to Rome I've always been quiet because talking to people is hard and scary, especially when it's in a language you don't completely grasp yet. But this time I determined it would be different. So we get on the bus and I sit down next to a girl a guess what? Silence. I don't say anything for a solid hour. Why? Because I'm a wuss, obviously. It got to the point though where I though "aww why the heck not let's just do it" so I said "scusa, tu sai quale citta è questa (sorry, you know what town this is)?" Probs didn't even say it right, but those words led to an awesome conversation and an extremely awkward selfie which I am debating to send or not. But yes! Alessia is 22, she loves leading scouts, reading Harry Potter, going hiking, reading various other books, movies, her boyfriend, volleyball (not soccer for some reason that I just can't comprehend. I mean you live in Italy! You have to love it!(but apparently not)), and speaking English! She spoke English while I spoke Italian, and it was hilarious. She'd mess up, I'd correct her. I'd mess up, she'd correct me. Hahaha it was fun. And I made a friend! Who knew it could be so easy, eh? In the end, I was able to exchange numbers with her so we'll hopefully contact her in the future. The one thing I wished I'd done though more than anything is shared my testimony. I felt like I should, but I didn't. Who knows what might've happened if I did? What do any of us know will happen if we share our testimonies? For all we know, one person (and not just one person. Including them, their family, their future family, and many generations to come) could be blessed because of it. That's reason enough to open our mouths, don't you think? Just something to remember next time you feel prompted to share your testimonies!
Continuing. So we got off the bus and went our different ways. We get off at Tiburtina and from there take a metro to get to Rome, and while we were walking to the metro, guess who called? Anziano Taranto! He's one of the assistants, and he's literally one of my favorite people in the mission. Why? You'll see. It's late at this point (9 ish), but he calls and asks if we want pizza. We tell him we don't have money for it, but he says "anziani, I didn't ask if you had money. I asked if you wanted pizza." HOW BOUT THIS GUY, EH? Anyways we eventually get to our stop, get picked up by Anziano Jorgensen and Anziano Borner, go to the house, practice the song for a bit, eat pizza (grazie a Anziano Toranto), and go to sleep. The next morning we get up, do studies, and head to the Rome 2 church for specialized training.
We were first taught by Sorella McPheters on charity. Who, why, and how. It was awesome! Then the zone leaders instructed us on retaining investigators and commitment invitations. It's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. Both Anziano Cowden and I are wondering whether we should keep teaching some of the people we are teaching or no, and this was super helpful for us. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the future with what we took away. After that we had a few tiny announcements and then Anziano Jorgensen and I sang our song
while Anziano Cowden, my comp, played the guitar.
In this way, we all have a unique set of blessings. Also, the blessings never end. We made a few other comparisons as well. Our blessings are different than others, but does that make them any less valuable? No! Would we probably make a different bracelet next time? Maybe. Life changes, and so do blessings, but we adjust. That, among other things, is what we took away from it.
Bittersweet. I know I haven't known them for very long, but I've learned loads from them already. But I am happy for their opportunity to go be with their families again,
and also to meet president Pickerd in two weeks! After that, we talked to missionaries until they all left and it was just us and Ascoli. The bus to Ascoli didn't leave until 5, and it was just barely 2 ish, so we had time to do some studies and get materials and stuff. We left around 4 to get to the metro, took the bus back to Tiburtina, and we went from there to Ascoli. (Btws the Ascoli anziani are Anziano Anderson and Anziano Friedman)
And wow. Ascoli is AWESOME.
Bridge over a river, Ponte Di Cecco, Ascoli Piceno, Marches, Italy
It's a more mountainous region, and it's older than Rome. Pretty cool, eh? We got there pretty late, so we ate dinner and then went to sleep. We got up and ate breakfast, did studies, and then I went with Anziano Friedman for the day
Anziani Hansen e Friedman
while Anziano Cowden went with Anziano Anderson. It was a super good day! We first walked to go print off some flyers and on the way, I got to see a bit of Ascoli. It's wayyyy different from Pescara. It's a lot smaller, yes, but it's also older. The buildings are ancient (literally) and the scenery is completely different. Heck we were walking around and heard drums and I asked what they were for and Anziano Friedman said they're practicing to play in a jousting tournament in two weeks. A JOUSTING TOURNAMENT. You'd never see anything like that in Pescara. After that we went to go see a member who they're trying to prepare for the temple. I never realized how truly blessed I was to live in an area with a temple in ever direction. Here, it's either wait for the Rome temple, or go to
Switzerland,
which is really difficult for most people. It was a really good lesson though. After that, we went and got some stuff for lunch, then went back to the house and made it. Did some studies after that, and Anziano Friedman helped me start on subjunctive! Still don't completely understand when and how to use it, but it's a start, and that's better than nothing. After lunch and studied were over, we went to go see Alex, an 18 year old from Romania who's the only member of his family, and who's also moving back to Romania in a few days. He wants more than anything for his family to know what he knows, and he also really wants to go on a mission. My heart goes out to people like
him, and I hope all the good comes to him and his family in Romania. We then walked around a tiny bit in the light rain that was falling. Holy cow that place made me feel like I was in Harry Potter. All these tight, narrow, crooked, cobblestone alleyways with weird shops on either side in languages I can't understand haha.
It was super cool! Ascoli reminded me more of what I thought Italy would be like than Rome does, tbh. We also went into a duomo (cathedral) that was massive.
Four, the creepy Latin prayer they were playing through some speakers.
Five, all the weird paintings and fake bodies they had.
Six, the crypt. Yes, they had a crypt, and we walked through it.
All in all though, I liked it! Creepy, but cool. We then went to see an investigating family and had a solid discussion with them about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. We then went home, had a scambio (exchange) review, ate dinner, and went to bed.
Lately I've been feeling overwhelmed with the amount of things I need to do. I've recognized a lot of stuff I can do to become a better missionary, but it almost feels like it's too much to do. How can one
person make so much change? Is it even possible? I know I'm only a transfer and a half into my mission, but I feel like my time in Italy is going to fly by. In dealing with these thoughts, there's a few
principles I've found that helped me.
First, looking at the big picture. In Moses 1:39, God says that it is his work and his glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Heavenly Father's plan encompasses everything I have done and will ever do. It is perfect. My time on the mission isn't the only time I'll have to make progression, and I need to recognize that. I can continue to be a missionary after the mission too! Why am I stressed out when there's no need to be? I can begin progressing now, but I need to remember that it's a plan of eternal progression, not mortal progression. I'll have all my life and all the eternities afterwards to become the person I need to be.
Two, instead of asking for more, giving thanks for what I've been given and then going and doing his work with the faith that he will make up for what I lack. I sometimes feel as though I need to be
better to share the gospel. I need to have more courage, more faith. I need more knowledge and greater understanding. And I've sometimes stopped myself from sharing the gospel because of those things. What I need to realize though is that I can share the gospel even now. We don't need to wait until we're better go begin doing good things. Right now, I am trying to become a better missionary. But does that mean I'm not who God needs me to be in order to share this gospel? No! I am exactly where I need to be right now. That doesn't mean it's always where I will need to be, but in this moment, I am what God needs me to be. Not in the sense that I am perfect, but in the sense that I can dogood things now. He can work miracles through me now. I don't need to wait to be the vessel for his good tidings. Before I entered the MTC, one of my favorite people in the world, my older sister,
Sis. Anela Hansen with Pres. and Sis. Toronto
sent me this:
"In every decision, we can either choose Christ and exercise faith in
him and live, or we can give in to doubts and lies and be sad like Satan. Learning to show faith in every decision (whether it be the faith to be obedient and workout at 6:30 even when you're tired, the faith to talk to one more person on the street after a long day of rejection because you know the Lord provides a way, or the faith to believe that the Lord has called and IS qualifying and CAN use you TODAY) is a process and the best part is that we can just start where we are."
I read it again this past week, and it was just what I needed. It's taken a lot to believe that the Lord can use me and my limited knowledge of this gospel and how to speak Italian to impact someone's life for the better. But I'm getting there, and I will continue to work towards getting there until the day I leave this mission. Heck. Even until the end of my life! Becoming who the Lord wants me to become is a life long pursuit, and what a joyful journey it will be. So! In accordance with my goals of trying to be a better missionary, I have an invite for you all! It's simply to discover who the Lord wants you to be right now, and then set one simple, specific goal that will help get you there. Aaannndddd then of course when you do this you need to get up and get yourself some ice cream (soz you can't have gelato) cause you deserve it☺️
The rest of the week was pretty normal. Not much went on. In fact we didn't get a ton of stuff done in Pescara because we were gone for three days of the week. But still good! A few other little things that
went on: yup. Kitchen sink is still clogged. But we did have a family call us this week that wants us to teach them English! The rule here is that we can teach English, but we also have to teach the gospel. We mentioned that, and they said they're totally okay with us sharing the gospel with them! Also, Italy's been doing really well in the euros so far, and I couldn't be happier #forzagliazzuri! We also got lost this last week trying to find a man named Giuseppe. Getting lost is no fun when it's blazing hot outside. You know, just in case you didn't know. Almost bought a pair of super tight, lime green pants this past Monday. I was going to do it too until they told me it was €20 and not
€4 as the signs lead us to believe. Dang you, false advertisement. I've also decided I'll never live in a city where my schedule relies on buses, cause they're just not realizable yo.
Quote of the week: "I didn't go to England or America. I went to flippin' Ireland." - Alberto Marcone on what the difference is between accents in the English language.
So there you go! Hoping you all have a great week!
In order to use my time more effectively, I've decided to do this. Each week, I'll pick out three bigger things to talk about, some stuff I learned (tbh I could talk just about what I learn out here because I
learn so much), and a few other things of note.
As the title suggests, I'll first be talking about the victors. What do I mean by this? Oh you know, only that PESCSRA IS MOVING TO SERIE A!
I've never been more proud to have Pescara as my first city! They played the first leg of the final last Saturday against Trapini at home, and they won 2-0. The game on Thursday however, they had to win. If they'd tied or lost, they wouldn't have moved up. This game was in Sicilia and even though we didn't watch the game with the big crowd in centro, we know Pescara won. How? Oh, I don't know. Might've been the fireworks and horns going off for a solid hour at 11, but you know, that's just me. They had a huge celebration for them on Saturday night that I am pretty sure ended up in the founding of a new church. They had a giant blue cross, people dancing around flares on the ground, a guy screaming in a microphone, a ton of other screaming people, fireworks, the whole dealio. Of course though I don't know this of myself, because mission rules say we've got to be home by 9, and this was happening at the latest hour possible. So how do I know it?
The teacher. By this, I mean Sorella Preston! For those who don't know, Sorella Preston helped out my district (and the other district) while we were in the MTC. Kind of like a substitute, you could say. Anyways, she was here on Sunday! We were just waiting at the bus stop to get to the church when I saw her. It was awesome! Sorella Preston helped me a lot in the MTC. The first few days I remember just having a really hard time with the language, and we had a meeting where she shared Ether 12: 23-27, which has since become one of my favorite sections of scripture. I was only mildly overjoyed when I saw her haha.
"View from a member's house!"
Also, this past week, our water heater broke! So for 6 days, it was cold showers. Gotta love it, eh? Tbh though by the 6th day I'd gotten used to it. We had some guys come over and fix it though, so we're back to warm water. Kinda hate it though, because you shower, get out, dry off, and feel like you're still in the shower. #humidityproblems. I almost miss the cold showers. Almost. Now that that's fixed though, our kitchen sink isn't draining. Great.
"Here's the thing. I opened my shaver to get out the hair and the two other things (piece left in the picture) fell out into the sink and down the drain. I have one, so I can still shave." haha ;)
Anyways! This week was full of lots of crazy thoughts, and while they may not all make sense, here's some important ones.
This past week I read elder Holland's October 2009 general conference talk.
In it he talks about the prophecy that men's hearts shall fail them. It made me wonder when have I allowed my heart to fail? Because when he says our hearts, I don't think he means it's literally our hearts that one day will decide we won't believe in this gospel. It's more that WE will allow our hearts to fail. It's a choice of our own. So when have I allowed my heart to fail? Too often. I've seen it too often in myself. I've allowed my heart to fail me when I choose to be tired instead of energetic. It's happened when I've said to myself "this is too hard" or "I can't do it." It happens when I choose to be frustrated and annoyed instead of happy and optimistic. When I feel this way I often think of the hymn that says "where can I turn forpeace? Where is my solace when other sources cease to make me whole?" Those are difficult questions to answer, no? But the song goes on to give an answer. "Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who, who can understand? He, only one." This week, while it wasn't the worst, also wasn't the best. At times I allowed my heart to fail me. But here I am today, happy and content. I'm here because in those moments, although my heart failed me, there is one whose heart will never fail anyone. He's been there for me, and He will forever be there for all of us. A few weeks ago I talked about being happy, and although I believed it then, it's tough to continue to believe it every moment of everyday. I sometimes think once I've felt something, that feeling should never go away. Once I'm happy I should always be happy. Once I know something I should never forget it. Once I am confident, I should always be confident. Once my heart is strong, it should never fail me. But someone told me this past week of an experience they've had recently, and it's just what I needed. "I don't think those feelings are going to be there all the time, but they reassured me that this is what I should do. Now I just have to work hard at being in the right places at the right time, and doing all the right things so that I can feel like that as much as I can." I must accept that I need to work at keeping those feelings with me. I can't just expect them to linger. I need to be active in doing righteous works! And that in turn reminded me of elder Holland's talk from this past general conference on how we can continue to keep the spirit with us when we go from moments of spiritual awesomeness back to the normality of everyday life.
While I may not be perfect at giving my all, I can be perfect in desiring to give my all, and Elder Holland says "we are going to be blessed for our desire to do good, even as we actually strive to be so." He goes on to say: "If you stumble in that pursuit, so does everyone; the Savior is there to help you keep going." Even the strong will fail. But there will ever be a reason to have joy, to get up and try again, to continue desiring to give our all, and He is all we need. If nothing else, my testimony of Christ and his divine role as our personal savior has increased. As long as I know this, I'll be happy.
"Me, Anz. Anderson and the Maccione family!"
The things you learn from a mission, eh?
"Ciao :)"
A few other things from this week:
Actually a really strange week. Lots of appointments were canceled. Lots of things happened that I didn't expect to happen. Because of her nonexistent religious background, we've decided to just teach M about Christ. So far it's going well! We just want her to understand who He is and why He's important, and I think she's starting to get it. Listened to Whitney Houston
this morning while shopping because that's the music they play here in grocery stores. Practically running out of money, too. Don't even know where it's all gone, but it's alright. Dropped an €11 spesa this morning #spendingwisely🕶 another tiny lesson I learned this week: set goals to become better, but also set goals to have fun! Also, I present the Italian version of Harry Potter, brought to you by my awesome, subtle, photo-taking skills.
Made cookies this week. Ran a ton. ALSO I just barely met a guy named Marco who gave us a ride down a hill and a long street (seriously just saved us an hour walking), and we took a selfie with him. He knows who the Mormons are, and he loves us! Super cool guy. Anyways, hope you all have an awesome week! BE HAPPY!☺️
