When in Rome: Happy Easter!

Hey people

We've had a pretty good week!

Gelato <3

Lots of finding and lots of teaching. Our two investigators are progressing well, and one is actually prepared for his baptism this upcoming week! It's really exciting, and he's got a really cool story. He came to church a few months ago (between 8-10) and then stopped because he wanted to look around and visit the other churches. During that period, he got the feeling that he should come back to our church because he just couldn't feel comfortable in other churches. He knew that there was only one church that had the truth, and it's Christ's. It's his church, and we've been blessed enough to have already found it. And now it's our privilege to share that knowledge with the rest of the world!

Other things from this week include a return to the trio life for two days! I don't think I've explained it to you guys yet, but I'm in a four man house now. The other two anziani are Anziano Haws, from Utah; and Anziano De Feo, from Canada. The latter is also the district leader. Anyways Anziano De Feo needed to go to Rome this week to take the ACT so he got on a plane and we stayed here with Anziano Haws! Hahaha it was so much fun and reminded me of the trio I was in for my last transfer in Pescara. Good times. We also had DDM and for the..training? I don't know what you call it in English, but we call it an addestramento. Anyways, for that part, we held a council and talked about our favorite missionary scriptures and how we can apply them to our own missionary work as well. The majority of the scriptures that were shared talked a lot about our dependence on god and the fact that this isn't our work, but his. It was humbling and v cool to see how each of us has that knowledge and was willing to not be amazing missionaries and glorify ourselves, but to be amazing instruments in the hands of God. I love this district!

"There was a tunnel that we had to walk under to get to a bus stop and I went down to check it out"

"It was so gross...it was like a 7 lane highway...it was long and dark and creepy and dirty and soooo stinky"

"Anziano Campbell! He was in my first district during my third and fourth transfers in Pescara. Hommmmmieee"

I've also come to be really grateful for my personal struggles and challenges on the mission - this last week especially. I've been feeling kind of confused about why I'm here and there's things I face here that make it hard to feel like this is where I'm supposed to be, but I've found so much comfort in the fact that God has a plan for me, and he's working miracles through these trials. Slowly, I'm becoming more like the person that he needs me to be. And not just for the now, but for all the years to come. I have a firm belief that my time in the mission - meaning all the easy times and all the hard times, too - will only make the rest of my life that much sweeter. So why complain? Why be angry that we don't understand the will of a loving God? Why be stressed if we know he has a plan that will lead to our eternal happiness?

And on that note, I had a really cool experience this week! During elder Ballard's talk during general conference this past week,

he used a phrase that reminded me of Steven Covey's book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People".

Elder Ballard said "Goal setting is essentially beginning with the end in mind." Beginning with the end in mind. If I'm remembering correctly, there's an entire chapter dedicated to this topic in his book, and I read it a few weeks before I came on my mission while down in southern Utah on a camping trip with my dad. In the opening pages of the chapter, Covey invites us to think for a little bit about our funeral. Yeah. It sounds a little weird, but just listen. He invites us to think about it and then to write down what we would want our spouse, a child, a coworker, and our ecclesiastical leader to say about us (at least I'm pretty sure those were the people he mentioned...hopefully you're getting the idea). We can then use those responses as guides throughout our life, always reminding us of the people that we'd like to be. Cool, eh? So as I was thinking about that this week, I had a cool experience! In preach my gospel

chapter 8,

there's a personal activity in the "Ideas for Study and Application" found at the end of the chapter.

It asks missionaries to do kind of the same thing, but with regards to missionary work. It poses three questions, asking us on the final day of our mission what we want to have accomplished, who we want to have become, and what differences we want others to notice in us. As I went through that this week and pondered on where I've come from, where I am, and where I'm going, I realized that with regards to who I know I need to become and what I need to do, I'm doing better than I often give myself credit for. It echoed the words of an MTC branch president who once encouraged each of the missionaries in my zone, saying "you're doing better than you think you are". It was a really cool experience, and if you have the time, I hope you'll stop to think about it as well. If you don't have time, make time! It's important!

"This week I just took a ton of pictures of pretty stuffs here in Palermo"

"Pretty stuff"

And beyond that, this week is Easter! What a great time to reflect on the life and gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I won't steal too much more of your guys' time, but I know the Savior lives. I've never felt closer to him than on my mission, and I'm inexplicably proud, grateful, and humbled for the opportunity he's given me to be his representative for these two years, and for the rest of my life as well.

Have a wonderful Easter week everyone☀️✌🏼