Ciao!: Week 33 (Feb 22)--Trapani

Buon Dì!!

Whatttt upp everyone!! I hope everyone is doing well. Today for Pday
we are at Segesta again. (It's the place with the old Greek temple
that we came to about a month ago.) We came with Anziano Palazzo,
Anziano Trejo, and their sweet ward mission leader who served in
Ireland and speaks with an Irish accent and it seriously is so cool. There were
also these two girls who were from Palermo and one of them is going to
be getting baptized pretty soon, so it was a really fun day! Tomorrow I
will be doing another scambio with a guy named Anziano Jensen and he
is so funny so I am really pumped. Also thank you so much for all that
sent Christmas cards; they were really fun to get at zone conference and I really
appreciate them!!

This week went by super fast with doing a scambio and having zone
conference but it was still really fun and we had a lot of success.
The scambio was really fun because we were in the Zone Leaders' house
in Palermo for the first night and then the AP's came and slept there
the next night. Lolol... The first night it was hilarious, because it was
an accident of course but I accidentally broke Anziano Trejo's bed.
(We weren't even wrestling or anything, we were getting up from
praying and I just touched the thing and it broke into 3 pieces.)
Like the whole bed frame and everything, I don't even know how but
yeahhh he wasn't too happy but he doesn't mind now. We all thought it
was pretty funny how it happened.

So we are still working with that one family who let us in their house cause they thought we were
Catholic. They are super awesome and the spirit was so strong during
our last lesson. We were teaching about the plan of salvation and the
mom told us how we really can't know that the Book of Mormon is true.
She said that we could "say" it was but there are always doubts in the
back of your mind. So then I asked her a question (and I know that
this was inspired because of what happened) about how she knows that
God is real. She then went on and explained how she doesn't know how
to explain it, there are just feelings inside of her that she can't
deny, knowing that there really is a God and he does exist. Then we
talked about how it was exactly like that with the Book of Mormon.
It's hard to explain, but I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It
was a really good lesson, and we have an appointment with them tonight
so I am really excited about them and have really high hopes for them.

We also are working with this one guy named M., one of our English course students.

He has been coming to corso for about 5 years, speaks really good English, and is
a really black and white person. So we texted him and we asked if he
would be willing to meet with us and he said, "Hmm sounds interesting,
do you want me to convert? Hug." So then we respond and said, “ well,
if you want to;) Hug." and then we said stuff after that and being
serious but the last two lessons we have had with him were really
good. He also came to church which made me so happy!! And during
church there was one talk given that was like perfect and just for him
so that made me just realize again how true the gospel really is and
that everything really does work out. Church went really well;
everything worked out, so it was awesome. We have a lot of hope in
M., and we are actually watching the entire restoration film
after English course on Thursday so I hope that he really likes it and
feels something different, obviously the spirit testifying to him that
what we are saying and teaching is true.

So because of Zone Conference this week we received a lot of really
good instruction on becoming better missionaries and really trying our
best. Something that I want to work on is becoming completely a
consecrated missionary. Our mission president and the AP's talked a
lot about doing things in the Lord’s way and not in our way. This stuck
out to me a lot because it always goes back to my desire and where my
heart truly is. When I go out and do finding, am I really doing it
because I love them and I want to bring them to the gospel, or is it
because I have to go out cause that's what I am here to do. I always
want to make sure that when I do anything on my mission, I am doing it
with that real intent and real desire that a consecrated missionary
does it with. I know I am not perfect though cause I have so much to
work on, so that's why I really like this quote from the Book of
Mormon- (Ether 12:27)

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I
give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is
sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they
humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make
weak things become strong unto them.

I know that as I humble myself and overcome my weaknesses the Lord
with help to bless me with this. He will help shape me into who I need to
be, and I know as I am consecrated and serving the Lord with all my
heart, might, mind, and strength that I will be blessed. I have
already seen that change inside of me and I am so grateful for that.

Vi voglio bene!!!

Anziano Spencer

Tristan finally gets his birthday and V-day packages, along with Christmas cards...most of which had all been in the mission office since December. Better late than never!

Happy 19th Birthday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Anziano Palazzo's last zone conference--he's been Tristan's zone leader his entire time in Italy so far, in both Terni and Trapani, and is like a big brother to Tristan. He's from nearby Southlake and we look forward to attending his homecoming in early March!