Week 38 (March 28)--Trapani

BUONA PASQUA!!

Whattt upp everyone! I hope y'all had a good Easter and that everyone
is doing good! This week went by really fast and sorry for the
confusion--there was a mistake and so really our Pday is today instead
of tomorrow. We still did cleaning though which is always the best;)
but I am just happy that it's over and we don't have to do another
deep cleaning until August.

Alright so this week started with us going to Catania like I explained
in my last letter and it was seriously so sick. The drive over there
was so beautiful with the green hills and olive trees. Just
kinda like the typical sterotype of Italy. So after around 3 hours we
finally made it there and I absolutely love Catania. It's an insanely
huge city with a bunch of crazy things happening all at once. Not
gonna lie, I really hope that I serve there in the future. We got to
the zone leaders' house that we were staying at and there were about 25
of us Anziani all staying together for the night. It was really packed,
but really awesome cause I was able to see a lot of my friends from
the mission and some of the guys that I entered the mission field
with. It was also pretty cool because the balcony of the house was the
roof of a grocery store so it was huge. Being able to talk and catch
up with some of my homies that I have made before we went to sleep was
really nice haha.

So Zone Conference was really good and I was able to see my two other
friends (including Anziano Trejo) give their departing
testimonies. I am going to miss those guys so much; they were such
awesome examples to me and I am grateful I got to serve with them. One
thing that really stuck out to me this Zone Conference was something
that was said in a testimony. He said, "Live what you teach." Very
simple, but very powerful and I think that statement is so true and I
am doing my best to really keep that in mind with everything that I
do. And at the conference there was a new senior couple and they got
us American food from the military base!! Oh my gosh, it was the best...
taco seasoning, twizzlers, and beef jerky... Ohhh yes, I have missed
that stuff so much haha. Everyone, trust me, American food is so
amazing and I miss it lolol.

Anyway, after Anziano Olsen and I had been gone from Trapani for
about a week and a half we were finally able to start working in our
own area. This week was pretty tough, not going to lie. A lot of our
investigators couldn't meet with us, but one of the few lessons that
we had was okay. This family that we have been working with is
seriously so awesome and they are so kind and they understand our
message that we bring about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ but
they say the only way they will ever change is if they receive a
dream. Gosh dang, so not going to lie we have been praying soo hard
that they will receive a dream that these things are true. We just
wish that they were willing to recognize the other signs that God is
giving them that these things are true. We will see with them. It's
kinda frustrating, but we are doing our best and if they are ready they
will receive an answer. Our other friend that we were able to see is
doing well and progressing. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus
Christ and we talked to him about baptism and he said that obviously
he needs to receive an answer first, but if he does, then he will. Which
is exactly what we want! I have a lot of hope in him!! Other than that
we have been doing a lot of finding, which has been tough but
rewarding at the same time. For Easter there is this huge tradition
here for these things called the "Mysteries" where basically people
come from all around the world to watch this procession that the
people from Trapani do from 2:00 on Friday till 2:00 on Saturday, so a
whole 24 hours through the night. There are like 21 statues from the
Catholic Church that take about 15 men to carry one and so they carry
these statues around the city, very very slowly, with like marching
bands playing sad music. This all represents the life of Jesus and then
ends with the Madonna. It was really interesting to see. We were
able to go so hard on our English course finding that night and
morning too cause Centro is full of people right now. The traditions
here are so sick--I will try to send some pictures so you can kinda
picture it!!

So not going to lie, yesterday and for the past few days I was feeling
a little down and just straight up homesick. I was missing my family and
things like that, but it's at those moments when I feel like God always
blesses me and lifts me. Yesterday we had a really great day with
church. I was asked to teach primary and that was a really good
experience for me cause I love teaching kids (shout out to my swim
instructor friends! I miss that job so much haha) And we were able to
have a really good talk about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. They
are both such solid kids; I love our primary.  After that I was asked
to teach the Priesthood from the talk from Elder Holland on the last
conference called Ecco Tuo Madre (“Behold Your Mother”) which went so well too. I was really
happy, especially cause the language was not much of a problem during
it. Sunday night, though, is what seriously made me so happy. So we
headed down to Centro to do a Mostra where we have that bed sheet and
we draw things on it to talk to people about Easter. Sooo many people
were so nice to us yesterday and I saw so many of my friends. Literally,
I think most of the people I know in Trapani I saw last night, which
was great. They all made me so happy just coming up and baching
each other (I seriously am bringing that back to America, it's so great).
There was this one time where I was talking to this one guy about God
and while we were talking I feel someone like stick their hand in my
back pocket and it ended up being my
friends from the local market with his huge group of friends. It
was so great being able to see all these people and talk to them about
Easter. God is good, and that experience might not sound so big but it
seriously meant so much to me.

Okay so for my funny moments from this week-

We were going to have a lesson with one of our members who hasn't been
coming to church for a while and as we showed up to the door he
answers and he's got a nice looking shirt on and everything but he is
missing a very important part of his outfit. He was just standing
there without pants on... What the?! My comp and I were just so blown
away but we thought it was hilarious at the same time cause it
literally was so unexpected. [Editor’s note: I verified that this gentleman did put his pants on prior to the lesson!]

Yesterday we were eating at the old Mafia boss's house for lunch (ohh it
was so good…lasagna, lamb, potatoes, etc..) and so of course when you
eat with Italians you have to have dolce [sweets]. And so after church he
stopped by his daughter’s store to pick up some treats and we walk
in and I seriously felt like one of the coolest guys ever with this
huge guy as he just walks behind the counters and
starts giving us the cannoli and Graf and other treats with like this
little smile on his face. Hahah he was just acting like he owned the
store and just got everything for free. I guess when you know people
and you have an old rep you can do that. We really want him to come do
finding with us:)

Okay, so for my spiritual thought this week I want to share this from
Matthew because it is so important:

5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I
know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place
where the Lord lay.

7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the
dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye
see him: lo, I have told you.

I know that that statement is true from verse 6. He is not here for he
is risen. I am so lucky that I have the opportunity to share with
others that He lives. And because He lives we can all be born again
spiritually and receive that strength, hope, light, and direction in our
lives to lead us back to home with our Father in Heaven. I know that
Jesus Christ is always here for us and even though things may get really
hard we just have to remember that he is always reaching out his arm
to us because HE LIVES!!

Vi voglio bene!!

Anziano Spencer

"Doing some sweet house. And yes!!!! Some finding in the rain."

Week 37 (March 22)--Trapani

TRANSFER NUMBAA 3 in TRAPANI

Happy early Easter everyone! I hope that everyone has had a good week
and that life is good with y'all. I literally feel like I say that so
much but it's true--I really do hope that y'all are doing great. So
this week I am not going to be able to write that much; we
are leaving to go on a bus pretty soon because we have a combined Zone
Conference in Catania (which is across on the other side of Sicily), so
it will be sickkk. But that's why I don't have that much time.

So I got my new companion!! And he is a stud, from Utah; he loves
sports and played football and rugby, and also wrestled, which is sick. Anziano
Garrett and I left Trapani on Wednesday so that he could take his
train on Thursday morning. I then spent the day with Anziano Trejo
working with him in Palermo. It was really awesome and I enjoy working
with him a lot because he is a solid missionary and I always learn so
much.

Our work is going really well though. We have a lot of really good
potential and great people that we are working with. Unfortunately we
haven't been able to see a lot of our investigators this week cause we
have been back and forth in Palermo, but one miracle that I saw this week was one
of our investigators came to church!! He is such a stud and just comes
in and talks to everyone and the cool thing was that I called him
on the phone the night before and he said that he wouldn't be able to
see us this week because he was too busy. But, he walked in to
church ready for Sacrament meeting and it made me so happy!! I was
seriously so happy haha!!  (He is the one that I talked about last
week that is the son of "the Mafia boss" so I have really high hopes
for him.)

I am sorry that I don't have much else to say, other than I really do
love Trapani. I have such a love for each and every one of the members
and it has been really great working with them for the past two
transfers and I am excited to work with them more!!

So for my spiritual thought I wanted to share a little quote from a
talk that I really like called "Never Give Up" by Joseph B. Worthlin. I
have shared a lot of quotes from him before, and from this talk
specifically, but something that I really liked when I was reading it
this morning was this (below) as he explains different people in history who
persevered and were successful because of their efforts and their
desires.

"They succeeded (he is talking about Abraham Lincoln, Beethoven,
Nightingale, etc.) not only because the Lord had endowed them with
gifts, as he has each of us in varying degrees, but because they
applied themselves steadfastly."

I really like this quote a lot because we have all been blessed by

different things in our lives because God loves us so much. But, as we
put those talents into practice and strive for more by applying
ourselves, we will be able to do anything that we strive for. I know
that that is true and it is something I am trying to do every single
day on my mission!! I love you all so much!

Love,

Anziano Spencer

P.S. Next week I have my Pday on Tuesday because on Monday we are
doing our deep cleaning again. Ya know the time when I found a snail
in the fridge? Yeah, so we are doing that again and it will be so much
fun haha.

Also, today for Pday we went to a place called the "tie cave" which is
some super sketchy place in Palermo that you can only get into if you
know what it is. You have to ask the guy who works there and then he unlocks
this garage door that is just full of hundreds of super nice ties all
for around 5 euros. Ohh yeahh, probably illegal. I love Italy so much!! I will talk to y'all next week!

For their last Pday together (last week, March 14), Anziani Spencer and Garrett went on a hike to an old community nestled in the rocks and cliffs of a mountain.

Great friends and companions, Anziani Garrett and Spencer.

Do you see the rooster?

An ode to Imogene's Antlers (well loved childhood picture book)!

Channeling the Karate Kid.

Repping Gavin and the FMHS soccer teams!

Last English Course with Anziano Garrett!

"The beast couple!" Vito and Sara, who are returned missionaries, and help the Anziani in their missionary work and teaching.

"One of my favorite member families!"

"My new companion, Anziano Olsen."

"Anziano Olsen brought some American food, ohhhhh yeah!!!!!!!"

Week 36 (March 14)--Trapani

TRAPANI ANCORAAA

Hey everyone!! I hope that everyone is doing well and that you can
feel my love coming to you from Italy! So we got transfer calls and I
am staying in Trapani for another transfer. My homie companion is
leaving though, which is pretty sad, but he has been here for six months

so we were both kinda expecting it.  He is going up north
to be a Zone Leader in Caserta. I am pumped for him; he is such a beast
and is going to do awesome! So my new companion is coming from Napoli
and his name is Anziano Olsen (which is super weird cause one of my
best friends who is serving a mission too is named that). Hopefully
they act the same because that would be soo sick and so much fun. We
will see; I am excited though. The next week is going to be pretty
cool too cause our Zone Conference is in Catania (which is across
Sicily) with the Catania Zone. So we have to take a bus over there
which is going to be fun.

Alright so this week has been pretty good. We have had some awesome
lessons with our investigators and have seen little miracles

work out. One of them was with this family that we love so
much and we asked them if we could bring over that really awesome
couple. They said yes, and then in the morning they told us that they
were not really interested in meeting anymore once Anziano Garrett and
I both leave. That was really sad to hear, but we still went to our
lesson just praying that it would go well and it went great. The couple
was sooo AWESOME and it turns out that the wife Sara served a mission
in France and the mom of the family lived in France (she served in the
same city that the mom grew up in... Such a blessing) and so they
started speaking French together and so that was super sick. They all
really hit it off so we are really hoping that they receive an answer
soon that the Book of Mormon is true because they are reading, and
they have prayed about it. We want to make sure that they are doing
all that they can to receive it which includes coming to church too.
So we will see. It was great to have Vito and Sara there because they
are so awesome and they know exactly what to do in a teaching
situation.

Another investigator that we had a really good lesson with is from our
Corso. We invited him to meet with us and he said that he was
interested. So our second lesson with him went really well because we
invited the old mafia boss (don't worry he has completely left
everything behind and he is so strong in the gospel; he made that
really clear to us cause he finally talked to us about it which was
cool) and his wife to come and help us. They came and right when the
old Mafia Boss walks in he immediately knew our investigator because he
is good friends with his dad. Yhey go like "way back" and so we are
pretty sure that we are teaching a son of an old Mafia boss. Sooo
sweet hahaha. He is really awesome though, and really humble. He even
came to church today and loves to make new friends. He was saying hi
to everyone and so we are really happy. I hope things go well with him.

Okay so now for English Course haha. Alright so luckily me and Anziano
Garrett left the fog machine and the lights back at our house this time
haha;) I am just kidding lolol but this week was a lot more normal and
tranquilo. Kinda. So for our spiritual thought we were doing it on the
Atonement and so we decided to do the one activity where we brought
treats and gave them to every single one of them even if they didn't
want it. This represented the Atonement and how it is given to every single
person, but there was one condition. I would have to do 10 push-ups
for each individual person to receive a treat. Now luckily they are
Italian and most of them were all over the treats and it was a pretty
powerful spiritual thought. It represented the fact that Jesus Christ
suffered so much for us that we can't even comprehend what He did. In
the middle of it they started freaking out cause I was starting to get
tired and one of the women came up and was like "No no no, you don't
have to do push-ups I just.. I just want to give you a big kiss..”

(Ummmm what??!) And then leans down and kisses me right on my cheek.
Not a bach, a straight-up kiss. Just plants one on me. Lolol totally
not expecting that. So yeah Corso just keeps on getting more and more
interesting.

Another kinda funny and random thing that happened
this week is a few weeks ago we met these really cool 25-ish year old
guys who one of them said he had a Book of Mormon and was actually
interested in meeting with us. He was the one that stopped us too,
which was weird. Anyway, we set up some appointments with him and he
bailed and didn't even show up. We saw him again and we were still
friends and we told him if he wants to meet for him to call us now.
Anyway, so we are walking in the street and we walk past this car and
we see that it's him and all of his buds. But they are like hiding
from us... Like the one guy is ducked under the seat... The other guy
pulled the beanie over his eyes... Like are you kidding me?? We are not
dumb, haha. Lolol just straight up hiding and doing the worst job about
it.  So we walk by a second
time like ten minutes later and this time we are coming from the back
and we can see him (cause he has a man bun) through the mirror and
then one of his friends turns around and sees us (and then they all
turn around and I am sure his friend is like "Ohhh no, it's them!!")
and we see them like all duck down in their car again. 25-ish year old
guys hiding; we could not believe it lolol. So we walk by and Anziano Garrett
goes "Ciao Giuseppe!" right at them, cause the window was down, and then
we just keep walking and glancing back at his little man bun poking up from
the dash board. Like, seriously…???

So this week for my spiritual thought I just want to bear my testimony
on how grateful I am for this gospel. I’m grateful I know that there is a prophet that lives today and receives revelation for us in our day. And thanks to Joseph Smith, we have the restored

Church of Jesus Christ on the earth today with the gospel in its
fullest on the earth. I am super grateful for the Plan of Salvation
and I know that we will be able to see our loved ones again. I know
that because of Jesus Christ we will all live again and we will be
able to have our loved ones back and be able to live together all as
families with God. It is the perfect plan that God has created for our
happiness and our joy. I am so grateful that I have this opportunity
to serve as a missionary and bring this message to others and our
message is so simple. Read the Book of Mormon and ask God. Ask God
through prayer and he will let you know through the spirit. It is very
simple and I love being a missionary so much. If the Book of Mormon is
true then we have no reason to have doubts or anything behind that
because as the Key Stone of our Religion we can have our testimonies
strengthened when we read and ponder the messages and the stories of
the Book of Mormon. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and I am so
grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today. The Church
is true!!


Vi VOGLIO BENE!!

Anziano Spencer

"A sketched-out apartment building...trying to find some less-active members. Let's go!"

"Fratello Carucci...Man, I love this guy!!!!!"

The entire Primary of the branch....

Doing what kids do!

"My African homies!"

Week 35 (Mar 7)--Trapani

TRAPANI!!

Whattt uppp everyone!! I am so glad to always hear from you every
week and I hope everyone is doing well! This week has been awesome,
and really crazy at the same time. I love the mission life so much. So
on Saturday we should have actually gotten our transfer calls (even
though we are getting transferred not this Thursday but the next
Thursday... it's super weird) but our mission president felt really
strongly that he shouldn't make the calls yet and he is not sure when
he will. Not gonna lie it's kinda distracting cause it's exciting to
get them and Anziano Garrett and I want to know what is going to
happen over here in Trapani. So to be honest we could find out tomorrow
or the latest by Saturday. We don’t know, but Anziano Garrett has been
here for six months now and I think he might be transferred somewhere.
I have been super grateful to get to work with him and I have learned
so much from my bud.

So a lot of stuff happened this week but the definite highlight was
being able to do a Scambio with Anziano Palazzo for the last time
before he goes home. I have learned a ton from him and it was really
fun to teach together before he heads home. Some things that I
really learned from him: there is a difference between being a
Christ-like missionary and just doing missionary things. I am really
trying to put this into practice and doing things that Christ would do
and it is something that really helps. Also, not feeling like I am
entitled to anything without working. What I mean by this is hard work
pays off. I can't just expect to find new people without doing
finding, building relationships without talking to people. The

entitlement factor-- aww man, it's so good. It was an awesome time and I
am grateful for that Scambio.

Okay so now for some really interesting things that happened this
week. I am going to start off with English Course because that was the
most surprising and interesting thing that happened. So every week
when we teach English Course, at the end we teach a spiritual thought.
Things about Faith, Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, Prophets, things
like that. And so right now we are going through the Plan of Salvation
in small steps. So this Thursday we planned to do our thought on the
Creation and how we can see the power of God in our lives when we take
the time to look around us and see how beautiful the earth really is.
We were sharing our thought and bearing our testimonies and Anziano
Garrett is bearing his and when he finishes all of the sudden someone
was like, "YESSS" and then she starts clapping... Umm what? And then
everyone started clapping for us which was interesting and kinda weird
cause that doesn't really happen. Everyone was clapping like a crowd.
So we were just standing there kinda in shock and we asked if anyone
wanted to say the closing prayer. This one woman (who is so awesome)
raised her hand and mentioned how she wrote a prayer for us to say. (So
normally when we pray, we pray from the heart and it's very personal.)
But this was personal for her and something she did and so she had her
boyfriend read it. Through the middle of it someone was like, "Yes!!"
And then another person was like, "AMEN" And “YESSSSS." When people
were leaving they were like, "I am going to do that!! I want to write
written prayers too!!" Oh freak. So yeah, we know what we will be
including in our spiritual thoughts now! It was seriously very
interesting, strange, but at the same time very cool cause the prayer
was about us and how grateful they were for us so it was cool to see
how much influence English course has had on these people. We are hoping to
teach more of them after corso so we will see how that goes.

Another interesting lesson that we had was with this new family that
we met when we were doing finding. They are seriously the nicest
people, but the dad is sooo crazy. I can't explain it very well other
than trying to describe him as someone whose mind is going a million
miles an hour; he likes to speak in broken English and then switches into
Italian, and talks extremely fast. Not gonna lie it makes me anxious
when I am around him. So we were eating at the dinner table and he was
pulling all sorts of stuff out for us to eat like, “here, have some
tuna..." And then just pulls out a can and dumps it on my  plate, and
then starts getting mad at Anziano Garrett for how he eats his pear,
and then all the while while this was happening his wife is gagging
and coughing over the sink and when he realizes it, he looks at us and is
like, "Just a moment please." And then runs over and was like, "MY
LOVE!! WHATS WRONG?!" And then he looks back at us and was like, “DON'T
WORRY.. SHE IS JUST CHOKING ON AN ORANGE.." While this is happening in
my mind I am thinking... "What is going on??!"  It was a very
interesting dinner, and they are honestly really nice. The wife is
actually really receptive to our messages and their friend was there
too so we are hoping that we can see them more, and that things will be calm
and tranquilo. We will see, it was fun. It kinda reminded me and
Anziano Garrett of when the Joker in the Dark Knight was like, "And
everyone loses their minds!” Yeah, that's how that dinner was.

We had a really solid lesson with one of our English Course students
who is doing really well. He has read the entire book of First Nephi
within a week and has made all these connections in his mind; it is
incredible. We were so happy during that lesson, especially because the
spirit was so strong and he was realizing these things for himself. He
started relating his life to how it's like a promised land and how
just like the Nephites, God will guide and direct him. The only thing
that we are struggling with is he has had some bad experiences in the
past of going to church and also some with prayer. Good too, but also
some bad memories and so he feels like he is not at a good position in
his life to do those things right now which is something that we are
really working on. He is so awesome and I love this guy so much. I
hope through the Book of Mormon he will be able to realize through the
Spirit that going to church and praying are more things that we can do
to feel closer to God and receive more blessings in our lives.

Another thing that was so great this week was seeing the new couple
that just moved into our ward. They are seriously so excited about
missionary work and are coming tonight with us to a lesson. I am so
pumped; the wife came up to us after church and she was like, “Anziani,
so I just got called into the Relief Society and so I would like you
to work closely with us and work on bringing some of these people back
to church who have stopped coming." I was so happy, aww man it's so
good to have some awesome support now. They have brought such high
energy and so I am really excited!! I really hope that I stay here in
Trapani so that we can all work together!!

So this week for my spiritual thought I want to share something that I
read in my personal studies that I really like from 2 Nephi 7.

6 I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off
the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

7 For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded.
Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not
be ashamed.

8 And the Lord is near, and he justifieth me. Who will contend with
me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near
me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth.

9 For the Lord God will help me. And all they who shall condemn me,
behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat
them up.

10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of
his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light?

11 Behold all ye that kindle fire, that compass yourselves about with
sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which ye have
kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand--ye shall lie down in sorrow.

I love these scriptures a lot because as a missionary I want to do
everything I can to be bold, loving, help people, and stand together
with God as I do this work. "Set my face as a flint" to speak where I
have goals and I am going to do everything I can to accomplish them.
These verses just really caused me to reflect a lot about how I want to
"walk in the light of my fire and the sparks of which I have kindled"
and be the best missionary I can be by becoming and doing these things.

Not gonna lie, I don't really understand the moth part (vs. 9) but I wouldn't
really mind that for some of these people out here ;) just kidding... But
really, though.

VI VOGLIO A SAAIII

Anziano Spencer

Zone soccer from last week.

Last day with Anziano Palazzo, who is headed home! (On exchange.)