Ciao!: Week 75: Dec 12 (Napoli)

HAMANA MAUHIKA

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. Here in Napoli it is still warm, but the Christmas season is in full swing and there are lights everywhere which is awesome. Something that has been pretty interesting is the closer that we get to Christmas and New Year's Eve, there are more fireworks that frequently go off. There have been some that literally sound like a grenade that go off just around the city. We have been told that New Year's Eve is really dangerous here and that we have to stay inside because there are people that ride in the streets shooting off guns and going crazy. I pray that I stay here to see it because it will be really interesting.

This week was really productive and we have so many things coming up this week and the next. Last week I was able to work with Anziano Cowden and it was such a fun scambio [exchange] for us. We both hit it off really well and I was able to learn a lot of different things from him. He is such a positive guy and is really going strong even though he is nearing the end of his mission. We were able to go to a city called Scampia (which is still in Napoli) and it is a very sketchy city. We went because we had a family that we were meeting there but I swear some of the apartments looked like a perfect place to film Planet of the Apes or I Am Legend. It was pretty sad, but just helped me realize again that we are very blessed where we live in America. This week Anziano Berger and I will be going to a city for a scambio which we are excited about. Then the week after we will be having two anziani coming up from Calabria for some permesso work. It will be really fun because one of the missionaries is in my same MTC group and I will be able to work with him for a day which I am excited about. After that scambio, Anziano Berger and I will be going to Rome to do a scambio with the assistants. We get back on the 22nd and then on the 23rd we have our whole Zone (so about 22 missionaries) coming in to Napoli so that we can do some Christmas caroling in Centro. We are excited and I love that there are so many things going on. If you have any good Christmas music that we can sing, please send it!! Please!

As for the work, things are going really well. The girls, L. and J., are planning on being baptized this Saturday! I love these two little girls so much and they are so ready! We will be having the baptism here in Napoli which will be one of the first baptisms here in the church because normally we go to a different church building or the ocean to do it so we are hoping that there is a really good turnout. They were able to participate in the Primary Program and that was really special experience for all of us! I was able to participate too and it was a fun experience to stand up there with all the primary kids and sing.

We were also able to find a new investigator named C. from nigeria. He worked as a banker there and has moved to Italy with his family. He is very well educated and is really trying to work hard to bless his family with the little resources he has. He shared with us his story and how he was an orphan when he was 5 years old and how he was homeless and had to suffer and like just work so hard to be able to go to school and he ended up going to college and getting a degree. It was really inspiring and humbling as he asked us if we had to suffer to go to school or if we have ever been homeless. It made me really grateful for my parents and for what they have provided for me in my life but also just really put into perspective something that my dad would always tell me growing up. He would mention how I truly don’t know how blessed I am compared to the rest of the world, which was so true. It is so true, but now that I have been able to meet those who have had to fight to survive for their lives it has really just made me so grateful for what I have been blessed with. C. is planning on reading the Book of Mormon, so hopefully he will start to progress. I can’t wait to see him again next week.

We started working with that family that lives in Scampia, but the mother kept asking me uncomfortable questions about how, "IF I ever found an Italian girl here on the mission, would I marry them?" And then would like casually look over to her daughter... Ummm awkward.. And then her daughter started to send some really weird messages to our phone [that made me even more uncomfortable,] so I don’t think we will be seeing them anytime soon.

This week one of our less-actives that we have been working with since I got here passed away. She was (and I am sad to say this) very obese and so I think that was the cause of her death. It was very sudden and unexpected. We were invited to the house and it was really sad to see her without life. I can’t really explain it, but the spirit brings the light into the body. It’s so obvious because she was such a bright and happy person, but just seeing her body there without the spirit, there was a definite difference. Yes life, but also light.The next day there was the funeral and I was able to be one of the pall bearers for her. I kinda picked the worst place to stand because I got the top of the casket and walking up the flight of stairs all the weight was tilted down right on top of me... It was extremely heavy, but it was still a special experience to carry the casket for her because she was always so nice and loving to us as missionaries. It kinda felt like I was able to give something back for the kindness she had shown me.

Well, as for my spiritual thought I just wanted to say that I am grateful. There are always many times in the mission where I am humbled even more by the circumstances that I see that others live in. I am so very grateful for this gospel and the knowledge that we have that families are eternal and that death is not the end. I am also so very grateful for my family and the happiness and joy that they bring me. I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and that this Christmas season I can serve him here in Napoli, Italia.

I love you all so much!!

Love,

Anziano Spencer

P.S The title of my email is our branch mission leader’s name who is from New Zealand. He goes by Sam, but that is his real name. I have decided it’s probably the coolest name that I have ever heard, so I say it often--I like the way it sounds haha. Have a great week!!