Ciao!: Week 84: Feb 13 (Roma)

The Stalkers

Hey everyone! I hope y'all are all doing great. For Pday today we are planning on playing calcio [soccer] again with the two combined zones that are here in Rome. I am so pumped--especially because now we have no limit to how many times we can play calcio and football together so we are going to plan these games often. I still have dried blood on my shirt from last time, so I am sooo excited [ummm…note from Mom/editor: “wait, what?!”]. Transfers happened last week and I got a new companion! I was grateful for my time to serve with Anziano Jensen because he taught me so many things. My new companion’s name is Anziano Kolsen and this is his 4th transfer. He was "born" in Trapani and that's where he transferred from, so we are already like brothers because we both served there. To basically describe him... he's a beast. He's massive, a really good singer, and wants to work hard. We were planning a few days ago and he told me, "I want to use my time as effectively as possible to work.” Great! We get along really well and so I’m excited to see what we can do this transfer.

Last Monday I had a great time being able to see my good friends who had finished their missions and were heading home. We were all able to go get gelato together and it was super fun. Then we actually had Anziano Blackwell come and work with us for the week. He is our zone leader and his comp went home, so we were in a threesome. It was a lot of fun, especially because we started our missions together and so we have known each other for a very long time. We were able to do a lot of good work together and find some new investigators, which was nice. We are still doing our best to grow our teaching pool with different people that we are working with. We had some great lessons a few days ago, teaching people from all different places in the world. In one day we either taught or talked to people from the Philippines, Italy, Africa, Persia, Germany, Romania, Hungary, and America... It’s really cool being able to serve in Rome haha.

I am so sorry that I don’t have more time to write today, but just know that I love being a missionary so much. There are so many different miracles that are happening here. Our friend (who was already a member when we found her a few weeks ago) came to church and she loved it. We had an incredible lesson with our good friend about repentance and change. Another one of our investigators came to the center and he drove us there in his Porsche. I was also able to see all of the zone leaders and kinda lead a finding activity with all of them in our area because they had a meeting in Rome. Most of them are elders from my group, so that was so great.

As for my title this week: we were literally followed by two girls to the center after we finished a lesson with one of our friends. They ended up showing up at the center a few hours later and it was so uncomfortable. They then came for corso [English class] and asked if we could teach them more about our church. We happily agreed, telling them that there are two sister missionaries that would be happy to teach them and meet with them whenever they wanted. We had a pass-off lesson with them and the sisters.. Not gonna lie.. Really awkward. I don’t know if she has a true desire because after the lesson she came up to me and my comp and was like, "I would really love if you just taught me." Ummm no, the sisters will do that. Oh man. [More editor’s note: I think she has a true desire—it just doesn’t include learning about the church.]

I want to end with a quote that I really like about improving ourselves. I love applying it to myself, but also to our investigators and helping them towards their progresssion in the gospel.

"Developing spirituality and attuning ourselves to the highest influences of godliness is not an easy matter. It takes time and frequently involves a struggle. It will not happen by chance, but is accomplished only through deliberate effort and by calling upon God and keeping his commandments.

"But those who want to improve and progress, those who learn of the Savior and desire to be like Him, those who humble themselves as a little child and seek to bring their thoughts and actions into harmony with our Father in Heaven--they will experience the miracle of the Savior’s Atonement. They will surely feel God’s resplendent Spirit. They will taste the indescribable joy that is the fruit of a meek and humble heart. They will be blessed with the desire and discipline to become true disciples of Jesus Christ."

I love you all!!

Love,

Anziano Spencer