Week 99: May 29 (Roma)

TERNI AGAINNN

Hey everyone! It has been a great and really full Pday; unfortunately I do not have a lot of time, so I will be hitting on the highlights from this past week. Know that I am doing great though,  my testimony is growing, and I love serving here in Italy. For this upcoming week I am going to have the opportunity to do three different exchanges with anziani in Rome, Ostia, and some of the elders in our own apartment. It’s going to be really great and I am excited to learn from them. It does mean that this week is going to go really fast. After those exchanges I have just next week and then I will be home. How it is going to work is not this Friday but the next, Anziani Draghi's new companion will come to Rome and so I will be in a trio with Anziani Houseman and Melling in the Institute center. It’s going to be super fun to finish where I had been working before I got transfered here.

This past week was awesome. I had the opportunity to go to Terni and do an exchange with Anziano Farinotti. It was so cool to go back to my first city and walk the same streets and do some finding there. Something that I thought was really cool is a lot of old contacts and investigators came back to my mind while we were there and I was able to remember where they all lived to show the missionaries so that they can try to make contact with them.  One of them, when we stopped by, opened the door and was super suprised and happy which I was as well. Especially when I was there almost two years ago she was very obese and so we bought her water and things because she couldn’t walk very far to the store. When she opened the door she was like a fourth her size, and so happy to see us. It was a really cool reunion. An exciting lesson that we had was with this self-referal from a city called Viterbo that we traveled to. This man that wants to be baptized is from India and is here for his safety right now. He told us his story, which was really special, and all of the sudden this really large British man walked in and looked at us (because we were sitting in a bar teaching) and just yelled some very interesting words (including some swear words) along the lines of, “It's the Mormons!" He then started to laugh and I responded he was right, we were…  

He then sat down right at our table and so for the next bit of the lesson I spent the time trying to distract him and pull him away from the lesson so that our friend wouldn’t go away or get annoyed. It was interesting hahah, especially when he started saying some pretty uncomfortable comments like that he liked [was attracted to] me.... Man.. It literally never ends hahaha. So that part I am trying to block out of my mind from Terni but everything else was great. Especially because I was able to see my great friend from two years ago. When he found out that I was in Terni he came and met us and we were able to talk and hopefully he will start to return to church. I love that guy; he is awesome and I enjoyed being able to see him.

I was also able to do a scambio with Anziano Melling at the Institute center this past Saturday as well. It was great. We made some goals at the very beginning of our scambio and then went out and did finding literally the entire day. We had a lot of great success and found some awesome people. He is a really fun guy to work with and is a great leader, so I am excited to see what he will do for the mission in the future. It was also great going back to the Institute center and seeing some of the GANS there. We were able to give out four Books of Mormon to people and find some really solid contacts. We also met with this lady who called us that morning and so as we met she explained that she is a member from Ghana but has been living in Italy for around 8 years. She told us that she has two boys and she wants to go back to church but she can’t find it. We put her into contact with the right missionaries for her area and it was super special to see how happy and grateful she was to talk to the sister missionaries and plan to go to church the next day.

I hope you all have a great last week of school!

I implore you all to ball the freak out. [Editor’s reminder that this phrase means to “give it your all”!] 

Vi voglio bene,

Anziano Spencer

Beautiful Terni!

Reconnecting with friend from Terni mentioned above.

Pday today...does he know when he gets back to the states, he'll be expected to share?
#personalpizza

Week 98: May 23 (Roma)

The Righteous “Frat" House 

Whattuppp everyone! I hope you all had a great week. I am writing this email at a cafe in the middle of some ruins that we came to for pday in a city called Ostia. We decided to come with our whole district, so it has been a really fun time and I have really enjoyed it. There have been some cool old ampitheaters and some old statues and so it’s been cool to walk around and site-see. As for this upcoming week, we have some different exchanges planned with the missionaries in Terni and then also here in Rome. I am really excited for both of them, especially because I will be going to Terni to work with Anziano Farinotti. He is a great missionary, and also, I will be able to see my old city that I worked in for three transfers when I first came here to Italy. I will also be able to do a scambio with Anziano Melling, who just recently got transferred here from Trapani. He is a really cool guy and I am really excited to learn from him.

As for this week, it has been great. We have still been doing our very best to find new investigators, which has really started to pick up. We were able to find some awesome contacts that we are really excited about. One experience that I had was this past Sunday. What had happened is all the missionaries came in to Rome from our stake because we were having stake conference. Because of that, we were able to work with some of the different missionaries from the other cities. I had the opportunity to work with Anziano Mayer, who got here in the mission just 3 weeks ago. We talked about some goals that we wanted to accomplish together by giving a Book of Mormon away to someone and then also finding a specific amount of investigators. We prayed and then felt like we could find 3 new investigators in the afternoon. We then headed out and just had such a nice time doing some finding. Most of the people that we talked to were super open and willing to listen to us. We were able to find 3 new people who are really interested to learn more before we headed to the villa to do interviews. Prayer really does work! 

Stake conference was a great time. The members from Terni came to Rome and so that was really fun being able to see most of my other friends that I had made in my first city. One of the families remembers me really well. The father is the one that I would always refer to as "Tarzan." I didn't see him until after but I was talking to someone and then he came up and just shoved me really hard in my back and it was so sick being able to see him. We have a great relationship because he is one that always tries to crush my hand or my arm because he is super strong, and I just kinda try to crush right back. It works out nicely. Something that I thought was pretty special was just the kindness and friendship that the old members showed me from Terni even though I haven't seen them for almost two years. A member of the Quorum of the 70 came to speak and he was incredible. His name was Anziano Phillips, and he talked about the love of God for each and every one of us. He talked about all of us going through trials, helping people, and getting back to God. I know this doesn't really change anything, but he had an English accent and that just makes everything like 10 times better when someone is talking as well. 

The other huge event from this week was yesterday. I was able to participate in my last zone conference and it was a really special experience. As part of the zone conference, we had an opportunity to give a departing testimony. I was last out of the 5 of us, and something that was also really cool was I followed Anziani Chugg and Houseman, which is just what happened almost 2 years ago when I gave my "birth testimony" at the same pulpit in the same church. The spirit was really strong and it was a very tender moment to say goodbye to most of my friends because I probably won't see most of them again.

The reason that I chose this title is because this past weekend we had 12 elders sleeping over at our house for the conferences and so it was pretty fun. "Fra" can also translate into "brother" which works out well! We had 4.4 pounds of pasta that night to feed everyone. It was a lot of food.

As for my spiritual thought, I want to share something that Anziano Phillips shared to come closer to God. He gave three points that I think are very simple and very accomplishable (I don't know if that's a word)--

1. Serve others
2. Honor the Sabbath Day
3. Pray 

I love these three things. They are simple, accountable, and reachable. After the conference I was able to talk with him personally and he gave me really good advice. After I told him that I will be finishing my mission soon, he looked me in the eyes and told me, "Go to the temple often. That is how you will stay safe and you won’t get lost." Wow. 

I love you all! Know that I am doing great!! (Sorry this email is kinda everywhere; my thought process is kinda all over the place with focusing, home, and everything...) 

Vi voglio un sacco di bene!! 

Anziano Spencer 

With member from Terni...I believe this is "Tarzan," mentioned above.

With a former fellow missionary who is Italian and was in Rome for stake conference.

Zone conference, with all the anziani.

Entire zone.

With Anziani Houseman and Chugg, mentioned above.

With companion, Anziano Draghi.

It's hard to say good-bye! 

With Anziano Houseman. 

With Anziano Youngblood

With Anziano Young, who trained. Anziano Young is now a trainer.

At the "frat" house!

The ruins in Ostia.

There are missionaries posing on those steps, but they're hard to spot! 

Easier to spot these missionaries!

Week 97: May 15 (Roma)

"Call Me Simba"

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great Mother's Day! It was so great to be able to talk to my family. It was super exciting but also a little weird at the end of the call saying, "See you in less than a month!" I love my family so much and I am excited to see them so soon, but I am grateful that I have another 4 weeks to serve here in Rome, Italy! As for Pday today, we are going to play Zone Calcio which I am super hyped for. It’s going to be a lot of fun. More than anything, I just like to hang out with the other anziani from the zones because they are some of my closest friends that are still left in the mission. Also, as of last week, the two GANS elders (where I was previously serving) have moved in with us, so we have a six-man house now instead of just a four. It has been super fun and the two missionaries that came in are my absolute bros, so it’s been pretty sweet. 

As for this week, Anziano Draghi and I have been doing a lot of finding. We have been trying really hard to build up the work here just because we were out of town so much last transfer. It is kinda like a cycle building the work up and then hoping that all the investigators we find don’t go away next transfer because we will be traveling too much. That’s kinda what happened this last transfer, so we are really trying to put a focus on finding investigators that want to commit. We had some good success from it and there are two guys that I am really excited about. One of them is a Napolitano guy (Maa people) who works here as a hair cutter. He is actually a refferal from a member and so we passed by and had a great conversation with him. He is a really open guy, and was just recently married this year and said that he is searching for something. He is a believer but has gone around to different churches to find the truth. We were able to explain to him the Restoration and then I was able to tell him the First Vision. When telling the First Vision to people, it is always powerful, but there are some people who you can just feel the spirit so strong with and he was definitely one of them. He held my eye contact the entire time and seriously, the spirit was incredible. I am really excited to work with him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said that he will read it together with his wife, so things are looking great with him! 

Another great lesson that we had was with a guy from Germany that we met a few days ago in the park while I was doing a scambio with Anziano Hinkley (who lives with us in our house). This guy is seriously one of the coolest guys that I have met on my mission. Imagine just like a stud-looking guy, young, speaks English perfectly, is traveling around Europe for some time just because he wants to, and also finds religion fascinating. We started talking to him and he was like, “Please, guys, sit down with me.. Do you have time? I love talking about God and these things and I have a lot of questions for you.." Ohhhhh yessss. We started talking to him and it turned into probably the most deep and effective conversation that I have had with a contact in a park. He’s agnostic and has so many questions. I can’t really explain it very well, other than giving a few examples of his questions. Literally as we were explaining about what we believe, he pulled out a notebook and started taking notes and writing things down. He asked us questions like, “Okay, you said that God calls prophets, and that they speak his word. Does that make them Gods? Can they become Gods?.." "Why are there so many different languages in the world if there is one God?" "I really like Inception [the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio]... So let’s make an example.. there are two stages that we can say that we are in right now. The first stage is that we are all in a second dimension and having this conversation, but in reality it’s just a different perspective from our brains, or the second stage is that you both are trying to plant something in my brain so that it grows and I believe.." Ohhhh yesss. Hahaha! I loved his questions and for the last one, we read in Alma 32 how he is the one that plants the seed and lets it grow, but we are just here to explain and show him how he can come closer to Christ. It was a great conversation and hopefully he can meet with us soon to get a copy of the Book of Mormon in German. At the end of the conversation, he thanked us and then said, "I love seeing the fire in your eyes when you talk. You truly believe what you are telling me and I can see it." He then said how he was also grateful that before we responded to his questions, we would think about what we were going to say before just responding immediately. It was really cool. We asked for his name again and he just looks at his and says, "Call me Simba.” WELL, THAT’S LIKE THE SICKEST NAME EVER... this guy was already super cool to me, but with his name, it just doubled.

Other than that, things have been pretty normal--just really trying to find people that want to progress and be baptized! Our main investigator is doing well and is so close to making the decision to be baptized, he just needs to realize that God is giving him answers and that it is not just himself. We are really hopeful for him that he will choose to be baptized soon! Yesterday in church I was able to translate for the whole primary which was a lot of fun. It reminded me a lot of being back and teaching swim lessons to kids.

As for my spiritual thought, I want to share with y'all what we were able to read with Simba after his "Inception" question. This is found in the Book of Mormon in a book called Alma. It says, 

Alma 32

28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

29 Now behold, would not this increase your faith? I say unto you, Yea; nevertheless it hath not grown up to a perfect knowledge.

30 But behold, as the seed swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, then you must needs say that the seed is good; for behold it swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow. And now, behold, will not this strengthen your faith? Yea, it will strengthen your faith: for ye will say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and beginneth to grow.

31 And now, behold, are ye sure that this is a good seed? I say unto you, Yea; for every seed bringeth forth unto its own likeness.

I love this because what it shows is that belief is a choice. We are the ones that in the end choose if we are going to grow the "seed" and our faith or the ones that choose not to. It all depends on ourselves and that's why I love sharing this message with everyone; in the end I am doing my part but then it's up to them or us to choose to accept it or grow it. I hope you all have a great week!!

I love you all!!

Anziano Spencer 

P.S. We have zone conference next week on Monday so my Pday will be on Tuesday!

Week 96: May 8 (Roma)

IT WILL ALL WORK OUT

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing very well and that you had a good week. I just wanted to give a shout out to my brother Gav, who just got lifeguard certified... you little beast. And to my brother Bubba for going hard on the select soccer team. Y’all are studs. I can’t wait to talk to y’all in a few days over Skype! Happy Mother’s Day in advance to everyone, especially my mom!! 

This week was probably the most intense week of my entire mission and that’s honestly why I chose this title. "It will all work out” is something that my mission president said multiple times to us and it’s true. Everything truly did all work out. As for pday today, we are planning on going to see some sights in Rome with our district, which will be really fun. We have two new Anziani with us in our house, so I am excited to get to know them better. As for this transfer, Anziano Draghi and I will not be traveling around the mission, which I am honestly really excited for because I can just focus on the work here in Rome. We will be doing a lot of exchanges with the missionaries, which will be great. I am excited to work as hard as I can my last transfer here in the mission. My transfer vision is my most favorite quote of all time. I already stated it a few months ago, but it’s, "I implore you to ball the freak out." I am excited. It’s going to be great. 

This past Monday was a very spiritual experience for me. We went to the villa and we were able to eat and serve the other missionaries that were going home on Tuesday. Like I mentioned in my last letter, this group is probably the group which includes my closest friends; Anziano Cannon, Anziano Berger, Anziano Larrain, Anziano Governici, and Anziano LaRussa are all guys that I am really close with for different reasons. After we ate, there was a testimony meeting with all the finishing missionaries and it was probably the most powerful testimony meeting I have ever sat in as I heard these powerful, learned missionaries bear their testimonies on the power of Jesus Christ in their lives, The Plan of Salvation, The Book of Mormon and other things. The things that they said were pretty simple, as testimonies should be. But the spirit that was brought into the room with the simple words of "I know that God lives” is very difficult to describe and something that I will never forget. It was a very special night, and I am grateful for the example that these missionaries have set for me during the course of my mission. After the testimonies, Anziano Draghi and I called the missionaries in the mission to tell them their tranfer calls, which is always so fun. We were able to stay in the villa and sleep there because we had to get up really early to take the missionaries to the airport. 

Once we got to the airport, I was able to see my Aunt Cyndi and Uncle Steve, which was a great experience, becaue they came to pick up my cousin from the airport! We then headed over and checked all the missionaries in and sent them off to the plane. Immediately after, we went to the other gate to greet the 16 new incoming missionaries. I wish I could describe it better, other than saying that the "greenie fire" truly is real. It’s fun and special to meet all the wide-eyed new missionaries and respond to all of their questions that “ yes, those certain flowers that they are taking pictures of are everywhere in Rome and they don't need to worry" or that “no, I am not going to explain dangerous experiences from my mission" and “yes, that tree is a really cool tree, I agree" haha. They all are so excited and ready to work! It’s just super amazing to see the power from the group of missionaries that just went home and to see how the mission has changed them, and then to meet the new missionaries and imagine their potential and think where they will be in two years. We drove them to the temple for some pictures and then headed off to go tour around Rome. This new group is so powerful. We went to go see the Colloseum, Piazza del Popolo, and the Basilica of Saint John. While we were going around, we were doing finding and talking to people and everyone was so excited to do so. I literally had to pull a new anziano off the metro because he was talking to three people and the doors were about to close at our stop. It was great. After the tour, we brought them to the villa, where they ate and crashed so hard. 

The next day involved different trainings with the trainers throughout the mission and the new missionaries as well. That took most of the day and then we got to the villa to open their golden envelopes, which tell them where they will be going. It was fun to think that these new missionaries are going to be trained by some of my close friends in the mission, and even by Anziano Young (the missionary that I was able to train). That night, Anziano Draghi and I started the fun process of trying to figure out travel for the new missionaries and all the missionaries in the mission. This tranfer was a tricky one because on Friday we had MLC [Mission Leadership Conference] up here in Rome, so basically we were coordinating travel for the missionaries without having the ZLs [zone leaders] there to greet them when they arrived. After a long time of planning, calls, and my mission president telling us that "it will all work out," we went to bed at around 2.00ish in the morning.  

After that, things were kind of a blur with sending the missionaries off early, just a few hours after that. There were so many miracles that happened that morning. One was after the machine, for some reason, was not accepting my money to pay for all the missionaries' tickets to get them to the termini. I managed to find just enough tickets for all the missionaries in my pockets and the only one I had to take care of was me. I ended up being just 10 cents short and was not sure what to do until a missionary mentioned how his mom sent him a two-euro coin. It will all work out!! He came in clutch at just the right time to where we got everyone on time to the station and they all headed off to their cities. That night all the ZL/STLs [zone leaders and sister training leaders] came into Rome and we were with them doing different trainings. We all had a great time together and there was a special spirit as we were planning, discussing, and preparing different things for the missionaries in the whole mission. We thought that getting them here to Rome was not going to really work out but again, just as President Pickerd said, it will all work out.

So this week was seriously a lot of fun. But the most special experience was the baptism that I was able to participate in on Saturday night. Our good friend M. came back from Germany so that she could be baptized here in Rome and so all of her friends could come and support her in this decision. The baptism was super special and the spirit was really strong. There were so many young adults that the side of the chapel was full. Also, M. had brought around 8 friends with her to support her as well. It was an honor to participate in her baptism. Again, I am grateful for the priesthood and for how the gospel changes people. The light that has come into M.’s face is difficult to describe. She truly has changed and it’s an amazing thing to see. It was a very beautiful baptism and everything worked out well.

For my spiritual thought, I want to echo the wise council from my mission president. "It will all work out." Sometimes when we have so many things going on, it’s hard to look at the big picture and realize that this is God’s work and He is directing it. As we do our part, it truly will all work out. I definitely saw that this week in my mission. 

I am excited for this week. I want to end with a quote from Thomas S. Monson (a living prophet): "The Lord will shape the back that he places burdens upon." I love that.

Vi voglio un sacco di bene!!

Anziano Spencer

With Anziano Cannon and his mom Cyndi (Tristan's cousin and aunt) at the airport.
Well done, Anziano Cannon!!!

Final shot of these two cousins as missionaries together!

Touring Rome with new missionaries.

Viva Italia!!!!

With Anziano Draghi in front of the mission home...

And a better shot of just the anziani!

Love this series with the new missionaries getting their first transfers, and I love to see Tristan's enthusiasm!
(Pics courtesy of Pickerd's mission blog; link on the right for more pics!)

At the train station! Miracle of the tickets!

Mission Leadership Conference
with all the zone leaders and sister training leaders
(above and below).

MLC lunchtime!

M.'s baptism!

Also at M.'s baptism.

Gelato break in the midst of a crazy busy week!