Ciao!: Week 7: August 24 (Terni, Italy)

My favorite people in the world!! Oh it is so good to finally be able to email, especially because I have to much to fill yall in on! Oh and sorry for my awful spelling and grammer I am now using an Italian which makes this typing even more fun. And I think it is like 430 in the morning there which is weird cause it is 1230 here. Luckily my body finally adjusted to the time difference.

Okayyy so I have been called to serve in Terni!! It is an amazing city that is located north of Rome. And it is not really a city, it is more like a region which is great because we have a lot of ground to cover but at the same time it makes it difficult cause travel costs of lot of money. I will start from the beginning though when we left the MTC.

So the plane ride to Italy wasn’t that bad. One because I was able to talk to my family earlier so I was in the best mood that I could possibly be in, and two cause we had like 90 open seats on the plane ride so we could just pick and choose where we wanted to sit which was great. I was sitting by my friend Anziano Simonsin and we started talking to this Italian mom and her 12 year old daughter. They were super nice and patient with us as we started talking to them in Italian and they would practice their English with us. It was actually really cool and ya know built up my esteem alot cause I was like ''Okay I got this--in Rome this shouldn’t be a problem'' (Yeah totally wrong about that). So they were really nice, then I started to talk to this family that was going to Jordan. They had a daughter that was 17 and the mother was telling me that in Israel when you have a child that turns 18 they go into the military for 3 years. As a requirement, and it was really cool to hear how the mother feels it is really important cause they learn a lot of this like independence and living on your own. It sounded a lot like a mission which I thought was super sick. Anyway I had a lot of respect for that girl and how she was proud and excited to go into the militiary to serve her country. Afterwards I was about to pass out cause I had the whole row to myself except my comp was on the very far side when the Italian mom asked if her daughter could sleep on those two seats which was fine. I could sleep sitting up anyway lolo. So it was really funny cause my companion Anziano Brown freaked out when he woke up and realized that he had a 12 year old girl sleeping between him and me. Let’s just say I was super glad to get off that flight..

So we were picked up by the AP's and President Waddups at the airport and it was so cool to finally meet them!! They took us to the villa that the Church owns and then took us to go see the Colosseum. Something that I realized on the plane and when we were with them is it really isnt that scary to talk to people. They were talking to everyone and bringing the gospel into their conversations and it was just Amazing and Inspiring to see how easy it really was. Now in a different language that will come with practice but it really inspired me. So one thing that really helped me is that I was talking to one of the Ap's (his name is Anziano Puff who is this 25 year old guy that lived in Northern italy and worked as a model.. He’s basically a beast). I asked him for some advice and he told me that right now I am liike a child, and throughout my mission I will have experiences and be changed into a Man. Not just a Man but a Man of God. He told me that if i look in the scriptures it talks about Nephi and how he refers to himself as a child but then as it continues he refers to himself as a man. I really liked that and it really helped me cause i realized that I have so much to work on with the language and everything else.

So Terni as I mentioned is so cool. There are a bunch of mountains here that have castles like all over them. And it is so green which I love so much. I live in a four man apartment with two of the best Zone Leaders so it is cool to see how they are cause they are a really good example to me. My new companion is Anziano Ray and he is actually completely new to the area as well. There is a lot of work for us so they brought him in from Sardinia. I try to do all that i can to help him cause he is super stressed with a new area and trying to figure everything out, and training me.. the greenie. The ward (it is amazing that there is even a ward here-- most places have branches or barely any members) is super supportive of missionary work and they are all really nice. The ward mission leader is awesome!! His name is Ricuardo (and is a professional European crump dancer he is such a boss) he is 21 and is going on a mission to Manchester which is really cool, works with us super closely which really helps. Especially cause Anziano Ray and I are still trying to figure things out. I was able to bear my testimony yesterday which was really cool cause even though I was really nervous I was still able to communicate what I wanted too. The stake president was there and he gave me a shout out during his talk which was so sick, definitely built my confidence back up cause these first few days have been really rough.

Anziano Ray and I have taught a couple lessons in Italian and English. Englsih because we have a few investigators from Nigeria. One of them is Bright who is a super cool guy but gets really angry if you say something that he doesn't want to do. Like I called him on the phone and invited him to church on Sunday and he was like ''No Do Not Ask Me To Come Yet!!'' and when I said I wouldn't, he was like 'okay.. so how are you'' haha he is awesome. We are also teaching this amazing family who wants to be baptized but they need to get married first, but there are some complications with that. Hearing Bright and Charles pray though.. That is the most amazing thing that I have heard, it is so powerful.

We are also teaching this Italian man that has been less active so we are trying to bring him back to Church. His wife does not like us though, when we were over she came out of her room, growled at me (not kidding) and then sat down near us and started smoking. It smelled so bad I wanted to pass out dang that was awful. A ton of people smoke in Italy though so it is going to be hard to get used to. It has been frustrating for me though becasue during the lessons and trying to talk to people I try my best to understand and communicate but I can’t cause I still have so much to learn. I am doing my best though, I just need time to practice and continue to learn. Luckily we are teaching an English course so that is something that I can do well at.. It is just frustrating cause I want to do everything I can to 'hit the ground running' and I can’t cause I get nervous and forget what to say or i can’t understand people. But, I just need to be patient with myself cause that is what is best.

Some other sweet things that happened this week-

I tried talking to a man from Bulgaria that didn't like me very much, not kidding i thought he was going to hit me at one point which was intense, and kinda scary.

I also met a man from the Dominican Republic, I invited him to come to english course and he said that he would. He was really nice to me so I hope that he comes.

Anziano Ray and I were walking around in Centro and some women ran up to us and asked if we could teach her English. She wanted to meet so badly and just learn so that was a miracle in itself so hopefully we see her on Tuesday. Definitely a miracle is was amazing!!

Okay I love you all!! Sorry this email is so long, I wanted to give some of the details of my first week here! Talk to you next week!

Ciaò!!

Anziano Spencer