Week 78: Jan 2 (ROMA!)

ROMA... Ummm what was that, President?

Hey everyone!! I hope that everyone had a great New Year’s Eve! I want to start off with a story from last week to explain what's going on right now. Last Monday we received transfer calls, but leading up to it I thought absolutely nothing of transfer calls because I was literally convinced that I was staying in Napoli. Well, on Monday night my companion Anziano Berger and I got home and  started to plan when all of the sudden, President Pickerd calls us... Not gonna lie, it made me pretty sad and I was just kinda stunned because I love Napoli so much and only spent 3 months there.

I have received a new assignment though, and I am still trying to understand fully what I have to do. Basically, what I am doing is taking over the new young adults program/center that got put in here in downtown Rome. I am in a trio with my new companions Anziano Jensen and Anziano Southworth. They are both pretty young in the mission which has been pretty cool. Anziano Jensen is in his 3rd transfer and Anziano Southworth (who is Italian) is in his 2nd. Anziano Southworth is actually going to be serving in Arizona, but he is waiting for his visa to come in, so we will be with him until he goes to America. This program/center was started around 3 months ago with Anziano Jensen and his trainer Anziano Taronto. Anziano Taronto is kinda like a legend in the mission because he served for a very long time as AP and was just an incredible missionary. He finished his mission last week and I was transferred here to take his spot and--not gonna lie--I am still trying to figure everything out. I kinda feel pretty lost, but things are getting better. His greenie, Anziano Jensen, is a beast though and is already a fantastic missionary who works really hard and doesn’t even feel like we need to eat lunch during the day because it’s a waste of time (ummm... we will have to figure that out because I think lunch is important..) and so it’s been a great help because he knows the area and what’s going on. Anziano Southworth is a really consecrated missionary that tries his hardest and is a great missionary as well. I am excited to see what I can learn from them and what we can do together here in this young adults program. 

Basically, we need to bring as many people as we can from the ages of 18-30 to this center. The center is right downtown and it’s basically like an apartment complex with a game center, library, spare rooms for english courses, a kitchen, and stuff like that.. It’s an area for all the young adults and their friends to come and hang out and we need to find people and bring them to the center. There are a lot of young adults that participate that are planning on going on missions or have already served missions that come, so they help us teach lessons and go finding. (Hopefully I will see my friend Anziano Calvagna!! He served with me in Terni and he comes so I am really excited to see him again.) We don’t have an assigned area either (with boundaries that we can’t cross into other missionaries’ areas).  President Pickerd has given us the instruction to go wherever we can find the young adults… So, for example, we go to a massive college called La Sapienza where there are 100,000 students and we talk to people there. But we can also go to other areas of Rome to work as well. We are free to go where we need to and so that's been pretty cool. We do a lot of finding here and a lot of teaching. Also, we find a lot of referrals for other missionaries as well so it’s been great. 

For church we go to the Rome 2 ward which is the strongest ward in our mission. It’s the same ward that our Mission President goes to with all the senior couples in this area. On Sunday, I believe there were around 16 called missionaries there, including us, with all the senior couples and our district. Our ward has about 100ish people. They are all really strong members and there are also a lot of Americans that live here with their families for the Embassy so that’s been pretty sweet. We unfortunately don’t work with the member families; we mainly focus on people from the ages of 18-30 and then all the other missionaries take the families. I still have to learn much more about what I am supposed to be doing and my role, but for now this is about all the information I know. The work here looks really good as well; we just need to keep finding new people and helping those that we are already working with progress. Apparently from what I have been told we are teaching Italians, Africans, Shrilankians, Chinese, and other different ethnicities and so I am excited to meet everyone. 

Leaving Napoli was pretty tough. I was pretty shocked and really sad to say good-bye to all of the members. They showed me so much love and were really kind to me. I also really enjoyed working with all the missionaries in Napoli. It was a really great opportunity and I learned so much from all of them. Because I got transfered so soon, I unfortunately was not able to say good-bye to a lot of my friends and the people that I was able to work with. But, I was invited over to like a last-minute meal appointment with one of my most favorite Napoli families to see them before we left. They made us hamburgers and French fries which I thought was super nice. Probably the most special part of last week was being able to see Evans (the guy that was baptized a few months ago) baptize his own son. It was a really special baptismal service and went really well. That family is incredible and they are progressing so well in the gospel. It’s so great to see families coming together in the gospel. I also really enjoyed my time that I had with Anziano Berger. He is a really good missionary who taught me a lot of things, especailly how to be bold with other people. I am happy for the friendship that we made.

I left Napoli Friday afternoon and flew to Rome in just an hour. Things have been interesting so far. I only have two missionary tags and one of them I left with our new convert Fabio and so I just had one while coming up to Rome. When I got to Rome I went up and gave a hug to one of my friends who I had not seen in a while and my tag broke in half... Dang.. Lol so now I have a duct-taped tag until I can get new ones. Other than looking kinda like a scrub (in my opinion) with a duct-taped tag while bearing my testimony to the whole Rome 2 ward with my mission president watching, and meeting all these new people, things are going well;).

Well, I love you all so much! Hopefully by next week I will understand more about what is happening here in my new area. Thank you all so much for your support and love. For my spiritual thought I just want to share one word that I am working on and trying to study more for this next transfer. The word is Exhort... Or esortare in Italian. I am excited for this new transfer!

Vi voglio bene!!

Anziano Spencer

P.S I saw a video of New Year’s Eve in Napoli from my last companion.. It was so sick. There was a fire going randomly right down the streeet and fireworks going off everywhere.. I love Napoli!! Unfortunately, there are no crazy gypsies, or bombs going off in the night here, or other insane stuff. It’s really tranquillo [peaceful, calm] which is kinda sad.

Saying good-bye to favorite friends in Napoli!

I believe this is the member mentioned above who baptized his son.

Senior missionaries serving in Napoli.

Tristan got to fly to Rome from Napoli (1 hour).

Saying good-bye to dear friends Fabio, Anziano Ridd, and Anziano Bellini. 

Saying good-bye to Anziano Berger.

Hello to Roma and Anziani Jensen and Southworth!

Week 77: Dec 26 (Napoli)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hey everybody! I hope that y'all had a great Christmas celebrating all together the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ! This truly is such a special time of year and I am grateful that I have the opportunity to be serving as a representative of His work here in Napoli. We had a great Christmas here and I will try to do my best to explain all the traditions and things that we were able to do with the Italians. The moment that was the most special was being able to skype call my family. It was so good to see them after 7 months and I love them so much. 

Traditions for Christmas- Eating haha

Okay so here in Napoli the festivities are a three-day long event starting on the 24th and ending on the 26th. It’s been pretty cool to experience, especially because each day is a different type of meal that you are supposed to eat. So for example, on Saturday (or Christmas Eve) you are only supposed to eat fish. All different types of fish are mixed in with pastas, salads, first courses, and second courses. [Editor’s note: I remember this from my mission to Italy too—very well. I wasn’t as enthused about it as Tristan is.] The speciality thing here is also eels. All around Napoli there are food markets and during the Christmas season there have been giant tanks set out that have huge eels swimming inside that people come to buy from the market. It is so sweet! Then the next day on Christmas it’s more of a soup kinda meal with rooster broth and then pasta and things like that. After basically feeling super full for two days you still continue to eat and on the 26th you just eat the normal lasagna, pasta, and dolce [sweets] kinda meal. So for today and the past two days people spend time together as a family, eating. It’s awesome!

This is what has been happening the last few days here during Christmas time. On Saturday we went over to a member’s house to eat dinner with them. My companion and I had a great time and I have to say it was probably one of the craziest and super fun nights of my whole mission. I can’t really explain it very well other than saying that during the dinner the kids were chucking basketballs at us to play catch while we were eating clams (the kind that you slurp out of the shells) mixed with pasta. And some other very interesting things occurred haha. I loved it so much; it was such a good time. The family that we were with is so kind and even got us a big Christmas gift of a bunch of different foods for our house like Nutella, tuna, and of course, pasta. They are so great. 

On Christmas Eve the other guys here in Napoli slept over at our house (plus two other Anziani that have been stuck in Napoli for a week) and so it was us six all in our home. It was a super fun time and it was cool waking up Christmas morning and all eating pancakes together before we went to church. I was actually able to give a talk in church which I was nervous about because I didn’t really know what the branch president wanted me to do other than talk about Christmas, and so that’s what I did and I think it went well. The spirit was really strong during the meeting and it was special to be with the branch on Christmas day. After that we went to a meal appointment with another one of our members and ate the kind of meal that I described above with broth and pasta and lots of vegetables. There is a special vegetable here that is famous in Napoli that is kinda like a mix between spinach and kale like all boiled together and when I first ate it, it was probably the most disgusting thing that I have ever eaten. It kinda reminds me of when I mowed the lawn back at home and the grass was still wet and I took the grass out to empty it.. Yeah.. that’s the image that I think of as I am trying to eat it with a smile on my face haha. But, now I am beginning to be more used to it and I can eat it, which is good because it’s a common dish here. After the meal appointment we went back to the church to skype our families which was the GREATEST, and then we watched a movies called Zootropolis. It was really cool and I liked it a lot. Unfortunately, the movies we bought were from the street so they cost like 2 euro which was a cool deal until three-fourths into the movie it just stopped working lol. We watched it in Italian, but it was a really good movie and I am grateful I was able to get the main idea of the movie. 

That has been our Christmas events for the past few days!! Today we have another meal appointment to go eat with some members which I am really excited about! The eating still continues on haha! As for the rest of the week, though, it has been really interesting. Last Tuesday two Anziani came up from Reggio Calabria to get a permesso, but with the way train times worked and getting their documents they were not able to go back home until this morning, so they ended up staying here for the entire week. I was able to work with Anziano Whitaker for most of the week and it was a really great experience. I learned a lot from him and it was awesome because he is an Elder that I started my mission with in the MTC so we already had a really good relationship and so it was fun to be together after a year and a half on our missions. We were able to do a lot of finding together and we saw so many miracles. We met one guy that was about to be baptized a few years ago and then the church moved locations and so he just got confused and stopped coming. Then we found other investigators who are all young and super cool so I am really excited with all the success we saw. Anziano Whitaker is super good at bringing the spirit into the conversation while talking to people and there is one spiritual experience that I want to share from what he did. We stopped a mother with her daughter and started talking to them and Anziano Whitaker was bearing his testimony of why we were here in Italy. As he was doing so, the spirit literally hit me so hard in my chest; it was incredible. I can’t describe it other than echoing what the prophets and apostles teach about how a testimony is the "strongest arrow in your quiver" and it’s the spirit that’s going to convert people. It was a powerful experience and the two people we were talking to felt it as well. I really enjoyed the time that we had together!

The other experience that was super fun this week was the Christmas caroling!! We had all the missionaries from our zone come into Napoli and we went into the middle of the center to go sing to people and to bring some Christmas cheer. I ended up getting there a little bit later than everyone else because I was bringing some members, so it was cool to walk up and join all the missionaries already singing. The "conductor" was an Anziano that is super good at music and knew what he was doing so well. I just don’t know if he got the whole point how we needed to be like super pumped and excited to get people to watch because we started singing a few sacrament hymns to people on the 23rd. Ummm what…? Don’t get me wrong; I love the sacrament hymns, like they are beautiful, but it wasn't really attracting anyone to stop and so I asked if I could just give it a shot and conduct. I had no clue what I was doing, so I was just kinda dancing while everyone was singing and trying to get really into it haha. It was sooo fun and the missionaries started to get hyped and excited and so we decided to leave our spot where we were and go down into the "heart" of the city where the main metro stop is and sing there. There were 100s's of people passing by and it was SOOO SWEET starting to sing and having people stop. We sang all the Christmas hymns, and then some other Christmas songs and the best one was 12 days of Christmas because after that we had a crowd of like 100 people filming us and watching. During the 12 days of Christmas some old guy walked right next to me while I was "conducting"  (dancing) and so I started to dance with him and he started to dance a little too! The best…!! The caroling was a really good time and I think it really gave all the missionaries a boost and some happiness during Christmas to be all together to sing and to talk to people about our church. The next day before church we had a member come up and show us a video that was posted on Facebook and YouTube of us singing.. OHHH YESS. Haha she said she saw the video and started to watch and then realized that those were “her" missionaries!!! 

As for the work we are doing really well. We have a lot of good potentials for this week and we have found some really sincere people who want to know if there really is a God and if Jesus Christ is real. I am ready to be back with my companion and keep working. We have transfer calls this week and I am not really sure if I will be leaving or staying. I will let y'all know next week!

I wanted to end with a quote from Elder Bednar that he shares in a talk he wrote about Lighting the World.. He says, "May we increasingly learn and more fully understand that Jesus Christ is the “light which shineth in darkness.” In every season of our lives, in all of the circumstances we may encounter, and in each challenge we may face, the Savior is the light that dispels fear, provides assurance and direction, and engenders enduring peace and joy. May the beautiful lights of every Christmas season remind us of Him who is the source of all light."

I really love this quote because it shows us and just reminds us that Jesus Christ truly is the light. It’s interesting to see that during Christmas there are lights that are set up everywhere. In our homes, on the streets, literally everywhere... And I think there is an interesting correlation between that and the fact that we celebrate the birth of our Savior who is always a constant light in every circumstance that we may encounter. I know that it is true that just like Elder Bednar says, "Jesus Christ is the source of all light."

Vi voglio bene!! [I love you all so much!]

Anziano Spencer 

P.S HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR!!!

Lights everywhere, as mentioned above!

I think this is a group of members/investigators who went to carol with the missionaries.

A favorite friend!

Christmas caroling in Centro.

Christmas caroling by the metro.

Christmas Eve!

A surprise package from the members who hosted them!

It's a hit!

The hosts really were chucking basketballs at them during dinner,
as mentioned above!

Lots of love in this family for the missionaries. Thank you!!!

Christmas Day!

"The studs of the branch"--quote from Tristan.

This sister started her mission with Tristan and was heading home! All done!!

With Anziano Whitaker.

Our Christmas call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The BEST!

Week 76: Dec 19 (Napoli)

BUON NATALE!!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas this upcoming Sunday! It is special to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I want to wish you all a Buon Natale and I hope that everyone has a great time together for these next few holidays. For Christmas we are planning on going to a member family's house, which will be really fun. They are a super fun family that are extremely crazy, which I am excited about. After eating with them we are going to come back to the church and Skype my family--which is going to be my most favorite part--and then eat tacos with our new convert Fabio. It’s going to be a great day and I am really excited! Today for P-day we were able to go to the American Base which was so sick but also so weird. I was able to load up on ramen (sooo good mom, haha) peanut butter, those lemon-tortilla chips that I love, and most importantly... Protein Powder! Ohhh yess. 

This week we are pumped for a lot of different things that are coming up. We are planning on going to Rome, but the assistants might have to work with some other missionaries so we are still not sure. But on Friday we are planning the Christmas caroling in the city center which will be really interesting haha. I hope it goes well!  We are planning on inviting all the members and people that we are working with so hopefully things will go well with this activity. 

Okay, so there were two really huge highlights about this week that I want focus my email on. The first thing is L. (the older sister) and J. got baptized!! It was such a special experience. I want to explain a couple things so that y'all get the background of the baptism. So here in Napoli we don’t have a baptismal font and so normally we would have to go to a different city, or go to the ocean. Both of those options were open but we wanted to do our best to have the baptism here in Napoli so that there would be more member support for the girls. We coordinated with some Anziani in Castellammare and they gave us their portable font from their church. Before the mission I didn’t even know these things existed. Basically what it is is a giant blue bag that we build and structure out of pipes. Then we fill it up with water and pray that it doesn’t tip over. Hahaha just kidding--it’s pretty stable, but filling it up with water was pretty difficult because in the church there is no hot, flowing water and the tubes that we had to connect from the sinks to the font didn’t work. We tried all sorts of things to fill it up... My favorite was filling up the sink with water, plugging it, and then putting one end of the tube in the sink and then the other in the baptismal font. I then sucked on the end in the baptismal font to try to create a suction.. It worked a little bit but didn’t have the effect we wanted. Eventually we figured it out by using a lot of tape and the sink. It took around 2 hours to fill up and then after that we put a conductor inside the water to heat it up... After the water was sitting for around 26 hours, it was hot enough and nice for the baptism. It was a process I never thought I would have to learn to do before the mission.

On Saturday we went and picked the girls up at their house and brought them to the church. They were both so excited and so was the mother. I am just so grateful for how everything turned out. We had a lot of members that came to support them, and afterwards there were some refreshments set out for everyone to help them feel welcomed and loved (which I was grateful about!). L. asked me to baptize her and so it was a really special experience. I wish I could explain better other than saying that the church is true and it was a moment that I will never forget in my life. The next day we were able to do the confirmations which was actually a huge miracle because we ended up being late to church by around 40 minutes. Every Sunday we go to pick up the girls in the morning to help them get to church.Unfortunately, this Sunday there was no train that came for 30 minutes. And so it was kinda awkward walking into church 40 minutes late because the train didn’t come but our Branch president gave us permission to have the confirmations at the end of sacrament instead of at the beginning. I was able to confirm L. and again it was a special experience to confirm her a member of the church. The spirit is always really strong standing in the circle of the ordinance.

Another special thing that we did this week was a scambio with the Anziani down in Castellemmare. I was able to work with Anziano Bellini (who was in my same group when we entered here in Italy). We had a great time together and saw so many awesome things from the scambio. Basically he and I had a lot of finding that we were going to be doing in their area which went really well. The first people that we talked to out the door of the elevator were putting up Christmas decorations in the apartment and the mother mentioned to us how she was actually almost baptized into our church a few years ago... Ummmm what?! That doesn't happen very often. We were able to help them and now the Anziani are going to be meeting with her twice a week to help her get back to church! It was a good scambio and I LOVED being in Castellemmare because it reminded me a lot of Trapani. It was small and right alongside the ocean and so it brought back so many memories. I loved it!

We had another lesson with one of our investigators that we are working with. It was pretty interesting because her grandson was there and he was making so much noise that it was hard to talk. But it eventually got better as I called him over and told him that I had a "mission" for him. He was wearing a batman shirt and so I told him that he would become batman if he fought the imaginary monsters around the room in silence... It worked great and eventually by the end of the lesson he came and sat down and prayed with us. My companion afterward was just like, “You're like the Kid Whisperer-- like what on earth?!” Hahaha! I love working with kids and I feel like my swimming-instructor job really helped me learn how to work with them before the mission. A miracle from this lesson though was the grandmother literally was thinking about how she needs to read the Book of Mormon and "where those missionaries went" that she met with a while ago and then we knocked on her door. It was a cool experience when she told us her thoughts, and said how she feels "light" when we talk to her. So awesome.

Last night we had a great time as we went to a main piazza in the city center to do a gesso [chalkboard discussion with people on the street]. As we did so, we found a giant group because there was a giant dancing competition (OHHHH MAMMA MIA) and we saw some of the members there because the daughter of one of the members is like the top latino dancer in Italy in her age group category. Are you kidding me right now?! So we were able to see her and then while we were with the members I started talking to this guy next to us and we talked about the church and eventually it turned into my companion and I with three other members talking to him and sharing their conversions, as Rihanna is blasting in the background.  Ohhhh yes. It was an interesting setting, that’s for sure. I was trying my hardest to focus while at the same time not start dancing hahaha.

Well, I hope you all have a very good Christmas!!! For my spiritual thought I wanted to quote a scripture from Luke 2 talking about Jesus Christ's birth,

"10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

I am grateful that during this Christmas season we can remember more about our Savior Jesus Christ and his brith. In Italian we say "e nato un Salvatore" which I love so much. Christ was born and because of that and his mission that he did for us we can all be saved. We can all have a new life and we can all make it back to our Father in Heaven. We need not fear. E NATO UN SALVATORE! [A Savior is born!]

I love you all!!

Anziano Spencer 

Scambio [exchange] with Anziano Bellini.

With Fabio and Anziano Berger downtown for the gesso.

Playing a little game for Family Night at the church.

The portable baptismal font. 

Baptism Day!

"Funny faces" series--Tristan loves these girls!

Cousins of the girls who got baptized.
Tristan says the one in the stroller tells him she is his little "Spencerina."
So cute!

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!!

Tristan's "special" stuff--including his Christmas Nativity set.

Tristan's Christmas tree!

Lunch with the youth in the branch.

Pondering his new coat

Singing with the Primary for the Primary program in Sacrament meeting.

It was a "yes" on the new coat. No more killer look! 

Meat and more meat!

Week 74: Dec 5 (Napoli)

The Good Samaritan Missionary

Hey family, it is so good to write to y'all. I hope that everyone is doing well and staying warm over there. It is still hot here in Napoli and I am not really sure if that’s because of how many people are just crowded into one city and just all of the body heat or because the weather is just hot. But I am still sweating when I go outside haha. It’s crazy to think how time has gone by so quickly and it is already December. If you have not already seen it, the Church is doing a calendar of service this month called LIGHT THE WORLD. It’s powerful and I would recommend to anyone who has not seen it to go watch it. We are seeing a lot of success by sharing it with others as we are doing finding and so maybe others at home could use it as well! This week I was able to have a really good scambio [exchange] with Anziano Draghi who is a super sincere and hardworking missionary. It was fun to work with him and this week I am really excited because I will be able to work with the missionaries from Caserta and so I will be companions with Anziano Cowden. He is a big rugby player and has been in the mission for a long time, so I am excited to learn from him and see what happens!

We spent a lot of our time this week preparing and planning for last Saturday, which was our Specialized Training. This is when all of the missionaries from the Zone were able to come into Napoli and we received instruction from President Pickerd and Sorella Pickerd and learned from each other. My companion and I also had the privilege of giving a training for one hour on what we felt inspired would help the missionaries achieve the new standard of excellence that we have to have of one baptism per companionship every transfer. We felt inspired to make a training based off of the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 (which is something that my stake president shared with me right before I left for my mission that touched me a lot).

We then took apart these scriptures, talking about what type of characteristics the Good Samaritan had and what type of characteristics the fallen man had, and compared that to us as missionaries and those here in Italy that are searching for the truth. After establishing those characteristics, we focused on five main points from the list and expounded on them and did some training. We had a lot of fun doing it and I believe that it went really well and so I am very happy. Here are the five main points that we talked about...

1. Opening our mouths (the Samaritan stopped..) to not be as the Levite or Priest
2. Establishing Purpose 
3. Commitment
4. Come and See (bringing to the Inn) or Church in this matter
5. Diligence

After the training we received instruction from President and Sorella Pickerd. I love both of them, especially for the love that they show us as missionaries. They talked about the House of Israel (interesting because this is what President Nelson talked about recently) and the progress we are making as a mission. It was kinda funny because President Pickerd was listing off a few cities that maybe the church is not very developed in... He mentioned a couple and Trapani and Brindisi were both mentioned in the list.. Dang.. My last two cities that I love so much. Success is happening there now, especially in Trapani, because there have been two baptisms there the past few weeks which makes me extremely happy. The training ended at around 1:00, after which we ate and then did a Christmas Nativity reenactment. I was again a wise man like last year and we all had a really good time. I love being around all the Anziani (especially Anziano Morlock); they are all powerful missionaries and I love to learn from all of them individually because everyone has their own individual strengths and talents that they can share. I think it’s incredible.

The other super special event that happened was yesterday at church with the little girls and the mother. The mom is fully coming back to church and bore an extremely powerful testimony yesterday about how she hopes she can be an example for her daughters and how she knows without a doubt that this church is true. We were then able to have a lesson with them later in the day reading in Nephi 31 and talking about baptism! The girls told us their thoughts and told us that they want to be baptized! L. asked me if I could be the one to baptize her and then she was like, "I am not scared because I know that you will be with me." That really touched me a lot. Anziano Berger with be able to baptize J. and I am seriously so excited for these two girls. Their baptism will be on the 17th of this month. I love them. The mom is incredible too and wants the very best for her children.

This week we have also really been focusing on working with the members. The members here are all really awesome and we are hoping to build our relationships with them more to increase the missionary work here. Another update on our work is that we are working with L. (a different L.) a lot more! She is doing well and is going to read the Book of Mormon this week. She came to church and is planning to come next week, so we have high hopes!

For my spiritual thought I want to share something that was honestly pretty sad to hear, but it was true. During one of our lessons with someone that we are working with, she really opened up to us and told us something that I haven’t really thought of before. (I hope I can explain my thoughts well enough to share what she told us). She started off asking us why most of the members don’t pay attention to her when they come to church and they see her. She explained how she knows that she does not come to church for the people, but she comes for God. But, she then went on to say how it would be nice if people were friendly and genuinely asked her how she was doing.. Not just to say hi, but to actually talk for a few minutes and see how things are going. That hit me hard... Because I remember many times in church where I maybe overlooked others who were not my best friends and maybe just went to talk to those who I literally saw only 12 hours before because we spent Saturday night together. It really reminded me of how important it is for everyone to feel loved. Everyone is needed and I want to do better at including everyone. I hope my thoughts make sense... it's interesting to see that we can touch others with just a simple hello at church to make them feel loved. Everyone needs to feel loved and included in Christ's Church!

I love you all I hope you have a great week!!

P.S We got kicked out of a palazzo [apartment building] this week while doing finding. It was great... Kinda not a fun experience but it happens every once in a while..  It was kinda lame though, because we were looking for a refferal from a member; the referral was actually an inactive member and her friend wanted us to check on her. While we were there in the building trying to find her, some old lady got super ticked at us and threatened to call the cops even though we were not disturbing anyone. While we were outside trying to ring the doorbell for the apartment, the lady came out (the refferal) that were looking for and the old lady was like, “ hese men are looking for you!! Do you know them??" With a smirk on her face, the member leaned forward, looked at my tag and said, “No, I don’t..." and then walked away. It was pretty bad because we were denied so hard but at least we tried! Fun and good stuff.

Anziano Spencer

With unnamed elder, playing football at a castle with amazing views!

Reenacting the Nativity at Zone Conference. 

Tristan is a wise man for the second year in a row.

Fellow wise men: Anziani Morlock and Ridd.

He's probably pretty happy he got to be a wise man...

Zone Conference.