When I wanted heelies for Christmas but actually got shampoo instead

Hello everyone!

This email will be uncharacteristically short for me as it is Christmas and that means a busy day full of food and fun at member homes and teaching appointments right after those as well. I'll send photos of the activities of this week, but otherwise I just want all of you to know that I love you and would love to hear what your Christmas traditions are! We love to cook clam Chowder in the morning and just eat that throughout the day, along with some cereal that Santa brought along with him the night before.

Numbers:

Pizza: 84

Gelati: 84

Books of Mormon: 105

Other than that, the week flew by and it was an eventful one but the highlights are these: a fire in the church parking lot and the arrival of many cops. I don't have a great photo of that yet, the other missionaries might though so I'll have to see. Transfers happened on Wednesday and I love my new companion who is also from Idaho so we're getting along just great! Potatos are a common factor between us and also big families. We love the weather here and have different views on Gelato flavors but otherwise we get along wonderfully 😁

Until Next week!

Anziano Anderson

Mickey mouse Christmas pancakes

The mussel pasta we ate 

Our rendition of wise men

Anziano safely enjoying elf hats

Anziano Taylor gargling peach loopis

My new shoes wrecking my feet

The week in Review

     Numbers:

Honestly I can't remember off the top of my head, but I have them written down in my journal. I just don't have access to that book at the moment. 

Monday: We went and visited some ceramic beds that are fairly close to the house and then we ate some food at a steakhouse wanna be by the mall all while I was on the hunt for a gift that as under five euro for a secret Santa that will take place on Tuesday. When I had eaten my food and acquired my gift, I came to the church and applied for some schools and just waited for people to wake up so that I could talk to them. A pretty succinct day. 

Tuesday: We had district council today so that way we could have it before I went to Rome that night for a technology conference that would be held on Wednesday. It was by far one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever given and there were very few dry eyes by the end of it. We exchanged gifts, and then piled into a bus so that we could go to a sushi place that was on the other side of town. 

     The sushi was nice, and towards the end of the meal the sorelle had to leave so that they could make it to an appointment on time. Well, we went to pay and literally nobody had brought cash along with them and the card reader was broken. So, happening to have just over  hundred euro that I had pulled that morning for no particular reason ended up buying the lunch for most of the district. I had just enough cash to get home in the coming days, and that in and of itself is a miracle that I cannot deny. 

     Shortly after the lunch, I packed a bag for the coming days and then we rushed ourselves to the airport. Upon arriving, I realized that I had forgotten my passport, but I had other forms of identification so I went and tried my luck. They let me on the plane and I made it to Rome without a passport, and was greeted by the assistants to the president who then took all of us to the villa where grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup was waiting for us. It was a great day. 

Wednesday: The whole day was just a five to six hour conference on how to make memes, invites and social awareness things on Facebook, and the effectiveness of finding on Facebook. There was food available and offered to us, and a nice night of grilled hamburgers and sausage at the villa where we once again spent the night. It was weird being in the villa when I know that I'll be heading home in the next six months, and sleeping in the same bed I had when I arrived here a year and a half ago. 

Thursday: I spent the day at the airport where I played Foosball against the national champion of Nigeria. I lost, but I got 5 points to his 10! So that's good for a first time if I say so myself. As soon as we landed in Sicilia (once again, no passport but I still made it through somehow) we went straight from Palermo to caltinisetta where we taught English course. The reasons for this are mostly due to government and legal registration requirements of Italy and the weird process of Permesso applications. But, I was in Caltinisetta with anziano Officer and Sabin for a night. 

Friday: We spent a good two hours driving home and then I spent a good chunk of the day applying to colleges and hopefully I'll get accepted into one or two of them when they have the time to send me the letters of acception or rejection. Other than that, it was arincina day here in Italy, and the filled, fried rice balls were all over the place for cheap! I ate well, if not a little unhealthy. 

Saturday: we spent a good portion of the day weekly planning and then cleaning up the house before going to the church to organize our area book and align ourselves on the same pages while also brainstorming different directions that we want the branch to go in the sense of parties and other activities for this coming year. 

Sunday: A day of carols and calls! we all went to bed with high nerves because we know that transfer calls are on Monday! I am staying here and I am receiving a new companion, named Anziano Taylor. If that name sounds familiar to you, it's because it is! But, the person that this name belongs to is not the same Taylor as before, so I will have served with both the Taylor's in the mission! Fun stuff! 

Photos to follow, I love you all! 

Anziano Anderson

Christmas decorations

Tech conference highlight

Nativity set at temple

Dog at the ceramic beds

The Taylor who isn't my companion

The view from the airport train ride home

Me eating too much sushi 

A weekly on time!

Hello everyone!

Pizza: 77?

Gelati: 77

Books of Mormon: 104

      Tuesday wasn't horribly busy, but my companion totally shattered his bed frame and we had to throw it out. That's a different story for another time but it was funny nonetheless. When all else was said and done, this day was pretty laid back.

     Wednesday was full of student riots and random surveys about how we use technology in the mission and then there were some silly questions as well and some things that were written in binary (which is just code used in computer programming and information relay) that one had to translate in order to understand. I did that and then sent in the survey thinking nothing more of it and going about the day as I normally would. It was a fairly uneventful day as well, outside of the riots and fireworks and the like. Anziano Morla and I were on a scambio, and I was given some spuma (Sicilian sour apple/kumquat soda) that was laced with melatonin so I fell asleep really fast after that.

     Thursday was full of food and meetings because it was district council and I gave my first addestramento as a district leader. It was an experience and a very enjoyable one at that because I have an awesome district! We had panini Bombe which are just totally massive and from two Sicilian brothers who run a food truck out in the middle of nowhere. It was awesome and the photos speak for themselves. However the survey I took came back to give me a ticket to Rome on the  tenth of December for a technology conference that I need to attend because they liked my responses I suppose. 

     Friday was a day full of sales and a tardy Thanksgiving party thrown by the wonderful Sorelle in the district and ward members. 7 hours went into the turkey just to cook it, and we had a ball making paper hats to throw a small play for the members about the history of Thanksgiving. It was fun and something that the Italians loved even if it was super cringy at times. Those are the best, are they not? And also, my companion and I had to walk home for about an hour because the party went late and the trams stopped running a few minutes before we finished cleaning the church. All fun and games though on the way home with the directions that we had to follow. Thank heavens for Google maps.

     Saturday I had a scambio with the other anziani in the house. Anziano Hernandez and I went about and did the work of the P2 anziani and we had a lot of fun with their people. Recently they have found a group of kids that are super interested in the gospel, And they have been teaching them in a group in a somewhat public setting so that they can all meet together and at once. It's a super awesome thing that they have going on and I'm impressed with what they have going on. It's very natural and effective. I have no doubt those kids will join the church at some point in their near futures.

     Sunday was a beautiful experience for me because I was able to interview a man that the P2 sorelle have been preparing for baptism, and the spirit I felt emanate from that man while he spoke was powerful and indescribable. This man had not yet been baptized but he will be soon. He has one of the strongest testimonies I've ever heard. I challenge all of you to grow your testimonies this week by following the "light the world" initiative put on by the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints and extending a helping hand to your neighbors. 

I love you all and would love to hear from you! 

Anziano Anderson

Two weeks since an email 😅😅

Ciao a tutti! 

    I've been off the grid for a week or two and for that I apologize but I have some awesome stories to tell you, so sit down and buckle up!!!

I'm not going to place days on these, but I'm going to write about them as I remember the order in which they occurred after I inform the lot of y'all of the current numbers!

Pizza: 76

Gelati: 76

Books of mormon: 101

     Alright then! This whole experience of two weeks can be summed up in a few stories! The first one:

Recently there have been a group of punks that are about 9 to 13 years old that seem to have taken an interest in the church building and they hop the very low and easy to hop fence that covers the church so they can play soccer in our parking lot because it's the only part of the slums area that we are in that isn't strewn with broken glass and other hazards of that same type. If we happen to be there, they start throwing tile, glass, beer bottle sand other such things at us and the church once they've hopped the fence again. Why? Not sure. But, it's something that I hope to not have to experience a whole lot.

     We had Mission Conference about a week ago and we had the europe area seventy president whose last name is the same as my current companion, Elder Sabin, and he taught us an inspired lesson about unity and then invited us to do two things that I will extend to you as well. Write two lists. One with all your blessings, literally all of them. Start with the fact that you know you are a child of God. Then, write a list of all the things that you will never ever do under any circumstances no matter what. this can include sleeping in past 6:30 or yelling when you're angry. When you have the list, follow it. When your day is rough, look at your list of blessings! Conference was fun and I was invigorated spiritually.

     This sunday I was given a fine of a sizeable amount due to my human forgetfulness and the system here that is the tram. I boarded the tram in a rush to make it to the church, and we forgot to stamp our tickets. Ticket checkers boarded and I was given the first pink slip that I've ever had since my time in the schooling system that was kindergarten and first grade. I managed to talk our fine down a fatty amount and then we were given the slip and showed up to church a little late. Yay for weaknesses! but it makes for a funny story, so what else can I say? in the end, sorry this one is a little short, but the next one will be much longer, I promise! have a wonderful night and a beautiful week!

Anziano Anderson

It's been a minute since my last email. Apologies.

Ciao a tutti! It's been a week or two since I have had the time to write an email, and I want you all to know that I am in fact alive and very well. I have had more than my share of Gelati and Pizze, so no worries there. I'm eating well and sleeping better thanks to the toll of six am wake-ups and no naps for the past month consistently. Te days and transfers are all blurring together, and for this transfer all it is for me is a brief African scented haze of fish bones that I had to eat and reallllly loud wedding parties. Photos to follow as always! 

Numbers: 

Pizza: 76

Gelati: 73

Books of Mormon: 101

And this week as follows (I would try to catch up, but the weeks preceeding were very similar and not dull, but routine overall.) :

Monday

     This was a fun little tidbit because we had the AP's (Assistants to the President) staying over along with another companionship of anziani because that's what the housing is here for zone conference. As a house, we were assigned to buy drinks for the Zone conference, so we did that on the way to said conference. The classics like aranciata and water were brought, and then conference ensued. All the Anziani were wearing the same tie and someone brought an extra for President Smith to wear. He gladly wore it and taught us for the next little while whilst in his new tie. My district was also tasked with singing an opening song, and I along with another sorella had to sing solos. I was told that we did well, and that we might have another assignment to sing. Personally, I could go without, but it's fine by me if that's my lot. When conference was over, we were supposed to get our flu shots but the office mis-booked and so no one showed up and we are all still very susceptible to the flu as of right now. We will be vaccinated at mission conference is the new plan and hope for us.

Tuesday 

     Preperation day! usually it's on a Monday that this wonderful occasion has occasion to occur, but occur this day it did! We went out and visited the beach and we had a ball! we weren't able to go swimming though, but it was still super fun to play in the sand for the first time in a year and a half. That's like chicken soup for my soul, and I drank deeply! I had sand sticking to me the whole day and even for a day or two day after because that's how tenacious the beach can be at times. The things I've forgotten thanks to time, let me tell you! Anyhow, after the beach we went  a fatty sushi restaurant where we ate well over 600 euro of sushi but we only paid about 200 because it was an all you can eat and the fee was per head. I ate a very large amount of raw fish and rice this day, and I regret nothing. 

Wednesday 

     I awoke sick from the diseases that have bene plaguing this house for the past few days, and the day went rather slow because I woke up at six, tried to study but my head was pounding to hard to study, and my eyes watering too much to read so I fell asleep again. When I was awoken, it was almost 11 am and we had to leave the house to visit the church while some maintenence workers were there to fix the electricity. We were there for two hours and then we went home for lunch. A few lessons later, and I felt marginally better but still couldn't breath for anything through my nose. We invited someone to be baptized, and she said yes, so keep that woman in your prayers. Data privacy laws won't allow me to divulge the information that is her name, but I can say that she's ready for the font, just scared that she might find the waters cold and too deep to handle. We also had a sorella house get closed down and merged with the sorelle here in Palermo for security reasons. To top it off, we had a last ditch effort to advertise the play called "il verdino" or "the greenie" that the Palermo 2 anziani want to put on for the people of Italy. What an eventful day! 

Thursday 

This was a fairly awesome day of slight apostasy on my part because I was unable to shave this morning thanks to the fact that my straight razor was used in a play that was held that night by the P2 Anziani. So, slightly stubbly we stopped and shared the information with anyone and everyone that wanted to (or didn't) know about the play. The day started off amazing for Anziano Hansen because while he was in the shower, someone got the bright idea to start pouring tomato sauce on him, and the devolved into some yogurt, a potato, carrot, slice of bread, pomegranate, Fufu and some other food items that I can't recall at the moment. It was a long shower for him, but I can proudly say that I never threw any food at Hansen. I just held the camera because it's one of those things that doesn't happen all toooo often. The play was awesome, and at the very end we were followed for a fat minute by a very small gay man until we took off running after we went around a corner to shake him. It worked, and we were not followed home. I believe. But who can know? I'm positive that even if it had happened, we would have been completely safe. 

Friday 

We were bidoned multiple times today, and we had a fun time going all the way to Bagheria just to be told that the person we were supposed to meet with was actually not available, but was in fact at work. So, our morning went out the window, and we had a wonderful time on the train ride home because we had something else set up before we made it back to palermo. We went and visited with president Kefas and he fed us some yams and fish (with all the bones) and then we visited a less active with Kefas in tow. He bore a fire testimony and we were able to back up what he said, and turn it into an invite for the less active member to come back to church. We read the talk "We can do better and be better" by President Nelson from two conferences ago. I invite you all to do the same and to seriously ask yourselves, "what can I do to be better?" and "what can I do to improve my church attendance?" and then listen for the spirit to answer you, and then be willing to follow the council that you will receive if you ask in faith. 

Saturday 

Only one thing of any real importance happened today after I fell into a wall and hit my funny bone so hard it actually felt like my arm was on fire for a good ten minutes and I couldn't bend my pinky. We were invited by an African to attend an African wedding, and so we went. Anziano Sabin and I were the only white people there in a sea of Nigerians who were in the middle of a wedding party. I felt like I showed up to a class late and had all eyes on me. Then I sat down and they gave me a hyper malt which is basically beer but not alcoholic. I can see why beer is an acquired taste, and I can say with certainty that I will not acquire it in my lifetime, because it just makes my whole mouth feel dry but wet. That's the best way I can describe it. The Africans there thought that I only spoke Italian, so in an effort to be nice to me, they offered me some peach tea, and I started to speak in pidgin (pronounced Pigeon) with them. They then treated me like a native and all was good. The music they had playing was so loud I could plug my ears and hear it through my feet if I was standing. I'm slightly deaf, I'm sure of it now. But the party was fun. 

Sunday

It was fast and testimony meeting today. It was spiritual, but also very sad because we had some people tell us that they were going back to Africa and they would not be coming back to Italy ever again, and they were also going back to bury their parents. Sad, but a necessary part of life in the end. We then had some lessons, studies and then we brought the sacrament to a member who can't leave her house. She tells us it's the highlight of her week, and then asked to see photos of my family in the same breath. I can't keep on top of these people sometimes, but I showed her my family, and she couldn't believe how tall they all are. Honestly, I can't either. When I left, all my siblings were smaller than my parents, and now they're colse to the same size. It's crazy what changes in two years. But hey, they were going to change whether I was there or not so at least now I have some funny stories to tell when I make it home this June! I'll be seeing the lot of y'all in about 200 days or so! 

Update! I'm staying in palermo and I'm going district leader! Photos! 

- Food items in the shower

- the whiteboard for the mostra

- Our zone leader being a wonderful woman for his role

- our district lined up for our musical number

- me holding a sign with Anziano Hansen's face

- the play and its shaving scene

- me eating a lot of sushi

Anziano Anderson

This is gonna be quick!

     Hello people!! 

This email will be quick and I'm just going to hit the most important points of the week and then leave you all with the time to enjoy your lives! 

Numbers: 

Pizza: 75

Gelati: 67

Books of Mormon: 100

Tuesday: This was a day of trial and error because we had a bunch of lessons planned, but we got bidones galore (Bidone is a term we use to tell other missionaries that our lessons were canceled on us) and we met with a super awesome African man who has been baptized twice and wants to know that our church is true before he starts to attend and then get baptized. He's been taught all the lessons, but he just wants to be absolutely sure because Africans hate being baptized more than once, and he's already been baptized twice, so we're being very thorough with him and so is he with us. 

Friday: I had pasta for breakfast because there is no such thing as milk and cereal in this house towards the end of the month, but pasta was tasty and totally worth it. My companion was called by our ward president and told to start writing a talk about conversion for this Sunday, and so he started on that for his personal study. We wandered around a huge market and we bought a few things for my companion to make some applesauce among other things. We had an awesome lesson with another African who wants to know why women can't hold the priesthood in our church, and so we read some talks with her and then shared the ''family:a proclamation to the world'' with her and just had a ball of a time answering her questions. 

Saturday: we had a few lessons and then I was pooped on by a bird for the first time in my mission today, and then I ripped a fatty hole in my pants when they snagged on a random nail in the wall in some backstreet alleyway. It was a fun week, we had a lot of fun teaching and then also just getting to know the  members in our area. 

Today: I wish I had more time to type but I went hiking today and I will send photos afterwards in another email. Thanks for the attention! In Italian we say "brevi ma intesi!" which means "short but intense" and so that's this email! ciao a tutti! 

Spelunking in Sicilia

     I don't know when I'm going to be able to tell you all that I went spelunking in Sicilia and almost got stuck in a cave alittle ways underground. Fine times, and I have a video of the moment as well. Numbers and then experiences! 

Pizzas eaten:75

Gelati: 62

Books of Mormon: 100!!!! 

     Last Monday we went to a soccer field and we played soccer for a while until our time was up and we had time to go and eat food before heading to the church to call family. I was goalie for most of the game because I'm somewhat decent at that and lso because I don't enjoy running all that much so it was an awesome time overall. 

    Tuesday was full of spesa and pass off lessons. The sorelle here have been meeting with a wonderful and smart afircan man that would be baptized if he could get Sundays off, but he's the only one who can work Sundays at his job and he's also the best worker that they have so they aren't willing to give him the time off for even a few hours to go to church. We're working on that right now, but he's an aweomse guy and he has some pretty cool insights on life that you can only have by experiencing them. 

     We also almost bought a swordfish head, but they don't accept card funnily enough and so we missed out on the fish head. Maybe another day, photos will follow when one is purchased. 

     Wednesday was district council, and we all were told to prepare a four to six minute long addestramento about a chapter or sentence in the Preach My Gospel. There were eight of these lessons given, and five of them were on chapter four, which covers spiritual promptings and awareness of spiritual things. It was definently something that this district needed, and it was guided by Heavenly hands for sure. 

     When we had all been edified spiritually, we went to an all you can eat sushi bar where they gave us so much food that we were all suffering to finish in the end. Luckily, Anziano Sabin and I are Bigger than your average missionary, so we ended up taking on the leftovers of the sorelle and just having a ball there. I didn't puke, but I wanted to by the end of that. 

     By the end of the night however, and Sabin did end up blowing chunks because we thought it would be a great idea to do the Banana and Sprite challenge. The challenge is simple. Eat a lot of bananas and then chug sprite. Hold it down as long as you can, and record the results. It took me about five minutes, but after a while, Sabin had to drink litre of milk and then a raw egg. The raw egg got us both. I watched it, he threw up, and then I followed suit again. The miracle of this work I suppose you might say is that both of us can go outside after this experience and still convert people. Amazing really. 

     Thursday was full of finding and lots of fun stuff. We found an African market place that sells African suits, food and just about anything else from the wonderful land of these people's inheritance. We also met with President Kefus, and I was assigned a talk that was to lay about 15 to 20 minutes. Before I came out on my mission, that would have terrified me. Since then, it really doesn't pose that much of a challenge to me. I'm actually excited to give a homecoming talk in church that can talk half an hour because I have material that I can use to fill that space. Funny how that works 😁

     Friday was full of little things and just a bunch of finding because all of our appointments canceled on us within twenty minutes of one another. A whole day of lessons, gone in an instant. We did manage to meet with a wonderful family who just gave birth to a child a few weeks back and who ate currently investigating the church. The baby is also super cute, and I can't send photos so you're going to have to take my word for it.

     Saturday I was given a whole jar of peanut butter and I've eaten maybe a fifth of it since this day. It was fun being able to just eat peanut butter, and I feel much how I imagine a dog might feel when trying to remove creamy peanuts from the roof of their mouth after eating a spoonful of it. We also stumbled into some sort of parade where there were lots of drums, and other tourists for some reason. It was a busy day overall.

     That's all for now! 

Anziano Anderson