I miracoli questa settimana

Or ''the miracles this week'' for those not learning Italian 😂. Alright first things first:

Pizzas eaten : 13

Gelato: 8

Books of Mormon : 8

     Quindi, questa settimana is full of miracles. Nothing huge like healing a blind man's eyes or helping the lame to walk but other things that were huge to me. First off I should tell all of you this: finding people to teach is hard. If my companion and I sit down on a bench to teach the people sitting there, they move. If I manage to stop someone on the street with some broken Italian they listen and then show me their palm while walking away after I mention that we're missionaries and I'm not asking for directions. Now I'm not complaining but I'm just noticing that some people are much more prepared to hear the gospel then others. I don't know if I told you this but my companion and I are the only missionaries in Castellammare di Stabia where we live. But people love to tell us that they're talking to the other missionaries like us. At least they're nice about telling us no. But this week most of it was full of zone conference with the mission president, interviews with him and then a free guided tour from a person that we were teaching (pictures to follow) so we didn't have much time to find new people. But Saturday and Sunday (they do weeks from Monday - Sunday not Sunday - Saturday here) we didn't have to stop a single person. They all came to us with questions, thinking we were either TJ's or police officers (this happens many times a week and more often than you would think) and then realizing that we weren't what they thought they asked us their question anyways which turned into a great gospel discussion with follow up appointments from almost all of them. Someone even offered to take us out to eat at a five star restaurant this week on them because they work there. So I'm eating very well in case you were worried, but there's no need to be. But one person who said I could use his name, Daniel, stands out far more than all the others. Daniel is Christian but non-denominational so when we met him we were talking with another person named Bob (more pictures to follow) and Daniel wanted us to take his picture with the two people he was with. He asked if we were Christian and we said yes. He grabbed my companions hand and asked us to pray with him, so the six of us (Bob, my companion, Daniel and the two girls and then myself) held hands and said a prayer in Italian and then one in Spanish. After that we just had an hour of sharing our beliefs with one another. Then came Sunday where we had a linger longer (fun fact they serve you so you don't wait in line) and then we headed to the Vista (boardwalk) and sent Daniel a text to see if maybe we could meet up before he left on Tuesday (he works on a yacht) and he said that night was great for him. So we went and met him and for two hours we talked about what we believed, asked each other what our goals in life are and then why we believe in God just to name a few of the things we talked about. Some days you need to scrounge for the opportunity and some days it asks to say prayers for you.

     Now, to answer the questions that I was asked all week:

1. My shoes and suits are holding up alright but I was looking at other suits here in Italy and the store I went to, their biggest suit was too small for me. Yay.

2. If you want to see all my photos please send me a link or invitation to a cloud account where I can share them. It's hard to find wifi otherwise I would put them on Facebook.

3. The food is so good here and so ridiculously cheap I'm surprised to be losing Weight honestly.

4. The people here are genuine. Whether that's good or bad is up to you. They care very much about their friends and very little about what they don't like.

5. The funniest thing that has happened to me since I got here would have to be when I got to zone conference and showed the presidents wife a time lapse video of me drinking 2 litres (half gallon) of water in a sitting and her saying she does the same thing but then challenging me to drink more than 2 litres in a sitting because it was impressive.

6.im serving in a branch of about 18 active members and six missionaries. Four senior couples and then my companion and I.

7. My language is coming along, I can understand most small children now 😂 usually. But they speak a lot faster than I can.

8. I've knocked on a total of 12 doors since I've been here, all on the same day because nobody answers doors they just talk through them and they all claim to have just gotten out of the shower. Every time.

9. Every Thursday I help out at Càrita's (charities) soup kitchen and Make something different every time. It's pretty awesome helping out and diffusing arguments amongst the people we're feeding with prayers. True Story 😁

     Well that's all I have for the moment, I'm going to vesuvius today, in fact I'm on the bus right now as I'm typing. Pictures to come!

Pictures

Crispy towels and TJ's

Pizzas eaten: 8

Gelato eaten: 6

Books of Mormon handed out : 6

     So if the name of this email didn't get your attention, hopefully this story will. First off because my mother asked me too, I will start off this email with all the things I've noticed thus far since I got to Italy. 

1. Eggnog flavored gelato is called English soup for some reason

2. Everyone smokes and there is no legal age for that, drinking, or getting a tattoo.

3. Nobody has a drying machine. Only clotheslines.

4. Every one has shirts that have English writing on them and nobody knows what they say

5. Italy loves America like America loves Italy. They like each other but nobody says anything.

6. None of the dogs are neutered. Ever.

7. There is a day of the year for every Saint and a day of the year for the rest of the saints that didn't make it on the calender.

8. Jehovahs witnesses are called Testimone di Gehovahs so instead of jw's we call them TJ's. Not sure why j and not g but there you go.

9. The drivers here are crazy. Speed limits are like social cues that nobody picks up on. People just walk into the road and the cars stop. If you're on a scooter one way streets become two way streets and sidewalks become streets as well.

10. There are a lot more street performers here than in America. And they're cool.

11. Everybody thinks that we're Amish because of a bunch of movies that were poorly translated where the word "Mormon" sad subsidized for the word "Amish".

12. If you don't know Mormons you know that 200 years ago we had more than one wife. Like it's preached in their churches that we will convert you to make you another trophy to be collected. That's a little hard to dispel.

13. There are so many dialects. I don't know when it's pure Italian or if it's napelletano

14. There are gelaterias everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. 

15. Fireworks aren't illegal so guess what goes off every night until 2 in the morning.

16. Everyone uses an app called WhatsApp instead of their phones actual apps.

17. DoTerra is something they do here

18. Rotary international is here as well

19. They only have celebrations whenever they are celebrating saints.

20. There are random 30 minute rainstorms that come from nowhere all the time.

21. Also clothing is very optional here.

22. 20 pound watermelons are very common here. They cost 5 euro and yes I ate one.

23. Everyone has their collars turned up because they think that cold air on their neck will make them sick.

24. There are a variety of handshakes depending on your relationship with any specific person. So there are quite a few handshakes.

25. People botch (kiss) cheeks from right to left. If you're looking at them that is.

     And to address my title, my towel is crispy because all we have here is air drying and it's very hard to air dry a towel fluffily. I've found that people of all religious backgrounds love talking to us about our religion and give us time and all questions. Only TJ's Bible bash or attempt to whenever we talk to them. It's fun though because they say they don't believe in spirits and I always ask them what it means when Jesus said he gave up the ghost. They never have a good response for that one. But we love talking to them, my companion (pics to follow) emails one every preperation day with answers to questions that he receives from him during the week.

     I have quite a few stories accumulating the longer I'm in Italy. I'm starting to understand a lot better and to speak more Italian as well but my companion still does most of the talking so I help where I can by stopping people on the streets and teaching them until I can't find a word and my companion, Anziano Daniels, steps in. This Sunday I stopped a couple and we taught them for a moment before we were interrupted by an older man wearing a bright orange shirt and he started telling us how our book was wrong and other things. He was also convinced that we were evangelists and that Mormon was a title for them. While he was talking a family passed by and asked me if we were TJ's so I turned away from the orange man and started talking to them about our church and that we were Mormons. When the mom asked me what a Mormon was and her husband had the same look I handed them a book of Mormon and started teaching them in somewhat broken Italian about the restoration and Joseph Smith when to my surprise another man came over with questions and was attempting to ask me so I grabbed my companion and he started talking to the new person and the orange man just walked away angrily. God blessed us that day im sure. The mother also took a restoration pamphlet and gave us their number and we got a return appointment as well for this Saturday. A Gelato and gospel meeting, or so that's what I'm told.

     Until next week! If you have any questions send me an email and I'll be sure to answer them next time!! 

Weekly email

Oofa, 

      This week has been awesome and brutal all at once. Lots of stuff happened and if I were to go through all of it this email would be a small novella. However I can and I will write about the three maybe four most interesting things that happened during the week I've been here. 

     First off, nobody here really knows how to shake hands. They either give you a dead fish or they feel like they are trying to strangle a living fish to death.

     Secondly, everyone is really nice. Stopping people on the streets is awesome because we get plenty of people to actually stop and then usually 10 to 15 minutes would be our normal amount of time for conversations. 

     Third, the t-shirts here are awesome because almost all of them are in English and almost nodoby knows what they say so that's a really great way to stop people is to ask them what their shirt says. When they say they don't know, we give them a card for the English course my companion Anziano Daniels and myself teach every Tuesday and Thursday night for an hour. Sometimes they do know but they still want to learn more which is awesome! I feel I should mention that I'm in castellammare as well as the fact that my preparation days are now Monday. I have plenty of pictures that I will attach to the end of this email of my apartment, my companion and a few other things that I feel I should show all of you. 

     Fourth, the missionaries here don't get scripture cases made for their scriptures, rather they get them rebound. In some really awesome new covers and such, they look really cool and I'll be doing that after a few months here. I've also lost 8 pounds since getting here but I blame that in the MTC. Lots of potatoes and frozen chicken and then sitting around for 8 hours a day doesn't do anyone a whole lot of good. So getting here where its really humid, I cant drink the tap water here because it has so.msny minerals in it that it will give you kidney stones. No joke, the president said that happens way more than it should because missionaries don't buy bottlesld water which is a lot cheaper here than it is in America.

     And finally there was a sailor named Bob that we taught on Saturday that has been sailing since 1975 and has been around the world 5 and a half times on an actual sailboat before he switched to working for a whale research company. I have pictures of the boat he's on now because we stopped by the boat yesterday with an English Book of Mormon for him. Also stray dogs are a thing but they aren't like America's strays. These dogs get groomed, fed, and make it into the newspaper all the time. They also all have names. I haven't attempted to learn them yet but we'll see.

Arrived Safe

Dear Parents,

We wanted to let you know that your missionary arrived safely at the mission home today. We love them already and have been praying for them before they came.

We are including a photo and a short message from them. You may also find some pictures of your missionary on our blog: pickerdsitalyromemission.blogspot.com

Please respond to this email to let us know you received it. 

We look forward to serving with your missionary!

President and Sister Pickerd

Italy Rome mission

3 days left

   Dad,

  I officially only have three days left in the MTC, and one of those is fast Sunday. I have yet to dislike any Sunday since I got here because every dinner on Sunday is some form of fast food. In fact on fast Sundays its always chic fil a for dinner so that's good. I don't know if you had vendor machines in the MTC when you were here however I found something in one of them that I think is the epitome of the MTC. Here's a picture: 

I could be wrong, however, if you think theres anything else that could better represent missionary life than caffeine free coca cola. 

     My time here is almost up but I can call you when I make it to the airport on Monday at around 7 so if you want to talk a little more this Monday, it'll be the last time I can call you for about two years. My physical therapy sessions and well and now I just have some residual soreness. It's been almost two weeks since I took a knewe to my leg but it's just now started to bruise and is not very impressive yet so I'll send pictures next week when it is impressive.

     I drank the orange juice. It was an experience I'd rather not repeat. Also, I have to take my LSA which stands for something like language something assessment. They want to make sure I have been studying and I'm not just going to show up in Italy with no ability to speak the language. I also was given a Book of Mormon in Italian which I had engraved with my name on it. I got my suits dry cleaned and my hair cut for my first day in Italy. If there's any advice you have on living in a foreign country I'd love to hear it.

Anziano Anderson