Chocolate Salami

     This has been a roller coaster of a week I've just gotta say. We had a lot of development in the branch where I am at with many people getting callings. We now have a Ward Mission leader, a First Counseler in the Bishopric and a High Priest Group leader. For those of you who aren't a member of the church I'm serving a mission for, it basically means there are now people in place to help us guide the missionary work and lead the Ward. Good stuff. 

Pizzas eaten: 21

- This number hasn't changed much for a while ever since I ate three very large pizzas and got indigestion from it. Hopefully that changes soon because I really like pizza.

Gelato eaten: 16!

- A lot of members have been buying us food when they see us recently. I think they're just grateful to have missionaries that can eat all the food they bring out. Italians are known for big meals that last for a few hours. Normally, they have about 3 courses for lunch and 5 for dinner. The missionaries prior to myself and my companion were small and therefore, not super big eaters. So when I had more then two plates of food at every course, the members started giving me ridiculous amounts of food to slow me down. When that didn't work, they just started calling me "Big Man" and now that's what the members call me on the streets to get my attention. 

Books of Mormon: 40

- I have exactly that many experiences with watching someone act on a particle of faith and experimenting on this second testament of Jesus Christ's gospel. At least 39 people that were willing to act on new knowledge when it was presented and have since been reading the book as far as I'm aware. 

     Chocolate salami. When I first heard those words, I was a little confused and very concerned. Did they cover salami with chocolate? Was it mixed in with the meat while they were making it? I was excited to try something new but so confused as to what it was exactly. It's basically a chocolate log that has biscotti running through it to give it the appearance of salami when cut. It has no meat in it at all. It's also very tasty. 

     This week alone has probably been the single most productive week I have had in my life as a missionary. I extended my first baptismal invite, we have five more people with serious interest in the church and who are looking for the truth that we have and the peace it brings. I didn't cry much before the mission about things that weren't pain-related, but since I've made it out here and started working on loving those who are here and seeing them as my brothers and sisters, I'm not sure I've gone more than about two days without at least tearing up when someone says they received confirmation of the Book of Mormons truthfulness or they share something with us that they would only share with friends. 

     During this week I've also had so many meal appointments that I haven't had to make any other meal besides breakfast. Even yesterday, we had a "linger-longer" after church for 3 hours. I spent 6 hours at church and I love it. I made "Biscotti Americani" which are chocolate chip cookies. Then my companion and I made Zucchini bread and everyone was so confused as to why we would do that and why we put it on the desserts table, that when they ate it they were so impressed with it that every single mother asked for the recipe so they could make it for their kids. 

     I need to say, serving others for two years seems daunting if you think of it like I did at first. Two years away from my family, my friends and everything I know and am familiar with for a language I don't know, and in the service of others that may not even like me. Once I arrived here however, I saw it in a new light. I've been out for 3 months already and I love these people. 6 weeks In the MTC and 7 weeks in Italy have allowed me to see these next two years instead as an ability to build myself through loving the people here and showing them that love by giving service and sharing the gospel in this tongue that is becoming second nature to me. Now two years seems too short. 

     Every week, twice a week, my companion and myself teach an English course. We teach anywhere from 4 to 8 people English, and they correct my Italian when I say something wrong. Lately it's even growing into quite the gathering and that's impressive because during the week we hand out probably 100ish cards. Usually about 0 new people show up and that's because everyone smiles when they take the card and promise that they will go, but they never show up and you never see them again. I mention this because on our way to English course last Thursday, literally everyone we handed a card to this last week we saw. They made eye contact with us, stiffened their backs and then hurried away in a different direction. 

     On our way to that same course that day, we stopped three street performers with two guitars. My companion Anziano Daniel's mentioned that he likes classic rock. So for the next ten minutes or so we listened to Italian performers singing American songs with much enthusiasm before we gave them cards to English course. They couldn't come that night because they had a show in an hour but one of them said he wanted to come and would be there next Tuesday. I'll update you on that next week, because he was a really good guitar player and very memorable person. 

     My last thought before I disappear for another week: I've been asked by many of you if my Italian has gotten better. It has. Yesterday in church I had to translate for four Americans during priesthood session and I did decently well. My trainer who is going home at the end of this transfer told me that I did very well because he was listening to me the whole time to make sure I didn't say anything horribly off. He never cut in to correct me and I translated for about an hour and a half. Also, the mission president is initiating a policy where if you know the word in Italian, you say it in Italian. SYL, or, Speak Your Language. It's going to help us learn Italian and forget English. That's usually how these things work. 

P. S. If you all could send me recipes for American food I'd greatly appreciate it. Desserts, Dinner stuff, anything. I'm requesting the cream cheese frosting for zucchini bread from my mother, but anyone else feel free to make my time here awesome by expanding my recipe book. 

Anziano Anderson

Remember your parents...

... For they love you greatly. Honor them. Share with them your joys as well as the difficulties and sorrows that you have. They will be helpful to you as they have in the past. 

     This is a snippit from my patriarchal blessing and I realize the longer that I'm out here, just how little I'm actually doing that. I haven't thought about home all that much since I got here and I've thought even less about what everyone in the family is doing. I pray for all of you daily and for your success in everything that you are doing right now with the move and the new position in Dad's work. But even here in Italy some things I can't seem to get away from and one of those things is just how much I used to talk with all my siblings (except Nolahn because I'm onot sure how often he checks his email). 

     I was studying this blessing and really seeing it in a new light when I realized just how little I followed it's council when I lived with you because I thought a lot of your rules were either stifling or just didn't make any sense, or maybe because I was very selfish and didn't like people imposing things on me. In any case, I didn't appreciate the rules and because of that I missed out on the principles that you were trying to teach me. I bought a smart phone to show Dad that he couldn't tell me what to do because if I wanted to do something then I could. But here in the mission another Anziano Andersen told me a story about his driving record of 7 speeding tickets and how President Pickerd took him aside and asked him if it would be a smart thing to let someone who has a history of speeding to drive in the mission. This story helped me really understand why you were upset with me when I bought the phone. You didn't care that I made the decision on my own, you were hurt that I didn't trust your judgment and thought that I was the exception to the rule of addiction. 

     I never wanted to tell you where I was going or what I was doing because as we've discussed before, Regann would always say too much and then get into trouble because that's just how things worked. I wouldn't say anything because if I gave you nothing to use then all you had were opinions that couldn't be justifiably used to punish me because it wouldn't work. I would just ignore the punishment and continue to sneak out or just do whatever I wanted to. But now I realize it was to teach me accountability and show trust and respect to my parents and those I was with. It's better to learn late then not at all, and I know that I will be realizing more and more while I'm on my mission just what correct principles you taught me that I didn't realize at the time because I was clouded by my self absorption and pride or doubt and disgust at myself for lacking self control and falling victim to something as vile as pornography. 

     Dad, I have harbored many hard feelings for you over the years because of things that have happened or that you've done that make no sense or make perfect sense and that's why they anger me. I've listed some of the examples for stuff that didn't make sense at the time, but now I'm going to tell you some things that made sense and really still hurt me and some of my siblings whenever we think about them. 

     You are very honest. Candid. Blunt, crass and a few other words that mean slight variations of those four. It's not bad to have any of these qualities. However it is bad to have them in an unchecked abundance or to have the desire to always be right. While out here I realized that I do have that desire to always be right about everything I say and feel embarrassed when I don't know something or say something slightly incorrect. So I understand that. But it hurts all of your kids when you do that all the time with what seems to be very little thought for how we might feel when you say something. Regann told me the other day that she doesn't want you to be around her kids because of the way you act and the things you say. Harmon told me about the fight you and him had and how it almost got physical. Payton told me how she knows you are stressed with your job and is just so very concerned for you and I am as well because I want you to succeed. 

     Now I'm not saying that everything I just mentioned is only your fault. We both know Regann is a drama queen. We both know Harmon is a bit of a punk and we both know Payton is the sweetest kid you have, which is why I'm typing this. I love you, and I'm here to ask for your forgiveness as well as to give you mine. I didn't appreciate you because I couldn't look past your faults as a human. But I know you weren't raised with very many correct principles in your home or a very loving mother, I wish I could do more than just send this email and say "I'm sorry" but I am. I'm so very sorry, every night this past week I've been waking up with something on my mind that I did to disrespect you, or to be a punk. All throughout the night this will happen.

     I love you Dad, and I will do everything I can these next two years to learn to love and to better myself with everything you and Mom taught me to do during my childhood. In addition to this, I'm doing this thing called a "40 day fast" and I will attach the pictures for this challenge at the end of this message. I love you Dad, I love you Mom. Have a wonderful day and I look forward to seeing you in two years 😁😁.

Anziano Anderson 

Living with Siblings prepared me for my Mission

Throughout my time living at home, my parents always told us they were "trading adults, not raising children". And at first, I'll be honest, I didn't understand what they meant. "But I'm a child, not an adult!" I used to think, "why do they expect so much of me when all my friends don't have hardly any chores, and get to play video games all day while their dad mows the lawn?" This used to be my train of thought. 

     Alright, the mission stats so far:

Pizzas eaten: 20

Gelato scarfed: 11

Books of Mormon handed out: 36

     Alright, with official business out of the way I shall resume my story: I had other things I thought similarly about as well. Most prominent are dishes, cooking, cleaning my room, and sharing a room with two younger boys that never slept. (Not that I did, but I'm just setting the stage here). After a few months of mowing the lawn, learning how to cook and keep a decently organized a clean kitchen, and working out with my brothers which third of the room was theirs and thus not my responsibility to keep clean, I realized a few things. 

     Firstly, it was a lot easier to mow the lawn. Apparently pushing around a non-propel assist lawnmower through thick, and usually damp grass, really works the muscles in all manner of fun ways. Most natably for me at that age of about 9-10 is I was really good at what is still one of my most favorite games to this day. Stick Pull. A pioneer game where you pull on a stick harder than the other person and therefore, win. 

     Secondly, I had developed a love to cook and that allowed me to always have the ability to eat whenever I wanted to, regardless of how much cold cereal we may have had in the house. I remember my parents abolishing it for a few years because they wanted us to gain that ability to cook actual food and not just eat breakfast soup. This love of cooking allowed me to realize that while pots and pans were (and still are) a pain to clean, you can't cook without them unless you want to use the microwave (which we had also removed from the house for many years) so you learned to keep things clean and not smelling like rotten fruit in the chicken bucket. 

     Thirdly, (while I still have trouble making my bed) I learned that if I just kept my stuff off of the floor, I didn't have much of anything to clean in my room unless my siblings tried to push their third of the room into my third and then things got physical, but that's just how siblings are. 

     Now I know that this title says that living with Siblings prepared me for my mission, and it did. It prepared me with knowledge. I know what behaviors I have that most people find annoying and so I know not to do those things and to try replacing them with other, more constructive things. I know how frustrating it is when you want to sleep and you can't because the person you're sharing a room with is very not tired/talkative/insert something you find annoying here. So I try not to be that guy. 

     So I mentioned last week that we had a baptism planned, and on the 15th Liborio was baptised in the ocean right behind the church. I was asked to be a witness for the baptism along with my companion, so I got to dress in  all white clothes and walk out into the rather warm ocean with Liborio, my companion, and Paolo (Liborio's cousin) to watch firsthand as he was baptised. 

     I feel I should mention that in order to get to the beach behind the church, we need to walk through a very long and dark parking garage. Liborio and myself were leading the whole group through the garage and at the end of the room the door was open so you could see the ocean. It was in stark contrast with the dark room and it looked very much like a small sliver of light surrounded by  lot of darkness, all of it leading to baptism. I loved it. 

     If you didn't know or were not aware, all of the Anziani and Sorelli in my zone put on a play called The Book of Mormon: Another Musical. We performed it twice, once in Italian and then again in English and both of those plays are on my Facebook page if you want to see them. I've seen my language skills creeping along and I'm understanding the people here more and more every day and I'm able to talk to them more as well! 

     This email is very long and so I will end it with a few pictures and and invite to look up the Book of Mormon 21 day challenge and then to do that challenge. I've only been doing it for 3 days and I can already see the blessings because of it in my life. Also, feel free to email me questions during the week, and if applicable I will take a picture to accompany the answer. 

5. A member wanted to try my jacket on. I let him. 

1. Me all dressed in white for a baptism 

3. Me eating at a Bar. They work differently here. (they gave us the food for free) 

2. The usual size of cheese at stores around here

4. The Italian version of Root beer. It tastes just like it says on the bottle. 

Barba (Whiskers / Beard)

Buongiorno tutti,

     I have seen and experienced many great things this fine week. I had lots of fun and also a lot of just life lessons for the mission and life in general. But before I begin with the stories, my mission tally of Pizzas and so forth :

Pizzas : 20

Gelato : 11

Books of Mormon : 10

     Alright! My first story begins on Monday, after the heavy rainstorm I mentioned last week. After the storm, Sunday afternoon, our drains got clogged and everything except the toilet was backed up for four days. I had a lot of sponge baths. We got Plumber to come down and fix our drains on Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning the neighbors below us grabbed us because water was leaking from their lights after we both grabbed a very long shower. So back to sponge baths for thursday, but plenty of threats from the landlord of the owner of the apartment below us to call the police and a bunch of other stuff because he was blowing the story out of proportion. We got it fixed and now there's no issue. 

     Wednesday afternoon however, I did a scambia or a companion exchange with another pair of missionaries for the night of Wednesday and through lunch Thursday. I came back to Castellammare di Stabia where I live and brought the missionary with me and introduced him to all the ragazzacci (punks) where I live and then arm wrestled all of them, one at a time and then all together five on one and I won. They then agreed to come to English course this coming Tuesday because that was our deal. 

     Thursday at lunch we went straight from one scambia to another, so I was with anziano Blanchard. He's from Pocatello Idaho and was in my MTC group so neither of us actually speak Italian. We still managed to have fun and get three numbers so we can contact people that showed interest in the gospel and it's restoration. We talked to more ragazzacci headed back to the apartment. 

     Friday was normal, just a train ride back to Castellammare di Stabia from Napoli where my companion was waiting. While in Napoli we stopped by a pizzeria called Pallones and while we were waiting outside, an older woman with one tooth that stuck out almost horizontal and with one of the most impressive five inch long goatee's I've ever seen walked past us. Then we got some pizza fritta and I got a Margherita. 

     The next day I lost my very first arm wrestling match since I got to Italy to a fifteen year old with a full beard. The match lasted about two minutes because we couldn't outdo the other and then he finally got the leverage because he pulled and rolled his wrist. Two very good tactics. I found out he was fifteen afterwards and that he does nothing but canoe around vesuvius maybe three times a day so his triceps were massive. We're good friends now though 😁😁 and yes, I've redoubled my push up and exercise routines for a rematch this coming month. It was close before.

     I love hearing from all of you during the week and love to hear about what's going on back home!

P. S. We have a baptismal date for the 15th I'll let you know how that turns out

Scandi Vibes

Scandi is short for Scandinavian in this case. I'll explain that in a minute but first, stats!

Pizzas eaten : 18

Gelato : 9

Books of Mormon : 10

     Alright so a number of things happened this week starting off with this last Saturday. We had a ward activity where we all met in front of the train station that borders our apartment (fun fact the trains run until about 3 am and they rattle the whole building every time they pass) and it was raining slightly but nothing huge. I didn't bring a jacket or even an umbrella but that's alright because I brought a sturdy stick and introduced the Italians to stick pull. I won against all the teenage youth at once in the ward. There were three of them and it was the only slightly challenging match I had the entire time we were playing that game. That night however, after the ward activity and weekly planning was finished my companion and I decided to do two hours of finding. After those hours were almost up with about 20 minutes to go, we stopped what we thought was going to be a very prepared family but then some big, warm raindrops hit and there was a collective gasp. It took three whole minutes for there to be a river of water in the streets and for us to be stuck under a building side for about half an hour before we realized it wasn't going to stop. So we ran in rain that you could swim through, pictures at the end of the email.

     Another fun thing that happened was I did this thing called ''the Pallones challenge'' where I ate three very large Pizzas by myself, crust and all. It's a challenge only known to missionaries and only attempted by few after they've been in the field for a year or so and fewer finish it. I'm proud to say I did the challenge in 15 minutes and got the award for fastest pizza eater in the entire Rome Italy mission. Immediately after this I went on a scambia or companion exchange with an Anziano Andersen. So that was fun explaining how we weren't related even though the name was the same. And this week, we've had three separate occasions where people have offered to by us a drink in a bar or to hit up the Vista (boardwalk) because they wanted to see how much alcohol '' the big American '' could hold. That was fun turning those invites into word of wisdom lessons.

     And for the title of my email, everyone here is convinced that I'm not American but Scandinavian and they keep telling me that. I looked at the family tree and sure enough, my 3rd great grandfather is from Scandinavia. There were two girls from Denmark on the train back from Napoli where my scambia was at to Castellammare where I live who we asked this question to. They agreed and told me in fluent English that aside from my accent I gave some serious "scandi vibes".

     I feel like I should mention this so I will. We are doing something here in Europe called the book of Mormon 21 day challenge. Basically it's this: read the book of Mormon every day with a specific question in mind and /or a sincere desire to grow closer to God for 21 days. Read the book of Mormon with either of those in mind and it will be given to you to have a stronger relationship with God, the people you love and it will help you to make better and more correct choices throughout the day.

     Feel free to send me emails anytime throughout the week with questions and I'll do my best to answer them! Also, if you know of anyone who might want to receive these emails, feel free to include their emails with your questions as well 😊 

Anziano Anderson