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