Another Week In Paradise

Hello all, or as we say it in Italian, Ciao tutti! 

     I probably waited in line for eight or nine hours this week in the span of two days. That's ok though, because it was for my permesso di soggiorno which is a super visa more or less that allows me to live in this country for the next two years while I'm serving as a missionary. More on that in a bit. 

Pizzas devoured: Quarantacinque or 45

Gelato savored: Trentotto or 38

Books of Mormon: Cinquanta cinque or 55

     It's not every week that you get to start off in Palermo on a rooftop in Italy watching the sun rise while you do stretches to ease your tense legs from all the calcio you played the day before. But, that is exactly what we did this Tuesday to start our week off right. The night before we spent about 113 euro on our Speza for the week we were going to be in Palermo, and so we were staying with the zone leaders for this week. 

     When I say "we" I mean my companion and two other anziani who were there for the same reason we were. Permesso work. I believe I explained this to all of you in the past, but in case you forgot or if I didn't explain it in actuality, here's a brief summary of what it is. When I landed in Italy 6 ish months ago, I was told I needed to go to a post office in my first 8 days here to get this process started. We payed a lot of money, sat in line for an hour or so and then off we went with a return date of six months and two days from that day. That's a long time to wait by the way, but Napoli is infamous for being that slow with Permesso work. It allows me to not get kicked out of the country by the police and to be a missionary. 

     Well, six months and a day later I'm sitting in an airport getting ready to fly up to Napoli directly. I got there just in time for English course, but instead of sticking around there to teach, one of the zone leaders took me to get a Pallones Pizza because the pizza in Napoli is in fact, the best pizza in the whole of Italy. And Pallones is a three minute walk from the church so I couldn't not get a pizza while I was here! 

     On Wednesday, I waited for four and a half hours to get my fingerprints scanned in about 5 minutes. When Anziano Stout and I got there (Stout also had Permesso work) they were helping E018. Well, I got my number and I was E108. There are also three other categories that were being helped. It was literally like sitting in the DMV but without music or seats. We took to sitting on the floor before the police officer that worked there told us to stand up because this was an official government building. But one look around would have told you it was really just officially unclean and unable to hold the capacity of people that were waiting. 

     We stood up, apologized and then lost all feeling in our legs after two hours. We were also looking for people who were wearing headphones because I get there ght as the whole Napoli zone was starting The Amazing Race which is basically just a challenge issued by the zone leaders to help us get our conversations in. When one completes the challenge, they get to post a silly photo or video that's also given out by the zone leaders to signify the completion of the challenge. We had to lip sync to our favorite Efy song. It was rather fun. Ryan Schupe ad the rubber band(s?) Dream Big. It's a God song. 

     After the Questura nightmare, we were called to visit a mourning person who is friends with the anziani. His father had just died the day before, and we were there to give him a blessing of comfort. He isn't a member, but he still respects our beliefs and knows that our blessings have power. While there, I also forgot my passport, so I had to run back the next day before my flight to grab it. I'm somewhat forgetful, I'll admit. 

     As a parting gift on Thursday, the Napoli zone leaders gave me 7 packages of cinnamon roll oreos to share with my district during our weekly council. Those were a hit, and they doubled as a birthday gift because it just so happened that our district council fell on the compleanno of anziano Atanasio. Compleanno, basically means a competed year or a "filled year". But it translates to our saying of Happy birthday loosely. 

     It was just a fun time this whole week. It's all a blur to me, so I'm using my journal heavily while I'm writing. It's a great thing to keep a journal, all of you should do so!

     The spiritual experiences I want to share this week are these two:

First: The time I had with the deceased man

Second: Different ways the spirit prompts you

      First: I've been to a few funerals before. Some I don't remember too well because I was sleeping and very small as well. Others because I tried not to be in the room because I loved the person that was in the casket. But, all of those times, those people have been members of the church and it was the first time I've seen someone who had passed without any of the ordinances like baptism that we have. This is why I'm glad I know about the plan of salvation. I know that man still has a chance to learn about the restored gospel and I know it's my job while I'm here to lessen the numbers of people who haven't heard this wonderful message. 

    Second: When I say different ways the spirit prompts you, it's as diverse and interesting as the amount of people around you, and their moods. Sometimes it takes a hard "Yes" or "No" to get someone to do something. Other times it's a vague feeling or impression that something is right or wrong that spurs action. For my companion and I last night, it was a combination of these two at two different times. There is this beautiful soul that stops us  every single time she sees us which is usually twice a night anytime after 19:30 because that's when her mass ends and she hobbles around with the umbrella she uses as a cane. 

     She's an older lady who is a devout catholic, but forgets everything we teach her between days. So she always tries to get us to come to her church, using everything from friendly talk to straight yelling in an attempt to convince us that we are wrong and she is right. Well, I wanted to teach her again because she's fun to teach, but my companion felt that we needed to leave immediately. We did. Moments later, there was a cluster of catholic priests on that corner where we were standing moments ago and boy oh boy am I glad we didn't have to argue with them for the next hour. 

     Later on in the night, we ran into her again and we talked but said goodbye again. Then, 15 minutes later, my companion and I were sitting down because we had been walking for almost three hours with very little success when I felt that wee needed to go home. Like right now. So I stood up and saw the little old lady and the priests across the street looking to cross. Anziano Tucker and I booked it down our street and then home because we had no desire to re-explain everything that we had just been explain the past hour to the same person. 

This was a crazy long week. 

Anziano Anderson.