Sorry About Last Week

I'm going to be honest, I did try to send an email last week, I did. But, the wifi was slow, and I ended up accidentaly deleting the email I spent an hour writing for all of you in an attempt to make it send faster. My bad. Anyhow, here are the stats that i know you all wait for every week and then on to tell you more about the week!

Pizza: 50! I hit the big 50 last week on monday when I ate a cannolo that was almost two pounds! Mostly by myself, but I regret eating so much ricotta in so little time. Oof. 

Gelato: 42

Books of Mormon: 62

     I'll start with last Monday and just go from there I suppose. We all went to Palermo to play some Calcio (Soccer) as a zone and that entails a two and a half hour bus ride for my companion and I, one way. This means that yes, we had indeed a whopping total of five hours of bus travel on Monday. We played our games of calcio, then we decided to go eat a pizza and that's where I ate my fiftieth pizza and immediately after, we went to this new cannolo shop where I decided it would be a wise idea to eat an whole 860 gram (almost two pound) canollo. It was a great idea for about five minutes. But twenty minutes in and only halfway done with the Cannolo made me realize that it really wasn't a great idea after all. When I started to taste ricotta in my nose, I knew I had made a mistake. I'm not going to say I'm scared of cannoli, but i'll avoid them for a while if I can help it.

     After our food, we went to catch our bus, missed it by five minutes and had to wait for the next one that came two in hours at 18:00 or five pm. so, we went to a McDonalds and like any american would, we used the free wifi to call our families and then I had the need to use the bathroom. well, the thing about europe is they love to put bathrooms everywhere, but they are pay toilets. I didn't have the .80 cents required so as I turned to leave, a very nice asian lady gave me her reciept so I could use the bathroom. It was a little random thing and I was very grateful. Now I always carry a single euro coin on me just in case. when our bus finally came, we were about halfway home before my companion started to fever. when we got home and checked, he was at 101.3 degrees and not doing too well. We spent the next day recovering at the apartment, only leaving to buy Speza (groceries) and to teach english course for an hour and then getting a ride home from a very nice member of our course.

     Throughout the week we had a whole bunch of stuff just happen. There were a few meal appointments and while they were delicious and filling, nothiing overly worth mentioning happened there. Once we were all fed, and time had passed, there was a scambio where I stayed in agrigento with anziano Hartvigson and then we were asked by a homeless man for money twice in the same thrity minutes. one thing I really dislike is how the people here ask you for money, and they point to your nametag where they see the name "Jesus Christ" and say "He would give me money, so shouldn't you!" and then they stand there for five minutes with their hand outstretched. Before the mission, I would offer to buy them food and other things, but I never gave away straight money because I want to make sure they are fed and have all the things I take for granted sometimes. But I'm not really allowed to do that as a missionary and this man would not take no for an answer because we were missionaries. It took a bible verse or two and some promises of blessings to get him to leave us begrudgingly. Other than this, not much else occurred that is worth mentioning.

     If you are family (grandpa, grandma, cousin, aunt, uncle or otherwise) and would like to talk with me at some point in my mission, send me an email! I'd love to talk and I'm allowed to do so now!

p.s. sorry this email is so short, it's been a busy day and it will continue to be busy as it goes on! ciao!

1. The produce here is huge

2. The pot of desires

3. My companion and I 

4. The cannolo I ate... 

5. The view in Italy

The Book is True and the Gospel is Blue

This week on Tuesday, Anziano Belnap and myself were asked by our Zone leaders to make a video about a miracle that we had seen this week and to share it with the whole zone on a group chat that we have. In this video, we talked about a member meal appointment and the circumstances that made it so much of a blessing and a miracle. At the end, we bore a short testimony about what we know to be true. I tried to say The book is blue and the church is true, but switched it around to what the title of my email is. We decided to not cut that part out of the video because it was funny and i corrected myself in the video immediately afterwards. But, this is a weekly occurence where the Zone leaders ask someone in the zone to share a miracle, and at the end of the video that was shared this week the Sorelle decided to poke some fun and said the same misquote from last week. I thought it was funny, and I'm fairly certain that it's going to continue on for another week or two before something funnier comes along. 

Pizze che io ho mangiato: 48

Gelati che io ho Mangiato: 41

Libri di Mormon: 62

Meal Appointments

     This whole week was full of random things that weren't neccessarily planned but were meant to happen. For example, on tuesday in the morning at around nine we recieved a call from a member telling us that she wanted us to come over for lunch and that the next bus leaving Agrigento for Licata was in twenty minutes. Well, all our planning was then put to naught because we were not about to tell the member that we had finding to do. Besides, free food! When we got there after an hour and some odd minutes we were driven from the station to the members house by her son in law. we stopped along the way to pick up two more of her relatives, one of them was another in law and the other was seven months along. We had a wonderful lesson and I was able to relate with the expecting woman because my sister is also very far along. We bonded over photos that I recieved just the day before and then we had a wonderful five course Italian meal of pasta and a lot of meat with some more of my "favorite" chocolate orange raisin cake. we then taught an awesome lesson about eternal families and why they are so importnat in God's plan of happiness for us. We then made it home just in time for the rain to start pouring buckets. this was great timing on my part because I didn't have a jacket nor an umbrella.

     This same family has since then invited us back every other day so that we can teach them more and they always invite a friend that we have never met before so there is always something to teach that no one has heard yet. I love member misisonary work! if you have the chance to help the missionaries out, you totally should! we love you for it, I promise you!

District Council and Scambio

     Normally, district council takes place once a week, usually on wednesday mornings and usually in my city of Agrigento here on the wonderful island of Sicilia. But, this week, Anziano Hartvigsen decided to get sick with some stomach bug that rendered him unable to travel very far without needing to vomit. This in turn led to all the rest of us, all four of us, making the trip to Caltinisetta. While this city is the birthplace of the Cannolo, it doesn't have much else to offer. so after we bought our cannoli, we went to the Caltinisetta anziani aprtment and there we had our council. Now, we have a native italian in our district so we had to speak more or less in italian 100 percent. I'm certainly not complaining, I love italian! It sounds so much prettier than english and there are funnier ways to say everything that we can say in English in Italian. The council was nothing of note really after that. nothing that you would want to hear at least, and then when anziano Belnap and I made it home, we decided to clean up the other's haircut just a little bit. Normally, this is a bad idea. and we were very much not an exception. I let Anziano Belnap clean up my "Riga" which means "Line" in italian. I'll add a before and after photo so you can see the damage that was done. as the pictures will show, we don't know what we are doing when it comes to hair. luckily though, the only difference between a good haircut and a bad one, is four weeks. I'm in week number two now, so we can hope that it will work out great in the coming two. speriamo.

     The next day we had a scambio (exchange or switch) with the Zone leaders and there was no hiding the messed Riga. they thought it was the funniest thing and I really didn't know how to feel about it so I just laughed along with them and then promised myself that there would never be another time in my mission where anyone who wasn't a barber would cut my hair. on our scambio however, I stayed in Agrigento with anziano Parton from Australia while Anziano Belnap went with Anziano Oliver to Palermo. On our scambio, we found two new people with much interest in the gospel and one of them has been studying english for ten years. It was weird to hold a gospel conversation in English and not have to explain in Italian what we just said again. She had many questions about how we were different from the Catholic church and then also what our book of Mormon is. we offered to give her a copy of it on a later date and she accepted, giving us her contact information so we could arrange for that to happen in the near future.

Other things 

     Aside from all that,the week was really awesome. this coming week is already so packed, the only day that we don't have anything planned for is Saturday, and today because we have this day to relax and prepeare for the rest of the week. Italy is great fun, I love all of you, and I'm excited to hear back from all of you during the week! Bring your questions to me and answer them I shall!

Photos:

1. The after photo

2. My companions sense of humor

3. So many cats

4. It rained again

5. These always make me think of Washington because one of my teachers had one. 

6. Before. 

It was a cold week

Buongiorno tutto! 

This was indeed a week of cold! Not because it was cold outside (it was actually rather pleasant with a warmish wind) but rather because I have been fighting a head cold all week! Yay for not being able to talk! in other news, it's been a great week for the work. 

Pizzas eaten: 48

Gelato: 41

Books of Mormon: 61

English Course! 

     I'll start off my account with Thursday, because I already mentioned how last week on tuesday there was the whole "p-day shifted to Tuesday because we were in Rome" thing. I spent that Tuesday with a bunch of dead people in some catacombs. Not my favorite activity, but certainly memorable. When Thursday rolled around however, we had stuff to do. I managed to get a haircut with Anziano Belnap and and we both got Raggazzasacced with the way we look know. I'll attach a picture, but  think it's funny. Our mission president thought so as well, but this is certainly not the first time that he has heard of silly hair stories. I've heard worse stories at very inconvenient timing for that person. The usual, "I'm bald because my companion said he could cut hair and he really couldn't." stories that are somewhat prevelant in almost every mission. 

     That night at English course, a whole lot of people showed up to learn and even one guy who was on his way and nearly got hit by a car only moments before he walked into the building. He was a little cut up from jumping into the wall to avoid certain death so we patched him up and he trooped through the whole hour of our English course and even took a book of Mormon because he was curious to know what it was that we teach outside of English. 

Rotisserie Chicken

     Friday was awesome because that day is meant for weekly planning. We start it off like we would any other study session (with things being recited in Italian, prayer and the occasional snack being passed back and forth) but we had a focus on "what can we do to grow the branch into a ward" and then it hit me. We have that one member who's friend we taught at the members house that we haven't talked to since, because our schedules had been so hectic. Sorella Ballacchino! We called her up and we ended up getting a meal appointment for the very next day a her house with her daughter and son in law who are less active and a non-member respectively.  We didn't know that at the time but we found out the next day. 

     I've mentioned in emails past that there is a market outside of our house every Friday, but I've never gone through it before. So, after I bought my 5 euro chicken from the same guy as last week (because I never learn and chicken is tasty) Anziano Belnap and I walked around for a little while until I was more hungry than curious and we'd seen enough sunbleached underwear to know what to do with. The rest of the day went fantastic because there was no one on the streets due to a soccer game and I still couldn't talk very well due to my cold. It was funny trying to stop people that were on the street, because they heard me speak and more or less walked very quickly away from me while using the tried and true excuse of "I have an appointment!" to escape from us. We know that the only appointment they have is at the bar down the road where they will be for the next hour or so by themselves, drinking coffee and watching Calcio. 

The Trinity of Unholy Food Combinations (Anziano Anderson edition) 

     Saturday was an amazing day where we were able to teach la famiglia da Sorella Ballacchino. However, if you've known me for more than a week you will know that while there are foods I don't like, there are three foods I absolutely cannotforce myself to eat. At least, until today. First and foremost, Pickled Lemons. These exist and the world is a worse place for it. Second, raisins. These are fine unless you eat a chocolate chip cookie and it turns out that it was actually a raisin cookie. I can usually avoid these with ease. And third, any combination of the two flavors Chocolate and oranges. I love both of these! A lot! On their own. After a little incident abut them years ago where I ate 5 full-sized chocolate oranges on christmas and couldn't keep them down, the flavor combination has been ruined for me. 

     Well, for 45 minutes in our meeting it was just her, and us at her house while we waited for her family. We sat on the balcony and she vrought us Pannettone. This is basically fruit cake, but with raisins and candied orange rinds in them. She paired it with my saving grace, a cup of some tropical juice and then left us to eat while she cooked for a bit. My companion would not eat my slice because he wanted to save room for the actual meal, so I remembered what was almost doctrine in our house when it came to food you didn't like or have time to eat, and I quote from my Father: "Bite, swallow, bite, swallow, taste it later" which I then set about doing. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Pannettone. Just not the raisins, and I'm not going to be "that" missionary who won't eat the food that was bought just to feed them because of personal preferences. 

     The lesson went well, we taught the daughter more than her husband because he left the room to play with his four year old son and she committed to come to church with her family for fast Sunday the following day. We had a wonderful lunch of pasta al forno, sausage and some zucchini that was really scrumptious. But, they always have dessert after lunch, followed by fruit. Lunch is most definetly the longest meal in their day, usually three hours. Well, the cake that was brought to us was chocolate orange pudding cake. I thought to myself "alright, bite and swallow", but as soon as I bit into the cake I realized something. There were RAISINS IN THE PUDDING. There was no juice to save me this time, and I of course was handed the biggest slice. I managed to use the rinds of a sizeable orange and a play from my kindergarten years to cover and thereby avoid having to eat, the majority of the cake.  Can already se my Dad's face as he thinks back on his time served in the Philippines and all the Balut he ate there. This is a reminder to me if nothing else, that I do not have the strongest stomach in the family. Never claimed to, never will. 

     That night, we were called and asked by our new branch president to come and open the doors to the church for the branch council Tha I didn't know we were having. That council lasted for three hours, and there were only seven people there, including us. I've once heard that the definition of a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints is someone who: leaves one meeting so they are not late for another. This was very true today because we had only been back from our lunch appointment for maybe ten minutes before that call came in. 

Sunday!!! 

     There were more people in church on Sunday then I have seen since I arrived to Agrigento. There was even a man in a wheelchair that I hadn't seen before but that everyone knew by name. There were a bunch of returning members as well that we hadn't contacted, buthat had brought their families and even the family of Sorella Ballacchino was there. Just about everyone bore their testimony before our new president had to intervene because we were going over our allotted time. 

     I love Italians. They end on time, but they never start on time. We started sacrament 15 minutes late but ended on the dot. The same for second hour. It's just so Italian, I love it so much. They don't do that on purpose, but they like to talk between the hours and get sidetracked. It's like what all of our moms do after church with each other but instead of talking for an hour afterwards, they sneak it in between the classes and then a little bit after as well. 

     This was my week. I love my mission, I love all of you, and I want to hear from you! 

Anziano Anderson

P. S. We got so many leftovers from our lunch, and I got to carry home a sizeable chunk of that wonderful cake. And a zucchini.