How goes Life

Ciao Padre, 

      We had a baptism yesterday on the temple grounds. It was the first baptism that has taken place in Italy since the temple was dedicated and it was also the first baptism that my mtc companion De La Rosa has had on his mission. We live together in a four man house so being able to talk with him now is awesome and super helpful. He speaks the language about as well as I do, but he's just a little faster than me because of his mother tongue. I suppose there's not much I can do about that however so I'll just stick with English and hope for the best. 

     My gospel knowledge has grown tremendously since I've been out on the mission and studying every day for four hours out of the sixteen that I'm awake. I'm watching my prayers naturally grow into conversations and lasting much longer than they did before and also my language skills increase thanks to the epeated usage of the language in everything that I do. In church, I translate with the sister missionaries to all the Americans that come to visit via little earphones and transmitter boxes. I pray and speak in Italian with my companion and the people here in the house which consist of my companion who I'm follow-up training, a greenie, Anziano Angle, which De La Rosa is training, De La Rosa and, myself. It's so fun watching the new missionaries talk because the accent they have is so American, the words they say aren't always conjugated and it reminds me of my first few months in Italy because I know that's what I sounded like. 

     There are a surprising number of people from the Phillipines here and so I hear tagalog all the time but I can't respond because I don't speak the language. Makes me think of you though, because of all the mission stories that you shared with us as children while we were growing up. Those stories and your sharing of the desire to learn the gospel is more or less why I'm out here right now because I know that if I want to learn more about it eing born into the gospel, how much more would people who eren't born into the gospel want to know about it? Also, there are plenty of experiences to be had on a mission and from those, stories as well. I'm also curious to know what you kept in your mission trunk, because the only things I can think of that I'd want to keep in a trunk like that are my journals and maybe some of my companionship items but your chest is full of things and rather heavy so I'm just curious as to the type of things you have in there, not what they are exactly. I'm sure when I return you and I will spend a night or two going through it's contents and sharing stories that aren't suitable to share with someone at a young age like I was. 

     I've made sure to write a letter to Harmon and Nolahn this week, and send them emails in weeks past. Payton has told me that she wants to serve a mission as well, but whether or not she's told you that I'm not sure. I'm also sure that Nolahn is doing fine when it comes to developing his spirituality, but I'm concerned for Harmon in this aspect. It doesn't crowd my missionary life so much as on preperation days when I can email them and talk with them, he is the only one who I know reads and doesn't reply to my emails. I've heard from the other kids how whenever you leave town with mom, he won't go to church. He sleeps or does other things, but for him religion is a burden and not a blessing or really something that he wants to do willingly. Every time I think about him I want to sit down with him and go through the Christlike attributes with him and that activity at the end of the chapter, or really, really closely look at his plans for the future because those will tell you all you need to know about his religious and personal intent. I'm not telling you to do these things, as I am not the one who can receive revelation for him and it's not my place to tell you how to raise your kids and so I want you to know that this is not what I'm attempting to do here. I'm just conveying the pangs of my soul which I was counseled to do in my patriarchal blessing. I know that he doesn't like the church because you like it and he doesn't like you. He views you as a foe and not a friend, as someone who will say one thing and act diversely. Those are not speculations, they are things that he told me shortly before my mission in confidence. I tell you in the same sort of confidence because I know that he won't tell you if you ask and if he does it'll be in a rage. 

     His testimony is hurting and withering because he thinks that his father and the designated head of the household doesn't care for him, is rude and controlling. I used to think these things as well, but that was only because I was not reading my scriptures, saying my prayers or giving service and so I was a very selfish man. I realize that you were as Nephi and I was as Laman or Lemuel, taking the words of righteousness with much sharpness because of Mine iniquities. I love you, I pray for you and for your wife and family, for your kids and my siblings and my Mother as well. I want to make clear once again, that I am not telling you how to raise your children because you have done an amazing and outstanding job of that. I say that in a very sincere manner. Your oldest daughter is a temple wed and expecting. Your oldest son is on a mission in Italy, sharing the gospel with the people who need it most every day. Your second son is having a struggle dividing his beliefs with his feelings of his earthly father and in so doing has been forgetting his Heavenly father, but still has the priesthood. Your second daughter is preparing to go on a mission, and whether or not she's told you that, she is. Your third son is growing his physical and spiritual capacity by exercising daily in one form or another and also preparing for the chance to serve a mission. You have done an amazing job. I'm only sharing my joys and difficulties with you because I did not take advantage of the chance I had to do this in person every Sunday before the mission nearly enough. Harmon is my sorrow right now, and so I'm attempting to aid you with this email by giving you information that was given to me shortly before I left and also all the things that the spirit has moved me to say. I love you Dad. I respect you. I want you to have an ever closer and deeper and growing relationship with your family, and so I say all the things that I've said for this end. 

I love you and wish you the best, 

Anziano Anderson