Boolin' in Roma

     Ciao tutti! It has been brought to my attention that some of you have to scroll though a super long list when I send these emails and while I really am sorry about that, it seems the "cut and paste" option on my phone doesn't want to work and because I don't want to spend half of one whole hour clicking and adding each individual name, you all will have to scroll for a second or two until you make it to this introduction. Once again, I'm sorry if you have to scroll through the list, but I'd rather be efficient with my time and not spend half an hour making my emails look a little prettier. I'll try to troubleshoot the problem during this week so maybe the next one will be prettier. But, enough of that! let's get down to the meat in this week! 

Pizzas! 55

Gelato: 43

Books of Mormon! 76

     This was a sad and also happy seven days. When we started we were a four man house, which is not very common in the great Italy Rome Mission. But, as the days wore on, two of the anziani that I was serving with were convicted by their consciences and so they started the process of repentance. However, this meant that they needed to return home. This are wonderful men whom I respect greatly due to their character and their desire to have "gone and returned (not) in vain". One of them sent me a message a few days ago that said he was able to come back out in a few months and so we would see him once again in the great Italy Rome Mission in my lifetime as a missionary!

     Aside from this, we saw some awesome things this week and have just been boolin' aroundseeing the colosseum and then the rainstorms as they come. We did that last Monday. Come Tuesday, we attempted to make sushi and it was not so good because we are American white bois and so we used butter in our dice to make it sticky. Nope. Not good. Then, because we are cheap and salmon is not, we bought beef for the meat and then used cucumber but we had no seaweed so we ended up not using that. We did have a roller though, so that was a plus. The result was a buttery, beefy and reesty result of no thanks. 

     Wednesday and Thursday were more or less the same, but we had a lesson and a dinner at the church where we taught the restauration of the gospel of Jesus christ and had dinner there as well because all the people that were there lived in small houses so the church was big enough for all of us to meet. Friday morning we dropped off the second Anziano and then only my companion Anziano Inkley and I were left. But hey, now I have had 9 companions and 6 completed transfers under my belt, working on the seventh. It's actually very litty and fairly weird to think that I've come this far. But, I still have time in the mission and so I will act like it! 

     Saturday was fun because Anziano Inkley and I worked out hard and then went to district council to tell the sorelle that since we last saw each other on Sunday, we were down two. They thought we were joking, but then they realized that we were, in fact, very serious. Hey we're upset by it, but they also understand that repentance is a process and so they were glad to hear that they chose to wait a little longer and then return worthily. The members at church were also very sad to hear it, but once again very glad to hear that it was their own choices and desire to repent which caused it. 

     I invite all of you to repent. If you are not sure how because you are not a religious person, or a member of my faith, you simply start with prayer, addressing God by saying "dear Heavenly Father" and then speaking your heart unto him and asking for forgiveness and strength before closing with "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen". There is no rule as to what you can say or how long the prayer needs to be, but just make sure that everything you say is something that you mean. 

     If you are a member and have just decided to wait and see how long you can go before it eats you alive, I invite you to not procrastinate the day of your repentance and to start today, immediately. You will thank yourself as you do so. It's certainly painful to admit one's own follies, but it does not overtake the sweetness of relief and the feeling of being forgiven by the only one who can give you those feelings of relief peace. Even Jesus Christ. 

Anyhow, I love you all! have some photos to come in the next email!