Ciao tutti! ciao ciao ciao,
Excuse me for the late email, it's been
a crazy week and this is the first time I've had a chance to write a weekly or
any emails at all this week. No one received any emails last Monday because I
was in Napoli trying to pick up my permesso. If that story sounds old to you,
it's because it is. I started this whole journey my first three days in country
almost an whole year ago. It will be a year in three weeks. And so, because the
card has existed for this whole time but because I didn't have it, it expires
in 6 weeks from today. So, I'll have to start over on this whole process
sometime soon.
Pizza: 56
Gelato: 44
Books of Mormon: 77
This whole week was nuts, and I ended up
seeing many things that I never thought I would. But, I suppose that's what a
mission does to people. I just never expected to see anything like this. last
week on Monday, it was rather chill. I studied colleges for after the mission a
little bit, and then we made some food and found one of those "mark the
children's height on the wall when something big happens" places in this
house. It starts in the year of 1982 and goes all the way until 1992. There are
things written on there like "moved to Milan" and "Finally
passed his brother up" and I thought that was so cool!
When Tuesday rolled around the day after
Monday (as it usually does) we received a referral from the Sorelle (sister
missionaries) to go and visit an older man cause he wanted a book of Mormon
and visit with us about our beliefs. The visit was THE most interesting
visit I've had my whole mission. We started of with our names, found out he was
legally blind, and we asked if we could say a prayer. He said he'd never prayed
a day in his life and then started to talk about the holocaust immediately
after that statement.
Weird, but ok.
Immediately after this, he pulled a
whole bunch of photo albums out of nowhere and showed us photos of the
holocaust that were photos of his ancestors, and he asked us why God would
allow things like this to happen. When he said "this" he pointed to
some very gruesome photos. I didn't have the chance to say "oh, because it
was prophesied by the prophets after the jews crucified our lord and savior
Jesus christ" before he said that he believes in Jesus christ and not
God.
Stranger than weird, but ok?
He then listed a few of his other
beliefs like how Adam and eve only had Cain and Able, and if they are the
parents of every person who lives today, how could this be if their kids were
both male? And if one killed the other? We pointed him to the 6th chapter in
Genesis where it states the posterity of Adam and Eve, and where they had many
sons and daughters. This led to a pause in the lesson because he wanted to
check his version of the Bible to make sure we were reading the same book. We
were. He thought it strange, and then we continued. No moral agency. Every is
doing exactly what Jesus (because he doesn't believe in God) wants us to do,
and we only feel as though we have choices.
OK, I'm lost at this point. I don't know
what he's been reading. But, I do know that's not true.
After another twenty minutes explaining
why moral agency is actually something we have and why it's important to the
plan of salvation and our personal salvation (moral agency Is the ability to
shoose right or wrong, to follow Jesus or the Devil) we were an hour and
fifteen minutes in, and we had other places we needed to be. So, we left a Book
of Mormon with his man, our testimonies of God and his son, Jesus christ, and
we walked home just buzzing with the weird factor that came from those beliefs.
He was a smart man, not crazy, just very unbiblically educated and he used very
big words to prove his points, which we shut down with very simple
phrases.
Moving on to Wednesday, seeing as it
follows Tuesday, we had district council, and the Sorelle who sent us the
referall that we met with yesterday asked us how it went. We showed them, by
doing a "finding role-play" where they were given minimal information
about what I believed (as I was playing the man from yesterday) and then told
to prepare for two minutes to teach for five. The role-play was very similar to
how it was yesterday, and the sorelle were baffled by the things I was saying.
I was parroting, but it sounded weird overall.
When Anziano Inkley and I made it home
that night, we made Brownies to give to the senior couple who would be coming
over in the next day or two for an apartment inspection. But, our oven is old
and someone who designed it needs to have their license revoked because te heat
gauge goes from 1 to 10. I don't know what that means, but it acts like a giant
toaster. Anything after the "3" setting burns and it goes way too far
by going all the way to "10". We burned the Brownies, tries to eat
them, they made us sick, and we puked as a companionship off and on throughout
the night. Never doing that again.
Thursday morning was full of travel and
a doctor's appointment for me. He poked me, prodded me, and said to come back
in a week and a day on the Friday after tomorrow because of the bump I have in
my arm, and one in my leg. Pretty sure that they are cysts, but he wants them
out, so I'll be getting those cut out soon enough (seeing how I'm writing this
a week to the day after this visit, I go in tomorrow) and then we'll see what
they are. On the way home, we say a jazz band performing live in a metro
underground stop, and when we entered the metro itself, we were flash mobbed by
a chamber coir who just started to belt out music in a metal pill that was the
metro we were riding to our home. We spoke with them a bit, translated the
questions for an agnostic who wanted to know why they were singing about God
when "God doesn't exist and they're wasting their time". We didn't
translate that part for them but I distracted them with other questions while
my companion spoke to Mr. Agnostic about what we do as missionaries. He still
doesn't believe in God, but he couldn't put up a better argument than
"because He doesn't!" after we were finished. Italians are such
strange people.
Friday was the day of apartment
inspections. The senior couple did not eat the poisoned Brownies, because we
had either eaten them before we knew what they were going to do to us, or
thrown them out when we figured out how much they hated their creators. We
passed with flying colors, and they said we had a nicer house then they did. If
that's true, I feel sorry for them because our house is liveable, but it's
certainly not luxurious. Although with only two people here, it is roomy. I
miss the other two anziani, but I understand and life goes on and they have
both told me that they will be coming back out in six months or less! Love you
both, because I know you're going to read this!
After the inspection, we cleaned out
the "dead closet" which is basically the accumulation of clothes that
are left behind by missionaries who are going home or who are unable to take
them due to weight restrictions and so they leave them there for the next guy.
It's basically a local thrift store where everything is free for the people who
live there. But, I was all too big for my companion, way too small for me, or
just ratty and not worth keeping. We broke a lot of clothing, not going to lie.
But, now there are just a few, choice, articles of clothing for the following
missionaries to take.
Saturday was the day before the festa
della mamme (mothers day) so I was able to call my family and speak with them
for a good hour before the mothers day dinner in the church building where I
made my call was held. In this dinner, I had doctor pepper and doritos. I have
not had either of those for a year, and while it was good, it tasted so fake.
The soda was too salty, and the doritos were very strange as well. I ate them,
but I don't think I will if I have the choice between them and a nice pasta.
Call me Italian, but I'm starting to forsake American junk food. Peanut butter
is the only thing that hasn't changed for me, but it's very hard to find here
and expensive when you do find it.
That morning, we also went and hour and
a half one way to give a blessing to a lady who had fallen down the stairs a
few days before, and while there we saw an American mustang. Boy, nothing
sounds like American muscle when it's ripping down the street way faster than
it needs to or is legal. She appreciated our willingness to come down, and once
the blessing was given, we were attacked my a crazy goose. Luckily, there was a
fence, but goose honks are something else lemme tell you what. A dog? sure.
Bark bark, and you're n the look out. But, a goose? You hear this unearthly
wheeze like noise that grows into tormented screams and I don't care who you
are, when you see the teeth on the side of it's tongue coming at you, you will
make yourself scarce. I'm sure of it.
Ah yes. Monday again. A whole week that
came and went. This email is a tad longer than most, but I'm sure this will
make up for it. I was alone, almost all day on Monday, from 9:00 to about 19:30
(7:30pm) an whole ten and a half hours. The train ride over was two hours, my
time in Napoli was five hours and my train home was another three hours, but
after I saw two people snort cocaine, one inject some sort of illicit substance
and another smoking two joints at once, I had been there about an hour and
managed to buy some food at Decò. The man there recognized me after six months
away, and he quoted my order to me before I could. I was impressed, he made it
for me and while I ate my sandwiches, I started to talk to a lady who sat next
to me on a public bench.
She was nice, and asked me why I was
eating a sandwich instead of a pizza. She then told me all about napoletano
food and I nodded through bites as I told her stories about me eating those
foods at the places she suggested and for half an hour we just talked about
food and missionary work. The people here are so much more willing to speak to
you about everything and I love them for it.
I received my permesso, made it onto the
train, my phone died, and then I taught an old Italian couple for two hours on
the way home about my church, why I'm a missionary and how much God loves them.
They were the kind of people who thought that "as long as you're trying
your best, and go to church, God doesn't care what church it is" and that
lead to some interesting discussions as well. We wished each other the best and
then went our own ways.
I'm ending this email on Monday, and
I'll write about all the rest of the stuff as it occurs in my next (hopefully
punctual) email. Photos to follow this email as a second email, I love all your
faces!
My invite for you all Is this: Read the Book of Mormon. It
sounds like a simple thing, and indeed it is. Sit down, pull it down off the
shelf or out of the case it has, or pull it up on your phone if you don't feel
like reading. It will read itself to you digitally. In this way, the deaf can
hear the words of the lord, the blind can see the light of Christ growing in
themselves and the ones who doubt will feel their faith growing in them as it
states in Alma chapter 32:27-28. The verses that spurred me to get my life
together and serve a mission when the going got tough and I wasn't sure if I
wanted to try. It says this:
But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even
to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if
ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until
ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
Now, we will compare the word unto a seed.
Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it
be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that
ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within
your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say
within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word
is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my
understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.
Don't make excuses, because someday soon
your time will be up and you will be as one of the five foolish virgins who
were not prepared for Christ's coming.
Ciao for now!
Anziano Anderson
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