Rita's Baptism

So this week was super great and we got a lot done. Rita's baptism went really well, literally everyone came 30 minutes late (even Rita :) but it went well. Anziano Chilvers baptized her and she had me give a talk on baptism so that was cool. It was my first talk in Italy and it was in english ha. She bore her testimony after and it was really lively lol. I love africans so much. I feel so blessed to have been a part of there families conversion story and am glad to see them coming closer to God. Boatang O'Neal is another investigator we have who is really close to baptism, he has to get married to his wife but it looks like he will be able to do that in maybe the next month. He's funny because he looks exactly like a smaller version of Shaquille O'Neal who played in the NBA.

We had a scambio in Mistretta this week and it was really fun. I was with Anziano Dunn who just barely started his mission and we had some great lessons. Mistretta is a tiny town on top of a mountain. So a lot like Ragusa just a lot smaller than Ragusa. We got to eat with a blind member who was a chef and it was pretty good. There's also a senior couple in Mistretta named the Wartles and they are just the coolest. I totally want to come back to Italy as a senior missionary.

In priesthood there was a funny point when the elders quorum leader wrote on the board that satan is a big liar and everyone started laughing. I just have to say that I love P3 sacrament meetings ha. Today we have zone calcio so I'm pretty excited. I get to break out that hot pink palermo jersey, but anyway, I'm doing incredible and hope everyone is noticing God's hand in their lives!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Whiting

Here's Rita and her family (except for the baby girl)

Anziano Chilvers and I

Mistretta

Palermo Zone

This week was just incredible. Ha we put in a lot of work and saw a lot of results. We met this kid named salvo on the bus and he's really interested in the gospel and even being a missionary. He's really expressed his desire to join the church which is pretty cool. He still has a long way but it's the first solid Italian investigator the elders in Palermo 2 have had for years ha. Just shows what hard work can do. We also have Rita's baptism this Friday which should be really cool. Her whole family is excited and will be blessed.

We had zone conference this week and it was really good. There was 10 elders in our house during zone conference which was a ball. Two elders came home late one night and while they were walking they got robbed by some kids it I figure as long as I follow the rules I'll be fine so don't worry mom :) I actually got to see a lot of the other missionaries from my group too which was really great as well. It's fun to see all of us growing together.

This pday we went out with a bunch of other missionaries and played laser tag. It was actually pretty fun. My team got crushed in the end and it was so bad I was the leading scorer ha. Palermo does have a lot more stuff to do which is really fun. We have zone calico next week and I'm excited. Anziano chilvers and I are also really excited for all of our simps. Their such great people and I admire them all.

Vi voglio bene

Anziano whiting

Right outside Bishop's house

Homemade ravioli

Palermo, Italia

This week was really crazy but also lots of fun. So yesterday really had all the drama ha we have an investigator named Rita who needed to do a baptismal interview with the stake president who lives in Siracusa which is on the other side of Sicily but he was going to be in Palermo for 2 days to set a missionary apart from our ward. The missionaries name is Lorenzo and he's going to France. And so we had to go on an adventure throughout Palermo trying to get Rita from work all the way to the church to do the interview. Ha I had the cool experience of being able to translate for the interview and Rita is a wonderful person. Her sons were baptized the week before I got here and now it's her turn and she's really excited. 

I also got to do a scambio this week with Anziano Palazzo who trained my trainer. It was a pretty cool experience since I heard a lot about serving with Palazzo from Anz Martin. We went to Palermo 1 which is the nicer side of town and had a lot of fun. He also has a football so today for P-day we played football and it was crazy. My team was me and a bunch of Italians and we had a lot of fun. Maybe football will catch on over here eventually. My favorite play of the whole day was when this 4 foot nothing italian girl was wide open in the end zone and I just threw it across the field to here and she caught it like it was nothing. 

We have a good amount of other investigators that we are seeing a lot of progress with. Godfred had a great lesson about the law of chastity this week and he accepted it like it was nothing, but he really struggles with coming to church which is what we are working with everyone on doing. Our mission president challenged all the missionaries to read the book of mormon before the start of may and I've really enjoyed reading the book of mormon again. I've read it a couple times and even just barely finished it but am still excited to read it over again and invite you all to read it for yourselves. On of my favorite quotes comes from William Sheffield who was talking about the Joseph Smith story along with the book of mormon and said "It's more disney than disney". So if you're into disney at all, you'll love the book of mormon!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

This is where we played football

The church --  there aren't very many stand alone churches in Italy and I've got to serve in two of them already

Palermo

So I made it to Palermo and it is suppeerrr awesome, but I'll start with the first half of the week. So in Rome we talked with a lot of cool people and helped a bunch of missionaries get ready for transfers last thursday. i stayed with Anziano Simmons (he served in Palermo 2 for awhile so we talked a lot) and Anziano Jacob who will stay in Rome and train new missionary. Getting ready for transfers was really crazy because we had to go pick up elders and transport luggage and everything. I've always just been hidden in Sicily which makes it a lot easier for me ha. We had some cool appointments and hopefully the work is booming with those guys. 

Then I took the train ride back down to Palermo and it was pretty cool for doing it twice in one week. Palermo is really cool and a lot hotter than Rome and Ragusa since it's right by the ocean. I'm with Anziano Chilvers whose from Rhode Island and my mtc group. We are in charge of two wards, palermo 2 and palermo 3. Palermo 2 is an italian ward that accounts for about half of palermo and then palermo 3 is the international branch that is for everyone who speaks english so really just all the africans. Both wards are super nice and we had a party after church for a missionary who is leaving to france this week.

The investigators here are all pretty swag. We have this guy named Godfred who is 20 and we taught him the word of wisdom last week. The lesson was super good and my comp bore a crazy strong testimony that about made me cry but I held it in. Church was fun and I've started to lose my ability to pray in english which is kinda funny since we only ever pray now in italian and then pidgeon english ha. That'll be fun when i get home. 

Anyway I love the work and everything is going wonderful here in Sicily!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Whiting

Here's a picture of Palermo 2.  I'm not in it cause I took it.

We went inside a famous opera house in Palermo with Lorenzo who is leaving on his mission and the two anziani from Bagheria. 

When in Rome...

Ha this last week was really crazy and I don't even know where to start. At the beginning of the week we had some nice lessons with Giuseppe and Samuele. Both of them are looking super solid and are going to get baptized in the next month. I'm super excited for both of them. And so about Thursday morning pres gives us a call and let's me know I need to get up to Catania that night and ride in a car with anz Toronto to Rome by Saturday morning. He said I was going to be serving in Rome and I was super stocked ha. So we ran home and got packed and I said as many goodbyes as I could. We got up to Catania and then Anziano Toronto and I drove up all Friday to get to Rome. It was really cool and all of Italy is beautiful.

Ha best part is, Saturday morning pres called and says my call is actually being switched to Palermo 2... So I get to go back to Sicily with all the other missionaries getting transferred on Thursday. But I get to stay in Rome for this week and see a lot of the sites which should be pretty cool. I probably won't be able to reply to too many people this week or send a lot of pictures but I can write in Palermo next week. We are running around and seeing different places in Rome.

I will serve with Anziano chilvers who is from my mtc group and its going to be a lot of fun.

I would just like to bare my testimony that I know God knows exactly where I need to be. A lot of people could criticize how pres is had me come up to Rome and now go back to Sicily and have Ragusa lose a weeks worth of work, but I've already seen a lot of miracles here in Rome 6 (the elders I'm with for this week) they didn't really have any work and so I've been trying really hard to give all that I have with this little time here in Rome. And I also might not get to serve in Rome so it's nice to be here for at least a week. Thank you all for the gifts and stuff you guys sent in because I was finally able to get it this week ha that's something nice about Rome. And I can't wait to head down to Palermo this week! I'm going to miss Anziano Rusch and everyone from Ragusa but I feel like I did the work we needed in Ragusa and now it's time for Rome and Palermo!

Vi voglio bene,

Anziano Whiting

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