Easter

This week was really fun! We started out with a zone conference all the way in Catania with all the missionaries from Sicily. We spent the night and it was a packed house ha. The conference went really well and I enjoyed all the things that we learned. I also liked being able to see Catania again, I've pretty much done every conference in Catania so I really know the city now. There was a bunch of anziani who bore their testimonies because they are going home this next transfer and they were incredible. We also had the senior couple who is leaving bare their testimonies and it was just amazing to see how two years of a mission and even a life time in the gospel can impact who you are. 

We got back to Palermo and we got to meet with the bishops from both wards and spend time with their families which was really cool. I love both of the bishops and their families. Instead of dropping us off, one of the bishops drove us to one of his friends houses and we taught him a lesson. He's a pretty swag member missionary. An amazing miracle also happened with another one of our investigators. Boatang was the guy who was waiting to get married and he found a job! We had prayed a lot for him and he found one! It's in Venice which means we won't be able to see him but I trust the missionaries there and am glad that God blessed him even if it wasn't how we had wanted it to happen. 

We had another deep cleaning day today so that was a blast. Our house looks pretty nice and I feel like I might even be comfortable having my mother come in it ha. For easter we got to eat with a single sister and her mom with Alzheimers who always asked us where her daughter was ha. She did make us some really nice food and I love the members here. I'll definitely miss our boy boatang but we have a lot of other really good investigators that Anziano Chilvers and I are excited for. My mission has been really rewarding and I'm loving every second of it. I would caution anyone who is considering going on a mission to definitely choose to serve.

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

Matching Family Ties

My boy Boatang and his wife and kid

Some tasty bacon things we had at a ward party

Ballin it up in P-Town

This week was pretty exciting. To start things off, we had a really cool activity with a local school where they used our parking lot to play different sports in front of their parents and city officials. There was a lot of kids and the mayor even came. Our bishop being the stud he is even gave the mayor a book of mormon so will see how that goes. But anyway, they had us missionaries help set up everything and even though we were american, they had us help raise the italian flag ha. I guess we have been acceppted into the culture. Then they had anziano chilvers and I do a demenstration in basketball which was super funny because we just shot the ball and did dunks on their little hoops haha but they loved it. 

We also had a lot of success this week with all of our investigators. We are working really hard on helping all of them progress and be baptized. We had some fun lessons with Hillary and really just all of our investigators for Palermo 3. I love that ward a ton and it makes me excited to be here. We met with a less active sister who hasn't been to church in 20 years but she is the nicest lady ever. We really want to start teaching her two boys but will see what happens. 

In other news, it looks like we will be getting some african clothes haha, they have some pretty nice stuff so I'll have to send pics when we get them. I also had to play the piano in church this week and it was an experience. Sorella holiday usually plays but she got transferred. I honestly probably played the best I ever have for the opening hymns and then just crashed and burned during the last two haha. The lesson is to listen to your mom when she wants you to practice playing those church hymns. I'll get better though, the mission is incredible and I can't wait to see the miracles that we have this next week!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

Here's us at the activity

Our district before transfers

Zone Calcio

A Week in Paradise

We had a crazy week filled with miracles over the last seven days.

First off, Anziano chilvers and I will get to serve another transfer together in Palermo! I've done two transfers with every comp so far so we figured it would happen. We also went to corleone on Monday which is where some of the god father was filmed. It's supposed to be the mafia capital of the world and it was a nice little town. I'll put pictures at the bottom.

This week we had my old investigator Hillary Clinton call us and say he's been moved from Ragusa to Palermo and wanted to come to church.

He also got documents so it looks like we will be able to teach him!

We had good success finding people to teach this week. We met a guy named Morris that was so excited to meet he called us the next day and said we needed to go with him one day and teach all of his friends who live in traponi. We told him we can't go but that we have some missionary friends there who can go visit them ha.

The Italian people are so funny. They all think I'm Japanese and 15 years old but I can live with it haha. We're teaching this really cool guy named Samuele. He's funny and seems really interested. Anyway, the work is amazing and we are super duper excited for all the work that lays ahead with the members and the investigators. We have a lot of people to work with and we're going to look for even more.

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Whiting

Horse Meat Sandwiches

We had another fantastic week and I'm super stoked for the future! To start things off, we went back to Ragusa this week to get my permesso so I'm finally legal! Ha now I don't have to worry about getting deported. It was cool to go back and see some of the friends I made there and hopefully I will be able to return after my mission as well. Anziano Chilvers is also now a fan of horse meat sandwiches. We also did zone calcio last week and it was a blast! I haven't played soccer in forever and it was fun to play with all the other missionaries. 

This week we focused a lot on the less active members and have made a real effort to find some part member families. We went and taught this named named brother rappa ha and anziano Chilvers thinks he's a part of the mafia. He has a pretty nice house and some weird ideas about religion but will work on that. We also made a ton of sugar cookies and were thinking about handing them out to a bunch of different less actives but the bishops family literally ate all of them during our visit. I figured it was only fair because my family would do something like that. 

We are excited for all our investigators. Boatang finally has his wedding situation figured out. We got some homies to church on sunday. One of them is named Harry and he fell asleep on me in church so will work on that. Anziano Chilvers is a really funny kid and I enjoy working with him. We have transfer calls this week and hopefully we get to serve together for another transfer. We are excited for the upcoming weeks and I hope everyone is doing fantastic!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

The balcony where I do runs

My permesso