Then There Were Three

We got transfer calls this week and I'm now in Rome 2 with Anziano Campbell! We get to be in a house with 2 other elders and will spend Christmas in Rome!! The ward here is the biggest in Italy active member wise with about 50 American members who either are working on the temple or at the embassy. They are all incredible and we've been able to work with a couple families already which is great. It's nice to be with the people who know how the ward should work.

Before leaving L'Aquila though we were able to say goodbyes to lots of people. And everyone wants to come visit us in Rome so that should be fun. We ate with the custodes one last time and they referred us a family that we were able to teach and it was a really great lesson.

Andrea was also doing really good and wants to find his answer and he will. L'Aquila is in good hands with Anziano gunnell and anziano houseman.

This man called us this week wanting to find the church and become a member and he is so cool. His name is James and he made it out to church and already has some swag fellow shoppers. Abraham, who is a convert from his same church, just homied up with our boy James. We also met Ricardo on the bus and I'm going to be honest and say that my favorite finding technique of all time is commenting on sports memorabilia people are wearing, and so Ricardo with his Minnesota Vikings hat became a quick target. But anyways, it was really sad to leave L'Aquila but we're excited for Rome!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

And we did find an American sports store!

Baby it's cold outside!

We had a jam packed week once gain! We had another blitz in pescara with the other missionaries and it was really cool to do a scambio with Anziano Martin who flies home tomorrow. We were able to teach a couple lessons and it was really cool to see how great of a missionary he's become. I'm gonna miss that kid. We also went and ate those huge sandwiches again and you better belief we ate 3 this time ha we all wanted to die after we did it.

We saw palmir again and he is so nice. We ended up having quite the adventure with our boy in sulmona that involved a trip to the radiologist, warm milk, an old lady kissing us...., some amazing seafood, and chocolate haha. Needless to say palmir loves the message of the restoration. Unfortunately Anziano gunnell hates seafood and ended up vomiting all Friday night. He's quite the fireball.

Andrea and chino are both progressing immensely! Andrea in a lesson this week after reading 2 nephi 32 said that the Book of Mormon just tells you exactly what we need to do in life and it's so clear. We had stake conference and lots of our investigators made it out which was really nice. Most everyone talked about the family and they had some incredible testimonies. I really love all members of Italy and how strong there testimonies are. It helps me see that you can live the gospel no matter where you live because it was made for everyone!

The last pic with Martin

And for all of you who are sad about the US election, Hillary Clinton got baptized last week in Palermo!

Surprise!

This last week was truly incredible! One of the real miracles we had was Andrea. He hadn't really been progressing for the past couple weeks and then he texted us this week asking if we could come over to read the scriptures we him. And we've had some amazing lessons with him now and he's actually started to keep commitments and progress. He even came to church which was a real blessing since he also brought his mom. I love that he wants his mother to have the blessings of the gospel as well.

We also had a surprise scambio with the zone leaders and I got to serve with Anziano segura. We went to one of the greatest meal appointments of my mission and not just because of the food haha. We did have some incredible chicken though. We were with the custodes who we had invited to try and have a gospel conversation with a non member every week and we should actually start teaching a family their friends with this next week. We love swag member missionaries!

We have been going to the castle by our house a lot recently to look for investigators and it's magical. I don't know if people just feel bad and listen to us haha but we almost always come back with a new investigator or potential from there ha. If we didn't have any lessons we'd probably go to that park every day. We also had a really good lesson with James on the plan of salvation. I love how simple this plan god has created for us. All we have to do is follow the commandments and will be blessed.

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Whiting

Here's James and a swag picture he drew

Anziano Gunnell leading us into the unknown