All I want for Christmas is...

Buon natale to everyone! Christmas in Rome is everything we had hoped for and we saw some amazing miracles this past week. It's a little sad because Anziano Toronto goes home to America tomorrow and we have transfer calls tonight but we just worked really hard this past week and saw tons of success! Our boy joe that we helped out last week made it to the GANS center with his girlfriend and little daughter and they are so prepared! We taught the plan of salvation and the lesson went really well, Martin the member that helped find them was able to participate as well.

We had a party at the GANS center for Christmas and a lot of our investigators were able to make it out. We actually had more investigators show up then members so that made the party all the more exciting. Nick made it out and we had one of the best lessons ever! He has grown his faith in Christ so much just from reading the Book of Mormon and he now wants to give it to the rest of his family members.

He also gave me a really beautiful Christmas present that he drew himself. He's such a nice kid!

For Christmas we got to visit some members and we actually taught a lot of lessons which was a major high light. Church went really well, Anziano Toronto gave a talk on being baptized and aureola from Albania was really touched by the whole thing. We also went and sang carols to some orphans and gave them cookies for Christmas. We had a zone wide gesso followed by a secret santa. Do to a lack of communication and a switch of zones, my name was absent from the white elephant but I did come prepared with chocolate for myself haha. Everything is going really well and I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Whiting

Our Christmas Tree

Col capo sul fieno...

The Christmas spirit is definitely prevalent out her in Rome and it's showing in our work. We got to see lots of really cool people last week and get some work done. Serving with anziano Toronto and Jensen is a blast! A major highlight was definitely all the chances we had to do splits with the members out here. I had a chance to go out with our boy kaden all Saturday morning. We put in some work and I really hope it was a good experience for him because he should be leaving on a mission himself this next year.

I also got to go out with another ward member named Martin and we had quiet the experience haha. We got invited to this party, that turned out to be not the most spiritually conducive environment lol so we got out fast after sharing a bit of the restoration with everyone. We also met this kid named joe who was drunk out of his mind and totally lost.

We tried to help him get home and hope he made it alright. It just shows how much of a blessing the teachings of the gospel can be in our lives if we decide to follow them. Emanuel was another really cool guy we found that night. People are just so much more open now it's incredible.

Being at the GANS center is really awesome. Our most progressing investigator is probably Stefania, she study's here and she wants to be baptized so bad. She was able to make it out to our ward party on Saturday and really enjoyed it. We also had the chance to sing in a missionary choir that performed a concert in a ginormous cathedral. We sang really well and hope it gave the church some good exposure out here in Rome. I feel like I'm forgetting most of the stuff that went on this week but it was really fun and this next week leading up to Christmas should be just as good!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

Here's most of the choir

We also got to go ice skating

Three Times the Fun!

Thunder has struck twice! Back to a trio haha Rome just can't get anymore exciting! Anziano cagnacci has been suffering from severe anxiety and panic attacks, and after talking with president this week has decided to go home and hopefully work at coming back out after having gone through treatment. He's such an incredible missionary and I hope he makes it back out. I've been moved to the companionship over the young single adults of Rome with Anziano taronto and Jensen.

Before we got to that point though, we had some really cool miracles.

We met with nick at the GANS center (institute center) and the girl who happened to be there studying speaks Chinese. That was the hand of God in our work without a doubt ha. Nick really wants to learn more about Christ since he comes from a non religious background. It's different teaching him but it's still fun. Will be able to still teach him as well.

There was also a baptism last week in Rome 2. A girl named yoxelyn from Cuba got baptized. She participated in English course and wanted to learn more. She leaves for cub here before Christmas so we hope the saints can help her out. We also had a good lesson with James before getting switched over to Rome 1. Our specific area is the Rome 1 ward and then all of the single young adults of Rome. It's going to be a blast!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

Yoxelyn's Baptism

The Rome Temple!

Back in Rome

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

Last night in English course

This was in our back yard...

The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away

We had a very eventful last few days to say the least. After getting put in our trio we had Anziano Campbell get emergency transferred to Sciacca because another elder went home so that was sad to see. He'll do some good work down there though. So now it's just Anziano cagnacci and I and thankfully it's still a lot of fun. We had the chance to see lots of members and get them pumped for missionary work.

Probably the best lesson from last week was after English course with this couple named Davide and Valentina. We were able to teach them the restoration and at least Valentina really enjoyed it. Will have to work more on Davide but they have lots of potential. We also found 3 Chinese homies that are here for college. We were able to teach them and they really loved the concept of prayer. We also ate some Chinese food with them and it was to die for. I've missed Chinese food.

We had a special stake conference yesterday where we had a new stake president put in. He's from our ward so we're excited to meet with him. It was also really nice to see lots of old friends from laquila and Pescara. We had the chance to do a scambio with the elders from ascoli before the conference and they were lots of fun. We spent a lot of time helping Anziano Campbell get ready to move and so hopefully we can get back to seeing all of the miracles of Rome!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

The Trio

Piazza del popolo