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

Sent from my iPad

Just Another Week in Italy

So this week was another amazing week in Italy! We taught a lot of lessons and have seen a lot of progress with all our investigators. We found a couple new investigators and even some families who want to take the lessons which is really rare out here. Hopefully they will keep feeling the spirit and want to hear more from us. We taught the plan of salvation a lot last week and I feel truly blessed to know that God cares for me individually. And to not only know that but to know that he created a plan so that I could find happiness in this life and in the life to come is truly incredible.

There was a world wide missionary broadcast last Wednesday and it was really cool. They had apostles and other leaders talk to us about hastening the work. I really liked the challenges we were given to help people feel the spirit and how they stressed working with members. That's really where you get the converts who stay with the church because they have that support system of members to back them up. We are going to work on involving the members here as much as we can and hope to continue to grow the ward here in Ragusa. The Gela Anziani spent the night at our house so we could watch the conference together.

Anziano Rusch and I are starting to teach really well together and hopefully the people we teach can feel the truthfulness of our message. The members are trying their best and it's nice to have people to back is up on our work. We have transfers this week so we should find out if I'm staying in little old Ragusa or moving off to somewhere else. I hope everyone is doing wonderful and I'm praying for God to bless you all.

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Whiting

Us watching the conference

Ragusa Jungle

This week went really well. We had Samuele and Giuseppe both do baptismal interviews and they both passed! Giuseppe wants to wait a little bit though just to strengthen his testimony and bishop wants to hold off on Samuele and his baptism for a little while so will keep meeting with him. He has missed a bunch of church because he works but he loves us and wants to get baptized. This week he asked us if he can serve a mission and be my companion. It was the coolest thing ever to have an investigator say that and it makes me want to work even harder to stay worthy of friendships with people like Samuele.

Another cool thing this week was Marco getting the aaronic priesthood in church. He's going to bless his family so much now that he can act as a representative of Christ and pass the sacrament. Ha we went to teach Carmelo this week at his house (another one of our swag investigators) and he had a lady there house sitting and we had planned to teach the law of chastity and I wasn't sure if we were still going to teach the same lesson but anz Rusch just went right into it. Ha she liked it and he is really progressing and it's probably good his 10 year old son Matteo wasn't there.

Today we went exploring in the Ragusa jungle that's in the middle of our city and we found this random restaurant that's actually really nice. The jungle is really cool and has a bunch of cave dwellings that are pretty sweet. My camera has been getting fixed though so I wasn't able to get any cool pictures but will see what the iPad can do. Other then that we have been working hard and are excited for the new people we have been meeting.
Vi voglio bene!
Anziano Whiting

6 months

Its super crazy but this past week I hit my 6 month mark in the mission! So of course we had to burn a tie to celebrate ha. And don't worry mom, there was a big toothpaste stain on the tie anyway. Time really has just flown by though and I have loved each and every day of my mission. And another important date coming up is my parents anniversary this saturday! It took them 21 years but they finally have a kid on a mission. 

We also had our scambios this week and I got to go to Gela with anziano jorgenson. It was really fun and we did some cool work together. We found them 2 swag new investigators and hopefully they really start to progress. All our investigators in ragusa are doing great and working towards baptism. We got all our really progressing investigators to church this week which was really cool. Their starting to connect with the members and its really cool. 

I teach the gospel principles class with the africans since none of the members speak english and its always so cool. The africans have such strong testimonies in the gospel and always strengthen my faith and help me want to be me humble each and everyday. They have almost nothing in their lives but the gospel of jesus christ and because of that they know that they are rich and have the most important thing anyone could ever have. And samuele and giuseppe are both really close to getting baptized and we are excited for each of them.

I love you and wish you all the best,

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

We went to a restaurant and got a Texas and Mexican burger, but they gave us a Swiss and Russian flag.

The Six Month Burning of the Tie!

Marco's Baptism!

This week was super awesome and we finally had Marco's baptism! It was a super spiritual experience and he was so happy to make this first promise with God. On of the members that has been Marco's friend for the 5 years he has investigated the church baptized him, his names pino dimartino. When we went to the church Saturday morning and started to fill the font and it was freezing. Turns out the water heater for the font was out so we used sink water and boiled up a bunch of water for the font. It took almost all day since we had to wait for the water to boil and for the sink water to heat up, but it was worth it.
We also had a cleaning day on New Years where we cleaned the house and had a small lunch with our ward mission leader. The apartment we have is pretty old but we got it all cleaned up. At our ward mission leaders house we ate a cake in the shape of a tree and when he asked his 4 year old daughter if she wanted cake she said"but we don't eat trees daddy" haha it was super funny, I love those guys. We also had our ward Christmas/New Years party last week and the whole ward got together to eat and listen to different musical numbers. We met some pretty cool people that the members brought so hopefully we can start teaching some. Now that Marco is baptized we have to get some more solid investigators. But anyway, I'm loving it here in Italy and I'm praying for all of you!
Vi voglio bene,
Anziano Whiting

The ward mission leader's house with the tree cake

Here's us at the baptism

Christmas in Italy

This past week was really incredible! We obviously celebrated christmas and were able to meet and teach a lot of people last week. We're also super excited for Marco's baptism this friday and he is so ready. He came up and talked to me in church about how he really feels God in this church and how much he loves it. He is going to be a stud member for sure. We also started teaching a referral this week named Rosario and he is really cool. He's looking for guidance in life and seems really interested. We're really excited for him.

Giuseppe came to church again and he came to all 3 hours this time. He really likes our bishop and is coming to the ward christmas party on tuesday. We also made over 150 cookies for our english course party last week and it was crazy ha. Everyone loved them and kept asking us how to make them. For christmas we were told to not be out tracking unless we got invited to a party for the christmas eve, christmas, and the day after (it's a holiday in Italy) so we were at home a lot this week and we decided to make a christmas tree out of boxes and glow sticks. Not too shabby for a couple of teenagers.

On christmas we got to go eat with some members who had invited some less actives over for the holidays and it was a blast. We also got to Skype our families on christmas and it was pretty great. I realized how long I hadn't seen them when I heard one of my younger brothers start talking in a voice deeper than mine. (jamey) It was cool, and we also had a party at our friend Salvo's house and watched Inside Out with the Anziani from Gela. Anziano Rusch and I are super excited to get back into the swing of things this week. It was nice to have a break but we want to go get back at the work. 

The mission is great and I'm praying for you all!

Vi Voglio Bene!

Anziano Whiting

Here's the marvelous tree

Natale

We had an amazing week and I am super excited for everything that's going on! We had specialized training in catania and I love being with all the other missionaries from around our zone. We did a nativity with the waddoups and I had the pleasure of being a sheep =D Ha someone has to do it right? But it made me think a little bit about how christ always calls us his sheep and how we need to follow him. Sheep don't know where safety, food, and warmth are but the Shepard call lead them to all of those things if we just let him. It was fun and anziano Rusch was a sheep with me too.

Anziano Rusch and I have been working hard this past week, we have some solid investigators but we really want to find some more people during this christmas season. i love working with anz Rusch, I've learned a lot from him about the language and working with the spirit. We finally got giuseppe to come to church and he met a ton of the members and it sounds like he really liked it. During the sacrament he had a hard time paying attention because i translate for the africans every week and he wanted to sit in the back with me but it was fine. Were trying to get some members for him to sit with. I don't know if I told you guys last week but marco had work so his baptism is on the 2nd of janurary. He is pretty excited and it's cool to see him taking the first steps as a member. 

We had a fun divotional/dinner with our ward mission leader. Everyone bore a spiritual thought and the missionaries sang a song. Then santa came haha, it was super funny and mom don't read the rest of this to lizzy because santa was our ward mission leader who is this short skinny italian ha. It was really funny. We got presents for there family and the best one was probably this life sized minion we bought his 4 year old daughter. It was bigger then her and she loved it. 

But anyway, I'm super excited to be celebrating the birth of our savior this week and hope everyone can take a little time this christmas and thank god for the gift of his son to us.

Buon Natale!

Anziano Whiting

We went to the Puglisi house and they hadn't put up there tree and Sorella Puglisi said they didn't have enough time this year but we took it upon ourselves to help them set it up.

This is a video of the ward mission leader's daughter opening the gift:

Christmas is a comin

This week was another good one. So to start off, Marco passed his bap interview!!!! so we will finally have him baptized after like 5 years of investigating the church. It'll have to be on jan 2 though because he has work this week and then christmas next week. It's super cool to finally have him at this point though. We are going to work hard with him these next couple weeks so that he can stay worthy and be ready to be a member. Its really cool to see how the gospel has really changed his life, he used to want to leave his family and divorce his wife but we worked with him a lot and then he started saying he would wait tell the kids grow up then divorce his wife. And now he says he has totally lost the desire to leave his family which is super cool. The gospel has really blessed his family. 

A lot of our other simps aren't making as much progress like giuseppe and samuele. They haven't come to church so they don't receive those same blessings as they could just from coming to an hour of sacrament meeting. Will work on helping them get there though. We did a lot of finding this past week and have been showing christmas videos to people. Most of the time people don't want to watch the christmas videos or really talk with us for that matter haha. But that just means we don't have to give all our time to people who aren't ready for the gospel. Speaking only italian throughout the whole week was also really fun, we had a new sister come in and she thought that anziano rusch and I didn't know how to speak english which was kinda funny. 

There was a couple from english course who I have been wanting to start teaching and we actually found their house going around doing casa a casa ha and now they are interested in learning a little bit more about the gospel so that should be wonderful. Christmas is right around the corner here and everyone is excited. In Italy they have parties like every week for different people so there should be no shortage of fun here until the new year. I hope everyone is doing well and remember christ is the reason for the season. Have a very merry christmas!

Vi Voglio bene! Buon Natale!

Anziano Whiting

This is our district.  We bought matching sweaters and then Anziano Rusch and I bought matching scarves.

This is some dude from Gela dressed as a minion and I thought it was super funny.

Transfer 4

We had transfer calls this week and I get to stay in Ragusa!! I'll still be with Anziano Rusch which is super great. This next transfer is extra long because we have christmas and the whole country shuts down around christmas time because it's such a big holiday here. Marco has also accepted to be baptized on december 19th which is super cool since I just heard byu has their bowl game then against utah. But he has progressed a lot and now we are just hoping his wife opens up to the gospel. Giuseppe is also a really cool guy. We found him going house to house and he is super interested in the church. If we can get him to come to church on sunday that would help our a lot too.

One of the greatest examples I've seen out here on my mission has been Timoti. He had a baptism scheduled about a month ago but because he's a refugee he has to wait to get baptized. Even with all of that he still comes to church every single week all because he knows the church is true. I really hope I'm here when he gets all his legal stuff sorted out to see him get baptized. He also has a swag friend named hilary clinton who wants to get baptized too but they both have to wait. I also got to do a scambio with the new district leader anziano wog and it was pretty fun.

We found this nice old couple by our house the other day and have been teaching them a little bit. They seem interested and we hope that they really do have a sincere desire to learn. We found them going house to house as well. I've always heard that going house to house doesn't work super well but we have found a lot of success with it in Ragusa. I think it's because people don't go outside of their houses much but either way, I enjoy it. But yeah, the work is good here and I'm excited to get to serve in Ragusa for another 2 months. Anziano rusch and I decided to only speak in italian this week. Should be great lol. 

Vi amo

Anziano Whiting

Here's Fritello Pulisi.  He said he was cold so I gave him some of my clothes.

Here's a gesso we did with the sisters.

Here's Anziano Wog with $100 napkins