Letter from President Mannino

Hello Whiting Family,

I would like to write you a few notes just to let you know how much appreciated is your son Elder Whiting's missionary service here in Italy, and more specifically in Palermo 3 (the Branch where I'm currently presiding as local leader).

From the very first time I met your son, I noticed great gentle manners in him. I still remembered the first time he came to my home (I have a little office in my home where sometimes we hold weekly PEC). As the "new" guest, I gave him some water first. He did not take it, but rather he gave/served the water to all the others and then he got water for himself at the very end. He takes off the shoes when he comes to our home and even helps to clear the table after dinners/church refreshments.

Your son is doing an excellent job in Palermo 3. He and Elder Chilvers brought back 3 outstanding LDS members (Melchizedek holders) to Church (to be honest, we even did not know they were around) and are really doing an amazing work with Rita's family whose young daughter Irene is going to be baptized this weekend.

Elder Whiting and Elder Chilvers did some very distinguished work for a relevant public school/sports event which took place in our Church building some weeks ago, in the presence of Palermo Local Council Mayor and other local public Authorities.

More importantly, Elder Whiting is always with a beautiful smile, good attitude, very proactive and is a great problem solver. He can identify very well where the problem lies and tries to find appropriate solutions. For instance, he has become our "official" Sacrament Meeting Pianist and he has learned to make "cheesecake" which is one of my very favorite desserts!!!

I'm sure that many of Elder Whiting's qualities are his own, but I'm also sure that  many of his qualities come from the teachings, love and care of you, his own family. Thank you very much for that!

Again, your son is truly devoting himself to the "good" cause and he is a wonderful person. You can really be proud of him.

Sincererly yours,

Cristian Mannino

Volleyball Word of Wisdom Activity

We had another fun week and I hope we can keep having more success. We were able to see our boy Giulio come to church which was really nice. We hope he starts participating more in church. He's a swag dude and he could receive so many more blessings and grow spiritually if he came to church. Oh well agency is a killer. Femi is going to be getting the priesthood this week and his sister Mortala should be getting baptized this week! If everything goes well their whole family should be in the church this next week. I feel honored to have helped with their conversion story.

We have also been making a lot of cheese cakes out here haha. The italians love it so much its not even funny. Our branch president just wants us to make one every PEC so that he can change out the cleaned pans we leave at his house with a full one. We also played a lot of soccer last week since it was zone calcio. It was really fun even with the heat going up in Palermo. 

Our boy Carmelo is still doing well and we really hope he can make it out to church next week. It would be really cool to get investigators visiting with both wards. The sisters put on a volleyball word of wisdom activity and it was really fun to participate in. Our P2 ward team was unbeatable and I still love watching Italians playing competitive sports other than soccer ha. They just aren't used to using their hands. Anyway, we have been seeing some nice progress with our investigators and have some potentials this next week that we want to make into investigators this next week so hopefully everything goes well.

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

My cheesecake

Festa della Mamma

We had another wonderful week and it all got chapped off when I was able to see my family for mothers day! We had some fun lessons this week and actually had some success in bringing people to church. We always ride this tram to church and we helped a lot of our african friends make it to church on sunday since they didn't know where it was. It must of been funny to see us two elders walking into church with our 20 africans. I also gave a my first talk in italy last week and the best part was it was in Palermo 3, so I did it in English :p

We had a really good lesson with Mike last monday and he kept calling us throughout the week to tell us he was reading the book of mormon. It was great to hear that he wanted to know for himself if everything we teach is true because we have to read the book of mormon to do that. We met this cool dude named Carmelo and he is a blast haha. He's alittle bit like Samuele from Ragusa so it'll be fun teaching him. 

We went to the catacombs last week and I was not a fan lol. I prefer seeing people alive as opposed to dead. We saw our boy Thomas a couple times and he really likes us. He still is having issues with his diabetes but we hope he can get out pretty quick. One of the really cool things that has been happening a bit her is we have been giving blessings. I really enjoy when Anziano Chilvers gives the blessings because I will get promptings for the things he has to say in the blessings and then he will say them! It's the coolest thing ever. It just goes to show what you can do when you exercise your priesthood worthily. 

Anywho, Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Whiting

And then the african suit ha it's like PJ\s with this swag design

Mother's Day Skype with the Fam

Palermo Transfer #3

We had another great week and it looks like this transfer will go really well. We had a pretty fun P-day last week, we went up to Mistretta with the international branch and got together with some other wards. They served us really good food and it was fun being with all the other members. We were in a trio for most of this past week since Anziano Lancaster had his companion go home so we spent a lot of time switching back and forth between the 2 areas. It was pretty fun.

After we sent anziano lancaster off we had to help the new elders get into their area so that was also very fun ha. /hopefully they're all settled in now. We have been working more with Rita's family since the daughter of the family just turned 8 and so we want to prepare her to hopefully get baptized here pretty soon. Their whole family is really awesome and I feel blessed to know them. We also did a lot of work with our friend giulio (the less active we play ping pong with) and he says he wants to start having one of his friends come meet with us which would be really cool. 

This past week we had some nice first lessons with investigators and have some high hopes for all of them. It was cool to meet this member from Ghana who contacted us out of nowhere looking for where the church was. His name is Thomas and he's a super cool dude. We got to stop by the hospital and give him a blessing. I also really love all the members here from Palermo 2. Their all amazing and wonderful examples for me in my life. 

Vi volgio bene!

Anziano Whiting

This is us on a rock

Our district before everyone left

P 3 Glory Days

We had another amazing week and the best news is that anziano chilvers and I will be staying together for another transfer! We are really excited and are ready for the miracles. This past week we got some nice work done and hope to build off of it. We had a really good lesson with a less active lady and her two non member sons. The family is really opening to us and we hope to be able to start teaching the family. It's really fun going over to see them and spending time with them. We also had some fun lessons with our boy mike who really wants to improve his knowledge of what we teach.

We had a fun sabbath because two of the past elders came to visit Palermo and the members really showed how much they appreciated everything the missionaries had done for them. It was a good example for the impact I want to leave in the cities I serve in. We also had a bit of a sad week because we had to say goodbye to the senior couple and anziano rasband who all took off for home. They were great missionaries and I'm going to miss them and all the wonderful times we had together.

Last week we got to play some frisbee with the missionaries and it was a blast. Palermo has some really nice places that we can go see. Most of them are on the other side of the town but i really love our side of Palermo. Anywho, we are working hard on meeting with new people and trying to find the people out there that are going to have interest in the message that we are sharing. We're also hanging in a trio for the next couple days with anziano Lancaster so will be working out our three man finding ha.

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano whiting

My boys teaching Hillary Clinton

Here's Rasband right before he left

Palermo Paradise

We had another incredible week of missionary work and everything is spectacular. We had some fun lessons and saw a lot of progress out of our investigators. Sammyjo showed some real progress this week and he asks really deep questions which makes the lessons fun. He works out of town of Sunday's so hopefully we can figure something out for him.

One miracle that we had this week was our boy Lawrence from English course just showing up at church on Sunday. The members were super nice to all of them which was cool. He likes the talk a lot but his son and wife really liked primary and relief society so will have to see what happens.

Anziano chilvers turned 20 this past week which was pretty cool. We had a scambio that day so he was actually in misttretta while I was in Palermo with Anziano Dunn. We did get to celebrate his bday with the district though so that was fun. Anziano Dunn and I worked really hard on our scambio and we had a lot of appointments fall through but at the end Anziano Dunn couldn't stop talking about how packed our day was. It really helped me feel gratitude for all the investigators we have and that they are willing to meet with lots of people in Palermo.

I'm been blessed thus far with lots of work to do and I know it's all God's doing.

Anywho, the highlight of the week probably came in Palermo 3 sacrament meeting when we sang 'my country tis of thee'. It was so funny ha! A bunch of Africans singing one of Americas hymns is the greatest, and probably the best perk having to play the piano. We have transfer calls this week and it should be fun to see what ends up happening.

The work is going really well and I'm loving Palermo!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano whiting

Here's us laser tagging

Adventures in Italy

We had another good week and things are looking up. We had some more great lessons with prince jyan and we think that he will be a nice addition to Palermo. Hillary is also working on his testimony and it was fun to have a member of the stake presidency from Ragusa come to church Sunday because he remembered Hillary and I. We have done a lot of work with some cool less actives and are hoping we can snag some investigators off of them.

This week we also went to bagheria which is a suburb of Palermo and tried to help out the missionaries there with a blitz. We met some cool people and some dude ever cursed me haha. I talked to him about the Book of Mormon and then he talked about how he did miracles when he was in America and started drawing on my chest lol but no satanic experiences to report from that encounter. We did get rained on a lot this week though.

We had a duel between the other Palermo district in soccer and we demolished them. Ha and they finished our African suits but they made mine super huge so now their slimming it down. I'll send pictures when we finish it. Anyway, things are going really well and Anziano chilvers and I are giving it are all, Vi voglio bene!

Anziano whiting

Just chillin with all these naked statues

Samuele and his Twilight hat

General Conference

This week was really amazing and we saw lots of miracles. The highlight definetly had to be general conference where the prophets and apostles talked to the world through a broadcast. We got to watch conference with the english speakers from Palermo 3 and some of the members who wanted to watch it without translators. I really enjoyed Elder Christofferson talk where he talked about being a father. It was also really incredible to see our prophet Thomas S Monson get up there and bare his witness of our father in heaven. It really strengthened my testimoney of him as our living prophet on the earth today. 

This week we also had a really fun BBQ with the ward and we played volleyball with all the african and italian members haha... It was so bad. They would both get so fired up at each other and nobody knew how to play at all. It was fun though. We also had a scambio in Mistretta this week and it was really good. I was with Anziano Nessen and we saw a lot of miracles up in the mounatins. I also really like the senior couple that lives up there named the Wartels. They are super nice people. 

We had some fun lessons this week and met some cool new people. Our boy Guglio actually came to conference! We've been working with him forever (he's a less active guy that loves playing pingpong with us). It was really amazing. We also had some fun lessons with all of our investigators and most of them really enjoyed conference. Some of our favorite lessons this week we had with Prince Jyan. He is super interested and really smart. He asked super deep questions which is really fun. Anyway, the work is going great and I am loving Palermo.

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

Lorenzo who left on a mission a bit ago

Us watching conference

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