The Church is True

First off I would just like to thank everyone for all of the birthday wishes, I'm certain it's going to be a wonderful day! We had the precious opportunity of listening to general conference over the past 2 days and learned a lot from the prophets and apostles of god. There were lots of marvelous teachings like how to have joy and the plan of salvation. Of course missionaries love when the apostles talk about missionary work as well ha. Lots of my questions were answered and it really strengthened my testimony of these men that represent Christ on the earth today. God has always worked through prophets and always will. 

We had a blitz in ascoli this past week with the boys and it was really fun. We figured we have to utilize our time as a sister less district and so we went down for pday and then did missionary work after. We got to meet this really nice less active member whose working on quitting smoking. We also got to see Giovanna again and she is just the sweetest lady ever! We're just working through her doubts on the need to get baptized again. 

The highlight of finding this past week was this old dude we met on a bus; he asked me if I had a girlfriend and I told him I still had to find her, so this kind gentlemen then proceeded to ask every girl who came on the bus if she wanted to be my girlfriend haha. Needless to say, I'm still single haha but we have lots of new potential investigators now. (Their not all just teenage girls so don't worry mom ;). Andrea came to conference and really loved it. The work is going great!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Whiting 

A nice picture Palmir took of us.

The boys

Healing Toes

We had another wonderful week and it feels like time is just going faster and faster. We went to Rome last Monday for another doctor appointment. They said my toes are doing a lot better and they should be healed pretty soon. Anziano gunnell also made us cinnamon rolls and they were so good! Anziano gunnell really didn't like the fufu our friend Austin fed us ha it's just flour and water mixed together but the Africans love it.

We had some more really swag lessons with chino this past week. We taught chastity and he just loved the whole lesson. He's also really recovering from his surgery which is a miracle. We taught this lady named Giovanna with our ward mission leader and she's such a nice lady. She values the family so much and it's nice to see that our values match up on that. We had lots of people show up to church on Sunday and hope they can make it for conference this weekend.

We got to see valerio again and he introduced us to his friend giacomo. They are pretty cool guys and we got to eat dinner with them and Andrea. Ha they say they plan on coming to visit the family in America so I hope your ready mom! I never thought I'd say this but we finally had some time to go finding and it was super exciting ha. I didn't really appreciate our finding time until we didn't have lots of time to do it. I guess I've just really come to love sharing the message of the restoration with the people of Italy.

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

The district at Chicken Hut.  Whiting, Olsen, Gunnell, Anderson, Hansen, Campbell, and Martin

Emoji Pillows in Lander & Italy!

Anziano Carroll with our boy Papon who we taught together in Palermo!

Mission-wide Conference

We had another jam packed week and it looks like the work is really progressing forward. One of the highlights has to be the mission wide conference we had with President Kearon from the area presidency of Europe and his councilor Elder Sabin. They had almost all the missionaries meet together in Rome and we had the privilege of being taught by these marvelous leaders. There was a major focus on 'being the message' and not stressing. It was really helpful and it was a blast to see a lot of the old missionaries I've served with.

Our boy chino had to go to the hospital this past week to have an operation done. We were able to visit him a couple times and thankfully he's out now. We had an incredible lesson with him yesterday on the gospel of Jesus Christ and he's really searching for the truth. Andrea is still coming up clutch with referrals ha, he hasn't made lots of progress but he keeps introducing us to different people who want to learn. He introduced us to this guy named Valentino who we can hopefully start teaching this up coming week.

The cooking adventures have also continued here in L'Aquila. We got a huge thing of turkey last week from the Mensa and decided to deep fry it haha. The entire outside just turned black and burned but the inside was amazingly good, so remember that for thanksgiving this year. Something really incredible has been the power I've been able to feel recently in my prayers. It's very humbling to think that God gives us a chance to speak with him and if we really listen we are able to receive the answers to our problems. It's something incredibly simple yet highly underutilized. So say your prayers :) Vi voglio bene Anziano Whiting

Nice picture of the sun setting in L'Aquila by the hospital

MTC Group from the Conference

It's L'Aquila

We had a really busy, fun filled, exhilarating week! One of the highlights definitely had to be our meal appointment with stefano and his family, they just kept feeding Anziano gunnell haha. I felt so bad for him and I guess I just haven't taught him how to say no in Italian. He gained over 2 pounds after that one meal appointment....and we did scambio this week and I got to be with Anziano Martin again! It was really cool to be able to do a scambio with him before he leaves for America in a month or so.

We had a nice stake activity at la sorgente die fiumi in popoli. It was to introduce a genealogy program and we got our boy Andrea to come and now he's actually really interested in doing his genealogy. So it looks like will be brushing up our family history skills. Matthew is a stud muffin! He's already read over 40% of the Book of Mormon and watched multiple general conference talks. We hope he just really listens to the spirit because that's what's really going to convert him.

The members in L'Aquila are pretty incredible. There's a family from Ecuador named the custodes that loves inviting over the missionaries and they are just the nicest people ever. Our branch president is also a homie, his family comes to corso every week and helps with the gospel lessons we teach after. They have a son named Marco whose mentally handicapped but he's the nicest kid ever and loves talking with the missionaries. It looks like my toes are going to be fine as well, I mean they still look bad but they don't hurt at all.

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

Nicol, Tomarra, Io, and Stefano

The cool lake thing

The Balm of Gilead

We had another fantastic last couple days and the lord continues to bless us. My toes have been doing a lot better and it looks like I'll make a full recovery here pretty soon. There is a balm in gilead! I was given permission to walk to the church (which is thankfully right by our house) in my flip flops ha for English course and lessons. We actually had a really good lesson with a lady named Monica and her 3 children after corso and are excited for all of their progress.

Our boys chino and Laurence both made it out to church and they loved it! Translating is always a blast as well. I've gotten a lot better at it than I was at the start of the mission. The members at the Mensa keep giving us all the leftover food and it's wonderful! Ha they gave us this huge hunk of lamb this past week and it was super good. It's wonderful to have the chance to serve and give back to these people who do so much for us.

One of the miracles from last week was this guy named Matthew. He's 20 from France but is moving here and wants to take the lessons with us over Skype. He comes from a part member family but he and his parents are jehovahs witnesses. Usually we can't do much with the witnesses but Matthew really wants to learn more about our church and is opening to praying and finding out for himself about the truth. It's probably the best situation you could ask for in teaching one of the witnesses and I hope we're up for it.

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Whiting

This is what they did to my toes.

Here's us going to English course.

Immortal

To start off I would just like to thank everyone for all the prayers that have been given in our behalf. There was an earthquake that hit a small town called amatrice which is about 40 miles north of L'Aquila.

It's actually in our ward boundaries but we have never been there. The quake did not disrupt us here in L'Aquila very much at all. We only felt the first 2 and they did not destroy the city in the slightest thankfully. Anziano gunnell and I were never worried for our safety and thankfully we didn't have to be.

This week was also filled with lots of other experiences to help us and especially me remember we are not immortal. I got s nice black eye this week playing basketball and then we actually got to go on a trip to Rome last Friday to have my feet looked at and I was diagnosed with two ingrown toenails. At least they both happened at the same time right? We had surgery this morning and everything went really smoothly so you don't have to worry mom. It sounds like I must have cut them wrong and then all the walking did me in.

Missionary work wise everything is fantastic ha! At least we're staying immortal in that realm. We had a wonderful lesson with a man named John that Anziano gunnell actually contacted which was pretty cool. We also had a nice ward party on Saturday were we got to play some ultimate frisbee. We are going to dive into our area book this week (I'm not supposed to walk the next 3 days): and also see if we can't bring back some of those former investigators. Andrea actually volunteered to tutor Anziano gunnell with some Italian and we hope to tutor him more about the atonement this week.

Thank you all again for all the concern and prayers!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

This is a famous place called the keyhole in Rome.  You look through on Italian soil into a Maltese garden that has the Vatican in the background.

Surgery of ingrown toenails

All Missionaries Safe

To the Dear Families of the Great Italy Rome Mission;

Last night a significant earthquake struck an area of central Italy by the town of Norcia. We can report that all our missionaries have been contacted and are safe and accounted for.

Our prayers are with those affected by this tragedy.

With love and gratitude,

President & Sister Pickerd

Alle care famiglie dei missionari della grande missione di Roma;

La notte scorsa un terremoto ha colpito l'Italia centrale nella zona intorno a Norcia. Possiamo confermare che tutti i nostri missionari sono stati contattati e tutti stanno bene.

Le nostre preghiere vanno con tutti quelli colpiti da questa disgrazia.

Con amore e gratitudine,

Presidente & Sorella Pickerd

New Beginnings

We had quiet the eventful week! We had deep cleaning day last Monday so our house looks a lot cleaner now. We also got transfer calls that night and they shipped Anziano Burgos off to Rome and sent Anziano Gunnell in his place. Anziano Gunnell comes from Orem Utah and is straight out of the mtc so we should have some exciting learning experiences together! He's a really nice kid and willing to work hard.

We started teaching this really cool family this past week from English course. The parents are stefano and tomola (I think) and then there daughter Nicole and they are incredible. They even brought us treats one day! We are super ecstatic and hope they continue to progress. Our boy chino also made it to church again and he brought a friend! He called that morning saying he hurt his leg and wasn't going to be able to come but then he changed his mind and came anyway. It's wonderful to see how he already treasures the sabbath day.

The members here are amazing as well. Before Anziano Burgos left we went to say goodbye to a member at her work and then started to wait at the bus stop. We waited for 30 minutes and then the member came back out and offered to have us over for dinner so we went with her.

She made probably the best ragu (spaghetti sauce) I've had in my life.

Sister Nancy is a saint :) and her daughters family has been visiting from England and will maybe decide to stay here in L'Aquila again but we will see.

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

Anziano Gunnell and the treat Nicole gave us.

The All Elder District Photo we took for the girls back home

Eng Trainer Parent Position Letter

16 August 2016

To the Family of Elder Whiting,

Your missionary, Elder Whiting,  has recently been assigned to be a "New Missionary Trainer".  In this assignment he will be the companion of a newly arrived missionary. This is a very important responsibility.  Trainers have a profound and lasting influence on the development of a new missionary's attitude and habits.

I am confident that Elder Whiting will do an excellent job in this new assignment.

Sister Pickerd and I thank you for your faith and prayers on behalf of our mission and for all you have done to prepare such an outstanding missionary.

Sincerely,

Michael D. Pickerd

President

Italy Rome Mission

Ferragosto

This last week was really exciting. We were able to teach Andrea and valerio a couple times this past week and valerio is definitely progressing a lot more than Andrea but we still love both of them.

They even came to play ball with us in the morning so that was cool.

We had a nice miracle with our new friend Angelo. He's from Peru and showed up at the church when we were teaching Andrea and valerio.

Angelo was fine with just sitting down for the lesson wi us as well when we asked him. He really loved the plan of salvation though.

Something really cool about laquila is that we get to do service at the Mensa every week. It's a refugee camp that serves food to homeless people. A lot of members volunteer there and they've invited us to participate as well. So we go and usually wash dishes for a couple hours ha but it's a really cool experience. Because it's run by the Catholic Church we are not allowed to proselytize there but people still ask us questions all the time which is really cool. They know that somethings different but they can't pinpoint what it is and we're happy to explain what it is!

A big buy this past week was some tennis racquets because our ward mission leader is big into tennis and wants to play us on a pday. So will see how that goes. We had a fun experience Sunday with our boy chino. Buses don't run on Sunday's in Italy so he just barely made it on time to church and then stayed the whole time, said he loved it, and then waited at the bus stop for a couple hours. If anybody got blessings for coming to church, it was chino. He was telling us how he knows that God gave us 6 days for ourselves and 1 for him. He doesn't want to disrespect God after he gave such an honor as that to us. For the missionaries it feels like everyday is Sunday which has really helped me to come to appreciate the sabbath day and the time we get to give service to God.

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

Just Chillin in L'A

And it's August

We had another good week filled with blessings! We met with Andrea this week and he brought his friend whose also named valerio and he's a homie! Andrea introduced him to Buddhism and h converted about a year ago and now Andrea introduced valerio to the missionaries so we hope he gets the same result as last time. The branch president and his family also happened to be at church then so we were able to introduce them to the diodato's as well.

Our ward missionary activity got rained out this week. We have really hot days here and then days when it just pours rain and freezes you to the bone. But anyway, we had the ward members that came do some minute to win it games at the church and the Italians loved it ha. I guess all those pep rallies in high school are finally paying off. And then basketball has been going well ha there's a court right by our house and if our appointments fall through we go talk with the people who are sitting watching people play or if there's only a couple people we shoot around with them and talk about the gospel.

We also had scambio this past week and I got to chill with Anziano Hansen in pescara. We had a little miracle that morning as we did personal study, Anziano Hansen said that he felt we needed to go outside and do something and we ended up getting called by the sisters who needed a blessing for one of the sisters that has been having health issues and was leaving that morning for Rome. So that was nice to have been guided by the spirt. The work is growing step by step and Anziano Burgos and I are looking forward to this up coming week.

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Whiting

Us waiting for the bus

Donkeys by our house

Soarin' Like an Eagle

We had a blast this last week ha. We met this part member family on monday night with a missionary that came to visit L'Aquila from america. It was really cool and we got to bond with them and will hopefully be able to see them again and continue to help them move closer to christ. The ex missionary was named elder beans and he was really cool guy. Most of our members went to the temple this past week though so he spent a lot of time with us instead.

We showed our boy Laurance the restoration video and he absolutly loved it. He works for a tv station and wasn't able to make it to church on sunday but he's determined to make it next week. We had a really good conversation with a kid named valerio last week and what's really cool is he's the kind of kid I think I would be had I not had the gospel. He was playing basketball and wants to have us come play with him. We think he has a lot of potential.

Probably one of the mission highlights will be one of the lessons we had this last week. We taught a catholic priest and even though he didn't accept the message it'll be something to remember. At the start of the lesson he asked if we thought he needed to learn more about the bible after going to school and studying from it his whole life. We of course told him yes haha because we can always learn something new from the scriptures whether it be the bible or the book of mormon, there is always a new revelation we can recieve from them if we search them diligently.

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Whiting

Here's us with beans and the la vignas

Tag photo with Elder Burgos