Ragusa: Round 4!

Dear Family and Friends,

*Transfer Calls*

-Anziano Draghi: "Hey Son! How are you doing?"

-Me: Hi Dad! Great, come stai?

-Anziano Draghi: Bene bene. So I just wanted to tell you that you will be staying to continue to train Anziano Mars. Keep taking good care of my grandson. 

-Me: Sounds good to me 

-Anziano Draghi: Okay good luck. I love you son! 

-Me: Love you too!

(I have the best father in the mission :) )

Quindi, transfers have come and gone and I am still here in sunny Ragusa with my own "son" Anziano Mars as was expected. This will be the longest time I have ever stayed in a city and also I am now the oldest person in our district of missionaries here. My how time has flown and the tables have turned.

But before the serious stuff, let's reminesce on the good stuff. August is coming and that means week/month long vacation for almost all Sicilians so the missionary work is starting to become a little more stressful for me, but it also gives us a lot more to be creative and fun with how we do it. Like always, we did a lot of walking in the usual spots and I am seeing the Lord's hand more in our work. On Monday, we met Elias (who calls me AnZaino Price) from Nigeria who had never heard about Mormons but wanted to know about our "doctrine" and he promised us that he was going to come to church. Sadly, he never showed up but we feel it is more likely because he couldn't find it because he basically gave us his word. We also met Lorenzo who shared with us his life story about moving to Ragusa and believing God didn't exist because he didn't hear his prayer to save his dad from dying (crazy stuff!). I love testifying simply that God lives and loves us because it's a simple truth I hold dear to my heart. 

So other random events included getting asked by a group of old Sicilian men on the bench (milestone!) to explain to them what reincarnation is (turns out they were actually talking about the resurrection), and then subito a man, Francesco, came up to us complaining about how ugly our English Group biglietinni were because it made Italians look like they came from South America (we changed them!) and somehow that was related to Hollywood being racist but we got his number and want to help him understand more about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon later hopefully. 

We actually were blessed this week because there was so much cool wind in Ragusa! It was like there was an air conditioner blowing onto the hill of Ragusa. It was heavenly! We saw the wind especially when we visited Salvo at his summer house in Scioglietti doing home teaching with Fratello Magrograssi Jr. where we ate really good pancakes with real maple syrup! (Never thought I would say that in a sentence!). 

Other news: Our English Group threw us a small pizza party and it made me love them even more! Also we helped GianPaolo who stopped us on the road search through family history records since he was on a trip from London here to learn more about his family history. We also threw a small after church pranzo/genealogy ward activity and the members liked the cheescake I made so that was a nice compliment haha. Sebastiano is progressing well and we took a leap of faith with him. We normally call him in the morning to wake him up for church but he promised to pick us up without the wake up call. So we did, and up to 9:10, it looked bad but he came in just in time and was one of the first people there for church! His testimony is growing and he is finally finally recognizing the Holy Ghost's influence in his life so that is definitely a good sign! We also met a random member who is a refugee from Sierra Leone in the park and helped him find the church again so that was unexpected. Anziano Mars has reached the point where anything that happens no matter how unexpected is just what Italy is like.

I have to admit though...missionary work is hard! It is really hard to give up youself as a missionary everyday. One of the biggest things I have learned from this time training with Anziano Mars is relearning how missionary work is hard again from the eyes of a greenie. It's hard to wake up everyday at 6:30, it's hard to walk outside for most of the day when it is hot, it's hard to talk to random strangers and almost always have them say to you, "non mi interessa", and it repeats. I've reflected so much these past few days and I have seen how far I have come in one year to believe and feel that all this hard work is so worth it and more that it has turned into only blessing, not burden. It's hard to honestly explain why we do this sacrifice but I can say with all my heart that I love love love doing this work of salvation here in Ragusa. And like I say to Anziano Mars like Anziano Draghi said to, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven".  I try to tell myself everyday, "Don't stress, don't worry, just tell people about the joy of having Christ in our lives, and all will be well. It's hard to explain to Anziano Mars, to ya'll, and the people of Ragusa. It is something only understood once it goes through you and changes you ultimately for the better. And based on only what happened this week, missionary work is just a blast!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Price