Second Chances

Dear Family and Friends,

It's getting more and more difficult to recount the weeks. They are just normal to me these days. Yet there is nothing normal about taking giros on Italian streets, trying to talk to random strangers about who God is. It's nerveracking and breathtaking at the same time, especially when you make things really fun.

Let me give some examples. One day we were riding the metro home and I had the idea to talk to this one guy on the other side. I had no idea how to go about it but it is a lot easier to just ask if I can sit next to someone. So I did that and just asked, "Hey can I practice Italian with you?" And surprisly he said yes! We started talking with my broken italian and his broken english about normal things (which always leads to why I am here all the way from Arizona) and we communicated pretty well. I guess it was the Holy Ghost. It was a cool experience and at the end, I got his facebook profile. That's two things I have learned recently. Ask and you shall receive, and it is really easy to ask for people's facebook.

There were many times in fact where I could really feel God guiding us to do what we did. Sometimes, it seemed like we were lost, without a purpose, but then we popped into a random music store and I try and play a violin in the attempt to strike up a conversation. Or we would pass by a ragazzo, realize we needed to talk to him and then turn around in the attempt to ask him a question. I'm really learning how to follow promptings, to do it the first time and never ignore, even though I still mess up on that a lot still.

Okay, I'll talk about the Halloween party now. First off, I thank all the leaders and my parents for all the parties they ever pulled off in my ward back home because it takes a lot of work. The bishop put the missionaries in charge of the party and so we did our best to organize. In the end, there were multiple trips to the grocery store, some hours of planning, and lots and lots of baking. We made peanut butter frosted brownies with peanut butter caramel popcorn while the Sorelle took care of cookies and cinammon rolls and jello, and the decorations. Yah we went all out with our 100 euro budget :) It was a crazy party in the end, the ragazzi like to take over things with their music and dancing, but it was actually a lot of fun for the families and our investigators. It made having to clean our kitchen like 3 times in a row worth it haha.

Other small things include going to a fun pranzo at the Smedilas, another cena with la famiglia Rochira, translating a talk into english for an American couple on the spot that called out some Italian members for talking too loudly during church, daily night schenanigans with the other great Anziani we have in our house, and normal missionary work.

So yeah, missionary work is great! It requires so much strength, faith, repentance, obedience, love, discpline, hard work, and lots of mistakes, but there is no either way to do. I believe that the time when I have given it my all has been the time when it has been most worth it and I just loved the mission. I am working my way up to it again so I am grateful I believe in a God that is merciful and gives second chances and whole lot more after that because I need them and the world needs them. I just want to tell everyone this truth that has only become more true thanks to my mission here.

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Price