Unique Experiences

Dear Family and Friends,

This week I noticed was especially characterized by unique experiences that I probably will never ever have! These have made me even more grateful for the hard choice I made to come out here and sacrifice two years. Trust me, even in times where I don't feel it, this mission is worth it!

Comunque (Anyway), the fun began on Tuesday right after our district meeting with Rosario. Background info: We met Rosario when walking on the street to the church one day. He was driving an Ape (you'll see it in the pictures) and stopped next to us, saying he wanted us to come over next week for lunch. That never happens so we decided to go. So the day came when Rosario drove up and told, not just us but the other elders, to get into this tiny ape. We literally drove on the main road for about 20 minutes in this thing, with 3 of us, including me, sitting in the back. The guys in this one military vehicle were laughing at us soo much! It was hilarious also because it was struggling a lot to go up hills and caused a little bit of traffic (luckily it mostly made people smile). Then we get to his house, and discover the reason he is always usually in the ape is because he is handicapped (like always in a wheelchair). 

So we helped him cook pranzo and we ate way too much (calimari pasta, sausages, steak, and tons of mozzarella). During this, we wanted to know why he wanted to really meet with us, but he never really told us because he just wanted us to eat, talk with him about girls and the law of chastity (very weird so it was very good thing I still need to learn a lot of Italian) , and even try his homemade wine which he claimed had "no alcohol". Definitely a visit I will remember forever. In all honesty, I think he's an old guy that just really wanted company (he wanted us to stay until 7!) so at least we did him a small service if anything. 

And the return trip was even better because it started raining. So it's me, Anziano Silver and Berger, sitting in the back with an umbrella to cover us! And you know what, we even saw Bro. Hubbard (Member; we have been teaching his family for a couple weeks). On the main road, we see a big car drive by with the window rolled and then I see Bro. Hubbard is driving it. He asked if we needed a ride, but I told him we were all good even though we probably actually did need that ride. We saw the Hubbards later in the week and he said "It's a good thing you didn't take my ride. That's a memory you will have forever."

That's really all I have to say about this week. I have made memories in this beautiful city of Pozzuoli with Italian members, investigators, and even the random people on the street we see and talk with. I took pictures of Vincenzo and Lina which you will see because I am afraid that this might be my last week here (probably not but maybe) and I don't want to forget them. Vincenzo always loves to feed us whenever we visit him, making pizza and napolitano bread which is super good. We had pranzo with Lina and her family on Wednesday. It was super fun, she made this delicious pasta al forno (like ziti), and it was great to talk to her family. Both Vincenzo and Lina are the only members in their family who are Mormon (an actually common situation) so it is difficult for them to come to church and yet their testimonies about this gospel are so strong! I love them!

The hard part is that it always seems really hard to meet our investigators or those who want to learn about the church. But we had a nice miracle this week actually with Francesco. We met Francesco on a bus once and now we teach him English at one of the train stations where he works. We were on a scambio (companion exchanges) and so it was Anziano Silver, the other greenie, and I teaching the lesson today. We did our normal English lesson and then when we were about to share a spiritual thought, he asked about what we do as missionaries which lead into talking about the Restoration. So we taught him right then and there, and even read from the Book of Mormon. Anziano Silver and I, two newly trained missionaries with only 3 months of Italian under our belts. We definitely had the help of God with us because he is exercising his faith to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.

Overall, there's too much to write. All that I can really add with the time I have left is that I have really grown a lot in these past few weeks because of Anziano Draghi. He's the best! I love how different he is, largely in part because he is Italian and even when we disagree because of our culture or don't understand each other, we have worked hard to really bond with each other. Last night, Anziano Draghi prayed and during the prayer, all I could think about is the work we have done together. With him, we have comforted those that needed it, we taught others about our gospel, and most of the time we just experienced together the successes, the failures, the funny moments, and lots and lots of special spiritual moments. It was nice feeling to see that we did our best in Pozzuoli and no matter if we leave or not, we know we did our best, that we are successful missionaries!

The mission so far has been a blast and I hope it can continue to be that way! I'll tell you what happens next week! I know this church is true and hope you all see the hand of God blessing your lives.

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Price

Conference Pictures

The Napoli Zone, Zone Conference Oct. 2016

Mission Conference with President Nelson, Oct. 2016
(Caleb is on the left side about three rows back.)

Two Weeks in One

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry about not writing last week! I had finished the email but when I sent it, it apparently didn't send and when I went to try and send it again, the draft didn't save and it was also 6 p.m., the end of our P-day. So I will do my best to recount what has happened for the past two weeks because like normal missionary life, a lot has happened.

One thing I think I might have forgot to mention is that our apartment is only a ten minute walk from the Napoli San Paolo soccer stadium! Some nights are crazy with fireworks, people blowing horns, and it isn't too hard to hear the crowd even from our house. I mean this is Italy! Work literally will stop for these games, especially when the championships come. Imagine Super Bowl status but for every soccer game. I can't imagine what it will be like for the championships.

General updates: There is only one week left before a possible transfer so Anziano Draghi and I are making the most of the time we have together. He is helping me a lot more with the language and I am actually getting more chances to translate for church classes. There are days when I feel awesome with the language and then they are just some days when nothing makes sense.

The weather has gotten a lot colder and probably is going to just stay that way. Totally different than Arizona around this time of year. Italians are always shocked when I tell them the temperature of where I am from. Also, the American members we have visited with have given us small reminders  of home like Doritos and pancakes and syrup! Like seriously, syrup doesn't exist here!

Luckily, Halloween actually is still a thing in Italy but much smaller because some people are afraid because it looks like a holiday of the devil. It is also harder to do trick or treating when you have apartment buildings so the kids go around to shops on the street in costumes and say "dolcetta o scherzetta" and the people give them candy or dolce.

Really I have two experiences that made my week. For one, our investigator, Patrizia, is doing awesome! We had a FHE (family home evening), which basically was lunch with a small lesson and a game with the Hydes, our senior couple in Pozzuoli. And Patrizia and even Mimmo really opened up about their problems as we finished explaining the Plan of Salvation and we were really able to help. Patrizia really wants to get baptized now, she just wants to decide on the day. Hopefully I can see it happen, but already I can see how the knowledge we had about the gospel of Jesus Christ really is blessing her life!

And second, was pranzo (lunch) with the family of Slle. De Bennardo. Background information: Slle. De Bennardo is a member who had an active family probably 20 years ago but now her sons are less active (one even served a mission in Italy). Slle. De Bennardo invited us over to visit them. We had this huge pranzo! There was the typical sausage, potatoes, mozzarella, salad. The pasta was cooked like pasta al forno but in the shape of like a big cake covered in prociutto (ham) and it was so good! We also literally had roasted chestnuts (it's actually a thing here in Italy, tastes alright), clementines, and an apple torta for dessert. So as you can imagine, I was sooo full by the end.

It was also fun to see the family dynamic during the meal, kind of actually similar to my family reunions. We shared a spiritual thought after it all and they really enjoyed our company. But the main reason we were there was to give Massimo and Lina (one of the sons and his wife) a blessing because they were having a hard time with some trials. We even asked Pippo, the one son who went on a mission, to participate. I had he opportunity to give Lina a blessing, even in my broken Italian. I was scared but all I can say is that I followed the Spirit. We could all feel the Spirit by the end of it, and Lina was crying at the end. It was a really powerful experience. I may not ever see that family again, but I know that that experience was just one reason why I am supposed to be on a mission.

There were some really hard days these past few weeks, but those can never be compared to awesome moments like these and more I have had on the mission. All I can really add is my testimony that I know I am meant to be here on this mission. There are people that need the missionaries, especially because we have knowledge that can change the world. God loves us! Never forget that! I love you all and appreciate the support you have given me! 

Have a great week!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Price

Reunions

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm sorry I can't write a lot because we are with the entire zone of missionaries heading to this cool castle in Napoli! Since we get our P-day on Tuesday this week because of the Zone Conference, things are actually open today since Monday is kind of like part of the weekend for Italians.  Anyway, this week was awesome!

One fun cultural thing I noticed is that Napoli is actually very unique in Italy. Anziano. Draghi talks about the differences in culture of all the places he has been to because while Italy is a united country, they are very divided in area and culture.  He says there are 3 general areas of Italy: the north, the south, and Napoli. One way I have seen that this city is unique is that people don't really follow the driving rules. I have seen motorcycles drive on the sidewalk usually twice a day!

Highlights of the week include seeing President Nelson and shaking his hand along with Elder Hallstrom and Elder Kearon, and seeing all my friends from the MTC.  It was super exciting to see everyone and find out about everyone's experience in the mission!  First off, I definitely gained a testimony of the power of the apostles and prophets.  President Nelson knew so much about the scriptures (he said he recently read every word of Bible, Book of Mormon, and the other standard works in 2 weeks!), and he testified of the prophecy and covenant we are fulfilling as missionaries of the latter days, fulfilling the promise God gave to Abraham. It was definitely encouraging!

We also had Zone Conference with President Pickerd which super cool as well!  We saw the great progress of our mission in achieving our mission goals and we were encouraged to find ways to do better to reach the goal of one baptism this transfer. I hope we can achieve but it sure will be hard, especially with the progress of this week!

We met with Mimmo and Patrizia again and it went very well.  The hardest part was just seeing no one come to the church in the end.  In the end we only really taught one lesson that entire week besides less actives but the future is very promising.  Yesterday, we saw the Hubbards Family, a less active family, after making an appointment 3 weeks in advance and it was great!  I continue to see a miracle every day. One day, we were walking to the train station after finding and a lesson with a less active family, and Sorella Cozzie pulls up with her husband in the car, and after small talk invites us over for pranzo!! She is definitely a saint for feeding the missionaries so much!  And the food is so good!

Overall, my testimony has been strengthened!  I believe this is all true and this is my time to give it all!  Really, I realized that I will probably have only 3 weeks left with Anziano Draghi and that this is the time to make the most of it.  And hey, maybe we will receive the miracle of a baptism this transfer! Thanks for your letters and support!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Price

 

"See You Around the World!"

Dear Family and Friends,

I need more adjectives to describe my weeks so I don't keep saying my week was awesome! Let's say my week was joyful!

First some fun things. I am officially addicted to the tiramisu! We had it twice this week and it's so good!! Anziano Draghi and I had this one tiramisu from Lina, a sweet less active member, but we didn't know it actually had coffee in it! She proved to us that is was decaffeinated so I guess it was technically not too bad, but i also learned that I really don't like the taste of coffee (gross!). Anziano Draghi's tiramisu is much better and you make it with orzo, this replacement for coffee for Italians (basically, roasted barley). I hope I can do this recipe when I come home.

We also went to a pretty cool zoo for P-day. You could actually see the animals outside since it wasn't a hundred degrees like it normally is in Arizona. The weather in Pozzuoli continues to get more cloudy and cooler. I have even started wearing my sweater which I love.

But a lot of awesome things happened! For one, our investigator, Patrizia Esposito, is progressing already super well! She came to church this week with her husband, Mimmo, and they are so awesome! This week I have really seen how I have improved in my Italian. It still takes a lot of effort to speak but I can actually participate in the conversation a lot more! We found a new person to teach from our area book who is excited to learn from us again! We even saw Vera and Elvis again and they expressed how they want to come to church, it is just really difficult with their situation right now, so we are going to do our best to testify of the blessings of church next time.

But my favorite part was right before church this Sunday. Just watching everyone walk in and talking with them made me realize that I do love these people! They are awesome! I love talking with Evans, an African from Nigeria, about his life now in Italy. Sorella Garofalo and Sorella D'onofrio commented today that my Italian is already getting much better so that was great! Even the family who lives in Ischia, the island, came to church today! It was just nice to see everyone gather together for one purpose and I am helping others to join this wonderful group of people in Pozzuoli.

To close, I share this experience. Walking out of the train station, this random British guy who walked past us said "Oh, it's the mormons! See you around the world." It was pretty much nothing but i took it to heart. We are going around the world, sharing our message! While not a lot of people want to talk to us, they always will see us. Every train and bus we get on, I can always find a few eyes staring at our tags or our dress. It's a nice confirmation to me that I know this church is true and soon maybe everyone will know who we are.

Vi vogliamo bene!

Anziano Price

Attachments area

All in Good Time

Dear Friends and Family,

Today I am grateful for the miracles that God has provided, especially for helping me adjust to the life of a mission.

Fun things first. Anziano Draghi is a big fan of this old Italian band called Pooh so for language study, we like to sometimes translate a song into English. It's a lot of fun. Also, I am becoming more of an Italian by learning how to cook like them. I can make about 3 kinds of pasta really well now. Now I just need to learn how to make tiramisu (without coffee obviously). I am also addicted to this peach juice that is made in Italy.  It pretty much just tastes like straight peach juice from a jar like when mom cans peaches but it's in a bottle and sold in the supermarket. It's soo good!

After a lot of hard work, searching, and talking with people, we found 4 new people who want to hear our message!  This week we made it a goal to search for more people to teach because we weren't able to contact or meet with anyone like Vera or Raffaele.  While we have had many small miracles this week, one of the most obvious was meeting Pasquale.

Like in those typical missionary stories, we decided to go visit inactive members in the area around our apartment. While searching for one particular person who didn't answer, we decided to actually see if anyone in the building wanted to hear our message anyway. I didn't know why but we did it anyway. The elevator was broken so we climbed to the fourth floor and I remember thinking "Why are we doing this?  No one will listen to us."  And no one did for the first 2 doors like normal. Whenever we can't find a person, Anziano Draghi tries to make up for it by knocking on all the doors of the apartment to see if anyone is interested which they almost always aren't interested.  But we knocked on this one door on the 3rd piano (floor), and this older man answers the door. He begins to say he is busy but he notices that we are missionaries and he said, "I'm totally open to learning about this."  He and his wife were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary which was crazy so we shared a short message on the family since he was busy, but he wants us to come again and share our full message. His wife was calling him to come in and he did his best to shut the door and listen to us talk but he soon had to leave. We still left him with a prayer though!

I am happy here in Italy.  Yesterday marked the end of our first transfer and it really struck me:  I am on a mission.  In Italy!!  Italy has become much more like home than I ever expected.  I love the metro trains covered in graffiti and just meeting random people, not just from Italy but all over the world!  So far, I've met people from Nigeria, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Romania, France, Germany, England, and more!  Overall, I learned this week how everything works on God's time. Sometimes, trials afflictions continue even as we continually pray for them to end.  Because they are for our good!  I always pray to be able to find one person to teach that is new and normally, nothing has come from it.  I've been frustrated with all the work that we do with little results.  But God knows us.  God knows what we need.  And despite my frustration, imagine how joyful I was when we found these people ready to hear the gospel.

I know God performs miracles today, that his words never cease.  I know he loves us all and that's why he sent His Son to die for us.  I love being a missionary every day! Thank you for your support!  I love you all and hope you have a great week.  Pray for blessings from the Lord and then have joy in your afflictions.

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Price

Facts about Italy

Dear Friends and Family,

Since this week was not very eventful due to either people not answering our calls, not being able to visit people because they are sick, and a lot of door to door knocking/walking in Pozzuoli, I wish to expound on what I have learned in Italy.

First, pedestrians always have the right of way, no matter what. Of course, as missionaries, we obey the law of the land, but most people will cross the street wherever they want and sometimes whenever they want because cars have to stop. Basically, Italians don't fear cars hitting them since if the cars do hit them, it is always the fault of the person driving.

Also, Italians love their families. Often, when looking at the names of the apartment complex, half of them will be the same last name because the entire extended family has always lived there. They try to spend a lot of time with each other, probably more than we do in America. Italians also love to eat which I think I have elaborated on enough. They actually love to have us (the missionaries) eat I think more because they always say Manga, manga! (eat, eat!) right when it looks like we are full or have stopped eating.

Italians also especially love to talk!  This works out great when we proselyte in a park or the Lungomare because sometimes Italians just want to have a conversation. This also makes things easier for me because I don't have to worry so much about speaking a lot because they are 80 percent of the time speaking and so i just have to try really hard to listen to what they are saying because sometimes they speak super super super fast, especially here in southern Italy. Also each part of Italy (Rome, Naples, Sicily, etc.) has their own dialect separate from Italian, like where I am serving the dialect is Napolitano (mostly you just leave off the last syllable of normal Italian words).

One thing that was really exciting this week was that we got to watch General Conference! General Conference is semiannual conference where the prophet, apostles, and leaders of the church speak and give direction on whatever they think the members of the church need to do to follow Christ more and be converted. I loved this General Conference a lot! We watched the morning sessions in Italian in the Pozzuoli chapel at night because of the time difference and we will have to catch up on watching the rest throughout the week.

Overall, the message I got (at least from what I could understand in Italian) was I need to pray more fervently, study the Book of Mormon more diligently, and especially have faith and believe in Jesus Christ! The things the prophet and apostles have asked us to do seem so simple, and yet I know they will change our lives.

While some times this week and mission have been frustrating, I know this sacrifice for God and Jesus Christ is a righteous choice. I know I am here to serve and that all things, our joys and our trials, will be for our good. I want you all to first listen to the words of general conference and accept the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and pray to gain a testimony if it is true, and then work to build the kingdom of God. Even if you aren't a member, I want you to know the truth for yourself and experience the joy I have everyday of knowing I am a child of God, that I can feel peace and joy in this life because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that Christ's church is restored upon the earth, and that we can all received eternal life by following Him. 

I love you all and wish you the best!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Price