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

Life In Italy

Dear Family and Friends,

I realized this week that maybe I can better explain what life is like here in Italy on a mission so that when I continue to write, you all can better understand the context of what I am saying.

Everyday we wake up at 6:30 a.m. which sometimes is really hard, especially now because it is a lot darker.  Then we use the morning to exercise and prepare for the day. We also study our scriptures and prepare for the lessons we have together as a companionship. 

Then at 10, we leave our apartment and set out to wherever we need to go. We live near both the metro stations and the central bus station so that makes transportation a lot easier for us, which is good because getting to people's houses on time is probably what we struggle with the most. If you miss one bus or one train, sometimes it takes a while for another one to come so I am learning to be a lot more punctual.  Those of you who really know me, know I could have really improved in this area before the mission.

The weather is a lot nicer now and it rains probably once or twice a week, especially last week! There was nearly a river of water in the streets when we left church!

Italians have the custom to do a break from work and end school at pranzo or lunch. Lunch usually starts at one so like when we go to a meal appointmet, it will start at one, but actually later since the food takes a while to cook. And they really like to feed you a lot at these meals. First is always pasta, which if you think can't get much different than spaghetti, is totally wrong. There are tons of combinations for pasta. After that is a meat course (like chicken or beef) with vegetables, followed by fruit which is always fresh and delicious in Italy (the peaches and melon are amazing!). And of course it ends with a dolce, some kind of sweet like brownies, a fruit tart, and one of my companion's favorite thing to eat, chocolate salami (not meat, just chocolate). My favorite dessert has to be gelato though!  Food is like art in Italy. The food is always so good, I don't what makes Italy special like that.

Because of all this food, it's hard to get back to work after, which is why most Italians take a nap after, but we aren't that lucky. We set off and get most of our work done in the afternoon and evening and usually arrive home at 9. There's a pizzeria right next to our apartment so Anziano Draghi and I sometimes like to finish the day with a good napolitano pizza.

This week I really saw the blessings of the Lord in our work, even among some of the discouraging things. Vera's husband, Elvis, returned home and we were able to finally meet him. It turns out he was baptized in Greece in 1992!  And also doesn't remember anything about the church, so we are going to teach both of them at square  one again. We wanted to meet again during the week but Vera kindly denied a lesson saying she was too tired, even though we spent an hour traveling to her house and it takes an hour back as well. Also one of our investigators dropped us over the phone saying she didn't need us to get close to God. Luckily with Anziano Draghi, even disappointments like that never get us down.

We challenged Raffaele to baptism and he accepted so that made our week.  We were able to go to Ischia, one of the islands near Pozzuoli, (which is super beautiful!) to see a less active member of the church who was so happy to see us that he asked if we could call the Branch President so he could have the opportunity to take the sacrament right then. This man, Raffaele Mazzarella, is super spiritual, was a branch president 4 times in Rome, knows Anziano Draghi's family, and recently moved on the island to be with his daughter. The trouble is it takes a lot of effort and sacrifice to go from the island to church. He wasn't able to come this week like a lot of our investigators and less active members (except for Vincenzo!), but i am praying for the next time, that everyone can come.

The best part of the week was Sunday. Our Zone Leaders wanted everyone to have 2 new investigators with a baptismal date by the end of the week and we had only 1 by the afternoon. So we decided to go with the other Elders on the Lungomare and just teach people on the street. I had prayed to find an Italian family and I had faith. We found a lot of good potential people and it was a really great night but we didn't reach our goal by the end. But the other Elders actually found an Italian family who listened and accepted a baptismal invite!

I know our prayers are answered!  While the odds right now seem impossible for a baptism at the end of this transfer, I believe and hope that it can happen. I know that we are challenged every day with trials and tests, and our job is to give our best effort, to listen and obey, and God will help us finish the work. I really do love Italy, especially when I meet members who describe how joyful it was when they received the gospel from the missionaries or when they received an answer that this was true. It shows to me that there are people out there waiting for the gospel, and it is my work to find them as a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ. Thank you for all your love and prayers, and I hope you all have a great week!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Price

 

Week 5?: Why We Need A Phone

Dear Family and Friends,

How's life on the other side of the world? That always blows my mind when I write emails, that the world is so big that all you guys are asleep just as my day begins. Anyway, I hope that your week was great because mine was awesome as well!

For starters, we got a phone!! Yay, finally! And it's a good thing because we kinda got lost in Napoli Central the day before. Here's the story. We needed to be in Napoli on Wednesday night because on Thursday we were going to Rome.  But since we don't have a phone we wanted to meet someone at the metro station. So we waited for the Elders in our house and they never came. So we went to Napoli, and no one was there. So we tried calling on a pay phone that could only text (weird italian thing) and also tried searching for the other Elders house because Elder Draghi "knew where it was." So after searching a while, we concluded we were lost and had no way of finding them. Then Anziano Draghi decided the only place we really know here is Pellone's Pizzeria and so luckily by 10 we were able to call the other Elders, get pizza and be rescued. It was a little scary at night but all is well and now we don't have to worry because we have a phone that works!!

On Thursday, we had Mission Conference which is basically where the Anziani and Sorelle from the entire mission (except Sicily) gathered to receive training and hear from President Pickerd and the main speaker, President Kearon who is the President of the Europe Area. He is soo awesome! He literally beams with happiness and gratitude for missionaries since he was converted by the missionaries when he was 26. He had great advice for how to reach our goal of baptism for our investigators that hopefully, I can take to heart.

And from then on the work was wonderful!  While we had no investigators come into church, we were able to help bring Vincenzo, a member who hasn't been to church in 10 years, to sacrament meeting, along with another member, Sister De Bennardo, and the La Magna family, who is awesome!  We also were able to help members a lot, like giving blessings of health to the Warner family, and helping Fratello Kennedy pack boxes that he is sending to his wife and family of 7 kids in Ghana because the work in Italy is a lot better. The people here are amazing and I love to learn their stories.

Honestly, the hardest thing about this work is the language. I have been trying really hard to speak and communicate to people in Italian and especially understand them but it's really difficult. This next upcoming week I think I will be praying the most to improve in this area of my life. And I would challenge all of you to do the same. Find something that you could improve on and set goals to make it happen.

I know that God blesses us when we work hard and ask for it. I know that God loves us and answers our prayers. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and through him, we can feel peace. I know that God speaks through a living prophet today. I hope to continue to progress and do my best! I love you all and wish you the best!

Ti vogliamo bene!

Anziano Price

It's a Miracle!

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your constant support! I love your emails and appreciate your prayers for me and the work here in Pozzuoli. Looking back at this week I really believe my prayers have been answered and I thank God for all his blessings.

Don't get me wrong, this week was hard. We tried to meet with our investigators like James and Rafaelle but they either didn't respond or weren't home when we showed up. It was also our first week of English  Course. This is where we offer a free course to learn English and if they want to learn more about the gospel afterwards, then we can talk to them. It's great to find investigators so we did everything we could to spread the word, passing out cards, putting up posters, talking to everyone. We were expecting something like at least 15 people or so. We got 7 people which is great but we thought we were going to have way more people. Luckily we are going to keep trying and the students we have are awesome!

But this week we received a miracle. We received a referral online of a new convert named Elvis who had moved here recently. The problem is that he lives all the way in Castel Volturno which for us is an hour bus ride away. Without a phone, we were hesitant at first to go all the way there, but we thought this week that it would be a good idea to go. We got on the M1B, (known to the missionaries as the Ride of Your Life), crammed full of people and set off. We got off and then we met Vera.


Vera is Elvis' wife and like Elvis moved here from Nigeria about 15 years ago. She is this amazing woman who has one son named Fabian and watches 3 other kids for a friend, Kevin, Anointing, and Marvelous. These kids are crazy but they are a great family. We found out that Elvis is out of town for the week and also as were talking, we found out that Vera isn't a member of the church and doesn't even know anything about the church really. We taught her a lesson and she liked it a lot. The only problem is that she lives pretty far from the church and doesn't have a car. We explained how to take the bus but she would also have to take her 4 children on the bus. Later in the week, she promised she would come.

And so Sunday came. It was a little different since it was Stake Conference but we wanted her to come anyway. And while we were setting up Stake Conference, we decided to call her to see if she was here, and she was! We ran outside to greet her because the church is kind of hard to find, and it was amazing to see her and her kids all there in their Sunday best. I was really happy.

Miracles like this are always possible! The Lord knows us and watches over us! I am writing this on the way back from Mount Vesuvius, which by the way has a bellisimo view of Naples. The city is so huge from the top and yet I know that God loves each and everyone of us no matter what.  Really this mission is teaching me how to have faith.  How faith is a real and true belief in something. How I need to have faith in the work and that miracles will happen, because they only can happen if you believe. I love working here and being a missionary even when it is hard, even when the work may be discouraging.  I challenge you all to look at your life and the trials you may be having, and be happy! Remember the blessings God has given and remember the blessings that will come.  I know all this is true, that God is our Heavenly Father, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and Thomas S. Monson leads the true church today.  Ciao from Pozzuoli!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Price