Wow, well this has to be one of the weirdest feelings of all time. I
keep saying goodbye to people and everyone keeps saying "this is your
last..." Or stuff like that but it still hasn't sunk in yet. It feels
real and fake at the same time. And I keep telling everyone that I
still have an entire week left!
It got pretty real when at Zone Conference I gave my last "training"
and I gave my departure testimony where I (don't laugh) was a little
bit emotional. I am having a hard time coming to grips with the fact
that I actually have to finish and that I have to come home. The
Italian people are sooo amazing and I don't want to leave them! But, I
did know from the beginning that I only signed up for two years. Next
week I will try and describe better in my last email my feelings but
for now this is the sneak peak.
Well, like I said we had our last Zone Conference this past week. It
went really well. We talked about what it means to be "real" in every
aspect of our lives and the importance of real intent! I had a very
short interview with president where pretty much we just said, see you
in two weeks! And we did a 3 day exchange with the Assistants. I have
a lot of respect for them both. One, came in with me but goes home one
later because he is Italian and only did 2 weeks at the MTC. The other
one (the one I was with the whole time) is very young in the mission
but extremely mature for his age! I was very impressed by him and we
saw lots of success! He will be famous one day in my opinion! The
other one as well:)
Anyway, we had a good week! I am going to keep doing my best here
until the end! I love you all and I can't wait to see Mom, Dad, and
Brian next week!!
Love
Anziano Passantino
Serving as a representative of the Lord for Church of JESUS Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Italy, Rome mission.
Monday, August 10, 2015
8/3/15
Hey everyone,
Well how is everyone doing? To bad that Miss hasn't had the baby yet but I'm praying she'll come soon. We've had a really good week. I think this is the week in my mission with the most lessons I have ever taught. Like I keep saying we are just being blessed:) We're not exactly sure why but we are really enjoying our time.
So we are teaching this older Lady who actually lived in Virginia for like 50 years but then she retired here where she was born. Anyway, The quote of the week comes from her hahaha. We asked " Do you feel like you have received an answer about the truthfulness of these things that we've taught you? (or something like that) and she responded, in English, " Well it either came from God, the Holy Spirit, or Jerry Garcia"and I just died laughing it was so funny!!! She is pretty funny but the sad thing is that she just doesn't want to progress even if she has felt that answer. She knows the gospel is true but little things get in the way of progression. We are trying to help but agency has to be one of the hardest things to deal with in life. I guess as they say on the District " It helps us understand how God feels when we know something is right and we disobey" haha
We have a couple that we are teaching that are doing really good. We have taught them most of the lessons now and they seem to be doing really well. They are planning on getting baptized the 29th of August and we are super excited for them. They have been super nice to us lately and they invited us over for dinner the other night and I have literally never eaten so much in my entire life. Plus there was soo much food that they invited us over for lunch the next day to finish it all and we ate just as much that day!!
The real miracle of the week was on Tuesday. On Sunday I had talked to this sister about her son that wanted to come back to church. He hasn't come in over 14 years on a regular basis. We went over there for lunch on Tuesday (and just a side note, that is Literally, the MOST I have EVER eaten in my entire life) and then we met her son. He seems like a really cool guy. He has felt a desire to come and become active again because he is about to become a father and he wants to be a good example for his child. I guess it was just another, one of the many, testimony builders on how the Lord can change people's hearts. We must never give up on our brothers and sisters who may not be coming to church because the Lord is capable of changing people's hearts, desires, and will prepare them to partake again of the joy of the Gospel.
I have seen the Lord change my heart and my desires through the Atonement. A sister in our district said something that I thought was really inspired she said "The Book of Mormon is a mirror for the condition of our hearts". Literally as we learn more about Christ our the desires of our hearts are to exemplify his life and teachings and we are changed for the better. I love the gospel and I love all of you!
Have a great week!
Anziano Passantino
p.s. Today marks 2 weeks left in the mission... that is sooo crazy. I still need decide if I will write anything that last day or if next week will be my last but that is soooooo weird.
7/27/15 I love it here!
Hey everybody,
Palermo is soooooo awesome!! We are just loving it here. The Lord is
blessing us soooo much and it feels super nice. That doesn't mean that
we haven't had lots of trials by we have but we have made it through
each one with "the strength of the Lord".
We had somewhat of a crazy/funny story this week! We went to a city
called Caltanisetta to do a scambio and it went really well. We were a
little late for our train so we were walking pretty fast to get to the
station before it left be we had to get back for a lesson! On our way
to the station I heard something and then saw Anziano Pingree fall out
of the corner of my eye. I turned back and he was bleeding pretty bad
from his head. So he had his down when we were walking and there was a
low cement balcony that he had hit the corner of cutting his head up!
I ran into a bar right away and got some wet paper towels and some
ice. This nice guy on the street took us to the hospital where he got
some stitches. It was quite the ordeal but luckily nothing too bad.
Because then doctor had to give him stiches they had to shave off a
part of his hair and it looked awed so he just decided to take it all
off. And you guys know what that means... Anziano Passantino did his
first haircut!! Hahaha it was pretty funny:) I will try to attach a
time laps that we took of it!
Other than that the work went normal. I gave a my last district
meeting training on Tuesday about the Atonement. I think it went well.
Other than that I'm just doing everything I can to stay busy from when
I wake up to when I go to sleep. It's the down time that kills ya,
good thing there isn't a lot of it!
I hope you all have a great week and everything goes well!! Love you all
Anziano Passantino
Palermo is soooooo awesome!! We are just loving it here. The Lord is
blessing us soooo much and it feels super nice. That doesn't mean that
we haven't had lots of trials by we have but we have made it through
each one with "the strength of the Lord".
We had somewhat of a crazy/funny story this week! We went to a city
called Caltanisetta to do a scambio and it went really well. We were a
little late for our train so we were walking pretty fast to get to the
station before it left be we had to get back for a lesson! On our way
to the station I heard something and then saw Anziano Pingree fall out
of the corner of my eye. I turned back and he was bleeding pretty bad
from his head. So he had his down when we were walking and there was a
low cement balcony that he had hit the corner of cutting his head up!
I ran into a bar right away and got some wet paper towels and some
ice. This nice guy on the street took us to the hospital where he got
some stitches. It was quite the ordeal but luckily nothing too bad.
Because then doctor had to give him stiches they had to shave off a
part of his hair and it looked awed so he just decided to take it all
off. And you guys know what that means... Anziano Passantino did his
first haircut!! Hahaha it was pretty funny:) I will try to attach a
time laps that we took of it!
Other than that the work went normal. I gave a my last district
meeting training on Tuesday about the Atonement. I think it went well.
Other than that I'm just doing everything I can to stay busy from when
I wake up to when I go to sleep. It's the down time that kills ya,
good thing there isn't a lot of it!
I hope you all have a great week and everything goes well!! Love you all
Anziano Passantino
7/13/15
Hey Family and Friends,
Well it has been a crazy week! I had a really hard time leaving
Catania because I had made some really good friends there but I guess
that is just part of the mission! I made it to Palermo after a 3 hour
train ride where I got the chance to help this older women and speak
to her the whole ride until she had to find a new seat because she
didn't like sitting in the opposite direction than they way the train
was going! It was nice to explain her pretty much everything and she
was nice enough to take a pass along card but didn't really want other
missionaries to come over.
Now I'm here in Palermo. The first day was pretty crazy because we
were trying to help everyone get to their new cities but the last
train coming from Rome got in 45 min late so some of the new
missionaries had to stay at our place. We have 5 new greenies in our
Zone this transfer so we are super excited for that greenie Fire! It
has already proven to hAve made a difference in most cities!!
On Saturday we had a Ward activity and it went really well. It was for
the Fourth of July because the week before was a fast Sunday and in
Italy you fast from Lunch until lunch so they couldn't do the activity
Friday night. It was good though. We had fun and played lots of games
and it was nice to meet everyone.
Church went really well and everyone loved it when I told them in the
"siciliano" dialect that I was originally from here. It made for a
nice laugh:) I had many people tell me that they new people with the
last name Passantino so I am looking forward to going with them and
meeting these people and seeing where they came from and what not!! I
love it here!! We are doing well and things are going good!! I love
you all and hope you have a good week!
Love Anziano Passantino
7/16/15
Hey Family and Friends,
Well it has been a crazy week! I had a really hard time leaving
Catania because I had made some really good friends there but I guess
that is just part of the mission! I made it to Palermo after a 3 hour
train ride where I got the chance to help this older women and speak
to her the whole ride until she had to find a new seat because she
didn't like sitting in the opposite direction than they way the train
was going! It was nice to explain her pretty much everything and she
was nice enough to take a pass along card but didn't really want other
missionaries to come over.
Now I'm here in Palermo. The first day was pretty crazy because we
were trying to help everyone get to their new cities but the last
train coming from Rome got in 45 min late so some of the new
missionaries had to stay at our place. We have 5 new greenies in our
Zone this transfer so we are super excited for that greenie Fire! It
has already proven to hAve made a difference in most cities!!
On Saturday we had a Ward activity and it went really well. It was for
the Fourth of July because the week before was a fast Sunday and in
Italy you fast from Lunch until lunch so they couldn't do the activity
Friday night. It was good though. We had fun and played lots of games
and it was nice to meet everyone.
Church went really well and everyone loved it when I told them in the
"siciliano" dialect that I was originally from here. It made for a
nice laugh:) I had many people tell me that they new people with the
last name Passantino so I am looking forward to going with them and
meeting these people and seeing where they came from and what not!! I
love it here!! We are doing well and things are going good!! I love
you all and hope you have a good week!
Love Anziano Passantino
Well it has been a crazy week! I had a really hard time leaving
Catania because I had made some really good friends there but I guess
that is just part of the mission! I made it to Palermo after a 3 hour
train ride where I got the chance to help this older women and speak
to her the whole ride until she had to find a new seat because she
didn't like sitting in the opposite direction than they way the train
was going! It was nice to explain her pretty much everything and she
was nice enough to take a pass along card but didn't really want other
missionaries to come over.
Now I'm here in Palermo. The first day was pretty crazy because we
were trying to help everyone get to their new cities but the last
train coming from Rome got in 45 min late so some of the new
missionaries had to stay at our place. We have 5 new greenies in our
Zone this transfer so we are super excited for that greenie Fire! It
has already proven to hAve made a difference in most cities!!
On Saturday we had a Ward activity and it went really well. It was for
the Fourth of July because the week before was a fast Sunday and in
Italy you fast from Lunch until lunch so they couldn't do the activity
Friday night. It was good though. We had fun and played lots of games
and it was nice to meet everyone.
Church went really well and everyone loved it when I told them in the
"siciliano" dialect that I was originally from here. It made for a
nice laugh:) I had many people tell me that they new people with the
last name Passantino so I am looking forward to going with them and
meeting these people and seeing where they came from and what not!! I
love it here!! We are doing well and things are going good!! I love
you all and hope you have a good week!
Love Anziano Passantino
7/6/15 Palermo and Pingree!
Fam,
Well it has been a really crazy week. We have been trying to see
everyone that we are working with and trying to make sure we see
everyone.
I guess I'll start by talking a little bit about transfers. Just so
everyone knows I have always had a secret desire to go to the city of
Palermo to serve but seeing as I only had one transfer left I didn't
see that happening. Plus I have only been here for a few months so I
figured I would have finished here but to my surprise President
Waddoups called and told me I would have the chance to serve in
Palermo. Not only will I be serving in Palermo but I will also be
serving with Anziano Pingree!! He has been one of my favorite
companions in the past and we are like best friends so I am beyond
excited to have the chance to serve with him in Palermo for my last
city. It is going to be hard because I love the people here,
especially the youth but I can't wait to see how I can help in Palermo
as well.
We had a super cool experience yesterday as well. We were able to
teach a family that the senior couple, also a military relations
couple, had found during their English course. We taught them the
Restoration and the spirit was sooo strong! It amazes me that the
spirit is always super strong even after having taught it hundreds of
times. Truth is truth.
I am super excited for this next transfer/ week. Like I said, I know
the Lord needs me in Palermo for some reason or another and I promise
to do my best there all the way until the last min. I know this
message is true and that it changes lives. It is the answer to how to
solve the problems of the world and putting into practice it's
teachings, we can find that joy. My invite for everyone is just to try
it out!! See for yourself and you will be pleased by the results. I
love you all and hope you have a great week!!
Love
Anziano Passantino
Well it has been a really crazy week. We have been trying to see
everyone that we are working with and trying to make sure we see
everyone.
I guess I'll start by talking a little bit about transfers. Just so
everyone knows I have always had a secret desire to go to the city of
Palermo to serve but seeing as I only had one transfer left I didn't
see that happening. Plus I have only been here for a few months so I
figured I would have finished here but to my surprise President
Waddoups called and told me I would have the chance to serve in
Palermo. Not only will I be serving in Palermo but I will also be
serving with Anziano Pingree!! He has been one of my favorite
companions in the past and we are like best friends so I am beyond
excited to have the chance to serve with him in Palermo for my last
city. It is going to be hard because I love the people here,
especially the youth but I can't wait to see how I can help in Palermo
as well.
We had a super cool experience yesterday as well. We were able to
teach a family that the senior couple, also a military relations
couple, had found during their English course. We taught them the
Restoration and the spirit was sooo strong! It amazes me that the
spirit is always super strong even after having taught it hundreds of
times. Truth is truth.
I am super excited for this next transfer/ week. Like I said, I know
the Lord needs me in Palermo for some reason or another and I promise
to do my best there all the way until the last min. I know this
message is true and that it changes lives. It is the answer to how to
solve the problems of the world and putting into practice it's
teachings, we can find that joy. My invite for everyone is just to try
it out!! See for yourself and you will be pleased by the results. I
love you all and hope you have a great week!!
Love
Anziano Passantino
6/29/15
This weeks email will be a little different and long ( because we have
an hour bus ride in which I can type it up on the iPad.) I am sorry if
it is boring but I felt like I should change it up a bit this week.
I'm also sure that 99% of the people who will read this played some
kind of role in my thoughts recently.
Well what a great day week. I wish I could describe in words alone the
feelings that come to me as I reflect on what I get to do every week.
I have found that words,pictures, and videos are embarrassingly
inadequate in describing a missionaries feelings and experiences but
that they serve as helpers/reminders for myself and others of one of
the greatest things that has every occurred in my life. Needless to
say I have been reflecting quite a bit on who I was, you I am and who
I want to be and all that has come and will come in between.
This week has been really good, and filled with learning and growth.
Something that my Dad taught me is that I will/would have made
mistakes out here. Recently I have made a few and it has helped me to
become a better person and to grow. Nothing huge but things that have
helped me improve my Christlike attributes.
Thanks to a mission leader with whom I have had the chance to talk to
recently I have been thinking a lot about my stewardship as a
missionary and the importance of returning and reporting:) it has
helped me understand how I can be more responsible and give it my all
while making myself accountable to then Lord.
In my personal study recently I have noticed the frequently used
phrase "one by one" or something similar on many occasions. I had, to
admit, been looking for it as coming from an Invite from Elder Bednar.
I have come to a smaller, but yet extremely incomplete, understanding
of how much God loves His children and how he cares and watches over
us individually. Elder Bednar relayed a thought that has passed my
mind often in life about how God reaches out to the "one" and how so
many times in Elder Bednar's personal ministry the Lord may have sent
him to the other side of the world for just one soul that needed
saving. In my mission there have been moments where I knew exactly who
that one was for that particular area,transfer,week, or day and others
where only after reflection did I understand that their role in my
life or mine in their's and often both. Many of my companions,
members, or acquaintances have helped me as I was that one that needed
helping and I hope on some occasions vice versa.
I have been thinking about the importance of letting others know when
they have helped you and/or telling them when you have been sent
specifically for them. It brings the spirit and can change ones life,
understanding how they played to perfection their role in the Plan of
Salvation at that moment. I am sorry if this train of thoughts doesn't
quite fit together but it has been on my mind a lot lately and I don't
think that I could have spoken about the week without describing them.
I guess to sum it all up my thoughts have come mostly from Joshua 3:5
and the order in which those principles are taught:) That's what I
have realised this week. We are nothing and the moment in which we
begin to think that's not true the Lord teaches us valuable lessons:)
Again I hope this wasn't super boring and that I was able in one way
or another describe my thoughts. I love it out here and I love the
changes we have the chance to make out here!! I love you all and hope
you have a great week. Thanks for reading my super long train of
thoughts hahahaha
Love
Anziano Passantionp
Inviato da iPad
an hour bus ride in which I can type it up on the iPad.) I am sorry if
it is boring but I felt like I should change it up a bit this week.
I'm also sure that 99% of the people who will read this played some
kind of role in my thoughts recently.
Well what a great day week. I wish I could describe in words alone the
feelings that come to me as I reflect on what I get to do every week.
I have found that words,pictures, and videos are embarrassingly
inadequate in describing a missionaries feelings and experiences but
that they serve as helpers/reminders for myself and others of one of
the greatest things that has every occurred in my life. Needless to
say I have been reflecting quite a bit on who I was, you I am and who
I want to be and all that has come and will come in between.
This week has been really good, and filled with learning and growth.
Something that my Dad taught me is that I will/would have made
mistakes out here. Recently I have made a few and it has helped me to
become a better person and to grow. Nothing huge but things that have
helped me improve my Christlike attributes.
Thanks to a mission leader with whom I have had the chance to talk to
recently I have been thinking a lot about my stewardship as a
missionary and the importance of returning and reporting:) it has
helped me understand how I can be more responsible and give it my all
while making myself accountable to then Lord.
In my personal study recently I have noticed the frequently used
phrase "one by one" or something similar on many occasions. I had, to
admit, been looking for it as coming from an Invite from Elder Bednar.
I have come to a smaller, but yet extremely incomplete, understanding
of how much God loves His children and how he cares and watches over
us individually. Elder Bednar relayed a thought that has passed my
mind often in life about how God reaches out to the "one" and how so
many times in Elder Bednar's personal ministry the Lord may have sent
him to the other side of the world for just one soul that needed
saving. In my mission there have been moments where I knew exactly who
that one was for that particular area,transfer,week, or day and others
where only after reflection did I understand that their role in my
life or mine in their's and often both. Many of my companions,
members, or acquaintances have helped me as I was that one that needed
helping and I hope on some occasions vice versa.
I have been thinking about the importance of letting others know when
they have helped you and/or telling them when you have been sent
specifically for them. It brings the spirit and can change ones life,
understanding how they played to perfection their role in the Plan of
Salvation at that moment. I am sorry if this train of thoughts doesn't
quite fit together but it has been on my mind a lot lately and I don't
think that I could have spoken about the week without describing them.
I guess to sum it all up my thoughts have come mostly from Joshua 3:5
and the order in which those principles are taught:) That's what I
have realised this week. We are nothing and the moment in which we
begin to think that's not true the Lord teaches us valuable lessons:)
Again I hope this wasn't super boring and that I was able in one way
or another describe my thoughts. I love it out here and I love the
changes we have the chance to make out here!! I love you all and hope
you have a great week. Thanks for reading my super long train of
thoughts hahahaha
Love
Anziano Passantionp
Inviato da iPad
6/22/15
Family
Is there any doing? How is the week gone? We have had a really good
here. We had our zone conference on Wednesday and all other then some
electricity problems Tuesday night it all went well and smooth! As you
might be able to notice I am typing this from our new iPads! I can't
believe we have them now but I guess this is the way the Lord is
hastening his work. We had a really good week overall.
I don't have a lot of time to write a big email this week but I wanted
to tell you about a miracle that we had! This week we had a first
lesson with a 28-year-old man Who is probably the most prepared person
I have ever met to receive the restored gospel. He has been on his
search for the truth ever since he was little and he has an incredible
story. To make a long story short, this man prayed to ascot which
church was true and where he can find the true Prieste this man prayed
to ask God which church was true and where he can find the true
Priesthood. After he finished his prayer he open the Bible to Hebrews
where it spoke about the aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood and he.
Had already started his search by studying many religions! He had
found a book of Mormon in a random book seller where he bought it and
then started reading it! She was already in Alma when he decided to
come to church. He contacted a member and then asked for a ride! We
then talked to him and now he is planning on being baptised the middle
of July! All of the members know love him and he already has prayed
and knows the church is true!!
What an incredible miracle!! It is the most incredible thing that I
have seen here in Italy! I feel blessed to have been given this
opportunity to teach him and get to know him! We are doing really well
here and we are looking forward to a great week. The Lord is blessing
our Zone and we feel so grateful. This is the right way and he is
gaining that there are people being prepared everywhere to receive
this message it is just our choice to open our mouths and shared with
all of those who do not join because they know not where to find it!!!
This is the greatest work of all time and I love it!
Love
Anziano Passantino
Inviato da iPad
Is there any doing? How is the week gone? We have had a really good
here. We had our zone conference on Wednesday and all other then some
electricity problems Tuesday night it all went well and smooth! As you
might be able to notice I am typing this from our new iPads! I can't
believe we have them now but I guess this is the way the Lord is
hastening his work. We had a really good week overall.
I don't have a lot of time to write a big email this week but I wanted
to tell you about a miracle that we had! This week we had a first
lesson with a 28-year-old man Who is probably the most prepared person
I have ever met to receive the restored gospel. He has been on his
search for the truth ever since he was little and he has an incredible
story. To make a long story short, this man prayed to ascot which
church was true and where he can find the true Prieste this man prayed
to ask God which church was true and where he can find the true
Priesthood. After he finished his prayer he open the Bible to Hebrews
where it spoke about the aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood and he.
Had already started his search by studying many religions! He had
found a book of Mormon in a random book seller where he bought it and
then started reading it! She was already in Alma when he decided to
come to church. He contacted a member and then asked for a ride! We
then talked to him and now he is planning on being baptised the middle
of July! All of the members know love him and he already has prayed
and knows the church is true!!
What an incredible miracle!! It is the most incredible thing that I
have seen here in Italy! I feel blessed to have been given this
opportunity to teach him and get to know him! We are doing really well
here and we are looking forward to a great week. The Lord is blessing
our Zone and we feel so grateful. This is the right way and he is
gaining that there are people being prepared everywhere to receive
this message it is just our choice to open our mouths and shared with
all of those who do not join because they know not where to find it!!!
This is the greatest work of all time and I love it!
Love
Anziano Passantino
Inviato da iPad
6/15/15
Family,
It has been a super good week. It has been really crazy but we are getting ready for one of the craziest weeks of the mission for me for sure. We have to figure out all kinds of transportation because of Zone Conference and we have a meeting the night before as well so we have to get 16 missionaries from the station to the church (and hour away by bus and longer by foot) then get them back home where we will have 18 missionaries staying in one hourse tomorrow hahaha. We did shopping for the whole thing today and just got everything prepared for the conference!! So I don't have a ton of time to write this week.
Anyway before all of that. We had a pretty solid week. I got to see Brian on wednesday!! That was super crazy and a cool miracle as well!! When we were walking with him this lady waved to us and we went and talked to her and she was a member in Gela (another city here in Sicily!) Then friday we went to Gela on an exchange and we were able to contact here again and she has some great referals for the Anziani there!! Also we had funny experience right before we saw brian. We went to go see this member that hasn't been to church in 50 years. He was baptized when he was 19 was active for a few years and then fell away and hasn't been back since. He is now 71 and we just decided to call him up and see how he was doing. He ended up coming to church and we went to go visit him right before we saw Brian. I should explain also that this person was explaining a little bit about his desire to recieve a testimony again and so we were talking to him about that when some random friend of a friend walked in and starting screeming at us and saying bad things about the church. He just yelled at us, wouldn't let us speak, said that we were of the devil and this whole time we kind of just let him talk because he wasn't allowing us to speak anyway. At one point this member started to defend the church and this guy wouldn't let him speak either so both my comp and I had him be quite so that this member, who was searching for a testimony, could bare it and have it be confermed to him by the spirit. Although it might not have seemed like the best experience, this member was able to bare testimony and in doing so recieve the confermation of the spirit tell him that what he was saying was true. What a miracle after having left the church for such a long time. Needless to say we will continue to work with him.
Tomorrow we will be getting the ipads! haha right at the end of the mission haha:) It should be good and I feel that it will help us as missionaries to fulfill our purpose with more organization. I was telling Brian about how excited I am to have the planner on the ipad. I think, at least for me, it will keep us more organized and make things a lot easier. It should be a great conference and we are looking forward to it, it is just super stressful because we had everything planned then late last night all of our plans were destroyed because of an extra meeting that we have to have tomorrow night! We are doing well though. This work is the best!! I love being here in Catania!! I hope everyone has a great week.
love
Anziano Passantino
5/31/15
Family and Friends,
Well it has been a little bit of a crazy week, luckily not anything like last week but it has been good. We had transfers on Thursday and we had the chance to move the sisters apartment all day Tuesday and Wednesday. They finally got out of their old apartment that didn't have any water along with a giant list of other bad things and are into a newer one. They seemed pretty happy to be their so that's good. So we did lot's of trips in the car loading and unloading different things trying to get everything ready for that. Then Wednesday night we had a bunch of people staying at our house because Catania is kind of the central of our Zone and lot's of trains left early in the morning so most missionaries came the night before so they didn't have to wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning.
It was a giant miracle that everyone was on time to their trains and everyone got to where they needed to be with all of their luggage and without any curve balls that we didn't see coming. Transfers here take a lot of organization so it was a fun experience getting to do it by my self for the first time because my comp had already gone home!!
Other than that we were able to kind of get back on our feet the rest of the days and teach some lessons and we're now ready for the new transfer. This transfer should be fun as most of the missionaries in our Zone havn't even hit their 7 month mark yet. The Zone is young but full of energy so hopefully we'll see some success in that catagory! Anziano P*** is my new comp, he is around his year mark in the mission and seems to be a great guy so I'm excited to start working with him. We picked up a lot of work for this next transfer because there used to be 4 Anziani here in Catania and now there are only us two so we'll be taking over the work of the other guys along with our work so it should be nice and busy, just like I like it:)
Other than that nothing new to report. We are doing well and I hope you are all doing well. I just would like to share a quote that Kindra sent to me and I really liked it from our beloved Elder Perry who I'm sure you all know passed away this week. "We can't predict all the struggles and storms in life, not even the ones just around the next corner, but as persons of faith and hope, we know beyond a shadow of any doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the best is yet to come." THIS IS SOOOO TRUE and I would add my testimony to that saying the same thing. Sometimes we just need to hang on to what we know to be true and that is the case here. We must always strive to be courageous with that which we know and step by step that knowledge will grow and grow. Sounds a lot like Faith huh?? Love you all and I hope you have a great week!!
5/25/15
Fam,
Well this may or may not have been the craziest week of my mission. I'll just go through a play by play of how our week went. Monday we were in Taormina, super cool!! I loved being able to see the city and it has some super cool things there. It is super super touristy but it was cool to see everything!! That night we went to Messina to do a scambio for that night and for the morning and part of the afternoon then we had to make it back so that we could go to the Italian Course that we teach on the American base. That's when everything got crazy.
Tuesday evening around 10:15 we found out that we were going to do a surprise exchange in Malta!! There are very very few people that go to Malta that don't serve there and so we were caught super off guard. The plane left at 7:50 the next morning and so we were awake trying to get everything ready (keep in mind that my comp was supposed to leave on Friday and finish his mission) for the next 2 days we were going to be in Malta. We get to the Airport and our tickets hadn't been confermed and so we had to go buy some. They wouldn't accept the card number that the mission office was giving us so we had to use personal money to pay for plane tickets to Malta hahaha. It was crazy because by that time it was already 7:30 and check- in was closed down but they got permission to re-open it and then get us our tickets as we sprinted through security going down the "executives line" trying to make the flight. We get through security and found out that the plane was 1 1/2 hours late. hahaha but because of the big chaos we met this super cool guy from Finnland who we became friends with. We made it there and did the exhange and it was very effective and we were able to help them out a little bit then Friday morning at 6.20 we had a plane home so we woke up at 4 to get that plane and get there on time. (yes dad, when I was in the Malta Airport I picked up some Maltesers:) haha )
We got home around 7 in Catania and we got picked up and went straight home and had my comp pack everything up. We used that entire rest of the day to see people and say goodbye to people because the rest of the week we were not there and so we saw some people that are interested in the church, members and pretty much everyone we could in the time we could. Then we took him to the Bus station and he had to take a night bus so at 8:45 he left and he got into Napoli around 6 in the morning and then he took a train to make it up to Rome. It was pretty amazing and a huge miracle that we were able to do all of the most important things!! SOOO crazy though. Then saw some of the people the other Elders are working with on Saturday before I got to translate for Stake Conference from 3:30 until 7:30 saturday then went to the station to pick up two elders coming from a city nearby because at 7:00 the next morning we had to go to Stake Conference in Palermo and so they just slept with us that night so that we could all wake up early and catch the bus to palermo haha. There were lots of miracles that happened this week. I am pretty tired but it was lots of fun to see the Lord's hand in everything this past week. We were able to get eveything done and payed for and many people needed our help so it was a very crazy but fulfilling week!! I love you all and hope you have a great week as well. This coming up week I will get my new comp. Anziano P***. Wish us luck!!
love
Anziano Passantino
Monday, May 18, 2015
5/18/15
Family,
Well what a great week. We have really been blessed and had some crazy things happen. On Wednesday we went to Siracusa on an exchange and it went really well. The Anziani there are doing really well and they are working really hard and doing some great work. Funny part of the story though. Wednesday night they had to many things going (washing machine,fan, a.c. ect.) and the power went out. Well because the washing machine was going, then entire room where it was, was filled with an inch and a half of water and everything,including all the stuff the my comp had brought for the exhange, was soaked and lots of it was ruined. So we spent the morning helping them and working with their down stairs neighbor who wasn't very happy when he woke up to leakage from above. That was a pretty crazy experience along with the fact that they had a few lessons set up that they had to be at but luckily for the most part it was fine when we needed to leave.
Then that night we got a text message from a member in Brazil that gave us a referral and we felt like we needed to go see them as soon as possible so right when we got back from Siracusa, (we did the trip in P.J.'s because our normal clothes were completly soaked we got changed really quick and went and found this referral. We got there and they let us in but these people spoke little Italian, they spoke only Siciliano. So that was fun and the referral was drunk to add on top of that and so it was twice as hard to understand him but the parents seemed to be interested and when we see them again hopefully they will be sober. haha
Then we had a good day on Sunday. We actually had a cousin of a member come to church and he is AMAZING!! He seems really cool and very prepared and we are beyond excited for him and to see if we can help him in anyway shape or form. We had a really good week and we have been blessed a ton. My comp leaves on Friday and so that will be weird. It has been weird just seeing him get ready but lots of this week will be the goodbyes and getting ready for him. I hope you all have a great week and know how much i miss you all and love you all!!
Love
Anziano Passantino
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