Nicolo

Anziano Hillyard, Nicolo, Anziano McKinnon

28 Aug 13

Sorry my subject lines are always the same. I try to think of something clever every week, but I never can. Anyways.

We got a baptism this past Saturday! I was really nervous about it, because when we did the practice interview, it turns out one of the commandments got explained really poorly. So we werent sure if it was going to go through. But everything worked out, and hes awesome. His name is Nicolò, and is like 26 years old. The coolest guy! Anziano Hillyard did the baptising, and I did the confirming. Our ward mission leader wasnt at the baptism, so he asked us to ask a member to conduct. We asked this member, and he said he didnt know how. So I ended up conducting the baptism. Yeah..I dont know how to conduct in english, so Italian was interesting. To make things better, President Dibb and his wife came! Pressure is on! No, but it went really well, and were really excited about him.

It stinkin POURED this week. It rained seriously a ton this past three or four days. We were in the middle of a park when the tempest hit, and hour away from our house. So we were soaking wet and freezing all day, but I guess thats the life, right? It was funny though, when we got home, Anziano Moore and Ackerman were at home too changing their clothes, cause they got hit pretty hard to.

Lesson count is kinda low right now. We have two investigators in town, and they work a ton so we can only see them once every week and a half. So were doing finding work all day every day. Thats been making the days long. Not that I dont like finding work, but teaching is 100000000x more fun.

Dad, you asked what that building was that i sent you. Its a castle in Milano. Dont know anything else about it really, other than the fact that theyve got a museum in there of old armour and weapons and stuff. Its right by the Arc of Peace, built by Napoleon. I think its pretty much the same thing as the Arc di Triumph in Paris? And about the boat crash in Venice. Havent heard a thing. The only news we get is from home, or glancing at newspaper headlines as we pass news stands. I just found out Ford went out of business from Anziano Hillyard, so im a little out of the loop.

Its crazy how fast time flies. Some guy the other day asked how long wed been speaking Italian. Its been SEVEN MONTHS. Thats insane to me. I remember when I was saying 3 weeks like it was yesterday.

Were working hard over here! I absolutely love South Americans. A lot of them are less active, so were working really closely with them. Theres one lady who is from Peru who is active (we call her Hermana), but all but one of her kids are inactive. So were getting to know this family really well, and theyre all awesome.

Thats pretty much it from over here! Crazy that transfers are this next week again. Anziano HIllyard is probably gone, so we'll see who my next companion is! Fingers crossed.

I love you all! Girls keep workin hard in school, and Amanda, have fun at homecoming! Hope you all have a good week, BYU beats Virginia, and Utah State pounds Utah!

21 Aug 13

This week was pretty unexciting and kind of a let down.

I forgot to write last week, that we had a really good Monday doing finding work. We talked to a guy who said he'd read the Book of Mormon in five days, and then a South American family interested in the Book of Mormon.

So with the guy who said he'd read the Book of Mormon: We called him after five days, and told us to meet him in the park. We go to the park at 6, and call him. He says hes arriving. We wait half an hour, and I call back. He answers and then when I ask him how long he needs he hangs up on us. So I was pretty bugged about that. Then 30 minutes later, we went back to the park and he was there with his friend. So I asked him if he wants to talk, and he said "yes. I read half of the Book of Mormon. Im at the part where Joseph Smith is talking to the American Indians." I told him that Joseph Smith wasnt actually in the Book of Mormon, and he said "Yeah yeah I know, its another translation of the Bible." Thats one of the things that has bugged me the most being out here, when people are either flaky or a liar. Drives me nuts.

Buuuut we should have a baptism this Saturday! Its been kind of a scramble getting everything done. So were praying that everything goes well and we can get him dunked!

Im looking at my planner, and realizing how boring of a week this was. We had every single other religion argue with us this week. One thing ive learned is how little sense some teachings of other churches make, and how much sense our doctrine makes. Growing up in Utah, I didnt realize how real the Great Apostasy is. One quote I heard this week that I really like: "The Church just makes sense, its like its true or something!"

I love South Americans. A lot of our less actives were working with are from South American, and they seriously are awesome. The problem is, most have to work on Sundays so cant come to Church. But were making really good progress with a lot of them!

I cant believe school and football season is starting already. Its a little sad to miss football season, so Dad'll have to keep me updated. One thing that im looking forward to is being in Italy during the World Cup. Thatll be super cool!

Thats all from this side of the pond. I wish I had more good stories this week, but I dont. Ill try and be more exciting next week haha. I love you all! Do well in school girls! Read your scriptures!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

Mission Pics

14 Aug 13

Rollercoaster week again. Last week felt like the worst week (numbers wise) of my mission. We finished with 7 lessons. We had a big problem with appointments falling through. Really frustrating when weve set them up, confirmed, and then they still find a way to fall through. So this week we made a huge goal to be perfectly obedient in the things we can control, like getting to studies, going to bed, waking up, all that good stuff. And Monday we got 4 lessons, 3 new investigators, and set up the week super well. Its amazing to see when we really give our full effort, the Lord will do his part. Were sitting at 6 lessons for the week, and have two set up and confirmed for tonight, so we should be sitting pretty well.

Were going to have a baptism next week! This guy is super elect and ready to go. We taught him the Word of Wisdom yesterday morning, and when he read it he said "I dont use any of these things anyways, so were good!" So weve taught him two of the big three with zero problems, and were teaching tithing next so were praying everything will go well. Hes super cool though, so were not worried!

Funny story. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with some interesting investigators. At the end, we asked "What can we learn from this experience?" And one of them said "Joseph Smith didnt go to church when his preacher told him to!" It was one of those moments where I just put my head down and thought "Be patient, be patient, be patient." Were working with them though.

Funny story with the same investigators. They like to "speak English" with us aka directly translate words out of the dictionary. For example, she says "To later" when we say bye, because in Italian you say "A dopo" for "See you later." Anyways, one day they were saying "Oh my (dog)." So I told her "Actually, in America, its more common to say "Oh my goodness." So now she says oh my goodness. Thinking back, I probably should have just explained the ten commandments, but I guess we'll work on that later.

Can you believe were halfway done with this transfer? I heard a song in a store the other day that I didnt recognize, so im officially old in the mission. Time is FLYING.

Everything is going well here though! The gypsies didnt come to church, but they have a book of mormon, so thats good atleast.

Dad, thanks for the pictures! All the girls look so old. Its a little freaky to be honest. When I get home, Kate will look older than me, because I still look like im 15. Oh well! And its crazy school starts so soon. Sophie is in high school!!!!! How wrong is that? Shes still to little! And Kate is in Junior High? Mamma mia.

 Love you! Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

07 Aug 13

Well this week was interesting, and full of cool miracles.

First, some fast facts:

I love living in 4. It is the funnest thing ever.

I have come to the conclusion that outter darkness is a giant swarm of mosquitoes. They are the worst things in the world.

Ok story time. So its been some rough going for missionary work. Everyone in Italy takes the month of August off for vacation. So seriously 80% of the shops are closed here, and 80% of the people are gone. So its been really hard to get consistency, in teaching and finding. So I was kinda bummed, because we were having a really hard time finding investigators. I was feeling kinda not like a missionary and more like a guy who walks around in the park all day. Then, Wednesday I lost one of my nametags so I was thinking "Sweet, I dont even have the tag anymore." Thursday night, we taught one of our investigators. It was the first time I had met her, and we went in planning to teach the law of chastity. We get there, and I start feeling "We need to teach the Book of Mormon" so I kinda changed it up last second. I felt a little bad for Anziano Hillyard, because its hard to teach an unplanned lesson when youre new, but he did awesome. We start teaching, and the spirit was SO strong. She was concerned that the commandments would take away her freedom, and make her unhappy. So we taught that she has her choice with everything. They had taught her the Plan of Salvation before, so I drew a little map to each of the three kingdoms, and said the scriptures are the map. She was still concerned that she wouldnt be happy, and I felt "share Mosiah 2:41" and I did, and it is PERFECT for the situation. Seriously one of the coolest lessons. It gets cooler. As were putting our stuff away, I reach into a pocket in my bag and I found the name tag I lost. It had fallen into a closed pocket. No clue how that happened, but MIRACLE!

Second interesting story. Mom, ill make it clear at the beginning I felt safe the whole time. So were doing finding work at a park called Parco Nord. Missionaries have been going there for years. So were going, and we finish teaching a guy on a bench, and two park rangers come up to us and say we cant proselyte there. They start taking our information and stuff to give us a ticket. He gets all my info, and someone goes on the radio and asks where the rangers are. The step back and talk on the radio to explain they were apprehending some American fellins (not really, they just explained the situation) who were proselyting. They come back, and say that theyre not going to give us a ticket, but we still have to leave. MIRACLE! I think its kinda cool that they still have my info, and I will go down in history on the Parco Nord Naughty List for proselyting for The Church of Jesus Christ. Anyways, we go to find a new place to do finding work. We see on our map a big park, so we go to it. Its really just corn fields. So were getting some water, and we talk to the only guy in the park, who is also at the fountain. He doesnt speak Italian (or English) so we give him a pass along card and tell him he can change the language on the website. So he goes, and we go. A few minutes later, he runs into us again and tells us to come with him, because his wife speaks Italian. So we follow him, and I figure hes some farmer. We take some little side path into a forest, and he takes us to a gypsie camp. So were in some gypsie camp with a population of 40 people. So he takes us to his part of the camp, and we teach a group of them the Restoration. So afterwards I called President Dibb to see what we should do, and he told us to invite him to church, and teach him after church. So that was pretty exciting.

Other than that, all is pretty normal. Were praying that itll start raining here, and that the mosquitoes will die. Oh! I met the guy who thinks hes an Avatar. He came to Church with our really solid bap date. He says that im a good person, because he can see it through my eyes.

We were doing some calls in Centro one day, and this four year old girl ran up to us and asked us our name. She told us her name, then ran off. A few minutes later, she came back with two of her friends. They were two boys, and she said "my friends want you guys to play with us." They replied "No we dont!" And she asked if we could play. We said we had to do some work and she said "Ok....after." and ran off. The cutest kids!

Other than that though, pretty normal. I love you all! Dad, ill try and find some good pictures today and send them next week. I dont have a ton of time left on the computer. Sorry about that! Crazy school and football are starting. I did a scambio with my District Leader, Anziano Lockleare from Tennessee, and hes a big football fan so that was fun. Its so fun being a missionary!

I love you! Keep CTRing and reading the scriptures! And way to feed the missionaries! Mom, we'll have a lasagna competition when I get home, ok? I just learned how to make the ragu from scratch, so we'll see how that goes!

Love you!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon