My First Area is Palermo!

The Mission home is a historic home once owned by Mussolinis daughter

Trip down to Sicily

First Italian LDS church the missionaries saw



MY FIRST AREA IS PALERMO!! The first day we were picked up and taken to one of the wards in Rome where they fed us pizza, which was pretty good! Then they took us to the mission home... It is the coolest house! It was built by Mussolini (spelled that wrong) for his daughter and was super cool! Then Sister Kelly made us an Incredible meal followed by where we would serve for our first area. I was so happy to serve in Palermo but didn't know anything about it other that I was about to serve in SICILY! Lindsay guessed right on the dot! Then we went to sleep and Me and a few other Anziani and one Sorella that are all serving in different cities in Sicily had to wake up super early to take a train to Catania which was a ten hour train ride but was awesome because we saw a lot of the country! The train got on a boat and sailed down to Sicily. Then we had a 2 hour bus ride into Palermo. When we finally got there we were pretty dead. I met my companion, Anziano Tinoco, my first trainer! He was born in Peru and moved to Italy when he was 5 so he is pretty much a native to the country. His Italian and Spanish are perfect and speaks a little bit of English which is difficult to understand but I am so Blessed! He is great! I have learned so much Italian from him and he is strong at bringing the Spirit! The first night in Palermo we went to our apartment which is pretty sweet and our trainers decided that we needed to try our first pizza in Palermo. The guy in the pizza shop was as Italian as you can get and very friendly! It was literally the best thing my mouth has ever tasted!  It was great! The next day we got to work and started to prepare for our week. We did some street contacting which was awesome, I was finally putting all the stuff from the MTC to work for real! I struggled but got the points I wanted across. Then we had our first lesson with a man from Ghana who has had two lessons and we were teaching him the third. He speaks a little bit of Italian but mostly English so we taught him in English and the Spirit was so strong! He is such a great man and he is totally one of those people who The Lord has prepared! He Committed to Baptism!!!! It was so awesome!! We came out with the biggest smiles on our faces! Haha Then we went to our second lesson with a husband who was just baptized 2 months ago and his wife hasn't been baptized yet but I'm sure she will be soon! They are incredible and both speak English so we taught them and the lesson and the Spirit was very strong! They are both great and I haven't seen too many people get as excited about this message as the husband has. He has already read like every book the church has published and already knows deep doctrine! He is great! We have been teaching a lot and all of the people from Africa have been interested in hearing about the Church and are extremely humble and will follow the commitments you give them! They are great! The people here are so nice and you can talk to anyone for hours if you wanted to. The city of Palermo is incredible and so beautiful! There are so many amazing statues and buildings! They drive so crazy here! They would put L.A. to shame! Haha its insane! When crossing the street you just have to act like your a car and walk out into the middle of the street with a prayer in your heart that you aren't going to get destroyed by a car! Haha its awesome! The food is to die for! I didn't like pasta before my mission and now It is like my favorite food! We have eaten it every day! Sometimes twice a day! Sunday we went to Church and that was great. The members are so kind and I got to bear my testimony, which was a little scary but I survived. The members cook the best food too! Here in Italy there is no such thing as a portion of food! They give you so much food! The Gelato I tried for the first time last night and also a few canoli! They are incredible!!! I love this city, the building, the craziness, the people and most of all getting to share this great message with them! Every day I know more and more that this country is the perfect mission for me!!   That is so great to hear my friends are doing good! I can't believe how we are all serving in such different places!! 

                                                  Caleb