A White Flower

Hey! This week has been good but has kind of had its ups and downs. First off the baptism for Lorenzo didn't happen. He started getting doubts and confusion and said that he wanted to pray about it for another week and see how he feels. We tried to explain to him that confusion doesn't come from God, but I'm sure he will be baptized soon enough. Other news, we are teaching a lady from the Philippines and she has been great. She follows every commitment we give her and is flying through The Book of Mormon. Earlier this week we challenged her to pray about Baptism and she said that she would do it. Later that week we met her and she said that she asked God to show her a white flower on the bus and this would be her sign to get baptized. We immediately explained that sometimes God doesn't answer the way we want him to, but that we know he will answer her prayer. But she was very set on the white flower thing. So the whole week we prayed that Lodi would see a white flower on the bus. We met her on Saturday and she said that she wanted to get Baptized because she talked to her cousin, who is a member, and she told her that she loves the church and that she will receive so many blessings from baptism if she is baptized. So we were very happy for her and her choice to get baptized. Then on Sunday she told us that later that day when she was thinking about baptism on the bus, a lady jumped on the bus with a whole bouquet of white flowers and that she felt the spirit and received a second answer to her prayers. Haha so we were really excited about that happening and her baptismal date is on the 11th of September! Other than that we have been doing a lot of street contacting and finding work which has paid off! We have met so many great people and I can't wait to teach them this week!  Hey Dad! I'm glad to hear about all the good things happening at work and stuff! That is so great! I also loved hearing about the story from your mission it sounds like a great experience and really makes me want to try to find investigators through other people. Sometimes you really feel like you are going nowhere with someone and then you meet someone through them and it feels like your work wasn't for nothing Haha. This whole transfer we have been working with a family who doesn't read the scriptures or have prayer and it has felt kind of pointless. But just last night we met with them and they had a friend over that seemed really interested in the church and so we gave him a Book of Mormon and will teach him again this week! It really felt nice to see something come of that situation. Wow I can't believe that Bingham beat Alta! I really thought Alta was going to do really good this year. Hopefully they will get them next time! I am really excited to hear about Tayler and Jared! That is really exciting! I'm so happy for them! Well I have to run but thanks for writing! Thank you for everything you do! Love you tons!! CIAO!!

Baptism This Sunday

Hey Mom!! I Hope you have an amazing Birthday!!! I love you so much and am so greatful for all of the great things you have done for me! You have helped me through so much in my life and have been an incredible example to me! I hope you have a great time in St. George with Dad! I'm not sure if I know the stories of Shakespeare either but it sounds like it will be a lot of fun! Love you tons and can't wait to mail you! It might take awhile to get to you though. Is there anything I can do for you? I know that it seems like I can't do anything for you from the otherside of the world but if there is please let me know! I heard you got a new digital book thing. That is so great! I think those look so cool! Hope you enjoy it all! Anyways I can't believe my sister is getting married.... That is just the weirdest thing in the world but I am very happy for her and Jared!! The news just can't get much better! You will have to fill me in on details! I can't believe the kids are starting another year of school! Everyone is changing so fast while I am out here! It's my Moms Birthday!! My brothers and sister are starting school up again and my sister is getting Married!! Haha its crazy! The people here are different from Palermo. The people here seem like they have a lot more northern european ancestery because there skin is lighter and in Palermo they have really tan skin but both cities have extremely nice people! Yes we pass the temple site every now and then. They have started on it and are moving fairly fast on it. We have members in our ward that are from the United States who are here as architects on the temple and their families as well and from what they have told us, the temple won't be finished for 3 years :(  so thats kind of sad but just gives me a reason to come back! Our convert is great! His baptism is this Sunday and he is very excited! He was born in Palermo but grew up in Rome and he is around 50 years old. He isn't married but he is one of the nicest people I have met here. He ran into the missionaries on the street like 6 times in the exact same place, on random days so he figured that it was an important message and  God wanted him to know it. So we are very excited for him! Elder Shipton is great! We are having a really good time as new missionaries and we are constantly learning from each other. Being new has really forced us to learn the language a lot faster so It has been a great blessing!  Anyways I have to run. Thank you for all that you do and Love you Tons!!

Two Greenies

I love working with Anziano Shipton! I am still in shock that President Kelly would put me and Anziano Shipton over the biggest ward in the mission, but it has been a lot of fun! There are still a few times where we have no idea what someone said to us but those moments are getting smaller. We are both trying to learn as much of the language as we can by writing down words we hear and memorizing them later, so it has been a blessing to have 2 greenies serving together. We are working with a lot of great people right now, a lot of them are previous investigators. We set a baptismal date with a man named Lorenzo and he is really great and is really excited to get baptized. We contact a lot of people doing street or house contacting. We want to do mostra soon (where we set up a big posters that say things about the Church and we talk to everyone in the area) in a busy area, but we haven't gotten to it yet. It is really nice serving close to President and Sorella Kelly. It's really nice to see them and talk to them when we see them. They do a lot and are always busy trying to run this huge mission and do a really good job at it! I love Rome there are so many amazing things to see. Today we are going to St. Peters, a huge cathedral in the Vatican. That is great to hear all of the good things about alta and how they are doing! I hope they win state. Tell Shad good luck for me!  I did receive your package! Thank you so much for everything! I loved it all! I loved seeing all the pictures and  how everyone is doing. Haha and the little puzzle thing is great we all mess around with it and love getting frustrated with it.  So thank you so much!  I love you all tons and have a great week!!!

Transfer News

Hey Thanks for writing! This week has been pretty crazy. My second appointment with the Doctor was this week and once I got off of the one antibiotic my head started to get tight and hurt and my ears started to pop again so he put me on another and for longer but it doesn't seem like this one is as helpful.  Just want this to pass. We got transfer news! I will be serving in Rome for this next transfer with just me and Anziano Shipton! Haha two new missionaries starting their third transfer. It will be hard but I'm excited! No I haven't gotten the package yet but I'm sure I'll get it soon! Thanks a ton! It's exciting to hear about Diane and them staying out for so long. I'm sure that was exciting! I read in Dads email about Colton getting in a crash! Is he and the other guy alright? How is the car and is insurance going to cover it? I hope everything is ok!  This is the Last preparation day for Anziano Mercado in Rome so we are trying to hurry so we can do all the things he wants to do. But love you tons and thank you for everything!

I Am Loving Rome

I am loving Rome! It is beautiful here! There are so many great people and things to see! I am usually with Anziano Marcado, from Michigan, and Anziano Shipton, who I was roomed with at the MTC, and they are both great to serve with but I am also with the assistants a lot Anziano Banks and Anziano Garvin and they are also really great missionaries! Today we went and saw all of these cool things in Rome like the coliseum and the big fountain and all of those big Rome things which are unreal to see! You run into a lot of tourists there! But the whole city is amazing not just that part. Oh and we went to a Church today that had the chains inside that were used to incarcerate Peter before he was killed and I got a picture, it was really eye opening. I do miss Palermo which has better food and has all the great Africans there but Rome is great to and the work is moving fast up here too! We don't play basketball but a lot of the Anziani play soccer here. We have a soccer field right outside of our apartment and its really cool! Haha I do need to start to do magic tricks for the little kids! That would be a good idea!  As for my mailing address, right now you can just put it at the mission home because we go to the church a lot and then that way I will get the letters for sure. That is great to hear about Tanner Cortez he will be a great missionary! And wow that is really crazy to here about Tyler haha! Down in Palermo the Mafia is really  big and a lot of missionaries have pictures of blown up cars. That is exciting to here about Jansen, I'm sure he is just loving it. How is the work going there? And last off wow! MY SISTER cant be getting serious!! Wow that is really great for her. I am really excited to hear about all the great news with that situation. Its so weird! Ha I hope that it wasn't me that was making him not come over or anything haha. Just kidding. Well I have to go Thanks for all that you do! Love you tons!!!!  I hope I can play soon!