boun giorno familgia!
I'M FINALLY IN ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, I just love it here! But boy these keyboards are a tad different, so forgive me if my punctuation or spelling or whatever is off a little bit, haha. So anyways, where do I even begin! I'm so sorry that I couldnt email you all last week, I was on the planes for most of the day...I had like 14 hours or so of straight flying time, not including lay overs and stuff. but man it was great!
One funny thing about the trip here. So we rode on British Airways from Chicago to London and also from London to Milan, and so it was just so hilarious having all these british passengers and flight attendants and everything hahaha, I felt like I was in Harry Potter or something going to Hogwarts. Every time the lady was like (british accent) "Would you like some more water sir?" It was just all I could do to not just sit there and laugh or smile and say the accent was funny, haha. But she was super nice, actually a member of the church! When we were all boarding she was like "welcome elders!" and we were all like ....did she just...yep! haha :)
So, Italy!! Man I just love it here! My area is San Remo, and it is just such a cool town! The people are great, and even when they are not saying something nice, I cant understand them anyway so it is still fun for me! haha. My apartment is GREAT! Man, it is like staying in a hotel, seriously. All the floors here in Italy are tile or wood, and so it's pretty fancy shmancy, awesome. And yes Big L, they all have bedays...but also toilet paper!...for the americans i guess haha. So that was definitely a little comforting thing for me haha. But yeah I will talk more about what they have here later, this is gonna be a looong email I can already tell haha so i apologize in advance.
So my new companion is Anziano Lopez. He was born in Peru, but he has lived in Rome for 12 years before he came here, so I am basically pumped that I have a native Italian as a trainer, because not only does he know everything about the language, but he just knows a lot of general cultural things about Italy, which is handy. One down side though, is that he doesn't know english very well, haha. No, he actually is pretty good at it, he said he has studied english for 5 months, but the first time he heard it was when he started his mission with an american companion, haha. But he is great! I am teaching him english, and he is teaching me Italian, so it is good. It is funny because he has a funny accent and a lot of the time when I use an american phrase like "what in the world?" or something, he gets confused haha, it's a good time though, he is a great guy. Yesterday he spent like 5 minutes trying to figure out/remember how to say lightsaber. It was funny. By the way, it's spadalaser or laser sword in Italian, in case you wanted to know, which let's be honest...ya did ;) haha. But yeah, my Italian is coming along, little by little. Most of the time I just sit there and stare at them and only catch a word or two of what they say, and so if they look at me like they just asked a question I get the deer in the headlights look and then just look over at my companion haha. But I just love it anyway! I can talk more about the lessons, and that's really why I'm here, so it is alright.
Sooo, lets talk for a minute about my first surprise lunch appointment!...hahah ohhh man, was that a hoot and a holler. So me and my companion, and also Anz Kendrick and Walden, the other companionship in the San Remo area, were at the church meeting with the ward mission leader (not sure what for...because I had no idea what he said, haha). But when we were done some random guy (who I later found out is like the most active and best guy in the branch) came up to my companion and talked about something, and then all of a sudden I find myself in his car with him and his wife on the way to his house, and so...picture this...I'm just sitting in the back seat, crammed with 3 other missionaries, while everyone is speaking Italian all around me, and me and Anz Kendrick /(the other new missionary) are just staring blankly at each other laughing cuz we have no idea what is going on. So I'm just soooo confused, and we get to their house, all of a sudden they make me decide something about sitting inside or outside, so I just say ^fouri^ which means outside, so we all go outside, sit down at the table, and the wife starts bringing plates out. So finally I'm like Ohhhh, we are eating here!, like a lightbulb! So the conversation went on between my companion, Anz Walden (the other trainer) and the two people, and I'd catch a word or two here or there, like Lebron James or Miami or something like that, haha. And so the wife brings out a HUGE bowl of pasta, and just loads up our plates. And so we nearly eat ourselves to death with pasta, trying to eat it all between the 4 of us missionaries (which by the way, funny story! So Anz Kendrick was getting some pasta, and we were all super full because we had had like 20 pounds each of pasta, and the wife was dishing it out onto his plate, and she was like Ancora? which means more? ...but Anziano Kendrick didn't understand what she was saying, so he would just say "oh si!", and so she kept giving him more and more pasta and it was just SO hilarious cuz she was like shocked that he still wanted more pasta, but he kept asking for more, and we were all trying not to laugh because we would throw up from being so full! hahaha...so yeah, good times, good times.) But anyways, so then when i thought we were done, the wife takes our plate, and says "oh keep your fork!" and I'm thinking.... "oh no. I forgot! There are like 5 course meals in Italy" haha. so she brings out a bunch of salad, we eat that, and then she brings out a huuuuge sausage link thing and we eat that, and then! Watermelon! Haha sooooo yeahhhh, we experienced what the missionaries like to call "pasta shock" haha. When you are basically in shock from eating so much, haha. It was the biggest meal ever! But is was delicious! So yeahhhh, that was my first surprise lunch appointment haha
so anyways, another funny thing here is the elevators! They are like 1/4 the size of elevators in america, so literally we pack in there like sardines, standing sideways. It is pretty hilarious.
So shopping! Man, that was different! The shops here are small, and everything is foreignly labeled, the only thing i recognized was the bread and fruit...oh fruit!! I am SO glad that fruit is the same everywhere! Haha no matter where I am, an apple tastes like an apple! It's great! haha but my trainer is just like "okay. you need food for the week. and also two lunches that you can make for us during the week. good luck!" hahaha so I was prettyyyy lost. But the good news is that it can only get better from here!
But yeah, the food is great! Missionaries usually eat like cereal or yogurt or something for breakfast, and then a huge lunch, and then no dinner. So yeah haha. My trainer said that I will lose weight here, he's lost like 5 kilos so far, but that's okay! I bought a ton of snacks and stuff, so don't worry mom, I'm eating enough :)
Sorry this is so long, I have a lot to say! haha. But so we do a lot of Strada here...which means street or finding. We walk around and talk to people in the parks or on the street or wherever, and just talk and teach them about the gospel! It is so wonderful, I love it so much! there are tons of people that don't want to hear it, but the few that do make it so worth it! Being a missionary is just the best!
Being a missionary is soooo hard. But so worth it. I don't care about the hard times. Because every single rejection, every single hard time...every single step that hurts my feet...is one step closer to being able to feel some small portion of how Jesus Himself felt. As he did all he could to preach the gospel to those people whom he loved so much, but just didn't accept Him. They rejected Him, they mocked Him, they spit on Him. How privileged I am to be able to walk where he would walk, and try to do what He would do if he were here on the earth. As a missionary, I am literally His mouthpiece. And I have felt the Spirit work through me so many times, to touch the hearts of the wonderful people here in Italy. Every night I just kneel down and weep tears of joy for this glorious work, and the miracles I experience every single day. I love it here so much.
I want to leave you with a wonderful experience I had during a lesson this week. My companion and I, and the ward mission leader Stefano baccin, went to a member's house named Maia, who recently broke her leg in a scooter accident, because she wanted a blessing. Her mother in inactive, and so she invited her to come to our lesson, and listen about the Restoration. I was really nervous, because it was one of my first lessons, and I literally just couldn't understand a thing! But I said a prayer in my heart as we walked up to her house, with all the faith I could muster, and I asked Heavenly Father to help me to be able to express my testimony, that somehow it could help them and bless their life. I asked that I would be able to have the light of Christ in my countenance, that they would be able to feel really how much I love them and know that this is true. And so during the lesson, I understood probably 10% of what was said, and then towards the end my companion looked at me (which is the signal for "bear your testimony"). And so I bore my simple testimony, in broken Italian about how I knew that the restoration was true, and that God loves us and wants us to be happy, and a few other things. After i ended it..obviously I was crying, because I am a baby that way and almost always cry when I bear testimony, haha...but the mother had tears in her eyes and Maia was crying. And I wasn't sure what was going on, but then she said something about seeing a luce or a light when I bore my testimony. She talked about how I seemed so humble, and just how the simplicity of what I could say touched her heart. how wonderful of an experience that was for me. To me, that was a miracle. And it just was such a testimony builder to me, that it doesn't matter that I can't speak very well, or understand very well, or anything like that. Heavenly Father called me here to Italy, for a reason. And with Him, I can do anything. Anything. The Spirit is the true teacher, not me. I'll learn Italian in no time, and until then, the Lord will be here with me every single step of the way. I am so thankful for this opportunity to come here and share this message of happiness to the wonderful people of Italy. It is such a blessing to be a missionary!
Wow ho poccisimo tempo! (I have like no time left!) So sorry, I will write the rest next week! I love you all so much, and hope everything is going well! I'm taking lots of pictures and some videos :)
Love, Anziano Wilson
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