Crotone! Transfer 5 Week1!

Train stations, castles and oh yeah... TRAINING!

Hey everyone and happy 2017!!! This week has been an absolute

whirlwind! Monday night we were waiting for our transfer calls outside

of a pizzeria. The phone rang and President called and said that

Anziano Redaelli would be headed to Napoli! He handed the phone to me

and told me that I would have he opportunity to train a new

missionary! Ahhhh! Talk about stressful! So President decides after he

interviews the "Verdini" or Greenies who will be their trainer. So all

week long I had no idea who my greenie would be!

So we kept going with the week and saying goodbye to people with

Anziano Redaelli, we did some last minute stuff for him and the week

went by really fast! Until Friday. With transfers we had to leave the

house for the train station at 8 and head to Catanzaro to pick up the

other Anziani and then keep going to Lamezia where lots of transfers

would happen. Anziano De Feo and Redaelli left, the new Sister, Sister

Bonzo came in and then 4 hours later my greenie! Except his train was

70 minutes late. This whole time we are sitting in the train station

from 12:30-9 PM and I'm having a little bit of a heart attack...

Finally the train pulls up and I head out to find the kid with a name

tag! Finally I find him, Anziano Allen is my trainee! His name is

Austin and he's awesome! He is from South Jordan, UT and for those of

you who might know some of my friends from college he is the little

Brother of my friend Jess Allen! What a small world!!!! So he doesn't

think he has a Facebook so sorry Mom I know you wanted to stalk him...

he loves to hike, sports and outdoorsy stuff so we get along super

well!

That night we stayed in Catanzaro because it was too late to get a

train back to Crotone. Then the next morning we got up bright and

early to take the first train to Crotone and get settled in for New

Years Eve! New Years Eve can be pretty dangerous in Italy so we were

supposed to be home all day cleaning. We went out in the morning for a

few minutes to buy a few things and then spent the day cleaning,

weekly planning, and studying Italian.

Sundays are always the best! I think it was a little bit of a culture

shock for Anziano Allen to go from South Jordan to Crotone

Sacrament... we had four members in church. I honk everyone partied a

little too hard on Saturday! He gave his testimony and did a great

job! Afterwards I introduced him to pesto pasta and real Italian

bread... I think he likes it! He says he doesn't know how to cook so

we're going to see if we can change that in the next few weeks!

We had a really cool experience last night, we went to the hospital to

visit a less active member. She has been there a few days and was

pretty sick. I asked Anziano Allen what one of his favorite scriptures

is and he said Moroni 7:33 and it talks about how Jesus Christ can

help us through any trial or struggle if we will just act in faith. So

he read that scripture and gave some incredible testimony. The

testimony of a Greenie is so powerful, you can feel how badly they

want to share it and they work so hard for it. It's almost a tangible

thing. Her friend just happened to be there listening and we asked if

we could say a prayer with them, and they asked me to do it. After the

prayer her friend said. "I think you guys coming is God giving me a

sign. I've been so distrustful of God and not following him but I have

been feeling lately that I need to return to him. I think you guys are

my sign!" As we talked afterwards we were talking about how some of

these people that we talk to are feeling the spirit for the very first

time. They've never felt this way before and it really is so powerful.

As for the Italian it's getting a lot better! I went from not really

speaking a lot because my companion spoke a lot to really being the

Italian speaker in the companionship. Anziano Allen is doing a great

job though and he's going to get it really fast. We are both super

excited to see where this transfer goes and the people we get to meet!

Today we went to the castle and took some bomb pictures, ate some

calzones and after we email we are going to go to the lungo mare to

see the sea.

I hope you guys all had a great New Years and that you are ready to

attack this year with some great goals and a great outlook! I love you

and I hope you have a great week!

Anziano Bellucci