Crotone Transfer 6 Week 3

Hey Everybody! This has been kind of a short week since the last time I emailed, but it has been a week of miracles! Crotone is growing fast and we are so excited to be a part of it!

So since Wednesday we have been pretty busy, that night we went to Salvatore and Eleanora's house and did a little Family Home Evening with them, we talked about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon as a family and even though sometimes it can feel like a three ring circus to get it to happen it is so worth it and the blessings will come! (This is the family that I spent Christmas with) They have a 15 month old son named Giuseppe and Salvatore always calls me Zio Bellucci which is Uncle! Haha, I think Giuseppe just loves us because we will siut on the floor and play with him for a minute! Oh to be little...

Thursday we passed by some contacts that Anziano Allen and Anziano Friedman found on their exchange a couple weeks ago and we got to teach the Restoration a couple times. We walked along the beach/board walk and did some finding before English Course and then taught English Course, nothing too eventful! 

Friday was weekly planning, always one of my least favorite days but it helps us so much to be ready for the next week. So I have an excuse to get up and walk around we usually make a ragu and let it cook all morning long so we have to get up and stir it. Planning went really well and we were done just in time for lunch! We recieved a referral from Bari, actually from a missionary that I knew from Sardegna and it was for a man named Giuseppe, he moved about 45 minutes away by train and he has a baptismal date and everything. SO we went to the Church to download all his info and give him a call. Well he moved here for work and he had to work on Sunday, but we are hoping to go and find him this next week! I found an old Teaching Record in the Area Book for a guy named Giovanni and we gave him a call and he said "Sure, come on over!" So he told us where he lived and we went over. I was looking up the stairs and I saw one of our English Course Students whose Dad's name is GIOVANNI! Everyone and their Brother in this country is named Giovanni, Antonio, Giuseppe, or Salvatore... Anyway it was a nice surprise! They invited us in and it was Giovanni, his wife, and their two kids. They made us some Herbal fennel drink and we kind of began to scope out their interest on the church... They said that they had talked with the Anziani in the past but never really understood everything. We shared a message about the Book of Mormon and about how Jesus Christ established a Church, a perfect Church and how the Book of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ. We want to keep teaching them as a family, it went really well! 

As we were walking home someone yelled over to us in perfect English with no accent "Hey, are you guys the Mormons?!" We both turned and saw this group of people talking "I was actually just talking about you, my friend here needs to study English and I've heard about your English Course" Well I don't know how to Missionary in English, honestly I feel kind of handicapped when I try to talk to people about the Church or English Course actually in English, I feel like the words just don't come. So Anziano Allen came in clutch and started explaining it to him in English and then to the group of people in Italian. (Proud Mission Dad moment) Apparently he has been studying English since he was 10 and then went to America and taught there for two years so he speaks perfectly. Anziano Allen and I walked away and he said to me "I think his friend is going to come to English Course, and I think she's going to get baptized!" I felt the same way too, it was too perfect to be a coincidence! 

Saturday we had ward council and went and sang some hymns to a Sister in the branch who is pretty sick. We sang "I know that my Redeemer Lives" and "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" and the spirit was so strong! There is a scripture I think I have shared before but "The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me." Its true! Then we went to Centro and did a Gesso (The chalk and sheet thing!) Then of course Pizza after...

Sunday was my favorite that I have had here in Crotone! We got to the Church early and had everything set up and I had my iPad plugged in playing hymns on the sound system, and the spirit was already coming in as the members walked in. I gave a talk on Faith and Testimonies and the importance on relying on our testimonies in time of doubt and fear. I think it went really well and then our Branch President spoke as well. After my talk Oriana and Antonio walked in! Our investigators with the Baptismal date! They came to Church! We were some Happy Anziani! They stayed for all three hours of Church and Sister Bonzo went to Gospel Principles and said they had a great experience, and Antonio said the prayer! 

On top of that Antonio's Aunt who is a less-active member came to church and then invited us to lunch! Turns out she is a dang good cook! She made us pasta with a homemade white sauce and broccoli and clams and then chicken and potatoes, we were so stuffed! 

Then we went to pass by a bunch of less active members in the afternoon and none of them were home... we passed by a member's house and shared part of the Fourth Floor Last Door talk which is one of my favorites and he talks about relying on God because he can always see more than we can. 

Thats pretty much the week so far! It was obviously a short one but it went well! I hope you all had a great week! I want to leave you all with my testimony that I know this church is true, Heavenly Father is in the details and he loves each one of you. 

Love,

Anziano Jacob Bellucci

Crotone Transfer 6 Week 2... Traveling, Zone Conference, and more Traveling!

As you can tell we did a lot of traveling this week! On Monday night we went over to Vincenzo's house, we're working on getting him to pray... we talked about it for a minute and then he forgot to say the prayer before we ate... it's a work in progress! We played Uno and ate dinner with him. This time no weird fish or eggplant or spicy peppers or anything weird! His sister made a red sauce and so we had spaghetti  and bread and cheese and it was really good! So good in fact that we lost track of time and had to run home! 

Tuesday was Valentines Day! I spent the morning listening to people's voice mails because they didn't want to answer... I made about a million phone calls and I don't think we ended up with a single appointment set... Anziani Allen made a dang good stir fry, he's getting pretty handy in the kitchen! Then in the afternoon it was Valentines Day and so there was no one outside, we tried to go see Sorella Siniscalchi but she wasn't home, she lives next to the marina though so we took some cool pictures of boats and a video too! English Course was all the single people and us which was interesting, we had a good handful of people it went pretty well! 

Wednesday started early! The Zone Leaders went to Rome for MLC last week so we all met in Cosenza for District Meeting on Wednesday. The bus leaves at 6:15 and it's about a 20 minute walk from the house so we were up at 5! It's about 2 and a half hours to Cosenza on a bus..  the District meeting went really well and we talked about how we can use our mouths for both good and bad. We can uplift, teach, pray, eat, and so many other good things but we can also lie, cheat, swear, and do all sorts of bad things. Anziano Haws explained that just as we don't eat in the bathroom, we can't do the bad things with our mouths and expect to also do the good things when that time comes. It was a good DDM and I think we all got a lot from it. After DDM we went and got Kebab 🥙 from this really good place that the missionaries I guess have gone for years, he gave us a plate of free food to go with our Kebab and then it was time for the bus ride back to the good old Crotone! When we got back we went and gave one of the Sisters in the ward a priesthood blessing as she's been really sick for a while now. Anziano Allen got his new tablet in the mail so we went and set that up and he was really sick so we headed home for the night and tried to go to bed early! 

Thursday we had quite a few plans but not so many successes... ya know when you have a problem with the cable and they say "We'll come on Tuesday between 8 A.M. And 5 P.M.?" Well they need to come and change our gas meter and so they sent us a letter that said someone needed to be at the house between 8-1 so we moved our weekly planning to Thursday and decided we would just stay home in the morning and do that. Anziano Allen was still sick so we didn't get a whole lot done but THE GAS PEOPLE NEVER CAME! So frustrating... in the afternoon we tried to contact a few referrals and less actives... no one was home so we walked all over the city trying to contact these people but to no avail! It's ok though, we needed the exercise and we talked to come cool people! English Course went really well, there's an "I'm a Mormon" profile that I really like, it's about a woman named Lisa McBride and she is a Pediatric Flight Nurse, it talks about her life experiences and her family and then at the end she shares an experience about losing a child on one of her flights and how as hard as that is she finds peace and joy in the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. We read her profile in English for he advanced a Course and then watched the video and then for our spiritual thought at the end we showed it in Italian and then testified of the power of the Plan of Salvation and the peace and joy that comes from knowing there is something more than just this life, that families are eternal and that Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us. The spirit was so strong at the end, you can tell how powerful personal experiences are even if it was shared by reading subtitles of an English video, the spirit testifies of small and simple truths! It also shows how powerful those member testimonies are! So get out there and share your testimony with someone even if it's just a small and simple truth, get out there and share it!

Friday was off to Catanzaro after morning studies to do an exchange with them, I think Anziano Haws is trying to get a jump start so we don't have to do both exchanges in the last week of the transfer. I got to work with Anziano Gunnell again and we had a great time, we spent the evening finding and then at the end of the night we met up at this "American Burger Place" it was sooo good! Usually Italy tries to do America but they mess it up by putting French fries and hot dogs on a pizza and calling it American but this time it was really American! And they had a special with buffalo meat so I got a huge burger and they had homemade fries and everything. Finished off the night well! Anziani Allen and I realized that American food is way more filling than Italian food... we can eat tons of pasta and pizza and all this stuff and it either takes a lot to make you full or you are hungry pretty soon after, well American food filled us up and kept us full! It was definitely a success. 

Saturday we worked together in the morning we followed up on some house to house that said they could come back another day, none of them were home so we kept on doing some house to house and we found a really nice older lady that was open to hearing our message. She is pretty "stonata" which means deaf... and so I was basically yelling the restoration to her, anyway we got them a new investigator which was our scambio goal! Anziano Gunnell did a great job, his Italian is getting better every day! I'm realizing I talk too much and kind of overshadow my companions so it's something I'm working on! 

We met up with the other Anziani and if you remember from a couple weeks ago the "World's best Hazelnut Ice Cream" we had to get another one! This time I got a brioche  which is like a sweet bun and they cut it open and fill it with ice cream... so good. I got Nutella and Hazelnut ice cream inside. I was real happy... one of the best things I've gotten in Italy! Right next to those grafe I was talking about a couple weeks ago! We ate lunch with them and then back to Crotone to finally visit Sister Siniscalchi! She was home this time and we got to have a great chat with her. She has been in Verona since Mid-December and I have for sure missed her! She is 82 years old I like my little Italian Grandma in Crotone! It was nice to catch up with her and to hear her testimony again, it's so strong! 

Sunday... all went pretty normal in church! We had the Primary Program and there are 3 Primary kids and not a one of them is Italian so that was interesting... it went well though! Oriana and Antonio and Luigi were supposed to come to church but they called us and said that Luigi had a soccer game and so they couldn't come! We were super sad but we're still hoping for them! Keep them in your prayers! After church it was home for lunch and then a 3:50 train to Taranto! We got to go with the Zone Leaders to give an Elderly Sister the Sacrament and it was a really special experience. She has some health problems so she can't leave the house but she's such a faithful sister. We blessed and passed her the Sacrament and the spirit was so strong! It testified to me how important the Sacrament is for each one of us. Heavenly Father wants each one of us to receive it so we can use the Atonement each week and grow closer to him. We went to the Church and had interviews with President and Sister Pickerd and I got some new name tags that I ordered a few weeks ago! 

Monday! Obviously we had Zone Conference Monday so we are having P-Day today... the Zone Conference was awesome as always! We talked a lot about the Worldwide Broadcast from January 25th where they changed the schedule but in the end the schedule was the last 20 minutes of the two hour broadcast, for the rest of it they talked a lot about the doctrine of Christ and the importance of teaching by the spirit and teaching people not lessons. As missionaries we face quite a bit of rejection and it can be kind of disheartening and President Anderson of the 12 talks about how hard it is to serve in Europe and see families baptized in South America everyday... but there was a quote at the end I really liked and this is really something I've tried to think about and it says "When we get rejected we follow a long line of witnesses of the Savior including the Savior himself, who testified of his divine nature and was still rejected by many." They're not rejecting Anziano Bellucci and Anziano Allen, they're rejecting the message and it shouldn't be a personal rejection, they said "Don't get disheartened, go find those that the Lord has prepared!" We talked about the importance of working with the younger generation and raising up future missionaries and church leaders! It's a cool thought that our next Baptism could become the next Branch President of the Crotone Branch, who knows! Anyways, Zone Conference was great! We took a bus right after and headed back to Crotone! I for one am ready to be done traveling for a little while! We'll see how long it lasts! 

Yesterday we had to get pictures taken for Anziano Allen's permesso and then print out all his legal documents and get him ready for his appointment in the afternoon. His appointment was at 4:30 so we decided to be early showed up at 4. They brought us right up and we ended up leaving at 4:36,  it we have to go back in like a week and a half to get his fingerprints done! I hope everything goes well! 

The Sisters were still in Taranto on their exchange so we taught English Course by ourselves, Anziano Allen taught Advanced and I taught basic. It went really well! Basic course takes a lot of energy, you have to get them excited and you speak in Italian most of the time and it's a lot of fun but man is it exhausting! By the end I think the English Course loved me but I was mad tired! (I want to see who actually reads my emails, send me a smiley face if you see this!!!) We shared the Mormon Message "Earthly Father Heavenly Father" which is so powerful! It talks about the similarities between our father in Heaven and our father here on Earth. Both love us and want the best for us, we can talk and trust in both and find peace in the council that they bring. If you have a minute go and check it out! They're on YouTube or on Mormonchannel.org the spirit was really strong and we gave out a Book of Mormon to one of the new students! 

Today we've had a great P-Day! We went to "Le Castella" this morning and it was so fun! It's this beautiful little castle on the sea and it's connected to land by this little bridge. It was absolutely gorgeous. We didn't end up going in because it didn't open until 10 and we had to catch a bus back but it was beautiful outside and we took a lot of pictures! It was 65-70 and sunny and the sun was so bright! I love being in Italy, I love the people and I love being a missionary. I hope you all had a great week and I can't wait to hear all about it! 

Love,

Anziano Jake Bellucci

P.S. So this just happened... we got a call from an unknown number as we were walking back from the bus station and I assumed it was just someone asking for info about English Course and it said "Allen. Austin Allen? This is the Carabinieri" which is the police. "Where are you? We found your passport!" Apparently after the questura trip yesterday it fell out of his folder on the way home. We hadn't noticed but someone that works for the city found it and gave it to the police and they asked us where we were, they came and met us and just handed it over... Heavenly Father is in the details! He watches over us! 

Crotone Transfer 6 Week 1

I'm staying!  Beautiful Restaurants! Baptismal Dates! 

What a week we've had here in Crotone! Miracles are happening and the Lord's work is PROGRESSING! 

Monday night we had a HUGE Gesso which is the chalk thing where we draw on the sheet and everything... we had the whole District plus the Anziani from Cosenza so there was 8 missionaries on the street and we centered it on the church being Christ's restored Church. We wrote "Is Christ's Church still on the Earth today?" And we shared the story of the Restoration with so many people. I was talking to one guy and Anziano Saffer came over and I asked this guy if we could meet him another time and explain the full restoration. He said or you could explain it now... and so we did, we taught him the whole Restoration together and I noticed two things! Anziano Saffer and I have never worked together or taught anything but with the Spirit's guidance we were able to teach smoothly and work together to explain everything clearly. The second thing was how strong the spirit was, we both felt it and we know that he did too. Unfortunately he isn't ready to accept the Gospel right now, we offered him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said he wasn't interested in learning more right now. So I actually learned a lot from this guy about missionary work. We can teach perfectly and with the spirit but if people aren't ready to receive it then they won't understand the message and they won't accept, but that's not our fault and we shouldn't get discouraged! We just have to get out there and find those who are ready! Then of course there is this Pizzeria here that on Mondays any kind of pizza you could want is just 3€ so we ordered a TON of pizza and w ent home to eat! While we were waiting for our pizza the phone rang! It was Cosenza's phone... they are staying together but ey found out that the Sorelle were being "blown out" so both of them were leaving and no sisters were coming back to the area for this next transfer and the Anziani were added to our District. So we get to see Anziano Saffer and Anziano Oswald every week for District Meeting! One by one we all got our transfer calls and found out that the whole District is staying the same for this transfer! I'm excited to do another 6 weeks with Anziano Allen! He's doing great and really picking up on the language quickly! 

Tuesday the Sorelle from Cosenza came down for District meeting so there were ten of us! We had a great District meeting and then I made lunch afterwards. Southern Italy has water problems... so the city water sometimes cuts out or goes down to a trickle. Well Tuesday was a trickle day. So I was making Pesto pasta with chicken and it took me 20 minutes to fill the pot for the water... and we made so much pasta that I couldn't stir it all and it burned to the bottom of the pot, there was no water to wash the dishes and it was a total mess! The Pesto turned out good though and everyone was happy!

After DDM we stayed in the Church for a while and then helped a member clean a little bit. There's like a patio thing behind the church and it's filthy so we helped her and her two kids clean it up so hopefully we can do a Branch activity out there eventually! We prepped for English Course and then taught about "Going to the Auto Parts Store" it was definitely more interesting than going to the Hair Salon last week! Afterwards we had an appointment set with Marco & Rita but they weren't able to come... 

Wednesday was a day of finding because we got cancelled on by literally everyone... even back up plans fell through... so we did a little finding, we ended up doing a quick grocery shopping run, we were out of bottled water so we had to get some of that and we needed some American food so I made roast chicken and mashed potatoes for lunch! We spent a good minute catching up on some training videos for Anziano Allen.

Thursday was a better day! Hair Salons in Italy are closed on Monday unless they're run by the Chinese so we got haircuts on Thursday and passed by some investigators in the morning. Then we went home and made some homemade chicken wings (our new tradition!) and then we taught English Course in the evening! We read the "I'm a Mormon" profile for Lindsey Sterling with them and they did a great job! It was really cool, if y'all know who Lindsey Stirling is you check out her profile on Mormon.org, there's a little video on there that explains a little about her story and it's really interesting!

Friday... let's just talk about Friday for a minute... we started off great, we spent the morning weekly planning and getting ready for this next week, we have lots of appointments set up so hopefully we'll be busier. While we planned I made a ragù pasta sauce and it was so good! We ate our weight in pasta and then we went to relax because we were about to explode. We both fell asleep but not for a little nap, we were both out which hardly ever happens, I usually wake up within half an hour if I fall asleep but we were gone. Two and a half hours later we woke up... we went and saw Sorella Grande, we visited with her and shared a message, we talked about how she felt when her daughter went on her mission to Temple Square and the blessings that she received as her daughter served. It was really cool! We taught English to our friend Samuel, he is moving to Canada with his wife in a few months, he was asking us about fast food in America and we started to explain the joys of Chic-fil-a and Carl's Jr. and Subway and Anziano Allen and I were about drooling haha The things ya miss! 

Saturday was great, we met with a few less active families in the morning and then went to meet our investigators Marco and Rita because they wanted to take us to lunch! They invited the Sisters as well! We went to "La figlia di Annibale" and WOW was it amazing! This place was way out of my league... we all felt a little out of place but it was so nice! I ate Clams for an appetizer and they were so good! Well seasoned and then they had a piece of Bread from Cutro which is amazing... then round two was a risotto with pumpkin and shrimp , it was heavenly. Round three I got some weird fish that came with a tomato, onion and fresh basil salad. All good. You guys should all go check out the restaurant on line! 

Then we taught seminary and Antonio stayed and we went and hung up English Course Posters with him and passed out about 500 English Course Cards with him! We  got a little competitive so we would talk to people and we ended up having a lot of fun. I was behind because they gave me a bigger stack and so I went up to a group of 15 high school kids and caught up real fast! We actually had some really good conversations. Working with members is where it's at! 

Sunday we had a great  Sacrament Meeting, we had a visitor from Taranto that spoke during the meeting and he talked about the promised blessings that come when we obey the commandments. It's so true! Afterwards we had a lesson with our investigators Antonio, Oriana, and Luigi at a member's house. It went so well! So last time we taught the Plan of Salvation to them and they understood it super well and this time we explained the Restoration! We gave them all copies of the Book of Mormon and at the end we both felt like they were ready for the baptismal invite. We invited them to be baptized and they all said yes! Their baptismal date is the 11th of March! So it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of preparation on both our part and theirs so we could use your prayers! 

That's the week for us, today we are at McDonalds and headed to the mall for a little bit! Should be a good day! 

Just FYI we have Zone Conference next Monday so we will have P-Day on Wednesday! So don't worry if no one hears from me from Monday, I'll be back! I love y'all and I hope you have a great week! 

Anziano Bellucci

Crotone! Transfer 5 Week 6!

Crotone Transfer 5 Week 6!

Wow I can't believe transfer calls are tonight and me and my "son" have done almost 6 whole weeks together! Ahhhhh It is so crazy! This last week has been a good one with two exchanges, lots of food eaten and a little sickness going around...

SO as always we start off at the beginning! Monday after emailing we did some finding and spent some time in "Centro" which is just downtown where all the shops are. We met the Anziani from Catanzaro at around 8:30, grabbed a pizza and walked home. So there is an on going joke in the house this transfer, our first week together I broke 3 if our six glass cups, I have been good since then except for last week. The black pepper shaker fell out of the cupboard and onto a plate and that shattered too. Well then Anziano Gunnell from Catanzaro swung his arm across the kitchen table while we were eating pizza and took out number 4 of our 6 glass cups... So now we're down to two! And I am only aloud to use plastic cups. 

At 9:30 the Zone Leaders got to the apartment from Taranto, they were here to sit in on our District meeting and then to do a scambio (Exchange) with us afterwards! We had a good night but we were all so tired!

Tuesday morning we went to see if we could figure out anything more with Anziano Allen's tablet... turns out Samsung Italia is different than Samsung United States so they don't make the same one... its a mess. Hopefully it will get worked out soon! (I think its stressing him out a little bit!) Then off to District Meeting, the Sisters from Taranto were here to do an exchange with the Crotone Sisters and so our DDM went from 6 to 10, it was pretty big! It reminded me of Cagliari! DDM went really well and we had a lot of fun. We decided to go out for lunch together, there is this place called Romana's which is where we usually go, it has Calzone for 1.20 so its pretty cheap. Well this other place has been under construction but it is also called Romana's that Anziano Allen and I may or may not have tried on Monday and it was dang good! So we decided to go back there instead of the usual! Well we got there and I asked them if they could make 22 calzones and they said they were out... what a let down! So back to the usual place! Still good but we were excited to show everyone the new place! 

After lunch we had language study and then started our exchange. I got to work with Anziano Bertoldo who is from Colorado, he is about 20 months into his mission... getting up there! But we don't mention it, I think he's in denial! He is a hard worker and a really nice guy, we both want to go into the medical field so we had quite a bit to talk about! We had 5 appointments set up for Tuesday evening to split between the two companionships and every single one of them bailed on us! So our scambio turned into some finding efforts! We did quite a bit of house to house and actually set up three appointments for this coming week with some families that we are pretty excited about! 

English course... I love English course but there are for sure things that I don't like to teach about... one of these things is "Going to the Hair Salon!" Haha probably one of the most boring lessons to teach but we made it through! 

Wednesday we decided to go to Cutro to see Antonio, the stud kid that just got back from the temple! We were just planning on sharing a message with him and then heading back to Crotone! But First we had to make a pit stop at Vittorio which is a "Pasticceria" (Bakery) in Cutro and they make the best Grafe (Pronounced Graw Fay) I have ever had... they are heavenly. Its like a little pastry with a thick cream inside that pours out the top and its rolled in sugar. Its a good thing that Cutro isn't super close because I would get one every day. Heaven. We got one for Antonio too and when we got there he was making lunch. He invited us to stay so we had a great chat with his family and ate lunch. His Grandma has been in the Hospital for a long time, she wasn't doing very well. We went and visited her in the hospital a few weeks ago and she is finally home now. She has some mad thrombosis in her left arm and so its obviously very swollen and she still isn't doing very well. We were able to give her a blessing and Anziano Allen was able to do the anointing for his first time in Italian. He did a great job! We ate and then went and looked at the mountains that are basically in his backyard. 

We came back and were waiting at the bus stop and saw some drunk guys absolutely beating the snot out of each other in the street... Antonio turns to Anziano Allen and says in English "Its Normal" haha Italy is never boring... they hugged it out afterwards and then got in their cars and drove away... 

Walking home on Wednesday from the bus station was definitely interesting... So I've told you about the hill by our house, its huge and at the bottom there is a ton of really tall grass there is like a little retaining wall there. We're walking home and just chatting like usual and all of a sudden Cujo hops out of this grass and starts tearing after us! Anziano Allen is closest and he looses it! It wouldn't be a mission if I wasn't chased by a dog at least once! We made it out alright but it was scary for a minute!

We went to Vincenzo's house for dinner that night, he's such a homie, probably one of my favorite people I have met on my mission. I think I've told you before he's not all there upstairs... but he's there enough! He loves to cook for us! Italians eat dinner really late like 8 or 9 or even later so we had to wait a little when we got there at 7... he said he had a game that the Anziani in the past had never heard of but they were always good at once he explained it. My first thought was darn this is going to be hard, I have to understand the directions in Italian so we can play and I said to Anziano Allen, "This better be matching!" And he started to lay the cards out and we were in luck, it was matching! Then he asked us to play UNO for a little bit so we said sure and we played for a little bit. We decided he's a little cheater... we all had draw two cards and they stacked up to draw 6 ♣️ and he was freaking out about having to draw six! It was so funny! We settled it as we would each take two... it was a lot of fun and it definitely helped him, he had a good time! He made us some good pasta too! He can't read so we read some scriptures to him and talked about them. He likes the scriptures but he can't read so it's kind of hard... but he has a desire and that's what is important! 

I had woken up with a sore throat on Wednesday and it had gone away but I woke up on Thursday with a crazy bad sore throat, cough, the whole 9 yards. We didn't have any plans set for the morning so we decided we would stay home for the morning and I could get some rest. Well being a missionary makes you incapable of sleeping in so I laid in bed for almost all the morning, Anziano Allen actually got some sleep lucky kid! I kept laying in bed and I got up at 11 and Anziani Allen had swept and mopped and cleaned the whole house, it was sparkling! He went house wife on me for a little bit! We stayed home the rest of the morning and then went and taught English Course that night and that was about all we did! We had a couple appointments but we got ditched which I was actually okay with because I just needed to go to bed.

Friday I was feeling a lot better but definitely not 100% but we had another exchange scheduled with Catanzaro so we shipped out to Catanzaro after our morning studies. We ate lunch with them and then I worked with Anziano Haws. I think I have told you guys a little about him but anyway he is one transfer ahead of me and he is our District Leader. He is from outside of Fresno California and his Mom is Italian, she is from Palermo. They wanted him to learn English so they never taught him Italian... He is a cool kid, loves Basketball and Mexican food! We went to visit a less-active older lady, we walked her dog and then read the Book of Mormon with her. It went really well and then she asked us to go pay her lawyer for her because she was too sick to leave the house... It was random but we did it! Then we went down by the beach and did some finding and talked to some really cool families! 

There is this really cool Gelateria that has the "World's best hazelnut Gelato" and let me tell ya they were on point... that stuff was dang good! I got a milkshake made with it and it was so good! 

Then Haws talked me into buying a 10 dollar burrito... he told me it was huge... lies. Haha it was good but I was still hungry and I blew $10 on a burrito. I miss mexican food for sure and I know I will get crap for calling Costa Vida mexican but I miss that for sure! 

The rest of the scambio went well, we spent some time doing house to house, ate at McDonalds and then we headed back to Crotone! Sat in on Branch Council, and we got a lot done for the branch and that was pretty much it for Saturday, I still was feeling pretty junky so we went home and I went to bed early... Sunday I was feeling much better but I still had a low grade fever and the cough was still lingering. It went really well, I bore my testimony on the power of testimonies which is something I have definitely felt lately. As missionaries if we don't know exactly what to say we are taught to always testify of Jesus Christ and I have definitely seen the power of it lately. I shared a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants section 62 verse 3 that says 

 3 Nevertheless, ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you.

When we bare our testimony it gives an opportunity for the spirit to testify of the truthfulness of the things you say. SOooo get out there and share your testimony! There are people waiting to hear it and remember I want to hear about your missionary experiences! We made lasagna for lunch and it turned out really well! We had a good afternoon and then got a pile of cancellations and thats pretty much it! The week went by pretty fast with all the exchanges but it was a good one! We are pretty sure that Anziano Allen and I are staying together, we hope so but we will get the transfer calls tonight! It still makes me nervous, I am not ready to leave Crotone yet! But who knows, we'll let you know next week! 

Today we are having a huge P-day together today with the Anziani and Sorelle of Cosenza and then a District Meeting together tomorrow! This should be a good week! I hope you all have a great week and know that I am thinking about you and I love you all! 

Anziano Bellucci