Bari Libertà Transfer 7 Week 4

Exchanges, Mexican Food, and falling elevators...

I swear he weeks get busier and busier this Transfer! I can't believe we're already halfway through this one! 

Not much happened on Tuesday after P-Day, we taught English Course and that was pretty much it! 

On Wednesday we went to Trani, we taught a lesson about temples to our Recent Converts and it went super well! I got to share the stories about my family doing baptisms for the first time in California and then about my Mom and Adam being sealed in the temple! It was a great lesson and we're super stoked for them to get ready for the temple! 

When we left there we came home, ate an early lunch and then grabbed our stuff, picked up some mattresses from the Senior Couple and headed to Lecce to visit Anziano Lancaster and Anziano Jensen! It was a good drive down but when you get to Brindisi there are all these signs for Greece and you can take a ferry to Greece and Anziano Bowers and I just looked at each other like... hmmm I wonder... haha not that I would ever do it but the thought crossed my mind! 

I got to work with Anziano Jensen, he is a pretty young missionary but he's very "in gamba" as we say in Italian, he just wants to get out there and work! He speaks the language very well and is a great missionary! We spent the exchange doing a lot of finding and I actually got to learn quite a bit from him and I hope he learned something from me! 

We came back on Thursday after lunch and then went straight to Trani to teach Francesco, we are working on the commandments with him and explaining tithing and the Word of Wisdom. He seemed to understand them pretty well and he taught us the principles that we taught him. Then we taught English Course and they were starting Branch Choir and they asked us to stay... not a good idea. I sing the melody. That's it. They had us singing the tenor part and I was lost and probably sounded like I was dying but I tried! 

Friday we did weekly planning in the morning and then another exchange with the Anziani in Poggio Franco! I got to work with Anziano Hinckley (5th cousin of Gordon B.)  he is in his 2nd Transfer so he's still being trained. We got to do some finding in the biggest park here in Bari. So we talked to a few people and then I said "Anziano Hinckley, who should we talk to next?" And when I turned there was a lady waving to us to come over. I was shocked so I looked to see if there was anyone behind me and there wasn't! So we went over and she said "Hello!" I asked if she spoke Italian and she said no and asked me if I spoke English. Well in fact I do! She was visiting from Denmark and started asking us who we are and what we do. She then said "I'm Orthodox and my husband here is atheist and we were just talking a few minutes ago about whether or not we want to have children and I said that I want my child to be baptized but he doesn't." So we got the opportunity to explain why baptism is important and it was really good. Unfortunately they had to go so we didn't get to help them with much else but I hope they will remember it! That night we had "Mexican night" for the Young Single Adults and we were invited as they had some non-members that were supposed to come. I miss Mexican food so much! We just made really simple tacos and it was so good! The Senior Couple scoured the city looking for Cheddar cheese and they found some for something like 28€ a kilo which is like 15$ a pound but they said it was worth it! Guacamole, salsa, hamburger and sour cream which also wasn't easy to find but it was so good! 

Saturday morning we continued our scambio, we did some more finding and then went to the member's house that lives above us, she teaches us Italian on Saturdays. We had a good time and then made lunch together at our house to finish off the exchange! 

Easter Sunday! 

We went to Church in Bitonto and had a great time! The talks were so great with so much focus on Jesus Christ and his resurrection, I couldn't help but feel his personal love for me in Church yesterday. We went to lunch with the Scarolla family! They are a great couple, they don't have any kids, they're a little older but they're so nice! They're very musically inclined... (not me) we had so much food but my favorite part was the homemade ravioli... che buona... we watched the Prince of Peace video with them and then I invited them to read and study this week the accounts in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It's really a great study so that's my invite for all of you! 

We had a meeting with the Young Single Adults to plan how to work with the institute to bring more GANS and then we celebrated a birthday with them and headed to the Fitzners for a Nacho night with the rest of the real expensive cheese! It was a lot of fun and a good taste of home! (Even though they're Canadian...:) So here is my elevator story. So they live on he fifth floor of a really nice apartment building. Well the elevator said Maximum 8 people. Well all eight of the missionaries were in the elevator and then Sister Fitzner got in and Anziano Fitzner put one foot in and it started to sink, the emergency doors started to close and Anziano Fitzner had to jump in... we were all freaking out! When it got to the bottom the doors started to open but then closed right away and it started going down further into the parking garage. It got to the bottom and still wouldn't open. Anziano Fitzner was a fireman so he's the calm one in the situation, it finally stopped mid floor and we were able to wedge the doors open. We pulled ourselves down far enough to sneak out the bottom level of he parking garage... it was sketch but we made it out alive! 

Today is an activity at the Church so we are going to be here most of the day, we've got volleyball, basketball, soccer, foosball and ping pong! Today is a Holiday in Italy so everything is closed... it's called Pasquetta which is like "Little Easter" but it's a big thing here! 

I hope you all had great weeks, I hope you got to spend time with family and friends for Easter and I hope you know I love you all! 

Buona Pasqua

Anziani Bellucci