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!
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