Driving, a chocolate festival, driving and Stake Conference!
It’s been a great week as usual but as you can tell we drove A LOT! Anziano Youngblood has been in a car city for the last 6 transfers and his companion didn’t have an international drivers license the last two transfers so I’ve been driving the whole time because he’s pretty tired of it!
Monday night was pretty good, we just did some finding and then it was about 8:45 and we were making one last loop and I stopped this guy walking his dog and asked him a question about the Book of Mormon and he seemed almost oddly interested, like I thought he was asking questions just so he could bash with me. Anyway we started explaining the story of the Book of Mormon and every time we stopped he would say “then what happened?” It was super cool, his name was Pasqualino which is like “Little Easter.” We gave him the BOM and we headed home!
Tuesday is where the driving began... we headed out to Crotone for District Meeting around 8:30 and it went really well. We got to know everyone in the District pretty well and had a good training on finding. Then we went and grabbed calzoni and went to the Senior Couple’s apartment which is my old apartment in Crotone! It was another blast from the past! It looks really nice now and the view is still amazing! Anziano Heyman served in Cagliari back about 40 years ago as a missionary when there was just one branch there and he was the Branch President! The then Elder Monson told him he had 6 months to make some pretty big changes or the Branch would be closed... well he did it! He baptized some of the corner stone families in the branch that are still there today! Now it’s a ward and there is another ward and two branches and a group on the island! Drive back to Cosenza! We had a correlation meeting with Brother Lopez and we got some plans going for the Branch and then a pretty good English Course!
Wednesday we went to the University and talked to some really cool people! We got to see Lina who is a member that just got back from her mission in Colorado Springs about 4 months ago. She’s crazy busy but we hunted her down to say hi and get some directions. We met with a member for a few minutes at 1ish and then came home and made lunch. We did some less active hunting and some finding for the rest of the night.
Thursday we drove some more! We had to go to Taranto which is about a two and a half hour drive, to do some driving tests and approve two Elders to drive the car. We decided to make a trip out of it and go to their District Meeting which was really good! They’re all really great and Anziano Melling is a great District Leader. We did the driving test afterwards and I felt like a Drivers ed instructor! Haha They did pretty well but the parallel parking could use some work! We went to their house and ate some lunch and then we brought Anziano Melling and Anziano Anderton back to Cosenza to do an exchange! We started with a display of Book of Mormons on the Ground in like 30 different languages and then the Police came and told us we needed a permit... so we had to pack it up! There was a chocolate festival here in Cosenza and they had about a million stands with all different kinds of chocolate and street food. It was all kind of expensive. We went to English Course and it went okay, we need to get our English Course pumped up though because it’s kind of like the senior citizens social hour... grabbed a gelato and then some calzoni for dinner!
Friday Anziano Melling and I went to the University and started talking to people about tutoring opportunities and they said no because there are students that try to get paid to tutor and so we would be taking away from them because we would do it for free. So... we went to another place and tried to talk to them and they told us to come back later... so we were going to head back and we got to the building and I had to go to the bathroom and so while I was in the bathroom Anziano Melling wandered into a classroom and started talking to this English professor! She was from Canada and when I came out we explained to her the idea of starting an English Club on campus where people could come and put into practice the English that they’ve been studying. She loved the idea and said “we need to go talk to my boss!” So she took us upstairs and her boss wasn’t there but she got her email for us and said that we should write her and we could use her as a point of reference! I’m pretty excited for it! We also found this cool guy named Natale (Christmas) and he’s pretty cool!
We had lunch together, did studies and then took the Taranto Anziani over to the train station so they could head back to Taranto! Anziano Youngblood and I weekly planned for the afternoon and set up a pretty good week!
Saturday morning we came and cleaned the Church because it was needing it and we really want to get in with some members so we’re trying to serve them and do the best we can with that so we cleaned inside and out and it looks a lot better now. We had lunch and then went and taught an investigator called Emilio which went pretty well and then we watched the Saturday session of Stake Conference with some members over a broadcast followed by a lesson that didn’t go through with Frank. We decided to grab some kebab for dinner. The Catanzaro Elders came down to watch the session and grab a ride with us to Stake Conference on Sunday.
So Sunday morning we got up and left the house at seven to start the drive to Stake Conference over near Taranto. We got there at about 9:20 and I loved the Stake Conference so much! I got to see so many people there! Everyone from Crotone, Bari, and Bitonto! It was great! I got to see Sam sustained to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and I sat next to him for the conference. I also talked to a bunch of people about when we come to visit in May. I saw Anziano Allen too which was a pretty proud moment because I saw him speaking to members and stuff in Italian and I was a pretty proud “Dad!” The conference was great and then we went to Taranto for lunch with the other Anziani. We made baked potatoes and it was delicious! Came back to Cosenza and I was exhausted!
That’s the week in a rap! How was yours???
Here is a little thought from the Stake Conference, the general authority that came said. “I worship a Christ that speaks Less and acts more.” I think we could all do a little more acting our faith and I think it would grow a lot.
Have a great week!
Anziano Jacob Bellucci
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Cosenza Transfer 12 Week 1
Transfers are in and as you can see above I had to leave behind my beloved Napoli! I was sooooooo sad! And I still kind of am but I know that it’s the Lord that leads this Church and the missionary assignments so I’m good with it!
Monday night we had a Family Home Evening with the Grandulli family and it ended up just being the parents and us. Genny (Short for Gennaro so it’s a dude) was working and their other son was at a friend’s house so we ate dinner with them and had some really good discussion about General Conference! They’re such a sweet family and I really enjoyed spending some time with them. Sister Grandulli made this olive red sauce for the pasta and it was so olivy! As my Mom knows I LOVE olives... not. BUT I ate it! Haha it was alright, I wouldn’t ask for it but it was good :)
As usual we got the call on Sunday night that I would be coming down here to Cosenza which is back in the Taranto Zone and it’s actually in the same District as Crotone so I’ll be able to go back and visit some of the people there! I am still a Zone Leader so I’ll get to go around and visit quite a bit of Calabria which I’m really excited for. Cosenza is a city in the mountains, it’s a lot bigger than Crotone but it’s a lot smaller than Napoli for sure! My new companion’s name is Anziano Youngblood and he’s a stud! He’s in Anziano Jensen’s group so he’s about three months behind me.
So Tuesday morning was quite a bit of packing, I printed a few pictures to give to people and tried to get a lot of it done in the morning. We went over to visit the Ariante family for lunch and we had a great time. Giuseppe leaves on his mission in I think two weeks so they were asking us all sorts of logistics questions for him. She made is this broccoli pasta with homemade noodles, it was way good! Fish and greens for round two and Cachi for dessert... that fruit thing that’s sooo good! They won’t be in season when my family comes to get me in May which is a bummer but they are so good! (Yes fruits actually have a season here... I will miss that!) we talked about General Conference with them as well and had a great discussion about giving our will to the Lord, how it’s important to keep the commandments and do everything that you should but if we don’t change our will as we do these things then we miss out on so many of the blessings that he’s ready to give us. So that’s my invite for you all is to think about your will or your desires and consider what you can do to align your will with that of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
We went home to work on some more packing for a few minutes and then went to English Course, it was really sad to leave everyone! I’ve made a lot of great friends in Napoli especially in our English Course, I will miss them for sure! Pictures were taken, goodbyes were said and it was a good night!
We had the Battipaglia Elders coming to our house on Tuesday because we went to Rome on Wednesday for a conference with Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles as well as Elder L. Whitney Clayton on the Presidency of the 70 and Elder Massimo DeFeo of the Europe Area Presidency, who is actually Anziano DeFeo’s Uncle who is Italian, as well as their wives. It was such a beautiful conference and it was so geared towards us as missionaries, making us feel inspired to go out and do the Lord’s work. It was also so cool to see how an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ acts outside of General Conference. They are so in tune with the spirit but they are also ordinary men like you and I. Yes they have a sacred calling but they are allowed to joke around and have fun and that’s exactly what they were doing. Elder Ballard talked about a Pentecostal like opportunity in our mission and how there are so many Italians that are waiting and ready to receive the restored Gospel. Elder DeFeo talked about how when the Lord says many he envisions millions. There are 10 stakes in Italy and there could be 100 within my lifetime but it’s going to take work to share the restored Gospel.
The conference only lasted about an hour and a half and afterwards we went out finding in Rome for about an hour and then we came back to get flu shots 😞 but it went okay 👌 We had a few hours before our train so we took some Pass along Cards and got off the metro near the Fountain of Trevi, took a few pictures and then headed to the train station. While we were waiting for the metro 🚇 we started to talk to this girl named Lucia, it turns out she works for the American embassy in Rome and so she speaks English pretty well! The metro was soooo full, three of them passed and there was no room to get a group of 17 missionaries on all together and so Lucia was like “Let’s walk, I’ll show you the way!” And so we did! It was really cool because we were going to meet a few of the Young adult members from Rome at the station and so we got to introduce her to them and the missionaries there too which was way cool! Other than that pretty uneventful ride back to Napoli except we got bumped up to First Class and they gave us snacks... haha (It’s the little things in life) I had to get one last Napoli pizza but I wasn’t very hungry so I split one with Anziano Compas.
Transfer day went well! I need to get rid of some stuff though because my bags are WAY too heavy! The train followed the coast and so there was a beautiful view of the sea. Anziano Youngblood picked me up and we drove back to Cosenza (I’m back in a car city!) I got unpacked and we did a little trip around the city on foot talking to people about the Book of Mormon and then we had English Course. Our English Course is like 10 old people so we’re going to be working on that! We gotta get it pumped up. We had fun though, I taught basic course.
Friday we had missionary leadership council over skype and it went really well. The Sisters that I came to Italy with go home this Transfer in like a month which is so sad but they shared their testimonies at the end. After that I realized that there was no information in our area Book... apparently the missionary I replaced didn’t like to put anything in and Anziano Youngblood’s tablet has been broken. So we spent the morning getting that up to date. PB&J for lunch and then weekly Planning in the afternoon followed by some solid finding. We stopped this couple and she was like “I’m Christian, he’s Muslim, we just don’t talk about religion, try someone else.” With the help of the Spirit and some sweet talking we were able to share a video with them and leave her a Book of Mormon. Just goes to show how important it is to make them reject you twice before accepting it.
Saturday we went to Sister Spadafora’s house and she is the best! She literally bakes all the time and she makes us homemade peanut butter... we did some service cleaning up her yard and outside her house. I asked her how long she’s been a member and she started in on the story. She told us her life story and how she came to know the Church. It was absolutely beautiful and the spirit was super strong!
There is a huge American like a University here and so we went to do some English Course publicity but turns out Saturday is not the day for the University... so we came home, ate lunch, made brownies and went to Crotone for a baptism! It was so cool, we went early so I could introduce the Anziani there to some of the people I taught while I was there and it was so cool to be back! I got to say hi to a lot of members and non members which was really nice. The Branch is still struggling but it will get better! There is a senior couple there helping out and they are doing a great job. I think the baptism really got them excited which is good!
Sunday was Church of course which was really nice, it was nice to feel really useful during Church. I said the opening prayer, blessed the sacrament, gave one of the talks, team taught Sunday School with my companion and translated Priesthood! Church can be exhausting sometimes but it’s always so good!
We did some finding and then we were about to head home and I saw this guy that I had seen on a bench following us and so I turned around and asked him a question and it turned out he was going through a really hard time and he just felt like he needed to talk to us. We were able to teach him the Restoration and we’re going to teach him again on Wednesday!
The apartment here in Cosenza isn’t the best but worse is how gross it was... so we spent the morning cleaning. It was really rewarding though because it looks so good now and I’m definitely happier! We went grocery shopping and it’s been raining all day so I don’t think we are going to do much else, just relax!
I hope you all have a great week! Remember to continue going over The addresses from General Conference, they’re all available in lds.org! Love you!
Anziano Jacob Bellucci
Monday night we had a Family Home Evening with the Grandulli family and it ended up just being the parents and us. Genny (Short for Gennaro so it’s a dude) was working and their other son was at a friend’s house so we ate dinner with them and had some really good discussion about General Conference! They’re such a sweet family and I really enjoyed spending some time with them. Sister Grandulli made this olive red sauce for the pasta and it was so olivy! As my Mom knows I LOVE olives... not. BUT I ate it! Haha it was alright, I wouldn’t ask for it but it was good :)
As usual we got the call on Sunday night that I would be coming down here to Cosenza which is back in the Taranto Zone and it’s actually in the same District as Crotone so I’ll be able to go back and visit some of the people there! I am still a Zone Leader so I’ll get to go around and visit quite a bit of Calabria which I’m really excited for. Cosenza is a city in the mountains, it’s a lot bigger than Crotone but it’s a lot smaller than Napoli for sure! My new companion’s name is Anziano Youngblood and he’s a stud! He’s in Anziano Jensen’s group so he’s about three months behind me.
So Tuesday morning was quite a bit of packing, I printed a few pictures to give to people and tried to get a lot of it done in the morning. We went over to visit the Ariante family for lunch and we had a great time. Giuseppe leaves on his mission in I think two weeks so they were asking us all sorts of logistics questions for him. She made is this broccoli pasta with homemade noodles, it was way good! Fish and greens for round two and Cachi for dessert... that fruit thing that’s sooo good! They won’t be in season when my family comes to get me in May which is a bummer but they are so good! (Yes fruits actually have a season here... I will miss that!) we talked about General Conference with them as well and had a great discussion about giving our will to the Lord, how it’s important to keep the commandments and do everything that you should but if we don’t change our will as we do these things then we miss out on so many of the blessings that he’s ready to give us. So that’s my invite for you all is to think about your will or your desires and consider what you can do to align your will with that of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
We went home to work on some more packing for a few minutes and then went to English Course, it was really sad to leave everyone! I’ve made a lot of great friends in Napoli especially in our English Course, I will miss them for sure! Pictures were taken, goodbyes were said and it was a good night!
We had the Battipaglia Elders coming to our house on Tuesday because we went to Rome on Wednesday for a conference with Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles as well as Elder L. Whitney Clayton on the Presidency of the 70 and Elder Massimo DeFeo of the Europe Area Presidency, who is actually Anziano DeFeo’s Uncle who is Italian, as well as their wives. It was such a beautiful conference and it was so geared towards us as missionaries, making us feel inspired to go out and do the Lord’s work. It was also so cool to see how an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ acts outside of General Conference. They are so in tune with the spirit but they are also ordinary men like you and I. Yes they have a sacred calling but they are allowed to joke around and have fun and that’s exactly what they were doing. Elder Ballard talked about a Pentecostal like opportunity in our mission and how there are so many Italians that are waiting and ready to receive the restored Gospel. Elder DeFeo talked about how when the Lord says many he envisions millions. There are 10 stakes in Italy and there could be 100 within my lifetime but it’s going to take work to share the restored Gospel.
The conference only lasted about an hour and a half and afterwards we went out finding in Rome for about an hour and then we came back to get flu shots 😞 but it went okay 👌 We had a few hours before our train so we took some Pass along Cards and got off the metro near the Fountain of Trevi, took a few pictures and then headed to the train station. While we were waiting for the metro 🚇 we started to talk to this girl named Lucia, it turns out she works for the American embassy in Rome and so she speaks English pretty well! The metro was soooo full, three of them passed and there was no room to get a group of 17 missionaries on all together and so Lucia was like “Let’s walk, I’ll show you the way!” And so we did! It was really cool because we were going to meet a few of the Young adult members from Rome at the station and so we got to introduce her to them and the missionaries there too which was way cool! Other than that pretty uneventful ride back to Napoli except we got bumped up to First Class and they gave us snacks... haha (It’s the little things in life) I had to get one last Napoli pizza but I wasn’t very hungry so I split one with Anziano Compas.
Transfer day went well! I need to get rid of some stuff though because my bags are WAY too heavy! The train followed the coast and so there was a beautiful view of the sea. Anziano Youngblood picked me up and we drove back to Cosenza (I’m back in a car city!) I got unpacked and we did a little trip around the city on foot talking to people about the Book of Mormon and then we had English Course. Our English Course is like 10 old people so we’re going to be working on that! We gotta get it pumped up. We had fun though, I taught basic course.
Friday we had missionary leadership council over skype and it went really well. The Sisters that I came to Italy with go home this Transfer in like a month which is so sad but they shared their testimonies at the end. After that I realized that there was no information in our area Book... apparently the missionary I replaced didn’t like to put anything in and Anziano Youngblood’s tablet has been broken. So we spent the morning getting that up to date. PB&J for lunch and then weekly Planning in the afternoon followed by some solid finding. We stopped this couple and she was like “I’m Christian, he’s Muslim, we just don’t talk about religion, try someone else.” With the help of the Spirit and some sweet talking we were able to share a video with them and leave her a Book of Mormon. Just goes to show how important it is to make them reject you twice before accepting it.
Saturday we went to Sister Spadafora’s house and she is the best! She literally bakes all the time and she makes us homemade peanut butter... we did some service cleaning up her yard and outside her house. I asked her how long she’s been a member and she started in on the story. She told us her life story and how she came to know the Church. It was absolutely beautiful and the spirit was super strong!
There is a huge American like a University here and so we went to do some English Course publicity but turns out Saturday is not the day for the University... so we came home, ate lunch, made brownies and went to Crotone for a baptism! It was so cool, we went early so I could introduce the Anziani there to some of the people I taught while I was there and it was so cool to be back! I got to say hi to a lot of members and non members which was really nice. The Branch is still struggling but it will get better! There is a senior couple there helping out and they are doing a great job. I think the baptism really got them excited which is good!
Sunday was Church of course which was really nice, it was nice to feel really useful during Church. I said the opening prayer, blessed the sacrament, gave one of the talks, team taught Sunday School with my companion and translated Priesthood! Church can be exhausting sometimes but it’s always so good!
We did some finding and then we were about to head home and I saw this guy that I had seen on a bench following us and so I turned around and asked him a question and it turned out he was going through a really hard time and he just felt like he needed to talk to us. We were able to teach him the Restoration and we’re going to teach him again on Wednesday!
The apartment here in Cosenza isn’t the best but worse is how gross it was... so we spent the morning cleaning. It was really rewarding though because it looks so good now and I’m definitely happier! We went grocery shopping and it’s been raining all day so I don’t think we are going to do much else, just relax!
I hope you all have a great week! Remember to continue going over The addresses from General Conference, they’re all available in lds.org! Love you!
Anziano Jacob Bellucci
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Napoli!! Transfer 11 Week 6
Buongiorno bellissimi!
Transfer calls are today! Somehow every six weeks it keeps sneaking up on me! So tonight I will find out if I am heading out of Napoli or if I am packing my bags! As much as I would love to stay for another 6 weeks I have a feeling I will be transferred! We’ll find out tonight for sure!
This is the last Transfer for the sisters that came out with me, they’ll go home I think the first week of December which means I’ll have 6 months left! Ahh where is the time going?!?!
Well this week feels kind of like a month, on Monday evening I started an exchange with Anziano Compas who works in Battipaglia. Anziano Allen was actually his follow-up trainer so we got to talk about him a little bit. We had a lot of fun together though and we worked really hard! He is in his 5th Transfer so a little over 7 months out and he is from somewhere in Utah... I don’t really remember where :/ We did some finding that night and then we went to visit a member of the Branch Presidency. His name is Brother Cannata and he’s probably my favorite member here. He’s probably in his 60’s, never been married but he has served as Branch President like 3 times as well as District President. We went over to pump him up and just talk about General Conference as well as talk about the Branch a little bit. It was good and he told us some stories about how President Nelson came to Napoli as a newly ordained apostle and it was really cool.
Tuesday we hit the streets and had some really good finding experiences. We found this lady named Jacqueline from Brazil. She’s been here in Italy since she was a little girl, she’s now probably in her 40s but she remembers the missionaries coming over to her house as a little girl in Brazil at the age of 7! She said “Take my number!” We were super excited! We were headed back home and we were waiting in the metro and we had just missed it so there was no one in the platform and no train coming soon and we both decided we should go get some gelato... so we did! Talked to the gelato lady too! We had the drum circle in the afternoon and Anziano Compas loved that! Haha it was a good night, we had like 28 people in English Course! Grabbed a pizza with a few of them afterwards which is always good!
Wednesday morning I had my Doctors appointment and I got the stitches out... it was kind of painful but I’m doing much better now! Everything went well and Sam brought us so he brought us back to his house and we did our personal study on his big comfy American Couch before correlation and lunch. It was a pretty great morning!
Switched back with my companion and I was beat! I don’t know why but that exchange was exhausting! We spent the evening getting a lot of stuff done, we were planning the Activity with all the other missionaries and then my companion accidentally called America... some Utah tourists needed a translator for something and so they looked up our number and the call dropped and then without looking to see what kind of number they had he hit redial and it called them right back using up all of our credit for the rest of the month! So we had to find a Tobacco shop and buy more... 🙊 oops!
Thursday we had District Meeting and started another exchange with the Elders from Caserta, I worked with Anziano Pineau who was Anziano Allen’s follow-up trainer so we got to talk a little about that too! He goes home in about a month and a half and he’s slowing down a little bit but he’s still working hard which is good! We were working on some genealogy stuff for some members that never showed up :( We had English Course and Nicoletta finally came! She started University so she’s been super busy but it was good to see her and we talked a little bit but she had studying to do! Anziano Pineau wanted a pizza since he’s only here in Napoli every once in a while!
Friday exchange continued into a morning full of finding! It was a good one, we also got a Nutella bomb... so good. After we switched back Anziano Jensen and I went to go visit Sister Berruto which was great, we talked about Elder Holland’s message from Conference, in fact we watched it together. She really enjoyed it, we will one day be perfect! This is the part that really hit me this time he said “I am grateful that God is merciful and a peacemaker because I need mercy and the world needs peace.” It’s beautiful!
Saturday was a beautifully busy day! In the morning we called like 3000 people for the Activity and actually had some success! After lunch we went to go and visit Vincenzo, he was an investigator when I first got here and I told him I would probably be leaving and he gave me a necklace with a cross on it that he wears everyday. He then said “I could buy you something and give it to you but that wouldn’t mean anything, something that is mine has so much more worth” it was a really nice gesture. We went to the baptism at 5 and it was great Abraham was baptized by Brother Cannata and then we started getting ready for the Activity. An Elderly Sister called and said that she had invited a friend and asked if we would go pick her up from the station and I was going to ask the other Elders because we were helping set up but I felt like we should go and do it. So we went and who do we see at the station but Nicoletta! She hadn’t gotten our message about the Activity so we were put in the right place at the right time! She ended up coming to the Activity which was a huge success! We had so much fun! There were so many people there and the Branch was really United. We had a lot of less active members and non members that came too so I would count it as a success! Lots of them even skipped the Napoli vs. Rome soccer game which is a pretty big deal!
Sunday was great 👍 Giuseppe wasn’t there and he usually controls the music because no one here plays the piano so we plug in an iPad or phone with the LDS music app and so I got to sit up on the stand to do the music and kind of be hidden behind the piano. It was actually really cool to be able to look out at all the people in Sacrament Meeting and think about how much I love them, how important they are to me and their individual stories. I felt like I got a small glimpse of the love that Heavenly Father must feel for us as he looks out upon the masses. He knows our struggles and our strengths, and he knows our hearts more importantly. I feel like as a missionary we get to know their hearts as well.
In the afternoon we went to visit the Philippine members and they made us spring rolls and we took pictures before going to the Elder Ballard Conference. Elder Ballard was broadcasting live from Frankfurt Germany to the Adults of Europe. It was a beautiful Conference and a beautiful way to start off the week! We are actually going to see Elder Ballard in Rome on Wednesday, he is doing a broadcast for our mission and the Napoli Zone gets to go and be there live! We went finding after the broadcast and we just saw so much success! I am so grateful to be serving a mission, there is no where I would rather be and no one else I would rather be serving! I love you and I hope you have a great week! Who knows where I’ll be emailing from next week!
Anziano Jacob Bellucci
Transfer calls are today! Somehow every six weeks it keeps sneaking up on me! So tonight I will find out if I am heading out of Napoli or if I am packing my bags! As much as I would love to stay for another 6 weeks I have a feeling I will be transferred! We’ll find out tonight for sure!
This is the last Transfer for the sisters that came out with me, they’ll go home I think the first week of December which means I’ll have 6 months left! Ahh where is the time going?!?!
Well this week feels kind of like a month, on Monday evening I started an exchange with Anziano Compas who works in Battipaglia. Anziano Allen was actually his follow-up trainer so we got to talk about him a little bit. We had a lot of fun together though and we worked really hard! He is in his 5th Transfer so a little over 7 months out and he is from somewhere in Utah... I don’t really remember where :/ We did some finding that night and then we went to visit a member of the Branch Presidency. His name is Brother Cannata and he’s probably my favorite member here. He’s probably in his 60’s, never been married but he has served as Branch President like 3 times as well as District President. We went over to pump him up and just talk about General Conference as well as talk about the Branch a little bit. It was good and he told us some stories about how President Nelson came to Napoli as a newly ordained apostle and it was really cool.
Tuesday we hit the streets and had some really good finding experiences. We found this lady named Jacqueline from Brazil. She’s been here in Italy since she was a little girl, she’s now probably in her 40s but she remembers the missionaries coming over to her house as a little girl in Brazil at the age of 7! She said “Take my number!” We were super excited! We were headed back home and we were waiting in the metro and we had just missed it so there was no one in the platform and no train coming soon and we both decided we should go get some gelato... so we did! Talked to the gelato lady too! We had the drum circle in the afternoon and Anziano Compas loved that! Haha it was a good night, we had like 28 people in English Course! Grabbed a pizza with a few of them afterwards which is always good!
Wednesday morning I had my Doctors appointment and I got the stitches out... it was kind of painful but I’m doing much better now! Everything went well and Sam brought us so he brought us back to his house and we did our personal study on his big comfy American Couch before correlation and lunch. It was a pretty great morning!
Switched back with my companion and I was beat! I don’t know why but that exchange was exhausting! We spent the evening getting a lot of stuff done, we were planning the Activity with all the other missionaries and then my companion accidentally called America... some Utah tourists needed a translator for something and so they looked up our number and the call dropped and then without looking to see what kind of number they had he hit redial and it called them right back using up all of our credit for the rest of the month! So we had to find a Tobacco shop and buy more... 🙊 oops!
Thursday we had District Meeting and started another exchange with the Elders from Caserta, I worked with Anziano Pineau who was Anziano Allen’s follow-up trainer so we got to talk a little about that too! He goes home in about a month and a half and he’s slowing down a little bit but he’s still working hard which is good! We were working on some genealogy stuff for some members that never showed up :( We had English Course and Nicoletta finally came! She started University so she’s been super busy but it was good to see her and we talked a little bit but she had studying to do! Anziano Pineau wanted a pizza since he’s only here in Napoli every once in a while!
Friday exchange continued into a morning full of finding! It was a good one, we also got a Nutella bomb... so good. After we switched back Anziano Jensen and I went to go visit Sister Berruto which was great, we talked about Elder Holland’s message from Conference, in fact we watched it together. She really enjoyed it, we will one day be perfect! This is the part that really hit me this time he said “I am grateful that God is merciful and a peacemaker because I need mercy and the world needs peace.” It’s beautiful!
Saturday was a beautifully busy day! In the morning we called like 3000 people for the Activity and actually had some success! After lunch we went to go and visit Vincenzo, he was an investigator when I first got here and I told him I would probably be leaving and he gave me a necklace with a cross on it that he wears everyday. He then said “I could buy you something and give it to you but that wouldn’t mean anything, something that is mine has so much more worth” it was a really nice gesture. We went to the baptism at 5 and it was great Abraham was baptized by Brother Cannata and then we started getting ready for the Activity. An Elderly Sister called and said that she had invited a friend and asked if we would go pick her up from the station and I was going to ask the other Elders because we were helping set up but I felt like we should go and do it. So we went and who do we see at the station but Nicoletta! She hadn’t gotten our message about the Activity so we were put in the right place at the right time! She ended up coming to the Activity which was a huge success! We had so much fun! There were so many people there and the Branch was really United. We had a lot of less active members and non members that came too so I would count it as a success! Lots of them even skipped the Napoli vs. Rome soccer game which is a pretty big deal!
Sunday was great 👍 Giuseppe wasn’t there and he usually controls the music because no one here plays the piano so we plug in an iPad or phone with the LDS music app and so I got to sit up on the stand to do the music and kind of be hidden behind the piano. It was actually really cool to be able to look out at all the people in Sacrament Meeting and think about how much I love them, how important they are to me and their individual stories. I felt like I got a small glimpse of the love that Heavenly Father must feel for us as he looks out upon the masses. He knows our struggles and our strengths, and he knows our hearts more importantly. I feel like as a missionary we get to know their hearts as well.
In the afternoon we went to visit the Philippine members and they made us spring rolls and we took pictures before going to the Elder Ballard Conference. Elder Ballard was broadcasting live from Frankfurt Germany to the Adults of Europe. It was a beautiful Conference and a beautiful way to start off the week! We are actually going to see Elder Ballard in Rome on Wednesday, he is doing a broadcast for our mission and the Napoli Zone gets to go and be there live! We went finding after the broadcast and we just saw so much success! I am so grateful to be serving a mission, there is no where I would rather be and no one else I would rather be serving! I love you and I hope you have a great week! Who knows where I’ll be emailing from next week!
Anziano Jacob Bellucci
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Napoli!! Transfer 11 Week 5
Ok, I'll be honest this week was a little slow but I did do a good job of resting so my toe can actually heal this time! But I'm ready to get back out there and hit the streets! I miss talking to people and teaching!
So with P-Day being Tuesday last week we finished and went right into the drum circle with the Africans, it was a good time and We were in a trio because Anziano Pesci came to do his fingerprints for his Permesso. We had a good time and then had a pretty bug group for English Course, I think there were almost 10 people in our class and 15 or so in the basic class.
Wednesday morning I had my appointment with the doctor, Italian medicine is so dysfunctional but I finally got in to see the doctor and he said everything is looking good! I get the stitches out on Wednesday this week so I hope to be walking normal soon! We came back and had studies that we missed because of the early morning appointment and then had correlation with Sam. Unfortunately our work hasn't changed much because we haven't been able to work :( But it was good and we made some progress in the Branch! In the afternoon they had their first Institute lesson and we showed up to help with the Africans and we found all of them in a room with Austin who was baptized like 3 weeks ago teaching about the priesthood! He had chalk in hand and was teaching like he had been a member his whole life! It was so awesome, we just took a seat and listened as he taught the fundamentals of what it means to be a worthy Priesthood holder! Institute went really well, there was 8 Africans and two Italians... there's some work to do with our YSA Italians! So we had a class in English and one in Italian. We won't usually go but since I can't walk super well we figured we could help!
Thursday morning we had to take Anziano Pesci to the airport so he could fly back to Cagliari, he's in my first city! I told him to say hi to it for me! Then we had District Meeting which is always good! We talked a lot about using technology and these new tools to further the work! I really liked one of the principles that was taught at Zone Conference as well as in District Meeting. "We are not a Facebook mission, we are a Preach my Gospel mission that has been given an extra tool to use!" I think it's so true, not much changes because we have Facebook, it's not the silver bullet of missionary work, its just another tool!
We got lunch afterwards together and then in the afternoon before English Course We were able to do a little bit of finding which was great! Then at English Course we had a good group again, we talked about their favorite restaurants and I was getting so hungry! Also I think it's so cool to see how cheap it can be for Europeans to travel to so many different countries. You can get a round-trip flight to England for like 40 bucks!
Friday morning I had an appointment at the immigration offices to have my fingerprints done to renew my visa... I got a call from the mission office saying that they had increased the price so I had to go to a post office and pay 40 extra euro before going to the immigration office. So I went there waited for it to open at 8:20 and we were one of the first people and I told him what I had to do and he said they were out of that paperwork so I had to go find another post office. :( Italy can be so dysfunctional... so I called the office to see if they could look up another post office. We walked about 25 minutes in the opposite direction of the immigration office to find another post office (on my bum foot) got there paid the 40 euro and then walked to the immigration office. So they schedule you for an appointment here but then when you get there you just take a number and wait, your appointment time doesn't matter so that's why we left at 7:30 but because of this post office business we didn't get there until almost 10 :( I took my number and read 142, I looked up at the board and it said 56... two and a half hours later they called my number, this place is worse than the DMV in Utah! I was up at the window maybe 5 minutes and got everything done!
We had an exchange with the Napoli B Elders starting Friday night so I got to work with Anziano Wagstaff, he's a Greenie and has been out for about a month now! He's a stud and is doing pretty well with the language. We did some finding and tried to teach this guy that ended up smoking marijuana during the first vision so we decided to move on... :/ Finished off the night with some language study!
Saturday morning we did some Facebook contacting, sending out some sweet videos and invitations to people that we had made contact with on the street. Anziano Wagstaff met this lady in the grocery store the other day who had lost her son (People open up to missionaries really fast, sometimes they tell you more than you want to know) and she added him in Facebook and so we were able to send her a message about eternal families, I should follow up with him and see if she accepted to meet with them! We then went out on the streets, I had remembered this bakery place that a member's wife said was really good and so we went and tried it out! They had these Nutella filled doughnuts for 80 cents... sign me up. Finished the exchange off with a little more finding and then lunch and companionship and language studies. I was feeling pretty good with walking and I really was feeling like going crazy if I had to stay home or at the Church anymore so we went white Boarding! It was a lot of fun and we got some really good conversations out of it. We are going to go and visit a family this next week to teach their daughters English and they said they would listen to a spiritual Thought!
Sunday was a great fasting & testimony Meeting, all of the testimonies were so powerful. I got to translate the Meeting and sometimes I feel like I get more out of it when I translate, sometimes not, but I definitely got a lot out of it this time. Also knowing that 20 people in the congregation are listening to you makes you pay attention really well! A lot of the testimonies compared the Church to a hospital, how we are all being healed but none of us are ready to be released yet but then an American member who works here bore his testimony about how the Church is like a gym, there are those who do physical therapy, those who lift weights, those who run laps, yoga, stretching, those who are trainers and those who are being trained and I really liked that analogy, I think it fits really well. We are all there to improve and better ourselves.
Today is Anziano DeFeo's last P-Day in Italy 🇮🇹 so he wants to go and play frisbee and then get pizza, so that's the plan for today!
Ok, General Conference... so I still have some more to study but I wanted to share one of my favorites that I've been studying. I really loved this talk by Elder Holland "Be ye there perfect-eventually" There is a quote that I really love he says:
"What I now say in no way denies or diminishes any commandment God has ever given us. I believe in His perfection, and I know we are His spiritual sons and daughters with divine potential to become as He is. I also know that, as children of God, we should not demean or vilify ourselves, as if beating up on ourselves is somehow going to make us the person God wants us to become. No! With a willingness to repent and a desire for increased righteousness always in our hearts, I would hope we could pursue personal improvement in a way that doesn’t include getting ulcers or anorexia, feeling depressed or demolishing our self-esteem. That is not what the Lord wants for Primary children or anyone else who honestly sings, “I’m trying to be like Jesus.”
We are all meant to improve, we are all meant to repent and change, but it is meant to be a loving process in which we grow and improve. I know that this principle is true and I am so grateful for prophets and apostles that help us in this process but it's only through Jesus Christ that we will ever be able to accomplish this. I love you all!
Elder Jacob Bellucci
So with P-Day being Tuesday last week we finished and went right into the drum circle with the Africans, it was a good time and We were in a trio because Anziano Pesci came to do his fingerprints for his Permesso. We had a good time and then had a pretty bug group for English Course, I think there were almost 10 people in our class and 15 or so in the basic class.
Wednesday morning I had my appointment with the doctor, Italian medicine is so dysfunctional but I finally got in to see the doctor and he said everything is looking good! I get the stitches out on Wednesday this week so I hope to be walking normal soon! We came back and had studies that we missed because of the early morning appointment and then had correlation with Sam. Unfortunately our work hasn't changed much because we haven't been able to work :( But it was good and we made some progress in the Branch! In the afternoon they had their first Institute lesson and we showed up to help with the Africans and we found all of them in a room with Austin who was baptized like 3 weeks ago teaching about the priesthood! He had chalk in hand and was teaching like he had been a member his whole life! It was so awesome, we just took a seat and listened as he taught the fundamentals of what it means to be a worthy Priesthood holder! Institute went really well, there was 8 Africans and two Italians... there's some work to do with our YSA Italians! So we had a class in English and one in Italian. We won't usually go but since I can't walk super well we figured we could help!
Thursday morning we had to take Anziano Pesci to the airport so he could fly back to Cagliari, he's in my first city! I told him to say hi to it for me! Then we had District Meeting which is always good! We talked a lot about using technology and these new tools to further the work! I really liked one of the principles that was taught at Zone Conference as well as in District Meeting. "We are not a Facebook mission, we are a Preach my Gospel mission that has been given an extra tool to use!" I think it's so true, not much changes because we have Facebook, it's not the silver bullet of missionary work, its just another tool!
We got lunch afterwards together and then in the afternoon before English Course We were able to do a little bit of finding which was great! Then at English Course we had a good group again, we talked about their favorite restaurants and I was getting so hungry! Also I think it's so cool to see how cheap it can be for Europeans to travel to so many different countries. You can get a round-trip flight to England for like 40 bucks!
Friday morning I had an appointment at the immigration offices to have my fingerprints done to renew my visa... I got a call from the mission office saying that they had increased the price so I had to go to a post office and pay 40 extra euro before going to the immigration office. So I went there waited for it to open at 8:20 and we were one of the first people and I told him what I had to do and he said they were out of that paperwork so I had to go find another post office. :( Italy can be so dysfunctional... so I called the office to see if they could look up another post office. We walked about 25 minutes in the opposite direction of the immigration office to find another post office (on my bum foot) got there paid the 40 euro and then walked to the immigration office. So they schedule you for an appointment here but then when you get there you just take a number and wait, your appointment time doesn't matter so that's why we left at 7:30 but because of this post office business we didn't get there until almost 10 :( I took my number and read 142, I looked up at the board and it said 56... two and a half hours later they called my number, this place is worse than the DMV in Utah! I was up at the window maybe 5 minutes and got everything done!
We had an exchange with the Napoli B Elders starting Friday night so I got to work with Anziano Wagstaff, he's a Greenie and has been out for about a month now! He's a stud and is doing pretty well with the language. We did some finding and tried to teach this guy that ended up smoking marijuana during the first vision so we decided to move on... :/ Finished off the night with some language study!
Saturday morning we did some Facebook contacting, sending out some sweet videos and invitations to people that we had made contact with on the street. Anziano Wagstaff met this lady in the grocery store the other day who had lost her son (People open up to missionaries really fast, sometimes they tell you more than you want to know) and she added him in Facebook and so we were able to send her a message about eternal families, I should follow up with him and see if she accepted to meet with them! We then went out on the streets, I had remembered this bakery place that a member's wife said was really good and so we went and tried it out! They had these Nutella filled doughnuts for 80 cents... sign me up. Finished the exchange off with a little more finding and then lunch and companionship and language studies. I was feeling pretty good with walking and I really was feeling like going crazy if I had to stay home or at the Church anymore so we went white Boarding! It was a lot of fun and we got some really good conversations out of it. We are going to go and visit a family this next week to teach their daughters English and they said they would listen to a spiritual Thought!
Sunday was a great fasting & testimony Meeting, all of the testimonies were so powerful. I got to translate the Meeting and sometimes I feel like I get more out of it when I translate, sometimes not, but I definitely got a lot out of it this time. Also knowing that 20 people in the congregation are listening to you makes you pay attention really well! A lot of the testimonies compared the Church to a hospital, how we are all being healed but none of us are ready to be released yet but then an American member who works here bore his testimony about how the Church is like a gym, there are those who do physical therapy, those who lift weights, those who run laps, yoga, stretching, those who are trainers and those who are being trained and I really liked that analogy, I think it fits really well. We are all there to improve and better ourselves.
Today is Anziano DeFeo's last P-Day in Italy 🇮🇹 so he wants to go and play frisbee and then get pizza, so that's the plan for today!
Ok, General Conference... so I still have some more to study but I wanted to share one of my favorites that I've been studying. I really loved this talk by Elder Holland "Be ye there perfect-eventually" There is a quote that I really love he says:
"What I now say in no way denies or diminishes any commandment God has ever given us. I believe in His perfection, and I know we are His spiritual sons and daughters with divine potential to become as He is. I also know that, as children of God, we should not demean or vilify ourselves, as if beating up on ourselves is somehow going to make us the person God wants us to become. No! With a willingness to repent and a desire for increased righteousness always in our hearts, I would hope we could pursue personal improvement in a way that doesn’t include getting ulcers or anorexia, feeling depressed or demolishing our self-esteem. That is not what the Lord wants for Primary children or anyone else who honestly sings, “I’m trying to be like Jesus.”
We are all meant to improve, we are all meant to repent and change, but it is meant to be a loving process in which we grow and improve. I know that this principle is true and I am so grateful for prophets and apostles that help us in this process but it's only through Jesus Christ that we will ever be able to accomplish this. I love you all!
Elder Jacob Bellucci
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Napoli!! Transfer 11 Week 4
Surgery, interviews, Train strikes, Rome and another great week in Italy! Did I mention General Conference???
Good morning everyone, its weird being Tuesday morning and writing my weekly email but it's been a great week! Monday night we had a Family Home Evening with the Grandulli family, they're really sweet! They have a son who is getting ready to leave on a mission and so we invited them to make some goals for General Conference to help them grow even closer as a family. We also ate dinner and it was a good night!
Tuesday morning we had correlation with Sam, we stayed at Sam's to do some language study and then Sam drove us to the Doctor's office so I could have another surgery on my toe :( This place was a lot more intense, last time they had me pull up my pant leg but this time they gave me a surgical gown, an IV, the whole 9 yards! Everything seemed to go okay and that was it for Tuesday!
Wednesday we had interviews with President so we got a ride from President to the Church and then I ended up staying there all day and then I came home and put my foot up for the afternoon... might have taken a nap, being stuck at home gave me a minute to catch up on sleep! Anything I caught up on was lost this weekend though!
Thursday I didn't leave the house! I don't want to go through this all over again so I'm trying to do my best and stay off of it... or at least I was! Cleaned the whole apartment and cooked lunch for everyone when they came home.
Friday I left to go buy fruit under our house at the market and to steal some Wifi from a neighboring photo place. Did lots of studying! We were supposed to be in Rome on Friday for the conference but there was a strike on the public transportation in Rome so if we had taken our train there we wouldn't have been able to get to the conference. So our Class-A Hugh speed train tickets were garbage and we ended up taking the 3 hour train regional train back to Napoli on Monday.
Saturday and Sunday were General Conference! It's like Christmas for missionaries! I'm not sure what my favorite talk is yet, I'm going to have to read all of them again and I'll probably do that this week! I really did enjoy the talks by Elder Nelsen as well as the Emeritus 70 Elder Zwick! "Look beyond what you see" I think is great Council! Expand your vision to see further into the future, to open up to new possibilities and to go further than you thought you could! Sunday morning we also made a HUGE breakfast, I made my Mom's Make ahead French toast and Anziano Andersen made eggs, bacon and potatoes all cooked together! It was awesome!
Yesterday was the longest day of my mission! But it was such a good one! We left at 6:30 AM to head to Rome, got to the Church for the conference at 9:55, had the conference from 10-4 with a leadership meeting until 5 and then a train ride home! Most everything was about Facebook and the new Chapter of Preach my Gospel. It was a great day and I definitely learned a lot! We had 8 Elders in our house both Sunday night and last night so our Zone unity was off the charts! Especially with just one bathroom!
Today was a shopping day! I bought a handful of ties and a new straight razor... nothing too much! Pizza from Da Michele (Best pizza in the world) and now it's email time! I hope you all have a great day! I love you all!
Anziano Jacob Bellucci
Good morning everyone, its weird being Tuesday morning and writing my weekly email but it's been a great week! Monday night we had a Family Home Evening with the Grandulli family, they're really sweet! They have a son who is getting ready to leave on a mission and so we invited them to make some goals for General Conference to help them grow even closer as a family. We also ate dinner and it was a good night!
Tuesday morning we had correlation with Sam, we stayed at Sam's to do some language study and then Sam drove us to the Doctor's office so I could have another surgery on my toe :( This place was a lot more intense, last time they had me pull up my pant leg but this time they gave me a surgical gown, an IV, the whole 9 yards! Everything seemed to go okay and that was it for Tuesday!
Wednesday we had interviews with President so we got a ride from President to the Church and then I ended up staying there all day and then I came home and put my foot up for the afternoon... might have taken a nap, being stuck at home gave me a minute to catch up on sleep! Anything I caught up on was lost this weekend though!
Thursday I didn't leave the house! I don't want to go through this all over again so I'm trying to do my best and stay off of it... or at least I was! Cleaned the whole apartment and cooked lunch for everyone when they came home.
Friday I left to go buy fruit under our house at the market and to steal some Wifi from a neighboring photo place. Did lots of studying! We were supposed to be in Rome on Friday for the conference but there was a strike on the public transportation in Rome so if we had taken our train there we wouldn't have been able to get to the conference. So our Class-A Hugh speed train tickets were garbage and we ended up taking the 3 hour train regional train back to Napoli on Monday.
Saturday and Sunday were General Conference! It's like Christmas for missionaries! I'm not sure what my favorite talk is yet, I'm going to have to read all of them again and I'll probably do that this week! I really did enjoy the talks by Elder Nelsen as well as the Emeritus 70 Elder Zwick! "Look beyond what you see" I think is great Council! Expand your vision to see further into the future, to open up to new possibilities and to go further than you thought you could! Sunday morning we also made a HUGE breakfast, I made my Mom's Make ahead French toast and Anziano Andersen made eggs, bacon and potatoes all cooked together! It was awesome!
Yesterday was the longest day of my mission! But it was such a good one! We left at 6:30 AM to head to Rome, got to the Church for the conference at 9:55, had the conference from 10-4 with a leadership meeting until 5 and then a train ride home! Most everything was about Facebook and the new Chapter of Preach my Gospel. It was a great day and I definitely learned a lot! We had 8 Elders in our house both Sunday night and last night so our Zone unity was off the charts! Especially with just one bathroom!
Today was a shopping day! I bought a handful of ties and a new straight razor... nothing too much! Pizza from Da Michele (Best pizza in the world) and now it's email time! I hope you all have a great day! I love you all!
Anziano Jacob Bellucci
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