Cosenza Transfer 13 Week 1

Transfers took me by surprise again! I was not expecting anything to change in our companionship this Transfer... Anziano Youngblood and I really got along super well so I was surprised to get the call and find out that he’s going to Rome 1 to be the new Zone Leader there and I get to train a new Zone Leader! So my new companion is Anziano Ruiz! He was actually my District Leader back in Napoli so I know him pretty well! He’s super cool and it’s been really good so far! 

So the week! As you know I ripped my pants on Monday on the way to Catanzaro so that rendered a trip to the Mall when we got there for P-Day! It was  trip and I bought some pants along with a couple other things! Then we came back and emailed for a little bit. We got to do a little mini-exchange with the Catanzaro Anziani and I got to work with Anziano Cooney. He’s in his 4th Transfer (I guess 5th now) and he’s so funny! He is the goofiest kid I’ve ever met and he’s just a lot of fun to be around. Being pretty young in the mission it’s really hard to stop people sometimes and so he has found that he loves to talk to people with dogs. He just goes and asks if he can pet them and then inevitably they ask him why he’s here from America! We talked to this guy and you could tell he was really angry with God. He opened up to us and explained that his daughter passed away and he just can’t believe that God would do something like that. How could taking away someone’s child be a part of God’s plan? We got to testify to him of the Plan of Salvation and God’s love for him. I got to be pretty bold and tell him that there is no other church on the Earth today that has what we have. The power to seal families together for time and all eternity. It was cool, they taught him on Wednesday!  

Then the calls came! President called and told us what’s happening and that was the end of the night! I’m really bummed that Anziano Youngblood is gone but I think Anziano Ruiz and I are going to have a lot of fun! 

Tuesday morning we had our last District Meeting together and it was really good! Anziano Valerdi did a good job of training us on Unity and working together as companionships, Districts, and a Zone. Then we went to King to get some really good hamburgers and fries! It was way good! Then we came home, did some finding and had English Course! 

Wednesday was full of saying goodbye to members and a little bit of finding and Kebab eating! So we went to say goodbye to Sister Spadafora, she’s so sweet. She’s like the Mom/Grandma of this Branch and I just love her! She said that she doesn’t really feel like putting up her Christmas tree but on the other hand she really likes it. So... Anziano Ruiz and I are going to go over and set it up with her and it will be our shared Christmas tree! I’m pretty excited! Then we went and saw some other people before going to Sister Spizzirri’s house for lunch! She is German but married an Italian. She just got back two weeks ago from serving a mission as a temple worker in the Freiberg temple! She’s pretty cool, she made us healthy food that didn’t make me feel like 100000 pounds so that was good! Her testimony was so incredible, that’s one of the things I have grown to love on my mission is asking people about their conversions. Almost everyone here is a Convert and even if they’re not they still have a story and the spirit is so strong when you share those things! Came back and studied, visited the Lopez family and then did some finding until we went to see Emilio. There was this crazy “New Movement” lady that was trying to convert us and I thought she was going to sprinkle me with holy water. Then after she was done preaching she said “Can I offer you something?” And we said no thank you so she bought us this big bag of olives! Then we got to actually talk to Emilio and he was like “Well we have to say a prayer together before you leave!” And for the first time he agreed to say it which was really cool. He said a beautiful prayer. We finished the night off with Anziano Youngblood’s favorite; Kebab! Haha it’s so good! 

Thursday was crazy! I took Anziano Youngblood to the train station in Paola at 10:30 and then I had to wait there in the car by myself for like 2 hours! It was so weird to be alone... I walked up the steps and I didn’t hear anyone else coming behind me and it was really strange. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I come home and someone leaves me by myself for the first time! Anyway I picked up Anziano Ruiz and we headed Back to Cosenza. It was soooo rainy and the fog was crazy thick! I could barely see the trees on the sides of the road as we drove through the mountains! We got back and Anziano Ruiz unpacked, I made lunch and we got right into the work! We did some finding and then went to English Course. There weren’t very many people for some reason, maybe it was the weather but we still had a good time! Then we had to set up the Christmas tree for the Primary, they decorated it yesterday in Church. 

Friday was the longest mission leadership council I’ve ever had but it was super exciting and inspiring! We set a monthly goal for our mission to reach 25 baptisms in December and 410 new Investigators mission wide! It’s going to be hard but we are going to push our Zone to pull our weight and get 3 of those baptisms and 60 of those new Investigators! We went and got some kebab after and I finally took a picture and a video of it so y’all can see what it is. Then we came home and did weekly Planning and studies while some guy came to fix our shower. We’ve been turning it on with pliers since I got here so it’s nice to have it fixed! Finding, finding, finding! We’ve given out so many #LightTheWorld pass along cards and talked to so many people! 

Saturday we went and visited Sister Spadafora again to introduce Anziano Ruiz! Of course she was cooking something! This time it was some fried dough thing covered in honey. We ate a plate full of them... in case you’re wondering 6 Months to Sexy is going real well for me! I called one of our Investigators and he answered and said “When can we meet and I can introduce my whole family to you?” Well we were super excited! We were supposed to meet them Saturday but his wife got sick with a fever... it’s going around. So we were bummed! 

Sunday was great! I have really come to love Fasting Testimony Meeting! We heard some really great testimonies and then the Branch President did a lesson on the Light the World initiative and we got new Home Teaching assignments! 

We went to Sister Minieri’s for lunch and we ate pretty well followed by some service! She’s having some new cabinets put in so we had to take everything out of the old ones and move them out! We were supposed to go today to bring the new ones upstairs but they aren’t bringing them today. 

We brought the Sacrament to Sister Filipelli and her daughter was visiting from the North with their two kids. We had a really nice Book of Mormon study as a family and then we did the sacrament, it was a wonderful night!

We came back to Cosenza and did some finding in the rain! The clouds have to be about empty! All it’s done is rain here! 

It’s been such a good week, I’m so excited for this Transfer and we’re seeing miracles everyday! I hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Anziano Bellucci