Bari Libertà Transfer 7 Week 5

This week has been one of the best weeks of my mission from the beginning! I have felt so much of God's love for me and for all of his children and it has been so good! My testimony of God knowing each one of us is something that has grown so much in the last few months. He knows us individually and personally and he loves us! 

On Monday just shortly after the activity that we had I had the incredible opportunity to see Sam enter the waters of baptism and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was an incredible baptism and I was really glad to be a part of it. Sam is about 40 years old, he came to Italy legally on a VISA that has since expired and so he is technically a refugee but he is very well educated. He studied theology in Nigeria and is very well versed in the Scriptures. He has come to Church every Sunday for the last year as he has been investigating, he wanted to make sure he was ready and that he had received his own personal testimony before taking this step. Life as a refugee here in Italy is rough but the true happiness that was evident in his face was incredible. You could tell that he truly felt the power that comes from a remission of your sins and the constant companionship of tyhe Holy Ghost. This was a success for the Senior Couple Anziano and Sorella Fitzner as they have worked with him from the beginning and are very much like his "parents" in the Gospel and rock of support. After the baptism and the Confirmation of the Holy Ghost Sam gave Anziano Fitzner the biggest hug I've ever seen, I thought he was going to break him in half! But the moment was so tender. 

Tuesday morning I woke up sore from too much volleyball... so worth it. We had to take our car to go get new tires and brakes with the Fitzner's car too. They did the Fitzner's car first and we decided to leave Gina (Our Car) so that we could go to DDM. We've been talking so much about Young Single Adults lately and how we all want to work with them more and get members involved in the work but we've noticed that we talk a lot of talk but nothing is happening so we decided to come up with some measurable goals and keep each other accountable for them! I hope it works! 

Bari is known for its Focaccia which is like pizza bread... I don't know how to explain it. It's like a pizza but it's super thick and then they put like whole tomatoes on top and olives too but those are gross. Anyway the focaccia here is so good! I usually don't like it, it's usually doughy and just not super good but we got some for lunch after DDM and it was dang good! Gina wasn't ready yet by 1:30 when she was supposed to be ready at 11... I love Italians. 

Wednesday was so good! We got up early and left the house early to head to Foggia for an exchange with Anziano Osmond and Anziano Simonsen! These two Anziani are incredible, they're just doing great work up in Foggia and we had a great Scambio. Anziano Osmond is in his second transfer so he's still in training but he seems like a seasoned veteran. He speaks the language really well and he has a good head on his shoulders. Obviously his Dad is Donny Osmond and so we were listening to music on my iPad and a song from Mulan came on and he was like "That's my Dad!" It was funny. He thought it was funny that I knew the song "Puppy Love" apparently only Old people are allowed to know that... Anyway we had a great exchange, and I was bummed to leave Foggia on Thursday morning! 

Saturday we had a pretty good day! We spent the morning around Bari and then we came back for our "Italian Class" with the member that lives upstairs and it was a lot of fun. We've been playing games where you have categories like jobs, animals, food, body parts and then she gives us a letter and we have to come up with a word for each category... it's real hard! But it's good to learn new things! Afterwards we ran downstairs to get lunch going. I made lunch for everyone and then I took Anziano Whitaker in the car to Trani to do the baptismal interview for Francesco. He did a great job and is super ready! We got the baptismal program planned out and ready to go and had a great "mini exchange" for a few hours. So the lady that lives above us that teaches us Italian has a big Golden Receiver named Luka, he's kind of obnoxious and barks a lot but we love him! So we went with her to take Luka for a walk and then did a Family Home Evening together complete with panzarotti (Sergi's pizza Rolls) and a game. We had a great time and I think the message was exactly what she needed! 

Sunday I got to go to Church in Bari Libertà for the first time ever! I went with Anziano Carroll to Libertà and Anziano Wilkey and Anziano Bowers went to Bitonto. Sister Bellomo is Italian and she only has three transfers left, she's been learning English but is a little bit afraid to speak even though she speaks really well. She wants to learn how to live translate before she leaves and so I gave her the translator and she started freaking out! I wouldn't take it back so she kept trying to give it back. After a few minutes I left her in the back to translate and she did a great job! We can do hard things! After Church we went with the Petroni family and it was super good! I also set up 3 appointments with members in the next week, it was nice to finally meet all the members here! I sat next to the Ward mission leader in Priesthood and said "Ok, who is ..." and it worked pretty well. 

Then in the evening there is a Sister from the PoggioFranco Ward that got her mission call so they decided to have an activity centered around missionary work. It was... interesting... and in the end she opened her mission call to the Milan Mission! 

Today we have had an awesome Zone P-Day! We had everyone come in to Bari to play volleyball together and we definitely had a great time! None of us are super good but it was well worth it and I think it was a success. I'm super tired now and I'm ready for bed but we get to go work for a few hours first! 

I love you guys and I hope you are having a good week! 

Love Anziano Bellucci  

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

Bari Libertà Transfer 7 Week 3

April 10, 2017

My head is still spinning from this past week but we made it through! I'm learning very quickly that the week before Zone Conference is a very hectic week for the Zone Leaders! We made it through but it went by very quickly and was very busy!

Honestly I don't remember exactly what we did on Monday... I remember I woke up super sore on Tuesday though from playing Volleyball! I was sore from head to toe. We had District Meeting and our District is pretty big. It reminds me of Cagliari! There's 10 missionaries and a Senior Couple so we make a pretty big group. Anziano Whitaker is our District Leader and he is an absolute stud, he only has one transfer left which is a bummer because I'm going to miss him for sure! He just finished applying for Utah State though so hopefully I'll see him after the mission. He gave us a great training on goals and visions and I learned a lot from it. 

Wednesday morning we went to Trani to teach our investigators and our New Converts out there, it was a good lesson and we came back to Bari and in the afternoon we went and played frisbee in the park to try to talk to some people. We talked to this group of people that were pretty cool. Italians are really good at Soccer, everyone grows up playing it, they can juggle a soccer ball and pretty much do anything with their feet. But outside of that, literally any other sport... they can't do. It's actually really funny, they couldn't catch or throw a frisbee and we tried a little volleyball too but it was a lost cause, they kept kicking it! We had a good time with them though. Afterwards the Sisters from PoggioFranco which is the other side of the city called us and said "So everyone is dropping out of the talent show tomorrow, can you guys sing with us?" So we had to practice for that...

Thursday morning one of the investigators of the Anziani that we live with invited us to go to a play, Aladdin, he told them that there would be tons of families there and he's the director so he could get us all free tickets. So we get there and this is the fourth largest theater in Europe, it's absolutely gorgeous! But he got us our own little private box so we were all alone and it turns out it was a showing for all the Elementary kids to come to so it was literally like 500 kids under the age of 10... and none of their parents so it was kind of a bust. Also, Disney did Aladdin a lot better for sure... in this one, Aladdin had a Mom, Jasmine had no pet Tiger and it was just weird. We had a good time though and I took some pictures! 

In the afternoon we went to Trani to teach Francesco, he's a stud and is super stoked to get baptized on the 28th! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and we drew it out on the iPad with pictures and then he took the iPad and said "Ok, I'm going to teach you now!" And he did, he taught us the whole thing almost perfectly! He's so ready! 

We came back to Bari for the talent show, practiced our song once through and then started greeting people! There were a ton of people that came with a lot of talent! There were these two little girls from the ward who were like 9 years old and they had incredible voices! There was a 12 year old magician, some old lady that told a joke in Barese (Bari dialect) that I didn't understand, Anziano Fitzner (Senior Couple) sang a version of Hallelujah with words about Easter, it was great! We sang the Youth song "Come unto Christ" which was a lot of fun! 

Friday we had weekly planning in the morning and had to get ready for Zone Conference, we planned both of the trainings for Zone conference and made the final schedule. In the afternoon we went to Bitonto with the Sisters to do a "Bitonto Blitz" and we stopped by the Church to find half the Branch there practicing for Choir. We got roped into that right away, all I can do is sing the melody and they want us to sing parts so I'm a lost cause but it's fun! We finished the night with picking up our newly tailored suits and then grabbed some Panzarotti which are like the pizza rolls from Sergi's they're sooooo good! We get them baked but they have them fried too and they're so good! 

Saturday we spent running all over the place! We started with hair cuts, then we went to the store to buy a ton of food for Zone Conference, then onto the market for fruit for ZC. To the church to unload everything and then we went to play soccer with the Young Men in Bitonto. We had a blast, I'm so out of shape... so is my companion, we were exhausted and it was 4 on 5 so we were running like crazy! As we were playing we got a call from the PoggioFranco Anziani. So there are two doors to their apartment, you walk through the first one and then there are two apartments inside of that. So they went to leave for an appointment and they went out the door and closed it behind them and then realized they didn't have the keys to unlock the second door and so they were stuck in this little square like five foot by five foot. We were the only one with keys and we were out of Bari so they were stuck in there for over an hour and a half... I thought it was hysterical! So we let them out and then went to the activity at church. There was a benefit concert to donate milk to refugees here in Italy. They had Bands from all over Bari and there was a few hundred people there and more than half were non members which was so cool! They raised 1,365 liters of milk! Double the goal! President came and got to meet some of the missionaries investigators and it was a good success! 

Sunday Church in Bitonto! We did an Exchange with the other Anziani so one of us could go to Church in Libertà and get to know the members there and so I took Anziano Carroll with me to church in Bitonto. President and Sister Pickerd came to Church with us too! It was a great block of meetings, we had a chance to hear from them in Sacrament Meeting and then to go to Gospel Principles with both of them as well. Our new converts were there with their son Francesco (the one getting baptized on the 28th) and he met with them during third hour and hey had a great time! We set up an appointment for President with the Bishop in Libertà and then we met him back at the church for Interviews! Our Investigator Sam got interviewed for Baptism by President and he's ready! Were so stoked for him! We got all the paperwork done and he will be baptized on Monday! It was for sure a good day but I was exhausted! 

Yesterday as you know we had Zone Conference which is why we are having P-Day today. Zone Conference was great! We talked about the principle of "Good, Better, Best and how it applies to missionary work and our own personal improvement in the things we do every day. We also had a really good training about Using the Book of Mormon to answer questions of the soul that people ask us everyday on the streets. I remember I wrote home about this a few weeks ago when I was in Crotone because we did a lesson on it then but it was really good and really cool to see how many questions can be answered by the Book of Mormon. They also let us do a role-play in English which was way fun!  

In the afternoon part of Zone Conference my companion and I along with the SIster Training Leader Sister Hess got to lead a discussion on working with and finding the GANS that we have to find more of them! It was a good discussion and I think it helped! 

We had a training for the new missionaries and their trainers in the Zone right after Zone Conference like the one I went to when I was with Anziano Allen except this time we were leading it! It was a good training on the importance of studying the language and using Companionship study. 

Afterwards the Bishop and his family had invited us over for Family Home Evening at their house which was really nice, they are a great family! They have two kids, one is a foreign exchange student in American Fork Utah and the other is a 12 year old volleyball star named Marco! So when we do FHE here our job i s to bring the game and the family that we visit has to come up with the lesson. We watched Elder Bednar's talk from the Priesthood session and had a great discussion about callings in the Church as well as being prepared for the future! Followed up by a game of UNO in which I lost and then dinner together! It made me feel at home! 

Today we went and played Ultimate Frisbee in the park and had a picnic, nothing too exciting! I'm still exhausted but I don't see a nap anywhere in my future... I love you all and I hope you had a good week!

-- 

Anziano Jacob Bellucci

Italy Rome Mission

Bari Libertà Transfer 7 Week 2

April 3, 2017

The Hardest Thing I've ever Loved to do...

This has been a pretty trying week for me, Satan has been working on me and he's been having a lot of success getting into my mind. But I think it's because he knew how amazing General Conference would be this week. 

I've been learning a lot about who I am as a missionary this week which has been kind of interesting. As I watch other missionaries in the Zone I see the things they do well and the things I could improve on and I really enjoy that. It makes me want to be better. I also had a scary realization reading an email yesterday from one of my MTC teachers. She was making a reference to the missionaries that have been in the MTC for the past few months and I was like "Oh yeah that was me..." then I remembered I went there almost a year ago. Ahhhh! This last year though has honestly been the hardest thing I've ever loved to do, I only have a year left and it's for sure going to count! 

We had a really good day on Monday, our Family Home Evening that we had set up cancelled on us so we got to hit the streets of Bari and talk to some pretty cool people! The people in this city are pretty open especially when you hit them with a big cheesy smile! Missionary work in a big city is a little different than a small one, there's so many people! This is going to take some getting used to! 

We had mission leadership conference on Tuesday so we all Skyped in to Rome with all the other Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders which was pretty cool! I got to see some of the other missionaries that I've served with which was pretty cool! It was a great conference and we talked a ton about working with Young Single Adults and focusing our finding efforts on youth. President gave us permission to go to the Universities to eat lunch once a week so we can get closer to the College Aged students and try to talk to them in a more chill way. We're excited to try this out! We went out to a Chinese restaurant afterwards and I ate sooooo much sushi! 

So the Senior couple here teaches Institute on Tuesday nights so we teach The Intermediate level English Course here in Bari Libertà and then on Thursdays we teach a course in Bitonto. There wasn't enough people to do a third course so we didn't end up teaching but we met some cool people here! 

So there is a miracle family that was baptized I think two transfers ago, I remember hearing about it in Taranto. They were taught almost 25 years ago and then last year the missionaries found a map in their apartment with a name marked on it. It was behind some furniture and probably looked like trash. Instead of throwing it out they decided to go to this little city and find them. A few short months later they were baptized. So now every week we go out to that city to teach them and their son is going to get baptized on the 28th! We're super stoked for him! 

So one of our investigators, his name is Sam and he is a stud! We got a call from the Senior Couple who are working with him a ton on Thursday and they said he finally got a job which is an answer to prayers for sure! He is Nigerian so he needs work to stay here. Unfortunately he works Sundays now but he hasn't missed a Sunday at church in the past year. So his Baptism is set for the Monday after  Easter! Keep him in your prayers, Satan works hard on people as they get closer and closer to Baptism! 

We went and had lunch at "Grandma's" in Bitonto! She is probably in her 70's and she asked us to call her Grandma! She's hysterical! It was her and another older lady from the Branch. Oh my heck she reminds me of my Mom and Roxy when they get older... we laughed so hard and had such a good time! She made a great "pasta al forno" which is just pasta in the oven like a baked ziti. It was so good with homemade little meatballs. Then she gave us some steaks. Then she had these mozzarella balls and ham and bread and I took one of the mozzarella balls and cut it up on my plate with the steak and apparently that's a no no, you can't eat anything on the same plate in Italy... also I cut the mozzarella ball with my fork instead of my knife and she yelled at me for that too! Italians... haha! We had a great time at lunch and then we shared the new Easter Video with them and the spirit was so strong! If you haven't seen it yet, go check it out! It's called "Prince of Peace" and it's so good! I haven't actually watched it in English but it's the same thing so go check it out! 

We decided we wanted to try and work a little bit more out in Bitonto to grow our English Course and our teaching pool out there so Friday we decided to take the Sisters with us and do a "Bitonto Blitz!" We hit the city hard for about 3 hours and had some good finds with a gelato at the end! 

Saturday we went to the park with a frisbee to do some finding and after a few minutes a couple showed up and said "Hey can we play?' In perfect English with no Accent. I was kind of shocked... turns out she's from Canada and married an Italian and they moved back here about five years ago. We had a great time with them and it was nice to get a little taste of home even though she was Canadian! 

GENERAL CONFERENCE! 

It was the absolute best! I watched a lot of it in Italian so I want to rewatch it in English and see how much more I can get out of it but it was all good! I really enjoyed President Uchtdorfs talk and President Ballard. One of my favorite quotes was from President Eyring he said "If you feel a little overwhelmed, take that as a good sign. It indicates that you can sense the magnitude of the trust God has placed on you." I think sometimes we all feel overwhelmed and that leads to feelings of inadequacy but it shouldn't be that way! Sometimes we're meant to feel overwhelmed! I have some others but I'll be a little more specific next week... I want to hear what you guys liked! I'll be honest I was pretty spiritually drained by the end but it was really good! We obviously spent a lot of time watching Conference this weekend and I got to meet a ton of members from the Bari Libertà Ward! 

We got to watch the last session at a New Convert/their son is our investigator's house. They made us homemade pizza and everything! It was such a good day! 

Today we had so much fun... we went to an indoor beach volleyball place! We're all fat and out of shape but we had a really good time! And I actually took some pictures! I hope you all had a great week! Like I said I want to hear about what you learned from Conference! I love you and I hope you have a good week!

Anziano Bellucci

Bari Libertà Transfer 7 Week 1

March 27, 2017

Transfer Calls take me by Surprise! 

Wow what a week it's been! It has flown by and so much has happened! From the beginning it was a shake up! So Monday night we knew one of us would be leaving so we went to visit a few members after P-Day and then we met up with the Catanzaro Anziani to grab a pizza and wait for Transfer calls... The other Anziani got their call first from the assistants and found out they were getting blown out and then the Sisters got their call shortly after from Sister Pickerd saying that they would both be training new missionaries! They're going to do great! Then we waited... and we waited... and the assistants usually call around the District when they do calls but no one was calling us... so we ate went home and ate our pizza! President has his own special ringtone and its that sound that just kind of makes you gasp a little bit! Well his ringtone went off... I've been transferred to Bari Libertà to be the new Zone Leader! I'm super stoked to be here and to be serving other missionaries as a Zone Leader! Our Zone goes from Foggia on the North end all the way to Lecce on the South end and so I'll get to travel quite a bit of it as we do exchanges with the other missionaries! Anyway I'll tell you more about Bari later... I still had a few more days in Crotone! 

So Tuesday we had District Meeting and got kebab for the last time as a District and then I got some packing done. Usually the transfers are on Thursday but I think the Greenies flew in a day later so we did transfers on Friday so I had a little more time to pack! We had English Course and had a party afterwards so Sister Taylor and I could say goodbye to everyone. There was a lot of food! The Sisters made brownies and I made banana bread. It turned out really well and it was good to see everyone. We found out right before English Course that the transfers would be on Friday and that we would still be there for Thursday! Anyway the party went well! 

Wednesday was exhausting... I spent a good minute getting things together around the apartment in the morning after studies and then we took a bus to Cutro at 11 to go see Antonio, we went to his house for lunch and then went and took some pictures with him. It was really hard to say goodbye to him, I'm going to miss him! Then we went and took pictures with the Tedesco kids and came back to Crotone on the 3 o'clock bus. We went and visited Sister Siniscalchi, did some handyman work on her kitchen door knob and said goodbye, she is the cutest little old lady, she's like my little Grandma of Crotone! I'll miss her for sure too! Then we went to the house, grabbed some stuff and brought it to Vincenzo's house to make brownies with him. Usually we just make them at home because it's easier than taking stuff over there but it was a lot of fun! I took a cool video with him! 

Thursday... Thursday was bitter sweet, my last day with Anziano Allen and I was pretty sad, I was excited to come to Bari but having a new companion is scary, he was pretty scared too but he's going to be fine! I packed a little bit in the morning, we went and visited a couple of members so I could say goodbye, we saw Marco one last time and then Anziano Allen wanted to make an "Italian Pranzo" so he made a few courses for lunch while I kept packing... it was really good! We had pesto pasta and then chicken and potatoes for round 2! We had branch Council and finished up the details for the activity on Saturday (I hope it went well!) and then English Course one more time! Salvatore and Eleanor's picked us up from English Course and we went and got pizza with them, it was nice to have a little "Family Night out" I'm for sure going to miss them too! 

Friday morning... I was pretty much all packed just the last few things I had to use and so we ran to the store to get stamps and then send off some "ghetto packages" so there are these little red boxes in Italy and anything you can fit through the little red slot ships! So we use cereal boxes or whatever box you can find, turn it wrong side out and tape it up, put whatever you want in there and then ship it off with a $0.95 stamp! There's no guarantee it makes it there but it's worth a try right? So I sent off a few of those and got dish soap so Anziano Allen's new companion wouldn't come to a new city with dirty dishes... then it was time to head em up and move em out... The Branch President came and picked us up and then picked up the Sisters. Sister Taylor and I were taking the same train so our companions actually did an exchange for a few hours... weird! Anziano Allen was freaking out that he was going to have a Sister as a companion! I thought it was funny... they went to a member's house for lunch so it was all good! We said our goodbyes and took one last picture together! And it was off to Bari for me! The train ride actually went by super fast! Sister Taylor stayed with me about halfway to Taranto so I was only by myself about an hour and a half and then when I got to Taranto Sister Bellomo and I were on the same train from Taranto to Bari so I had company almost the whole way! Speaking of Sister Bellomo, she's embarrassed to speak English so we speak a lot in Italian, she is from the North though so she speaks so clearly! She's in our District here in Bari. The Senior couple (yes that's right, I said senior couple! I'm super excited to have one of those here) and the other missionaries picked us up at the station. I met my new companion Anziano Bowers! 

Anziano Bowers is about 3/4 of the way through his mission and is a great missionary! He is number 4 in a family of 5 and grew up in Seattle Washington, he loves to wrestle, he did it in High School, skateboard and BMX bike... he reminds me a lot of Anziano LaRussa! They even look alike! 

I got unpacked and settled in, we ate some lunch and then got in the car and he showed me a little bit around the area. I'm super stoked to have a car again... it's so nice. Her name is Gina I guess... anyway we were with Anziano Carroll because his companion hadn't arrived from Sicily yet. This is a four man house so we live with Anziani Carroll and Anziano Wilkey! So we went to the correlation meeting at the Bari Libertà ward, the Ward mission leader is a returned missionary who served in the Manchester England mission so we do correlation in English so he can practice. That was pretty much it for Friday, I was definitely ready for bed! 

Saturday morning we went to another city called Trani, it's kind of far away but there was a guy that came from Brescia (a city in the North) to visit his family here and he goes to their English Course. He came to our English Course and said that he wanted us to meet his family because he really loves the missionaries up North! His family is super nice and we are hoping to start teaching them too! We walked around Trani and they took us to their bike shop where they make bikes with completely wood frames, it was really cool! They want to start selling them in America, they're hand made wooden bikes and they sell for 6-7,000 €... I think it's a little out of all of our price ranges. Anziano Bowers took it for a spin though and he said it was really nice! We played soccer in this big park in the afternoon trying to talk to people, it was a lot of fun and then we ended with a Gesso in Centro. 

So Bari is about the size of Salt Lake... it's pretty big! It's divided into two areas and two wards. So we are the Bari Libertà ward and the Anziani we live with are in the same ward and we also have Sisters. Then there is Bari PoggioFranco and there is a set of Elders and Sisters there too. Then there is a Branch of about 30 people in Bitonto and my companion and I cover that too! So we go to Church mostly in Bitonto but we'll do splits in the Libertà ward so our faces get known there too. So anyway we went to Bitonto for Church yesterday, it was a lot of fun and actually reminded me of Potsdam. They are all super close and stay around after church to chat with each other. The Branch President is really cool, he asked me to give a short talk and bare my testimony, it went pretty well! I talked about missionary work, I know weird... I talked about trusting ourselves in the missionaries and trusting them with our friends. It went pretty well! We had to spend the evening doing weekly planning so we could get the transfer planned out and get ready for the week. We have a super busy week planned so I'm pretty stoked! We were supposed to go to lunch at the Libertà Bishop's house but they got invited to his parents house or something so his wife gave us a bag with stuff to make ourselves lunch... it was good. 

So on Sunday nights we call the District Leaders and talk about all the missionaries through out the Zone and how everyone is doing. It takes quite a bit of time and I still have no idea what I'm doing so... we were up pretty late last night! It was rough getting up this morning but we made it. Then we get up and walk to this pizzeria down the street to email in our report. I'm learning a ton but I still feel like I have no idea what's going on... I'll get it eventually! 

Today it's raining... it's been beautiful since we got here but now it's kind of crappy. We went grocery shopping and then we went to Gucci... anyone ever been to Gucci? It's right next to Prada and down the Street from Armani and Luis Vuitton... I didn't even know these places existed. I felt out of place. 

So I'm super excited to be here! We're going to have a good Transfer and I'm stoked! How did your week go?!?! I've been studying a lot about those questions of the soul and I'm curious if you guys have ever had any questions answered from the Book of Mormon? I would love to hear your experiences! Have a great week!

Anziano Bellucci

Crotone Transfer 6 Week 6

March 20, 2017

Broken Windows, Branch Activities and Baptism! 

Transfer Calls are today! I'm kind of nervous... none of us have a clue what is going to happen and President Pickerd is all inspiration so there's no point in guessing! I'm going to be super sad to lose my "son" but I've taught him all I know and he's taught me even more! So we'll get the calls tonight and who knows, maybe I'll be emailing home from a different city next week! 

This week has been a pretty busy one! On Monday we went to Tropea and then stayed in Cosenza that night. The Sisters from Crotone, the Anziani from Catanzaro and Anziano Allen and I did a Gesso in Cosenza without the Anziani from Cosenza, they were doing an exchange with the Zone Leaders. It was interesting especially because none of us know the city so we would tell people the address and they would be like "where is that?" And we had to describe it with some real bad directions (Go straight down this road until you pass the dry cleaners and the place with the cacti and then turn right, there will be some stairs walk down there and it's on the left) Pretty ghetto directions but they worked! I keep meaning to take a picture of one of our Gesso sheets but I always forget! We went to this pizzeria after called "Walters Pizzeria" and I had the best pizza I've had in Italy! It was soooo good! It was hand tossed and I took a video, this guy was a pro! I got fresh sausage and Gorgonzola cheese... good stuff. 

Wednesday we had DDM in Cosenza and Anziano Saffer gave the training as this was his last week in the mission, he is in Rome right now and will fly back to Sweden tomorrow! It's so weird to see missionaries finish their missions... it makes me realize how quickly a mission goes! He did a great job and explained a lot about the importance of loving the people. This made me think a lot about my mission call as last Monday was a year since I opened it. Before I opened it I remember a very important person saying to me that no matter what that piece of paper says this is the best mission for me, this is where I need to go and I will become entangled with a whole new group of people and I will love them and my life will become about them. I rewatched my mission call video so I could hear those words again and I can for sure say that it is absolutely true. The Italians drive me nuts, they stress me out and I love them so much! My life has become about them and I am so grateful for that! The Rome Italy mission is the perfect mission for me. So there's my little side note about that!

We took the bus back to Crotone and got back in time for some finding, some language study and then English Course. Afterwards we practiced singing "I Stand all Amazed" for the baptism!

Wednesday the Zone Leaders from Taranto came to do an exchange with us for the afternoon, we made chicken curry for lunch with them and then I got to work with Anziano Zito for the afternoon. Anziano Zito is 3 transfers ahead of me so he is about 13 months out and he's from Brigham City UT! We found out that we bought almost all our mission clothes at the same store in Logan... small world! We visited some less actives that live a little further out of Crotone because we had the car and then we went to the Church for a Branch Activity. The Branch President said on Sunday "Lets eat spaghetti on Wednesday" so we planned it out and there's actually a word for this in Italian they say "spaghettata" so spaghetti dinner turned into a full dinner complete with three courses and dessert... my kind of party! It went really well and we had a good turn out! We had 6 missionaries and about 8 members and 2 of our investigators came! They actually sat right next to our Branch President and by the end you would have thought they were best friends! That's the testimony of the importance of using members in your missionary work! 

Thursday is the broken window... so Italy is windy... so I like to open the windows in our house just to air it out so I had the bathroom window open and I closed the hallway door because we were making chicken wings for lunch and I hate the smell when it's all through out the house. Anyway, the balcony doors were open and I opened the hallway door, I felt the wind blow through and as I turned the corner I watched the bathroom window swing shut and completely blow out... completely shattered in a million pieces. Some phone calls in the mission are hard to make... but it's fixed now and it's all good! Apparently this isn't the first time even this year that that exact window has been replaced because of the wind. 

Friday we wanted to have lunch together with the Sister missionaries so we did weekly planning at the Church and I made a big old lunch with two whole chickens, mashed potatoes and my Mom's candies carrots, it was a really homey meal, and we were super full afterwards! But no rest for the weary, right afterwards we had to  lean up and get ready for Precious' Baptism! The Baptism was supposed to start at 4:30 and it was going to start in Church and then we were going to go to a member's bungalow on the beach for the Baptism. I called the member and she had forgotten about the Baptism and was working so we didn't have the keys to the bungalow! I'm glad we called to confirm... we walked across town to get the keys and then got dressed in our white clothes for the Baptism! Four o'clock came and no one was there,4:10, still no one, 4:15, not another soul, 4:30... you guessed it! No one. We were a little worried! A few minutes later Precious walked in and then one by one a few others! We ended up starting 45 minutes late and it was a race against the sun! We started in the Church and we did the whole thing in English so that she didn't have to listen to her own Baptism translated. So I translated from English into Italian for the Italians. It was kind of cool! It's actually easier to translate into Italian I think... it's probably just because I don't recognize my own mistakes in Italian. Anyway it was cool and we had two investigators come and two English Course Students that are non members! We drove to the beach to do the Baptism and like I said it was a race against the sun, though the water was cold and the sun was going down the spirit was warm and it was a great experience! I am so glad I got to baptize Precious as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After we got changed we sang "I stand all Amazed" and then came back to the church to eat. It was a beautiful day! 

Saturday we had to wait for the Landlord to come and fix our window so we did things at home as long as we could... he never ended up coming... We made lunch and then headed to the Church for the Saturday sessions of Stake Conference. The Temple President from Switzerland came down to Bari and we watched the Web broadcast from there. We watched the Leadership session and it was actually really funny because the Temple President obviously isn't Italian but he was trying so hard! He did a great job and at the end he said somewhat joking "I've spoken way too much Italian today..." and I can definitely relate to that sometimes! We ran and got a pastry with the Sisters real quick before the General session started! When we came back they started the session but our investigator came so we left to go and have a lesson with him. This was our first actual lesson with him and we were super excited! We know he's super faithful and he prays all the time, he's Catholic but not practicing but he's a super nice guy! Anyway we taught him the message of the Restoration and we gave him a Book of Mormon with our testimonies written in it. As I told him we wanted to give it to him he almost cried, you could see the tears in his eyes.

He told us that he's always been super faithful but that we've helped him to realize that  there was something missing. He said even though he's super faithful he's never read the Bible, he's just learned the stories but he said he really wants to read the Book of Mormon! We're super excited for him! 

Yesterday was Stake Conference and it went pretty well, Anziano Allen tried translating for the first time and this guy that you could tell spoke mostly dialect and had a weird accent got up there and his Italian was impossible for me to understand. He said "Good morning everyone" and then handed the translator back to me... poor kid, he tried again with someone that actually spoke Italian and it went much better! Trial by fire is the best way to learn! 

We went to the D'Oppido's house for lunch after church and it was good! She made cannelloni which to me seem like manicotti noodles that are filled with meat and cheese, they're pretty good! We had a good lunch and they bought these pretty fancy dessert pastry things because today is Father's Day in Italy. They base it off of some Saint... I'm not sure which one. Anyway I had a little mini heart attack when someone told me it was Father's Day this morning and then I realized that's not until June! Today was in the 70's and everyone was outside out on the beach. They still have big jackets on and stuff but they're outside! Anziano Allen and I figured out why they don't get hot like we do while they're walking and it's because we walk so fast and they walk so slow... I've actually had a few people tell me that we are walking too fast and should slow down and enjoy it haha I don't think they understand what we do! We got places to be! 

I don't know if I've mentioned anything about soccer in Crotone but they're not half bad apparently. This last year they moved into the A series so they're playing against all the big cities i.e. Rome, Napoli, Palermo, Cagliari... while it turns out they're really good for the B series but they don't have what it takes for the A Series... they are second to last and will be booted back to the B Series next year. Anyway there was a game on Sunday against Fiorenze (Florence) and we lost... but they block off the whole road that the stadium is on so that people can't walk or drive down it. So there's no one on the road except the security guards but they won't let us walk down the street... we had to walk to the complete other side of the town to get around to the church after our lunch appointment... sometimes we just shake our heads at the Italian logic. 

We planned the Branch activity with the Sorelle, we are going to do one like we did in Cagliari where we set up the church like an airplane and show segments from Meet the  Mormons and do activities. It should be a lot of fun, we'll see if I'm still here to see it pan out! 

Today we spent the morning doing some stuff in town, organizing the house and getting ready for transfers. It's been a good day and I'm excited and nervous to see what happens tonight with Transfer calls! Vediamo un po'! 

Love y'all! 

Anziano Jacob Bellucci

Crotone Transfer 6 Week 5

March 13, 2017

So in Italian the word "Ciao" is hello or goodbye and the same with the word "Salve" it's just more formal. What many Italians don't realize is that these words are most definitely not interchangeable in the English Language... so when we have a conversation with people we will end it saying "Ciao Ciao" and instead of saying "Bye Bye" they often say "Hello Hello" sometimes we correct them, sometimes we just let them be... but most of the time it's hilarious! 

Today is one year since I opened my mission call and went through the Temple! I can't believe its been a year! I'm so grateful for all the changes that have happened in my life in the last year! 

How was your week? What has been your biggest miracle this week? Heavenly Father is in the details, are you looking for the miracles???

We had a pretty good week with some pretty good work! Monday night we got cancelled on by a member so we hit the streets with the Elders from Catanzaro and the Sisters and did a Gesso with the Book of Mormon... (Gesso is the chalk thing!) It went pretty well and we had some really good conversations. Unfortunately most people see that we read the Book of Mormon and think we don't read the Bible. A talk from Jeffrey R. Holland explains this super well! He says: 

"We love and revere the Bible... ...The Bible is the word of God. It is always identified first in our canon, our “standard works.” Indeed, it was a divinely ordained encounter with the fifth verse of the first chapter of the book of James that led Joseph Smith to his vision of the Father and the Son, which gave birth to the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our time... ...Continuing revelation does not demean or discredit existing revelation. The Old Testament does not lose its value in our eyes when we are introduced to the New Testament, and the New Testament is only enhanced when we read the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. In considering the additional scripture accepted by Latter-day Saints, we might ask: Were those early Christians who for decades had access only to the primitive Gospel of Mark (generally considered the first of the New Testament Gospels to be written)--were they offended to receive the more detailed accounts set forth later by Matthew and Luke, to say nothing of the unprecedented passages and revelatory emphasis offered later yet by John? Surely they must have rejoiced that ever more convincing evidence of the divinity of Christ kept coming. And so do we rejoice."

The Book of Mormon is a good thing! We read from both the Book of Mormon and the Bible, they go hand in hand and compliment each other! 

Tuesday we had DDM and the Sisters gave the training, they focused it on miracles and how miracles are not earned they are given from Heavenly Father, however we as servants of the Lord (and all of you as well!) can be diligent in this work and help create a place for Heavenly Father to work miracles! 

Wednesday we headed to Cutro to see Antonio, we wanted to give Antonio a little gift for his one year baptism "anniversary" and he really wants to go on a mission in America. He's studying English and sometimes we help him with homework and stuff, so we got him a new copy of the Book of Mormon in Italian and a new one in English, we wrote our testimonies in English in the English one and Italian in the Italian one. He really liked them and he's started to read again in the Book of Mormon and is praying everyday! 

The Anziani from Catanzaro we're here to do an exchange with us, from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday morning so we were headed back early, we were walking to the bus stop 12 minutes early and we watched the bus blow right by us, so we missed it :( I was kinda ticked... the weather here has been sooooo windy and rainy, it's like a tornado at times. All the members are telling us to stay inside but I don't think they understand what missionaries do... we're always outside! So anyway we were both trying to fix our wind blown hair in the window of this Café and the people told us to come in and wait inside. They really didn't speak much Italian, mostly all dialect so I didn't understand much but I got that we could sit and wait! 

The scambio went well, Anziano Haws and I went to see Vincenzo, we played some games and are still trying to get him to say his prayers, he always forgets! I'm not sure if I've explained this before but Vincenzo isn't all there, but he's the best guy ever! 

Thursday the scambio continued and we went to visit Sister Siniscalchi, we talked about what Faith really is to her and how we can spread our faith. She amazes me every time I go over there, she's 82 years old and she is the energizer bunny! Sweetest Lady there is and it just makes her day when we stop by and share a message with her. She's our little Grandma of Crotone! 

I tried miserably to make little chicken pot pies for lunch, they tasted good but they were kind of falling apart and my veggies were kind of crunchy still. I think we decided to not try those again... After lunch the Catanzaro Anziani left and we did our language study, got caught up on 12 weeks and got ready for English Course, we did some finding on our way to the Church and then English Course went really well! 

Friday morning we did weekly planning, something I'm trying to love a little more is weekly planning... I don't always love it. I love it when it's done and we have our whole week planned out and things go really well but as I do it it's for sure not my favorite! Then in the afternoon we worked on making invitations for the activity we're planning in two weeks! We got that all figured out and just had to have it proofread by an Italian. We stopped by one of the members furniture shops and said hi, did some finding in Centro and that was pretty much it! 

Saturday we had 4 things planned in the morning and 3 in the afternoon, we were supposed to go to the Hospital and visit the friend of a member who was in an accident. We went but their visiting hours are the worst, they have lunch and then they open again at 7 PM... so we went to go to the other 3 and one by one they weren't there! We had an appointment with Salvatore and Eleanor's for lunch and so we took the bus to their house and had a great lunch, we talked a little about that talk that I mentioned above, he talks about a miracle of healing a sick boy in the Gospel of Mark. Without getting preachy, I really like this part! 

23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

He says "I believe!" Which shows how much faith he does have and then he realizes that his faith isn't perfect but he has enough faith to ask for help! "Help thou mine unbelief!" I thought it was really cool to focus first on the faith that we do have and then to have enough faith to ask for more. 

They gave us a ride back to Crotone and then helped the Sisters type up the Baptismal Program for Precious, she's decided to get baptized! Precious is a young girl from Africa, she's been in Crotone for a few months and she's ready to get baptized! Her Baptism is scheduled for a Friday and she asked me to baptize her! I'm super excited and we're doing it in the ocean! Anziano Allen and I tried on our white clothes (mostly to make sure they fit still #TooMuchPasta Stay tuned for pictures next week! 

Church went well on Sunday, we had 5 people... we're working on it! Then after lunch we went to see Antonio and Oriana with Sister Mercadante. We had a good lesson and they fed us some dinner and then we went to the D'oppido's house to share a message with them and that was the day! 

Today we're heading to Tropea, you guys should look it up online, it's beautiful! We're excited! Hopefully we can send pictures today! I love y'all! Have a good day! Have a good week! I hope Spring comes soon in New York!

Anziano Bellucci