Apartments, Puppies and Hope

Ciao, All!

We took a hike to the Santuario Della Madonna del Bosco. It was a nice walk, a pretty church, and an excellent view. We also stopped by a lake while we were there. It was very peaceful.

FAITH AND HOPE. I forgot to mention that I gave a talk two weeks ago. It was about hope, which I compared to an action word, like faith. I thought about the topic, wrote three scriptures down, and walked to the pulpit armed with just the Book of Mormon and the ideas I had had. It was a pretty good talk, not spectacular, but pretty good.

I compared Christlike hope to the Christmas experiences of two girls. Both of them want a puppy, but the first girl never cleans her room, often breaks her toys, doesn't help with household chores, and doesn't come inside on time. The second girl, however, cleans her room, washes the dishes, takes care of her things, and generally shows responsibility. Both girls hope for a puppy. But realistically, who is going to get it? Likewise, all of us hope for a bright future and a resurrection on the right hand of God. But who is realistically going to get it? The man who twiddles his thumbs and prays while watching the grass grow, or the man who helps his neighbor move, sets a positive example for his children, and offers a shoulder on which to cry for a friend coping with loss?

ANSWERING MOM'S QUESTIONS. My favorite missionary apartment was the Firenze apartment, with the penthouse balcony, 10 minutes from downtown, on the 5th floor.

("What do you wish someone had told you at the beginning of your mission?")

Just to remind you: this was the Firenze apartment that I liked best

I wish someone had told me that, besides family, hearing from somebody once a month is pretty reasonable. Yes, you've been set apart and are now "special," but everybody else also just hit the Turbo Button in their lives, and can't be expected to communicate with you at your convenience. That bothered me at the beginning of my mission, but I realized that everybody else is also a protagonist in their own story, and is just as busy as you.

Love, Anziano Whitesell

Exercise, Danny Boy and Coffins

Ciao, All!

TREE BASKETBALL. Well, we played basketball today with some other missionaries. I am terrible at basketball. I think I contributed like a tree. Just kind of got in the way.

But I was able to pull out the flying disc and get in some throws. So it wasn't a complete waste. But I saw some missionaries from other times of my mission -- Keller from the MTC, Thomas from Bologna/Torino, and others.

(Background: the missionaries hold the priesthood, which allows them to give people blessings. These could be to heal someone who is sick or ailing, or to comfort someone who is grieving or otherwise in need. They use consecrated (blessed) oil on the person's head, then say the prayer.) We gave a couple of blessings of health this week. It's always nice to help people out in that way, and just be guided to give words of comfort and healing 'as the Spirit directs.' And I still have Poppa Dave's vial for the oil. No salad dressing, just extra virgin olive oil. A couple of times when we didn't have oil on us, we just used some olive oil from the cupboard, blessing it, and then the individual. Since everyone has oil here.

MUSIC I LIKE. I have a couple of favorite songs I've heard here, I've decided. First, is my "dying song," "Into the West" by RotK. Seeing as, returning home, I will be going "into the west." I also really like various renditions of "Danny Boy." Also Paul Cardall's Redeemer for piano. And Nearer My God to Thee, I believe it's the Vocal Point rendition. Also Jesu Joy of Man's Salvation. That's nice, too. Just peaceful stuff. Also a bunch of Christian Rock, but that's just filler. You can't live for two years on just Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Piano Guys.

UNEXPECTED. We made an appointment with a guy we hadn't met before, and he said, come to this address. So we get there and it's a dirt road, so we park at the end of the road and start walking back.
He comes down the dirt road and waves, and he's wearing an apron made of discarded soil bags. He leads us to a garage/warehouse building that is very poorly lit.
Our eyes adjust and we see all these shovels, and some hoes, and some coffins, and we're like, "This guy is crazy and he is going to kill us."
But then he says, I work in a cemetery, as a horticulturist.
So he's only kind of crazy. I am safe, and happy, and healthy and all that.

(Background: During the Mother's Day skype, I told David that I, Mom, would not be counting down to his return, until there were 10 days left. That will be next Wednesday! David comes home on June 3!!)

Well, the next time I write, even Mom will be counting down...!

Love you!
Anziano Whitesell

Each Life that Touches Ours for Good

Ciao!

Yes, the Mother's Day skype was enjoyable for me, too.

LEARNING FROM OTHERS. It's just sort of weird because now all these "last missionary things" are creeping up. I gave my 'dying testimony' yesterday. That's when every missionary who is leaving that transfer, bears their testimony of their missionary work, during the zone training. So I bore my testimony of the work I've done over the past 2 years...it felt overrated, because you can't condense two whole years into a couple of minutes. And if you could, it still wouldn't have the same impact because I was the one learning. But I talked about the influences we have on others, and the influence they have on us.

Our ward (congregation) had a Mother's Day dinner!
We helped set up, and ate some while we were there.

FEELING GRATEFUL. And during two years, you meet a lot of people. There is a hymn that Sanchez showed to me, called "Each Life that Touches Ours for Good." That describes my feelings about the friends I've made. I thank God for those people who have had a positive influence on me and became my friends.

BETTER THAN THE PHONE. We skyped from the house of the Nicotra family: a nice Italian family. One of their sons just returned from a mission to South Africa. And, they skyped their son who is serving a mission in England just before we got there. Now, twice I've seen other families skyping their missionary children from here, on Christmas Day and Mother's Day. I haven't know what skyping someone from the other side was like, but I see these families' joy at communicating with someone they haven't seen in awhile.

Our GPS doesn't know what it's doing...

My greenie Liu told me that Andersen, my trainer, is about to marry Liu's ex-girlfriend. Small world. He's been home about a year now. That seems crazy, it was so long ago, but here we are.

Have a great week!
Anziano Whitesell

Small Towns and Used Cars

Hi!

TALK SOON. So I'll start off with the news you want to hear: I can Skype around 7 p.m. my time on Mother's Day, so just in time for y'all to swap in and out talking to me as you make grilled cheese sandwiches in the back :D I'm looking forward to the call...and then to maybe 4 weeks later...

NEW AREA. Anyway, other big news to keep you awake at night: as Dad noted, Merate is a small town. The ward is spread out over 15-20 towns in the area, which just happen to be centered at Merate. So to help us cover the area, this area has a car! And I'm the designated driver!

digeridoo

The first few days of being here, we were without a car, and waiting some for Elder Richardson's recovery. He was concussed from a car accident, getting T-Boned 6 weeks ago. The car was finished. And Richardson was pretty fried too, from staying inside for 6 weeks. (My 1 week I had to stay in the house from pneumonia way back when, was bad enough.)

But now we have a nice, secondhand silver Corsa by Opal. Fortunately, it is automatic. We took a train to Milan to pick it up and watch a Driving Safety video. I hadn't driven in 22 months, and it was nerve wracking to get behind the wheel again. But I did, and I have survived a couple of days of freeway and country driving. City and bad weather, not yet. But it's all coming back pretty well.

NEW MISSIONARY COMP. So, my companion Elder Richardson is a "nerd" -- Dungeons and Dragons, Magic, Star Wars, LotR, Chess, video games, fantasy. Everything I had heard from Anderson, who also served with him. He also wants to join the military. And right now, he's still on some restriction from the doctor due to the concussion, but I'm here to figure out where the work was headed before the accident, and iron out the schedule to get Richardson used to doing full-time service again. He was only supposed to be out of the house for 3 hours a day, for the past 6 weeks. Understandably, he has really bad Cabin Fever. So apply some of my specialty: organization and calls. And apparently driving. Yay, I'm useful!

Also, we went to Milano for P-day today. I've never been there for a full day, outside of conferences, so it was quite the experience! We saw the duomo, the Scala, a castle and gardens, various shops (a puzzle and a comics store), and ate at a solid Italian restaurant. One of the best pizzas I've eaten.

real Italian pizza

Have a great week!
Anziano Whitesell

Week of Changes and Packing

(*Reminder: you can click on the pictures to make them bigger!)

Well it was a week of big news. Transfer info: I'm going to Merate, a small town by Lecco, by Milano, to finish my mission.

Scaffolding, Anyone?

SAYING CIAO TO MANY FRIENDS. So the week was busily spent saluting friends and recording contact information. I'm not sure what it is, but this time, maybe due to being near the end and being more confident and personable, or maybe the people, but there are far more people I plan on keeping in touch with here in Torino than in previous cities. So thank goodness for facebook and email, because with letters I would be hard pressed to keep track of everyone.

(I understand there is something called an "Address Book" at home, but that's just for Old People. :P Ha! -- he says after having used it for every thank you note he has ever written...)

SWITCHING TOWNS & COMPANIONS. My new companion will be Anziano Richardson. I've heard some about him, and met him once or twice. I'm really looking forward to it because I've heard he's really cool. He's been out for about a year and a half. And obviously, I'll find out more about him over the next 5 weeks! Funny thing, last transfer was a 5-week transfer, and I had Anderson as my companion for his last transfer. Now I'm going to be one-and-done for my last (5-week) transfer.

Packing, as usual, is difficult, but I still don't have to toss much. I remember when I left Boston, with a checked bag only half-full, and a carry-on (which turned out to be too big to carry on). My things have built up a little at a time, but I'm only now having to toss anything.

One of the hardest parts was saying goodbye to the missionaries in this district, but fortunately it's easier to keep in contact with them because most of them are going to one BYU or the other. I know I'll have a bit of traveling to do when I'm at BYU Provo (up to BYU-Idaho, to visit!).

DEDICAS. We have a missionary tradition of writing 'dedicas' to each other in little notebooks at the end of each transfer, with the people who aren't going to be with you next transfer. So in leaving, I had a lot of memories and emotions sealed into my dedica, along with contact info from those who liked me.

(**It's not obligatory to leave your info, or what info to leave. For example, if I only leave my facebook info to someone who won't finish their mission for another 15 months, that doesn't say much for our relationship during the transfer.)

MY FAVORITE PEOPLE HERE (Mom's question). It's weird because as a whole, the ward congregaton was fairly lukewarm. But there are lots of specific people I'll miss:
1) The Zapata family
2) a Peruvian couple who work in the Primary and he plays the piano amazingly well
3) Robin, a Nigerian man who has come back to church while we've worked with him
4) Sarah, a Sicilian girl studying here who has been super cool, also she's a Whovian so bonus points

(Note from Mom: we had to look up "Whovian..." top definition according to google:

Whovian: A fan of the popular sci-fi show Doctor Who. Whovians are the epitome of awesome, with good grammar and better knowledge. This knowledge stems from their interest in space and time, and the information gained from many viewings of the show. Without Whovians, your life would be very dull indeed. They secretly run the world's major services, and insert Doctor Who references into every piece of popular culture available.

Simone

5) Simone, a Napolitano kid who was baptized roughly 2 years ago.
Just cool people I got to know and want to keep getting to know.

Love, Anziano Whitesell

Challenges, Chairs and Change

Ciao, All!

EXERCISE REGIME. (describing our apartment) We don't have a couch. We have two recliner-type chairs that are super comfy. These chairs lead to my companion WATCHING me do my P90X workout, deciding life is difficult and the exercising just isn't going to work today, and telling me he'll start tomorrow. What a goon :P I just sit in them in the evening, and listen to music.

Hearing from the mission president at mission council, talking with ward leaders, etc., gives me the impression that the youth are being prepared for a lot of responsibility in these days. Like how they've re-vamped the Young Men's 'On My Honor' program, and lowering the missionary age, etc.

LOCATION CHANGE COMING. Transfer calls come in a couple of days. It's the last one that matters for me! o.O But I'll be sad to leave this area -- I've made a lot of friends. Fortunately, I'll have FB and Skype in a couple of weeks, to keep in touch with them. Having the heads-up from President Dibb (that I'm moving, next transfer) was nice, so I can feel sad about leaving for a little bit, and one girl will be gone next week, so if I hadn't known I wouldn't have been able to say goodbye.

WHAT WE DO. Work is moving along. We're seeing more success with reactivating current members, than with new investigators, but that part is up to the Lord. Our missionary work is about strengthening the ward (congregation), not just baptizing.
And I've definitely learned some stuff about wards and organization during my time here. Actually, one of the congregation members works as a church building administrator for the stake (group of congregations), so talking to her we learned a lot. I would enjoy an organizational position, in the church or otherwise.

Ciao!
Anziano Whitesell

Lessons, Bus Rides, Maybe Yoga

Hi!

(Reminder: you can click on the pictures to make them bigger...)

PRODUCTIVE DAYS. This week was pretty awesome. We were really busy; we taught 27 lessons last week. If we can keep that up, it would probably result in this area getting a car. It's difficult to make it across town to one lesson, then travel 40 minutes by bus to another lesson, then go back home for lunch. Our studies are pretty shot; morning activities take the place of those, most days. But spending most of our time outside the apartment is better.

STRESS MANAGEMENT. We had interviews with President Dibb last Monday, so I talked to him about feeling stress from the workload, and feeling like everything has to be perfect, and people not making the choices I'd like them to make. I go through waves every couple of days, first feeling like everything is awesome, then...we miss a bus and show up late, and somebody can't meet this week, and some plans change last-minute, and I start stressing out again. I need to find an outlet, because I figure if I'm working hard, I'll always be in a potentially high-stress position. I'll try some things to see what works; there's a new missionary handbook that has some pages with suggestions on stress management.


In any case, President Dibb said what he usually does with missionaries near the end who have been Zone Leaders 6 months (4 transfers) is have them finish in a normal companionship, just elders helping each other work hard as the "dying" missionary (near the end of his mission) finishes his last transfer. So, I expect to do one more move, for the last transfer. Don't know where yet, but a transfer is coming. 2 more weeks here, so I'm cleaning up the bookkeeping and organizing, so it can be perfect for the next guy to walk in and keep going.

TRAIN STATION. Other than that...we were at the train station looking for a lady we were going to meet with, and this guy walks up to us:

"ELDERS!"
(Yes, this is us.)
He asks if we have a Book of Mormon in Spanish. "Not on us, but we can get you one."
"Okay, good. I've been inactive for awhile, but I want to come back to church."
"Excellent! Can we get your number?"
"Yes, and I live at this place..."

Wow. Things like this happen and I just realize so much, that this is the Lord's work.  I just show up, and put in effort and faith, but if He wants something to happen, that's when things change.

VARIED HOMETOWNS. Missionaries in my zone are from California, California, Las Vegas, Netherlands (born in Belgium), Boston (me), Florida (born in Venezuela), Idaho, Utah, Australia, Utah, Utah, Utah, Utah, Colorado, Utah, and Phoenix. Too much Utah. No, really...when the members ask where you're from and you say somewhere else (besides Utah), they say 'Oh, good.'

Have a great week!
Anziano Whitesell