Chapter Four: The 4th Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Calabrians/Messinites

It’s HOT and I’m COOKED

anziani home (rest home)

And here I am again, writing those that I love. Even though I do it every week, I don't think it could ever get old. To start out, I want to share a couple cool things I learned this week.  First, "sacrifice", in latin, it comes from "sacer" and "farcere".  Sacer means holy or sacred, while farcere means to make or to do.  So in a sense, sacrifice really means to make or render something sacred or holy.  It is an aspect that I have never thought of before.  Usually when you hear sacrifice you think of giving something up, but thinking of making something holy or sacred, you want to do it.  Second, (and less cool / mind blowing) is the name "lucifer” which comes from 2 words as well, "luce" or light and "fero" or carrier.  This helps show how satan was one of the most chosen of god's children as he was known as a carrier of light.  However, we always need to be attentive that we remain chosen by choosing to follow him.

Anyways, it is so hot here! (But I still prefer this to the cold by far!!) Thankfully we have a car in Messina but in Reggio it's on foot or on bikes (I think).  We’ll see how it goes.  The wind from the Sahara (shiroco) is already here and normally the wind would be nice right?! It’s torture!!  And lets not talk about the humidity.  But for all that I complain about it, I like the heat, believe me!

Um, I'm not sure if you all remember a sister in the Catania Mission named Sorella Rizo...  She taught Leona (the woman who got baptized last week) 5 years ago!! Crazy huh? Yesterday she showed us a Christmas card that the sisters made for her.  If you can find her on Facebook, make sure you tell her that "Leona Molina" got baptized!!

Maren! How was your Birthday?!? Everyone told me about it but you!! What did you have on your cake?  Did you like your gifts?

Things here are going well, we taught whopping 27 lessons last week!!!! That's a new record for me.  One of our investigators (professor Salvatore) is a professor at the university and also works in the hospital, he has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith but tithing really hangs him up, he says it should be 5%. =/ Also Thomas S. Monson’s eyes really get him, he says they aren't pure... however, he's hilarious and come to English course.  

burnt car (you see them pretty frequently)

There is also a woman named Pina.  She sells fruit.  We see her almost every day because we are trying to help her stop smoking.  She has known the missionaries for a little while (a year or so) and has also had a couple baptism dates that she had to skip...but she has such a strong testimony of everything!  While she sits at her stand she reads the Book of Mormon.  She is so cool!! Her only problem is she keeps relapsing! =/

In 2 days I'll be in Reggio!! I can’t wait to start working there.  It'll be interesting seeing as we both (myself and Anziano Malan) have never been there and that there haven't been missionaries for 4 weeks in the city... I'm excited.

Well, my time's up sadly.  I love you all and hope you are enjoying summer!! Don’t forget! "It’s not possible for you to sink deeper than the infinite light of Christ's atonement."  Pres. Monson.

me with the Branch President in Bitonto, Pres. Panisco

 

Chapter Four: The 3rd Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Calabrians/Messinites

Forza Italia!!!! Siam Pronti alla morte!!!

So, 3 weeks in Messina, who saw that coming? Not me.  But it's nice going back home; I'm learning a lot being sort of on the outside of a missionary companionship. We had a baptism this week! Pretty sweet huh?  The spirit was very strong, she was bawling, her husband was crying and we now have a baptismal date with him for next month!! 

I'm not sure if you all are keeping track, but today is my 11 month mark. How do you feel about that? I'm not sure how I feel about that... =/  I feel like I'm still one of the "newbies" but this morning I talked to president and he said that 70 percent of the mission is my age or older.  

Maren!! Its your birthday in 4 days!!!! Happy birthday!!!!! What are you going to do?? What do you want? What have you learned this last year of your life?  

I'm glad to hear that Ginger is feeling better hopefully she continues to recover!

So dad, How was Fathers day?!?! I hope that you weren't too busy! Too bad it's always on a Sunday.  How did you like the tie?  It's Napoli's color!! Yeah boy!!  I really liked those articles you sent me.  They both brought good insight especially the one about achieving your full potential.  I was able to use concepts from it in several lessons. It's interesting because they are things that if you're not on the ball they slip past.

One of the members we were with this week said something that I really liked and I've never really thought about.  That the church and the gospel are like a hospital where we all go to get healed however we don't have the same illness. and the cure for a cold isn't the same as pneumonia.  Although there are a couple steps in common, we are all different and have different needs and changes we need to make.

Well, sorry this is kind of short, I have a lot I need to do in this short hour and 25 min.  I love you and hope that next week you're still sane.  VIVA L'ITALIA

"Life is fragile, manage it with prayer." Harold B. Lee.

--

Mai a rendersi,

Anziano Stewart

PS

I forgot something I wanted to say, Thank you Mom and Dad for everything you have done, and continue to do for me.  They are things that couldn't be more important. Thanks for your diligence and devotion. Ciao ciao brown cow.

Chapter Four: The 2nd Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Calabrians/Messinites

Non cadde un foglie che Dio non vuole.

Good afternoon to everyone!  I am about as red as a tomato.  =) We went to Etna today and it was so much fun!  That's why I'm a little late on writing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA!!!

How was it? Did you like the soccer jersey I sent? I hope it fits.  What did you end up doing?

This week was another week in SICILIA.  Yes, I’m still in Messina.  Anziano Errante is still planning on coming back however, he's not sure when... hopefully soon.  But Messina is great.  We are actually having a baptism this Saturday.  Score =) She’s a Filipino lady who is maybe 45 years old.  Her husband isn’t 100% on the ship yet, but he supports her being baptized and hopefully shortly he'll follow.  

This week we had Stake conference and Zone conference.  I'm pretty conferenced out!  But they we're all very helpful and instructive.  The Bishop here asked that we participate in the Saturday session of Stake conference.  So we took a 3 hour bus to the middle of the island to Enna.  The ride was very long but there were some good talks.  You’ll remember the Nuno’s he’s now the Stake President and he is great.  Then there was the Sunday session which was pretty sweet, I'm not sure if Germany was involved, but, it was a broadcast from Salt Lake for all of the western European countries.  It was almost ALL about families, the importance of families, how to raise families, etc.  I really liked it.  Oh wait; there was the bus ride on Sunday.  We were riding along (a little bit late) and there was a big bang! Everyone screamed and the driver pulled over to the side of the road.  One of the wheels had exploded! Nice! =P we sat there for a nice 45 minutes and thankfully another bus was able to come and take us to conference.  Gratefully, no one was hurt. =P

Then there was Zone conference on Tuesday which is always nice to attend.  President Kelly has been Mission President for 2 years now and his training was on what he's learned as a Mission President.  He said some really great things about time management, being Christ like, and being diligent.  He's great.  As you can see in the picture.  2 of the sisters were wearing a red and green shirt, so we made the Italian flag. =)  I also got to see Anziano Miller which was really great.  

I was also able to have my 3 month interview with President.  It was nice, we really only talked about Anziano Errante, but it's such a blessing to have those 15 minutes every 2 transfers.

That is terrible about Ginger!! Holy cow!! I hope she recovers quickly.  I'll be praying for her.  And you to Abby, just make sure you look everywhere. You're not really in a spot to be picky... =/

Sounds like graduation was pretty fun, that’s good you were able to go.  That’s sad the Carlson’s are leaving....

That story of Julianna is the best!!! It’s great to hear things like that that she knows that prayer works!! 

As far as your trip for summer break, you should consider going to Northern Italy.  I discovered a secret out.  The ties that I’m buying... you can buy 100 of them in a huge warehouse in either Bergamo or Como for 2 euro per tie.  Pretty sweet huh?!?! ;)

Well, I need to go... You all are so great.  Have a great 1st week of summer; take lots of pictures (I loved that you sent some to me!!)  Be safe enjoy the sun once it comes, wear sunscreen.  Drink enough water, stay safe, and remember I love you!!

-- 

Mai a rendersi

Vi Voglio Bene,

Anziano Stewart

Chapter Four: The 1st Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Calabrians/Messinites

Ora et Labora (The Work Now)

(The Chapel were we held Sacrament meeting every week)

Wow, It's been a long week, which is nice because lately they have been FLYING BY! First, leaving Bitonto was hard.  I really am going to miss that city.  The bus ride down was very long.  We left at 0700 and I got to Messina at 1600.  Cool story, the lady I sat next to was going to Paternòf (where we lived for four years), because in a month or so she's going to get married to a man from there.  Why am I in Messina still?  Good question.  My companion is away on “home leave” due to family problems.  Nothing is for sure but hopefully I'll be in Reggio in a couple days.  

Work in Messina right now is at the max! Last transfer there were 2 companionships and now there is only 1.  We are basically teaching all day, which is really nice.  Teaching is what I love most about missionary work and having the chance to do it 5-7 times a day is really a great experience.  And from what I hear I need to take advantage of it because Reggio isn't like that.  But I'll explain more about that once I know for sure how it is.  Another blessing here is the fact that there is a car.  I said to myself previously in the mission, I don't ever want to serve in an area where there's a car.  I’ve changed my mind.  It's amazing!! I never realized how much time you could cut out without walking (even at a missionary pace).

I learned a saying in Italian this week. "é meglio dire 'chissà' che 'se avessi saputo'." Literally it means "it's better to say who knows than if I/you only knew", so kind of like saying, “better safe than sorry”.  Oh! English course! Because I'm here and we're in threesome we were able to do three levels of English course (that is where I learned this saying) It went really well and at the end one of the students gave me a really great compliment, he said that I was the best missionary English teacher that he had ever seen, pretty cool huh?  

That's good news about the blog, thank you so much for working that out!  Do you put pictures in the text or just on the sidebar?  That is hilarious about Julianna using advanced vocabulary like that, good job J!

How is grandpa doing?  Last I remember hearing was he was having a pretty hard time adjusting without grandma.  Is it still like that? 

Abby, it's good to hear that you're finding some nice job opportunities and school's going all right.  And you reached 100 lbs., nice!  Who is still living in Bitburg? What do you do in your free time?

Mattie, Sara, Maren, J, why is it that I have to hear about what you are up to through mom and dad?!?! I want to hear from you!

(Sicilian pizza, the best pizza in the world and only 5 Euro)

Well I'm glad you are getting those packages, and I hope you like the gifts.  I've already had a couple graniti, a couple brioche, and a cannolo. I didn’t realize how much I missed them! =)

This transfer the mission is focusing on inspired questions.  If you have a copy of Preach My Gospel, I'd recommend reading the part on questions.  It’s bel potente, and very useful. So I'm going to leave you with a question or two.

What matters most to you right now?  Do your actions show it!

Mai a rendersi.

--

Vi Voglio Bene,

Anziano Stewart