Chapter Five: The 9th Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Sicilians

Less than a month to Christmas... and I'm still sweating because it's so hot....

Man, this might have been one of the best, fastest, busiest, and hardest weeks in Messina.  Things are great.  First, we had Nicole's baptism.  It went really well.  There were more than 50 people who came, many of whom were members but a lot were investigators or non-members.  The program went well.  There was however a little problem/miracle.  While I was changing into the white clothes, my a nerve in my lower back just went crazy and I couldn't stand up or sit down; it hurt to move and it hurt to be still.  Just like it happened in the MTC.  I wasn't sure what to do.  I just kept on thinking, why??

First, this is stuff that happens to old people. =P plus, it was minutes before the baptism.  But I just kind of stayed still for a bit, said a couple of prayers, and was able to stand up and go and sit down in the chapel.  From the time that I sat down to the time I got out of the font my back didn't bother me at all, actually I almost forgot about it.  However, as soon as I put my foot on the ground my back started to hurt again.  It was quite the experience.  Walking home that night was slow and painful.... but now everything is fine.  

I'm not really sure what happened but I got some meds and took it easy for a couple of days and now everything is a-ok.  But it was a very strong experience, it makes me think of our mission motto: "Aspettati un miracolo" (expect a miracle) the Lord has his work and we are the people who bring it forth, and when we aren't able to do all that He needs us to do, He makes it possible some way or another.

Anziano Walker is doing pretty well, his Italian is coming right along. (Everyone here calls him "Walker Texas ranger" it's hilarious!!)  This Sunday we ate at Sorella Cannone's home.  (You’ll meet her at Christmas)  for the meat, she gave us horse steak.  Ha ha, it was pretty funny to tell Anziano Walker that he was eating horse, I wish I could have taken a picture of his face.  It's actually not very good, it's really tough and it doesn't taste all that good.  But it's illegal in the US so that adds an allure to eat it, or at least try it. =)

We have a Sri Lankan family that is investigating the church; I don't remember if I told you... But we have baptismal dates set with them and their friend for the 22nd of December.  Things are going fantastically with them.  They are so humble.  It's amazing also, some of the knowledge that we take for granted.  This week they asked if we knew anything about Christ coming a second time because they had heard about it previously, but knew nothing about it.  When they asked, I was left with my mouth open, I didn't know what to say, I couldn't believe it!  

We've been focusing on having Christ at the center of all the lessons that we do with them so that they can learn as much as possible about him.  They are an amazing family.  They met with the bishop this last week as well.  He was very impressed by how humble they are and how sincere their search for the truth is.

Speaking about the bishop, he's so great! This last week, for an entire day we went around with him and he presented us to 3 of him friends plus a couple of less active families.  2 of the 3 friends are going to start meeting with us because they are very interested, the other is in the hospital for now but once he goes out he wants to meet with us!  Well, that's all.  

VVB statemi bene!!!

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"Look inside yourself, you're more than what you've become.  Remember who you are."  The Lion King 

Anziano Stewart

Chapter Five: The 8th Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Sicilians

Alma 37:37

Ok, first, thank you all for your letters! They were great!!  All I got out of Mattie’s letter is that she's a very sick person... oh, and that Abby got her wisdom teeth out. =) This is so great! I'm very grateful for you all and the examples that you are and the support that you give.  You're the best, I couldn't ask for a better family.

Man, things are really changing there!  Almost everyone's going on a mission, and everyone else is getting married. Ha, ha that is so cool that Lyss has put in her papers!  Let me know where she ends up going.  I didn't know that Grandma and Grandpa were thinking about going on a mission!  That is so cool.  It kind of stinks because if they leave when school gets out I won't see them for another couple of years but it's worth it! =) 

So my new comp is Anziano Walker.  He's from the Los Angeles area.  He's adjusting to this crazy, amazing life pretty well.  The first couple of days were kind of rough but that's normal.  The first days you're jet lagged, exhausted, confused, you don't understand anything everyone says, and you usually get down on yourself because you want to do all you can to be the best you can but you're lucky if you get a couple of sentences out. But he's great.  He's having a little trouble with the language but it's not his fault, it's because here people speak 1/2 Italian, 1/2 Siciliano.  He also has a sister that's serving in Germany, sadly not the Frankfurt mission, she's in Berlin.

As far as Nicole and Pina, things are going great, more or less.  With Nicole things couldn't be better, the interview went perfectly, and now we're preparing for the baptism on Saturday!  She's so cute!! I'll make sure to send some pictures next week.  I find it very fortunate that on the week of Thanksgiving we have a baptism. (It wasn't planned; no one here knows or cares about Thanksgiving Day)  Tender mercy.  

With Pina, things are going a little less well, but there is still hope. In Latin there is a saying that hope is the last to die. =) Her addiction to smoking is very strong.  She wants to be baptized but there's that little part of her that is holding back and that is what keeps messing us up...   But we're hoping to have a nice powerful lesson with her tomorrow in church that hopefully will put everything into perspective for her and we can get going at 100%

Well family, I need to go... sadly.  Know that I love you and that I can't wait to see you at Christmas!!  Let me know how Thanksgiving goes, and say hello to everyone for me. 

VVB

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"Look inside yourself, you're more than what you've become.  Remember who you are."  The Lion King 

Anziano Stewart

Chapter Five: The 7th Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Sicilians

I'm going to have a son!! (I’m going to train another missionary!!)

Catania District

Well this last week we received our transfer calls and Anziano Giovita, after 8 months here in Messina, is going to leave.  He's going to Crotone.  I'm going to stay here and I'm going to be training.  Tonight I'm going to find out whom it will be that I train.  I'm pretty excited!! It's going to be a crazy transfer!! We’re hopefully going to have 2 baptisms, there's Christmas, thanksgiving (not that they celebrate it here but who cares!!), plus on top if all that I get to introduce another missionary to this great work.  I'm pretty excited.  But i am sad to say goodbye to Anziano Giovita.  He's a great person.  Hopefully at least we'll be able to see each other before I finish.  

This past week or so we've been going around visiting everyone that we could so that Anziano Giovita could say goodbye to everyone.  And as everyone (more or less) is Sicilian, they offered (aka obliged) us food.  So for the past 3 days I have had a full stomach and I haven't eaten anything from our home.  Man, people insist here and if you reject then they get offended.  So were eating like 5 meals a day but not little snacks, we're talking like lasagna, frittata, pasta al forno, arancini, pizza... I'm done.

Pina and Nicole are doing great! Both came to church, hallelujah!!  Were hoping that everything will go well for all of them.  Nicole especially is doing wonderfully!  With Pina we need to help her fix a date and time in which she will no longer smoke a cigarette.  And then we need to also get her to continue to come to church.  The family that I talked about last week is still having some pretty big problems.... but Dilahni (the mom) told me on Sunday that she is feeling a lot better ever since we came by.  So hopefully as we continue to come she will become stronger and stronger.

You're going to have to forgive me that the letter is short (but remember that there are pictures as well!!!) We are in a hurry because we need to see everyone before we go to Catania tonight.  

I love you all and wish you well!!! VVB

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"Look inside yourself, you're more than what you've become.  Remember who you are."  The Lion King 

Anziano Stewart

Chapter Five: The 6th Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Sicilians

It's the 7th of November and we still sleep with the fan on....

Man, mom, you just overloaded my head!!!  Too much crazy, amazing, strange news!!!  Abby decided to start her papers next month, Brynn is going to China, James is getting married, Adam is going to Chicago on a mission, Jessica is a mom, and missionaries are getting mission calls to Taiwan temporarily until they can go to China!!!!!!!!!!!!  HOLY COW!!!!!!!!  I'm not sure how to take all this information!!  I guess just say hello to everyone for me, tell James I expect an invitation even if he knows I can't come. =)

Milazzo

This week flew by just like every week, but that's not new...yesterday we were part of one of the most profound miracles that I've ever seen.  For about a month, there has been a family that has been coming to activities in church and yesterday we felt very strongly that we needed to call them and see if we could meet to start teaching them the lessons.  When we called she was crying and started to tell us about all of her problems, but in the end she told us that we could meet.  Well later on in the day we went to see them. (Which was kind of difficult to find their house) We got to their home and said hello and everything, then right after we said the opening prayer, their mom just started bawling.  It turns out that she was so hopeless and desperate because of all their problems and difficulties that she had decided to take her life that very morning.  

But because we called (and it was the very last thing that she expected) she decided not to do it.  Then, throughout the lesson we found out that more or less the whole family is at their last thread.  But by the end of the lesson they were very optimistic and happy and excited even to learn about the restored gospel and for the blessings that await them.  It was really an amazing experience.

About the Mostro dei Mostre (the monster of street displays) it went really well!! The first day there was a flood!!!!! it rained a ton!! But we were still out there (under a pavilion of course) but the other days there were clear skies and a ton of people.  It was very tiring to be out there standing, stopping people etc. from 10 am to 8 pm, but it really brought fruits.  We have upwards of 30 people who want to know more and even more who are interested, and we wont even talk about English course.  It was amazing.  The city hall will allow us to do it 2 other times before Dec. 31 so we're going to do one for Christmas time and another just whenever.

We have 2 dates right now, one with Nicole and the other with Pina.  It's almost sure that Nicole’s will go through, but for Pina's, we're really going to have to work.  She has to just bite the bullet and buckle down.  She knows what she needs to do but she just doesn't do it.  It's maybe the most irritating thing to see.  Because I understand if some people don't know or understand certain things so they do wrong things but she knows that she needs to come to church and that she has to stop smoking but in the end that's not what she does.  However she does want to be baptized, a lot! So hopefully that will be her motivation to do it.

Everything else here is great; I absolutely love missionary work!! It's such a blessing to be able to help in this great work.  I know that it's the Lord that he is at the head of all of this.  Tell everyone that I love them and have a great week!!

Alma 34:38 =)

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"Look inside yourself, you're more than what you've become.  Remember who you are."  The Lion King 

Anziano Stewart

Chapter Five: The 5th Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Sicilians

Cart in Milazzo

Allora! Man this mission thing is the hardest, most rewarding, most straining, easiest, and best thing that I've ever done.  I absolutely love it!! I can't even begin to explain how rewarding it is.  

I love sharing the most precious thing that I have with everyone possible.  I can't explain how it works or why it is the way it is because it almost doesn't make sense, that's just how it is.  Yesterday we were in Milazzo.  There used to be a branch there but now it's part of our ward.  

One of the young single adults there has decided to send in her papers and just finished yesterday.  While we were eating lunch at their house, they had a friend there who isn't a member and Sara (the one about to go on a mission) Was super excited about how she finished with her papers and after a couple comments he asked what exactly she was going to do.  She had a chance to explain what a mission consisted of etc.  Well this friend of theirs didn't agree with the idea of stopping one's entire life for 18 months to be a missionary.  He talked about how there are huge economic problems and how especially in Italy no one can find a job etc.  And he made a really good argument,  but in the end Sara just explained how she had received an answer that she was supposed to do this and that she knew the church was true.  It was really sweet to see.  What makes things even cooler is that her dad isn't a member and doesn't really support what she's about to do, and the fact that she is already so strong is a sign that she's going to be a great missionary. =) Speaking about Milazzo.  Anziano Patané and Anziano Wood both served there. =)

So here’s a funny story; we get to church yesterday and the second councilor comes up to me and says "hey Anziano, could you give a talk of 10 minutes on the topic of your choice, thank you."  Then he walked off, but I followed him to ask WHEN I was supposed to give it.  He said today.  Uhhh…I wasn't really sure what to think but I figured that if I said a prayer and didn't worry too much things would work out all right.  It was probably the best talk that I’ve ever given to tell the truth.  I decided to give it on humility.  I really shocked myself on how well it went.  Just goes to show that it's true what Isaiah says, that he who puts his trust in the Lord will mount up as on eagles wings. 

This week we also had a blitz Zone Conference because the day that they had chosen turned out that the Catania airport was closed. (BIG surprise...)  It went really well.  Somehow every one of the trainings was on the same topic.  All 5 of the trainings, President Kelly, sister Kelly, Catania Zone Leaders, Palermo Zone Leaders and the Assistants.  Everyone talked about what we can do to become more like Christ.  There was a lot said and I can't share it all but one of the most repeated things was how we need to act.  We need to create circumstances.  We can't just sit around and wait for the ideal circumstances to come around because they wont, but if we do all we can to create the environment we desire we'll be able to find it. Another thing that was talked about very much was prayer.  How it really can be a huge instrument on our lives.  How often do we say prayers outside of meal times, and night, and morning prayers?  Maybe not as often as we should if we really put our faith in the Lord...

We had a Halloween party for our English course on Thursday.  Man it was so much fun!! We had a great time.  It was all done by a student from Colombia who I guess just has a big love of Halloween.  I have some pictures from it but for some reason the computer won't let me send them, hopefully next week.... She went all out! There was a ton of food, games, and songs; it was pretty fun. 

Looking toward the sea from Milazzo

It's time for me to go.  I love you all very much.  I'm glad the girls won their last soccer games.  I'm glad that Abby is having a great time and doing well in school.  Be glad that today you are getting snow because most of the people here have never seen it in their lives.  I can't wait to Skype with you at Christmas! S.I.G.

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"Look inside yourself, you're more than what you've become.  Remember who you are."  The Lion King 

Anziano Stewart

Chapter Five: The 4th Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Sicilians

Captains Log 24 October 2012 - Week 61

Allora!!!  Man, what a week.  It feels like it's been 2 days since I've written you.  Thank you so much for your letters, you all are great! 

How exciting that President Monson came to Germany!  I'm sure that you all loved it, especially Mattie who got to see it live!!! How was it Matt? Since you can't watch hunger games until next Monday, write me a nice little letter about it!!  I bet you can't wait to be 13!  What are your big plans?  It sounds like all you girls are doing really well with soccer, that's great!

There is a sister missionary here (actually she's a grand-daughter of Elder Nelson!) and she’s really good at soccer.  Well one time we were going to play soccer with some Italians and when they saw that a GIRL was going to play they started complaining and said we don't want to play with a girl!!  But in the end we convinced them to let her play.  And now the crazy part, once we started playing, she scored 3 times!!! More than anyone else who was playing! The people who were criticizing her before had their jaws on the floor.  Who knows, if you guys go on a mission maybe you can do the same thing!!!  ;)  

I can't believe that the missionary applications were 5 times higher than normal last week!! 800 to 4000 is a HUGE change!!! There is no way that the MTCs can hold all those people, even with the changes being made at the one in Provo.  Mamma mia!!!  That is so crazy!  Abby, how are things going with your papers have you started them yet?!  

So as far as work goes, our investigators are doing all right.  However, sadly none of them came to church. =/  Pina we feel is ready to fix a date for her baptism. This isn't the first time she has had a date so hopefully we can make this one special and keep those darn cigarettes away from her!!  Nicole is just as great as usual! Our lessons with her are more or less just her explaining things to us. =) But the fact that her mom is less active and doesn't have a big desire to come back to church makes things kind of tricky... Leona is doing great! She loves the church.  They always come to English course and any activity there is.  

We FINALLY got the permission to do the mostra from the city hall so next week from Wed. to Sat. from 10 am to 8 pm we will be in the city square preaching the word! =) We’re hoping to get a big help from the ward.  We'll see how it goes. About that... we are going to try to get permission to move our p-day to Monday so we have Wed. to do the mostra so I should be on to write you Monday afternoon around 4.30 - 5.00

We have a huge "library" of old Ensigns and Liahonas and the other day I started to look through them and this morning I read this article on the parable of the Good Samaritan and how it is an allegory of the plan of salvation.  I don't want to spoil it for you but it was a great talk.  It's amazing how when you think that you understand something more or less at 100% you find out that there is something more that you didn't know.  It’s humbling. 

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2007/02/the-good-samaritan-forgotten-symbols?lang=eng

Well, I need to go, my time is up.  I love you all. Can’t wait to hear from you next Monday.  Ciao!

--

"Look inside yourself, you're more than what you've become.  Remember who you are."  The Lion King 

Anziano Stewart

Chapter Five: The 3rd Epistle of Anziano Stewart to the Sicilians

Jacket season is almost here!!! =/ It's still too warm for a suit!!

Allora.  I feel like Jacob, like my life is passing before my eyes like a dream.  Holy cow time goes fast, We're looking for tricks to help it go by slower but the only solution that works that we've found is to be bored.  But as a missionary that is nearly impossible... so it's just something that we need to accept and move on, making the most of our time.

Man, this week I watched the priesthood session.  Holy Moly.  Elder Christofferson's talk was a bomb!!  We've shared it with like 5 people this week already.  And then the talks that followed were equally amazing. 

As far as work goes things here are moving along.  It's hard to find time to do finding.  We have so many new converts (about 18) within the past year.  And previously, the missionaries have continued to meet with them, which is completely normal for the 1st year, but the problem is there has been no integration into the ward so it's almost like they are still investigators.  So during the week we do our best to meet with them and to help them stay strong, etc. 

Then we have our current investigators on top of that and not much time for anything else.  Plus Anziano Giovita has been here since February so he's become pretty good friends with everyone and is pretty attached to them. So it's kind of a difficult situation.  Anyways, were teaching a little girl, Nicole (10 years old) who wants to be baptized, her mom is a less active member.  Man she is so great! There is actually something that really shocked me the 1st lesson that we did with her.  She knows all the doctrine.  We break our backs trying to help grown men and women understand what it is that we teach, but with Nicole she knows already everything just from growing up with her less active mom and from primary every once and a while.

On Saturday it rained pretty hard for a good 20 minutes and after the streets were filled with water.  there was a good foot of water afterwards, and in some places even up to 3 feet.  JUST AFTER 20 MINUTES! Anziano Giovita started singing "cuz this is Africa, this is Africa, we're in Africa!!!"  Granted that it was raining really hard, I had to get out of the car for 45 seconds and I was 100% soaked, and it lasted for merely  moments.  That's just a taste of Sicily, or I guess a reminder because you've all lived it already. =)

This week I thought a lot about sacrifice.  How if we aren't willing to sacrifice, we will go nowhere because the Lord knows that he can't rely on us.  I think that is why he uses covenants so frequently, so that we will be willing to sacrifice because we know that he will always keep his word if we do what we've promised. I really appreciate D&C 97:8-9.  This morning in personal study I found this from a talk on lessons learned from the 1st vision. (referring to just before Jesus and God appeared) "as great as the power of evil might be, it must always withdraw with the appearance of righteousness."  So as long as we are righteous we have no need to worry that evil will have power over us.

I love you all, and hope to hear from you next week.  Ciao!!

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"Look inside yourself, you're more than what you've become.  Remember who you are."  The Lion King
Anziano Stewart