Feel the love---this is why I'm here.

Waiting for the groom

Witnesses at a wedding in Sorrento

so guess what i did this week!? hahahahaha so sweet ok ,
we get this call tuesday night from an american man who is getting
married down in sorrento and says "hey guys all y witnesses fell
through so i need two people to come. if you guys could come that
would be great." we ask him when it is and hes like "ummmm in the
morning" ahhahaha we just look at eachother and say why not. we woke
up the next morning and took the train down to sorrento where he
picked us up and drove us down to Amalfi where him nd his wife to be
got all their documents out. we talked to some people there about the
church and signed some paperwork and sat there for the little ceremony
that they did. it was so beautiful. man. seriously im definitly going
back there some time in the future. also it just so happened that the
anziani from napoli and pozzuoli were heading down that way to see
amalfi haha. so they left us there and went on their way as a marrid
couple haha the guy was in his early fourties served a mission in
texas and his wife was russian and worked for the church out there
taking care of visas and stuff. really nice people hah. anyway we
caught a bus back and got back to teaching. fun stuff. who else can
say they were witnesses at a wedding on their mission in italy?! haha
so funny.
anyway everythings going great. we almost got dropped today by our
investigator but we were guided to say the things she needed to here.
we saw a straight miracle today it was amazing. this work is amazing
and the people here are amazing-
transfer calls are tomorrow! were nervous because it could be either
one of us. i hope its not me well see.
anyway i love yall ill talk to you really soon

Oops! Is it Thanksgiving?

hey momma,

i love you, Dang sounds like such a sweet holiday! im going to be honest. i completely forgot about thanksgiving until the day after! haha i looked at my watch and saw the date and thought i think something important happens soon. haha missed it! oh well. alright mom  guess what!

we had a baptism last week! woohooo anna sabatino. what a sweet service. our little branch is so cool almost the whole branch was there and we to talk for a little while which was way cool. we have two other baptism dates coming up this month which were super excited about. this man domenico hasnt even been to church yet and  has already introduced us to three of his friends haha he always asks us what he can do to keep the feelings he feels when we teach and how can he help his family. when he gets baptised hes really really giong to helpo out the church here. were super excited about him his wife and three daughters. 

we almost got written up a ticket today! we were in garibaldi the train stazione in napoli like the main one and they were checking tickets by the exit. we bought tickets and everything but where we are in castellammare theres no machine to like stamp them and make them valid, but usually we just mark it with a pen. The man saw that we hadnt stamped them and made us go with him to the room and was explaining why it wasnt good. i smooth talked us out of beeing 80 euro in the whole. heavenly father loves us. haaha the guy ended up letting us go and everyone else got tickets. there were like 5 people there with us. i dont know how that happened. heavenly father really looks out for us missionaries. anyway mom im sending out your letter toda yand ill talk to you soon! 

i love you tons ciacociao!

Halloween

man we got transfer calls and everything is going crazy im staying in castellammare for another transfer with anziano Simonetta. The Napoli zone went through sooo many changes. some good some bad some wild.

anziano lemmon was in my district in the MTC is going down to Malta for a transfer to fill someones spot who got hurt then hell come back to the mainland. Anziano Reed!!! hes coming down to pozzouli. where the aposle paul was shipped in as a prisoner! hes in my zone so we can see eachother in Napoli on Pdays. im super excited. It was also wild to see some anziano go who have been in their areas for a verrry long time. anz. miller was in napoli centro for a year. same house same members same friends. im going to cry when i have to leave castellammare. developing relationships with people like we do and helping members and all our investigators is going to be hard to leave behind.

 We played soccer with some kids that are members out here in napoli today. we went to this park and just played for a couple hours. it was good to just run around and have fun with 6 anziani and a few member kids. of course the park was full of other people who were playing soccer so we had a few little pick up games. they all thought i was Italian. i was wearing my Rooney jersey haha. i guess my italian is getting better woohoo.

man the work this week was super sweet we got to really focus in on our members and got some things moving. we got a family to start doing family home evening together and were going to get them reading the book of mormon as a family. its funny how the book of mormon can relate to anything. we had some come to jesus meetings of our own and had to break some boxes. which means like, .. . put things back in order but with boldness haha. so yeah this week was fun. we invited this family to get baptised because theyre amazinggg but the father Domenico wants to go to church first and meet some members. were super excited about them.

hahaha give michelle a big ol hug for me thats so sweet YODA! woohoo. haha there are a few photos i carry around wher you can see my old braid and Italians know star wars pretty well so its fun to talk about it haha.
we had a little activity at church yesterday with the branch they did a little halloween thing that really brought us home haha they did a great job. there was karaoke and food of course and other fun games it was nice to stop by.

Oh, the pictures --- man photos are honestly a necessity! if i dont get them reuglarly its rough to imagine people how they are haha. i dont know how to explain it. man i love my soccer family all those parents and kids a played with are super awesome. Ciao

October/The pizza is Life Changing!

this mission is seriously the best thing thats ever happened to me. I know understand what it means to truly love someone. to put them before yourself no matter what the cost. to do everything and anything in your power to bring them this eternal happiness that is the doctrine of gesu cristo. its not easy, no, but its doable. the people are like you said everything or nothing. they flail theyre hands like dragons and yell and kiss and hug and touch your face they are so affectionate and at the same time hard outer shells that are scared or not sure of your true purposes. Its amazing how much people change when they see you care for them and the theme i saw in conference was service. almost everytalk said something about serving other people. Imagine this. A man hardened throughout his life, spent time in prison, no family, Alone. two young men serve this man and he lets them into the house. these kids talk about christ like they know him. because they do. this man opens up and accepts their teachings. He makes progress over hardships and struggles but continues on. this is Rafeal he lives up the mountain a little way and if we didnt serve him he would be in the same rut maybe we dont know. the power of love. WOW!

conference was amazing and the fact that we got to watch it with our whole zone uip in Pozzouli! haha that was fun. anyway

i love you very very much! my little Italian branch here in Castellammare is moving forward one step at a time. things are really seeming to fall into place here. our new branch missionary leader is a return missionary hwo got home about a year ago and is really pushing the branch to work together with us and to also do theyre own missionary work like inviting friends to come to church. we have a less active member named Franco about 20 years ago this man went around castellammare and intoduced about 30 people to the church. with his help about 20 o them were baptised and now those people are the branch presidency and other office holding members.  hes starting to come back to church and open to us his deep book of friends family and other people he wants us to meet with. Anziano Simonetta and i are working as hard as we can everyday to bring this city closer to christ and come home every day dead tired. Hes from Arizona and was converted about 3 years ago he like to run track and lift weights. EVERYONE here loves him. we have some friends here that ill never forget and i just got here!

Napoletano is the dialect but we call it naptan for short. were actually in Napoli right now doing Internet and yes the pizza here is life changing. i dont think i want to eat pizza back home anymore becuase it just wont be the same. the street vendors are actually just tiny stores that put theyre foood out on like carts and you just walk inside to get the good fresh stuff. also the Kebabs here are phenominal. there was a Napoli game here the other night. we watched a little while we were waiting for our pizza at the pizzeria by the appartment. Napoli scores and theres fireworks and people screaming off their balconies cars honk and everything stops for 10 seconds,then live resumes as normal. haha i love Italy! anyway i must go.

i love yall so very much and keep progressing, keep moving forward.

ciao ciao bellissimi!

September transfer to Napoli

Im going to Napoli! ive been called to serve this transfer in castellammare di stabia a city thats north of napoli. Its famous for being the prettiest of all Napoli. my new companions name is Anziano simonetta. hes a convert from the states and is one transfer older than me. haha. also the people in napoli dont really speak Italian. they speak napoletano so im going to have to pick that up while im there also. im the only one leaving Sardegna and every other companionship is staying the same. im flying out of Cagliari tomorrow morning....by myself. haha weird right? anyway thats my story and im sticking to it!

im going to miss all the people i met here and all the little punk kids i met on the bus haha. i made some photos with some member families and some others as well. I know that if i dont see them again in this life ill be standing in front of our savior with my investigators saying i brought these people to you the best i could and gave it my all. well see eachother again. im excited i love being a missionary. saying goodbye is strange but easy at the same time. i know the lord needs me elsewhere and ill go where he wants me to go. I fear not because hes with me. ill give a Book of mormon to the person i sit next to on the plane haha. im so excited! ill email my new address as soon as i can.

ok i have to pack up and stuff so ill write a bunchhhh next week i love yall ciao

ciao!