Buon Giorno! Sono qui in Italia. Italia è bellissimo.

I'm here in Italy! We left on Tuesday morning and got to Milano finally around 12:30pm on Wednesday. Whew... We had lunch and some lessons and then we toured the Duomo. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, but I attached a picture that I took outside. It's huge! After that we went back, had dinner, and then went to bed to sleep off the jetlag and vertigo. The next day we got assigned to our areas and off we went!

I've been assigned to a city on the east coast called Pesaro (PAY-zuh-row), in the region Emilia Romagna. It's a beautiful city. I started out with just one companion, but now I actually have two, which means I have two trainers. That's pretty much unheard of, so you can say I've had an interesting first week, even for a greenie. My first companion is Anziano Miller from California. He spent the past year in the Army, so he's very precise, but also very energetic. He can be a little difficult to get along with, but given time I know we will be able to work together and grow our unity as a companionship. This is only his third transfer in the mission (meaning he's only been in Italy for twelve weeks). The fact that he's already training new missionaries is also unheard of. Obviously there's a reason we are together and here in Pesaro! Our other companion is Anziano Garcia from Argentina. Although he's Argentinian, he lived for a while in Rome, so he's fluent in Italian. It's actually much better than his English. Anz. Garcia was in Ancone (the next area over), but his companion had to go home. He got sent over here with us and we are now covering both areas between the three of us! It's a huge area, but we're doing our best. We actually have to take a 50 minute train ride to get to the other side of our area.

Italy itself actually reminds me a lot of Ohio, except with European architecture, mountains in the distance, and everybody speaks Italian. It's just as humid here, it rains a lot, and there's random cities spaced out between trees and lots of fields. Everything in Italy is much greener though. The streets are exactly what you think of: narrow cobblestone alleys with colorful buildings. It's really neat. The architecture is awesome. Every building is different and painted colors I never knew existed.

Pesaro is a decently large city. It's famous for it's university, and also for it's music (go figure I'd get stuck with the music right?). Apparently Rossini was born here. His house has been turned into a museum about him and you can tour it. Pesaro is also right against the Adriatic Sea (I think that's what it's called). I haven't seen it yet, but hopefully we'll get out to it soon.

The food here is magnificent. Americans think they know what pizza is. Please... It's fantastic here. They really do eat pasta a lot though; and bread. Lots and lots of bread. Really good bread. I'll try to get some pictures of food in my next email.

Ok, now the people. Pesaro is a very hard city to proselyte in. The branch of members here is very small. Pesaro has ten active members! Their faith is astounding though. They do the best they can to strengthen each other. I love working with them and I'm hoping to see their branch and their faith grow while I'm here.

We've had three lessons with investigators so far. The first lesson was with La Famiglia Galli (The Galli Family). They were a referral from a member in Ancona named Marina. She helps us a lot! Anyway, we showed them the Restoration film and talked a bit about the Book of Mormon. They said they were looking for the truth, but they didn't think that this is it. They at least took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said they'd read. That's about all we can do. We are not here to convince anyone of anything. We are only here to invite.

Another lesson was with an 80 year old woman named Maria Luisa. She lives about 45 minutes away from Pesaro by bus, so it was a bit of a challenge to get there. She is actually Marina's mother. It looked like the lesson was going to be really great, but once we got into it, it turned out she only wanted to meet with us to argue. It was really sad to see that. We could hardly get words in because she just kept going. Again, we can only invite.

Our other lesson though is the one I want to focus on. She's a 23 year old ragazza (girl) named Gyldena (Jill-day-nuh). She is awesome. Anz. Miller and Sanacuore met her about a month and a half ago. They set up an appt, but she didn't show up. A month later they found her in the library and they found out she had been running late and got there after they left and didn't have their phone number. So they set up another appointment and we were able to meet with her on Saturday! She is awesome and we can tell that she is sincerely looking for truth. She is very smart and I enjoyed talking to her. We had an awesome lesson with her and we have another scheduled for this Saturday. She told us that if she finds these things to be true, she will be baptized!

My language skills are another story. I generally can say what I need to say, but my comprehension is not so good. i have a hard time understanding when people talk to me. I know it will come with time and effort though!

Overall, the mission is filled with bumps and bruises, but I am here and I am fulfilling my purpose: Inviting others to come unto Christ. That's the best reward I can think of.

Ci vediamo, Anziano Simcox

Last Post Before Italy!

Salve!

It's the final P-Day in the MTC. We fly out for Italy on Tuesday! WOOOO! I'm so excited. I'll miss the MTC and the friends I've made here, but I am overjoyed that I'll soon be serving the people of Italy. I'll start packing tonight. I feel like the past five weeks have taken half of my life, but at the same time I feel like I just got here. It's an odd contrast.  

With the final days coming up, we've been cramming in as much Italian as we can. It's really quite a miracle. We now no longer need English to communicate. Sure our grammar is terrible still, but we know enough to get our point across. I've heard before the 90% of communication is non-verbal. I always thought "Oh sure. Whatever." I can now testify that this is true. Although we only have a basic understanding of the language, we can communicate almost anything we need too. Then you add the Spirit to that and our communication power is astounding. During lessons with our "investiagtors" we are able to say whatever we need to say. It gets frustrating sometimes because I know exactly what I would say in English, but I can't! It has really made me appreciate though how beautiful of a language English is and also how important communication, verbal and non-verbal, is in our lives.

I got some letters from the Seminary class. Thank you all for the wonderful messages. They definitely made my week. Thank you too Sister Lange for the survivor's kit!

In just five more days we'll be on our way to Italy. When we get there, we get to tour the cathedral and then we get sent off to our areas. I'll meet my trainer and head off to serve the Italians!

Here's a cool thought for this week. Some of you might be familiar with this scripture of words from the Lord: "For behold this is my work and my glory: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." It's a beautiful scripture. I was reading it in Italian and in the Italian scriptures, the word "work" is translated to the word "opera." I thought that was interesting because the word for work in Italian is "lavoro." I went to my dictionary and found this: "Opera" also means work, but it is a word only reserved for works of art and literature. This means that our salvation is not only our Lord's goal or purpose, it is also His work of art. We are His masterpiece. He glories in seeing us live good lives and living in true happiness. It pains Him to see His children suffer. He does all He can in order for us to achieve salvation. We are His source of greatest joy.

I love being a missionary.  

Con amore, Anziano Simcox

P.S. I probably won't have email time next week with the whole transition and what not, so CCFN! (Ciao ciao for now... I'm clever aren't I?)

We took these pictures behind the Provo Temple. This one is my district.

Front row: Sorelle Reichert, Bucco, Jameson, and Stephens.

Back row: Myself, Anziani Mata'u, Speiser, Jaramillo, Green, and Anderson.

This picture is most of the missionaries going to Milan, minus a district. 

Salve!

Another week has gone. Twelve more days and it's off to Italia! We're supposed to get our visas and travel plans either tonight or tomorrow in the mail. :)

Spring is arriving in Utah. This past week has been gorgeous. Sometimes during our study hours we go outside to enjoy the beautiful world and those awesome mountains. I love it. Our district is getting a little antsy waiting for that flight to Italia, but we know we'll miss the MTC and especially each other. We do almost everything together (and that's not exaggerating) so we've grown to be very good friends.

We're learning the language in leaps and bounds, but sometimes during those leaps and bounds we trip and fall on our faces. :P It's enjoyable though. You have to find the good in every situation. We are being encouraged more and more to speak only in Italian. We've only been here for four weeks, but we can speak "fluent" Italian. It's very broken and gramatically incorrect most of the time, but we can communicate without using English.

My companion and I auditioned to do special musical numbers in devotional/a conference/wherever else they want us. Anziano Mata'u sang "I Heard Him Come" and I accompanied him. I auditioned with "Where Love Is" and Sorella Reichert accompanied me. We both got a yes! That doesn't mean that we're automatically selected, but if they need a musical number before we leave, they'll drop a note in our mailbox. I'm glad I still get to be involved in music even on my mission. It's such a wonderful way to invite the Spirit.

Anziano Mata'u and I have been teaching "investigators" named Leonardo and Raymond. They're actually our teachers pretending to be people they taught on their missions, so it's actually really fun... and hard. Raymond has a baptismal date, but he's struggling with learning how to receive answers through prayer. We've only had a couple lessons with Leonardo. I think he enjoys talking with us, but it's hard to catch his interest. He's a tough person to talk to, but we noticed some positive changes in our last lesson, so we're hoping we can build on that.

The lesson I've been learning this week is getting along with people. This can be hard sometimes (especially for those of you who know how patient I'm not...). I love meeting new people and making friends, but I miss having time to myself. It's hard to be with a companion 24/7. Anziano Mata'u and I are very similar, but that's a blessing and a curse. We're working on ways to strengthen our unity with each other. He's pretty much been sick since we've been here with one thing or another so that's been hard for both of us. I make him go to the doctor and take his medicine though! Hah. The lesson to be learned here is that patience is essential to missionary work and life in general. All things come in their own due time. It's a hard lesson to realize that, but it's one that all of us need to learn. As long as we put our trust in God, he will help us through our rough spots. He cares about the big things and he cares about the little things. He loves us.

I love you all! Ciao.

~Anziano Simcox