Time is so weird on the mission. Sometimes an hour takes five minutes, but then sometimes five minutes takes an hour. The days are long, the weeks are short, the days are short, the weeks are long... I know it doesn't make sense to me either.
Te best way I can describe this week is like something out of those cheesy Mormon comedies about missionaries. I always thought those were so kooky, but I promise they're actually just as accurate. It was a week full of crazy people, laughs, miracles, trials, phillipinos, and even a soundtrack (I'll get to that part in a bit).
We slept in Ancona every night this past week, but we went to Pesaro almost every day. It's 47 minutes each way by train. Yes, I do have the train schedule memorized, thank you very much. We couldn't sleep in Pesaro because our apartment was being painted and repaired by a man named Ugo Pino Taco. Yes, that really is his name. You can't make this stuff up. He's actually really nice and he did a great job painting our apartment. But, he and his friend slept in our beds and didn't wash their sheets or do the dishes. That part, I was not happy about. Customer service here in Italy is... uhh... different.
Phillipinos. We taught a family from the Phillipines. We brought one of the members of the Ancona branch, Fratello Aranas, who speaks T'galic (not sure how to spell that). The parents could speak T'galic, English, and Italian, so the lesson kept switching between the three languages. I was so confused because I don't know T'galic, Italian is still a challenge, and I'm not sure about English either... It was a good lesson though, from what I felt.
That's one lesson I've learned. Because understanding is a challenge sometimes, I've learned to listen more. Though I can't always understand the words, I can usually understand their meaning, if that makes sense. I can feel. It's weird. The trick to learning another language is to not think about what the words mean, but to listen for the intent. I'm to the point where I can listen and understand, but not be able to translate it into English. You have to learn how to not think in English, but to think in Italian. It sounds crazy, but it's working. I feel my understanding growing and my ability to speak also. "Piano piano," as the Italians say. It means "step by step." I use it all the time.
As to the soundtrack, we taught a Nigerian man named Joseph. He's a street performer, so he brought his guitar with him to our lesson. He played a "Gospel" song that he wrote. It was kind of weird, but it was cool to listen to and watch him perform. The lesson took forever because he took a long time to tune his guitar. At first I thought he met with us just so he could have someone help him tune his guitar. That's what it seemed like at first! It turned out to be a decent lesson though. Randomly he would go off on a tangent about something that had nothing to do with anything, but when we got him focused, it was really good.
Gyldena keeps progressing. She is still looking for an answer, but she is frustrated that she's not finding one. We promised her it would come eventually. She's hoping to come to church this week. Her original baptism was planned for next Saturday, but she won't be ready by then.
We got ahold of Claudio. We have a lesson planned with him and his family next week.
Maura is looking forward to her baptism, but she is still struggling with having faith. She wants to be baptized because she feels it's right, but she doesn't know why. We told her that's what faith is: sometimes you have to take a few steps in the dark until you see the light. It's amazing to see her light grow. Her baptism is planned for May 4th.
Anziano Miller and Anziano Garcia are hanging in there. All three of us are very different people, so that leads to some interesting group dynamics. We're doing our best to maintain our unity though.
The gelato continues to be delicious, as does the pizza. Sorella Tariffa, a member in our branch makes this cool pasta/pizza thing. It's baked spaghetti that's folded into the shape of a pizza and you eat it with your hands. It's crazy, but it's awesome. My cooking skills are increasing drastically. It's awesome. I'm learning new things and being brave. I really love cooking though. We take turns for lunch. We each make two meals a week and then on Wednesday we go out. In the States, dinner is always a big production and lunch is usually lighter. In Italy, it's the other way around. Lunch is a big deal. Everything in the city closes down between 1 and 4 so everyone can eat and sleep. It's crazy. We're actually not allowed to knock on doors then because people get really mad if you disturb them during that time. I haven't gained any weight yet though! I've heard the horror stories and Im not going to let it happen to me. Hang in there skinny boy metabolism!
Next week is the fifth week of the transfer. In our mission, that means that every junior companion becomes the senior companion for a week. So that means that starting Monday, it's my responsibility to make phone calls (in Italian, yikes), make the final decisions on planning, lead us around the city, etc. I'll let you know how it goes! I'm actually excited about it. It'll be a nice change and I'm sure I'll learn a ton!
Thank you for the prayers, the letters, and the love.
Vi voglio bene,
Anziano Simcox
The picture is a shot of Ancona from the top of the hill. Crazy huh? I love it.
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