Ciao ciao ciao. How is everyone today? I hope well. Every day is a miracle and every day is a good day if you let it be! Those are lessons that I'm definitely learning here in Pesaro.

Lately, we've seen the work in Pesaro start to rise. We've seen a couple new investigators lately and many new potentials. This has come through lots of opportunity to do finding work. Finding work- walking around the piazza/park/train station/bus/wherever else you are and talking to every one you see. Pretty cool huh? How about I talk about the newcomers first.

David is an African man we stopped on the street last week. He comes from Nigeria. He speaks only a little bit of Italian, but he speaks English very well. Africans are the nicest people in Italy. It really is true; and all of them seem to know the missionaries. It's kind of funny actually, but it's cool too. I love the Africans. Anyway, David lives in a little village outside of Pesaro called Borgo Santa Maria. We have to take a thirty minute bus ride to get to him, but that doesn't matter. He questions everything we teach, which is awesome. We don't want people to just believe us. We want them to listen, ask questions, and then find the answers from God. God is the source of all truth after all.

I've already talked about José Luis, but I'll keep talking about him because he's awesome. He is a baseball player from Venezuela. He looks a little rough around the edges, but he's really just a teddy bear. He has a wife and kids back in Venezuela and you can tell that he misses them a lot. He really wants to have his family forever, which is something we're trying to help him with. He's met several members of our branch and now he wants to come to church this Sunday.

This week, I did a scambio (companion exchange) in Pesaro with Anz. Miller, the other one from Ancona. One of our members joked and called him Anz. Miller 2.0. Hahaha. He's really bravo. Even though he's fresh from the MTC and can hardly form a full sentence, he has no fear. When we did finding work, he talked to everyone. We got four potentials that day. Usually, we consider it productive if we had a decent conversation. Then we had a lesson with José Luis and he taught with such love and such simplicity. It was awesome to see.

We're almost through with this transfer already, which means that I won't be a new missionary anymore! Can you believe it? Next week, I'll have been a missionary for four months! Next week is the fifth week of the transfer, so that means I'm the senior companion next week. I have to make the phone calls and make the big decisions. Whew. It'll be crazy, but it'll be a learning experience. Of course, what isn't as a missionary? Life is a learning experience!

The picture this week is of pizza from Pizzeria Toni, which is the most famous pizzeria in Pesaro. The one on the top right is Pizza Rossini, which is the local specialty. It's dough, sauce, mozzarella, hard-boiled egg, and a mustard/mayonnaise sauce. It's sounds gross, but it's actually really good. Pizzeria Toni is next-door to the church, and it always smells soooooo good. We go to the church almost every day, so it's hard to ignore it...

There's the weekly update. Sempre andiamo avanti.

I love all of you! Stay awesome.

Love, Anziano Simcox.

La Settimana dei Miracoli

Ciao again everyone! How's life? I hope all is well with you.

This was a very good week I think. We saw a lot of miracles and we accomplished a lot of things. As a missionary, miracles become part of the daily routine, but I'll try to focus on a few big ones that happened this week.

First, President Wolfgramm, our mission president, challenged us to set two baptismal dates last week. All week, we worked hard trying to accomplish this goal. We set about going from appointment to appointment, at least the ones that didn't get cancelled. We did a lot of finding work. We made a lot of phone calls. Despite all this, at 4:00pm on Sunday, we had no baptismal dates. We were still determined to make this happen. We tried to call Claudio all day, but we could never get ahold of him. We had a tentative appointment set with Amanda, but when we called her she said she was in Marotta. We told her we'd meet her wherever she was. Then, we hurried to the train station and hopped on the next train to Marotta. After a beautiful lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we commited her to be baptized on June 22nd. She had no problems and readily accepted the date. After waiting for the train, we finally got back to Pesaro at around 7:00pm. We still wanted that other baptismal date, but we were out of ideas. We tried to visit some less-actives for a while, but it wasn't working. Finally, Anziano Miller stopped and said that we should just do a surprise visit at Claudio's house. In his own characteristic Anz. Miller way, he said that the Lord will provide for us. We passed-by and there was Claudio. After another beautiful lesson, he accepted the baptismal date of June 15th. His wife was not ready to accept it, but he was. After reading "A Proclamation to the World," we saw a lightbulb go off above his head. Right then, the Spirit was so strong and he said that was something he really wants. After the lesson he told us that he knew this was the right thing and that he was going to do everything he could to get his family on board. We told him that faith is the power to work miracles. We've definitely seen that this week.

Monday, we did a scambio (companion exchange). Anziano Miller and Anziano Miller (that's funny to write) stayed in Pesaro while I went to Ancona with Anziano Garcia. After our permanent scambio last transfer, it felt more like coming home rather than a scambio. During every scambio, missionaries set goals for things they want to improve on. My goal was to listen to the Spirit and teach more simply. Sadly, all of our apointments fell through. We did everything we could to find a lesson, but nothing was working. Finally, we prayed. Then, a miracle happened. Immediately after the prayer, we both started walking in the same direction down the street. We both stopped in front of a house and knew that was exactly where we needed to go. Behind the gate we found a woman named Susie. She was thrilled to see us, absolutely thrilled. It was amazing. She didn't have time for a full lesson, but we were able to have a short prayer with her and set up a time to come back. I could feel her need for the Gospel and I'm so glad we found her. Prayer works. Faith is the power to work miracles.

Now, I'll talk about a man we met name José Luis. José is a professional baseball player from Venezuela. Yes, we found a professional baseball player in Italy. Go figure, right? He played for the Arizona Diamondbacks for a while, but his shoulder got injured so he came to Italy to play for Pesaro. We actually met him at the immigration office while I was picking up some documents. That's right, I'm officially an immigrant. Woot! Anyway, he doesn't speak a lot of Italian, but he understands it well. Anz. Miller just talked to him for a few seconds while he was waiting, but then they called his name before we could hand him our card. Anz. Miller was determined to set up an appointment with him so we ran up to the window, slapped down our card, and left. The crazy thing is that while we were outside and just about to leave, he came out of the office and talked to us. He wanted to meet us! For those not familiar with finding work, it's rare for someone to actually want to meet with us. We set up an appointment with him. While I was in Ancona, Anz. Miller and Anz. Miller taught him for the first time. Apparently he's super bravo. He just lost his mom this year and misses her very much. His family is still in Venezuela. They taught him about God's plan for him and how families can be together forever. Anz. Miller told me that at that point he broke down in tears. He said he knew this was true and was ready to be baptized. Whew. That happened fast! We're of course happy to help him along that path.

Sorry, for the big paragraphs this week. Those are the big stories that I can think of. Every day is filled with miracles. Every day is a miracle. Every day we're able to wake up and start another day here in this beautiful country surrounded by wonderful people. The work is hard, but wow is it rewarding.

A dopo, Anziano Simcox

Hello again! I hope all is well with you, wherever you may be. This week has been an interesting one. Of course, what week isn't as a missionary? Looking back over this week, I've realized that almost every appointment we had fell through. As upsetting as that was in the moment, it's opened up the door for a lot of other opportunities. We got back to doing finding work, which is something we haven't done in a while. When we were doing Ancona and Pesaro, we barely had time to breathe because we were going from appointment to appointment. While that's a really good problem to have, it was exhausting. We've been doing a lot of finding work and making a lot of phone calls and we're starting to see it pay off. Now that we're focusing on just the Pesaro area, we've been trying to do more work in Fano. Fano is the city just south of Pesaro; about seven minutes by train. The city has hardly seen missionaries of any sort, so it's been a thrill to work there.

On Tuesday we did a scambio with our zone leaders. That means that we switched companions for a day. Anz. Miller went with Anz. Hess to Fano and I stayed in Pesaro with Anz. Hill. In Fano, they found a man from Napoli (Naples) who was very interested in the Gospel. He's staying around here for a while, so we will have an appointment with him very soon. In Pesaro, Anz. Hill and I held down the fort. It was nice to work with someone else. Different viewpoints and different ways can be nice to see sometimes and Anz. Hill is a blast to work with.

I'll give a quick runthrough of all of our "progressing" investigators. I say "progressing" because they're doing everything EXCEPT coming to church. Ugh. Every week there seems to be some sort of roadblock or other that stops them from coming. Gyldena has a lot of exams coming up, so we haven't been able to see her in a while. She actually stopped by the church during English class and told us she does really want to meet with us, but she has a lot to do. She said we'd try to work something out. 

Rosanna... We've had one lesson with her. It didn't go as well as we had hoped. She talked the whole time and we hardly got in a few broken sentences. I think it was good for her though. We can tell that she doesn't have a lot of people to talk to. Sometimes, we all just need to vent right? The next lesson will be much better.

We're seeing Claudio and his family tonight hopefully. Everything we teach, they seem to agree with and they are reading what we ask them too. They wanted to come to church last week, but it was in Rimini, which is about 30 minutes away, so it was difficult. We're doing everything we can to get them to come on Sunday.

Amanda has been looking for an apartment. This is great for her because that means she's one step closer to getting her son back. Once she has an apartment it'll also be easier to meet with her. Lately, we've been meeting at a bowling alley in Fano, which obviously isn't ideal.

We got back in contact with Maura. The progress we've seen with her is amazing. After the last lesson we had with her she said she would pray, which is a HUGE step. The first time we asked her to pray we got a twenty minute lecture about how God hates us and how she will never pray.

That's all of our regulars at the moment. Every one else we've either lost touch with or just haven't been able to meet with. The work continues. As the Italians always say "andiamo avanti" which means "we move ahead."

For P-Day this week we went to San Marino. That's where this week's picture is from. Isn't it beautiful? Che bella! San Marino is a country inside of Italy. It's something like 60 sq. km. with a population of 2,000. The entire country is built on a steep mountain. They said it was the oldest republic in the world, the main reason being that nobody was stupid enough to try to climb the mountain to conquer it. What a beautiful place. We saw the sights, toured a castle, ate some pizza, looked at the shops, and got some gelato. It was awesome.

Speaking of pizza, Anz. Miller and I made a pizza all by ourselves this week! It was a beautiful thing. It obviously wasn't as good as Sorella Tariffa made it, but hey. For two Americans and a five kg bag of flour, I don't think we did too bad.

I also was able to Skype my families on Mother's Day. It was awesome to see their faces and to see how fast my brothers are growing. I'm so grateful for my two wonderful mothers and the support they are to me. Happy belated Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there.

Sempre andiamo avanti qui a Pesaro.

Vi voglio bene, Anziano Simcox

Mamma Mia!

Another week another euro right? Oh wait, I don't get paid.

Mamma mia. Yes, it's a real phrase and it gets used all the time. I love it. What to say about this week... I'm really tired right now. Hah. I claim no responibility for whatever words my fingers may type. This was our first week back in just two! Finally. It was really weird the first day. We had several moments where we just looked at each other as if to say, "what do we do now?" It was a weird adjustment. We got so used to travelling back and forth on the trains that it was weird to not be running to catch a train or bus. Now that we're in Pesaro though, we can actually use our bikes... when they work that is. Which is about 50% of the time.

I'll start off by talking about Rosanna. Saturday night we were looking through the Area Book. The Area Book is a big blue binder with the names and contact information of everyone the missionaries in Pesaro have ever met. I did say BIG blue binder right? There's actually two of them. Anyway... We came across Rosanna's name and decided to give her a call. She met with the missionaries in 2010, but they eventually lost contact with her. When we called her she was SO excited. I could hear hear excitement from the other side of the room. She said she'd meet us in church the next day. I can't tell how many times someone has said that, but the miracle is that she actually showed up! She came and loved it. At the end of sacrament meeting (service) she asked if she could go up to the microphone and say something. Of course we were more than willing to let her do that. Through tears she talked about how at peace she felt sitting in the chapel and listening to the members bear testimony. She definitely needs a lot of peace. In the past few years, almost every one in her family has passed away: her husband, her child, her parents... Her granddaughter has a really bad illness... Despite all this she said she feels so at peace and knows that the Gospel of Christ can help her through these trials. Wow. The members were so glad to see her. I could just feel the spiritual energy in the chapel that morning. It was something else. We look forward to meeting with her soon.

Do you remember Claudio? We taught him my first or second week here and then he just disappeared. Well, we found him! We finally just went to his house until we caught him at home. We've started teaching his entire family now! It's a beautiful thing. His wife and he are having some marriage problems, but at the moment they're determined to stick it through. They are very willing to hear us out, as well as feed us. Culture lesson number one: If you enter an Italian's home, you WILL eat. It's not a choice, it's a law. Anyway, we had a good conversation with them and we're meeting them again on Friday. They have two daughters of eleven and fourteen. The fourteen year-old, Giulia, has started coming to English class.

Have I ever written about English class? I honestly don't remember... Every Tuesday night we teach English. It's actually really cool. We usually have at least four people. Donatella and Roberta have been coming for over ten years now. They're both fluent in English. Donatella has even taught English before. They keep coming though because they love all the anziani. Michael is a little pazzo, but we love him anyway. He doesn't speak much English, but he knows how to say "I love you" and "beautiful tie." He says those two phrases a lot. Marco started coming about a month ago. His English is decent. He understands well, but has trouble making sentences. He loves coming to practice his English though. The beautiful thing is that these four people aren't members of the church. Roberta actually has said before, "I love everything about you, but I will never join your church." That's ok. Everyone is free to live their lives. We're just here to do what we can! Sometimes some of our members come too. I love English class. This week, we had younger people too, which usually doesn't happen. Giulia (Claudio's daughter), one of the Tariffa girls (a member family) and her friend came. I went into a separate room with them and did beginner's English. As stressful as it was, it was also fun.

Today, we went over to the Tariffa home. They are a member family who moved here from Napoli (Naples) about 10 months ago. They're awesome (or as Anz. Miller would say, they're freaking sick). Sorella Tariffa showed us how to make real Pizza Napolitana. Mamma mia. It was delicious. She gave us the recipe, so maybe I'll be brave enough to tackle it one day.

Let's see... Like I said in the last email, we've hit a bit of a rough patch when it comes to teaching lessons, but it happens. We're doing our best though. Lately we've been getting back to doing some finding work, a.k.a. walk down the street and see how many people you can talk to. On Monday we went to Fano, which is the city just south of Pesaro. It's been a long time since they've seen missionaries of any sort, whether they be Jehovah's Witnesses, Evangelists, etc. Usually we get mistaken for Jehovah's Witnesses! Anyway, we went to Fano and talked to as many people as we could. We had a few good conversations and actually set up an appointment for Sunday with a man named Antonio.

Then, we met Gerth Miller. What to say about Gerth... We asked him where he lived and he said that the whole world is his home. He spends his days in downtown Fano. He's particularly attached to a bench in a nearby piazzale. He is originally from Germany, but he moved to Italy because he likes it better. He speaks German, Italian, English, Russian, and Greek. He's a good guy, however awkward he might be. We know he's not interested in the Gospel, but right now we're trying to just be encouraging. The man knows five different languages. We know he's smart. Now, we're trying to encourage him to get up and go do something. All of us have great potential, but it's up to us who we want to become.

Finding work is daunting at first, but you just have to keep an eternal perspective. Most people just ignore us or make up some excuse, but every now and then you find the one person who will listen. That's what it's all about. Even if we only find one interested person out of a million, it's still worth it to go through the other 999,999 to get to that one person. We've been hung up on, given excuses, been lied to, been yelled at, had doors slammed in our faces, but all of it's worth it when we find that child of God who is prepared to listen.

Ci sentiamo al prossimo. Vi voglio bene, Anziano Simcox.

I apologize for the lack of pictures. It's been a crazy day and I forgot to put my camera in my bag this morning.

La Settimana del Trasferimento

Hey everybody! Another week has come and gone already. This week is the last week of the transfer. For those who don't know, a mission is divided into transfers. One transfer is six weeks. During the last week of the transfer, new missionaries come in, old missionaries go home, and some of the missionaries in the mission get transfered to different cities. Here's what's happening to our district:

-Anz. Miller and I will be staying together in Pesaro and Anz. Miller is our new district leader.

-Anz. Garcia will be staying in Ancona and he'll be training a new missionary.

-Sorella Montagnoli and Sor. Acerson (both of whom were in the MTC with me) will be training a new missionaries in Forlì and Rimini. Yes they've only been here for six weeks and they're already training. That's how many sisters are coming in! It's awesome.

-Sor. Heupel will be training a new missionary in Genova.

-Sor. Bush will become a travelling sister assistant, which is a new position they just made.

We've probably set a record for the youngest district ever. Anz. Garcia is now the oldest one in the district and he's only starting his fifth transfer! Crazy. We'll have two new missionaries too, so I won't be the youngest!

Alright, so there's your missionary jargon for this week. Anz. Garcia will finally have a companion so we won't be travelling back and forth anymore. We'll miss him and Ancona, but it'll be nice to be able to finally focus on just Pesaro. The train system will miss our patronage, but our wallets will not. It's been a challenging experience to be in three. There have been a lot of clashing opinions at points. It was difficult to travel so much every day. We made it work though and we learned SO much from each other and from the experience in general. That being said, I wouldn't ask for it again. Hah!

The work itself has been a little slow. We've lost contact with several of our investigators. Both of our baptismal dates fell through. We had a hard time setting up appointments and teaching lessons this week. Everything needs to go up and down right? It's just part of missionary work. We're working hard though to find new people to teach, to strengthen the faith of our members, and to help our investigators along the path. We're still meeting with Gyldena. She's made friends with Sorella Tariffa, a member of our branch, which has turned out to be a wonderful thing. We're trying to get her to come to church, but she works on Sundays, so that's our challenge right now.

We met with a new woman named Amanda. She's from Nigeria. I love Africans. There's a lot of them here in Italy. Most of them don't speak a lot of Italian, but almost all of them speak English. I've taught more in English than in Italian lately. She lives in Fano, which is about a seven minute train ride away. We found her on one of our many train rides between Pesaro and Ancona. We set up an appointment with her and finally met with her last week. She drank in everything that was taught and willing accepted to read the Book of Mormon and pray. When we talked to her last she said she actually read and was going to pray! She's been prepared for this and it's such a pleasure to talk with her. She said she is most likely able to come to church on Sunday. Since I've been here, we've never had an investigator come to church, so this will be a big step if she actually comes!

Italy remains beautiful. The weather here is gorgeous. It's been sunny for the most part and not too hot. The humidity is coming though. I thought I could escape Ohio weather, but it looks like it's followed me here.

I actually haven't had much Italian food this week... I know. It's sad. I've found a new hobby in cooking though. It's been really enjoyable to try new things and be brave. The good thing is that Anz. Miller eats anything I put on the table, so it's been a good opportunity to experiment! Hah.

Oh, I almost forgot. Last week I was the senior companion. It actually went really smoothly. I made decisions and I made all the phone calls in Italian. It actually wasn't even that hard. Looking back, it's amazing how missionaries can learn a new language in just a matter of months. Yes, my brain feels like exploding most days, but that's a good thing! I go to bed tired and I wake up tired, but that only means I'm putting in good work. There's been ups and downs, but the work continues. I'm learning and growing every day. It's such a rewarding and enlightening experience to be a missionary. Most of all, I've felt my testimony and knowledge of the Gospel growing. I love my calling as a missionary and I look forward to th experiences and opportunities coming up in this next transfer.

Vi voglio bene. Con amore, Anziano Simcox.

The picture is of the Palla di Pomodoro. It's a statue in Pesaro right against the sea. It's a beautiful spot and there's a nice pier there too. For all you AOYC people, it reminds me a lot of Lakeside, which makes me happy. Pesaro is such a beautiful city.