Buon (quasi) Natale!

Who's excited? I am! Although you all know that by now. This past week just flew. Il tempo è volato, as the Italians say. Really though, I feel like I was just writing emails an hour ago. I can't even think of what to say right now. Ok... Update of the week: Caroling, no snow, long bus rides, getting lost, teaching Seminary, really cold, lots of service, Grandma's cookies, piano playing, preparations for Ward Christmas Party, speaking Italian, and occasionly sleeping. 

Service. It turns out that Christmas time is a great time to do service! Whooda thunk? We spent Saturday painting, dusting, and deep-cleaning a house. One of our members knew a family who needed some help; an elderly woman that lives with her two children who have some medical problems. We were able to bring the Christmas spirit to them and give them a big hand with stuff that really needed done. I found a new proficiency in toilet-scrubbing that I didn't know I had. The job still isn't finished. We'd like to go back and finish before Christmas. The second big service we did was yesterday. It was definitely a memorable experience, that's for sure. We were helping one of our new converts move. He was baptized the week after I got to Cimiano. Anyway, he is moving to a different apartment in the city so we came over to help him and another member came with a big moving truck. He told originally that he just had some books and a few shelves. "Some" books was a bit of an understatement. We moved the contents of an entire library and we haven't even finished yet. We walked into his house and I was shocked. Every space of wall, quite litereally, is covered by books. The hallway, the living room, and the bedroom were full of books. There were even some in the bathroom. It was hard to walk down the hall because of all the books. We spent several hours moving stuff out of that apartment. We went up and down that elevator with so much stuff. The other tenants were getting mad at us... I wasn't about to carry a library down five flights of stairs though! Anyway, we're going back tomorrow to finish up the job. I respect him. Books are great, just not when the missionaries are moving you out of your apartment! Hah! That definitely made for some fun memories.

Tonight our new convert is taking us to a Nepali buffet. That should be exciting. Seeing his conversion in the past few months has been awesome. I'm sorry I talk about him so much, but he's just such a miracle. We were out caroling with him and we started talking with one man in the piazza. He bore his testimony to him in perfectly understandable Italian and then said "Lei è sempre benvenuto nella nostra chiesa (You are always welcome in our church)!" SO COOL! We were smiling the rest of the night.

"And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things. And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul" (1 Nephi 11:22-23). I love being a missionary. I love teaching people about the love of God. So many people don't feel the love of God in their lives, including those who profess belief in Him. He is literally our Father and He literally loves us. I'm so glad that everyday I have the opportunity to share this love with all of my brothers and sisters. Remember, especially this Christmas season, that you are loved. That's why God sent His Son Jesus Christ especially for you.

I love you! Merry Christmas. Love, Anziano Simcox.

Buon Natale a tutti!

It's almost Christmas time!! Who's excited? I LOVE Christmas. The Christmas Spirit has started to shine a little bit around here. The gatekeeper of our apartment put out a tree in front. It made us really happy this morning. Our little tree is still thriving. Anz. Sexton has been writing the 25 poems of Christmas, so every night we hear a reading. Sometimes they're inspiring, sometimes they're a bit cynical, but overall they make for a good laugh.

We had our Christmas zone conference on Monday. President and Sister Dibb made Christmas dinner for all of the missionaries. There was ham, potatoes, marshmallow salad, vegetables, and apple bread! Yummm. It was a great meal and a great conference. Afterward we all sang some Christmas carols. One of the sisters in my district did a musical number, so I played for her. I didn't do all that fantastic, but I enjoyed playing something outside of the hymnbook. I usually get recruited to play the piano at missionary meetings. I thought everyone was joking when they said I'd be using my music skills on my mission.

Speaking of Christmas (I'm in the Christmas Spirit lately as you can tell) the missionaries in my district along with some of the Young Adults in our ward have been going caroling. It turns out that's SO much more effective than just stopping people on the street. Now, they stop for us and all we have to do is smile and sing. I feel like that can define my life since freshman year of high school. Smile and sing. We've been able to spread a lot of  Christmas cheer and even find some people to teach!

We've been having several experiences lately where we've been able to water a few seeds planted by others. It seems like many of the people we've been contacting lately have had contact with the church in the past. One man we talked to in the park knows a member of our ward and he has taking lessons from missionaries in the past. Two Sundays ago, someone walked in off the street and stayed for all three hours of church. He knew a member family in Bergamo and they always invited him, but he never went. When he moved here a few weeks ago, he saw the church and felt guilty for never going, so he came Sunday morning! The most fruitful experience was a man we talked to on the Metro. I had been talking with someone else, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye listening in. After that man got off, I sat down next to this second man. Before I even tried to say anything, he said to me "My father is a Mormon." His parents, siblings, and relatives are all members, and his father was a branch president in Peru. He said that he just never got baptized, but he told us "maybe one day I'll get baptized..." We of course were glad to help him with that goal and we took his number. Tomorrow we have an appointment at his house with him and his wife!

And to wrap it all up, how about a Christmas scripture today? "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (Luke 2:10). I'll assume that most of us have heard this. Christmas is a time of rejoicing! Why are you sad?? Christ was born, lived, died, was resurrected, and lives now all to grant you eternal life! It's yours for the taking if you come unto Him! Rejoice and be glad for Jesus Christ lives and loves you.

Love, Anziano Simcox.

Buon Dicembre!

Happy December everyone! We (finally) got our first snow last Saturday. It was great. Anz. Parker was not as thrilled as I was. Winter is my season! We decorated the apartment! Anz. Parker's family sent him some tinsel and we found a little Christmas tree in the cellar. We put all our presents around the table, plugged in the tree, and it actually turned out to be a nice little reminder of the holidays! I love Christmas!! It's a little different here in Italy. It's definitely not as commercial as it is in the States. Not as many people put up lights. I guess it's a little harder when everyone lives in apartments, but we've seen a few strands hanging from balconies. I miss a lot of the things I'm used to around this time of year, but I'm trying to experience Italian Christmas as much as I can and see what I can add to my own traditions.

It's been a cold week mostly. It finally went below 0°... Celsius that is. Don't worry. Still, that's decently cold I think. I'm tired... like... all the time. I'm finally not sick though. I had a cold the whole last transfer I think. I'm glad that's finally gone. Our district went caroling at the Duomo (big white cathedral) this week! It was actually really effective. It's much easier to start conversations with people when you're singing as opposed to asking "Have you ever seen this book??" People need some Christmas cheer. Anz. Sexton asked one man "What do you like about Christmas?" to which he responded, "Nothing." Ouch...

The challenge lately has been finding people to teach. The cold is scaring people off I think. Nevertheless, a couple new people have surfaced. We had an appointment yesterday with someone we met on the Metro. We went to his house and taught him a bit about the Book of Mormon. He was pretty quiet most of the time. We were asking questions, trying to get him to open up. We could tell there was something, but we couldn't quite get it. At the end we asked if he would pray with us. After a few awkward sentences and some silence, he looked up and told us his problem: "I don't know how to pray." It made me realize the importance of the simple things. Here we were focusing on bigger things, without even checking up on the simple things first. It was a good lesson to me to always pay attention to the little things and not take for granted the knowledge that is available to me.

Prayer is a conversation with God. It's something I've definitely learned how to do here on my mission more than any other time in my life. That's not to say that I didn't pray before my mission, but I definitely do it better as a missionary. Missionaries pray all the time, together and privately. One week, I should count how many times we pray. That'd be an interesting statistic. The beautiful thing about prayer is that it works both ways. We talk to God and He talks to us. We don't need a single thing except for our hearts. We talk to God exactly as we talk to any other person, for He is literally our Father.

In the end, remember that there is always someone praying for YOU. He is Jesus Christ. He is your Savior.  "And it came to pass that Jesus departed out of the midst of them, and went a little way off from them and bowed himself to the earth, and he said:... Father, I pray unto thee for them, and also for all those who shall believe on their words, that they may believe in me" (3 Nephi 19:19, 23). 

Con amore, Anziano Simcox

The pictures are our Christmas tree and our Thanksgiving dinner.