LA PATENTE DI GUIDA - 10/18/14

Yes. The rumors are true. Elder Simcox is now street-legal. Cool huh? Best part? They used the same picture on my new license as they did on the old. If you've ever seen the old license, you'll know why that's funny. I had my first experience of driving in Italy this week. It was pretty nerve-wracking, especially after having not driven for over a year and a half. I got used to it though. It's like riding a bike! Kind of...

My new companion, Elder Strang, is Canadian. That provides some good subject material. Canadians fascinate me because they're almost exactly like Americans, but they're not. He speaks the same as I do, except every now and then he'll use a funny word or say something differently and everybody just stops and looks at each other, wondering if we all heard the same thing. He's had all American companions though, so he's used to it now. He also brought some Canadian maple syrup, although he says that Canadians don't use maple syrup nearly as much as people think they do.

President will be going to Portugal next week for a seminar, so he's deciding transfers this week that way he doesn't have to worry about making a bunch of decisions when he gets back. That means the transfer fever is a little longer this time around. Anz. Stewart is especially interested this time because he's getting transferred to another city. It must be hard to know for sure that you're getting transferred, but not know where you're going. We know though that President is going to try as hard as he can to keep it a secret as long as possible. He enjoys watching Anz. Stewart struggle a little bit. :P

Yesterday morning we got a delivery of some supplies to the office. Anz. Strang, Sister Harmer, and I went out to help him unload. As we unloaded, he began asking questions about who we are and what we do. That lead into a nice conversation about the church and about the Restoration of the Gospel. Anz. Strang ran inside and got him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He was touched by the gesture and he said he'd read it "volontieri." He also wrote down his name and phone number for us and told us to give him a call! We passed his information over to the Elders who live in his area and they'll be contacting him soon. Even in the office, it's possible to do missionary work. I really enjoyed that experience and he was a great man.

My ward is really grateful that I play the piano. One member is really insistent that I teach her how to play. Last night I did a little bit. She didn't do too bad! I'm not sure how to teach piano though. I've never really thought about it. I'm not giving her actual lessons, just showing her a few things and giving her tips before or after church activities. Being able to play the piano has been an enormous help to me in my mission. People told me before my mission that it would be, but I never actually believed them. Playing in Church meetings has been a good way to gain peoples' trust and give them a service that they appreciate. It's also helpful to be able to play the mission hymn when occasion permits.

I'll leave it short for this week so I can give you that "break" I promised last week. :P

Vi voglio sempre bene! -Anziano Simcox

10/11/14

Hey everyone. Honestly, I don't have enough time to write a novel today, so I'll give your eyes a break. Just a few thoughts though.

General conference was fantastic. www.conference.lds.org. During this conference, my testimony was really strengthened about the fact that there is a living prophet on the earth today. As members of the Church, we definitely take that for granted. Take these words from Elder Ballard: "I was invited to participate in a popular radio talk show... After some initial discussion of the similarities between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Christian denominations, the host asked this significant question: 'What makes your church different from other churches?' 'Let me answer your question with another question,' I replied. 'If Moses were on the earth today, would you be interested in what he had to say?' 'Of course,' the talk show host responded. 'Everyone would be interested.' 'Well, that's our message to the world,' I said. 'There is a prophet of God on the earth today who has the same power and authority that Moses had. God directs His Church through His prophet today, just as He did in Moses' day.' My host was silent for a moment-which, as you know, can seem foever on the radio. 'You're right,' he said at last. 'That is different.'"

This story always comes to mind when I think about the fact that we have a living prophet on the earth. It's quite a miracle. Anyway, I enjoyed all of the talks that were given. I'm trying to study them every morning in my personal study. It's nice being in the office, because I've been able to talk the talks and put them on a flash drive. I hook that into our portable DVD player in our apartment so I can listen to them while I study or while I wash the dishes or whatever. Another talk I really enjoyed was by Pres. Uchtdorf during the Priesthood session. It was titled, "Lord, is it I?" He said that often we get so caught up in wondering how others are doing in their personal salvation that we forget about our own. He said instead of asking, "Lord, is it him?" We should be asking, "Lord, is it I?" This is the question that the disciples posed the Master when he said that one of them would have betrayed him. Each asked if it was himself that was to betray the Master. This world would be a better place if each evaluated himself before evaluating others.

Anyway, I loved conference. I'm always grateful for the spiritual boost. As far as my own personal life/work, it's going alright. We've had a good week both of office work and of missionary work, so I've been grateful. One challenge with working in the office is that we only have several hours each evening in which to do missionary work. It's sometimes hard to focus for those few hours, especially when we have nothing planned, or when appointments fall through. It's taught me the importance of planning. If we don't plan, our work suffers greatly. We got to about Tuesday this week and realized that we had nothing concrete planned for the week. We sat down and made a bunch of calls and were able to set up appointments for every day of the week, which is a missionary's dream! By the end of the week, our week will look almost like we did the work of normal missionaries, which is quite a blessing and we are very grateful for it.

Dolores is still in the hospital. She has been moved to a hospice center on the other side of Milano. Despite this she is still strong and she seems to be getting stronger every day. We try to visit her 2-3 times a week. She loves when we come and we've been able to give her support and just be there for her, if nothing else. Every time we go, we read a little bit with her from the Bible or from the Book of Mormon. Her husband or her nephew will usually read in their native language of Tagalog and we'll follow along in Italian or English. I've been able to learn a few words in Tagalog and I can pick them out when they read or pray.

Other than that, we have a few potential investigators that we are trying to set appointments with. It's frustrating when you know that you have something that would definitely help these people, but they don't accept. Especially when they tell you quite honestly that you have something they want, but then they don't take the steps necessary to have it. As a missionary, it saddens me because I genuinely love the people I meet. I think it's a sort of superpower given to missionaries. I love people I hardly know. It's a strange feeling. I might just barely have met someone, but care for them as if I had known them for thousands of years. That's how I feel about Dolores and Ronaldo. In all honesty, I hardly know them, but I care for them a lot. For the upteenth time, I'll share with you one of my favorite scriptures. "Perfect love casteth out all fear."

I said at the beginning I wouldn't write a novel. Sorry! I honestly don't know much of what I want to write before I start. I just let my fingers and my brain go. Hopefully I don't rant too much. Anyway, I love you all so very much and wish you the very best. Vi voglio un sacco di infinitissimo bene.

-Anziano Simcox.

Picture: I know I've sent pictures of this castle before, but I had never been inside of it until last P-Day. This is the view from one of the terraces looking into the courtyard. The castle is actually just long passageways forming a square with a big courtyard in the middle. That day there was some sort of old car show.

Weekly Update #86 - 10/4/14

I was interested to know what number weekly update this was, so I did the math and this is the 86th! I was close. I guessed 84. Maybe just because I like the number 84 though. It was probably just a lucky guess. What does one write after 85 other weekly updates?

LIFE'S LESSONS LEARNED:

-Don't ask the Evangelical Filippino to say the opening prayer. He may take way longer than you planned.

-If you're sick and a member offers you a get-better-quick remedy, be careful. His "magic pill" might actually just be extra-strength Alka Seltzer. You'll start out with a sore throat and you'll end up with a sore bottom. I should've realized that what the Alka Seltzer did to the water was what it was about to do to my stomach. I didn't put those dots together fast enough. On the other hand, my sore throat is not as sore, so you just have to decide what's more valuable to you.

-Italy has very big spiders. I had a very frightening experience where I was in the church and another missionary suddenly noticed a very large spider hanging from my sweater. He was very calm about it. My companion was not.

-Which brings me to my other lesson learned: Don't bring Anz. Stewart with you to Fear Factor.

Hopefully you too were able to learn some things from this segment of my weekly update. Maybe I'll have more for you next week. Who knows what life has in store?

For the past few weeks we've been teaching a wonderful family. She is a member for most of her life and he is not. She has been diagnosed with liver cancer and has been staying in the hospital for the past week and a half. We've gone a couple times to visit them and every time it's been a very spiritual experience. Their testimony of the plan of salvation has really grown. Before she went into the hospital, we left them with a plan of salvation pamphlet and told them to read it before our next visit. The first time we visited after she had been admitted to the hospital, we weren't even thinking about the pamphlet, but he brought it up and talked about how much he enjoyed reading about it and how much he had learned. She said that every day her and her husband read the scriptures together. She also told us that she keeps the pamphlet under her pillow as her "guardian." A few days ago the husband said that he knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Church is true. He's hoping that once his wife is out of the hospital they can start attending church together and he can be baptized. This family is really growing in the Gospel and they are grateful to have found renewed testimonies to help them through this difficult time.

They've grown my testimony even more that the Gospel is a real solution to real problems. It was not made simply to prepare us for a life to come, but to help us live in the wonderful life that we have. Today I studied a little about the purpose of life. It's a big question! As members of the Church many of us believe to have an easy answer to it. Ask any Mormon what the purpose of life is and 90% of them will say "TO HAVE JOY!" Some of them might even quote a scripture at you, "Adam fell that men might be, and men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). Once we've figured out the what, however, we need to figure out the how. I've been meditating on that for the past few days. Of course, we know that one way to find joy is to follow God's commandments. That's why he gives us commandments. "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God" (Mosiah 2:41). Is it enough to simply be obedient though. In the back of the Italian Book of Mormon, there exists a "Guide to the Scriptures" that doesn't exist in English, but that I'm really grateful for. It's basically the Bible Dictionary, but with Book of Mormon topics in it too. Anyway, one entry is entitled "Gioia" which means "Joy." (I really like that word in Italian by the way). It says that "joy is a condition of great happiness that results from righteous living. The purpose of life is that all people may know joy. Absolute joy is known only through Jesus Christ." So really, is purpose in life is to know Jesus Christ, because through Him, we can experience the ultimate amount of joy possible. If we do not know Jesus Christ, our joy is not full. If we do not know Jesus Christ we cannot fully follow His example and we cannot live righteously to earn that joy. Remember, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (St. John 17:3).

Buona settimana! Vi voglio sempre bene.

Picture: Us at Torre Pellice last week, holding up the mission plaque. (Behold, we are disciples of Jesus Christ. We have been called by him to proclaim his gospel among his people, that they might have everlasting life. 3 Nephi 5:13).

Torre Pellice - 9/27/14

Hi there!

Sadly I don't have much time today, but I wanted to at least write something. I've written every week of my mission, why stop now?!

Today we went with Pres. & Sister Dibb + the Assistants + the office couple (the Harmer's, who are super awesome people) to Torre Pellice, near the border of France. That's the place where the Church officially started in Italy. Lorenzo Snow dedicated the country there for the preaching of the Gospel in 1850 and then over 100 years later Ezra Taft Benson did the same thing. If you look at the picture, you'll see a mountain in the back and then a little to the left you'll see a rock jutting out a bit. On the rock is where they prayed that the hearts of the Italian people would be open to receiving the Gospel and that the missionaries would be led to those who were ready. We wanted to do the same thing. We drove as far as we could and then started hiking. We went through some trails, over a stream, down a pasture of sheep, and then we got to a much steeper trail cut up through the mountain. My knee couldn't make it any further, so I stayed down with a few others while three the Assistants and my companion forged their way up to the top. They couldn't quite make it up to the rock because of a wrong turn, but they got to a spot overlooking the valley. They called us (we were amazed that they still had reception up there) and we participated in the prayer down below. It was a very memorable experience.

Other than that, it was back to the old grind. Transfers are over, so things were much more "tranquile" this week.

OH! Cool announcement made in church last week. The Milan West stake will soon be organizing the first single's ward in Italy! So. Cool. Basically what a single's ward is is a congregation made up of entirely young single adults from 18-30 years old. This allows them to be in an environment of people their age and have leadership responsibilities and be around people their own age with their same standards. I'm so excited about it. they want to involve the other Milan stake too and they would form their own ward and meet every Sunday. Hopefully they'll even put a few missionaries there too. That would be an awesome assignment. It's a good opportunity for missionary work too because it's an environment in which the young people don't feel afraid to bring their friends. I'm excited to see the realization of this and I'm lucky to be serving in Milano and see it all happen firsthand!

Have a wonderful fantastic week everyone! Love, Anziano Simcox.

Battesimo! - 9/20/14

Buongiorno! Boy it's been a week. Transfers, baptisms, orange mold, luggage tetris, strange yellow goop of mysterious origin... It's been a week.

Let's start with baptism! Our investigator Giuseppe was baptized last Saturday. It was such a great ceremony. He didn't want to announce it beforehand in church because he said he gets flustered in front of a lot of people. People found out anyway and there was a good thirty people there. He was secretly happy though, even if he complained a little bit. That's just him. He loved the musical number that one of the Sisters prepared. He was grateful for the talks. He was kind of scared that Anz. Stewart wouldn't be able to pull him out of the water, but that turned out OK! Afterward was my favorite part. After the ceremony ended, everyone spontaneously lined up to congratulate him. He was overwhelmed by all the love that they gave him. Members and non-members alike sincerely congratulated him on his baptism. The young people have particularly taken to him. Even though he's 50+ years old, he's actually just a 12 year old in an old man's body. He gets along really well with the young people and they love having him around. That was mostly who was at his baptism! The week before, he spent a lot of time with them setting up that tree of life activity, mostly without us there! He hung out with the youth and helped them put it together and they loved having him there. He's one of them! He was beaming after his confirmation on Sunday and he received even more love from everyone. I was thrilled to see how much the ward has really welcomed him in, even though most of them don't really know him that well. I don't have any worries now about him assimilating himself into the ward.

Transfers! This time went a little smoother than the last one. The new missionaries' plane was on time and only two bags were delayed, but they showed up after about an hour. I feel like these new missionaries keep getting younger though. Maybe I'm just getting older. The first option is more logical I think. ;) That was Wednesday. Friday, we hired a bus to pick up the departing missionaries from the hotel at 5am. Our bus driver though called at 5am on Thursday morning wondering where we all were... I was not happy to be woken up! He figured it out though and all the departing missionaries made it home. I'm getting really good at luggage tetris, or in other words, "how many suitcases can you cram into the bishop's office. The answer is about 64, give or take a few. While we were stacking though, we noticed a strange yellow goop advancing down the floor. It was really scary. Some poor Elder hadn't put his shampoo in a bag and it leaked all over his suitcase. Luckily most of his stuff was unharmed.

As for the strange orange mold, I emptied the compost this morning and a mysterious gas flew out of the can... After letting the vapors clear, I noticed some very peculiar orange mold. I learned today that mold can be orange. I didn't know that. I kept my distance though and blasted it with the hose... Gross. Other than that, the house stayed mostly clean this week, mainly because we were hardly in it.

I love Saturdays. Sure it's P-day, but that's not why oddly enough. I love Saturdays because it's the one day a week when we can get a full two hours of study in. All the other days we have to be in the office by 9am. My testimony of scripture study has really increased in the office. I feel the difference it makes to not have a quality study each day. It feels like something is missing. I've adapted and started making time in the evenings for some study and I've seen the difference it makes, even if I just read a chapter before bedtime or write a few thoughts in my study journal. It's really therapeutic and also a nice time to unwind and open up for inspiration which sometimes I might be too busy to recognize. I'm working on that problem as well. In other words, it's just a good time to "let go and let God," as they say.

I had a great study this morning and I wouldn't be able to write all of the insights I received, but one I particularly liked. I was reading in 2 Nephi 10. Verse 19 says, "wherefore I will have all men that dwell [on the land] that they shall worship me, saith God." I think when a lot of people hear the word "worship" they think of a self-centered God who wants only praise to Himself and wants all to be subjected to him. They look at it as a one way deal in which we worship Him and He gets the glory. Fin. But what we need to realize is that God doesn't ask us to worship Him just so that He can receive some sort of satisfaction. He asks us to worship Him because He knows that if we do, we will be on the right path and we will be able to return to him. Some synonyms of "worship" are "honor, venerate, revere, adore, glorify, idolize, adulate." When we worship Him, we put ourselves in line with His will. After all, Jesus taught that the most important commandment is to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." If we love God, we will follow His commandments. If we follow His commandments, we are blessed and others are blessed as well by our obedience. If we follow His commandments, we will return to Him. In summary, God asks us to worship Him not so that He can be happy, but so that we can be happy.

Have a great week everybody. I love you all!

Picture: The day of Giuseppe's baptism. Left to right: President Dibb, Anz. Stewart, Giuseppe, and myself.

L'albero della vita - 9/13/14

Hola!

Last night we had a great ward activity. It was a recreation of Lehi's dream (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi ch. 8 & 11). The church has two entrances, the main one and a back staircase that leads out into the court below (the church is on the second floor of a building downtown, I'll have to get a picture one day). Instead of having everyone come in the main entrance, we divided them all into several groups of 8-10. My job was to lead the groups up the staircase, representing the pre-earth life and then into the hallway where life begins. We had an "iron rood" which was really a steel cord we found in the attic leading down the hallway. Each room represented a different temptation: fashion, food, gambling, sleeping, sports, dancing, etc. Most of these things aren't wrong in themselves, but the problem comes when we put these things ahead of reaching our goal. The objective was to "hold to the rod" and not be distracted from reaching the goal. At the end, we had several bowls of water where people washed their hands, representing repentance. They then had to pass through the "brume tenebrose" or the mist of darkness (cut up garbage bags taped to a tent frame) into the chapel, where the iron rod led to the tree of life (see picture). So many people spent FOREVER working on that tree. It was a bunch of copper pipes wrapped together, with smaller pipes as branches and stripped copper wires as twigs and tin foil leaves. Then it was painted brown and placed on a "rock" (wooden pedestal wrapped in tin foil). It was a beautiful tree and the light shone off of it just right to make it shine. Then we stuck apples rolled in sugar to represent the white fruit.

Quick background: In the Book of Mormon, there is a prophet named Lehi. He dreams that he is in a large field, representing the world. "And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen.And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy." The fruit of the tree represents "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 the most joyous to the soul." After he partakes of the fruit, he sees "numberless concourses of people, many of whom were pressing forward, that they might obtain the path which led unto the tree by which [he] stood... and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree." This iron rod, which leads people to the tree, represents the word of God, which, if we "hold tight" to it, will lead us to the fruit of the tree, or eternal life.

It was a great activity. Many people came and several were able to know the Church for the first time and leave with a positive image.

On another note... It's transfer week again! Transfers are completely different as an office Elder. We already know several weeks beforehand if we'll be transferred because we have to train our replacements. So we've known what's happening to us for a while. That excitement's gone. Also, transfer week means lots and lots of back and forth driving with new missionaries, departing missionaries, lost luggage, and everything in between. I'm looking forward to it. One of my favorite parts is watching the new missionaries come out of the terminal. It reminds me of when I came in and how many wonderful experiences I've had since then!

Lots of crazy things happened with transfers. We've got a Zone Leader who's also a District Leader, some Sister Training Leaders who are also training new missionaries at the same time, and we'll have a third companionship of Elders in our ward! Usually max is two companionships of Elders and one of Sisters, but I guess we need lots of manpower in Navigli! Eight missionaries in one ward will be quite the experience.

Sorry this letter's not as long as usual. We've got a lot to do today, such as plan for a baptism tonight! It should be nice. He didn't want to announce it in church because he said he gets nervous in front of lots of people. Most people ended up finding out anyway and we'll still have a nice attendance.

Happy week! I'm sure I'll have lots of crazy transfer week stuff to talk about next time.

Statemi bene.

Supply Orders and Other Shenanigans - 9/6/14

Every Saturday when we clean our apartment I think to myself, "I will never get this place dirty again." Then, every Saturday without fail I have the same conversation with myself. I'd like to know where the line is between dirty and clean because I feel like I'm a decently clean guy, but the dustpan every Saturday begs to differ.

Well, I've already been here for six weeks. That's pretty weird. My whole mission, time has been really weird, but it's even weirder in the office. It goes by so incredibly fast that I have absolutely no time to realize what day it is. All of Tuesday I thought it was Wednesday and then I got to the end of the day and it was Tuesday. Then the next day I woke up and it was Thursday. Wednesday seems to have not existed. The logic makes no sense, but that's what happened. That's just an example. I stopped trying to measure time.

Even though Wednesday didn't exist, we had a neat experience Wednesday night. We got a text from someone saying, "Some lady is looking for Anziano Simcox. Here's the number." Obviously we were a little confused. I called though and found that it was a member I had known very well in Cimiano. She said that she had gotten a call from someone in Utah, who had gotten a call from a Bishop in the Philippines, who had gotten a call from his sister in Milano that she needed someone from the Church to come see her. That's a pretty big circle to reach the missionaries who live 15 kilometers away, but that's ok. We went to meet the member in Rozzano, where this woman lived. The member, bless her heart, got really lost, so we ended up going ourselves. We met this wonderful Filippina sister and her husband. She had just had chemotherapy treatment that day so she was very weak. We talked with them for a while and got to know them. Before we left, we gave her a blessing by placing our hands upon her head and blessing her that she would be strong and be able to withstand her trials. It was amazing to see the instant effect that that blessing had on her. There immediately came a new light into her eyes and she seemed to have new energy that she definitely didn't have before. By the time we left she was laughing and smiling and looking almost healthy, a big improvement from when we came in. We look forward to staying close to this family and helping them through this difficult time. They haven't been to church in many years, and the husband has never been baptized (but he made sure we knew that he is a firm believer!). Despite all that, their faith is strong and it was her faith in the blessing and in the power of the Priesthood that made the blessing so effective.

We have an investigator who is ready for baptism. He struggled for a while to quit smoking, but he's gone a week now without a single cigarette. That's hard for him because everyone in his house smokes and they've realized that he stopped. They also realized that he's been going to Church and meeting with us. They thought at first that it was just a joke, but once they realized it's serious they haven't been as accepting. He said the backlash from his family hasn't been the most pleasant, so that's a new trial in front of him. He still wants to carry through, but obviously he wishes that his mother and siblings could be on his side. The baptism is planned for next Saturday. He doesn't want a lot of people to come because he says he'll be embarrassed with lots of people, but the list of "invited" people is getting a little bigger so hopefully we'll have a decent attendance. Baptismal ceremonies are important for those who come as well as those who are actually being baptized because they allow people to feel the Spirit in a special way and to see exactly what we missionaries talk about when we say things like "faith," repentance," and "baptism." He's a good guy and he's changed his life for the better in order to follow God's will more closely. He doesn't have all the answers (who does really?) but he recognizes the Spirit well and he knows that It is leading him in the right direction so he trusts in that and that God will not lead him astray.

My big project this week and next week is getting the orders ready for zone conferences. In my mission we do five zone conferences on five different days, with two zones at each conference (except for one which has three). So each day before I have to prepare the supplies that the missionaries ordered. I have used so much packing tape and cardboard already. It's crazy. We've done three of five. The other two are Monday and Tuesday, so I've got my work cut out for me. After that though my life will be pretty tranquil until the transfer week chaos starts in ten days. Although it may not seem like a spiritual experience, I've been able to have a pretty faith-building time putting together the supplies. The youth in all of Italy got together and did a big EFY (summer camp for Mormons). They took 160 copies of the Book of Mormon and each youth wrote his/her testimony/experiences in the front cover. Then they gave the books back to us to distribute to all our missionaries and have them hand them out to investigators that would benefit from those testimonies. One of my assignments is to read these testimonies before I put them in the orders. It's been an awesome experience to read all of the wonderful testimonies that these youth have and see the difference the Gospel has made in their lives. I love it because a lot of them say things like "I don't know everything about the Gospel, but I love what I do know and I want you to have that too!" These youth are great.

Until next time, y'all keep being bravi. Love, Anziano Simcox.

Fort Knox... - 8/30/14

Hey! Sorry this weekly update is a bit later than usual. It's been a hectic day. Preparation day is supposed to be relaxing. Mica tanto! Ah well. Life goes on. My English is getting worse and worse. I might as well just starting writing these letters in Italian ormai. Have your pocket translators handy.

Life is great in the office. This week went by so fast I hardly had time to realize what day it was. I was constantly busy this week. While we were driving this evening I was making a couple phone calls and one person said, "I don't hear you very well! What's going on?" I said, "Oh, we're in the car right now. We had some downtime, so I figured we'd give you a call!" He goes, "Your definition of downtime is being in the car?!" And I said, "I know right?! Crazy."

On the utilities front, I've been working on shutting down the old apartment next to the mission office. I did some magic and closed the electric contract. It was great to walk in there, flip a switch, see nothing happen and go "Yah, I did that!" Unfortunately (and this has been the cause of most of my stress this week) for whatever reason our garage was attached to the same electric meter as the apartment. I'd like to know whose bright idea that was. That wouldn't be terrible, but the garage door and the gate to the driveway are both electric and can only be opened that way! The garage is basically impenetrable without electricity, believe me I tried. You should have seen me out there trying to get into that garage. A hammer, paperclips, clothes hangers, a flashlight, fold-able step stools, a letter opener... These were just some of my accomplices in this project. Nothing worked. That garage has now been named Fort Knox. Normally that wouldn't be a big problem, but unfortunately that's where our ENTIRE stock of copies of the Book of Mormon is... Yah. I made some phone calls and we have an electrician coming first thing Monday morning. No one could come any earlier because the holidays are still going on... So, there are a few zones that will just be a little short on copies of the Book of Mormon for a few weeks. I did all I could do.

We have a great investigator we've been teaching since before I got here. He's doing wonderful. Like any Italian, he loves to talk, so our lessons get a little off-track sometimes. He likes the church though. He's getting to know people too, which is great seeing as our ward is pretty big. It can be hard to get to know people if you're new. We had a lesson planned with him a few days ago. When we got there, he was already there playing with the kids who were running around. One of them asked if he could come to our lesson with us. He had the attention span you would expect out of any eleven year-old, but he was a great addition to the evening. He was just baptized earlier this year, so we asked him a few questions about how he felt at his baptism and the difference it made. It was nice for our investigator to hear a testimony like that coming from someone so young. At the end, we asked the kid to say the prayer. In effect, he said something like this: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us here today. This lesson was pretty boring for me, but I probably would've been more bored if I had gone to English class, so thank you. Anyway, the important thing is that this guy is getting baptized. I really have to go the bathroom. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." All of us were cracking up in the middle of the prayer. It was so much fun. It helped our investigator loosen up a bit. He feels a little nervous sometimes in church because he doesn't know a lot of people yet. Anyway, he's still preparing for baptism... not next weekend, but he's hoping for the next weekend. He's just trying to quit smoking. It's been a little hard for him, but he's honestly trying. We actually ran into him today at the market. He's finished his last packet of cigarettes today and he says he's completely done. I think he's really done. He has a good desire.

We've been able to have an office miracle this week. It was Tuesday afternoon and we were going about our office work. The intercom rang and we didn't think much of it because we get at least four different mail carriers coming each day. We opened the gate and were expecting a mailman, but up the path comes walking a younger girl in her twenties. We talked with her for a while and she talked about how she had been going through some difficult trials in her life and she saw the sign and thought maybe someone would be able to help her. We told her we didn't have many resources as far as employment goes, but that we do have the Gospel and that sure can help with a lot of problems in our life. She agreed, we talked to her a little more, and we set up an appointment for her to come the next evening. Sister Dibb was there too, and even though she didn't understand everything, she got the gist and was super excited. She declared that she and President would be there the next night for the appointment. So the next evening, this girl showed up and we had a beautiful lesson in the lobby of the mission office with her, Anz. Stewart, myself, and President and Sister Dibb. It was a really neat experience, and of course it was a neat experience to teach a lesson with President and Sister. They were really excited to have an investigator! It was a great lesson, she was grateful to receive a Book of Mormon, and we're hoping to see her again.

My thought string lately has led me to think about what happiness means, especially in the context of the Church. I read a great article in one of the Church's magazine a few weeks ago that I really enjoyed. It talked about one new convert's experience with obedience. We know from the scriptures that true happiness comes from being obedient to God's commandments. This woman talked about how she assumed that when she joined the Church all her problems would disappear, or at least that she would be able to happily deal with them, as long as she was obedient to the principles she had learned. Instead, it seemed as if she was less happy and her trials were increasing. Looking back, she said she cam to call this mentality the "bubble gum machine mentality." At the beginning of her conversion, she thought that the Gospel was like a bubble gum machine: You obey and you get a blessing, just like you put a quarter in and out pops a gumball. Instead, it's not always like that. Obedience will of course ultimately bring blessings, but that doesn't mean that we're going to automatically receive a blessing each time we're obedient! Even if one is living a righteous life, that doesn't entitle that person to constant happiness. Difficult moments come in life. Trials happen. We are subject to mortal frailties. However, that doesn't mean that God doesn't love us or that we are doing anything wrong. I've been guilty myself of this mentality, especially in my mission. It's easy to think, "I'm not 100% happy right now... There must be something I'm doing wrong." It's important to realize the broader scope of things. Sometimes, things just happen. Our job in mortality is to take it, roll with it, get as much good as we can out of it, better ourselves because of it, and then keep going. A lot of people miss the whole "endure to the end" aspect of the Gospel. It's also not enough to endure. We need to progress to the end.

Those are my thoughts for now. TTFN! Vi voglio tantissimo bene.

I'm learning to Excel! - 8/23/14

Hey there. Another week come and gone!

This one's been a busy one for me. Lots of paperwork. Lots of Word documents. Lots of Excel spreadsheets (now the punny subject line makes sense). Lots of phone calls. It's crazy. I've never really spent much time in an office. It's weird. And completely different from what I've been doing for most of my mission. I'm really enjoying it though. Even though I'm not out the whole day knocking doors or talking to people in the streets, I'm still doing missionary work. It's neat to handle all the referrals. Whenever missionaries meet someone who lives outside of their area, they text the information to me and I forward it to whoever it belongs to. I sent a referral to the Canary Islands a few days ago. Who knew there was not just a branch there, but a whole stake! So it's fun to read everyone's stories and see the work moving forward in all parts of the world. I also get to learn how the mission works in ways most missionaries never even know. My newest project has been researching all the means of transportation in Lombardia and coming up with cost-effective ways to meet the missionaries' travel needs. We're going to be able to save the mission a lot more money and still travel the same. President keeps saying we need to "conserve the Lord's sacred funds and honor the widow's mite." I like it.

We have an investigator that's pretty close to baptism. He's been investigating the church for a month or two. They found his number in the phone because he met missionaries sometime last year. He likes the church and comes every week, but he's always been a little hesitant about actually becoming part of it. In our last lesson we brought a member with us. It was awesome. The member said exactly what our friend needed to hear in a way we never would've been able to. (Hey Mormons, go out with the missionaries. They need you.) Our friend set a baptismal date for two weeks from now and he's working to achieve it. He told us he smoked his last cigarette on Wednesday so hopefully he can keep that up.

In my study this morning I came across a few scriptures that I've come across in the past, but I've never been able to understand them. In the Bible (Luke 17) Jesus gives a small parable about how we as humans are unprofitable servants to God. In the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 2) King Benjamin expands on this by saying that no matter what we do or say, we will be unprofitable servants to God. "I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another— I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants."

With this comes the tempation to think, "Well, why care?" A lot of people think that way. However, we have to, as always, see things through God's eyes. He doesn't have to give us life. He doesn't have to allow us to serve Him. He doesn't have to give us free agency or eternal life, yet he offers all of these things to us. He is self-existing, yet his entire existence is directed toward our eternal life. So even though we are in a sense "unprofitable" to Him, we are also the most valuable things in His eyes. It's a bit of a paradox. The thing that is of most worth to God is YOU! So in answer to the question, "why care?" I respond, "because God cares! 

"And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keephis commandments he doth bless you and prosper you."

TTFN- Anziano Simcox

Ferragosto. - Aug. 16, 2014

It's Ferragosto time again. That's the time when the entire country says "I don't care! I'm going on vacation!" And then they do it. Not only is it common, it's expected. I was talking with one of the members in Varese and I said "Are you going anywhere for Ferragosto?" And he said "Anziano. We're Italian. Of course we are." For the next two weeks, Milano will be basically empty. Everyone goes to the sea. Or Croatia. Or France. Or Sicilia. Or not Milano. Except, of course, the missionaries.

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a tad, but it really is like that. I'm a little less affected being in the office most of the day, but it's still hard to get some work done here too. I've been trying to call some landlords or energy companies and everyone says "I'm on vacation! Call back in September." So, hopefully nobody's power goes out, otherwise it'll have to stay off until September. (Kidding, we'd figure it out. Have no fear.)

I'm getting to know the ward pretty well. Our ward is the Milano Navigli ward. (Na-VEEL-ye). Say that a few times fast. The city of Milano itself has three wards: Navigli, Cimiano, and Lampugnano. So far I've served in two of them! Both tiems with the same companion, at least for a little bit. Maybe for my last transfer President will take both of us and put us in Lampugnano so that I will have served in all three wards. Anyway, the ward is great. There is a lot of South Americans and Filipinos. Filipinos are probably the happiest people on the planet. And the ones who eat the most. If you go to a Filipino's house, expect to come out with an upset stomach. It's so wonderful. I wish though that everyone on Earth could be as happy as the Filipinos. This world would be a much different place.

Last week for P-Day we went to the Duomo, something I've done many times. This time though, we went up on the roof. That was really neat. After climbing a milllliiiooonnnnn stairs, we got to the top. I attached a picture of all the spires. Each one has a statue of a saint. We also went into the museum. Right now because they're doing a lot of restoration work, they've taken down many of the spires and put them in a museum. It was really neat to see up close some of the things that people never get to see up close. There is a surprising amount of detail on these sculptures and paintings. They also had a copy of the mosaics on the windows. Each pane is a different Bible story. They had everything from creation to the life of Jesus, to Revelations. It was insane. The next time I go in the actual Duomo, I want to pay more attention to the windows.

When I was in Cimiano I was teaching a wonderful family. The wife was from Colombia and newly arrived in Italy and the husband was Italian. I'm sure I wrote about them when I was in Cimiano last year. Anyway, he was not a member, but he really liked the Church and was starting to attend regularly and read the Book of Mormon with his wife. He's partly blind, so he couldn't read, but she would read to him and he liked it. She also didn't speak much Italian so it was so fun to communicate with them. While we were teaching we had to read things in Spanish, teach in Italian, then have him translate to Spanish for her and then have him translate her response back into Italian. It was funny though because as he would translate for her, it gave him time to actually think about what we were saying. Because of that, he had a really good understanding of what we taught. It was fun to watch the cogs turn as he translated for her. Anyway, he was baptized last week. I was walking on air when I found it. They're such a beautiful couple and I feel so grateful to have played a part in his conversion. Anz. Parker and I started teaching them and I was soooo sad to leave them. They were well cared for though, and I'm happy to see that his conversion continued. Now they have a goal to go to the temple together. So wonderful. 

I love seeing fruits like this, even long after I leave a city. It reminds me also that there are many seeds that I plant that I may never be aware of. I have a theory that we as missionaries only see maybe ten percent, if even, of the work that we actually do. It's so wonderful to be an instrument in God's hands and do His will, even if I don't see his entire plan. I know what the end result should be though, and that's my goal.

Buon Ferragosto! :P Love, Anziano Simcox.

When they were digging out the tunnels for the subway a few decades ago, they planned to dig a line directly under the Duomo. As they were digging though, they dug into a large cavern that had been buried for several hundred years. After digging it out and cleaning it out a bit, they discovered that it was an old chapel used in the 13-16th century and... wait for it... a full immersion baptistry. Interesting huh?