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.