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.