Simpatizzanti e Profeti - 1/14/15

Hello my dearly beloved. Another week has flown by and I have now reached the final week of my mission here in Italy. I'll reminisce next week.

This week we've started to see the work pick up a bit in Merate. The holidays are now officially over and people are over the "carefree holiday" attitude. We've been able to find several quality investigators who have some great potential. We've been working hard and we're starting to see some fruits from our efforts. That doesn't always happen as missionaries, so we're grateful that it's happening at the moment.

One great experience we had was on Monday. We did a "scambio," or a companion exchange. I took Anz. Harding from Muggiò and sent Anz. Keller down there for a day. I didn't feel like I was doing anything different that day, but for some reason, everything just worked out. We went out to talk to people and managed to have several "good gospel conversations" as my mission president calls them and we were even able to teach a couple impromptu lessons. We had a planned lesson that evening at a member's home with their friend (the ideal situation). Their friend is twelve years old, but he's very spiritually mature for his age. I might have mentioned him a couple weeks ago. Anyway he's been coming to church regularly and he's become really involved. His parents have been mostly disinterested, but allow him to research religion on his own and make a choice. On Monday however, his father came and stayed for the lesson. He really enjoyed it and will be meeting with us tomorrow! It's always better when families investigate together.

Other than that, we are working as hard as we can and just trying to be better disciples of Jesus Christ. In my personal study lately I've been studying about prophets. It's quite a bold claim that we make, to have a prophet on the earth today. It could almost be blasphemous if it weren't true. We know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and that he "can do nothing, save he revealeth it unto his servants, the prophets" (Amos 3:7). Prophets and Apostles, those living and those long deceased, point us to Jesus Christ. After all "This is life eternal, to know thee the one true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (St. John 17:3). I've also had a certain scripture from the Book of Mormon floating around my head lately. "And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led" (1 Nephi 17:13). Prophets and Apostles are the fulfillment of this promise.

Have a wonderful week. Look for my "final epistle" next week. Vi voglio bene! - Anziano Simcox.

I don't think I sent a picture of the first snow we had a few weeks ago. Since then we haven't seen any snow. Actually a few days ago we had the warmest January day ever recorded... 17 degrees celsius, whatever that converts to.

Natale è vicino! - 12/17/14

Hello everyone! Christmas is right around the corner! I'm excited! We found a Christmas tree and some decorations tucked away in a little box in a pile of missionary "leftovers." We dug them out and made ourselves a nice little set-up. It makes me happy. 

Life in Merate is going great. We've kept ourselves pretty busy, so I'm grateful for that. There are some great people here. Our bishop is very involved in the ward and is also eager to improve missionary work in his ward, so we couldn't be any happier! The ward is also excited that the missionaries have a car now. "I missionari sono mobili! The missionaries are mobile!" They even announced in sacrament meeting that we have a car and that missionary work in the ward is now on an unprecented climb. The bishop invited us to come early on Sunday to a meeting with the bishopric. They printed of a list of all the members and then went down the list and selected about fifteen families in the ward that they wanted us to visit. Some are less-active, some are part-member families, and some just need some extra love. That list is our number one priority this week and we've made some good plans to see as many on that list as we can this week. It's going well so far and we look forward to seeing some great fruits as well as sharing as much Christmas cheer as possible. We're grateful to have so much support from the ward.

My new companion is named Anz. Keller. He's a good guy. He's only been in the mission for five months, so he's still on the younger side. Sometimes I forget how young he is, both in the mission and age wise. He's still 18! He's a bravo kid though. He has a good heart, a good work ethic, and a good testimony. That's all you need!

In personal study the other day I came across this scripture. "But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish." 2 Nephi 26:31. It's simple enough, but it made me ponder about real intent in work we do, whether it be missionary work, or life, or being a Christian in general. Even if we do all the actions, they mean nothing without real intent! The scriptures are full of testimonies of that principle. If you are a laborer in Zion, work for Zion, not yourself! Otherwise, what point is there?

Have yourselves a very merry Christmas! Remember the reason we celebrate. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life."

Sending you my love this Christmas season, Anziano Simcox.

Giorno di ringraziamento! - 11/29/14

THANKSGIVING! Even though we're in Italy, we managed to have ourselves a merry little Thanksgiving. The Harmers, the Dibbs, the Assistants, and us had a wonderful dinner at the mission home. Sister Harmer was cooking for two days straight. Bless her heart. They went to an American military base and got a bunch of American food, including a Butterball turkey, so we had a decently American Thanksgiving. It really hit the spot.

Don't worry, we eat Italian food too. Wednesday night we had an activity for just the men in church. Our investigator (really he's the ward's investigator, we just handle the paperwork) hosted it. He's a professional chef, so he knows his stuff. He taught us all how to make Parmigiana di Melanzane (Eggplant parmesan). Che buona! Anz. Strang and I came ready with spatulas and mission aprons (see picture). It was a good bonding moment with members of the ward.

We've been working with a less-active/part-member family. Roy and his sister Lalita are from the Philippines and joined the Church many years ago. Lalita's husband Joephil, who is not a member, just recently moved here. Because they live so far away from the chapel and there are no busses/trains on Sunday, they have not been able to come to church. We asked around, but no one was able to give them a ride. This past Sunday in church, we noticed an Italian woman in church whom we'd never seen before, so we introduced ourselves. She was a member who had moved to Rome, but had just recently moved back to the same city where Roy and his family live. As we were talking she asked if we ever visited people in Crema. We mentioned Roy and Lalita. She wondered why she had never seen them in church and we said it's because the mezzi don't run on Sunday. She volunteered her car on Sunday and also time in the evening to accompany us to lessons with them! We took her to a lesson a few nights ago and she fell in love with them immediately and organized a ride for them tomorrow. Sweet!

Last Sunday we had a funny experience with that family. They had invited us over one afternoon because they said they would have a couple people over to lunch. We thought oh cool! We'll come, eat, and then have a lesson with them. Well, "a couple people" turned out to be a bunch of filippine and their Italian husbands. We rang the doorbell and Lalita's sister opened the door. She was really confused why we were there, but we thought she was Lalita because they look alike and so we were double confused. But she let us in anyway and everybody just got quiet and stared at us. Honestly, it looked we had just been out ringing doorbells and we just walked into a party. We looked around for Roy or Lalita or Joephil, but none of them were there! So it was super awkward for a little bit. Then we ate some food and started talking to people and it got less awkward. We actually had some good conversations and met some nice people and dispelled a couple rumors. There was this group of Italian men and they were kind of mumbling amongst themselves and saying some not too nice things. Then one of them came over to where I was sitting and said "so, tell me about this whole Mormon thing. I've never had a chance to talk to a Mormon." We had a really nice conversation about Christ and prophets and a bunch of other good things. We exchanged numbers and hope to see him and his wife again sometime!

Moral of the story: Missionaries should crash more parties. :P For the record, Roy and co. did show up eventually and confirmed that we were indeed invited.

I'm loving Lodi. Between what little time in the evening we have to do proselyting work and the time we spend in the office, life is so spontaneous and unpredictable (see Exhibit A above). I'm loving it. I'll find out pretty soon if I'll be finishing my mission here or going off somewhere else for my last six weeks. I'm hoping to stay. I love Lodi so much.

TTFN. Have a great week! Love, Anziano Simcox.

Social Networking (that's Italian for social networking) - 11/22/14

This week has been a decently busy one. At least, we've had a full schedule every day. That doesn't always happen, but it's nice (and tiring) when it does!

We went to Firenze this week, A.K.A. Florence. Cool huh? See attached pictures. I've always wanted to hang around Florence for a day. We didn't really have a day, more like a few hours of "free time." So we stopped by the Duomo (see picture). It was pretty neat. It has a very different architectural style than most things I've seen in Italy, at least on the outside. On the inside of the huge dome, there's a big fresco of Dante's Inferno, at least that's what they told me (see other picture). One of my goals is to read that book in Italian when I get back. Things are always better in their original language! I would've have really like to see the David statue as well, but Italy has this weird custom that says that all museums are closed on Monday... Excuse me?

Anyway, the real reason we went to Firenze was not to hang out, even though that was cool too. We had a conference down there. Elder Fingerle did a mission tour. He's an Area Seventy from Germany. He's also the Director of Religious Education for the Europe Area if I remember right. He did several conferences in which he talked about using social media in our proselyting efforts. Before starting, he pointed out the elephant in the room: We're not allowed to use social media! We don't have iPads yet like some missionaries. That'll be the day, but until then, we are without. He still said that we can further our proselyting efforts with social media without even touching an iPad/computer. He talked about ways to invite members to use social media to reach out to not just some people, but ALL people. He brought up examples such as mormon.org, Mormon messages, FamilySearch (Facebook for the dead as he called it), sharing uplifting messages on social media sites, and so forth. It really opened my mind to the potentials that these sorts of tools can have. These instruments we have in our lives can be powerful tools for good if used correctly. That's the way God would like us to use them for sure. With social media, we can now reach out to many more people who before were beyond our sphere of influence. Now, our sphere of influence is the whole world!

We decided to try out this social media initiative. This week we visited several families in the ward. We talked about the practical applications we can make of the Gospel in our lives. Then we watched this video that the Church released on Easter: https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng. Take 2:45 to watch it. It's great. Then our invite to them was to share this video on Facebook with someone they thought might need it. One mother said "I'll also make an event page inviting OTHER people to share it too." Nice work. My invite to them is the same to you. Watch the video and think of someone that YOU know that could benefit from a greater faith in Jesus Christ. Obviously, the ultimate goal is not the video, but the opening of hearts and doors to the light of the Gospel. We try to open hearts and doors using all honorable means available to us. Today, these honorable means include social media.

I look forward to implementing this approach more in our proselyting efforts!

The mission's great. I love you all! Happy week. Love, Anziano Simcox

La Mia Epistola Settimanale - 11/8/14

I'm a little later than usual. It's been a hectic day. Actually it's been a hectic week. I was expecting this week to be pretty tranquilla, but it turned out to be the opposite. That's OK. I kind of prefer it this way. I'd much rather have a lot to do than nothing to do. The best men and women in the world can become the worst when they have nothing to do. There truly is wisdom in the Lord's counsel: "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."

We saw Ronaldo today for the first time since Dolores passed away. He's in good enough spirits given the circumstances. It was strange to be at their house without her. Her mancanza, her absence, was definitely felt. I know she's in a good place though and that she's hard at work in the Lord's service. I attached a picture of Anziano Strang, Ronaldo, and I. I really love that guy, even though communication isn't the best. He doesn't speak much Italian, and his English is pretty broken, but only 10% of communication is verbal right? He's leaving tonight for a month in the Philippines. He's bringing Dolores back there, staying for a month, and then coming back. We look forward to seeing him when we get back.

Lodi is so wonderful. I've actually still only seen it in the dark, but what I've seen has been beautiful. We were out walking a night or two ago talking to people. We came into a big piazza with a decent sized church. We thought that was the Duomo, the cathedral of the city. Each big city has it's own Duomo. We continued walking down the streets and we soon popped out into an even bigger piazza with an even bigger church that turned out to be the Duomo. It was beautiful and the piazza was amazing. I'll have to get some pictures if we ever see it in daylight. The streets are very old, but very well maintained. It's the most beautiful "centro" I've ever seen. I did not want to go in for the night when the time came. The members are wonderful too from what I've seen. Our Bishop is very supportive, which is always a HUGE positive. He pulled us into his office at the end of church last Sunday and talked about how anxious he was to get the missionary work moving in Lodi and he told us that we could count on him for anything. "Potete contare su di me!" Those are beautiful words coming from a Bishop's mouth. To boot, our chapel is outstanding too. I honestly was not expecting much. It's not too noticeable and it's kind of just stuck in between some plain-looking shops in an industrial-like area, but inside it's gorgeous. The thing is it's really plain inside too, but I just really love it. Maybe because it's kind of hidden that it feels even more beautiful on the inside.

So yah, I love Lodi and I hope to never leave. Although I keep having reminders of how soon I actually will leave Italy and that's scary. Still not sure how I feel about that. I try not to think about it too much.

We had a lesson just this evening with a new member of less than a year. He really understands the Plan of Salvation and the concept of free agency. He brought up a good point. He said to think of animals. In a way they're perfect. They can't sin, and they certainly won't be punished for any wrongdoing. We are much less perfect than animals because we can sin and we can cause bad things to happen. Humans can be pretty destructive. Then he posed the question, to which he already knew the answer, "Why then did God not make us perfect like the animals? The world never had to know imperfection." Then he gave the answer. "God loves us. He made us imperfect so that we could become perfect. He made us imperfect so that we could progress." There is no joy in stagnance. There is just being. True joy comes from progression. God could've loved us enough to create us as perfect beings, but instead He loved us more. He loved us so much that He created us as imperfect beings with the possibility of progression. True joy comes from progression.

Vi voglio tantissimo bene. Ormai l'italiano è più facile da scrivere e da parlare, quindi chiudo questa epistola in italiano. Meno male c'è Google Translate, no? Spero di poter parlare inglese quando torno. :P

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.

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.

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?

Office madness - 8/9/14

Greetings from my comfy office chair. Goodbye paying for internet at sketchy Western Union shacks. #perksofbeinganofficeelder.

The Elder who was training me was finally transferred on Thursday, so I am now an official Office Elder. W00t! This week was SUPER HECTIC though. It's transfer week. Three main things happen during transfer week. 1) Half the mission changes companions and cities. 2) A batch of new missionaries comes in from the MTC. 3) A group of missionaries finishes their mission and heads home. All of those things are stressful in themselves, but then you have to keep in mind that all of these things happen within a 48 hour time period. Wow. I don't think I stopped moving for those 48 hours. We didn't sleep a whole lot that's for sure.

At the beginning of the week we had an office staff meeting so that we could organize a schedule. In the office there are President & Sister Dibb, the two assistants to the President, the two office Elders, and a senior couple. We all had a schedule that was jam packed and we were using almost every vehicle we could and driving all over Milan. First I had to make sure that all of the apartments had everything they needed for the missionaries who were coming and going. That worked decently well. Then Wednesday afternoon came and we had to pick up the new missionaries from the airport. It was really neat to be there in the terminal and watch all of them come out of the security checkpoint. They were so jetlagged. It made me remember my first day in Italy. We loaded them and their luggage onto the bus and they drove off to the church to get training started. We helped shepherd them around from here to there and then we loaded them all up in the mission vehicles to take them to a restaurant. While they were eating, Anz. Stewart and I went back to the office to call their parents and let them know that their children are safe and sound in Italy. It was really neat to talk to the parents and hear how proud they were of their children and how much love they had for them.

Then we picked them up, drove them over to the hotel, and then after getting them all checked in (which was way harder than it should have been) Anz. Stewart and I went back to the airport to figure out why the missionaries arrived in Italy nine bags short. They gave us back seven of the nine and told us that the other ones would "get here when they get here." Then it was finally back to the office to finish up some odds and ends and then off to sleep.

End of day one.

After about five hours of sleep (not too bad really) we woke up even earlier than missionaries usually wake up, delivered the lost luggage, and brought them back to the church. Then it was back to the airport again where after a while we were able to convince them that there really were two bags still missing. Bags eventually retrieved, we brought them back just in time for the missionaries to head off to their new cities. THEN we had to go pick up the departing missionaries from the train station and ferry them and their luggage to the office. That took four trips in the van. Set up for dinner, eat dinner with the departing missionaries, clean up, bring them to the hotel, come back home, go to bed, never wake up.

It was quite the experience. I was grateful to be such an active part of everything though. I was especially grateful because this group of sisters that left were my sisters, the ones I was in the MTC with. Sisters only serve a year and a half, and this week was our year and a half mark. Can you believe it? It was so sad to send all of them home, but I was also grateful that I could be with all of them and see them one last time. They are a great group of people and each one of them taught me how to be a missionary through their examples. Good people. So yah. Now I feel super old without my sisters.

Then, after everything was over, it was back to life as normal on Friday. I felt really lazy. Not because I was, just because I wasn't constantly moving anymore! If you map our driving routes in those two days, it would make a full circle around Milan, several times.

On the spiritual side, just last night we had a lesson that I really enjoyed. We went to see a less-active young man who is about 17 years old. Anz. Stewart was telling me a bit of his history on our way over. He's never been too strong in the church and he has some problems dealing with peer pressure. They've taught him for a while, but usually they don't see much progress. Last night when we went over he expressed to us his desire to serve a mission! He said he doesn't know why, but the past few days he's had the idea in his head that he needs to go on a mission. He asked us what the next step should be. We opened up D&C 4 and read it with him verse by verse, stopping to expound on each idea. I felt the Spirit testifying and I'm sure that he felt it too. He commited to coming to church this Sunday and to praying to know if he should serve a mission. I'm looking forward to seeing his progress and one day seeing him out in the field.

Life is great. God is good. The Gospel is true. My testimony of those things grows stronger every day!

All my love, Anziano Simcox.

Picture this week: This is actually from Varese a few weeks ago. We went to a monastery built into the side of a mountain on a lake. Really neat. They still preserved it pretty well and inside the chapel they had a recording of some Gregorian chants. I liked it a lot.

Rubinetto Esplosivo - July 23, 2014

Hello there. Due to an exploding faucet in our kitchen I'm a bit short on time. See attached picture. I'm thinking of sending it in to National Geographic.

Hmmmm. Exciting things this week... We're actually finding people to teach. That's been nice. One new investigator is from Eritrea, which apparently is a small African country whose native language is Italian! Go figure.

We're still working with our Venezuelan/Italian family. The wife is Venezuelan, he's Italian. She's a member, he's not. He was diagnosed with cancer a while back and has been going through treatments. The wife has been less active for quite a while, but now she's coming back to church with her sister who is visiting from Venezuela and pushing the whole thing along. They are a beautiful family and they are so nice. The husband is really loving the Gospel, really studying the Book of Mormon, and teaching their daughter to do the same. It's been difficult for him to come to church, but we're hoping that this Sunday he'll be well enough to do it.

Lately, we've been trying to go out and do a lot of work in the villages surrounding Varese. Every Italian city has a province surrounding it with cities varying from big to miniscule. We share most of the province with our sisters, so we've got a pretty big area. We've been trying to get out and do some finding/less active work there. It's been rewarding and we've gotten to see a lot of awesome things we wouldn't be able to see otherwise.

The focus is still big on the family. To my family members, I hope it's OK I'm using pictures of you to stop people. It's actually working decently well. Families can be united forever and it's important to know that!

Soooo sorry, but that's all I have to send today. Speaking of families, we're off to see a member family right now and help them set up a family mission plan. To all you Mormons out there, DO IT! Family mission plans are fantastic. If you're not familiar with the concept, ask your nearest missionary. He/She would be overjoyed to explain it to you.

All my love from Italy, Anziano Simcox

Andiamo al mare......... July 16, 2014

"Andiamo al mare. Ci sentiamo alla fine d'agosto."

"We're going to the sea. We'll talk at the end of August..."

That seems to be the catchy phrase the kids are saying nowadays. I don't like it. I will teach you about eternal happiness NOW thank you very much.

Other than that, the work is great. Lately in the mission we've been trying to put a much bigger focus on the family. We've each taken a "My Family" booklet (https://familysearch.org/campaign/myfamily) and decorated the front with pictures of our own families. Yesterday we took it out and tried to stop people with it. It was neat. It gave a much more personal approach than "Have you ever seen this book?" and it gave people an immediate thing to talk about that means something to them. I like it. I still haven't finished the inside though. It's basically a four generation pedigree chart in book form. There's a page for each ancestor where you can put a picture and write some stories/memories of that person. It was originally designed to help new converts prepare to go to the temple, but it's become also a great missionary tool.

In district meeting on Monday we also talked about similar methods of finding people. We talked about using the "four points" to explain clearly and simply the message of the Restoration. These four points serve as a good to us missionaries in giving a brief overview of our message and how it can be a blessing in the lives of those we teach. Really they're a great summary to what we as members of the Church believe.

God is our literal Father in Heaven. He loves us. Every person on earth is a child of God and a member of God’s family. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our Savior and Redeemer.

Our loving Father in Heaven reached out to His children throughout biblical history by revealing His gospel to prophets. Sadly, many people rejected that gospel; even some of those who accepted it changed gospel doctrines and ordinances and fell into unbelief and apostasy.

Our Father in Heaven sent His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to earth. He performed miracles and taught His gospel. He accomplished the Atonement and was resurrected.

Beginning with the First Vision, God has again reached out in love to His children. He restored the gospel of Jesus Christ and His priesthood authority and organized His Church on the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is convincing evidence of this Restoration

Good stuff. I love being a missionary. Overall, the goal of Anz. Atwood and I is to find people to teach. In this summer period we have to take a bit of a different approach. A lot of people want to just take a break from the things that worry them and the world around them in general. What we're trying to help them understand is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ IS this relief from the troubles of the world. The thing about the common view of religion however seems to be that the true faithful should have no problems or concerns. That's false doctrine. We read in Matthew 5:45 that God "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Faith does not decrease our problems. In some cases it might even temporarily increase them! The true doctrine however is that having faith in Jesus Christ gives us the strength to overcome the difficulties in our life and/or endure these difficulties having a more eternal perspective of what our mortal existence means. We are here for a purpose. As the famous verse in the Book of Mormon reads "Men are that they might have joy!" (2 Nephi 2:25). Faith in Jesus Christ gives us that joy, even if the trials of life seem unending. All things are in the hands of He who created all things!

All my love I send to you and yours! Love, Anziano Simcox.

Picture: Anz. Atwood and I (In hiking clothes of all things, that's a rare sight) at the peak of "Parco Campo dei Fiori." In the background is the Swiss border and the Pre-Alps. I promise I'm not that short. He's standing on a rock or something...

WeEkLy UpDaTe - July 9, 2014

I couldn't get creative for a title this week. Take what you can get. :P

I'm tired (I know, not news) and old (in the mission that is, although I did just turn 21). On Monday we had a zone meeting. This zone is a lot bigger than Bergamo's zone, geographically and people-wise. It being the last zone meeting we'll have before next transfer, all of the "dying missionaries," the one's going home in a few weeks, got to give their final testimonies. I'm particularly sad about this group going home because these sisters going home soon are the ones I was with in the MTC! Elders serve two years, but sisters only do a year and a half. Also, apparently I'm old enough that one of the zone leaders mistakenly thought that I was going as home as well and had put me on the program to give my farewell!! Excuse me?! I might be old, but I'm not there yet! I'm definitely getting over the hill though...

Varese's pretty great. I feel a little more adjusted than last week. I've got a good hold on the area now and I can get my way around the city, even if I disagree with the way it's laid out. Really, it makes no sense. Different from Bergamo, we also cover the entire province (think county), so I've been able to see the surrounding areas as well. Last week we visited a member in a beautiful city stuck between a lake and a mountain. I didn't have my camera with me, but I'll get one eventually.

Since summer has "started" (the rain and cold would beg to differ) a lot of people have left on vacation. One investigator went to Puglia for two months. A few members have also gone of to Switzerland/other places. There's still a good 10 or so members that I haven't met yet because of vacation or sickness. Two of our members are in the hospital right now. One has a constant fever and has trouble eating, but they're not sure what's wrong yet. He's somewhere in his 20s. The other one, an older member, had his fifth heart attack. We went to visit him and he was taking it pretty well. He said with all these operations they've done on him he should be a cyborg before long.

We had a great appointment with a part-member family Sunday night. The wife, a member, has lived here in Italy six years or so and had never been to church in Italy up until a few weeks ago. The husband, not a member, was diagnosed with cancer a while back and has been going through chemo-therapy. A few weeks ago the wife came to church with her sister, who is visiting from Venezuela. The sister convinced the wife to come to church with her so that someone could come give a blessing to her husband. The Elders went over and gave him a blessing, and he felt the Spirit very strongly. They went back one other time and taught the family. On Sunday we went over and taught the Plan of Salvation. It was one of the best Plan of Salvation lessons I'd ever been involved in. We started by watching Finding Happiness, a short film about, obviously, finding happiness in today's hectic world. That was a perfect lead-in to talking about the purpose of life. We used some figurines that Anz. Atwood had to explain the Plan of Salvation. It was good because the husband already knew about it from his wife and sister-in-law before we taught the lesson so it helped him solidify his testimony of it. Their daughter, also not a member, has been reading in the Book of Mormon and last Sunday she and the mother came to church! He would come too, but it's still difficult because of his treatments. Once his treatments are over, he's hoping to be able to come to church and be baptized. It's great to see this family re-activating and learning the Gospel together.

Listening to the "dying testimonies" on Monday, I gained an insight that I really liked. One sister held up a picture of Jesus sitting on a hill overlooking Jerusalem. She talked about how this could have been a few nights before His crucifixion. She talked about some thoughts he might have been having. He might have been apprehensive, knowing the tasks that laid ahead of Him. He might have been sad, knowing that His ministry was coming to a close. He might have been pensive, thinking about His ministry and the effects it had on people. He didn't convert everyone He met. He didn't establish world peace. However, He did all that the Father had commanded Him too. The people around Him had free agency, but He knew that He had done all He could to make a difference. Of course, Christ IS the difference. It is interesting to think however that even the Savior of the world, the only perfect being to ever walk the earth, didn't convert everyone He taught. Many rejected Him. Many tried to kill Him, and some succeeded. However, He did what He was commanded to and so should I and so should we all.

Vi voglio bene, Anziano Simcox

Morendo di caldo... 6/11/14

It's. So. Hot. 33°C... Conversion... *calculating...* 91,4°F. That's hot. Add on the humidity and it's even hotter. Spring has come to a quick and brutal end. And I'm really hot.

All of this heat is bringing back memories of Pesaro. That had to have been by far the hottest I've ever been in my life. This time I'm lucky though. Our apartment has an air conditioner that works wonderfully. After that realization, I'd like to get transferred even less. I suppose I'm too spoiled.

Fun events this week... Oh! Branch activity. In my time in Bergamo, branch activities haven't always been the most well-attended activities. For those that come they're great, but there's always room for improvement and "the more the merrier" they always say. We've been trying to figure out how to improve that. Missionaries care about activities because they are a "non-threatening" way to introduce people to the Gospel. Many a member has been found through ward activities. Well, a woman in our branch loves to dance. How could you not? Anyway, every year she plans this big night of folk dancing in the chapel. She hires a musician who plays the guitar and the harmonica at the same time. Che talento! We came to help her set up and stayed to see what would happen. For the first hour or so of the activity there was only a group of five or six people. She was teaching them dance steps in preparation for the actual event. It was amusing to watch. After a while, one of them asked a question about the church. This turned into a lovely Gospel conversation in which the member taught them all about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon in a completely natural way. She had it all covered. At the end she threw in "and these are the missionaries, who would love to tell you more if you're interested." That is the ideal situation. Once we got around to the actual activity, there were at least eighty people there, about half of whom had never been to the church before. We set out a table of pamphlets and pass-along cards next to the food (tricky, I know) that got put to good use. We had several opportunities to teach a bit about the Church and about the Plan of Salvation. Overall, the secret to a good branch activity: the members are behind it with the missionaries running behind to catch up, instead of the other way around.

We've had an investigator named that for most of my time in Bergamo has been fluctuating between progressing and not. This past transfer it's been more towards the "not progressing" side of things. It seemed to us that we were pulling out all of the stops and nothing was working. The branch is very concerned about his progress, but we haven't had much to tell them because it's been difficult to see him, let alone teach him. Last week though after some prayerful consideration we came to the conclusion that he needed to understand the Restoration more. It seemed strange because to us there seemed to be much bigger problems blocking him than that. We went ahead anyway and planned a Restoration lesson with a focus on Apostasy and Restoration of the Priesthood. A large part of the lesson was reading most of 1 Nephi 13. He usually doesn't like to spend large portions of our lesson reading, but this time he was genuinely interested. We read from verse twenty onward and explained things along the way. He was so engrossed in the reading that he got mad when we tried to finish reading, insisting that we finish the chapter. He now has a much greater understanding of the Restoration. He was able to explain it in his own words and with his own conviction, whereas before he struggled to see a difference between the Church of Jesus Christ and any other church.

There's the update for now. I hope you all stay cool. I'll try to do the same. Although "if it ain't sweatin' it ain't workin'."

All the love, Anziano Simcox

Picture: I couldn't make it greener if I tried.