Affinché possano provare gioia

Buon giorno! How are you today? There are miracles in Pesaro my friends. It's been a hard week, but a rewarding week as well.

I'll start with a funny story first. It was Friday morning and we were getting ready for our weekly planning session. About five minutes in, our carbon monoxide detector went off. We called the mission office and they told us to go outside and call the fire department. For all the flack I give Italians, their fire department had a pretty quick response. About five minutes later we hear sirens off in the distance.

The firemen sweep the house and say that there's nothing there. This whole time the alarm has still been going off. Four of the firemen huddled in a circle all taking turns trying to disable it. Eventually one of them just pulled out the wire. Hah. Who needs an off switch when you can just pull the wires out? One new CO detector later and we are back in business.

Now back to missionary work. Carmine got baptized! It was a wonderful ceremony. Anz. Valentine and I were standing behind the font as witnesses and we pretty much got baptized too as he went under. Hah! The next day in church was just as amazing, if not more so. The branch president, the district president, Anz. Valentine, and I put our hands on his head and confirmed him as a member of the church and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost. After we had finished, Carmine looked up with tears in his eyes and just said, "Wow." For a man of many words as he, it was beautiful to hear him just simply say, "Wow." I'm so happy for him and look forward to seeing his testimony continue to grow.

The weather is getting a bit cooler now. It's no longer 100 degrees at least. Thank goodness. I was slowly melting there for a little bit. I'm grateful to be here in Pesaro, however much I might complain about the heat. I love the people here and it's been such a pleasure to interact with them and help them grow closer to Christ. I've had two scriptures on my mind lately that I'd like to share. The first is from the Bible in Psalm 118:24. "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." The second is from the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 2:25. "Adam fell that men might be; and men are that they might have joy." Our entire purpose of this existence is to have joy. Not just temporal joy that comes and goes, but everlasting joy. So that we can have this joy, God has shown us the way, which is through His Son Jesus Christ. Following His example, we find that eternal joy. Life may come with its challenges and difficulties, but if we walk in the Savior's footprints we will always be able to find peace--come what may. Keep walking and keep following His example and you will find the way.

Vi voglio bene, Anziano Simcox

Sei mesi

Buon giorno da Pesaro! Beautiful, sunshiney, extremely hot and humid

Pesaro... It's really hot here. Even at night. There's no rest from

the heat. Our poor fans are dying. One of them actually collapsed last

week. Partly because we dropped the bunk bed frame on her but hey...

We named her Betty. She's a trooper, and our number one fan... ... ...

Pity laugh anyone?

Aside from the heat though, we're doing okay. We're still adjusting to

working in four, but things are starting to settle down. It's a weird

change and our apartment is a little cramped, but andiamo avanti.

We're getting a new kitchen here soon so that should be exciting. Just

in time for me to leave right? Figures. Our kitchen is really old and

nasty so they're ripping out everything and putting in an Ikea

kitchen, whatever that means. We're excited. That's one of those

simple joys of missionary life.

As of yesterday I've been a missionary for six months! Crazy right? I

feel like I've been here forever, but at the same time no. I remind

myself sometimes that I'm still only in my first area. I feel really

old though. Hah. I love Pesaro, however hot it is.

Our friend Matteo broke his leg. That was a bit of a downer for all of

us. He was playing soccer and tripped... He's farther away now, so

it's harder to visit him, but we're trying to do the best we can. He's

keeping a positive outlook though! He actually thinks it's kind of

funny in retrospect. It's kind of like me when I tore my ACL. It's

hilarious now that I look back. Actually that was hilarious in the

moment... but hey.

Carmine is getting baptized on Saturday! He's really excited. He's

such an inspiration to me. He is a person who likes to take time to

make the right decision, hence why it took him a year and a half to

choose to be baptized. We were a little sad at church on Sunday

because Pietro didn't come again. Our investigators can't make

progress unless they come to church so we were sad that he will be

missing that step in his conversion. Carmine talked to us and gave us

a lot of encouragement. He told us that he's stood up the Anziani

plenty of times. He said that the first Anziano that found him never

had the pleasure to see him in church, but here he was in front of us

now. As missionaries we never know the seeds that we plant. I could

easily look back at my time here in Pesaro and at first glance it

would appear that I haven't seen much accomplished. Numbers help us to

quantify, but they can never measure a person's heart. We as

missionaries will never know the changes that we helped to bring about

in someone's heart. As Pres. Wolfgramm always said, "The greatest

miracle is the changing of a human heart." While at first glance the

physical results of our labors may be much, I know that a huge

spiritual harvest is in the future for whoever is willing to do all

that God may require. His purposes are much higher than ours and we

never know the miracles that He has in store, even if we may never

realize them.

That's my message for today. Sometimes in life we go about thinking

that we're not going anywhere, but I promise that if you are pushing,

you are going somewhere. Anz. Miller always loved to tell this story:

An old man once hired a young boy. The young boy's job was to move a

boulder from point A to point B. The young boy pushed, yet the boulder

did not move. Every day the young boy pushed with all his might, but

the boulder would not budge. This continued for a year with the

boulder making absolutely no progress. Finally the young boy went to

the old man and said, "What is the point of doing this? Every day for

a year I have pushed this boulder and it has not moved one inch! Why

don't you just move it yourself?" The old man replied, "Of course I

could move it myself, but what good would that do? Look at yourself!

Look at what you've become!" The young boy looked at himself and

realized the difference that pushing the boulder had made. His body

was stronger. His mind was stronger. He had a newfound determination

and willpower that he had lacked a year before. He had not moved the

boulder, but he had moved himself. The young boy had become a man.

Keep pushing that boulder. Don't give up. Love, Me.

Sto morendo di caldo

I'm really tired. I claim no liability for the following. We played

soccer today in Ancona with the other Anziani. It was nice. I haven't

played in so long! Then we went and did grocery shopping. There's this

really good cereal named Master Crumble, but it's only sold at a

specific grocery store chain here in Italy. Whenever we go to Ancona

we make it a point to go to Lidl and get Master Crumble. It's. So.

Good. Those are the simple pleasures of missionary life. The other

simple pleasure is when you try to carry all of your groceries while

biking. Usually I just attach it to the hook on the back of my bike,

but today it didn't work and my face ended up on the ground. It was

pretty epic. Sadly, one peach passed away in the catastrophe... I'm

totally fine---just mourning for the peach.

Pesaro is great, but REALLY HOT. This week it hit 41°C. For those who

don't have their temperature converter handy, that's 105°F. Mamma mia.

I had no idea that Italy ever gets this hot. Apparently it does. I've

been drinking LOTS of water. I already drank lots of water anyway, but

now I drink more. Hah!

The work in Pesaro goes along. We have four Anziani here in Pesaro

now! It's weird sharing our apartment with two others. Their names are

Anz. Anderson and Anz. Kekoolani. They're great missionaries though.

Anz. Kekoolani is fresh off the plane; another new missionary in

Pesaro! We've been trying to figure out how to make it work with four.

Pesaro isn't that big of a city, so we're learning how to share space.

It's fun though. The members love having four of us now and it's

getting them more excited about missionary work. We've seen a small

surge of member missionary work as members have been sharing their

testimonies with people around them. It's awesome!

Carmine is excited about his baptism next Saturday! We are too! The

members are really excited to see another baptism in Pesaro. They're

few and far between, so whenever there is one, you can feel the

excitement.

As I've said before, one of the blessings of being a missionary is

being able to talk to many different kinds of people throughout the

day. Everyone has a story that makes them who they are. I love hearing

these stories and being able to help these people understand what has

brought me so much joy. It's hard when people don't want to accept our

message or just blow us off immediately. Some people look outwardly

disgusted by us the moment they see us. There are always people who

will listen though. There are always people who are prepared to

listen. It's wonderful to find these people and be able to help them a

bit on their journey to eternal life. It's where we're all trying to

make it in one way or the other.

I don't have a big story to tell this week or a crazy miracle to

write. Of course my whole life is a story and every day is full of

miracles. Everyday I have the opportunity to share what, or who more

specifically, brings me joy: Jesus Christ. I bear my testimony that He

is our Savior. He lives. He loves us. He is waiting to bless us. The

purpose of the Bible and the Book of Mormon is to bear witness of

Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. I have no doubts about this. He is

real. He loves us. He loves you. Come unto Him and be saved.

Vi voglio un sacco di bene,

Anziano Simcox

Trasferimenti #3 ed altre storie da Pesaro

Hello everyone! It's me again.

So first, how about an update on transfers? It's that time of year again already. I found out that I will be spending six more weeks in Pesaro. I love Pesaro, so I'm not too upset about it. Anz. Valentine will be staying with me. Here's the crazy news: we're getting two extra missionaries! There will be four Anziani in Pesaro. Whew. Our apartment has enough room. We spent most of our P-Day today trying to organize the apartment. It doesn't look to bad. We look like a missionary apartment now with the way everything is crammed in. We'll be a little cozy, but it'll be ok. We're excited. It will definitely be a blessing for the work here in Pesaro, and I'm sure the members will love it too.

Let's start off with crazy miracle time. We have an eternal investigator named Carmine. He has been investigating the church for over a year and he's been coming to church for a while. In every way except baptism, he is a part of the branch. He's super awesome. He has a great testimony and great humor. He loves my last name too. Every time he sees me he says it as loud as he can and says "un nome forte!" Hah! He's never had anything against getting baptized, but he's always told the Anziani he wasn't ready to pick a date. He wanted to wait until the time is right. So, we just treat him like a member of the branch knowing that when the time is right he'll come to us.Well, on Sunday he had us over at his house and told us that he is ready. He wants to be baptized on August 10th! There will be a baptism in Pesaro! We are excited and he is very content. He's planned out the whole ceremony. It's kind of funny to watch. It's almost as if he's planning a wedding. We're glad to see that he's ready and so happy about it.

We've been trying to put more emphasis on member missionary work lately. A few weeks ago, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles did a conference about missionary work called the "Work of Salvation." If you haven't watched it, go watch it now. It is awesome and does a wonderful job talking about the members' responsibility in missionary work. When we have such a great gift as the Gospel, we should have the desire to share it! Imagine that you found the cure to cancer. Would you hide it, or would you share it with as many people as possible? Of course you'd share it with everyone you saw! That's the same way we should treat our testimonies. Our testimonies are precious. Just as that cure to cancer is a cure to physical disease, even more are our testimonies cures to spiritual disease. If you have a testimony, regardless of the shape or size, you have the responsibility to share it with those who have not yet realized their own and even with those who already have one. The Savior Himself said, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:19-20). If you have a testimony (and I know that all of you reading this have a testimony of SOMETHING in some way or other) go share it!

There's my discourse for this week. I hope you learned something. I love all of you. As always, thank you so much for your emails, letters, prayers, and thoughts. I'm grateful to know that I have so many wonderful people supporting me.

Vi voglio bene,

Anziano Simcox

Prega. Ama. Credi.

Hello everyone! How is summer going? It's already halfway through! Crazy! Time flies when you're a missionary. My summer is going great. I'm still living and loving Pesaro, the city of dreams. The picture this week is a little taste of Italy. It's from one of the back alleys in Pesaro. Cool huh? What a beautiful country.

This week is the fifth week of the transfer, which means that my new missionary is the senior companion for this week! He's the head honcho and I'm the junior companion again. It's cool to see him stepping up. He's a bravo missionary who is working hard.

What can I tell you about this week? I'll tell two stories. (As usual,I made up the names. I'm not too creative, but hey.)

First, I want to tell you about Pietro. We met him last week. It was cool that we found him in the first place. We were definitely in the right place at the right time. Anz. Valentine's bike was broken (story of our lives), so we were on foot for the day. As we were walking across town we decided to take a different way just for fun. It turns out that was divinely inspired because we found Pietro! He said he had been looking around for a church for some time now, but couldn't seem to find what he was looking for. We of course told him that this is what he was looking for. A few days later we ran into him in Centro and he asked us why we hadn't set up an appointment with him yet! We had a lesson with him then and there and gave him the Book of Mormon. A sickness stopped him from coming to church on Sunday, but we had a lesson with him the next day. It was the best first lesson that I've ever been a part of (not that I've been around the mission long, but hey).

Second, I'll talk more about Matteo. He's awesome. I love getting to know him. He's become like a brother almost. He is having difficulties, but he's trying so hard. He won't be ready to be baptized when we originally planned, but it is a goal that he wants to work for still. He's awesome. We meet with him almost every day and we pray every day.

Prayer is one huge lesson I've learned. It's such a wonderful thing. Prayer = literal communication with God. What a concept! I used to always think "oh it'd be so much easier if we could just pick up the phone and call God." Guess what? We can, and there is no charge for long distance. We can take any problem to God and trust that we can find resolution. It's not that God is some magic problem-fixer who

will make everything disappear, but He IS our Father and he is waiting to bless us. As Howard W. Hunter said, "If prayer is only a spasmodic cry at the time of crisis, then it is utterly selfish, and we come to think of God as a repairman or a service agency to help us only in our emergencies. We should remember the Most High day and night —always—not only at times when all other assistance has failed and we desperately need help. If there is any element in human life on which we have a record of miraculous success and inestimable worth to the human soul, it is prayerful, reverential, devout communication with our Heavenly Father." I feel especially strong about prayer right now. Prayer is a miracle and prayer brings miracles. "A man never stands taller than when upon his knees." (Thomas S. Monson).

Keep praying. Keep loving. Keep believing.

I love all of you! 'Til next time, Anziano Simcox.

Egli sta bussando alla porta

Hello everyone! Another day, another... oh wait I don't get paid. In

money at least, although the spiritual bank account is overflowing.

How was everyone's Fourth of July? Mine was awesome. We had a Festa

Americana in the church. I know we live in Italy, but hey. It was

great. We had a good amount of people, lots of fun, and lots of food.

Anz. Valentine and I brought lemonade, s'mores, and brownies. Our

members are obsessed with brownies. Some anziano made them brownies a

while back and ever since then they constantly ask us to make

brownies. They were intrigued by the s'mores. JetPuff not existing in

Italy, we had to resort to Haribo strawberry-flavored marshmallows.

They didn't turn out too bad though. The members weren't sure what to

think at first, but they ended up really liking them.

I had a great birthday too! Two families in the branch made me a cake

and we had a little party in the park. The cake had a golf course on

it. I think they just wanted to make it American. Hah! It was a

reaaaaaly good cake. Anz. Valentine bought me an awesome red skinny

tie. It makes me happy.

The greatest birthday present for me though was the awesome lesson

that night. We met a woman from Nigeria in the piazza a few weeks ago.

She doesn't speak Italian and she only speaks a little English. It

made it hard to teach because we weren't sure how much she

understands. We were worried about what to do, until we talked to one

of our Nigerian members, David. By some miracle, they happen to speak

the same language and dialect, which is a huge miracle because

apparently there are a lot of different languages and dialects in

Nigeria. We set up an appointment to meet with them. On the night of

the appointment, David wasn't there. We were worried about being able

to communicate. We walked away from the piazza to find a quieter

place. As we sat down, we were praying for some miracle. Out of the

blue comes David on his bicycle. He had arrived late to the piazza. He

was about to go home, but then he heard a voice telling him to turn.

So he turned, followed the path, and there we were! He did a wonderful

job translating for us. Although we couldn't understand anything they

said to each other, the Spirit was fortissimo.

Another miracle is an investigator we've been working with. I'll call

him Matteo for now. During week six of last transfer, he called us and

said that he wanted to meet with us and come to church. He had met

with the Anziani about a year ago, but now he said he knew the church

was true. To be honest, we were a little put off at first because we

weren't sure how genuine he was. As we've been working with him for

the past couple weeks, we've really started to see how genuine he is.

He has a very good heart. He has a history of drugs and has had a lot

of problems in the past with his depression, but he's ready to start a

new leaf. He wants to stop smoking and drinking coffee and alcohol. As

we've been meeting with him, it's been amazing to see his progress. He

used to smoke twenty cigarettes a day. He's down to ten now, and his

goal for today is eight. On Saturday he said he was about to smoke

number eleven, but then he remembered the promise he made to only do

ten, so he threw it away. We were thrilled. He used to drink six to

seven cups of coffee a day and now he's down to four. He hasn't drank

alcohol for two days now. He wants to start a new life. We set a

baptismal date for July 27th and he is working very hard to reach this

date. We are meeting with him every day until his baptism because he

says that he feels stronger whenever he meets with us. We are working

hard and praying for more miracles in his life.

Miracles are everywhere. I love it. They don't come without sacrifice

and our own efforts. Miracles are wrought through, and only after, the

trial of our faith. The road gets bumpy, but always remember that God

is aware of your trials. "And my Father sent me that I might be lifted

up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross,

that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by

men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me,

to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be

evil— And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according

to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may

be judged according to their works... Therefore, ask, and ye shall

receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh,

receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened." (3 Nephi

27:14-15, 29). He's at the door knocking. Are you opening the door?

Vi voglio bene, Anziano Simcox

Il Giorno d'Indipendenza!

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Did you know that they have the fourth of July in Italy too? It's the day after the third and the day before the fifth. Ararararar. For those who are concerned that I'm emailing on Thursday and not Wednesday, don't panic. We changed our P-Day this week. The woman who runs the internet cafe was in shock when we came in a day late. Seriously though, Happy Independence Day. Tonight, we are having a Festa Americana in our church. Yes, I know we're in Italy, but the members wanted to have an American party anyway! I'm excited. We're having brownies, taco salad, lemonade, pizza, and games. It should be great, and we're hoping that some of our investigators come and meet the members!

Attached is a picture of my shoe, if you can still call it a shoe. That should give an idea of how much walking/biking we do. I wouldn't trade it for anything. It could also just be an indication of how cheap the shoes were. I bought them on clearance... I like the first explanation better. I went shopping today and found a nice, durable pair of Italian shoes. I'm hoping they'll last me for at least a little while.

Despite the jokes about the shoes, we have done a lot of walking this week. Lessons have been scarce, so we've been in proselyting mode quite a lot. We've been trying to think of ways to make our street contacting more productive than just going up to people and telling them that God loves them; which, despite how true it may be, doesn't yield much results. We tried something new that is working much better for us. We took a small whiteboard we have in our study room and wrote questions like "Crede che Dio ci ama? (Do you believe that God loves us?)" and "Crede che Dio ci parla? (Do you believe that God speaks to us?)" Then we walked through Centro (downtown) asking people and tallying the results. When we ask just a yes or no question like that, people are much more willing to stop and give us an answer. After every tally we would ask "Perché? (Why?)" This way has been working much better for us in crowded areas and we've been able to have many thought-provoking questions with people that normally would not have happened. Even though the questions seem simple, it's amazing to hear the responses. Many times, people have to stop and think because they realize that they've never actually thought about it before. Of course, that's one of our jobs: to make people think about these things. I'd encourage you to take time to ask these questions to yourself. Does God really love us? Does God talk to us personally? Even if you think you know the answer, you'd still benefit from a little self-inventory.

We officially have a new mission president now! We met President and Sorella Dibb yesterday. They seem bravi and I'm excited to see how they will lead the mission. After the meeting, President interviewed every missionary in the zone. It took forever, but it was nice for him to give everyone the time of day.

On Sunday, we had the opportunity to hear a broadcast from Utah. It was the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles giving a broadcast about missionary work. Many exciting changes are coming soon in missionary work. Soon missionaries will be branching out to online proselyting and using more technology. Our mission is usually one of the later ones to receive the updates, so I'll let you know next year when we get iPads. That should be exciting though. Missionary work is on a dramatic uphill climb though. They're calling it the Hastening. We currently have 70,000 full time missionaries in the field with thousands more in the queue. The church recently opened 58 new missions. Last week they set apart 173 new mission presidents. It's an historic time to be a missionary and I'm grateful to be a part of this work. I know this is where I need to be.

Well that's all I have for today. Five months later, and I'm still grateful every day to be a missionary. I love meeting all kinds of people from all kinds of walks of life. I want so badly for everyone to feel the joy that the Gospel has brought me. Even just bringing an extra smile to someone's day makes my day so much more worth it.

Happy Fourth y'all (I had to throw a little American in there).

Love, Anziano Simcox