6/4/14

Another Wednesday in paradise. Well, Bergamo... but it's Italy so that counts for something right?

Weather report: Rain decided to mess up life these past few days. It's also very hot. 24 celsius, whatever that converts to. Actually that's not terribly hot, but the humidity adds on to it. Good ol' Ohio... err. Italy.

In Italy there exists something called a bidone. The first definition is a garbage can, at least that's what Google translate will tell you. When used colloquially however, to give someone a "bidone" means to set an appointment with them and then not show up to that appointment. As missionaries, we become well-acquainted with this phrase. To me the concept doesn't make a lot of sense. If you don't want to see me, just tell me you don't want to see me. Everyone saves time. Anyway, there were quite a few bidoni this past week. It was a holiday in Italy, although of what I'm still not sure. Then it was also raining.

One positive thing that comes from a bidone however is that more time is now opened up to find other people to teach. The thought process is "well, if they don't want to be taught, we'll go find someone who does want to be taught!" Sunday night was pretty slow, so we decided to go ring some doorbells; classic Mormon missionary right? Although in Italy it's different than you would think because every apartment building is gated and to get in you have to ring the intercom. Some apartment buildings have 6 apartments, and some have 50. In big cities like Milano there can even be 100-200 apartments in one complex. So, the trick is ring an intercom and hope that they will either buzz you in without asking who it is or that they'll take pity on you and let you in with the promise that you won't buzz their door. Sometimes people get really mad when they find us at their doorstep, or even just at the intercom. Every now and then you'll find that super angry guy who threatens to call the police and even more rarely the guy who actually does. We have permission from the state to ring doorbells though, so the worst that happens is the police come, check our documents, we have a chuckle, and then we ring the next doorbell.

I know I sound like just another conman selling some sort of knock-off Windex, but I promise that what I have is much more valuable. No, it's a very rewarding experience. Anyway, we had entered into a building and we started from the top floor and worked our way down. I would say that every other door, we had a positive encounter in which we were able to at least hand out a card or a pamphlet. We had a nice chat with a very nice Italian woman who really needed it. She actually wanted to let us in, but we couldn't go in because she was alone in the house so we just talked for a while on the doorstep. In another building, the tenents were just as nice. We handed out more material and we even found a new investigator, a teenager who had read online about Mormons and was curious to learn more. Overall it was a very productive session of door-knocking and my testimony of it has grown.

That's the big experience this week. Another cool experience: Last week we had an Italian man walk into church in the middle of Sunday School. He asked if there was a way he could learn more about the Church. We were happy to help. This Sunday he came again. He has a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet which he's thoroughly studied. He participates in class and loves the service. It's been hard to meet with him so far to actually teach him, but he's doing a lot of study on his own and hopefully his work schedule will clear up so that he can start meeting with us. He read about Mormons online and was really curious, so he just showed up! That definitely doesn't happen every week, so we were really excited to see him.

That's the life of Anziano Simcox. Find, teach, baptize as I always say.

I love you all. Vi voglio bene. Cari saluti, Anziano Simcox

Picture: The Anziani of Bergamo. Typical characteristics too-- the four clowns having a grand old time and the zone leaders on the side "innocently" scheming.

5/28/14

Welllllllllllll. Another week! I'm feeling old lately.

Bergamo is so great. It's been a great week in my opinion.

Cool story. Sunday is obviously a missionary's most important day. The Sabbath is normally a day of rest, but I think I work more. Hah. The work of the Lord never ends! Anyway, it's always a big push to get investigators (and members of course) to church. If they don't come to church, they don't experience all the things we're teaching them. There is a major difference in comprehension between the investigators that attend church and the ones that don't. Plus, you can't get baptized if you're not coming to church. This Sunday, there was some sort of bike rally in Bergamo, so most of the streets were blocked off and traffic was a huge problem. Most people that live inside of the city don't own cars and just use the public transportation instead. Well, with this big rally, conveniently happening at the same time as church, it was a little more difficult than usual to get to church. One of our investigators however, a great man from Nigeria, lives just outside of Bergamo where the buses are infrequent, especially on Sunday. The past few weeks he's got the schedule down and has been attending church consistently. This Sunday though the bus simply wasn't running because of the rally. So, he decided he would just take the hour walk to the tram which brought him to church. Sure he was about an hour late, but he was happy to be there and the members were happy to see him. He speaks Italian very well, so he's been able to bond well with the members. He's also very intelligent and very involved in Sunday School discussions. He's loving the church and the progress he's making.

Our investigator John, Frank's son, had surgery on his leg this week and the physical therapy is going well. He should be back in Bergamo in three weeks. We called him and he was very excited to hear from us. He's already made a bunch of friends there in the community he's living in. He has such a good heart. He said that ever since he had his car accident he's realized what a blessing life is and just makes it his goal to be as happy as he can.

Arthur is still looking for work. Poor guy. The thing is, he has a good job, especially for a foreigner who hasn't been here that long. Even an Italian citizen would be happy to have the job he does. He's determined though that he will not work on Sunday. That's hard to do being a restaurant chef because in Italy, Sunday is the busiest day for food service workers. He is looking hard though and he will be blessed. As one member told to him a few weeks ago, "God didn't bring you this far only to turn His back on you. He will provide a way for you to follow His commandments."

I think i wrote last week, or maybe the week before, about family mission plans. Last night at our branch council (where all the leaders of the branch meet together) we proposed a branch mission plan. From the exasperated looks a few people I could tell that it was something that has been proposed before. However, we explained that it wasn't a list of numbers from the missionaries, it was a specific plan based on the needs of the branch. When we presented it this way, they were much more willing to be involved in it. By the end of the night they were very enthusiastic about it and came away with specific goals to ratify a branch mission plan in the next branch council. I saw especially the love our branch president has for our members. I learned that every Sunday he counts exactly how many people are at church, makes a note of every one who isn't, and then follows up on each person. His number one concern last night was the welfare of his members and then of our investigators. Also last night as we discussed specific needs of each person, I felt that each investigator was the branch's investigator.

I love serving in Bergamo. I'm hoping I don't leave any time soon. I've met so many good people here and I feel like I've been able to make a difference in this little branch. Although we're not so little anymore. Last Sunday we had 60 people in church. That's hardly not a branch. That's a small ward! I love seeing the progress the branch as a whole is making and I love every person I have the opportunity to work with to make that progress even higher.

TTFN. Ta ta for now! Love, Anziano Simcox

Picture: Apparently, there were once mammoths in Italy. Who knew? We went to a natural history museum last P-day and this is the first thing we saw upon walking in. I thought it might come alive and eat me.

5/21/14

Hello. Hello. Hello. I am your beloved, Count... err. Elder Simcox.

Random movie quotes come into my head from time to time. You'll have to forgive me.

What's new this week... The aftermath of transfers has finally been cleaned up. It was a little more precarious than usual. The new missionaries were supposed to arrive on Thursday, but they ended up not arriving until Saturday. They got to the Chicago airport and apparently there was a fire, so their flight to Europe was cancelled. They had to go back to the MTC and fly out again two days later. They were so exhausted when they finally got to Italy. An Elder in our zone was supposed to be receiving a new missionary, so he was our temporary companion for a few days. I forgot what it's like to serve in three. I'm grateful I'm only in two. Although, being in three works great for contacting people on really wide streets. On the skinnier ones we look more like FBI agents trying to interrogate people.

As missionary work goes, it's taken a bit of a different turn. We were hoping that our man from Bangladesh would be baptized this week, but his work schedule changed at the last minute and now he has to work every Sunday... Obviously that presents a bit of a problem. He's been looking around for a new job that will allow him to not work on Sunday. The hard thing is that he is a cook in a restaurant. Here in Italy, restaurants are busiest on Sunday, so if he were to ask for Sundays off they would fire him without a second thought. He's looking hard now though. We've run into him a couple times looking for work as we've been trekking around Bergamo. He's got such a good heart and he really just wants to follow Jesus Christ.

John, Frank's son, is going off to have an operation tomorrow on his leg. He was in a car accident a few years ago that's made it hard for him to walk. He'll be gone for about a month as he does the surgery and goes through physical therapy there. He's taken the Book of Mormon with him and he set a goal to read it all while he's recovering. What a goal! He's looking forward to being baptized when he gets back.

Other than that, our goal lately as a mission has been to focus more on the family. We've started using a new pamphlet about family history that talks about the importance of temple work and allows space to record family stories, information, and pictures. I highly recommend it for members. You might have seen it mentioned in General Conference. I think Elder Cook mentioned it. Anyway, it's great, especially for me. I love family history. Being able to speak Italian will be able to help me a lot with my family history once I come home. Another thing we've been doing is going around to the members in our branch and inviting them to create a family mission plan. Again, that's another thing I encourage all members to do. A family mission plan is simply a list of several specific things that the family can do together and individually to contribute to their personal missionary work. It is a commandment after all to share the Gospel! We don't need a nametag or a working knowledge proselyting to do it. All it takes is the desire. I've heard some great ideas as we've been visiting families. Some people suggesting always keeping a Book of Mormon in the car's glovebox. Another one was to invite friends to Family Home Evening once a month or to look for ways to do service in the community. There is a lot of simple ways in which ordinary people can contribute to the work of salvation.

There's my two cents for today. You all are great. I love you a ton. Love, Anziano Simcox.

Transfer 11! - 5/14/14

Here's the start of transfer eleven. I'll be staying for at least another six weeks in Bergamo. I'm content. I love Bergamo and I love my companion. What more can I ask? So, when it's all said and done, that'll be at least six months in Bergamo! It doesn't seem like it at all. I feel like I got here two months ago at max. I've been here four and a half. Time won't go any slower I'm afraid. A mission is sixteen transfers, so with the start of transfer eleven I'm finding myself on the older side of things.

Our zone is changing quite a bit. We'll be getting several new faces, including a "greenie" fresh from the States. That'll be a ton of fun! New missionaries have so much enthusiasm.

Today for Preparation Day we went to Sirmione, a lakeside city on Lago di Garda, one of the biggest lakes in Italy. It used to be a fortress however long ago. Now it's turned into more of a tourist attraction, but it was still fun to go see it, take some pictures, and "storm the castle" if you will, i.e. pay the two Euro entrance fee. 

There was a baptism in Bergamo 3. The sisters' investigator was baptized on Saturday. She's known the church for a long time, so it was a big day for her and for the whole ward in general. There were a ton of people at the ceremony. She invited a lot of friends and gave each of them a Book of Mormon. What a good missionary! Some of our investigators were able to come too and they really enjoyed their first time seeing a baptism.

I don't have my planner with me for some reason. I think I left it on my desk this morning... That's why this letter is so choppy, or as my brother would say it's written in Chop-a-nese. Usually it's so easy to just look back in my week, pick a moment, and write about it. I Skyped my families on Mother's Day. It was so great to see everyone's faces. All of my brothers are so grown up. One of them turns sixteen tomorrow! What?! 

On Sunday I had to give a talk in Church. The subject was the plan of salvation. The two speakers before me talked about life before life and life on earth, so my topic was life after death. At this point in my mission I feel that I can communicate decently well in Italian, but having a conversation is different than giving a twenty minute sermon. It went pretty well though. I was pleased. I was able to talk smoothly, even through my American accent. It's such a cool experience to learn a language. There's another part of your brain that opens up that you never knew existed. Italian has become so integrated into daily life, that the difference between the two languages is starting to get less and less. Lately, I've been mixing the two together, which gets pretty frustrating when I'm trying to teach in Italian. I guess it's a good sign because it means it's becoming more natural, but still.

Scriptural thought for the week: "And he [Jesus] said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full" (3 Nephi 17:20). His joy comes from our faith! When we have faith and follow His commandments, He is joyful. He rejoices when we rejoice. He cries when we cry. He looks forward to our salvation and does everything within His power that we may inherit His kingdom.

I love you all! Love, Anziano Simcox

Wednesday... err... Thursday Update - 5/8/14

Hey! It's not Wednesday. Sorry if I threw your schedule off. I think we confused the guy at the internet point too.

Yesterday we had a conference in Verona. Elder Kearon is from the Seventy and he's the first counselor in the Area Presidency. For those who don't speak Mormon, basically he's the counselor to the man who heads the church in Europe. He talked to us about his conversion to the church and gave us encouragement. One thing he said that I particularly liked was "rejection is just white noise." It will happen regardless of what we do. Every missionary works through rejection, but we're here to find those that are ready, not to focus on those who aren't. It's like looking for a shell on the beach. Sometimes you have to go through the other stuff to get to what you're looking for. Elder Snow also came. He is the Church Historian, so obviously that was really exciting for me. He talked to us for a while about what exactly he does. Under his direction, the Church records its present history (I guess that's an oxymoron, but you understand) and preserves history already recorded. He has access to the church vaults where, in simple terms, they keep all the old stuff. He handles all of the writings of Joseph Smith and he has held the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon. He searches through old records to ensure that they have been properly preserved, recorded, and published. He stands as a witness of the beginnings of the Church in these days. I'd love to have that calling.

Cool story. Our man from Bangladesh is progressing wonderfully. He has a firm baptismal date set for May 23rd. Last week we taught the Word of Wisdom (the health code that prohibits alcohol, tabacco, coffee, tea, and illegal drugs, and encourages us to properly nourish and care for our bodies). Growing up in Bangladesh where tea is very much a part of their culture, we thought it might be difficult for him to give it up. He told us that he gets headaches and pains when he doesn't drink it. The next day he drank his last cup of tea and hasn't touched it since. Yesterday we taught him about keeping the Sabbath day holy. He has a job that requires him to sometimes work on Sundays. He wanted to change that so that he could keep himself in line with the commandments. Tonight he has a job interview. I wish that every investigator would understand and keep the commandments like he does.

Last week I wrote about our investigator Frank and his son John. They are Italians from Sicily. Frank we've been teaching since right before I got here in January. We had our first official lesson with John last week. Since then, John's progress has skyrocketed. Before, it was something he was mildly interested in, but now it's something that he is devoted to. On Thursday, he went to a Young Single Adult activity. One member picked him up and another one brought him home. On Sunday, he took aside a member, without our knowledge, and told him that he would like nothing more than to be baptized. Our very surprised member talked with us about it and we have now started teaching him. He is very excited to be baptized as soon as he can. He actually asked us how many lessons he had to take before baptism. Next week he is going to Varese for surgery and physical therapy. We have decided together that once he returns we will finish his lessons and get him prepared for baptism.

With all this great stuff happening in Bergamo, this means I'm probably getting transferred. That seems to be how it works. Hah! We'll find out. Transfers are next week, so we should get a call by Tuesday. As zone leaders, we get the information for our zones on Tuesday and call each missionary in our zone to tell them where we are going. I enjoy listening to the reactions from missionaries. Some are excited, and some less so. Last transfer, there was one sister who just refused to believe that she was getting transferred. After a few minutes we finally convinced her that we weren't joking and that she really had been transferred. It's always heartwrenching to leave a city, at least for me. Just when you make friendships and feel like you've made a difference, you're gone in the drop of a hat. That's the way it goes though. I'm not here for me. I'm here for those people that the Lord needs me to lift up.

Vi voglio bene. Alla prossima, Anziano Simcox.

The picture is a view of Porta Nuova, the main intersection of the city. At the end of the street at the top of the picture is the train station. In the opposite direction, where I took the picture is Città Alta. The green-capped building in the center left is one of the main churches in the city, although I'm blanking on the name right now. On the opposite right you can see the long strip that leads into the old center of the town, which is now all shops.

4/30/14

Another day another dollar. I've probably made that joke before. It's funny because I don't get paid. Some people seem to think I do. I bear testimony to the opposite. Although, as Bill Hunt once told me, "In the service of the Lord, the pay is terrible, but the retirement plan is out of this world."

Thus is the story of Elder Simcox in Bergamo. 

Two thoughts today: 

We had a wonderful member-present lesson last night. Frank has been investigating the church for about four months now. He's developed great relationships with many members, including several outside of our branch. In fact, he went to a member's house for Easter dinner and the member isn't even part of our branch! Last night we had dinner at a member's house followed by a lesson. His son John also came along. John has begun to attend church in the past few weeks and last night was our first official lesson with him. There were so many good factors that helped play in to him having a good experience. The members treated him almost like their own son and they bore testimony at just the right time. Frank, even though he is still not baptized, exhorted him several times to read the Book of Mormon and take lessons from us, both of which he happily agreed to. At the end of the night, he expressed his desire to one day be baptized in the Church. I am so happy to see that father and son are now together in their desire to become members of the Church. John's only concern was that he didn't have the capacity to serve a two year mission. To his great relief we replied that he's not expected to, and besides he's a few years too old anyway. Hehe. I wish that was the only concern blocking every investigator from baptism. That'd be an easy one to clear up.

I don't know if I've ever written about our investigator from Bangladesh. I should do that. His name, we'll say, is Arthur. (I'm getting more creative, don't you love it?). He was found on the street by another couple of Elders who serve in the towns outside of Bergamo. He's been in Italy for about six years. His Italian's not perfect, but he speaks decently well and understands even better. Of course, my Italian's far from perfect too. He was raised Muslim, but more for culture than for anything else. At first, to be honest, we didn't take him very seriously, at least I didn't. That was a mistake on my part for which I've repented. During our first lesson we thought that he didn't understand much. Still we set up another appointment to at least show him around the church. There, we found out that he understands much more than we thought he did and he was very excited to see a copy of the Book of Mormon in his own language (Bengali). We offered him the baptismal invite, to which he replied without hesitation, "Yes! When?" Thinking he didn't understand, I being still a bit faithless, re-explained what baptism meant and added "You'll become a Christian." He replied again firmly, "Yes! I want to become a Christian! When?" That was about three weeks ago. Since then he's been attending church, reading the Book of Mormon, praying (even out loud in his own language, which he does so beautifully), and preparing himself for baptism. It's so great. It's a bit different though teaching-wise. My whole mission, I've been accustomed to teaching people who come from a Christian background, or at least a Christian society. He comes from neither. He's the first person I've seriously taught who has almost no knowledge of the doctrines that Christians think of as a natural part of life. Last week we taught him the Ten Commandments and he had never before heard of them in his life. At the end of the lesson though, he stated "I already live these anyway!" Interesting that truth is the same no matter where you go.

That's a great thing I've learned in the mission. Truth is absolute. There's no such thing as true for one person and false for another. There is only true or false. In addition, opinion does not change truth. I can say my whole life "I'm an elephant!" But the truth remains that I'm not. Truth is not relative. Morality is not dependent. Eternal laws are unchanging. For that, we are repeatedly exhorted in the scriptures: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him" (James 1:5). God is the source of all truth. He has not left us in the dark, but instead wants us to know the absolute, unchanging truth. He gives to all who ask Him. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Creator of the Universe, and yet His entire work and glory is our immortality and eternal life. What a beautiful concept.

Until next week: Anziano Simcox

Post-Pasqua Pensieri

I learned some Chinese today. Too bad I have no clue how to write it or pronounce it. I guess that means I didn't really learn anything. At least I know now how to say thank you. I'll get there one day. We went to a Chinese restaurant today and they taught us how to say it. They just laughed when we said it so we either said it right, or horribly wrong. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Pasqua, Easter, was great. I thoroughly enjoyed this Easter. Church this Sunday was standing room only, which was quite a remarkable thing. We were able to have quite a few investigators in church which is always a huge feat, at least in Italy. Our awesome Bolivian family came, well at least four of them. There's only three of them that we really teach- the mother and two of the daughters. The father is in Bolivia and the other kids aren't too interested. However, having four of them there was great and they really enjoyed it and are looking forward to coming again. Frank was also there (he hasn't missed a day all year) and he also brought his son, who fell in love with the church. We're hoping that he will open up to us and start listening with his father. Our investigator from Bangladesh, who I don't think I've written about yet, came as well. Aside from them, there were several other "eternal investigators," those who have come to church for a long time, but aren't quite ready to take the next step, whatever it may be. The service was excellent. The talks given were inspired. The music, played as always by yours truly, was uplifting. Overall, it was great Easter Sunday.

A neat announcement was made this week by our mission president. On May 11, a new stake (which is like a diocese our a group of congregations) will be created in Firenze (Florence). With its creation, every member within our mission boundaries will now live inside of a stake! That's a huge feat and a wonderful leap towards new growth of the Church in Italy. When members are inside of the stewardship of a stake, they are able to receive more help from the church, financially and spiritually. They are able to meet together more often and strengthen each other more effecitvely. Leadership becomes completely localized and the church and those areas become more self-sustaining. It is a good cultivator of faster growth in membership and in faith. We're really excited about this. Pesaro, the first area I served in, will be covered in this new stake, which covers all of Tuscany, the Marches, and part of Emilia Romagna (for those of you who know your Italian geography).

For Easter, we had no appointments set up, so we decided to spread a little Easter cheer and do something different from the norm (see attached picture). We dusted off our big whiteboard, wrote "Buona Pasqua!" (Happy Easter), and headed downtown. We just walked down the streets wishing a Happy Easter to everyone, and handing out pamphlets as we went. It was a big success. We had to go home after a while because we had nothing left to give out. It was nice to walk down the street and have everyone smile back and wish us a Happy Easter.

This week we should be in for just as much fun and, we're hoping, as much success. I hope y'all had a great Easter as well. If you've got three minutes to spare, click here and watch this great Easter video that the Church put out. I've been really impressed with the Church Media Dept. lately: http://easter.mormon.org/

Buona Pasqua! Vi voglio bene. --Anziano Simcox