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

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! (And me too) - July 2, 2014

Hey all! The first week in Varese was great. I was a bit out of my comfort zone for the first few days. I didn't know the members. I didn't know the people we were teaching. I didn't know the area. I was in a new place/apartment/bed etc. The adjustment period after a transfer is always a little crazy. I've gotten past it though I think. I feel pretty comfortable in Varese. The layout of the city is weird, so I get a little lost sometimes. Luckily I've got a map plus a companion who knows what he's doing, or at least pretends.

The city is right up in the Swiss Alps, surrounded by hills and lakes. As a result, there's also a lot of rain. I'm going to need to get myself an umbrella. The city itself is nothing too special. It's well kept. It's old. It's Italian. But the province around it is "bellissima!" We're going to the Lake of Varese today. There's apparently a cable car that goes up the mountain. That should be exciting.

My new companion is Anziano Atwood. He's from Pleasant Grove, Utah. That's my fifth companion in a row from Utah, and second from Pleasant Grove. He's a nice, honest, humble guy. He's got some sass though too, so I like it. He's hitting his year mark in a few weeks so we'll have to have a party!

Speaking of parties, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! And Happy Birthday Me! I love the Fourth of July. My favorite Fourth of July past time is grilling at Grandma and Grandpa Venturini's and shooting off fireworks, then watching the neighbor Stan do the same thing, but twenty times louder. Hehe.

Our branch here is decently small. I haven't had an accurate measurement yet because we were missing a lot of people this Sunday due to EFY, vacation, Young Women's Camp, etc. I think there are about thirty active members though. The church isn't in the best location. It's hidden in an office complex on a side street. Above us there is a dance studio and next to us there's a club and an Evangelical church. Between the three of them, they make enough noise, especially during our Sunday morning meetings. In the evenings, the neighborhood is a hang-out for all the punk kids who leave cigarette butts and beer bottles all over the ground. We have to go to church early and clean it all up before the members get there, otherwise it's just disgusting. We might be doing a service day soon to give the outside a deep cleaning. The inside of the church is really nice though. It also has a nice piano. There's someone in the branch who plays though, so my fingers get a little rest!

Sorry, for the short email this week. I ran out of time responding to other people. Next week I should have more to say though, and hopefully some pictures. My SD card seems to have taken a virus so we might have some pictureless emails until I can figure out what's going on.

The Church is true. I love being a missionary. It's so much fun. Really it is. I love to see people changing their lives. It makes me so happy. And I'm sure it makes God even happier.

All the love, Anziano Simcox.

World Cup Fever - 6/25/14

Hey everyone! I hear the World Cup is going on. Even though missionaries don't watch TV I'm still pretty updated on it anyway. It's a pretty sacred time here in Italy. Probably less now because we lost last night, but hey. When there's a game, everything shuts down... Going door to door is almost completely ineffective. Most people won't even answer, but we hear the game coming out of the windows. Apparently Germany is playing the United States tomorrow? I'm sure my family will be a little tense. Maybe it's good I'm out here instead!

It's transfer time again. This time "tocca a me" as the Italians say, or it's my turn. After six months in Bergamo it's time for me to leave. It's really hard to leave Bergamo. It's like leaving for the mission all over again. I've met so many great people and I've seen so much progress in our investigators, our members, and the branch. I honestly feel like I've been able to make a difference here, with the Lord's help of course. Tomorrow I'll be off to a city called Varese (vuh-RAY-zay). I tried to spell it American-like in the hopes that you can pronounce it. Hehe. I've never been there or heard much about it, but I know where it is. Go Google it! It's north of Milano smack-dab on the border of Switzerland. That part of Switzerland is in our mission boundaries, so I'll be able to go there on P-Day. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to send y'all some pictures of Switzerland. Die Schweiz. Excuse me.

Since I'm leaving, we've kind of been back and forth in the past few days trying to say good-bye to all the people I'll miss, i.e. all of them. I wish you could all meet these people. They've made such a difference in my life and hopefully I've been able to leave something with them as well.

I would include some pictures but my SD card is being a little wonky right... Either that or a year and a half of sketchy western union shacks is catching up on me. I'll try to get some out next week.

Our investigator from Bangladesh may have found a solution to his work schedule. We're hoping the best for him. Right now he only has a short break on Sunday afternoons. He works in a town outside of the city, but during his break, he takes the bus and the tram from his work to the Church, stays for about thirty minutes in the church and then goes back just in time for work. He's been doing it himself without anyone pushing him. This week though he got the week off and he plans to use it to look for another job. He will also be able to come to church this Sunday for the full three hours, so he's pretty excited.

Our Nigerian friend has fallen sick again with the flu... What a trooper though. We went over to his house Saturday night not knowing he was sick and he could barely stay awake. He missed church the next day because of it. He's doing great though and still preparing for baptism. He might not make it by July 5th, but a few weeks after that he should be good. All the good stuff of course happens when I leave!

Our investigator John, the one who got in the car accident and is off doing some physical therapy is recovering in a community very close to Varese. I'm hoping that I'll be able to stop by and see him! He would love to see me, and I'd love to see him!

My bags are all packed. We've got a few lessons tonight and then tomorrow morning it's off to Milano. I'll meet my new companion, Anziano Atwood, and then we'll head off to Varese.

Have a great week everyone! All the love, Anziano Simcox

6/18/14

So. Hot. Still. We hit 37°C, 98.6°F, plus all the humidity of Niagara Falls without the falls.

It's time to tell the story of what has come to be known as the Great Dough Scandal of June 14th. Disclaimer: This is in no way spiritual or uplifting, but it is funny. Ever since a member taught me to make pizza in Pesaro, I've enjoyed making it from time to time. To do it completely correctly, one should let it rise over night. As missionaries, we don't always have that kind of time. On the day in question I wasn't able to make the dough the night before, so I made it the next morning. I wanted to have it rise quicker, so I decided to put it out in the sun. We live on the fourth floor of our apartment building. Our balcony wasn't in the sun, so I decided that instead I would put it on the windowsill. We have a decently large windowsill, so I wasn't worried about it going anywhere. Fool am I. Quick Italian architecture lesson: Blinds aren't really a thing. Instead we have tapparelle, which are basically solid strips of plastic or metal that come down outside of the window to block out sunlight. Think garage door, but with six inch beams of plastic. Anyway, we usually close them when we go out to keep the house cool. Anz. Johnson, unaware that a bowl of pizza dough was out on the windowsill as he closed it, I heard the usual "thud" of the tapparelle closing, plus an extra "clang!" that only meant one thing. I ran to the window and pulled up the tapparelle. Dough... gone. All that was left was the lid. We looked in horror over the windowsill. The bowl was sitting on a ledge about two feet under our window. The dough however, was sitting on the two subsequent windowsills and the courtyard below. Because we're responsible, we decided to clean up our mess. Anz. Johnson got a scrub brush and some water and climbed over the windowsill down to the ledge. He was decently safe. It's a big ledge and he was holding on to the window. Anyway he's cleaning and I'm making sure he doesn't fall, when all of a sudden we see the head of our elderly neighbor pop out of the window below. She exams the dough mess. Anz. Johnson cringes against the wall hoping that she doesn't look up and see the missionaries hanging out the window. As if in slow motion, her head rotates upward to see Anz. Johnson on a ledge and me leaning out the window trying to clean up the mess. She asked what we were doing and we explained the situation. At this point, if I were her, I would A) freak out that the kids above me are hanging out a window or B) freak out that there's dough all over my apartment building. As we wait to hear the reprimand she looks up and says "Boys! Don't put dough out on the windowsill! It gets to hot and then it won't cook right!" Classic Italian response. Kids hanging out a window, apartment covered in dough, and the main concern was that the Americans weren't cooking their pizza correctly. Later, our landlord angrily confronted us and was surprised at our willingness to clean up the mess. He laughed as we climbed a ladder and hosed down his apartment building in the rain. At the beginning he was grumpy and by the end he was laughing. Overall, it made for a good experience and I also learned the correct manner to make pizza dough.

Back to the spiritual stuff.

This past week I've been trying something new. I'm keeping a tally in my planner of all the people we talk to. It's a bit inaccurate because sometimes we go for a while without having the chance to write the tally in my planner or I lose track sometimes. Anyway, my best estimate is that in the last nine days we've contacted about 350 people. I've enjoyed keeping track because it helps me keep an eternal perspective. Even if not every person stops to talk with us, I can at least say that I'm doing my part. And sometimes I can get home at the end of the day and ask myself if there's more I could have done. My personal goal was to contact 40 people a day. Some days I exceeded it, and some days I didn't quite make it that far, but the goal really helped me to keep going. I also saw blessings come from going "beyond the call." Classic missionary scenario: We were ringing doorbells the other day and it was about time to head out. We reached 40 people contacted conveniently at the end of the apartment building. I felt though that we needed to keep going for whatever reason so I suggested that we go down the street a ways to ring one more building. Person #41 didn't let us in but right before she hung up the intercom she stopped and asked, "Aren't you that church that does a lot of genealogy?" Anz. Johnson replied that we have the biggest genealogical library in the world and that our genealogy center in the church is free to the public. She asked if we could leave some information in her mailbox, which we were glad to do. The Spirit of Elijah is growing here in Italy. (See Malachi 4:5-6).

Our Nigerian friend was able to finally make it back to church, the one who walked an hour because the busses weren't running. He was very sick with the flu in these past two weeks, but he was able to return this last Sunday. He said he felt something missing in the time that he wasn't able to come. The members were happy to welcome him back. He is a very active participant in Sunday School and the members are surprised at his knowledge of the scriptures and life in general. He knows his Bible veeeerryyyy well, which is hard to come by in anyone. Although he's not 100% in his Italian abilities, he tries very hard and doesn't let that stop him from participating and forming friendships. He even used an Italian word that even the Italians didn't know. I watched him with two Italians as he was trying to convince them that the word he was using was a real word and the two Italians denying it. Finally, one whips his phone out, looks it up online, and what do you know. It's a word. Anyway, he is making his own progress and it's exciting to see. Right now his baptismal date is set for July 5th. We're confident he can make that. I'd love to see him be baptized on my birthday.

Transfers are next week. A large part of me wants to stay, but I've already been here almost six months. That's usually the limit. We'll see! Transfers are always a bit stressful, but usually pretty exciting too. Change can be good. I've learned to accept it in the past year and a half.

Have a great week. I love you! Love, me.

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.