Buon Giorno! Sono qui in Italia. Italia è bellissimo.

I'm here in Italy! We left on Tuesday morning and got to Milano finally around 12:30pm on Wednesday. Whew... We had lunch and some lessons and then we toured the Duomo. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, but I attached a picture that I took outside. It's huge! After that we went back, had dinner, and then went to bed to sleep off the jetlag and vertigo. The next day we got assigned to our areas and off we went!

I've been assigned to a city on the east coast called Pesaro (PAY-zuh-row), in the region Emilia Romagna. It's a beautiful city. I started out with just one companion, but now I actually have two, which means I have two trainers. That's pretty much unheard of, so you can say I've had an interesting first week, even for a greenie. My first companion is Anziano Miller from California. He spent the past year in the Army, so he's very precise, but also very energetic. He can be a little difficult to get along with, but given time I know we will be able to work together and grow our unity as a companionship. This is only his third transfer in the mission (meaning he's only been in Italy for twelve weeks). The fact that he's already training new missionaries is also unheard of. Obviously there's a reason we are together and here in Pesaro! Our other companion is Anziano Garcia from Argentina. Although he's Argentinian, he lived for a while in Rome, so he's fluent in Italian. It's actually much better than his English. Anz. Garcia was in Ancone (the next area over), but his companion had to go home. He got sent over here with us and we are now covering both areas between the three of us! It's a huge area, but we're doing our best. We actually have to take a 50 minute train ride to get to the other side of our area.

Italy itself actually reminds me a lot of Ohio, except with European architecture, mountains in the distance, and everybody speaks Italian. It's just as humid here, it rains a lot, and there's random cities spaced out between trees and lots of fields. Everything in Italy is much greener though. The streets are exactly what you think of: narrow cobblestone alleys with colorful buildings. It's really neat. The architecture is awesome. Every building is different and painted colors I never knew existed.

Pesaro is a decently large city. It's famous for it's university, and also for it's music (go figure I'd get stuck with the music right?). Apparently Rossini was born here. His house has been turned into a museum about him and you can tour it. Pesaro is also right against the Adriatic Sea (I think that's what it's called). I haven't seen it yet, but hopefully we'll get out to it soon.

The food here is magnificent. Americans think they know what pizza is. Please... It's fantastic here. They really do eat pasta a lot though; and bread. Lots and lots of bread. Really good bread. I'll try to get some pictures of food in my next email.

Ok, now the people. Pesaro is a very hard city to proselyte in. The branch of members here is very small. Pesaro has ten active members! Their faith is astounding though. They do the best they can to strengthen each other. I love working with them and I'm hoping to see their branch and their faith grow while I'm here.

We've had three lessons with investigators so far. The first lesson was with La Famiglia Galli (The Galli Family). They were a referral from a member in Ancona named Marina. She helps us a lot! Anyway, we showed them the Restoration film and talked a bit about the Book of Mormon. They said they were looking for the truth, but they didn't think that this is it. They at least took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said they'd read. That's about all we can do. We are not here to convince anyone of anything. We are only here to invite.

Another lesson was with an 80 year old woman named Maria Luisa. She lives about 45 minutes away from Pesaro by bus, so it was a bit of a challenge to get there. She is actually Marina's mother. It looked like the lesson was going to be really great, but once we got into it, it turned out she only wanted to meet with us to argue. It was really sad to see that. We could hardly get words in because she just kept going. Again, we can only invite.

Our other lesson though is the one I want to focus on. She's a 23 year old ragazza (girl) named Gyldena (Jill-day-nuh). She is awesome. Anz. Miller and Sanacuore met her about a month and a half ago. They set up an appt, but she didn't show up. A month later they found her in the library and they found out she had been running late and got there after they left and didn't have their phone number. So they set up another appointment and we were able to meet with her on Saturday! She is awesome and we can tell that she is sincerely looking for truth. She is very smart and I enjoyed talking to her. We had an awesome lesson with her and we have another scheduled for this Saturday. She told us that if she finds these things to be true, she will be baptized!

My language skills are another story. I generally can say what I need to say, but my comprehension is not so good. i have a hard time understanding when people talk to me. I know it will come with time and effort though!

Overall, the mission is filled with bumps and bruises, but I am here and I am fulfilling my purpose: Inviting others to come unto Christ. That's the best reward I can think of.

Ci vediamo, Anziano Simcox

Last Post Before Italy!

Salve!

It's the final P-Day in the MTC. We fly out for Italy on Tuesday! WOOOO! I'm so excited. I'll miss the MTC and the friends I've made here, but I am overjoyed that I'll soon be serving the people of Italy. I'll start packing tonight. I feel like the past five weeks have taken half of my life, but at the same time I feel like I just got here. It's an odd contrast.  

With the final days coming up, we've been cramming in as much Italian as we can. It's really quite a miracle. We now no longer need English to communicate. Sure our grammar is terrible still, but we know enough to get our point across. I've heard before the 90% of communication is non-verbal. I always thought "Oh sure. Whatever." I can now testify that this is true. Although we only have a basic understanding of the language, we can communicate almost anything we need too. Then you add the Spirit to that and our communication power is astounding. During lessons with our "investiagtors" we are able to say whatever we need to say. It gets frustrating sometimes because I know exactly what I would say in English, but I can't! It has really made me appreciate though how beautiful of a language English is and also how important communication, verbal and non-verbal, is in our lives.

I got some letters from the Seminary class. Thank you all for the wonderful messages. They definitely made my week. Thank you too Sister Lange for the survivor's kit!

In just five more days we'll be on our way to Italy. When we get there, we get to tour the cathedral and then we get sent off to our areas. I'll meet my trainer and head off to serve the Italians!

Here's a cool thought for this week. Some of you might be familiar with this scripture of words from the Lord: "For behold this is my work and my glory: to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." It's a beautiful scripture. I was reading it in Italian and in the Italian scriptures, the word "work" is translated to the word "opera." I thought that was interesting because the word for work in Italian is "lavoro." I went to my dictionary and found this: "Opera" also means work, but it is a word only reserved for works of art and literature. This means that our salvation is not only our Lord's goal or purpose, it is also His work of art. We are His masterpiece. He glories in seeing us live good lives and living in true happiness. It pains Him to see His children suffer. He does all He can in order for us to achieve salvation. We are His source of greatest joy.

I love being a missionary.  

Con amore, Anziano Simcox

P.S. I probably won't have email time next week with the whole transition and what not, so CCFN! (Ciao ciao for now... I'm clever aren't I?)

We took these pictures behind the Provo Temple. This one is my district.

Front row: Sorelle Reichert, Bucco, Jameson, and Stephens.

Back row: Myself, Anziani Mata'u, Speiser, Jaramillo, Green, and Anderson.

This picture is most of the missionaries going to Milan, minus a district. 

Salve!

Another week has gone. Twelve more days and it's off to Italia! We're supposed to get our visas and travel plans either tonight or tomorrow in the mail. :)

Spring is arriving in Utah. This past week has been gorgeous. Sometimes during our study hours we go outside to enjoy the beautiful world and those awesome mountains. I love it. Our district is getting a little antsy waiting for that flight to Italia, but we know we'll miss the MTC and especially each other. We do almost everything together (and that's not exaggerating) so we've grown to be very good friends.

We're learning the language in leaps and bounds, but sometimes during those leaps and bounds we trip and fall on our faces. :P It's enjoyable though. You have to find the good in every situation. We are being encouraged more and more to speak only in Italian. We've only been here for four weeks, but we can speak "fluent" Italian. It's very broken and gramatically incorrect most of the time, but we can communicate without using English.

My companion and I auditioned to do special musical numbers in devotional/a conference/wherever else they want us. Anziano Mata'u sang "I Heard Him Come" and I accompanied him. I auditioned with "Where Love Is" and Sorella Reichert accompanied me. We both got a yes! That doesn't mean that we're automatically selected, but if they need a musical number before we leave, they'll drop a note in our mailbox. I'm glad I still get to be involved in music even on my mission. It's such a wonderful way to invite the Spirit.

Anziano Mata'u and I have been teaching "investigators" named Leonardo and Raymond. They're actually our teachers pretending to be people they taught on their missions, so it's actually really fun... and hard. Raymond has a baptismal date, but he's struggling with learning how to receive answers through prayer. We've only had a couple lessons with Leonardo. I think he enjoys talking with us, but it's hard to catch his interest. He's a tough person to talk to, but we noticed some positive changes in our last lesson, so we're hoping we can build on that.

The lesson I've been learning this week is getting along with people. This can be hard sometimes (especially for those of you who know how patient I'm not...). I love meeting new people and making friends, but I miss having time to myself. It's hard to be with a companion 24/7. Anziano Mata'u and I are very similar, but that's a blessing and a curse. We're working on ways to strengthen our unity with each other. He's pretty much been sick since we've been here with one thing or another so that's been hard for both of us. I make him go to the doctor and take his medicine though! Hah. The lesson to be learned here is that patience is essential to missionary work and life in general. All things come in their own due time. It's a hard lesson to realize that, but it's one that all of us need to learn. As long as we put our trust in God, he will help us through our rough spots. He cares about the big things and he cares about the little things. He loves us.

I love you all! Ciao.

~Anziano Simcox

Ciao!

How's life in the outside world?! I feel like I'm in a bubble because the only glimpses I get into the outside world are from letters y'all send me. Thank you so much for the letters. They brighten my day. :)

Life continues! Six hours of class, three hours of study, three "meals" a day. I say "meals" because I'm not actually sure what I'm eating. Haha! For cafeteria food though, it's not too bad. Anziani Anderson and Jaramillo didn't agree with the enchiladas we had the other day though. Sickness has been sweeping through our district. So far Anziani Anderson, Jaramillo, and Mata'u have been down for the count at one point. I'm thankful I have a really good immune system because I would not be alive right now if I didn't!

As of Tuesday, I'm officially halfway through my stay at the MTC! On March 19th, we will be on a plane to Milano! The time certainly has flown.

Staying focused is difficult sometimes. We're in the same room for at least ten hours a day. Whew. The language continues to progress. Every Monday we teach people who come in (usually from Provo or BYU) and volunteer to be taught. Some of them are native Italians so it gets crazy sometimes. Native Italians speak very fast! Although my vocabulary hasn't increased much over the past week, my understanding and speed with which I talk has. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you put your mind to the task at hand and put your trust in God.

Interesting trivia about the Italian language: There is only one way to spell one word. No other combination of letters can make that word. Also, every letter gets pronounced and there is only one way to pronounce each letter. The only exception is with Cs and Gs which make a soft sound (chuh or juh) if they're followed by an I or an E. Other than that, every Italian word is pronounced exactly how it looks. There's your Italian lesson for the day.

I've run into Elder Dalton Slangerup a few times. Did you see the picture of us at the map? It was nice to see a familiar face. I think he left to California on Tuesday. I guess his visa got delayed so he got reassigned for a transfer (six weeks). As far as we know, our Italian visas are all set.

Missionaries keep pouring into the MTC. Each week we get at least 800 new missionaries. We have over 3,000 missionaries here right now. The usual is about 2,000. It's amazing, but it makes the food lines really long... It's a historic time for missionary work though! The usual amount of missionaries in the field is 55,000, but they're projecting that it will be 80-90,000 soon! Wow! The Church announced a couple days ago that they will be opening 58 new missions to keep up with all the new missionaries. Ohio is getting a third mission!

Every Sunday and Tuesday we have devotionals. The Sunday speakers are usually executives from the Church's missionary department and the Tuesday speakers are usually General Authorities (leaders) of the Church. This week's speaker was Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles! It's so amazing to hear from an Apostle! It's not something you see every day. He didn't give a deep doctrinal lesson or a big Sermon on the Mount. He simply talked about our purpose as missionaries: Blessing lives through Jesus Christ. He talked about how simple the Gospel really is. People try to complicate it, but they miss the point. The simple truth is that God loves us. We are quite literally His children. Often we say it, but how often do we actually think about it? He wants to be involved in our lives. He wants to be our Father. He wants us to return to Him. He is not fighting against us and He is not some all-powerful being with a gavel sorting people into Heaven or Hell. He is our literal Father and His arms are wide open waiting for us to come unto Him.

Keep being awesome. Voi voglio bene.

~Anziano Simcox

Ciao everyone!

This week went by fast! The work continues here at the MTC. The days are long, but short at the same time. Anziano Green has this theory that we're actually in a time warp. He's always full of conspiracy theories.

I don't remember if I mentioned this in my first letter, but on our second full day here, we taught an entire lesson in Italian. We were all scared out of our wits, but it ended up going pretty well. We taught an "investigator" named Raymond. After we finished teaching him, we found out he was actually our other teacher! PLOT TWIST! His name is actually Fratello (Brother) Carrington. Our other teacher is Fratello Weller, but we call him Fratello Wello because it sounds cooler. :P

Sundays quickly become a missionary's favorite day, at least in the MTC. It's the only day without language study. There's a lot of time for scripture study. In church this Sunday Anziani Mata'u, Burton, Green, and I sand an a capella version of "How Great Thou Art." I love still being able to sing, especially with talented people like them. In the evening we have a devotional and a taped conference talk/devotional. This week's video was by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. I don't remember what it was called, but it was very powerful. It was also directed specifically toward missionaries, so it was extra meaningful.

We are getting along well as a district. In the evenings we've been getting together and sharing conversion stories and other stories about our lives. It's amazing to hear about what has made these people into themselves. I love all of them. Because we get along so well, we're also a big distraction to each other. It's a blessing and a curse. Our goal the past few days has been to focus more during study time and use our meetings in the evenings to unload. I attached a picture to this email.

In order to stay alive in the MTC, you have to maintain a positive outlook. The days are long and repetitive. The work is hard. The language is hard. The chairs get uncomfortable. The room gets stuffy. Despite all this, it's still up to us how we choose to react to situations. It's something Mr. Snyder calls the "as if principle." If you act "as if" you are happy, you will become happy. If you act "as if" you are miserable, you will become miserable. God gave us agency, the power to make decisions. He wants us to use this agency. He loves when we use it. In the MTC, and in life in general, we are thrown into all sorts of situations. All of these situations, whether good or bad initially, are opportunities to learn and grow if we allow them to be. We can't always change our situations, but we can ALWAYS change our responses to situations. The title of this letter is cento percento. 100%. In all we do, if we give 100%, we will improve our situations and make them into wonderful experiences.

Thank you to all who have sent me letters. Seeing your handwriting and having a piece of you is more of a blessing than you know.

I love all of you. Stay awesome.

~Anziano Simcox

-The picture is a picture of my district. Front Row: Sorelle (Sisters) Reichert, Bucco, Jameson, and Stephens. Back Row: Myself, and Anziani (Elders) Mata'u, Anderson, Green, Speiser, and Jaramillo

This is my companion, Anziano Mata'u.

Austin and another Pickerington missionary at the MTC at the same time. They are pointing to where they will serve.

First Letter From the MTC

Buon Giorno!

The MTC is awesome. It's also stressful, but I love it. Everything is go, go, go! A typical schedule is wake up at 6:30, study from 7-7;30, have breakfast, class from 8-11, study until noon, lunch, study until 2, class from 2-5, dinner, MORE study/meetings/devotional, back to the dorm, write in my journal, sleep. Rinse, lather, repeat. It's a busy schedule, but I love it. I would be lying if I said it didn't get frustrating at some points, but that's to be expected with learning another language! I also love my class. We're split up into groups called districts. My district is made up of six anziani (elders) and four sorelle (sisters), all going to Milano. We have definitely become a family already. We spend more than twelve hours a day with each other, so I'm glad we get along. There's Sorelle Bucco, Reichert, Jameson, and Stephens, and Anziani Green, Anderson, Jaramillo, Speiser, Mata'u, and myself.

My companion is Anziano Mata'u (Mah-TAH-oo). He is from Orem, Utah. He could literally walk to his house from here. He's a pretty cool guy. In many ways, he is the Samoan version of me. Haha! We're different in a lot of ways though too, so that's awesome. He loves to sing too! In church on Sunday we're doing an a capella version of "How Great Thou Art" with Anziano Burton (one of our roommates) and Anziano Green. I'll let you know how that goes. We're also thinking about auditioning to sing at one of the devotionals.

We have devotionals every Sunday and Tuesday night. On Sunday night we also watch recorded conference talks (sermons) by leaders of the church. Sunday's was called "The Character of Christ" by David A. Bednar, one of the twelve Apostles. Look it up. Seriously. It changed my life.

Speaking of life-changing, missionary life is something else. It actually wasn't terribly hard to adjust to. The days are long though. The first three days felt like they took two weeks, at least, but they're speeding up now. Ahhhhh there's so much I want to write, but if I wrote everything I'd be here for hours. It's a good thing I can type fast. :)

The Spirit here is amazing. We're learning so fast. I definitely feel God's hand in my life and in our classroom. We've picked up quite a bit of the language. I can pray and bear testimony in Italian already and I can carry on a basic conversation too!

The most important lesson that I've learned though is that God is our loving Heavenly Father. It's the first lesson that missionaries teach. It's so simple, but I never realized how important  that is. Until people understand that one fact, nothing else we say matters. He loves us SO much. He is not some incorporeal cloud floating around in space. He is not some emotionless architect that created us and then left us alone. He is our Father and he wants to bless us. He WANTS us to return to Him and He WANTS us to be happy. He wants to bless us and be a part of our lives, but we have to let Him. He doesn't care who we were or what we've done, He only needs a contrite heart and soul that's willing to repent and turn to Him. None of us are perfect, but we can be through His Son Jesus Christ.

Thank you to everyone who's sent me letters so far. Seeing a friend or family member's handwriting is one of the highlights of my day, seriously.

Noi vogliamo bene (I love you all),

Anziano Simcox