letters from Dustin

1/16/13

We have talked a lot about diligence and working hard. I recall constantly the story of Namaan from the Bible, the leper who went to the Prophet Elisha and asked to be cleansed. Elisha sent a messenger to him and instructed him to wash himself 7 times in the river Jordan. Lately I have been struck at the request. Not because of the simplicity of the request, but because of the 7 times....The more that I am engaged in the Service of the Lord, the more I believe that he doesn't want us to walk 1,000 miles and go on some great quest or do some amazing fantastic thing. He wants a steady consistent effort, our best effort, every day. I am really learning a lot about something that I have struggled, but also been searching to develop and that is a positive attitude towards hard work. I have never been a hard worker...I wish I were and I want to be...but I never have been...But I feel that something is clicking and changing and I am learning to enjoy doing hard things. Brigham Young once said (something to the effect) that "We must learn to delight in doing the things that the Lord requires at our hands." I am learning to feel a desire to do hard things. It is something I have been praying for and trying to do for a long time. Now...I just need to keep at it. I believe anyone can do something great once in a lifetime, maybe even twice. But the Lord wants us to do our best, every single day of our lives. I think that is where, when we acknowledge the Atonement, we can step from mediocrity to fulfilling our divine potential.

1/23/13

Last night we returned from having correlation in the Church. As we were leaving the Church I had the impression I should wear my backpack on the outside of my jacket. (I usually put on my backpack and then my jacket so as to protect what is inside from getting wet or rained on) I did so and didn't think anything of it. As we were waiting in the Busto Arsizio station to catch a ride back to Legnano, the announcer came on the intercom and announced that the train would be arriving with a 25 minute delay; this was unpleasant seeing as the train was supposed to arrive at 8:45 putting us back at our house at about 8:55. As we were waiting for this train, a man came up on the train platform and started talking to us; he is from Ghana and has lived in Italy for 22 years. He saw the American flag patch that I have sown on the outside of my backpack and came to talk to us. He lives in our area and said that he has heard of our church. We invited him to learn more and he said yes, so we fixed a time to go on Saturday to meet this man at his house. As we talked a bit more and shared just a few things, he asked if it would be possible to meet even sooner...so we set up another appointment for Thursday morning. He said that he really wants to know what we believe and why there is so much confusion in the world about religion. He gave us his number and we set 2 appointments with this man. This was a meeting that was orchestrated by the Lord. If I hadn't put my backpack on the outside, he would never have seen my American flag and come to engage us in the conversation about Obama. (Which we directed to Mitt Romney and then the Church.... :) .... ) And had that train never been in delay, we would have never seen each other, or had time to talk. As for now I cannot say how it will turn out but I know that if I had not listened to that still small impression to wear my backpack on the outside rather than under my coat....We may never have met at all...

 2/6/13

Cari Miei,

I would like to share with you all the first 4 lines of Romeo and Juliet....

"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean"

I'm getting transferred to VERONA!

Yup! I am getting transferred after only 1 transfer here in Busto, Anziano Benson is staying and going to train and I am going to Verona to be a Zone Leader there with Anziano Droghei. I am SUPER EXCITED; Verona is supposed to be one of the prettiest cities in all of Italy. And The Verona ZL's have a car....so...that will be nice. I can't believe I spent so little time here in Busto Arsizio but, it was good and I'm sad that I will be leaving I was just starting to connect with the Ward and they were getting to like me a lot and I will be sad to leave... I will also be eating a lot of Kebab today seeing that I will be leaving... Little sad about that....oh well. I hear the Ward is SOOOO great in Verona and my companion is being talked up by everyone that I hear from so I am really excited. (Any mail that you have already sent will get forwarded to me by our beloved Anziano Benson.) I will be in Verona for Carnivale and Valentine’s Day...: That should be cool. I can't say how happy I am to be going to Verona.

I hope this letter found you well.

Anziano Memmott

Update

So here it is...February!  Yes, I guess I have missed several months. that is how it goes with the holidays and illness etc. Christmas was good, and seeing and talking to Dustin on skype was The New Year came and Dustin hit his one year mark! That's right... He has less than a year left. He was transferred to Busto and made a district leader and has been doing well; this week he got news that he is being transferred to Verona where he will become a zone leader. I am going through some of his letters and by tomorrow I should be posting a few notes here and there from him that will let se from his eyes how he is doing and allow you to celebrate with him in his successes.

The month of November

 His new baptism. What a blessing and reward for hard work.

 This is his Thanksgiving day that he shared with his zone on their p-day

 another picture of Piza, he took his companion to see it and snagged a few more shots.

My boy. What a great missionary. Love him and miss him so much.

OK I will try to catch you all up with his November. The big joy of course is the baptism and a new investigator. Hope you all will keep him and his companion in your prayers, along with the people who are seeking wisdom and further truth.

He writes:

Cari Miei,                                 11/21/12
 
I hope that this letter finds you all well.
 
Today we are giving thanks! We are having an early Thanksgiving
because today is our P-Day, and we are having the Anziani from Pistoia
(The neighboring City, Anziano Gibbons and Moh) for Thanksgiving
feasting. We will not be having a turkey though...too hard to find and
too expensive...we will most likely eat chicken, some mash potatoes
and other small things. It's not which bird we eat; it’s what
gratitude that we render.  Anyhow...I hope that everyone enjoys
thanksgiving and especially the Pumpkin Pie....That doesn't exist in
certain parts of the world....
 
I got my Christmas Package! It has successfully arrive from the
Office....As of yet, I have not opened it...I will try my best to hold
out for Christmas. Although it is very hard...because I know what is
inside due to the list of things contained inside that came on the
box...They are all just vague descriptions though and it makes me
wonder what they are for certain....I have been thinking of sending a
small package home with a few things. I will try and explore the cost
of sending such a package.
 
This transfer we have a list of less actives that we are going to
visit. Some of these members have not been seen for a long long time.
As we set out to find a certain inactive member, we headed in the
direction of the via that she lived on. On our map, it showed the
street, but then the street leads off the map, we followed it not
thinking the street would be very long and that we would find it
quickly. As it turned out the street was very long and followed a
ridiculous path. It was all 1 street, but at moments it had a
different name and then the street we were looking for picked back up.
A very confusing experience. As we biked back and forth on the
street, trying to find where it picked back up, I felt impressed to
take a different way...to leave this street for a while and head in a
way that seemed very counter-intuitive. But, I knew that it was a
prompting from the Spirit. As I sat on my bike, looking down the way I
felt to go, I knew that it was direction from heaven, without doubt,
and that we would be on the right path soon. We took the street,
followed it for a long time, we paused several times and questioned to
ourselves if it was correct, it was in the middle of nowhere and we
were the only people in sight, but still, I felt to continue. Finally
we arrived at the desired house and this inactive was home. She
welcomed us in and told us we are always welcome in her home. She
recounted to us, the motives for which she holds herself from
activity in the Church. We shared a spiritual thought and had a very
special moment; she asked us to come back and give her a blessing and
bless the house. She lives pretty far and we probably won't visit her
regularly, but we will go back once more to give her a blessing and
bless the house and leave her with a spiritual thought. She was
extremely happy that we came. She hadn't heard from anyone in the
branch in a very very long time and was touched that we came. I
personally don't believe that she is close to coming back into activity,
but I think that it was a step in the right direction. I know that we
are guided, that the Lord is watching over us and he desires that we
pay close head to the promptings of The Spirit, for it will guide us
where he wants us to go.
 
I hope that all is going well at home and it is good to hear from you
all. I hope that you are all in good health, I am feeling much better
than last week and we are staying nice and warm. We are having a lot
of fun and things are going well.
 
We will teach Lia the last of the lessons that need to be taught
before baptism and she should have a Baptismal Interview this
Saturday. She will hopefully be baptized on the 2nd of December. We
are praying that things work out and all goes well.
 
I love you all and miss you a bunch, before you know it we will be
talking on Christmas day!
 
Love,
 
Anziano Memmott                              11/28/12
Cari Miei,
 
I hope this E-Mail finds you well.
 
This has been a good week for us. We have had a lot of good times and
memories this week. I had started to wash some clothes and then just
forgot and forgot to take them out and hang them to dry. So they
became a little moldy smelling and so I restarted the washer and let
them wash again....I did this about 4 or 5 times...I was very
forgetful....and when I finally pulled my sweater out...It was very
very tiny....I Will be sending it as a present for Nate and Sydney's
Soon-to-be Newborn, seeing as it will be closer to her size. (The tag
says XL but don't let that fool you.) At least I have a second one
that I purchased here...
 
This week we met a man named Luigi (Name has been changed for Privacy
of this Individual). Well...I say met because about 8 weeks ago he
called us and told us he wanted to study with us...intending to learn
about our religion. So we tried to set up an appointment but then we
had some problem and we couldn't make it. And then we just could fix a
time to meet, until this last Monday. We finally met him and he is a
really good guy. He is and has been Buddhist for 20 years....But, he
says that he is still missing something in his life and thinks that
the Mormons might be able to help him find it. He is very sincere in
his search and has many questions about the Plan of Salvation and
other things which we have the answers too. In my opinion, he will
make a sincere search and find that which he still hasn't been able to
find. I am very excited to teach him. Usually we start with the
restoration. But we are at square one because he still doesn't know if
God exists in terms of the typical God the Father, Christian
God....Then step 2 will be helping him gain a testimony that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God....But we have a little blue book to help
him with that one.
 
We have taught Lia everything and she has had a Baptismal Interview!
She will be baptized this Sunday. She is so ready for baptism and she
is excited to be baptized. I will send you pictures. In the Last 8
weeks...Lia has been the only investigator we have had. Including New
Investigators (which is someone who receives a lesson and accepts a
specific return appointment)  So it has been a long 8 weeks, But I
know that she is the blessing for all the hard work that we have put
in and I am very happy to see her make this important step in her
life.
 
It is good to hear from you all and still haven’t opened my Christmas
package.....We will see how long that lasts....I still have a
reasonable resolve. The remorse and guilt I believe that I would feel
from Mom are the only things that stop me from opening it before
Christmas.
 
Anziano Dowling is doing good. He is just as crazy as I am at this
point. It has been a brutal 8 weeks for him and he is no longer
normal...my strangeness has rubbed off...
oh and to answer a question that Dad had asked in E-mail, Anziano
Dowling is from Boston and is the youngest of 5 boys. His bishop is
also Danny Ange...that might behow you spell it...he is the GM of the
Celtics....His dad is a Sports Reporter for a local news station and
gets to go to all of the Patriots games for free so that he can right
about them. (From what I understand...I am jealous....) He is a really
great companion and we laugh and have a good time all the time...His
is a really hard worker as well and great with the language.
 
Anyhow...I love you all so much and hope that you are having a good holidays....
 
Love,
 
Anziano Memmott
 
Cari Miei,                                   12/5/12
 
I hope this finds you all well.
 
Lia's baptism was this last Sunday and everything went "swimmingly."
She was baptized by the husband of the member family that gave us the
referral and help us in the teaching process This Sunday will be the
confirmation. After the baptism she got up and bore a testimony and
talked about how she felt, and it was very beautiful. She is really
great and is going to be a great strength to the branch here in Prato.
(I will attach Photos in a separate E-Mail.)
 
This is an excerpt from part of my letter to the Mission President
this week. It is about Luigi...or whatever fake name I gave him last
week...
 
This week we had a lesson with a man who has been
Buddhist for 20 years and wants to find faith. We had planned to teach
him about the Plan of Salvation, the idea being that we could help him
understand who God is and who Jesus Christ is and why they are
important. As we began to meet with him I explained that we wanted to
talk about this plan and who these people are and our relationship to
them. He then told me that he had met with the missionaries about 15
years ago and then recounted with remarkable accuracy the Plan of
Salvation. From the pre-existence all the way to exaltation....THEN he
recounted the Restoration to us.... We didn't know what to do. He
told us that years ago he had read all the way to Alma 40ish and been
in Church many times... We didn't know what to teach. I prayed at that
moment, and then I just cleared my mind and waited for a question to
ask him. One came...I waited for another question to come...It came,
and so it went until we read a chapter in the BoM and talked about our
purpose as missionaries and how he could gain Faith. I have never had
someone destroy my lesson plan like he did...I have never been in that
situation to know what to say to a Buddhist of 20 years who already
knows everything...I also have never been guided by the spirit as much
as I was in that lesson. I felt the presence of the Spirit so
strongly and I know that our investigator felt the same. I know that I
was guided by the Holy Spirit to say what needed to be said.
 
So as it turns out...Luigi knows a bit more about the Mormons than we
thought he did. He had told us that he met with the missionaries a
long time ago, and that they gave him a Book of Mormon, but he did not
tell us that he knew that much....So we are puzzled at what to teach
him next.
 
It is getting very cold here in Prato. I am almost always cold and
wishing I were in a warm building. I am thinking I will order more
thermal garments...
 
I hope that everyone is okay back at home and doing well. Things are
good here. Everyone should let me know what the plans are for
Christmas...Anziano Dowling and I have considered a few different
things....We will let you know what our plans end up being and when we
will be able to talk.
 
I miss you guys and am sorry about the quality of this letter. I hope
that the pictures I am sending will make up for that....
 
We went to Pisa this morning and got some revised Pisa Pictures...the
last ones were a bit off...
 
I hope that you are all doing well.
 
Love you and miss you all so much,
 
Love,
 
Anziano Memmott

As you can see he is doing well. SO excited to talk to him at Christmas. His Birthday is December 14th... get those letters out.

 

The month of October

Hi All,
I know I get behind, sorry about that. I am posting today parts of his last three letters and as you will see he is doing fantastic and growing so much.
He writes:

Cari Miei!                                         10/17
 
I hope this letter finds you well.
 
This week has been a fun week. My new companion Anziano Dowling is
super cool and a great missionary. We have lots of fun together and we
are doing a good work here in Prato. This week we were doing some Casa
and the doorbells in that building sounded like the buzzer on
Jeopardy. Naturally before each door we took time to pick a category
(Some Gospel related trivia or some missionary joke trivia) and then
we rang and answered in the form of a question. The most fun I've had
doing Casa in a long time.
 
Anziano Dowling is really great, he is super dedicated to this work
and ready to get out and talk to people. He has so much energy and
Faith that often comes with new missionaries. It feels good to have
that kind of faith and energy around me. I hope he never loses it, because too
many missionaries do. He knows why he is out here and his mind is focused on
the work. He works really really hard and HE is training ME. A really
great guy.
 
Things are good here in Prato, A little slow. It reminds me of my
first days in Alessandria actually. It has been REALLY rainy here for
about 4 or 5 days and so it is nice to have some good weather at last...
I hope that you all are being good. I have found that this extra
obedience and extra effort that I am putting in for Anziano Dowling as the trainer is
making me very happy. The more obedient that I am the happier I seem.
The path is straight and narrow. Narrow yes, but also straight and for
me that is encouraging. I don't have to worry about getting lost or
taking the wrong direction or making a choice that would cause sorrow
if I can just keep walking straight. It is a simple and straight path,
be it narrow as it is.
 
I am happy and healthy and doing well in all aspects. I hope the same
for y’all. I hope to hear from ALL OF YOU! Very soon. :) I will try my
best to write some small letters to a few of y'all this week. It has
been a while since I have heard from some of you. I love you all and
miss you a bunch.
 
We've got to go catch a train to Firenze!
 
Love,
 Anziano Memmott

Cari Miei,        10/24
 
I hope this letter finds you all in miserable conditions....no not
really, I hope this letter finds you all very very well. (I know I
open with that line every week...sorry)
  
We had a Zone Conference this week and I got to see Anziano Blaga for
the last time. He will be going home in 3 weeks! But! He wants to come
and study at BYU! So I will hopefully get to see him when I come home.
We got a picture of Anziano Blaga, Me and Anziano Dowling. The Family.
He is a great guy and I hope that we can keep in touch well. We also
talked about something that I had been thinking about a great deal
these past weeks. I have put myself to solve the dilemma of "Overcoming
Apathy" as I like to title it. There is so little care for the message
that we bring. Frankly, I am amazed that other people are NOT amazed
at the fact that their family can live together forever. Or that we
have a living breathing Prophet on the earth today. Or those 200 years
ago God called a boy-prophet to restore his Church to the earth.... I
have been trying to fix our approach or say something else, or ask a
different question of the people. How can I make them care about what
I am saying?
 
I have seen this concept of general apathy towards religion
demonstrated so beautifully already once in my mission. When I was in
Alessandria, I used 3 types of pass-along-cards that we have. The
first is of the Book of Mormon, the second of the First Vision, and
the third of Jesus Christ. Now bear with me as I tell you which I
eliminated and why. I stopped using the one with the picture of Jesus
Christ. It had his picture (The red robe one) and it says "Faith
brings hope." A beautiful message and a true one. I love this
message; I love this pass-along-card. But I, as a member of the
church, as someone who has received greater light and understanding.
As I would hand this card to people, they would think and even once or
twice they said aloud. "Yeah, another message about Jesus. We believe
in Jesus too. He is really important but we just don't care anymore."
As I began to see. There are so many churches and so many messages
about Christ, that unless we are able to offer these people something
that is different than the others...who would care?? So now I only use
the other two. Our very unique message to the world. Not that Christ
is less important, because it is in fact HIS gospel that was restored.
And the Book of Mormon is another testament of HIM.  I simply find
these have more of an effect of the people that what they term as
"Another message about Jesus Christ."
 
So, I had been reflecting on this problem of "Overcoming Apathy." We
went to Zone Conference and wouldn't you know it, they gave me the
answer I was looking for. How do you do it? How is Apathy overcome?
With Boldness. Being bold, but not overbearing about what we believe
and why then need to listen to us. When done in a humble way and with
a loving heart, it is very effective. One quick example from the other
night when we were knocking doors. We had decided to talk about the
family and as we declared that Families can be together forever in
Heavenly Fathers Plan, the lady at the door told us, "We believe that
too, we are Christians and believe that after this life if we are
good, then we will all be happy with our families." I had encountered
this response just a day earlier in a park; I had no Idea what to say
then. But now, I did. I, with the most loving humble heart possible.
My honest desire only being that they receive this Gospel and be
blessed as a family, said, "We bring a message that the only Church
with the power to bind your family together for eternity is the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We want to share with
you, how you can know that this is true and how this message can bless
your family." Now, I would lie if I said that she let us in. In fact,
she was a bit taken back. But I know that I declared the truth. I let
her know, unmistakably, that which we know to be true and the Spirit
brought powerful testimony that it was true. This has happened many
times since and we are seeing more success. Apathy is being overcome as
we shake these people awake with the boldness we use in declaring that
which we believe. Of course, always done in a loving and humble way.
We are not trying to prove we are better or right. We only know that
this is the ONE true church and it can bless them, but we have to let
them know that this is the ONLY way that there is to have Eternal
Life.
 
So, Missionary Work raised the bar again, and requires just a little
more courage...
 I miss you all and hope you are in good health.
 
Love,
 Anziano Memmott

 Cari Miei,    10/31
 
I hope this letter finds you well, and dry...it has been pretty rainy
and wet and freezing cold here for the last few days. We are wrapped
up in scarves and gloves and jackets while we freeze on the bikes...
BUT this letter will hopefully find you in a better, less frozen state
of being.
 
This week has been another good one. It has also been pretty
stressful. First of all it has been cold. One day it just changed from
perfect weather to cold....just cold....rain and wind and cold.
Getting out of the shower in the morning is very hard. Especially
because carpet does not exist. I will be buying sandals today. Then to
make sure my beloved companion can stay in the country we had to go
and do his documents. We went at 8:00 in the morning and got out at
1:00 in the afternoon....and that was after they told us that they
wanted some code from some agency. We of course had no idea what it
was or why we needed it, so we told them we would go get it. They gave
us the needed papers and we called the Church legal people to have
them tell us what on earth we were looking for. It wasn't too hard,
only took some time. And then we went back this morning. We woke up at
30 minutes early and went to try and get first in line; the line was
enormous when we arrived. Luckily the guy remembered us from Monday
and let us in. we were the first ones in line. It took about 2 hours
for them to get things sorted out and do some fingerprinting. But
everything should be squared away now.  Anziano Dowling does however
have to take a cultural class, because since the time I got my
Permesso, they initiated a new law, that foreigners need to take a
class that lasts about 4 or 5 hours, about the language and Italian
culture and constitution and whatnot....so I'm very thankful that I
got mine when I did. And his will only be for 1 year, he will have to
renew it...I got one for 2 years...very grateful for that blessing.
 
So to deal with all this stress...I have made and eaten 4 batches of
brownies this week... We have decided, as a companionship that it
would be a good idea not to buy any more ingredients for
Brownies...just use what we have. They are pretty good, and I have to
thank mom for the recipe that she sent me. I even found some powdered
sugar to put on top of them just like at home.
 
Anziano Dowling is great and we are getting along very well. He helps
keep my excited even in this weather. Today we are going to search
from some better gloves and scarves, as we have been using the ones in
the apartment and they are not very good....
 
I love you and miss you all and hope to hear from everyone soon. I
will try and send some pictures next week.
 
Stay warm!
 
Love,
 Anziano Memmott   

losing and gaining

Cari Miei,                                        10/3
 
I hope this letter finds you well,
 
Anziano Frustaci goes home tomorrow! It is really weird to be sitting next to a dying missionary with so little time left. As Anz. Frustaci dies, there is also birth! I received a call from the assistants on
President Wolfgramms behalf. They told me that the Lord and President have called me to be a Trainer this next transfer. So as they say in the mission. I will be having a Son. He will be "Born" in Prato. It should be a fun experience, I go from killing a missionary to Training one. One at the end and one at the beginning. So this Thursday I will go up to Milano and go to the meeting and find out who it will be and we will try together to do missionary work. I am very excited but also very nervous. I don't know if I would trust me to train another person on how to be a missionary....but we will see how it goes.  Pray I don't mess him up...poverino verdino....

This week I learned a lesson about attitude. Earlier this week my A few spokes on my bike tire broke down so we took it to the bike shop and he told me it wouldn't be fixed until Thursday. I was a bit
distressed at this news seeing as Anziano Frustaci had only 1 day of full missionary work left. We had appointments one after another all across town from lunch until the end of the night. One of the busiest days I've had here in Prato. We luckily had another bike that we borrowed from a member last time our bike broke down and we had yet to return it. However, this bike was not built for a man of my stature.
It was very small and as I pedaled the bike, my knees came up to my chest. My knees are not by any means broken down or injured, but I have had a few knee problems in the past so it did cause me very notable irritation. The gears on the bike were somewhat broken and it required of me a significant effort to travel anywhere. The seat of the bike...well that was just as problematic as the rest of the machine. I took it gladly though knowing that having this extra bike was a blessing from heaven, to have my good bike fixed and also have a means of transportation for our very busy day. As we rode to our first appointment it gave my knee's considerable irritation as well as my
own "Seat" from sitting on the bikes seat. By the time I was in a profound sweat from the extra effort needed to propel the bike to keep pace with Anziano Frustaci. By the time we reached our second to last appointment I didn't think I could handle another bike ride. The pain in my knees, the exhaustion, the pain in my tailbone, it was just all very unwelcome. As we began the travel to the last appointment, I thought to myself, "This is absolutely terrible; I wish that we would have just stayed at home today. My body is in pain and I am unhappy." I was instantly in shock of what I had just thought to myself. What a terrible attitude! Then came, as often does in circumstances such as
these, the moment of teaching from our Heavenly Father. I felt the Spirit telling me, "No, this bike ride isn't pleasant! You could not control your bike breaking down. You can't control the availability of your investigators and the members; you can't control having no other option other than this less than sufficient bike. So why don't you stop worry about what you can't control. If you live your life in constant fret about situations and circumstances outside of your control you will live a life of frustration and misery. So control your attitude and choose to make the best of the worst." I knew that the only way I would get to the other side of town on that bike was with a positive attitude. So I simply began to sing. And as I started to sing a funny thing happened. The pain in my knees began to dull. The agony caused by the seat of the bike, began to dull, and I found a reservoir of strength that I had seemingly overlooked. I learned a very important lesson about choosing to be happy and make the best of the worst. That night as I kneeled at the side of my bed, I thanked my Heavenly Father for the improv lesson I had learned that day. I know that the Lord watches over us and will teach us through everything that we do, if we will but listen for the Spirit to whisper to us,  even in those moments when the rain is pounding in our face, as the thunder shakes the heavens, when the enemy is screaming as loud as he can do drown out the still small voice that will teach us all things.
Listen for it even in the worst.

Cari Miei,                            10/10
 
I hope that this letter finds you well.
 
I hope that you all Enjoyed Conference as much as I did. We had the
chance to watch it here in Prato. We had a room for all the English
speakers so I was able to enjoy the full affect of President Monson's
Announcement about Missionary work! It is ridiculous to think that
there will, in the not too far away future, be 18 year old missionaries
here in the mission. I could be comps with one....wow.
 This Thursday I went to Milano to pick up my Trainee. The group of
Trainers consisted of Anziano Money, Anziano Fiorentino, Anziano
Moore, Me, And Anziano Wilkey. You will notice that Money, Moore, Me,
and Fiorentino are all from the same MTC group!  There are a lot of
Young Trainers this time! It was really cool to see all of them and
have a little reunion. It was strange to be back  in that Chapel in
Milano and be sitting on the OTHER side of the new missionaries while
we waited to get paired up with our new comps. Actually the whole day
after that was one big flashback, except this time it was ME who knew
what was going on while my Trainee was the one getting dragged through
the Metro and Train station in Milano.
 
My new companion is Anziano Dowling. He is from Boston and is as tall
as me. He is really eager to work and excited to be here. It is really
strange because he wants to know all about Italy and our Investigators
and all we talk about is Missionary work. Whereas only a week ago all
we talked about was home and airplanes rides and Cafe Rio....a bit of
a change for me. But it is very nice. I do however have a
responsibility to work very hard and be a good example. I am a little
stressed out with the responsibility I have been given. This is my
first time being the companion in charge and so it is a little heavy
dealing with not only leading the companionship but also shaping the
future of this new missionary. Whatever I do, he will do. If I am
obedient he will learn to be obedient, if I am disobedient he will
think it is okay to disobey certain rules. It follows the same pattern
with everything. He learns what is wrong and right from ME! It is a
very heavy responsibility.
To anyone who is 18 years old and now feels the pressure of the call
that has been extended to them. I ask and plead with you to rise to
that call and serve a mission. You will NEVER in your whole life do
something that will cause more personal growth than this, short of
serving as an Apostle, and maybe not even that. There is no pursuit so
publicly available and personally advancing than that of serving a
mission.

pictures from Italy

I wanted to get a few of the pictures he has sent to me on here. they are amazing and beautiful. I haven't been too good at keeping this updated lately, hopefully I can start doing better. Life is so busy sometimes. I am getting his Christmas package ready to ship and anyone that wants to add a letter, please e-mail it to me by Monday morning.

I am going to update with a few of his letters here in just a minute.

porkchops and gratitude

Cari Miei!
 
I hope this letter finds you all well.
 
I tried making some honey garlic marinade pork chops this week...they
were a little too thick and despite all the cooking and recooking and
eating and then cooking more...I'm not sure that we should have eaten
them...I may get worms or some type of disease some time
soon....anyhow
 
How is everybody! I hope to get some letters here really soon. You can
still write to me here in Prato, I won't be going anywhere. Anziano
Frustaci goes home in about 4 weeks so there is a 99.99% chance that
I'm staying in Prato with a new comp. I feel it very safe that you
keep sending mail to the Prato address.
 
I hope that everyone is enjoying school/work. This week has been good.
We did some good work and we met some more members. I feel like I'm
finally starting to know everyone in the branch. It was a little
strange at the beginning. Because in Alessandria I learned everyone's
names really fast and got to visit them and know them faster. So I
initially just thought it was the branch. But then I realized this
week that it was August, so half of the members were on vacation, AND
we whitewashed, so neither of us knew the members. It is different
when one missionary knows all the families and members and can
introduce you. But we had to go from scratch. But I feel now things
are better. It wasn't the branch, just the circumstances.
 
Anziano Frustaci has been waking up at 6:30 to run in place in the
apartment for the last 8 weeks....I haven't done my morning exercises
since the second week in the field....but! That is about to change...I
am now waking up at 6:45 (15 minutes early) and we jog down to a park
together...that is really close and He runs around the park while I
shoot hoops. (He is still in sight and sound...don't worry about my
apostasy) So, it's a start. And I really do feel that I have more
energy in the day and I'm more awake and alert for morning studies. It
really helps the spirit. This change of heart about morning exercise
came about after reading a conference talk and then preach my gospel
about how physical discipline magnifies the spirit. So....I knew I had
to start. I'm not sure how long it will last...my next comp, might not
want to wake up early or go do morning exercise, but for the next 4
weeks....I'm doing it.
 
Things are good with me. I'm having some very spiritual moments and
I've learned a lot this last week. I'm so grateful for my journal and
everything that I record in there. I haven't missed a day since I got
to Italy and I only missed a day or two in the MTC. I really can
testify that this is divine counsel (To hold a journal of spiritual
experiences) I can see how it has increased my ability to recognize
spiritual experiences and reflect on the events in my life and the
lessons that I have learned from them. No doubt that this is something
I will do for the rest of my life. It is something I really look
forward to in fact. I love to write every night in my journal and
record something that I’ve learned from the day, or a spiritual
experience, or a cool story from the day. My journal has become one of
my most prized possessions.
 
 
Well,
 
I gotta jet, we are going to catch a train to Pisa....I'm going to get
my leaning tower pic today...I forgot to get my camera cord from
Siena, so I will send pictures next week...hopefully.
 
Love you all,
 
Miss you lots
 
Karlee, Stay away from boys,
 
Love,
 
Anziano Memmott