Too many cookies and a lot of faith

Cari Miei!
 
MOM!!! When you gave me that cookie recipe you did not make it clear enough how many cookies that it would make....you said TONS, IN CAPS...that was an understatement!!!! We have been working on putting together a fireside (that happened this last Saturday) and it was all about missionary work and we even went out on the streets with the members and did some. then we came back and had some food (American and Romanian (They don’t know how to make good cookies here, everything else yes, cookies...we make them much better, anyways)) so I made the cookies....I was baking cookies for 3 1/2 hours....okay I admit it took me like 40 minutes to make the batter because I had to do it with a bowl my hands and a wooden spoon....that was all I had really...and a crappy whisk. But needless to say my arm was very tired trying to simulate a beater.....very very hard to blend cold shortening with a wooden spoon and your brute strength....anyhow...I feel you should have made it clear that this recipe would feed everyone in Alessandria. Ha-ha JK I’m not mad. It just made ALOT of cookies....a lot....
 Anyhow,
 This week has been good! We had the fireside on Saturday and we went out, I went out with one of the Teachers, Pietro Campini. We did some Casa and Strada and he was very timid, it was his first time on a split with the missionaries. It was fun though.
 Last Thursday, we met with Estuardo. We talked with him about the situation. He said that he is now sleeping on the top bunk of a bunk bed with his son on the bottom and then in the same room is his ex companion with a separate bed. So we called president to see if this would fly. (I didn’t think it would...but it was worth a shot) and in the end he said that it would go...also that he had rethought his original decision and decided that Estuardo needs to move completely from the Apartment. So we find ourselves in need of a Miracle. We haven't met with him since then, but we need to tell him the bad news...but after days of thinking and planning for what to do. We are going to keep the baptismal date on the second of June...And we are going to invoke a miracle. We prayed to know what day he could be baptized...we got an answer and I firmly believe with all my heart Estuardo will be baptized the second of June. Why do I believe this? Simply because we believe in a God of Miracles....He has not ceased to work miracles among the children of Men. It is only their lack of faith that keeps them from these miracles. So we will show our faith, and the Lord with bless Estuardo with a job and a place to live and he will be baptized. I firmly believe this with all my being. So still all is good with Estuardo, despite the trial of our faith.
 Also I had a Scambio with our District Leader, Anziano Madsen. He came here in Alessandria. This week was my Senior Week. Well...we have that training program called the first 12 weeks and we finished it last Sunday...so I’m no longer a New Missionary...I’m just a regular Junior Companion. So I lead us everywhere this week and I scheduled the appointments and was in charge...as much as in charge as 1/2 of the companionship is...and yeah...it was good. Anziano Blaga has trained me well I think...minus the humility thing... I could probably work on that...anyhow... I’m feeling that I can do whatever could be asked of me as a missionary.
 Good to hear about things at home. And thank you all for everything you do for me. I just want to hear from you all and I realize I don’t write each of YOU individually every week...I will try and get some more individual letters out though. I’m sorry for the lack of pictures today...but all the pictures I want to take will be....Drum roll please....TONIGHT AT THE BAPTISM!!! In a few short hours Anna will be baptized and everything that I've left behind, given up, or lost will be worth the sacrifice 1000% Things are great. It is a great day here in Alessandria. I love you all and hope you are all doing well.
 
Love,
 Anziano Dustin T. Memmott
 
As you can see he is doing some amazing things. Hope you all will add your prayers to mine on behalf of Estuardo.

Arranging first baptism

This is a photo of Dustin in his zone conference in Torino on Monday.
It was so nice to talk to him on Mother's day. He looks great and sounds great. I miss him so much.

His letter was so exciting to read this week. here is an update of his work. He writes:
This morning we met Anna and the Famiglia Sinigaliesi along with Anziano Madsen, and Squarcia in the Church here in Alessandria to do the Baptismal Interview. She passed and now! She will
be baptized in a week. Fratello Sinigaliesi is going to baptize her and Anziano Blaga will Confirm her, I will also be in the circle. (I want to note that I could care less who does what as long as it’s
done!) So, yeah. There you have it folks. After weeks of hard work, a life is being changed and a large step is being taken, it gives me a new energy for the work and a new hope for more people to accept the
message.
 
We had a Family home Evening with Estuardo on Monday. Along with Daniel and Lorenza Zito. They are newly married and both return missionaries who served in England. As we were there, we learned a lot
about the changes that Estuardo is making in his life. It is crazy. He told us how before he was a very angry person and very impatient and mad at the world, but now he is calm and tranquil and filled with hope and kindness...The light of Christ is filling Estuardo and he knows it. So amazing. This is the reason I came out here to do this... To see people changed by the Atonement of Christ. It is the most glorious and fulfilling thing that I’ve ever done. We keep moving towards baptism and he is just such an amazing man.
We have that fireside that we have been planning to do, this Saturday. So I bought some of the stuff for making cookies today. I need to get the rest of the stuff later and we will give it a try.
I love you all and hope you have a good week.
 Go! Read some books! (The Book of Mormon)
 
Love,
 
Anziano Memmott
 

Mother's Day

This letter was mostly personal and addressing our skype session that we are going to have on Sunday. (I am so excited). I have attached the info he gave me regarding his work. He writes:

This week has been good. It's been a bit of a long week. But always good. Things are going well with all of our investigators and we are making progress. We have a baptism on get this...the 23rd of May...If
I recall right that is a 1 year anniversary from the time I graduated High school...ha-ha funny how things happen in this life. Which means also that school will be wrapping up that week. This is the member-referral baptism that is rock solid. Super golden. She says she is getting an answer and she is keeping the commitments and she is living the word of wisdom. Just great. And we have other really good investigators things are really coming along here in Alessandria. It has improved 100 times since the time I arrived. Also I’m beginning to form relationships with the members here that are very special. I
think that wherever I go after this won't be the same. At least not for a while. Alessandria will always be home for me. Even if there is nothing to see here. It's mostly an industrial, commercial city. So
there isn’t anything that great to go and see or do. And there are a lot of foreigners, but nevertheless I like it more and more everyday that I am here.
 
Happy Mother’s Day!  Can’t wait to see you all.
Till Sunday,
 
Anziano Memmott

No Package :(

Dear correspondents,
ha-ha jk,
Dear Loved Ones,
 
Bad news...I haven't gotten my package. Worse news...neither has the office. Conclusion, it got lost....I died a little inside when I realized that my pictures from the first day and basically the first transfer are by-by...hence my crying out WILSON!!! Actually I cried out "Package!" (My package is equal to "Wilson" from castaway....I hope someone finds that funny. because Anziano Blaga didn’t get the reference and it was awkward.)
 
Anyhow...Still need a thing full of pictures. So if nothing else, send a much smaller package only containing that. Also I have thought of something to try, but we will briefly discuss a few logistics (10 minutes) on the mother’s day call. We are going to set up a place to go and do the call. We have 3 or 4 Members that love us to death and would have us over for a long time to do calls. So we will get something set up and I will let you know next Wednesday. Can't wait.
 So!
 This week was great. We set a Baptismal Date with Anna, this referral from Famiglia Sinigaliesi. She is Golden. Not much more to be said. She stopped smoking and drinking cold turkey and it’s been 2 weeks and she is still going strong...yeah, she says she thinks she is getting her answer and the spirit it always SO strong in the lessons. And Fratello Sinigaliesi says he has ANOTHER referral that he is working on. So we will see...
 Also while we were sitting in the train station to come back from our appointment with Anna, We got a call from the office and it was a referral! The missionaries in Padova were tracting and found a man and he wanted to learn more but he doesn’t live there. He lives about 20 minutes outside of Alessandria. So they took down his number and sent it to the office and they gave it to us and we fixed an appointment!
(Really cool fact! The Anziani in Padova are Anziano Mauldwin, Anziano Blaga's favorite ex-companion, and Anziano Love! He was in the MTC with me, and was originally my companion with Fiorentino before some shuffling! Ha-ha so yeah, that was cool to get from those two) Anyhow. We made an appointment with him and he drove 20 minutes into Alessandria to meet with us. Already showing he is a pretty good contact, and then we met with him and in the first lesson we made a baptismal date! He is also from Ecuador! So now we have 2 baptismal dates and things are going strong.
 
We also have another 2 member referrals that we are working on setting up appointments and getting things rolling there.
 As for The other man from Ecuador, his name is Estuardo. We are going to try and meet with him this Friday. He has been giving us Bidone's....not sure what to call it in English...a Bidone if I haven't explained already is when someone doesn't come to the appointment...maybe we got dogged....or they didn’t show...English ha...Anyhow, this last Saturday we sent him a text and reminded him about church. He showed up and from what it sounds like he will be coming from now on. The only problem is that he doesn’t think he needs to be baptized because he was already baptized once and so we are going to teach him more about why it’s important that we have the priesthood. We only have had 1 lesson with him. So we still need to establish a few things but he is really awesome and I think that baptism is very plausible.
 
We had a really good week this week. I'm doing really well and after these last few trainings and district meetings Anziano Blaga and I have been working on improving on a few things (like Area book, 2 minute drills, SYL) and they have made huge difference.
 We Implemented SYL this last week also. We speak English in the Apartment (This program comes from the area authority) so that Anziano Blaga can learn English better (he is basically as fluent as I am) and then outside the apartment we speak Italian. (So I’m learning a bit faster now, and some new words)
 
I’m learning so much. I'm growing so much. I’m changing SO much. (All in good ways)
 
I can't tell you enough how important the scriptures are and also the words of the Prophets. Please all of you make a good study of them both. And accompany your study with fervent prayer. I can't tell you how much I know that this Restored Gospel is true. Truer than truer than true!
 
Anyways,
 I will e-mail you next week with the times for the Mothers Day call!
 Love you all so much and hope everyone is doing well back in Utah.
 Someone go eat some Cafe Rio for me! Anziano Memmott
 

 I miss my missionary very much! This was close to the last picture I got to have with him.

This picture was taken just across from the MTC before he went in on January 4th. Miss and love him so much.

This week was mostly personal stuff that he wrote home. addressing individuals and getting me excited to skype with him on Mother's Day.

He is working hard each day and it shows. Here is a bit of an update on his work.
He writes:
This week we did a lot of finding work. Yesterday we finished our 3rd or 4th day with 5-7 hours of finding work. So needless to say, I am very tired right now. After hours of walking up and down streets, apartments, and riding the bikes back and forth across town...well let's just say I fell asleep very fast last night. Ha-ha.
 
We have a really good member referral we are working with right now. They live in Acqui Terme, it's just outside Alessandria, and the members we are working with are just an awesome family. They have a
pizza place and the referral works there and is their cook. It’s small so they know each other really well and are good friends and are together a lot. So it is perfect. We went and had lunch at their house and we plan to go twice a week and have lunch and a lesson and she said that she would be baptized. Actually ha-ha, when we asked she smiled and said "Is this a question?" and we are told she has read
about 1/2 the Book of Mormon already! This is fantastic. We are still working with the man from Ecuador and we will meet with him tomorrow. He was out of town for a couple days so we couldn’t meet, but from the talk on the phone he said he too was reading the Book of Mormon.

Please keep praying for his referrals and for the safety of Dustin and his companion.
I know the prayers are felt and heard.

week in review

This is a picture I got from Dustin's mission president this week along with a letter telling us he is doing well. This Picture is Dustin with his companion Anziano Blaga and Brother and Sister Wolfgramm.

This is Dustin's week in Review as he called it:

Hello everyone!
 
Nic says hi, and he loves you.
I hope that you are all doing well.
Here is a report on the week.
 
Wednesday

 It rained nearly all day and I got a lot done with some studies and letters and stuff such as that. Also in English class we have 2 guys who are slightly interested and we taught them a part of the plan of salvation and we will teach the final part tonight. And we might go get pizza with them after (they like us and offered to buy).
 
Thursday

We were in Milano all day! I love going to Milano, Milano Centrale (The train station) is so amazing. It’s huge and all stone and really cool. We went and had a great zone conference. I saw Anziano Treadyway, he has lost 25 pounds. He is in a hilly area and they walk a lot. Ha-ha I’m praying that my last area is in Siena because I hear that it is really hilly and there is only 1 member IN Siena itself so you don’t eat at member’s hardly ever! That way I can come home skinny ha-ha. So...praying for that. We had a good training .

Friday
 
We ran into a man in the park that is a gypsy, he has been traveling with his backpack and another bag from country to country to town to town for 4 years and something. He is about to return home to
somewhere in Europe that I can’t remember, but he spoke English. He was very much a Hippie type....He has some strange ideas about God and religion. It was very different to talk to someone about Doctrines of men and Doctrines of Christ instead of Corrupt Doctrines of Christ and the Restored Truth....I’m used to Catholics....not existentialist’s. Ha-ha but it was good. He actually HAD a Book of Mormon that some missionaries in France gave him. So we encouraged him again to read it and taught him a few things.
 
Saturday
 
We also met a man from Ecuador and he has become a progressing investigator...yes you heard right! We have an actual investigator. Well, that is we met with him once, he came to church and then we
have another appointment with him tonight. So we will try and set a Baptismal Date with him and the experiences we have had with him have been SOOO strong with the spirit. Church was fantastic all the members were really friendly with him and he really liked it and the lesson was amazing. You could have cut the spirit with a knife.
 
Sunday was a slower day full of member lessons and visiting some less actives.
 
Monday was a long day because it was the day before the transfer ended so it was cleaning day. We cleaned for 3 hours and the whole day is ours to get organized and clean and organize the house. We were outside the apartment for 1 hour that day. But I did make some FANTASTIC PASTA. I will take this time to brag and say that I made on this Monday the 3rd best pasta I have eaten since coming to Italy. So that was a good day. I got to study a lot after we cleaned and we watched Legacy. (Church Movie)
 
Tuesday
We did 8 hours of finding work....8 hours of finding work....we had lunch with a member and a 8 o clock lesson with some snacks...we knocked SOOO many doors...yeah ha-ha but it was good. We have an appointment with a lady Friday... and some other possibles...we will see.
 
Well that was pretty much my week.
 
Things are going well and I am growing a lot. I really can’t wait to finish this Journal and send it home with my planners. Then you all can read through them and see better how each day went.
 
Here I am folks! I finished my first transfer in the mission! And it was a 7 week one at that! Normally they are 6! So one more with Anziano Blaga and then I graduate from Greenie to Junior Companion!
Love you all so much! I hope that everyone is doing well, I got 3 letters yesterday and they were fantastic. Good to hear from you all. I will try and get some more handwritten letters home! Love you all
and I want you to know that I’m doing very good. I’m growing a lot.

Love you all
 
.Ci Sentiamo
 
Anziano Memmott
 

Happy Easter

Cari Miei!
 
Ciao Ciao Tutti!
 
Nic says, Ciao.
 
Well, it’s been a fun week. My pizza intake has spiked during this last week. Ha-ha last Wednesday night, Anziano Blaga and I got some pizzas and then Friday (April 6th, Jesus Real Birthday) we bought another one and we made a pact that every year on April 6th we would eat a pizza to celebrate. So for the rest of my life I know what I will be doing on April 6th.
Oh and also we are working on finding a member who loves us enough to let us use their comp with web cam to Skype for mother’s day! I will keep you all updated!
So this Sunday it was Easter! Pasqua! And we went over to the Famiglia Sicali for lunch. The wife is from Germany and so we had some Potatoes and gravy with some meat and we ate a lot of it. Also we had some Colomba. It means Dove in Italian but we didn’t really eat a dove, it’s just a cake type thing shaped like a dove. They eat it at Easter. It was pretty good. Also we ate lots of chocolate and other goodies.
Then Monday (Pasquetta, The day after Easter where everyone gets together and eats) we went to the house of Roberto Sinigaliese and we had Pizza's Forno e Legno. That means in one of those old brick ovens with wood and fire and they are Italian Pizzas and he runs a pizza place so they were really good. And we ate (as the people who came from the ward, about 40 of us) 100 pizzas. So yeah...It was awesome. And his house is out in the country side. It is a little outside of Asti, which is a province of Alessandria. And so it is just surrounded by rolling hills and vegetation. It was incredible and we played some games. And we talked and laughed with the ward. And that really took all day. So we did not work...it was basically a vacation day. Ha-ha the only reason that we justified ourselves in going was that there were some non members there we talked to and the less active that we are working with. So we got them involved and it was really good.
Anyways, it’s been an okay week. Once again we have found a couple potential investigators but, we still don’t have anyone making progress. We have a few rays of light shinning in though. A family
that we visit often and are good friends with us want to have a family home evening and bring their niece who they think will accept and who is willing to meet with us. So that could be something. And we also have another possible good referral coming out of the woodworks. Other than that, we just continue to work and try and find someone and try and seek referrals from members, there actually could be some success from our English class that we teach at the church every Wednesday night. But that is a slim slim chance. So...we will see.
 
Things here in Italy are good. I think that things are finally setting in motion. Anziano Blaga always says that the Lord is the Paymaster and he will bless us for our work eventually. So maybe things are rolling. That’s what these last 2 or 3 days have felt like. Things are looking up and we finally are seeing some people who are genuinely interested.
 
It’s a hard work and I've changed a lot. That is something I was thinking about this last week. How much I have changed. The MTC seems like it was 1000 years ago and life before I left on the mission, I look back on who I was and think about "Normal Life" and I don't even recognize that the person and life I remember was mine. It seems like I have the memories of a stranger. It’s a weird thing to look back and see a stranger with your memories....or that is what it feels like. That’s how much the mission changes you.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Mother’s day and seeing how much
you have all changed!
Miss you and hope that you all are reading and praying. Good to hear that things are looking up. Remember the words of the Prophet from the last conference. Slow down a little and do the things that matter. Spend more time as a family.
 
Really quick, we were teaching a family about reading together and family home evening and I want you to know that I bore testimony of how important this is. We were never perfect, but the times that we DID have scripture study and FHE, I remember almost all of them. And they are special memories. So spend time with one another, its precious time that you can’t replace for anything.
 
Love you all so much and can’t wait to hear more from you.
 
Love,
Anziano Memmott