Hey fam! I am just going to write really quickly because we have a short p-day today. Wednesday is Ferragosto so pretty everything is closed and it's also that time where the mission wants us to do a deep cleaner of our apartments. So since we will be doing that on Wednesday we have a shorter p-day today so we can get more work done. Anyways, we did have transfers last week. I am still here in Roma 2, but I got a new companion! He is Anziano Castro from......Milan!!!! I always wanted to have an Italian companion. I figured after so many transfers coming and going without me getting one it was just never going to happen. Well, not only is Anziano Castro my companion, but he is also in my group! We didn't go to the MTC together (Italians go to the one in Madrid and just for like 2 or 3 weeks), but we arrived in Rome at the same time and spent the first few days of training together. Anziano Castro is originally from El Salvador, but since age 3 he has lived in Italy so he is definitely Italian through and through. I stinkin love it!! I feel like I am getting to experience the culture in a deeper way that I never have before. He speaks Italian, Spanish, and English fluently and then Portuguese, Chinese, and French on varying levels. We established kind of right off that we would speak English in the house and Italian out of the house. My Italian is literally sky-rocketing! I feel so so lucky to have this opportunity because there are not very many Italian missionaries in our mission. His Italian is also pretty different though. Northern Italy, but especially Milan, has a different accent. It's a lot more distinct and the pronunciation is more pointed if that makes sense. To make a comparison, Milan could be like a British accent, Rome could be like a Utah accent, Napoli could be like a hillbilly, and Sicily could be like just a Southern accent. Haha One quick story, this past week we did an finding exercise with some other missionaries in our zone on the metro. So we got into pairs and then basically did a loop. We would get on at a stop called Repubblica ride it three stops down to a stop called Flaminio (it takes about 4 minutes) and then at Flaminio we would walk over to the metro going the opposite direction and ride it back to Repubblica. We did this riding back and forth between the two stops for about 40 minutes. The objective was to get on and then just start a conversation with someone. We would do our best to bring up the gospel and get their number and then get off at Repubblica or Flaminio depending on which direction we were going. We could stay on the metro and ride down farther with them if we felt really impressed to, but then we would return back and keep doing the loop between Repubblica and Flaminio. What we did we actually is we had each companionship take a different train (the trains pass like every 2 minutes) and then the companions were even advised to spread out just a bit from each other (obviously still within sight and sound) on the metro. It was such an amazing practice to just discover how I personally like approaching people and doing finding. I felt more free not having another missionary right beside me so I could just relax and focus on the person I wanted to talk to. After this exercise we all regrouped and then discussed tips or tricks we discovered. I loved it a lot! It made me really examine how I do things. I loved how they just encouraged us to be ourselves as we approached these people. We are all missionaries, but we are different people with different gifts and we each bring things to the table. Anyways, I just wanted to share that with y'all because I thought it was so interesting and I want to add my testimony that there are people who want to hear this message and we are all called to stand as witnesses and share it. I know God helps us. Alma 32:27 "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire..., let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can...." I love you all! Anziano Stucki
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Hello everyone!
This week I wanted to just talk about one lesson we had with our friend Reza. He is from Iran. This is the first time that I have been able to meet him during my whole time here because he has been very busy with exams. He is here studying to be a nurse. He speaks English perfectly and is learning Italian. When I met him, almost the first thing he said to me was, "Your president is sending attacks on my country everyday." It was kind of awkward for a second, but not that awkward because he didn't seem upset about it. I tried to lighten things up though and added that I'd be sure to call Trump and tell him to stop. :) He went on to explain the very difficult situation in his country and that he loved Trump because he was the only one who was doing anything about it. Haha I'm not updated enough on the news and all, but I thought it was an interesting conversation nonetheless. There is something so humbling about hearing so many good and bad things about different groups of people around the world, and then one day actually meeting one yourself. You realize just how much you have in common and how the gospel of Jesus Christ applies to them just as much as it applies to you. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we are all children of God and that invites every single person on this whole earth to come to Him. Well, Reza went on to explain how he feels that he has been guided here to Italy. He told about how hard it was to leave his family (and he will never be permitted into the country again if he wants to return). He has had many experiences in which he felt like giving up, but he heard this voice that just said, "Keep going!" Well, a couple months ago he saw some missionaries on a bus and noticed something special about them. Something he hadn't noticed in any other church before. He approached them and got their information. They taught him awhile very slowly because he doesn't have a Christian base, but they taught him all of the Restoration and now a month or so later we got to meet with him. When we met him this time he actually got after us because we hadn't been contacting him enough! He told us how important these things were to him and how he wants to become a good man who tries to make other's lives better just like Joseph Smith did. :) I just can't believe that weeks ago when we tried to set up an appointment with him we thought he wasn't making time for us because he wasn't interested! He really just has the tightest schedule and even now we will only be able to see him every other week or so, but we will keep doing our best! It's just so amazing to me to see people like this who have literally been led by God to meet us and hear the message. Even if there are some countries where the church is not permitted to go, there are so many from those very places who our message still makes it to! Love you all, Anziano Stucki Buona Lunedì!
I hope everything is well and you are enjoying your summer vacation. Italians, Europeans and, can't forget, Asians (they're not just in Moab....) are enjoying their summer break. There are so many foreigners! Me and Anziano Bardsley as we walk through the metro stations will just point out all the tour groups and families and try and guess what language they're speaking/where they are from. Haha I have gained a large appreciation for different languages and the fact that I was born speaking the "international language" AKA English. This is also the season of going through major touristy places and hearing someone practically scream on at least on two different occasions, "ELDERS!!!" Then moments later the Utah tourists show themselves, pictures are taken, and off they go sent to my mom's email. I also can't tell you how many members and investigators are just disappearing now. In August here in Italy they have this thing called "Ferragosto", which interpreted pretty much means, "Everyone quite working and go to the beach all month." Despite the adjustments we have to make, the work goes on and it allows more time to focus on the people who are left! 😁 As far as the picture goes that's just us out on the town doing a classy gesso. Drawing the emoji cred: me! The words on the sheet say, "Cosa vi rende felice?" Cioè, "What makes you happy?" My testimony of miracles and God's desire to bless us was increased this week a lot. At this gesso we made a goal that we wouldn't let a single person pass without us at least approaching them and saying something. Turns out we didn't have a lot of people who wanted to talk, but right towards the end a member who unbeknownst to us had passed by and seen us, showed up with a pizza and drinks! Later then we checked our phone and one of our very new contacts had text and said he could come to church on Sunday (this is after he didn't come to church the week before)! I know God sees all of our efforts and He blesses them even in ways that sometimes may be unrelated. I have been surprised many times this week seeing how after trying to talk to someone and being turned down that later we will just be going along our way and someone will come and approach us! Or sometimes we'll just run into someone that we know and haven't seen in awhile. I am so grateful for those tender mercies of the Lord and I know they are not by chance. Love you all! Anziano Stucki Hey all!
Well this elect man got baptized last week! We met at the friendship center when I was in my last area and the missionaires have been teaching him and now I got to see his baptism. I could not be more excited about this. Time is up so just know there is a really miraculous story behind this and God is leading this work! :D haha love you all! Ciao, Anziano Stucki. Hello all!!
Not a lot of time now, but just wanted to say I love you all and God is blessing the work here in Italy. Unexpectedly and miraculously we got 6 referrals this week!! I have no idea how, but I'm just hoping it means we finally did something right. :) Thank you all for your prayers and support. My favorite moment was getting a referral from our Egyptian investigator, Ali, who upon sending us his friends number said, "This friend number. Call him. For being Christian. Fabio. Italian." Hahahaha Here's to the one picture I got all week! Haha Love you all! Anziano Stucki What a week! It's been great just trying to get to know the new area and meet all the new people. Because of the friendship center and just relations in the church I already had met a few of the members here so that is a bit of an advantage.
I hope last Wednesday was a great day for all of you!! It was here in Italy for me. On p-day last week as we were standing with our district in line for 3 and a half hours for the Vatican we were thinking about the 4th of July and we didn't have any plans in specific so we decided it would be a great opportunity to throw an English course party and invite all the students and members and have some good'ole fellowshipping. Well we made plans and got permission and then Wednesday came. As last minute preparations commenced, I felt like I was fighting the revolutionary war here in Italy just trying to put things together with my patriotic Australian companion who by the way is actually originally from England which only just makes things worse! Haha Well, through many of his eye-rolls and my emphatic statements and scripture references to prove that America IS the promised land the last minute party came together and everyone had a lot of fun and the 3 Americans and 1 Australian in my house can once again live in peace together. #LongLiveAmerica Well, today I don't have a ton of time. We went to a park to play frisbee and while we were playing an Anziano in my house whose bag had been left on a bench a bit far from where we were, got stolen. So this whole afternoon we have kind of been running around making calls, trying to get credit cards canceled, and the mission office notified so that they can use the phones account to locate the phone (they did try to locate it, but the person must have turned the phone off because no data came up). I also got to call and talk to the police department in Italian for the first time and help file a report at the police office. Haha All I can say is that I know God is watching over us and he is guiding this work. This past week we had a man from the friendship center who wants to come to church with us!! He is from Kenya. I met him during my time there and I am so excited to teach him. They are also putting the grass down around the temple which is really exciting. It is so amazing to see how the Lord is blessing the saints here and how more and more people notice us and want to learn more. I know this is the true church and God is leading it. Love you all! Anziano Stucki Well well, I'm still here in Rome!!! Fun thing is, I did get transferred though! Before I was in Roma 3 area. Now I am in Roma 2 area. Since that probably doesn't mean anything to you, just know I pretty much just moved wards and am now living, unlike before, right in the center of Rome! Literally, the Colosseum is a 10 minute jog down the road and speaking of which, they like to jog a lot here (I live in a fourman house again!) so we will probably be doing that for sure one of these days!! I was actually very very sad to leave Roma 3. I have so many good friends and investigators and the work was literally exploding, but then I found out that in Roma 2 my soon-to-be companion, Anziano Bardsley, is from Perth, Australia and the work isn't doing too bad over here so I guess I'll make do. :) Fun fact too, I actually did a scambio with Anziano Bardsley over a year ago when I was in my third transfer and he was in his first in Palermo Sicilia. I have known him for my whole mission and he is such an awesome missionary. He also is one of the most genius people I have ever met. He literally is an expert at computer programming. He literally could be already graduated from college and have a professional career in computer programming right now if he wanted to. Haha He also likes music and sings and plays the piano a good bit so that will be really awesome this transfer too! One highlight of this week going back to before transfers: we took Luis our investigator from Honduras to the temple! We got to go in the information center and explain the building process and the importance of the temples for us. After explaining a bit about the amazing temple work and how what he is doing now like taking the lessons and reading in the Book of Mormon and coming to church, is preparing him to go to the temple. The conversation kind of got quiet for a moment and we then asked him how reading in the Book of Mormon was going. He responded that he was still at the same place as last time we met. Then, as if thinking back on our words just moments before said in a the most sincere voice that he was going to start reading better. It was so awesome! Unfortunately here in Roma 2 I don't get to go to the friendship center anymore which is a huge bumber, but one amazing thing we get to do every Saturday is for three hours we take a shift at the information center at the temple! So inside the information center there is a mini model of the temple grounds and a bunch of pieces of different stones and materials that they have used to build the temple and we basically just give a tour to the people who come in. I love it so much! It is so refreshing to just go and sit by the temple. It's also fun to meet all the different people who come in to the center. There are a lot from Utah! Haha That's all for this week. Love, Anziano Stucki. 1. You've got to love Africans! Hahaha Found this on the door of an African store.
2. Well, my trainer is going home tomorrow and actually so are all the sisters in my MTC group. Yep that's right. I hit my 18 month mark! I can't believe it's true. It's scary and suddenly becoming very real. A part from trainer and the sisters in my group there are many other elders going home in this group who I have served a long time with and love. This has been the first group of missionaries going home that has been really hard to say goodbye to. It is leaving a huge whole in our mission. My trainer, Anziano Melling, has actually been my zone leader here in Rome for these two transfers and my companion is the district leader so it just so happened that me and Anziano Melling were able to do a scambio this past week. It was so awesome to catch up and go get a Briosce like old times except the gelato in Sicily is still way better. Haha 3. Another chair....... 4. We did a Book of Mormon gesso as a district this last week and a bunch of children from Bangladesh (by India) came and we invited them to help draw with us. Haha it was actually really cool. The words on the sheet say basically, "Jesus Christ, what do the Americas say about him?" Anyways, that's all for this week! I am doing well. It's very possible that I will do another here in Rome but it's more possible that I will get transferred. We will see though tonight when we get calls! The senior couple at the friendship center wrote our mission president and told him they really want me and anziano Jensen to stay at least another transfer until August when the friendship center closes for one month. We will see what happens. Haha Love you all! Anziano Stucki Hello family!
We had another amazing lesson with Luis our investigator from Honduras. We had originally planned to teach the plan of salvation, but last minute we felt like we should watch the restoration video (the full hour-long one). Thankfully we were doing the lesson in the church so we had wifi and could pull it up in Spanish for him (he's lived in Italy for awhile and speaks Italian practically fluently, but we try and do things like videos or scriptures in Spanish for him so that they take a deeper meaning). Anyways, it was so amazingly spiritual. First off, you just have to realize how amazing Luis is! He literally has been so prepared. He has amazing faith and has just the strongest purest desire to follow God. It's amazing to see someone like Luis who grew up with a mom who is Jehovah witness and a dad who is Catholic, but Luis himself didn't feel drawn to other one and although favoring the Catholic a bit more has really just formed many of his own ideas and beliefs based on what he's seen and learned and just feels is right. Then it has been so cool to see how as we are teaching him he learns them and they are the things that he already believes, things that he missed in other religions before. At the beginning of the lesson he recounted what he had read in the Book of Mormon and then commented how much he admires Nephi and his faith. As we watched the Joseph Smith movie the spirit was so strong and then after Luis commented at how remarkable and just Christlike Joseph Smith was. It's so awesome to see his joy and excitement for the gospel! On Saturday the friendship center for the refugees had an open house for the public and members to come and see what it is. There was food and music and the choir class that we help with performed two songs (one of which was Amazing Grace). It was so awesome to sing that especially with a group of refugees (some who are even from the middle east and don't believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior). There was a beautiful spirit there for all though. Fun detail, the president of the whole worldwide humanitarian refugee department in the Catholic church came to the open house. That was very big deal. He is originally from San Francisco, but his office is in the Vatican and he reports directly to the Pope. Later that evening we went to an appointment. We had gotten a request from a member to go give a blessing to her friend who has cancer. When we first went there the mom answered the door and she was so cold, just not friendly at all. We of course did our best to be kind and make friends with them and slowly slowly the mom just opened up more and more. After only 10 minutes in their house the mom just turns to her daughter (who is 30ish years old) and exclaims/commands, "I like these boys. You need to listen to them and meet with them often. They have true faith and what they teach is good." We were blown away! Haha the lesson just went up from there. Valentina, the daughter, is amazing. Like Luis, she too hasn't found a lot of joy in the churches that she has seen around her, but going forward with faith she has done the best that she can. Now that she hears the Restored gospel she recognizes and so readily accepts the truth that this gospel offers. As for the mom, she just adored us. We talked to them about priesthood blessings and what they are just to give them a brief idea before doing it, then we also talked about the temple being built in Rome and eternal families. She exclaimed after how for us death is really just a "See you later." And we the whole time just exclaimed, "Yes!!" Then she said with a bit of emotion, "I am 60 years old and am ashamed to say that I am literally just discovering these teachings. Why couldn't I have discovered them earlier?" I just felt so strongly to bear my testimony of the fact that God has a plan for each of us and we don't always know why things happen the way they happen, but we just need to know that God knows what He is doing and we will be blessed in the end. That's all for now. Love, Anziano Stucki. Hey family! I am just sitting here in an internet cafe writing on a smartphone while my companion chooses classes for college. Yeah, we definitely just found out this morning that today was the deadline to sign up so we did the responsible thing and went and played calcio with our zone. I'll just take the blame now for that one. Good thing Italy time is ahead! Haha
This week has been anything but chill and slow. My mind is still just spinning trying to process it all! Haha I feel so good though because we have simply just tried and tried so hard. It's been amazing and we've seen so many miracles. I could not servive without those moments of personal study in the morning and then language study and companionship study in the afternoon (we do pranzo and those studies all from 1:00 to usually 4/4:30ish while all the Italians are having pranzo). We take extra time for lunch and then don't eat dinner. That's when my nightly bowl of... *drum roll* granola and Greek yogurt comes in every night when we get back at 9/9:30!! It's so weird how the daily schedule seemed so monotonous and actually exhausting at first, but now has become something I love and can't survive without. Haha As far as one miracle this week, we went to visit a less-active man (originally from Peru) who has to stay at home with a back brace for many months because he got in a car accident. Anyways it just so happens that his mother came over and she knows absolutely nothing about the church. Well, we were all too happy to help her! Turns out she was very interested and even came to church the next day! We had many other miracles this week which I don't have time to recall. I would just like to bear my testimony though that I know God has His hand in this work and He blesses us when we are obedient and do our best. I love you all! Anziano Stucki |
PURPOSEGrateful for an opportunity to learn and come closer to the Savior, Neal shares his mission experience with us. Archives
June 2019
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