Light the World

​Dear famiglia,  

To break the news fast, there were no changes for us for transfers. I am here writing from Reggio Calabria again! Honestly, transfers and packing and traveling and adjusting to the new city and people and companion is sometimes just exhausting so it's kind of nice to sit back and relax this time around for transfers. It will be nice to spend this time here during the holidays because I love this city and the members are so awesome. That is one of the best things about cities where it is a smaller branch, you grow so close to them. Plus, let's be honest, this apartment is the nicest one I have had in my whole mission. In fact it is one of the nicest ones in the whole mission. It used to be a senior couple's apartment and let's just say they take really good care of senior couples. :) haha

Well, I hope y'all know about the church Light the World initiative that they are doing again this year. I was going to write you all about it last week, but I forgot. It is such a cool initiative and a cool way to focus on Jesus Christ more throughout the season. I would invite you all to 1) participate in it and 2) invite friends and family to participate! As we combine our efforts and focus on serving as Jesus Christ served, not only will we bless those we serve, but also many people will be touched and have a desire to learn about the gospel and the restored church. A couple weeks ago we watched some training video about this event and they said that last year during these holiday months around when they did Light the World the church department recieved more referrals than all the other months of the year combined! 

On Friday we had a pranzo appointment with a member and her husband who is not a member. Afterward we did a spiritual thought. We decided to show the Light the World video. At this point I have seen that video probably 30 times, but this time watching it with them I had a new thought. It was inspired by a small second in the video where you see the hand moving back the little flap on the advent calendar to grab the candy behind it and you hear the girl laugh in the background. That part just stood out to me because it is kind of odd and random. You just here the laugh and see the advent calendar and you don't know any of the background story and what else is going on in that less than one second clip. And also as you watch the whole film it's like that, just small tiny little less than a second clips of acts of service and moments of the holidays taking place. The part that is profound is that obviously behind each one of these clips is a bigger longer story. When the film ended I explained them these observations I had made and then went on to explain that so often this is how our acts of service are. So often we focus on the one act itself and we don't think of the preparation, the careful moments of planning and worrying before, or even the stumbles and scrambling and the moments of stress and anxiety. And then, we often don't see the moments after. The smile and gratitude of the person after we served them and said goodbye or the quiet moment traveling home and the aftermath and cleanup. I went on to say that maybe this season of Christmas as we follow the calendar and serve people everday could be just a little bit like that. We may be noticed gratefully for the full efforts of our service or we may be unknown and anonymous to those we are serving and even others in general. I just began to bear my testimony that even though we may not be recognized or even appreciated for our efforts Heavenly Father does see all and He is so happy for all the good that we each do. He appreciates us and blesses us. As I began to bear my testimony I got emotional especially thinking about this women and the many difficulties that she has had to face. I guess you could say she is one of those women who has to "pull the handcart" harder because of the burdens that have been placed upon her. I know she so often goes unappreciated and even disrespected even after all of the hard work and sacrifice she makes. I also began thinking about my mom at home and the many times especially around the holidays where she would get up early to cook or clean and just get things ready for all of us. I am so grateful for the acts of service that the many people in my life have done for me, the unseen and seen. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made for me in the garden of Eden where no one was with Him and even His disciples were sleeping. I am so grateful for His love and determination to do that. I would invite you all to make a full hearted effort to serve and invite others to do so as well! I know that even if the things we do go unnoticed or even unappreciated our "Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly." 

Love, Anziano Stucki.

Some English course students brought us some pig meat! They treat us so well. As you can see there is some sausage but the bigger hunk of meat is a piece they cook by boiling in this post for like 8 hours. Mom it reminded me a lot of your bone broth!

I tried Italian hot chocolate for the first time. By the way this cup I am drinking was the "large size." Here in Italy especially when they get coffee they drink it in those tiny little teacup things. But it is sooo much stronger. The hot chocolate was like the creamiest hot chocolate I have ever had. It was sooo good!

Crepes. My new favorite breakfast food (filled with Nutella).

This is a pandoro! Last week I was telling you about the panettone. I God the mixed up. The pandoro is taller or more bell shaped while the panettone is flatter and circle shaped.

This is some lentil soup! In Italy they definitely eat soup but they are not crazy about it. This is the first time I have eaten lentil soup and probably like the 3rd time I have ever eaten soup in my mission. It also reminded me a lot of your lentil soup at home mom! Your recipe is pretty authentic. :) Also, I didn't get a picture of it, but they also fed us a frittata! It took me a bit to recognize the name because in Italian the word is obviously pronounced differently. I didn't realize that dish we have been serving at the BnB for forever was Italian! By the way the ones at the BnB were actually very similar to this one although she prepared it a little bit differently. I should try and get the recipe. However that's kind of hard because Italians are very much the kind of throw it in a pot and don't measure anything style. They have just a natural instinct for food though because it is all delicious!!

I tried Italian hot chocolate for the first time. By the way this cup I am drinking was the "large size." Here in Italy especially when they get coffee they drink it in those tiny little teacup things. But it is sooo much stronger. The hot chocolate was like the creamiest hot chocolate I have ever had. It was sooo good!

I am sending a lot of pictures of food because lately I have been trying to learn how to make more food. This is called, cut up some potatoes and throw it in the oven with carrots and sausage all drenched in olive oil. Sometimes Italians will make this as kind of side dish thing for meals. As simple as it sounds I got some flack from the Italians because apparently you aren't supposed to add any spices because the sausage already has enough. Haha it was still good though!