Week 23

Well I got transfer calls and I will be staying in Bitonto for another six weeks!!!!!!! I will be serving here for a quarter of my mission! That's alright, we had a miracle happen to us this week! A less active member showed up with her three unbaptized kids who are 7, 11 and 11 and they are all going to start taking the lessons once a week! We could actually have a miracle baptism after all the time I have spent here! I don't think my mission is any more rough than other missions but I do know for a fact that the Lord puts me in these situations to keep me humble and to strive to have His will be my will! I gave a talk yesterday in church about the principles of the gospel! It was super awesome to have the chance to speak in my branch! We went to a beautiful beach called Polignano a Mare, the pictures are below.  I'm super grateful for this time to be in Italy. It is seriously amazing, but I do miss alot of the things I used to be able to do.  I just think though that I would hate being in college right now! I feel like I'm learning how to learn out on the mission!!! Well I hope everyone has a good week! Tell Nathan to just stay outside and active! Being with friends is a good thing, it just becomes bad when he is embarrassed to talk to you about life and school. Just make sure he isn't on his phone too much! Those can be dangerous things if they aren't used correctly! I see people here on their phones and they look like zombies with their souls just being sucked into their phones! Well anyway, I love you all! Protect your families!  

Love Anz Goode

Polignano a Mare

Anz Bee and Anz Goode

Touring Polignano a Mare with the Sorelle

If only I had my board!

Another view of Polignano a Mare!

Rainbow over Polignano

Double Rainbow

In honor of Leah!

Week 22

This week has been good, I mean the missionary work is tough, we have been doing 5 hours of finding each day going house to house in all of Bitonto and also traveling to other cities which seems to be much more successful! We haven't had a lesson though with an investigator in over a month now which is rough, the rest of our district is doing fine right now but we are taking damage.  I will receive my transfer call this Saturday, I will probably be transferred because I have already done three transfers in Bitonto! Hahaha! Everyone thinks it's insane that I am still alive Haha!  I haven't seriously done anything that cool, to be honest, it was just another week! I also won't be moving before next week when I get transferred but it's fine! I Man the time is flying by though now that I have changed companions!  Well, sorry this is a lame weekly letter, but nothing happened and there are no pictures to send home either, but today we are going to a beach called Polignano a Mare that is apparently beautiful, so I'll send home some pics next week! Well, love you guys! Hope you have a great week! 
Love Anz Goode

Week 21 - Happy New Year!

Well this week was quite interesting! It snowed all over Italy this week and about 7 inches here in Bitonto, which hasn't happened in ten years!  Also this week was New Years which was exciting! I have never seen so many giant fireworks that weren't at a legitimate firework show haha! There were a ton of fireworks going off all day! This week we had to travel down to Reggio Calabrio for my companions permesso, which was a nine hour train ride, it had snowed there too!  Sitting on the train for that long was quite boring and I read everything I had about three times! But, the train ride was super beautiful once we got down to the southern coast! It was the first time I had seen any type of wave in about five months! The view from the train was so beautiful that I could hardly let myself sleep because we were in the most beautiful parts of the world! In Reggio we stayed the night and could see Sicily!  It was amazingly at night! I totally forgot to take good pictures though!  On the way back I sat next to a man from Gambia, who spoke English pretty well, he told me all about his village he comes from and his family of two kids and no wife I guess.  He saw that I had a magazine in English and was reading so he started trying to read it. It was a bit tough for him being the Liahona magazine with all church talks in it but he said he would try to read it. I gave it to him as a gift and he held on to it like gold. He didn't have a house or a place to sleep but he was happy that he now had something to read at least! I have learned on the mission that the basics are the most important thing! I love my time in  the morning for prayer and scripture study! They are essential for the nurturing of souls, both old and young, and to help feel of the spirit! My days are more based off of spiritual connection than anything else which is awesome! I was just assigned to talk in my branch on January the 18th.  My topic is missionary work which should be easy because that's all I do anyway as my job pretty much hahah!  I am hitting 5 months in the mission and the next ones are just going to get faster! I hope I left as an example to everyone and will come back an even better one! This is my calendar year as a missionary, where I will be out the whole time!!! I'll make it  good one! Well that's all for this week. Happy New Years to everyone back home! 
Love Anziano Goode

Snow in Bitonto!

Castello Ruffo (Piture from the internet)

Reggio di Calabria 

reggio calabrio (picture from the internet)

Tropea, reggio-calabria (picture from the internet)

By the way, the Flat Stanely pictures are for Kathryn's son, Nicholas! 

Love Anz Goode

Flat Stanley goes to Italy!

My New Comp, Anziano Stanley!

Happy New Year!