Week 31

So, I'll tell you a bit about my week! We had the conference with Elder Texiera, and he just tore us to pieces on how we can be better! It was soooooo awesome though, it really made me think about the things I can to to better myself as a missionary. So this week we went crazy with our missionary work as far as numbers go, it was the best week by far in my entire mission! We picked up 4 new investigators and taught 36 lessons! We have been inviting all the people we teach to be baptized! I have learned how important it is to be bold!  We had so much work this week it was incredible!  I was super tired though, I have never felt so tired in my life and yet so strengthened by the Spirit to andare avanti! (to press forward)  It was a great week!  Our apartment in Trapani isn't a dark hole like my last one, this one is nice and my comp and I get along great! I'm a couple months older than he is but he came out a transfer (6 weeks) before me, so we pretty much balance out! haha! Everything is great the Lord is our greatest companion though! We wouldn't be anywhere without Him! Well anyway I hope you guys have a good week! By the way, did Leah model for Primadonna? I keep thinking I am seeing her on billboards. Next time I see one, I will take a picture! Well it sounds like everything is running smoothly at home! I love you guys! Have a good week!

Love, Anz Goode

Week 30

Hello!!! 

This week was a great week of growth for me, I realized just how much I've changed and become a different, more capable person. My companion is a little bit less courageous than I am and I have been speaking more than he has in every appointment and every lesson and everything which has really helped my Italian a lot! This Sunday we gave the lesson in priesthood out of the Ezra Taft Benson manual lesson 6 talking about cristo our salvatore e redentore! I didn't mean to write that in Italian, it just comes easier to me sometimes... haha! We always joke as missionaries about how our English has gotten terrible and our Italian isn't that great so we are just useless sometimes, haha! But it's not like that, I guess! Yesterday I thought a lot to myself about using this time to become the person I want to become when I return from the mission and who I will be afterward, having to be prepared to have a family when the time comes and to study and it kind of freaked me out a bit! Also the fact that I have almost been out 8 months and I'm not where I want to be but I can still improve and will improve everyday! I'm so grateful for the example of the Savior and also for the hand that He reaches out to all of His children and the hope He gives us to try a little at a time to grow and change and become, over time, the person we want to become! This Wednesday we will have mission tour where everyone in the mission will go to Rome to hear Elder Texiera of the Quorum of the 70 speak to us.  Except for the missionaries serving in Sicily, we will all meet in Palermo to hear him and I think that will count for our Zone Conference. I am in the Palermo Zone now!  The Tràpani branch is incredible! I have learned how much help the missionaries normally receive, which is awesome!!!! I feel like I'm being spoiled and I'm in a branch of only 30 people. I can't imagine our missionaries in HB, they are soooo spoiled haha! Well anyway I had a great week it's amazing how beautiful these people are here! I cant believe it! I've fallen in love a million times, without actually falling in love, of course lol! Well, tell Nathan to write to me, I miss that schmaggle! 

Love, Anziano Goode

Week 29-I made it to Sicily!

I just had the craziest week of my life, man! Soooo on Wednesday night I took a train for three hours all alone to Napoli (Naples) which is the craziest city in the world, no joke. When I got there I had my two bags and no cell phone or anything. I was just expecting the missionaries to pick me up there and they weren't there which was a bit scary because everyone steals things in Napoli and I was just sitting there alone waiting. So they didn't come for like 30 minutes, so I decided to call the Mission President on some random guy's phone. The Prez called the missionaries and told them to come get me, so they got there 40 minutes later and I had just been like fighting off hoards of people and gypsies trying to steal my stuff! When the missionaries  arrived it was pouring rain, so we walked 30 minutes to the church and dropped off my bags, then we went and got a Napoli pizza, which is the greatest thing in the entire world, man! Also the mozzerella di buffola was incredible in Napoli! It is the best cheese in the entire world, seriously we were just eating balls of cheese and I was crying because it was sooo good! Then we had to go back to the  train station to by my train ticket for the next morning and I was sitting there with my pizza and this other elder and this gypsy walks up to us and takes off her shirt and was shoving her stomach in my face while I was trying to eat and she was like "I'm pregnant, give me food, give me a slice of the pizza!" I had no idea what to do, so I push her away with my hand and my comp hits her with his umbrella while she is like attacking us so we try to run away and she chases us and spits a lougie on my comp's elbow and runs away! Hahahaha! It was the nastiest thing I've ever seen! So we went back to the church to grab my bags with 4 other elders and we left our umbrellas outside for a minute and when we came out there was this crazy guy that had just stolen one of them and ran off, so of course we chase him down and he was robbing someone else! So we corner him and let the other guy go then we took the umbrella out of his hands and sprinted away! Man, it was sooo crazy!!! That city is the craziest city in the world!!!! Well that was my week pretty much! well This place, Trapani is seriously blessed by the Lord though! The work here is sooo good because all of the members have referrals for us its awesome!!! Also in this city we were walking around and all of a sudden it started to rain a little bit and this guy like just walked next to us and was like, "You're the Mormons, right?" and we were like, "Yes!" and he invited us in and told us to teach him so we walk into his house and his wife and kid and mom and brother were all just sitting there and he asked us what was the difference between our church and every other church and so we taught them all of the first discussion about the restoration and he said we can come back whenever even if he doesn't want to be a member quite yet, hahaha! It was a miracle! He also gave us food and juice, I was blown away! I have never met someone so generous in my life, haha! Well this week was awesome! The members are great here, they were fighting over us for lunch yesterday and everything is going super good with my new comp! His name is Anziano Bridger Tew.  Here are some pictures of the boat ride from Reggio Calabria to Sicily.  And a few from the bus ride from Palermo to Trapani.

Love,

Anz Goode

Week 28- Sicily, here I come!

Well my week was awesome! We had a baptism! A guy named Claudio, who was friends with Gabriella! He had taken the lessons from these Anziani in our district, unfortunately this one Anziano had just finished his mission and was about ready to go home when he was hit by a motorcycle!  Luckily he was almost totally fine except a bad bruise on his leg!  Fortunately we were able to go ahead with the baptism!
Also I got transferred, Finally, I leave Bitonto......  I have been called to serve in a city on the western tip of Sicily, called Trapani.  It's a 15 hour trip from Bitonto and will take 2 days to get there!  I leave on Wednesday this week and we will be staying the night in Napoli, which means I will be having Napoli pizza and some gooood mozzarella! Haha! Also, my new companion is only one month older than me in the mission so we are reallly young in the mission still as a companionship, but I am sure we will receive Divine help! His name is Anziano Tew and he is from Idaho, I think. (I haven't actually met him yet). Well, its incredible that I will be going sooo far away and I am sooo very excited!  I am looking forward to the crazy change in culture and food down in Sicilia! 
Also, we got news that we will be receiving iPad's soon!  President David A. Bednar is coming to speak to our entire mission in Rome on April 28th! So, I will have to travel from Sicily to Rome and then back again.  So I am getting ready for a bit of travel Hahaaha! Man it was a great week! Unfortunately we didn't have a lesson with the doctor because he had other things to do but we had a lesson with the raggazi that went well! So one of the 11 year old's is going to be baptized on Easter or the day before and the other is still waiting because his parents haven't come to church yet (so they are not twins, by the way, but are cousins).  So I will not see that baptism but I'm sure both will happen.  Also, hopefully Francesco, the doctor will be baptized soon! Man I am so pumped! This is the best time ever! 
Well not much else happened, I have been saying goodbye to all the members I got close with during these past 6 months and that's about it. The work here is going really well, we have been really blessed! Today for P-day we will do some good eating and play some ping pong and volleyball! The perfect day! Haha! Well anyways, if I think of anything I need I will let you know! Thanks for all that you do! You are continually blessed! 
Love you ! Have a good week!

Claudio's Baptism

Week 27- Street Burgers!

Hi! 

Well everything is super good! So this week for our English course we had an activity where we went to a burger place called "Street Burger" and as you can see from the pictures, the burger was giant! The one I had was only 6 levels and they go up to 15!! Hahhahaha!  We had a blast and the week went well!  I seriously can't remember what we do though, which is super anoying! Ahhhh!  The man I gave a blessing to was Francesco de Nicolo.  He is a doctor here in a city callled Terlizzi, nearby. He reminds me of Grampie!  He came to a Valentine's Day party that we had and also brought his 18 year old son and his friend. We talked about skating and surfing and they said they are coming to our English course and they are going to bring their skateboards! I haven't even touched one in 6 months, so I wont be doing anything crazy, but I do want to show them a bit of the California skate style! Hahaha! Well the lesson with the ragazzi went alright but the parents didn't want to commit to anything really which was sad.  The parents don't have the motivation and they didn't even come to church.  But this week will go better because our crazy ward mission leader is going to thier house to talk with them and find out what their concerns are. Gabriella is doing really good! She was practically Mormon before even being baptized! We had an incredible lesson with a guy, then he came to church and I put my arm around him and he started crying, he said he wants to join our church and be baptized!!! I'm so happy for him! I probably won't see it, but its incredible anyway!   

Well this week was actually crazy because some  missionary went home, so there were some changes in the mission and one of them is that our zone leader is going to Sicily cuz he was emergency transferred and then the other zone leader is staying here and serving with an Italian missionary that is from Bari and came home for some surgery, so in other words our zone got changed a bit! Well they just gave us these pass along cards with the Rome Temple picture on the front, they are pretty cool!  I have been trying to use them as much as possible! I'm so bummed that we don't have a temple in our mission yet! I cant wait until it will be opened seriously!!!  Well I hope you have safe travels and a great time in London! mi recomando! Be safe! Haha! Don't freeze! It's still super cold in Bitonto!

I should be receiving my transfer call this Saturday, so I will know where I will be going next!  I'm super excited!

Also, I started the old school way of shaving with the nice penello to paint the cream on my face ahahah! Man I don't know what to say! I have been playing a lot of foosbal! Haha! Well, have an awesome week!!!

Love,

Anz Goode

6 Layer Burger at "Street Burger"

Mozarella Cheese Pigs!!

Shaving the old school way!

Another P-day in Matera!