Mission Conference in Rome- Week 36 1/2

Hi!  I'm exhausted! To make a long story short, I got sick with this crazy throat thing that my companion had last week. I have no idea how or what it's doing to me but I couldn't walk in a straight line last week because I was so light headed! So last week was spent in the house just super terribly boring, then on Monday we traveled all day to Rome. In the morning we took a bus for 2 hours to Palermo, then the whole zone got on a train for an hour to the airport, then we got on 2 separate planes and flew to Rome for an hour, which was terrible because of a rain storm and the turbulence was just terrifying! We were all convinced we weren't going to make it the the conference in Rome! Anyway, we all arrived safely in Rome and then took the metro system, which is just crazy! (We were lucky not to be robbed hahah!) Then we got to the church after 30 minutes of walking in the rain, then we ran to the hotel soaking wet in our suits. By 9:30pm we fell asleep. Then yesterday morning, we were out of the hotel by 6:30 in the morning to make it to the conference center of some 5 star hotel to wait until Elder Bednar got there! It was really just one of the most inspired things i have ever seen, he didn't have a written talk or anything he just asked specific questions to the audience about how we felt about Missionaries and the use of media and about what we felt were the advantages and disadvantages of the iPad, then he opened it up to free questions. We talked a lot about families and about the scripture study we can do to help improve ourselves. Then he talked about how it's not about finding the perfect wife and family it is about creating one! It was soooo good! I could just feel the power and the spirit as soon as Elder Bednar walked in the room!  Then after the conference we took a train last night at 9:30pm until this morning when we arrived in Palermo at 10am. It wasn't the best nights sleep, haha! Then we went back to one of the apartments and prepared lunch and then we took our 2 hour bus back to Tràpani and here we are! Over all it was great! I was a little bummed I didn't get to see Rome as much because I was sick and offered to watch the bags in the train station while the others ventured out in Rome, but it was alright! 

It's so exciting to have your testimony strengthened and to know that, thanks to the atonement, we have been given the power to continue forward in righteousness, if we choose and use our moral agency!

I heard that Colin put in his papers!! So awesome! Anyway. I love you guys have a great week! By the way, thanks for the packages, I enjoyed them all! Have a great week! 

Anziano Goode

Coast of Trapani

Anz Goode on the Coast of Trapani

Pastries for Breakfast

This is a store owned by one of the members in Trapani

Elder and Sister Bednar and President and Sister Waddoups

Rome Mission Conference April 28, 2015

Week 36

Dear Family!

I just wanted to say how much I love you guys!  A lot of things have changed for me out here in Italy, including the amount of love I have for you all!  It has certainly grown quite a bit!  I can only imagine how our Heavenly Father feels being distanced from His loved ones wanting all the best for them in all that they do!  I know you have all been waiting for some chocolate so I hope you all enoy it!  I have been praying for you guys hoping everything continues to go well, I know the Lord is blessing you.  It is incredible to see how fast time is flying by.  Yesterday I met some man from Palermo who said that Trapani is the most beautiful city in Sicily, which I totaly believe!  I am loving my time here getting to know the members, the food, people, places, it is all a great time on the mission but the greatest part is changing your faith in the Gospel in to a knowledge of the Gospel.  Yes, it's true that there are many Catholics here, in fact if they aren't Catholic they are "Testamony Jehovah" which doesn't normally make it any easier to tell them about the restored gospel.  Anyway I haven't technically had any baptisms but I'm also not becoming very discouraged.  Probably because I didn't set any standards for myself before the mission as far as baptisms.  Well anyway, Italy is great, even though most Italians hate it.  I hope you guys keep moving along day by day.  Hug Grandma for me, and everyone else.  
I can't believe Ty is going to be coming home in the next 5 months.  I will be past a year at that point.  I try not to think about my time to be honest, it just scares me because I know I'm not ready to come home quite yet.  The Lord has a great plan for each of us if we just submit ourselves to His will and His way we can become the best version of ourselves, the most Christlike version!  I invite you all to learn more about Christ. Whether it be by reading the scriptures or Preach My Gospel Chapter 6.  Learn about Him so you can all understand what you have committed to doing in Baptism and with Sacrament each week.  I know that my Redeemer lives!  Have an awesome time without me so that I can hear some awesome stories when we talk!  I look forward to Mother's Day!  I look forward to seeing your faces and smiles!
In this packet there are 2 chocolate bars, one for the boys and one for the girls, or however.  Then there is a Sicilia bracelet for Leah and a beautiful bread cloth or something for mom!  I really didn't know what to get Hanna so I just waited.  If you guys want anything else let me know.  Especially if it is small enough to fit in this size box!  Send me an e-mail when you receive this, I hope you are all well and alive.  Give Grammie and Grampie hugs for me as well!
Love, Tanto Amore, Anziano Goode
I also put some sea glass in here that I found on the Mediterranean seashore, this is the color of the water here!

  

Week 35

Heyy! 
I'm so glad to hear the package arrived safely! I was super skeptical about it but it made it so now I will send another one that I have been waiting to send.  I wanted to make sure the first one would even arrive!!! Wooo Hooooo! So I've heard all of the things about the Christians dying which is insane but it's not terrible here, I guess. I don't feel terribly in danger. 
About the foccacia recipe you tried that I sent, you need to put the tomatoes on before it rises they need to be cooked with everything else and make sure you like make fingerprints in the dough. It helps absorb all of that olive oil when it's done!!! Anyway, I will send more recipes!  I'm going to be traveling to Rome by plane next week but we're not sure quite yet what the plan is. I think we will all fly together from Palermo. We also won't have our next p-day till next Thursday, so not for a while. We have been trying to get the mission president to let us go to this one island nearby for p-day which would be super sick! Hahaha! 

Also, I have a story I wanted to tell you... so this week we found ourselves the only mean person in Tràpani and it happens to be this 17 year old kid or something like that. So here is where it all began, we see this kid riding his moped like any normal kid riding down the street and when you show any kind of interest in what they are doing they normally try to pop a wheelie or something cool for you, ahahha! Instead this kid looked at us and decided it would be a good idea to swerve past us and spit on us, so he did! Me and my companion got sprayed across the chest and just kind of thought nothing of it. Then the kid came back and spit on us again from the back this time! My companion, being as forgiving as he is, just turned the other cheek. I was pretty annoyed at this point but I let it go. So anyway, this has happened for the last three or four days in a row, where every time he sees us he tries spitting on us. It wasn't until last night that he was able to hit me right in the face! I had never felt so much like Christ until that point in my mission. I think, for me, this was one of those turning points in the mission where the Lord told me, "Just keep doing my work, just keep doing my work." And I had received the spiritual feeling that everything was going to be alright because Christ had already made things right. At this point I was walking on this skinny road just crying because I had felt the Spirit so strongly! He rode past again in an attempt to scare us, this time he had little effect on us. Anyway, through this experience, I have learned that Christ is always there beside us whether we know it or not. He has suffered, not only for sin, but also for the unjust things of this world. I know that my Redeemer lives and he loves us! I love you! Have a great week and know that I am in good hands! Love you!

Anziano Goode

This statue is a WWI Memorial in Palermo
It is called "Winged Victory"

This is my apartment complex in Trapani

Week 34

Hi,
We were able to listen to most of conference! I really enjoyed Neil L. Anderson's talk! Also Kevin W. Pearson's talk was really good!! He talked about the vision Lehi had, which always just makes me think about how difficult it is to live in the world of things constantly yelling for your attention. It's kind of weird as missionaries we hardly ever use electronics so I don't know how it's going to be to get iPads!  
Wow! That's amazing that Leah is casting for Louis Vuitton! My goodness, I'm going to be quite disappointed if Leah doesn't introduce me to her beautiful friends when I get home! 
I have been learning that I need to use and study the Book of Mormon more in my studies which I have started again to read through. I am now in Mosiah 20. In Italian it is a bit different  and I notice that I have different things highlighted in my English and Italian scriptures.  
I love Sicilia, it's sooo awesome! Today for p-day I talked to Ty Mason a bit online, what great fun! We also went to the most beautiful part of the world! It was awesome! I think this will be one of the places I will come back to after the mission! Even our mission president told us it is the most beautiful place in the mission hahah! I took a bunch of pictures but we need to come back!!! 
I can't believe how well everything is going here! We have the most awesome branch that always just wants to help us in anyway possible.  They give so much and look up to us as missionaries so much; its amazing to see these peoples faith in action! One lady from our ward just moved to Tucson, Arizona to get married to a military man that is a member. She was very beautiful but doesn't speak great English and he speaks no Italian! I don't know how that happened, but anyway, she was super excited to go to America lol! There is barely any visible mafia anymore they mostly go where there is a ton of money as far as big business things, the Italians say there is no mafia, just corruption here and there. I kinda think its the same way around the entire world to be honest. Well anyway I'm having a blast, I cant believe how fast time is passing!
Love you guys!
Anz Goode

Sunset from our apartment

Anz Goode and Anz Tew overlooking Trapani

City of Erice

Anz Goode in Erice

Trapani

Week 33

Dear Mom, 
I love you! Everything is great! With all those missionaries around the house all the time, its almost like dad and you are already a mission president and wife lol! 
Today we are having our p-day, playing soccer and doing some deep cleaning! I have learned so many things on the mission and one of them is that I  hate dirty things, but I hate cleaning too, haha! You would be proud if you saw our house!! 
I sent a package home by the way! I am really hoping it gets there! I loved General Conference, we watched it in Italian with the members in the afternoon, it was good! 
My companion is Elder Tew from Payson, Utah where there is a new temple, actually. He is awesome, he has really helped me change for the better! So anyway, my week was good. It was a bit slow because no one wanted to talk about about Christ for Pasqua or Easter which was disappointing, but it was alright. I'm jealous of the missionaries that serve in our home ward, they are blessed and super fortunate! We had peanut butter and banana sandwiches for our big Easter meal! haha! Well yeah, I remember the Pujol family, I always think about going home and speaking Italian to them and others! It's gonna be way cool! I remember my 8th grade trip pretty well I should've taken more pictures haha!  I probably won't see any packages until I get to Rome! And by the way, let me know if my package ever makes it!!!!! I made sure to put stickers of Mother Mary on it so the Mafia doesn't touch it, hahaaha! Thanks for being the best example of love in my life! I love you, have a great week!

Love, Anz Goode

Week 32

Hello,
hahaahahh! Don't you worry about Nathan, Mother! You've had pretty good success with your first three kids! I think Nathan just needs some more kisses on the cheek like all the ladies give here in Italy! hahahaha! I have had more kisses on the mission than any other time in my life and I've been pretty happy! hahaha!  I wouldn't say you are doing anything wrong, I just think that he needs to see that being obedient is truly a blessing of happiness, guaranteed! If we do our part, God always does his part! If anything, don't make home a place where he hates to be, it should be a fun loving place! You're doing your best! Don't worry about the rest!  
I'm not quite sure exactly when we will get the iPad's but it should be shortly after Elder Bednar speaks to us in Rome on the 28th of April! All of us will be going to Rome by train, I'm pretty sure! Wahoo!  I love those 15 hour train rides! 
My week was seriously great! It seemed to fly by! I have never worked so hard! We have two investigators that are probably going to be baptized soon because they are super awesome and have been coming to church and feeling the Spirit!  Here is a funny story, I thought you would enjoy...
Something soooo funny happened this week too!  We were on a bus in Palermo and the bus stopped and there was this dirty hobo in a wheelchair with no legs. it was kinda scary but he asked us to help him in the bus so we did. Then he grabbed onto a railing so he wouldn't roll away because those buses are scary and anyway he started talking to us about science and how God doesn't exist! Then he tells us he has made his own medicines and stuff for deciding whether to make a baby masculine or feminine, this man smelled terrible, by the way, just like urine! Then he starts like hobbling and spinning around in his wheel chair to grab his back pack on the back of it, so he grabs the bag and shows us these papers that were just torn up and dirty and he told my comp to hold it, so he does, maybe because he was scared, I'm not really sure why he touched that dirty bag of papers... then this man hobble spins around in his wheel chair and starts reaching down his pants!  At this point I was scared to death of what was going on. Then he grabs a water bottle full of something and tells my comp to grab it! The man grabs the papers out of my comps hands and hands him the water bottle and my comp grabs it by the lid just barely touching it and the the guy says "No, grab the bottle." hahahahha! So my comp is just scared out of his mind thinking he was going to die, just grabs the bottle and hands it back to the man as the man takes it and shoves it back in his pants! I turned around and was just busting up crying/laughing because my comp had just grabbed this homeless man's urine bottle! Man that was terribly funny!  It is crazy here!
Well, I am having a hard time sending out the weekly e-mails, I'm sorry... haha, my wrists kill from typing!  I have lost some weight this last transfer already, like 10 lbs!  Maybe I have like a tape worm or something, jk... I have just been working out better  and doing yoga!  I'm super excited to Skype you guys on Mother's day! Have Nathan write me!  I haven't heard from him in a bit! Have him send some pictures or something! haha... I'll set him straight!  Make sure he is praying every night! You can even do a family prayer at night! Well anyway, I love you guys! Keep chugging along! The Lord has surpassed the number of blessings I ever thought I could receive and I'm sure He will do the same for you! I love you hope you get a lot out of General Conference, take notes! 

Love, Anziano Goode

Practicing straight blade shaving on a balloon!!

Break-dancing in the church before cleaning it!