Week 62

Hey, buon giorno! (Good morning!)
How is everything! You guys are just the greatest! I love hearing stories from you guys and what you guys are doing! I haven't heard about the storm in Sicily but I am going there for two days on a mini vacation! JK! But I am going there to get my permesso that I renewed when I was in Trapani! Its been nice to be so close to Rome with so many people in the city. Last night there was a game Rome against Florence which was pretty cool the entire city was out and about every time there was a goal we would hear the streets exploding with cheers and people yelling so we would run to a bar and watch the replay every time. That was pretty cool! 
We also had an investigator come to church yesterday which was really cool! He is Italian and his wife is Brazilian, it's cool to be working with them! 
Well today we played soccer and it was really fun!  So other than that we have been playing ping pong for morning exercise and doing a lot of door to door contacting.
It is really nice to be a missionary and just focus on others all the time and just forget about who you are and not be distracted by the weird entertainment of the world!  Also, I'm in the Rome West Zone in case you want to check out the Rome Italy Mission Blog Updates! I'm excited for my friends to go on their missions; however, its going be a bit strange when I get home and have no friends hahaha! Anyway, I miss the ocean really bad but other than that I'm doing pretty good, just 9 more months which is incredible! Well I hope you guys have a great week,  I love you all very much!

Ciao ci sentiamo! (Goodbye, see you)

Love, Anziano Goode

Sweet Lamborghini Police Car!!

Week 61

Hey! My week was pretty good! We have 4 new investigators! This week was also a lot of fun because we met this investigator from Colorado who has been living here for ten years! It was really a good week! We have been doing great things here in Ladispoli! Time feels like it's slowing down for me for some reason. I think its because I only have 6 transfers left and because i'm getting old in the mission. It's really weird to see a lot of missionaries who speak worse Italian than me and who have been here less than me. I just feel pretty old now to be honest! This week my comp and I grew out our beards for four days and we only got one comment! It was pretty funny!  One of the sister missionaries commented:  "Are you trying to grow out your beards?"  We told her, "No!  We ARE growing out our beards!"  HAHA!  
In this ward we have the calling to prepare and pass the sacrament which I find very awesome and symbolic as well! I just finished reading the Book of Mormon for the second time in the mission and I started reading the New Testament which is super interesting.  I love learning about Jesus Christ and what exactly he did during his ministry!
Today we went to Rome to see the place where Paul the apostle was buried, it's pretty interesting to see all of the history here. Then we went to see these Jewish ghettos where the Jews were put during World War II! 
Well I love you guys, I hope everything keeps going good!
Love, Anziano Goode

Week 60

Hey mom, how are you doing? 

My first full week here was great! 

To get to Ladispoli, I took the train! The one that takes 13 hours! I took it alone with a sorella from Palermo all the way to Rome. It was super awkward being alone with another missionary, especially a sister missionary. I had to lift her bags for her and they were super heavy! Those sisters put sooo much stuff in their bags that it almost broke my back!  My bags were fine because I

threw out some stuff! My 20th birthday was good we had a service project and dinner for and with the stake president! He is really cool! He's the one that only speaks English to his kids and his wife only speaks Italian to them. He is also in charge of all the translating from English into Italian for the church!

It is supposed to rain this week and it has been so cold in the morning! Makes it a bit hard to do morning exercises outside so we play ping pong in the church! It's crazy to think I only have 9 months left! I have so much to learn and to change before I come home! I love working with our president and with the spirit to just figure out how I can truly become the person I need to become. It has been life changing being in the service of others and forgetting

myself! Yesterday, we played basketball in our suits with these kids and invited like everyone we saw to play; then when the game got bigger we left them all to have a good time on their own. It was more fun just having the parents watching us invite their kids to play basketball  then going and talking to the parents as their kids were now playing in this game we organized!.. Well the cake you sent wasn't quite that good, we used corn oil instead of vegetable oil and it made the chocolate chips taste nasty, hahaha! Still gotta work on my cooking skills! I haven't seen the temple yet, but I heard that it will be another 3 years before it might be done, hahaha! Also there is this beach nearby that kids surf at and I want to go super bad just to watch! 

This week we have a ton of lessons planned! We are also planning to have a baptism on November 7th, if all goes well!  The bishop invited us to come to the ward council which should be really great! I'm still a district leader over Ladispoli and another city with 4 missionaries called Ostia. 

Well anyway have a great week! 

Love Anziano Goode!

At the Vatican

Cool view of Rome

Me and my Comp

New mode of transportation!

Week 59- Transfer to Ladispoli!

Hi!

     I loved all of the talks this conference they were truly amazing. I enjoyed President Monson's talk a lot during the Saturday afternoon session. He was really tired but it was so amazing to hear his wonderful testimony of Jesus Christ, he truly is called of God. 

     So, this week was pretty cool. I met only a few members this week, but today for p-day was fun because we went bowling then we went to see the Colosseum in Rome (Ladispoli is only 22 miles West of Rome)!  My companion, Anziano Berger is way cool, he is from Michigan and he's a pole vaulter and a swimmer.  We have both been getting a cold, which kind of sucks!  Also, our members are like the translators for the church, so they like all speak perfect English, which is super sick! We will have a great time here in Ladispoli and put in some great work!

Thanks everyone for the emails and birthday stuff!

Love, Anziano Goode

At the Colosseum with Anz Berger

Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Bowling with the District

Week 58

     Thanks for the update this week! I had a good week as my last full week in Trapani! I have been so blessed here in this part of the world with these great members that we have. So Sunday we had a farewell talk for the one missionaries going to France from our branch and he mentioned me in his talk, which was really cool. He remembered this lesson that we did together and after feeling the spirit strongly and after the investigator left I was smiling and our member missionary asked what was up. I responded saying, "I love it", he asked me what I loved and I told him the feeling of the Spirit is what I love and being able to share that with others, but this isn't something that only missionaries can do, members and anyone who has the gift of the spirit can do this thing. 

     About the Primary Program, unfortunately our branch is too small to have a Primary Program. There are only 4 or 5 kids, which makes it a bit strange to do a whole program. I'm sure in the next ward I go to they will do it. 

     Oh ya, so I'm getting transferred to Ladispoli, which is a small city next to Rome! I'm really excited because I have always wanted to serve in Rome or close to it at least hahah! I took pictures with my branch and everyone so we could remember each other. In church, my companion and I teach a gospel principles class every Sunday, which is always fun because we do it in English or in Italian, depending on who comes. We also get to help out with the sacrament sometimes when they need us. I really liked that quote you sent about how we didn't come to earth to receive all of our blessings but instead to prepare to meet God. My companion will be staying here which is good! I will be getting a companion from Michigan, his name is Anziano Berger. Maybe dad knows his family somehow! That's cool to see the missionaries at home, I still don't feel old enough to be a missionary but I will be turning 20 next week and maybe then I'll feel old enough! 

Well I love you guys a lot, you have all helped me a ton. I hope you have a good week!

Love 

Anziano Goode

Week 57

Well, it's been really nice here in Tràpani. However, I think it's time for a change and we will receive transfer calls this Saturday morning.  Today I had to do all this stuff for my permesso or passport of Italy.  I was able to cut the entire line of Africans and went around the gate because I knew how to speak Italian! So that was cool, I didn't waste any time. We also had a lot of success this week with lessons and with investigators. We had this one family from Africa come to church this morning which was sooooo cool.  Everybody loved their one year old baby, she was so cute! The branch was really welcoming, even though they spoke no English!   This week something really sad happened also. One of our investigators needed help with this thing in Italian, so Anz Lapray and I helped him out and then we walked back to his camp and when we got there we saw one of our members. I asked him how he was doing and he didn't respond, I couldn't really tell what was wrong until I saw blood on his shirt and on this clothes, he started yelling to our other friend in this African language and we walked outside a little worried, Later his friend came outside and told us that he had been in a fight and the cops had hit them to break up the fight. I couldn't really believe it until I talked to someone else and heard the same thing, So I was really sad for that reason this week.. After hearing about him I just decided I needed to go outside and think and relax for a minute. The Lord was able to talk to me and comfort me and assure me that everything was okay with him and that I was fine and not in danger, so I was grateful for that quiet time to think about life and things around me in this world, It is so true that we are in the world but not of this world. We are the salt of the earth and need not loose our savor or we have no use, I love to help others, this is what has carried me through hard times is the service and joy I have when I am with others and teaching them about the doctrine of Christ, I know I am not perfect by any means; however, the Lord has called me at this time because he wants to bless me as I bless his other children.  I feel the Savior's love when I love others and that is what is so great about this gospel, that it blesses everyone! 

Well I think this week will be even better as far as success, and I am excited to see where the Lord needs me next! 

I hope everyone can find joy in the simple acts of service that come every day, if we will look for them and pray for them! 

Love, Anziano Goode

Week 56

I love this soo much, oh my goodness!  I'm soo happy, it's hard to describe! I have truly been blessed by serving on my mission.  I have been able to understand many things and have a better attitude about everything, Even though I am a year into my mission, I am still learning things about how to be truly happy, and how we can choose to be happy and it's not up to others or outside circumstances!  We can also learn from others regrets in life! So this week was really good! We were able to meet with a few members from our branch and they were really excited to help us, in fact there are already some appointments set up with our members for this week which is really good news!  I have also just tried to focus on being the best I can be, being the happiest I can be and still focusing on serving others! It's much nicer to lose yourself in the work than to be stressed in the work! In fact, I have realized that I am a natural leader and that when I do things then others will follow, and so I have really just tried to take that knowledge and bless the lives of others as much as possible.  Also, a really cool miracle that happened was that after district meeting in Palermo this week, everyone asked me where we should go to eat, I don't know why they look to me to make the decisions because I have been serving the last 5 transfers in Trapani, not Palermo, but nonetheless they asked me and I chose this good sandwich place! We walked into the restaurant and there was this lady sitting behind us, of course seeing ten missionaries walk in the room speaking Italian but looking like Americans draws some attention and some questions... so this lady, Katerina is her name, looked over to me and asked who we were! That's my favorite question to answer! Anyway, we set up an appointment to meet that night with her and her kid! The sister missionaries met with her twice last week and she even came to church, they then asked her if she would be baptized on november 7th and she accepted, easy as that! So the sisters will be working hard with her to prepare her for that. I have just seen lots of miracles due to righteous actions and our example! I hope you all have a great week thanks for the letters and emails they are great! 

Anziano Goode

P.S. Nathan is getting huge! He looks like a man already! and Ty looks so happy and healthy!