Thank you for all the happy birthday wishes (and money); you helped make my day special! I wasn't able to write you guys yesterday because I spent my birthday in an Italian culture class that the government made me go to, so my p-day got changed to today this week! It made my birthday slightly depressing because not only was the class super boring, we couldn't get any missionary work done! But nonetheless, I did have a decent birthday. Anziano Gibbons made me pancakes for breakfast and we ate some cake and gelato before ending the day.
 |
| Birthday cake and geletao! |
I had a pretty great week! It's been really cool understanding a lot more words people are saying. I'm not comprehending a lot of meaning in the sentences I hear, but I've gotten a lot better at recognizing vocabulary that I have learned! Sometimes it's really hard to understand the meaning of something even if I recognize the vocabulary because Italians say stuff completely different than we do. For instance, you would only say "I feel good" after being sick. And, you would never say, "It's a beautiful day." You would say, "It does beautiful time today" (it's a beautiful time of day). All that being said, this language is BEAUTIFUL! I'm so glad I get to learn it during the next two years. I'm not sure how much I'm going to use Italian 20 years from now, but I never want to go back to saying my personal prayers in English! Sento molto vi cino a dio quando io preggo in Italiano.
It's been interesting doing weekly planning because it never stops surprising me about how long it takes to do! Before I came out on my mission, I thought a missionary's day was almost all spent sharing the gospel with people through street contacting and door knocking. But, on days we do weekly planning, we don't leave the house until 4:30 (10 hours of being awake without seeing ANYBODY)! It really hit me this week that, we as missionaries, are given so much time to better ourselves and optimize the little time we do have to share the gospel with people. Between exercising, getting ready, eating, cleaning, personal study, companionship study, new-missionary study, language study, area book, phone calls, and planning, so much of my life as a missionary is spent not sharing the gospel with people. What it boil down to is that if you want to be a bad missionary, you have a lot of time to goof off. And the thing about missions is that no one back home knows what kind of missionary you are being. You can make yourself sound as good as you want in each email home to your family and return home from a mission and make yourself sound like any type of missionary you want. Ezra sent me a talk about becoming a "consecrated" missionary and that's really what missions are all about: always doing what you are supposed to be doing- no excuses.
On another note, I've been getting more discouraged each week regarding the African immigrant situation here. There are so many Africans we've been teaching every week and it's just not fair. Large groups of Africans pay €500 to take a ship to Italy (where there is a high chance of dying) because of the TERRIBLE things that are happening in their country. Then, they get here and can't get a job because they don't know Italian. Anziano Gibbons and I visited a less-active member of the church this week named Kenneth. Kenneth is 26 years-old and came to Italy with two college degrees. He really wants to come to church every Sunday, but he can't. As lucky as Kenneth was to get a job, he works 10-12 hours a day and 7 days a week. He's only payed for 6 hours everyday. He works in a Chinese warehouse where he dyes clothes. The Italians that work with Kenneth, doing the exact same job, have six-hour workdays and get payed triple what he does. Because there are so many Africans looking for work, if they do get a job, it's easy for them to get taken advantage of. The government gives (most) Africans that come here a roof over their heads, food (rice and chicken everyday), and a phone. But, even despite all these blessings from the government, the African immigrants here are getting manhandled (Dad taught me that word). Kenneth is saving up money, so he can go to college to get his Masters in teaching degree and break free of his current life situation.
Another example of the African immigrant injustice here is Lockear. Lockear was the man I told you guys about who came up to Anziano Gibbons and I and told us he has been looking for us ever since coming to Italy. He had friends that were Mormon in Africa and we've been teaching the lessons to him. Unfortunately, he can't come to church because it would cost €12 in bus/train fees every week and he has no money! It's just not fair. People's money situation should never be a reason that keeps people from hearing the word of God. He lives really far away from any member (30+ minutes), so getting a member to give him a ride every Sunday probably isn't going to happen. Outside of every shopping center and train station, there will be Africans selling umbrellas, tissues, and lighters to try and make some money. One of our church members named Nosa wakes up at 5 am every day to go sell things outside of a train station... All the Africans I meet, work so hard and most of them have no game plan of how they are going to get out of their poor situation. Most of the Africans we meet have dreams of going to America or the UK where it's English speaking and they think they'll be able to have an easier life. But, even if life was easier for them in another country, they have no game plan on how they would ever get there! It's just so frustrating seeing so many hardworking people surviving (I say surviving because you can hardly call what some of these people are doing living). It was a little funny this week when after a lesson with Festus, an investigator of ours who hates Italy, was asking us how he could serve a mission like Anziano Gibbons and I. ;p
Sorry I wrote a small essay regarding the African immigrant situation here... I'll move on to some memorable experiences from my week!
The scariest experience I had this week was caused be a small child. At the MTC, we were taught to never touch children because it's easy to get accused of doing inappropriate things... They even told us a few missionary horror stories where missionaries have gone to jail because of child molestation accusations! So, when a lady getting off the bus asked me to grab her 1 year-old child for her and take her off the bus, I was terrified! But, I couldn't say no to the lady because she was now off the bus (she didn't really give me a choice). I reluctantly grabbed the kid, but was a little too slow- the bus doors were closing! Luckily, the lady outside the bus stuck her arm in between the bus door and screamed at the bus driver to open it back up! The lady outside the bus ended up getting her child out of my arms
and I didn't end up with any legal charges. Hopefully that will be the only child I'll have to touch for the next 2 years...
The oddest experience I had this week was definitely unintentionally seeing a lady's butt. Anziano Gibbons and I were walking to get our bikes and go home after we had done some tracting. But, when we got to the bike rack, there was a woman standing next to our bikes with her pants pulled down and she was peeing! Luckily, she was far enough from our bikes that no pee landed on our rides. But, the whole situation definitely caught me off guard... Especially since the lady peeing looked so... non-crazy!
As for missionary work, it's hard to say how it's going! It seems like all of our "golden" investigators have been ignoring our calls and canceling appointments this past week. But, it's so cool getting to hear so many testimonies each week with the investigators we do see. Sometimes after leaving a lesson, I feel like I've been more spiritually helped than they have. The cool thing about teaching lessons is that you always leave feeling SO happy. The hardest points I've had so far in my mission have always occurred when we haven't taught a lesson recently. Also, tracting has been getting better and better! It's so much fun stopping people on the street to tell them about the gospel. Most of the time, I have no fear and I am able to stop everyone and anyone on the street. As for talking to people on the bus or train, it's been REALLY hard.... I know I have a message of eternal significance, but Satan is good at putting fear into my heart! ;p
Have a great week family! Don't forget to say your prayers (even if you can't say them in Italian) and read the Book of Mormon- it's true! I just finished the BOM yesterday and started in 1 Nephi again this morning.
Vi voglio bene,
Anziano Anderson
 |
| My first Italian hair cut |
 |
| Rain in Italy is a lot like rain in Washington |
0 comments:
Post a Comment