Hey raga!
Happy Easter!
I think the craziest day this week was this past Friday. Our zone
leaders led us in a "megafinding" day! It was so sweet. After morning
studies, we spent the rest of the day on the street talking to people.
Our zone is relatively small compared to the other zones in the
mission, but that didn't stop us from aiming high. We have 6
companionships in our zone and had the goal of stopping 10,000 people.
On Friday morning I was a little anxious knowing that I had 11
straight hours of tracting ahead of me, but everything ended up
working out really well. We had our members fasting with us and we
definitely saw a ton of miracles! Unfortunately, our zone missed our
goal... We ended up with 9,742 people at the end of the day.
Fortunately, Anziano Leavitt and I had some killer conversations and
ended up with 8 new phones numbers at the end of the day. Weirdly
enough, one of those phone numbers is the phone number of a Mormon. We
met this Peruvian woman named Katrin and she told us she was a member!
She spoke fluent English because she was living in Salt Lake City 17
years ago and was engaged to a returned missionary. Now, she is living
in Pesaro, married to an Italian, and hasn't told anyone that she's a
member (hence why her records weren't in our branch). Side note: Can I
just say I LOVE making people feel super awkward? If I see anyone
kissing or laughing at us, you better believe I'm going to try and
share the gospel with them!
We had a big Meet the Mormons event at our church.
Leading up to this event, Anziano Leavitt and I had handed our 1,000
fliers in our city center and invited all of our less-active members
and investigators. To our dismay, not one person that received a flier
came to the event and we only had one less active there! Fortunately,
it still ended up being a great night. We made a mountain of cookies
and all the members brought goodies to share (including a licorice
soda that I have become addicted to). I was most excited when our new
contact Michael walked in the door to the church building wearing a
bow tie and fedora. We met Michael on the megafinding day and he's a
total champ! He's 23 years old, does martial arts, speaks impressively
proficient English, and is a dead body picker upper (I don't know the
official name for the job, but he collects dead bodies for a funeral
home). Michael really enjoyed the film! Heck, he developed such a
fondness for Mormons during the film that afterward, he told me that
he wanted to introduce his "American Mormon friends" to all the girls
he knows. ....I think I'm going to like this guy. 😉 Haha no, but real
though. Michael definitely doesn't completely understand what the heck
Anziano Leavitt and I are doing with our lives right now, but I'm
excited to see where things go with him!
Another little blessing thanks to our Meet the Mormons showing was
getting to meet the bodyguard of Michael Jordan! We were walking to
our bikes after the movie and a man shouted out to us, "Hey guys,
what's up?!" That phrase is a direct quote... age shouted English to
us! It was then that we met Pippi. Pippi has apparently been a long
time friend of the church because when he was playing college football
in the eighties for some American school, his coach was Mormon. After
his football stint, he became Michael Jordan's bodyguard (we saw
plenty of picture (we saw lots of picture proof). Then, he returned
and played football in the European league until his wife made him
retire. Currently, he owns a fresh fruit and vegetable store in Pesaro
and coaches a professional football team in Ancona (a nearby city).
Anziano Leavitt and I hope to create more than a friendship with this
guy... We want to baptize him! If we're lucky, maybe MJ will come to
the baptism and sign my copy of Space Jam. ;)
I wish you guys could all meet President Allen! He is so inspired. It
seems like he always knows exactly what to say and when to say it. He
knows when to be goofy and he also knows how to be serious. I can't
say that I'm the best orator and feel like the most socially awkward
socially inept person ever; in those moments, I literally find myself
asking the internal Noah during the day, "What would President Allen
say right now if he was me??" Yesterday at zone conference, he talked
about using our "strategem" to find new investigators (refer to Alma
43:30). On Saturday, Anziano Leavitt and I are going to use our
stratagem and play soccer in a local park to find some new
investigators! Playing soccer on a non p-day?? You heard right. ;)
Ending tidbit sparkle: Today I went to a different country... San
Marino! It was super pretty. I thought I saw a lot of nakedness statues in
Florence a few months ago, but San Marino takes the cake. The only
difference is that the naked statues in San Marino are all women! The
highlight of the whole day was when I was waiting in a line to get a
drink from a water fountain and a little girl came up and held my
hand. The handhold didn't last long (I'm pretty sure the little girl
was scared off because of my sweaty hands), but it was an unexpected
treat! 😂
Love you guys!
Anziano Anderson
p.s. I've been writing down all the fancy words I read/hear people say
so I can augment my vocabulary. So, don't be surprised if I come home
sounding sophisticated as crap.
1. Book of Mormon challenge for Marta's kids.
2. Dinner with David.
3. Forza Rimini!
4. 14th transfer cheer.
5. 14th transfer squad.
6. Plank.
7. Father and son.
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